NEW RELEASES
The Lives of Others
d. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
c. Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch
While watching the 2007 Academy Awards, I figured that Pan’s Labyrinth was a lock for only one award – Best Foreign Film. I was crossing my fingers for all the others, but figured no one would beat Pan’s for that one award. Well, Pan’s Labyrinth won a few awards, but Best Foreign Film was not one of them. That award went to this German film, The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen). The Deutscher Filmpreis, the highest German movie awards, gave it seven awards as well, including best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor and best supporting actor, after having set a new record with 11 nominations. It took me by surprise only because I was ignorant of the film’s history. A number of film critics even went so far as to call the movie the best film made this decade. It is based on actual facts surrounding the GDR (German Democratic Republic) and their monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by secret agents of the Stasi, the GDR’s secret police. Controversy surrounded the movie as well. When the screenplay was published, Donnersmarck and Ulrich Mühe were successfully sued for libel for the book, which contained Mühe’s assertion that when he and his former wife were East German citizens, she informed on him through the six years of their marriage. When the movie was completed, the organizers of the Berlin Film Festival refused to accept it as an official entry in 2005. The film succeeded in Germany despite a widespread contemporary reluctance in that country, particularly in its films, to confront the evil nature of the East German state. In an interview with Devin, the director mentioned that they use the film in schools now to demonstrate other aspects of the GDR since the fall of the Wall.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- German DD5.1 Surround
- English, French and Spanish subtitles
- Deleted Scenes
- Interview with the director
- Director’s Commentary
- Making of The Lives of Others
Perfect Stranger
d. James Foley
c. Bruce Willis and Halie Berry
Perfect Stranger was great. The premise was just hilarious and made for many, many laughs. Basically, Balki Bartokomous moved to America and moved in with his cousin, Larry Appleton. Balki, a shepherd from the island nation of Mypos, was a naïve, idealistic newcomer to America who very often misunderstands the culture to hilarious effects. Cousin Larry is a photojournalist, whose bachelor life was in perfect order until Balki came into it. The two would share many adventures, as Cousin Larry’s schemes would constantly require Balki, despite being the innocent of the two, to save the day. In the classic humor styles of Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello, the slapstick humor of the show was almost always perfect. The greatest contributions of the show was bringing to the world the wonderful “Dance of Joy” and the fact that a spin-off to the show would give us the Urkel Bot. Standing tall, on the wings of my dream. Rise and fall, on the wings of my dream. The rain and thunder, The wind and haze, I’m bound for better days. It’s my life and my dream, Nothing’s going to stop me now! Ahh, the memories. This re-imagining has Bruce Willis starring as Cousin Larry while Halie Berry plays Balki in a strange gender reversal. Do the Dance of Joy!
SPECIAL FEATURES
- “Virtual Lives” – The Making of Perfect Stranger
CLASSICS AND RE-RELEASES
Serenity (Collector’s Edition)
d. Joss Whedon
c. Nathon Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau
I loved Firefly. I think it was one of the most creative shows on TV in a long time. I also loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer and think Angel is one the best shows to ever be broadcast on TV. I don’t think I would consider myself a Browncoat, as I am not a fanatic, I just enjoy great television and films. And Firefly was just that – great television. Therefore, Serenity was at the top of my want list when it came out on DVD originally. The original DVD included deleted scenes and outtakes, a Joss Whedon introduction, a few featurettes and feature commentary. Yet, fans were very disappointed, as they wanted so much more. I was happy with it, but will still grab this new edition when it hits shelves on Tuesday, because this puppy is loaded.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Audio commentary with director Joss Whedon
- Audio commentary with director Joss Whedon and cast members Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau and Ron Glass
- Deleted Scenes with optional director’s commentary
- Extended Scenes
- Outtakes
- “Take A Walk on Serenity” Featurette
- “The Green Clan” Featurette
- Joss Whedon Introduction
- “We’ll Have A Fruity Oaty Good Time!” Featurette
- “A Filmmaker’s Journey” Featurette
- “Future History – The Story of Earth That Was” Featurette
- ”Re-Lighting the Firefly” Featurette
- “What’s In A Firefly?” Featurette
- “Session 416” Featurette
- “Sci-Fi Inside: Serenity” Featurette
Robocop (20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition)
d. Paul Verhoeven
c. Peter Weller, Nancy Allen
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, this might be considered his crown jewel. Verhoeven fans have had a lot to rejoice in lately, with his new movie Black Book being recently released, a super special edition of Showgirls in stores and the re-release of his under-appreciated Starship Troopers. This would be the icing on the cake for anyone who was not able to get the Criterion before it was out of print. Even if you have that version, this one is worth getting based on the extras. The movie, which is a satire of the Capitalist society where a slaughtered police officer is turned into a robot law enforcement official, is released here in both it’s standard version as well as it’s extended edition, which adds back in the gore that had to be trimmed from it’s theatrical release. Much of the first disc is older stuff but the second disc is full of new featurettes along with the extended cut.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Audio commentary by director Paul Verhoven, writer Ed Neumeier and executive producer Jon Davison
- Flesh And Steel: The Making Of Robocop featurette
- Shooting Robocop 1987 featurette
- Making Robocop 1987 featurette
- The Boardroom: Storyboard with Commentary by Animator Phil Tippet featurette
- Deleted Scenes
- Photo Gallery
- All new featurettes:
- Villians of Old Detroit
- Special Effects: Then and Now
- Robocop: Creating a Legend
- Paul Verhoven Easter Egg
- Trailers & TV Spots
- Teaser 1 & 2
- Theatrical Trailers
The Milky Way (Criterion Collection)
d. Luis Bunuel
c. Laurent Terzieff, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig
This week brings us two more Criterion releases. First, The Milky Way (La Voie Lactée) is a 1969 film directed by Luis Bunuel. Bunuel is known to criticize organized religion and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, and this movie is one of his films that demonstrates this. In the movie, two men travel the ancient pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela and meet embodiments of various heresies along the way. One of the men even dreams of anarchists shooting the Pope. The film, which won the Interfilm Award at the Berlin Film Festival, deconstructs contemporary and traditional views on Catholicism with surreality. The film is filled with images that rank among Bunuel’s most memorable (stigmatic children, crucified nuns) and hilarious (Jesus considering a good shave).
SPECIAL FEATURES
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Video introduction by screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere
- New video interview with film scholar Ian Christie
- Luis Bunuel: Atheist Thanks to God, a documentary featuring several of Bunuel’s close friends and collaborators
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Original theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Carlos Fuentes and Mark Polizzotti, and an interview with Luis Bunuel
House of Games (Criterion Collection)
d. David Mamet
c. Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay
The second Criterion release is a little more anticipated, if for no other reason than it’s moer recent popularity. David Mamet’s 1987 directorial debut, garnered praise and, coupled with his screenplay for The Untouchables, allowed Mamet to establish something of a power base in Hollywood. The movie displayed much of Mamet’s stylized dialogue and plot twists. The film tells the story of a therapist and best-selling author (Mamet’s then-wife Lindsay Crouse) who must confront her own obsessions when she meets an attractive cardsharp (Joe Mantegna) is as psychologically acute as it is full of twists and turns, a rich character study told with the cold calculation of a career criminal. The movie has become an inspiration for a number of film makers including Rian Johnson, who said in an interview with Devin that his movie, Brick, was influenced by House of Games ability to explore the theme and turning the whole thing into a mind game and making it an intellectual exploration of deception and the con game.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Juan Ruiz Anchia
- Audio commentary by director David Mamet and consultant and actor Ricky Jay
- New video interviews with actors Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna
- David Mamet on "House of Games," a short documentary shot on location during the film’s preparation and production
- Storyboard detail
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones and excerpts from Mamet�s introduction to the published screenplay
She (Deluxe Two Disc Edition)
d. Lansing C. Holden and Irving Pichel
c. Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott
She is a 1935 film produced by Merian C. Cooper and RKO. A movie that should be lost, was saved by Buster Keaton, who had a copy that he gave to a film historian for restoration. Cooper had said that he wished to make the movie in color, but thanks to budget restrictions, was unable to do so. Ray Harryhausen was able to help transfer the movie to color in 2006 as a tribute to Cooper. This would be the second colorized movie to be released by Ray Harryhausen in two weeks, both of which he claims was always meant to be seen in color. The trailer for the new release was debuted at the 2006 comic con and this week we finally get the DVD. Based on H. Rider Haggard’s 1887 novel, "She" is an all-powerful woman who has been given the Flame of Eternal life and who dwells in an Arctic snow palace in an early special-effects adventure fantasy. This DVD is presented in both the new colorized form as well as the original black and white cut. This version is in much better shape than the version released last year and restores missing reels to give the first complete version of the film to appear on home video.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Commentary with Ray Harryhausen, Merian C. Cooper and biographer Mark Cotta Vaz
- Interview with Ray Harryhausen
- Restoration Documentary
- Featurette with Brigham Young University curator James V. D’Arc
- Comparison featurette with clips from the 1911 and 1925 versions
- Trailer
- A story book
- Stills
- Portraits
- Advertising and preproduction art
- 1960s Ideal toy commercials
Working Girls
d. Lizzie Borden
c. Amanda Goodwin
I was looking for this movie a couple of months back only to find it was out of print. Well, this week it is back in circulation and is a movie I will be picking up. Directed by Lizzie Borden, Working Girls is not to be confused with the Mike Nichols directed movie that my wife loves so much, but instead is a movie that was part of the golden era of Miramax films when the Weinstein Brothers still had the balls to take a chance on risky films. A true independent movie – Working Girls only cost around $80,000 to make, half of that from federal and state arts endowments – it depicts a day in the life of upper class prostitutes in a small Manhattan bordello. While the Weinsteins probably joyfully saw it as a movie about sex, the feminist Borden said she viewed it more as a film about labor, painting the girls not as glamorous or repellent, but more as ordinary working girls. The movie was a success, winning the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 1987 and went on to gross nearly $1.8 million when it was released. Nice return on a film that cost less than $100,000 to make and only cost the Weinsteins $200,000 to aquire. A nice buy for anyone who wants to see a nice little movie that was made more for love than big box office.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Audio Commentary with Director Lizzie Borden, Directorof Photography Julie Irola and Star Amanda Goodwin
- Theatrical Trailer
The Dark Backward (Special Edition)
d. Adam Rifkin
c. Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton
And for this months freak release, I present to you The Dark Backward. The cast of characters: Marty Malt (Judd Nelson) and Gus (Bill Paxton) are best friends and they have jobs as garbage collectors. Marty has a second job as the world’s worst stand-up comic at Syd’s Bar. Marty is also in love with a waitress named Rosalita (Lara Flynn Boyle). When Marty grows a third arm out of his back he goes to see Dr. Scurvy (James Caan). However, talent agent, Jackie Chrome (Wayne Newton) becomes very interested in Marty as this time because “Comics with two arms are a dime a dozen.” He even gets booked on TV by talent scout Dirk Delta (Rob Lowe). Did I mention that Gus likes grossly obese women and actually licks a dead corpse he finds in the junkyard? We get a question-and-answer with Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton and Adam Rifkin that I have to hear. It’s a bad movie, but who doesn’t like REALLY bad movies?
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Q&A with Bill Paxton, Judd Nelson and Adam Rifkin
- Never-before-seen Deleted Scenes
- Behind the Scenes featurette
THIS WEEK IN TELEVISION
House, M.D. – Season Three
Dexter – The First Season
South Park – The Complete Tenth Season
JAG – The Complete Fourth Season
Ugly Betty – The Complete First Season
Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan – The Complete Second Season
’Til Death: The Complete First Season
American Dragster – Season One
I Pity the Fool: Season One
THIS WEEK IN HI-DEF
Immortal Beloved [Blu-Ray]
National Lampoons Van Wilder – (Unrated) [Blu-Ray]
OTHER DVDs TO SPEND YOUR CASH ON
The Ultimate Gift
Fate/Stay Night 5: Medea
Sacco and Vanzetti
The Michael Haneke Collection (The Piano Teacher/Funny Games/Code Unknown/The Castle/Bennys Video/The Seventh Continent/71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance)
The Rising Dead
Body Rock
Borderline Cult
The Climb
The Castle
The Far Side of Jericho
Childhood’s End
Red Line
The Ex (Unrated)
Malicious
Broken English
The Night of the Sorcerers (Special Edition)
Exorcism (Special Edition)
Reel Talent: First Films by Legendary Directors
THE BARGAIN BIN
Welcome back this week’s edition of the Bargain Bin. Circuit City no longer exists to me …
BEST BUY
Premonition – $16.99
House: Season Three – $39.99
South Park: Season Ten – $32.99 (bonus: South Park postcards)
Red Line – $19.99
The Ex – $19.99
Serenity: Collector’s Edition – $17.99 (Free Serenity Comic Book)
300 (Single Disc) – $16.99
The Lives of Others – $19.99
‘Til Death: The Complete First Season – $27.99
J*A*G: The Fourth Season – $39.99
Dexter: the First Season – $29.99
Ugly Betty: Season One – $36.99 *
* Save $10 when you buy Ugly Betty and one of the following
Lost: Season One – $49.99
Lost: Season Two – $49.99
Desperate Housewives: Season One – $49.99
Desperate Housewives: Season Two – $49.99
Grey’s Anatomy: Season Tow Uncut – $49.99
Perfect Stranger – $16.99 *
* 2 for $20 when you buy with one of the following
Single White Female – $9.99
Closer – $9.99
FREE MOVIE CASH FOR HALLOWEEN WHEN YOU BUY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING
Halloween – $9.99
Halloween: 25 Years of Terror – $12.99
Halloween 4 – $12.99
Halloween 5 – $12.99
FREE MOVIE CASH FOR BALLS OF FURY WHEN YOU BUY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING
Hollywoodland – $9.99
21 Grams – $9.99
Waist Deep – $9.99
Angel Seasons 1/2/3/4/5 – $15.99 each
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Seasons 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 – $15.99
$9.99 DVDs (Buy 5 and get a $20 Gift Card Instantly)
The Prestige, The Covenant, The Guardian, Pride & Prejudice, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Illusionist, The Breakfast Club, E.T., Invincible, The Devil Wears Prada, Smokey and the Bandit, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (single disc), Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Psycho II/Psycho III/Psycho IV, Termors Attack Pack, Meatballs: Special Edition, Darkman Trilogy, The Rhinemann Exchange, Backdraft, Step Up, Stick It, Aliens, Alien Resurrection, I Heart Huckabees (single disc), I Robot, Air Buddies
HD-DVD ($34.99 each)
The Departed, The Fountain, Superman Returns, Happy Feet, TMNT, Letters from Iwo Jima
HD-DVD ($24.99 each)
Blue Planet: IMAX, Blood Diamond, Unforgiven, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, March of the Penguins, Batman Begins
BLU-RAY DVD ($29.99 / Buy 2 Save $10, Buy 3 Save $20)
The Prestige, Wild Hogs, Gone in 60 Seconds (Nic Cage), Pearl Harbor, Eight Below, Déjà vu
Perfect Stranger (Blu-Ray) – $29.99
TARGET
Are We Done Yet – $16.99
Disturbia – $16.99
Shooter – $16.99
Premonition – $16.99
Perfect Stranger: $19.99
Ugly Betty: Season One – $37.99
House: Season Three – $37.99
Dexter: Season One – $27.99
The Ultimate Gift – $19.99
J*A*G: Season 4 – $39.99
South Park: Season 10 – $32.99
$10 DVDs: Monster House, The Devil Wears Prada, Aklelah and the Bee, Over the Hedge, Charlottes Web, Flags of our Fathers, Dreamgirls (single disc), Taladega Nights, The Holida, Click, The DaVinci Code
$7.50 DVDs: The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Titanic, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, The Mighty Avengers 2, Robots, Kicking and Screaming/Big Fat Liar, Footloose/Flashdance
BUY.COM
HUGE TV on DVD SALE
Family Guy, Volume 1 – $18.99
My Name is Earl, Complete First Season – $18.99
Boston Legal, Complete First Season – $18.99
Prison Break, Complete First Season – $21.99
Arrested Development, Complete First Season – $14.99
Shield, Complete First Season – $21.99
American Dad, Vol. 1 – $14.99
That 70s Show (Complete First Season) – $18.99
St. Elsewhere – Season 1 – $14.99
Simple Life, Season 1 – $3.99
Millennium (Complete First Season) – $14.99
How I Met Your Mother – Season 1 – $14.99
Bones, Season 1 – $18.99
Stacked – Complete Series 3 – $10.99
King of the Hill (Complete First Season) – $9.99
Malcolm in the Middle (Complete First Season) – $14.99
Futurama (Volume One) – $14.99
In Living Color (Season One) – $9.99
Over There (Season One) – $14.99
Pretender (Season One) – $14.99
Space: Above and Beyond (Complete Series) – $43.14
Tru Calling (Complete First Season) – $21.99
Unit – Season 1 – $18.99
X-Files (Complete First Season) – $18.99
Girls Next Door (Season 1) – $26.32
Remington Steele (Complete Season One) – $14.99
Time Tunnel (Volume 1) – $14.99
Angel – Season 1 – $14.99
Murder One Season 1 – $14.99
Bernie Mac Show (Season One) – $9.99
Roswell (Complete First Season) – $35.15
Son of the Beach (Volume 1) – $35.15
Hill Street Blues (Complete First Season) – $26.73
Lost in Space (Complete First Season) – $30.99
NYPD Blue (Season 01) – $9.99
Lone Gunmen (Complete Series) – $26.73
Planet of the Apes – Return to – $7.99
Wonderfalls (Complete Series) – $35.15
24 Season 1 – $21.99
Big Valley – Season 1 – $14.99
Dark Angel (Complete First Season) – $14.99
Point Pleasant – Complete Series – $26.73
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 – $14.99
Planet of the Apes – TV Series – $10.99
White Shadow – Season 1 – $26.71
Alien Nation – Complete TV Series – $35.15