[Deal du jour] Fnac offers a selection of more than 3,000 films on DVD and Blu-ray as part of its offer: 5 DVDs or 3 Blu-Rays for €30. Which is more than 6,000 hours of cinema, or 250 days. So as not to get lost in this huge catalog, here is a selection of titles selected by Numerama.
What movies to buy?
Dunes
The adaptation of Frank Herbert’s cult novel by Denis Villeneuve is an undeniable visual success. Dunesavailable on DVD and Blu-Ray, is planned in two parts, including the sequel, simply titled Dune: Part I, should be released in 2023. The film by the Canadian director has the merit of offering a faithful transcription of the arid universe imagined by Herbert, almost 60 years ago now. Let’s hope that the second part will correct the few narrative problems that this first part suffered from. It remains an excellent show that does honor to the genre of space opera.
nomadland
Winner of three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Chloé Zhao, nomadland is available on DVD and Blu-Ray as part of the Fnac offer. The film stages Frances Mcdormand (the third Oscar, it’s for her) in the melancholy immensity of the United States. The only professional actress in the film, her character, Fern, embarks on a journey through the Great American West. She becomes a modern-day nomad and rubs shoulders with others left behind who, by default, have chosen a life made up of travels and ephemeral encounters. A look at the USA far from the Hollywood dream.
Nightmare Alley
Nightmare Alley is Guillermo Del Toro’s eleventh film, and his first since his numerous awards for his film The Shape of Water. In addition to the formal beauty of the feature film and its atmosphere borrowed from the film noir genre, Nightmare Alley, available on DVD and Blu-Ray, is above all a reflection on the craft of storytelling. As a screenwriter and director, Del Toro questions his legitimacy to tell stories. Is there a way out of living a lie, even to make others dream? His Oscar for best director for his previous film gave him this necessary questioning in his career. One of his best works.
Pig
Nicolas Cage is undoubtedly a chameleon actor. Confined for a long time to the role of supercharged B series, the general public sometimes forgets that he also turns out to be an extraordinary actor. In Pig, available on DVD and Blu-Ray, he embodies a former chef plagued by his past. When his truffle pig is kidnapped, he goes looking for it. The pitch at the John Wick suggests an uninhibited and nag action film. But the film by Michael Sarnoski, director of the next part of A Quiet Place, is quite another thing. A simple and moving story that deserves a star in the Michelin Guide.
Which classics to (re)discover?
The Drunken Angel
The Drunk Angel, available on DVD and Blu-Ray in the Toho Years collection, is a film by Akira Kurosawa made in 1948. Called one night to treat a young gangster (played by the magnificent Toshirô Mifune) for an injury, an alcoholic doctor finds a more serious infection, tuberculosis. Despite the arguments and conflicts, the two men will become friends. For a time in the list of possible remakes by the Scorcese-Di Caprio duo, the drunken angel is a masterpiece of film noir, where Kurosawa’s overflowing humanity shines through.
The Swimmer
The Swimmerformerly The dive, available on DVD and Blu-Ray, tells the story of Ned, played by Burt Lancaster, who sets out to swim home, passing through every pool on his way. This journey then becomes a kind of initiatory journey specific to mythological stories, made of encounters and experiences. An excellent fable that hasn’t lost its bite, almost 60 years later.
2001, the Space Odyssey.
2001 a space odyssey by Stanley Kubrick is available on DVD and Blu-Ray. An excellent opportunity to discover or rediscover the greatest film in the history of cinema. In all objectivity.
To go further with cinema
? Check out our beginner’s guide to the perfect Home Cinema.
? The latest Numerama reviews.
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