Here are the main releases hitting shelves next week. I’ve been watching for a release date for The Dark Knight, but with Warner Bros.’ recent announcement of a January rerelease of the film, it doesn’t sound like it’ll be on home video in time for this Christmas season, though it does sound like it might have enough time in theatres at the right time of year to beat Titanic‘s domestic record and garner some Oscar buzz.
First, the DVD releases:
- Adam-12: Season Two
- Aria the Animation Season 1
- An Autumn Afternoon – Criterion Collection
- Banacek: The Complete Series Box Set:
- Beauty and the Beast – The Complete Series
- B.L. Stryker: The Complete Series
- Can’t Hardly Wait: 10th Anniversary Edition
- The Collected Films of Takahiko Iimura, No. 1
- Drive-In Horror Classics: Includes “The Head,” “I Eat Your Skin,” “The Manster” and “Screaming Skull.”
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Single Disc Edition
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Three Disc Unrated Collector’s Edition
- Iron Man: Single Disc Edition
- Iron Man: Two Disc Special Collectors’ Edition
- The Jewel In The Crown (25th Anniversary Edition)
- The Last Laugh: A restored deluxe edition from Kino International, which has a great track record for restored deluxe editions of this type of film.
- The Man Who Saved Christmas
- The Mosquito Coast
- My Name Is Earl: Season Three
- My Three Sons: Season One, Vol. 1
- Numb3rs – The Complete Fourth Season
- Rest Stop – Don’t Look Back
- Rocket Ship: The feature film edit of a Flash Gordon serial.
- Silent Classics: Includes “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1921),” “The Golem,” “The Lost World” and “Thief of Baghdad.”
- Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition: This seems to be another of those great shows that nobody ever watched.
- The Starlost – The Complete Series
- Ultimate Unrated Comedy Collection: Includes “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Knocked Up” and “The 40 Year Old Virgin.”
- Voltron Volume 6
- When We Left Earth – The NASA Missions
Now, the Blu-Ray releases:
- The 40 Year Old Virgin: Unrated edition
- Angel in the Family
- Can’t Hardly Wait
- A Christmas Visitor
- Daredevil – The Director’s Cut: Don’t judge this version by the theatrical edition. They are dramatically different. The only comparable movie I’ve seen in this regard is Blade Runner. Neither edition of Daredevil is as good as Blade Runner, but the differences between the theatrical and director’s cut editions are just as extreme.
- Dawn of the Dead
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Unrated Edition
- Halloween Starter Pack: Includes “Land of the Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead” and “The Thing.”
- Iron Man (Ultimate Two Disc Edition)
- Knocked Up: Unrated edition
- Land of the Dead
- The Man Who Saved Christmas
- Masters of Horror Bundle: Though the bundle is exclusive to Amazon.com, the individual releases can be found in all the usual places.
- Rest Stop – Don’t Look Back
- Salem Witch Trials
- Seven Swords
- The Sixth Sense
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
- The Thing: The John Carpenter version
- The Ultimate Unrated Comedy Collection: Includes “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Knocked Up.”
- When We Left Earth – The NASA Missions
- Zombie Bundle: Includes “Day of the Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead” and “Evil Dead II.”
Finally, the pick of the week. This will probably surprise nobody: Iron Man is the one I’ve had on preorder since before they announced a release date.
Daredevil
So is the director’s edition better than the theatrical version?
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Re: Daredevil
By a country mile. Many of the logic problems in the theatrical version are fixed by not cutting out the required scenes, or using completely different versions of the scenes. The nonsensical love scene, in which Daredevil wasn’t scarred across the back? Gone. The sudden, unexplained way in which word gets out that the Kingpin is Wilson Fisk? Explained. Matt Murdock’s ability to maintain his reputation as a good lawyer while running around in costume all day? He actually investigates and works an unrelated case in this version. There are also a pile of alternate takes that were used instead.
Re: Daredevil
So dare I ask… is the director’s cut version of Elektra worth watching?
Re: Daredevil
Granted, I saw the two versions months apart, but I don’t know what was changed. I think it’s a matter of a couple of minutes worth of extra footage and that’s about it. Bowman didn’t have as many disagreements with the studio as Johnson did, so Elektra didn’t have many alternate scenes or takes to work from.
My Picks
Iron Man, definitely, and Sports Night was one of those gems that indeed, no one watched. If you were a fan of Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing (or Studio 60), be sure to grab this. We need more smart comedies (and death to the laugh track!)