What's newly available for home viewing on DVD or Blu-Ray? Herewith a quick survey of new releases from the past two weeks.
DVD/Blu-Ray
• Boy Erased - It didn't end up with any Oscar nods but it's worth seeing, especially if you or someone you love ever had to put up with the evils of conversion therapy or religious repression of natural sexuality.
• First Man - It shares with Mary Poppins Returns the distinction of being the most-nom'ed movie this season that's not up for Best Picture. But that still feels stingy for a movie this well crafted, technically speaking. How on earth and outerspace did it miss in Best Original Score? The mind boggles.
• The Wife - Glenn Close's 7th Oscar bid is, contrary to internet belief, a movie that exists and that people saw. The very fact that some corners of the internet bitch about it is blatant ageism...
After all it easily trounced other nominees the internet likes better at the box office earning more than Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Roma, First Reformed, Leave No Trace, Suspiria, etc.... Now, box office has no relation to quality but it does prove that people actually go to see some movies that the internet claims no one cares about. We're eager for the holdouts to watch this because Close is amazing in it. Contrary to popular belief here with my now year-long plus championship of this particular performance, I am not a Glenn Close stan. I think she's deserved only 4 of those 7 nominations (Garp, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, The Wife) -- it's a bit of an Amy Adams situation all told -- and I think she's often as wildly overpraised as Jessica Lange when it comes to TV work but The Wife is her best star turn since Dangerous Liaisons and should she win the Oscar in February we will loudly cheer her on from our couch.
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• RBG (2018) Two Oscar nominations: Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song for "I'll Fight" from perennial Oscar-loser Diane Warren.
• We the Animals (2018) It made Team TFE's top ten list and its got 5 Spirit Award nominations and now you can see it for under a dollar. Do it.
• Mr Blanding Builds His Dream House (1948) The world is awful so Cary Grant and Myrna Loy might be just the ticket to cheer us up today.
• Dead Man Walking (1995) If you've never seen this death row drama do yourself the favor. Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn are incredible in it. Despite nominations in 3 above the line categories, it missed a Best Picture nomination in the year of the shameful horror of Braveheart's win (one of those years where the film year is so rich that of course the Best Picture winner is a dud. The Globes were SO MUCH BETTER than the Oscars that year).