Weekly Digital Disc Picks – December 6, 2011

I suspect that the number of releases each week can be used as an indicator of the economy. When I started writing these columns, each Tuesday between October 1 and December 26 would have over 1000 releases to sift through. For the past three years, those same weeks have been in the 170-250 release range. This week is up to 396, which I take as a sign of recovery.

Title Available Formats
Action
Cowboys and Aliens
  • DVD only theatrical cut: Amazon
  • DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital theatrical cut combo: Amazon
  • Extended edition digital purchase: Amazon
  • Extended edition digital rental: Amazon
Blaine: This cast and director still appeal to me, but I haven’t heard good things about the finished product. An extended cut that runs 17 minutes longer than the theatrical cut could be either the best or worst thing for the movie.
Mission: Impossible Giftset Collection
Includes the first three Tom Cruise movies
Anime
Birdy The Mighty Decode: The Complete Series
Devil May Cry: The Complete Series, SAVE Edition
Alex: I reviewed this series earlier this year.
Dragonball Z Movie Pack Collection 2
Contains the films “Return of Cooler”, “Super Android 13”, “Broly, The Legendary Super Saiyan”, and “Bojack Unbound”
Master of Martial Arts: Box Set
Alex: A particularly detestable fan-service heavy martial arts series.
Mazinkaiser SKL
Go Nagai’s sequel to Mazinger Z.
Rozen Maiden Complete Collection
Squid Girl – Season 1, Part 2
Art House
Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Edition
Classics (Cult)
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXII
Includes Time of the Apes, Mighty Jack, The Violent Years and The Brute Man
Classics (Traditional)
Dirk Bogarde: The Rank Collection
Includes Campbell’s Kingdom, Penny Princess, Simba and Agent 8 3/4
Comedy
Designing Women: Season Five
NEW Complete Doctor Collection
The Falcon Mystery Movie Collecion
Blaine: Tim Conway starring in a spy spoof? Why haven’t I heard about this?
Going My Way – The Complete Series
Gene Kelly and Dick York together on weekly TV. Who new?
The Hangover II
  • Digital purchase only: Amazon
  • DVD/Digital combo: Amazon
  • Blu-Ray/Digital Combo: Amazon
  • DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital combo: Amazon
The Lucy Show: The Fifth Season
Portlandia – Season 1
Alex: Mockumentary series about (basically) my home town. (Okay, technically it’s not my home town – I live in a suburb of Portland, but close enough)
The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season
  • DVD regular packaging: Amazon
  • Limited edition molded head (of Kang or Kodos) DVD only: Amazon
  • Blu-Ray only: Amazon
Documentary
Histoire du Cinema
Drama
Big Love
  • Season Five DVD only: Amazon
  • Complete series DVD only: Amazon
Kirk Douglas: The Legacy Collection
Blaine: The description says this includes 5 features, but gives no indication about which five.
The Help
Law and Order: The Ninth Year
Family
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Driving Dave Crazy
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future: The Complete Series
Blaine: This was “must see” TV for me when I was a kid. This was before I started reading credits. Had I been reading them, I’d have noticed the name “J. Michael Straczynski” in a very prominent position. One of the least intellectually insulting merchandise tie-in shows I’ve ever seen. If they had something we could refer to as a “budget,” this could have been incredible.
The Looney Tunes Show: Volume Two
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
  • DVD only: Amazon
  • DVD Limited Edition with Plush Penguin only: Amazon
  • Digital purchase only: Amazon
  • DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital combo: Amazon
The Sarah Jane Adventures: Season Four
Blaine: I still need to watch the first three seasons.
Skeleton Warriors: Complete Series
Spongebob Squarepants: Complete Season Seven
Transformers Prime: Darkness Rising
Voltron: The Black Lion Collection
Romance
Cheaper to Keep Her
Design for Living (Criterion Collection)
Science Fiction
Alien Armageddon
Blaine: This sequel to “Battle for Los Angeles” has a guy on the cover that looks like a cowboy.
I Am Legend / Omega Man Double Feature
Seasonal
Christmas Spirit
A Christmas Wedding Tail
A Christmas Wish
Elvira’s Movie Macabre
Includes Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Beast from Haunted Cave.
Santa Claus
Not the Dudley Moore version; it’s a 179 minute international version.
Santa Claus vs. the Zombies
Suspense
The Debt
The Lady Vanishes (Criterion Collection)
War
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Vietnam in HD

Finally, the picks of the week. Alex says, “I’m Netflixing Portlandia – I don’t have cable, so I didn’t get a chance to watch it when it first ran. However, the clips of it I’ve seen have been absolutely hilarious – and it helps that the show’s writers live here, so they really understand my fair city.” Blaine says, “Criterion putting out Hitchcock on Blu-Ray is generally the hands-down winner any week. This time around it’s The Lady Vanishes.”

7 replies on “Weekly Digital Disc Picks – December 6, 2011”

      • Oh yeah. Then are you sure it’s not an indication that they already re-released all the old (and good) stuff and all that’s left is just the new crap?

        Damn me and my eternal optimism…

        • They are still releasing legacy titles on Blu-Ray. The proportion of soft core porn is also up considerably this year, which could be an indication that the producers think they can compete with the Internet’s free supply again.

          I don’t claim to be an economist, but I think it’s looking better than it has been. Granted, it’s not close to the 1200+ weeks we had a decade ago, but it’s up from 2009 or 2010.

  1. Nothing terribly exciting for me this week. I added Cowboys & Aliens to my BB queue, but it’ll be a couple weeks before it comes up in the rotation.

Comments are closed.