A Better Tomorrow is one of the defining films of Hong Kong cinema. It put director John Woo on the map. It essentially created the gun fu and heroic bloodshed subgenres and helped take Hong Kong cinema international. I’d argue there are better movies in all those categories (heck, I’d argue John Woo made better gun fu films), but there is no doubt that A Better Tomorrow created something special.
Buy A Better Tomorrow Trilogy UHDWith the huge success of A Better Tomorrow, they made two sequels, A Better Tomorrow II, and A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon. All three star Chow Yun Fat as Mark Lee, a shades-wearing, chain-smoking, ultra cool gangster. I’ve only ever seen the first one, and the general consensus is that the sequels aren’t nearly as good as the first. But all three are said to be filled with tons of action, and based on what the original does, I’m more than excited to check out all three films in UHD. Shout Factory has loaded them with tons of extras as well making this set my pick of the week.
Howard’s End 4K UHD: James Ivory’s gorgeous-looking romance set in Edwardian England gets the UHD treatment from the Cohen Film Collection. Read Greg Hammond’s review.
Hell’s Angels: Howard Hughes’s epic war film was one of the most expensive films ever made at the time. It featured massive air battles, and somewhere in the middle of filming, he decided to switch it from a silent film to a sound one. This meant there had to be lots of reshoots, and he fired his original actress (she had an accent) and hired Jean Harlow. This film made her a star. Criterion has the release.
The American Revolution: Ken Burns documentary about the beginnings of the United States of America is currently airing on PBS, but if you don’t want to watch it live, you can grab it on Blu-ray.
Wicked Games: Three Films by Robert Hossein (The Wicked Go To Hell, Nude in a White Car, The Taste of Violence): Hossein is probably best known in America as an actor who starred in Jules Dassin’s classic Rififi. He starred in a great many films and also wrote and directed a great many films as well. I’ve not seen or heard of these three films presented in this collection by Radiance Films, but I’ve never gone wrong watching one of their films, so I’m definitely intrigued by this set.
El 4K UHD: Criterion brings us this drama from Luis Buñuel about a man who falls in love with a woman and then destroys the relationship over his insane jealousy.
Yellowstone: The Complete Series: I’ve never seen a single episode of any Taylor Sheridan show, and honestly, I have no interest in rectifying that. But his shows are wildly popular, and this is his signature series, so fans should be pleased to be able to get the entire thing on Blu-ray now.
Red Planet: This science fiction film stars Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, and Terence Stamp as a bunch of scientists sent to Mars to try and make it habitable since Earth is quickly becoming an Eco-wasteland. Naturally, things go awry. Arrow Video has given it a new transfer and loaded it with extras.
Out of Africa (40th Anniversary) 4K UHD: Sydney Pollack’s Oscar winning epic stars Meryl Streep as a strong willed woman who moves to Africa in 1914 and falls in love with the continent and a handsome stranger (Robert Redford.)
Dark City 4K UHD: Arrow Video presents this ambitious science-fiction noir about a man who wakes up in an icy bathtub, finds a dead woman next to him, and can’t remember how he got there. Also, aliens.
The Ogre of Athens: This noir-inflected drama finds an unassuming bank clerk being mistaken for a notorious criminal, and he decides to just kind of go with it. You can read my full review soon.
Eclipse Series 47: Abbas Kiarostami—Early Shorts and Features: After a long break, Criterion’s Eclipse series – boxed sets of difficult-to-find films released without Criterion’s usual remastering and extras, but at a very reasonable price – is back. This set features 17 films from the Iranian director’s career.
