Welcome to Mandatory and ComingSoon’s weekly Binge & Buy, a digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD column for the week of June 25! Here, you’ll find detailed write-ups of different titles released this week, including a number of new releases like Dumbo, reissues, combo packs, and TV seasons, none of which you can live without in 2019. Click each highlighted title to purchase through Amazon!
So many movies, so little time: RANKED! The Best (And Worst) Tim Burton Movies Of All Time
Photo: Universal Pictures
New Movies on Blu-ray/DVD
Dumbo
From director Tim Burton, this grand live-action adventure expands on the beloved classic where differences are celebrated, family is cherished, and dreams take flight. A struggling circus makes an incredible comeback with a baby elephant that can fly, but when they attract a new investor, they soon discover his new plans conceal dark secrets.
The Poison Rose
This star-studded detective noir features John Travolta as a troubled private eye whose latest case forces him to confront dangerous men (Morgan Freeman), desirable women, and his own dark past.
Maze
Based on the incredible true story of the 1983 mass break-out of 38 IRA prisoners from the HMP Maze high-security prison, one prisoner engineers the largest European prison escape since World War II.
Furie
When a little girl is kidnapped by a trafficking ring, they soon find they messed with the wrong child. Her mother, a notorious former gang leader, is close on their trail and will go to any lengths to bring her daughter home. Featuring a fantastic lead performance by Veronica Ngo.
Photo: The Criterion Collection
Criterion Corner
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Based on the hit off-Broadway musical. An East Berlin boy named Hansel is the victim of a botched gender-reassignment surgery. Now living in a trailer in Kansas, Hedwig reinvents herself as an “internationally ignored” but divinely talented rock diva.
War and Peace
At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet film industry set out to prove it could outdo Hollywood with a production that would dazzle the world: a titanic, awe-inspiring adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic tome in which the fates of three souls—the blundering, good-hearted Pierre; the heroically tragic Prince Andrei; and the radiant, tempestuous Natasha—collide amid the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars. Employing a cast of thousands and an array of innovative camera techniques, director Sergei Bondarchuk conjures a sweeping vision of grand balls that glitter with rococo beauty and breathtaking battles that overwhelm with their expressionistic power.
Photo: Scream Factory
Reissues
Night of the Creeps
In this campy chiller, a college couple, in 1959, see an object plummet to Earth like a meteor. The boy accidentally swallows a space-slug that shoots out. In 1986, two freshmen roam the campus and stumble across the corpse of the boy who swallowed the space-slug. Once thawed out, the corpse comes to life.
American Horror Project: Volume 2
Arrow Video brings the second volume in its American Horror Project series. Starting off with a little-seen 1970 offering from underrated cult auteur John Hayes, Dream No Evil is a haunting, moving tale of a young woman s desperate quest to be reunited with her long-lost father only to find herself drawn into a fantasyland of homicidal madness. Meanwhile, 1976’s Dark August stars Academy Award-winner Kim Hunter in a story of a man pursued by a terrifying and deadly curse in the wake of a hit-and-run accident. Lastly, 1977 s Harry Novak-produced The Child is a gloriously delirious slice of horror mayhem in which a young girl raises an army of the dead against the people she holds responsible for her mother’s death.
The New York Ripper
A blade-wielding psychopath is on the loose, turning The Big Apple bright red with the blood of beautiful young women. As NYPD detectives follow the trail of butchery from the decks of the Staten Island Ferry to the sex shows of Times Square, each brutal murder becomes a sadistic taunt. In the city that never sleeps, he’s the killer that can’t be stopped!
Cinderella
Beloved by generations of fans, Disney’s timeless classic is now part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection and the prestigious National Film Registry. With its enchanting story, iconic animation, unforgettable characters and plenty of Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo. Cinderella’s adventure proves dreams really do come true!
Green Inferno
From master of horror Eli Roth. A determined group of student activists flies to Peru only to be captured by a pack of bloodthirsty cannibals.
Monster on the Campus
An amazing scientific discovery turns deadly in this classic sci-fi horror film set in the backdrop of a 1950s college campus.
Robowar
Reb Brown stars in this action-packed adventure story of fighting men pitted against an unseen enemy, a force more powerful than the fiercest weapons.
The Beast in Heat
More than four decades after the subgenre first shocked the world, the most depraved Nazisploitation sickie of them all must still be seen to be believed. Writer/director Luigi Batzella combines footage from two earlier WWII action movies with a newly-shot plot featuring a sadistic female Nazi officer, a perpetually aroused caged ogre and a cavalcade of sexual atrocities
Double Face
When wealthy businessman John Alexander’s unfaithful wife Helen dies in a car crash, it initially looks like a freak accident. However, the plot thickens when evidence arises suggesting that the car was tampered with prior to the crash. And John’s entire perception of reality is thrown into doubt when he discovers a recently-shot pornographic movie which appears to feature Helen suggesting that she is in fact alive and playing an elaborate mind game on him.
The Wild Heart
Screen legend Jennifer Jones stars as the young, beguiling Hazel Woodus in 1897 Shropshire, England. More than the people around her, she loves and understands the wild animals of the countryside, especially her pet fox. Whenever she has problems, she turns to the book of spells and charms left to her by her gypsy mother.
Resurrecting The Champ
Struggling sports reporter Erik Kernan encounters a homeless man who calls himself “Champ” only to discover that he is one-time boxing champion Battling Bob Satterfield. In his journey to uncover the truth, Erik must reexamine his own life and his relationship with his young son.
Heroes Shed No Tears
The Thai government hires a group of Chinese mercenaries to capture a powerful drug lord from the Golden Triangle. The mercenaries manage to capture the drug lord, but soon find themselves pursued by his forces and the forces of a bitter Thai officer. The Chinese mercenaries are vastly outnumbered, and as their numbers begin to dwindle, their desperation pulls them into a corner as their enemies close in on them.
24 Hour Party People
In 1976, Tony Wilson sets up Factory Records and brings Manchester’s music to the world.
The Illusionist
Set in early 1900s Vienna, illusionist extraordinaire Eisenheim falls for an aristocrat well above his social standing. The master magician employs his powers to win her love and his daring scheme creates tumult within the monarchy and ignites the suspicion of Chief Inspector Uhl.
Fatso
A portly compulsive eater (Dom Deluise) finds nothing can dampen his desire for food until he falls in love.
Detective
In a luxury Paris hotel, two detectives are working on the vexing case of an assassinated prince. In a nearby room, boxing trainer Jim Fox Warner (Johnny Hallyday) is getting his young protege ready for a fight. But Jim owes big money to the mob, as well as to the Chenals, a bickering husband and wife (Claude Brasseur and Nathalie Baye).
Midnight Lace
Kit Preston (Doris Day) is the elegant newlywed wife of British financier Anthony Preston (Rex Harrison). Shortly after moving to one of London’s wealthiest neighborhoods, Kit is threatened by an unknown party.
None But the Brave
A crippled C-47 transport crash-lands on a remote Pacific island. For the Marines aboard, World War II becomes smaller but no less deadly.
The Dark Side of the Moon
In 2022, a repair crew is sent to fix an orbital weapon but their spaceship malfunctions and ends up heading towards the dark side of the moon. There, in a mysterious, seemingly abandoned space shuttle, a sinister force lies in wait.
The Pajama Game (DVD)
This 1957 version of the Tony-winning Pajama Game is one of the finest film adaptations of a hit Broadway musical. The story is simple enough: Babe Williams, the head of a pajama company’s grievance committee, falls for an exec–the new superintendent–Sid Sorokin.
Damn Yankees (DVD)
Washington Senators fan Joe Boyd sells his soul to the devil, Mr. Applegate, to become the greatest baseball player ever and to help his favorite team win the pennant.
Lost in the Stars
Brock Peters is a black South African minister searching the unfamiliar urban alleys and shanty towns of Johannesburg for his missing son.
Galileo
Topol and a cast of British theatrical aristocracy (including Sir John Gielgud, Patrick Magee, and Tom Conti) recreate the troubled life and anxious times of 17th-century physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei.
Time travel: 14 Behind-the-Scenes Photos Of Your Favorite Classic Movies
Photo: Paramount Pictures
New on Digital HD
Pet Sematary
Based on the terrifying novel by Stephen King… After the Creed family moves to rural Maine, they stumble upon an ancient burial ground with sinister powers. When tragedy strikes, a perilous chain of events unleashes an unfathomable evil.
The 16th Episode (in theaters and on VOD June 28)
Three YouTubers, each with their own inner demons, visit the mythical town of Casablanca. With their viewership down, they get invited to attend a satanic ritual and soon realize that maybe all their audience wants is to see them die.
Father the Flame
For centuries the tobacco pipe has been a symbol of contentment and contemplation. Through the window of this transcendental artifact and its sacred origins, this is a cinematic exploration of legacy, family, and love.
Photo: Acorn TV
TV on Blu-ray and DVD
Manhunt
Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) stars in this true-crime drama as DCI Colin Sutton, the lead detective on a case that captivated Britain. When a young French woman is killed in London, the investigation yields no forensics, motive, or witnesses. But when Sutton connects the crime to two other murders, he realizes he must hunt down a serial killer.
Poldark: The Complete Collection
A sensation on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre, this spellbinding saga tells the story of the gallant Captain Ross Poldark in 18th-century Cornwall. Based on the novels by Winston Graham, this classic drama teems with adventure and romance, set against the spectacular backdrop of the ruggedly beautiful coast.
Marcela: Series 2
In season two, when a body is found inside a wall, Marcella is horrified to discover that she knew the victim: a young boy who went missing years ago while walking home with her son. As more corpses turn up, Marcella wades through a complex web to catch a serial killer, but her deteriorating mental state threatens to derail the investigation.
Divorced Dad
Inspired by a dream, a newly-single man (Matthew Kennedy) eases the pain of his mid-life crisis by launching a public-access talk show. But no matter how innocuous the topic, each episode devolves into chaos, veering from slapstick comedy into supernatural horror, driving the divorced dad ever closer to his emotional breaking point.
