Posted Thu Jun 15, 2023 at 11:07 AM PDT by Tom Landy
The Criterion Collection's September release slate includes 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray upgrades of Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride and Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout, Luis Valdez's La Bamba on Blu-ray, and Orson Welles' The Trial and Brett Morgen's Moonage Daydream - both on Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu-ray.
Nicholas Roeg's 1971 adventure-drama Walkabout set in the Australian outback will arrive on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 12.
Walkabout - Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
A young sister and brother are abandoned in the harsh Australian outback and must learn to cope in the natural world, without their usual comforts, in this hypnotic masterpiece from Nicolas Roeg. Along the way, they meet an Aboriginal youth on his walkabout, a rite of passage in which adolescent boys are initiated into manhood by journeying into the wilderness alone. Walkabout is a thrilling adventure as well as a provocative rumination on time and civilization.
Hitting both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 18 is Orson Welles' 1962 classic The Trial starring Anthony Perkins.
The Trial - Criterion Collection - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
A feverishly inspired take on Franz Kafka’s novel, Orson Welles’s The Trial casts Anthony Perkins as the bewildered office drone Josef K., whose arrest for an unspecified crime plunges him into a menacing bureaucratic labyrinth of guilt, corruption, and paranoia. Exiled from Hollywood and creatively unchained, Welles poured his ire at the studio system, McCarthyism, and all forms of totalitarian oppression into this cinematic statement—one of his boldest and most personal, and the film that he himself considered his greatest. Dizzying camera angles, expressionistic lighting, increasingly surreal locations—Welles unleashed the full force of his visual brilliance to convey the nightmarish disorientation of a world gone mad.
The only Blu-ray-only release of the bunch this month is the Ritchie Valens biopic starring Lou Diamond Phillips, La Bamba, arriving September 25.
La Bamba - Criterion Collection
The brief but incandescent life of rock-and-roll trailblazer Ritchie Valens is immortalized in this enthralling biopic from another Mexican American icon, Luis Valdez, the father of Chicano cinema. With sweetness and swagger, Lou Diamond Phillips embodies the 1950s California teenager who, forged by his fiercely supportive mother (Rosanna DeSoto) and rebellious brother (Esai Morales), rises from his farm-working roots to chart-topping fame in the early days of rock—until one fateful night that haunts music history. Propelled by a hip-shaking soundtrack featuring Los Lobos and Carlos Santana, La Bamba captures the electric vitality of an artist who bridged cultures to create his own American dream.
Also on September 25, Rob Reiner's classic fantasy film The Princess Bride will be getting an upgrade to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
The Princess Bride - Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
A high-spirited adventure that pits true love against inconceivable odds, The Princess Bride has charmed legions of fans with its irreverent gags, eccentric ensemble, and dazzling swordplay. A kid (Fred Savage), home sick from school, grudgingly allows his grandfather (Peter Falk) to read him a dusty storybook—which is how we meet the innocent Buttercup (Robin Wright, in her breakout role), about to marry the nefarious Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) though her heart belongs to Westley (Cary Elwes). The wedding plans are interrupted, however, by a mysterious pirate, a vengeful Spaniard, and a good-natured giant, in a tale full of swashbuckling, romance, and outrageously hilarious spoofery. Directed by Rob Reiner from an endlessly quotable script by William Goldman, The Princess Bride reigns as a fairy-tale classic.
And finally, arriving on both formats September 25 (Blu-ray here) is Brett Morgen's music documentary Moonage Daydream - on the legendary David Bowie.
Moonage Daydream - Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
An ecstatic voyage through the creative and spiritual universe of David Bowie, Moonage Daydream is a fittingly unclassifiable tribute to the shape-shifting rock iconoclast and his singular sound and vision. Exploding the conventions of the music documentary, director Brett Morgen remixes dazzling, never-before-seen footage of the artist throughout his career, reveling in his otherworldly presence while revealing the restless philosophical inquiry that guided his myriad metamorphoses. Graced with soulful narration by Bowie, this immersive audiovisual head rush transmits the essence of a phenomenon that cannot be explained—only experienced.
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