Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve’s follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner was itself based on Philip K. Dick’s 1966 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Hampton Fancher, who was one of three screenwriters on the earlier film, as was Dick, was one of two on the new one. Amazingly, you don’t have to remember the original, or even have seen it, to understand what is going on in the long overdue sequel.

Ryan Gosling’s laid back, almost stoic, acting style fits his character like a glove. Gosling plays a blade runner, an android cop, whose job is to “retire” older androids. His latest job is to find the daughter of Harrison Ford, the blade runner from the earlier film. Any more information might be considered a spoiler. Suffice it to say that not everyone is who they seem, and the two-hour-and-forty-four-minute film, now on Blu-ray and standard DVD, takes its time to uncover the truth in fascinating detail.

Unlike many dystopian tales, this one doesn’t insult the intelligence and wraps everything up within the space of its considerable running time. There should be no more sequels, although there’s nothing stopping filmmakers from making another film about another blade runner. The stand-out in the large supporting cast is Harrison Ford, who makes a late entry reprising his old role with his character having aged thirty years. Also on board are Jared Leto, Robin Wright, Ana de Armis, Sylvia Hoeks, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, and, all too briefly, Edward James Olmos, Hiam Abbass, and Barkhad Abdi. The film’s cinematography, production design, visual effects, sound, and sound effects are among the year’s best.

The U.K.-Poland co-production Loving Vincent is a one-of-a-kind gem about the son of the local Dutch postmaster sent on a journey by his father to deliver a letter to Vincent van Gogh’s brother Theo, a year after the artist’s death. Along the way, the young man discovers that Theo, too, has died, but his initial blasé attitude toward van Gogh turns to admiration for the painter and an obsession with finding what led to his death. The film was acted by a superb cast of professional actors before a blue screen, then each frame of the film was hand-painted in oil by over 100 artists. The result is breathtaking.

Chief among the actors are Douglas Booth, Saoirse Ronan, Robert Gulaczyk, Jerome Flynn, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Helen McCrory.

Loving Vincent is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Ken Loach, the legendary British director of Kes and other films, primarily about the British working class, retired in 2014 after fifty years of filmmaking. He returned two years later to direct his masterpiece I, Daniel Blake, a 2016 release in the U.K. and a 2017 release in the U.S. An indictment of British bureaucracy, the film focuses on a 59-year-old carpenter trying to get back to work after suffering a heart attack. British stage actor Dave Johns as Blake and newcomer Hayley Squires as the struggling single mother he befriends are both outstanding. The Criterion Blu-ray and DVD include numerous extras, the highlight of which is a lengthy film on Loach’s career.

Agatha Christie’s 1949 novel Crooked House was, according to her grandson, Christie’s personal favorite among her works. Neither a Hercule Poirot nor a Miss Marple mystery, it has never been filmed until now. With a screenplay co-written by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Downton Abbey), you might think you’re in for a treat. I’m sorry to report, you’re not. Despite a cast that includes Glenn Close, Terence Stamp, Max Irons, Christina Hendricks, Julian Sands, Gillian Anderson, and Christian McKay, the film is a chore to sit through until the exciting climax, but by then it’s too little, too late. None of the actors are at their best. Anderson is particularly grating as an always-on actress.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sasha Gervasi’s November Criminals is a nicely done coming-of-age story tied to a murder mystery. The film is carried by the charming performances of Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver) and Chloe Grace Moritz (Let Me In) with strong support from veterans David Strathairn, Catherine Keener, and Terry Kinney. The mystery element, however, is undercooked, but goes down easy thanks to generous helpings of David Bowie on the soundtrack.

Both Crooked House and November Criminals are available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Eleanor Parker’s career peaked in the 1950s with three Oscar nominations for Caged, Detective Story, and Interrupted Melody. She began the 1960s with one of her best roles in Home form the Hill, but by the middle of the decade she was reduced to playing the other woman in The Sound of Music and at the end of it, she joined the ranks of older actresses relegated to horror films with Eye of the Cat. Although her character in the latter is described as an “old lady”, the actress was only 46 at the time of filming in which she is third-billed behind Michael Sarrazin and Gayle Hunnicutt.

Parker plays a wealthy San Francisco socialite dying of a degenerative lung disease surrounded by a houseful of cats. Sarrazin is her ne’er-do-well nephew seemingly coerced into murdering her by a manipulative masseuse played by Hunnicutt. Tim Henry is Sarrazin’s brother, a seeming doormat for Parker’s character. The film, which is making its long-sought home video debut on Shout! Factory’s new Blu-ray, would mark the virtual end of Parker’s film career. She would make one more film ten years later in which she was lost in the credits. The remainder of her career, which lasted through the early 1990s, would be on television.

The altered TV version of Eye of the Cat, which has a watered down final act, negating the film’s notorious reputation as doing for cats what Hitchcock’s The Birds did for birds, is provided as an extra on the Blu-ray.

ClassicFlix’s 2K restoration of Anthony Mann’s Raw Deal rescues one of the best films noir from public domain hell. The underrated Dennis O’Keefe gives perhaps his finest performance as the innocent convict who escapes from prison to go after the real killer, Raymond Burr at his loathsome best. The film’s real strength, however, is in the performances of Claire Trevor and Marsha Hunt as the two women in O’Keefe’s life. Trevor’s performance is so strong that, had she not won the Oscar that year for Key Largo, she might easily have won for her work here. Hunt, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, also gives a career-high performance.

This week’s new releases include Thank You for Your Service and The Killing of a Sacred Dear.