New streaming, on-demand highlights for November 6-12, 2023
We're hitting that time of year where studios bulk up their release schedules to accommodate.holiday shopping. This is most evident in this week's Blu-ray and DVD releases where there are numerous new-to-4K releases, a massive box set, and some enduring classics.
The digital side of things is a strange mix of indie and genre films. You should own the bizzare (but fantastic) biopic "Weird" The Al Yankovic" story. None of it is particularly true and there's something fantastic in that. Make your own history, You might have missed the GameStop inspired "Dumb Money" in theaters. It's certainy worth your time. Elsewhere you'll find two westerns that couldn't be more different in tone in "Butcher's Crossing" and "Showdown at the Grand." I always intended on watching "She Came to Me." Now I can.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Studio Synopsis: Daniel Radcliffe is “Weird Al” Yankovic in the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician and sex symbol of our time.
Dumb Money
Studio Synopsis: Dumb Money is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall videogame store) into the world's hottest company. In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich – until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.
Butcher's Crossing
Studio Synopsis: Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage (1996, Best Actor, "Leaving Las Vegas") stars in a gritty story about buffalo hunters in the Old West. Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) has left Harvard to find adventure. He teams up with Miller (Cage), a mysterious frontiersman offering an unprecedented number of buffalo pelts in a secluded valley. Their crew must survive an arduous journey where the harsh elements will test everyone’s resolve, leaving their sanity on a knife’s edge.
Scrapper
Studio Synopsis: This vibrant and inventive father-daughter comedy follows a resourceful 12-year-old who secretly lives alone in a London flat until her estranged father unexpectedly returns.
She Came to Me
Studio Synopsis: A composer with an unfinished opera, a spiritually conflicted psychiatrist, a free-spirited tugboat captain collide on an unpredictable voyage into uncharted waters in writer-director Rebecca Miller’s enchanting romantic comedy.
Showdown at the Grand
Studio Synopsis: A proud movie theater honors action star turned recluse “Claude Luc Hallyday” with a retrospective of his illustrious career but when real estate developers show up to ruin the party, the two new friends must fight off corporate greed in the name of art. Starring Terrence Howard, John Savage, Amanda Righetti and Dolph Lundgren.
Shooting Stars
Studio Synopsis: Based on the book by four-time NBA Champion LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Friday Night Lights," "Shooting Stars" tells the inspirational origin story of global basketball icon LeBron James. The film reveals how young LeBron (Marquis "Mookie" Cook) and his childhood friends-Lil Dru (Caleb McLaughlin, "Stranger Things"), Willie McGee (Avery S. Wills, Jr., "Swagger") and Sian Cotton (Khalil Everage, "Cobra Kai")-teamed up to became the top high school team in America, kickstarting LeBron's storied career as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls
Studio Synopsis: Onyx the Fortuitous is struggling to find purpose with his soul-devouring side gig when he receives a coveted invitation to the mansion of his idol, Bartok the Great. Here, he joins Bartok and his mysterious delegation to raise the spirit of an ancient demon for a once-in-a-lifetime ritual.
Lion-Girl
Studio Synopsis: Meteorites striking earth carry a mysterious ray that turns humans into horrific “beasts” called 'ANOROC' who hunt and kill human beings for their life force. Will the superhero and Yakuza fighter named LION-GIRL rise up and save the world?
Blu-ray & DVD Highlights
Gran Turismo
Studio Synopsis: Gran Turismo is based on the unbelievable true story of a team of unlikely underdogs – a struggling working-class gamer (Archie Madekwe), a failed former racecar driver (David Harbour), and an idealistic motorsport executive (Orlando Bloom). Together, they risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world. Gran Turismo is an inspiring, thrilling, and action-packed story that proves that nothing is impossible when you're fueled from within.
The Miracle Club
Studio Synopsis: Set in 1967, "The Miracle Club" follows the story of three generations of close friends, Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates), and Dolly (Agnes O'Casey) of Ballygar, outside Dublin, who win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes, that place of miracles that draws millions of visitors each year. Just before their trip, their old friend Chrissie (Laura Linney) arrives in Ballygar for her mother's funeral. The women set out on the journey that they hope will change their lives, with Chrissie, a skeptical traveler, joining in place of her mother. Along the way, old wounds are reopened, forcing the women to confront their pasts even as they travel in search of a miracle.
Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection
Studio Synopsis: The limited edition individually numbered 54-Disc Blu-ray collection features one of a kind packaging that houses every series and film featuring Jean-Luc Picard. Along with over 35 hours of special features, films and series include "Star Trek: The Next Generation – Seasons 1-7," "Star Trek: Picard – Seasons 1-3," "Star Trek: Generations," "Star Trek: First Contact," "Star Trek: Nemesis," and "Star Trek: Insurrection." This limited set also includes an exclusive edition of "The Wisdom of Picard" featuring brand new artwork and quotes, along with a one-of-a-kind deck of playing cards, a magnet sheet featuring all of Captain Picard's badges and four custom Chateau Picard drink coasters.
War Horse One
Studio Synopsis: When a SEAL team helicopter is downed during a rescue mission after the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, the lone surviving operator must evade hostile insurgents while guiding his one remaining charge-a traumatized child-to safety.
Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar
Studio Synopsis: Originally tapped as a potential successor to Bruce Lee, Hong Kong martial-arts phenom Jackie Chan soon established his own unique screen persona, blending goofball slapstick and bone-crunching kung fu into intricate feats of supercharged athleticism. Tracing his rise from breakout star to full-fledged auteur, these six unabashedly silly, unstoppably entertaining early-career highlights find Chan refining the lovably mischievous image that would make him a global icon, while also assuming greater creative control over his projects—first as his own martial-arts choreographer, and later as a writer-director who set a thrilling new standard for daredevil action comedy.
The Buster Keaton Collection: Three Ages & Our Hospitality
Our Hospitality: In 1810, the respective heads of the Canfield and McKay families try to settle an old score, but by killing each other they merely perpetuate the old feud. Twenty years later, the last surviving McKay (Keaton) comes back home by train to claim his estate. Unknown to him, his seatmate, played by Natalie Talmadge, is the Canfield daughter. Unaware that her father and brothers know who Buster is and plan to kill him, she invites him to supper at the family home. Buster escapes, and while the men are out looking for him he finds a parson to marry him and Natalie and bury the hatchet for good. Among the many gags is the train ride that zig-zags around obstacles, a wild chase through the mountains and a hair-raising rescue at a high waterfall.
Three Ages: Inspired by D. W. Griffith’s Intolerance, Buster made this hilarious comedy in which two young men compete for the same girl in different epochs: the stone age, ancient Rome, and America during prohibition.
American Grafitti 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis: Showcasing then-Hollywood-newcomers Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard, director George Lucas weaves together the stories of a disparate group of teenagers as they struggle with adolescent rites of passage in 1962.
The Guns of Navarone 4K UHD Steelbook
Studio Synopsis: Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven are Allied saboteurs assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers. Blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman (High Noon, The Bridge on the River Kwai) was determined to re-establish both his name and credibility after spending most of the 50's working in anonymity. To accomplish this, he decided to bring Alistair MacLean's best-selling novel, "The Guns of Navarone", to the screen.
Scrooged 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis: High-spirited high jinks on Christmas Eve put Frank Cross (Bill Murray) in a ghostly time warp in this hilarious take-off of Charles Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol." Cross, who has made the meteoric rise from the depths of the mailroom to TV network president, is mean, nasty, uncaring, unforgiving and has a sadistic sense of humor - perfect qualities for a modern-day Scrooge. Before the night is over, he’ll be visited by a maniacal New York cab driver from the past, a present-day fairy who’s into pratfalls and, finally, a ghoulish, seven-foot headless messenger from the future.
Trading Places 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis: What happens when you combine the comic genius of Eddie Murphy with Dan Aykroyd and director John Landis? You get a timeless comedy classic laced with sidesplitting, satiric humor. Murphy stars as a small-time con artist who gets a chance to switch lives with Aykroyd's big-time stock market maven. But their reversal of fortunes is just a cruel joke perpetrated by two bored mega-rich brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) as part of an idle bet. When the truth comes out ... the consequences are sheer comedy gold!
Violent Night 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis:When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus (David Harbour, "Black Widow," "Stranger Things" series) is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.
Witness 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis: When a young Amish boy inadvertently witnesses a brutal murder while en route to Philadelphia with his recently widowed mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis), Detective John Book (Harrison Ford) is assigned to the case. With the perpetrators desperate to silence the sole witness, Book and his two wards are forced to hide out in the heart of the Amish community. As passions between Book and Rachel ignite, the killers close in, culminating in a dramatic, life-and-death clash of cultures that will change the lives of those involved forever.