By: Al B.
BUTCHER’S CROSSING
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Available on Digital, Blu-ray, & DVD now
Nicolas Cage stars in a gritty story about buffalo hunters in the Old West. Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) has left Harvard to find adventure. He teams up with Miller (Cage), a mysterious frontiersman offering an unprecedented number of buffalo pelts in a secluded valley. Their crew must survive an arduous journey where the harsh elements will test everyone’s resolve, leaving their sanity on a knife’s edge.
MILLER’S GIRL
Lionsgate
Available In Theaters January 26
A talented young writer (Jenna Ortega) embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher (Martin Freeman) assigns a project that entangles them both in an increasingly complex web. As lines blur and their lives intertwine, professor and protégé must confront their darkest selves while straining to preserve their individual sense of purpose and the things they hold most dear.
YOUR LUCKY DAY
Well Go USA Entertainment
Available on Blu-ray/Digital January 16
After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.
MILLIE LIES LOW
Film Movement
Available on VVD/Digital January 16
Millie, an architecture student from New Zealand, lands a competitive internship with a prestigious firm in New York. But after telling everyone she knows about the opportunity, she suddenly suffers a panic attack as her plane is about to take off, and misses her flight. In a desperate pivot, Millie decides to save face by hiding in plain sight around Wellington, suitcase in tow, using Instagram and the power of denial to depict a trip to New York City that never happened. Trapped in a spiral of hilariously uncomfortable self-inflicted scenarios, Millie will have to dig deep to restore her mental health and her dignity.
THREE AGES
The Buster Keaton Cellection: Vol. 5
Cohen Film Collection
Available on blu-ray now
The rituals of courtship, romantic rivalry and love play out three times as a Man (Buster Keaton) vies with a Villain (Wallace Beery) for the Girl (Margaret Leahy). In the Stone Age, the rivalry is set off by dinosaurs, a turtle used as a Ouija board, and a round of golf with stones. In ancient Rome, the men display their brawn through a chariot race, using dogs instead of horses. In contemporary times, the Man finds himself overcome
FIREWORKS
Cinephobia Releasing
Available on DVD/DOV january 18
Gianni is a handsome but shy teen who works as a car mechanic at his stepfather’s garage but mercilessly taunted by the macho townsmen for being a homosexual. With his family life no better, Gianni withdraws into himself until one day he meets Nino, a curly-haired boy with an infectious smile. As the two become close and fall in love, the moral rumblings from their families and neighbors begin to erupt. With all against them, the boys decide to make a stand.
THE FIFTH THORACIC VERTEBRA
IndiePix Films
Available on DVD/Digital now
After a mysterious mold starts spreading across the surface of an abandoned mattress, a sentient creature begins to take shape from within. Feasting on its unsuspecting victims’ vertebrae while they rest, the creature grows stronger, finding nourishment not only in the bones and sinew it assimilates but also in the hopes, fears, and emotions of all those it encounters.
BEFORE, NOW & THEN
Film Movement
Available on DVD/Digital now
Set amid the political violence of late-1960s Indonesia, Kamila Andini’s intoxicating film BEFORE, NOW & THEN follows Nana, the beautiful wife of a wealthy plantation owner whose inner life remains with her deceased first husband, murdered in the civil war a decade prior. A survivor, Nana values her safety and material comforts, but carries out a haunted existence, dreaming of her lost love. Forced to confront her husband’s blatant infidelity, Nana makes an unusual connection with his younger mistress, Ino. The two women, sharing their secrets and desires, discover a newfound freedom and intimacy withheld from them both by the strictures of patriarchal society.
DUMB MONEY
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Available on DVD/Digital & Blu-ray now
Dumb Money is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall video game store) into the world’s hottest company. In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill, who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich – until the billionaires fight back and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.
INTO THE WEEDS
Film Movement
Avaialble on DVD now
Does the most widely used weed killer in the world cause cancer? On December 8, 2023, Film Movement invites audiences to discover for themselves with Jennifer Baichwal’s powerful documentary INTO THE WEEDS, which follows the story of groundskeeper Lee Johnson and his fight for justice against agrichemical giant Monsanto (now Bayer, which bought the company in 2018), the manufacturer of the weed killer, Roundup. by modernity, including a very fragile car.