While many have decided to forgo physical releases and stick to digital, I’m here to share another month of fantastic home video releases. Check out the 4K UHD releases and Blu-ray recommendations found below. All of these titles should be available digitally and while there are fewer and fewer places to buy physical movies (Target and Best Buy seem to be cutting back even more these days), a physical purchase is still the highest quality you can watch at home, and you’ll always maintain ownership of your discs.
On 4K UHD:
Moonage Daydream
I can’t imagine anyone playing David Bowie in a movie. We’ve seen Hollywood create movies for Elton John and Freddie Mercury, but David Bowie is someone else entirely. When he was on this Earth, his presence sent shock waves through space and time. That’s ultimately the feeling Brett Morgan takes with his documentary on Bowie, Moonage Daydream. The documentary uses never-before-seen footage of Bowie throughout his career and tries to make an otherworldly abstraction of his life. While it touches upon many different aspects of Bowie’s career, there’s not too much of a throughline for it all. Moonage Daydream, as a piece of entertainment, isn’t all that revelatory. What it does do is offer David Bowie and a collection of performances, in beautiful 4K UHD. I actually saw Moonage Daydream at the local IMAX theater so this footage has been mastered at an extremely high resolution, make no mistake, you’ve never seen Bowie like this before. That’s ultimately why I recommend this documentary. While I don’t think I’ll be watching it from beginning to end all that often, some fantastic moments in the documentary make it well worth checking out.
Moonage Daydream is now available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Criterion
The Exorcist
Now available honoring the 50th anniversary of The Exorcist and launching ahead of the new Exorcist legacy sequel, The Exorcist: Believer this new 4K UHD release from Warner Bros. represents the first time that one of the greatest horror movies of all time has been available in 4K for home video release. I remember always being hesitant to watch The Exorcist given the reputation it has developed over the years and while it isn’t the scariest movie ever (I’d point to quite a few others), it does have some truly memorable performances. It’s hard to imagine that young Linda Blair was up to the task of portraying Regan while she suffered from possession. This new restoration of the movie looks great and while many purists debate over the proper color timing of the movie, this is how director William Friedkin wanted the film to look before he passed away earlier this year. If you’ve never seen it, this is a great opportunity to watch one of the most legendary horror movies of all time.
The Exorcist is now available on 4K UHD from Warner Bros.
Three Days of the Condor
When Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out, the directors of the movie (the Russo Bros.) said that the movie was directly influenced by Three Days of the Condor. That’s even to the point of casting Robert Redford in one of the most prominent roles in the movie. Now having seen the movie, that makes perfect sense. In Three Days of the Condor, Redford plays special agent Condor, whose contributions to the CIA include reading documents and breaking codes. He’s not a field agent and he’s never gotten into any big messes. Until one day when the shell business he works for gets wiped out. He was supposed to be there and murdered as well, but now he’s on the run. He’s desperate to get to safety and get pulled out of the field, but he doesn’t know who in the CIA he can trust. Funny enough, Swedish legend Max Von Sydow appears in both Exorcist and Three Days of the Condor and he’s great in each. There’s also a peculiar romance in this espionage movie with Redford being paired with Faye Dunaway. While I don’t think this is the type of movie that really benefits from the 4K format, it’s definitely the best the movie has ever looked.
Three Days of the Condor is now available on 4K UHD from Kino Lorber
New Podcast
Launched a new podcast today with a discussion on the WGA Strike, Taylor Swift Concert Film, and TIFF wrap-up.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
One of the best-animated movies of the year comes home in a stunning package. I continue to be a big fan of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and thought the 4K UHD release of this is demo-worthy on a high-end entertainment system.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Entertainment
On Blu-ray:
Past Lives
Even though Past Lives came out all the way in January to raves from Sundance, I believe that audiences still need to seek this one out. I purchased the digital release, but it’s now available on Blu-ray as well.
Past Lives is available on Blu-ray from Lionsgate Films