By Bob Bloom The following titles are being released on Tuesday, July 30, unless otherwise noted:
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, July 30, unless otherwise noted:
The Intruder
Details: 2019, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, violence, terror, sexual situations, language, disturbing elements
The lowdown: Dennis Quaid goes all-in psycho in this thriller about a young couple who buy their dream house in the Napa Valley.
But when the seller, played by Quaid, continues to drop in and squeeze himself into their lives, the couple begins to suspect that he has a deeper motivation beyond a quick sell.
Most observant filmgoers can see where the moving is heading rather quickly.
The movie does cover familiar ground, but Quaid’s embracing of his over-the-top character keeps you intrigued and watching.
The majority of critics panned the movie, giving it a tepid 31 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com, but many also commented on the impact of Quaid’s performance.
Technical aspects: 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English, English audio description track, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include deleted and alternate scenes, an alternate ending, a gag reel, a commentary track and a behind-the-scenes, making of featurette.
UglyDolls: Sing-Along Edition (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2019, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, thematic elements, action
The lowdown: An animated feature aimed at kids that embraces weird, different, strange and beauty.
Uglyville resident Moxy and her friends discover Perfection, a town where dolls are seen through a strict model of attractiveness. There, they must confront what it means to be different.
They also tussle with their longing to be loved. But, as you’d expect in such an allegory, the UglyDolls finally discover that you don’t have to be perfect to be special.
The vocal talents include Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Blake Shelton, Janelle Monae, Pitbull, Wanda Sykes and Gabriel Iglesias. The songs are bouncy and succeed because of the behind-the-camera voices.
The movie, though, is rather simplistic, and sometimes plays more like an infomercial than a feature film.
Critics gave the movie little love — a 28 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Dolby digital DVS; English SDH and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital and 2.0 Dolby digital DVS; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental offerings include a making of featurette, behind-the-scenes fun with cast members and a sing-along tease.
Missing Link (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Release date: July 23
Details: 2019, Fox Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, action, danger and mild crude humor
The lowdown: A fun animated feature that features the vocal talents of Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana and Zack Galifianakis.
Galifiankis is Mr. Link, an endangered species if there ever was one. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, is lonely and believes that the courageous and dashing explorer, Sir Lionel Frost (Jackman), can help him find others of his kind.
Also helping Mr. Link is the resourceful Adelina Fortnight (Saldana), who possesses the only map to the fabled and secret valley of Shangri-La, supposedly the home to Link’s distant relatives.
This is a kind and sweet feature about family and friendship that families can enjoy together.
Critics praised the movie, giving it an 89 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and 5.1 descriptive audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital and 5.1 descriptive audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a look at creating Mr. Link, a commentary track and a look at creating the movie’s final battle on an ice bridge.
Hail Satan?
Release date: July 23
Details: 2019, Magnolia Home Entertainment
Rated: R, nudity, language
The lowdown: With humor and tongue-in-cheek, this documentary looks at members of the media-savvy Satanic Temple, who organize a series of public actions designed to advocate for religious freedom.
The members of the group who created the plan, speak truth to power and offer a timely look at a misunderstood bunch of outsiders who have a laser-like focus on social and political justice that has created a movement for other religions around the world.
The movie is inspiring, funny and entertaining.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include additional scenes and interviews.
Quatermass II (Blu-ray)
Quatermass and the Pit (Blu-ray)
Details: 1957, 1967, Scream Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Two British science fiction thrillers written by Nigel Kneale and based on his acclaimed and popular 1955 BBC series come to Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory series.
In “Quatermass II,” Professor Quatermass is tasked with investigating a series of strange incidents that have been reported in a deserted area of England.
There, he finds a group of soldiers and government officials who appear to be under the mind control of aliens. Quatermass becomes more determined to solve the mystery and prevent whatever the aliens are planning after a friend of his is murdered by the beings.
He finally leads a mob of local workers to confront and defeat the extraterrestrials. When released in the United States, the movie was retitled “Enemy From Space.”
Ten years later, Quatermass returned in the form of Andrew Keir. Nigel Kneale again was the writer.
In this feature, workmen excavating for a new subway tunnel for the London Underground, uncover a strangely shaped skull. Also found, is a large, mysterious an impenetrable metal object.
The object is, at first, mistaken for an unexploded World War II German rocket.
Soon, Quatermass is called in to learns the true meaning of the skull and the object. He discovers it is an ancient evil linked to mankind’s evolution.
For its American release, the movie was retitled “Five Million Years to Earth.”
Both movies, “Quatermass II” in black and white and “Quatermass and the Pit” in color, are seminal, superior and intelligent science fiction features that make excellent viewing.
Technical aspects: “Quatermass II”: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture, English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles; “Quatermass and the Pit”: 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio stereo; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras on both films include commentary tracks and a “World of Hammer” episode; “Quatermass II” includes interviews with director Val Guest and Kneale, and “Quatermass and the Pit” include interviews with Julian Glover, Judith Kerr, Mark Gatiss, Joe Dante, Kim Newman and Marcus Hearn as well as alternate U.S. opening credits.
Bronco Billy (Blu-ray)
Release date: July 16
Details: 1980, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: PG
The lowdown: “Bronco Billy” was made during that late-1970s-early-1980s period when Clint Eastwood was trying to diversify and expand his acting choices and screen image.
This movie was made during the time when he costarred with an orangutan in “Every Which Way But Loose” and its sequel, “Any Which Way You Can” as well as his foray into country music with “Honkytonk Man.”
In “Bronco Billy,” Eastwood, who also directed, portrays the head of modern Wild West tent show, which has been having a hard time of late.
But things begin to look up when a snobbish young society woman, played by Sondra Locke, joins the ragtag troupe.
This is a whimsical tale about dreams and dreamers, costarring Scatman Crothers, Geoffrey Lewis, Bill McKinney and Sam Bottoms.
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 Internet dealers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio stereo; English SDH subtitles.
The Leopard Man (Blu-ray)
Details: 1943, Scream Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Jacques Tourneur directed this Val Lewton production about a series of savage murders and maulings.
The catalyst for the movie is an escaped leopard, which appears to be terrorizing a small New Mexico town and is being blamed for the tragedies.
Like other films produced by Lewton, “The Leopard Man” is more psychological thriller than outright horror. The main question is whether the leopard is actually the culprit.
The cast for this atmospheric mystery includes Dennis O’Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, James Bell and Margaret Landry. The movie’s opening sequence is an armchair-gripper. Unfortunately, the rest of the film fails to reach the heights of that opening.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a pair of commentary tracks, one of which is by filmmaker William Friedkin.
Footlight Parade (Blu-ray)
Release date: July 16
Details: 1933, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: James Cagney had made more than a dozen pictures for Warner Bros. — mostly playing tough guys and gangsters — before being cast in “Footlight Parade,” in which he sang and danced.
His footwork and vocals may have come as a surprise to many moviegoers of the era who may not have known that before coming to Hollywood, Cagney was a dancer in various shows and revues in New York.
In “Footlight Parade,” Cagney portrays Chester Kent, a producer who stages prologues for talkie picture theaters to keep his company solvent during hard times.
Of course, the spectacles he produces are mammoth productions, probably costing more than the movies being shown on screen. But, forget about that.
“Footlight Parade” is another of Busby Berkeley’s extravaganzas filled with Warner Bros. stock company regulars such as Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Frank McHugh, Hugh Herbert, Ruth Donnelly and Guy Kibbee.
The movie contains such well-known musical numbers as “By a Waterfall,” “Honeymoon Hotel” and “Shanghai Lil.”
The release is a made-on-demand Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection and can be ordered at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (4x3) full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a featurette about the movie, four cartoons and two vintage featurettes.
Lust for a Vampire (Blu-ray)
Details: 1971, Scream Factory
Rated: R, violence, sexual situations, nudity
The lowdown: By the early 1970s, Hammer decided to spice up its vampire movies with nubile young women and nudity.
To do so, they used the female vampire Carmila Karnstein as their new protagonist.
In “Lust for a Vampire,” Carmila is brought back to life through black magic performed by a mysterious man.
Carmila, wanting to quench her thirst for blood and favoring young women, enrolls at an exclusive girl’s school as young debutante Mircalla. There, she begins to feast on fellow students as well as a teacher.
The death toll begins to mount at the school and a nearby village before Carmila is destroyed — at least for now.
This Hammer production stars Yutte Stensgaard as Carmila-Mircalla and Ralph Bates. It was directed by Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include two commentary tracks and an interview with actress Mel Churcher.
Ash Is Purest White (Blu-ray)
Release date: July 16
Details: 2018, Cohen Film Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This Chinese feature is more melodrama than gangster movie.
It begins in 2001 in postindustrial Datong and follows a young woman in love with a local mobster.
During a fight between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect him and is sentenced to five years in prison for her actions.
Upon her release, she goes looking for her former boyfriend, but circumstances force her on a different path.
The movie offers a sad examination of what China has lost during its quest toward modernization.
The film is rather poetic and compassionate. The feature, directed by Jia Zhangke, is considered a masterpiece of Chinese cinema.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major bonus feature is a talk by Zhangke.
The Fate of Lee Khan (Blu-ray)
Release date: July 23
Details: 1973, Film Movement Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: An all-star female cast headlines this martial arts adventure from director King Hu.
Lee Khan is a powerful general for the oppressive Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. He gets his hands on the battle map of the Chinese rebel army, and resistance fighters and an all-girl gang corner him at the Spring Inn, where they fight to retrieve the map.
The movie stars Li Li-hua and Angela “Lady Kung Fu” Mao, who showcase their hand-to-hand prowess. The film also features lots of intrigue
The action sequences were choreographed by Sammo Hung.
Fans of the genre will not be disappointed with this action-packed release.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; Mandarin 5.1 surround audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include a discussion of “The Fate of King Hu” and an essay about Hu and the movie.
The Reptile (Blu-ray)
Details: 1966, Scream Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This supernatural thriller from Hammer Studios takes place in a remote Cornish village of Clagmoor Heath, where a deadly epidemic is claiming villagers, who are found foaming at the mouth and with wounds on their necks.
Harry Spalding and his bride, Valerie, travel to Clagmoor Heath after Harry’s brother becomes one of the victims of the “black death.”
Of course, the Spaldings are shunned by the villagers, none of whom will cooperate with Harry in solving the mystery.
Spalding’s investigation eventually leads to Dr. Franklyn (Noel Willman) and his strange daughter, Anna (Jacqueline Pearce).
The plot involves an ancient Malayan curse, a transformation into a deadly viper and an enormous fire.
This is a decent Hammer effort that is often overlooked among the studio’s output.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a commentary track, an interview with first assistant director William P. Cartlidge, a “Serpent’s Tale” documentary and a “World of Hammer” episode entitled “Wicked Women.”
Wildland: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Release date: July 16
Details: 2018, FilmRise
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: If you watch the nightly news, you probably have noticed the increase in frequency and intensity of wild fires in the western United States.
This documentary looks at one fire season and the men who risk their lives battling to contain and extinguish these blazing holocausts that have destroyed homes, properties and lives.
“Wildland,” originally titled “Young Men and Fire,” focuses on one firefighting crew. The movie is very personal, showing how these brave individuals cope with fear and inner demons, while also celebrating their loyalty and camaraderie.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, widescreen picture; English 5.1 surround audio; English SDH subtitles;
Don’t miss: Deleted scenes comprise the major bonus offerings.
The Best of Pete Smith Specialties Vol. 1 (DVD-R)
Release date: July 16
Details: 1936-48, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: For the most part, the movie experience in the 1930s and ’40s was a full-evening experience.
Most of the times, double features were presented, along with a newsreel and a short subject — a cartoon, comedy short, travelogue or a novelty, such as a “Pete Smith Specialty.”
This four-disc set features 75 of those delightful shorts, produced by Pete Smith for MGM. These had a comedic air about them, covering everything from animal antics, home-life advice, sports featurettes, quiz show panels and sometimes serious topics.
These shorts had such titles as “Now You See It,” “Dexterity,” “Equestrian Aerobatics,” “Poetry of Nature,” “Water Bugs,” “Cuban Rhythm” and “Spots Before Your Eyes.”
The set is a made-on-demand DVD-R from the Warner Archive Collection and can be ordered at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1.37:1 (4x3) full-screen picture; English Dolby digital monaural.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Ayiti Mon Amour (IndiePix Films)
Chain of Death (Cleopatra Entertainment)
Hail Mary (MVD Visual Entertainment)
Mountain Rest: Special Edition (Blu-ray) (FilmRise)
BoJack Horseman: Seasons 1 & 2 (Blu-ray) (Shout! Factory, July 31)
FOR KIDS
Butterbean’s Café (Nickelodeon-Paramount Home Entertainment)
Turbo: A Power Ranger’s Movie (Shout! Factory)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios-Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
Surviving Confession (Happy Sisyphus Productions)
Trial by Fire (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Whitney Cummings: Can I Touch It? (Netflix)
Madness in the Method (Cinedigm, Aug. 2)
David Jason’s Secret Service (Acorn TV, Aug. 5)
My Life Is Murder: Episodes 1 & 2 (Acorn TV, Aug. 5)
Neil Dudgeon’s Top Ten (Acorn TV, Aug. 5)
Seesaw (Acorn TV, Aug. 5)
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. My movie reviews also can be found at Rottentomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.