Watch at Home: 1985, Roma, A Simple Favor

What's newly available for home viewing this week? Herewith a very quick survey of new releases and/or great deals

DVD/Blu-Ray
• All About Nina -Festival critics loved it (and Mary Elizabeth Winstead's performance) but it was lost in theaters. Can it find a second life now? 
• Fahrenheit 11/9 -Michael Moore didn't make the doc finalist list this year but his new doc is now on DVD
• A Simple Favor -Paul Feig and two terrific actresses, perfectly cast, delivered one of the year's best comic surprises
• Venom - The Spider-Man spinoff that was so successful we're sure to get loads of other villain spinoffs of superhero movies. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to threaten you.

New iTunes 99¢ Deals
I do not know what possessed them but they have a TON of great films for 99¢ this week (there's usually just a couple of must-sees). That's a price point we can get behind for streaming especially since otherwise you're at the whim of Netflix and Prime's extremely limited movie menus. You might want to check out 1985, Austin based filmmaker Yen Tan's latest LGBT drama. This one is in black and white and about a young man (Cory Michael Smith) who returns home to his parents in Texas (Michael Chiklis and an excellent Virginia Madsen) to say goodbye during the AIDS epidemic.

SO MANY FAMOUS FILMS FOR 99¢ THIS WEEK: Airplane, Annie Hall, Beetlejuice, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Birdcage, Black Hawk Down, The Black Stallion, Blue Velvet, Boyhood, Capote, A Clockwork Orange, Eat Drink Man Woman, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Gravity, Gremlins, Hairspray, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Heat, Kung Fu Hustle, Inherent Vice, Leave No Trace, Leaving Las Vegas, Lenny, The Madness of King George, The Magnificent Seven, Manhattan, Marty, Memento, Midnight Cowboy, Moonstruck, Moulin Rouge!, My Cousin Vinny, Mystic Pizza, Point Break, Raging Bull, Rainman, Spy, Sweeney Todd, Terminator 2, and Under the Skin.

This feels like my village. It's drier there but it feels like it.

Brand New Streaming
• Roma - Netflix's Best Picture hopeful is now streaming. Turn off your phone and all the lights. Then turn the sound way up. In other words treat it like a true cinematic experience if you're watching it at home. After Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and Gravity (among others) we think it's safe to say that Alfonso Cuarón has earned the world's full attention. 

Comments

[George P.]

Oh wow, thanks for the heads up about “1985”! I never knew it already had a limited theatrical release, as it played here at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Missed it due to other commitments, so I’m excited to finally see it on demand.

[goran]

I liked Roma a lot - but still far less than each of the Cuaron films you listed. It's lovely but at the same time it feels so 'constructed', so 'written' - with Cuaron going out of his way to make his hand visible in every moment. The unanimous unrestrained gushing among critics has me a bit confused.

I must admit I miss the Cuaron who made Y tu mama. I hope he might be back one day.

*All that said, I very much hope this film somehow manages to beat A Star Is Born for Picture. Because the reverse is just unthinkable.

[NewMoonSon]

Was scrolling through the 99 cent deals on iTunes and also spotted Deliverance. Has to be the best adventure/fish out of water/horror movie ever. Burt was robbed.

[Sijmen]

Iñárritu: Hey, I have an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (Amores perros)
Cuaron: Cool. I’ll top that with an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay (Y tu mama tambien)
Iñárritu: I’ll top that with an Oscar nomination for Best Director (Babel)
Del Toro: Hey amigos, my film won 4 Oscars (Pan's Labyrinth)
Cuaron: I’ll top that by WINNING the Best Director Oscar (Gravity)
Iñárritu: I’ll top that by winning the Best Director Oscar TWO TIMES IN A ROW (Birdman & The Revenant)
Del Toro: Hey amigos, my film won the Golden Lion and the Best Directing Oscar (The Shape of Water)
Cuaron: I’ll top that by winning the Golden Lion , my second Best Director Oscar and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (Roma)
Iñárritu & Del Toro: But we both have a Best Picture Oscar.
Cuaron: ...
Del Toro: Alfonso?
Cuaron: Talk to the hand.

[Doctor Strange]

And free on YouTube for just one week, the adorable Pixar short "Bao" (which was released with "Incredibles 2" and seems destined to win Best Animated Short):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYaRZ4TNfus

I've been mostly underwhelmed by Pixar's output for years now, but this heartwarming tale of family and Chinese food is charming.

[NATHANIEL R]

Sijmen -- i love it.

Dr -- agree that BAO is pretty great.