The week of Nov. 8 sees titles such as The Power of the Dog and Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm arrive on disc, while Amsterdam makes its way to digital retailers.
The Academy Award-winning film The Power of the Dog arrives on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Nov. 8 from the Criterion Collection. The Western psychological drama adapted from Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name takes place in the desolate plains of 1920s Montana. After a sensitive widow (Kirsten Dunst) and her enigmatic, fiercely loving son (Kodi Smit-Mcphee) move in with her gentle new husband (Jesse Plemons), a tense battle of wills plays out between them and his brutish brother (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose frightening volatility conceals a secret torment, and whose capacity for tenderness, once reawakened, may offer him redemption or destruction. Following a limited international theatrical run, the film was released on Netflix in December 2021 and went on to earn 12 Oscar nominations, winning Best Director for veteran filmmaker Jane Campion. The disc release includes a 4K digital master of the film approved by Campion. The Blu-ray and 4K versions offer a Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Nov. 8 releases the new direct-to-video movie based on “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm, on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and for digital purchase. This is the second film adaptation of the 2000-15 series from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, following 2007’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters that earned $5.5 million at the box office. The film finds the Aqua Teens — the brainy Frylock, the mouthy Master Shake, the lovable Meatwad, and perverted neighbor Carl — splitting up but then getting back together to fight the corporate overlord Amazin, led by tech mogul, Neil (voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) and his trusty scientist sidekick, Elmer (Paul Walter Hauser). Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm stars Carey Means as Frylock, Dana Snyder as Master Shake, and Willis as Meatwad. The film also stars Natasha Rothwell and Tim Robinson. The movie was written and directed by Willis and Maiellaro, and produced by Williams Street Productions. Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm will be available for streaming on HBO Max and will air on Adult Swim in 2023.
Lionsgate releases the psychological thriller Devil’s Workshop on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Nov. 8. Emile Hirsch stars as a struggling actor who is desperate for a role as a demonologist. He contacts an expert in devil lore (Radha Mitchell) who forces him to confront his troubling past and perform dark rituals.
Lionsgate releases the psychological thriller Dig on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Nov. 8. Dig stars Thomas Jane as a man trying to piece together a life shattered by a road rage incident that killed his wife and left his teen daughter (played by Harlow Jane, Thomas Jane’s real-life daughter), deaf and resentful of him. Still hoping to mend things with her a year later, he accepts a contract for a high-paying demolition job in the desolate New Mexico sprawl outside Las Cruces. But when they arrive on site, they are taken hostage by a dangerous couple (Emile Hirsch and Liana Liberato) who will stop at nothing to retrieve what lies beneath the property, forcing the father and daughter to work together to outsmart their captors and survive the grueling night.
The supernatural action thriller Shadow Master will be released via on demand and digital Nov. 8 from Saban Films. In the film, slain during a ferocious fight and reborn with supernatural powers, one man stands between demonic forces bent on hastening the apocalypse and a ragtag group of apartment dwellers protecting their children from certain peril. Directed by Pearry Teo, the film is a mix of haunted house chills and martial arts.
Disney-owned 20th Century Studios’ and New Regency’s Amsterdam, written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker David O. Russell, is getting an early digital release nearly a month ahead of its disc debut. Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution releases the epic crime murder-mystery for digital purchase and rent on all major digital platforms on Nov. 11. Amsterdam is about three close friends in the 1930s who witness a murder, are framed for it, and then uncover a shocking plot to turn the United States into a fascist country. Equal parts fact and fiction, the film stars Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Rami Malek, Robert Niro, John David Washington, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant and Zoe Saldana. It arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray Disc and DVD Dec. 6.
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Nov. 8 releases Casablanca with a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray combo pack and a 4K digital release for its 80th anniversary. Starring Academy Award winners Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, the 1942 film has been called “the best Hollywood movie of all time” by famed film critic Leonard Maltin. The winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz from a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch. The screenplay is based on “Everybody Comes to Rick’s,” an unproduced stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. The film was produced by Hal B. Wallis. Casablanca was voted the screen’s greatest love story and the No. 3 film of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI). The classic wartime romance also took Oscars for Michael Curtiz (Directing); Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch (Writing – Screenplay) and the studio (Outstanding Motion Picture). In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected the film as one of the first for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” For its 4K Ultra HD debut, the film was restored and remastered from a 2022 4K 16bit film scan of the best-surviving nitrate film elements. The 4K-scanned digital images went through an extensive digital restoration process to clean and repair the picture for an unprecedented and pristine ultra-high-resolution presentation. The restored images were then graded in high dynamic range, providing the highest fidelity in image contrast and detail retention, by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. The original theatrical mono audio has also been newly restored, providing a richer and broader frequency response than previously possible.
Lionsgate Nov. 8 releases the 1988 comedy Earth Girls Are Easy on Blu-ray through its Vestron Video Collector’s Series specialty label. The film stars Geena Davis as a dimwitted valley-girl manicurist whose sunbathing session is interrupted when a spaceship crashes into her pool. She soon befriends the occupants of the vessel — three furry aliens played by Jeff Goldblum, Damon Wayans and Jim Carrey — and gives them a makeover to appear human. With their new disguises, the extraterrestrial trio embarks on a wild weekend filled with partying, police pursuits and interplanetary love. Davis and Goldblum, who were married at the time, had previously starred together in The Fly. The film also represents early roles for Carrey and Wayans, who later appear together on the sketch comedy series “In Living Color” starting in 1990.
The 1979 Clint Eastwood classic Escape From Alcatraz arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from Kino Lorber. The film finds Eastwood and director Don Siegel reteaming for their fifth and final joint venture. Escape From Alcatraz tells the fascinating story of the only three men ever to escape from the notorious maximum-security prison at Alcatraz, an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. In 29 years, the seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary, which housed Al Capone and “Birdman” Robert Stroud, was only broken once — by three men never heard of again. Eastwood portrays Frank Morris, the cunning bank robber who masterminded the elaborately detailed and, as far as anyone knows, ultimately successful, escape. Patrick McGoohan portrays the suspicious warden. Filmed on location in Alcatraz, this reenactment of a true story also co-stars Fred Ward, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau, Paul Benjamin and Larry Hankin. The screenplay is by Richard Tuggle, based on a book by J. Campbell Bruce. The two-disc set features a new HDR/Dolby Vision Master by Paramount Pictures from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, as well as a standard Blu-ray Disc edition of the film.
The Korean horror fantasy sequel The Witch 2: The Other One will be released on digital, DVD and Blu-ray Disc Nov. 8 from Well Go USA Entertainment. In this sequel to the popular Korean sci-fi action thriller The Witch: Part 1 — Subversion, the story moves away from a confined secret lab and out into the real world. After a mysterious girl emerges as the sole survivor of a bloody raid on the research facility behind the top-secret Witch Program, she is rescued by a pair of civilians who soon realize the girl is both very powerful and in very grave danger. However, as the assassins tasked with locating and silencing the girl move ever closer, the lives of everyone around her fall under increasingly great peril.
NCircle Entertainment and Distribution Solutions will release Atomic Cartoons’ The Last Kids on Earth — Book One on digital and DVD Nov. 8. Based on the No. 1 New York Times best-selling children’s book line, the animated series launches on DVD with a 66-minute special episode that won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program. The release includes the bonus episode “Happy Apocalypse to You.” The hugely popular tween series features the voices of Nick Wolfhard (“Smiling Friends,” “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic”), Montse Hernandez (“Jane the Virgin,” “Elena of Avalor’), Garland Whitt (Training Day, Save the Last Dance), as well as a celebrity cast that includes Mark Hamill, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Campbell and Catherine O’Hara. In the series, ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, 13-year-old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house. He’s armed it to the teeth with catapults, crossbows and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of snacks scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hordes of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine-Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So he builds a team: his genius best friend Quint; the reformed middle school bully Dirk; lone wolf survivor June Del Toro; and Jack’s loyal pet monster Rover. With their help, Jack plans to slay Blarg and achieve the ultimate feat of apocalyptic success. A 10-episode Book Two DVD and a 10-episode Book Three DVD will be released in the first quarter of 2023.
