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, and catalog 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’re watching.

This week’s disc and streaming guide includes Oscar winners, Oscar nominees, a box set from one of the most respected distributors of our time, and a box set from one of the most disreputable filmmakers of her time. 

PICK OF THE WEEK: 

“Sony Pictures Classics 30th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Collection”: As 4K UHD Blu-ray release slates broaden, studios are increasingly moving past the obvious titles, the bombastic show-off blockbusters and cult favorites, into more esoteric territory.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Malcolm X,’ ‘WALL-E’ & Sony Pictures Classics At 30 at The Playlist.

If you live in the US, November is a time for feasting and excess. Obviously, you have the joy of Thanksgiving, which is a feast that makes you literally pass out from food exhaustion. Then you have Black Friday, which is a lesson in excess, as people just go out to buy everything they can at low prices as they brace for the Christmas season. Well, in the tradition of November feasts, the Criterion Collection is here to feed us well with plenty of new releases for us to overindulge in. 

Continue reading ‘Power Of The Dog,’ ‘Infernal Affairs,’ ‘Malcolm X’ & More Coming From Criterion In November at The Playlist.

The extraordinary story behind the friendship of two of the most iconic figures of the 20th century is finally being told on the big screen. Netflix is behind the new Kenya Barris-produced (“Blackish“) documentary, “Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali,” focusing on the three years that Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali spent forging their brotherhood before their ultimate falling-out.

Continue reading ‘Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali’ Trailer: Netflix Doc Explores The Brotherhood Of Two Icons & Arrives In Sept at The Playlist.

America is not okay.

Maybe America has never been okay. Maybe certain members of our society are just now starting to realize this fact. In any case, the Band-Aid of civility has been ripped from our flesh, the fissures and wounds of our great American experiment now exposed for what they are: bruised ideals, a great many of which are built on fallacies.

READ MORE: Spike Lee Releases A Video Showing How George Floyd Murder Mirrors His Film ‘Do The Right Thing’

The murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is not the only reason that protestors around the country are currently squaring off with police forces and the National Guard.

Continue reading 22 Films About Rebellion, Protests & Civil Unrest at The Playlist.

Continuing our year-by-year series of the Best Films of the 1990s (here’s 1990, and 1991), we come to 1992. This was the year in which the Maastricht Treaty was signed, bringing the currently Brexit-hounded European Union into being; and in the U.S., a billionaire businessman running for president lost to a Clinton. But lest that makes you look back on the year with nostalgia from your jaded 2017 viewpoint, don’t forget it was also the year of the Rodney King riots.

Continue reading The 10 Best Films Of 1992 at The Playlist.

After countless rumors of release dates, delays, and social media teases, this past weekend, Frank Ocean floored the music world by dropping two albums — Endless and Blonde — along with a massive magazine titled, “Boys Don’t Cry.” He ended the four year drought since 2012’s Channel Orange is a huge way, and in the process, gave his fans no shortage of material to wade through.

Continue reading Frank Ocean’s 100 Favorite Films Includes Movies By Stanley Kubrick, Werner Herzog, Paul Thomas Anderson, More at The Playlist.

According to Reuters: “The combative filmmaker jumped to Endeavor from William Morris, three weeks after his World War Two movie “Miracle at St. Anna” opened to just $3.5 million; the Disney release has grossed just $7.5 million to date.”

Ouch. The film at least cost $45 million to make, not counting marketing costs.

Continue reading Spike Lee Dumps Talent Agency After ‘Miracle’ Turns Out To Be Box-Office Dud at The Playlist.

Spike Lee:
“Al Pacino [in “Scent of a Woman”] over Denzel [in “Malcolm X”]? When Al doesn’t win for ‘Godfather I’, ‘Godfather II,’ “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon” — they fucked him over at least five times, I know.

Continue reading Spike Lee Sums Up Exactly What’s Wrong With The Oscars And Why They’ll Always Suck at The Playlist.