TIGHTLY WOUND CHARACTERS HANGING BY A ‘THREAD’
New on Blu-ray Phantom Thread Universal DVD, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.98; 4K, $37.98; also available on VOD
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s best film since his 2007 masterpiece, “There Will Be Blood,” reunites him with that movie’s star, Daniel Day-Lewis. In “Phantom Thread,” the three-time Oscar winner gives what he’s said will be his final screen performance, playing Reynolds Woodcock, a London fashion designer who dresses society dames and royalty in the mid-1950s. Vicky Krieps plays Alma, a woman who becomes the celebrity dressmaker’s latest model-muse-assistant-lover and who soon begins pushing against the arcane rules and restrictions enforced by Woodcock’s partner-sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville). With its elegant, high-end look and thorny, hard-to-pin-down characters, the picture is an art piece of the finest kind — entertaining to watch but full of gaps that viewers will have to fill in for themselves, when they talk about it later. Special features: Deleted scenes, camera tests and a fashion show
VOD Borg vs. McEnroe Available Friday
The bio-drama is ostensibly about the epic 1980 Wimbledon championship match between the cooly precise Swede Björn Borg and the hotheaded American John McEnroe. But it’s mostly about Borg (played by Sverrir Gudnason), explaining how he rose to dominance by controlling his emotions, sometimes at the expense of his personal relationships and mental health. It’s fascinating material, though years from now, this movie will more likely be remembered for Shia LaBeouf ’s bold, riveting portrayal of McEnroe, which trades off the actor’s own reputation as a talented brat.
TV set of the week Outlander: Season Three Sony DVD, $45.99; Blu-ray, $55.99
The third season of the Starz time-traveling romance is the most eventful yet. The 13 episodes follow rebellious 18th century Scotsman Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and his wife, headstrong 20th century doctor Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe), through predicaments that range from dingy prisons to the high seas, with stops in 1960s Boston and 1760s Jamaica. By breaking Diana Gabaldon’s sprawling novels into a series of hourlong short stories, writer-producer Ronald D. Moore has reinvigorated the prestige cable drama format, threading an epic saga through satisfying, strange mini-adventures, anchored by two complex characters. Special features: Deleted scenes and featurettes
From the archives Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke: 40th Anniversary Edition Paramount DVD/Blu-ray, $13.99
The comedy duo of Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong became a sensation in the early 1970s with a string of hit comedy albums that combined hip drug humor with surreal sketches. The 1978 movie proved that Cheech and Chong could translate their shtick from vinyl to celluloid. Equal parts raunchy and trippy, the film strings together a series of hazy set pieces involving everything from a van made of marijuana to a gigantic joint packed with dog droppings. As with the records, even the strangest ideas in the movie work thanks to the unique chemistry of the stars: a wiry schemer and a laid-back simpleton as perfectly paired as Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello or Burns & Allen. Special features: A commentary track, deleted scenes and a retrospective documentary