The new cinematic of Judge Dredd in the Karl Urban led movie pleased many fans of the comic book series and is our Recommendation of the Week.
First Release
- Frankenweenie (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Dredd (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Compliance (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Game Change (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Assassins (2012) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- House at the End of the Street (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Stolen (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Hit and Run (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Inbetweeners Movie (DVD)
Re-Release
- Stalingrad (1993) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) (Blu-ray)
- Cape Fear (1962) (Blu-ray)
- Driving Miss Daisy (1989) (Blu-ray)
- Grand Hotel (1932) (Blu-ray)
- Mrs Miniver (1932) (Blu-ray)
- The Jazz Singer (1927) (Blu-ray)
- The Last Samurai (2003) (Blu-ray)
Dredd (DVD and Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*
Directed by Pete Travis
Written by Alex Garland (screenplay), John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra (comic)
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris
In 1995 fans of 2000AD creation Judge Dredd decried the release of Sylvester Stallone movie of the same name as it was disloyal to the source material they love. Fans got their wish of a loyal adaptation from DNA Films, featuring the talents of Karl Urban (Star Trek, 2009) and Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go). But it was sadly a box-office disappointment and dents the hopes of R-rated sci-fi action movies returning to the big screen.
In the future most of the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland and people live in Mega-Cities. In Mega-City One (spanning from Boston to Washington D.C.) crime, riots, unemployment and poverty are rampant and the only form of law and order comes from Judges. The best of them is Judge Dredd (Urban) and he is assigned to evaluate a new recruit with psychic powers, Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thrilby, Juno). But when they investigate a murder at the 200-story Pears Trees slum they end up trapped by drug lord Ma-Ma (Headey) and the pair have to battle for survivable.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 78% (very good)
Player Affinity Score: 7.3/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $14.99 (DVD), $19.99 (3D Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 4 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 5 stars, Extras 3.5 stars, Replay 3.5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
There are a lot number of films coming out onto DVD and Blu-ray this week and major highlights are the stop-motion animated film Frankenweenie, indie thriller Compliance, political drama Game Change and British comedy The Inbetweeners Movie. There are also plenty of re-releases, including Oscar winners Driving Miss Daisy and Mrs Miniver, the 1962 thriller Cape Fear and the latest Blu-ray version of The Last Samurai.
Frankenweenie (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Tim Burton
Written by John August (screenplay), Tim Burton (short film)
Starring: Charlie Tahan, Frank Welker, Winona Ryder, Cather O’Hara, Martin Short
Based on Tim Burton 1984 short film, Frankenweenie is an animated movie and it is considered one of his best movies in recent years. Made as a homage to classic monster movies, particularly Frankenstein, tells the story of young boy, Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) whose pet dog gets run over. Victor sets out to bring his best friend back to life but he has to convict the town he has not created a monster.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 7.3/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: FRANKENWEENIE Touring Exhibit -- Explore The Artistry Of The Film's Puppets, Sets And Props In A Showcase That's Traveling The World
Additional Blu-ray Special Features: All New Original Short: "Captain Sparky vs The Flying Saucers"; "Miniatures In Motion: Bringing 'Frankenweenie' To Life"; "Frankenweenie" Touring Exhibit; "Frankenweenie" Original Live Action Short; Music Video: "Pet Sematary" performed by Plain White T's
Amazon Price: $17.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray), $27.99 (3D Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Compliance (DVD and Blu-ray)
Written and directed by Craig Zobel
Starring: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy
Loosely based on a true story the psychological thriller Compliance was one of the biggest independent movies of 2012 as it looks how people are can act very questionable when ordered by someone claiming authority.
Sandra (Ann Dowd, Third Watch) is the manager of a fast food restaurant when she receives a call from a man claiming to be a police officer who received a complaint that one of her employees stolen from a customer. Sandra takes Becky (Dreama Walker, Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) into the back office and the ‘police officer’ convinces Sandra to force the young woman through a humiliating ordeal.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 89% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 7.0/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Closed Caption; Behind the Scenes; Interview with Director Craig Zobel; AXS TV: A Look at Compliance; Theatrical Trailer
Amazon Price: $14.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Game Change (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Jay Roach
Written by Danny Strong (screenplay), Mark Halperin, John Heilemann (book)
Starring: Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris, Sarah Paulson
From HBO Films is their TV movie, Game Change, made to coincide with a Sarah Palin presidential campaign that never happened. Julianne Moore plays the controversial politician as she rises from being Governor of Alaska to John McCain’s (Ed Harris) last minute Vice Presidential nominee. The movie focuses on the selection, how Palin became a source of gaffs and ridicule and how the stress and toll of the campaign affected her.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 63% (good)
Player Affinity Score: 7.8/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Creating The Candidate; The Phenomenon of the Book
Amazon Price: $12.99 (DVD), $17.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 3.5 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 1.5 stars, Replay 3 stars (out of 5). Recommended.
The Assassins (2012) (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Zhao Linshan
Written by Wang Bin
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Liu Yifei, Hiroshi Tamaki
The Assassins is a Chinese historical action movie, starring Chow Yun-Fat as Cao Cao, a general who defeats many warlords to gain control of Northern China and become King of Wei. Cao Cao becomes Prime Minister of China, but his son and followers convince him to seize the throne for himself and become Emperor of China.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): N/A
Player Affinity Score: 7.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Behind the Scenes; Trailer
Amazon Price: $12.99 (DVD), $14.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
House at the End of the Street (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Mark Tonderai
Written by David Loucka, Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue, Gil Bellows
Made before Jennifer Lawrence found fame in Winter’s Bone and The Hunger Games, House at the End of the Street is the obligatory horror movie for actors to star in and now attempts to cash on the new found fame of their star. Lawrence stars as Elissa, as teenager who moves to a new home with her mother (Elisabeth Shue). But in a neighboring house was a grisly murder by a girl and Elissa befriends the only survivor, Ryan (Max Thieriot): but of course in horror tradition the past is still ready to haunt them.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 11% (awful)
Player Affinity Score: 3.5/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Stolen (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Simon West
Written by David Guggenheim
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Danny Huston, Malin Åkerman, Josh Lucas, Sami Gayle
Nicolas Cage’s career continues to nosedive to straight-to-DVD hell as he stars in Simon West’s lesser movie of 2012 (the other being The Expendables 2). Cage stars as former thief Will Montgomery whose daughter is kidnapped and he has to get $10 Million in 12 hours to save her.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 13% (awful)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Free Digital Copy of the film, Featurette, Cast & Crew Interviews, Behind the Scenes, English SDH & Spanish Subtitles, Previews
Amazon Price: $12.99 (DVD), $14.86 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 2 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 3 stars, Replay 1.5 stars (out of 5). Skip It.
Hit and Run (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by David Palmer, Dax Shepard
Written by Dax Shepard
Starring: Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Arnold, Bradley Cooper
Dax Shepard wrote, directed and starred in the comedy movie Hit and Run. Shepard stars Charlie Bronson, a former getaway driver who is now in the Witness Protection Program. But when his girlfriend (Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars) gets a job opportunity of a lifetime in Los Angeles and he goes with her, despite the risk on his life.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 47% (average)
Player Affinity Score: 6.0/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by John Stockwell
Written by Kendall Lampkin
Starring: Cam Gigandet, Anson Mount, Freddy Reodriguez
Zero Dark Thirty is not the only movie about the hunt of Osama bin Laden, National Geographic all made a TV movie the raid on his compound in Pakistan.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $9.99 (DVD), $14.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
The Inbetweeners Movie (DVD)
Directed by Ben Palmer
Written by Damon Beesley, Iain Morris
Starring: Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas, Laura Haddock
The Inbetweeners is a very popular comedy in the UK and the movie adaptation was one of the most popular British movies of 2011, even beating Cowboys and Aliens in the British box-office. Set after the third series, the gang are about to go their separate ways and go to university, or in Neil’s case be the local idiot who pushes shopping trollies for a living. Simon’s (Joe Thomas) girlfriend Carli (Emily Head) breaks up with him and the gang spend one last summer together by going on vacation in Crete and meet a group of girls on the island. But they have to compete with Simon’s obsessions over Carli, Jay’s obnoxious behaviours and Carli’s new boyfriend, James (Theo James).
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 54% (average)
Player Affinity Score: 7.5/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $19.99 (DVD)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Stalingrad (1993) (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Joseph Vilsmaier
Written by Jürgen Büscher, Johannes Heide
Starring: Thomas Kretschmann, Dominique Horwitz, Jochen Nickel, Sebastian Rudolph, Dana Vávrová, Martin Benrath, Sylvester Groth
Stalingrad is a German war movie about one of the most brutal episodes of World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad. Stalingrad focuses of a platoon of German soldier led by Lieutenant Hans von Witzland (Thomas Krestschmann, Downfall, King Kong, 2005) trying fight to survive the battle as the tide of the war turns against the Germans.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 71% (good)
Player Affinity Score: 6.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Featurette: The Making of Stalingrad; Trailers
Amazon Price: $19.99 (DVD), $24.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Monte Hellman
Written by Rudy Wurlizter, Will Corry (screenplay), Will Corry (story)
Starring: James Taylor, Warren Oates, Laurie Bird, Dennis Wilson
From the Criterion Collection this week is the road movie Two-Lane Blacktop. Starring singer James Taylor and Warren Oates from The Beach Boys in their only acting roles, Two-Lane Blacktop is the story of a Driver (Taylor) and a mechanic (Oates) who travel across America to race and enter into a race to Washington D.C. where the winner gets the loser’s car.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Monte Hellman, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, supervised by Hellman and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio; Two audio commentaries: one by Hellman and filmmaker Allison Anders and one by screenwriter Rudolph Wurlitzer and author David N. Meyer; Interviews with Hellman, actor James Taylor, musician Kris Kristofferson, producer Michael Laughlin, and production manager Walter Coblenz; Screen test outtakes; Performance and Image, a look at the restoration of a ’55 Chevy used in the movie and the film’s locations today; Color Me Gone, photos and publicity from Two-Lane Blacktop; Trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones; appreciations by director Richard Linklater and musician Tom Waits; and a reprint of the 1970 Rolling Stone article “On Route 66, Filming Two-Lane Blacktop,” by Michael Goodwin
Amazon Price: $26.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Cape Fear (1962) (Blu-ray)
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Written by James R. Webb (screenplay), John D. MacDonald (novel)
Starring: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Martin Balsam, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin
Cape Fear is a classic thriller about lawyer Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) who gets stalked by a man he help put his helped put in prison, Max Candy (Robert Mitchum). Armed with new knowledge of the law, Sam is powerless to stop Candy as he targets Sam’s wife and teenage daughter.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 7.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $13.86 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Driving Miss Daisy (1989) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Written by Alfred Uhry
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Esther Rolle, Patti Lupone
Based on Alfred Uhry’s off-Broadway play, Driving Miss Daisy is an Oscar winning movie, earning awards for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. Driving Miss Daisy chronicles the friendship between an elderly Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan (Jsesica Tandy, The Birds) and her chauffeur, Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) over a 25 year period in the Deep South.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 79% (very good)
Player Affinity Score: 7.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $19.32 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Grand Hotel (1932) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Written by William A. Drake, Béla Balázs (screenplay), Vicki Baum (play)
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt
The 1932 movie Grand Hotel is set in one of the most expensive and exclusive hotels in Berlin and focuses on a number of the guests and their personal dramas.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 86% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $13.86 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
Mrs Miniver (1942) (Blu-ray)
Directed by William Wyler
Written by George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis (screenplay), Jan Struther (novel)
Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilcoxon
The 1942 movie Mrs Miniver won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. This drama tells the story of a Middle Class English family try to continue with their lives as World War II starts and the Luftwaffe drop bombs on England.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $13.86 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
The Jazz Singer (1927) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Alan Crosland
Written by Alfred A. Cohn (adaptation), Samson Raphaelson (play)
Starring: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland
The 1927 version of The Jazz Singer has important place in film history for being the first talkie film. The Jazz Singer is a musical movie about a Jewish man, Jakie Rabinowitz (Al Jolson), who defies his father and becomes a jazz singer.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 76% (very good)
Player Affinity Score: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $24.86 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
The Last Samurai (2003) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Edward Zwick
Written by John Logan, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz (screenplay), John Logan (story)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe
Last but not least is the epic movie The Last Samurai. Set in the 1870s Japan is on a course of modernization and industrialization and they are recruiting American military officers to train their new army. One of them is a guilt ridden, alcoholic Civil War veteran, Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise). But when his army enters into their first engagement, they are badly defeated and Algren gets captured. In the mountains Algren learns the ways of the samurai from clan leader Lord Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe, Letters From Iwo Jima) and becomes sympathetic to the samurai’s cause.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 65% (good)
Player Affinity Score: 7.5/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: N/A
Amazon Price: $13.48 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A
