Three Identical Strangers tells the real life story of David, Bobby, and Eddy, three identical triplets who were separated at birth not knowing of each other’s existence. One day, when they were 19, they randomly discovered each other and became instant friends. They became a media sensation in the ’80s, being interviewed by everyone from Tom Brokaw and Phil Donahue.
But there was a dark side. The reasons why they were separated bordered on the nefarious. The media used them for ratings then tossed them aside. There were physical and mental issues. I don’t know all the details as I’ve not seen the film yet, but it is a fascinating story and the film has been universally praised. Sounds like a Pick of the Week to me.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
The First Purge: I’ve only seen the first Purge, I mean The Purge which was the first film in the franchise, not The First Purge which is the latest in the franchise which tells the story of how The Purge began. The concept is an interesting one but that first movie was not all that good. With the Law of Sequels being what they are, I’ve been skipping all of them. But it is October, which is the month in which I watch bad sequels, so this may come up in my queue soon.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado: The original Sicario was a riveting, tightly scripted little action film. This sequel keeps Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin in the cast and Taylor Sheridan as its writer but lost Denis Villeneuve as the director. Which was apparently one loss too many as the reviews were pretty bad (our own Matthew St. Clair’s review included). Still, I liked the first one enough to give this a try.
Leave No Trace: A father and his 13-year-old daughter are living completely off the grid in a large urban park in Portland, until a small mistake derails their lives forever.
The 12th Man: Thomas Gullestad and Jonathan Rhys Meyers star in this drama about 12 saboteurs trying to disrupt the Nazis with only one of them surviving.
The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler: TV movies from the ’70s about a reporter tracking down a killer vampires in Los Angeles. The first one was written by Richard Matheson and they both were the basis of the popular television series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I’ve not seen any of them, but I’ve always heard good things.
The Spiral Staircase: A serial killer stalks a mute servant girl in a remote mansion.
The Naked Prey (Criterion Collection): A group of colonial hunters in the early 19th century are captured and tortured by a group of South African hunters with only one surviving. He is released without clothes or weapons and hunted for sport.
Rescue Me: The Complete Series: This FX series starred Dennis Leary as a firefighter in New York who gets into comical and dramatic mishaps. Mill Creek has bundled all six seasons into a nice package.
Rififi (Criterion Collection): Quite possibly the best heist movie ever made gets a nice upgrade from Criterion.
Ace in the Hole (Criterion Collection). This Billy Wilder classic stars Kirk Douglas as a big-city journalist stuck working for a small city newspaper who exploits a story abut a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career.
DC Extended Universe 4K releases: All of the live action DCEU movies are getting new 4K releases if you are into that sort of thing.
Beetlejuice / Salem’s Lot / The Shining / It: October has begun, which means horror movies are going to be getting all sorts of fun releases. All four of these films are coming out in exclusive Best Buy Steelbook packages.
