I’ll watch and review something after doing some housework. I’m debating between the Criterion Collection edition of “Armageddon,” the HD DVD edition of “Being John Malkovich,” the original (and strangely unreviewed) “Pirates of the Carribean” (which will be reviewed before the third hits home video on December 5) and “Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles” which is being released in a fancier edition this coming Tuesday. If you have preferences, speak up soon!
First, the DVD releases:
- 2 Days In The Valley: A new edition.
- The Batman – The Complete Fourth Season
- BraveStarr – Season One, Volume One
- Care Bears: 25th Anniversary
- Chappelle’s Show – The Series Collection
- Charles in Charge: Complete Second Season
- C.S.I. – The Complete Seventh Season
- The Doris Day Show – Season 5
- Dr. Katz Professional Therapist – The Complete Series
- Film Noir: Five Classics from the Studio Vaults: Includes “Scarlet Street,” “Contraband,” “Strange Impersonation,” “They Made Me A Fugitive,” and “The Hitch-Hiker.” Kino’s second box set, and I really enjoyed the first.
- Gene Simmons Family Jewels – Complete Season Two
- Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. – 2nd Gig (Complete Collection)
- Godzilla Collection: Includes “Gojira,” “Godzilla,” “King of the Monsters,” “Godzilla Raids Again,” “Mothra vs. Godzilla,” “Ghidorah,” “The Three-Headed Monster,” “Invasion of Astro Monster” and “Terror of Mechagodzilla.”
- Hairspray (Widescreen Edition)
- Hairspray (Two-Disc Shake & Shimmy Edition)
- Hairspray (Limited Edition Giftset)
- House Arrest
- Hudson Hawk (Special Edition)
- I Am Cuba: The Ultimate Edition: Not to be confused with Stephen Colbert’s “I Am America.”
- The Lady Vanishes – Criterion Collection: I’ve got an earlier Criterion release of this title, and love it. This wasn’t Hitchcock’s first movie, but it’s one of his first major achievements, following shortly after the original “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “The 39 Steps.” Highly recommended.
- Live Free or Die Hard (Unrated Edition): PG-13 rating or not, this felt like a really good “Die Hard” movie. Check it out if you haven’t already.
- Live Free or Die Hard – Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition)
- Love American Style – Season 1, Volume 1
- Mission Impossible – The Third TV Season
- New Line Cinema’s 40th Anniversary Collection: Includes “Pink Flamingos,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “The Player,” “The Mask,” “Seven,” “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” “Boogie Nights,” “Wag the Dog,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Rush Hour,” “Blow,” the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “Elf,” “The Notebook” and “Wedding Crashers.”
- Nosferatu (The Ultimate Two Disc Edition): It’s rare that I’m tempted to upgrade once I already have a copy of a movie in a given format, but this one is tempting, given how nicely Kino handled their single disc edition.
- Queer as Folk – The Complete Series
- Rescue Dawn
- Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (Two Disc Collector’s Edition)
- Santa Baby: Jenny McCarthy as Santa’s daughter. I’m betting it’s a little different in tone than her previous effort, the Razzie-sweeping “Dirty Love.”
- The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause: If I were Tim Allen’s Santa, I’d be hiring a lawyer to go through every clause in detail at the soonest possible convenience.
- Sawdust and Tinsel – Criterion Collection: This had the same director as The Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring.
- Sin
- Stir of Echoes 2: The Homecoming
- Teen Titans – The Complete Fourth Season
- Titanic (10th Anniversary Edition): In my opinion, this is probably the most overrated film of its decade. For that matter, it’s the most overrated film of several decades before and (so far) after, as well.
- A Very Special Christmas: I love the albums in this series, but I’m not sure what exactly this DVD is. Is it footage from a concert? A collection of music videos? New footage not directly related to the soundtrack? A description would be nice.
- The Wild Wild West – Third Season
Now, the Blu-Ray releases:
- Bad Santa – The Unrated Version and Director’s Cut
- Die Hard
- Die Hard 2 – Die Harder
- Die Hard With A Vengeance
- Live Free or Die Hard
- The Die Hard Collection: All four movies in one set.
- Hairspray
- Pathfinder: The unrated edition
- The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause
The HD DVD releases are as follows:
- Star Trek The Original Series – The Complete First Season: Fully restored, with replacement visual effects.
- Tremors
Finally, the pick of the week. I’m going with Live Free or Die Hard in the edition of your choice. The Star Trek set is tempting, particularly as it’s the combo edition that includes both DVD and HD DVD formats on the disks, but I’ve heard too many rumours about the new effects being inconsistent with the dialogue to recommend it sight unseen.
MI:3
I’m excited about season 3 of Mission Impossible. I only ever saw the first season, so the rest of them are all new for me. And it’s such a well made show. They don’t do it like that anymore.
Also, I’ve mentioned before that I’m not buying any new discs till the bluray vs hddvd thing is over, but I really don’t think anything would improve the quality on these guys, so what the hell (: