On the Shelf: ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ ‘Happy Gilmore,’ ‘Xanadu,’ and More Blaxploitation Classics Land on 4K Physical Media This Week
Big week of 4K Blu-ray releases from three different distributors, starting with an Ang Lee classic, Sense and Sensibility. Based on the classic Jane Austen novel, written for the screen by Emma Thompson (winner of the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1996), the film follows the Dashwood girls Elinor and Marianne post the loss of their father. When their father’s estate is given to their eldest son by law, the girls and their mother are force to live a rather primitive life. With their sudden loss of fortune, the sisters’ chances of marriage seem doomed. Their well-intentioned suitors are trapped by the strict rules of a society obsessed with financial and social status and the conflicting laws of desire. Featuring a perfect ensemble that includes Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, and Hugh Grant, Lee’s version of Sense and Sensibility ranks as the definite adaptation of Austen’s novel, as well as one of the best films of the director’s career and one of the better period pieces released in the 1990s. It’s painterly cinematography by Michael Coulter will look glorious on 4K when you pick it up this week.
Over at Kino Lorber, a trifecta of 4K releases this week with Conheads, Happy Gilmore, and Xanadu make their way debut on the premium physical media. Based on the classic Saturday Night Live sketch, Conheads follows the alien family with cone shaped craniums as they come to Earth to observe everyday life, while trying to hide their secret identity. Featuring the original the Conheads Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin, as well as featuring over a dozen cameos featuring Jason Alexander, Drew Carey, Chris Farley, Eddie Griffin, Phil Hartman, Tim Meadows, Garrett Morris, Kevin Nealon, Laraine Newman, Parker Posey, Adam Sandler, Sinbad, David Spade, Julia Sweeney and more, it is a comedy built to entertain those who loved the classic sketch as well as an era of SNL themed films that we just don’t see anymore. In the world of classic comedies, Happy Gilmore arrives just in time for you to watch it as the sequel has made its way to Netflix. After his grandmother’s house is repossessed by the IRS, a bad tempered hockey player takes his talents to golf to earn the big bucks and get his grandmother’s house back. It’s a definitive Sandler comedy, filled with hilarious, silly humor that defined the 1990s and made Sandler a superstar. If you got Billy Madison last month and loved it, you will love this too and want to add this 4K release to your collection. Lastly, with Xanadu, Kino Lorber has brought us a cult classic on 4K for the first time; a film considered by many to be one of the biggest disasters of the 1980s that’s been reclaimed because of its wild originality. This insane musical fever dream follows a struggling artist living in Los Angeles meets a girl who may hold the key to his happiness and features memorable performances from Olivia Newton-John and the legendary Gene Kelly. You’ll want to get this release not just for the new audio commentaries but for the wild film that these conversations are all about.
Shout Factory’s major release of the week is the second volume of their Blaxploitation Classics series. Covering six films (Cotton Comes to Harlem, Slaughter, Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Bucktown) released over the course of 1970 to 1975, the Blaxploitation Classics series highlights some of the underappreciated films in the beloved subgenre that pushed the boundaries of cinema for not just their content, but for the black artists in front and behind the camera. Featuring furious action, incredible soundtracks, and one of the era defining movie star performances from Pam Grier as the pure unadulterated cool heroin in the electrifying revenge thriller, Foxy Brown, this is a must own addition to not just film fans who got the first volume, but an educational tool for cinema lovers to explore films and world’s we rarely get to see. The six films spread across twelve discs in this box set are some of the best action films of the subgenre and are not only being presented in 4K for the first time ever, but also the first time they’ve been presented in High-Definition, Widescreen featuring brand new audio commentaries, an in-depth documentary over the films featured in the collection, and a beautiful collector’s poster of Foxy Brown.
From the Criterion Collect this week, Edward Yang has two new feature films, A Confucian Confusion and Mahjong, enter the collection that already features three other films from the acclaimed Taiwanese artists. Made back to back, A Confucian Confusion finds Yang dabbling in the world of comedy with his unique looking into the urban discontent of his generation, centering on young Taipei professionals whose paths converge at an entertainment company where the boundaries between art and commerce, love and business, have become hopelessly blurred. In a similar tone, Mahjong is a satire set in a globalized Taipei, with a darker and more caustic edge to it. Inside the film is a dazzling vision of a multicultural Taipei where nearly every relationship has a price and newfound prosperity comes at the expense of the human soul. If you are a fan of Yang’s other work like Yi Yi and A Brighter Summer Day, then you are going to want to pick this up. Also joining the double feature is Shoeshine. Known for being an international breakthrough for neorealism, Shoeshine is an Oscar winning film that’s a devastating portrait of economic struggle made all the more haunting by its child’s-eye perspective, and is one of the most effective film achievements of postwar Italian filmmaking.
Other Notable Releases for the Week of August 18, 2025 include:
Bring Her Back (2025, Blu-ray, A24)
Gung Ho (1986, Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)
Invincible Swordsman (2025, Blu-ray, Well Go USA)
Perpetrator (2023, Blu-ray, Arrow Video)
Repossessed (1990, Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)
Ride a Wild Stud (Dark Force Entertainment, Blu-ray, 1969)
The Boys: Season 4 (2024, Blu-ray, Sony Pictures/Amazon Original)
The Class of ’74 (1972, Blu-ray, Film Masters)
The Golden Triangle (1975, Blu-ray, Dark Force Entertainment)
- Ethan Hawke on How It Was the Right Time To Make ‘Blue Moon’ with Director Richard Linklater [VIDEO INTERVIEW] - December 2, 2025
- Jeremy Allen White on the Responsibility and Hard Work Needed to Transform into The Boss in ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’ [VIDEO INTERVIEW] - December 1, 2025
- AwardsWatch Podcast Ep. 317 – Oscars Retrospective of the 68th Academy Awards - December 1, 2025
‘Jay Kelly,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Task’ and More on AFI’s Top 10 Films and Television of 2025 Lists 
‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards 
Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award 
National Board of Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ Tops in Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor; Netflix Lands Four in Top 10