Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount Pictures photo)
May 30, 2023
May 30 sees the arrival of such new Blu-ray and DVD releases as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, 65 and A Good Person.
The comedic action fantasy Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves arrives on 4K Ultra HD Steelbook, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD May 30. Starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Regé-Jean Page, the film, based on the classic role-playing game, follows a charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers who undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic. But things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. The film has earned $208 million at the global box office.
The science-fiction thriller 65 will be released for regular digital purchase May 2 (after a premium digital rental and purchase run) and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD May 30 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. In the film, after a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth — 65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive. From the writers of A Quiet Place, the sci-fi thriller is produced by Sam Raimi, Deborah Liebling, Zainab Azizi, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. It earned $60 million at the worldwide box office.
The drama A Good Person will be available on Blu-ray May 30 from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment. Written and directed by Zach Braff (TV’s “Scrubs,” Garden State), the film sees Braff once again return to the director’s chair nearly 20 years after his Sundance directorial debut Garden State. A Good Person stars Academy Award nominee Florence Pugh (Don’t Worry Darling, Little Women), Molly Shannon (TV’s “The White Lotus”, “Saturday Night Live”), Chinaza Uche (TV’s “Wool”), Celeste O’Connor (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and Academy Award Winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby, The Shawshank Redemption). In the film, Daniel (Freeman) is brought together with Allison (Pugh), the once thriving young woman with a bright future who was involved in an unimaginable tragedy that took his daughter’s life. As grief-stricken Daniel navigates raising his teenage granddaughter and Allison seeks redemption, they discover that friendship, forgiveness, and hope can flourish in unlikely places. The film is produced by Zach Braff, Pamela Koffler, Florence Pugh, Christine Vachon, Christina Piovesan and Noah Segal.
The action thriller The Siege will be released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc May 30 from Well Go USA Entertainment. In the film, after being compromised during a mission gone wrong, an international assassin is sent to a reassignment center to receive a new identity and erase any trace of his past handiwork. However, when a ruthless team of operatives storms the secure compound, he reluctantly teams up with an elite hitwoman and her mysterious charge in order to make it out alive. Directed by Brad Watson (Beacon 77, For We Are Many), the film stars Daniel Stisen (Last Man Down, Rise of the Footsoldier 3) and features stuntwoman Lauren Okadigbo (Black Widow, Wonder Woman), Yennis Cheung (Death Race 4: Beyond Anarchy), Byron Gibson (Rise of the Footsoldier: The Heist) and Samantha Schnitzler (Black Ops).
The Western Two Sinners and a Mule will be available on DVD May 30. In this fresh take on the Western genre directed by Raliegh Wilson, two women (Chantelle Albers and Hannah James) team up with a bounty hunter (Cam Gigandet) to take down a vicious bandit. Kicked out of a small Western town for sinful behavior, free-spirited Alice (Albers) and Nora (James) set out for Virginia City to pursue their dream of opening a restaurant. Out on the prairie, they come across an injured bounty hunter named Elden (Gigandet, Twilight). Hoping to share in the reward, they nurse Elden back to health and help him stalk his prey, Grimes (Cord Newman). But as Nora and Alice both develop feelings for Elden, no one notices that Grimes is now on their tail, and the hunters become the hunted.
Paramount Home Entertainment releases The Black Demon digitally May 30. Josh Lucas (Ford v Ferrari, “Yellowstone”) stars in the action thriller from the director of Rambo: Last Blood. In the film, oilman Paul Sturges’ (Lucas) idyllic family vacation turns into a nightmare when they encounter a ferocious megalodon shark that will stop at nothing to protect its territory. Stranded and under constant attack, Paul and his family must somehow find a way to get his family back to shore alive before it strikes again in this epic battle between humans and nature. The film also stars Fernanda Urrejola, Venus Ariel, Carlos Solórzano, Julio César Cedillo, Jorge A. Jimenez, Raúl Méndez, Héctor Jiménez, Edgar Flores and Omar Chaparro. It arrives on DVD July 11.
The action thriller Mojave Diamonds will be released via on demand, digital sellthrough and DVD May 30 from Lionsgate. UFC superstars Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Chael Sonnen and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson star in the film. Cerrone plays Roy, a fighter who runs afoul of the Vegas mob and must run a $50 million shipment of diamonds to Mexico. He brings his G.l. brother Danny, but the shipment is stolen by a rival gang, and brother Joe’s family is abducted as punishment. Now the three siblings must join forces to penetrate the mob compound and rescue their loved ones — no matter how many lives it costs.
BayView Entertainment releases the horror flick Death Metal on Blu-ray Disc and digitally May 30. In the film, a death metal band is on its last legs after a disastrous European tour and is about to be dropped by its label. Hiring a legendary producer from the Norwegian black metal scene, the band sets out to record their latest album in a remote farmhouse outfitted with top-of-the-line gear. Ivan, the lead guitarist, plans to record “The Devil’s Concerto,” a piece of music he brought back from Europe that — according to myth — drives audiences mad. The band doesn’t expect that the myth is true, and they must survive the curse that’s been unleashed.
The documentary Breaking the Silence will be released on DVD and digitally May 30 from BayView Entertainment. Released for Mental Health Awareness month in May, the documentary examines how the mind can break, and how it can ultimately heal. Bayview says the film is designed to avoid the cookie-cutter, superficial approach to tackling these difficult issues.
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The Criterion Collection May 30 releases 1991’s Thelma & Louise on Blu-ray Disc and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. The film from director Ridley Scott stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as best friends who find themselves transformed into accidental fugitives during a weekend getaway gone wrong — leading them on a high-speed Southwest odyssey as they elude police and discover freedom on their own terms. The cast also includes Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, Stephen Tobolowsky and a young Brad Pitt. Thelma & Louise was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, and won Best Original Screenplay for Callie Khouri. In 2016 it was selected for the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. The Criterion edition sports a new 4K digital restoration supervised by Scott, with a 5.1 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack. The 4K version contains one 4K disc with the film in Dolby Vision HDR, and two regular Blu-ray Discs with the film and bonus materials; the standalone Blu-ray edition includes just the two Blu-ray Discs.
Paramount Home Entertainment will release a limited-edition Steelbook set featuring six “Transformers” movies on 4K Ultra HD May 30 in time for the June 9 theatrical release of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The “Transformers 6-Movie SteelBook Collection” includes Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Transformers: The Last Knight and Bumblebee. Each film is presented in a separate Steelbook with the feature on 4K Ultra HD Disc plus a Blu-ray Disc with legacy bonus content. All six Steelbooks are housed in a magnetic slipcase that also includes a collectible decal and access to digital copies of each film.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases the 1993 Sylvester Stallone action film Cliffhanger in a 4K Ultra HD Steelbook May 30 for its 30th anniversary. Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner and Ralph Waite star in the high-altitude thriller. In the film, Gabe Walker (Stallone) of Rocky Mountain Rescue embarks on a mission to locate five climbers. With the woman he loves (Turner) and his best friend (Rooker), Walker braves the icy peaks only to discover that the distress call is really a trap set by merciless international terrorist Eric Qualen (Lithgow). Millions of dollars and their own lives hang in the balance. Against explosive firepower, bitter cold and dizzying heights, Walker must outwit Qualen in a deadly game of hide-and-seek.
MVD Entertainment releases a special 35th anniversary edition of the Dustin Hoffman-Tom Cruise classic Rain Man on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and standard Blu-ray Disc May 30. The 1988 film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow), Best Actor (Hoffman) and Best Director (Barry Levinson). Rain Man is making its 4K Ultra HD format debut with a new restoration (a just-completed 4K high definition 16-bit scan of the original camera negative) approved by Levinson and presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio in Dolby Vision/HDR. Rain Man stars Hoffman and Cruise as estranged brothers on a road trip unlike any other across America. Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) has been given the news that his recently deceased father has left his entire fortune to his autistic brother Raymond (Hoffman), who he did not know existed. In a crass bid to grab some, if not all, of the inheritance, Charlie abducts Raymond and what begins as a money-making scheme for Charlie turns into a journey of discovery between brothers who are worlds apart. The two-disc 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray 35th Anniversary Edition includes hours of bonus content, including three audio commentaries (one with director Levinson, one with co-writer Morrow and a third with co-writer Bass). Also included are several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, a deleted scene, and the original theatrical trailer.
The Chinese crime drama Caught in Time will be released on Blu-ray Disc May 30 from BayView Entertainment. Based on real-life events from the 1990s, the film follows a ruthless gang that manages to pull off several high-risk, high-reward heists, meticulously planned out and executed over nearly a decade. When a police detective thinks he’s figured out their pattern, the head of the gang (Daniel Wu) starts to openly taunt him, resulting in a race to the ultimate showdown between cops and robbers. Read a review here.
The Troma cult film Lust for Freedom will be released on Blu-ray Disc May 30 from MVD Entertainment Group. In the 1987 film, a former female cop (Melanie Coll) is framed by corrupt police and has to fight her way out of the pen against the powers that be. The film also stars William J. Kulzer. Special features include an intro by Lloyd Kaufman, the theatrical trailer, classic Troma trailers, audio commentary with director Eric Louzil, and a video interview with producer/distributor Lloyd Kaufman.
The darkly comedic Drowning by Numbers (1988) will be released on Blu-ray Disc and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray May 30 from Severin Films and MVD Entertainment Group. In between his celebrated The Belly of an Architect and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, writer/director Peter Greenaway shocked/delighted international audiences with the slyly deranged black comedy Drowning by Numbers. Oscar nominee Dame Joan Plowright (Enchanted April), four-time BAFTA Award nominee Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply) and two-time Golden Globe nominee Joely Richardson (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) star as three generations of women who murder their husbands. Bernard Hill (“The Lord of the Rings,” Titanic) co-stars. The release features a new 4K scan from the original negative personally supervised by Greenaway.
The four-film Danza Macabra Volume One: The Italian Gothic Collection will be released on Blu-ray Disc May 30 from Severin Films and MVD Entertainment Group.celebrates a genre known for its castles, crypts and candelabras, but that also embraced themes of violence, madness and sexual deviance. In 1964’s The Monster of the Opera, director Renato Polselli and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi craft a surreal erotic shocker set within a contemporary dance troupe. Perhaps the genre’s rarest film, the berserk supernatural narrative of 1965’s The Seventh Grave also makes it among the strangest. For 1970’s Scream of the Demon Lover, director José Luis Merino gathers classic traditions, then strips them naked and ties them to a torture rack. And 1971’s Lady Frankenstein delivers iconic EuroCult talent on both sides of the camera for one of the most luridly entertaining shockers of the decade. The films in this collection are fully restored from their original negatives, with 12-plus collective hours of special features.
Written and directed by horror author Stephen King, the sci-fi horror action film Maximum Overdrive arrives as a Blu-ray (plus digital) Steelbook May 30 from Lionsgate. With music from the rock band AC/DC, this release marks the first time this film will be available as a collectible Steelbook. It’s the ultimate battle of man vs. bloodthirsty machine. For three horrifying days, the Earth passes through the tail of a mysterious comet. The skies glow an eerie green as humanity waits to see what the fallout will be. But what they imagine is nothing like the nightmare they find — the comet’s magnetic fields cause all the machines on Earth to suddenly come to life and terrorize their human creators in a horrific killing spree. Now, it’s up to a small group of people trapped in a desolate truck stop to defeat the killer machines — or be killed by them. The film stars Emilio Estevez (The Way, Bobby, The Public), Pat Hingle (Batman & Robin, The Quick and the Dead, Hang ’Em High), Laura Harrington (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Paulie, The Devil’s Advocate), Christopher Murney (Barton Fink, TV’s “Remember WENN”), Yeardley Smith (TV’s “The Simpsons,” The Simpsons Movie, As Good as It Gets) and J.C. Quinn (The Abyss, The Prophecy).
The complete series of two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning “The Walking Dead” arrives for digital purchase May 30 from Lionsgate. The bundle includes all 11 seasons at $99.99. In the series based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book, after sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes awakens from a coma in an abandoned hospital, he’s immediately thrust into a life-or-death struggle in an apocalyptic, walker-ravaged world. The series follows Rick and his band of survivors — Daryl, Morgan, Maggie, Carol, Michonne, Glenn, and more — as they struggle to survive their bleak new reality where the living pose as much of a threat as the hungry undead. The band travel’s from Alexandria and its promise of a better life to Negan’s ruthless Saviors to the Commonwealth’s corruption. “The Walking Dead” stars Norman Reedus (“The Boondock Saints” franchise, Blade II), Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Penguin Bloom, TV’s “Teachers” and “Afterlife”) and Academy Award nominee Steven Yeun (Nope, Minari, Okja, Mayhem).
A complete list of new disc and digital releases, compiled each week by the Media Play News market research team, can be found here.