This week’s new arrivals include a great new Tom Hardy movie, a Stephen King TV series, a Preston Sturges classic, a samurai drama from the director of Candyman, a new Scooby-Doo movie, a documentary about Showgirls, and much more. It’s all available via our pickup window or our rent-by-mail program. 

CAPONE (2020)

Anyone who enjoys seeing Tom Hardy throw himself into a chameleonic performance that no one else would or could do is going to want to see him mumble, grunt and drool his way through the role of Al Capone, mentally and physically deteriorating after being released from prison to die in a Florida mansion. Linda Cardellini is also excellent as Capone’s long-suffering wife and caretaker, trying to find some peace at some point in her life. Several years after young writer/director Josh Trank (Chronicle) blew his shot with Hollywood studios (disowning his own Fantastic Four and losing a Star Wars movie) he makes a surprising indie comeback with this sad and boldly original deconstruction of gangster glamour.

(DVD and Blu-Ray)

CASTLE ROCK: SEASON 2

The J.J. Abrams-produced show that weaves together various Stephen King characters and settings into new stories. This season centers around future favorite-author-stalker/hobbler Annie Wilkes (of Misery), played by Lizzy Kaplan. Elsie Fisher of Eighth Grade plays Annie’s half sister, who she’s raising. Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) and Tim Robbins are also in the cast.

(DVD)

CROWNIES: SEASON 1 (PAL CODE 4)

This 2011 Australian legal drama only lasted for one season, but Marta Dusseldorp’s character, Senior Crown Prosecutor Janet King, was spun off into her own more popular series (which we already have all three seasons of).

(PAL Code 4 DVD – requires special player or software)

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: SEASON 10

Veteran cringe-inducer Larry David returns to, among other things, open a coffee shop next to one he got banned from for complaining.

(DVD)

DOLITTLE (2020) 

Robert Downey Jr. talks to the animals and they talk back with the voices of Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Craig Robinson, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez and Marion Cotillard. That’s like five Oscar winners right there, plus a couple nominees, and I didn’t even mention Antonio Banderas and Jim Broadbent are there playing humans. Come to think of it, director Stephen Gaghan won one too when he wrote Syriana for Steven Soderbergh! Anyway, they aren’t expected to win any new ones for this one. But that’s okay.

(DVD)

GRANTCHESTER: SEASON 5

“Its 1957, and its as if the world of Grantchester has returned to an idyllic state, a metaphorical Garden of Eden. Will believes that everyone can get close to their own Eden through good works and a proactive attitude. But as Geordie knows, every Eden has its snakes. Will’s faith will be tested as he and Geordie are reminded that there’s darkness lurking in their corner of Cambridgeshire.”

(DVD)

KILL AND KILL AGAIN (1981)

Martial arts champ Steve Chase (James Ryan) puts together a team to rescue a Nobel-Prize-winning chemist from demented billionaire Marduk. As tends to happen on these sorts of missions, they end up in an arena fighting to the death. Scorpion’s release of this sequel to the South African b-movie favorite Kill or Be Killed includes an audio interview with Ryan, on-camera interview with writer John Crowther and isolated music track.

(Blu-Ray)

LADY EVE (1941) (CRITERION)

Barbara Stanwyck has her eye on Henry Fonda’s fortune in Preston Sturges’ all-time great screwball comedy. Criterion’s edition includes a new 4K restoration, conversation among Sturges’ biographer/son Tom Sturges, Peter Bogdanovich, James L. Brooks, Ron Shelton, Susan King, Leonard Maltin and Kenneth Turan, video essay by critic David Cairns, 1942 radio adaptation featuring Stanwyck and Ray Milland, 2001 commentary from film professor Marian Keane, audio of a song from an unproduced stage musical adaptation, and more.

(DVD and Blu-Ray)

OLYMPIC DREAMS (2019) 

After competing in the Winter Olympics for the first time, a cross-country skier (Alexi Pappas) unexpectedly falls for a volunteer dentist (Nick Kroll) she meets in the Athletes Village. Written by Kroll, Pappas and director Jeremy Teicher. Interestingly, this is the first movie ever filmed on location in the actual Athletes Village.

(DVD)

RESISTANCE (2020) 

The true story of young Marcel Marceau growing up in Nazi-occupied Europe, setting aside his plays and Charlie Chaplin impersonations to help the French resistance using his acting skills. Jesse Eisenberg plays Marceau, with Ed Harris as General Patton! From director Jonathan Jakubowicz (Secuestro Express, Hands of Stone).

(DVD)

THE ROOM (2019) 

No, not the notorious Tommy Wiseau opus, but the Shudder original horror film about a couple (Olga Kurylenko and Kevin Janssens) who buy an old house and discover it has a secret room that can make wishes come true. According to Bloody Disgusting, it “finds new ways to make this fable-like narrative have power. It’s also admirable to see just how far they push this room’s abilities. They live each night like they’re in a totally different world and it’s very entertaining to see them exploit their good fortune before everything takes a turn for the worse.”

(DVD)

SAMURAI MARATHON (2019) 

Director Bernard Rose (Paperhouse, Immortal Beloved) returns with a Japanese-language film set in feudal Japan and co-written with the writer of The Happiness of the Katakuris and Hara-Kiri. Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin) stars as a young ninja spy who enters the Lord’s grueling cross-country marathon to try to save an alliance. Like Rose’s horror masterpiece Candyman, this has a score by Philip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi, Mishima, A Brief History of Time).

(DVD)

SCOOB! (2020)

This computer animated Mystery Inc. origin story would’ve been the first theatrically released Scooby-Doo movie in 16 years if not for… you know. All this. So you’ll have to enjoy it on DVD. It features the voices of Will Forte, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron and Amanda Seyfried as Shaggy, Velma, Fred and Daphne, respectively. They also work in other Hanna-Barbera characters like Captain Caveman (Tracy Morgan), Dynomutt (Ken Jeong) and Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg). Randy Myers of the San Jose Mercury News calls it, “a goofy and bright surprise – an imaginative reboot that respects its shaggy dog TV roots but is smart enough to add dashes, not shovelfuls, of wry pop-culture and movie references.”

(DVD)

63 UP (PAL/CODE 2)

For those who can view it, we got an import of the latest installment in the Up documentary series that has been revisiting the same group of people every seven years since they were seven years old. “The participants in Michael Apted’s ongoing social experiment, which began with Seven Up! in 1964 and has become increasingly fascinating, have reached the age where they can see the approaching exit sign in their lives,” writes Peter Howell of the Toronto Star.

(PAL Code 2 DVD – requires special player or software)

A TECHNICOLOR DREAM (2008) 

A documentary about the underground movement of the ‘60s leading up to The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, a legendary 1967 “musical happening” at London’s Alexandra Palace. Pink Floyd was the headliner (playing at 5 am as the sun came up), but there were two main stages and a smaller one for poets, jugglers and dancers, and underground films were projected onto sheets taped to the scaffolding. John Lennon was in the audience watching a performance art piece by Yoko Ono, who he’d only met once before.

(DVD)

TORMENT (1986)

A serial killer preying on women in San Francisco goes after the girlfriend of the detective trying to catch him. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times compared this little-known ‘80s indie to the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, calling it an “ingenious little suspense thriller that deftly upturns the cliches of the lady-in-distress genre.” New 2K master and new interview with composer Christopher Young.

(Blu-Ray)

THE WHISTLERS (2019) 

A Romanian police officer working for the mob prepares for a prison break and heist by going to the Canary Islands to learn a secret ancestral whistling language. From writer/director Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 East of Bucharest, Police, Adjective).

(DVD)

WORLD IN HIS ARMS (1952)

A sea captain (Gregory Peck) falls for a countess (Ann Blyth) who gets kidnapped, and races against his rival (Anthony Quinn) to rescue her at sea in this classic adventure from director Raoul Walsh (The Thief of Bagdad). With audio commentary by critic Nick Pinkerton.

(Blu-Ray)

YOU DON’T NOMI (2019) 

“A chorus of film critics and fervent devotees explore the complicated afterlife of 1995’s biggest film flop, Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls, from disastrous release to cult adoration and extraordinary redemption.” According to IMDb yes, this documentary does feature Seattle’s own David Schmader, who we fondly remember performing his live Showgirls commentary right here in the store. We moved the shelves, the place was packed, he was funny and insightful, and mercifully fast forwarded through the most upsetting scene. At the very least, expect him to have some good insights into the film’s unique joys and whether or not they were an accident.

(DVD)

 

Arriving later this week:

Brooklyn Nine Nine Season 6 (2019)

18 episodes of the popular work place comedy/cop show from the producers of The Office and Parks and Recreation. After being cancelled by Fox, they were resurrected on NBC with this season.

(DVD)

Caravans (1978)

A young diplomat (Michael Sarrazin) goes to a fictional Middle Eastern country to find a Senator’s missing daughter (Jennifer O’Neill) and convince her to leave the nomadic tribe of a revolutionary (Anthony Quinn). Co-starring Christopher Lee and Joseph Cotten and directed by James Fargo (The Enforcer, Every Which Way But Loose, Forced Vengeance). With commentary by film historian Evgueni Mlodik.

(DVD)

The Female Animal (1958)

Hedy Lamar plays a movie star saved from an on-set accident by a handsome extra (George Nader). She makes him the caretaker of her beach house, and ends up fighting over him with her daughter (Jane Powell) in a “campy and lusty battle for love.” Important note: Nader’s character is named “Chris Farley.” This disc from Kino Lorber’s box set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema II includes a commentary track by film historian David Del Valle.

(Blu-Ray)

The Price of Fear (1956)

A hit and run driver (Merle Oberon) frames someone else for her own crime, but a gangster (Warren Stevens) blackmails her into taking part in an intentional murder. From Kino Lorber’s box set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema II.

(Blu-Ray)

Thunder on the Hill (1951)

Claudette Colbert plays a nun racing against time to prove the innocence of a convicted murderess (Ann Blyth) headed to the electric chair in this moody mystery directed by Douglas Sirk (Imitation of Life). From Kino Lorber’s box set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema II.

(Blu-Ray)

Trade: Season 1 (2018)

Showtime’s documentary mini-series from the director of Cartel Land tells the personal stories of people affected by the opioid epidemic “from cartel-controlled Mexico to heartland America where addicts and law enforcement combat the cycles of drug abuse.”

(DVD)