DVD/Blu-ray Release Calendar: June 2019

▣ Gloria Bell Trailers

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Chilean filmmaker and Academy Award winner (for A Fantastic Woman) Sebastián Lelio follows his first English language feature, Disobedience, with another, a remake of his 2013 critical hit Gloria. The story has moved from Santiago to Los Angeles, and Julianne Moore stars, taking over the role from Paulina García, who won best actress at the Berlin Film Festival for her portrayal of a divorcée looking for more out of life than being a grandmother. It didn't score quite as highly as the original film, but Gloria Bell is nevertheless a worthwhile remake, according to critics.

▣ The Man Who Killed Don Quixote Trailers

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After nearly 30 years, Terry Gilliam's famously uncompleted epic—so notorious that it long ago received its own (non-)making-of documentary—finally reached theaters (briefly) this spring. The Spain-set film centers on the adventures of an advertising executive (Adam Driver, in a role once intended for Johnny Depp, Robin Williams, and Ewan McGregor at various points in time) and a shoemaker who long ago starred in the adman's student film but is now convinced that he actually is the storied Don Quixote (Jonathan Pryce, playing a part once held by John Hurt, Robert Duvall, and several different members of Monty Python). We'd love to say that it's a triumph, but the critical consensus (after a Cannes screening last May) is, at best, mixed. (Really, the film is a bit of a mess—though that may be intentional.) Still, it's not often that moviegoers get an opportunity to see a passion project from a visionary filmmaker.

▣ Woman at War Trailers

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Benedikt Erlingsson’s follow-up to Of Horses and Men is a comedy-musical-political drama hybrid that follows Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir in a performance praised by critics at Cannes) as she battles the local aluminum industry in order to protect her beloved Icelandic Highlands. When she learns that her application to adopt has come through, she plots one final attack before she becomes a mother.

▣ Captain Marvel Trailers

Marvel's pre-Infinity War spring release traces the origins of how Brie Larson's Carol Danvers become Captain Marvel. It begins in the 1990s as Danvers returns to Earth while participating in the Kree-Skrull War as a member of the Kree military’s Starforce. When a younger version of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury finds her, the search for clues from Danvers’ past commences. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Mississippi Grind), Captain Marvel also sees the return of Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, and Djimon Hounsou as Korath, as well as the addition of Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Gemma Chan, Lashana Lynch, and Annette Bening.

▣ The Mustang Trailers

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Matthias Schoenaerts stars a Roman, a prisoner who enters an “outdoor maintenance” program for social rehabilitation. Struggling with his violent past, Roman is accepted into the wild horse training section of the course and is aided by a veteran trainer (Bruce Dern) and a fellow inmate (Jason Mitchell). Actress Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s debut feature as director collected plenty of positive reviews when it reached theaters in March.

▣ The Beach Bum Trailers

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The latest divisive feature from writer-director Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers) stars Matthew McConaughey) as an eccentric/unlikeable stoner/alcoholic poet named Moondog who goes on a series of low-key but hedonistic adventures in the Florida Keys. The eclectic supporting cast includes Snoop Dog, Zac Efron, Isla Fisher, Stefania LaVie Owen, Jimmy Buffett, Martin Lawrence, and Jonah Hill.

▣ Hale County This Morning, This Evening

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RaMell Ross' critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated documentary spends five years following two young African American men in rural Alabama. Don't expect a straightforward profile—instead, this is cinema at its most poetic.

▣ Under The Silver Lake Trailers

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To follow his horror hit It Follows, writer-director David Robert Mitchell shifted into modern L.A. noir with this darkly comedic 2018 feature, which debuted at Cannes over a year ago but didn't make it to theaters until this spring (and even then, only briefly). Andrew Garfield stars as Sam, who becomes an amateur sleuth when a mysterious woman (Riley Keough) he meets one night at his apartment complex disappears. One glance at that Metascore reveals that Silver Lake isn't as good as It Follows, though that doesn't tell the whole story. Some critics absolutely loved the new film, praising its ambition and humor, but others were much less intrigued.

▣ Us Trailers

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Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out is more of a straight-up horror film than its predecessor, and while it hasn't quite captured the public's imagination in the same way, it's another well-reviewed outing. Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex star as a family whose summer getaway is interrupted by four terrifying visitors—doppelgängers of themselves. How will they survive, and what’s behind this attack? Maybe their friends played by Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker can help? No, probably not.

▣ Dumbo Trailers

Disney’s foray into (mostly) live-action adaptations of their classic animated tales really took off after the financial success of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. As an artistic endeavor, the results have been solid, if unspectacular. Aside from the new perspective provided by Maleficent and the technical achievements of Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, the films have been mostly well done but pretty safe remakes (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast). This spring, Burton returned to what he helped start, though both the commercial and critical results were lackluster. Adapting one of Disney’s most beloved animated films, Burton introduces circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito), who enlists former star Holt Farrier and his children to tend to a newborn elephant with oversized ears, whose ability to fly attracts the interest of V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton).

▣ Transit Trailers

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Moving Anna Seghers’ 1940s-set novel to a fictional version of contemporary Marseille, writer-director Christian Petzold (Phoenix, Barbara) tackles Europe’s current refugee crisis in surprising ways with his latest story of mistaken identity. A German refugee (Franz Rogowski) takes the place of a deceased writer in hopes of securing passage to South America, but he becomes entwined with a mysterious woman played by Paula Beer (Frantz).