March 5, 2019: This Week on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD
A number of recent big screen releases kick off the week, starting with Creed II. Michael B. Jordan returns as Adonis Creed in the eight overall “Rocky” film. If you’re in need of an overview, be sure to check out Moviebill’s guide to the entire “Rocky” franchise. Then, be sure to check out director Yorgos Lanthimos’ acclaimed comedy drama The Favourite, which just earned star Olivia Colman best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards. There’s also the charming Paramount Pictures comedy Instant Family, which stars Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg as a couple who decide to foster three children.
Other new releases hitting shelves on March 5 include the drama Ben is Back (starring Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges), director Lee Chang-Dong’s acclaimed South Korean mystery Burning, and the musical drama Vox Lux, starring Natalie Portman.
Shout! Factory expands its Shout Select label this week with a collector’s edition of Dominic Sena’s Kalifornia. Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes headline the story of grad students studying serial killers who, on a cross country road trip, wind up getting closer than they expected to the subject matter. The new edition offers both theatrical and unrated cuts and newly recorded interviews with Sena himself.
From Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory label come three modern tales of terror. The Clovehitch Killer follows a teenager who discovers that someone he knows has a close connection to serial murders that happened in his small town ten years earlier. Stephen Dorff headlines Don’t Go as a man who, having lost his daughter in a terrible accident, obsesses over bringing her back. Finally, Welcome to Mercy tells the story of a single mother who begins to suffer from stigmata.
An intimate coming of age story told through animation, Liz and the Blue Bird follows two high school best friends that are preparing to perform a complex duet. As they practice, we’re privy to their personal lives and the forces that will send both young women on their respective paths and, perhaps, tear apart their friendship.
Arrow Video has a double helping of vintage filmmaking this week. Robert Sidomak’s 1944 thriller Phantom Lady gets the Arrow Academy treatment. Not only does the film get a loving HD transfer, but among the special features is a full vintage radio play version of the same story. Also be on the lookout for the complete Sister Street Fighter collection, bringing together the 1974 “Street Fighter” spinoff alongside its three sequels: “Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By A Thread,” “Return Of The Sister Street Fighter,” and “Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist”.
Several smalls screen releases are also hitting this week, beginning with the fourth season of the zombie spinoff Fear the Walking Dead. There’s also the first season of Syfy’s DC Comics prequel Krypton and the final season of Netflix’s House of Cards. Finally, Shout! Factory wraps up the week with (on DVD only) the latest installment in the Hallmark Channel’s historical melodrama. Life in 1910 Coal Valley continues in When Calls the Heart: The Greatest Blessing.
Silas Lesnick is the Senior Editor of Moviebill. He has been covering entertainment news out of Los Angeles for more than a decade. You can reach him via e-mail or on Twitter.
