By Bob Bloom The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Dec. 8, unless otherwise noted: Song Without a Name (DVD) Details: 2019, Film Movement Rated: Not rated The lowdown: The baby of a young indigenous Andean woman named Georgina is stolen moments after she gives birth at a downtown Lima clinic. That begins a frustrating and tragic journey for Georgina and us in this very sad feature set in Peru. Georgina runs into red tape, apathetic police and a complex and indifferent legal system as she tries to find her newborn. Running out of options, she approaches journalist Pedro Campos, seeking help. At first reluctant, Campos soon begins digging and uncovers a string of other baby abductions tied to fake clinics and even deeper corruption within Peruvian society. If you are in a depressed state of mind, you better wait until your mood brightens before watching this powerful indictment in which those at the bottom rungs of a nation are taken advantage of and ignored. The movie greatly impressed critics, who gave it a 97 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Technical aspects: 1.33:1 full-screen picture; Spanish and Quechia 5.1 Dolby digital; English subtitles. Don’t miss: Bonus materials include an introduction by director Melina León and a short film, “Sin Cielo.”
Possessor Uncut (Blu-ray) Details: 2020, Well Go USA Entertainment Rated: Not rated, graphic and bloody violence The lowdown: Tasya Vos is a corporate assassin who uses brain-implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies to execute high-profile targets. This science-fiction thriller was directed by Brandon Cronenberg, who seems to be following in the footsteps of his father, director David Cronenberg, who also dealt in body-related horrors such as “The Brood,” “Scanners,” “Videodrome,” “The Fly” and “Dead Ringers.” The younger Cronenberg’s unsettling movie finds Vos sinking deeper into her latest assignment, becoming trapped inside a mind that threatens to destroy her. This nightmarish feature, despite squeamish moments, is a savage look at human exploitation. The film impressed a vast majority of critics, earning a 93 precent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles. Don’t miss: Extras include behind-the-scenes offerings and deleted scenes.
Crash: Special Edition (Blu-ray) Release date: Dec. 1 Details: 1996, The Criterion Collection Rated: NC-17, violence, sexual content, language The lowdown: This strange movie was adapted from the book by J.G. Ballard by David Cronenberg, who also directs. The movie seems appropriate for his wheelhouse, since Cronenberg is fascinated with the boundaries pushed by people. “Crash” involves people who are car-crash fetishists. For them body scar tissue and twisted metal are the greatest turn-ons. They live to challenge death. We do not learn much outside of their obsession about the characters, played by James Spader, Holly Hunter, Deborah Kara Unger, Elias Koteas and Rosanna Arquette, but that does not seem to matter much. The film is an audacious and disturbing experience, but it also is rather clinical and cold. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles. Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a 1997 commentary track featuring Cronenberg, a press conference from the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, A 1996 question-and-answer session with Cronenberg at the National Film Theatre in London, behind-the-scenes footage and press interviews from 1996 and an essay about the movie.
Mister Roberts (Blu-ray) Details: 1955, Warner Archive Collection Rated: Not rated The lowdown: This film adaptation of the long-running Broadway production had a contentious history. Henry Fonda, who originated the title role and played it on stage for many years, clashed with director John Ford, which reached the point where Ford actually punched Fonda on the jaw. Later, Ford left the production for medical reasons and Mervyn LeRoy took over behind the camera. Still, the movie was enthusiastically received, and garnered praise from critics. The film also featured a top-notch cast including James Cagney as the tyrannical ship’s captain; Jack Lemmon, who received a best supporting actor Academy Award for his role as the hapless Ensign Pulver; William Powell, in his last movie role, as Doc; and such Ford stock company actors as Ward Bond, Harry Carey Jr. and Ken Curtis. The release is a made-on-demand Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection and can be found at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or other online sellers. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.55:1 (16:9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles. Don’t miss: The major extra is a scene-specific commentary with Lemmon.
Blade (4K UHD + Blu-ray + digital) Release date: Dec. 1 Details: 1998, Warner Home Entertainment Rated: R, graphic vampire violence, gore, language, sexual situations The lowdown: Wesley Snipes stars as the half-human, half-immortal vampire hunter out to avenge his mother’s death. Aided by his guardian and mentor, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), Blade sets out to stop the bloodthirsty Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), who, with his followers, have declared war on the human race. It is up to Blade to thwart their plans for annihilation. This was the first of three “Blade” movies starring Snipes. It also is one of the earlier big-screen adaptations of a Marvel comic-book character. It was not produced by Marvel Studios, being made during an era in which Marvel was licensing some of its characters to movie studios. Technical aspects: 4K UHD: 2160p 4K UHD, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and TrueHD and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 6.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles. Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track, and featurettes that look at the origins of Blade, the design of the movie, the blood tide and Dark Comics.
Fellini’s Casanova (Blu-ray) Details: 1976, Kino Lorber Classics Rated: R, sexual content The lowdown: A man who seduces women and has many lovers is called a Casanova. Celebrated director Federico Fellini shows us the man behind the legend in the sumptuous and 154-minute-long historical drama. Fellini’s casting of Donald Sutherland as Casanova was a novel choice. Sutherland is a wonderful actor, but not someone you would immediately think of for the role. Sutherland is striking, but not a traditional-looking leading man. It seems that is the point of Fellini’s decision to hire Sutherland. Fellini’s movie presents Casanova as an ordinary, everyday man living in extraordinary times. The movie, shot in Rome, features dazzling sets, Academy Award-winning costume designs and a fabulous musical score by the great Nino Rota. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles. Don’t miss: Extras include an alternate Italian audio track with English subtitles, a commentary track and a booklet with an essay about the movie.
“The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 4” — Go West and College (Blu-ray) Details: 1925, 1927, Cohen Media Group-Kino Lorber Rated: Not rated The lowdown: Two more Buster Keaton comedies — made during the peak years of his creativity are paired in this release. “Go West” finds Keaton heeding the call of Horace Greeley and hopping a freight train westward toward his destiny. Once there, he tries his hand at bronco busting, cattle wrangling and dairy farming. All his attempts are fruitless. He redeems himself when a trainload of steers is unleashed on Los Angeles and, using unorthodox methods, he single-handedly rounds them up. In “College,” Keaton plays Ronald, who has more brains than brawn who, in college, tries a variety of sports as a way of impressing a female student. He untapped athleticism is unleashed when he goes to save the young woman from the unwanted advances of a persistent rival. Both movies feature wonderful sight gags and the acrobatic skills that made Keaton one of the most popular comedians of the silent era. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English intertitles. Don’t miss: “Go West,” a 1923 Hal Roach short and a look at Keaton as screenwriter are the main extras.
Raining in the Mountain (Blu-ray) Details: 1979, Film Movement Classics Rated: Not rated The lowdown: This Chinese feature, set during the Ming Dynasty, is set at a Buddhist monastery where an abbot, charged with protecting a sacred handwritten scroll, is preparing to name his successor. Instead, he is caught up in a series of intriguing situations as two sets of thieves have set their sights on stealing the scroll. This creates battles of wit and fists. The movie mixes martial arts and spiritualism and is akin to an Agatha Christie story with intertwining characters loaded with secrets. Technical aspects: 2.35:1 widescreen picture; Mandarin 2.0 LPCM monaural; English subtitles. Don’t miss: Extras include a video essay about the movie, an interesting commentary track with Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns and a booklet with an essay about the movie and Asian cinema.
The Greek Tycoon (Blu-ray) Details: 1978, Scorpion Releasing-Kino Lorber Rated: R, sexual situations, language, violence The lowdown: “The Greek Tycoon” is a big-budget feature with an exploitation movie vibe. The gravitas of Anthony Quinn as Greek shipping magnate Theo Tomasis keeps the movie afloat. Tomasis worked his way up from a peasant to one of the richest men in the world. Now, he has begun a romance with Liz Cassidy (Jacqueline Bisset), one of the most famous and beautiful women in the world. She is the widow of assassinated American president James Cassidy (James Franciscus). Any similarities to the real-world courtship and marriage of Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy is purely coincidental, wink, wink. In the movie, as in actual life, it seems everyone objects to the marriage, including Tomasis’ former lover. The film did not sit well with American audiences, who were shocked when the elegant Jackie married the low-bred, rough-looking Onassis. You can judge for yourself how close fiction touches fact. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles. Don’t miss: A commentary track, an alternate opening sequence and alternate end credits comprise the major bonus options.
The Return of the Musketeers (Blu-ray) Details: 1989, Kino Lorber Rated: PG, violence The lowdown: Fifteen years after the release of “The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge,” director Richard Lester reassembled his cast for this action-comedy. Returning were Michael York as D’Artagan, Oliver Reed as Athos, Frank Finlay as Porthos and Richard Chamberlain as Aramis. They are joined by Kim Cattrall as Justine, the vengeance-filled daughter of Milady and C. Thomas Howell as Raoul, Athos’s adopted son. The plot, set 20 years after the events in “The Four Musketeers,” deals with the overthrow of King Charles I in England by Oliver Cromwell, an attempt to rescue the king and the threat in France of a populist uprising led by the spirited Beaufort. Frankly, the plot is secondary to the chemistry among the four swashbucklers, the action and the physical comedy. Also in the cast are Christopher Lee, Geraldine Chaplin, Roy Kinnear and Jean-Pierre Cassel as Cyrano de Bergerac. Technical aspects: 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles. Don’t miss: The major extra is a commentary track.
My Science Project (Blu-ray) Details: 1985, Kino Lorber Rated: PG The lowdown: In this science fiction-tinged comedy, Michael, a high school student, has procrastinated on his science project. His teacher, played by Dennis Hopper, gives him an ultimatum: turn in a project or flunk. Michael decides to scavenge a military base’s junk pile for some sort of contraption he can pass off as his own. Except what he takes in a time-travel device from a UFO. When Michael uses it, the gizmo unleashes some powerful energy, which leads to time warps, other dimensions and a strange vortex where past, present and future collide, taking Michael, his girlfriend, Ellie, and the class on a weird adventure through time and space. The cast includes John Stockwell as Michael, Danielle von Zerneck as Ellie as well as Fisher Stevens, Barry Corbin, Richard Masur and Ann Wedgeworth. Most of the movie is slow-going until the exciting finale. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles. Don’t miss: Extras include an interview with Stevens and a commentary track.
Cry of a Prostitute (Blu-ray) Details: 1974, Code Red-Kino Lorber Rated: Not rated, violence The lowdown: “Cry of a Prostitute” is a bloody and shocking Italian crime drama that has had a few other titles, most notably, “The Red Queen Kills Seven.” The movie stars Henry Silva as Tony, a cold-blooded American hitman sent to Italy to settle a gang war between two rival criminal factions. Caught in the middle of all of this is Margie (Barbara Bouchet), a former prostitute now married to a mob boss. A sexual relationship develops between Tony and Margie that complicates matters and ignites more criminal blazes. This is one of the most brutal movies in Italy’s traditional giallo genre. This release is the original uncut version of the movie. Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. Don’t miss: Supplemental options include the film’s American opening credits.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated: Arthur & Merlin: Knights of Camelot (DVD) (MPI Media Group) Black Pumpkin (DVD & digital) (Uncork’d Entertainment) Bobbleheads: The Movie (DVD & digital) (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) The Devil’s Heist (DVD & digital & VOD) (Midnight Releasing) The Facility (DVD & digital) (Uncork’d Entertainment) Girl With No Mouth (Blu-ray & DVD & digital) (Indiecan Entertainment) Haberman (DVD) (Corinth Films) The Hole (DVD) (Big World Pictures) No Place (DVD & digital) (Indican Pictures) Smiley Face Killers (Blu-ray & digital & VOD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment) Total Recall (4K UHD + Bu-ray + digital) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD The Black Book of Father Denis (Music Box Films) Deep in Vogue (FilmRise) Honest Thief (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) Koko-Di Koko Da (Dark Sky Pictures) My Darling Vivian (Element Twenty Two) The Commons: Episode 2 (Sundance Now, Dec. 10) Gold Digger (Sundance Now, Dec. 10) Riviera: Season 3, Episode 6 (Sundance Now, Dec. 10) Noise in the Middle (Terror Films, Dec. 11) The Prom (Netflix, Dec. 11) Queen Japan (Altered Innocence, Dec. 11) The Stand-In (Wrigley Media, Dec. 11) The Twentieth Century (Oscilloscope Laboratories, Dec. 11) The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Dec. 11) How to Start a Revolution (Sundance Now, Dec. 14) Road to Revolution (Sundance Now, Dec. 14)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.