Movie production has changed so much in the eighteen years, that it seems incredible now that 1995’s sleeper hit, Before Sunrise, which was made on a shoestring, was in fact a major studio production. It was made by Columbia. Nine years later, the sequel Before Sunset was produced by another major studio, Warner Bros., albeit handled by its subsidiary, Warner Independent Films. This year’s third film in what is now a trilogy, Before Midnight was made independent of studio backing. Distribution rights were picked up by Sony Classics only after the film won plaudits at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Nominated for Best Feature in the season’s first awards derby, the Gotham Independent Awards, Richard Linklater’s sublime Before Midnight takes place nine years after Before Sunset, which itself took place nine years after Before Sunrise. The trilogy’s protagonists, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy, are now 41 and have been married since shortly after Hawke missed his plane at the end of the last film. Whereas the first two films were highly romantic, the new one throws in a lot of the little things in life that get in the way of romance and other aspects of the human condition. Taking place in Greece this time, Hawke, now a successful published writer, and Delpy, who live in Paris, have twin daughters and Hawke has a teenage son from his first marriage. They are nearing the end of their vacation, having just dropped Hawke’s son off at the airport to return home to his vindictive, alcoholic mother in Chicago.

One of the film’s key scenes is an affable table conversation between Hawke, Delpy and several Greek locals. The senior conversationalist is played by the then 85 year-old Walter Lassally in his acting debut. Lassally may be new to acting, but not to making movies. The Oscar winning cinematographer of Zorba the Greek is one the great British cinematographers whose films include A Taste of Honey; The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Tom Jones.

The film’s most dramatic scene runs counterpoint to this charming early one with the protagonists at each other’s throats in a hotel room confrontation that leads to the film’s bittersweet ending. Here’s looking forward to seeing in another nine years when they turn 50.

Before Midnight is the first film in the trilogy to have a Blu-ray release. It is also available on standard DVD.

Other recent independent films new to Blu-ray and standard DVD include What Maisie Knew; The Way, Way Back and Stuck in Love.

Taken from Henry James’ 1897 novel, What Maisie Knew has been deftly brought up to the modern day by writers Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartright and directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel with Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan as the self-absorbed parents who divorce, fight over their six year-old daughter and eventually leave her in the care of their new spouses. Those spouses are played by Alexander Skarsgard and Joanna Vanderham in wonderfully sympathetic performances. Onata Aprile is simply extraordinary as the little girl through whose eyes the story is told.

The filmmakers wisely end the film with the newly homogenized family of Skarsgard, Vanderham and Aprile in a state of new-found bliss rather than the adhering to the novel’s wryly sardonic ending in which a wise beyond her years Maisie chooses to live with a former nanny on the premise that Skarsgard and Vanderham’s characters will eventually grow bored with each other and her.

The Way, Way Back is one of those forced coming of age films in which an earnest young man, in this case a 14 year-old, finds the meaning of life in friendships outside his family circle, in this case, his mother, her jerk of a new boyfriend and the boyfriend’s snooty daughter. For some, whimsy is all you need. For others, whimsy only goes so far. I fall into the latter category. There’s only so much of Steve Carell being a jerk and Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney acting silly I can take. Toni Collette is fine as the spaced out mom who finally realizes her son is more important in her life than her jerk of a boyfriend and Liam James hits all the right notes as the young protagonist, but it’s not enough to make me fall in love with the film as its ardent fans have.

Much more to my liking is Stuck in Love which really took me by surprise.

Originally shown the 2012 Toronto Film Festival as Writers, a more appropriate title than the lame one it was eventually released under, Stuck in Love is about a family of writers that begins on Thanksgiving Day of one year and ends on Thanksgiving Day of the next. The set-up, which is exactly like that of Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters has several other things in common with that 1986 film. It is about a dysfunctional family and the changes in relationships within that family that occur over the course of the year. The family members are intellectuals, albeit small town intellectuals rather than Hannah’s sophisticated New Yorkers.

Greg Kinnear has his best role in years as an award winning author and part-time teacher. So does Jennifer Connolly as the ex-wife he still sets a place for at the table, expecting her to come back even though they’ve been divorced for three years.

Even better are Lily Collins (Mirror Mirror) as the couple’s rebellious daughter, a college student who has already published a novel of her own; Nat Wolff (Admission) as their sensitive son, a high school student and aspiring writer and Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallaflower) as another aspiring writer, a classmate of Collins with a dying mother who brings much needed stability to Collins’ life. Liana Liberato as the troubled girl who breaks Wolff’s heart and Patrick Schwarzenegger as the school jock also impress.

Stuck in Love represents the writing/directing debut of the gifted Scott Boone.

Also new to DVD are Hollywood’s first psychological horror film, 1944’s The Uninvited and the latest,this year’s The Conjuring.

Renown as the first Hollywood film to treat paranormal activity seriously, The Uninvited takes place in an eerie seacoast mansion which composer Ray Milland and his sister, Ruth Hussey, have purchased on the cheap. They soon find out why when things go bump in the night. Acting honors go to Gail Russell in an exquisite performance as the haunted grand-daughter of former owner Donald Crisp and stage legend Cornelia Otis Skinner deliciously over the top as the sinister owner of a retreat for the mentally ill. The film’s theme song, “Stella by Starlight” became an instant classic.

Based on true events that took place in 1971, box office phenomenon The Conjuring leaves most of the scary stuff to the imagination, but does provide some terrifying imagery to up the ante a bit.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play real life ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren while Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor play the Perrons, who along with their five daughters were the victims of ghostly manifestations. Farmiga and especially Taylor are terrific. Extras include insightful interviews with Lorraine Warren and the Perrons. The film was written by Chad and Carey Hayes, and is a step up from most of their past dabbling in modern horror film. It was directed by James Wan, who directed the first Saw and Insidious.

This week’s new releases include Monsters University and R.I.P.D..