Warner Brothers Discovery Home Entertainment is releasing Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award winning “The Departed” on 4K Ultra HD for the very first time. Sparked by a star-studded ensemble cast that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, and Alec Baldwin, Scorsese’s gritty crime thriller deservedly won four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. This killer new collectible steelbook edition includes a 4K Ultra HD disc and digital copy. It’s a must for fans of the film.

This 4K Ultra HD steelbook edition of “The Departed” arrives in stores on April 23rd. See below for a full synopsis and release information including special features.

About the Film

Year: 2006

Runtime: 151 Minutes

Director: Martin Scorsese

Screenwriter: William Monahan

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, James Badge Dale, Mark Rolston, Anthony Anderson, David O’Hara, Amanda Lynch, Kevin Corrigan

Martin Scorsese directs an all-star cast in this action-packed thriller set in Boston, where a long-simmering hostility between the police department and an Irish American gang led by Frank Costello is primed to explode.  The fuse is lit when a gangster is chosen to infiltrate the police force – a young cop goes undercover within the gang.  Now, when the two moles uncover each other’s identity, the battle begins.

The prestigious ensemble cast stars Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant”, “The Wolf of Wall Street”) , Academy Award winner Matt Damon (“Good Will Hunting”, “The Martian”), three time Academy Award Winner Jack Nicholson (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Terms of Endearment”, “As Good as it Gets”), and Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg (“The Fighter”, “Boogie Nights”), with Emmy Award winner Martin Sheen (television’s “The West Wing,” “Apocalypse Now”), BAFTA nominee Ray Winstone (“That Summer”, “Nil by Mouth”), Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”), Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin (“The Cooler”), Emmy nominee Anthony Anderson (television’s “Black-ish,” “Hustle & Flow”), and James Badge Dale in supporting roles. 

Directed by Scorsese, the screenplay is by Academy Award Winner William Monahan and is based on the 2002 Hong Kong action thriller “Internal Affairs” by Alan Mak & Felix Chong.  The film was produced by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, and Graham King.

Special Features:

“The Departed” Ultra HD Blu-ray disc and Digital contains the following new and previously released special features:

• Guilt and Betrayal: Looking into “The Departed” (new)
• Stranger than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie, and The Departed
• Crossing Criminal Cultures
• 9 Deleted Scenes with introductions by Martin Scorsese

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest venture looks to be steering away from the supernatural and otherworldly (although with MNS you can never really tell). “Trap” has more of a crime mystery look to it although it still has the kind of wild premise which Shyamalan is known to enjoy. The film stars Josh Hartnett which is nice to see and the first trailer sees him taking on a rather unexpected role. I’ll let you watch it and see for yourself.

I will say that Hartnett plays a father taking his ecstatic daughter to see her favorite singer in concert, Lady Raven (played by Shyamalan’s oldest daughter Saleka). But it turns out that the packed arena is really a trap laid by police to catch a brutal serial killer believed to be in attendance. Again, it’s a crazy idea made even crazier by a particular reveal in the trailer. I don’t know what to expect, but its wild enough to pique my interest.

“Trap” lands exclusively in theaters on August 9th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or giving it a pass.

One of the most eagerly anticipated action movies of the year is only a few weeks away. George Miller returns to the post-apocalyptic wasteland with “Furiosa”, the fifth installment in his beloved Mad Max franchise. “Furiosa” serves both as a spin-off and prequel to Miller’s extraordinary “Mad Max: Fury Road” from 2015. The trailers have been brilliant and now Warner Brothers has dropped a killer new poster to entice us even more. Check it out and tell me what you think. 

DIRECTOR – George Miller

WRITER – George Miller, Nico Lathouris

STARRING – Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Angus Sampson, Nathan Jones, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, John Howard, Charlee Fraser, Daniel Webber

RELEASE – May 24, 2024

Todd Phillips’ 2019 “Joker” turned out to be a blockbuster smash, making over $1 billion at the global box office and earning Joaquin Phoenix an Academy Award for Best Actor. Gritty, violent, and rooted in realism, “Joker” took the legendary DC Comics villain in some dark yet captivating directions. To no surprise a sequel was eventually announced. But rather than offer your run-of-the-mill follow-up, Phillips and Phoenix return with “Joker: Folie à Deux”, a movie that has been described as a super-villain movie musical.

Phoenix reprises his role as Arthur Fleck (aka Joker) who was last seen attempting to break out of Gotham’s Arkham Asylum. Where this second installment goes from there is anyone’s guess. What we do know is that Lady Gaga takes on the role of Harley Quinn. The first trailer shows the two meeting in Arkham and eventually breaking out together. But what really has me curious is the use of music. It’s been said the movie will include a total of 15 musical numbers which both piques my interest and causes concern. The trailer does hint at how the music will be used. It has the potential to be utterly spellbinding or a major miscalculation. Either way, I’ll be there on opening night.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” dances into theaters on October 4th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

I don’t cover much television, but occasionally a must-see show comes down the pike that I can’t pass up. One of the latest is Prime Video’s upcoming “Fallout”, an eight episode series based on the extremely popular Fallout video game franchise from Bethesda Game Studios. Created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (Nolan will also be directing several episodes), “Fallout” will premiere on Prime Video tomorrow, April 10th (a day earlier than its originally scheduled April 11th release).

For those unfamiliar, the Fallout series is set within a retrofuturistic wasteland. During the post-war 1950s, a nuclear war decimated our planet. Those who were able survived in massive bunkers across the United States known as vaults. The games follow dwellers around the country who leave their vaults for the first time only to encounter a dangerous, savage, and violent new world. The streaming series looks to follow the same formula as a young woman named Lucy (Ella Purnell) leaves her home in Vault 33 and ventures into the devastated and hostile remains of Los Angeles. Walton Goggins and Aaron Moten also star.

Prime Video’s promotion for the series has been off the charts. The trailers are filled to the brim with cool easter eggs and the production design seems plucked right of the games. They’ve also released a number of killer posters that feel right in tune with the franchise’s unique vibe. Check out the trailer and the posters below and tell me what you think. Are you excited for “Fallout”? Will you be checking it out? I know I will.

“The Strangers: Chapter 1” is set to hit theaters May 17th and Lionsgate has began their promotion with a bang. Three new character posters were released today along with some cool and creepy security camera footage highlighting the film’s titular terrors. Directed by Renny Harlin, the film is the first installment in a new horror trilogy based on the 2008 home invasion chiller “The Strangers”. The original (written and directed by Bryan Bertino) was an effectively unsettling movie and if Harlin can tap into that same sense of horror he may deliver something special.

The film’s official synopsis: After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in THE STRANGERS ― CHAPTER 1, the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.

Check out the three character posters and security footage below…