Blaxploitation Classics Vol. 1 (Shout! Studios)

This incredible new box from the Shout! Select line woke me up like, well, a shout: As the world looks at physical media with fresh eyes in the 4K era, studios continue to pique our interest with movies we haven’t seen in ages, movies we’ve only heard about, or even movies we never knew existed. The focus in this case is on Hollywood’s attempt to exploit what was back then an under-addressed audience, bringing them bigger-than-life heroes reflecting a culture of rampant crime and drugs, exploring themes of oppression and revenge.

The stars are always formidable; Pam Grier, Fred Williamson, Isaac Hayes, and Yaphet Kotto; portraying private eyes, mobsters, bounty hunters, or just folks looking for their own idea of justice. The racial commentary is undeniable, as men and women are empowered by acts of violence in a world that has betrayed them. The thing is, these are all really solid dramas at their core, so today they speak to a very wide audience, and Shout! has treated them with the respect they deserve, all six with brand new 4K scans and restorations from the original camera negatives, in Dolby Vision:

• Across 110th Street (1972, you might know the title song from Jackie Brown)
• Black Caesar (1973)
• Hell Up in Harlem (1973, sequel to Black Caesar)
• Coffy (1973)
• Sheba, Baby (1975)
• Truck Turner (1974)

This set also delivers the first part of great new documentary, It’s Where the Action Is: The Blaxploitation Films of A.I.P., putting these important films into perspective, with Blaxploitation Classics Vol. 2 set to release later this summer. We’re also given a legacy audio commentary with an original filmmaker on all but one and a trailer for each which ordinarily I wouldn’t mention but damn, they really knew how to advertise movies back then. I’m digging the minimalist esthetic of the rigid box that holds the six movies/12 discs, too, the proposed artwork reportedly stripped away in response to online pushback to the initially revealed design.

Frank Zappa, Cheaper Than Cheep Super Deluxe Edition (Zappa Records/UMe)

Will we as a human society someday reach a point when everything lost will be found? Case in point, this unearthed two-hour-plus Frank Zappa concert, intended as a TV special but unaired due to a technical snafu, one now more than ably addressed by son Ahmet and his team. Backed by the 1974 lineup of The Mothers of Invention, this performance pulls two dozen cuts from the then-recently released Apostrophe and Over-Nite Sensation, reaching back to Freak Out! and the seminal We’re Only in It for the Money, and debuting songs destined for future albums.

Their intimate performance of Frank’s satirical, genre-bending, wholly personal brand of music is on-point and a joy to finally behold, despite its low-rent, high-temperature trappings. This multi-format super deluxe edition presents the concert on three LPs, two CDs and Blu-ray (video and audio) with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and 96/24 PCM stereo plus some pretty nifty bonus content and a booklet, all in an impressive box. A limited edition is also available for the truly discerning Zappaphile, with the vinyl upgraded to picture discs, plus a portfolio of lithographs.

Danger: Diabolik 4K / The Diabolik Trilogy Blu-ray (both Kino Lorber Studio Classics)

Let’s keep that amore going! Born in comic book pages, Diabolik is a master thief yet one who lives by his own rules, an anti-hero who likes the rush of the crime but can be ruthless when necessary. He was first adapted into live action with Mario Bava’s 1968 Danger: Diabolik, a bit of a flop in its day but reaching cult status in the decades since, largely for its groovy tone.

A standalone release, it benefits from a new Paramount master from a 4K Scan of the original negative as well as a pair of commentaries—one with star John Phillip Law—along with a newly discovered outro to the movie and a 2005 featurette. Wildest of all the supplements is undoubtedly the Beastie Boys music video for the Fatboy Slim remix of “Body Movin’,” which edits in Danger footage and emulates some of Bava’s crafty techniques.

Recently, Diabolik returned for a trio of big-screen adventures over in The Boot, now bundled together on Blu-ray:

• Diabolik (2021)
• Diabolik: Ginko Attacks (2022)
• Diabolik: Who Are You? (2023)

All are in their native Italian 5.1 and all directed by the twin Manetti Bros. who have created real old-school thrills for their faithful rendition of the black-clad protagonist. (The first movie is presented at 1.85:1, the other two at 2.39:1.) Across the three stylish, nuanced tales, we learn more about him and his lady love Eva as they orchestrate and execute a string of daring heists and narrow escapes from the relentless Inspector Ginko on the way to an intense finale. Extras include featurettes for the second and third installments and a look at how the visual effects were produced.

The Sean Connery 6-Film Collection 4K (MGM/Warner)

You wouldn’t necessarily get it from the name of the set but yes, this pack amalgamates the sum total of Sir Sean’s six canon outings as the one and only Agent 007, James Bond. For an entire generation, the rough-hewn Connery was Bond, an icon of ’60s cool who was often copied but never equaled.

Through a modern lens, his behavior (and some of his fashion choices) leave a lot to be desired, but in his day he was the be-all/end-all action hero. While a far cry from the slickness that would come to define the franchise, Dr. No displayed an undeniable spark that only grew with From Russia with Love. They hit their stride with Goldfinger, and the movies only got bigger and wilder from there. Here’s the full run, in order:

• Dr. No (1962)
• From Russia with Love (1963)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Thunderball (1965)
• You Only Live Twice (1967)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

All are born of new 4K scans of the original camera negatives with discreet digital tomfoolery applied and presented on 100GB platters with Dolby Vision HDR. They also contain completely new Atmos remixes alongside the original theatrical audio (in some cases more than one option for each), the results ranging from “Oh, there’s Atmos: How nice” to “Wow, this Atmos kicks ass!” Virtually all of the legacy bonus content for the bunch has been ported over here, with at least one audio commentary per, and they’re all excellent.

Be aware that, like Terminator but unlike most Warner titles, the digital copies here redeem exclusively on Vudu/Fandango rather than on the multi-platform Movies Anywhere.

There’s already been a Daniel Craig 5-Film Collection, and George Lazenby’s output hardly rates a “set” but Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan (maybe Tim Dalton?), the ball’s in your court now.

Total Extermination: The Peter Cushing Doctor Who Collection 4K (Severin Films)

Better known to modern audiences as Grand Moff Tarkin, or perhaps as Van Helsing opposite Christopher Lee’s Dracula in several Hammer films, the endearing Peter Cushing assumed the role of The Doctor in two feature films released shortly after the character’s debut on BBC TV.

Produced at a time when camp was king, both are standalone adaptations of early Doctor Who television serials, wherein he faces his persistent nemeses, those nasty extra-terrestrial Daleks. In 1965’s Doctor Who and the Daleks, The Doctor, his niece, and their entourage are transported to a distant planet where they must help the peaceful Thals defeat the evil Daleks threatening their survival. And in Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (from 1966 A.D.), The Doctor travels to a post-apocalyptic future Earth, where he joins a human resistance movement to stop the Daleks’ enslavement of humanity and thwart their plan to convert the entire planet into a giant spaceship.

The pair has been newly scanned in 4K/16-bit from the original Techniscope 35mm negative by StudioCanal, dutifully cleaned and otherwise restored to look better than they probably did those 50-60-odd years ago. They’re presented in Dolby Vision on 100GB discs roomier than the inside of the TARDIS, with solid high-res mono audio. And the Daleks brings three commentaries including a track with two of the co-stars, while the included Blu-ray has the movie in HD, the commentaries plus interviews. The 2150 pack proffers two expert commentaries, more interviews and even a welcome bit about the restoration efforts. Each is available separately but the set comes with a pretty slipcase, shipped flat for safety.

Gary Cooper 4-Film Collection Blu-ray (Warner Archive Collection)

You can stop kicking yourself for missing the jaw-dropping 2020 restoration of Sergeant York, the movie that won screen icon Gary Cooper the first of his two Oscars: Warner Archive’s latest themed menagerie of previous single releases is a four-pack centered squarely on Mr. C. A star’s star, he inspired generations of actors who sought to emulate his quiet onscreen nobility and laconic acting style, and for the most part his films have aged wonderfully:

• Sergeant York (1941)
• Friendly Persuasion (1956)
• Love in the Afternoon (1957)
• The Hanging Tree (1959)

From Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York we jump ahead 15 years to Cooper’s thoughtful performance as a Quaker dad to young Anthony Perkins in William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion. He took a serio-comic turn as Audrey Hepburn’s romantic interest in Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon. And later the western The Hanging Tree, one of his last movies and also one of his strangest, required three directors to complete. All arrive in impressive restorations, be it crisp B&W or lush Technicolor, with restored mono audio to match. York carries quite a bit of legacy content, notably an expert commentary, with some vintage bibs and bobs scattered across the rest.

Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault Volume 1 Blu-ray (Warner Archive Collection)

Warner’s latest dip into their vast and mysterious vault has yielded a high-value two-disc set, a combination of recently restored and/or never-before-on-DVD-or-Blu-ray ‘toons, 50 in all. There’s something for everyone: classics starring Bugs, Porky and Tweety, directed by the likes of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng; elbow-to-elbow with deep cuts and no shortage of firsts, including the film debuts of Daffy, Speedy Gonzales and Pepe LePew. What I love about Volume One here (praying for more), in addition to the restored video quality and the thoughtful curation, is that Warner doesn’t appear to be shying away with the more controversial characters. And the alphabetical configuration of these shorts actually makes for a fresh and eclectic playlist.