New DVD, Blu-ray and digital release highlights for the week of January 25-31, 2021

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — It almost feels like a normal week as, for the first time in ages, this week is dominated by recent titles (rather than an overabundance of catalog releases).

DIGITAL

• Freaky - Essentially it's the switcheroo of "Freaky Friday" with a serial-killer twist asThe Butcher (Vince Vaughn) finds his consciousness placed in the body ofMillie (Kathryn Newton), thenon-assuming teen that he's just failed to kill. All things being fair, Millie finds herself in The Butcher's body. I'm indifferent to Vaughn's teenage girl performance. I absolutely loved Newton's performance. In the world of this horror comedy, there's something empowering about the picked on girl getting her revenge on her classmates without actually being the one responsible for the mayhem.
  

• Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season - TNT's adaptation of the fantastic apocalypticBong Joon-ho film (which was inspired by the 1982 graphic novel "Le Transperceneige") sees the world covered in ice, the last last of humanity sheltered on a perpetually moving train known as Snowpiercer that travels around the world. Within the train, a class system has pushed the wealthy to the front and the lower class to the back. The series stars Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly.
  
• Doom Patrol: The Complete Second Season - Set in its own corner of the DC Universe, "Doom Patrol" follows a group of misfits with super powers that are manifest after tragic events. The second season keeps the strangeness and comedy of the first season while adding a deeper element of character and emotion. It's still plenty weird.
• Batman: Soul of the Dragon -The latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie sees a young Bruce Wayne traveling to a secret monastery in Japan where wayward student opens a gateway to the realm of serpent god Nga.
• Synchronic -Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie star in this sci-fi thriller as two New Orleans paramedics who stumble upon a series of deaths linked to a designer drug. If you like intellectual sci-fi with a touch of horror, "Synchronic" is recommended.
• Come Play - An artsy horror film starringAzhy Robertson as Oliver, a nonverbal autistic child, who communicates with those around him through his smartphone. When a mysterious app appears on his phone, Oliver is befriended by not-so-imaginary monster.
• Fatman -Mel Gibson stars as a disillusioned Santa Claus who has lost the holiday spirit. Walton Goggins stars as Skinny Man, a hitman who has been hired by a disgruntled child who received coal for Christmas.

CATALOG

• The Court Jester -Danny Kaye stars in the loving satire of theswashbuckling genre from 1955 that features a Robin Hood narrative infused with an ample amount of slapstick and clever tongue-twisting dialogue. Lovingly restored from the original negative 65th Anniversary, "The Court Jester" is a classic that was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2004.
• Southland Tales - DirectorRichard Kelly's"Southland Tales" is set within an alternate timeline where 2005 saw two Texas towns destroyed in nuclear attacks. The event leads to World War III and rampant acts of anarchy across America. When it was released in 2005, the film was a reaction to the "War on Terror" that followed the September 11 terrorist attacks. It's themes feel as relevant today as they did then.
• The Ascent - Russian directorLarisa Shepitko’s final film was released in 1977. It follow the story of two World War IIpartisans who go in search of food to provide for their small group of insurrectionists in Nazi-occupied Belarus. Captured, the duo are forced to consider if they are willing to die as martyrs or tell the German soldiers everything they know.