Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! Today, the undisputed classic Roman Holiday is on the docket, along with…well…not much else. Hey, slow weeks kind of come with the home video territory these days, without the benefit of all the new releases we’re used to in theaters. Chalk it up to another victim of 2020. Anyway, below you’ll find what’s available to pick up on Blu-ray and DVD right now.
Joey’s Top Pick
Roman Holiday
This classic comes to Blu-ray for the first time, hoping to charm a whole new generation. William Wyler‘s beloved romance stars Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn (in an Oscar winning role for the actress). For those not aware, this is the synopsis (taken from our friends at VideoETA) for the flick:
“Nominated for a total of 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, it’s the story of a modern-day princess (Hepburn) who, rebelling against the royal obligations, explores Rome on her own. She soon meets an American newspaperman (Peck) who pretends ignorance of her true identity, in the hopes of obtaining an exclusive story. Naturally, his plan falters as they inevitably fall in love.”
If you’ve never seen Roman Holiday, this 4K transfer is a perfect opportunity. Hepburn and Peck will make you swoon!
Recommended Viewing
Stephen King 5-Movie Collection
Fans of horror author Stephen King know how hit or miss film adaptation of his work can be. Luckily, Paramount has these five more successful efforts packaged together for the first time on Blu-ray. The collection consists of both versions of Pet Sematary, alongside The Dead Zone, Silver Bullet, and The Stand. If you like King, this is well worth picking up!
Also Available This Week
Becky
Easy Does It
Killing Eve: Season Three (TV)
Outlander: Season 5 (TV)
Succession: The Complete Second Season (TV)
Weathering with You
Criterion Corner
Beau travail
Description via Criterion:
“With her ravishingly sensual take on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor, Claire Denis firmly established herself as one of the great visual tone poets of our time. Amid the azure waters and sunbaked desert landscapes of Djibouti, a French Foreign Legion sergeant (Denis Lavant) sows the seeds of his own ruin as his obsession with a striking young recruit (Grégoire Colin) plays out to the thunderous, operatic strains of Benjamin Britten. Denis and cinematographer Agnès Godard fold military and masculine codes of honor, colonialism’s legacy, destructive jealousy, and repressed desire into shimmering, hypnotic images that ultimately explode in one of the most startling and unforgettable endings in all of modern cinema.”
I adore Roman Holiday, and though it is most definitely deserving, I would never have guessed that it received 10(!!!) Academy Award nominations. And without Best Actor at that!
Can’t even imagine what it would take for a romantic comedy to get 10 nominations today, especially since on paper, Silver Linings Playbook achieved the ‘maximum’ by nabbing all 4 acting categories and a tech nod. Unless of course The Favourite counts as a romantic comedy…
it’ll never happen again, unfortunately. Even more recently, a James L. Brooks style romantic comedy doesn’t even come close, so I’d be shocked if it ever happens again.