New to streaming and digital on demand August 6-13, 2023
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Any day that includes the words "Spider-Verse" makes for a very good month. That's only a slight exaggeration -- if it’s an exaggeration at all. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is transcendent cinema that has and will continue to influence and change mainstream animation and open the door for more inventive live-action films as well.
I've included an additional eight options of films available to rent or buy. I'm particularly intrigued by this mix of horror, foreign, documentary, action, and drama. There truly isn’t enough time in the day to watch everything. I’m going to try anyway.
If you’re a collectable fan who still loves physical media, you’ll want to keep scrolling. I’ve included the best of this week’s Blu-ray and DVD releases as well.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Studio Synopsis:After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn's full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.
Genre: Action, Animation
Also Available On: 4K, Blu-ray & DVD on September 5, 2023
Night of the Assassin
Studio Synopsis:After a deadly, long-dormant health condition surfaces during a mission, Joseon’s most lethal assassin goes into hiding to seek a cure without revealing his identity. But upon witnessing a ruthless campaign of terror against local villagers, the region’s deadliest killer comes out of retirement in order to exact his own brutal brand of vigilante justice.
Genre:Action,Foreign
Also Available On: Blu-ray & DVD
Scarlet
Studio Synopsis:Shortly after World War I, veteran Raphaël (Raphaël Thiéry) returns home from the frontlines to find himself a widower, and father to an infant daughter. Raised by her father in rural Normandy, the child Juliette (Juliette Jouan) grows into a lonely young girl who is passionate about singing and music and dreams of greater possibilities. She seeks refuge in the nearby woods, where she meets a witch who promises scarlet sails will one day take her away from her village. Reckoning with her future and swept away by a rakish young pilot (Louis Garrel) who literally falls from the sky, Juliette never stops believing in the witch’s prophecy. Tracing Juliette’s journey throughout the twenty years of great invention between the world wars, Scarlet delicately weaves together music and fantasy, history and folklore, realist drama and ethereal romance, to craft a timeless story of a young woman's emancipation.
Genre: Drama
Also Available On: Blu-ray & DVD
Aloners
Studio Synopsis:Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion. When one day she's tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire (Jung Da-eun), her icy armor is threatened. At the same time, she must navigate an incessantly ingratiating new neighbor, and increasingly urgent phone calls from her father, leaving Jina teetering on the edge of an existential crisis, forcing her to confront why she has isolated herself all these years.
Genre: Drama,Foreign
Also Available On: DVD
Dampyr
Studio Synopsis: Based on the popular comic book series, "Dampyr" follows Harlan Draka, a con artist. Haunted by nightmares, Harlan Draka wanders through the war-torn Balkan countryside, making money out of ridding superstitious villagers of imaginary monsters. But after being hired by soldiers who are under attack by actual vampires, Harlan discovers the truth: he's a Dampyr, half-human and half-vampire. While trying to stop a Master of the Night and his undead army, Harlan will have to learn to manage his newfound powers and uncover his origins.
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
Seire
Studio Synopsis:In Korean folk traditions, "seire" is the twenty-one days after a baby is born in which they're uniquely vulnerable to bad luck, curses - even evil spirits. Many superstitions surround these first three weeks in a baby's life, and new mother Hae-mi carefully follows every one of them. Father Woo-jin is reluctantly willing to play along, but when he attends an ex-girlfriend's funeral, he unwittingly opens the door to to dark supernatural dangers. Plagued by terrible nightmares, the skeptical Woo-jin gradually begins to understand the seire custom, as he is forced to unravel the mystery of what is haunting him and his family.
Genre: Drama, Horror
Also Available On: DVD
Sorry, We're Closed
Studio Synopsis:In the summer of 2020, when restaurants are doubly hit hard by Covid-19 and the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, Chef Elizabeth Falkner sets out across the country to check in with her renowned chef and restaurateur colleagues to find out how they are coping with the impossible task of keeping their doors open.The film explores how chefs pivoted, trying to stay afloat through new take-out menus and pop-up grocery stores. Innovations abounded and yet the cracks in the system loomed large. What if all of our ‘go-to’ places were gone? What if we were permanently told, “Sorry, We’re Closed”?
Genre: Documentary
Summoning the Spirit
Studio Synopsis: "Summoning the Spirtit"follows Carla (Krystal Millie Valdes) and Dean (Ernesto Reyes, “American Gods”) as they decide to escape the hustle of the big city, purchasing a home in the remote forest. They have big plans for their new quiet life, only to find something much more sinister. The couple quickly realize that they are on the land of a cult, and the leader claims a telepathic connection to a legendary flesh-eating beast deep in the woods surrounding them. Carla and Dean are forced to uncover the terrifying truth of the cult’s prophecy.
Genre: Horror
Also Available On: DVD
The Youtube Effect
Studio Synopsis:The Feature Documentary from Director, Alex Winter explores the ascension and acceleration of YouTube, a video-sharing website that started with humble origins and has gone on to change how we experience the world. With exclusive access to some of YouTube’s biggest stars, the film presents an eye-opening and troubling look at the platform now so powerfully embedded in our lives.
Genre: Documentary
Blu-ray & DVD Highlights
For those still devoted to physical media, this week offers the latest from theFast & Furious franchise, a Blu-ray for the Yellowstone spin-off "1923," the celebrated French film "Other People's Children," a jaw-dropping restored Blu-ray upgrade for David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture" that now includes the infamous Jeff Beck footage, and 4K UHD releases of Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" and "Akira Kurosawa's Dreams."
Fast X
Studio Synopsis:Ever since their saga started on the streets of L.A.'s underground racing scene, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family have overcome impossible odds to outsmart, out-nerve and outdrive every foe. Yet when the team took down a nefarious kingpin back in Brazil, they had no idea his son Dante (Jason Momoa) was watching from the shadows. More lethal than any other enemy they've faced, Dante now rises as a terrifying new nemesis who's fueled by revenge and determined to shatter their family and destroy everything and everyone Dom loves.
Genre: Action
1923: Season One
Studio Synopsis: 1923 focuses on the Dutton family's next two generations as they struggle to survive historic drought, lawlessness and prohibition, and an epidemic of cattle theft; all battled beneath the cloud of Montana's great depression, which preceded the nation by almost a decade.Genre: Drama
Other People's Children
Studio Synopsis:When dedicated high school teacher Rachel (Virginie Efira) falls in love with Ali (Roschdy Zem), it's not long before she also falls for his daughter Leila. The lustful giddiness of Rachel and Ali's late-night rendezvous evolves into the familiar warmth of family picnics and after-school pickups. Although she feels like a mother, Rachel is not allowed to forget that Lelia is another woman's daughter. She begins to long for a child of her own, but as a forty-something woman, she is abundantly aware that she has limited time to begin a family. Rachel must decide whether to embrace the inherent entanglements of her current situation, including co-parenting with Ali's ex-wife Alice (Chiara Mastroianni), or strike out again on her own. Other People's Children becomes a soulful, sexy, and resolutely grown-up story of the elusive quest for agency and belonging
Genre: Drama, Romance, Foreign
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture - 50th Anniversary Edition
Studio Synopsis: While Bowie's decision to retire his beloved extra-terrestrial rockstar persona and to dissolve The Spiders From Mars was a shock to fans (and to the band as well!), it was a pivotal moment in securing his future. Moving past Ziggy was a crucial early step on Bowie's journey to becoming the restless, inquisitive and shape-shifting artist that would have unparalleled influence on music, film, fashion and beyond. In addition to providing the template for '70s glam rock, the impact of Ziggy Stardust's brief existence remains widespread across popular culture, having inspired artistic and ideological freedoms that are still being enjoyed by musicians and the wider creative community today.
The 50th Anniversary Edition features the full uncut performance featuring seldom seen scenes with the legendary guitar player Jeff Beck not included on previous DVD and soundtrack releases, including his high-octane performance on Bowie's anthemic 1972 hit, The Jean Genie.
Genre: Music, Documentary
Enter the Dragon 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis:Recruited by an intelligence agency, outstanding martial arts student Bruce Lee participates in a brutal karate tournament hosted by the evil Han. Along with champions Roper and Williams, he uncovers Han's white slavery and drug trafficking ring located on a secret island fortress. In the exciting climax, hundreds of freed prisoners fight in an epic battle with Lee and Han locked in a deadly duel.
Genre: Action, Drama
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis:Unfolding in a series of eight mythic vignettes, this late work by Akira Kurosawa was inspired by the beloved director’s own nighttime visions, along with stories from Japanese folklore. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master’s imagination, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic apparitions: a young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of the war dead; a power-plant meltdown smothers a seaside landscape in radioactive fumes. Interspersed with reflections on the redemptive power of creation, including a richly textured tribute to Vincent van Gogh (who is played by Martin Scorsese), Akira Kurosawa’s "Dreams" is both a showcase for its maker’s artistry at its most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance. View the gorgeous 4K trailer at Criterion.com
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Foreign