January action, horror and thrillers make up the new release lineup. Here’s what’s up for DISCussion this week:
FIRST RELEASES
-Daybreakers (DVD and Blu-ray)
-Edge of Darkness (DVD and Blu-ray
-Legion (DVD and Blu-ray)
RE-RELEASES
-History of the World, Pt I (Blu-ray)
-The Karate Kid (Blu-ray)
Daybreakers (DVD and Blu-ray)
What’s its deal?
The Spierig brothers’ darker addition to the vampire trend puts Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe among others in a world where vampires dominate the planet and human blood is in short supply.
Critics’ Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 67% (good)
Player Affinity Rating: N/A
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Commentary with directors Peter and Michael Spierig and creature designer Steve Boyle; “Making of Daybreakers” feature-length documentary; “The Big Picture” (2002) short film; BonusView: Storyboards and Animatics on-screen comparison; Theatrical trailer; Post art gallery; Lionsgate live; BD Touch and Metamenu remote enabled.
Additional Blu-ray Features: None.
Amazon Price: $17.99 (DVD), $24.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDtalk.com): Video = 4 stars, Audio = 4.5 stars, Extras = 5 stars (out of 5). Highly recommended.
Edge of Darkness (DVD and Blu-ray)
What’s its deal?
Mel Gibson returns to acting in a daddy-takes-revenge thriller wrapped up in political espionage. Successful James Bond director Martin Campbell directs a screenplay from Oscar-winning writer of The Departed, William Monahan.
Critics’ Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 56% (okay)
Player Affinity Rating: 8.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Additional/alternate scenes
Additional Blu-ray Features: Focus-Point Featurettes.
Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray & DVD Combo)
Score (DVDtalk.com): Video = 4.5 stars, Audio = 4.5 stars, Extras = 2 stars (out of 5). Recommended.
Legion (DVD and Blu-ray)
What’s its deal?
Paul Bettany stars in a religion-meets-machine-guns horror action flick that takes place during the apocalypse. God sends demons to destroy mankind because a flood in the age of CGI would be so uninteresting (or too much like The Day After Tomorrow.
Critics’ Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 19% (horrible)
Player Affinity Rating: 2.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: “Creating the apocalypse – behind the physical effects”; “Humanity’s last line of defense – the cast and characters”; “From pixels to picture – a look at the visual effects.”
Additional Blu-ray Features: “Bringing angels to earth”; Picture-in-picture; Movie IQ+sync and BD-live for in movie info and trivia.
Amazon Price: $17.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDtalk.com): Video = 4.5 stars, Audio = 4 stars, Extras = 3.5 stars (out of 5). Rent It.
RE-RELEASES
History of the World, Pt I (Blu-ray)
What’s its deal?
Mel Brooks’ hit comedy spanning some of history’s brightest and darkest (and very musical) eras. The film arrives awkwardly on Blu-ray as it’s one year shy of warranting a 30th Anniversary Edition.
Critics’ Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 61% (good)
Player Affinity Rating: N/A
Special Features: Musical Mel: Inventing “The Inquisition”; Making History: Mel Brooks on creating the world; The real history of the world trivia track; Isolated score track.
Amazon Price: $24.99
Score (DVDtalk.com): N/A
The Karate Kid (Blu-ray)
What’s its deal?
To get you pumped up for the 2010 remake out in June, Sony has released the original 1984 The Karate Kid as well as a combo pack including the sequel. Get ready to wax on and off to one of the most beloved sports movies of all time.
Critics’ Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 89% (good)
Player Affinity Rating: N/A
Special Features: “Blu-Pop”; Commentary with director John G. Avildsen, writer Robert Mark Kamen and actors Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita; “The Way of the Karate Kid: making-of featurette; “Beyond the Form”; “East Meets West: A Composer’s Notebook”; “Life of Bonsai.”
Amazon Price: $17.46
Score (DVDtalk.com): Video = 4 stars, Audio = 4 stars, Extras = 5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
