Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves taking bloody revenge on the bastards who who acted inappropriately towards his children. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Mystery Science Theater 3000: XVII

Pitch: Making bad movies good again, one silhouetted joke at a time…

Why Buy? An astronaut and his pet vacuum are forced to endure terrible movies but manage to endure the torture by constantly riffing about what they see on screen. Volume XVII covers four films including the masterpiece that is The Crawling Eye along with The Beatniks, Blood Waters of Dr. Z, and The Final Sacrifice. Once again Shout Factory goes above and beyond when putting together the set… four slim digi-packs hold the dvds, and the discs are packed with extras including interviews, featurettes, and more. There’s even four postcard posters suitable for framing… if you’re into that kind of thing.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Season

Pitch: Purity rings, dead celebrities, pirates, eco-warriors, and pee…

Why Buy? How many shows can you name that were just as solid, successful, and hilarious five seasons after their premiere? Ten seasons? How about thirteen? South Park is the only show I know that has maintained the same high level of quality and comedy season after season. Some episodes may suck along the way, but overall each season has more hits than misses. Including this one. Thirteen may actually be a lucky number for the show too as there isn’t a bad episode in the bunch this past season.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentaries, featurette

Vengeance Trilogy

Pitch: Three of the best Korean films of the past decade in one box set? Yes please…

Why Buy? Hopefully you’ve already seen (and bought) these three films from director Park Chan-wook, but if you haven’t this new set gives you the perfect opportunity to get them all at once. Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is incredibly daring and bleak, Old Boy is the epitome of style and substance, and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance ends the informal trilogy with unexpected humor and beauty… along with some brutal violence of course. This is a DVD column obviously, but I’d actually recommend you pick up the Best Buy exclusive Blu-ray version if you can.

Blu-ray? Yes (Blu-ray is a Best Buy exclusive until June)

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentaries, featurettes, interviews, promos… hours and hours of bonus material

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

Pitch: Short snippets with socially retarded men…

Why Rent? A grad student attempts to deal with a bad breakup by interviewing men about their views on women, love, and relationships. She discovers that all men have issues. Surprise. John Krasinski’s directorial debut is based on a story by David Foster Wallace, and it should be noted that Wallace himself no longer has any issues at all.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Paris

Pitch: Remember that anthology flick Paris je t’aime? Yeah, this is that but better…

Why Rent? This movie puts a narrative base on the anthology idea by centering the tale on a Parisian on the brink of death who watches the people outside his window. The strangers he sees from high above soon become the focus of the story, however briefly, before we return to the dying man. That dark tone is given lift from love stories both serious and frivolous. Also, Melanie Laurent co-stars, and she’s a beautiful and talented basterd that makes any movie worth watching.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Wonderful World

Pitch: Speaking of bastards, which I did directly above, Matthew Broderick plays a fantastic one…

Why Rent? Broderick plays a former children’s entertainer (think Raffi) who now lives a simple life as an unfriendly grump. His Senegalese roommate (and only friend) gets sick and soon the apartment has a new resident when his sister comes to visit. It’s a simple little movie with a couple laughs, but it’s worth watching mainly as a reminder that Broderick is a talented actor when he wants to be.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Armored

Pitch: The director of Predators shows us what happens when good thieves go bad…

Why Avoid? The concept about a group of armored car guards who decide to rob their own trucks is pretty good, but what should have been a solid tale of double crosses and character flaws quickly becomes something… less. Plot holes big enough to drive a Brinks truck through, characters who annoy and none that engage, and behaviors that are both inexplicable and laughable. Ninety minutes of blah.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Pitch: Did you hear about this generic movie?

Why Avoid? It’s a romantic comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker. Enough said. (Although if you need more I will say this… Hugh Grant is nowhere near the heights of Love Actually or Notting Hill here, but he isn’t bad. Watch it for him if you’re a fan, but be prepared to suffer whenever Parker is onscreen.)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, featurettes

Ninja Assassin

Pitch: Witness the death of the big-screen ninja. Not a ninja, the ninja…

Why Avoid? Ninjas are supposed to be cool. I’d even say that by their very nature they’re automatically and unavoidably cool. Yet somehow director James McTeigue and pop star Precipitation have turned this sure thing into a series of very uncool scenes showing people killed by CGI. We see a couple nice fights, but they’re drowned out by the CGI attacks, blood, and after effects. Oh, and Naomie Harris.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes that should have stayed deleted

Also out this week, but review material unavailable: Astro Boy, Bandslam, Broken Embraces, Dillinger Is Dead (Criterion), The Fourth Kind, The Princess and the Frog, Suicide Girls: Guide To Living, New Moon: The Twilight Saga, Unrivaled

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

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• Weekly DVD Drinking Game: Ninja Assassin
• Exclusive Clip: Sarah Jessica Parker vs. a Bear
• This Month In Theaters: January 2010
• Avatar Opens to $73 Million
• Kevin Carr’s Weekly Report Card for 12.18.09
• The Reject Report Gets Ready for Avatar
• Fat Guys at the Movies Ep. 145 – Fatatar
• Wife vs. Ninja Instantly Sounds Better Than Ninja Assassin

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves flying. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Up in the Air

Pitch: Yes, I’m still calling this an Oscar-nominated movie even though it lost in every single category…

Why Buy? Oscar losses and inexplicable backlash be damned! This is a really good movie anchored by a trio of fantastic performances. Clooney portrays a man who discovers his happiness is false and that all he has is his job that sends him around the country firing people for corporations and bosses too weak to do it themselves. His realization comes after two women invade his life in very different capacities, and his decision to reach for something more comes with unexpected consequences. Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick co-star.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

Matt Houston: The First Season

Pitch: He’s basically Batman sans costume, gadgets, and murdered parents…

Why Rent? I’m a fan of TV shows from the eighties featuring private eyes. “Simon & Simon”, “Hardcastle and McCormick”, “Crazy Like A Fox”… they’re just good, old-fashioned entertainment filled with light-hearted mysteries, one-liners, and fairly predictable setups. “Matt Houston” is one of the lesser known examples of the genre, but it’s still good fun. Houston is a Texas billionaire transplanted to LA where he runs multiple businesses including a private detective agency.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Scarecrow & Mrs. King: The Complete First Season

Pitch: Kate Jackson was the sexiest Angel. This is an inarguable fact…

Why Rent? Think of this as the precursor to movies like True Lies or Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And then rent it for almost the same reasons I’ve listed above for “Matt Houston.” No, the shows aren’t similar in the least, but they’re both products of the eighties and therefore inherently entertaining. (I realize that doesn’t always equal good, but the first season of this fun and harmless show is definitely entertaining.)

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

The Stoning of Soraya M.

Pitch: Yet another example of the evils of religion and other mass delusions…

Why Rent? An Iranian woman is falsely accused of adultery, and under Sharia law is sentenced to stoning. The movie tells the woman’s story and shows the pain and ridiculous evil behind each step along the way. Seriously, forget Precious with all it’s faux melodrama and pat conclusion… this film is the far superior and far more affecting story. It’s also a true story which makes it that much more powerful.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurette

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Pitch: It took Troy Duffy ten years to rebuild the bridges he burned on the first film with Hollywood, critics, and folks with good taste in movies…

Why Avoid? Duffy’s sophomore film is an easy target for criticism because frankly, it isn’t very good. After the first film managed to build a cult following on DVD the road to a sequel went from vague threat to inevitable reality, and ten years later we have more of the same wrapped up in a lesser film. I don’t mind the derogatory and unfunny jokes, but I do mind the complete lack of creativity, character, and style. Fans of the first will undoubtedly flock to the sequel and probably enjoy it, but if you weren’t as enamored the first time around go watch Shoot ‘Em Up again if you’re jonesing for brainless and logic-free gunplay.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurette

Old Dogs

Pitch: Remember when Robin Williams was funny and John Travolta danced? This flick hopes you do…

Why Avoid? If you absolutely have to rent this, pop it in, skip to the special features, watch the bloopers, then get it the hell out of your DVD player before it infects the machine with some disgusting virus. The fact that this movie makes director Walt Becker’s last film (Wild Hogs) look like pure comedy genius is all you really need to know.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, bloopers

Possession

Pitch: Wasn’t this an episode of “Ghost Whisperer”…

Why Avoid? Sarah Michelle Geller had a hit with her Japanese remake of The Grudge, but subsequent attempts to tap the horror market have failed for the TV star. Part of the problem appears to be her selection of scripts… both The Return and Possession (a Korean remake) are sloooooooooow as fudge. To make matters worse when things do finally happen they’re either utterly predictable or terribly uninteresting. The singular bright spot here is that Lee Pace is pretty good.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurette

Precious

Pitch: This flick is an emotionless chore to watch…

Why Avoid? I know I’m in the minority with this question, but what exactly is the appeal of this melodramatic flick? Is it the stereotypical and one-dimensional performance of Mo’Nique? The hilariously-shot rape scenes? The terribly unsympathetic lead character? The comically unrelenting bleakness? Wah wah wah. Of course, on the plus side… it is funnier than Old Dogs.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scene, featurettes

Also out this week, but review material unavailable in advance: Capitalism: A Love Story, Clownstrophobia, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, Haunted Echoes, The Memory Thief, Nine Dead, Paris, Planet 51, Rot: Reunion of Terror

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

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• Weekly Drinking Game: The Oscar Hangover Game
• The 2010 Academy Awards Winners
• Oscar Breakdown: Best Director
• Oscar Breakdown: Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Oscar Breakdown: Best Original and Adapted Screenplays
• The 82nd Academy Award Nominations: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, District 9 Lead the Way!
• The 67th Annual Golden Globes Winners: Avatar Takes Best Picture

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves nudity in PG-rated movies. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Clash Of the Titans

Pitch: Stop. Motion. Titans. Will. Clash…

Why Buy? Perseus, Pegasus, Zeus, the goddamn Kraken, and many more! This is just a fun movie that continues to entertain. If you don’t already own this flick there’s no time like the present… especially as the bigger, glossier, remake is almost here. The effects here may be dated, but Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion creations are still a joy to watch. Plus this 1981 original is guaranteed to have at least one thing the big budget remake won’t… two attractive and unclothed female behinds. Studios are too afraid of even partial nudity these days in anything less than an R-rated flick, so while the effects will be better there will be less skin!

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes, the absence of Sam Worthington

Where the Wild Things Are

Pitch: The more relevant question is why the Wild Things are…

Why Buy? I’m one of only a few FSR crew members who refused to buy into the supposed brilliance of this Spike Jonze joint when it hit theaters, and my opinion hasn’t changed. There simply is not enough here for a feature film, and the parts added for length come across as padding at best and annoyance at worst. Bitch, fight, play, and repeat… and yet I’m recommending it as a Buy. Why? Because as unimpressive as the narrative and screenplay are there’s no denying the pure cinematic beauty of Max’s world (both imaginary and real). These creatures are believable, living things, and Jonze captures them and the rest of of the characters with wonder and heart intact. This is a beautiful movie… once you’ve tuned out most of the words.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes, Blu-ray/DVD combo pack includes new short film based on Maurice Sendak’s Higglety Pigglety Pop

2012

Pitch: Some say the world will end in fire, others say Roland Emmerich will have something to do with it…

Why Rent? Listing the faults in Emmerich’s latest disaster flick would take too long, so instead I’ll just say what you already know… it’s a big, dumb movie filled with some stunning special effects. And yes, the dog lives. My review is here.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentary, featurettes

Alice

Pitch: Whose bright idea was it to adapt Alice In Wonderland without the damn rabbit…

Why Rent? Lewis Carroll’s tale of a young girl who falls in the wrong hole is a classic for a reason, and it’s filled with several iconic characters and situations. The SyFy Channel took a risk by adapting that story into a completely different direction… gone are the talking animals, shrinking potions, and abnormally noggin-sized queens. In their place is an alternate, slightly steam-punkish, Matrix-infused, conspiracy thriller. It’s an interesting take on a familiar story.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? None

Alice In Wonderland

Pitch: And here’s a second adaptation that forgoes the damn rabbit. What the hell is going on here…

Why Rent? This version of the classic tale is distinguished from most others in several ways. It was made in 1966 for the BBC, is black and white, and forgoes the same fantasy elements as the SyFy adaptation above. The two biggest differences though are its tone and cast. This Alice is a dark and disturbed young girl and she’s surrounded by some of the biggest names in British cinema (at the time). Peter Sellers, Peter Cook, Michael Gough, John Gielgud, (and an actual cat). It’s creepy and surreal at times and has a specific satirical agenda seldom seen in other adaptations.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, silent film version of the story from 1903, featurettes

Bitch Slap

Pitch: False advertising at its cruelest…

Why Rent? The trailer for this little slice of pseudo-exploitation does two things well. It implies the film has a certain amount of style, and it promises an abundance of T & A. The film itself only follows through on one of those. The style is actually a mishmash of other films complete with multiple slow-mo shots, (terrible) green screen work, and a mostly unsuccessful mix of action and comedy. And the sex factor? All tease, all the time. There’s exactly one nude scene and it’s very brief and involves a no-name stripper with fake boobs. That’s it! Didn’t the three leads need a hot, slow-motion shower at any point?!? I prefer my ‘unrated’ T&A to be a bit raunchier than this, but that said there’s still enough entertainment value and cleavage to make it worth a watch.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, excellent making-of that’s actually more entertaining than the movie itself, virtual ice for your metaphorical blue balls

Cold Souls

Pitch: Being Paul Giamatti-lite…

Why Rent? Who’s up for a slow-moving, metaphysical comedy about Russian plays, the weight of the soul, and the Russian black market? This flick is far from laugh out-loud funny, but it’s still a fairly humorous look at what our soul gives us and what it takes away. Giamatti plays an actor named Paul Giamatti who has his soul extracted to lighten his emotional load, but when he decides he wants it back he discovers that someone else has already picked it up off the shelf. Some interesting questions without answers here. Neil Miller’s review from Sundance 2009 is here.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurette

Elvis

Pitch: Every year on Mother’s Day Elvis Presley returns to Memphis to stalk and kill babysitters…

Why Rent? Yeah, that’s not what happens, but this biopic is directed by Mr. Halloween himself, John Carpenter. It’s also one of his many collaborations with the ever-awesome Kurt Russell who plays the title role. The movie takes a look at Elvis’ early life and entry into legend and features several of the man’s most memorable songs. It’s definitely a TV movie from the seventies, which doesn’t exactly work in its favor, but Russell’s performance holds it all together.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

We Live In Public

Pitch: This is the story of a hundred strangers picked to live underground and have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start being real…

Why Rent? This is an interesting documentary but not for the reasons the filmmakers intend. Josh Harris was an internet pioneer in many ways, but he was also a man with issues. His big experiment involving a community beneath NYC with cameras filming everyone’s every move, word, and bowel movement, says less about his supposed genius than it does about his misconceptions of humanity. Miller’s review from Sundance 2009 is here.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

The Wraith

Pitch: An Estevez brother comes to Earth to seek vengeance on the director of My Sister’s Keeper…

Why Rent? A group of badasses (including Nick Cassavetes and Clint Howard) terrorizes a small town by stealing cars in unfair street races until Charlie Sheen arrives in a souped up concept car and begins picking them off one by one. This flick has become a cult hit over the years due almost entirely to its unavailability on DVD, and I myself recalled it being a very cool movie. Having finally watched it again after many years I now see that my teenage self had absolutely shitty taste in movies. Rent it for the nostalgia factor only.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, interviews, featurette

Gentlemen Broncos

Pitch: A gay-ish space rogue, multiple poop jokes, and an almost complete lack of laughs. Finally, a film for Cole Abaius…

Why Avoid? Cole Abaius’ review from Fantastic Fest 2009 is here. (For the record, I think Abaius’s review and his D+ grade are too kind.)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, featurette

Also out this week, but review material unavailable in advance: The Life, Ponyo, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, Wushu Warrior

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

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• The 25 Most Anticipated Movies of 2009
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• Clash of the Titans Featurette: A Fun, Fast Adventure Movie
• Contest: Win ‘Cold Souls’ on DVD
• We May See ‘R.I.P.D.’ Real Soon
• Clash of the Titans Featurette: Meet the Gods

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves the tender moment between first kiss and the gentle unclasping of the bra. And yes, we said ‘moment.’ These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing (these are the ones you’ll want to watch again or share with friends), which are better off as RENTals (these are the ones worth watching once and then forgetting), and which should be AVOIDed at all costs (these wouldn’t even make worthwhile coasters).

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

The Informant!

Pitch: A true story about a man made of equal parts ambition and insanity…

Why Buy? This Steven Soderbergh flick starring Matt Damon as a corporate whistle-blower was unjustly ignored at the box-office and deserves better on DVD. I think the problem was that people didn’t quite know what to make of its tone… Damon is fantastic as a man who attempts to do the right thing for the wrong reasons and then watches helplessly as his elaborate plans fall apart. It’s alternately damn funny and terribly sad, and Damon plays it all perfectly. Give it a shot and enjoy one of the best performances of the year that no one is talking about.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes featuring even more of Damon’s awesome ’stache!

Shall We Kiss?

Pitch: Two hopeful lovers stopped cold by a kiss they’ve yet to share…

Why Buy? This French kiss of a film is sweet, sexy, and unpredictable in ways that so few American romantic comedies are these days. Two strangers meet, have a fantastic evening, and when he leans in for a kiss she stops him… with a story. We’re actually given multiple love stories that move in fresh directions and potential lovers who speak their emotions, and they’re all wrapped up in a sweetly romantic and refreshing confection.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Pitch: A teenager fakes his death and devastates his family just so he can become a vampire. Hilarious…

Why Rent? This attempt at starting a brand new film franchise for tweeners has a lot going for it… based on a bestselling series of YA books, fantastic special effects, an established director in Paul Weitz, talented folks like John C Reilly, Patrick Fugit, Willem Dafoe, and Ken Watanabe, and a teenager who becomes a vampire (that’s all the rage now right?). But sadly it also has the blandest lead actor since Hayden Christensen last film. This kid (Chris Massoglia) has less personality than a  jar of mayonnaise. The movie itself is also pretty generic. Damn, now I’m wondering why I’m even suggesting you rent it… so let’s say for Fugit’s performance as a snake boy. He has less than twenty minutes of screen-time here but he packs his character with more personality and warmth than Massoglia does in an entire film.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurettes

Dead Snow

Pitch: You got your Nazis in my zombies! No, you got your zombies in my Nazis…

Why Rent? It’s Nazi zombies people. That alone should tell you whether or not you’re going to check this one out… and we all know you are. It’s far from a great movie, but it has its share of fun moments.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Outtakes, featurettes

Everybody’s Fine

Pitch: Robert DeNiro travels the country to visit his ungrateful, grown children…

Why Rent? DeNiro’s kids are played by Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sam Rockwell, so we know the flick has some top-notch talent onscreen. And the movie also gets points for not having the obvious happen (as in the father visiting his kids one last time before he kicks it). But… the subplot involving his fourth kid and the reason the other three are avoiding him is pretty lame and melodramatic. Worth a watch for DeNiro playing a normal guy, but don’t go out of your way to see it.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, making-of (a music video?)

Flame and Citron

Pitch: The true story of two resistance fighters battling Nazis in Denmark. Their most effective weapon? A variation on SNL’s “Land shark” routine…

Why Rent? My allergies towards gingers had me predisposed to not liking this historical action pic about two well known members of the underground movement in WWII Denmark, but I ended up enjoying it anyway. Flame was a young and brash redhead and Citron was a more mature family man, but both of them fought against Nazi tyranny with deadly force. I can’t vouch for the film’s accuracy, and it’s easy to get lost in the flood of names, ranks, and alliances, but the drama, suspense, and action are more than enough to engage you for two hours.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Nurse Jackie: Season One

Pitch: A mafia don’s wife goes into witness protection as a nurse at a big city hospital…

Why Rent? Edie Falco doesn’t actually play Mrs. Soprano, and that’s a good thing. In fact, I expected to hate this show because I was never a fan of Falco previously… but she owns this Showtime series and makes it shine. She manages to create a character that’s at times morally reprehensible but also impossible not to love and root for. In fact, the show is a fantastic companion to another Showtime hit, Californication. Both feature questionable leads, entertaining and engaging supporting characters, and a solid mix of laughs and tears.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentaries, featurettes

Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liqueur Day

Pitch: Imagine a remake of Bottle Rocket that replaces the Wilson brothers with retarded Canadians…

Why Rent? I had never heard of these Canadian comic geniuses before seeing this movie, and having finally watched it I can understand why. That sounds harsher than it should, but I only mean they’re not all that funny for a trio that has managed to star in two movies and a TV series. The movie about three dysfunctional friends who get released from prison only to immediately return to their illegal ways has a few laughs… one character’s penchant for always carrying a glass of whiskey in every scene gets some chuckles (due to the filmmakers wisely never drawing attention to it). It’s also not as “slapsticky” as I expected for some reason, which is a good thing, and instead it plays like a real movie. But “funniest Canadian movie ever” is a false cover claim… that honor still belongs to Porky’s.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

Alexander the Last

Pitch: Mumblecore is a four-letter word…

Why Avoid? On the plus side, Jess Weixler is talented, and the movie is under seventy-five minutes long. On the negative side is everything else including the fact that this short  movie feels three times longer than it is. Everyone from the actors to the director (Joe Swanberg) do nothing but ramble on and on about absolutely nothing worth mentioning.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

The Box

Pitch: Richard Kelly struggles to prove he’s not a one-hit wonder with an unwise adaptation of a one-note story…

Why Avoid? Kelly adds quite a bit of nonsense to the original tale about a couple who receive a box on their doorstep and an offer they can’t refuse. Open the box and press the button within and they’ll receive one million dollars… and someone they don’t know will die. The plot hook here works best in short story or  TV episode form, but as a feature film? Not so much. It doesn’t help that Kelly’s narrative explanations are absolutely ridiculous. You’ll be laughing when you should be going “ooh” or “ahh” which would be fine if this was a comedy. An intentional comedy I mean…

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Interview with author Richard Matheson who laments the fact that director Richard Kelly is a one-hit wonder

Dead Tone

Pitch: Prank phone calls are all fun and games until you dial the wrong number and hear “Flavor Flav!” on the other end of the line…

Why Avoid? Mr. Flav doesn’t actually answer the phone here, but he does introduce the flick for all of ten seconds. Seems like an afterthought… The movie itself is pretty straight-forward with a group of party goers making prank calls who end up being stalked by one of their intended victims. It’s shot competently enough, but it’s not scary, not suspenseful, and not worth watching.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurette and a plea by Flavor Flav to join the Sprint network

Flashforward: Season One, Part One

Pitch: The entire world falls asleep while watching the first season of Flashforward…

Why Avoid? I kid! (Kind of…) I only caught the first four episodes of the show, but the blueprint seems to be fifty minutes of talking and ten of something fairly cool. Although the initial reveal of a moving figure in an otherwise unconscious stadium in particular is well done. But that pattern isn’t the reason why I’m calling this one an Avoid. Instead, it’s my long-standing opinion on cash-grabs partial seasons being released to DVD that makes this one worth skipping. Wait for the full first season to be released so the networks stop releasing these scams.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

I Am Virgin

Pitch: “I love the smell of vinegar in the evening. It reminds me of my virginity…”

Why Avoid? This cheap little flick from Portland filmmakers gets at least two things right that Lesbian Vampire Killers got wrong. A bevy of naked and frisky lady vampires make it sexier, and lines like the one above (and their delivery by Adam Davis) make it funnier too. But despite its charms, the ultra low-budget is impossible to ignore. A severe lack of professional actors, a non-existent effects budget, some sketchy ADR work, and absolutely terrible lighting make it difficult to watch. It does its best to distract you from those negatives with several fairly lengthy, somewhat explicit, and oddly out of place scenes of vampire fornication, but as it stands this one is reserved for really big fans of the genre, even bigger supporters of indie cinema, and folks who like their softcore porn to have some bite to it.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, featurette

Jersey Shore Uncensored: Season One

Pitch: America’s fascination with idiots continues…

Why Avoid? This sums it up nicely.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Hair gel, gold necklaces, and a home pregnancy test

Sorority Row

Pitch: Someone’s slaughtering snotty sorority girls…

Why Avoid? This slight remake gets points for maintaining an R-rating instead of going the typical PG-13 route, but that’s it for the compliments. Even my love for Jamie Chung isn’t enough to make this one worthwhile. Just about every aspect is typical and predictable, none of the characters are interesting or believable, the killer’s identity and (especially) their reason for killing is absolutely ridiculous, and most egregious, the only pair of boobs we see are fake and unattractive (redundant I know). Skip it and watch Scream instead.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, outtakes, featurettes

Wrong Side of Town

Pitch: Some bad guys piss off a professional wrestler and he gets his scripted revenge in a steel cage…

Why Avoid? A generic action picture is bad enough, but when certain “talents” are advertised and top-billed you expect to see them in the first hour of a ninety-minute movie. Your expectations will not be met here… instead you’ll get a sub-standard revenge pic with uninspired action and fights, poor acting, and uninterested writing and direction.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Also out this week, but review material unavailable in advance: $9.99, Battle Girl: The Living Dead In Tokyo Bay, Captain Abu Raed, The Damned United, Howard’s End (Criterion), I Am Virgin, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Motherhood, Open Graves, The September Issue, Swedish Auto, The Vicious Kind

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

• This Week in Blu-ray: The Wild Things Are Loose!
• Weekly Drinking Game: Nurse Jackie
• Culture Warrior: The 3rd Golden Age of Television
• The Movie Watcher’s Guide To September 2009
• Foreign Objects: Shall We Kiss? (2007)
• Coroner’s Report: Dead Snow
• Year in Review: The 10 Best Performances of 2009
• Year in Review: Ten Best Horror Films of 2009

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves playing drums in a Genesis cover band. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years

Pitch: Thirty-five Clint Eastwood movies at roughly $4 per flick…

Why Buy? This would probably make a better gift than a purchase for yourself, but you can’t go wrong with the price/film ratio. All the Dirty Harry flicks, several of his best westerns, a handful of stinkers, and one of my personal Eastwood faves, The Gauntlet. The only thing that may keep this from being a Buy is that the discs sit in sleeves instead of proper cases. The movies include various extras, and they’re joined by a new (and very short) doc from critic Richard Schickel featuring some interesting time spent with Eastwood on the Warner Bros. lot.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Booklet, documentary

Hunger (Criterion)

Pitch: Vampires… have nothing to do with this true-life tale about a hunger strike in a British prison…

Why Buy? IRA prisoners are people too apparently, and they demand to be treated as such. Politics of the film aside, this is a brutal and devastating examination of the human spirit that demands to be seen (my review here). More than the message though the movie stands out due in large part to the incredible performance by Michael Fassbender. It’s painful watching both the character and the actor suffer for their beliefs.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Law Abiding Citizen

Pitch: We all need some guilty pleasures on our DVD shelves…

Why Buy? Gerard Butler plays a man who loses everything to some bad men and a bad legal system, so he sets out for revenge… against everyone. Solid suspense, fantastic shocks and twists, and a dark sense of humor pervade this flick and only a high level of implausibility and a weak final twenty minutes keeps it from being a classic. Still lots of fun though and one I’ll be adding to my shelf. (Cole Abaius’ review here)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Revanche (Criterion)

Pitch: Revenge is a dish best served by Phil Collins…

Why Buy? My love for revenge-themed films is well documented, and this is one of the more powerful and unusual ones (my review here). It’s a definite slow-burn, but it’s also a brilliant exploration of guilt and responsibility as a thief in search of a better life with his girlfriend instead loses her to a policeman’s bullet. Gripping, intense, and not to be missed. Also, the thief is played by an actor that looks like a late seventies Phil Collins.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes, short film

Barnaby Jones: The Complete First Season

Pitch: Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Buddy, he’s a PI detective and an old fuddy duddy…

Why Rent? Ah early seventies detective shows… with the announcers that read the episode title and names of the guest stars to you, the subtle racist references, and the overly dramatic musical cues. Good stuff. Buddy Ebsen plays an unlikely detective with his silver hair and addiction to milk, but he makes it work. This is my first time watching the show, and its an entertaining piece of nostalgia for fans of the genre (which I am). Another plus? First episode features a guest crossover by “Cannon” himself, William Conrad. I miss when shows had crossover episodes, don’t you?

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Black Dynamite

Pitch: “Hey man, you sent her in her with them titties, what’d you expect…”

Why Rent? I’m not all that experienced with blaxploitation flicks, but even without that knowledge this movie still manages to be pretty damn funny. From creative editing, to songs with lyrics that describe the scenes onscreen, to six-shot revolvers that fire hundreds of rounds without reload, to a Captain Kangaroo Pimp, to animated astrological sex… this is funny shit. Credit has to go to Michael Jai White in the title role for a killer performance too. He carries the action, the comedy, and the bad-assery all equally well. (Neil Miller’s review here)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever

Pitch: “[This movie] has smegma in it. That’s all you need to know about it to know whether or not you’re going to like it…”

Why Rent? I borrowed that pitch from Peter S Hall’s review over at HorrorSquad. It really does sum the movie up perfectly, and it serves to highlight one of the more disgusting scenes you’re bound to see in a horror movie. One of many disgusting scenes you’ll see here… Truth be told I’m no fan of the original (except for the crazy bit with that nutty kid), but even that was a better movie than this mess of a film abandoned by its own director due to studio interference. So why am I recommending it for a rental? Cause there’s smegma in it of course!

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

Coco Before Chanel

Pitch: Audrey Tautou is charming and beautiful…

Why Rent? Seriously, I’ll watch Tautou in anything (yes, even The Da Vinci Code). Happily this movie’s worth watching for more than just my little elfin nymph. This biopic looks at the early life of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel starting from her childhood in an orphanage up through her entry into high society. It could use a tighter pace at times, but it’s an interesting look at a woman who refused to let go of her ambition and it features another great performance from Tautou.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

Lincoln Heights: Season One

Pitch: It’s an ABC Family Channel show, so obviously I should hate it…

Why Rent? I’m man enough to admit when my preconceived notions are way off, and this is one of those times. A black cop moves his family to a rough LA neighborhood as part of a program to reconnect with the community, and not surprisingly the transition is a tough one. My expectation was that the show would be filled with equal parts melodrama and preaching, but I’m halfway through the first season and I’ve yet to find either. Instead it’s a engaging show with great characters, strong acting, and addictive story lines.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Women In Trouble

Pitch: Women in trouble? Try women in their underwear…

Why Rent? I’m not as sold on this flick as some of the other FSR writers are (Neil Miller’s review here), but it certainly has its charms. The two best charms? Emmanuelle Chriqui and Adrianne Palicki. Good lord they are two fine and funny women. The rest of the movie is hit and miss and consists mostly of women talking and chatting with the occasional bit of bathroom sex. Definitely worth a watch for the above mentioned assets.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, two teasers

Hellhounds

Pitch: Bloodthirsty CGI dogs threaten the lives of two lovers…

Why Avoid? CGI dogs aren’t scary.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Also out this week, but review material unavailable in advance: Cannibal Suburbia, Freeway Killer, Good Hair, Halo Legends, The Shooter Series Volume Two: F. Gary Gray, Small Wonder: The Complete First Season

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

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• SXSW Review: Elektra Luxx
• Clint Eastwood to Undress J. Edgar Hoover
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• Advisory: Reject Radio Gets Righteous with ‘Black Dynamite’ Director Scott Sanders
• Coroner’s Report: Cabin Fever 2 – Spring Fever
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Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves eating tofu and protecting exiled Chinese revolutionaries from assassination. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Bodyguards and Assassins (HK Import)

Pitch: Imagine 16 Blocks, but replace Bruce Willis with ten Chinese bodyguards and David Morse with about a hundred Chinese assassins…

Why Buy? It may be a while before this flick gets a domestic release, so if you have a Blu-ray player or a region-free DVD player I highly recommend you seek out a copy of this new action epic. At just over two hours long the movie takes the time it needs to set up its story and introduce a myriad of characters before setting them loose for an all-out chase through the city. New loves, ex loves, and a strained father/son relationship add depth while kick-ass fight choreography adds wokfuls of action. If nothing else, it’s always fantastic to see Donny Yen onscreen and out for blood.

Blu-ray? Yes (Import only, but its region-A and playable on US machines)

Extra Features? Featurette

Bronson

Pitch: Britain’s most infamous convict gets stripped down, greased up, and ready for some prison action…

Why Rent? This is probably one of the more free-wheeling biopics you’re likely to see as director Nicolas Winding Refn takes on an unconventional real-life character in some even more unconventional ways. A petty criminal takes on the moniker of the toughest scrapper in the known world (Charles Bronson) and proceeds to beat the piss out of everyone around him. The movie takes occasional detours on stage as Bronson addresses an imaginary audience with details of his life. There are some biographical gaps but there’s no lack of entertaining brawls or dialogue, and Tom Hardy’s performance is easily one of the best of the year.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Couples Retreat

Pitch: Four couples head to a tropical island. Only one will survive…

Why Rent? Sadly, it’s not actually that kind of movie. Instead this harmless little comedy throws various personalities together in a beautiful location for some laughs, some skin, and some predictable plot lines. This flick garnered lots of hate during its highly profitable theatrical run, and having seen it now I really can’t understand why. The yoga scene alone makes it worth a rental, and the outtakes add even more value. (Still rental value only of course.)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, gag reel, featurettes

Emma

Pitch: The BBC rips off Hollywood in this barely concealed clone of Alicia Silverstone’s 1995 hit Clueless…

Why Rent? What a hack this Jane Austen is. First she rehashes her own work by adding zombies to an already published novel and calling it new, and now she’s milking her canon yet again with the seventeenth (or so) film version of her novel Emma. Sad really. At least this new miniseries version improves upon the last outing in two ways. One, its longer format allows time for more nuance and detail. And two, they’ve replaced the terribly bland and un-British Gwyneth Paltrow with Romola Garai. (Truth be told it’s also the most satisfying and entertaining version of the book to date.)

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

Gary Unmarried: The Complete First Season

Pitch: That Jay Mohr’s a funny guy. Let’s give him his own show…

Why Rent? Having watched the first six episodes of this series I can say with all sincerity that it’s pretty funny at times. Some of the big setup jokes fall flat but Mohr is damn good with delivery so often even the smallest one-liners get the biggest laughs. I’m not sold on the kids yet as their comedic rhythm seems off, but Mohr and costar Paula Marshall make up for it. I’ll be settling in for the rest of the season as it examines life for the recently divorced father of of two, and I recommend you give it a shot as well.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes, bloopers

A Serious Man

Pitch: A Jewish man loses his lover in a car crash and has to decide if life is worth living. Or a modern-day Job suffers a crisis of faith and has to decide if life is worth living. Look, I don’t really know…

Why Rent? I haven’t actually had time to watch this whole movie yet, but I have seen the pre-title intro. And Fyvush Finkel is hilarious, awesome, and still alive! I can’t speak to the film beyond that except to say that a Coen Brothers movie is always worth watching at least once.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

The Time Traveler’s Wife

Pitch: Get ready for the most uneventful time travel movie ever made…

Why Rent? Sure it’s sappy and romantic, but it’s also well-acted and fairly interesting. It doesn’t answer many of the questions it sets forth, but the concept, the story, and the actors involved all keep your attention fairly well. Truth be told I wanted quite a bit more from the movie, but my lady friend enjoyed it enough that I have to keep it in the Rental category.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurette

A Dangerous Man

Pitch: At this point I think even Cole Abaius could beat Steven Seagal’s ass. Maybe…

Why Avoid? Seagal’s latest monthly DVD release is one of his lesser works (his much lesser works.) His voice seems dubbed for parts of the movie (a recurring problem over the past few years), the action is bland and far from exciting, and… well it’s just an unmemorable movie.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Heist

Pitch: This score will solve all of our problems. I swear. Honest. Guaranteed. What could go wrong…

Why Avoid? I love heist flicks. A motley group comes together, each with their own area of expertise, and they pull off an elaborate and well-orchestrated heist… until everything starts to crumble around them. But this movie forgets several of the key elements. The crew lacks the slightest personality, the heist is messy instead of precise, and the fallout becomes a matter of frustration over suspense. Rick Jordan plays triple threat here (director, co-writer, actor) but only his acting comes through unscathed. Go watch Sneakers or Heat instead.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

JAG (Judge Advocate General): The Complete Series

Pitch: “Firefly” doesn’t even get to finish one season but several of you tasteless fools kept this on the air for ten goddamn years…

Why Avoid? Seriously people. I’ve yet to ever meet a single person who would admit to watching this CBS show. That may be because I don’t consort with the elderly, but I can’t confirm that. An ex-navy pilot turned lawyer and an anal female Marine take on cases involving crimes within the military. And no, I’ve never watched a full episode but I have seen collectively about seven or eight minutes of the series over the past decade which is enough to make a judgment call here.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? AARP membership form

The Stepfather

Pitch: Let’s remake a bloody good thriller (that featured a sexy shower scene) but let’s forget the blood, thrills, and shower scene…

Why Avoid? I’m not against remakes automatically, but why the insistence on redoing R-rated thrillers as generic and neutered PG-13 movies? You gain nothing and lose everything that could save a flick from being humdrum. This remake is no different. Dylan Walsh is fine and Amber Heard wears little besides bikinis (in Portland, Oregon?), but everything else is tame, typical, and tepid. And who still uses the old ‘cat jumping into frame’ scare?

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, gag reel, featurette

Also out this week, but review material unavailable in advance: Boobs: An American Obsession, Dante’s Inferno, Dare, Endgame, Free Style, I Hate Valentine’s Day, Ice Castles, Second Sight: Complete Collection, Serious Moonlight, Stargate SG-U: 1.0

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

• This Week in Blu-ray: I Try To Be A Serious Man
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• The 2010 Academy Awards Winners
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• Bonus Weekly Drinking Game: The Time Traveler’s Wife
• The 82nd Academy Award Nominations: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, District 9 Lead the Way!

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves kicking ass and taking names in Thai. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning

Pitch: No lesser authority than Film School Rejects itself once called this “the greatest martial arts movie ever made”…

Why Buy? While I would never succumb to the hyperbole that FSR did, I will concede that Tony Jaa’s self-directed sequel is a spectacle of limb-flailing proportions. The story may leave you wanting, but the bone-crunching action and explosively kinetic fight choreography will fill that void like a lubed fist of fury. And you’re very welcome for planting that image in your head.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Alternate cut on 2-Disc Collector’s Edition, featurettes

Zombieland

Pitch: Imagine Shaun of the Dead but in English and with a little less wit…

Why Buy? I wasn’t as enamored of this zom-com as the rest of the FSR gang was, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. Sure it’s an incredibly slight 88 minutes, and sure the characters repeatedly make ridiculously stupid and predictable decisions, but there’s no denying the movie is wonderfully gory and funny. It works for both comedy fans and zombie fans, and is a fun little flick to toss in when friends come over.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

The House of the Devil

Pitch: House sit for some creepy strangers at their spooky old mansion in the middle of nowhere? What could go wrong…

Why Rent? Ti West’s ode to eighties horror succeeds more at the ode part than the horror, but it’s still a worthwhile watch for fans of old school fright flicks. West nails the look, sound, and style of the decade, and he does manage a fair amount of suspense and dread mixed in with scenes of Jocelin Donahue walking and walking and walking. Just be aware it takes exactly thirty-seven minutes for anything to happen. And almost that long again for something else to happen. It’s the last thirty minutes where things really start to pick up and come together, so rent this one because you probably won’t be watching it a second time.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes

More Than A Game

Pitch: LeBron James wasn’t always the overpaid superstar he is today, but he was always a super basketball player…

Why Rent? I never got around to seeing this one which would usually relegate a title to the “Also out this week…” section at the bottom, but this time I’m taking someone else’s opinion. Daniel (aka @ddoginsidefilm) from KillerFilm.com commented that he had seen it, so I asked what he thought… “Pretty standard doc but great game footage and compelling relationships with coach and family. Pretty captivating at times.” So there you go.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

New York, I Love You

Pitch: If nothing else you’ll chuckle during the Orlando Bloom segment when you notice he’s watching the animated The Hobbit…

Why Rent? Anthology movies are hit or miss by their very nature, and this thematic follow-up to Paris, je t’aime is no different. Characters cross paths in the slightest of ways throughout several individual (and often very short) tales, and while most are fairly average there are a few standouts. The bit with Anton Yelchin and Olivia Thirlby is absurd fun, and the stories with Maggie Q, Ethan Hawke, Chris Cooper, Robin Wright, and Shu Qui are smart, sweet, and attractively done. I won’t name the mediocre ones except to say that Hayden Christensen’s terrible acting is unavoidable even in five minute form.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Two bonus segments, featurettes

Triangle

Pitch: A boat trip in the Bermuda Triangle? What could go wrong…

Why Rent? Too many direct to DVD thrillers these days are straight forward in their good guy/bad guy scenarios and predictable in their outcome. This is not one of those movies. Instead, writer/director Christopher Smith presents an intriguing little mystery about a group of friends on a capsized boat and the ship that comes along to rescue them. And by ‘rescue’ of course I mean… not rescue at all. Melissa George is also always worth watching.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurette

Universal Soldier: Regeneration

Pitch: The Muscles from Brussels and the Russian dude who killed Apollo Creed go head to head. Again…

Why Rent? I’ve always found Jean-Claude Van Damme’s movies to be more miss than hit, but JCVD revealed the man still has a few tricks up his tight sleeves. The original Universal Soldier was a fair amount of fun, and by all rights this straight to DVD sequel should have been a steaming pile of testosterone… except it isn’t. Instead director John Hyams has crafted a pretty damn entertaining and solid action flick. The fact that Brian Salisbury and I agree on this one (his review here) should also carry quite a bit of weight for those of you paying attention.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? None

Amelia

Pitch: An incredible woman who broke boundaries both literal and figurative, had adventures thousands of feet above the earth, and remains a mystery to this day receives a bland, boring, and unremarkable biopic…

Why Avoid? The pitch pretty much says all I have to say on this surprisingly tepid film from Mira Nair. Any single frame from Nair’s beautiful and lively Monsoon Wedding contains more energy and life than this grounded affair.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurette

Love Happens

Pitch: Why yes, I am tempted to say “shit happens.” But this isn’t a terrible movie, just a wholly unremarkable one…

Why Avoid? Like I said above this is neither bad nor good… it just is. Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart star as characters who do exactly what you think they’ll do in a story that goes exactly where you think it’ll go. It’s not a goofy romantic comedy, and in fact it’s really not that romantic or comedic at all. What I’m trying to say here is I’d avoid this one unless you’re particularly enamored by either of the stars.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, faeturette

Also out this week, but review material unavailable in advance: Adam, Daytime Drinking, Dr. Who: The Complete Specials, Planet Hulk, Sensored, Stoned

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

• This Week in Blu-ray: Take the Tardis to Zombieland
• Culture Warrior: On Hollywood and Cheating
• Coroner’s Report: The House of the Devil (Blu-ray)
• Giveaway: Universal Soldier: Regeneration
• 4 Hilarious Bonus Clips From ‘Zombieland’
• Exclusive: Melissa George is Being Hunted in ‘Triangle’
• An Unlikely Pairing: Zombieland Writers and a G.I. Joe Sequel
• Year in Review: The 15 Best Foreign Films of 2009

Rob Hunter loves movies.  And as a test to see if anyone actually reads these intros he’s hidden a contest within the post. One lucky winner will win a brand new copy of A&E’s 3-disc set of The Sherlock Holmes Collection starring Peter Cushing. It collects the five surviving episodes of the 1960’s BBC series, and fans of the great detective will not be disappointed. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Hard Revenge Milly: Hyper Violence Collection

Pitch: They picked the wrong husband to kill. The wrong baby to set on fire and throw against the wall. And the wrong wife and mother to leave alive…

Why Buy? This was one of my favorites at last year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin (review here), and I’m thrilled to finally get a copy for myself. Miki Mizuno plays a kick-ass woman out for revenge against the thugs who killed her husband and baby. Beautifully choreographed martial arts fly beside geysers of blood, swordplay, and deadly body modifications. Seriously, this flick (two short movies actually) is fast, furious, and fun.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

Pontypool

Pitch: One of the more unusual zombie flicks you’ll ever see. Of course it’s Canadian…

Why Buy? Like the revenge genre, zombie films are forced by their very nature to be pretty similar to each other. One, something causes the dead to rise and attack the living, and two, a small band of survivors struggle to escape the bloodthirsty onslaught. There are good ones and bad ones, but they’re all the same in those regards. This smart entry in the genre follows those two steps but does so with a wholly new concept. It works brilliantly for the most part (review here), and with the help of three fantastic lead actors the movie carries you along for a zombie ride unlike any you’ve experienced before.

Blu-ray? Yes (region-free UK import only)

Extra Features? Commentary, short films, featurette

Righteous Ties

Pitch: Korean gangsters mess with the wrong Korean gangster…

Why Buy? I’m recommending a Buy here for two reasons. First (and most important), it’s a really good movie. A gangster goes to jail refusing to testify against his boss, but when his family is attacked and that same boss turns his back on him he decides to leave prison early and get some revenge. The action is exciting throughout, the comedy and drama balance nicely (for the most part… some of the musical cues are over done), and the performances are all solid. Most impressive though is the film’s take on friendship and self-worth. And the second reason to buy? To encourage Virgil Films to keep releasing these fantastic but lesser known Korean flicks of course!

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

WWII In HD

Pitch: For all you folks who thought the world existed in black & white until the fifties…

Why Buy? Have you ever seen actual footage from WWII in color? Not colorized, but actually filmed in color so we see it as it really was (minus the shrapnel). This engrossing and impressive doc from The History Channel features over seven hours of footage that not only documents some of the action during the war but also some of the personal stories. The color barrier has always served to separate the viewer from the experience and the emotion, but this previously unseen footage breathes life into the history we thought we knew. A fantastic gift for fans of WWII, documentaries, and color! (Happy birthday dad!) Keep your eyes out for an upcoming contest where we’ll be giving away both a DVD and a Blu-ray of WWII in HD.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

Bad Biology

Pitch: “I was born with seven clits…”

Why Rent? This movie is the nuts. Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case) returns after an almost twenty-year break from feature films, and he comes back crazier than ever. The first five minutes of the movie feature a woman having sex, killing the guy, raiding the fridge, birthing a CGI baby in the tub, and then walking out the front door. Seems she has some unusual lady parts… and she meets her match in a man with a three foot shlong that constantly tries to escape from his boxers. Lots of sex ensues including genital POV shots, stop-motion rape, and a forty-five minute orgasm. Watch it with the family!

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Plain brown wrapper (kidding, but you’ll probably want one)

The Boys Are Back

Pitch: See Clive Owen as you’ve never seen him before! Doing something other than shooting people and fingering strippers…

Why Rent? Owen has received some solid praise (from the four people who saw this in theaters) for his performance here, and while it’s good it’s most notable for being unlike his typical fare. He plays a man forced by tragedy into the role of single father… yes, exactly like Raising Helen. It’s Owen’s most emotionally demanding role since Closer (emotions of a completely different sort), and he’s fantastic. If only the movie was worthy of his performance… not that the film is bad, it just isn’t as engaging as its lead.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

The Escapist

Pitch: Brian Cox plots an elaborate escape from the slammer. Something he never managed as Hannibal Lector…

Why Rent? Prison escape movies are pretty much always entertaining, and this British one is no different. Cox leads an oddball group of prisoners in an elaborate plan to escape incarceration. The movie unfurls with dueling time-frames… one follows the escape planning and the other traces the escape itself. It’s an interesting, but not wholly successful effort (review here).

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Give ‘Em Hell Malone

Pitch: See Thomas Jane as you’ve already seen him before! And that’s not a bad thing…

Why Rent? Russell Mulcahy’s best film may still be Razorback (at least until his Teen Wolf remake hits), but that doesn’t mean this over the top mash-up of film noir and the ridiculous isn’t entertaining. Jane plays it straight amidst a motley crew of oddballs including an Asian assassin with knives in her lady bits, an arsonist with a bad habit of burning himself, and a Ving Rhames-type character played by Ving Rhames. Toss in some solid gunplay, car chases, and choice dialogue and you have a silly but fun enough way to spend ninety minutes. Robert Fure liked it more than I did (his review here) which would usually be a bad sign, but it’s still worth a watch.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurettes

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

Pitch: “I’m gonna hit it so hard whoever pulls me out of you is gonna become King of England…”

Why Rent? Tucker Max’s entire career is based on him being a prick, and while that’s enough for his fan base it isn’t for me. Which is why I fully expected to hate this movie… but the screenplay by Max and Nils Parker had the good sense to add a couple more interesting side characters in addition to a handful of legitimate laughs. It’s raunchy, crude, rude, and cheap, but fans of Van Wilder will most likely enjoy it as much as I did (review here). If nothing else, the bathroom scene is the funniest and most disgusting since Trainspotting.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Outtakes

Jackie Chan Presents Wushu

Pitch: Martial arts meets an afterschool special…

Why Rent? This mediocre martial arts flick came incredibly close to getting an Avoid recommendation. Terrible acting, ridiculous attempts at danger and suspense, and lots of generally uninteresting wushu competition. The story and dialogue seem geared towards mid-schoolers in an effort to teach friendship and teamwork, and it’s all just so very trite. But it’s all saved (barely) by an end battle that manages to find some truly exciting fight choreography. Watch it once then forget it and toss in Ong Bak.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

Saw VI

Pitch: Obama should be using this as propaganda in support of his health care overhaul…

Why Rent? I know this latest installment was highly praised as a return to form for the series, but I’m only recommending it for the gore… the sweet, bloody, beautiful, and unrated gore. I’m not a fan in general because the central conceit of the series continues to be problematic on the same two fronts. One, the supposed antihero Jigsaw is killing innocent people (or at least some people who hardly deserve to die). And two, the plotting is so intricate as to be absolutely ridiculous and impossible. But damn the gore effects here a thing of beauty.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentaries, featurettes

Sherlock Holmes

Pitch: It’s the latest release from The Asylum! That makes it automatically watchable…

Why Rent? Again, it’s from The Asylum, so you know it’s going to be an incredibly entertaining piece of shit. And who among you are strong enough to skip a movie that pits Sherlock Holmes against sea monsters, dragons, and Iron Man (in a brilliant nod to Robert Downey Jr.’s other role)? HIDDEN CONTEST!!! Yup, I’ve made this really difficult to find I know… if you want a chance at winning a copy of the new A&E/BBC release of The Sherlock Holmes Collection starring Peter Cushing just leave a comment below with the word “Contest” and the name of your favorite Sherlock Holmes movie. It’s that simple! (Just be sure your Disqus account has a working email address so we can contact you if you win.) Winners will be chosen on Feb 2nd!

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Surrogates

Pitch: In the future people stay home and send synthetic replicas out into the world instead…

Why Rent? Which is pretty much what happened to this movie when it was in theaters. Well, folks stayed home anyway. They stayed away in droves which is a shame because it’s not a bad movie at all. Bruce Willis is always likable, Radha Mitchell is always watchable, and director Jonathan Mostow knows how to craft a solid action scene. It may not have been a big enough spectacle for theaters, but it fits right in at home. Where you can watch it from your couch you lazy bastards…

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, music video

B-Girl

Pitch: White girl with mad skillz gets shanked by an ex and heads to the mean streets of suburban L.A. to recover…

Why Avoid? Anyone who knows me knows I love nothing more than listening to hip-hop and breaking some fly moves with my homies on a weekday afternoon. (Was that even remotely believable?) As such, my opinion is probably the last one to listen to about a movie like this… but even with the break dancing, east coast vs west coast shenanigans, and bippity bop music it’s still supposed to be a movie. And as a movie it just doesn’t work. The drama is forced and often melodramatic to such a degree (see the scene with the dumpster attack flashback… both of them) that I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters long enough to care. And don’t get me started on the film comparing Angela’s journey to Homer’s The Odyssey… (The ode to Jaws‘ injury comparison scene is a nice touch though.) Recommended for fans of Step Up and Bring It On 3 only.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, music video

Fireball

Pitch: And this is what you get when you hire a blind cameraman…

Why Avoid? This Thai remake of Parker and Stone’s BASEketball (not true) drops the baseball half in favor of ass-kicking but somehow manages to be just as funny (as in not funny at all). But how’s the action you ask? Poorly shot I answer… the editing is so tight and fast as to render the combat almost unintelligible, and the camera often misses the action! Seriously, it moves too far or too slow and leaves us with only the after effect. And the story? Making baskets is second to beating the crap out of each other which kind of defeats the point of including basketball at all.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurette

Import Export

Pitch: I haven’t seen this much ass fetishism since my last Tinto Brass marathon…

Why Avoid? Two strangers in Ukraine live lives no one would want. This Eastern European flick has exactly one speed, and that’s meandering. The action onscreen can be as mundane as nurses attending to a sick child or as nontraditional as a woman masturbating for an internet porn site… either way the lack of life and energy is painfully obvious. And speaking of masturbation, this movie is filled with some very explicit sexual activity. Sadly, it’s of the utilitarian variety and lacks the common decency to be even the slightest bit arousing. There’s a message here about the struggles, circumstances, and misfortunes of life, but it’s not worth wasting two hours of your life to reach it.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Also out this week, but not seen in advance with my own eyes: Bright Star, Daytime Drinking, Desirable Teacher, Fuel, Mermaid, Michael Jackson: This Is It, Moscow Belgium, Paris Texas (Criterion), St. Trinians, Whip It

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

• This Week in Blu-ray: This Is It, Indeed
• The Movie Watcher’s Guide To September 2009
• Contest: Win ‘WWII In HD’ on DVD or Blu-ray
• For Science: Eight Hours of Film Inside The Asylum
• Discuss: The ‘Saw’ Series Might Just Be Ending
• An In-Depth Review: Give ‘Em Hell Malone on Blu-ray
• DVD Second Chance: I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
• Coroner’s Report: Saw VI Blu-ray

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves fighting off rampaging arachnids with nothing more than a well placed verbal emphasis. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Kingdom of the Spiders

Pitch: “Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuug!” Yeah, I know, but both ’spider’ and ‘tarantula’ had too many syllables…

Why Buy? Shatner facing off against hundreds of tarantulas… what’s not to love here people? Shout! Factory continues their trend of awesome DVD releases with some nice extras, but the biggest bonus here is getting the film in it’s true widescreen ratio for the first time outside of its original theatrical run.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

Across the Hall

Pitch: Brittany Murphy finds her life in danger while spending the night in a hotel. And no, it doesn’t involve ghosts…

Why Rent? In the world of Murphy’s direct-to-dvd (yes I know this had a very limited theatrical release, but let’s be serious) catalog you can do worse than this little thriller set exclusively in an old and odd hotel. Director Alex Merkin (ooh, poor guy) does a good job injecting the movie with style and a bit of mystery, but the pacing lags a bit too much at times and the mystery is revealed to be far from mysterious by the film’s end. Still worth checking out for fans of Murphy.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? None

Blood Creek

Pitch: Nazi zombies leave the mountains of Norway behind and head to backwoods America…

Why Rent? Remember Joel Schumacher? He may not have ever been a highly acclaimed director but he was definitely a profitable one. The Lost Boys, Flatliners, Falling Down, A Time To Kill… then he dipped his nipples into the Batman franchise and he’s been sliding downhill ever since. This tight little horror flick got a token theatrical release before hitting DVD, and it’s worth a watch. Two brothers try to defeat a Nazi with occult-like powers who just won’t die, and while it’s pretty standard fare in many ways the CGI scene during a horse attack is pretty cool.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary

Death in Love

Pitch: The first seven minutes of this movie are more honest and sexy than most other full movies…

Why Rent? Seriously, the opening monologue by Josh Lucas is brilliant, incisive, and cutting commentary, and it’s immediately followed by the beautiful, talented, and fully naked Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Serenity, V). The story about a forty year-old questioning his life and lifestyle is an impressive piece of work from the director of Remember the Titans and Uptown Girls. It’s reminiscent (but not as consistent) of Mike Nichols’ Closer in the way it dissects men, women, and the relationship between them. This may have been a Buy for me if it weren’t for the ending.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season

Pitch: An intriguing, interesting, fascinating, and well-acted show gets canceled. Surprise…

Why Rent? I’m not ashamed to admit I’d never heard of this show before seeing the DVD, but now I’m hooked and pissed that I won’t be seeing a second season. It was apparently advertised as “Grey’s Anatomy in outer space” which may explain why I blocked it from my mind, but it’s actually a lot smarter and filled with more identifiable characters than that hospital melodrama. Ron Livingston leads a cast of faces both recognizable and unknown on a mysterious mission through space, and it trades the typical battles and alien invaders for serious questions and dramas about humanity, guilt, and wonder. If you feel like taking a chance then I’d even suggest buying it for two reasons… one, it’s a great show. And two, it just may send a message that an audience exists for smart and entertaining television.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

The Invention of Lying

Pitch: White lies lead to bigger lies which lead to God. Who knew…

Why Rent? Even though it borrows a central conceit from James Morrow’s superior novella (“City of Truth”), this light-weight comedy from Ricky Gervais still manages a few original laughs. Gervais plays a loser in a world where only the truth can be spoke until a forgotten synapse fires in his brain and he tells the first lie. And where does that lead? To religion of course! That’s the movie’s one purely brilliant stroke, but it fails to capitalize on the idea and instead becomes a more traditional romantic comedy.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, outtakes, featurettes

The Keeper

Pitch: “Nikki’s out there in all kinds of jeopardy right now, and you in here fuckin around with some stanky hoe…”

Why Rent? I won’t pretend this straight-to-dvd Steven Seagal flick is anything truly special, but unlike a lot of the guy’s output over the past decade this one’s actually somewhat entertaining. The story which crosses The Bodyguard with Man on Fire is standard fare, but a recently slimmed-down (relatively speaking) Seagal is back to being a believable fighter again after years of his wandering portly Indian shtick. Solid fisticuffs, bloody gunplay, and a ginormous pair of fake Mexican hooters complete the package.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Outrage

Pitch: Hypocrisy in government? Is this a documentary or a fantasy film…

Why Rent? But seriously, no one should be surprised by the revelations and accusations in Kirby Dick’s latest doc. The same guy who showed us the dirty secrets behind the MPAA this time points his investigative lens at closeted Republicans who work to suppress gay rights. Snarky, revealing, and ultimately depressing, this is both entertaining and educational filmmaking.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurette

Pandorum

Pitch: In space, no one can hear you scream while cannibalistic creatures tear your flesh apart…

Why Rent? Two astronauts (Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid) awake on a spaceship after a night of partying with no memory of where they are or how they got there. (Space ruffies!) The first half of the movie works really well with its combination of mystery and claustrophobia, but the second part devolves into a standard monster chase. Still a fun movie though, so check it out!

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins Ball

Pitch: It’s the even more ridiculous sequel to an already ridiculous original…

Why Rent? The first movie is no classic, but it managed to be a bit of crazy, over the top fun. This straight-to-dvd sequel finds the star wattage turned way down low but tries to keep the manic nature of its predecessor. It’s far less entertaining, and to be honest is a borderline Avoid for me thanks to some intentionally cheap green-screen work and digital effects… but the very last seconds before the screen crawl makes it all worthwhile.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, gag reel, featurettes

Spirits of the Fall

Pitch: This is the power of marketing done right…

Why Rent? I haven’t seen this movie. I haven’t even seen a trailer. So why am I recommending it as a rental? Because the cover art is awesomely creepy. Period. Hopefully the movie is even have as good.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

Gamer

Pitch: It’s The Running Man without brains. And yes, I know what I just said there…

Why Avoid? I’m not a fan of anything Neveldine and Taylor have done yet (aside from Pathology which they only wrote), but if you are then odds are you’ll also enjoy this stinker. Love it or hate it, the hand-held camera style of Saving Private Ryan and the Bourne movies can be done right and it can be done wrong. This is how you do it wrong. No spatial awareness, no focus, no sense of what the hell you’re seeing… add to that a terribly conceived script, the grunting slur of Gerard Butler, and the over-acting of (the normally great) Michael C Hall, and you have a DVD I wouldn’t even rest my beverage upon.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

Whiteout

Pitch: Kate Beckinsale takes a shower in the first few minutes. Something else probably happens after that…

Why Avoid? I wanted to like this one because everyone else seemed so set against it… but it’s as bad as they all said. A silly and convoluted mystery sits at the heart of this turd, but my biggest issue has to do with Beckinsale’s US Marshall. She’s the least effective law enforcement officer since Sheriff Rosco Coltrane. Can’t use her gun worth a damn. Doesn’t know how to enter or search a suspicious area. Can barely defend herself against any threat. Is a terrible judge of character. Just watch the PG-rated shower scene on a loop for ninety minutes and it’ll be a lot more entertaining.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes

Also out this week, but not seen in advance by my own three eyes: According to Greta, Che (Criterion), No Impact Man, Weeds: Season Five

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

• This Week in Blu-ray: The We Love Nancy Botwin Edition
• The Movie Watcher’s Guide To September 2009
• Drinking Game Double Feature: The Invention of Lying and Whiteout
• Coroner’s Report: Blood Creek
• This Week in Blu-ray: To the Moon, Bloom!
• The Ten Coolest Movie Posters of 2009
• Smokin’ Aces 2: Electric Boogaloo Gets a Trailer
• Reject Radio: Episode 20: The Second Fibonacci Sequence of Death

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves defusing bombs. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

The Hurt Locker

Pitch: Who knew a bomb squad in Iraq surrounded by constant danger could be so exciting…

Why Buy? This is the first of two releases this week that we’ve covered, talked about, and praised endlessly here on FSR. It’s a modern-day war film devoid of any political commentary. Instead, Kathryn Bigelow focuses her camera on a few men in a bomb disposal unit and basically bathes the screen in tension and sweat. Beautifully shot, well acted, and incredibly suspenseful… easily on of the year’s best movies.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

In the Loop

Pitch: The leaders of the free world want war. Their assistants not so much…

Why Buy? Do you like to laugh? Do you enjoy biting, foul-mouthed, and incisive insults? Do you prefer your political commentary laced with profanities? Then this is the movie for you… I’d probably put it neck and neck with The Hangover for funniest movie of 2009.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurette

Moon

Pitch: A solitary lunar worker nearing the end of his contract discovers something strange on the dark side of the moon…

Why Buy? I already recommended this as a Buy a couple months back when the region-free UK release came out, and not surprisingly I’m saying the same thing now. This is smart science fiction with a brilliant performance by Sam Rockwell, and it’s an amazing debut from director Duncan Jones.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

The Simpsons: The Complete Twentieth Season

Pitch: It’s the Simpsons…

Why Buy? At this point, twenty seasons in, you should probably know whether or not you like The Simpsons. I agree they’ve lost some of their luster and zing over the past several years, but I think they’ve still got enough bite and humor to make the show worthwhile. So buy it! Or don’t.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurette

Amreeka

Pitch: A single mother leaves the Middle East conflict behind for the joys of middle America…

Why Rent? Few things are more enjoyable than watching a little film you’ve never heard of and being pleasantly surprised with how good it is. Cherien Dabis’ debut finds both the heart and humor in the modern-day immigrant experience. She never gets preachy or condescending to either the newcomers or their new home, and we end up with a movie that doesn’t quite go where we expect it to.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, bloopers, featurettes

The Appeared

Pitch: Two siblings take a road trip with ghosts…

Why Rent? This is an odd little Spanish thriller that seems at times to throw everything from the horror genre into the mix. There are ghosts, menacing cars, bloody murders, mysterious reflections… but it’s also well acted and intriguing enough to keep you watching to the very end. And that end makes it all worthwhile too with a beautifully done and very cool final scene.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurette

The Brothers Bloom

Pitch: The narrator from Magnolia also narrates this tale of sibling con-men…

Why Rent? I loved director Rian Johnson’s first film Brick, but his sophomore follow-up is a mess. The story never quite gels and the characters never reach the level of likability, but luckily there’s just enough charm and style to make it a movie worth watching. The actors are all fine in this story about two life-long con-artists who reach the end of the line when one of them decides he wants out of the game, but Johnson never quite gets the balance between goofy comedy and serious drama right. An interesting film, but not really a good one.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

Departures

Pitch: This flick won a little award called the Oscar last year. Maybe you’ve heard of it…

Why Rent? A cellist who knows nothing but music is forced to find another job and ends up working as a Nokanshi. Now instead of making music he’s preparing dead bodies for burial. Kind of the same thing, right? While I don’t agree that this Japanese movie was the best foreign film of 2008, I do think it’s a sweet little film about life, death, and the journey between the two. It also speaks to familial expectations in some interesting and lightly comic ways.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurette

Goliath

Pitch: A man. A cat. A motorized tree-trimmer…

Why Rent? You’d think I like this little indie flick solely for the scene introducing me to www.nastynastyasian.com, but you’d be wrong. (And for the record, the site appears to exactly as it’s presented in the movie. An odd piece of viral marketing maybe…) Instead, it’s the simplicity inherent in the story about a lonely man who loses his cat. Hi search for his feline friend is mixed with snippets from his life including divorce proceedings, coffee creamer abuse, and some odd condom usage. It’s not an exciting movie by any stretch, but it’s an oddly interesting one.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

Nun of That

Pitch: “A blast for you and a blasphemy…”

Why Rent? This recommendation comes with the caveat that if you don’t like low-budget grindhouse flicks then you should just keep moving along. Because this is low-budget, and it is grindhouse inspired. But it’s also a self-aware comedy made by folks who have a true feel and love for the material. Bloody violence and lesbian nuns are the new chocolate and peanut butter! That said, this really should have been a lot sleazier than it is.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

Big Fan

Pitch: A socially retarded football fan gets beat up by his favorite player and then pressured as to what to do about it…

Why Avoid? I’m tempted to put this under the Rent header instead of the Avoid one simply because Patton Oswalt does a good job with the dramatic role and he deserves the recognition. But that aside… the character is an unlikable idiot. There’s no character arc of any kind here. I find it hard to believe anyone could relate to this guy (aside from our own Neil Miller who really liked this terrible movie for some reason) or this movie. Having a stupid prick who you’re unable to identify or sympathize with as your lead character is a bad idea people.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Outtakes, featurette

Fame

Pitch: Fame! We’re gonna live for two weeks before fading into dollar theaters…

Why Avoid? A big old meh is what I give this remake of the well-known eighties flick that spawned a TV series and a host of imitators. The film follows several students at a NYC school for the artistically inclined including primarily singers, dancers, and actors, and shows the failures and triumphs they all encounter. And it’s just as generic as that synopsis makes it sound. Whether there are too many characters or they’re just poorly written none of them ever truly touch you or make you care about their struggles.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurettes

Halloween 2

Pitch: An undead serial killer with mommy issues continues his reign of terror…

Why Avoid? I was willing to give Rob Zombie a chance, again, to make a worthwhile movie. But then he had both the police and the ambulance attendants put a “dead” Michael Myers in the ambulance without removing his goddamn mask. And then he has Laurie fall into a giant bin of unexplained dead bodies at the hospital. And then he fills the movie with actors who can’t act (Brad Dourif aside). And there’s the ridiculous and unforgivable dream sequences…

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, bloopers, featurettes

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

• This Week in Blu-ray: To the Moon, Bloom!
• The 17 Must See Movies of Summer 2009
• Oscar Breakdown: Best Original and Adapted Screenplays
• Duncan Jones Leads With Win at BAFTAs
• WGA Rewards The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air; Will The Academy Follow Suit?
• Year in Review: The 10 Best Performances of 2009
• Editor’s Picks: The Ten Best Movies of 2009
• 7 Directors Who Could Handle ‘Dune’

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves working with NASA on a top-secret project designed to solve world hunger by making tofu cubes fall from the sky. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

10 Things I Hate About You: 10th Anniversary Edition

Pitch: The best adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew ever made. Seriously…

Why Buy? This is one of the best teen romantic comedies to come out of the nineties, and while it’s due to a lot of factors the main one is the stellar ensemble cast. Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Julia Stiles, and Larry Miller are all fantastic and help create a movie that’s sweet, funny, honest, and continuously watchable. FYI, this is a Buy recommendation with the caveat that you don’t already own a copy of the movie. The making-of is good, but the deleted scenes are actually only viewable as part of the featurette which is a slight bit of false advertising.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurette

50 Dead Men Walking

Pitch: The somewhat true story of Donnie McBrasco…

Why Rent? Okay so the lead’s name is actually Martin McGartland and he’s more of an informer than an undercover agent, but the concept is still relatively the same. Jim Sturgess stars as the low-level criminal persuaded into joining the IRA as an informer for the British government. The movie does a fine job balancing the drama and suspense and creates an interesting portrait of a time and a place that many of us can barely imagine.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentary, featurette

Big Love: The Complete Third Season

Pitch: Who knew Mormons could be so entertaining…

Why Rent? I’m of the opinion that all religions are fairly goofy, but HBO’s show about the wacky adventures of one big Mormon family does a great job of making many of them real people with real situations. The acting is top-notch across the board, and even when the storylines grow more than a little ridiculous the performances manage to hold it all together.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

Chuck: The Complete Second Season

Pitch: Much like our own Neil Miller, a Best Buy employee is dragged into the dangerous world of super spys…

Why Rent? I’ll be honest and admit that I gave up on this show about six episodes into the first season. The characters were engaging enough, but I wasn’t a fan of the action/comedy imbalance. After watching a few episodes of season two I can say with indifference that the uneven tone remains. A mildly entertaining diversion at best.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurettes

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Pitch: Who wouldn’t want dead animal flesh to fall from the sky…

Why Rent? Bill Hader finally gets a starring role and it’s in an animated movie. Ah well, he does a fine job voicing goofball scientist Flint Lockwood, and is joined by the likes of Anna Faris, Bruce Campbell, Neil Patrick Harris, and Mr. T! The disc doesn’t carry over the 3D aspect from theaters, but the animation still looks good. There’s more than enough laughs, colors, and action to keep the kids interested, and a fairly sharp script should manage to hold an adult’s attention as well.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, extended scenes, featurettes, games

Lorna’s Silence

Pitch: Imagine Green Card as a mildly suspenseful drama and without the fat Frenchman…

Why Rent? A young woman in an arranged marriage discovers the path to citizenship is lined with unsavory characters and unwelcome choices. Arta Dobroshi stars as the title character and manages to create a deceptively simple woman with hidden layers of depth and drama. Part character study, part indictment of the immigrant experience, and part suspense film, Lorna’s Silence is definitely worth a watch.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurette

Trucker

Pitch: A hot lady trucker is forced to grow up when her baby’s daddy gets sick and drops their estranged kid in her lap…

Why Rent? I’ve always like Michelle Monaghan and she’s often been the only appealing thing in otherwise terrible movies (Eagle Eye, The Heartbreak Kid). This indie flick has raised her acting credentials among more than a few critics and deserves a wider audienc, and Nathan Fillion turns in a fantastic supporting performance as well. The movie itself is slow at times but remains worth watching for these two performances.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

The Final Destination 3-D

Pitch: Promises, promises…

Why Avoid? This series is the definition of diminishing returns. The original was unique and entertaining, the sequel wasn’t as good but still managed to be surprisingly fun and gory, and even the third installment had its moments. Which brings us to the most recent sequel. The 3D scenes are as gimmicky as you’d expect, but movie fails for one big reason… the splattery practical effects from previous movies are replaced with obvious and unimpressive CGI effects that. Skip it and go watch the guy get squashed by the window pane in Part Two instead.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes

Kendra: The Complete First Season

Pitch: The only mildly attractive Girl Next Door gets her own show and quickly loses all appeal…

Why Avoid? My lady friend was a fan of E!’s “The Girls Next Door” and the few episodes I saw were appealing enough. But her solo show is dumb with a capital DD. Starting with one of the most annoying opening themes of all time the show proceeds to offer nothing but terribly uninteresting and scripted “reality” incidents. Skip it and go read a Playboy magazine instead.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Extra episode, bloopers

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

• This Week in Blu-ray: To the Moon, Bloom!
• WTF: 2D or Not 2D, That Is the Question
• Weekly DVD Drinking Game: The Final Destination
• Culture Warrior: Was 2009 a Banner Year in Animation?
• Breakdown: The Animated Oscar Race Begins with 20 Films
• Exclusive: Michelle Monaghan Talks ‘Trucker’
• Scary Good Box Office for Couples Retreat, Paranormal Activity
• Box Office ‘Cloudy’ For a Second Consecutive Week

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves working for the Ghostbusters to serve all your supernatural elimination needs. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

Paranormal Activity

Pitch: Boo…

Why Buy? There are three reasons to buy this DVD. One, while it may not be a great movie it has some truly terrifying scenes. Two, the fact that it’s freaking scary as hell makes it a great choice to show friends on movie night. And three, I hate weeks where I have nothing to recommend buying. (Landon Palmer’s review)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Alternate ending

9

Pitch: Welcome to the poor man’s Avatar…

Why Rent? Gosh, that sounds harsh doesn’t it? All I really mean is that while the movie looks incredible it’s weighed down by an incredibly unfulfilling story.  It does look fantastic… the CGI animation is beautiful and dark, the action is fast and kinetic, and your eyes will hurt for fear of blinking and missing something. But the story about sock puppets tasked with saving the world after a mechanical uprising wipes out humanity starts strong then drops into convoluted simplicity. Yes. Convoluted simplicity. (Cole Abaius’ review)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Original short, commentary, featurettes

Assembly

Pitch: Consider this Saving Private Xiaogang…

Why Rent? Fans of war films in the vein of Steven Spielberg’s WWII classic may want to check out this Chinese import. It focuses on the country’s bombastic history after WWII as seen through the eyes of a captain in the army. He leads his men through multiple battles filled with violent and gory deaths, and then follows his attempts to see them honored for their efforts. It’s action and drama far removed from the usual films China produces.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? None

Carriers

Pitch: Captain Kirk pilots an SUV through the barren Midwest…

Why Rent? This post-apocalyptic flick was unfairly dumped in under a hundred theaters this past year, and it deserved better. As much a drama as it is a horror film, Carriers follows Chris Pine, Lou Taylor Pucci, and two female companions as they travel across an America wiped out by a deadly and highly contagious virus. It’s more The Road than it is 28 Days Later, but it’s still an entertaining yet depressing little flick with some strong performances.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Facing Ali

Pitch: Learn about Muhammad Ali from the people who knew him best…

Why Rent? Okay, perhaps the men who faced Ali in the ring aren’t the ones who knew him best, but they certainly have some fascinating and interesting insights into the man and the legend. Boxing greats Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and eight others all  remember their various confrontations with Ali. Regardless of whether an individual fight resulted in a win or a loss for the man a certain amount of respect and reverence is visible in the telling. There’s no real drama or conflict in this doc to hook the viewer, but instead it presents reflection of a man and a time in the sport of boxing that are no more.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurettes

Jennifer’s Body

Pitch: Megan Fox shows some skin and some acting chops. Which one interests you more…

Why Rent? Unlike Carriers above, this flick got a fair release in theaters. It was the critics and audiences who treated it unfairly. Diablo Cody’s script is far from smart, but it is a funny and occasionally gory little movie that’s worth a watch. Fox gets herself possessed by something evil and best friend Amanda Seyfried is tasked with handling her former best friend turned gut-eater. And while Fox is no great thespian, she does share a pretty fine lesbian kiss with Seyfried. So that has to count for something right? (My review)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Unrated edition, commentaries

A Perfect Getaway

Pitch: Three couples enter a tropical paradise. One of the couples are killers…

Why Rent? This is a fun movie, pure and simple, but it’s filled to the edges with issues and faults. I detailed them more clearly in my review (here), but suffice to say this movie isn’t nearly as smart as it thinks it is. But that doesn’t stop it from being incredibly entertaining, thrilling, and pretty damn funny. Timothy Olyphant and Steve Zahn have great chemistry, the action is intense, and while it may not keep you guessing it will most certainly keep your attention.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Unrated edition

Princess of Mars

Pitch: This trailer is all the pitch you should need…

Why Rent? It’s the inspiration for James Cameron’s Avatar?!? Awesome! Now get off your butt and go find it for ninety minutes of guaranteed (and intentional) ineptitude. Antonio Sabato Jr stars as a lost soldier, Traci Lords stars as a young-ish alien princess, and Edgar Rice Burroughs rolls over in his grave.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Featurette

Vampire Killers

Pitch: Apparently Americans can’t handle lesbians in their horror comedies…

Why Rent? Yes, this is actually the recent British horror comedy Lesbian Vampire Killers, and no, I don’t understand why any self-respecting DVD label would drop the most intriguing one-third of the title. Regardless of what they’re calling the movie the fact remains that it’s a mildly entertaining romp through the British countryside filled with a handful of boobies, double dental penetrations, and buckets of white, sticky fluids. Just remember, regardless of what the title states, there are lesbian vampires within. (My review)

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, featurettes

Glee: Season One, Volume One

Pitch: Welcome to a high school for special kids…

Why Avoid? This is actually a pretty appealing little show for fans of music, choreography, and colors, but I refuse to recommend you support this dvd release. Season One, Volume One? That’s a ripoff even when great shows like Battlestar Galactica did it, so it’s not going to fly when a lesser one tries to milk the fans dry. I realize Fox originally planned for just these thirteen episodes, but once they extended the season to a full order they should have scrapped plans for this release. Just ignore this one and wait for them to release Glee: The Complete Season One.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Invisible episodes

The Marine 2

Pitch: A professional wrestler joins the US Marines and shoots up some Thai baddies…

Why Avoid? I’m not ashamed to admit I actually liked the first movie. It was stupid and John Cena is a terrible actor, but the action was pretty damn good. The sequel swaps out Cena for an even less talented wrestler/actor named Ted DiBiase, but it also drops the quality of action and spectacle to such a degree that it really isn’t worth watching. Maybe when it comes on cable…

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurette

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

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• The Reject Report Takes a Bite Out of Megan Fox
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• Is Brian De Palma Directing Paranormal Activity 2?
• Old Ass Movies: Things To Come
• For Science: Experiencing Glee, All In One Sitting
• The Jane Lynch Experience: A Quick Retrospective

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves writing sympathy cards for a greeting card company. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

(500) Days of Summer

Pitch: “This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know up front, this is not a love story…”

Why Buy? There are two scenes here that would make the dvd worth buying even if the rest of the movie were total crap. (Luckily, the movie as a whole is also wonderful, sweet, dark, sad, creative, and most of all, honest.) The dance number that takes place after Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel have spent their first night together is beautiful combination of energy, wit, and imagination. And the split screen scene depicting reality and expectation is brilliantly executed and edited. See this movie people.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentary

District 9

Pitch: Hey Mr. Cameron, this is how you meld ground-breaking effects with an interesting story and lead character…

Why Buy? Regardless of your thoughts on Neill Blomkamp’s summer blockbuster, there’s no denying that it accomplished wonders with a relatively small budget. The CGI aliens on display here rival the best more money can buy elsewhere, and even better, they’re used to support an interesting narrative. Aliens in South Africa become an allegory for human apartheid, but there’s also a more personal story at work brought to life by Sharlto Copley in his first acting role. Impressive, exciting, and occasionally funny.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentary, featurettes

Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Dark Side

Pitch: “A long time ago, when the gays weren’t all in your face about it…”

Why Buy? Family Guy misses the mark just as often as they hit it on the weekly show, and both sides of that coin are due to the series’ scatter-shot style. (Yes, the one South Park mocked so well in the two part Cartoon Wars episode.) But these Star Wars spoofs (this is the second) do a good job of narrowing the show’s focus, so instead of numerous and irrelevant cutaways we get to see some smart but respectful writing poking fun at Empire Strikes Back. Very funny stuff, and I can’t wait for them to take on Return of the Jedi… although I predict a shot of an AT-AT walker stepping on an Ewok then trying to rub it off on a log like it’s dog poop (and yes, that shot will have been borrowed from MAD Magazine.)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentary, featurettes

Blind Date

Pitch: The Bruce Willis/Kim Basinger comedy classic gets remade with Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson…?

Why Rent? That’s not true, but can you even imagine how different that would be? Anyway, this movie is actually about a long-married couple with relationship issues who decide to go on a series of first dates in an attempt to rekindle their love for each other. The story is pretty straight-forward and Tucci does a fine job as director, but the real attraction here is the acting. Tucci and Clarkson are both extremely talented and a joy to watch interact.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Extract

Pitch: A bunch of hilarious people get together and make a mildly funny movie…

Why Rent? While I wasn’t expecting greatness with this movie (Mike Judge’s previous two films consist of the excellent Office Space and the dreadful Idiocracy), I was at least hoping for a laugh-filled comedy. But instead the movie is a slightly absurd dramedy with characters (like Mila Kunis’) who just don’t seem to fit and end up with very little to do. And with comedic actors like Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Kunis, and JK Simmons running around, why is Ben Affleck the film’s saving comedic grace?

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurette

ICHI

Pitch: Hot, blind, and deadly with a blade…

Why Rent? The tale of Zatoichi has been told many times through numerous incarnations, but never before has the lead been so damn cute. It helps of course that this version swaps out the blind man with a blind woman… the character is a blind warrior who wanders the countryside on a personal quest but who takes time to assist those in need. Yes, it is exactly like The Incredible Hulk TV show. (No, it’s not.)

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Featurette

It Might Get Loud

Pitch: Two rock legends and an inexplicably popular musician walk into a recording studio…

Why Rent? Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White come together to discuss inspirations, guitar preferences, and the nature of rock rebellion. There’s some fairly interesting commentary along the way as each of the men revisit places that mean something to them and their career.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentary, featurette

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Pitch: Michael Douglas stretches his acting chops and plays an evil, rich, white man…

Why Avoid? The easy reason is the presence of Jesse Metcalfe, but he’s actually far from the worst element here. The story follows a journalist (Metcalfe) who suspects a popular DA (Douglas) has been falsifying evidence to secure convictions, so he does the only logical thing he can… he waits for a new murder to occur then sets himself up to look like the prime suspect. He and a friend video him buying the jogging suit seen by a witness, the sneakers that match a print at the scene, etc… as if any of that precludes the possibility that he still committed the actual crime. Makes zero sense, and by the time the movie throws a lame, left-field twist at you for the finale it’ll be clear beyond a reasonable doubt that this movie is stupid.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? None

Also out this week but not reviewed due to lack of advance review material:

All About Steve, American Pie: The Book of Love, Call of the Wild 3D, Staten Island

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

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• Staff Picks: The Best Movies of 2009
• Editor’s Picks: The Ten Best Movies of 2009
• Year in Review: The 15 Best Trailers of 2009
• The Reject Report Controls It’s Gamer
• The Movie Watcher’s Guide To September 2009
• Reject Radio: Episode 14: Eighty Cents on the Dollar
• The 2010 Academy Awards Winners

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves hunting Nazis. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

The Hangover

Pitch: The funniest movie released this past June…

Why Buy? Personally, I think it’s probably funnier than anything else this year, but comedy is subjective so I scaled the pitch back a bit. The joy of the film and what makes it work as well as it does is the cast. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and (especially) Zack Galifianakis each bring their own style and charms to the movie and the meld together (and play off each other) perfectly. And the commentary and outtakes are almost as funny as the movie itself too, so you’ll definitely get your moneys worth here.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Unrated version, commentary, outtakes, featurettes

Inglourious Basterds

Pitch: The best movie of the year…

Why Buy? That’s right KangerooStoned, Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic is not only his personal best and most fulfilling film, but it’s also brilliantly written, suspenseful, audacious, innovative, and consistently entertaining. I’ve never really been one to praise Tarantino’s movies as anything more than entertaining pop culture retreads… in fact until now I’ve held that True Romance is his best script. But here he leaves most of his usual gags behind and instead focuses on sharply written and incredibly tense verbal standoffs, surprising bursts of violence, and a revisionist bent that forces a giant smile to your face.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurettes

Murder By Decree

Pitch: The best Sherlock Holmes movie ever…

Why Buy? Seriously, it is. Christopher Plummer and James Mason as Holmes and Watson? Awesome. The great detective up against Jack the Ripper? Awesome. A thriller from the director of Black Christmas, Porky’s, and A Christmas Story? Awesome.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End

Pitch: Japanese story of good versus evil, by way of Stephen King…

Why Rent? The King reference probably implies a horror overtone but I was actually referring to the epic nature of the tale combined with a structure that moves between a group of friends as children and as adults years later. Here the kids grow up to discover that a book of prophecies they wrote when they were younger appears to be coming true. It’s part one of a trilogy so don’t expect all the questions to be answered, but it’s entertaining enough on its own.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Collision

Pitch: Several lives are tied together by a deadly highway car crash…

Why Rent? Don’t worry, there’s no heavy, melodramatic pablum here about racial discord and harmony. Instead (and thankfully) it’s a slightly twisty little drama/thriller from the UK about people involved in a highway pile-up. We meet everyone involved and discover their stories as a detective tries to work his way towards who and what was the cause of the crash. It appears everyone who drives a car in the UK is guilty of something.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

G-Force

Pitch: Crime-fighting gerbils and normally funny actors working for the paycheck…

Why Rent? I’d be hard-pressed to call this a good movie, but for the target audience (kids) it’s a passable piece of CGI entertainment. For the rest of us there’s some mildly impressive effects and the inexplicable presence of Zack Galifianakis.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? None

The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard

Pitch: The sequel they never made to Kurt Russell’s classic Used Cars…

Why Rent? This is a wonderful example of a movie saved by the writing and the ensemble cast. The plot about efforts to sell a bunch of cars is irrelevant next to the constant stream of one-liners and comments coming from a fantastic group of comedic actors. From Jeremy Piven, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, and Tony Hale to a woman who threatens to eat her own pussy (Kathryn Hahn) these are funny people saying funny things. Which is why I’m disgusted by this bare-bones release! You know there are hours of outtakes on file somewhere…

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Taking Woodstock

Pitch: See Woodstock like you’ve never heard it before…

Why Rent? It’s directed by Ang Lee and even though it’s toward the lesser end of his filmography it’s not without some charms. The highlights are the cast including Demitri Martin, Liev Schrieber, and Emile Hirsch, and as long as you go in expecting nothing more than a lightweight comedy with none of the seminal music of the festival you should enjoy it just fine.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurette

Chai Lai Angels: Dangerous Flowers

Pitch: Sexy Asian agents fight evildoers in a crime-ridden Thailand…

Why Avoid? Even that generic pitch makes this movie sound way better than it is. And really, there’s no reason why a movie filled with scantily clad Asian ass-kickers should be anything less than awesome. And yet it is so very far from awesome… the women aren’t scantily clad enough, the fights and wire-work are terribly choreographed, and the action scenes are slowed down but you can tell they weren’t originally shot all that much faster. It teases awesomeness multiple times including a fight between multiple women dressed only in towels (a la Jackie Chan’s Operation Condor), a little girl giving beat-downs to a room full of thugs, and the appearance of a working tank interrupting a fight in front of a castle… but all of it still sucks.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

The Other Man

Pitch: A cuckolded husband challenges his wife’s lover to chess…

Why Avoid? Liam Neeson and Laura Linney are both fantastic actors, and Antonio Banderas is probably a member of SAG, but none of them can save this boring and lame exploration of infidelity. Neeson confronts Banderas but nothing interesting comes of it even though the movie’s “twist” ending wants you to think so.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? None

Trunk

Pitch: “She’s not your ordinary baggage…”

Why Avoid? I haven’t actually seen this movie, but I’m still recommending you avoid it. Why? Because there’s no way the movie can live up to the entertainment value of the DVD cover. See, she’s been kidnapped, as you can tell by the license plate. And then she gets tossed into the trunk of the car, as evidenced by both the literal cover image and the title. And at some point she pauses to model with a knife in her hand.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

Related Reading:

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• The 17 Must See Movies of Summer 2009
• The 2010 Academy Awards Winners

Rob Hunter loves movies.  He also loves rescuing dolphins from culturally misguided Japanese fishermen. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. So join us each week as he takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs.

Click on any of the titles below to magically head over to Amazon.com and pick up the DVD.  And don’t forget to check out Neil Miller’s hilariously titled This Week In Blu-ray column for reviews on the latest high definition Blu-ray releases!

The Cove

Pitch: Dolphins go in, but they don’t come out…

Why Buy? This is a call to action for anyone who cares about cruelty and mistreatment of creatures on both a general level and a more specific one, but the real beauty here is in the film’s presentation. The filmmakers don’t simply show footage of dolphin mistreatment… they tell a story with true characters and suspense. A story filled with adventure, heartbreak, and redemption. It’s an emotional and entertaining journey worth taking whether or not you care about the plight of dolphins. Of course, you’re a dick if you don’t…

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Pitch: Harry finally grows a pair and steps up against the oncoming evil…

Why Buy? I’m no more than a casual fan of the Harry Potter films, but this latest installment was incredibly entertaining. It’s easily the most exciting, humorous, and thrilling of the series so far, and it’s the first one that I’d recommend whole-heartedly as a Buy. Harry’s adventure gets bigger as it expands out into the real world and more dangerous as it strikes closer to the ones he loves. And the action and laughs were also more than enough for me to forgive the fact that Harry let the cute Asian girl slip between his fingers… the fool! Definitely one of the more entertaining big-budget movies of the year.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, featurettes

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Ultimate Edition

Pitch: Triple dip, Potter style…

Why Buy? I mentioned above that I’m a casual Harry Potter fan, and these new Ultimate Editions are aimed more at the hardcore Potter-heads… but damn are they impressive. They come in a really nice case that mimics a small hardcover book, and inside you’ll find a foldout case with four discs (the theatrical cut, the extended cut, and two bonus-filled discs), a beautiful little hardcover book with photos and concept drawings, and two collectible character cards. All special editions should be this incredible.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Extended edition, commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, hardcover book, collectible cards

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Ultimate Edition

Pitch: Triple dip part deux, Potter style…

Why Buy? I mentioned above that I’m a casual Harry Potter fan, and these new Ultimate Editions are aimed more at the hardcore Potter-heads… but damn are they impressive. They come in a really nice case that mimics a small hardcover book, and inside you’ll find a foldout case with four discs (the theatrical cut, the extended cut, and two bonus-filled discs), a beautiful little hardcover book with photos and concept drawings, and two collectible character cards. All special editions should be this incredible.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Extended edition, commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, hardcover book, collectible cards

Lost: The Complete Fifth Season

Pitch: At this point, you either get it or you don’t…

Why Buy? Obviously, if you haven’t been following along as the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 work their way through their post-crash lives (and deaths) then season five won’t mean much to you. But for those of us who’ve been sucked in since the beginning this is the beginning of the end of one of television’s best and most sprawling shows. The final season starts in two short months, so if you’ve forgotten what transpired in season five or if you’ve only recently become a convert you best get a move on now.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Deleted scenes, commentaries, bloopers, featurettes

Home Movie

Pitch: Ah kids. They grow up so fast, so why not videotape the pernicious little bastards for posterity…

Why Rent? Adrian Pasdar plays patriarch to a family consisting of him, his wife, and their twin boy and girl. Told entirely via home movie recordings we get to watch the children slowly reveal their repressed psychos within. It’s not the groundbreaking “found film” movie that Paranormal Activity is, but it’s an interesting and occasionally disturbing little movie all the same.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Julie & Julia

Pitch: An entertaining biopic of Julia Child wrapped in a bland and uninspired framing device…

Why Rent? I’m not kidding either. The half of the film focused on Julia Child as portrayed by Meryl Streep is light-hearted and romantic fun. I defy you not to chuckle when Streep mouths the cock. Sorry, when she mouths the word “cock.” Amy Adams is cute enough, but her half of the film manages only to make you wish it would move back to Child’s story.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurette

Public Enemies

Pitch: The screen heats up as two legendary actors face off for the first time…

Why Rent? Michael Mann movies are almost always worth watching at least once. (And they’re occasionally worth buying… Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat) This flick finds Johnny Depp and Christian Bale facing off in a tommy gun-filled 1930’s. Sadly, by “facing off” I mean they share a few minutes of screen time.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, featurette

Run! Bitch Run!

Pitch: The three R’s of grindhouse filmmaking including rape, revenge, and ridiculous amounts of bodily fluids…

Why Rent? Hell isn’t a real place, but if it were I would most assuredly be sent there for recommending anyone watch this blood and flesh-filled little piece of exploitation pie.  Make no mistake, it’s pretty vile, but from the title on through to the violent and gross finale the movie is a perfect example of grindhouse fun. There’s rape, bloodshed, and toilet plunger masturbation, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

World’s Greatest Dad

Pitch: A father deals with a highly disagreeable son…

Why Rent? Robin Williams straddles a fine line here between the comedic and the dramatic, and he does so brilliantly. His performance is the driving force behind this darkly comic tale of familial love, loss, and masturbation. It’s not exactly laugh out loud funny, but it’s definitely some black, black comedy.

Blu-ray? Yes

Extra Features? Commentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, featurettes

Friday: The Complete Animated Series

Pitch: What if they made an animated TV series based on the Friday movies and nobody came…

Why Avoid? Seriously, did you know this existed? I didn’t, but having watched one episode (yes only one) I can see why. It’s more Friday After Next than Friday, and it shows in the severe lack of laughs.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

The Skeptic

Pitch: A man inherits a haunted house. Stop me if you’ve heard this before…

Why Avoid? This movie means well and I’m a fan of Tim Daly (who starred in my third favorite Stephen King mini-series), but it just doesn’t do a single thing you haven’t seen a hundred times before (and often done better). The scares are competent but still generic enough that you probably won’t be impressed. For ghost movie completists (and “Wings” fans) only.

Blu-ray? No

Extra Features? None

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

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