When you have a hit, don't quit! Inspired in some measure by Dune: Part Two's recent smash success on the big screen, we thought, why not revisit our curated sampler of new and exciting gifts you can treat yourself or someone else to? After all, Mother’s and Father’s Days are right around the corner, and then there are all those birthdays and anniversaries that fall throughout the year. So we bring you this “sequel,” packed with more 4K and Blu-ray discs and some cool gear — 25 items in all.
Anyone assuming that this is a prequel to the four-movie Hunger Games trilogy — all based on Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novels — might find themselves bemused. This time we focus on the winning side in Panem’s bloody civil war, with a thoughtful and fascinating character study of the saga’s central antagonist, the future president — all intensified on 4K Blu-ray.
The seminal hero of sword and sorcery, Conan was created by author Robert E. Howard and later evolved from the pages of pulp magazines across movies, TV, and more. His first big-screen outing was also a pivotal career move for bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, who became a bona fide movie star by anchoring director John Milius’ epic adventure film Conan the Barbarian with his statuesque presence: While not everyone can survive the fashion risk of a furry little loincloth, Arnie rocks it. But yes, there are a couple of solid stories to back it all up, reunited in Arrow’s magnificent new “Conan Chronicles” boxed set featuring 1982’s Conan the Barbarian and the 1984 follow-up Conan the Destroyer on 4K Blu-ray.
Framed for killing the most admired and respected gang leader in New York City during a gang summit, The Warriors suddenly find themselves unarmed and on the run, with every cop eager to lock them up and every other gang member looking for revenge. Walter Hill’s taut 1978 action-thriller, remastered here in 4K, has a dangerous energy all its own, with near-nonstop adrenaline punctuated by glimmers of social commentary.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is about a boy with a dream and an accordion who makes it big swapping his own hilarious lyrics into other people’s songs. It’s also an unapologetic parody of the celebrity biography and its many clichés.
Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful films ever photographed, writer/director Terrence Malick’s second feature film, Days of Heaven, is a dramatically minimalist affair elevated by its often jaw-dropping visuals, captured perfectly on 4K Blu-ray.
Oppenheimer is the epic story of an extraordinary genius, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), tasked by the U.S. government to lead the team that would deliver the world’s first atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project assembled many of the world’s brightest minds in a makeshift town in the far reaches of the New Mexico desert, inevitably igniting clashes of styles and personalities. In a race against time to devise a weapon like none ever created, they had to overcome all manner of obstacles and faced unknown risks to complete their assignment and contribute to a decisive end of World War II.
We revisit two very different but, nonetheless, riveting films from the mid-70s: The Exorcist, the head-turning tale of demonic possession that put Linda Blair on the map, and Three Days of the Condor, the political conspiracy thriller starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway that was filmed in the wake of the Watergate scandal that led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon.
Many were the times I thought of reaching out to my contacts at Paramount to give them a friendly nudge toward a 4K release of Witness, a treasure from their vault and a personal favorite of mine since its theatrical debut. My grumblings were silenced earlier this year not by one of those fancy Paramount Presents editions but with the announcement of an even fancier limited-edition box set from third-party boutique label Arrow.
Director Rob Reiner’s genre-defying The Princess Bride, from the book and screenplay by William Goldman, is weird but somehow it works. A modest hit in theaters in 1987, this romantic, swashbuckling fairy tale struck a unique comedic tone with its quirky characters and absurd situations and has since grown to become a family favorite for generations.