Posing some big questions

Sci-fi mind-bender ‘Annihilation’ is instant classic

It’s not only a movie that’s rich enough to support a number of interpretations, but it also packs a surprising emotional wallop. Natalie Portman stars as a biologist who volunteers for a dangerous mission which involves entering the Shimmer, a mysterious quarantine zone from which her husband (Oscar Isaac) recently emerged a changed man.

Stunning from start to finish, “Annihilation” works as a trippy actioner and as an art movie fearless enough to pose some big questions about the meaning of life. Extras: featurettes.

Also New to DVD

Red Sparrow (2018, Fox, R, $28): Jennifer Lawrence delivers a delicious star turn in this intoxicating thriller about a Russian ballerina (Jennifer Lawrence) who, after her dance career is derailed, is left with few options but to become a Sparrow, or a spy trained to use her sexuality to compromise foreign agents. Soon she’s plunged into a mission full of perilous encounters and whipsaw reversals. “Red Sparrow” generates a lot of suspense by continually keeping you guessing about who’s lying to whom. But what really sells the movie are the scenestealing turns by first-rate actors like Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons and, especially, Mary-Louise Parker. Extras: featurettes and commentary tracks. House of Evil (2018, Breaking Glass, unrated, $20): Despite borrowing a little too liberally from “Amityville Horror” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” this low-budget horror shocker still scores points thanks to its bizarre setting — a dilapidated country estate in 1970s Italy — and unique main characters, both of whom are artists. Watching a jittery photographer (Andrew Harwood Mills) and his paranoid painter wife (Lucy Drive) translate their fears about ghosts into their artwork gives the film an unusual flavor. Extras: none. Beyond The Hills (2012, Criterion, unrated, $30): Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”) is a true original. If you need proof, check out this astonishingly

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