New digital and streaming release highlights for week of August 1-7, 2022

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Having already plundered audiences for nearly $670 million worldwide, this week sees the family-favorite film"Minions: The Rise of Gru" make its way to digital along with the fantastic foreign comedy "Official Competition" withPenélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, 2012's live-action prequel "Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn," the thriller "Gone in the Night" withWinona Ryder, the HBO Max drama "Charm City Kings." a must-see music documentary in "Fanny: The Right to Rock," and a slew of Hallmark romances (that I know nothing about).

The bulk of these week's Blu-ray and DVD releases are catalog titles, but we do haveChristos Nikou's "Apples" (Taika Waititi and Cate Blanchettare fans), Michael Rooker squares off against Bruce Willis in "White Elephant," and Andrea Arnold's acclaimed documentary "Cow." Catalog releases include the domestic Blu-ray debut of Ewan McGregor in "Last Days in the Desert," a 4K release of horror masterDario Argento's "Tenebrae," a 4K release forJoel Schumacher's "Flatliners," andJohn Cameron Mitchell's 2006 indie favorite "Shortbus."

Available to Own Digitally

Minions: The Rise of Gru

Studio Synopsis: Long before he becomes the master of evil, Gru (Oscar nominee Steve Carell) is just a 12-year-old boy in 1970s suburbia, plotting to take over the world from his basement.

It’s not going particularly well. When Gru crosses paths with the Minions, including Kevin, Stuart, Bob and Otto—a new Minion sporting braces and a desperate need to please—this unexpected family joins forces. Together, they build their first lair, design their first weapons and strive to execute their first missions.

When the infamous supervillain supergroup, the Vicious 6, ousts their leader—legendary martial arts fighter Wild Knuckles (Oscar winner Alan Arkin)— Gru, their most devoted fanboy, interviews to become their newest member. The Vicious 6 is not impressed by the diminutive, wannabe villain, but then Gru outsmarts (and enrages) them, and he suddenly finds himself the mortal enemy of the apex of evil. With Gru on the run, the Minions attempt to master the art of kung fu to help save him and Gru discovers that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.

Official Competition

Studio Synopsis: Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas star as two egomaniacs commissioned by a millionaire to make a movie together in this sharp comedy skewering wealth, art and pride.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

Studio Synopsis:For generations, humans traveled the stars and worked together to settle worlds under the banner of the United Nations Space Command. Now that peace has been shattered by insurrectionists–causing a galaxy-spanning civil war. Cadet Thomas Lasky and his fellow students at Corbulo military academy now train to make this war their future. But Lasky is conflicted about his path, and his resolve is tested when the academy comes under attack from a terrifying alien assault. Lasky and his fellow cadets fight for survival, only to find assistance from a mysterious ally—a mythic, armored supersoldier known as Master Chief. (Also available on Blu-ray and DVD)

Gone in the Night

Studio Synopsis:When Kath (Winona Ryder) and her boyfriend arrive at a remote cabin in the redwoods, they find a mysterious young couple already there. But when her boyfriend disappears with the young woman, Kath becomes obsessed with finding an explanation.

Charm City Kings

Studio Synopsis:Fourteen-year-old Mouse (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) desperately wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders who rule the summertime streets. His older brother, Stro, was their top rider before his tragic death—a loss that consumes Mouse as much as his passion for bikes. Mouse’s mom (Teyonah Parris) and his police mentor, Detective Rivers (William Catlett), work overtime to help the charismatic teen reach his full potential, but when the Midnight Clique’s leader, Blax (Meek Mill), takes the boy under his wing, the lure of revving his own dirt bike skids Mouse toward a roadway past the straight and narrow.

Fanny: The Right to Rock

Studio Synopsis:Sometime in the 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina-American sisters got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would evolve into the legendary rock group Fanny, the first all-women band to sign with a major record label. Yet, despite releasing 5 critically-acclaimed albums over 5 years, touring with famed bands from SLADE to CHICAGO and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends, including David Bowie, Fanny's groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history until now.

Butlers in Love

Studio Synopsis:In a prestigious butler academy, passionate Emma and rebellious Henry train to become royal butlers where the competition is fierce and sparks fly. Starring Stacey Farber, Corey Cott and Maxwell Caulfield.

Just One Kiss

Studio Synopsis:Sparks fly between professor Mia and lounge singer Tony through a series of chance encounters. Little do they know their mothers are scheming to set them up. Stars Krysta Rodriguez, Santino Fontana, Illeana Douglas, Aida Turturro.

Love, Classified

Studio Synopsis:Romance novelist, Emilia, returns home after a long absence, to reconnect with her children who also are finding their own paths to love. Starring Melora Hardin, Arienne Mandi, Katherine McNamara and Max Lloyd-Jones.

A Royal Runaway Romance

Studio Synopsis:Princess Amelia of Bundbury travels across America to explore a budding romance with an artist, only to fall in love with her bodyguard Grady. Stars Philippa Northeast, Brand Daugherty.

New to Blu-ray & DVD

Apples

Studio Synopsis:Amidst a worldwide pandemic that causes sudden amnesia, middle-aged Aris (Aris Servetalis) finds himself enrolled in a recovery program designed to help unclaimed patients build new identities. Prescribed daily tasks on cassette tapes so he can create new memories and document them on camera, Aris slides back into ordinary life, meeting Anna (Sofia Georgovasili), a woman who is also in recovery. Through images deadpan, strange and surreal, Greek writer-director Christos Nikou posits a beguiling reflection on memory, identity and loss, exploring how society might handle an irreversible epidemic through one man’s story of self-discovery. Are we the sum of the images we compile and display of ourselves, or are we something richer and deeper?

Cow

Studio Synopsis:Academy Award winner Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, American Honey) returns with an intimate portrait of one dairy cow’s life. The film highlights the beauty and challenges cows face and their great service to us all.

Flatliners UHD 4K

Studio Synopsis:At the University Hospital School of Medicine, five ambitious students subject themselves to a daring experiment: to temporarily induce their own deaths, hoping to glimpse the afterlife before being brought back to life. But as competition within the group intensifies and their visions of the world beyond increasingly bleed into their waking lives, they’re about to learn that the greatest threat comes not from the spirit world but from the long-suppressed secrets of their own pasts

Last Days in the Desert

Studio Synopsis:On his way out of the wilderness, after weeks of subsisting on only water and prayer, a holy man (Ewan McGregor) struggles with the Devil (also McGregor) over the fate of an ordinary family in crisis, setting for himself a dramatic test with distinctly human conflicts. Written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia (Mother And Child) and featuring breathtaking cinematography from three-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity) and a brilliantly contrasting dual performance from McGregor, Last Days In The Desert is a transformative journey you'll want to make again and again.

Shortbus

Studio Synopsis:John Cameron Mitchell's SHORTBUS explores the lives of several emotionally challenged characters as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex in and around a modern-day underground salon. A sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, a dominatrix who is unable to connect, a gay couple who is deciding whether to open up their relationship and the people who weave in and out of their lives, all converge on a weekly gathering called Shortbus: a mad nexus of art, music, politics and polysexual carnality. Set in a post-9/11, Bush-exhausted New York City, SHORTBUS tells its story with sexual frankness, suggesting new ways to reconcile questions of the mind, pleasures of the flesh and imperatives of the heart.

Tenebrae UHD 4K

Studio Synopsis:Italian horror master Dario Argento elevates the Giallo genre to new heights with 1982’s TENEBRAE, a darkly humorous and notoriously grisly murder mystery that many consider to be one of his finest works.

American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa, Death Wish II) comes to Rome to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. A razor-wielding psychopath is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control, Neal investigates the crimes on his own, leading to a mind-bending, genre-twisting conclusion that will leave you breathless!

White Elephant

Studio Synopsis: When an assassination attempt is witnessed by two cops, Gabriel Tancredi, an ex-marine turned mob enforcer (Michael Rooker), is ordered by his ruthless mob boss (Bruce Willis) to eliminate any and all threats. With an eager underling out to prove himself, rival gangs making moves and a rising body count, every step Tancredi makes threatens lives, including his own.