The Messenger
(Oscilloscope, $30)
The Messenger could be a “companion piece” to last year’s Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker, said USA Today. This drama, about a war hero who’s been assigned to tell families about the deaths of their soldiers, takes a “wholly different took” at the Iraq war by offering “a gentle portrait of grief, friendship, and solace.”
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Invictus
(Warner Home Video, $28.98)
Clint Eastwood directs this Oscar-nominated sports drama “with eloquent simplicity,” said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Its account of South African President Nelson Mandela’s attempt to “unite the nation through rugby” includes powerful performances from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.
Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties
(Criterion, $69.95)
Of the Japanese directors who emerged after World War II, Nagisa Oshima is by far the “most provocative,” said The New York Times. Made between 1965 and 1968, the over-the-top films in this five-disc set are among the filmmaker’s “most obscure”—but they may also be the “most restlessly creative” of his 50-year career.
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Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raidsIn the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
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Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
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The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classroomsPros and cons The devices could be major distractions
