A weekly guide to what’s new on DVD and Blu-ray
Pick of the Week: Back to the Future: The Complete Adventures (Universal)
If you’ve been on the internet at all this year, you’ve probably run across an article or two noting that we’re now in the year 2015, the same year Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) traveled to in the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II. But let’s forget about that sequel for a moment (we’ll get back to it) and just consider what the distance of 30 years means in relation to the first Back to the Future. We’re now as far removed in time from 1985 as the first film was from 1955 when it was released. Anyone who was a teenager at the time it hit theaters is now old enough to have teens of their own. The film can’t help but look different from the other side of that divide.
But part of Back to the Future‘s genius is that it looks better over time. For as much as the film concerns itself with change, it’s also a movie about what stays the same. Marty’s a restless, horny teen who discovers his mom (Lea Thompson) and dad (Crispin Glover) were once restless, horny teens too. It’s the recognition we all get to at one point or another, that we have more in common with our parents than we don’t want to admit. The film just speeds up the process for Marty. It’s less about the difference between 1955 and 1985 than what those living there have in common. That’s as true now as it was then (even if younger viewers no doubt puzzle over all the references to Pepsi Free the same way ’80s teens didn’t understand all the appearances from ’50s ephemera).
The series is also an example of how an unnecessary sequel can still be compelling. There’s no real reason for Back To The Future Part II or Part III to exist and neither lives up to the nearly flawless original. But Part II is a fascinating puzzle box and Part III a loving homage to Westerns and the pairing of Fox and Lloyd works brilliantly each time.
There’s been no shortage of chances to own the Back to the Future films on home video over the years. Nonetheless, it’s now making another appearance in two forms: Back to the Future 30th Anniversary Trilogy, which collects all three films, and Back to the Future: The Complete Adventures, which contains all three films and both seasons of the early-’90s animated series starring Lloyd and, in the role of Marty, David Kaufman. It also comes in a special “flux capacitor” packaging. If that gets your blood pumping, you know which version is right for you.
Also new:
Kwaidan (The Criterion Collection)
This week sees the release of more than a few horror films, but those looking for a break from the usual Halloween-season staples should look no further than this new-to-Blu-ray edition of the classic 1964 Japanese anthology film, Kwaidan. There’s an interesting bit of cultural exchange behind the movie. In 1890, Lafcadio Hearn traveled to Japan on assignment. A writer of Greek and Irish heritage who’d spent much of his professional career in the U.S., he stayed there and, among other works, compiled some Japanese legends into the book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. In 1964, director Masaki Kobayashi turned four of Hearn’s adaptations into the film Kwaidan. (Years later, director John Milius would borrow liberally from one segment in the film, “Hoichi the Earless,” for a sequence in Conan the Barbarian.) It’s a moody, atmospheric film that finds Kobayashi using stylized sets and bold colors to create haunted worlds. This is the full version of the film, too. Most American audiences in the 1960s saw a shorter version that dropped the segment “The Woman of the Snow,” the film’s best sequence, a tale of love, ghosts, and the unexpected consequences of mixing the two.
The Larry Fessenden Collection (Scream Factory)
For offbeat horror of a more recent, domestic vintage, check out this four-film collection of films by Larry Fessenden, an American filmmaker (and actor) who’s been making independent horror films since the late-’70s. The Larry Fessenden Collection gathers together four of his best-known features, including the vampirism-as-addiction-metaphor-themed Habit and Wendigo, in which Patricia Clarkson battles a creature from Native American folklore.
Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight (Scream Factory)
Tales From The Crypt: Bordello of Blood (Scream Factory)
Want more meat-and-potatoes-style horror movies? These two ’90s features — loose spin-offs of the HBO anthology show inspired by classic EC Comics from the ’50s — might be what you’re looking for.
Jurassic World (Universal)
Or, if you just want dinosaurs, here’s Jurassic World. Cons: It’s a dumber film than Jurassic Park or any of its sequels. It’s pretty much as sexist as you’ve heard. Pro: Dinosaurs. (More specifically, the action sequences are all pretty great.)
Paper Towns (Fox)
After The Fault in Our Stars, John Green adaptations seemed like a license to print money. Paper Towns arrived to a more muted critical and financial reception, but it might find the audience at home that largely stayed away from theaters.
Z For Zachariah (Liongate)
This adaptation of Robert C. O’Brien’s post-apocalyptic novel — starring Margot Robie, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine — has been quietly winning strong reviews and an audience since it premiered in a few theaters and on-demand services a few weeks ago.
The Wolfpack (Magnolia)
One of this year’s most talked-about documentaries, this Crystal Moselle-directed film follows a family of sheltered, movie-obsessed New York kids.
