DVD/Blu-ray Release Calendar: October 2017

▣ The Book of Henry Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Director Colin Trevorrow’s post-Jurassic World project is a return to his small-scale roots (Safety Not Guaranteed), albeit without any of the same success. This sentimental drama stars Naomi Watts as a single mother raising two boys—Henry, a genius played by Jaeden Lieberher, and Peter (Jacob Tremblay). After discovering Henry’s plan to right a wrong occurring in the house next door, Watts' Susan takes it upon herself to enact the plan. Critics dismissed the summer release as "schmaltzy" and "manipulative," and found it hampered by a few too many bizarre plot twists.

▣ A Ghost Story Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Here's a more successful example of a director returning to his indie roots. After wrapping the big budget Pete’s Dragon, director David Lowery pivoted with this unique story of a man who watches over his grieving wife and, as time passes, haunts his former home. Reuniting his Ain’t Them Bodies Saints stars, Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck (who spends most of the movie under a sheet), Lowery earned one of the highest Metascores at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

▣ The Ornithologist Trailers

Buy From Amazon

This challenging but hugely acclaimed feature from writer-director João Pedro Rodrigues (The Last Time I Saw Macao) centers on Fernando (Paul Hamy), the titular ornithologist. He’s looking for black storks in a nature reserve in northern Portugal when his kayak gets caught in the rapids. Discovered by a pair of Chinese women who decide to tie him up, Fernando’s bizarre and challenging journey is only just beginning as the director puts a queer twist on the story of Saint Anthony of Padua.

▣ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Trailers

Buy From Amazon

The fifth (and with any luck final) film in the series finds Johnny Depp’s Sparrow dealing with ghost pirates led by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem). It's the English-language debut for Norwegian directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki), and it is also the lowest-scoring entry in the franchise to date.

▣ The Wizard of Lies

Buy From Amazon

Robert De Niro stars as Bernie Madoff in this HBO biopic tracing the financier's recent fall from grace. Barry Levinson directs a cast that also includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Lily Rabe, and Hank Azaria. The film picked up four Emmy nominations, though it failed to win in any category.

▣ Baby Driver Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Imagine a musical version of a Fast and Furious film. Now imagine that it's good—maybe even great. The result would be something like Edgar Wright's Baby Driver. The writer-director's sixth film and first since 2013’s The World’s End tells the story of a young, tinitus-suffering getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) who meets the love of his life (Lily James) and tries to get out from under his evil boss (Kevin Spacey). Look for supporting turns from Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, and Eiza González.

▣ The Beguiled Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Writer-director Sofia Coppola’s first feature since 2013’s The Bling Ring won her the Best Director prize at Cannes in May. A remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 film (based on Thomas Cullinan’s novel) that starred Clint Eastwood as an injured Union soldier who finds refuge and then trouble at a girls boarding school in Louisiana, Coppola’s version stars Colin Farrell as the soldier and Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning as the not-to-be-underestimated objects of his desire.

▣ The House Trailers

Buy From Amazon

SNL veterans Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler reunite to star as desperate parents who attempt to rebuild their daughter's college fund by starting an illegal casino in their basement. Jason Mantzoukas and Nick Kroll also star for first-time director Andrew J. Cohen (screenwriter of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates and Neighbors). Despite the plentiful on-screen talent (including appearances by Rob Huebel, Jeremy Renner, Andrea Savage, Allison Tolman, and Michaela Watkins), the film is pretty much a disaster, say critics.

▣ The Lure Trailers

Buy From Amazon

This year's only Polish mermaid vampire musical (so far) earned director Agnieszka Smoczynska a Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design at last year's Sundance, and now arrives on disc as a Criterion Collection release. The Lure follows cannibalistic mermaid sisters Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszanska), who take human form when they meet a family of musicians. Soon, they’re working at a dance club, where Silver falls for a man while Golden tries (and fails) to repress her thirst for human flesh. This unique fairy-tale blends musical numbers and horror to explore exploitation, sexuality and the difficulties of growing up.

▣ Girls Trip Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish play lifelong friends who travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival. Malcolm D. Lee's (The Best Man, The Best Man Holiday) raunchy road-trip comedy is pleasurable and very funny even if its plot details fail to surprise, according to critics.

▣ Lady Macbeth Trailers

Buy From Amazon

In his feature debut, director William Oldroyd relocates Nikolai Leskov's 1865 novel Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District to 19th century Northumberland, England. The story concerns Katherine (Florence Pugh), a young woman forced to marry the middle-aged heir to a coal mine fortune. As the title indicates, violence soon creeps into this intense thriller with a star-making performance by Pugh.

▣ Landline Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Director Gillian Robespierre re-teams with her Obvious Child star, Jenny Slate, for this 1995-set story about two sisters, Dana (Slate) and Ali (Abby Quinn), who suspect their father (John Turturro) is having an affair. As they try to uncover the truth, keep it from their mom (Edie Falco), and deal with their own issues, they find themselves bonding for the first time. While not as well-reviewed as their first outing, the latest from Robespierre and Slate should please fans of their first effort.

▣ Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Spider-Man's new home—as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe—appears to be a welcome one, if that Metascore is any indication. When the new Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, made his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, the emphasis was on the fact that Peter Parker was a teenager, not ready to do battle with the big boys. Director Jon Watts (Cop Car) continues this theme as he grounds the action in familiar teen movie tropes and introduces Michael Keaton as the villain Adrian Toomes/Vulture.

▣ Annabelle: Creation Trailers

Buy From Amazon

This origin story for the creepy doll introduced in The Conjuring is a major improvement on its predecessor, Annabelle, in every way. Directed by David F. Sandberg (Lights Out), the film chronicles the strange happenings at the home of a doll maker (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife (Miranda Otto) whose possessed creation preys on the orphans they have invited into their home.

▣ The Emoji Movie Trailers

Buy From Amazon

▣ An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Trailers

Buy From Amazon

It's easy to dismiss most sequels as unnecessary. But this one? Not so much. With fewer PowerPoint slides but just as much passion, Al Gore attempts to further educate the masses about climate change in this follow-up to the award-winning 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Critics were divided on its effectiveness back at its Sundance unveiling in January, but the film has since been updated—mainly to reflect the harm caused by the Trump administration.

▣ Personal Shopper Trailers

Buy From Amazon

Kristen Stewart’s second collaboration with writer-director Olivier Assayas did not earn glowing reviews at last year's Cannes like Clouds of Sils Maria before it, but the existential ghost story did win Assayas his first Cannes honor (a Best Director prize shared with Cristian Mungiu). Stewart plays the title character, Maureen, who is in Paris waiting for a sign from her deceased twin brother.

▣ War for the Planet of the Apes Trailers

Buy From Amazon

After revealing Caesar’s origins in Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and exploring his struggle to keep the peace in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, this third film finds Caesar fighting for the survival of his species against a group of humans led by Woody Harrelson’s Colonel. With excellent reviews—the best in the trilogy so far—director Matt Reeves and actor Andy Serkis bring the latest Planet of the Apes series to a rousing close.

▣ The Dark Tower Trailers

Buy From Amazon

In a busy year of mostly solid Stephen King adaptations, The Dark Tower stands out for being terrible. This long-delayed, decade-in-development adaptation of Stephen King's massive book series of the same name blends sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and western genres—and the result is even more of a mess than that sounds. (In its defense, it certainly isn't the first bad Stephen King adaptation.) Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey star for director Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair), who earned the job after both J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard dropped out.