27 Dresses
d. Anne Fletcher
c. Katherine Heigl, James Marsden
”The Wedding Party” Featurette
”You’ll Never Wear It Again” Featurette
”Jane’s World” Featurette
”The Running of the Brides” Featurette
Deleted Scenes
The latest in the long line of wedding themed rom-com’s (see My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Wedding Planner or the upcoming Made of Honor – or don’t), comes this movie about the woman who is always the bridesmaid and never the bride. While reading my review of Enchanted, my wife read where I mentioned it was James Marsden’s best performance I have seen him in. She took the time to correct me and said that his performance in 27 Dresses has her convinced he can be a great leading man. I asked if it was even better than his role as the actual hero in Superman Returns. She looked at me like I was an idiot. It is Katherine Heigl’s first role after her breakout in Knocked Up, and it is quite a step up from her performance in the box office blockbuster that was Zyzzyx Rd.
The Golden Compass
d. Chris Weitz
c. Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Ian McKellen, Freddie Highmore, Dakota Blue Richards
Feature-length audio commentary from writer/director Chris Weitz (2-Disc Edition)
Eleven “Making-of” featurettes including “The Armoured Bears” featurette, The Adaptation” featurette and the “Production Design” featurette (2-Disc Edition)
Theatrical and teaser trailers (2-Disc Edition)
Galleries (2-Disc Edition)
Enhanced visual commentary (Blu-ray Exclusive)
This U.S. box office failure from 2007 let the studios in on a big secret: Not every big time kid’s novel will result in box office gold. Also, the controversy surrounding the film’s supposed atheist undertones could not have helped it in the Bible-belt wearing Midwest where, contrary to popular belief, people actually have paved roads and are able to drive actual cars to movie theaters to watch current films (see The Passion of the Christ, $449 million). It is also the movie that is believed to be the breaking point for New Line. It was amazingly successful outside the United States, although because foreign rights were sold in advance, very little of that money went to the U.S. studio. The film received poor reviews from the majority of critics and this may be its last chance to save itself from having its life support pulled. If the DVD does not sell well, they may rethink the sequels. This ain’t Harry Potter. Or Narnia. Hell, it’s barely Lemony Snicket. The Blu-ray’s got some enhanced visual commentary if you’re into that kind of thing. It also comes in a bare boned single disc edition.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
d. Julian Schnabel
c. Mathieu Amalric, Marie-Josee Croze
Submerged: A look inside The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A Cinematic Vision
Audio Commentary with Director Julian Schnabel
Charlie Rose Interviews Julian Schnabel
This movie is the much deserved critical darling and multi-award winning film based on the memoirs of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former editor of Elle Magazine, who suffered a stroke and ended up completely paralyzed with the exception of his left eye. He then had an assistant transcribe his life story, using only the one eye to blink the letters one at a time. He would complete the book and live to see it published before dying ten days after publication (SPOILER!!!). While Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men and Jesse James) and Robert Elswit (There Will be Blood) were both deserving of the Oscar for cinematography, I think Janusz Kaminski deserved the statue for his work in this picture. Director Julian Schnabel wanted the camera work to be a character of its own in the film, allowing the viewer to see the world in much the same way as Bauby did. To achieve this he used an effect called “swing and shift”, in which he would focus the camera on a wall and then selectively choose what to focus on by twisting the lens, and therefore twisting the perspective. He used many tricks in camera to achieve effects that would never have worked as well if imposed digitally. It is a brilliantly shot film, a wonderful story, and is one of the best DVDs to be released this week.
This week, Criterion in association with Janus Films is releasing three children’s classic films. Available for the first time on DVD, The Red Balloon tells the story of a young boy who discovers a balloon on the streets of Paris. The two become inseparable until the world’s harsh realities finally interfere. The Red Balloon won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. White Mane tells the story of a stallion who leads a herd of wild horses that are too proud to let themselves be broken in by humans. When a young fisherman manages to tame the stallion, a friendship grows between the boy and the horse and the two go looking for the freedom that the world of men won’t allow them. It would go on to win Best Short Film at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. Finally, Paddle to the Sea, nominated for Best Short Film at the 1968 Oscars, shows the adventures of a tiny, wood-carved canoe as it forges its own path from Lake Superior, through the Great Lakes, and down to the Atlantic Ocean.
Terror of Mechagodzilla
All Monsters Attack (aka Godzilla’s Revenge)
d. Ishirô Honda
c. Godzilla
Last year we saw the release of the awesome Godzilla box set. Included in that set were two DVDs that were not available to buy individually, but are finally hitting shelves this week. The first includes one of the coolest freaking robots in movie history as Godzilla goes to battle with Mechagodzilla, the creation of deranged scientist Dr. Mafune. It is the 
fifteenth and final entry in the original Godzilla series and pits Godzilla against the giant robot, the monster Titanosauras, and evil aliens who are plotting to flatten Tokyo. The DVD includes both the Japanese version as well as the U.S. version. It’s remastered, includes film commentary, a slide show, and the original Japanese trailer. The second release is All Monster’s Attack. This was the first Godzilla movie promoted for children, and the monster battles were pretty much just copied from previous films. It tells the story of a child who dreams of Monster Island and in his fantasies befriends Godzilla’s son, Minilla. When he is kidnapped by crooks, he uses what he learned from his monster friends to fight back. The DVD includes both the Japanese version andthe U.S. version, re-titled Godzilla’s Revenge. It’s also got film commentary, a slide show, and original Japanese trailer.
Forgotten Noir Collector’s Set 3
The third collection from VCI Entertainment’s Forgotten Noir Collection hits this week and includes David Harding, Counterspy, based on the classic radio show which spent its war years having Harding and his counterspies contend against Gestapo and Black Dragon activities; Danger Zone, a tale of a man named O’Brian, who lives in San Francisco and makes extra cash by taking on cases; The Big Chase, in which the hero is a Korean-War vet who joins the L.A. Police Academy, and also co-stars Lon Chaney (The Wolf Man); Mr. District Attorney, also based on a radio show and inspired by the early years of New York governor Thomas E. Dewey; Ringside, a revenge tale about a boxer who trains to avenge his brother’s loss of sight due to fighting a hard-nosed boxer; Hi-Jacked, tells the story of truck hijacking and a driver who seeks revenge; Scotland Yard Inspector, staring Cesar Romero as an American detective seeking to find the murderer of an English woman’s brother; Pier 23, which tells the story of a private investigator framed for the murder of a wrestler and a crooked referee; and The Case of the Baby-Sitter, in which jewel thieves hire a private detective to babysit an infant used to cover up the theft of a valuable diamond.
Diamond Dogs
d. Samuel Dolhasca
c. Dolph Lundgren
Making Of Diamond Dogs featurette
Dolph Lundgren. Fortune Hunters. Long Lost Treasure in China. Lundgren stars as a mercenary hired to act as a bodyguard for American fortune hunters, while they search for a priceless Buddhist artifact deep within the Chinese wilderness. Things don’t go as planned when Russian mercenaries show up looking for the same treasure. With Missionary Man released in January, Diamond Dogs out this week, and Direct Contact currently in production it is indeed a good year to be a fan of Ivan Drago. God Bless Dolph Lundgren.
The New York Ripper
d. Lucio Fulci
Theatrical Trailer
Lucio Fulci Bio
Lucio Fulci. When he abandoned a career in medicine to study at the Experimental Film School in Rome, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to lovers of gory, visceral Italian cinema. He directed a number of fantastic, controversial films that were not widely accepted until his breakthrough with Zombie 2, a horror film that was marketed as an unofficial sequel to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. The film was a great piece of exploitation filmmaking that led the way for Italian cinema’s splatter horror output. While Fulci would continue with the zombie horror genre (The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery), this film earned an underground reputation as a video nasty. Lo Squartatore di New York, best known for graphic violence and explicit gore and sexuality, was banned in many countries or released as an “adults-only” movie after heavy editing. It has been vehemently attacked by critics for its unflinching brutality against women and excessive gore, even by the standards of that era’s video nasties.
Dead Man’s Bounty
d. Piotr Uklanski
c. Val Kilmer
I first heard about this movie (originally known as Summer Love) here on CHUD. You might remember the film by the fact that Val Kilmer is featured in the film as a dead body, carried on a horse by the man who killed him to collect his bounty. It is being advertised as the first Polish western, the characters have no names and are only referred to as THE STRANGER, THE WOMAN, THE BIG MAN and THE WANTED MAN (Kilmer). When The Stranger arrives in town with The Wanted Man, he seeks to collect the bounty on his victim’s head. When the sheriff challenges him and eventually wins The Wanted Man in a gamble and soon embarks on a manhunt for The Stranger after he is seduced by The Woman. It hasn’t gotten great reviews, but it seemed to be a good enough script to convince Kilmer to spend an entire movie portraying a dead man.
Hero Wanted
d. Brian Smrz
c. Cuba Gooding Jr, Ray Liotta
Liam (Gooding) is a garbage collector who was once known as a hero for saving a little girl from a flaming car wreck. No longer famous, he has sunk to alcoholism. Soon he finds another chance to be a hero and takes a bullet, trying to save a teller’s life. When he awakens in a hospital, he vows revenge against the criminals. After killing the man who left him for dead, the criminal’s associates come after for him for revenge. Ray Liotta plays a police officer who is closing in on Liam and his role as a vigilante killer.
Nightmare City
d. Umberto Lenzi
“Tales Of The Contaminated City” – Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi
Theatrical Trailer
Umberto Lenzi Bio
Lucio Fulci isn’t the only Italian Goremeister to have a little-known classic released this week. Lenzi was an influence on Fulci’s Zombie 2, with his Deep River Savages (Il paese del sesso selvaggio) in 1972. Thanks to the success of Zombie 2, Lenzi was also able to achieve success with this film, Nightmare City (Incubo sulla citta contaminate), telling the story of a group of infected creatures who go on rampage, eating people along the way. Lenzi always argued that he radioactive killers were not zombies, but are clearly of the same type of creature that Fulci’s monsters were. The creatures in this film are smarter than the average zombie, as they are fast and smart, attacking the city’s key installations. The movie, despite the alterations to the zombies, shares many conventions with the genre, this time mutating them due to a man-made disaster, a nuclear spill. For an old release, the DVD looks to have a pretty nice little release here.
MORE COOL DVDs
The Fall of The Roman Empire (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)
d. Anthony Mann
c. Sophia Loren, Alec Guinness, Christopher Plummer
Reproduction of original souvenir program
Six color production stills
Feature commentary by the producer’s son Bill Bronston and film expert Mel Martin
Rome in Madrid featurette
Fall of the “Real” Roman Empire featurette
Making of Fall Of The Roman Empire featurette
Hollywood vs. History featurette
Encyclopedia Britannica on the Roman Empire — 5 featurettes
Original theatrical trailer
Saludos Amigos / Three Caballeros
1937’s “Don Donald”
1944’s “Contrary Condor”
1942’s “South of the Border with Disney” behind-the-scenes documentary
The Guatemalan Handshake (Two-Disc Special Edition)
d. Todd Rohal
Commentary track with director Todd Rohal and members of the production crew
Deleted scenes
Music video directed by Rohal
“10 Moments from the Set” 
“4 Moments from the Road”
Six Short Films by various people associated with Handshake
TELEVISION on DVD
The Waltons – The Complete Seventh Season
Cheers – The Complete Ninth Season
Beverly Hills 90210 – The Fourth Season
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume Three – The Years of Change
I Spy – Season 1
I Spy – Season 2
I Spy – Season 3
Dark Shadows: The Beginnings Collection 4
Sabrina the Teenage Witch – The Complete Animated Series
WWE – Twist of Fate: The Matt and Jeff Hardy Story
Paranormal State – Season 1
The Big Gay Sketch Show – The Complete First Season
The Big Gay Sketch Show – The Complete Second Season
MORE DVDs FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE
King Corn
In The Blood
Moondance Alexander
Nanking
First Knight [Blu-ray]
Bernard and Doris
Disraeli
The Living End: Remixed and Remastered
Intelligence
How She Move
Headless Horseman
Boardinghouse
Knock, Knock
Middletown
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt, and Shannen Doherty)
Killing Car
The Beast in Space (Unrated Version)
COMING SOON
The Mummy
As they did with Dracula and Frankenstein, Universal’s Legacy Series is double dipping Boris Karloff’s The Mummy. Already available is a great Legacy box-set which includes The Mummy, Mummy’s Hand, Mummy’s Tomb, Mummy’s Ghost and Mummy’s Curse. That set includes a nice featurette and commentary track over the original Mummy film. On July 08, you can now buy a special edition with a lot more goodies than the original box set. Extras will include a commentary by Film Historian Paul M. Jenson, a second commentary by Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Steve Haberman, Bob Burns, and Brent Armstrong, a Universal Horror Documentary, 3 featurettes (He Who Made Monsters: Life and Legacy of Jack Pierce, Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy, Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed), posters and stills, and trailers.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Blu-ray
Blu-ray is the next stop for George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It will hit the streets on May 13 and include Audio Commentary by Director George Roy Hill, Lyricist Hal David, Associate Producer Robert Crawford and Cinematographer Conrad Hall, Commentary by Screenwriter William Goldman Documentary, ‘All of What Follows is True: The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ Featurette, The Wild Bunch: The True Tale of Butch & Sundance, Deleted Scenes and Theatrical Trailers. What this all means is if you own the same two-disc collector’s edition I do, you’ll need to hold on to it, as it includes the original documentary and extra interviews. With all this extra room, I don’t see why Blu-ray is skimping on extras.
Jet Li’s Fearless: Director’s Cut
The director’s cut of Jet Li’s Fearless will be released on July 08. The 2-disc release will include the director’s cut (2 Hours 21 Minutes), unrated version (1 Hour 44 Minutes) and the original theatrical version (1 Hour 43 Minutes). The only extra material will be deleted scenes, and A Fearless Journey featurette. Here is the deal. The film, originally 2 hours 21 minutes, was cut to 1 Hour 43 Minutes, and scenes by Michelle Yeoh and a fight between Jet Li and a Thai boxer, portrayed by Somluck Kamsing, were removed. A special release of the film in Thailand in March 2006 reinserted the scenes with Somluck (but not Michelle Yeoh), making its new running time 1 Hour 44 Minutes. In January of 2007, Ronny Yu’s original 140 minute Director’s Cut was given an official DVD release in Hong Kong, featuring the full Michelle Yeoh sub plot as well as the fight with Somluck Kamsing.
Lost, Season 4
In quite possibly the earliest announcement I can remember, the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Lost: The Complete Fourth Season The Expanded Experience has been scheduled for December 09. Studios have announced that due to the shortened seasons (thanks to the strike), there will be more extras to make up for the lack of episodes. See, they don’t want to lower the prices of the season sets, so they figure add more special features and keep them the same price. Problem is, the special features for this set looks to be equal to the previous Lost sets, so maybe they are going to do this with different television shows. The extras include Lost Bloopers, Audio Commentaries, Deleted Scenes, Lost on Location, Freighter Folk, Transforming Hawaii, Gun Tracking, and The Music of Lost.
July Criterion Releases
Patton – Blu-ray
The Blu-ray release of Patton will hit streets on June 03. It will include the following special features: Introduction and Commentary by Writer Francis Ford Coppola, ‘History Through the Lens: Patton: A Rebel Revisited’ Featurette, ‘Patton’s Ghost Corps’ Featurette, ‘The Making of Patton’ Documentary, Production Still Gallery Accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith’s Complete, Musical Score, Behind-the-Scenes Gallery Accompanied by Audio Essay on the Historical Patton, Original Trailer
Dark City: Director’s Cut (JULY 29)
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The Diving Bell & The Butterfly $19.99
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The Golden Compass $29.99
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Beverly Hills 90210: Season 4 $39.99
The Walton: Season 7. $29.99
The Outer Limits: Volumes I / II / III $14.99 each
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Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: Season 1 / Volume II $14.99
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The Pretender: Season 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 $19.99 each
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Angel: Season 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 $19.99 each
Dark Angel: Season 1 / 2 $19.99 each
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Firefly: The Complete Series $24.99
Space: Above & Beyond – The Complete Series $24.99
Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection $24.99
Hero Wanted $14.99
The Best Of Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen $9.99 w/Exclusive Bonus Footage
Cloverfield $14.99
The Golden Compass $14.99 Premier Price: 5 Days Only
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$6.99 DVDs:
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27 Dresses $29.99
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