New streaming, on-demand highlights January 22-28, 2024
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — I've reached the halfway point of my Sundance 2024 experience. I’ve watched 11 feature films and 5 shorts and hope to add at least another 4 features before week’s end. It’s been a good year. I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve seen, and the “Love Lies Bleeding” screening was unforgettable. The energy in the theater was amazing,
But we’re here to talk about digital releases for the week. Leading the pack is “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” a film that had some fun moments but needed a tighter edit. We also have Neon’s “Ferrari” film starring Adam Driver. We also have the animated features “Migration” and “Wish.” There’s also a terrible horror film about a swimming pool with magical properties. You also have a pair action films in “Bad Hombres” and “Your Lucky Day.”
“Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One,” and the first seasons of ”Lawmen: Bass Reeves” and “Special Ops: Lioness” lead the Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week. But don’t overlook the catalog titles.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Studio Synopsis:As Arthur Curry confronts the responsibilities of being 'King of the Seven Seas,' a long-buried ancient power is unleashed. After witnessing the full effect of these dark forces, Aquaman must forge an uneasy alliance with an old enemy, and embark on a treacherous journey to protect his family, his kingdom, and the world from irreversible devastation.
Also Available On: Blu-ray, DVD March 12, 2024
Bad Hombres
Studio Synopsis:Desperate to provide for his family, undocumented immigrant Cesar (Diego Tinoco) is hired alongside day-laborer Alfonso (Hemky Madera) to work for Donnie (Luke Hemsworth), a brute who is also a psychopathic criminal. Now finding themselves entangled in the aftermath of a botched drug deal, Cesar and Alfonso must band together to survive. Luckily, Alfonso has a criminal past of his own that might be what he and Cesar need to make it out alive.
Also Available On: Blu-ray, DVD March 12, 2024
Ferrari
Studio Synopsis:It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers' passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.
Also Available On: Blu-ray, DVD March 12, 2024
Migration
Studio Synopsis:The Mallard family is in a bit of rut. While dad Mack is content to keep his family safe paddling around their New England pond forever, mom Pam is eager to shake things up and show their kids--teen son Dax and duckling daughter Gwen--the whole wide world. After a migrating duck family alights on their pond with thrilling tales of far-flung places, Pam persuades Mack to embark on a family trip, via New York City, to tropical Jamaica. As the Mallards make their way South for the winter, their well-laid plans quickly go awry. The experience will inspire them to expand their horizons, open themselves up to new friends and accomplish more than they ever thought possible, while teaching them more about each other--and themselves--than they ever imagined
Also Available On: Blu-ray, DVD February 27, 2024
Night Swim
Studio Synopsis:The producers of "M3GAN" high dive into the deep end of horror with the supernatural thriller, "Night Swim." Wyatt Russell ("The Falcon and the Winter Soldier") stars as a former major league baseball player, forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his wife (Oscar nominee Kerry Condon) and their two children. The new home comes complete with a backyard swimming pool, but a deep secret surfaces and unleashes a malevolent force that will drag the family into the inescapable depths of terror.
Wish
Studio Synopsis:Walt Disney Animation Studios' "Wish" is a captivating, animated musical-comedy about the magical kingdom of Rosas, where Asha, a sharp-witted idealist, makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force-a little ball of boundless energy called 'Star'. Together, Asha and Star confront a most formidable foe-the ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico-to save her community and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen
Also Available On: Blu-ray, DVD March 12, 2024
Your Lucky Day
Studio Synopsis:After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.
Also Available On: Blu-ray, DVD
Blu-ray & DVD Highlights
Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978
Studio Synopsis: In the revolutionary first decade of her filmmaking career, Chantal Akerman devoted herself to nothing less than the total re-sculpting of cinematic time and space. Journeying between Europe and New York City, Akerman forged a highly personal style that fuses avant-garde influences with deeply human expressions of alienation, desire, and displacement—themes that she would explore in a series of increasingly ambitious shorts, documentaries, and features, including the towering "Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles." With immersive rhythms that render the most minute details momentous, these landmarks of twentieth-century art continue to reveal new ways of experiencing cinema and framing reality.
Includes: "Saute ma ville," "L'enfant aimé, ou Je joue à être une femme mariée," "La chambre," "Hotel Monterey," "Le 15/8," "Je tu il elle," "Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles," "News from Home," "ans Les rendez-vous d'Anna"
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One 4K UHD Steelbook
Studio Synopsis:Death is coming. Worse than death: oblivion. Not just for our Earth, but for everyone, everywhere, in every universe! Against this ultimate destruction, the mysterious Monitor has gathered the greatest team of Super Heroes ever assembled. But what can the combined might of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and hundreds of Super Heroes from multiple Earths even do to save all of reality from an unstoppable antimatter armageddon?!
Lawmen: Bass Reeves
Studio Synopsis:From Executive Producers Taylor Sheridan and David Oyelowo comes the untold story of the most legendary lawman in the Old West: Bass Reeves. "Lawmen: Bass Reeves," follows the journey of Reeves (Oyelowo) and his rise from enslavement to law enforcement as the first Black U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi. Despite arresting over 3,000 outlaws during the course of his career, the weight of the badge was heavy, and he wrestled with its moral and spiritual cost to his beloved family.
Special Ops: Lioness: Season One
Studio Synopsis: "Special Ops: Lioness," inspired by an actual U.S. military program, follows the life of Joe (Zoe Saldaña) while she attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA's spear in the war on terror. The Lioness Program, overseen by Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman) and Donald Westfield (Michael Kelly), enlists an aggressive Marine raider named Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) to operate undercover alongside Joe among the power brokers of State terrorism in the CIA's efforts to thwart the next 9/11.
Wolf Pack
Studio Synopsis:While seeking answers about his father’s death, a tactically trained physician infiltrates a mercenary group and uncovers an international conspiracy.
The Sea Shall Not Have Them & Albert R.N.: Two British Wartime Classics Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Studio Synopsis: Two gripping and suspenseful WWII dramas directed by Lewis Gilbert ("Alife," "You Only Live Twice," "The Spy Who Loved Me")! In "The Sea Shall Not Have Them," Lewis Gilbert’s memorable and gripping WWII saga, four Allied men struggle to survive in a lifeboat on the North Sea after their plane is shot down. One of the men carries secret documents that can save London from Nazi destruction. In a daring race against time, will their rescuers save them before Nazi U-boats, stormy seas, exposure, and enemy-mined waters kill them?
In the other World War II drama based on true events, a group of British POWs suspects that there is a German spy in its midst after several escape attempts are foiled. Deftly directed by Lewis Gilbert and supported by Jack Asher’s moody cinematography, "Albert R.N." stands beside paragons of the genre such as "Stalag 17" and "The Great Escape."