Golden Globe winner The Martian heads up the week’s home entertainment releases, which includes the stunning Criterion release of Wim Wenders’ The American Friend, which is a follow-up to The Talented Mr. Ripley, and DC superhero-to-be Ezra Miller stars in a Blu-ray debut, The Stanford Prison Experiment (above).
Now for trailers and details!
($49.99 3D Blu-ray, $39.99 Blu-ray, $29.98 DVD; 20th Century Fox)
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Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, an astronaut-botanist who gets stranded on Mars and must “science the shit out of” his situation to survive. Ridley Scott proves yet again that he can make a solid sci-fi film — yes, Prometheus rattled our faith a bit — and Damon keeps things brisk and funny and tense as his situation goes from bad to OK to promising to bad to… etc. While being designated a “comedy” is stretching things a bit, the Golden Globe win was well deserved. You’ll want to re-watch the shit out of this. Extras include featurettes, faux documentaries hosted by and about Watney and the characters, a gag reel, and more.
($39.95 Blu-ray, $29.95 DVD; Criterion)
German director Wim Wenders made a splash on the international scene in 1977 with this adaptation of Carol author Patricia Highsmith’s third novel about sexually ambiguous con artist/chameleon Tom Ripley. Dennis Hopper stars as Tom this time around, now operating as an art dealer, who ensnares terminally ill German frame maker Bruno Ganz in a scheme involving a French gangster. An international road movie thriller, this one is a cinephile must-have. Besides Criterion’s sparkling 4k digital transfer, this edition includes a commentary, interviews, deleted scenes, and more.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
($24.99 Blu-ray; IFC)
Recently cast as The Flash for DC Comics’ upcoming movie about the speedy superhero, and delightful as a gay extrovert in The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Ezra Miller helps head up this tense ensemble piece about a 1971 experiment in which a Stanford University psychology professor simulated a jail setting and cast 24 students in prisoner and guard roles. Let’s just say the experiment resulted in shocking and atrocious developments and behavior in the young folk… and the ones who orchestrated it. Openly gay director Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s feature, already released on DVD, is now out on Blu-ray with extras.
ALSO OUT:
Mr. Robot: Season 1
Paranormal Activity 5
Meet The Patels (VOD)
Sinister 2
Irrational Man
Hotel Transylvania 2
dahunt
The Martian was a great book; I missed the movie theater release; Thanks, Queerty, for suggesting it. I read of the Stanford Prison Experiment in a long-ago psych class.
Merv
@dahunt: The Martian is still showing in discount theaters, if there’s one near you.