It’s New Release Tuesday! This week we’ve got a few brand new Oscar winners and nominees, Ernest Hemingway, M.C. Escher, Bill Murray as a cryin-on-the-inside kinda clown, and more.

ATLANTIC CROSSING (2020) (3 DISKS)

BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 (1940) (WARNER ARCHIVE)

CALM BEFORE (2021)

A husband and wife on the brink of divorce are trapped at a lake house on their anniversary and are forced to confront their demons, both real and imaginary. (DVD-R)

ESCHER, M.C.: JOURNEY TO INFINITY (2018) 

Tells the story of world famous Dutch graphic artist M.C Escher (1898-1972). Equal parts history, psychology, and psychedelia, Robin Lutz’s entertaining, eyeopening portrait gives us the man through his own words and images: diary musings, excerpts from lectures, correspondence and more (voiced by British actor Stephen Fry, Gosford Park), while Escher’s woodcuts, lithographs, and other printing techniques appear in both original and playfully altered form. Two of his sons, George (92) and Jan (80), reminisce about their parents while musician Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills & Nash) talks about Escher’s rediscovery in the 1970s. The film looks at Escher’s legacy: one can see tributes to his work in movies, in fiction, on posters, on tattoos, and elsewhere throughout our culture; indeed, few fine artists of the 20th century can lay claim to such popular appeal. (DVD)

FTA (1972)

In 1971, at the height of the Vietnam War, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland toured an anti-war comedy show across Southeast Asia. Despite being highly controversial, it was a huge success among stationed soldiers. Out of circulation and difficult to see for decades. (DVD)

GHOST WAITS (2020)

Tasked with renovating a neglected rental home, handyman Jack (MacLeod Andrews, They Look Like People, Doctor Sleep) quickly finds out why the tenants keep leaving in droves – this house is haunted. The ghost in question is Muriel (Natalie Walker), herself employed from beyond the veil to keep the home vacant. Against the odds, Jack and Muriel find they have a lot in common… pulse notwithstanding. Having found a kindred spirit in an otherwise lonely existence, they must fight for their newfound affection as pressure mounts for them each to fulfil their ‘cross-purposes’. (BLU-RAY)

HEMINGWAY (2021) (3 DISKS)

HOT SPOT (1990) 

From Dennis Hopper, the legendary director of Easy Rider, The Last Movie, Out of the Blue, Colors and Backtrack, comes this torrid and erotic neo-noir starring Don Johnson (Dead Bang), Virginia Madsen (Candyman) and Jennifer Connelly (Career Opportunities). Exploding in a series of suspenseful twists and passionate encounters, this ingenious film will keep you guessing until its final, shocking climax. Harry Maddox (Johnson) is a handsome drifter who is not above larceny to make ends meet. After staging a daring daylight robbery at a local bank, he receives an alibi from an unexpected ally: Dolly Harshaw (Madsen), a sexy and mysterious local woman who has her own plans for him. But when Harry falls for another beautiful woman (Connelly), he incurs Dolly’s wrath and finds himself caught in a maze of jealousy, betrayal and murder in which escape is impossible… and danger is the ultimate aphrodisiac. (DVD and BLU-RAY)

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021) 

FBI informant William O’Neal infiltrates the Illinois Black Panther Party and is tasked with keeping tabs on their charismatic leader, Chairman Fred Hampton. A career thief, O’Neal revels in the danger of manipulating both his comrades and his handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell. Hampton’s political prowess grows just as he’s falling in love with fellow revolutionary Deborah Johnson. Meanwhile, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul. Will he align with the forces of good? Or subdue Hampton and The Panthers by any means, as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover commands? (BLU-RAY)

LAST MARRIED COUPLE IN AMERICA (1980) (BLU-RAY)

Screen legends Natalie Wood (Love with the Proper Stranger) and George Segal (Where’s Poppa?) star in The Last Married Couple in America a contemporary comedy that addresses the divorce epidemic that has been sweeping the country head on. Mari (Wood) and Jeff (Segal) are a happily married couple in Beverly Hills whose recently divorced friends make them feel like they are missing out by remaining married. To add to their woes, Jeff’s best friend (Richard Benjamin, Scavenger Hunt) fixes him up with dates while Mari s best friend (Valerie Harper, Blame It on Rio) is chasing Jeff all while a plumber turned X-rated star (Dom DeLuise, Haunted Honeymoon) wants to use their house for a wild party. Written by John Herman Shaner (Goin South), directed by Gilbert Cates (I Never Sang for My Father) and co-starring Bob Dishy (Lovers and Other Strangers) and Priscilla Barnes (TV’s Three’s Company). (BLU-RAY)

LITTLE THINGS (2021) 

Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe “Deke” Deacon (Washington) is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence‐gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city. Leading the hunt, L.A. Sheriff Department Sergeant JimBaxter (Malik), impressed with Deke’s cop instincts, unofficially engages his help. But as they track the killer, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke’s past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case. (DVD and BLU-RAY)

PAINKILLER (2021) 

QUICK CHANGE (1990) (WARNER ARCHIVE) 

SWEET LIBERTY (1986)

It’s Alan Alda (Betsy’s Wedding) versus Hollywood in the writer/director/star’s hilarious comedy about moviemaking in a small town. College history professor Michael Burgess’ (Alda) life and town are turned upside down when a film company arrives to make a movie out of his best-selling book on the American Revolution. To Professor Burgess’ horror, the leading man (Michael Caine, Blame It on Rio) is a philandering adventurer, the movie’s director (Saul Rubinek, Nixon) wants to turn his historic novel into a youth-oriented lusty romp and the female star (Michelle Pfeiffer, Married to the Mob) is so obsessed by Alda’s heroine, he begins to fall in love with the zany actress. Brimming with charm and gentle humor and co-starring Bob Hoskins (Hollywoodland), Lois Chiles (Death on the Nile), Linda Thorson (Tara King of TV’s The Avengers) and Lillian Gish (The Whales of August), Sweet Liberty is a delightful comic confection!  (BLU-RAY)

TRACES: SEASON 1 (2019) (2 DISKS)