New Releases for November 18 2025

ABBAS KIAROSTAMI: EARLY SHORTS AND FEATURES (1970-1989) (Criterion Collection)

Long before he became one of the most renowned artists in world cinema, the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami began his cinematic career at Tehran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (a.k.a. Kanoon), where he honed his distinctive style and themes. During his first decades as a filmmaker, Kiarostami moved freely among documentary, narrative, and even animation, and between joyous short films made for children and subtle works exploring the struggles of adolescents. Often using the classroom as a laboratory, he probed social and political tensions in Iranian society during the turbulent years before and after the 1979 revolution. Spanning his very first short, Bread and Alley (which the director called the “mother of all my films”); other underseen early revelations, like Experience and The Traveler; and nonfiction masterpieces such as Homework, the graceful, warm, and playful works collected here find moments of transcendent poetry within everyday life, and use deceptively simple premises to express universal truths about the human condition. (BLU-RAY)

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (2025) 

Thirteen American colonies unite in rebellion, win an eight-year war to secure their independence, and establish a new form of government that would inspire democratic movements at home and around the globe. What begins as a political clash between colonists and the British government grows into a bloody struggle that will engage more than two dozen nations and forever change the world. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

RED PLANET (2000)

In the not-so-distant future, the ecological crisis on Earth has taken a turn for the worse, and humanity's only hope may lie in seeking refuge on neighboring Mars. After years of unmanned missions to terraform the planet, a crew of astronauts aboard Mars-1 are finally sent to establish Earth's first Martian colony. But a giant solar flare sends their landing module crash-landing on the planet, leaving our pioneers stranded in a harsh crimson wasteland. As the crew battle the elements and rising inner tensions, they soon discover that Mars' newly formed atmosphere has had unexpected and terrifying consequences. (4K ULTRA HD)

A BETTER TOMORROW (1986)

John Woo's groundbreaking A Better Tomorrow explores the razor's edge that separates the opposite sides of the law with undeniable style and intensity. A Triad member attempts to reform and make amends with his brother, a policeman. The gangster's journey into the light, however, is hampered by his seemingly unbreakable ties to the gang he has left behind. Ti Lung (Drunken Master II), Leslie Cheung (The Bride With White Hair), and the immortal Chow Yun-fat star. (BLU-RAY + 4K)

HELL'S ANGELS (1930) (Criterion Collection) 

A high-flying feat of adventure filmmaking and a testament to the audacious, spare-no-expense vision of Howard Hughes, this landmark aviation epic remains exhilarating both for its daredevil aerial sequences and its nervy pre-Code punch. With the onset of World War I, two British brothers recruited into the Royal Flying Corps (Ben Lyon and James Hall) find their bond tested by their differing attitudes toward the war and their love for the same woman (Jean Harlow in her bombshell breakthrough). The product of a notoriously long and dangerous production that resulted in the deaths of multiple crew members, Hell’s Angels broke new technical ground, making use of early sound and color technologies, and capturing some of the most thrilling dogfight scenes ever filmed. (BLU-RAY + 4K)