The Best New Blu-Ray Releases Include One Of The Best Movies Of 2024 And One Of The Worst
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Welcome back, physical media fans. It's time for another Blu-ray round-up, and this particular edition features a study in contrasts. On one hand, we have what many will consider to be one of the best movies of the year: "Dune: Part Two" (you can read our review right here). On the other, we also have what is arguably one of the worst movies of the year: Sony's woefully inept "Madame Web" (check out our review here). But that's not all! We also have new 4K releases of several great "older" titles (they're not that old; they're just not new, either). Throw in the latest from one of the Coen Brothers and a Jason Statham action pic as well, and you've got yourself a jam-packed Blu-ray round-up. So keep spinning those discs and read on.
Dune: Part Two
Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two" is one of the bleaker blockbusters in recent memory. While the film is packed with big sci-fi spectacle, it also has a lot of heavy themes on its mind about faith, politics, and genocide. That Villeneuve was able to jam all this into a slick blockbuster package is mighty impressive, and I won't be surprised if the film ends up on several "best of the year" lists. The story picks up almost immediately where the first film left off, with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) joining up with the Fremen. This sets Paul on a path to becoming a reluctant messiah and kicks off all sorts of intergalactic conflicts. While the middle section of the film is a little too meandering for my tastes, Villeneuve builds towards a genuinely spectacular and somewhat horrifying climax that will leave you uneasy.
Madame Web
Everything you've heard about "Madame Web" is true. It's a messy, poorly constructed misfire and one of the worst examples of the seemingly dying superhero surplus complex. Sony got lucky with the box office returns of "Venom" and thought they could engineer their own Spider-Man-adjacent universe. They were wrong. "Madame Web" feels woefully inept; every scene lands with a thud as if we're watching clumsy rehearsal footage instead of finalized scenes. The clunky story sees Dakota Johnson, giving one of the worst performances of her career, as a paramedic who suddenly develops psychic powers. This, in turn, leads her to protect a trio of young women (Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O'Connor) who are destined to become heroic Spider-People one day. It's nonsensical and worse than that, it's boring. Not even howlingly bad lines like "I hope the spiders were worth it, mom!" are enough to elevate this to "so-bad-it's-good" territory.
The Departed 4K
"The Departed" is often seen as Martin Scorsese's consultation prize. After being ignored and overlooked by the Academy for so long, Scorsese finally took home a Best Director Oscar for his crime thriller. While I don't think this is one of Scorsese's best movies, it's still one of his most enjoyable, and to categorize it as little more than a consultation prize does it a disservice. Inspired by "Infernal Affairs," Scorsese's violent, vulgar, funny film follows two different men: Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan, a cop posing as a criminal, and Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan, a criminal posing as a cop.
The two men are connected to Frank Costello, a Boston crime boss played with over-the-top glee by Jack Nicholson. Scorsese uses this setup to stage a tense, crackling saga of violent, conflicted, damaged men. Damon is great as Sullivan, who is all talk but secretly woefully insecure. And DiCaprio is dynamite as Costigan, who seems to constantly be on the verge of a panic attack as he further infiltrates Costello's gang. Of course, the real highlight is Nicholson, who seems to be having the time of his life playing Costello as an unhinged nutjob. Also great: Alec Baldwin, as a motor-mouthed Captain, and, surprisingly, Mark Wahlberg, who has never been better than he is here playing a no-nonsense Staff Sergeant. Working with longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker (who won an Oscar for this flick), Scorsese creates a film that feels like it never lets up. Now it has a great new 4K release.
The Beekeeper
I've seen people compare "The Beekeeper" (read our review here) to "John Wick." But in my humble opinion, this Jason Statham action pic from director David Ayer is more like Ben Affleck's gloriously silly "The Accountant," and I mean that in a positive way. When phishing scammers con his friend out of all her money, Statham's Adam Clay wants revenge. Adam is no ordinary man, either — he's a highly skilled assassin who works for a secret government organization. And this is no ordinary phishing scam he stumbles upon. No, this one goes all the way to the top! (I won't say any more; just no that the film goes to some wonderfully ludicrous places). Violent and stylish, "The Beekeeper" is much, much better than it has any right to be. If they want to make an entire franchise about Statham's ass-kicking beekeeper, I'll gladly watch it.
The Ocean's Trilogy 4K
When we talk about great trilogies, Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's" series deserves to be added to the mix. Soderbergh took the 1960 Rat Pack film and reworked it into a stylish, cool, funny saga. The first film, "Ocean's Eleven," sets things up, as Danny Ocean (George Clooney) gets out of jail after four years and immediately puts together a crew, including his right-hand man Rusty (Brad Pitt) to rob a casino. The stakes feel low, but the energy is high, and Soderbergh parlayed this into an inventive, funny trilogy that works like gangbusters. The sequels aren't as breezy as the first film, but the entire series as a whole coalesces into an ever-expanding set of misadventures. Nobody does it like Soderbergh (case-in-point: the non-Soderbergh-directed spin-off "Ocean's 8," which is rather bland, despite a great, game cast).
The Crow 4K
A goth extravaganza, "The Crow" is infamous for being the film that caused the death of star Brandon Lee, who was killed with a prop gun during production. That Lee plays a man returned from the dead added a haunting aura to the film, which is a dark, violent, broody story of revenge. Based on James O'Barr's comic of the same name, "The Crow" still holds up to this date. While very much a product of the 1990s, the goth rock sensibility keeps things from feeling particularly dated. This is a tragic film, but it also feels like a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. Numerous sequels, all of which recycle the same basic plot, could never capture what makes this original so unique. A remake/reboot took years to get off the ground, and now that it's finally on the way, it looks like an ugly, thoughtless mess that won't even come close to recreating the dark energy of the original.
Drive-Away Dolls
At some point, the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, decided to strike out to do their own things. Joel helmed the Shakespeare adaptation "The Tragedy of Macbeth," and the results were stunning. Ethan, meanwhile, teamed up with his wife Tricia Cooke for the comedy "Drive-Away Dolls." After these experiments, I think it's safe to say Joel is the better filmmaker. "Drive-Away Dolls" deserves credit for being such an openly queer comedy, and the stars — Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan — are very likable. But the film itself, a road-trip comedy full of quirky characters, feels messy and painfully unfunny. As a Coen Brothers fan, I wanted to like this, but I found myself unengaged with nearly every scene. Maybe it's time for the Coen Brothers to get back together.
Picnic at Hanging Rock 4K Criterion
On Valentine's Day in the year 1900, a group of students from an all-female college set out for a picnic at Hanging Rock, Victoria, in Australia. They never return. That might sound like the premise of a "Blair Witch Project" knock-off, but it's actually the set-up of Peter Weir's haunting 1975 film "Picnic at Hanging Rock." This is not your standard mystery movie with a simple conclusion. Instead, it's a dreamy, etheral story of both the disappearance of the college girls and the confusion that comes with the aftermath. Don't go into this movie hoping to solve the mystery — there's no answer here. Indeed, the unsolved nature of it all is part of what makes the film so incredible. Criterion already released this once before, and now they've given it a must-have 4K treatment.