Indeed, this is one of the biggest ‘new release Mondays’ in terms of physical home entertainment releases of the year so far with no less than three big blockbusters making their way to DVD, Blu-ray and UHD, plus some cracking smaller movies, too. So, without further ado, here are the big releases for week commencing 31st January 2022.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
As with a lot of these, this one one has been available on digital for purchase for a few weeks now, but Ghostbusters: Afterlife is now released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K to pick up at your local store, supermarket, or online. The film had mixed reviews upon release at the end of last year, and I’m yet to see it, but the physical release is bursting with bonus material which we’ve outlined below.
4K Ultra, Blu-ray™ and Digital Bonus Materials Include:
- We Got One! Easter Eggs Revealed
- Ghostbusters: A Look Back
- A Look Ahead
- Bringing Ecto-1 Back to Life
- The Gearhead’s Guide to Ghostbusters Gadgets
- Special Effects: The Ghosts of Afterlife
- Deleted Scene: Is It Ever Too Late?
- Summoning the Spirit: Making Ghostbusters: Afterlife
DVD Bonus Materials Include:
- Summoning the Spirit: Making Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Dune
One of the biggest films of last year, and one that received the best reviews of all of the big blockbusters. Dune is directed by Denis Villeneuve, this is now officially ‘Part One’, with a second part already in development for a release down the line a little.
Bonus features for this one include: Documentaries – ‘The Royal Houses’, ‘Inside Dune: The Training Room’, ‘Building the Ancient Future’, ‘Designing the Sandworm’, ‘Wardrobe from Another World’, ‘A New Soundscape’.
We gave the film the full five stars when we caught it in Venice, where it received its world premiere in earlier September of last year.
We said: “Storytelling quite unlike you’ve ever seen. This is a cinematic odyssey and it’s every bit as visceral as it is epic.”
You can read our review of the film here.
Last Night In Soho
I saw this one late on – actually while I was away at a film festival, but glad I caught it in cinemas. Edgar Wright’s latest is both a love letter to London in the 1960s, as well as some of the brilliant genre films of the time – all featuring some brilliant on-screen talent including Anya Taylor Joy, Thomasin McKenzie, and Matt Smith. Last Night In Soho should be seen if you’re a fan of the genre, or the filmmakers involved. I caught a glimpse of the bonus materials and they are superb, too. I’ll have more on this on the site later, but here’s a brief outline of what you can expect on the Blu-ray.
BONUS FEATURES ON 4K UHD, BLU-RAYTM:
- MAKING OF FEATURETTES
- MEET ELOISE – An in-depth look at the character of Eloise and the challenges that star Thomasin McKenzie faced while bringing her to life.
- DREAMING OF SANDIE – A closer look at the characters of Sandie and Jack and why Anya Taylor-Joy and Matt Smith were the perfect actors to embody the essence of the time period.
- SMOKE AND MIRRORS – The cast and crew break down how lighting, makeup, special effects, and creative camerawork came together to create a collision between the present day and 1960’s time periods.
- ON THE STREETS OF SOHO – The cast and crew discuss the importance of shooting on location in Soho and the complexity of transforming the city streets back in time.
- TIME TRAVELLING – A look into how the music, costume design, and production design of the film work together to immerse the audience into the world of 1960’s Soho.
- DELETED SCENES
- ANIMATICS
- FIRST DREAM
- SHADOW MEN
- MURDER
- FINAL CONFRONTATION
- EXTRAS
- HAIR & MAKEUP TESTS
- LIGHTING & VFX TESTS
- WIDE ANGLE WITNESS CAM
- ACTON TOWN HALL STEADICAM REHEARSAL
- “DOWNTOWN” MUSIC VIDEO
- TRAILERS
- FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR/CO-WRITER EDGAR WRIGHT, EDITOR PAUL MACHLISS AND COMPOSER STEVE PRICE
- FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR/CO-WRITER EDGAR WRIGHT AND CO-WRITER KRISTY WILSON-CAIRNS
The Last Duel (4K)
Available on Disney+ now, for non-subscribers after the UK, Ridley Scott’s 2021 movie The Last Duel hots 4K from today. I really liked this movie – it’s a long slog to watch, but very, very good, mostly because of the wonderful performance by Jodie Comer.
Censor
One of the best films of 2021 premiered at various festivals, starting with Sundance a year ago. The film now gets the Second Sight treatment, released onto a limited edition Blu-ray bursting with bonus stuff, which is as follows:
- New audio commentary by Director and Co-Writer Prano Bailey-Bond and Executive Producer Kim Newman
- New audio commentary by Prano Bailey-Bond, Director of Photography Annika Summerson, Editor Mark Towns and Sound Designer Tim Harrison
- New audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, Lindsay Hallam and Miranda Corcoran
- My Own Nasty: a new interview with Prano Bailey-Bond
- Penning a Nasty: a new interview with Co-Writer Anthony Fletcher
- The Censor: a new interview with Actor Niamh Algar
- Nasty Images: a new interview with Annika Summerson
- I’m Cutting It: a new interview with Mark Towns
- Nasty Sounds: a new interview with Composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
- The Making of Censor
- Deleted Scenes
- Enid’s Gaze: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on Censor
- Screening Q&A with Prano Bailey-Bond and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch hosted by Jed Shepherd
- Prano Bailey-Bond in conversation with BBFC compliance Officer David Hyman
- My Nasty Memories by David Gregory
- Plan the Sadist Videos! Parts One and Two feature length documentary
Mulholland Drive
A first restoration of Mulholland Drive was undertaken by Criterion back in 2016. The original 35 mm negative was scanned and graded in 4K. The 4K graded scan was converted to 2K before doing the restoration. At the time, there was no 4K UHD available, so the film was only released in 2K (Blu-Ray).
For this latest restoration, STUDIOCANAL and Criterion decided to mark the 20th Anniversary by restoring the film in 4K and premiering the film in Cannes. A process that often takes two years was condensed into several months with the help of David Lynch, who supported the restoration team. As the 2016 restoration was already approved by Mr. Lynch, it was possible to use these grading parameters and apply them to the 4K scan of the original negatives. Then a new and exclusive HDR grading was supervised by Mr. Lynch, with the unique objective to offer to the public all the detail of the theatrical version on the new 4K Dolby Vision edition. This new version will therefore offer much more detail than ever before. The sound was also remastered from the original 5.1 audio tracks through the director and his team’s supervision. The 4K release will be available to watch in cinemas, along with UHD BD and Digital editions.
When the film was selected for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Lynch again reviewed the film’s grading and made some tweaks for the cinema version. He was delighted with the restorative work.
We have a trailer for this one, which you can see below.
Mothering Sunday
Another big new release, Mothering Sunday lit up last year’s late festivals. Josh O’Connor and Odessa Young lead the cast, which also includes the brilliant ??p? Dìrísù, Glenda Jackson, Olivia Colman, and Colin Firth.
I saw this recently and it really is worth a visit.
The official synopsis is as follows:
On a warm spring day in 1924, house maid and foundling Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young) finds herself alone on Mother’s Day. Her employers, Mr and Mrs Niven (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman), are out and she has the rare chance to spend an afternoon of abandon with her secret lover, Paul (Josh O’Connor), the boy from the manor house nearby who is Jane’s long-term love despite the fact that he’s engaged to be married to another woman, a childhood friend and daughter of his parents’ friends. But events that neither can foresee will change the course of Jane’s life forever.
Slumber Party Massacre (2021)
A slumber party turns into a bloodbath when a psychopath wielding a power-drill disrupts the fun. Slumber Party Massacre is a reimagining of Roger Corman’s 1982 cult classic, and we loved it. In fact, you’ll find out own Kat Hughes quoted on the cover for this one, so I will let her original review do the talking.
Kat said: A fun reworking of a tarnished classic, Slumber Party Massacre offers the newer, younger horror generation perfect sleepover scary fun.
Special features include:
- Audio Commentary with Director Danishka Esterhazy
- Danishka Esterhazy Q&A : Abertoir Horror Festival
- Alternate Ending
- Trailer
- Stills Gallery
Also released this week:
Raging Fire, The Matrix (4K), Anaconda Collection, The Party and the Guests (1966), Never Gonna Snow Again, No Man Of God.
