Tuesday Releases: First Man & Johnny English Strikes Again

Official Synopsis: Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for the riveting story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight. A visceral and intimate account told from Armstrong’s perspective, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the film explores the triumphs and the cost—on Armstrong, his family, his colleagues and the nation itself—of one of the most dangerous missions in history.

• Deleted Scenes
• Shooting for the Moon
• Preparing to Launch
• Giant Leap in One Small Step
• Mission Gone Wrong
• Putting You in the Seat
• Recreating the Moon Landing
• Shooting at NASA
• Astronaut Training
• Feature Commentary with Director Damien Chazelle, Screenwriter Josh Singer and Editor Tom Cross

Official Synopsis: Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu shot to international prominence with this rigorously realistic Palme d’Or–winning second feature. In 1987, during the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, college roommates Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Găbița (Laura Vasiliu) seek an illegal abortion for Găbița. In unflinching but empathetic detail, the film recounts the events of twenty-four perilous hours in their lives, culminating in their encounter with a manipulative and menacing abortionist (Vlad Ivanov). With powerful performances that accentuate the characters’ flawed humanity, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a gutting account of the impossible choices women face when taking control of their bodies means breaking the law.

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Cristian Mungiu, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interview with Mungiu
• New interview with film critic Jay Weissberg on the New Romanian Cinema
• The Romanian Tour, a short documentary from 2007 on the film’s reception in Romania
• Press conference from the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, featuring Mungiu; director of photography Oleg Mutu; and actors Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, and Alexandru Potocean
• Alternate and deleted scenes
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by critic Ella Taylor

New cover by Steve Chow

Official Synopsis: Elaine May crafted a gangster film like no other in the nocturnal odyssey Mikey and Nicky, capitalizing on the chemistry between frequent collaborators John Cassavetes and Peter Falk by casting them together as small-time mobsters whose lifelong relationship has turned sour. Set over the course of one night, this restless drama finds Nicky (Cassavetes) holed up in a hotel after the boss he stole money from puts a hit out on him. Terrified, he calls on Mikey (Falk), the one person he thinks can save him. Scripted to match the live-wire energy of its stars—alongside supporting players Ned Beatty, Joyce Van Patten, and Carol Grace—and inspired by real-life characters from May’s own childhood, this unbridled portrait of male friendship turned tragic is an unsung masterpiece of American cinema.

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

• New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Elaine May, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New program on the making of the film featuring interviews with distributor Julian Schlossberg and actor Joyce Van Patten
• New interviews with critics Richard Brody and Carrie Rickey
• Audio interview from 1976 with actor Peter Falk
• Trailer and TV spot
• PLUS: An essay by critic Nathan Rabin

New cover by Connor Willumsen

Official Synopsis:
VOLUME 1: Their cult-classic hit THE ROOM inspired the Oscar-nominated THE DISASTER ARTIST. Now Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero star in a new comedy-thriller, the surreal tale of a friendship gone dangerously wrong. Homeless drifter Jon (Sestero) is rescued by Harvey (Wiseau), an eccentric mortician who steals corpses’ gold teeth. But just as Jon concocts a scheme to make them both fabulously rich off the loot, he learns horrific facts about Harvey’s life that threaten to tear them apart.

VOLUME 2: This comedy-thriller continues the bizarre saga of a dangerous drifter and a creepy mortician. With his friend Harvey out of the way, Jon and his girlfriend escape into the Arizona desert. But their quest to open a safe full of loot leads them to a gang of desperate, deadly characters. As he fights to survive, Jon is haunted by freakish memories of the long-lost Harvey.

• Audio Commentary with Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero
• “Welcome to My Paradise” Featurette
• “Tommy and Greg: Best F(r)iends Forever” Featurette
• “The Tommy Diaries” Featurette
• 8 Deleted Scenes

Official Synopsis: A young black student (Amandla Stenberg) from a poor neighborhood who attends a prep school in an affluent area finds her uneasy life balance further disrupted when she witnesses her childhood friend being shot by a police officer. Caught in the middle of the subsequent turmoil, she is forced to look inside herself and figure out just where she stands in her young life. Based on a book of the same name by Angie Thomas and directed by George Tillman Jr.

• Extended scenes:
  • Maverick and Seven Protecting Their Home
  • Uprising
  • Seven’s Graduation
• Featurettes:
  • Starting a Conversation
  • The Talk
  • Code Switchin
  • The Heart of Georgia
  • Thank U Georgia
• Shine Your Light (4K Ultra HD™ and Blu-ray™ only)
• Audio Commentary by George Tillman, Jr., Amandla Stenberg, Russell Hornsby, Angie Thomas and Craig Hayes

Official Synopsis: Rowan Atkinson returns as the much-loved accidental secret agent in Johnny English Strikes Again. When a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all active undercover agents in Britain, the country’s only hope is called out of retirement. English’s new mission is his most critical to date: Dive headfirst into action to find the mastermind hacker. A man with few skills and analog methods, English must overcome the challenges of modern technology—or his newest mission will become the Secret Service’s last.

• EThe Comedy Genius of Rowan Atkinson
• A Cast of Characters
• The Johnny English Legacy
• Virtual Reality Johnny English Style
• The Gadgets
• The Cars
• Locations and Design
• Feature Commentary with Director David Kerr

Official Synopsis: After nearly forty years of marriage, JOAN and JOE CASTLEMAN (Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce) are complements. Where Joe is casual, Joan is elegant. Where Joe is vain, Joan is self-effacing. And where Joe enjoys his very public role as Great American Novelist, Joan pours her considerable intellect, grace, charm, and diplomacy into the private role of Great Man’s Wife. Joe is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his acclaimed and prolific body of work. Joe’s literary star has blazed since he and Joan first met in the late 1950s. THE WIFE interweaves the story of the couple’s youthful passion and ambition with a portrait of a marriage thirty plus years later, with a lifetime’s shared compromises.