There’s a lot of 3D product hitting this week. PlayStation 3 owners may be interested in knowing that the recent system patch to version 3.50 supports 3D Blu-Ray over the HDMI interface.
Title | DVD Release(s) | Blu-Ray Release(s) |
---|---|---|
Action | ||
RoboGeisha | Amazon.com, rightstuf.com | Amazon.com, rightstuf.com |
Alex: New film from the creator of The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. At RightStuf this comes with a free bumper sticker. | ||
Anime | ||
Hayate: The Combat Butler Vol. 7 | Amazon.com, rightstuf.com | |
Taisho Baseball Girls | Amazon.com, rightstuf.com | |
Alex: Anime series about Japan’s first girls baseball team, set during the Taisho period (immediately prior to World War II). | ||
Vampire Knight Vol. 3 | Amazon.com, rightstuf.com | |
Voltron: Fleet of Doom | Amazon.com, rightstuf.com | |
Alex: RightStuf says this won’t be shipping for another month. Blaine: Amazon.com still doesn’t have package art, so their release date could well be out of date. | ||
Art House | ||
Christmas | ||
Disney’s A Christmas Carol | DVD only | two disc combo edition, four disc combo edition |
Blaine: Note that this is the Jim Carrey version, as opposed to Disney’s best version, released last year. | ||
Mr. Magoo’s Christmas | Combo edition | |
Peanuts Deluxe Holiday Collection (Ultimate Collector’s Edition) | Amazon.com | |
Blaine: Includes the same disc content as the previous edition, but this one also has window clings and a snow globe. | ||
Polar Express 3D | Amazon.com | |
Classics (Cult) | ||
Classics (Traditional) | ||
The Complete Metropolis | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
Blaine: Two important things to note here. One is that this edition includes footage recently discovered in South America, restoring a lot of the footage previously represented by title cards in recent years. The other is that the Blu-Ray edition doesn’t actually ship until November 23, one week after the DVD edition, but I’m listing it anyway so people know it’s an option. | ||
Modern Times (Criterion Collection) | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
Blaine: The Charlie Chaplin classic. | ||
Sherlock Jr. / Three Ages | single disc, ultimate two disc edition | |
Blaine: A pair of Buster Keaton classics. | ||
Comedy | ||
Glee: Season One Giftset | Amazon.com | |
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Sunny Christmas Giftset | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
The Last Airbender | Amazon.com | Blu-Ray only, combo |
Blaine: I haven’t seen it myself, but I have it on good authority that this was a comedy. | ||
The Office: Digital Shorts Collection | Amazon.com | |
Documentary | ||
The Endless Summer Re-Mastered | One Disc, Two Disc | |
Alex: Bruce Brown’s legendary documentary film about several surfers doing a complete lap around the world in search of the perfect wave). | ||
Gangland: Complete Season Six | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods | Amazon.com | |
Drama | ||
The Kids are Alright | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) | Amazon.com | |
Family | ||
Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore | Amazon.com | single disc Blu-Ray, three disc Blu-Ray/DVD/Blu-Ray 3D combo |
Open Season 3D | Amazon.com | |
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) | Amazon.com | |
Fantasy | ||
Clash of the Titans 3D | Amazon.com | |
Blaine: The recent remake, not the Harryhausen version. This 3 disc edition also has regular Blu-Ray and DVD versions, so it’ll play on anything. | ||
Horror | ||
Children of the Corn | Amazon.com | |
Crowley | Amazon.com | |
Alex: Horror film about a professor’s virtual reality expiriments leading to the soul of Alastair Crowley getting stuck in his head. Written by the lead singer of Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickenson. | ||
Music / Musical | ||
Das Ring Der Niebelugen | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
Alex: All 4 parts of the Ring Cycle on DVD or Blu-Ray, in one boxed set. | ||
Neon Nights – 30 Years of Heaven & Hell, Live at Wacken | Amazon.com | |
Alex: This is Ronnie James Dio’s last concert performance, performing with Heaven & Hell – the Black Sabbath lineup during his time as lead singer. Were it not for Dio’s death, I would have had a chance to see him perform on Iron Maiden’s Final Frontier tour – as he was scheduled to open (after his death Dream Theater was booked to open for them instead, on their last tour with Mike Portnoy before his departure from the band). | ||
Mystery | ||
Perry Mason, Season Five, Volume Two | Amazon.com | |
Romance | ||
Science Fiction | ||
Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition | DVD | Blu-Ray |
The Twilight Zone: Season Two | Amazon.com | |
Blaine: This is the original series, from the 1960s, and not the 1980s version. | ||
Sports | ||
The John Cena Experience | Amazon.com | |
Alex: 3 Disk collection of some of John Cena’s earlier matches. | ||
Superhero | ||
Heroes: The Complete Series | Amazon.com | |
Blaine: This appears to be DVD only, despite the fact that all four seasons have been released on Blu-Ray in the past. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks they’re using this to test the waters for the rumoured made-for-TV movies to wrap things up, which would then be included in the complete series Blu-Ray box in hopes of getting people to upgrade the entire collection at that point. | ||
Suspense / Thriller | ||
The Night of the Hunter (Criterion Collection) | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
This has been on my “must see” list for years. | ||
War |
Finally, the picks of the week. Alex says, “If you’ve been waiting on getting Avatar, this is the week to get it. Metalheads will probably be interested in the Heaven & Hell DVD.” Blaine says, “Metropolis is a genre classic, and has been highly influential in and out of the genre ever since 1927. Kino did an excellent job on their previous release, so I’m looking forward to this one. The Night of the Hunter is also on my must-see list.”
Saw Airbender at the $1 theaters here and it’s as bad as people say. Amongst a multitude of cinematic sins, the biggest is the fact that the narrator (Katara) tells the audience what’s going on, when we can see full well what’s going on ON SCREEN.
Oh, and I’ll counter with the best Christmas Carol with a Disney label is “A Muppet Christmas Carol,” but I will concede that Mickey’s is a classic.
Proposed qualifiers: “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” is the best version produced by Disney. “A Muppet Christmas Carol” was produced by Jim Hensen’s studios, and merely distributed by Disney.
A Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite version, period. I still chuckle over the line where the Muppet thinks it’s colder inside Scrooge’s office than it is outside in the snow.
Lots of film history this week: not only this version of Metropolis, but also Endless Summer (if you’re a nerd with any affinity for surfing or the beach culture. Beautifully shot), and Chaplin’s landmark Modern Times. The 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty is both stylistically dated and historically inaccurate, but I found it a fascinating view, especially for the central performances.
It would be hilariously appropriate for time-traveling cell phone lady to show up in that movie too.