THE BEEKEEPER. (DVD Artwork). ©Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.
Movies
The Beekeeper (Action, Thriller)
The first action thriller of 2024, “The Beekeeper” debuts on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday, April 23, from Amazon MGM Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.
In “The Beekeeper,” one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers.”
Directed by David Ayer (“End of Watch”) from a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer (“Salt”), “The Beekeeper” stars Jason Statham (the “Transporter” films), Emmy Raver-Lampman (“The Umbrella Academy”), Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games” films), Minnie Driver (“Good Will Hunting”), Phylicia Rashad (“Creed”) and Jeremy Irons (“Watchmen”).
The Departed (Crime, Drama, Thriller)
The iconic crime thriller “The Departed” releases on 4K Ultra HD and Digital for the first time Tuesday, April 23, from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.
Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese directs an all-star cast in the action-packed thriller, where a long-simmering hostility between the Boston police department and an Irish American gang led by Frank Costello is primed to explode. The fuse is lit when a gangster is chosen to infiltrate the police force — and a young cop goes undercover within the gang. When the two moles uncover each other’s identity, the battle begins.
“The Departed” was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film’s prestigious ensemble cast includes Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant”) , Academy Award winner Matt Damon (“Good Will Hunting”), three-time Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Terms of Endearment,” “As Good as it Gets”) and Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg (“The Fighter”), with Emmy Award winner Martin Sheen (“The West Wing”), BAFTA nominee Ray Winstone (“That Summer”), Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”), Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin (“The Cooler”), Emmy nominee Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish”) and James Badge Dale (“World War Z”) in supporting roles.
Bonus features on the release include the all-new featurette “Guilt and Betrayal: Looking into ‘The Departed,’” as well as the following legacy bonus content: “Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie and ‘The Departed,’” “Crossing Criminal Cultures” and nine additional scenes with introductions by Martin Scorsese.
Drive-Away Dolls (Action, Comedy, Thriller)
Academy Award winner Ethan Coen’s (“No Country for Old Men”) solo directorial debut, “Drive-Away Dolls” races onto Blu-ray Tuesday, April 23, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The film is also now available to own on Digital and is currently streaming on Peacock.
Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, the story follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan, “Blockers”), who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.
The road trip comedy caper film features an all-star cast, including Beanie Feldstein (“Booksmart”), Matt Damon (“Oppenheimer”), Primetime Emmy Award nominee Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) and Primetime Emmy Award nominee Bill Camp (“The Queen’s Gambit”). Three bonus features are included on Blu-ray and Digital releases: “The Drive-Away Gang,” “‘Drive-Away Dolls’: An Ethan and Tricia Project” and “Road Trip Essentials.”
Hansel and Gretel (Family, Fantasy, Musical)
“Hansel and Gretel,” the popular 1987 film adaptation from the “Cannon Movie Tales” series, arrives on Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday, April 23, from Capelight Pictures.
Children of an impoverished woodcutter, Hansel (Hugh Pollard, “Simon and the Witch”) and Gretel (Nicola Stapleton, “EastEnders”) get lost in the forest after birds have eaten the trail of breadcrumbs that was supposed to show them the way back home. They arrive at a strange house made entirely of gingerbread. The resident turns out to be a malicious witch who is extremely excited to fatten Hansel up so she can then put him on her menu.
The movie is based on the world-famous fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.
Monolith (Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi)
Australia’s acclaimed sci-fi thriller “Monolith” debuts on Blu-ray Tuesday, April 23, from Well Go USA Entertainment.
While trying to salvage her career and rehabilitate her tarnished reputation, a disgraced journalist (Lily Sullivan, “Evil Dead Rise”) begins digging into a strange conspiracy theory via a controversial new investigative podcast. But as the evidence begins leading uncomfortably close to home, she will be forced to grapple with the web of lies at the heart of her own story.
Following its international premiere at SXSW, “Monolith” was nominated for the New Visions Award at the Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival, Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film at the Australian Directors Guild Awards and Best Indie Film at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards. Bonus materials on the release include a behind-the-scenes featurette, a writer, producer and director audio commentary and the film’s trailer.
Steel Magnolias (Comedy, Drama, Romance)
In honor of its 35th anniversary this year, “Steel Magnolias” debuts on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, April 23, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Six divas of the silver screen — two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field (“Norma Rae,” “Places in the Heart”), Academy Award nominee Dolly Parton (“9 to 5”), Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine (“Terms of Endearment”), Daryl Hannah (“Splash”), Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis (“Moonstruck”) and Academy Award winner Julia Roberts (“Erin Brockovich”) — come together as bosom buddies in this hilarious and heartwarming story of life, love and loss in a small Louisiana parish. At the center of the group is Shelby Eatenton (Roberts), newly married and joyfully pregnant, despite the fact that her diabetes could make childbirth life-threatening. Terrified and angry at the possibility of losing her only daughter, M’Lynn Eatenton (Field) looks to her four closest friends for strength and laughter as she battles her deepest fear of death in order to join Shelby in celebrating the miracle of new life.
The 4K Ultra HD release features the timeless film newly remastered in 4K resolution from the original camera negative, with Dolby Vision and all-new Dolby Atmos audio + 5.1 + 2-channel surround sound. Bonus features include the “Steel Magnolias” 1990 TV pilot as well as the following legacy bonus content: a director’s commentary, 10 deleted scenes, the film’s theatrical trailer and the featurette “In Full Bloom: Remembering ‘Steel Magnolias.’”
Stigmata (Horror, Mystery)
A lost soul has just received the wounds of Christ — and a shocking message that will alter history — in the 1999 film “Stigmata,” now available to own on Blu-ray and DVD from Capelight Pictures.
Frankie Paige (Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”) has absolutely no faith in God. All of that changes when she suddenly begins to suffer the Stigmata — the living wounds of the crucified Christ. Frankie’s miraculous bleeding comes to the attention of the Vatican’s top investigator, Father Kiernan (Emmy Award nominee Gabriel Byrne, “In Treatment”). But when Cardinal Houseman (Academy Award nominee Jonathan Pryce, “The Two Popes”) discovers that Frankie is actually channeling an extraordinary and provocative message that could destroy the church, he’s convinced that she — and the force possessing her — must be forever silenced. Determined to stop this deadly conspiracy, Kiernan risks his faith — and his life — to save her and the message that will change the destiny of mankind forever.
Bonus features on the release include an audio commentary with director Rupert Wainwright (“Blank Check”), deleted scenes, an alternate ending, the film’s theatrical trailer and the featurette “Holy Rites: Making of ‘Stigmata.’”
Tormented (Horror, Thriller)
Newly restored in 4K from original 35mm archival elements, the harrowing 1960 supernatural thriller “Tormented” will be available as a special edition Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday, April 23, from Film Masters.
In a tight-knit island community off the coast of California, Tom Stewart (Richard Carlson, “Creature from the Black Lagoon”) is about to marry the woman he loves (Lugene Sanders, “The Life of Riley”). All is well until Tom’s ex-girlfriend, Vi (Juli Reding, “Burke’s Law”), confronts him at the top of the island’s lighthouse, claiming he is hers and hers alone. When a freak accident occurs, he refuses to intervene, allowing the scorned woman to fall to her death. But his relief soon fades as Vi’s vengeful spirit begins to follow him everywhere he goes. Tormented day and night, body and soul, to what lengths will he go to protect his secret? Will the unrelenting she-ghost reveal herself to others? Find out in this harrowing tale of love and hate — caught between the worlds of the living and the dead!
Iconic cult film director Bert I. Gordon (“Empire of the Ants”) helms this terrifying story of passion from beyond the grave. The special edition release comes loaded with bonus features, including the 1961 unreleased TV pilot of “Famous Ghost Stories” made by Gordon and featuring Vincent Price; the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” version of “Tormented;” and a new documentary by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, “Bigger Than Life: Bert I. Gordon in the 1950s and 1960s,” featuring C. Courtney Joyner. Other extras include an archival interview with writer-producer-director Bert I. Gordon, “Bert I. Gordon: The Amazing Colossal Filmmaker;” a commentary track by historian-writer-filmmaker Gary Rhodes with guest Larry Blamire; a new visual essay by The Flying Maciste Brothers, “The Spirit is Willing: CineMagic and Social Discord in Bert I. Gordon’s ‘Tormented;’” the film’s original trailer, scanned in 4K from 35mm archival elements, presented in its raw format; a recut trailer using restored film elements; and a full-color booklet insert with essays by film historian Tom Weaver and novelist/filmmaker John Wooley.
Front Row Features is giving away a copy of the Australian sci-fi thriller “Monolith” on Blu-ray to three lucky readers. To enter the contest, simply email socalmovieeditor@aol.com by April 29 for your chance to win. Good luck!
