Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

And another hi-def hello to our fellow blu-ray geeks. Welcome to the weekly look at our most wanted titles coming to blu-ray and/or 4K Ultra HD for the week of March 19, 2019.

This week brings us a couple of huge new films hitting home video for the first time in multiple formats including, blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, steelbook, steelbook exclusives, and more. Told you these were huge. And one of those is coming off the high of a recent Oscar win for best animated feature film. So, let's get this hi-def party started.

Our most wanted release this week comes from Sony Pictures and involves a journey into the exciting world of superhero arachnids. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is coming to home theaters in no fewer than six different editions, including a 4K Ultra HD edition, a Limited Edition, as well as a couple of retail exclusive steelbook editions.

Another huge release this week comes from the folks over at Disney who are giving the hi-def love to the Mary Poppins sequel called Mary Poppins Returns which gets four different editions including a Best Buy and a Target exclusive steelbooks. {googleads}

Kino Lorber is releasing two spectacular blu-rays this week. First up is the 2002 Todd Hayes period drama Far From Heaven that stars Julianna Moore, Dennis Quaid, and Viola Davis followed by the Tom Cruise, Shelley Long 1983 teen sex comedy Losin' It. Both films are getting the special brand of TLC treatment from Kino.

Criterion also gets in on the action with a couple of titles getting new restorations. First, the 1945 Edgar-Ulmer-directed film noir piece, Detour gets a brand new 4K restoration and a handful of extra features while the 1970 crime drama, Wanda gets a new 2K restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Film Foundation, and Gucci.

Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Seven gets a blu-ray release from BBC while the 1973 blaxploitation action film Cleopatra Jones comes to us in hi-def this week from the Warner Archive Collection.

Mary Poppins ReturnsShout Factory is never one to count out and this week the company is putting out a couple of new blu-rays. The Cheech Marin stoner comedy Born in East L.A. is getting a Collector's Edition that includes a new commentary and three new interviews. We are also getting a blu-ray release of Cyril Frankel's 1966 horror film Witches that comes with a new audio commentary.

Arrow Films has restored the 1975 giallo Strip Nude For Your Killer and will release it on blu-ray with a plethora of extra features and bonus materials.

Finally, Lionsgate is bringing new 4K Ultra HD life to the 2005 crime drama Lord of War that stars Nicolas Cage as a Russian gun runner. The release features a handful of extras including an audio commentary from writer/director Andrew Niccol.


Here is what is coming out on blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD This week

Mary Poppins ReturnsMary Poppins Returns (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD)

Disney

Street Date: March 19, 2019

In Depression-era London, a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, along with Michael's three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss.

Blu-ray Details:

  • Audio Commentary by Director Christian Rivers
  • Welcome to London - Featurette
  • End of the Ancients - Featurette
  • Character Series - Featurette
  • In the Air - Featurette
  • Film New Zealand - Featurette

Losin' It Losin' It (Blu-ray)

Kino Lorber

Street Date: March 19, 2019

Teen sex comedy set in 1965 which follows four Los Angeles school friends, Woody, Dave, Spider, Wendell and the series of misadventures they get into when they travel south of the border to Tijuana, Mexico for a night of cruisin', causing trouble, and to settle a pact to lose their virginity before the night is over, while a young woman, named Kathy, accompanies them for different reasons: to arrange a quick divorce from her husband.

Blu-ray Details:

  • Original Theatrical Trailer

Lord of WarLord of War (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

Lionsgate

Street Date: March 19, 2019

Chance leads Yuri Orlov to discover his one talent - illegal arms dealing. With his brother's help, he reaches the top of the trade, supplying anyone whose check clears. His skills and quick wits bring him everything he's ever wanted - and help him elude a persistent Interpol agent. But at the peak of his prowess, he discovers his customers might demand more than he can give...and those he's trying to protect could become deadly liabilities.

Special Features:

  • Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Andrew Niccol
  • "The Making of Lord of War" Featurette
  • "Making a Killing: Inside the International Arms Trade" Featurette
  • Deleted Scenes

DetourDetour (Blu-ray)

Criterion

Street Date: March 19, 2019

From Poverty Row came a movie that, perhaps more than any other, epitomizes the dark fatalism at the heart of film noir. As he hitchhikes his way from New York to Los Angeles, a down-on-his-luck nightclub pianist (Tom Neal) finds himself with a dead body on his hands and nowhere to run—a waking nightmare that goes from bad to worse when he picks up the most vicious femme fatale in cinema history, Ann Savage's snarling, monstrously conniving drifter Vera. Working with no-name stars on a bargain-basement budget, B auteur Edgar G. Ulmer turned threadbare production values and seedy, low-rent atmosphere into indelible pulp poetry. Long unavailable in a format in which its hard-boiled beauty could be fully appreciated, Detour haunts anew in its first major restoration.

Special Features:

  • Brand New 4K Restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen, a 2004 documentary featuring interviews with filmmakers Roger Corman, Joe Dante, and Wim Wenders and actor Ann Savage
  • New interview with film scholar Noah Isenberg, author of Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins
  • New program about the restoration of Detour
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by critic and poet Robert Polito

Doctor Who: Tom BakerDoctor Who: Tom Baker (Blu-ray)

BBC

Street Date: March 19, 2019

In 1963 an old fashioned Police Call Box sat in a junk yard at 76 Totters Lane. An old man out and about exploring. A young girl wise beyond her years attending Coal Hill School. Two teachers become suspicious. Barbara and Ian suspect the girl is in trouble. They follow her home. The girl, Susan Foreman, vanishes into the junkyard. Barbara and Ian investigate. They discovered the Police Box. "It's alive!" says Ian, he feels a faint vibration coming from within. The girls grandfather returns. He confronts the two teachers who accuse him of holding the girl inside the Police Box. They hear her call out to him from inside. Barbara and Ian push their way in and discover a world they never thought possible.

 


Far From HeavenFar From Heaven (Blu-ray Special Edition)

Kino Lorber

Street Date: March 19, 2019

Cathy is the perfect 50s housewife, living the perfect 50s life: healthy kids, successful husband, social prominence. Then one night she surprises her husband Frank kissing another man, and her tidy world starts spinning out of control. In her confusion and grief, she finds consolation in the friendship of their African-American gardener, Raymond - a socially taboo relationship that leads to the further disintegration of life as she knew it. Despite Cathy and Frank's struggle to keep their marriage afloat, the reality of his homosexuality and her feelings for Raymond open a painful, if more honest, chapter in their lives.

Special Features:


Born in East L.A.Born in East L.A. (Blu-ray Collector's Edition)

Shout Factory

Street Date: March 19, 2019

Cheech Marin wrote, directed and starred in Born in East L.A., a hip, outrageous comedy that's more timely than ever. The story follows Rudy (Marin), an American of Hispanic descent, whose south-of-the-border looks show him no mercy during an immigration raid in a migrant worker factory. As his luck goes, he is caught with neither money nor his ID and is deported to Mexico – without speaking a word of Spanish! Unable to contact his vacationing family or his newly immigrated cousin (played by comedian Paul Rodriguez), Rudy is in for a crazy ride as he tries every legal – and illegal – scheme he can think of to get back home. He finds himself in jail, in love, and practically in-sane in this hilarious case of mistaken, or rather, misplaced, identity.

Special Features:

  • New Audio Commentary By Director/Writer/Star Cheech Marin
  • New Interview With Cheech Marin
  • New Interview With Actress Kamala Lopez
  • New Interview With Actor Paul Rodriguez
  • Extended Television Cut Of Born In East L.A. (Standard Definition)
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Photo Gallery
  • Production Notes

WandaWanda (Blu-ray)

Criterion

Street Date: March 19, 2019

Synopsis: Set amid a soot-choked Pennsylvania landscape, and shot in an intensely intimate vérité style, the film takes up with distant and soft-spoken Wanda (Loden), who has left her husband, lost custody of her children, and now finds herself alone, drifting between dingy bars and motels, where she falls prey to a series of callous men—including a bank robber who ropes her into his next criminal scheme. A difficult-to-see masterpiece that has nonetheless exerted an outsize influence on generations of artists and filmmakers, Wanda is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of a woman stranded on society's margins.

Special Features:

  • New 2K restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Film Foundation, and Gucci, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • I Am Wanda, an hour-long documentary by Katja Raganelli featuring an interview with director Barbara Loden filmed in 1980
  • Audio recording of Loden speaking to students at the American Film Institute in 1971
  • Segment from a 1971 episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring Loden
  • The Frontier Experience, a short educational film from 1975 about a pioneer woman's struggle to survive, directed by and starring Loden
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Amy Taubin

Cleopatra JonesCleopatra Jones (Blu-ray)

Warner Archive Collection

Street Date: March 19, 2019

A Turkish poppy field is torched -and a U.S. drug trafficker known as "Mommy" (Shelley Winters) is feeling pretty burned. She phones the local cops she owns and orders a retaliatory strike on an inner-city antidrug headquarters. Mommy's next call should be to 911. Because now she'll have to mess with Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson). Mommy is relentless in her vendetta – but Cleo responds with catlike karate stealth. (Bong So Hon, technical advisor on Billy Jack, supervised the karate sequences.) Doodlebug, Pickle, Snake and more of Mommy's offbeat stooges add glide to the story's stride. Their antics, Mommy's chortling sleaziness and Cleo's class shape the power and pizzazz of Cleopatra Jones.

Special Features:

  • Brand new remaster of the film
  • Original theatrical trailer

The WitchesThe Witches (Blu-ray)

Shout Factory

Street Date: March 19, 2019

Haunted by the terrors of her experience with African witch doctors, school teacher Gwen Mayfield (Fontaine) accepts an appointment as headmistress at the Haddaby School run by Alan Bax (Alec McCowen, Frenzy) and his sister Stephanie (Kay Walsh, Stage Fright). Gwen initially revels in the peacefulness she has found in the quiet English countryside but soon begins to sense "undercurrents." Before long, a local boy falls into a coma and Gwen discovers a voodoo doll impaled by pins. The danger that follows brings her face to face with witchcraft as a series of disasters unfold and lead her to the horrible truth.

Special Features:

  • New Audio Commentary with filmmaker/historian Ted Newsom
  • Hammer Glamour – a featurette on the women of Hammer
  • U.S. Trailer The Devil's Own
  • Double Feature trailer PREHISTORIC WOMEN and THE DEVIL'S OWN
  • Still Gallery

Strip Nude for Your KillerStrip Nude for Your Killer (Blu-ray)

Arrow FIlms

Street Date: March 19, 2019

A spate of highly sexualized murders is rocking a prestigious Milanese fashion house. Ambitious photographer Magda (Edwige Fenech, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) and her on-off boyfriend, love rat Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo, The English Patient), team up to crack the case. But, with the motorcycle helmet-wearing killer clearing bearing a grudge against the agency's employees, it's surely only a matter of time before they too end up feeling the force of his wrath…

Special Features:

  • New 2K Restoration from the original camera negative
  • Original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
  • English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
  • New audio commentary by HORRORPEDIA.com's Adrian J. Smith and David Flint
  • Sex and Death with a Smile, a new video essay by author and critic Kat Ellinger on giallo and sex comedy icon Edwige Fenech
  • A Good Man for the Murders, a newly edited video interview with actor Nino Castelnuovo
  • The Blonde Salamander, a new video interview with actress Erna Schurer
  • The Art of Helping, a new video interview with assistant director Daniele Sangiorgi
  • Jack of All Trades, a new video interview with actor and production manager Tino Polenghi
  • Two versions of the opening scene: tinted and untinted viewing options
  • Original Italian and English theatrical trailers
  • Image gallery
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
  • First pressing only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Rachael Nisbet

And now for our MOST WANTED ON BLU-RAY AND 4K for the week of March 12, 2019

Spider-man Into the SPiderverseSpider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures

Street Date: March 19, 2019

Teen Miles Morales becomes Spider-Man of his reality, crossing his path with five counterparts from other dimensions to stop a threat for all realities.

Special Features:

  • HDR presentation
  • English Dolby Atmos Audio Track
  • We Are Spider-Man: Exploring and celebrating one of the key themes of the film, We Are Spider-Man takes a deep dive into the diversity of the characters and aspirational core that any person from any gender or cultural background can wear the mask.
  • Spider-Verse: A New Dimension: With a stunning visual style and state of the art animation designed to take the viewer into the pages of a comic, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is not only a love letter to comic books but a groundbreaking take on the super hero genre. Hear from the artists and filmmakers who pushed the boundaries of the artform as they discuss their journey.
  • The Ultimate Comics Cast: Enjoy this showcase of all of the fan favorite characters featured in the Spider-Verse and the spectacular cast who were chosen to bring them to life.
  • A Tribute to Stan Lee & Steve Ditko: Celebrate the amazing legacy and powerful spirit of the creators of Spider-Man.
  • The Spider-Verse Super-Fan Easter Egg Challenge: The Spider-Verse is loaded with Easter Eggs, from cameos to comics references. Fans are challenged to find them all!
  • Designing Cinematic Comics Characters: A breakdown of all aspects of the character design including costume, movement in animation, and distinct powers for each character.
  • Heroes & Hams: Meet the amazing Spider-people of the Spider-Verse.
  • Scorpions and Scoundrels: Explore the classic villains who wreak havoc on the Spider-Verse.
  • Alternate Universe Mode: In this all-new viewing experience, discover alternate scenes, plotlines, characters, and more with the filmmakers as your guide.
  • 2 Lyric Videos
  • "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee
  • "Familia" by Nicki Minaj & Anuel AA (feat. Bantu)
  • All-New Original Short "Spider-Ham: Caught In a Ham" It's another normal day for Peter Porker, a.k.a. the Spectacular Spider-Ham, fighting bad guys and loving hot dogs, until a mysterious portal starts messing with the very fabric of his cartoon reality.