Paramount has finally given us a U.S. Blu-ray release of Lasse Hallstrom’s 1993 film What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

Swedish writer-director Hallstrom scored two 1987 Oscar nominations for writing and directing My Life as a Dog, a rarity for a foreign film director. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape was only his second Hollywood film.

Working from a script by Peter Hedges (a future Oscar nominee for About a Boy), Hallstrom directed Johnny Depp in this now classic coming of age story about a grocery store clerk in a small town in Iowa. Challenged by the day-to-day responsibility of caring for his morbidly obese mother and mentally challenged younger brother, Depp’s life is brightened by the appearance of a beautiful stranger played by Juliette Lewis.

Depp, coming off a string of hits including Cry-Baby and Edward Scissorhands, and Lewis, a recent Oscar nominee for Cape Fear, both of whom received over the title billing are fine, but the film belongs to Darlene Cates as Depp’s mother and Leonardo DiCaprio in a star-making performance as his brother.

DiCaprio received the first of his six acting Oscar nominations so far for his deeply moving performance. He received a seventh Oscar nod for producing the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street. He won for 2015’s The Revenant, but this, to me, remains his single most brilliant piece of work.

Extras include commentary from Hallstrom and Hedges and three documentaries, The Characters of Gilbert Grape, The Voice of Gilbert Grape, and Why We Love Gilbert Grape.

Shout Select has released a Blu-ray edition of Isabel Coixet’s 2015 film Learning to Drive.

The Spanish director made the film about a suddenly single Manhattan matron entirely on location in New York City from a screenplay by Sarah Kernochan who ironically has long been happily married to Stephen Sondheim’s frequent collaborator, writer-director James Lapine (Into the Woods). It’s certainly not a biography of the longtime documentarian director of Marjoe and screenwriter of 9 1/2 Weeks and Impromptu.

Character actress Patricia Clarkson (Far from Heaven) has a rare lead role as a book critic whose professor husband leaves her for a younger woman. Oscar winner Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) co-stars as a Sikh cab driver and her driving instructor.

Kingsley’s character is having marital problems of his own as his sister in India talks him into an arranged marriage with a woman he’s never met. He and Clarkson are excellent as a man and a woman who are just friends, and yes, the film is about a lot more than learning to drive.

Behind-the-scenes footage is included as an extra.

Sandpiper Pictures continues to release Blu-ray versions of films previously released by boutique label Twilight Time that have gone out of print. Their latest releases include Alexander the Great and Solomon and Sheba, both which were produced by United Artists but have fallen under the purview of MGM in the latest shakeup of rights to films.

1956’s Alexander the Great was written, produced, and directed by Robert Rossen.

Rossen was a fast-rising director whose second and third films were 1947’s Body and Soul and 1949’s Oscar-winning All the King’s Men. His career almost came to a standstill due to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Alexander the Great was the sixth of just ten films he made before dying in 1966 at the age of 57. His last four films were Island in the Sun, They Came to Cordura, The Hustler (his career peak), and Lilith.

Alexander the Great contains some impressive battle scenes and mostly good acting from a cast that includes Richard Burton as Alexander, Fredric March as his father Philip II, Danielle Darrieux as his conniving mother, and Claire Bloom as his primary love interest, but it is overly long with a downer ending that not a lot of people appreciate.

It was the first of three films Bloom made with frequent stage co-star Burton, the others being 1959’s Look Back in Anger, and 1965’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

1959’s Solomon and Sheba was directed by King Vidor, the legendary director of The Champ, Stella Dallas, The Citadel, War and Peace, and many others. Although he lived until 1982 when he died at the age of 88, this would be his last film.

The film was made under difficult circumstances in Spain after the sudden death of original star Tyrone Power as Israeli King Solomon. With 75% of the film completed, the producers took the insurance money and brought in Yul Brynner to re-shoot Power’s scenes and complete the rest of the film. The experience was an unhappy one for all involved including Gina Lollobrigida as the notorious Queen of Sheba.

Also in the cast were George Sanders, Marisa Pavan, David Farrar, Finlay Currie, and Harry Andrews. It was during Power’s climactic swordfight with Sanders that the actor had a heart attack and died within ten minutes of that.

The best that can be said about the film is that it has fabulous sets and costumes.

This week’s new releases include the 4K Ultra UHD Blu-ray releases of Paths of Glory and Dirty Dancing.