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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nESCAPE \u2013 Released under the title Talju<\/em> in its\nhomeland, this South Korean picture follows a North Korean army sergeant who is\ntreated horribly by his superiors. After deciding that he doesn\u2019t believe in\nthe country\u2019s political stance, he attempts to defect. Along the way, a fellow\nsoldier asks to join him. The two men are hunted by their ruthless Major while\ntrying to cross the border into South Korea. Response was generally positive\ntowards this foreign-language feature. About one-third commented that the\ncharacters weren\u2019t well developed, leaving them uninvolved in the proceedings.\nStill, most wrote that the movie was incredibly fast-paced, tense and visually\nexciting, with plenty of entertaining twists that would please action fans. It\nstars Lee Je-hoon, Koo Kyo-hwan, Hong Xa-bin and Song Kang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GET FAST \u2013 A thief and his partner get in over their heads\nwhen they realize they have just taken goods from a vicious drug lord. One of\nthem gets captured and the other bids a hasty retreat. The criminal group hires\na veteran assassin to assist them in catching and murdering the main character.\nHowever, the lead has a few tricks up his sleeve and decides to fight back and\nfree his pal. This thief is also joined by a troubled orphan in an ice cream\ntruck. This action picture appears to be debuting as a DVD-only and streaming\nrelease, so very few critics have seen it. A couple of online reviews have\nappeared and have been upbeat. They note that the cast is sold, the action is\nwell-handled and the final product is better than anticipated. It features\nJames Clayton, Lou Diamond Phillips, Philip Granger, Fei Ren, Lee Majdoub and\nAlisha-Marie Ahmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MY NAME IS ALFRED HITCHCOCK \u2013 This documentary from Mark\nCousins (who made the lengthy doc series The Story of Film<\/em>) involves the\nfilmmaker having an audio discussion with director Alfred Hitchcock. Cousins\nslowly goes over Hitchcock\u2019s career and notes the remarkable movie making\ntechniques the master created in the process. As it so happens, the audio\ninterview is a fictional device written by Cousins, imagining how Hitchcock\nmight react to his theories. Completed in 2022, this documentary has been\nslowly finding distributors and is finally arriving in North America. The press\nhas generally been positive about the film. A few complained that the imagined\nelement was nonsense and seemed more about the documentarian\u2019s mindset than\nHitchcock\u2019s. Still, the majority were amused, calling the film incredibly\ndetailed and offering interesting new ideas about the director\u2019s famous movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PARADISE \u2013 Joe Hollis is the subject of this documentary.\nFor over 50 years, the man lived off-the-grid residing in the Black Mountains\nin Western North Carolina. A group of filmmakers set out to meet with the\nfigure. After encountering him, they discover that he has been cultivating an\nincredible \u201cparadise garden\u201d containing over a thousand different plant\nspecies, many of which can\u2019t be found anywhere else in the country. Hollis\nreveals that he is in poor health and the moviemakers follow him as he attempts\nto preserve his land and legacy. This picture is debuting on disc and on\nstreaming services, which means there are few notices available for it. Those\nwho appreciate botany or gardening may admire the feature (just make sure you\nfind the right title, as there are many films in recent years that have been\nreleased with the same name).<\/p>\n\n\n\n SISTERHOOD \u2013 This co-production between France and Morocco tells\nthe story of three fun-loving teenagers. When one of them is attacked, the\nothers record the assault and post the video on social networks. Obviously,\nthis draws a great deal of attention from the public and the trio have to deal\nwith both supporters and unexpected criticism from a sizable group who don\u2019t\napprove of their actions. This foreign-language drama\/comedy hasn\u2019t been seen\nby many reviewers in North America, but all of those who have abroad rated the\npicture highly. They stated that the film was effective in showing the struggle\nfaced by young immigrants fighting for their rights and the various roadblocks\nthey face because of their race. For the time being, this is a DVD-only\nrelease. Leah Aubert, Salma Takaline and Medina Diarra headline the feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING \u2013 An introverted office worker\nin the Pacific Northwest spends most of her time focused intensely on her work.\nIt also seems that her main hobby is fantasizing about her own death. When a\nnew coworker arrives and attempts to befriend her, she is forced out of her\nshell. The two start dating, but she begins to worry that her eccentricities\nmay ruin the relationship. This independent romantic-comedy earned a lot of\npraise from movie critics. One of five reviewers did find the film exceedingly\nquirky and didn\u2019t think that it offered much insight into its protagonist.\nHowever, most were charmed, complimenting the performances and suggesting that\nthe story did an excellent job of letting viewers into the head of an amusingly\ncomplex and unique individual. It stars Daisy Ridley, Dave Merheje, Parvesh\nCheena, Marcia DeBonis and Meg Stalter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BLASTS FROM THE PAST!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a big week for Arrow Video, who have two major\nreleases. The first is the William Shatner horror film Incubus<\/em> (1966),\nwhich is arriving in a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray or \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d Blu-ray. This picture has the unique distinction of being shot in\nEsperanto, an international means of communication combining elements from\nnumerous languages. It was intended to be a second language to serve the entire\nworld. While it did find some speakers, the idea never quite took off. The plot\ndeals with a wounded soldier who travels to a village with supernatural\nproperties and falls for a woman who may be a succubus. It was a flop and had\ndifficulty being distributed, but over the years has found a cult following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The release boasts a 4K restoration from the last surviving\n35mm print of the movie. You\u2019ll also get a new genre historian audio\ncommentary, an archive commentary with Shatner, as well as one with the\nproducer, cinematographer and camera operator. Bonuses also include a 1.37:1\npresentation of the film, an interview with film historian on the movie, a\nhistory of Esperanto, an archival interview with the three men from the third\ncommentary, a video trailer, a reversible sleeve with new art for the film, and\na booklet with essays on the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inglourious Basterds<\/em> (2009) is also being made\navailable, with a \u201cLimited Edition Operation Kino\u201d 4K Ultra HD or a \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d Blu-ray only. This Oscar-winning (for Best Supporting Actor) all-star\nWorld War II picture from Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Once Upon a Time\nin Hollywood<\/em>) involves a group of Jewish-American soldiers tasked with\nassassinating Adolf Hitler. Besides nifty new art and packaging for the film,\nit comes with a 60-page collector\u2019s book with writing on the film, a\ndouble-sided fold-out poster, a replica of the programme booklet seen in the\nclimax, a beermat, three postcards and a strudel recipe card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, this edition includes a new movie critic\ncommentary, recently recorded interviews with the editor, make-up effects\nsupervisor and co-star Omar Doom. There are also two visual essays on the\nfeature, a movie scholar interview about French filmmaking under German\ncontrol, extended and alternate scenes, the film-within-the-film, a making-of,\na cast and crew roundtable discussion, an archival featurette on the original Inglorious\nBastards<\/em>, other previously released featurettes, a film poster gallery tour\nand trailers. This is certainly the best possible version of the title on disc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Criterion is giving the Richard Pryor biopic Jo Jo\nDancer, Your Life Is Calling<\/em> (1986) a release in a 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray\ncombo pack. A standalone Blu-ray only version will also be made\navailable. After a horrific drug-related accident nearly ends the protagonist\u2019s\nlife, viewers see his childhood, events that shaped him, rise to fame and\naddictions forcing him to change his ways. Pryor also directed and co-wrote the\nmovie. The 4K disc contains a digital restoration of the film presented in\nDolby Vision, an interview about the feature with movie maker Robert Townsend,\nand a 1985 interview with Pryor on The Dick Cavett Show<\/em>, along with an\nappreciation piece with a critic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The distributor is also presenting The Mother and the\nWhore<\/em> (1973) in a 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray package or a Blu-ray only disc.\nThis French effort involves a chauvinistic man who embarks on an open\nrelationship with his girlfriend. When another woman enters the picture,\njealousy, emotional violence and other complications arise. This Cannes Film\nFestival Grand Prize winner arrives with a 4K picture restoration, interviews\nwith a co-star, a conversation on the title with a French filmmaker and a\nwriter, a look at the restoration work for this release, a segment from a\ntelevision program featuring the director and cast, a trailer, and an essay on\nthe film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kino is delivering the Rock Hudson, Gena Rowlands adventure The\nSpiral Road<\/em> (1962) on Blu-ray. It features a film historian commentary\ntrack and a trailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That Funny Feeling<\/em> (1965) is a rom-com with Sandra\nDee as a New York City-based maid who gets into an unexpected relationship with\na businessman (played by Bobby Darin). This Blu-ray also comes with a movie\nexpert commentary track and trailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an interesting one. The exceptional dystopian\nscience-fiction film Snowpiercer <\/em>(2013) is being released in a 4K Ultra\nHD and Blu-ray \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Steelbook from Lionsgate. This is an Amazon\nexclusive. Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, Song Kang-ho,\nJohn Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner, Ko Ah-sung and Alison Pill are all\nliving on a moving locomotive. When it becomes clear that some on the train\naren\u2019t surviving as well as others, a class war breaks out. This great title\nfrom Bong Joon Ho (Parasite, The Host<\/em>) should be arriving in impressive\nnew packaging with a better picture. Bonus features are still yet to be\ndetermined, so they may be the same as the previous Blu-ray release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MGM is delivering some catalog titles on Blu-ray. There\nwon\u2019t be many extras for these pictures, but at least you\u2019ll now be able to own\nthem in this format. The first is the Gene Hackman\/Teri Garr rom-com Full\nMoon in Blue Water<\/em> (1988). You can also pick up the Jean Simmons drama The\nHappy Ending<\/em> (1969), about a housewife trying to escape her daily, mundane\nroutine. And the dark comedy\/musical Romance & Cigarettes<\/em> (2005) can\nalso be purchased on Blu-ray. John Turturro wrote and directed this effort\nabout a husband starting a romantic tryst with another woman. The cast includes\nJames Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale,\nMandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker and Christopher Walken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paramount put out two spectacular 4K Ultra HD releases\nearlier in the year, and they are now being rereleased. The masterpiece Chinatown<\/em>\n(1974) starring Jack Nicolson as a private investigator who uncovers a\nconspiracy, is arriving in a 4K \u201cStandard Edition\u201d that includes the most of\nthe extras from the previous version last year, with the exception of the 1990\nsequel \u201cThe Two Jakes\u201d and elaborate fold-out packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once Upon a Time in the West<\/em> (1968) with Charles\nBronson, Jason Robards, Henry Fonda and Claudia Cardinale is one of the best\nwesterns ever made, and it\u2019s getting a \u201cStandard Edition\u201d 4K and Blu-ray combo\npack. Looks like the packaging may be the only difference here, as the new film\nhistorian commentary and older extras appear to be included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Shout Factory is presenting the Shaw Brothers\nClassics: Volume Five<\/em> Blu-ray box set. It contains The Silent Swordsman<\/em>\n(1967), Rape of the Sword<\/em> (1967), The Fastest Sword<\/em> (1968), Twin\nBlades of Doom<\/em> (1969), Twelve Deadly Coins<\/em> (1969), Vengeance is a\nGolden Blade<\/em> (1969), A Taste of Cold Steel<\/em> (1970), The Iron\nBuddha<\/em> (1970), The Jade Faced Assassin<\/em> (1971), Mission Impossible<\/em>\n(1971) and Six Assassins<\/em> (1971). You\u2019ll need deep pockets for this one,\nbut it also comes with at least one commentary track per film, as well as some\ninterviews on a few of the movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YOU KNOW, FOR KIDS!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the kid-friendly titles can be found listed below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PBS Kids: Birthday Bash!<\/em> (PBS Kids) DVD<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City<\/em> \u2013 Season\n3 (NCircle) DVD<\/p>\n\n\n\n ON THE TUBE!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And below is a list of the week\u2019s TV-related releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hallmark 6 Movie Collection: Unthinkably Good Things, To\nHer with Love, A Nashville Legacy, Spring Breakthrough, Napa Ever After, Sense\nand Sensibility<\/em> (Hallmark) DVD<\/p>\n\n\n\n Icons Unearthed: Marvel <\/em>(Vice TV miniseries) (Mill\nCreek Entertainment) Blu-ray<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DVD-Get-Fast-action-fixed.jpg\")
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