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 PICK OF THE WEEK: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid<\/em><\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>Sam Peckinpah\u2019s 1973 farewell to the West<\/a> finally gets not only a Blu-ray but 4K release via the Criterion Collection, in three different versions that allow the viewer to understand how it was both blatantly mishandled and widely misunderstood upon its original release. The story of Billy the Kid\u2019s death at the hands of his former friend Pat Garrett is perfectly suited for Peckinpah\u2019s shades-of-grey worldview; Billy is a thief and murderer, sure, but Garrett is a backstabber and woman-beater, so who\u2019s the \u201cbad guy\u201d anyway? Kris Kristofferson is a campfire of charisma as Billy, wrapping his molasses voice around knowing dialogue like \u201cMaybe he wants to have a drink with me,\u201d and James Coburn finds just the right note for the self-righteous sell-out Garrett. Bob Dylan\u2019s songs serve the same function as Cohen\u2019s in McCabe and Mrs. Miller<\/em>, creating both mood and myth, and the \u201cKnockin\u2019 on Heaven\u2019s Door\u201d scene is one of the most beautiful passages of any Peckinpah picture. It\u2019s occasionally uneven (the middle sags, in every cut), but it\u2019s full of potent imagery and crackling dialogue, and the doomed inevitability of the closing scenes still stings. (Includes original, version, 50th anniversary release, and preview cut, audio commentaries, interviews, feeaturette, trailer and TV spots, and essay by Steve Erickson<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n ON 4K \/ BLU-RAY \/ DVD \/ VOD:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perfect Days<\/em><\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>It\u2019s been a minute or two since Wim Wenders had a narrative feature worth talking about, but you cannot count that guy out, and his latest (new to the Criterion Collection) is sweet and seemingly simple, and then not that, at all. Koji Yakusho stars as Hirayama, who spends his days doing the honest and earnest work of cleaning toilets in Tokyo\u2019s public parks \u2014 and it tells you all you need to know about him that he not only takes pride in this work, but enjoys it. When work is done, he\u2019ll take some photos, or read, or ride his bike, or go out to dinner; he lives a life of familiarity and routine, and much of Perfect Days<\/em> lives that life over his shoulder. But disruptions eventually present themselves, of course, though not in any kind of pat or predictable way, and it speaks highly of both Wenders\u2019s filmmaking and Yakusho\u2019s acting that they are able to hint at the pieces of his life that he chooses not to dwell on without prying them out of the character. They simply seem to care about him too much to impose. (Includes interviews, short film, and trailer.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Civil War<\/em><\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>Alex Garland\u2019s speculative drama met with a frankly baffling round of criticism upon its release back in April, primarily for not spelling out, in boldfaced all-caps, the cause of the titular conflict. I think Garland respects his audience too much for that kind of hand-holding; the cause is, well, you can\u2019t see me waving my arms at literally everything that\u2019s happening right now, but there you have it. The result is chillingly believable<\/a> (the Texas\/California alliance notwithstanding), from the war correspondent shop talk to Jesse Plemmons\u2019 utterly terrifying one-scene turn as MAGA in sentient form. Kirsten Dunst is flat, unaffected, and perfect in the leading role, and if Garland is a little too giddy to turn it into an action movie in the third act, there\u2019s still much here to recommend\u2014and ponder. (Includes featurettes and theatrical trailer.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n