4K/UHD Release of the Week 
The Bad Guys
(Dreamworks)
With a dream voice cast, led by bickering buddies Sam Rockwell and Marc Maron, this animated romp based on the book series by Aaron Blabey about a wolf, snake, shark, tarantula and piranha who try to change their evil ways and become good is amusing and clever. Many of the jokes land thanks to Rockwell, Maron, and other voices Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos and Zazie Beetz, while the bright visuals are appropriately tongue-in-cheek. It all pops off the screen in 4K/UHD (there’s also a Blu-ray included); extras comprise a commentary, new short, deleted scenes and making-of featurettes.
Lux Aeterna
(Yellow Veil Pictures)
French enfant terrible Gaspar Noé’s 2019 cinematic experiment is a 50-minute tease instead of a provocation, taking place on a movie set, as Beatrice Dalle (who plays sort-of herself) directs Charlotte Gainsbourg (ditto) in a film about witchcraft. In Noé’s mind, sexism on a film set is today’s version of burning a witch at the stake; but with a plethora of visual gimmicks ranging from split screens and varying aspect ratios to flashing strobes (which come with a trigger warning), Lux Aeterna seems like a lazy Gaspar Noé parody.
The Phantom of the Open 
(Sony Classics)
In 1976, ordinary worker Maurice Flitcroft decided to enter the British Open, despite the fact that he never played golf—through a series of coincidences, he played in the qualifying round, shooting the worst 18 holes in Open history. Director Craig Roberts, writer Simon Farnaby and actor Mark Rylance join forces to tell Flitcroft’s story with sympathetic humor, although after awhile, the singlemindedness of the protagonist wears somewhat thin. But with Rylance and Sally Hawkins (as his loving wife Jean) in top form, this is diverting and even at times memorable.
Last Passenger
(Cohen Media)
Omid Nooshin’s rote 2013 thriller about how the few remaining passengers must try and stop a runaway train lasts 96 minutes, which helps this unimaginative run-through of a clichéd drama pass by harmlessly. There’s little chemistry between Dougray Scott and Kara Tointon as a single dad and married woman thrown together by circumstance, and the would-be explosive ending simply peters out. There’s a nice hi-def transfer; extras are short featurettes and interviews.
Rolling Stones—Licked Live in NYC 
(Mercury)
The Rolling Stones’ 2003 tour touched down at Madison Square Garden for an inspired performance of two-plus hours of greatest hits and classic album tracks. Mick, Keith and the boys hit their stride mid-show with volatile and bracing versions of “Monkey Man,” “Let It Bleed” and “Angie,” played with energy and even aggression. Their backing vocalist, the great Lisa Fischer, moves front and center for a lacerating “Gimme Shelter” and even Sheryl Crow shows up to duet with Mick on “Honky Tonk Women.” The hi-def video and audio are excellent; the entire concert audio is on two additional CDs, and Blu extras are performances from Amsterdam, including the infamous “Star Fucker,” and the hour-long documentary about the tour, Tip of the Tongue.
Billions—Complete 6th Season
(CBS/Paramount)
Once Axe flew off into the sunset at the end of season 5, district attorney Chuck Rhoades needed a new adversary: Michael Prince takes over Axe Capital and is as shady as Axe was. The problem dramatically is it doesn’t feel personal any more: the strange triangle among Chuck, ex-wife Wendy and Axe (Wendy’s boss) made for an absorbing tragicomedy that the other subplots revolved around. Now the show ls generic and ordinary, despite the best efforts of Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, Asia Kate Dillon, David Constabile and Condola Rashad. But Corey Stoll brings little shading to Prince, unlike what Damien Lewis did to Axe. Extras are three short featurettes.
Curb Your Enthusiasm—Complete 11th Season 
(Warner Bros/HBO)
Now into season 11, Larry David and his irascible alter ego keeps getting into as much trouble as he possibly can—nearly always self-inflicted, of course, but he’s self-aware enough not to care. As always (for me), a little of David’s observational comedy goes a long way, so many others’ comic mileage will obviously vary; still, there are several priceless moments throughout, as when, in the first episode, Larry ruins Albert Brooks’ “living funeral” when he discovers that Brooks has been a COVID hoarder of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. The two-disc set includes all 10 episodes but no extras.
(Icarus Films)
Is a filmmaker complicit when someone like Vladimir Putin gains power? That’s the question director Vitaly Mansky asks himself years after putting together footage for Russian state television that introduced Putin to the electorate two decades ago, knowing what that footage helped him become a dictator. Though made in 2018, nothing Mansky shows and discusses has been negated by the past four years, and it remains a difficult but rewarding watch. Lone extra is How Putin Came to Power, a film by director Tania Rakhmanova about how the unknown may or St. Petersburg became president in eight short years.
CD Release of the Week 
Maurice Ravel—Piano Concertos/Mélodies
(Harmonia Mundi)
Performing on an 1892 piano on Maurice Ravel’s two great concertos and song cycles, Cédric Tiberghien demonstrates his mastery of Ravel’s singular musical world in this ambitious recording. Baritone Stéphane Degout is in impressive form in several sets of songs for voice and piano, including the lively Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Ravel’s final composition before his death in 1937. Conductor Farncoix-Xavier Roth and the period-instrument ensemble Les Siecles, providing brilliant accompaniment for Tiberghien on the Concerto in G Major and Concerto for the Left Hand, exploring the varied colors of Ravel’s palette.
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