The Bing Crosby Collection (Universal Backlot Series)
(2010) (Universal).
Cold Feet (The Wedding Tale)
(2006 -- Israel) Comedy about a reluctant bride-to be who keeps her groom and guests waiting while she ponders her future and commitment in a small cafe. (SISU Home Entertainment).
Classic Doctor Who
Two digitally remastered Doctor Who classics: "Revenge of the Cybermen" (Story 79 from the Tom Baker years, 1974-81) and "Silver Nemesis" (Story 154 from the Sylvester McCoy years, 1987-89), $24.98 each. (BBC/Warner).
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Detroit Metal City
(2008 -- Japanese) This live-action Japanese box office success, based on a popular manga series with over 3 million copies sold in Japan, centers on a shy young man who dreams of becoming a trendy singer songwriter but, for some reason, is forced into joining the devil worshipping death metal band "Detroit Metal City," who go on to become superstars. (Warner)
The Goonies 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition
(1985) Dir.: Richard Donner; Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Ke Huy-Quan, Joe Pantoliano. Extras: Cast commentary with director Richard Donner and the actors, "The Making of The Goonies" documentary, Cyndi Lauper music video "The Goonies 'R Good Enough," deleted scenes. Also comes with a new board game, collectible storyboard prints, a 1985 souvenir magazine with behind-the-scenes stories about the filming in Astoria, Oregon (including the production design that transformed Astoria into the "Goon Docks"), and a reprint of a 2009 article with updates on the cast and crew. Also available on Blu-ray Disc.
Men of a Certain Age: The Complete First Season
(2009-10) Two-disc set with 10 episodes, $39.98. Extras: Commentary. (Warner).
Metalocalypse: Season III
(2009-10) Two-disc set, $29.98. Extras: Extended scenes. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Warner).
Nip/Tuck: The Complete Series Gift Set
(2009) Thirty-five disc set with all 100 episodes plus 11 featurettes, $198.70. (Warner).
The Pacific
(2010) The 10-part miniseries, $79.99. Extras: Interviews, profiles, more. Also available on Blu-ray Disc, which adds two companion interactive features across all 10 episodes. (HBO Video).
TCM Greatest Classic Films
Here's another wave of two releases in the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection, a collaboration between Turner Classic Movies and Warner Home Video to present low-priced collections of some of the greatest films of all to serve both serious film buffs and a new generation of movie lovers. Each four-disc set sells for $27.92. (Warner).
TCM Greatest Classic Films: Astaire and Rogers: "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Shall We Dance" (1937), "Swing Time" (1936), "Top Hat" (1935).
Toy Story 3
(2010) Voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Michael Keaton, Estelle Harris, Jodi Benson, Ned Beatty, Wallace Shawn. Read more about "Toy Story 3" in the November Calendar.Available as a single-disc DVD, two-disc Blu-ray (with digital copy), and a four-disc Blu-ray Disc/DVD Combo Pack (with digital copy).DVD Extras: "Day and Night" theatrical short, "The Gang's All Here, Toys!" epilogue, "Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: The Science of Adventure," "Paths to Pixar: Editorial," "Studio Stories: 'Where's Gordon,' 'Cereal Bar,' 'Clean Start'," "A Toy's Eye View: Creating a Whole New Land," Alex Syntek. Blu-ray Extras add: "Cine-explore" by director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla Anderson, "Beyond the Toybox" commentary track, "Beginnings With Michael Arndt," "Bonnie's Playtime" story roundtable, "Roundin' Up a Western Opening," "Goodbye Andy," "The Accidental Toymakers of Pixar," "Life of a Short," "Making of Day and Night," "Ken's Dating tips," "Lotso commercials," "Dancing With the Stars at Pixar," "Toy Story Trivia Dash" game, Alex Syntek music video. (Disney).
V: The Complete First Season
(2009-10) Three-disc set with 12 episodes, $39.98. Extras: " The Actor's Journey from Human to V" featurette, "An Alien in Human Skin: The Makeup FX of V" featurette, " Breaking Story: The World of V: featurette, "The Visual FX of V" featurette, commentary with executive producers Scott Rosenbaum and Steve Pearlman, bloopers, deleted scenes. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Warner).
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November 9
Antichrist
(2009) Lars von Trier ("Europa," "Breaking the Waves," "Dancer in the Dark") shook up the film world when he premiered "Antichrist" at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In this graphic psychodrama, a grief-stricken man and woman -- Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg -- retreat to a cabin deep in the woods after the accidental death of their infant son, only to find terror and violence at the hands of nature and, ultimately, each other. But this most confrontational work yet from one of contemporary cinema's most controversial artists is no mere provocation. It is a visually sublime, emotionally ravaging journey to the darkest corners of the possessed human mind; a disturbing battle of the sexes that pits rational psychology against age-old superstition; and a profoundly effective horror film. New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Lars von Trier and supervised by director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle. Extras: Commentary by von Trier and professor Murray Smith; video interviews with von Trier and actors Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg; collection of video pieces delving into the production of "Antichrist," including interviews with von Trier and key members of his filmmaking team as well as behind-the-scenes footage; "Chaos Reigns at the Cannes Film Festival 2009," a documentary on the film's world premiere, plus press interviews with Dafoe and Gainsbourg; booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Ian Christie. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (The Criterion Collection).
DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection
Four animated shorts featuring characters from the celebrated DC Comics vault: "Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam," "The Spectre," "Jonah Hex" and "Green Arrow." Extras: Four additional bonus TV series episodes. Also available on Blu-ray Disc, which adds commentaries. (Warner).
Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series
(2010) Six-disc set with 13 episodes, $79.98. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan star as the new Doctor (the 11th) and his companion Amy Pond. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (BBC/Warner).
Lie to Me
(2009-10) Six-disc set with 22 episodes, $59.99. Extras: Deleted scenes, Dr. Ekman's blog, "Dr. Ekman/Dr. Lightman -- Lie Detection Tutorial,"
"Eli Loker-- An Honest Man." (Fox).: Season Two
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Machine Limited Edition Collection
Seven-disc set with 41 episodes, plus an 8th disc of bonus features, housed in a molded-plastic Mystery Machine case, $79.95. (Warner).
Secret Origins: The Story of DC Comics
(2010) A look at the history of the comic book publication that launched such legendary characters as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman; $24.98. (Warner).
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November 16
Elsewhere
(2001 -- Austria) Documentary journey to 12 remote and rarely glimpsed locales and communities around the world. The filmmakers travel expansive vistas of desert, snow, jungle, ice, and rain forest, visiting a scooter-riding Finnish reindeer herdsman, the home of a Namibian couple with relational problems, a Sardinian fisherman and more. With observational and striking visual portraits, impressions of modernization's influence on traditional societies emerge. Two-disc set with a booklet, $34.98. (Icarus Films).
Modern Times
(1936) "Modern Times," Charlie Chaplin's last outing as the Little Tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard). With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, "Modern Times" -- though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!) -- is a timeless showcase of Chaplin's untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy. New, restored high-definition digital transfer. Extras: Commentary by Chaplin biographer David Robinson; two new visual essays, by Chaplin historians John Bengtson and Jeffrey Vance; new program on the film's visual and sound effects, with experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt; interview from 1992 with "Modern Times" music arranger David Raksin; "Chaplin Today: Modern Times" (2004), a half-hour program with filmmakers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; two segments removed from the film; three theatrical trailersl "All at Sea" (1933), a home movie by Alistair Cooke featuring Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, and Cooke, plus a new score by Donald Sosin and a new interview with Cooke's daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge; "The Rink" (1916), a Chaplin two-reeler highlighting his skill on wheels; "For the First Time" (1967), a Cuban documentary short about a projectionist who shows "Modern Times" to first-time moviegoers; booklet featuring an essay by film critic Saul Austerlitz and a piece by film scholar Lisa Stein that includes excerpts from Chaplin's writing about his travels in 1931 and 1932. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (The Criterion Collection).
Monk: Season One, Two and Three
Four-disc set. Extras: "Mr. Monk and His Origins," "Mr. Monk and His O.C.D.," "Mr. Monk and His Fellow Sufferers," :Mr. Monk and His Emmy Award Winning Performance," "Mr. Monk and His Partners in Crime." (Universal).
Mrs. Miracle
(2009) James Van Der Beek, Doris Roberts, Erin Karpluk, Chelah Horsdal. Hallmark Channel feature about an overwhelmed widower whose search for a housekeeper to help him with his rambunctious 6-year-old twin sons ends when Mrs. Merkle -- whom the boys call "Mrs. Miracle" -- mysteriously appears and quickly becomes an irreplaceable nanny, chef, friend… and matchmaker. (Sony).
The Night of the Hunter
(1955) "The Night of the Hunter -- incredibly, the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever directed -- is truly a standalone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister Robert Mitchum as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by Shelley Winters are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humor, this ethereal, expressionistic American classic -- also featuring the contributions of actress Lillian Gish and writer James Agee -- is one of cinema's quirkiest rendering of the battle between good and evil. New, restored high-definition digital transfer. Extras: Commentary featuring assistant director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones; "Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter," a two-and-a-half-hour archival treasure trove of outtakes from the film; new documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman; new video interview with Simon Callow, author of "Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor"; clip from the "The Ed Sullivan Show," in which cast members perform live a scene that was deleted from the film; 15-minute episode of the BBC show "Moving Pictures" about the film; archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortezl gallery of sketches by author Davis Grubb; new video conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about "Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter"; original theatrical trailer; booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (The Criterion Collection).
Peanuts Holiday Collection Ultimate Collectors Edition
Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack with three beloved specials: "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Bonus features: "The Mayflower Voyagers," "It's Magic, Charlie Brown" and "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown." Includes collectible Peanuts memorabilia. $69.97. (Warner).
Vampire Knight, Vol. 3
(2010) Manga TV series, $19.98. (Warner).
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November 23
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
A deluxe collector's set that pays tribute to one of the most important eras in Hollywood history. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider formed the production company BBS, which gave a voice to rebel artists like Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, Jack Nicholson, and Henry Jaglom. This box set -- featuring iconic, groundbreaking works "Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces," "Head," "Drive, He Said," "A Safe Place," "The King of Marvin Gardens" and "The Last Picture Show" -- will be available in Blu-ray and DVD editions. The Blu-ray Disc set is available Nov. 23 ($124.95); the DVD set will arrive Dec. 14 ($99.95). Read more about the titles and their bonus features. (The Criterion Collection).
Iron Man -- Extremis
(2010) Six episodes from the multi-part series in a unique replica of comic book-style packaging that bridges the comic book to DVD concept. $14.97 Extras: A conversation with Adi Granov, behind-the-scenes look at Marvel Knights Animation, "Marvel Super Heroes: What The ? Starring Iron Man," "Visual History of Iron Man," music video. (Shout! Factory).
The Special Relationship
(2010) Michael Sheen, Dennis Quaid, Hope Davis, Helen McCrory. In 1993, Tony Blair was a rising young star in British politics. Three years later he ran for Prime Minister -- and began a "special relationship" with U.S. President Bill Clinton that endured through triumph, conflict and personal scandal. (HBO).
All listings are based on information from
the home video studios. Some release dates may change and titles may come out
after a specified date (with no announcement from the studio). Additionally,
some titles may be released with little or no advance announcement. And since
all DVDs are priced at sell-through and are available for substantial discounts
at both online and brick-and-mortar stores, we only list suggested retail prices
for some special editions, box sets and collections.
All DVDs are screened on a reference system consisting of a
Rotel RDV-1060 DVD Audio/Video Player, a
Rotel RSX-972 Surround Sound Receiver, and Phase Technology 1.1 (front), 33.1 (center),
and 50 (rear) speakers and Power 10 subwoofer.
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