Cockfighter 1974
The Monte Hellman / Warren Oates film Sean's Tuesday movie group tried to stream. It looked like a 480p snuff film, so he ordered the disc from the UK.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Roundtable
The Physical Media High Council Reconvenes!
May 7, 2026/ 167 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan · Timothy Simons · Tracy Letts · Amanda Dobbins
The semi-annual physical-media summit. Sean Fennessey convenes his High Council (Chris Ryan, actor Timothy Simons, and playwright Tracy Letts) to show off recent Blu-ray and 4K acquisitions, weigh boutique labels against gutted studio home-video divisions, and answer listener mail about shelving, AV setups, and grail discs. Heavy on Vinegar Syndrome, Radiance, and rape-revenge titles. Amanda Dobbins reads the questions, mostly against her will.
43 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The State of Physical Mediaboutique labels up, studio divisions down
Return to Oz 1985
Spotted on Blu-ray at a video store; goes for around $300 on eBay. Cited as proof there's demand studios won't service.
Red Sun 1971
Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune Western, coming from Arrow: an example of majors licensing catalog out rather than restoring it in-house.
The Ascent 1977
Larisa Shepitko's Russian war film; Simons finally cracked open a disc he'd owned for four years.
In the Realm of the Senses 1976
Nagisa Oshima; Letts watched it for the first time this year, with the nanny.
The Parent Trap 1998
The Lindsay Lohan remake Fennessey wanted to show his daughter; the video store stocked only the 1961 Hayley Mills original.
Sicario 2015
Simons's comfort-watch confession: the movie he keeps rewatching instead of the unwatched pile.
The New Acquisitions each councilor shows off recent discs
Picked by Chris Ryan
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka 2002
Takashi Miike, from a Radiance V-Cinema Yakuza box. Ryan's claim: the greatest opening five minutes ever filmed, scored to Flower Travellin' Band.
Picked by Timothy Simons
Thriller: A Cruel Picture 1973
Christina Lindberg rape-revenge title from Vinegar Syndrome. Got a standing ovation from the Tuesday-night crew.
Picked by Timothy Simons
Network 1976
On 4K. Covers the week's obsessions: Robert Duvall, 1976, physical media.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
The Movie Orgy 1968
Joe Dante's 276-minute mashup of film and TV ephemera, from AGFA. Long thought unreleasable; you can drop in anywhere.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
At Close Range 1986
James Foley's rural noir with Walken and Penn, from Vinegar Syndrome's Cinematograph line. Hardcover book edition; 40th anniversary this week.
Picked by Timothy Simons
Going Places 1974
Bertrand Blier's Depardieu breakout, from Cohen. Two irredeemable men roam France; Ebert called it 'truly cynical decadence.'
Picked by Tracy Letts
Cutter's Way 1981
Ivan Passer noir with Jeff Bridges and John Heard, on 4K from Radiance. The fourth boutique edition Letts has bought of it.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Titicut Follies 1967
Anchors a BFI Frederick Wiseman set (also High School, Hospital, Juvenile Court, Welfare) Fennessey raced to buy after Wiseman's death.
Picked by Tracy Letts
The Stunt Man 1980
Richard Rush's movie-about-movies with Peter O'Toole, from Radiance's Transmission label. Comes with postcards nobody can bring themselves to mail.
Picked by Tracy Letts
Lifeguard 1976
Fun City's Sam Elliott film, brought last year and watched on a Tuesday. A beach-party premise that turns into a tone poem on aging.
Picked by Tracy Letts
The Gambler 1974
Karel Reisz's James Caan film, from Cinematograph/Radiance. Letts's father took him to see it in a theater in 1974, at age nine.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Boyz n the Hood 1991
Criterion's John Singleton Hood trilogy: Fennessey's argument for where the Collection can go once it's past the Janus canon.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Poetic Justice 1993
Janet Jackson and Tupac road-trip melodrama; part of the Singleton set and, Fennessey argues, among their best performances.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Baby Boy 2001
Long stuck on DVD; a Tyrese and Ving Rhames melodrama Fennessey calls classical, almost Sirkian.
Picked by Chris Ryan
Excalibur 1981
John Boorman's King Arthur swing, in a deluxe Arrow edition. A childhood obsession, and the first on-screen sex Ryan ever saw: Gabriel Byrne in a suit of armor.
Mephisto 1981
Klaus Maria Brandauer as an actor selling his soul in Nazi Germany, from Second Run's Istvan Szabo trilogy. One of the best film performances on record.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
I Spit on Your Grave 1978
Meir Zarchi's ur-rape-revenge text, in Umbrella's 'Day of the Woman' set with a book of essays and postcards.
Picked by Chris Ryan
Red Rooms 2023
Pascal Plante's French-Canadian thriller, from Utopia. Ryan's pick for one of the best and most relevant films of the decade.
Picked by Tracy Letts
Suicide Club 2001
Sion Sono, on 4K from Umbrella. Letts prefers it to Audition; opens with 54 schoolgirls jumping in front of a train.
Picked by Tracy Letts
The Curse of Frankenstein 1957
A dictionary-sized Hammer box with six discs, a graphic novel, and posters: the episode's live unboxing bit.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Death by Hanging 1968
Anchors 'Radical Japan,' a seven-film Oshima set from Radiance (also Boy, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, The Man Who Left His Will on Film).
Picked by Timothy Simons
Death Game 1977
Grindhouse Releasing edition with Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp; later remade by Eli Roth as Knock Knock. Praised for Locke's theatrical ending.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains 1982
Diane Lane fake-band cult movie restored to 4K by Fun City. Fennessey is annoyed he got the standard edition, sans postcards.
The Mailbaggrails, white whales, and 2026 releases
Near Dark 1987
Kathryn Bigelow vampire film and long-lost-to-physical grail; an April Fools' 4K announcement left the council unsure whether it was real.
The Outfit 1973
John Flynn crime thriller coming on 4K from Arrow. Simons's DVD of it was his first bona fides with Quentin Tarantino.
The General 1926
Buster Keaton, coming to 4K from Eureka. One of the mailbag's most-anticipated 2026 releases.
Hud 1963
A long-standing Criterion white whale, finally announced.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1974
Coming from Criterion alongside Boxcar Bertha: the last two Scorsese features that were unavailable on Blu-ray or 4K.
Harry and Tonto 1974
Art Carney's Oscar winner, and Fennessey's plea for a Paul Mazursky rescue: most of Mazursky's '70s run is unavailable even on Blu-ray.
A Canterbury Tale 1944
Powell and Pressburger; Fennessey's grail after falling for it on TCM. He wants a good edition of a title he missed the window on.
The Conformist 1970
Bertolucci; Letts can't understand why there's no 4K of the film cinematographers cite most in Visions of Light.
California Split 1974
Altman gambling film in need of an upgrade; Fennessey's second-favorite Altman after Nashville.
The Third Man 1949
Fennessey's go-to library recommendation: a black-and-white noir best appreciated in a high-quality edition.
Miller's Crossing 1990
Ryan's library pick: a Coen film comforting enough to rewatch four times, and probably new to a casual browser.
Illustrious Corpses 1976
Francesco Rosi's institutional-corruption thriller from Radiance. Ryan's Italian-crime library pick.
Don't Look Now 1973
Nicolas Roeg; Letts's library pick, with 4K editions from both Criterion and Studio Canal.
Also mentioned raised along the way
More boxes in the acquisitions Fudoh: The New GenerationAgitatorHigh SchoolHospitalJuvenile CourtWelfareBoyDiary of a Shinjuku ThiefThe Man Who Left His Will on FilmColonel RedlHanussenI Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu
More white whales The DevilsSunshineStreetwalkinThe CandidateBoxcar BerthaThe BladeNashvilleThe Heartbreak KidLonely Are the BraveThe Year of Living DangerouslySherman's MarchNot a Pretty Picture
Underserved on physical Blume in LoveAlex in WonderlandTempestNext Stop, Greenwich VillageMoscow on the HudsonSilkwoodHeartburnBiloxi BluesCatch-22Carnal KnowledgePostcards from the EdgeJoy of SexValley GirlReal GeniusRambling RoseDie HardAmerican UtopiaThe HandmaidenSexy BeastWaking Lifetick, tick... BOOM!In the BedroomLittle ChildrenAmerican SplendorThe Tragedy of MacbethCoffee and CigarettesHow to Blow Up a PipelineBirthUnder the SkinThe Vast of NightThe KillerNo Sudden MoveBarbarianI Heart HuckabeesThe VillageShattered GlassSomething's Gotta Give
In passing AuditionIchi the KillerPiecesKnock KnockThe GauntletUncut GemsThiefGardens of StoneThe GodfatherThe Godfather Part IIMickey Blue EyesThe ProgramMeet the ParentsIn the Line of FireGetting StraightFreebie and the BeanColor of NightWrath of ManMerry Christmas Mr. LawrenceSicario: Day of the SoldadoOut of the BlueMile End KicksMad Max: Fury RoadA Clockwork OrangeTotal RecallForrest GumpOppenheimerBugoniaOne Battle After AnotherBring It OnFord v FerrariThe Spy Who Came in from the ColdTime BanditsKidsKind Hearts and CoronetsMoneyballFight ClubSpeed RacerThe Cars That Ate ParisThe PlumberBenedettaSolo: A Star Wars Story
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV & streaming series ZeroZeroZeroStation ElevenToo Old to Die YoungHelter SkelterGomorrah (Sollima directed the TV series, not the 2008 film)
Not films Welcome to Fun City (trailer compilation)
Ads State FarmAmazon PrimeApple / AT&TWells Fargo Autograph JourneyTremfayaWolf Trap