It is a mix bag of releases this week, with history, children’s fantasy, social realism, crime and dancing for our entertainment. Some of these films even mix some of these elements and all of are at various levels of quality. Three of this week's releases are direct-to-DVD features.
First Release
- Robin Hood (Unrated Director’s Cut) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Secret in their Eyes (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Stomp the Yard: Homecoming (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Experiment (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Ondine (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Secret of Moonacre (DVD and Blu-ray)
Re-Release
- American Beauty (Blu-ray)
Robin Hood (Unrated Director’s Cut) (DVD and Blu-ray)
What's the Deal?
Russell Crowe and Sir Ridley Scott have worked together for four films: Gladiator, A Good Year, American Beauty and Body of Lies. They have re-united a fifth film and they are joined by Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong and Oscar Issac. Working with a script by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), Robin Hood is being released with 16 minutes of extra footage. Scott is the master of the director’s cut.
Set in 1199, King Richard I (Danny Huston) dies in battle in France. Archer Robin Longstride (Crowe) and his friends flee the England army and pretend to be an English Lord. But one of King John’s advisors, Sir Godfrey (Strong), sets out to make the king unpopular and make England easy for the French to invade.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 43% (poor)
Plater Affinity Score: 6.5/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
2-Disc DVD Special Features: Deleted scenes with introduction and commentary by editor Pietro Scalia; Rise and rise again: making Ridley Scott's Robin Hood; Ballad, legend & myth pre-production; The more the merrier: production; No quarter given: post-production
Additional Blu-ray Features: The Art of Notthingham; ; A Portfolio of Designs, Including video introductions, Galleries of Conceptual Art, Costume Designs, Storyboards and Other Imagery; ; Hi-Def Features'
Amazon Price: $16.99 (1-Disc DVD), $22.99 (2-Disc DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 4 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 5 stars, Replay 5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
The Secret in their Eyes (DVD and Blu-ray)
What's the Deal?
When the Argentinean film The Secret in their Eyes won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, it took a lot of people by surprise. But when it was released in America and Europe the film gained near universal critical praise. Director Juan J. Campanella had a long career in Argentina, but he has also worked on American Television, working on programmes like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and House M.D.
Set in the 1970s during the rise of the military Junta, The Secret in their Eyes tells how police officer Benjamin (Ricardo Darin) investigated a murder of a missing girl and how it affects the people around her.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 92% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Join writer/director Juan José Campanella behind the scenes and on set to see how he casted and created this unique film
Amazon Price: $19.99 (DVD), $26.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 4 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 4.5 stars, Replay 4 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
Stomp the Yard: Homecoming (DVD and Blu-ray)
What's the Deal?
When the original Stomp the Yard grossed $75 million from a $13-million budget, it showed that it was a safe money-maker. With this success behind it, Rainforest Films is releasing a direct-to-DVD sequel for our entertainment. B-Movie specialist Rob Hardy is directing, Stomp the Yard: Homecoming, which features a cast of TV and bit-part film actors, with Collins Pennie (Half Nelson) in the lead role.
At Truth University, rivalries are running high amidst the countdown to the national step-up competition. Chance Harris (Pennie) is meant to lead The Theta Nus to victory, but he is suffering his own domestic troubles with his father having to pay debts to a gang.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): N/A
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Step inside the movie's groundbreaking choreography with the "Stomp on the Yard" featurette along with deleted scenes and cast & filmmaker commentary
Amazon Price: $18.99 (DVD), $21.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
The Experiment (DVD and Blu-ray)
What's the Deal?
To anyone who has studied psychology in some form, then you will know about the Stanford prison experiment, a case study of work happens when people are given near-unregulated power against their fellow man. In 2000, Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) directed an excellent German film, Das Experiment, about this subject and now Paul Schering (Prison Break) has written and directed a remake. The Experiment stars Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker and Maggie Grace.
Travis (Brody) and Barris (Whitaker) are selected to partake in a prison experiment involving 26 men. Travis is made a prisoner and Barris becomes a guard. But the experiment quickly goes out of control and violence starts to spread.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): N/A
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $18.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 2 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 3.5 stars, Extras 0 stars, Replay 2 stars (out of 5). Rent it.
Ondine (DVD and Blu-ray)
What's the Deal?
Neil Jordan has a varied career as a director, with films like Mona Lisa, The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto all part of his filmography. Now he has made a children’s fantasy film starring Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda (Trade) and Alison Barry.
Syracuse (Farrell) is a fisherman living with his young daughter Annie (Barry). But when Syracuse catches a woman in the middle of the ocean, his world is turned on it head. Annie believes the woman, Ondine (Bachleda) is a selkie or a mermaid in a film that combines fairy tales with a contemporary setting.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 69% (good)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Making Ondine; HDNet: A Look at Ondine; ; Closed Caption
Amazon Price: $21.99 (DVD), $17.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 3.5 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 1 stars, Replay 2.5 stars (out of 5). Recommended.
The Secret of Moonacre (DVD and Blu-ray)
What the Deal?
Despite only being 16, Dakota Blue Richards has had some rotten luck as an actress, with The Golden Compass failing to captures audiences (thanks to Chris Weitz and New Line Cinema butchering the book) and missing out on the chance to star in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland because she was too young. Gabor Csupo directs his follow up film to Bridge to Terabithia and cast Tim Curry (Legend), Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four) and Natascha McElhone (Ronin) to support Richards.
Based on Elizabeth Goudge’s novel The Little White Horse, The Secret of Moonacre tells the story of a young orphan, Maria Merry weather (Richards), living with her uncle Sir Benjamin (Gruffudd). But when Maria discovers a magical world she has to find out the secrets of past or her family home would disappear forever.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 16% (very bad)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Making-of featurette, deleted scenes, cast/crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage
Amazon Price: $13.99 (DVD), $15.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
American Beauty (Blu-ray)
What's the Deal?
After a successful career as a stage director, Sam Mendes turned his skills to film with his award-winning debut American Beauty. With his look on the dark side of American suburbia, Mendes directs a powerful film, with a great performance from Kevin Spacey. The cast also boasts Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Thora Birch (Ghost World), Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider), Mena Suvari (American Pie) and Chris Cooper (Breach).
Lester Burnham (Spacey) is a man in the middle of a mid-life crisis. He is infatuated with his daughter’s best friend Angela (Suvari) and quits his job. His wife Carolyn (Bening) loathes her husband and has an affair and daughter Jane (Birch) suffers from low-self esteem. As Lester goes through a second adolescence Mendas explores a dark underbelly with a darkly funny film.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 89% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 10/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Commentary by Director Sam Mendes and Screenwriter Alan Ball; ; American Beauty: Look Closer; ; Storyboard Presentation with Sam Mendes and Director of Photography Conrad L. Hall; ; 2 Theatrical Trailers HD
Amazon Price: $19.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 4.5 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 3.5 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 4.5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
