Hi Bryan Here…..

A decent week for releases.  And on time this week for the most part.  A few hours late, but all is well.  Okay, so let us jump right in and get to all the goodies.  Some of the must own blu-rays include ‘Airplane’, ‘Mimic’, ‘The Others’, 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!!

AIRPLANE! (BLURAY)

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE AIRPLANE!!!

Probably one of the top five all time comedies of all time.  I just wish this got a better release.  I mean it definitely is the best this movie has ever looked or sounded.  I just want more for personal reasons.  Maybe in the next year for the anniversary of the film, there will be an ultimate edition of the film.  An airplane crew takes ill. Surely the only person capable of landing the plane is an ex-pilot afraid to fly. But don’t call him Shirley.  But until then, this is the one to get.  Top five comedies EVER.  This is a Best Buy exclusive.

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THE NAKED GUN (BLURAY)

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Leslie Neilsen is just gold in all of these films.  Incompetent cop Frank Drebin has to foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.  Plus OJ Simpson plays Nordberg.  All these are so silly and funny that I just can’t stop laughing.  Love this film.  This one is also a Best Buy exclusive.

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PLANES, TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES (BLURAY)

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES!!!

One of the greatest feel good Thanksgiving comedies of all time.  Steve Martin and John Candy are magnificent.  They have so much chemistry and it truly shows through this whole film.  This movie is not only hilarious, but has true heart and soul.  Were it not for its profanity-laden opening scenes, John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles might have been suitable family entertainment: certainly it’s heaps less violent and mean-spirited than Hughes’ Home Alone. En route to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his family, easily annoyed businessman Neal Page (Steve Martin) finds his first-class plane ticket has been demoted to coach, and he must share his flight with obnoxious salesman Del Griffith (John Candy). A sudden snowstorm in Chicago forces the plane to land in Wichita. Unable to find a room in any of the four-star hotels, Neal is compelled to accept Del’s invitation to share his accommodations in a cheapo-sleazo motel. Driven to distraction by Del’s annoying personal habits, the ungrateful Neal lets forth with a stream of verbal abuse. That’s when Del delivers the anticipated (but always welcome) “I don’t judge, why should you?”-type speech so common to John Hughes flicks. The shamefaced Neal tries to make up to Del, but there’s a bumpy time ahead as the mismatched pair make their way back to Chicago, first in a balky train, then by way of a refrigerator truck. We know from the outset that the oil-and-water Neal and Del will be bosom companions by the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but it’s still a fun ride. The best bit: a half-asleep Del thinking that he’s got his hand tucked between two pillows — until his bedmate, Neal, bellows “Those aren’t pillows!”  This one is also a Best Buy Exclusive.

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BASKET CASE (BLURAY)

Oh man.  I remember the first time I was shown Basket Case.  I was too young and didn’t understand a whole lot of it, but man was I forever warped.  A young man carrying a big basket that contains his deformed Siamese-twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.  This movie is truly bizarre and uncanny.  Must be seen.  So glad this is on bluray finally.  This will be fun for a horror schlock fest.

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BATTLING BUTLER/GO WEST (BLURAY)

More awesome Buster Keaton.  BATTLING BUTLER (1926): Keaton stars as Alfred Butler, a fragile young man whose father sends him into the country where he hopes masculinity will blossom. Ironically, he is there mistaken for ”Battling” Butler, a renowned prizefighter of firey temperament. To impress a young lady (Sally O’Neil), Alfred carries on the ruse by engaging in a laughingly inept training regimen, but his harmless charade is soon complicated by the untimely arrival of the true contender (Francis McDonald). When the long-awaited opportunity to prove himself a man finally comes, it is before the gloved fists of the boxer, who initiates a locker-room brawl. There, in a sequence of agonizing tension and delightful surprises, Battling Butler reaches its unforgettable climax. GO WEST (1925): In this hilarious classic Buster Keaton plays a hapless young man (aptly named ”Friendless”) who idealistically hops a freight train westward to meet his destiny, first in a teeming metropolis (where he is roundly trampled by rush-hour foot traffic) then into the ranchlands of Arizona. In the side-splitting course of his attempts at bronco-busting, cattle wrangling, and even dairy farming, Friendless finds himself enamored with Brown Eyes, a particularly affectionate bovine beauty from whose hoof he removed a painful pebble.  Two for the price of 1 1/2.  Myst buy for any Keaton fan.

BEN HUR: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (BLURAY)

High-definition Blu-ray hits greater heights with the arrival of the visual splendor, thundering action and towering drama of this record-setting winner of 11 Academy Awards®* including Best Picture. Charlton Heston brings a muscular physical and moral presence to his Best Actor Oscar®-winning role of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman in Palestine whose heroic odyssey includes enslavement by the Romans, vengeance against his tormentors during a furious arena chariot race and fateful encounters with Jesus Christ. Best Director Oscar® winner William Wyler masterfully grips the reins of an enduring and spellbinding spectacular.  This film fucking owns.  It owns even more finally on bluray.  It looks so amazing.  Everything about this transfer is clear and gorgeous.  Much kudos Warner.

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DISCS 1 AND 2: MOVIE
The 1959 Winner of a Record-Setting 11 Academy Awards®* – Including Best Picture, Actor (Charlton Heston) and Director (William Wyler) – Restored Frame by Frame from the Original 65MM Camera Negative and Remastered in Stunning 1080p High Definition for Maximum Picture and Audio Clarity
Commentary by Film Historian T. Gene Hatcher with Charlton Heston
Music-Only Track Showcasing Miklos Rozsa’s Award-Winning Score
Theatrical Trailers
DISC 3: SPECIAL FEATURES
NEW FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY CHARLTON HESTON & BEN-HUR: A PERSONAL JOURNEY
Retrospective on the Ben-Hur Star Written and Directed by His Son Fraser C. Heston,Featuring Never-Before-Available Images and Footage from the Heston Family Archives
THE 1925 SILENT VERSION – Thames Television
Restoration with Stereophonic Orchestral Score by Carl Davis
Vintage Documentaries Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema and Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic
Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures – Audiovisual Recreation Via Stills, Storyboards, Sketches, Music and Dialogue
Screen Tests
Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards® Telecast
Newsreels
MONUMENTAL COLLECTIBLES!
CHARLTON HESTON: THE BEN-HUR DIARIES
Reproduction of Charlton Heston’s Personal and Insightful Diary from January 1958 to April 1960, Chronicling His Time Before Production Started Through the Academy Awards
EXCLUSIVE BOOK WITH RARE PHOTOS, PRODUCTION ART AND REPRODUCTIONS FROM THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL PRESSBOOK

THE BLOOD TRILOGY (BLURAY)

Fuck yes.  Please release more stuff like this in sets.  I will be the happiest adult man child on Earth.   Blood Feast (1963) – An Egyptian caterer kills various women in suburban Miami to use their body parts to bring to life a dormant Egyptian goddess, while an inept police detective try to track him down. Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964) – Six people are lured into a small Deep South town for a Centennial celebration where the residents proceed to kill them one by one as revenge for the town’s destruction during the Civil War.  Color Me Blood Red (1965) – A crackpot artist kills various people to use their blood as his new crimson red color for his paintings.

CARLOS (CRITERION COLLECTION BLURAY)

Criterion knocks it out of the park yet again.  Carlos, directed by Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours), is an epic, intensely detailed account of the life of the infamous international terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sanchez—also known as Carlos the Jackal. One of the twentieth century’s most-wanted fugitives, Carlos was committed to violent left-wing activism throughout the seventies and eighties, orchestrating bombings, kidnappings, and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East. Assayas portrays him not as a criminal mastermind but as a symbol of seismic political shifts around the world, and the magnetic Édgar Ramírez (The Bourne Ultimatum) brilliantly embodies him as a swaggering global gangster. Criterion presents the complete, uncut, director-approved, five-and-a-half-hour version of Carlos.  This movie is fucking insane.  Be prepared…this film is 339 minutes long.  That means it is almost six hours long.  But man, what a film.

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EXTRACT (BLURAY)

I really liked this film.  Not a whole lot of people saw it.  Mike Judge made the film.  Judge made Office Space, Beavis and Butthead, Idiocracy, and King of the Hill.  It seems that most of his live action films don’t do well in theaters, but find their huge following on home video.  I hope this one does too.  It is quite genius.  The creator of Office Space, writer-director Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-head), moves from cubicles to the assembly line with Extract, his outrageous return to workplace comedy, featuring a hilarious ensemble cast of quirky characters. About to sell his successful flavor Extract Company, life is almost sweet for Joel (Jason Bateman) until a freak on-the-job accident happens. Add to that his bored wife (Kristen Wiig), his laid-back, stoner best friend (Ben Affleck), a sexy con artist (Mila Kunis) who blows into town with dollar signs in her bedroom eyes, and a dumb gigolo and life as he knows it turns sour. Filled with laugh-out-loud one-liners and raunchy comedy, Extract is 100% pure hilarity.

FOOTLOOSE (BLURAY)

I have such a sweet spot for this movie.  Kevin Bacon for a while was my favorite actor.  Mostly because of Tremors, but shit he was just badass in this film.  Oh this brings me back to my childhood.  Classic tale of teen rebellion and repression features a delightful combination of dance choreography and realistic and touching performances. When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he’s in for a real case of culture shock. Though he tries hard to fit in, the streetwise Ren can’t quite believe he’s living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. There is one small pleasure, however: Ariel, a troubled but lovely blonde with a jealous boyfriend. and a Bible-thumping minister, who is responsible for keeping the town dance-free. Ren and his classmates want to do away with this ordinance, especially since the senior prom is around the corner, but only Ren has the courage to initiate a battle to abolish the outmoded ban and revitalize the spirit of the repressed townspeople.  Do it.  Dancing is not forbidden.

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THE KENNEDYS (BLURAY)

The story of the most fabled political family in American history, told in a manner similar to The Godfather: a manipulative, egocentric father determined to live out his own ambitions through his sons, who in turn spent their lives dancing to his tune while at the same time trying to stand on their own. This is history through personality – the tangled relationships through which paint a picture of one of the most turbulent periods of the modern age. Viewers will be upstairs at the White House, not in the Cabinet Room. Through iconic events in history – the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil rights struggle, the mob connection – viewers will learn about the lesser known, yet critical personal stories.  Excellent acting all around and a must own for any fan of anything that revolves around the Kennedy family.

MIMIC: DIRECTOR’S CUT (BLURAY+DIGITAL COPY)

One of the early films of Guillermo Del Toro comes Mimic.  This movie is actually really fucking good.  From acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labrynth, Hellboy) comes “a terrifying film of great elegance” (San Francisco Chronicle). Starring Academy Award© winner Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) and screen favorite Charles S. Dutton (A Time to Kill) and Josh Brolin (True Grit) this electrifying thriller brings the epic battle between man and nature to life when a team of scientists discover a glitch in their miracle cure. With the power to mimic and destroy its every predator and the threat of an entire city’s destruction, their creation has taken on a horrifying life of its own. With the weight of extinction on their shoulders the team is forced to take matters into their own hands in this stylish hit that delivers heartpounding thrills from beginning to end.  This director’s cut is far far better than the theatrical version.  Such a great and creepy film.  Love it.

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NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST. 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE/ NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST. 3: DREAM WARRIORS (BLURAY)

This double feature bluray disc has the two sequels following the original Nightmare on Elm St.  Wish these were single releases with tons of extras, but I guess we will have to wait for the all out ultimate edition of the whole Nightmare series. A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge – Five years have passed since Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) was sent howling back to hell. But now, a new kid on Elm Street is being haunted every night by gruesome visions of the deadly dream stalker. And if his twisted soul takes possession of the boy’s body, Freddy will return from the dead to wreak bloody murder and mayhem upon the entire town.  When A Nightmare On Elm Street made a killing, horror fans shrieked for more. Soon the diabolic Freddy was resurrected with a vengeance — along with some of the most terrifying special effects ever to spatter the screen. Look for Robert Englund minus his Freddy face in the opening sequence. He’s a real scream!  A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors – Born the bastard son of a hundred maniacs, demented killer Freddy Krueger is back for fresh victims in this hallucinatory shocker co-written by original creator Wes Craven (Scream 1, 2 and 3).  The last of the Elm Street kids are now at a psychiatric ward where Freddy haunts their dreams with unspeakable horrors. Their only hope is dream researcher and fellow survivor Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp of the original Nightmare), who helps them battle the supernatural psycho on his own hellish turf.  Also let it be known that Nightmare on Elm St. 2 might be one of the most homo-erotic films ever made.  RIght up there with Top Gun and Commando.

THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (CRITERION COLLECTION BLURAY)

Criterion totally rolls out the red carpet for this early film. I was totally taken by this movie.  The last person to die on New Year’s Eve before the clock strikes twelve is doomed to take the reins of Death’s chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year. So says the legend that drives The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen), directed by the father of Swedish cinema, Victor Sjöström (The Wind), about an alcoholic, abusive ne’er-do-well (Sjöström himself) who is shown the error of his ways and the pure-of-heart Salvation Army sister who believes in his redemption. Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf, this extraordinarily rich and innovative silent classic (which inspired Ingmar Bergman to make movies) is a Dickensian ghost story and a deeply moving morality tale, as well as a showcase for groundbreaking special effects.  Such a great film.  Perfect.

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PINK FLOYD: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (BLURAY)

Immersion Editions present the complete artistic experience. Lavishly packaged in a sturdy 29cm square box, the sets contain remastered, previously unreleased and audio-visual material, plus much additional content – reproduced memorabilia, brand new graphics, art prints, collectors’ items, lavish booklets and more.  Originally released in 1973, The Dark Side of The Moon became Pink Floyd’s first number 1 album in the US, remaining on the chart for 741 weeks between 1973 and 1988. One of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed albums of all time The Dark Side of The Moon also introduced The iconic album cover artwork by Hipgnosis featuring a prism representing the band’s stage lighting, the record’s lyrics, and the request for a ‘simple and bold’ design. The Immersion version features the classic Studio album digitally remastered and presented as a limited edition high quality boxset featuring 6 discs of rare and unreleased audio and video material, plus a new 40 page oversized perfect-bound booklet, a book of original photographs edited by Jill Furmanovsky, exclusive merchandise and facsimile collectables.

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TORSO (BLURAY)

Hell yes to TORSO.  A series of sex murders shock a college campus, and four beautiful young girlfriends head for the safety of an isolated country villa. But as they succumb to their own erotic desires, their weekend of pleasure becomes a vacation to dismember at the hands – and blade – of the lecherous maniac.  Directed by Sergio Martino (MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD) and starring Suzy Kendall (THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE) and Tina Aumont (SALON KITTY), this Euro Horror chiller was originally released in America with much of its controversial violence removed by censors. Now freshly transferred in thrilling High Definition from the original negative, TORSO is presented in both its Uncensored English Version and Full-Length Italian Director’s Cut for the first time ever!  Excellent film.

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