Compared to the direness of the average first week of the month, this week is incredibly exciting, even if by normal standards it’s kind of lukewarm. At the very least, both new titles and catalog titles have a few winners in their ranks, in addition to the losers. New titles are saddled with the worst of the bunch, including a terrible second sequel to The Ring (penned by none other than Academy Award winner/unbelievable hack Akiva Goldsman), the bizarre waste of talent that is Taylor Hackford’s The Comedian, the doggie snuff film A Dog’s Purpose, and Stephen Gaghan’s disappointing third directorial effort Gold. But thankfully there’s also the latest Studio Ghibli offering, The Red Turtle, the James Baldwin essay film I Am Not Your Negro, the effective horror film The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman to wash the taste of those out of your mouth. Catalog titles don’t have it quite so bad, with the worst being the misbegotten George C. Scott-starring The Hindenburg and the godawful alien horror film Virus. And there’s some goodies to be had, especially the Warner Archive Collection’s release of the second film in John Frankenheimer’s unofficial paranoia trilogy, Seven Days in May, Paramount’s release of the director’s cut of Saturday Night Fever, and Shout Factory’s special edition of Walter Hill’s gorgeous genre mishmash Streets of Fire (they are forgiven for giving the world a Blu-Ray of Virus for their work here).

The Age of Shadows (CJ Entertainment)
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (Shout Factory)
Beyond the Gates (Shout Factory)
Brewster’s Millions (Universal)
The Comedian (Sony)
A Dog’s Purpose (Universal)
Gold (Anchor Bay)
The Hindenburg (Universal)
I Am Not Your Negro (Magnolia)
MacArthur (Universal)
Real Genius (Sony Choice Collection)
The Red Turtle (Sony)
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (Universal)
Rings (Paramount)
The Salesman (Sony)
Saturday Night Fever (Paramount)
Seven Days in May (Warner Archive Collection)
Streets of Fire (Shout Factory)
Virus (Shout Factory)