Hi Bryan Here….

Some very good releases this week.  I always scream like a schoolgirl when a Kubrick film is released on blu-ray criterion which…well…only happened one other time, but I hope much much more from Kubrick is released on Criterion.   Some of the must own blu-rays include ‘Kubrick’s ‘The Killing’ Criterion Collection’, ‘Big Lebowski’,  ‘Demolition Man’, plus some other goodies.   As usual, in this article, you will get some info about the disc and the extras that come with the movie as well as a personal opinion about the movie and a link to purchase the film over at AMAZON where you can save quite a bit of money, and it will give a small percentage kick back to this site so we can continue bringing you excellent stories and sales.

Enjoy and Here We Go!!

ARMED AND DANGEROUS (BLURAY)

A feel-good, hilarious film starring the late great John Candy, Eugene Levy, Meg Ryan, and Robert Loggia.  “Dooley, a cop wrongly sacked for corruption, teams up with a useless defence lawyer in their new careers… as security guards. When the two are made fall guys for a robbery at a location they are guarding, the pair begin to investigate corruption within the company and their union. They soon make enemies of everyone, but can the unlikely duo save the day?”  It’s been years since I have seen this and was such a treat to see it again.  I grew up watching this movie.  I miss John Candy.  He always put a smile on my face.

ASSASSINS (BLURAY)

One of those 90’s action films with Antonio Banderas and Sly Stallone.  I actually enjoyed this movie when I first saw it, but upon multiple viewings, it just leaves a terrible taste in my mouth (that’s what she said).  Terrible acting and an awful plot plague this film.  I only recommend getting this to MST3K it at a party or something.  “Robert Roth is the best hitman around, but the code and sense of duty that once were a part of his deadly career are lost in a post-Cold War world of free-lance guns. He wants out. Not so Miguel Bain, a driven killer who knows how to claim the top spot of his shadowy profession: eliminate Roth. Julianne Moore turns up the heat as a wily hacker swept into the duo’s running battle. Co-written by the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix) and Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) and directed by Richard Donner (the Lethal Weapon series), this awesome action tale plunges you into a world where what counts isn’t making the first move, but surviving the last.”

EXTRAS

– Theatrical Trailer

THE BIG LEBOWSKI: LIMITED EDITION (BLURAY)

What can I say.  Probably the most quotable film of all time and definitely the funniest film ever that has virtually no set up and joke.  Just amazing dialogue and delivery.  “Includes: Limited Edition collectible 28-pg book packaging including an exclusive interview Jeff Bridges’ on-set photography a film timeline trivia and much more!From the Academy Award®-winning Coen brothers The Big Lebowski is a hilariously quirky comedy about bowling a severed toe White Russians and a guy named…The Dude. Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski doesn’t want any drama in his life…heck he can’t even be bothered with a job. But he must embark on a quest with his bowling buddies after his rug is destroyed in a twisted case of mistaken identity. Starring Jeff Bridges John Goodman Julianne Moore Steve Buscemi Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro experience the cultural phenomenon of The Dude in the “#1 cult film of all time!” (The Boston Globe)Starring: Jeff Bridges John Goodman Steve Buscemi Julianne Moore Peter Stormare John Turturro David Huddleston Sam Elliott Philip Seymour Hoffman Flea Ben Gazzara David Thewlis Tara ReidDirected by: Joel Coen”  This has my highest recommendation.  Great blu ray with excellent extras.

EXTRAS

CAMPBELL’S KINGDOM (BLURAY)

When I first received this I though Bruce Campbell.  Then I read and started watching and the dude’s name was Bruce Campbell.  I fucking screamed.  But sadly it’s not the man-god Bruce Campbell from ‘Evil Dead’.  But rather a character named Bruce Campbell.  “Adapted from the novel of the same name by Hammond Innes. Bruce Campbell (Dirk Bogarde) inherits “Campbell’s Kingdom” in the Canadian Rockies on the death of his grandfather. He has been diagnosed with an unspecified terminal illness and decides to see if he can find the oil that his grandfather believed was present on his land, and to clear his family name; his grandfather had wrongly been found guilty of fraud when his oil exploration company went broke. Owen Morgan (Stanley Baker) is the boss of a company that is constructing a dam that when complete will flood the “Kingdom”. It’s a race against time to prove that the oil is there before the dam is completed.”  This was actually pretty solid. I really enjoyed it.  A very exciting film.

COBRA (BLURAY)

80’s action homo-erotica??  Check.  Sly Stallone?  Check.  Guns? Check.  This is quite a fun, crazy little film.  It is action packed with  a young Sly Stallone killing evil and making some sort of love to the insane Brigette Nielsen.  And yes, the homo-erotic tones are off the chart.  This movie could easily be #4 on the top 5 homo-erotic 80’s action films.  Let’s see, Stallone plays a guy named Marion “Cobra” Cobretti.  Umm, I’m not sure, but I bet if you showed your drivers license with that name in a gay bar, drinks would be on the house.  Cobra fights a gang of terrorists who love gathering in pools, wear leather, ride motorcycles and swing large phallic objects into each other.  Let’s not forget the romantic scene with Sly and Brigette where Sly is so put off by romancing a woman, that you know he is thinking of his male partner.  And let the record of dialogue show:

Nielsen: “Do you believe you can fall in love?”

Stallone: “With a woman?”

I rest my case.  But this is one fun and awesome movie.  “Like Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky and Rambo, the hero of Cobra is another original: Lt. Marion Cobretti, a one-man assault force whose laser-mount submachine gun and pearl-handled Colt .45 spit pure crimestopping venom. Director George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Tombstone) rejoins Stallone for this thriller pitting Cobretti against a merciless serial killer. The trail leads to not one murderer but to an army of psychos bent on slashing their way to a “New Order” – and killing the inadvertent witness (Brigitte Nielsen) to their latest blood spree. Fortunately, Cobra is her protector. And full-throttle screen excitement doesn’t get any better.”

EXTRAS

THE CONSPIRATOR (BLURAY)

Robert Redford directed this courtroom drama on the Abraham Lincoln assassination.  If you are a fan of Redford and Abraham Lincoln, then you will love it.  Solid film.  “In the wake of the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, a country mourns its leader, and eight people are charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President and Secretary of State. The lone woman accused, Mary Surratt (Wright), owns the boarding house where the attack was planned. Faced with a certain death, Surratt’s only hope comes in the form of a newly minted lawyer and Union war hero, Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), who reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. As the courtroom trial unfolds, Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her son (Johnny Simmons, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World).”

EXTRAS

CUL-DE-SAC (CRITERION COLLECTION BLU-RAY)

Not my favorite Roman Polanski film, but still a solid eerie and tense film.  “Roman Polanski (Repulsion) orchestrates a mental ménage à trois in this slyly absurd tale of paranoia from the director’s golden 1960s period. Donald Pleasance (Halloween) and Françoise Dorléac (The Soft Skin) star as a withdrawn couple whose isolated house is infiltrated by a rude, burly American gangster on the run, played by Lionel Stander (Unfaithfully Yours). The three engage in a game of shifting identities and sexual and emotional humiliations. Cul-de-sac is an evocative, claustrophobic, and morbidly funny tale of the modern world in chaos.”

EXTRAS
New digital restoration, approved by director Roman Polanski, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack

Two Gangsters and an Island, a 2003 short documentary about the making of Cul-de-sac, featuring interviews with Polanski, producer Gene Gutowski, and cinematographer Gil Taylor

Interview with Polanski from 1967

Theatrical trailers

PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Thompson

DEMOLITION MAN (BLURAY)

FUCKING entertainment and fun at its best.  This movie is so stupid, but oh so fun.  Taco Bell is every restaurant, the three seashells, and some ridiculous martial arts.  Oh yeah, and it is set way into the future.  “Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes go at it amid a dazzling cyber-future in this explosive hit. In 2032 archcriminal Simon Phoenix (Snipes) awakens from a 35-year deep freeze in CryoPrision to find a serene, non-violent Los Angeles ready for the taking. Unable to deal with Phoenix’s brutal 1990s style, officials seek an old-fashioned cop to fight old-fashioned crime. They revive Sgt. John Spartan (Stallone), unjustly serving a CryoPrison sentence because of his last encounter with Phoenix. Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt and Denis Leary also play rough and tough in this “terrific mix of action and humor” (Joel Siegel, Good Morning America/ABC-TV).”  Definitely a fun and entertaining film.

EXTRAS

DEXTER: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON (BLURAY)

This was a very solid season.  I enjoyed Dexter teaching Julia Stiles how to become a serial killer.  Tons of twists and turns and of course close calls.  Love this series and can’t wait for it to return.

EXTRAS
Via BD Live:
– BORGIAS: Episode 1, 2
– EPISODES: Episode 1, 2
– Interviews with: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Stiles, and more!
– Reflecting on Season Five: Julia Stiles

THE KILLING (CRITERION COLLECTION BLURAY)

A fucking double feature on a criterion release?  Oh yes please.  Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Killing’ is one of my favorites.  Everything is just so right about it.  And after watching this movie again, Christopher Nolan had to be thinking and reference this film in ‘The Dark Knight’ when Joker robbed the bank in the opening scene.  “Stanley Kubrick’s account of an ambitious racetrack robbery is one of Hollywood’s tautest, twistiest noirs. Aided by a radically time-shuffling narrative, razor-sharp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson, and a phenomenal cast of character actors, including Sterling Hayden (Dr. Strangelove), Coleen Gray (Red River), Timothy Carey (Paths of Glory), and Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon), The Killing is both a jaunty thriller and a cold-blooded punch to the gut. And with its precise tracking shots and gratifying sense of irony, it’s Kubrick to the core.”  And plus you get Kubrick’s ‘A Killer’s Kiss’ in HD too with this release.  SO BADASS!  My favorite pick of the week.

EXTRAS

THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN (BLURAY)

Muppets in HD is a must own.  The muppets try to take their broadway stage script and musical to Broadway.  Plus Kermit and Piggy marry.  Love this film.  Tons of great cameos and music.  Love having Muppets on bluray.

EXTRAS

MUPPETS FROM SPACE (BLURAY)

Muppets: Innnnnnn Spaaaaaaaaace.  I enjoyed this film a lot too.  Not my favorite Muppet film, but that’s not saying much as I love all of them.  A whole lot of fun.  Get it.  The more muppets in HD the better off we are.

EXTRAS

PRIEST (BLURAY)

So this movie is just fun popcorn bullshit.  Vampires vs. hardcore magical Catholics with a thirst for death.  That’s pretty much it.  It’s fun, and entertaining, but not quality.  “Set in a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires, Paul Bettany is Priest, a legendary warrior priest during the last Vampire War, who now lives in obscurity among the other human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities controlled by the Church. But when his 18-year-old niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires in the desolate wastelands outside, Priest breaks his sacred vows and ventures out to find her and seek vengeance upon those responsible, especially their brutal leader (Karl Urban). Priest is joined on his crusade by his niece’s boyfriend, Hicks (Cam Gigandet), a local outpost sheriff, and Priestess (Maggie Q), a member of his former legion of vampire-killers who has otherworldly fighting skills.”

EXTRAS

SUBSPECIES (BLURAY)

I haven’t seen this but it looks AWESOME.  “Deep within the heart of Transylvania, a dark power from the past has resurfaced, Now, three beautiful young research students are caught in a supernatural battle for control of the vampire kingdom.”

EXTRAS

THE WARD (BLURAY)

John Carpenter’s return to horror is really good.  ”

The Ward is an intense psychological thriller set in a mental institution where a young woman, Kristen, is haunted by a mysterious and deadly ghost. As danger creeps closer, she comes to realize that this ghost might be darker than she could have imagined.

Kristen, who is in her early 20’s, wakes to find herself bruised, cut, drugged, and held against her will in a remote ward of Chamberlain Psychiatric Hospital. She is completely disoriented with no idea why she was brought to this place and no memory of her life.

The other patients in the ward, four equally troubled girls, offer no answers, and Kristen quickly realizes things are not as they seem. The air is heavy with secrets, and at night, when the hospital is dark and foreboding, she hears strange and disturbing sounds. It appears they are not alone.

One by one the girls disappear, and Kristen must find a way out of this hellish place before the ghost comes for her, too. As she struggles to escape, she will uncover a truth far more dangerous and horrifying than anyone could have imagined.”  Definitely worth purchasing.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD: SEASON 2 PART 1 (DVD)

Excellent cartoons.  I really love this series.  “Batman wings into an exciting new era, teaming with a mighty honor roll of DC Comics Super Heroes in this action-packed series. Through the show’s season two 12 Animated Adventures in this 2-Disc Collection, the Dark Knight allies with Aquaman, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, Red Tornado, Green Arrow, Wildcat, Deadman, Bronze Tiger and Atom to take on an array of evildoers ranging from mad scientists to intergalactic crooks, from power-mad dictators to out-of-control teenagers.”  Keep these coming.

DISC 1:
1. Death Race To Oblivion!
2. Long Arm Of The Law!
3. Revenge of the Reach!
4. Aquaman’s Outrages adventure!
5. The Golden Age Of Justice!
6. Sidekicks Assemble!

DISC 2:
1. Clash Of Metal Men!
2. A Bat Divided!
3. The Super-Batman of Planet X!
4. The Power Of Shazam!
5. Chill Of The Night!
6. Gorillas of Our Midst!

That’s it for this week.  Stay tuned for next week for more great releases.  Thanks.