The 8 Best New Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Releases This December (2024)

“No Country for Old Men” (Criterion, 4K UHD)

In adapting Cormac McCarthy’s pitch black novel of avarice and violence, the Coen brothers created what’s arguably their greatest movie, a crime drama with the philosophical heft of Dostoevsky and a wry, often hilarious sense of humor that’s constantly undercut by the profound sense of tragedy at the film’s core. Criterion’s new 4K boasts a new transfer supervised by director of photography Roger Deakins and a wealth of interviews, both new and archival, along with a behind-the-scenes documentary shot by actor Josh Brolin. —JH

“The Complete Thin Man Collection” (Warner Archive, Blu-ray)

In 1934, actors William Powell and Myrna Loy joined forces to play Nick and Nora Charles, the most happily married couple in all of Hollywood cinema, for the witty and delightful comic mystery “The Thin Man.” An inexpensive quickie, “The Thin Man” boasted razor-sharp dialogue and enough romantic charm to justify five sequels, all of which are included along with the original in this indispensable set. Powell and Loy’s elegant, hilarious delivery — film critic Roger Ebert once correctly pointed out that Powell was to dialogue what Fred Astaire was to dance — make even the most negligible entries in the series a delight, and all of them look and sound incredible thanks to Warner Archives’ flawless transfers. —JH

“The Searchers” (Warner Archive, 4K)

The pristine restoration of John Ford’s classic Western that premiered at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival gets the 4K treatment in another essential Warner Archive release, giving home viewers a chance to marvel at the meticulous restoration project overseen by Warner Brothers Discovery and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation. The restoration team went back to the 8-perf VistaVision camera negative to preserve every bit of detail and beauty in Ford’s original frames, and the 4K disc boasts not only a superb home rendering of the new version but over an hour of extra features, including an archival audio commentary by Ford enthusiast Peter Bogdanovich — one of many directors, along with Scorsese, George Lucas, and Paul Schrader, to be massively influenced by this masterpiece. —JH

Available December 17.

“Snake Eyes” (Kino Lorber, 4K)

After he scored the biggest box office hit of his career with “Mission: Impossible,” Brian De Palma used his newfound clout to bankroll a big-budget version of the kind of experimental thriller he had been drawn to as far back as “Murder a la Mod” in 1968. “Snake Eyes,” made 30 years later, has much bigger resources and a much bigger star (Nicolas Cage) at its center, but like “Murder a la Mod” — and “Sisters,” “Dressed to Kill,” “Blow Out,” “Body Double,” and many other De Palma films — it’s obsessed with voyeurism and whether or not we can trust the images we’re seeing; as De Palma is fond of pointing out, Godard’s dictum that cinema is “truth 24 times a second” is completely wrong, as cinema lies all the time. “Snake Eyes” is one of De Palma’s most entertaining meditations on the topic, with a gleefully over-the-top Cage at the center of a convoluted murder mystery that kicks off with a long take in a casino that would make Orson Welles green with envy. Kino’s 4K release allows the viewer to examine every one of the film’s multitude of visual clues in greater detail than ever. —JH

Available December 31.

“The Beast” (Janus Contemporaries, Blu-ray)

As I wrote at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, “Fans of David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ and its mystical loop through hell and horror that ends with a scream, charged by Tulpas and body-swapping and timelines that swallow each other up, might find their itch for the heartsick uncanny scratched by Bertrand Bonello’s ‘The Beast.'” Why Cannes rejected this near-masterpiece is totally amazing, with Léa Seydoux delivering the most calmly precise performance of her career as three versions of the same woman in the early 20th century, 2014, and the post-pandemic near future, pursuing love with an elusive and sometimes violent man who’s less fixed, played by George MacKay. The Janus Contemporaries release includes a new interview with director Bonello, who taps into our darkest fears about artificial intelligence and about exposing ourselves to the worst possible — and centuries-spanning wounds — by falling in love. —RL

Now available.

“Far and Away” (Shout! Factory, 4K)

Ron Howard’s sweeping epic, starring then-married Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise as Irish immigrants who’ve come to America in the 1890s, is soon available in a 4K Ultra UHD collector’s edition. Cinematographer Mikael Salomon approved the 4K transfer from a 35mm print, and the disc includes a sprawling new making-of piece with new interviews with Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer, writer Bob Dolman, and DP Salomon.

Here’s what IndieWire’s Kate Erbland previously wrote about the film when ranking Nicole Kidman’s best performances: “Howard drags his stars through all sorts of waypoints of pioneer life — the lush but cursed homeland, the dirty and mean big city, amber waves of grain vistas, the whole lot of it. Kidman finds a way to bring nuance to what is essentially a Grown-Up American Girl Doll role. Shannon finds herself through rough circumstances and hard luck, and Kidman’s early shine does a whole hell of a lot to sell this particular brand of American dream.” —RL

Available December 17.

“Paris, Texas” (Criterion Collection, 4K)

German cinema visionary Wim Wenders enters the American Southwest with this all-timer starring Harry Dean Stanton as a mute drifter looking to reconnect with his son and missing wife (Nastassja Kinski, in the pink jumper to end all pink jumpers). Wenders approved the new 4K digital restoration, and the disc features a director’s commentary and a trove of archival interviews, including one with Claire Denis, who served as an assistant director.

As Vikram Murthi wrote previously of the film on IndieWire’s ’80s ranking, Wenders “captures a country with a fluid identity — and sure enough, the America of ‘Paris, Texas’ would soon be permanently in the rearview mirror — and yet his photography endures because of how in tune he and Wenders are to small gestures. A comforting hand on a stranger’s back, a phone receiver used to wipe away tears, the anxious pull at the hem of a fuchsia sweater dress — to Wenders, these moments are as American as any roadside attraction.” —RL

Now available.

“Interstellar” 10th Anniversary Edition (Paramount, 4K UHD)

Paramount’s completely sold-out one-week IMAX 70mm return of Christopher Nolan’s 2014 space-and-time-warping Oscar winner “Interstellar” confirms this movie’s legacy as one of the century’s sci-fi classics. In fact, it was among the only “new” studio releases to end up on the box office top 10 the weekend of December 5. Here, Matthew McConaughey leads a team of space pioneers into the cosmos to see if there’s any hope for mankind out there in space, while the planet down here is dying. Prescient enough for you? The new 4K UHD disc includes poster and costume patch reproductions, a never-before-seen storyboard sequence, and plenty of watchable bonus features, too. —RL

Now available.