DVD/Blu-ray Release Calendar: April 2015
April 7
All movies are 2014/15 releases unless otherwise noted. Availability:
DVD |
Blu-ray |
Both Blu-ray and DVD
The Immigrant 77 Watch Trailer
The latest drama from director James Gray examines his own family’s past (as well as America’s) by following the plight of Ewa, a Polish immigrant played by Marion Cotillard, and her sister, Magda (Angela Sarafyan). When Magda is denied entry into the United States due to illness, Ewa falls into the hands of Bruno, a low-level opportunist played by Joaquin Phoenix. Jeremy Renner plays Bruno’s cousin and rival, Orlando the Magician. Critics generally liked the film, especially the performances and the cinematography by Darius Khondji (Se7en, Amour).
A Most Violent Year 79 Watch Trailer
Much like his first two films, Margin Call and All Is Lost, writer-director J.C. Chandor’s third feature received plenty of praise from critics, even if it seemed to escape notice by the public. The thriller stars Oscar Isaac and the Golden Globe-nominated Jessica Chastain in a story set in New York during the winter of 1981, one of the most violent years in the city’s history. Chandor’s script focuses on Abel (Isaac), an immigrant trying to expand his heating oil business during this tumultuous time. Selma’s David Oyelowo plays a district attorney investigating Abel’s business, and Albert Brooks, Alessandro Nivola, and Catalina Sandino Moreno have supporting roles. Though the Academy ignored it, A Most Violent Year was named best film of 2014 by The National Board of Review.
The Voices 58 Watch Trailer
After directing Persepolis and Chicken with Plums, Marjane Satrapi surprised audiences at last year's Sundance with her change-of-pace third film, which also serves as her English-language debut. In this very odd black comedy, Ryan Reynolds plays Jerry Hickfang, a factory worker who has a crush on Fiona (Gemma Arterton). Unfortunately for Jerry, he hears voices—specifically, his cat’s—and Mr. Whiskers is always encouraging Jerry to murder Fiona. Luckily for Jerry, his dog Bosco, whom he also hears, is more sweet-natured. But which animal will influence Jerry’s actions? The strong cast includes Anna Kendrick as another potential love interest, and Jacki Weaver as Jerry’s psychiatrist. Some critics found it stylish but empty, though others were more taken with the film's dark comedy.
More movie releases on April 7, 2015
108 Stitches ROM-COM
Bad Asses on the Bayou ACTION/DRAMEDY | Danny Trejo, Danny Glover
76
Happy Valley DOCUMENTARY
22
Home Sweet Hell COMEDY | Katherine Heigl, Patrick Wilson
65
The Invisible Front DOCUMENTARY
51
Killers FOREIGN/ACTION
51
Mad As Hell DOCUMENTARY
56
Monk With A Camera DOCUMENTARY
66
Pelican Dreams DOCUMENTARY
44
Preservation HORROR/THRILLER
53
[REC] 4: Apocalypse HORROR
Yellowbird ANIMATION/FAMILY
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
Barney Miller Season 7
77
The Book of Negroes Miniseries
Drop Dead Diva Season 6
77
Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways Season 1
Frasier Complete series set
70
Grantchester Season 1
Inside Amy Schumer Seasons 1 & 2 set
King of the Hill Season 9
King of the Hill Season 10
79
Legit Season 2
MacGyver Complete series set
78
Manhattan Season 1
Matlock Complete series set
Wilfred [U.S.] Season 4
April 14
The Babadook 86 Watch Trailer
There has not yet been a better-reviewed horror film this century than this indie Australian hit from 2014. Writer-director Jennifer Kent’s feature debut follows single mother Amelia (Essie Davis) and her troubled 6-year-old son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman). The movie gets its title from a pop-up book that mysteriously appears in Samuel’s bedroom. The disturbing bedtime story convinces Sam that the Babadook is the monster haunting his dreams, and soon his increasingly distressed mother begins to wonder if what her son believes could actually be true.
Big Eyes 62 Watch Trailer
A departure from his usual larger-scale fantasies, Tim Burton’s latest tells the true story of Margaret and Walter Keane, played by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. The script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt) follows Margaret as she marries Walter; he takes credit for her paintings, and they profit but eventually end up in court to prove who was the real painter in the family. Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Terence Stamp, and Danny Huston also star.
God Help the Girl 58 Watch Trailer
Stuart Murdoch, frontman for the indie-pop outfit Belle & Sebastian, made his debut as a writer-director last year with this Glasgow-set musical starring Emily Browning as Eve, a girl with surprising songwriting skills who forms a band with James (Olly Alexander) and Cass (Hannah Murray). While critics found the film inconsistent and greatly lacking in the story department, they admired its exuberance, and some found themselves charmed.
Goodbye to Language 75 Watch Trailer
The Jury Prize winner at last year's Cannes is the first 3D film from 83-year-old director Jean-Luc Godard. (Today brings a Blu-ray 3D release in addition to the standard two dimensions on DVD.) While it may not be for anyone who prefers that their films have a narrative, Godard's enigmatic, visually stunning, challenging, and fragmentary experiment was hailed as one of the finest films of 2014 by a number of critics.
Maps to the Stars 67 Watch Trailer
Julianne Moore won best actress honors at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for her work in this Hollywood satire from director David Cronenberg and novelist (I’m Losing You) and sometimes actor (One Crazy Summer) Bruce Wagner. Moore plays an aging actress, haunted by the ghost of her legendary mother (Sarah Gadon), who hires Mia Wasikowska’s Agatha as her personal assistant, not knowing that Agatha has ties to the Weiss family—self-help guru Stafford (John Cusack) and Cristina (Olivia Williams), who manages their child-star son, Benjie (Evan Bird)—and is looking for revenge.
More movie releases on April 14, 2015
69
Antarctica: A Year On Ice DOCUMENTARY
Batman vs. Robin ANIMATION (Direct-to-video)
42
Beside Still Waters DRAMA | Ryan Eggold)
Candlestick DRAMA/THRILLER | Andrew Fitch
22
Enter the Dangerous Mind THRILLER | Scott Bakula, Jason Priestley
24
Jinn HORROR/THRILLER | Ray Park
33
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken DRAMA/THRILLER | Jim Sturgess, Anthony Hopkins, Sam Worthington
Love Hunter DRAMA
86
Maidan DOCUMENTARY
35
Manny DOCUMENARY/SPORTS
Odd Man Out (1947) Criterion Collection release
70
A Spell to Ward off the Darkness DOCUMENTARY
Sullivan's Travels (1941) Criterion Collection release
42
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death HORROR
56
You're Not You DRAMA | Hilary Swank, Emmy Rossum, Josh Duhamel
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
Call of the Wildman Season 4
null
Foyle's War Set 8
A Haunting Season 7
The Incredible Dr. Pol Season 6
Little House on the Prairie Season 5 (remastered)
Metal Hurlant Chronicles Complete series
85
The Missing Season 1
April 21
Cake 49 Watch Trailer
A major awards-season push failed to get Jennifer Aniston an Oscar nomination for her performance as a woman addicted to painkillers who investigates the suicide of one of the members of her support group. Still, critics called Aniston's work some of the best of her career, even if the rest of the film around her had little to offer.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night 81 Watch Trailer
If the intriguingly long title and excellent reviews don’t grab you, maybe the chance to see the very first "Iranian vampire western" will. This debut feature from writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour premiered at Sundance in 2014 and impressed again at other festivals throughout the year. Filmed in black and white, the story follows the “girl” of the title, a vampire played by Sheila Vand, as she haunts the very western-sounding Iranian town of Bad City, where she gets close to Arash (Arash Marandi), a young man trying to cope with his father’s drug addiction and the local crime lord who supplies him. Mixing genres and offering sly commentary on Iranian society, this is a small film worth seeking out.
Taken 3 26 Watch Trailer
The latest film in the action franchise returns Taken 2 director Olivier Megaton and stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen, joined this time by Forest Whitaker. While critics found things to like in the first and (to a lesser extent) second films in the Taken trilogy, this concluding chapter was pretty much a dud, unable to showcase the particular set of skills of anyone involved.
More movie releases on April 21, 2015
35
Everly ACTION/THRILLER | Salma Hayek
31
Hit By Lightning COMEDY/DRAMA | Jon Cryer, Will Sasso
63
Kung Fu Elliot DOCUMENTARY
57
Life Inside Out DRAMA
43
Like Sunday, Like Rain DRAMA | Leighton Meester, Debra Messing
56
Little Accidents DRAMA | Elizabeth Banks, Josh Lucas
Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed FOREIGN/DRAMEDY
The River (1951) Criterion Collection release
28
Supremacy DRAMA | Danny Glover
9
The Walking Deceased HORROR/COMEDY
36
Walter DRAMEDY | Andrew J. West, Justin Kirk, William H. Macy
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
75
Fortitude Season 1
The Musketeers Season 2
62
Naked & Afraid Season 1
Signed, Sealed, Delivered Complete series
Yukon Men Season 3
April 28
Inherent Vice 81 Watch Trailer
Paul Thomas Anderson ventured into somewhat more lighthearted territory after the twin critical successes of The Master and There Will Be Blood with this 2014 adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s period detective novel Inherent Vice. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Doc Sportello, a private eye passing his days in Gordita Beach, CA at the end of the psychedelic ’60s. When his ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston) comes calling with a story about a plot to kidnap her current billionaire boyfriend (Eric Roberts) and throw him in the nut house, well, Doc can’t keep himself from helping out an old flame. The impressive cast includes Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Martin Short, Jena Malone, Michael K. Williams, Maya Rudolph, Jillian Bell, and Joanna Newsom (who narrates the film).
Mommy 74 Watch Trailer
Young French-Canadian director Xavier Dolan’s fifth film shared the Jury Prize at last year's Cannes festival (with the aforementioned Goodbye to Language 3D). Mommy focuses on the relationship between a widowed single mother (Anne Dorval, in a critically praised performance), her troubled son (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) and their patient neighbor (Suzanne Clément). Mommy was Canada’s official entry in the foreign-language category for most recent Academy Awards, but it surprisingly failed to make the shortlist. Perhaps Mommy’s odd 1:1 aspect ratio turned voters off, though critics, at least, seemed to be on board.
Paddington 77 Watch Trailer
It's not often that a last-minute casting change and a release delay to January are signals of a quality movie, but Paddington was a rare exception, impressing critics with its warm, engaging, family-friendly take on Michael Bond’s classic children’s book series. An impressive live-action cast (Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, and Julie Walters) joins with an animated bear voiced by Ben Whishaw (who replaced Colin Firth) in director Paul King’s film, which follows the Peruvian bear as he’s taken in by the Brown family in London, where he also catches the eye of an evil taxidermist (Kidman).
The Wedding Ringer 35 Watch Trailer
Kevin Hart works as a best-man-for-hire who is enlisted by a socially awkward groom (Josh Gad) in this R-rated buddy comedy from first-time director Jeremy Garelick (The Break-Up). Critics found the result "offensive" and "flat," and fans of the two stars are probably better off seeking out anything else in their filmographies.
More movie releases on April 28, 2015
37
50 to 1 DRAMA | Skeet Ulrich
20
Accidental Love ROM-COM | Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal; directed (partially) by David O. Russell
30
Affluenza DRAMA | Steve Guttenberg
30
Always Woodstock ROM-COM | Allison Miller, James Wolk, Brittany Snow, Jason Ritter
73
Appropriate Behavior COMEDY
39
The Barber THRILLER | Scott Glenn
68
Boy Meets Girl ROM-COM/DRAMA | Michael Welch, Michelle Hendley; directed by Eric Schaeffer
30
The Boy Next Door THRILLER | Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman
38
The Devil's Violinist DRAMA | David Garrett, Jared Harris
55
The Gambler THRILLER | Mark Wahlberg, Brie Larson, Jessica Lange, John Goodman, Michael K. Williams
86
Last Days in Vietnam DOCUMENTARY
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
The Almighty Johnsons Complete series
Brain Games Season 5
78
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies Miniseries
Covert Affairs Season 5
The Jeffersons Season 7
The Mentalist Season 7
The Mentalist Complete series set
New Tricks Season 11
Royal Pains Season 6
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Season 1
Sgt. Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show Season 2
Suits Season 4
Wire in the Blood Complete series
Wolf Hall Miniseries
View previous months
