This week sees the release of many interesting films, but really, it’s all about The Iron Giant. Finally out on Blu-Ray two years after Brad Bird said he wanted it on Blu-Ray, fans will be rewarded with the film newly scanned and restored (under Bird’s supervision), two cuts of the film (the theatrical and the Signature Edition, the latter featuring two new scenes), all of the non-filler DVD bonus features, and a new nearly hourlong documentary and two new featurettes. And it’s selling for a whopping $10 right now (unless, of course, you desire the pleasures of burning money without all the smoke, in which case there’s the Ultimate Collector’s Edition, which adds a book, an Iron Giant figurine, and some postcards for $65 more). That’s the highlight of this week’s catalog titles, although Shout! Factory’s spiffed-up special edition of Road House is much appreciated, as is Criterion’s upgrade of Carol Reed’s Night Train to Munich, Paramount’s release of two Peanuts films, and Film Movement’s restoration of Lee Tamahori’s Once Were Warriors (and I’m sure somebody somewhere is thanking Sony for bringing two Karate Kid sequels to U.S. Blu-Ray*). And then there’s the suspiciously well-timed releases of the Gene Wilder comedies Haunted Honeymoon and The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (and I’m sure somebody somewhere has become a Kino truther because of this). The new titles also bring interest to the proceedings, with Whit Stillman’s latest treasure trove of bon mots, Love & Friendship, coming to Blu-Ray with admittedly very few features (hopefully Criterion gets their mitts on it so that every Stillman film has an audio commentary) and Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash making the most of the format with its gorgeous locations, cinematography, and leads. We also get the release of the year’s second-best O.J. Simpson project (albeit the one with the highest quantity of Sarah Paulson), a collection of disturbing fairy tales adapted by the director of Gomorrah, and Money Monster, the Mad City of its day.
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (Kino)
All the Way (HBO)
American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson (Fox)
A Bigger Splash (Fox)
A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Paramount)
Daddy Long Legs (Kino)
The Darkness (Universal)
Equals (Lionsgate)
The Flash: The Complete Second Season (Warner)
Haunted Honeymoon (Kino)
The Iron Giant (Warner)
The Karate Kid: Part III (Sony)
Love & Friendship (Sony)
The Meddler (Sony)
Money Monster (Sony)
My Bodyguard (Kino)
The Next Karate Kid (Sony)
Night Train to Munich (Criterion)
Nina (Image)
Now You See Me 2 (Lionsgate)
Once Were Warriors (Film Movement)
Road House (Shout Factory)
Snoopy, Come Home (Paramount)
South Park: The Complete Nineteenth Season (Paramount)
Supernatural: The Complete Eleventh Season (Warner)
Tale of Tales (Shout Factory)
*I assume that someone is excited because it means that one of Walton Goggins’ early performances will finally be available in HD quality.