A24 holding back The Whale‘s home-video release until two days after the Oscars was either going to be a victory lap or a walk of shame, and unfortunately it turned out to be the former. I’m not the first person here to tell you that The Whale blows (har har), it’s a maudlin, cluelessly hateful parody of itself whose only surprise is its incompetence as a tearjerker. It’s not worth it even for rubbernecking, the only people who should see it are budding Hong Chau completists. Why bother when this week also brings the 4K debut of (at least) two Solute favorites, Streets of Fire and THE CORE. I thought Brendan Fraser did pretty good considering the untenable assignment he was given, but he gave a much worse performance than any given slumming character actor in THE CORE.

Alice, Darling (Lionsgate)
Confessions of a Nazi Spy (Warner Archive Collection)
The Core 4K (Paramount)
Flamingo Road (Warner Archive Collection)
Last Hurrah for Chivalry (Criterion)
Leonor Will Never Die (Music Box)
Love Letters (Kino)
A Man Called Otto (Sony)
Neptune’s Daughter (Warner Archive Collection)
The Prince and the Showgirl (Warner Archive Collection)
The Prince of Egypt 4K (Universal)
Razorback (Shout Factory)
Secret Defense (Cohen)
Streets of Fire 4K (Shout Factory)
The Whale (Lionsgate)