New Releases for April 29 2025

ANORA (2024) (Criterion Collection)

Contemporary cinema’s foremost chronicler of American dreamers and schemers hustling on the margins of capitalist promise, Sean Baker, reaches new heights of mastery with this audacious anti–Cinderella story—a whirlwind neorealist screwball comedy with an aching heart. In an electric, star-is-born performance, Mikey Madison soars as Anora, an enterprising, ferociously foulmouthed Brooklyn erotic dancer and sex worker whose Prince Not-So-Charming comes along in the form of a Russian oligarch’s wild-child son (Mark Eydelshteyn). This is the beginning of a fractured fairy tale—also featuring standout performances from Karren Karagulian, Yura Borisov, and Vache Tovmasyan—that turns the cruel realities of class inside out. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Anora confirms Baker as one of our preeminent auteurs. (DVD, BLU-RAY + 4K)

DROP ZONE (1994)

Pete and Terry Nessip (Wesley Snipes, Passenger 57; Malcolm-Jamal Warner, TV's Malcolm & Eddie) are two U.S. Marshals escorting Earl Leedy (Michael Jeter, Miller's Crossing), a computer criminal being transferred to a maximum security prison, when the plane they're traveling on is hijacked by terrorists, resulting in the death of Terry and Earl's daring escape from the law at 30,000 feet. The hijacking turns out to be the plot of ex-DEA agent turned skydiver Ty Moncrief (Gary Busey, Point Break) who plans to break into the DEA mainframe in Washington DC, with the help of Leedy, to get back at the government that failed him. Pete Nessip, looking to avenge his brother's death and get back his prisoner, teams up with skydiving instructor Jessie Crossmann (Yancy Butler, Hard Target) to chase down Ty's crew from the Florida Keys to Washington DC, before the fireworks go off on the 4th of July. (BLU-RAY + 4K)

MURDEROCK (1984) 

Candice Norman operates the hottest dance academy in town, with hoards of hopefuls dying to be admitted, maybe literally. Shortly after a trio of new students are accepted into Candice's tutelage, a young female pupil is found murdered on campus, stabbed through the heart with a long pin. With the backbiting staff and students alike all rendered possible suspects, Candice is also plagued by haunting dreams involving a sinister man. When Candice spots this man's face on a billboard, she decides to track him down, while yet another rising dance starlet winds up with a punctured heart. Is this handsome stranger as dangerous as the man in her dreams? Could a bloodthirsty maniac from outside the school be preying upon the dancers? Or has the intense competition between dancers and staff turned one of them into a depraved killer? And how does Candice herself factor into this shocking mystery? (BLU-RAY + 4K)

A TALE OF SORROW AND SADNESS (1977)

The editor of a sports magazine grooms fashion model Reiko (Yoko Shiraki) to become a pro golfer, while retaining exclusive rights to her likeness. Reiko's popularity soars after she wins her first tournament and she becomes a media sensation, but when she and her manager (Yoshio Harada, Zigeunerweisen) cause a hit-and-run accident, the victim begins to blackmail Reiko, intruding further and further into her personal life. This was Seijun Suzuki's comeback film after being blacklisted by the film industry for ten years. Though adapted from a popular manga, the bold visuals and absurdist plot twists are vintage Suzuki. (BLU-RAY)

MOTORPSYCHO (1965)

Just prior to FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL!, producer/director/co-writer and cinematographer Russ Meyer first unleashed his singular vision of full-throttle violence and vengeance with this 1965 shocker: When a trio of psycho bikers launches a sexual assault and murder spree in a desert town, the local veterinarian (Alex Rocco of THE GODFATHER fame in his screen debut) teams with a rage-ravaged vixen (the incredible Haji in her own first film role) to settle the score. Steve Oliver (WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS), Lane Carroll (THE CRAZIES), Timothy Scott (THE FARMER) and Russ himself co-star in this "slick, violent and well made" (Variety) Meyer milestone, now scanned in 4K from the original negative restored by The Museum of Modern Art with new and archival Special Features curated by Severin Films in association with The Russ Meyer Trust. (BLU-RAY + 4K)