DVD/Blu-ray Release Calendar: February 2019

▣ The Girl in the Spider's Web Trailers

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After three films starring Noomi Rapace, and one with Rooney Mara in the lead and David Fincher behind the camera, Lisbeth Salander returned to the big screen last November, portrayed this time by The Crown’s Claire Foy. Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe) directs this adaptation of the first of the Millennium book series not written by Stieg Larsson. Reviews were all over the map, but the overall consensus seemed to be that Alvarez's film was too timid and chilly.

▣ The Grinch Trailers

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Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Grinch in the latest animated adventure for one of Dr. Seuss’s classic creations. Directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney (The Secret Life of Pets), The Grinch reveals more about the Grinch’s home, his relationship with his dog, Max, and, of course, his plan to steal Christmas from his neighbors in Who-ville. The result was a decent box office hit, and critics liked the visuals but found the film mostly underwhelming and unnecessary.

▣ The Guilty Trailers

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In a tense 85 minutes, Danish director Gustav Möller’s feature debut accomplishes more in one room than most Hollywood thrillers. A disgraced cop (Jakob Cedergren) working emergency dispatch receives a call from a kidnapped woman. Unable to leave his desk, he must rely on the eyes and ears of others to save her. The film impressed audiences and critics at Sundance and other international film festivals, taking home multiple audience choice awards, and an English-language remake (starring Jake Gyllenhaal) is on the way.

▣ The Long Dumb Road Trailers

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A Teacher director Hannah Fidell’s follow-up to 6 Years is a road-trip comedy that follows Nathan (The Grand Budapest Hotel's Tony Revolori) as he drives from Texas to Los Angeles to begin his freshman year of college. When his car breaks down, he gets some mechanical help and a new passenger in the form of Jason Mantzoukas’ Richard. Road may not be a classic, but critics were generally entertained.

▣ A Private War Trailers

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Rosamund Pike stars as an eye patch-wearing war correspondent who heads to Syria (with a photographer played by Jamie Dornan) for a dangerous new assignment in this under-the-radar November drama adapted from a Vanity Fair article and directed by Matthew Heineman (making his narrative debut after earning raves for documentaries like Cartel Land and City of Ghosts). Critics had a lot of praise for the result—and especially for Pike's performance, which earned the actress a Golden Globe nomination.

▣ The Sisters Brothers Trailers

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Jacques Audiard's follow-up to his Palme d'Or-winning Dheepan is also the filmmaker's English-language debut and an adaptation of Patrick Dewitt's acclaimed novel. Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly star as Charlie and Eli Sisters, two hired guns roaming Oregon and California in 1851 at the behest of the Commodore (Rutger Hauer). Their latest target is Riz Ahmed’s Hermann Kermit Warm, a chemist who claims to have a formula for finding hidden gold. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Warm’s partner, Morris.

▣ Widows Trailers

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Steve McQueen's follow-up to his 2013 drama 12 Years a Slave won't bring the director another best picture Oscar, but it certainly ranks among the best 2018 films not to be nominated. As a genre film (albeit a stylish one), it's also McQueen's most accessible work to date. The heist thriller tells the story of four women who team up to settle the debt their dead husbands left behind. Adapted by Gillian Flynn and McQueen from a British television series, the Chicago-set film features a terrific cast led by a widely praised Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki and also featuring Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson.

▣ At Eternity's Gate Trailers

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One of the nominees competing in the Oscar acting race this month is Willem Dafoe, thanks to his performance here as Vincent van Gogh in this exploration of the painter’s later life by filmmaker (and artist himself) Julien Schnabel. Based on letters with his brother Theo (Rupert Friend), as well as imagined events, Gate is an immersive portrait of a painter by a painter (Schnabel painted some of the canvases in the film). Oscar Isaac also stars as Paul Gaugin.

▣ Bohemian Rhapsody Trailers

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Sure, it's a surprisingly massive hit and a best picture nominee—but it's the worst-reviewed film in the Oscar best picture field since 2012. That said, recent SAG Award winner Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) is now a frontrunner for a best actor Oscar for his denture-assisted performance as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in a film tracing the band's rise, culminating in their 1985 Live Aid performance. NASA astrophysicist Brian May and his Queen bandmate Roger Taylor consulted on the film. But to watch Rhapsody, you'll have to overlook the fact that most of it was directed by Bryan Singer, recently the subject of sexual assault allegations (and not for the first time). Singer was fired toward the end of production and replaced by Dexter Fletcher.

▣ The Front Runner Trailers

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The second of Jason Reitman's two 2018 releases (following Tully) was a no-show on the awards circuit after originally being penciled in as a contender, though it's not quite a bad film. The Front Runner depicts the infamous collapse of the 1988 presidential campaign by Senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman), the one-time favorite to win the Democratic nomination. The timely film captures the intertwining of traditional political reporting and the sensational tactics of tabloid journalism as Hat’s campaign is derailed by evidence of his affair with Donna Rice. Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alex Karpovsky, Alfred Molina, and Steve Zissis also star.

▣ Shoplifters Trailers

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Possibly the best film to date from master filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (and easily one of 2018's best movies), Shoplifters is a return to the family-centered drama of Kore-eda's earlier films after a dip into genre with The Third Murder. The drama follows a poor, multi-generational, makeshift family that relies on petty crime to make ends meet, exploring the meaning of kinship along the way—to often devastating effect. After winning the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Shoplifters is now in the running for this year's foreign-language film Oscar.

▣ Can You Ever Forgive Me? Trailers

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Marielle Heller’s follow-up to her celebrated debut, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, is based on another unique piece of writing: Lee Israel’s memoir about forging letters from famous authors in order to pay her rent. An Oscar-nominated Melissa McCarthy, in a rare dramatic role, earned raves for her performance as Israel. Richard E. Grant (who also earned raves as well as an Oscar nomination) plays her confidant, Jack, and Jane Curtain, Dolly Wells, and Anna Deavere Smith have supporting roles.

▣ A Star Is Born Trailers

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The love story at the heart of 1937's A Star Is Born has now inspired three Hollywood remakes: a 1954 version starring Judy Garland and James Mason, a 1976 remake led by Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson that moved the story to the rock world, and now this 2018 release directed by Bradley Cooper, who also stars, opposite Lady Gaga. All four versions were nominated for Academy Awards, including eight nominations for Cooper's film, which could take home the best picture trophy later this month (though it may no longer be favored to do so). The new Star is set in the world of the contemporary music industry, and Cooper plays Jackson Maine, who discovers and falls in love with Gaga’s Ally, a struggling artist he brings into the spotlight. Both leads earned Oscar nominations, as did supporting star Sam Elliott, though, for the latter, it was somehow the first nomination of his career.

▣ The Day After Trailers

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One of two 2018 releases from Hong Sang-soo (Claire’s Camera) centers on an innocent assistant (Kim Min-hee in the fourth of her five lead performances for Hong) caught between her cheating boss and his wife. Like many of Hong’s 21 films, this story of infidelity and mistaken identity finds the humanity in the darkly comedic.

▣ Mary Queen of Scots Trailers

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Sixteenth century England is the setting for this exploration of the dramatic life of Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan). Queen of France at the age of 16 and widowed at 18, Mary returned to her homeland in 1561 to reign over Scotland, but when she asserts her claim on the English throne, her cousin, Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), doesn’t take it too kindly. Theater director Josie Rourke makes her feature directorial debut with this Beau Willimon- (House of Cards) scripted adaptation of John Guy’s Queen of Scot’s: The True Life of Mary Stuart. The result is a bit of a disappointment, given the talent involved, though critics loved Ronan's performance and the film picked up Oscar nominations for costumes and makeup/hairstyling.

▣ Ralph Breaks the Internet Trailers

In this solid sequel to Disney's animated 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz go from Litwak’s Arcade to the world wide web to search for a replacement part to fix Vanellope’s video game, Sugar Rush. John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman return to voice Ralph and Vanellope, and Taraji P. Henson, Gal Gadot, and Alan Tudyk join the voice cast.