Tuesday Releases: A Quiet Place

July 10, 2018 / Leave a Comment

JULY 10TH, 2018

A QUIET PLACE (2018)

Official Synopsis: In the modern horror thriller A QUIET PLACE, a family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you.

TV SPOTLIGHT

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH: SEASON FOUR (2017-2018)

Official Synopsis: After an explosive entrance in the previous season’s finale, rich socialite Pamela Brinton (Kristen Wiig) joins the gang of survivors as they search for a new haven in the fourth season of “The Last Man on Earth.” However, Pamela turns out to be spoiled and even more annoying than Phil Miller (Will Forte), so the group attempts to ditch her. But instead of abandoning Pamela, they find Glenn (Chris Elliott) on a deserted island. While struggling to fit together in the new sanctuary they found in Mexico, the gang realize that even though they are a disaster together, they’re better off staying together, especially when the mysterious Karl Cowperthwaite (Fred Armisen) shows up. Also starring are Kristen Schaal as Carol Miller, Mel Rodriguez as Todd Rodriguez, January Jones as Melissa Chartres, Mary Steenburgen as Gail Klosterman, Cleopatra Coleman as Erica Dundee, and Keith L. Williams as Jasper. Martin Short, Jack Black, Alma Martinez, and Leighton Meester make guest appearances.

CRITERION CORNER

BULL DURHAM (1988)

Official Synopsis: Former minor leaguer Ron Shelton hit a grand slam with his directorial debut, one of the most revered sports movies of all time. Durham Bulls devotee Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon)—who every year takes a new player under her wing (and into her bed)—has singled out the loose-cannon pitching prospect Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), a big-league talent with a rock-bottom maturity level. But she’s unable to shake Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), the veteran catcher brought in to give Nuke some on-the-field seasoning. A breakthrough film for all three of its stars and an Oscar nominee for Shelton’s highly quotable screenplay, Bull Durham is a freewheeling hymn to wisdom, experience, and America’s pastime, tipping its cap to all those who grind it out for love of the game.

Disc features include:

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Ron Shelton
Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack
Two audio commentaries, featuring Shelton and actors Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins
New conversation between Shelton and film critic Michael Sragow
Program from 2001 featuring interviews with cast and crew, including Shelton, Costner, Robbins, and actor Susan Sarandon
Appreciation of the film from 2008 featuring former players, broadcasters, and sports-film aficionados
NBC Nightly News piece from 1993 on the final season of baseball at Durham Athletic Park, where Bull Durham takes place and was shot
Interview with Max Patkin, known as the Clown Prince of Baseball, from a 1991 episode of NBC’s Today
Trailer
PLUS: Excerpts from a 1989 piece by longtime New Yorker baseball writer Roger Angell, with new comments from the author

New cover by Graig Kreindler

DRAGON INN (1967)

Official Synopsis: The art of martial-arts filmmaking took a leap into bold new territory with this action-packed tale of Ming-dynasty intrigue. After having the emperor’s minister of defense executed, a power-grabbing eunuch sends assassins to trail the victim’s children to a remote point on the northern Chinese border. But that bloodthirsty mission is confounded by a mysterious group of fighters who arrive on the scene, intent on delivering justice and defending the innocent. The first film King Hu made after moving to Taiwan from Hong Kong in search of more creative freedom, Dragon Inn (Long men kezhan) combines rhythmic editing, meticulous choreography, and gorgeous widescreen compositions with a refinement that was new to the wuxia genre. Its blockbuster success breathed new life into a classic formula and established Hu as one of Chinese cinema’s most audacious innovators.

Disc features include:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised by cinematographer Hua Hui-ying, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
New interview with actor Shangkuan Ling-fung
Interview from 2016 with actor Shih Chun
New scene analysis by author and New York Asian Film Festival cofounder Grady Hendrix
Newsreel footage of the film’s 1967 premiere in Taipei, Taiwan
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Andrew Chan

New cover by Greg Ruth

HIGHLIGHT RELEASES OF THE WEEK

211 (2018)

Official Synopsis: Inspired by one of the longest and bloodiest real-life events in police history. Officer Mike Chandler (Nicolas Cage) and a young civilian passenger find themselves under-prepared and outgunned when fate puts them squarely in the crosshairs of a daring bank heist in progress by a fearless team of highly trained and heavily armed men.

CHAPPAQUIDDICK (2018)

Official Synopsis: In the riveting suspense drama, CHAPPAQUIDDICK, the scandal and mysterious events surrounding the tragic drowning of a young woman, as Ted Kennedy drove his car off the infamous bridge, are revealed in the new movie starring Jason Clarke as Ted Kennedy and Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne. Not only did this event take the life of an aspiring political strategist and Kennedy insider, but it ultimately changed the course of presidential history forever. Through true accounts, documented in the inquest from the investigation in 1969, director John Curran and writers Andrew Logan and Taylor Allen, intimately expose the broad reach of political power, the influence of America’s most celebrated family; and the vulnerability of Ted Kennedy, the youngest son, in the shadow of his family legacy.

FUTURE WORLD (2018)

Official Synopsis: Inside a desert oasis, a queen (Lucy Liu) lays dying as her son Prince (Jeffrey Wahlberg) travels across barren waste lands to find a near-mythical medicine to save her life. After evading violent raiders on motorbikes led by the Warlord (James Franco) and his enforcer (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), Prince meets Ash (Suki Waterhouse), the Warlord’s robot sex companion-assassin who’s in search of her own soul. As Prince is captured by the Druglord (Milla Jovovich), the Warlord’s forces roar in–and Prince fights to save the remnants of humanity.

LEAN ON PETE (2017)

Official Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Charley Thompson (Charlie Plummer) arrives in Portland, Oregon with his single father Ray (Travis Fimmel), both of them eager for a fresh start after a series of hard knocks. While Ray descends into personal turmoil, Charley finds acceptance and camaraderie at a local racetrack where he lands a job caring for an aging Quarter Horse named Lean On Pete. The horse’s gruff owner Del Montgomery (Steve Buscemi) and his seasoned jockey Bonnie (Chloë Sevigny) help Charley fill the void of his father’s absence-until he discovers that Pete is bound for slaughter, prompting him to take extreme measures to spare his new friend’s life. Charley and Pete head out into the great unknown, embarking on an odyssey across the new American frontier in search of a loving aunt Charley hasn’t seen in years. They experience adventure and heartbreak in equal measure, but never lose their irrepressible hope and resiliency as they pursue their dream of finding a place they can call home.

TV BOX SETS

THE MAGICIANS: SEASON THREE

Official Synopsis: In Season 3, our core group embarks on the epic quest of the seven keys to restore magic after it was turned off at the end of the second season.