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DVD/Blu-ray DISCussion (New for 5.10.11)

By: | Movie News | May 10, 2011

After two disappointing weeks of DVD releases, I finally have plenty to report on. The big new release is the independent film Blue Valentine, but other films cannot be ignored. On the re-release front there is the Billy Wilder classic Some Like It Hot and the whole Alien series as individual Blu-rays.

First Releases
- Blue Valentine (DVD and Blu-ray)
- No Strings Attached (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Illusionist (2010) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
- I Saw the Devil (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Cougars, Inc… (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (DVD and Blu-ray) (Releases May 13)

Re-Releases
- Something Wild (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Some Like It Hot (Blu-ray)
- The Misfits (Blu-ray)
- Top Gun (Blu-ray)
- Alien (Blu-ray)
- Aliens (Blu-ray)
- Alien 3 (Blu-ray)
- Alien Resurrection (Blu-ray)


Blue Valentine (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Blue Valentine was a film that was met with a long production process, but it was time well spent. The film premiered at Sundance and earned Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Shutter Island) a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Blue Valentine was also controversial because it earned a NC-17 rating: the decision was reversed when the Weinsteins appealed. Williams stars along side Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) and both are directed by Derek Cianfrance.

Blue Valentine is a film told told in a non-linear style, telling the story of the relationship of Dean (Gosling) and Cindy (Williams) as it starts, they get married and fails.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 87% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 8.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Deleted Scenes; Making of Blue Valentine; Commentary;
Home Movies

Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $18.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 5 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 3.5 stars, Replay 5 stars (out of 5). DVD Talk Collector Series.


No Strings Attached (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
There is no escaping Natalie Portman at the moment (and we may as well get the most out of her whilst we can). This time, Portman shows her comedy skills with Ashton Kutcher in this comedy directed by veteran Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters). No String Attached was young screenwriter Elizabeth Meriwether’s first film.

Adam (Kutcher) and Emma (Portman) are two friends who meet up after a long time apart. Both are in need of some physical attention, so they become sex buddies. But Adam starts to fall for Emma despite Emma not wanting a proper relationship.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 49% (average)
Player Affinity Score: 5.2/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $24.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 3.5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 3 stars, Replay 3.5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.


The Illusionist (2010) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

What's the Deal?
Not to be confused with the Edward Norton film of the same name, The Illusionist is a French animated film by Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville). The Illusionist was a written by French filmmaking legend Jacques Tati and it was his lost script from 1956. It took over 50 years for the film to be made. This film changed the setting to Edinburgh and western Scotland because the financing company was Scottish.

Set in the '50s, The Illusionist follows a stage performer whose art is dying and people are showing little interest. In a pub on the West coast of Scotland, the Illusionist meets a young girl, Alice who changes his life.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 89% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Commentary with Director Sylvain Chomet; The Making of The Illusionist

Amazon Price: $24.99 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


I Saw the Devil (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Jee-woon Kim is a highly respected director from South Korea, making films like A Tale of Two Sisters (a film I highly recommend) and The Good, the Bad and the Weird. Now he has turned to a serial killer film starring Lee Byung-Hun, who Western audiences will know best as Snake-Eyes in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Choi Min-Sik (Oldboy) also stars in the film.

Soo-hyun (Byung-hun) is a South Korean special agent whose pregnant wife was murdered by a serial killer. Soo-hyun goes on his personal investigation to find out who the serial killer is and goes on a elaborate mission of vengeance.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 80% (very good)
Player Affinity Score: 7.5/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Closed Caption; Deleted scenes ; Raw and rough: behind the scenes of I Saw the Devil

Amazon Price: $15.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 3 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 3 stars, Replay 3 stars (out of 5). Recommended.


Cougars, Inc (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
If you are looking for a straight-to-DVD comedy about schoolboys running an escort agency, then Cougars, Inc is the film you, you strange individual. Directed by first-timer K. Asher Levin, the film stars Kyle Gallner (A Nightmare on Elm Street remake), Sarah Hyland (Modern Family), Denise Richards and James Belushi.

Sam (Gallner) is a young man who has been kicked out of number of schools and his mother can no longer afford to keep in school. So Sam and his friends create an escort agency with a group of old women who want to stay young.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): N/A
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $18.99 (DVD), $20.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 1 stars, Video 2.5 stars, Audio 3 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 0 stars (out of 5). Skip It.


Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (DVD and Blu-ray) (May 13)

What's the Deal?
Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the radio or go to the cinema, just when you thought that tweenagers had grown out of singers like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, they have found something worse: the Biebs! And like other tween-aimed stars, Justin Bieber has made a film, directed by Jon Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D). This film sees Bieber as he performs at his world tour with other stars like Jaden Smith and Miley Cyrus, performs at Madison Square Garden and his life story.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 66% (good)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Concert Dance Off – Justin and his crew show off their amazing moves; Favorite Girl – Full-length concert performance from the Director’s Fan Cut; R.I.P. Hair Flip – Justin says goodbye to his signature ‘do; Giving Back – Justin’s team suprise lucky fans with concert tickets!

Amazon Price: $17.99 (DVD), $24.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Something Wild (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Jonathan Demme is best know for directing Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, but he does have a long filmmaking career. Something Wild was a crime-comedy he made starring Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber), Melanie Griffith (Working Girl) and Ray Liotta.

Charles Driggs (Daniels) is a yuppie and a family man who meets the sexy Lulu (Griffiths). Both run off together but are soon meet up with Lulu’s ex-husband, Ray (Liotta), who wants her back.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 86% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: New, restored digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Tak Fujimoto and approved by director Jonathan Demme; New video interviews with Demme and writer E. Max Frye; Original theatrical trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic David Thompson

Amazon Price: $20.99 (DVD), $26.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 3.5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 3.5 stars (out of 5). Recommended.


Some Like It Hot (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?

Billy Wilder had a long career, making classics like Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina and Stalag 47. Some Like It Hot is one of Wilder’s most famous films and also added evidence that he likes to begin his film titles with the letter S. Some Like It Hot was also one of Marilyn Monroe’s best films and it features Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, both getting to dress in drag.

Joe (Curtis) and Jerry (Lemmon) are two musicians who witness the Valentine's Day Massacre. Both have to go on the run from the mob and find jobs at an all-women band: so they have to disguise themselves as women. And whilst this comedy goes on, one of the men falls for Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Monroe).

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 98% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $14.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


The Misfits (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
The other comedy featuring Ms. Monroe this week is The Misfits and she gets to star alongside Gone With the Wind star Clark Gable. This comedy was helmed by John Huston, the man who made The Maltese Falcon and The African Queen.

Roslyn Tabor (Monroe) is a recent divorcee who ends up joining a group of misfits icluding an aging cowboy (Clark Gable), a mechanic (Eli Wallach) and rodeo rider (Montgomery Clift). Roslyn experiences freedom but her innocent idealism is challenged.

Critic Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 100% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $14.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Top Gun (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Despite its low Rotten Tomatoes rating, Top Gun is considered one of the great '80s films, ranking along side films like Back to the Future, Predator and Commando for nostalgia factor. Top Gun was also the film that cemented Tom Cruise’ s reputation as a major star and proved Tony Scott's skills as an action director.

Top Gun focuses on a young fighter, Maverick (Cruise), who is promoted. He is sent to the Top Gun Naval Flying School, learning to be the best of the best.

Quentin Tarrantino has called Top Gun one of the most homoerotic films ever made because of scenes with men in the shower together and a bit of  topless volleyball.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 47% (average)
Player Affinity Score: 6.5/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Commentary; Danger zone: the making of top gun; Multi-angle storyboards with optional commentary; Best of the best: inside the real top gun; 4 music videos; TV spots; behind-the-scenes featurette

Amazon Price: $17.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Alien (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
We all know Alien is one of the great sci-fi films, a simple dark tale that had a lot of dept underneath it. Starting as an idea by Dan O’Bannon, Alien was the product that made Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver’s name. The film also features John Hurt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerrit and Harry Dean Stanton.

In the future, the mining ship Nostromo is returning to Earth when the crew receives a signal to a deserted planet. The crew discovers an alien creature that lays its eggs in a man and as the creature grows it starts to pick the crew off one by one.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 96% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 9.5/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $22.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Aliens (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
After a seven-year hiatus, a young and ambitious filmmaker took a big risk and made a sequel to Alien, a film that seemed like it did not need a sequel. Luckily, that man was James Cameron and he expanded the "Alien" universe (no pun intended). This time Cameron turned the series from a horror sci-fi film to an action, war-based one. Weaver reprises her role as Ellen Ripley and the film also features Michael Biehn (The Terminator), Lance Henriksen and child actress Carrie Henn.

57 years after the events of Alien, Ripley and her cat have been discovered by a Weyland-Yutani ship. The planet LV-426 is now being colonized by humans and the company has lost contact with them. Ripley goes with a platoon of colonial marines and discovers that there is only one survivor, a young girl called Newt (Henn). Ripley develops a surrogate mother-daughter relationship, leading to one of the most awesome one-liners ever, as the marines prepare their defence against the Xenomorphs.

Aliens is my favorite film of the series.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 100% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 9.5/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $22.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Alien 3 (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
After another six years, Fox revisited the Alien series, but it was a project that went through development hell and a number of writers, including New Zealander Vincent Ward who wrote one of the best script never made into a film. Art for it can be found on Empire’s website. A then-27-year-old first time director by the name of David Fincher took on the project, a project he regrets doing and expunged from his filmography. Weaver again returns and she ends performing with Charles S. Dutton (A Time to Kill), Charles Dance (The Last Action Hero) and Paul McGann (Withnail and I).

Ripley awakes on the planet of the British prisoners. Both Hicks and Newt are dead (one of the most stupid ideas in the Alien series) and one Xenomorph survived the nuclear blast. With this rag-tag group of unarmed men, Ripley has to help them against this new threat.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 39% (poor)
Player Affinity Score: 5.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $23.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Alien Resurrection (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Last but not least is Alien Resurrection, a sequel that seemed impossible considering the end of Alien 3. Joss Whedon wrote the script for this film that Fox had a number of directors on their shortlist for: Danny Boyle, who left because of his bad experience on the project, Peter Jackson who did not see the point in a fourth Alien film and Bryan Singer, who luckily his friend Tom DeSanto convicted him to do X-Men instead. Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jeunet took it on for one simple reason: so he could ensure funding for his dream project, Amelie. Weaver again returns and the cast includes Winona Ryder, Ron Pealman (Hellboy) and J.E. Freeman (Miller’s Crossing).

200 years after Alien 3, Ripley has been cloned with the Alien queen inside her. The alien has been taken out of her and Ripley has some Xenomorph, including acidic blood and increased strength. With more Xenomorphs being born, Ripley and the ship’s non-military crew have to stop the aliens and the ship from crashing into Earth.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 54% (average)
Player Affinity Score: 4.2/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $23.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

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