Tuesday Releases: Adrift, Hereditary, & Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

September 4, 2018 / Leave a Comment

SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2018

HEREDITARY (2018)

Official Synopsis: When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. Making his feature debut, writer-director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown that exhibits the craft and precision of a nascent auteur, transforming a familial tragedy into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with its shattering portrait of heritage gone to hell.

TV SPOTLIGHT

SILICON VALLEY: SEASON FIVE (2018)

Official Synopsis: Pied Piper finally has enough funding for proper offices and new employees, and to bring its peer-to-peer internet to the world — but leveling up introduces a whole new class of obstacles. While Richard struggles to lead a larger team and play with the big dogs, the rest of the team adjusts to new staff, new digs and new anxieties. Meanwhile, Hooli rival Gavin Belson has returned to power, but finds the threat of Pied Piper, and its boldness, hard to shake.

CRITERION CORNER

SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (1973)

Official Synopsis: Scenes from a Marriage chronicles the many years of love and turmoil that bind Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson), tracking their relationship as it progresses through a number of successive stages: matrimony, infidelity, divorce, and subsequent partnerships. Originally conceived as a five-hour, six-part television miniseries, the film is also presented in its three-hour theatrical cut. Shot on 16 mm in intense, intimate close-ups by cinematographer Sven Nykvist and featuring flawless performances by Ullmann and Josephson, Bergman’s emotional X-ray reveals the intense joys and pains of a complex bond.

Disc features include:

High-definition digital transfers of both the television version and the U.S. theatrical version of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
Interview with director Ingmar Bergman from 1986
Interviews from 2003 with actors Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson
Interview from 2003 with Bergman scholar Peter Cowie comparing the two versions of Scenes from a Marriage
Plus: An essay by author Phillip Lopate

Cover by Eric Skillman

HIGHLIGHT RELEASES OF THE WEEK

ADRIFT (2018)

Official Synopsis: Starring Shailene Woodley (Fault in Our Stars, Divergent films) and Sam Claflin (Me Before You, The Hunger Games films), ADRIFT is based on the inspiring true story of two sailors who set out to journey across the ocean from Tahiti to San Diego. Tami Oldham (Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Claflin) couldn’t anticipate they would be sailing directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. In the aftermath of the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins. With no hope for rescue, Tami must find the strength and determination to save herself and the only man she has ever loved. ADRIFT is the unforgettable story about the resilience of the human spirit and the transcendent power of love.

BEAST (2018)

Official Synopsis: Moll is 27 and still living at home, stifled by the small island community around her and too beholden to her family to break away. When she meets Pascal, a free-spirited stranger, a whole new world opens up to her and she begins to feel alive for the first time, falling madly in love. Finally breaking free from her family, Moll moves in with Pascal to start a new life. But when he is arrested as the key suspect in a series of brutal murders, she is left isolated and afraid. Choosing to stand with him against the suspicions of the community, Moll finds herself forced to make choices that will impact her life forever.

GHOST STORIES (2018)

Official Synopsis: Experience three spine-tingling tales of terror to haunt your dreams. A debunker of all thing paranormal, Professor Phillip Goodman (Andy Nyman) has devoted his life to exposing phony psychics and fraudulent supernatural shenanigans on his own television show. His skepticism is put to the test, however, when he receives a file of three chilling, inexplicable cases: a night watchman (Paul Whitehouse) haunted by disturbing visions as he patrols an abandoned asylum; an edgy young man (Black Mirror’s Alex Lawther) involved in a hellish car accident deep in the woods; and a wealthy former banker (Sherlock’s Martin Freeman) visited by the poltergeist spirit of his unborn child. Even scarier: each of these macabre stories seems to have sinister connection to Professor Goodman’s own life. WIll they make a believer of him yet?

IDEAL HOME (2018)

Official Synopsis: Celebrity chef Erasmus (Steve Coogan) and his partner Paul (Paul Rudd) have a happy and rather self-indulgent life together. Their perfect existence is turned upside down when, at a dinner party, Erasmus is confronted by the grandson he never knew he had. With the child’s father in prison it seems he has nowhere else to go and so, after much debate they decide to take him in. With changes and challenges on both sides, this could prove a recipe for disaster. Filled with heart and humor, this new family looks set to serve up one of the most deliciously funny films of the year.

WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? (2018)

Official Synopsis: From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? takes an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor: Mister Fred Rogers. A portrait of a man whom we all think we know, this emotional and moving film takes us beyond the zip-up cardigans and the land of make-believe, and into the heart of a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination.

TV BOX SETS

YOUNG SHELDON: SEASON ONE (2017-2018)

Official Synopsis: Season 1 of the spin-off of “The Big Bang Theory” follows 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper as he grows up in East Texas and attends high school.