Join the
Sixties generation
DVD
Blu-ray Releases
OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season One
(2013-14) Three-disc set with 22 episodes, $44.98. Formats: DVD. Extras: Deleted scenes. (Universal).
The Calling
(2014) Susan Sarandon, Ellen Burstyn, Gil Bellows, Topher Grace, Donald Sutherland. Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef (Sarandon) leads a quiet life with her mother (Burstyn), her painkillers, and an occasional drink. But when she checks on an ill neighbor, she stumbles upon a gruesome
Come Morning
(2012) Michael Ray Davis, Thor Wahlestedt, Elise Rovinsky, Blake Logan. In rural Arkansas in 1973, a young boy and his grandfather accidentally shoot a trespassing neighbor while hunting deer. Since there had been a history of land disputes between the men, the grandfather assures the boy that the only option is to hide the body deep in the woods, blurring the lines between good and evil. Formats: DVD. (Monarch Home Entertainment).
Daniel Boone the Complete Series
(1964-70) Thirty-six disc set with all 165 episodes, $114.95. Fess Parker stars as Daniel Boone in this iconic TV classic. Formats: DVD. (Fox).
Defiance: Season Two
(2013) Three-disc set with 13 episodes. Formats: DVD: $59.98, Blu-ray: $69.98, Digital, UltraViolet (Cloud). Extras: Season One alternate ending, deleted scenes, gag reel, "Defiance: The Lost Ones" minisodes, "Jesse Does Defiance." (Universal).
Disaster L.A.: The Last Zombie Apocalypse Begins Here
(2014) Justin Ray, Jerod Meagher. Sci-fi zombie thriller in which a group of friends desperately
Double Feature From Hell
(1997) Features two of Italian director Massimiliano Cerchi's direct-to-video sacrilegious horror films: "Hellinger" (1997), in which a fallen man of the cloth forever bound to the fires of Hell by a pact made with Satan is unleashed to torment humankind; and "Holy Terror" (2002), in which a malevolent nun, possessed by a demon in life and forced to spend eternity doing the devils bidding in death, returns to life to torment a young couple and their terrified friends. Formats: DVD. (SGL Entertainment/MVD Entertainment).
Firestorm
(2013 -- Hong Kong) Andy Lau, Michael Wong, Ray Lui, Ka Tung Lam, Jun Hu, Chen Yao. A hardboiled police inspector (Lau) must confront, and cross, moral lines in order to hunt down a crew of
Found
(2013) Gavin Brown, Ethan Philbeck. A horror-obsessed boy discovers his older brother is a serial killer. Marty is the ideal fifth grader. He gets good grades, listens to his teachers, and doesn't start trouble in class. But a darkness is beginning to fall over Marty's life. The kids at school won't stop picking on him, his parents just don't seem to understand him, and now Marty must grapple with a terrible secret that threatens to destroy life as he knows it. Formats: DVD. (XLrator Media).
Guess How Much I Love You: Autumn's Here
(2014) In this Disney Junior series, inspired by Sam McBratney's best-selling children's book, Little Nutbrown Hare, his father and their forest friends explore the wonders and magic that the change of season brings to the meadow as summer turns to fall. This single disc release features seven complete episodes: "Autumn's Here," "Pumpkin Patch," "Four Seasons," "Chestnut," "The Big Apple," "Surprise" and "I Want to Fly." Formats: DVD, $12.98. (Entertainment One).
How I Met Your Mother – The Whole Story
(2005-14) All nine seasons, 208 episodes on 28 discs, $179.98. In limited-edition Bro Code Playbook packaging. Includes the alternate ending fans have been eager to see. Formats: DVD. Extras: Bonus disc with "All Out of Spoilers" complete series retrospective, "Meeting the Mother": how the mother was cast, "How We Filmed the Kids" look at how the Mosby kid sequence from the finale was shot back in 2006, "The Mosby Kids: 8 Years on the Couch" Scripted introduction from Comic-Con 2013, "How I Met Your Mother" panel from Comic-Con 2013,
live table read of series finale, "Pineapple Scene – The Mystery of the Pineapple is FINALLY Revealed." (Fox).
How I Met Your Mother Season Nine
(2013-14) Three-disc set with 24 episodes, $39.98. Formats: DVD. Extras: "Last Forever" alternate ending to series finale, "How It All Ends" behind-the-scenes of the series finale, "Where Are They Now" behind-the-scenes of the 360 degree guest star sequence from "Gary Blauman" episode, Cristin Milioti audition, commentary on "The Locket," "How Your Mother Met Me" and "The Rehearsal Dinner," gag reel. (Fox).
Ida
(2013 -- Poland) Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza, Halina Skoczynska. In 1960s Poland, 18-year old Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naïve, innocent Anna soon finds herself in the presence of her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), a worldly and cynical Communist Party insider, who shocks her with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD. Extras: Behind-the-scenes featurette, Q&A with director Pawlikowski. (Music Box Films).
The Innocents
(1961) This genuinely frightening, exquisitely made supernatural gothic stars Deborah Kerr as an emotionally fragile governess who comes to suspect that there is something very, very wrong with her precocious new charges. A psychosexually intensified adaptation of Henry James's classic "The Turn of the Screw," co-written by Truman Capote and directed by Jack Clayton, "The Innocents" is a triumph of narrative economy and technical expressiveness, from its chilling sound design to the stygian depths of its widescreen cinematography by Freddie Francis. New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: Commentary featuring cultural historian Christopher Frayling; new interview with cinematographer John Bailey on director of photography Freddie Francis and the look of the film;
archival interviews with editor James Clark, Francis, and script supervisor Pamela Francis; trailer; an essay by critic Maitland McDonagh. (The Criterion Collection).
The Last of the Unjust
(2013 -- France/Austria) Three decades after his cinematic milestone "Shoah," Claude Lanzmann once again reorients our understanding of the Holocaust. This documentary centers on Benjamin Murmelstein, the last Jewish elder of Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia (the so-called "model ghetto," a ghetto of deceit chosen by Adolf Eichmann to dupe the world), a figure despised by many of the concentration camp's survivors. A rabbi in Vienna, following the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938, Murmelstein fought bitterly with Eichmann, week after week for seven years, managing to help around 121,000 Jews leave the country, and preventing the liquidation of the ghetto. Intercut with footage of Lanzmann himself revisiting key sites in the Czech Republic and elsewhere, the brilliant Murmelstein -- sometimes excitedly but more often calmly -- explains his actions and defines his paradoxical role in history. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: Interview with Lanzmann, stills gallery, trailer. (Cohen Media Group).
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The Fifteenth Year
(2013-14) Five-disc set with 24 episodes. (Universal).
Macbeth
(1971) Roman Polanski imbues his unflinchingly violent adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of ruthless ambition and murder in medieval Scotland with grit and dramatic intensity. Jon Finch and Francesca Annis are charged with fury and sex appeal as a decorated warrior rising in the ranks and his driven wife, scheming together to take the throne by any means. Co-adapted by Polanski and the great theater critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan, and shot against a series of stunning, stark British Isle landscapes, this version of Macbeth is among the most atmospheric and authentic of all Shakespeare films. Director-approved special edition features
new 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: New documentary about the making of the film, featuring interviews with director Polanski, producer Andrew Braunsberg, assistant executive producer Victor Lownes, and stars Francesca Annis and Martin Shaw; "Polanski Meets Macbeth," a 1971 documentary by Frank Simon featuring rare footage of the film's cast and crew at work; theatrical trailers; an essay by critic Terrence Rafferty. (The Criterion Collection).
Modern Family Season Five
(2013-14) Three-disc set with 24 episodes, $39.98. Formats: DVD. Extras: "A Modern Family Vacation: Behind-the-Scenes in Australia," "A Day on Set With Jesse Tyler Ferguson," "Shooting on Location in Vegas," "Mitch's Wedding: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How It All Came Together," extended version of "The Big Game," Gag reel, deleted and extended scenes. (Fox).
Nashville: The Complete Second Season
(2014) Five-disc set with 22 episodes, $45.99. Formats: DVD. (Disney).
Necessary Roughness: Season Three
(2013) Two-disc set with 10 episodes, $34.98. Formats: DVD. (Universal).
Paris-Manhattan
(2012 -- France) Alice Taglioni, Patrick Bruel. Alice is a Parisian pharmacist who has a fixation on Woody Allen and his films. She has a huge portrait of him hanging in her bedroom, with which she tends to converse, seeking his wise counsel about life. She even hands out DVDs of his films to her customers as medicine for their ailments. Her parents have a sense of urgency for her to find a man, but none can match Woody Allen, not even the alarm specialist Victor who services the pharmacy. But there is one thing a man could do to impress her -- introduce her to Woody Allen.
Rise Up Black Man
(2013) Freddie Tate. Christian themed urban tale about friendship and the absurdity of racism. Two twenty-something best friends and recent college graduates search for direction in life in different ways: one is enticed into a world of corruption by a charismatic black minister who uses his power to keep his own race down while the other struggles with personal demons of a different nature. Formats: DVD, Digital. (KJ Productions).
Roger Corman's Operation Rogue
(2014) Mark Dacascos, Sofia Pernas, Treat Williams. An elite team of U.S. Marines must rescue a U.S. General's daughter after she is kidnapped by a Southeast Asian terrorist cell in retaliation when their shipment of chemical weapons is intercepted. Formats: DVD, Digital. Deleted scenes, "Corman Goes Rogue" featurette, "Corman on Corman" featurette. (Sony).
Royal Pains: Season Five
(2013) Three-disc set with 13 episodes, $39.98. Formats: DVD. (Universal).
Scandal: The Complete Third Season
(2014) Eighteen episodes. Formats: DVD. (Disney).
The Signal
(2014) Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp, Laurence Fishburne. Nic (Thwaites), his girlfriend, Haley (Cooke), and his buddy, Jonah (Knapp), take an unexpected detour from an idyllic cross-country road trip when they are contacted by a mysterious hacker who has gained entry into MIT's secured network. But after a rendezvous in an eerily remote area goes awry, Nic wakes to a living nightmare in an isolation unit. Interrogated by Dr. Wallace Damon (Fishburne), Nic soon realizes that the only way to decipher the past ... is to escape the present. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: deleted/extended/alternate scenes, "Behind The Signal," "Brilliant!" commentary with co-
That Girl in Yellow Boots
(2010 -- India) Kalki Koechlin, Gulshan Devaiah, Naseeruddin Shah, Prashant Prakas. After the passing of her mother and the suicide of her 15-year old sister, Britain-based Ruth (Kalki Koechlin) travels across half the world, driven to find her missing father -- the last remaining link to her tragically broken family. Lost and alone in the sprawling chaos of Mumbai, trapped in a metropolis erupting with a million screaming dreams and fears, she survives by serving men's desires at an unlicensed massage parlor and clinging to the hope that there is a good man at the end of her search. Formats: DVD. (Indiepix Films).
The Tom and Jerry Show Season 1 Part 1
(2014) Two-disc set with 13 episodes, $19.97. Formats: DVD. (Warner).
Very Good Girls
(2013) Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen, Boyd Holbrook, Ellen Barkin, Clark Gregg, Peter Sarsgaard,
We Are the Best!
(2013 -- Sweden) Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin, Liv LeMoyne. Revolves around three girls in 1980's Stockholm who decide to form a punk band -- despite not having any instruments and being told by everyone that punk is dead. Based on the graphic novel of the same name that is a tribute to DIY culture and the power of rebellion. Formats: DVD. Extras: "The Making of We Are The Best!, "Behind the Music," photo gallery, theatrical trailer. (Magnolia Home Entertainment's Magnet Label).
Wer
(2013) A.J. Cook, Sebastian Roche, Vik Sahay. A defense attorney begins to suspect that her client, who is charged with the murders of a vacationing family, might be more than meets the eye. Formats: DVD. (Universal).
The Rover
This overlooked gem is a gritty and violent drama set 10 years after a global economic collapse where food and gasoline are expensive and life is cheap. The film follows hardened loner Eric (Guy Pearce) as he travels the desolate towns and roads of the Australian outback, causing no trouble until a gang of three thieves -- who have just robbed a dusty outpost and murdered the inhabitants -- steals his car, a Rover, to make their getaway. Eric takes off after them in another vehicle, along the way capturing -- and saving -- the wounded brother (Robert Pattinson) of one of the robbers, who was left behind in the escape. Eric forces him to help him track down the trio, along the way encountering a bevy of misfits, oddballs and miscreants as he seeks his beloved car, the one thing that still matters to him. Unlike other post-apocalyptic thrillers, there's no zombies, vampires or "Mad Max"-type villains, just the slow disintegration of society and human values as nihilism and the worst impulses of human nature come to the fore. Michod paints a balmy, sun-drenched wasteland with leisurely strokes punctuated by bursts of danger and violence. If you're used to a "Jack Irish," "The King's Speech" or a "Mildred Pierce"-Guy Pearce, you're in for a pleasant surprise here as the U.K.-born, Aussie-raised actor becomes a Down Under "Man With No Name."
Extras: "Something Elemental: Making the Rover."
Vitals: Director: David Michod. Stars: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy, Tawanda Manyimo, David Field, Richard Green, Ben Armer, Gillian Jones.
2014, CC, MPAA rating: R, 103 min., Action-Drama, Box office gross: $1.089 million, Lionsgate.
Neighbors
By all appearances, new parents Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) are living the American Dream -- complete with an adorable baby girl and a beautiful new starter home in the suburbs. Still, the early-thirtysomethings want to believe that they have a modicum of coolness left within them. So when they discover that their new next-door neighbors are none other than dozens of Delta Psi Beta fraternity brothers led by charismatic president Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), they try to play along and make the best of an awkward situation. But when the frat's parties grow increasingly more epic, both sides of the property line begin to fend for their turf. The neighbors' relentless sabotage escalates into outrageous one-upmanship, beginning an epic Greek war for the ages. Extras: Gag Reel, "An Unlikely Pair" featurette, "The Frat" featurette. Blu-ray adds deleted/alternate scenes, Line-O-Rama, "Partying With the Neighbors," On the Set with ... ."
Vitals: Director: Nick Stoller. Stars: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Jake Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow.
2014, CC, MPAA rating: R, 97 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $148.636 million, Universal.
After
(2014) Kathleen Quinlan, John Doman, Pablo Schreiber, Sabrina Gennarino, Adam Scrimbolo, Diane Neal, Bruno Gunn, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Mandy Gonzalez. Set in the winter of 2002 in chilly upstate New York, the indie film tells the story of a middle-class family struggling with the financial consequences of a failing business and a series of intergenerational conflicts and rivalries. But what truly threatens to upset their delicate balance -- and shatter the emotionally fragile family matriarch -- is an intricately buried secret that, if revealed, could alter their lives irrevocably. Formats: DVD. (Virgil Films).
murder that shatters her peaceful existence. With the help of a fellow detective (Bellows) and a transfer cop (Grace), she unearths a series of similar killings across the country. When a local priest (Sutherland) suggests a link to an ancient ritual, Hazel focuses her search on a religious madman with a deadly higher calling. Formats: DVD. Extras: "Divine Intention: Making The Calling" featurette. (Sony).
try to escape the toxic smoke that is the deadly result of a meteor shower strike in the middle of Los Angeles. In its wake, neither friends nor strangers are safe from each other. The only hope for survival is to try to reach the coast before it’s too late. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital. (Warner).
seasoned criminals who stage a series of armored car heists in Hong Kong in broad daylight, showing no mercy to anyone who gets in their way. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital. Extras: "The Making of Firestorm" behind-the-scenes featurette. (Well Go USA).
Game of Assassins
(2013) Dustin Nguyen, Bai Ling, Warren Kole, Jude Ciccolella. A group of misfits find themselves trapped in what they believe to be an underground incinerator and come together in the hopes of discovering a way out. They quickly realize that to get out alive they'll each be tested in ways that are specific to their past, but will leave their future changed forever. Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital. Extras: Deleted scenes. (Lionsgate).
Halloween The Complete Collection Blu-ray
Anchor Bay and Scream Factory have collaborated to bring home two gigantic boxed sets of all the "Halloween" films for the first time. A Deluxe Edition boasts 15 discs and contains all the "Halloween" feature films -- "Halloween," "Halloween II," "Halloween III: Season of the Witch," "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers," "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers," "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers," "Halloween H20," "Halloween: Resurrection," "Rob Zombie's Halloween" and "Rob Zombie's Halloween II." The set includes the never-before-released producers cut of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" as well as the ultra-rare network TV version of the original "Halloween," the network TV version of "Halloween II," plus the unrated versions of "Rob Zombie's Halloween and Halloween II." It's packed with hours of new bonus features including new interviews with cast and crew from the entire franchise. In response to years of fan feedback, the first "Halloween" will now also include the original mono audio track and the set will include both versions of the original "Halloween" -- the original Blu-ray release and the recently remastered 35th Anniversary version with the mono track added back in. It also comes with a limited edition 40-page book written by Michael Gingold of Fangoria Magazine. The collectible packaging will include a newly commissioned illustration on the outer case and each film will be in its own black Blu-ray case with the original theatrical one sheet as the key art. This deluxe set carries an SRP of $169.99. A 10-disc Edition includes the original theatrical versions of the "Halloween" films and will include select bonus features for $129.99. (Anchor Bay and Shout! Factory).
Hero of the Day
(2012) Mo Anouti, Paul Dietz. A down and out former professional football player plans to redeem himself in a reckless way, unbeknownst to a documentary filmmaker -- who scores the interview of a lifetime when his former childhood hero agrees to be followed in a "where are they now?" piece -- in this gritty, found footage drama. (Cinema Libre Studio).
Legend of the Hillbilly Butcher
(2012) Paul E. Respass, Theresa Holly, Allen East. In a lonely backwoods shack, Carl Henry Jessup spends his time in twisted contemplation and hazy reverie of the good old days with only his half sister, Rae Lynn, and his friend, Billy Wayne, to keep him company. Now he has plenty of time to keep watch for trespassers ... forcing him to becomes the "Hillbilly Butcher." Formats: DVD. Extras: "Horror Happens" interview, "Straight Razor" short film, making-of featurette, trailers. (Whacked Movies/MVD Entertainment).
My Name Is A By Anonymous
(2013) Katie Marsh, Demi Baumann, Alex Damiano, Kaliya Skye, Russian pop star Teona Dolnikova (formerly of the band Slot). Based on real-life teenage "Thrill Killer" Alyssa Bustamante, who gained instant worldwide fame when she murdered her younger neighbor in 2009 near Jefferson City, Missouri. The search for a missing girl exposes a dark world of lost and emotionally unstable teenagers who are responsible for the girl's disappearance and eventual murder. A disturbing, fascinating portrait of the alienation and despair found in teens who have been left to fend for their own purpose. The then 15-year-old Bustamante was convicted and is currently serving a life sentence for the choking and stabbing murder of nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten. Formats: DVD, VOD (as "Alyssa: Portrait of a Teen Killer"). Extras: Two alternate cuts of the film, short films, deleted scenes, trailers, music videos, more. (Wild Eye Releasing/MVD Entertainment Group).
Formats: DVD. Extras: Short Film: "Woody Before Allen." (Strand Releasing).
The Rover
(2014 -- Australia) Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy. Ten years after a global economic collapse, a hardened loner (Pearce) pursues the men who stole his only possession, his car. Along the way, he captures one of the thieves' brother (Pattinson), and the duo form an uneasy bond during the dangerous journey. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc Digital. Extras: "Something Elemental: Making the Rover." (Lionsgate).
writer/director William Eubank and co-writers/consulting producers Carlyle Eubank and David Frigerio. (Universal).
Richard Dreyfuss, Demi Moore. Two New York City girls -- one from a conservative family, one from a liberal -- make a pact to lose their virginity during their first summer out of high school. When they both fall for the same street artist, the friends find their connection tested for the first time. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: Interviews with director Naomi Forner, Fanning and Olsen. (Well Go USA).
© 1996 -- 2014 OnVideo. All rights reserved
September 21, 2014
(ISSN 1094-3676).
|
|
