This new column will be a weekly post on new DVDS and BLURAYS that are coming out each week. You can read a small description of the release and you can click on the pictures which will send you over to AMAZON so you can purchase the titles for a great discount. Enjoy this week’s titles.
The award winning movie, “American Beauty” that put Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition) and Alan Ball (Six Feet Under/True Blood) on all of our Radars. This is going to look spectacular on bluray. I am looking forward to the commentary track by Mendes and Ball on this release. I loved this movie when it came out in the late 90’s. I cannot believe it has been that long ago. Remember this one best picture at the oscars.
Criterion is like the Neiman Marcus of DVDS. They have the best transfers, audio, and extras out of any DVD. Period. This was released a number of years ago on DVD and now we get the high-def transfer. Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant are amazing in this dark comedic thriller. I highly recommend picking this up.
From the creator of Amelie and City of Lost Children comes the black comedy “Delicatessen”. It came out in 1991 and became an instant cult classic and was favored by tons of critics and the masses. Now we get it in high-def and with some exclusive HD extras including a new retrospective documentary with the director and a behind the scenes featurette and 20 page collectible booklet. Add to that commentary with the director and this is a must buy. This is an amazing crazy little film. A must see.
The Experiment is film that has been kept under the radar for some time now. It stars Adrian Brody and Forest Whitaker. “Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker star as ordinary men who find themselves transformed by strange circumstances in The Experiment. Tempted by a large paycheck, 26 men agree to be divided into prisoners and guards and placed in a mock prison for two weeks–but within a matter of days, these seemingly sane men have turned the mock prison into a sadistic pressure cooker. The Experiment is in part a remake of a German film, Das Experiment, which was inspired by a psychology experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971–an experiment sometimes cited as demonstrating an innate human capacity for sadism.” I am looking forward to seeing this. It sounds very interesting and I love the two main actors.
The hilarious television series “Modern Family” makes its home video release debut this Tuesday. I loved this show. It replaced “Arrested Development” for me. I laughed at every episode and found all the characters engaging and hilarious. The 1st season is packed with deleted scenes, deleted family interviews, gag reel, fizbo the clown and a wide variety of behind the scenes featurettes. Definitely worth picking up and if you have not seen the show, you wont be sorry when you get this and watch it.
Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood is a tragic mess. Now don’t get me wrong, it looks beautiful, but as a whole the film is a complete turd. Ridley was so set on making this a factual based movie and making everything authentic. But you know the story of Robin Hood is one of fantasy and wonder and magic. All of that is missing from this film and goes on for way too long and just bored me to death. I will not be watching this again unless the masterminds over at Rifftrax get their hands on it.
That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for next week when I look at Iron Man 2.