New Releases for August 13 2024

I SAW THE TV GLOW (2024)

Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen's view of reality begins to crack. (BLU-RAY)

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (2024)

As the world falls, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and ends up in the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel, presided over by Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home. (DVD, 4K ULTRA HD, and BLU-RAY)

PEOPLE'S JOKER (2022) 

This revolutionary DIY parody film and hilarious reimagining of the classic autobiographical coming-of-age story follows an unconfident, closeted trans girl as she moves to Gotham City to make it big as a comedian by joining the cast of UCB Live - a government-sanctioned late night sketch show in a world where comedy has been outlawed. As mainstream success eludes our heroine, leading her to unite with a ragtag team of rejects, misfits, and a certain love interest named Mister J, "Joker the Harlequin" is born again as a confident (and psychotic) joker on a collision course with the city's fascist caped crusader. Vats of feminizing chemicals, sexy cartoon interludes, scarecrow psychiatrists, CGI Lorne Michaels, and psychedelic gender dysphoria all play supporting roles. Helmed by writer/director/editor/star Vera Drew and using her own life experiences as a basis for the film, 'The People's Joker' is a deeply personal journey that's as much documentary as it is parody. (DVD and BLU-RAY)

LAST EMPEROR (1987) (CRITERION) 

Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor won nine Academy Awards, unexpectedly sweeping every category in which it was nominated—quite a feat for a challenging, multilayered epic directed by an Italian and starring an international cast. Yet the scope of the film was, and remains, undeniably powerful—the life of Emperor Puyi, who took the throne in 1908, at age three, before witnessing decades of cultural and political upheaval within and without the walls of the Forbidden City. Recreating Qing-dynasty China with astonishing detail and unparalleled craftsmanship by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, The Last Emperor is also an intimate character study of one man reconciling personal responsibility and political legacy. (BLU-RAY + 4KULTRAHD)

PAINT YOUR WAGON (1969) 

A raucous western comedy starring screen legends Clint Eastwood (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, High Plains Drifter) and Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou, Monte Walsh), Paint Your Wagon is punctuated by a classic score by the great Lerner and Loewe (My Fair Lady, Gigi), including “They Call the Wind Maria,” “I Talk to the Trees” and “Wand’rin’ Star.” The story of a gold-mining boomtown full of brawny men centers on the work-and-play partnership of prospectors Ben and Pardner (mischievous Marvin and earnest Eastwood). They share everything—the gold, the laughs, the songs…even their wife (spirited Jean Seberg, Breathless, Macho Callahan)! It’s the musical goldmine of ’69, directed by Joshua Logan (South Pacific, Camelot), shot by William A. Fraker (Bullitt, Tombstone) and adapted for the screen by Paddy Chayefsky (Marty, Network)! (BLU-RAY + 4KULTRAHD)