{"id":19708,"date":"2023-02-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=19708"},"modified":"2023-02-14T10:49:26","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T18:49:26","slug":"the-best-movies-to-buy-or-stream-this-week-the-fabelmans-strange-world-black-panther-wakanda-forever-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/the-best-movies-to-buy-or-stream-this-week-the-fabelmans-strange-world-black-panther-wakanda-forever-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Movies to Buy or Stream This Week: <i>The Fabelmans<\/i>, <i>Strange World<\/i>, <i>Black Panther: Wakanda Forever<\/i>, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalogue titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This twice-monthly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you\u2019re watching.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some heavy hitters among this week\u2019s new disc and streaming releases, including a new (and not half bad) Marvel movie, the latest from one Steven Spielberg, and (per the Oscars) the best picture of 2002. But the pick of the week is for a set spotlighting the quintessential arthouse hits of the 1990s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"THREE COLORS (Krzysztof Kie\u015blowski) - 4K Restoration Trailer\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1HeEUjqsI1M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PICK OF THE WEEK:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YIc8Y4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Three Colors (Blue \/ White \/ Red)<\/a><\/em>: <\/strong>The notion of giving Krzysztof Kieslowski\u2019s 1993-1994 trilogy the ol\u2019 4K bump is such a no-brainer, it\u2019s sort of shocking that Criterion took this long to get around to it, but jeez Louise is it ever worth the wait &#8211; these pictures, always breathtaking, have simply never looked better. But now we\u2019re talking surfaces; this remains an astonishing achievement of long-form storytelling, as the great Polish master weaves three separate but ingeniously interconnected tales of three similarly disparate women (Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, and Irene Jacob) navigating the (then) modern world and all of its woes. It all sounds like homework, and nothing could be farther from the truth; these films are frisky, sexy, strange, and wonderful. (Includes interviews, video essays, short films, trailers, documentaries, and essays.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Fabelmans | Official Trailer 2 [HD]\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9wAKUa487aw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ON 4K\/ DVD \/ VOD:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3jZV9ll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Fabelmans<\/a>: <\/em><\/strong>Steven Spielberg\u2019s latest is the story of how a movie-crazy kid turned his love of movies into a career, and a life. It is, of course, inspired by Spielberg\u2019s own child- and young adulthood, following the broad strokes of his early years and the beginnings of his obsession; he co-wrote the screenplay with his frequent collaborator Tony Kushner, his first such credit since <em>AI: Artificial Intelligence<\/em> (and before that, <em>Poltergeist<\/em>). So it\u2019s obviously very personal to him, and that sense of genuine emotion, of pathos via memoir, is<a href=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-the-fabelmans\/\"> beating under every scene<\/a>. But this isn\u2019t simply a case of <em>roman a clef<\/em> curiosity either &#8211; Spielberg isn\u2019t interested in mere nostalgia, and the clarity with which he sees the actions of the adults in this tale (and the specificity with which they are played, by Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and others) is startling. (Includes featurettes.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ON BLU-RAY \/ DVD \/ VOD:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3XxyiLI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Strange World<\/a><\/em>: <\/strong>One day, someone\u2019s going to write one gripping account of exactly why and how Disney\u2019s most recent animated adventure was buried, with the hastiness and sloppiness, of <em>Goodfellas<\/em>\u2019 Billy Batts &#8211; barely promoted, half-heartedly screened for critics, quickly shuffled off to Disney+ when it predictably underperformed. One can formulate theories, based on the film itself; my best guess is that the hilariously outsized hoopla from \u201csocial conservatives\u201d that greeted the barely-there same-sex relationship in <em>Lightyear<\/em>, coupled with the rapidly escalating rhetoric of the borderline-fascist governor of the state that houses Disney World, made the studio a bit more nervous about a picture with an openly, casually queer hero. But that might be giving the Mouse House a bit too much credit. The more likely explanation is that it wasn\u2019t an easy money-maker, and this wasn\u2019t a movie that was going to spawn a series of sequels or a tourist-grabbing theme park ride, and that was that. And it\u2019s a shame, because this is one of their lightest and most agreeable movies in a good long while &#8211; nothing that\u2019ll stop the earth from spinning on its axis, to be sure, but an agreeable 90+ minutes\u2019 entertainment. Which is plenty! (Includes featurettes, outtakes, and deleted scenes.) (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.disneyplus.com\/movies\/strange-world\/1OVzv6hnhOFm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Also streaming on Disney+<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/40UEtws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black Panther: Wakanda Forever<\/a><\/em>: <\/strong>Director\/co-writer Ryan Coogler had, by all reasonable measures, an impossible task on his hands in attempting to continuing the lucrative <em>Black Panther<\/em> franchise after the unexpected death of leading man Chadwick Boseman &#8211; and doing so in a way that didn\u2019t feel ghoulish or exploitative. He does his best, which is saying something, and there\u2019s a lot to admire here: the beats of mourning and grief that open the picture are genuinely, deeply felt, the supporting players (especially Winston Duke and Lupita Nyong\u2019o) are never less than 100, and the action beats move like bullets &#8211; especially, as with the first film, a four-star car chase. One must ask, though: if Kevin Feige is such a super-producer, how can he no longer wrestle one of these things down to a reasonable running time? (Includes audio commentary, deleted scenes, gag reel, and featurettes.) (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.disneyplus.com\/movies\/black-panther-wakanda-forever\/7MAONYZ92wDT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Also streaming on Disney+<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"John Carpenter&#039;s They Live (1988) - Official Trailer\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wWADpP_CGoU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ON 4K:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3E5N0CL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">They Live<\/a><\/em>: <\/strong>John Carpenter\u2019s 1988 action\/sci-fi favorite gets the 4K treatment from his favorite distributor, Shout Factory, and I whole-heartedly welcome a crystal-clear presentation of a movie that\u2019s all about seeing things clearly. Universal savvily marketed it as a bone-crushing action movie (the lead is pro wrestler Roddy Piper, after all, dropping the \u201cRowdy\u201d from his moniker, like respectable thespians do), and it fits snugly into his filmography\u2019s subset of urban mayhem movies (alongside <em>Escape from New York, Assault on Precinct 13<\/em>, and parts of <em>Big Trouble in Little China<\/em>). But it hit theaters at the end of the Reagan era, as that administration\u2019s cheery-eyed bullshit was really starting to curdle, and the filmmaker was crafting something akin to <em>Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em>, using sci-fi\/alien invasion tropes at the service of biting social and political commentary. It ain\u2019t subtle &#8211; those block-lettered consumer message rewrites smell of a first-semester media studies course &#8211; but then again, neither were the Reagan years. (Includes audio commentary, interviews, new and archival featurettes, in-film commercials, trailers, and TV spots.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YFKr2s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Belly<\/a><\/em>: <\/strong>\u201cIt was the best time of our lives,\u201d explains Sincere (Nas). \u201cGettin\u2019 money was all we ever did.\u201d So begins Hype Williams\u2019s 1998 crime drama, his first and only feature directorial effort, in which longtime friends Sincere and Tommy (DMX) try to rise up and get theirs, only to ruin themselves and their relationship along the way. Critics at the time were unkind, and some of the jabs have merit: some of the performances are wooden, it literally ends with a morality sermon, and boy oh boy is that not a movie that loves women. But most simply seized on the clich\u00e9s of Williams\u2019s screenplay, a critique that doesn\u2019t give the filmmaker nearly enough credit; he\u2019s acutely aware of the picture\u2019s predecessors, and not just the likes of <em>Menace II Society<\/em>, but the generations of fathers (<em>Mean Streets<\/em>) and grandfathers (<em>Little Cesar<\/em>) before it. Like Spike Lee\u2019s similarly misunderstood <em>Clockers<\/em> two years earlier, Williams is nailing up the coffin of the so-called \u201chood movie,\u201d and using its playbook (to say nothing of its commercial viability) as a blueprint for his personal preoccupations and style. And what style it is &#8211; I\u2019d give anything for a single studio picture today to open with the pulse-quickening flair that this one does. (Includes audio commentary, featurette, deleted scene, and music video.)&nbsp;(<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/asset\/movies\/belly\/6c76b42e-0156-34e1-8b78-041a108939f5?irclickid=xytWp-XIOxyIRR%3AyFUT5-xe8UkAyz%3A3FIxYZ3I0&amp;irgwc=1&amp;utm_source=pk_vrs_imra&amp;utm_medium=pd_aff_acq_psdlnk&amp;utm_term=JustWatch%20GmbH&amp;utm_content=896948&amp;cid=2201affiliateevgnpkpdaff4393&amp;utm_campaign=2201affiliateevgn&amp;utm_campaign=20200101evergreen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Also streaming on Peacock<\/a>.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuy.com\/site\/warm-bodies-steelbook-includes-digital-copy-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-blu-ray-only--best-buy-2013\/6528743.p?skuId=6528743\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Warm Bodies<\/em>:<\/a> <\/strong>Like too much of recent popular culture, this 2013 sleeper hit has taken on a bit of unfortunate relevance for the post-COVID viewer; I may have audibly flinched when a few of the too-few human survivors despaired that there would never actually be a <em>cure<\/em>. At any rate, this zombie rom-com (newly upgraded, and into a handsome Steelbook, by Lionsgate) remains about as light and lovely as a movie can be with so much brain-eating, with Nicholas Hoult unsurprisingly charming as a post-apocalypse zombie who develops a lil\u2019 crush on a human survivor (Teresa Palmer, who should be a bigger star by now) who makes him want to be a better man &#8211; or, just to be a man, period. The third-act monster rally is disappointingly pro-forma, but little else is; writer\/director Jonathan Levine (adapting Isaac Marion\u2019s novel) works just the right balance of the grisly and the gleeful. (Includes audio commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, gag reel, and trailer.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chicago | Official Trailer (HD) - Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones | MIRAMAX\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YwXWryx-oJ0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ON BLU-RAY:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3HS6P1A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><em>Chicago<\/em><\/strong>:<\/a> With its twentieth anniversary<a href=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/and-all-that-jazz-chicago-at-20\/\"> just in the rearview<\/a>, the Oscar winner for best picture of 2002 gets a nice, new Steelbook re-release, and while I\u2019m not sure hardcore packaging is reason enough for an upgrade, it was reason enough for this viewer to give it another spin. Time has been kind to it; what seemed hopelessly, even annoyingly old-fashioned two decades back (particularly against the likes of <em>About Schmidt, Adaptation, <\/em>and <em>Far From Heaven<\/em>) now just feels like part of the pantheon of movie musicals. Richard Gere puts on the ol\u2019 razzle-dazzle with skill, Renee Zellweger finds the proper key of attention-hungry bloodlust, and Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones is the MVP, a bubbling cauldron of street smarts and sex appeal. Rob Marshall stages it all well, and he never directed another movie, the end. (Includes commentary, featurette, and extended musical performances.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3jYEH4X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Romeo and Juliet<\/a><\/em>: <\/strong>The timing <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2023\/film\/news\/romeo-and-juliet-child-abuse-nude-scene-lawsuit-1235477837\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ain\u2019t grea<strong>t<\/strong><\/a> (or perhaps it\u2019s just right, depending on how you look at it) for a big, fancy, Criterion-backed reissue of Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s adaptation of Shakespeare\u2019s classic romantic tragedy. But there\u2019s a reason this was &#8211; and perhaps still is, depending on where you land on the Luhrmann &#8211; the definitive take on the Bard\u2019s tale of star-crossed lovers. Zeffirelli\u2019s staging is impressive, his performers are pitch-perfect, and he manages to capture both the heady freedom and end-of-the-world desperation of one\u2019s first flirtation with true love. (Includes archival interviews, trailer, and essay by Ramona Wray.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YkOh0Z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sorrowful Jones<\/a>: <\/em><\/strong>This 1949 adaptation of Damon Runyon\u2019s 1932 short story \u201cLittle Miss Marker\u201d (already shot in 1934 as a Shirley Temple vehicle) opens with a delightful sequence of background on Runyon, the beloved chronicler of life on the margins in Depression-era New York, and Bob Hope makes for an awfully good Runyon hero &#8211; a rascal and gambler and nogoodnik, but in a <em>charming <\/em>way. And the story is built for that, dealing as it does with a shady bookie who\u2019s soft side comes out when a degenerate gambler leaves his lovable moppet daughter (Mary Jane Suanders, a little obnoxious) as a marker for a bet. Lucille Ball is mostly wasted as The Girl &#8211; this was pre-TV, so they weren\u2019t letting her be funny yet &#8211; but Preston Sturges standby William Demarest absolutely crushes it as Hope\u2019s partner in crime. (Includes trailer.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3xlfbdi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><em>Mickey &amp; Minnie &#8211; Volume 1<\/em><\/strong>:<\/a> Only Disney math would dictate that we are, per the jacket copy, celebrating \u201c100 magical years\u201d of Mickey and Minnie cartoons with five years to go before the centennial of the first one &#8211; \u201cSteamboat Willie,\u201d of course, whose image of our rodent icon, whistling and cranking the steering wheel, opens every new Disney feature. Whatever the reasoning, this collection of ten classic shorts (most from the character\u2019s \u201830s and \u201840s golden era) is a real treat, and if the new introductions are strained at best, that\u2019s a minor complaint &#8211; this is a sparkling showcase of the evolution of animation styles (and general sensibilities) within the most influential movie studio on the planet. And, not incidentally, my kids loved it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our bi-weekly look at the best new must-see titles on Blu-ray, 4K, and your subscription streaming services. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":19709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340,1616],"tags":[1617,1098],"class_list":["post-19708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-disc-streaming-guides","tag-disc-streaming-guide","tag-movie-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}