A historical epic based on the real-life Agojie woman warriors of the Dahomey Kingdom tops the DVD releases for the week of Dec. 13.
"The Woman King": Starring Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch and John Boyega, this action-filled drama follows a brutal battle for freedom from slavery in 19th-century West Africa.
"The violence enacted by these women warriors is delightfully graceful and inventive ... but make no mistake, it is bone-crunchingly vicious and devastatingly effective too," writes Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh in her review. "This isn’t just the first time we’ve seen Black women do battle on this scale — it’s the first time we’ve seen women, en masse, engaged in the kind of realistic and gritty violence that marks historical action epics."
ALSO NEW ON DVD DEC. 13
"Ticket to Paradise": George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite onscreen as acrimoniously divorced parents who head to Bali to break up their daughter's wedding.
"Smile": A horror film about a contagious death curse with one notable symptom: smiling.
"Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile": A singing crocodile who lives in a Manhattan brownstone befriends a lonely young kid in this movie based on the Bernard Waber children's book.
"Lifemark": Kirk Cameron stars as the adoptive father of a teen boy whose birth mother previously considered an abortion, and is now looking to meet her 18-year-old son.
"Call Jane": A fictionalized depiction of the Jane Collective, a real-life network of women who helped other women obtain safe illegal abortions in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before Roe v. Wade. Featuring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver.
"A Christmas Karen": Charles Dickens' holiday classic gets a modern update as a neighborhood Karen is visited by helpful spirits on Christmas Eve.
"American Murderer": A con man on the most wanted list tries to stay one step ahead of the FBI in this crime thriller.
"And Just Like That: The Complete First Season": Carrie Bradshaw and co. (minus Kim Cattrall's Samantha Jones) return in this HBO Max sequel to "Sex and the City." Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis.
"Bandit": Crime drama based on Robert Knuckle’s novel “The Flying Bandit,” which recounts how a thief robbed 59 Canadian banks and jewelry stores in the 1980s before being caught. With Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert and Mel Gibson.
"Evil: Season Three": Paramount+ drama about a forensic psychologist and Catholic Church assessor who team up to solve supernatural mysteries.
"Players: Season One": This comedy series from Paramount+, set in the competitive world of esports, follows a League of Legends gaming team striving to win its first title.
"Reacher: Season One": The Lee Child character returns to the screen in this Prime Video series starring Alan Ritchson as former military police investigator Jack Reacher.
"Resurrection": Psychological thriller starring Rebecca Hall as a single mother who's being stalked by a shockingly evil man from her past, played by Tim Roth.
"Slash/Back": Inuit girls take center stage — and take on bloodthirsty, shape-shifting aliens — in this horror movie that unfolds in a sleepy Nunavut hamlet.
"Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters": A successful businessman reacts poorly to the news that his daughter has become engaged to a missionary in this family film.
"The Minute You Wake Up Dead": Cole Hauser, Jaimie Alexander and Morgan Freeman star in this thriller about a small-town stockbroker who gets mixed up in a deadly scheme.
"The Roundup": Korean action film about a police officer sent to Vietnam to bring a fugitive back to justice who discovers there is actually a serial killer preying on tourists.
"South Park: Post COVID": Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny grapple with the pandemic in this Paramount+ special, which also includes “South Park: The Return of COVID."
"Riotsville, U.S.A.": This documentary recounts the fictional town built by the U.S. military in the 1960s for training purposes in response to the protests and civil disorder of the day.
OUT ON DIGITAL HD DEC. 13
"The Banshees of Inisherin": Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson reunite with "In Bruges" director Martin McDonagh for this movie about two friends in a small Irish village who have a falling out when one of them decides to end their friendship.
"Prey for the Devil": A nun is forced to reckon with her own past while trying to save a young girl from a demonic force in this horror film.
"Who Is Christmas Eve?": Holiday film about a woman trying to discover the identity of her birth parents.
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