Another week has come, and another round of releases is upon us. There are fewer releases than earlier this month, but the average quality of the releases is pretty high.
First, the DVD releases:
- 24: Redemption
- Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy – Season 2 Set
- Beverly Hills 90210 – The Sixth Season
- The Big Easy: Season 2
- Bottle Rocket – Criterion Collection: Coming to Criterion Blu-Ray on Dec. 16, at the same MSRP.
- Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: Complete Collection
- Chungking Express – Criterion Collection: Coming to Criterion Blu-Ray on Dec. 16, at the same MSRP.
- A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All
- Darker Than Black, Vol. 1
- Darker Than Black: Starter Set (includes v.1)
- David Lynch: The Lime Green Set: Includes “Eraserhead – Remastered Version” (and its soundtrack), “The Short Films of David Lynch,” “The Elephant Man,” “Wild at Heart,” “Industrial Symphony,” “Blue Velvet,” “Dumbland,” and someting labelled “Mystery Disc.”
- The Doris Day Show: The Complete Collection
- Family Affair: The Complete Series
- Freaks and Geeks: Yearbook Edition
- Fred Claus
- George Carlin: It’s Bad For Ya
- Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. – The Final Season: I think this is season five.
- Hancock (Single-Disc Rated Edition)
- Hancock (Single Disc Unrated Edition)
- Hancock (Two-Disc Unrated Edition)
- Meet Dave
- The Mod Squad – The Second Season, Vol. 1
- Pink Panther Ultimate Collection: All the cartoons, and all of the movies except the one Universal owns the rights to.
- Pumpkin Scissors: Season 1, Part 1
- Pumpkin Scissors: Season 1, Part 2
- Red Skelton – The Ultimate Collection
- The Ron Howard Spotlight Collection: Includes “Apollo 13,” “Backdraft,” “A Beautiful Mind” and “Cinderella Man.”
- Space Chimps
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – Criterion Collection
- Superman: Doomsday: The package looks different than the original release, but I don’t know if the content has changed.
Now, the Blu-Ray releases:
- 16 Blocks
- Becket
- Earth vs. The Flying Saucers
- Fearless (Director’s Cut)
- Fred Claus
- George Carlin: It’s Bad For Ya
- The Goonies
- Hancock (Unrated)
- Jarhead
- The Kingdom
- Meet Dave
- Space Chimps
- Starship Troopers
- Superman – Doomsday
- Walk the Line (Extended Cut)
- Zodiac (Director’s Cut)
Finally, the pick of the week. If you don’t support Blu-Ray, and don’t expect to anytime soon, get any or all three Criterion releases this week. If you do support Blu-Ray, or expect to soon, just stick with “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” this week and hold off on the others until December 16, when the first wave of Criterion Collection Blu-Ray movies hits the market with Chungking Express, Bottle Rocket, The Man Who Fell To Earth and The Third Man. “Chungking Express” is one of the very, very few romantic comedies I have in my collection. It’s funny, energetic, and clearly directed by Wong-Kar Wai, who is widely regarded as the world’s most romantic filmmaker. “Bottle Rocket” is the reason the world has heard of Wes Anderson, who directed, and Luke and Owen Wilson, who not only starred in it, but who wrote a more intelligent script than those they have since become known for. “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” is one of the definitive Cold War movies.