Week of October 17 Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD Releases
Welcome to ComingSoon.net’s October 17 Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD column! As you can see, we’ve added a video player at the top highlighting this week’s releases, and you can find more detailed write-ups of different titles below! You can click each highlighted title to purchase through Amazon!
New Movies on Blu-ray/DVD
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Sony and Marvel Studios’ web-slinging blockbuster reintroduced the character onscreen for a third time, and third time’s the charm as this is by far the most fun and exciting Spider-Man movie yet! Director Jon Watts seamlessly integrates Tom Holland’s high school sophomore Peter Parker not only into the MCU (thank you, Robert Downey Jr.!) but also into the real world. Unlike the Tobey Maguire films (which stayed true to the 1960’s comics) and the Andrew Garfield ones (that felt like a series of studio notes), Spider-Man: Homecoming feels utterly contemporary, from the diverse cast to the more adolescent personality of Peter, who still enjoys putting together LEGOs with his buddy, and needs his Aunt May to show him how to tie a tie. The Blu-ray should be an essential part of any Marvel Studios fan’s collection, with some great special features including a hilarious extension of Peter’s phone journal of his trip to Germany!
Girls Trip
With over $134 million at the box office, this wild comedy about friendship and sisterhood led by Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish proved to be one of the big sleeper hits of the year. The story of four friends going to a music festival in New Orleans to reconnect clearly struck a chord in audiences.
Batman vs Two-Face
Based on the 1960s Batman TV series, this new offering from Warner Bros. Animation is the fitting final role for Adam West before his death this past June. Burt Ward and Julie Newmar also reprise their roles of Robin and Catwoman, with William Shatner as Two-Face.
Shot Caller
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau makes a dramatic transformation from family man to hardened criminal after a DUI sends him down the rabbit hole of the American prison system. Even after he’s released he must orchestrate one last crime in order to truly redeem himself. Omari Hardwick, Lake Bell and Jon Bernthal co-star.
Red Christmas
This sure-to-be-controversial release stars ’80s horror legend Dee Wallace (The Howling, E.T., Cujo) as a jovial mom trying to protect her family after a deformed intruder breaks into her house. The Blu-ray from Artsploitation Films includes an interview with Dee Wallace, as well as a blooper reel, deleted scene and more.
Criterion Corner
Barry Lyndon
Perhaps the most overlooked film in Stanley Kubrick’s otherwise canonized filmography, Barry Lyndon failed with critics and audiences when it arrived in 1975. Since Kubrick’s death in 1999, the adaptation of Thackeray’s picaresque story of the title 18th century Irish gentleman rake (Ryan O’Neal) has gotten serious reappraisal, and now The Criterion Collection has put out an exquisite two-disc set featuring loads of new and archive bonus material, not to mention a stunning transfer of those lush shot-by-candlelight images. A new 35-minute documentary interviewing cast and crew about Kubrick’s methodology helps to temper some of the mythmaking that has surrounded the infamous perfectionist over the years, painting him as far more collaborative than has previously been noted.
Reissues
Rawhead Rex
One of Hellraiser creator Clive Barker’s early screenplays, this 1986 cult classic follows the title monster cutting a swath of destruction across the Irish countryside after an ancient seal is broken by a dumb farmer. The acting is above-average for a low-budget shocker like this, and the insane monster make-up has to be seen to be believed. A must for Barker completists! Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray is fully loaded with extras, including commentary by director George Pavlou as well as video interviews with crew and effects personnel, and comes in a sweet-looking slipcase.
Summer of Fear
Many fans have mourned the death of director Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream) since 2015. Those looking to honor the horror master, or simply to watch a fun and campy 1970’s TV movie, need look no further than Doppelganger Releasing’s new Blu-ray edition of Summer of Fear, Craven’s 1978 cult classic adaptation of the YA novel by Lois Duncan (I Know What You Did Last Summer). The Exorcist star Linda Blair plays a teenage horse enthusiast whose mysterious cousin (Lee Purcell) moves in after the death of her parents. Of course the cousin is secretly a witch, and begins quickly tearing the whole family apart. The disc includes a vintage commentary track by Craven, as well as a new video interview with Blair, who has fond memories of the film and Craven.
New On Digital HD
The Dark Tower (exclusive clip)
The long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King’s epic fantasy novel series The Dark Tower comes to Digital this week, and the King of Horror himself talks about the characters of Roland and Jake in this exclusive clip from the bonus features. Check it out below!
The Only Living Boy in New York (exclusive clip)
Also arriving on digital this week is the literary romance The Only Living Boy in New York, directed by The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Marc Webb. The film, which follows an upstart writer played by Callum Turner who navigates a relationship with his father’s mistress (Kate Beckinsale) uses its New York City backdrop to the fullest, as seen in this exclusive clip from the bonus features!
Annabelle: Creation
Also out on digital is this prequel to the 2014 prequel Annabelle, which manages to out-do its predecessor in both scares and character development, yet never lives up to the two The Conjuring movies it has spun off from.
Insecure: Season 2
With the series about the friendship between two modern black women having already been renewed for a third season, fans of actress/creator Issa Rae would do well to catch up with HBO’s Insecure: Season 2, now out on Digital.
TV on Blu-ray and DVD
Samurai Jack: The Complete Series Box Set
Warner Bros. and Adult Swim sent us the gorgeous new box set for this collection of Genndy Tartakovsky’s groundbreaking animated series Samurai Jack, which ran from 2001 to 2004 before concluding with a fifth and final season in 2017, concluding the story. The fifth season finds the title warrior now bearded and battle weary after fighting the demon Aku for fifty years (without aging). He regains his courage and honor when a female warrior sent to kill him reignites his ultimate mission to destroy Aku. The storybook visuals are as eye-popping as ever, but slightly older-skewing story (there’s more violence and intensity than the first four seasons) brings new depth to the character and the world. The Complete Series Blu-ray Box Set is a MUST OWN for all fans of the show and animation in general, and even comes with a beautiful metal lithograph!
American Gods: Season 1
Neil Gaiman’s epic bestseller came to the small screen in a big way this year as the Starz series adaptation took TTV fantasy to new heights. Ricky Whittle is tough and sexy as Shadow Moon, the ex-con who becomes the bodyguard of eccentric god Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). Over the course of the road trip he winds up getting embroiled in a war between old and new gods, which has bloody consequences for him, his loved ones and possibly humanity itself. The new American Gods Blu-ray from Lionsgate is the best way for fans to get new insight into the show, with a making of doc, commentary, and origins of both the old and new gods!
Vampirina Vol. 1
Parents looking for a fun way to get their younger kids in the Halloween spirit should check out Disney’s DVD collection of the Disney Junior show Vampirina, about an adorable little vampire girl who moves from Transylvania to Pennsylvania to make friends, music videos and more. The disc includes four episodes of the show.
