What’s new this week on disc and available for on-demand rental/purchase:
FEATURED RELEASE
“Star Trek: Picard: Season 1” Patrick Stewart picks up the role of Starfleet legend Jean-Luc Picard, 18 years after his previous “Star Trek” series — “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — signed off. This series was available only on the CBS All Access subscription service.
The series opens with Picard in a sort of forced retirement. But he soon gets back into action and runs into many familiar faces: Jeri Ryan as former Borg baddie Seven of Nine; Jonathan Frakes as former First Officer William Riker, and Marina Sirtis as counselor Deanna Troi. Brent Spiner’s android Data is key to the plot in the first season of this series.
And there are some new faces in Picard’s crew: Alison Pill as Dr. Agnes Jurati, an expert on androids with a few secrets; Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker, an old colleague of Picard’s with a tortured past; and Santiago Cabrera, as rogue pilot Chris Rios, ferrying Picard across space.
Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times gave the show a positive review, writing: “Guided by Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman, ‘Picard’ doesn’t break the mold. (Fitting the mold is more the point.) The story of an aged lion going once more into battle is a familiar one, although given that the series has already been granted a second season, this will not be Picard’s final frontier. Neither is this the first time in fiction that a ragtag team of refugees and rebels join forces in a way they are yet to understand.”
A release date for the second season has not been announced.
NEW MOVIES
“Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!” Ruh-roh.
The gang is in trouble, yet again.
“The 2nd” A Secret Service agent (Ryan Phillippe) must save his son and the daughter of a Supreme Court justice from terrorists. “Invincible Dragon” An undercover agent with a dragon tattoo fights crime, gets into trouble. “The Pale Door” Witches and cowboys collide in this Western horror film.
“The Secret Garden” Another adaptation of the classic children’s novel. Stars Colin Firth and Julie Walters.
“Save Yourselves!” A young couple unplug their phones for a weekend and miss an alien attack. “Tales From the Hood 3” The latest in the horror-comedy anthology series. “To Your Last Death” Animated adult action horror film with a time-twisting plot. “The Tax Collector” Things go bad for two enforcers (also known as “tax collectors”) working for a Los Angeles crime lord. “Yummy” Zombie-comedy-horror film from
Belgium.
NEW TV SETS
“Eli Roth’s History of Horror: Season 1”
The “Hostel” director talks about things that go bump in the night with Stephen King, Linda Blair and others.
“The Last Kingdom: Season 4” Series based on the “Saxon Stories” historical novels, based in England in the ninth and 10th centuries