New Releases for February 11 2025

OSCAR MICHEAUX: THE SUPERHERO OF BLACK FILMMAKING (2021)

Oscar Micheaux was the most influential African American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century, a self-taught artist who funded, produced, and released more than 40 films, all while completely excluded from the Hollywood systems of production and distribution. Francesco Zippel’s revealing documentary (which premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival) charts Micheaux’s incredible artistic journey, as he followed the urban migration to Chicago, abandoned city life to became a homesteader in South Dakota, and eventually became a resolute storyteller, writing six novels and producing dozens of feature films before his death in 1951. Regardless of the genre in which he was working, Micheaux’s provocative films served as a powerful rebuke to the ubiquitous racism of the times. In Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking, a chorus of experts and fans—from Chuck D to Melvin van Peebles—weigh in on the incredible legacy of the man whom cinema scholar Jacqueline Stewart describes as “the most important Black filmmaker who ever lived. Period.” (DVD)

THE KILLER (2024)

Legendary action director John Woo returns with a radical reimagining of his 1989 Hong Kong classic, The Killer.

Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel), a mysterious and infamous assassin known as the "Queen of the Dead" in the Parisian underworld, becomes the centre of a manhunt when she refuses an assignment from her shadowy handler (Sam Worthington) to murder a blind woman. Her decision sets off a series of events that will disintegrate Zee's alliances, attract the attention of a determined police detective (Omar Sy) and plunge her into a sinister criminal conspiracy that puts her on a collision course with her own past. (BLU-RAY)

TOM AND JERRY: COMPLETE CINEMASCOPE COLLECTION (1954-1958)

With the rise of TV threatening moviegoing, wider screens became Hollywood's way to combat that competition. M-G-M went all in and placed their bets on the new CinemaScope process. In addition to their feature films, the studio emboldened their cartoon unit run by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera - and their Oscar-winning series of Tom and Jerry shorts. The new visual approach to the famous team's animated adventures was artistically refreshing - and won sweeping popular success with audiences. This set includes all 23 of these wide-screen wonders – collected together for the first time on Blu-ray as originally seen in theatres. Also included are Hanna & Barbera's two stand-alone Spike & Tyke cartoons - and their Oscar-nominated Good Will To Men. Animated, Anamorphic, and Amazing! The ultimate chase - continues!

The Collection contains:

1. PETE PEEVE (1954)
2. TOUCHÈ PUSSYCAT (1954)
3. SOUTHBOUND DUCKLING (1955)
4. PUP ON A PICNIC (1955)
5. TOM AND CHERIE (1955)
6. THAT'S MY MOMMY (1955)
7. THE FLYING SORCERESS (1956)
8. THE EGG AND JERRY (1956)
9. BUSY BUDDIES (1956)
10. MUSCLE BEACH TOM (1956)
11. DOWN BEAT BEAR (1956)
12. BLUE CAT BLUES (1956)
13. BARBECUE BRAWL (1956)
14. TOPS WITH POPS (1957)
15. TIMID TABBY (1957)
16. FEEDIN' THE KIDDIE (1957)
17. MUCHO MOUSE (1957)
18. TOM'S PHOTO FINISH (1957)
19. HAPPY GO DUCKY (1958)
20. ROYAL CAT NAP (1958)
21. THE VANISHING DUCK (1958)
22. ROBIN HOODWINKED (1958)
23. TOT WATCHERS (1958)

(BLU-RAY)

LIFEGUARD (1976)

At first glance, it looks as if Rick Carlson (Sam Elliott, Tombstone and The Big Lebowski) has it made. He's bright and good-looking. He's also the lifeguard on a stretch of California beach that has more than its fair share of tanned bodies and beautiful girls. But Rick is at the crossroads of his life. His friends and family are pushing him to get a real job but, at this point, Rick's not so sure what real is. It's an agonizing decision compounded on one side by an adoring beach groupie (Kathleen Quinlan, Apollo 13) and on the other side by a former high school flame (Anne Archer, Fatal Attraction) who's game for rekindling, but only if he's serious about trading in his swimsuits for three-piecers. Elliott drew waves of accolades for his sensitive and sexy portrayal of the aging title character who's compelled to reassess his life and career. Director Daniel Petrie's (Buster and Billie) picture is an introspective character piece whose protagonist struggles against societal norms in order to hold onto his sense of self and find personal fulfillment. The script by first-time writer Ron Koslow (Firstborn), is based on his experiences as a California lifeguard. The musical voice of so many '70s dramas, Paul Williams (Phantom of the Paradise) contributes the aptly-titled Time and Tide to the film's soundtrack. (BLU-RAY)

KING LEAR (1987) (Criterion Collection)

Jean-Luc Godard’s first English-language narrative feature is a radical anti-adaptation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece that finds the visionary filmmaker continuing to reinvent the syntax of cinema. In a post-Chernobyl world where culture has been lost, William Shakespeare Jr. V (played by theater director Peter Sellars) attempts to reconstruct his ancestor’s play, abetted by a cast that includes Molly Ringwald, Burgess Meredith, and Godard himself as a crazed avant savant. Through a dense layering of sounds, images, and ideas about everything from language to the economics of filmmaking to the very meaning of art in a ruined world, Godard fashions a puckish and profound metacinematic riddle to be endlessly analyzed, argued over, and savored. (DVD and BLU-RAY)