This week on DVD, we’ve got a comedy sequel, a holiday-themed horror comedy, and the winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, plus a little-seen western and a few choice releases from the Criterion Collection. Read on for details.
This Certified Fresh period thriller from Germany centers on a holocaust survivor who returns home to her husband after undergoing reconstructive surgery; he doesn’t recognize her, and she aims to find out whether or not he betrayed her to the Nazis. This is one of those rare Criterion Collection releases of contemporary films, and it comes with a making-of doc, a conversation between the director and star, and an interview with the cinematographer, plus more.
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This Certified Fresh Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film comes from Hungary and tells the story of a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz who discovers the body of his young son among the dead and attempts to secure him a proper burial. Special features include a commentary track, deleted scene, and a Q&A with director László Nemes, star Géza Röhrig, and cinematographer Mátyás Erdély.
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Toni Collette, Adam Scott, Allison Tolman, and David Koechner star in a holiday horror/comedy about a Christmas spirit who bedevils anyone who refuses to participate in holiday cheer. Its solid selection of extras includes a five-part making-of featurette, alternate ending, gag reel, deleted and extended scenes, and more.
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Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor star in this western about a woman who seeks help from a former lover to defend herself from a gang of bandits. No bonus features are listed for this release, though.
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Ice Cube and Kevin Hart star in this sequel to the buddy cop comedy about a hard-nosed detective who must put up with his rookie cop future brother-in-law to take down a crime lord in Miami. The release comes with a wealth of special features, including a seven-part making-of featurette, a look at crafting the video game sequence in the film, deleted scenes, outtakes, and much more.
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And lastly, we’ve got two more Criterion Collection releases, the first of which is David Lean’s classic romantic drama about two married people who meet on a train and begin a doomed affair. Available for the first time on Blu-ray, it comes with a short making-of doc from 2000, a TV documentary on Lean’s career, and more.
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The final Criterion release this week is a collection of Robert Drew’s documentary films on John F. Kennedy, covering his campaign for the presidency and his time in the White House. Assembled here are four films, including 1960’s
Primary, 1961’s
Adventures on the New Frontier, 1962’s
Crisis, and 1964’s 12-minute short
Faces of November, plus a shorter alternate cut of the first film, a documentary on Drew himself, outtakes from
Crisis, and a lot more.
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