Catalog titles are the only thing keeping this incredibly anemic week afloat, and even then, it’s quantity over quality for the most part. The most notable new release is Pitch Perfect 2, which was number one at the box office but second in America’s heart during its first weekend. Other than that, all you really have is releases of the most recent season of CW’s Arrow and the first season of its The Flash, plus Andrew Bujalski’s Results and Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent. As for the big boutique label, Criterion will finally be releasing Moonrise Kingdom today, with a slightly underwhelming set of features (at least in comparison to their thorough releases of Wes Anderson’s previous films), but some crazypants amazing packaging, not to mention the fact that the packaging houses one of Anderson’s best films. They’re also releasing two of Bruce Beresford’s films, the classic Breaker Morant (with its all-time great closing line) and the overlooked Mister Johnson.
As usual, Olive Films has a veritable smorgasbord of studio titles out this week, but whether or not they’re worth your time and money is up for debate (and for most of them, it’s gonna be a pretty short, one-sided debate). The highlights of the bunch are probably Stephen Frears’ Prick Up Your Ears and the collection of Fred Williamson movies, namely Larry Cohen’s Black Caesar. And if you’re curious and/or masochistic, you can see the movie that was viciously savaged at the thumbs of Siskel & Ebert in print and on TV, Mad Dog Time. Or you can follow Ebert’s advice in his zero-star review and cut up the disc to make free ukulele picks for the poor.
Antitrust (Olive Films)
Arrow: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros.)
Black Caesar (Olive Films)
Breaker Morant (Criterion)
Busting (Kino Lorber)
The Destructors (Kino Lorber)
Deuces Wild (Olive Films)
Dirty Work (Olive Films)
Dog Day Afternoon: 40th Anniversary Edition (w/I Knew it Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale) (Warner Bros.)
Fatal Instinct (Olive Films)
The Flash: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros.)
Hitler: The Last Ten Days (Olive Films)
The Indian in the Cupboard (20th Anniversary Edition) (Sony)
The Invisible Monster (Olive Films)
Lisa (Kino Lorber)
Mad Dog Time (Olive Films)
Madhouse (Olive Films)
Mannequin Two: On the Move (Olive Films) (in case you’re wondering, they were going to release the original Mannequin at the same time, but it was delayed until November)
The Mighty Quinn (Olive Films)
Mister Johnson (Criterion)
The Mod Squad (Olive Films)
Moonrise Kingdom (Criterion)
Pitch Perfect 2 (Universal)
Pretty Baby (Warner Archive, DVD-only)
Prick Up Your Ears (Olive Films)
Results (Magnolia)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (40th Anniversary Edition) (Fox)
S.F.W. (Olive Films)
Saint Laurent (Sony)
The Satan Bug (Kino Lorber)
The Sentinel (Shout! Factory)
Slaughter (Olive Films)
Some Kind of Hero (Olive Films)
The Woods (Olive Films)
Zathura (10th Anniversary Edition) (Sony)