Joey’s Home Movies For the Week of May 4th – Embrace the Desire of ‘Wuthering Heights’

Welcome back to my Home Movies! This week, we have the sumptuous look at desire and longing that is Wuthering Heights leading the charge. Today also features some 4K and Blu-ray re-releases, as well as an Akira Kurosawa film coming to the Criterion Collection ( a week after Spike Lee‘s remix of one of his movies hit shelves in Highest 2 Lowest). What else is coming out, you might ask? Well, I know, so read on to find out for yourself…

Joey’s Top Pick

Wuthering Heights

Emerald Fennell puts her singular stamp on Wuthering Heights here, taking the text, her own interests, and blending the two into something big, bold, and actually pretty fun. It’s wildly enjoyable, with strong work from Margot Robbie and especially Jacob Elordi, who sold me on his potential as James Bond with this simmering turn. My rave review here on the site from earlier on in the year begins like so:

Desire runs rampant throughout Emerald Fennell‘s take on Wuthering Heights, a unique mix of the classical text and the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s own sensibilities. After Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, I’d follow Fennell anywhere, but even I regarded this project as potentially not being my cup of team. Lo and behold, Fennell has crafted another beautiful, edgy, and deeply interesting film, one that often takes your breath away. You won’t see as much as you might expect to in this movie, given its erotic expectations, but gives you the feeling of desire, longing, lust, and yes, even love. For my money, it’s one of the best efforts of 2026 so far.

Wuthering Heights is not a straight remake, nor is it trying to be, and I actually find that to be a positive. For all the kerfuffle over what Fennell is doing here, had she done a 100% faithful adaptation, what would have been the point? That’s not a good use of her interests or talents, closer adaptations already exist, and so on. With any property being adapted, remade, or reinterpreted, bringing something new to the party is paramount. Here, Fennell’s vision does that in spades. If it’s not for you? Well, that’s fine. It’s just the pre-release rage-bait on the internet that I have no time for, especially when it’s about this wildly enjoyable and deeply effective crowd pleaser of a romantic tragedy.

Also Available This Week

Alice in Wonderland (4K)

Blue Thunder: The Complete Series (TV)

Dracula

Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series (TV)

GOAT

I Can Only Imagine 2

IT: Welcome to Derry: The Complete First Season (TV)

Mistress Dispeller

Obex

The Pusher Trilogy (4K)

School Spirit (Blu-ray)

Solo Mio

Top Gun (4K SteelBook)

Youngblood

Criterion Corner

Stray Dog

From The Criterion Collection: “A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop’s and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side. Starring Toshiro Mifune as the rookie cop and Takashi Shimura as the seasoned detective who keeps him on the right side of the law, Stray Dog goes beyond crime thriller, probing the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind.”

Stay tuned for more next week…