I love a good crowd-pleasing blockbuster. It doesn’t seem like we get many of those anymore outside of Marvel and Star Wars (and even those have become hard to find in the last few years). Project Hail Mary perfectly fits the bill. And it’s even an original story, not some pre-existing IP. Well, it is based on a book, but Andy Weir’s novel is a new idea, not some prequel or sequel or any other such thing.
Buy Project Hail MaryThe movie stars Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a former molecular biologist who is now a middle school teacher. Or at least he was before he wakes up in space recovering from an induced coma. He has no idea why he is there, or even where he is. He has to piece it all together from a Swiss-cheese memory. We see his recovering memories as flashbacks. We learn he was a teacher but became part of a task team to study this strange alien bacterial life that is slowly destroying the sun and every nearby sun. He’s on the spaceship to learn why one particular sun doesn’t seem to be affected.
He’ll eventually meet a rock-like alien who helps him figure things out and save their planets. Their growing friendship is the heart of the movie. With a screenplay by Drew Goddard and direction by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, Project Hail Mary is thrilling, funny, and heartwarming in all the best possible ways.
Alliance Entertainment is bringing Project Hail Mary to home video with a new UHD transfer. Extras include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a short featurette on how they designed the alien.
Also coming out this week that looks interesting:
A Bay of Blood: Mario Bava’s 1971 cult classic feels more like a slasher than a giallo, but it is still stylish as hell and a ton of fun to watch. Severin Film is releasing an incredible-looking set upgraded to UHD and featuring three different cuts of the film plus loads of extras.
Barbarian: This Zach Cregger-directed horror film stars Georgiana Campbell as a woman who comes to her Airbnb only to discover a strange man already staying there – it has been double-booked. She decides to stay there anyway, only to discover a strange tunnel running underneath the house. Things get weirder (and creepier, and more terrifying) from there. Disney/Buena Vista is bringing it to the UHD format for the first time with this exclusive Steelbook.
Ju-On: The Grudge: I am a huge fan of the early 2000s run of J-Horror movies. I’m excited to see this one – a super creepy series of stories involving a house haunted by an angry spirit – get the UHD treatment.
New York, New York: Martin Scorsese made a musical in the style of all those old classics he loved growing up. It was plagued by behind-the-scenes problems, bombed at the box office, and is not my favorite film of his. Still, it is a fascinating watch. MVD is giving it the UHD treatment.
Hokum: Adam Scott stars in this horror film about a writer who goes to an Irish inn to scatter his ashes only to discover it is haunted by a witch.
Tuner: Leon Woodall discovers that his skills as a piano tuner lend themselves to cracking safes. Dustin Hoffman costars.
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert: Mix of documentary and concert footage of Elvis’ legendary run of shows in Las Vegas in 1970.
Elementary Cinema: The Early Films of Sherlock Holmes: A boxed set featuring some of the earliest cinematic adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
