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Pick of the Week

The Queen of Versailles (Magnolia) — As I left the screening of the documentary The Queen of Versailles, my immediate thought was, “This is why we can’t have nice things.” Director Lauren Greenfield has created a complicated, fascinating, and humbling film, perfectly calibrated to the zeitgeist. Election year rhetoric aside, we remain in the ever-widening wake of the Great Recession, and Greenfield’s riches-to-rags story releases waves of conflicting emotion: pity, schadenfreude, guilt, empathy, disgust. With fortuitous—and perhaps shrewd—timing, her film captures an America in flux. Read Susanna Locascio’s full HTN review. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Recommended

2 Days in New York (Magnolia) — I’ve been known to knock the French, toodling around on bicycles with their phallic baguettes, vin rouge, and perennial boredom with all things Americain. But is there any way to withstand the Julie Delpy charm offensive? She had me at bonjour in this witty comedy, a sequel to her earlier film 2 Days in Paris. Delpy (who wrote and directed the film) reprises her role as Marion, now living with her boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock, nicely subdued, and funnier for it). On the eve of a big gallery opening of her photography, Marion’s very French father and sister come to visit, and hilarity ensues. The film is silly, and light on its feet, but I know this sort of influx of European family members very well, and Delpy gets it right. If you surrender to the madcap humor, 2 Days in New York can be a very good time. Read Susanna Locascio’s full HTN review. Available on DVD, Blu-ray, and at Amazon Instant.

The Island President (First Run Features) — Read Daniel James Scott’s HTN Conversation With The Island President‘s Director Jon Shenk. Available on DVD and at Amazon Instant.

Natural Selection (Cinema Guild) — Read Susanna Locascio’s HTN Conversation With Natural Selection Writer/Director Robbie Pickering and Stars Rachael Harris and Matt O’Leary. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Prairie Love (Film Movement) — Available on DVD.

New/Old to DVD/Blu-ray

Trilogy of Life: The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, Arabian Nights (Criterion) — Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Weekend (Criterion) — Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Warner) — Available on Blu-ray.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (MGM) — Available on Blu-ray.

Have Not Seen Yet But Really/Kinda/Sorta/Maybe Wanna

We Can’t Go Home Again and Don’t Expect Too Much (Oscilloscope) — Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Dark Horse (Virgil Films and Entertainment) — Available on DVD, Blu-ray, and at Amazon Instant.

A Burning Hot Summer (MPI Home Video) — Available on DVD.

Vamps (Anchor Bay) — Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain (New Video) — Available on DVD and at Amazon Instant.

Brave (DisneyPixar) — Available on DVD, 3-Disc Collector’s Edition: Blu-ray/DVD, and 5-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy.

Savages (Universal) — Available on DVD, 2-Disc Combo Pack: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet, and at Amazon Instant.

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Michael Tully is an award-winning writer/director whose films have garnered widespread critical acclaim, his projects having premiered at some of the most renowned film festivals across the globe. He is also the former (and founding) editor of this site. In 2006, Michael's first feature, COCAINE ANGEL, chronicling a tragic week in the life of a young drug addict, world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film immediately solidified the director as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film,” a reputation that was reinforced a year later when his follow-up feature, SILVER JEW, a documentary capturing the late David Berman's rare musical performances in Tel Aviv, world-premiered at SXSW and landed distribution with cult indie-music label Drag City. In 2011, Michael wrote, directed, and starred in his third feature, SEPTIEN, which debuted at the 27th annual Sundance Film Festival before being acquired by IFC Films' Sundance Selects banner. A few years later, in 2014, Michael returned to Sundance with the world premiere of his fourth feature, PING PONG SUMMER, an ‘80s set coming-of-age tale that was quickly picked up for theatrical distribution by Gravitas Ventures. In 2018, Michael wrote and directed the dread-inducing genre film DON'T LEAVE HOME, which has been described as "Get Out with Catholic guilt in the Irish countryside" (IndieWire). The film premiered at SXSW and was subsequently acquired by Cranked Up Films and Shudder.

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