The 8 Best New Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Releases This April

“Anora” (Criterion, 4K UHD)

What’s left to say about “Anora,” the ultimate movie about the American dream released in 2024? Mikey Madison’s ferocious performance as exotic dancer Ani is as close to iconic as we got last year — save only her main Best Actress competition, Demi Moore in “The Substance.” Director Sean Baker and producer Alex Coco supervised a new 4K digital master, and supply an audio commentary along with producing partner (and Baker’s real-life partner) Samantha Quan. Plus, another audio commentary, along with a bevy of more extras, includes the extraordinary ensemble: Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Madison herself. —RL

Available April 29.

“Basquiat” (Criterion, 4K UHD)

Iconic New York painter Julian Schnabel made his feature filmmaking debut in 1996 with “Basquiat,” a scrappy and expressive portrait of his friend, the African American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. He’s an artist whose work has been kitschified and repurposed since his death in 1988, but here Schnabel makes the definitive statement of the vanguard, graffiti-inspired painter. Jeffrey Wright portrays Basquiat amid his overwhelming rise to art world fame, the racism he experienced in that very Manhattan world, and the struggles with addiction that mired his life. Schnabel provides a new audio commentary for the film and supervised a 4K digital restoration, which recently played in limited theaters, and a new interview with actor Wright provides more insight into drilling down into Basquiat’s psyche. A superb supporting cast includes David Bowie as Andy Warhol, along with Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Benicio del Toro, Parker Posey, Willem Dafoe, and even Courtney Love floating in and out of the frame. —RL

Available April 29.

“The Belly of an Architect” (Vinegar Syndrome Labs, Blu-ray)

So rare is a home release for any film by erudite Welsh director Peter Greenaway that 1987’s “The Belly of an Architect,” at last on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, is one you’ll want to own. With the 4K release of his breakout “The Draughtsman’s Contract” in 2022, here’s hoping more of his films will hit home viewing. Brian Dennehy stars as an American architect brought to Rome to oversee the construction of a new building based on the work of 18th-century builder Etienne-Louis Boullée. But Stourley Kracklite (what a name!) is beset by stomach pains, terrorized by his underlings, and tormented by an affair possibly happening between his pregnant wife and his arch rival. Another painterly study of the self-annihilating power of the creative process, “The Belly of an Architect” is gorgeously shot in Rome by “Belle du Jour” cinematographer Sacha Viernay; here, the film is restored in 4K from the original 35mm negative. —RL

Now available.

“Clean and Sober” (Warner Archive, Blu-ray)

Michael Keaton was primarily known for comedies when he played this film’s fast-talking protagonist, an addict who is brutally unlikable for most of the movie. Keaton leans into the character’s narcissism and self-destructive tendencies without falling back on the charm that had won over audiences in movies like “Night Shift” and “Gung Ho”; his character is a total mess, and watching him constantly dig a deeper hole for himself is excruciating.

Like Keaton, director Glenn Gordon Caron had worked almost exclusively in a lighter register when he made his feature debut here; his biggest claim to fame at the time was creating the gloriously effervescent television rom-com “Moonlighting.” Yet his direction is confident and perfectly tuned to the script’s demands and Keaton’s performance, as he relies largely on long lenses and close-ups to pin Keaton down in the frame like a squirming bug under a microscope.

There’s no escape for the character or the audience, and the grueling relentlessness makes Keaton’s tentative steps toward enlightenment all the more powerful. This is one of several excellent titles — others include the Gary Cooper Western “Springfield Rifle,” the Anthony Mann film noir “Side Street,” and the blaxploitation classic “Three the Hard Way” — worth picking up from Warner Archive this month. —JH

Available April 29.

“Cannibal Girls” (Canadian International Pictures, Blu-ray)

Six years before Ivan Reitman made a name for himself as a comedy director with the Bill Murray vehicle “Meatballs” — and 11 years before he and Murray struck box office gold with “Ghostbusters” — he directed this offbeat horror movie starring a then unknown Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin.

The plot is fairly typical for the genre: Levy and Martin play a young couple whose car breaks down in a remote town, and before long they find themselves being terrorized by the cannibal girls of the title. What makes the movie special is the fact that Reitman and the actors focus as much on behavior and relationships as they do on the requisite shocks and gore — in fact, the emphasis is probably far more on quirky character development than exploitation audiences of the time were prepared for.

The wry sense of humor that would characterize Reitman’s work as well as Levy and Martin’s is on full display, and the proficiency of the filmmaking is astonishing given the constant obstacles the production faced; the filmmakers’ woes are well documented on the extras included in this Blu-ray release, which is essential viewing for fans of both Canadian horror and comedy. —JH

Available April 29.

“Foul Play” (Kino Lorber, 4K UHD)

“Harold and Maude” screenwriter Colin Higgins made his directorial debut with this effervescent romance, a comedic riff on Alfred Hitchcock movies (particularly “The Man Who Knew Too Much”) that confirmed Goldie Hawn as one of the preeminent comediennes of her generation and launched Chevy Chase as the first movie star to come out of “Saturday Night Live.”

The story, which involves a plot to assassinate the Pope while he’s visiting San Francisco, stretches credulity to the max, but Hawn and Chase are so charming — and Higgins’ direction so breezy and fun — that it’s impossible to care. The movie is chock full of rich supporting performances, the funniest of which comes from Dudley Moore as a constantly thwarted lech, and Higgins juggles comedy and suspense with a deft, delicate touch. (His combination of Hawks and Hitchcock plays much better here than it did in “Silver Streak,” where Higgins’ script was directed with a somewhat heavy hand by Arthur Hiller.)

Higgins only directed three movies before he died too young at 47, but every one of them — he followed “Foul Play” with “9 to 5” and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” — is a comic jewel. —JH

Available April 22.

“Prince of Broadway” (Criterion, Blu-ray)

Sean Baker’s early days of DIY neorealism are in full display in 2008’s “Prince of Broadway,” available to own on a proper disc for the first time. Baker follows West African immigrant Lucky (Prince Adu) and his Armenian-Lebanese boss (“Anora” star Karren Karagulian) as they hustle on the streets of Manhattan selling knockoff designer goods. But Lucky is thrown for a loop when an ex from the past drops a forgotten son at his feet, dovetailing the perils of newfound fatherhood with trying to maintain his illegal grift. Baker and Alex Coco supervised a new 4K digital restoration, with Baker providing a commentary track with co-writer and producer Darren Dean and others from the creative ensemble. The disc also features two documentaries about the making of the film, which showcases an early look at Baker’s emerging style, and one that would come to define “Anora.” —RL

Available April 29.

“Some Like It Hot” (Criterion, 4K UHD)

Billy Wilder’s cross-dressing comedy with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as a couple of musicians hiding out from the mob as members of a women’s orchestra was a hit when it was released and it plays as well now as it ever did — a miracle given all the ways in which it could have badly dated had Wilder not been as sharp an observer and as proficient a craftsman as he was.

Back in the 1960s, Wilder was somewhat undervalued among auteurist critics who placed him well before peers like Lubitsch, Hitchcock, and Hawks (though Andrew Sarris eventually elevated Wilder to his “pantheon” in 1989), but Wilder’s movies feel more modern today than any of them — his wry take on human behavior and his sly way of expressing his insights has barely aged.

Criterion’s sparkling 4K release is packed with supplements that illuminate Wilder’s approach, from UCLA film professor Howard Suber’s scholarly structural analysis and a featurette on the film’s expressive costume design to interviews with stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Best of all is a career-spanning interview with Wilder himself from Dick Cavett’s talk show, circa 1982. —JH

Available April 8.