by Malakie Peters

New Release Tuesday! This week we’ve got brand new PTA, classics from Carpenter, De Palma, and Walter Hill, John Wayne in 4K, an unsung Italian 3D Indiana Jones knockoff, and way more.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: FLOOD IN THE DESERT (2022) (DVD)

This episode of American Experience covers the March 1928 St. Francis Dam collapse and its aftermath, which included a flood that claimed the lives of more than 400 people.

ANIMANIACS: SEASON ONE (2020) (DVD)

They’re back! The Warner brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and the Warner sister Dot, have a great time wreaking havoc and mayhem in the lives of everyone they meet. After returning to their beloved home, the Warner Bros. water tower, the siblings waste no time in causing chaos and comic confusion as they run loose through the studio, turning the world into their personal playground. Joining Yakko, Wakko and Dot, fan-favorite characters Pinky and the Brain also return to continue their quest for world domination.

BELLE (2022) (BD/DVD)

Suzu is a shy high school student living in a rural village. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. But when she enters “U”, a massive virtual world, she escapes into her online persona as Belle, a globally-beloved singer.

BMF: SEASON ONE (2021) (DVD)

Detroit brothers Demetrius and Terry Flenory become powerful figures in a multi-state drug and money laundering organization.

BOON (2022) (DVD)

Mercenary Nick Boon (Neal McDonough) is trying to atone for his life as an enforcer for a ruthless syndicate. Running from his past, Boon moves to a remote area in the pacific northwest where he meets a struggling widow (Christiane Seidel) and her son. When he finds the pair living in fear of a criminal kingpin (Tommy Flanagan), Boon realizes the only way to protect them is to do what he does best: Kill.

THE CURSED (2021) (DVD)

In the late 1800s, a man arrives in a remote country village to investigate an attack by a wild animal but discovers a much deeper and sinister force that has the manor and its townspeople in its grip.

DE SADE (1969) (DVD)

A fictionalized biography of the world’s most celebrated pervert, who was infamous for his erotic behavior – going from woman to woman, seeking a love that eluded him.

DEATH VALLEY (2021) (DVD)

Two hired guns, commissioned to rescue an imprisoned scientist from a secret facility, are hunted down by a terrifying creature of unknown origin.\

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1941) (BLU-RAY)

Dr. Jekyll allows his dark side to run wild when he drinks a potion that turns him into the evil Mr. Hyde.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) (4K + BLU-RAY)

In 1997, a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union is concluding, and the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a giant maximum security prison. When Air Force One is hijacked and crashes into the island, the president (Donald Pleasence) is taken hostage by a group of inmates. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a former Special Forces soldier turned criminal, is recruited to retrieve the president in exchange for his own freedom.

EXTREME PREJUDICE (1987) (BLU-RAY)

A border-town Texas Ranger gets caught between a drug-dealing ex-friend and a major’s commandos.

FEMME FATALE (2002) (BLU-RAY)

Laure (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), a member of a crime ring, lifts an extravagant set of jewels from a model at a red carpet event. But instead of splitting the loot with her partners, Laure flees. While running from the crooks she betrayed, she comes across Lily (also Romijn-Stamos), a woman nearly identical to herself. When Lily kills herself, Laure assumes her identity and starts life anew. But paparazzo Nicolas (Antonio Banderas) has been tracking her, and may reveal all her dark secrets.

THE FUNERAL (1984) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

In the wake of her father’s sudden passing, a successful actor (Nobuko Miyamoto) and her lascivious husband (Tsutomu Yamazaki) leave Tokyo and return to her family home to oversee a traditional funeral. Over the course of three days of mourning that bring illicit escapades in the woods, a surprisingly materialistic priest (Chishu Ryu), and cinema’s most epic sandwich handoff, the tensions between public propriety and private hypocrisy are laid bare.

GAGARINE (2020) (DVD)

Teenager Youri (Alséni Bathily) has dreams of becoming an astronaut but must first battle to save his housing project home from demolition.

GIRLS NITE OUT (1982) (BLU-RAY)

The students of DeWitt University are preparing themselves for a night of fun and frolics in the form of an all-night scavenger hunt. Little do they know that they are in fact the ones being hunted… An unhinged assailant, disguised in the college’s goofy bear mascot outfit is stalking the campus hellbent on carving up coeds.

HELP (2021) (DVD)

A young caregiver at a Liverpool care home forms a bond with a challenging patient struggling with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. However, the horrifying circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak throws everything into disarray.

INFINITE (2021) (BLU-RAY)

For Evan McCauley (Mark Wahlberg), skills he has never learned and memories of places he has never visited haunt his daily life. Self-medicated and on the brink of a mental breakdown, a secret group that call themselves “Infinites” come to his rescue, revealing to him that his memories are real – but they are from multiple past lives. The Infinites bring Evan into their extraordinary world, where a gifted few are given the ability to be reborn with their memories and knowledge accumulated over centuries. With critical secrets buried in his past, Evan must work with the Infinites to unlock the answers in his memories in a race against time to save humanity from one of their own (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who seeks to destroy it.

KURT VONNEGUT: UNSTUCK IN TIME (2021) (DVD)

Filmmaker Robert B. Weide examines the extraordinary life of author Kurt Vonnegut, as well as his 25-year friendship with the celebrated writer.

LICORICE PIZZA (2021) (BD/DVD)

Licorice Pizza is the story of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) and Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) growing up, running around, and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973. Written and directed by heralded filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, this potent coming-of-age drama tracks the treacherous navigation of first love.

MAMBA (1930) (BLU-RAY)

A rich man in an East African settlement foments a rebellion to avoid serving in the British army in World War I.

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962) (4K + BLU-RAY)

Paramount Presents brings one of the greatest movies of the Western genre to 4K UHD with HDR! Pioneering Oscar-winning director John Ford brings together an all-star cast that features (for the first time together) John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, alongside Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, John Carradine, and Lee Van Cleef. Questions arise when Senator Stoddard (Stewart) attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon (Wayne) in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). As the territory’s safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.

MASTERPIECE: RIDLEY ROAD (2021) (DVD)

Masterpiece presents a riveting four-episode drama set in this colorful but tumultuous time on Ridley Road, based on Jo Bloom’s acclaimed novel. Inspired by true events, Ridley Road stars newcomer Agnes O’Casey as Vivien Epstein, a young Jewish hairdresser who fits right into London’s mod scene, while secretly infiltrating the British neo-Nazi hierarchy on behalf of Jewish antifascists, Rory Kinnear as Colin Jordan, the real-life leader of Britain’s post-World War II Nazi movement, and Tom Varey as Jack, Vivien’s true love.

MY NAME IS LOPEZ (2021) (DVD)

Born in Dallas to undocumented Mexican immigrants, Trinidad Trini Lopez III fights his way out of the ghetto with a guitar to become a true American rock ‘n’ roll legend and one of the first Latino rock stars.

OF ANIMALS AND MEN (2019) (DVD)

Jan and Antonina Zabinski, the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo in Poland, saved nearly 300 Jews during the Second World War. Directed by Lukas Czajka, Of Animals and Men is a poignant documentary that is an extraordinary true story about the humanitarian spirit – as exemplified by two people who, with enormous personal risk to themselves, faced the most challenging circumstances with bravery and decency. 

PANAMA (2022) (DVD)

When the U.S. is on the brink of invading Panama, Becker (Cole Hauser), a former marine, is hired by a CIA operative (Mel Gibson) for a top secret arms trade mission. Alone and among the most dangerous arms dealers, Becker learns the true nature of political power.

THE REVOLUTION GENERATION (2021) (DVD)

Exploring how the millennial generation came to be, the world that the people in it grew up in, and the impact they have in the world.

SLASHER: FLESH AND BLOOD: SEASON 1 (2016) (DVD)

A wealthy, dysfunctional family gathers for a reunion on a secluded island only to learn they’ll be pitted against one another in a cruel game of life and death, all while being stalked by a mysterious masked killer.

SON OF SAMSON AKA MACISTE NELLA VALLE DEI RE (1960) (BLU-RAY) 

During the Persian rule over Egypt, the mighty Maciste (bodybuilder Mark Forest) travels to the city of Tanis where the evil Queen Smedes (Folies Bergère dancer Chelo Alonso) rules with an iron fist and spreads misery across the land. Possessing legendary brawn and courage, Maciste leads a mass revolt against the queen and her tyrannical reign of terror. 

SUCCESSION: SEASON 3 (2021) (DVD) 

Ambushed by his rebellious son Kendall at the end of Season Two, Logan Roy begins Season Three in a perilous position, scrambling to secure familial, political, and financial alliances. Tensions rise as a bitter corporate battle threatens to turn into a family civil war.

SUNDOWN (2021) (BLU-RAY) 

When an emergency disrupts their vacation in Mexico, simmering tensions erupt between scions of a wealthy British family in this suspenseful jolt where nothing is quite as it seems.

TOP SECRET (1984) (BLU-RAY) 

Popular and dashing American singer Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) travels to East Germany to perform in a music festival. When he loses his heart to the gorgeous Hillary Flammond (Lucy Gutteridge), he finds himself caught up in an underground resistance movement. Rivers joins forces with Agent Cedric (Omar Sharif) and Flammond to attempt the rescue of her father, Dr. Paul (Michael Gough), from the Germans, who have captured the scientist in hopes of coercing him into building a new naval mine.

TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS (1983) (BLU-RAY) 

When a set of mystical artifacts falls into the hands of a diabolical cult leader with plans for world domination, it’s up to the devil-may-care J.T. Striker (Tony Anthony) to reclaim them. Together with a ragtag team of mercenaries, Striker must battle terrifying natural—and supernatural—enemies within a fortress-like temple where the stakes may be nothing less than the balance between good and evil.

THE UNMAKING OF A COLLEGE (2021) (DVD)

The Unmaking of a College tells the story of the attempted takedown of one of America’s most iconoclastic colleges, Hampshire College, how a group of determined students succeeded to save it, and by the same token, save their rights to an education that taught them to think critically and to expect a seat at the table. With the help of the students who filmed their 75-day sit-in (the longest in American college history), director Amy Goldstein builds a thriller-like story weaving interviews with professors, whistleblowers, students, and alumni including filmmaker Ken Burns. A raucous ode to democracy in action, the documentary reflects more broadly on a crisis in higher education and asks: what is the purpose of a college education? Can the storied tradition of the liberal arts — and the nation it has created—be saved?

UPPERCASE PRINT (2020) (DVD) 

The story of Mugur Calinescu, a Romanian teenager who wrote graffiti messages of protest against the regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and was subsequently apprehended, interrogated, and ultimately crushed by the secret police.

VIOLENT CITY AKA THE FAMILY (1970) (BLU-RAY, DVD) 

In a city set to explode, one man has just lit the fuse! After a bloody double-cross leaves him for dead, professional hit man Jeff (Charles Bronson) tracks the shooter and his beautiful mistress (Jill Ireland) to New Orleans. But when Jeff takes both revenge and the woman, he finds himself blackmailed by a powerful crime boss (Telly Savalas) who wants the fiercely independent gunman to join his organization. Jeff refuses, and is hunted through an unforgiving city where love is like a loaded gun and debts of vengeance are paid in bullets. 

WITHOUT WARNING (1980) (BLU-RAY) 

It’s an alien. It preys on human fear. It feeds on human flesh. It comes with flying, bloodsucking jellyfish. And it’s here! A group of teenagers, a grizzled hunter, and a crazy war veteran wage a life-and-death battle against the insidious invader. Be warned, there can be only one survivor. The alien—or Earth!

WYRMWOOD APOCALYPSE (2021) (DVD) 

Rhys lives in the zombie-infested wasteland. His job is to capture civilians & deliver them to what’s left of the military. When Rhys captures a half-zombie-half-human named Grace, he comes to believe she is the key to ending the apocalypse.

YEAR OF THE JELLYFISH (1984) (BLU-RAY) 

Set in Saint Tropez during mid-summer, this darkly biting coming-of-age story is a tale of obsession and sexual desire. A young woman (Valerie Kaprisky) vacations in an upscale beach resort with her mother, where it becomes clear that a layer of secrets and jealousy lay beneath the sundrenched paradise.

 

MORE NEW ADDITIONS

HAPPY AS LAZZARO (2018) (DVD) 

Lazzaro, a good-hearted young peasant, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination, form a life-altering bond when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him orchestrate his own kidnapping.

AWAY (2016) (DVD) 

A story set in the north English seaside town of Blackpool and centered on two kindred spirits who form an unlikely friendship.

AFTER THE DARK (2013) (DVD) 

A philosophy teacher tells his students that they must choose 10 people from among their group to take shelter during a nuclear holocaust and reboot the human race.

BRIDE OF SCARECROW (2018) (DVD) 

A woman inherits a farmhouse in rural Wales. She soon learns the property’s dark secret: every 20 years, an evil scarecrow visits the home to claim a new bride.

ECHOES OF WAR (2015) (DVD) 

A Civil War veteran takes matters into his own hands when neighboring ranchers steal animals from his family’s traps.

JACKSON BOLT (2018) (DVD) 

When a kick-boxing detective is betrayed by his partner and framed for murder, he realizes he must clear his name and fight for his wife and his life.

A KING’S STORY (1965) (DVD) 

Narrated by Orson Welles, this documentary tells King Edward VIII’s story through interviews and his own participation in the film’s production. After a scandal involving his controversial relationship with American divorcée Wallis Simpson, he became the first British monarch in centuries to abdicate his throne. His reign, which lasted less than a year, was tainted by his paramour’s suspected Nazi sympathies. He attempts to tell his side of the story in this sad tale of a fallen aristocrat.

LIFEFORM (2019) (DVD) 

When his wife suffers a brain trauma, a man uses experimental stem cells to revive her, accidentally turning her into a deadly shape-shifting monster.

MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT (2016) (DVD) 

When the clock strikes midnight, demons, cannibals, ghosts and monsters swarm the world.

ORIGINAL GANGSTER (2020) (DVD)

The stoic chronicles of Castor, orphaned as a child, forced to survive in the wild and his colorful journey through the criminal underworld of London.

OVERCOMING YOUR FEARS: DWAN BENT-TWYFORD ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS (2016) (DVD)

You probably have a lot of questions. How can I overcome my fears? How can I develop a millionaire mindset? How can I turn $10 into $10,000 in 30 days or less? And, most importantly, who is Dwan Bent-Twyford? Well, you’re in luck, because Dwan Bent-Twyford answers your questions in this 23 disc set! 

SCIENCE OF THE SOUL: THE STORY OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY (2007) (DVD)

The definitive documentary history of the Transpersonal Psychology movement. Includes interviews with many of the field’s luminaries such as co-founder of the field, Stanislav Grof, as well as Charles T. Tart, Frances Vaughan, James Fadiman, Miles Vich and many others. Sounds like we’re not going to have to ask Dwan Bent-Twyford about this one!

SEPTEMBERS OF SHIRAZ (2015) (DVD)

After creating a prosperous life in Iran, a Jewish family may be forced to abandon everything as a revolution looms on the horizon.

SPIDER IN THE WEB (2019) (DVD)

Adereth is an aging spy who’s on one last mission to redeem his life and career before the clock runs out. But when the lines of trust begin to blur, he soon realizes that the hunter may become the hunted in a world of mirrors and deceit.

THE TAKE DOWN (2017) / ENTITY (2015) (DVD)

Double feature time! In The Take Down, when a hit man from London is given back his life and an opportunity to save his daughter, it becomes a race against time to kill or be killed. Then, in Entity, a special agent teams up with the heiress of a Japanese crime family to stop a centuries-old curse.

GOLD THROUGH THE FIRE (1987) (DVD)

A 17-year-old Russian Christian escapes from religious persecution in the Soviet Union and comes to America. After enrolling in a public high school, he endures a different sort of harassment for his belief in God and the Bible.

JINX’D (2000) (DVD)

Ryan is a struggling comedian on the AM Radio circuit. One night, due to bad directions, he ends up performing his risque brand of hip-hop comedy for a group of backwards white supremacists. The ensuing controversy elevates him to stardom.

ROAD TO HONG KONG (1962) (BLU-RAY)

With their vaudeville act going nowhere, Harry Turner (Bing Crosby) and Chester Babcock (Bob Hope) decide to become con artists — except Chester is having a few problems with his memory, which doesn’t exactly help. Luckily, Turner and Chester find a miracle drug in Tibet that cures Chester. When he memorizes a secret formula for space travel with his improved mind, however, a whole host of other problems crop up, accompanied by an alluring spy, Diane (Joan Collins).

HAWAIIAN VOLCANOES: A FORCE FOR CREATION (1989) (DVD)

Experience the unchained fury of Hawaii’s volcanoes – the fiery power that pushed the islands upward from the deep beneath the sea. See Kilauea Volcano spewing fountains of lava over a thousand feet in the air. You’ll go into the ocean to observe molten lava, burning beneath the sea – increasing the size of the island. See a rare eruption of Mauna Loa and watch as scientists take the temperature of the volcano at the edge of a fiery lava flow. Discover how the islands were formed and life began in Hawaii. And experience the saga of Pele through chants and dance honoring the fire deity who resides at Kilauea.