Shelf Life: September 2019
This month, Dan Owen selects some of the best home video releases on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD.
Who needs streaming when these boxed beauties could be proudly displayed on your shelf?
AVENGERS: ENDGAME [DVD | 3D | Blu | 4K+Blu]
The Highest-Grossing Film Ever Made arrives on a plethora of formats, so now’s your time to grab a cop of Avengers: Endgame and replay and freeze-frame all your favourite moments from Marvel’s superhero spectacular. • Read Dan Owen’s review here.
THE AVENGERS ASSEMBLED (Complete 4-Movie Collection) [DVD | Blu]
In addition, all four of The Avengers movies — The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame — have been brought together in a box-set. But only DVD and Blu-ray, so you’ll have to wait for the 4K release or buy them separately.
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (BBC) [Blu]
The BBC’s 1979 miniseries adaptation of John le Carré’s classic spy novel, starring Alex Guinness as George Smiley, Deputy Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service.
POLDARK: Series 5 (BBC) [DVD | Blu]
The hit Cornish period drama bows out. Starring Aidan Turner.
SHOCK CORRIDOR (Criterion Collection) [Blu]
Samuel Fuller’s 1963 US drama about a reporter who fakes insanity to go undercover in a mental hospital to solve a murder. • Read Tom Trott’s review here.
TRUE DETECTIVE: Season 3 [DVD | Blu]
After the disastrous second season, True Detective returns to a more familiar flashback-heavy format for its third season with Mahershala Ali & Stephen Dorff.
CASTLE ROCK: Season 1 (Warner Bros.) [DVD | Blu]
Sadly tucked away on StarzPlay through Amazon Prime in the UK, British fans of Stephen King will want to check out this creepy US series. It’s a fresh story that takes place in King’s fictional town of Castle Rock, with lots of nods to various locations and characters that have appeared throughout his literature. Starring André Holland (The Knick), Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures), Bill Skarsgård (It), Jane Levy (Evil Dead) & Sissy Spacek (Carrie).
CASINO [4K+Blu]
Martin Scorsese’s 1995 gangster drama starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, Don Rickles & Kevin Pollack gets a 4K release.
LA LLORONA [DVD | Blu]
The lesser-known and least successful of The Conjuring spin-offs, so completists of the jump-scare franchise may want to add this to their collection after The Nun.
TOLKIEN [DVD | Blu]
Biopic about J.R.R Tolkien, world-famous author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, played by Nicholas Hoult.
EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE [DVD | Blu]
Biopic of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) for those who don’t have Netflix, where it’s available for free.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD • HOT FUZZ • THE WORLD’S END [4K+Blu]
Edgar Wright’s ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost gets a re-release on Ultra HD. Zombies, cops, and drunks! What more do you want?
LONG SHOT [DVD | Blu]
Comedy about a journalist (Seth Rogen) who reunites with his childhood crush (Charlize Theron), who is now one of the most influential women in the world. • Read Jeffrey Bricker’s review here.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 — PARABELLUM [DVD | Blu | 4K+Blu]
Keanu Reeves returns as taciturn assassin John Wick, now on the run for killing a fellow hitman on sacred ground. • Read Jeffrey Bricker’s review here.
JOHN WICK (3-Film Collection) [DVD | Blu | 4K]
All three of the John Wick films are assembled together for a marathon of head-shots.
POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU [DVD | 3D | Blu | 4K+Blu]
A live-action take on the Pokémon mythos, where the little monsters co-exist with humans, one of whom meets a talking Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds). • Read Jonathan 'Jono' Simpson’s review here.
HIGH NOON (Eureka ‘Masters of Cinema’) [Blu]
Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly star in this classic Western.
APOCALYPSE NOW [DVD | Blu | 4K]
Old classics are always a treat on Ultra HD, so StudioCanal’s 40th-anniversary re-release of Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece Apocalypse Now, “The Final Cut” version, is an undoubted highlight of the month for cineastes. Or just people who want to soak in the visuals with added clarity an HDR. • Read Alexander Boucher’s review here.
THOR [4K+Blu]
Chris Hemsworth made his debut as Thor, the God of Thunder, in the first Thor movie for Marvel Studios, now on Ultra HD for the first time.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD [4K+Blu]
The sequel to Thor wasn’t as warmly embraced by the masses, but The Dark World is perhaps deserving of some reassessment in the wake of Endgame’s storyline? On Ultra HD for the first time.
THOR (3-Movie Collection) [4K+Blu]
All three of the Thor movies, including the previously released Thor: Ragnarok, are assembled for an Ultra HD box-set to save you some pennies.
LOCAL HERO (Collector’s Edition, Newly Remastered) [Blu]
Bill Forsyth’s classic 1983 Scottish comedy-drama about a US oil representative who travels to the small town of Ferness to purchase the land for his company. Starring Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson & Fulton Mackay.
THE PREY (Arrow Video) [Blu]
1980 slasher about campers in the Rocky Mountains being stalked and murdered by a disfigured enemy.
SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (Indicator) [Blu]
Ray Harryhausen provided the excellent stop-motion effects for this 1977 fantasy sequel, the third and final Sinbad movie from Columbia Pictures. Starring Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Margaret Whiting, Jane Seymour & Patrick Troughton.
ALADDIN (2019) [DVD | 3D | Blu | 4K+Blu]
Disney’s live-action remake of their 1992 animation, itself adapting an Arabic folktale, arrives across all home video formats. Directed by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) with Will Smith (Men in Black), Mena Massoud & Naomi Scott (Power Rangers).
DOCTOR WHO: Season 23 (BBC, ‘The Collection’) [Blu]
The Limited Edition series randomly arrives at Colin Baker’s last run as The Doctor, known as “The Trial of a Time Lord”, split into four segments: “The Mysterious Planet”, “Mindwarp”, “Terror of the Vervoids” & “The Ultimate Foe”.
ALADDIN (1994) [4K+Blu]
Disney’s original 1992 smash-hit animation is released on the Ultra HD format, with Robin Williams as the voice of the irrepressible Genie.
DC ANIMATED COLLECTION: Volume 1 (DC) [4K+Blu]
Five of the popular superhero animations are brought together in one box-set release: Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman: Assault on Arkham, Justice League Dark, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay & Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.
LOCK UP [4K+Blu]
Sylvester Stallone stars in this 1989 prison drama about an inmate transferred from a minimum-security prison to a maximum security facility by a vindictive warden.
THE SHINING: Extended Cut [4K+Blu]
Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece arrives on the Ultra HD format, adapting the Stephen King novel to glorious effect with Jack Nicholson & Shelley Duvall.
ROCKETMAN [DVD | Blu | 4K+Blu]
The biopic of Elton John comes to home video, played by Taron Egerton (Kingsman). • Read Amelia Nancy Harvey’s review here.
THE WALKING DEAD: Season 9 (AMC/EOne) [DVD | Blu]
The final season for star Andrew Lincoln as hero Rick Grimes, but certainly not the end of the road for the franchise’s shuffling undead. Alas.
ZOMBIELAND [4K+Blu]
As a prelude to its belated sequel this year, the horror-comedy Zombieland celebrates its 10th anniversary with an Ultra HD release. Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone & Abigail Breslin.
GREMLINS [4K+Blu]
Joe Dante’s horror-comedy favourite comes to Ultra HD, concerning a small town coming under attack from a species of rapidly-reproducing gremlins.
All release dates, BBFC certifications, and cover art subject to change. This article contains affiliate Amazon links which, if used to make a purchase, earns us a commission that goes towards maintaining the site, at no expense to yourself.
