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While this column focuses on physical media with an appetizer of Netflix options, it’s worth noting that one of the essential films of 2025 is exclusively available on PVOD through the rest of the year. Go spend money to see “One Battle After Another” if you haven’t done so yet, exclusively On Demand until January 2026.
Also, stay tuned for a special edition of this column in December with limited editions and box sets for the holiday season, including new versions of “Scarface,” “Pride & Prejudice,” and several John Woo masterpieces.
10 NEW TO NETFLIX
“Back to the Future“
“Baby Driver“
“Collateral“
“Doctor Sleep“
“Ghost“
“Star Trek“
“Tenet“
“This is the End“
“Whiplash“
“Zodiac“
11 NEW TO BLU-RAY
“Burden of Dreams” (Criterion)
One of the craziest productions in the history of moviemaking was Werner Herzog’s feverish shoot of his masterful “Fitzcarraldo” in Peru in the early ’80s. Just watching Herzog’s story of a maniacal robber baron (the unforgettable Klaus Kinski), one can sense the chaos that must have been unfolding behind the scenes, but it takes Les Blank’s stunning documentary to really comprehend the insanity. Basically, Herzog decided to make a movie about someone who tried to do something crazy, and so did something crazy himself, trying to move a 320-ton steamship over a Peruvian mountain. A lost star (Jason Robards), multiple on-set injuries, and arguments of exploitation followed, and all of it makes for riveting viewing in Les Blank’s essential documentary, now remastered by Criterion. It also includes a great short film called “Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe,” which is pretty self-explanatory.
Special Features
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by filmmaker Harrod Blank, director Les Blank’s son, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Alternate uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring Les Blank, editor and sound recordist Maureen Gosling, and Fitzcarraldo director Werner Herzog
- Interview with Herzog
- Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980), a short film by Blank
- Deleted scenes
- Behind-the-scenes photos taken by Gosling
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Paul Arthur and a book of excerpts from Blank’s and Gosling’s production journals
Darren Aronofsky tries to do the Guy Ritchie thing to mostly positive results in this dark comedy that moves as well as it does largely due to the blinding star power of Austin Butler (Zoe Kravitz, Matt Smith, Bad Bunny, and Regina King don’t hurt). Butler plays an average guy who gets caught up in a violent plot involving a key hidden in a kitty litter box. Some of it feels like it should be a bit more chaotic than Aronofsky allows, but there’s an energy to the piece that keeps it moving from one twist to another. It’s an especially easy watch at home. Consider it the anti-holiday movie this season.
Special Features
- Aronofsky: The Real Deal – Director Darren Aronofsky and Screenwriter/Author Charlie Huston explore the genesis of the film, the process of adaptation, and how to keep audiences guessing.
- Casting Criminals, Chaos, and a Cat – Austin Butler leads an incredible ensemble of actors – hear from the cast & crew on their characters, filming on set, and more!
- New York Story – From nosy neighbors to Black & White cookies, Caught Stealing is a love letter to New York.
- I Don’t Drive – Whether he’s running through traffic or hanging from a sixth-story balcony, Austin Butler brought an intense physicality to his performance as washed-up baseball player Hank Thompson.
“El” (Criterion)
Every Luis Buñuel film that joins the Criterion Collection is an occasion for celebration. The latest is the 4K restoration of his 1953 surreal nightmare adaptation of Pensamientos by Mercedes Pinto. Arturo de Cordova, Delia Garces, and Luis Beristain star in a film about an overprotective husband that’s arguably minor for Buñuel, but one would never know that from this excellent release that includes not just a new video essay about the film but an appreciation from none other than Guillermo del Toro. Another cool piece of supplemental material is an interview with the director himself from 1981 but none other than Jean-Claude Carrière.
Special Features
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by photographer Gabriel Figueroa Flores, director of photography Gabriel Figueroa’s son, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New video essay on director Luis Buñuel by scholar Jordi Xifra
- Appreciation by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro
- Interview with Buñuel from 1981 by writer Jean-Claude Carrière, a longtime collaborator of the director’s
- Panel discussion from 2009, moderated by filmmaker José Luis Garci
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Fernanda Solórzano and an interview with Buñuel by critics José de la Colina and Tomás Pérez Turrent
“Eyes Wide Shut” (Criterion)
The Criterion release of the year is the 4K restoration of Stanley Kubrick’s final masterpiece, now available in a color grading that looks better than ever before, one overseen by D.P. Larry Smith. It’s hard to convey how PERFECT “Eyes Wide Shut” looks on this release, one of my favorite transfers, maybe ever. It’s not overdone, allowing the shadowy underworld of this film to offset the bright colors that make it feel like a nightmare. The movie itself also feels like it would be a masterpiece if it came out today, over a quarter-century later. A study of masculine insecurity and the systems that control society, it’s an incredible drama, one of the best of its era. The Criterion release also includes tons of great special features, my favorite being “Lost Kubrick,” a short documentary about two abandoned Stanley projects: “Napoleon” and “The Aryan Papers.”
Special Features
- New 4K digital restoration of the international version of the film, supervised and approved by director of photography Larry Smith, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
- New interviews with Smith, set decorator and second-unit director Lisa Leone, and archivist Georgina Orgill
- Archival interview with Christiane Kubrick, director Stanley Kubrick’s wife
- Never Just a Dream (2019), featuring interviews with producer Jan Harlan; Katharina Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick’s daughter; and Anthony Frewin, Kubrick’s personal assistant
- Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick (2007)
- Kubrick Remembered (2014), featuring interviews with actors Todd Field and Leelee Sobieski and filmmaker Steven Spielberg
- Kubrick’s 1998 acceptance speech for the Directors Guild of America’s D. W. Griffith Award
- Press conference from 1999, featuring Harlan and actors Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
- Teaser, trailer, and promos
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Megan Abbott and a 1999 interview with filmmaker and actor Sydney Pollack
Everyone should see this one before making any proclamations on the films of 2025. It’s haunted me since I first saw it around the time of its Venice premiere in September 2024, and we were proud to program it for the 2025 Chicago Critics Film Festival. Now, Sarah Friedland’s delicate drama about the subtlety of dementia is available to rent on VOD and on physical media from Music Box Films. Kathleen Chalfant gives one of the best performances of the year as a woman forced to move from being on her own into assisted living. It’s a great study in how tactile memories can often linger longer than traditional ones. It’s smart, empathetic, and beautiful.
Special Features
- Roundtable Cast Conversation presented by Caring Across Generations
- Familiar Touch: The Creative Process – A Conversation with Sarah Friedland
- Q&A with Kathleen Chalfant from Jacob Burns Film Center
- Behind the Scenes at Villa Gardens
- Image Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
“Hell’s Angels” (Criterion)
It’s funny to think that an entire generation of movie lovers probably know this flick better from how its production was essential to the story of Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator.” Remember all the crazy flight scenes in that movie? They were capturing the production of Howard Hughes shooting “Hell’s Angels,” now restored in 4K by the Criterion Collection. A film that changed aerial filmmaking and launched the career of Jean Harlow, it’s an essential part of movie history, and an unexpected choice for Criterion. The release includes an interview with one of my favorite film historians, the brilliant Farran Smith Nehme, and outtakes from the film with commentary by a Harlow biographer. There’s even a direct connection to “The Aviator” as Criterion interviews the VFX supervisor for Scorsese’s film about the production of this one. It all comes full circle.
Special Features
- New 4K digital restoration of the Magnascope road-show version of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New interview with Robert Legato, the visual-effects supervisor for the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, on the groundbreaking aerial visuals of Hell’s Angels
- New interview with critic Farran Smith Nehme about actor Jean Harlow
- Outtakes from the film, with commentary by Harlow biographer David Stenn
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author and journalist Fred Kaplan
“In the Mouth of Madness” (Arrow)
While fans bow at the altar of ’70s and ’80s John Carpenter, they’re often quick to dismiss his later work. Listen, I’m not here to defend “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” or “Village of the Damned,” but I will go to bat for the one in between, this 1994 surreal nightmare that’s arguably the filmmaker’s last true vision. Closing out what he called his “Apocalypse Trilogy,” it stars Sam Neill as a man investigating the disappearance of a famous horror novelist when he discovers a Lovecraftian nightmare. The incredible Arrow edition is oe of their best of the year, including two archival commentaries with Carpenter himself and tons of new material. The exclusive stuff includes a new interview Jurgen Prochnow, a new featurette, a new appreciation, fantastic cover art, and a great collector’s book. It may not be Halloween, but it’s never too late to snag this one.
Special Features
- Archive audio commentary with director John Carpenter and producer Sandy King Carpenter
- Archive audio commentary with director John Carpenter and director of photography Gary B. Kibbe
- Brand new audio commentary by filmmakers Rebekah McKendry & Elric Kane, co-hosts of Colors of the Dark podcast
- Making Madness, a newly filmed interview with producer Sandy King Carpenter
- Do You Read Sutter Cane?, a newly filmed interview with actor Jürgen Prochnow
- The Whisperer of the Dark, an archive interview with actress Julie Carmen
- Greg Nicotero’s Things in the Basement, an archive interview with special effects artist Greg Nicotero
- We Are What He Writes, a new featurette in praise of John Carpenter and In the Mouth of Madness
- Reality Is Not What It Used To Be, a new appreciation by film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
- Horror’s Hallowed Grounds, an archive featurette looking at the locations used in the film
- Home Movies From Hobb’s End, behind-the-scenes footage
- The Making of In the Mouth of Madness, a vintage featurette
- Theatrical trailer and TV spots
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Francesco Francavilla
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Francesco Francavilla
- Perfect bound collector’s book featuring new writing on the film by Guy Adams, Josh Hurtado, Richard Kadrey, George Daniel Lea, Willow Catelyn Maclay, and Alexandra West
It really has been quite a year for Stephen King fans with “The Running Man,” “IT: Welcome to Derry,” “The Institute,” and this theatrical hit, arguably the best of the bunch. To this viewer, Francis Lawrence never quite figured out how to update what was a story written by a young man in the wake of the Vietnam War, but he did something essential to this long-awaited adaptation’s success: he cast two future stars. Years from now, it’s going to be fun to look back on this one in the wake of how critically and commercially successful I expect Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson to be. They’re both just fantastic here, even if the movie around them sometimes struggles to keep pace.
Special Features
- Alternate Ending – 4K Blu-ray SteelBook Exclusive
- Stephen King: An Appreciation – 4K Blu-ray SteelBook Exclusive
- Cooper & David Scene Read – 4K Blu-ray SteelBook Exclusive
- “Ever Onward: Making The Long Walk” Multi-Part Documentary
- Theatrical Trailers
“Sea Fog”
Am I including this in this month’s guide just because I wrote the essay for it? So what if I am?!? In all seriousness, “Sea Fog,” co-written by Bong Joon-ho, is a propulsive piece of filmmaking, a tense true story starring the fantastic Kim Yoon-seok (“The Chaser”) and Han Ye-ri (“Minari”). It’s the tale of a fishing vessel that agrees to smuggle a few dozen illegal immigrants into Korea on a stormy, dangerous night. The sequence in which the “cargo” is transferred to their shop is haunting and brilliant. And, yes, if you want to read more about the film’s production and craft by yours truly, that’s included in your purchase.
Special Features
- Cast and Crew Interviews
- Making of Featurette
- Trailers
- 16-page booklet with essay by Brian Tallerico, managing editor of RogerEbert.com
The deserved love for “Godzilla Minus One” has brought people back to the timeless franchise overall, allowing for a bit of renewed interest in this 2016 gem, one of my favorite Godzilla flicks. It’s technically the 31st Godzilla film, but the first in the Reiwa era. And it rules. One of many things I love about it is how directors Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi lean into the idea that red tape is the real monster that’s going to destroy us all. A story of how bureaucratic incompetence only makes international disasters worse was almost prescient in 2016. And now you can own it in a beautiful steelbook 4K edition.
Special Features
- Promotional Video Collection
- Making Of SHIN GODZILLA
- Deleted Scenes
- Outtakes
- News Reels
- Previs Reel Collection
- Previs and Special Effects Outtakes
- Visual Effects Breakdown
- Trailer 1
- Trailer 2
- Teaser 1
- Teaser 2
One of the funnier films of 2025 is this adult comedy starring Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Dakota Johnson, and Adria Arjona. Marvin, who co-wrote with director and co-star Covino, plays an ordinary guy whose partner (Arjona) up and leaves him one day, pushing them into the arms of his BFF’s wife, who happens to be in an open marriage. A comedy of sexually active, bed-hopping adults doesn’t come along that often in the 2020s. So while this one isn’t perfect, it’s willingness to comedically examine the insecurities of man-children who don’t know how to keep anyone but themselves happy is more than welcome. It also has the best fight scene of the year. Yeah, I said it.
Special Features
- The Making of Splitsville – Featurette
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spots
from Roger Ebert https://ift.tt/qlFjw6M
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