Multiple Picks are the Pick of the Week

I’d thought I do something a little different for my week. The films I’m including are those I haven’t seen but are interested in.

In order by preference:

Nightcrawler 4K + Blu-ray (Shout Factory): Jake Gyllenhaal stars in Dan Gilroy’s 2014 neonoir as a creepily ambitious young man who stumbles into the dark underworld of L.A. freelance crime journalism. Also starring Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, and Bill Paxton.

Flight 4K + Blu-ray & Blu-ray only (Kino): Denzel Washington stars in an Oscar-nominated performance as an airline pilot who saves a flight from crashing, but the investigations into the plane’s malfunctions reveals something more sinister. Also starring John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, and Melissa Leo. Directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Wag the Dog (Warner Archive): Barry Levinson’s prescient satire starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro as a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer who join forces to fake a war in order to bury a presidential sex scandal. Also starring Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson, Kirsten Dunst, and Denis Leary.

The Black Belly of the Tarantula 4K + Blu-ray (Celluloid Dreams): Giancarlo Giannini stars in this 1971 Italian giallo mystery as an insurance broker who becomes the prime suspect in his sex-crazed ex-wife’s brutal murder. Then another person is killed in the same manner, where victims are poisoned before they are literally ripped open with a knife. As the body count rises, an inspector on the case directs his attention to a spa all the victims have a past with.

Popeye 4K + Blu-ray (Paramount): Legendary director Robert Altman’s adaptation of the classic Fleischer cartoons starring Robin Williams as the titular character saves his lady love Olive Oyl (Shelley Duvall) and an orphan from the clutches from the brutish Brute (Paul L. Smith).

Sergeant Rutledge (Warner Archive): John Ford’s 1960 courtroom western has Jeffrey Hunter as a lawyer defending Braxton Rutledge (Woody Strode), a black sergeant accused of the murder of an officer and the rape/strangulation of his daughter. Told in flashbacks, the shocking truth is revealed.

The Stranger (Music Box Films): Francois Ozon’s adaptation of a Camus’ novel has an unfeeling Frenchman whose emotional coldness leads to murder, and the trial that exploits the crime and undoes him.

Jinsei (Kino): An animated journey of a man’s life, marked by various events and labels, which leads him to unforeseen triumph while he faces modern societal shock and personal hang-ups.