Best DVD & Blu-rays Released August 2014
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August 5 • August 12 • August 19 • August 26
Need for Speed
Rumored to involve a cross-county race from San Francisco to New York.
Dakota Johnson, Scott Waugh, Imogen Poots, Harrison Gilbertson, Michael Keaton, John Gatins, Mark Sourian, George Gatins
Divergent
Set in a futuristic dystopia where society is divided into factions based on human traits, a 16-year old leaves her faction to join a rival faction, but during the violent initiation into the new faction, she falls in love with a young man. They realize each is a "Divergent" who doesn't belong to any specific group.
Kate Winslet, Tony Goldwyn, Theo James, Lucy Fisher, Vanessa Taylor, Maggie Q, Zoe Kravitz, Ansel Elgort
Oculus
A woman tries to exonerate her brother, who was convicted of murder, by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenomenon.
Katee Sackhoff, Karen Gillan, Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard, James Lafferty, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane, Miguel Sandoval
Drones
Two soldiers are tasked with deciding the fate of a terrorist with a single push of a button. As the action plays out in real time, their window to use a deadly military drone on the target slowly closes. With time running out, the soldiers begin to question what the real motives are behind the ordered lethal attack.
Rick Rosenthal
Ping-Pong Summer
Set in the 1980s, a hip-hop and ping pong-obsessed 13-year-old from the Maryland suburbs travels with his family to Ocean City, where he encounters both a new best friend and a new worst enemy
Susan Sarandon, Michael Tully, Lea Thompson, John Hannah, Amy Sedaris, Judah Friedlander, Robert Longstreet, Emmi Shockley
God's Not Dead
Follows college student Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) whose faith is challenged by his Philosophy Professor Mr. Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) who believes God does not exist. It revolves around the lives of several individuals who are also challenged by a world that believes God doesn't exist.
Dean Cain, Harold Cronk, Shane Harper, Willie Robertson, Kevin Sorbo, Marco Khan
Muppets Most Wanted
Sequel to the 2011 Muppets movie featuring Kermin and Miss Piggy.
Salma Hayek, Jemaine Clement, Todd LIeberman, Ty Burrell, Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Tom Hiddleston, Danny Trejo
Bears
Cozies up to the brown bears who call Alaska’s stunning coastal mountains and shores their home, revealing through tender moments and entertaining imagery how these animals are far from grizzly creatures.
Alastair Fothergill, Adam Chapman, Keith Scholey, Don Hahn
Breathe In
A story about love, fidelity, marriage and music. No other plot details have been announced.
Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Amy Ryan, Steven Rales, Matthew Daddario, Drake Doremus, Jonathan Schwartz, Andrea Sperling
Frankie and Alice
A drama centered on a young woman with multiple personality disorder who struggles not give in to her racist alter-personality.
Halle Berry, Vincent Cirrincione, Phylicia Rashad, Geoffrey Sax, Hassain Zaidi, Simon DeKaric, Cheryl Edwards, Marko King
Locke
Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) has worked hard to craft a good life for himself. Tonight, that life will collapse around him. On the eve of the biggest challenge of his career, Ivan receives a phone call that sets in motion a series of events that will unravel his family, job, and soul.
Tom Hardy, Tom Holland, Steven Knight, Ruth Wilson, Alice Lowe, Paul Webster, Andrew Scott, Ben Daniels
Hateship, Loveship
A nanny is hired to care for a teenage girl whose mother has just died. Complications arise when the nanny falls in love with the teen's ailing father.
Hailee Steinfeld, Dylan Sellers, Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Nick Nolte, Liza Johnson, Mark Poirier, Jennifer Jason Leigh
The Railway Man
The capture and torture of Eric Lomax by the Japanese in World War II. Lomax was sent to work on notorious "death railway" in Burma and struggled for the next 30 years to come to terms with the trauma.
Jeremy Irvine, Andy Paterson, Colin Firth, Jonathan Teplitzky, Chris Brown, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard
Filth
Follows Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, a scheming, manipulative, misanthropic man who spends his time indulging in drugs, alcohol, sexually abusive relationships, and 'the games' – cruel plots and systematic bullying of his coworkers and friends. While working on the murder case of a Japanese student, he starts coming unhinged, slowly losing his grip on reality and suffering from a series of increasingly severe hallucinations as he desperately tries to hold his life together.
James McAvoy, Jon S. Baird, Imogen Poots, Eddie Marsan, Jim Broadbent, Jamie Bell, Iain De Caestecker, Emun Elliott
Dancing in Jaffa
Renowned ball-room dancer, Pierre Dulaine takes his belief that dance can overcome political and social differences and applies it to eleven-year-old Jewish and Palestinian Israelis.
Hilla Medalia
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Will follow up on the events of The Amazing Spider-Man. Since it is early in the development process, no plot details are available.
Felicity Jones, Martin Sheen, Emma Stone, Avi Arad, Alex Kurtzman, Dane DeHaan, Matt Tolmach, Roberto Orci
The Quiet Ones
An unorthodox professor uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment: to create a poltergeist.
Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, John Pogue, Jared Harris, Erin Richards, Olivia Cooke, Rory Fleck-Byrne, Sam Claflin
The Olivia Experiment
Olivia Howell is a modern-day woman—brilliant, educated, funny, but with a secret. Turns out this 27-year-old graduate student thinks her intimacy issues might actually be a sign that she is—asexual. Confused and stressed out, Olivia's world is turned upside down when a concerned girlfriend offers to “loan” her very own boyfriend to Olivia for sex! Now with the support of her gay roommate, a lesbian friend and the digital age, Olivia embarks on a quest of exploration to understand the most basic of human mysteries: sex.
Sonja Schenk, Skye Noel, Jen Lilley, Brett Baumayr
Only Lovers Left Alive
A story centered on two vampires who have been in love for centuries.
Jim Jarmusch, Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright, Tom Hiddleston, Anton Yelchin, John Hurt, Mia Wasikowska
Fading Gigolo
John Turturro and Woody Allen play cash-strapped best friends who decide to go into the gigolo business together and subsequently attract the suspicion of the Hasidic Jewish community in which they live.
John Turturro, Max Casella, Liev Schreiber, Vanessa Paradis, Aida Turturro, Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Bob Balaban, Sofia Vergara
The Sacrament
Sacrament stars AJ Bowen and Joe Swanberg as reporters for VICE Media who journey to a remote Central American compound along with a photographer (Kentucker Audley) hoping to reunite with his sister (Amy Seimetz), who has dropped off the map after struggling with drug addiction. They find an isolated community of true believers devoted to a shadowy but charismatic figure called “Father.” Skeptical at first, the journalists begin to come around to the group’s utopian claims, until things rapidly take a very dark turn.
Ti West, Christopher Woodrow, Hoyt David Morgan, Amanda Bowers, Peter Phok, Stuart Ford, Eli Roth, Molly Conners
Blended
After a disastrous blind date, a couple finds themselves stuck together with their kids from a previous marriage.
Jack Giarraputo, Bella Thorne, Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Joel McHale, Terry Crews, Josie Rosen, Frank Coraci
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
Summoned by Glinda, Dorothy and Toto return to the land of Oz. Joined by her old friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion, Dorothy sets out on a perilous journey to stop the Jester from using the power of the Wicked Witch of the West’s wand to turn the people of Oz into puppets.
Neil L. Kaufman, Hugh Dancy, Dan St. Pierre, Adam Balsam, Dan Aykroyd, Oliver Platt, Will Finn, Bonne Radford
Aftermath
The devastating horror of a nuclear apocalypse is now reality and nine desperate strangers find themselves clinging to life in a farmhouse cellar, while radioactive fallout descends on the darkened world above. These would-be survivors face the nightmare of dwindling supplies, poisonous air and the greatest threat of all – the hordes of zombie-like refugees who want in. With each dying day, their choice becomes clearer – stay and let the makeshift shelter become their tomb or face the unknown terrors of the world outside.
Andre Royo, Peter Engert, Edward Furlong, Monica Keena, C.J. Thomason
The Love Punch
A romantic caper about Richard (Brosnan) and Kate (Thompson), a divorced couple who, after their pension is stolen by an unscrupulous businessman, reunite to steal it back.
Emma Thompson, Joel Hopkins, Tim Perell, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Spall, Louise Bourgoin
Belle
Belle is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral. Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing. Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar’s son bent on change who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.
Miranda Richardson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Matthew Goode, Amma Asante, Misan Sagay, Penelope Wilton, Sarah Gadon
The Possession of Michael King
Tells of a documentary filmmaker who does not believe in God or the Devil. When his wife dies, he sets out to make his next movie on religion and spirituality, hoping to prove those things are just myth. But in allowing demonologists, necromancers and various practitioners of the occult to try the deepest, darkest spells and rituals on him, he unleashes a horrifying force.
Dale Dickey, David Jung, Shane Johnson, Ella Anderson, Cara Pifko, Tomas Arana, Julie McNiven
Heatstroke
On a family trip in the African desert, a research scientist unintentionally travels off course and is brutally murdered by an arms dealer. His girlfriend is put to the ultimate survival test as she attempts to evade the killers and protect his teenage daughter.
Peter Stormare, Stephen Dorff, Evelyn Purcell, David Lancaster, Svetlana Metkina, Maisie Williams