THE SPECIAL EDITION: 3.30.10

THE WEEK OF MARCH 30th 2010

GROUP EDITED by: TROY ANDERSON

DVD/BR SECTION by: Troy Anderson

SHERLOCK HOLMES
Director: Guy Ritchie
Warner Brothers

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Special Features

Sherlock Holmes proves that all fictional detective can stand a rebooting. But, if you reboot them…they have to become ninjas. They also have to be slightly gay or very British. I can’t really tell the difference. Anyhow, Guy Ritchie made a movie that wasn’t a complete waste of time. The last time he accomplished that, we were treated to Brad Pitt as a Gypsy boxer. There is boxing in this film, but Brad Pitt doesn’t show up. You do get to check out current Brit-geek favorite Mark Strong. He’s going to be Sinestro or something. So, he’s got that going for him.

AN EDUCATION
c. Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson and Peter Sarsgaard

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Special Features

An Education shows that Nick Hornby can adapt the works of others. Plus, he can show the same compassion for young women as he shows to young men. Carey Mulligan is a revelation and her performance here deserved the Oscar. Peter Sarsgaard isn’t too horrible either. But, the meat of the material is in Hornby’s script. Carefully adapting the nuances of young adulthood, while trying to make a personal statement on youthful responsibility…he worked wonders. If you pick up one title this week, make it this.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
aka Where the Hell is the Blu-Ray Edition?

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Special Features

• Virtual Wonderland Party activities including riddles, silly song
  & dance, Teapot orchestra, Mad Hatter Says, and other games and
  stories
•  “Thru the Mirror” animated short with Mickey Mouse
• “I’m Odd” never before heard song
• 2 Sing along songs
• Set-top game
• “One Hour in Wonderland” documentary (60 mins.)
• “An Alice Comedy: Alice’s Wonderland” featurette (8 mins.)
•  “Operation Wonderland” featurette (11 mins.)
• Excerpt from “The Fred Warring Show” (30 mins.)
• Deleted
  Material Featurettes: “From Wonderland to Never Land,” “Song Demos,”
  Deleted Storyboard Concept: Alice Daydreams in the Park”
• Original Walt Disney TV introductions and trailers
• Art galleries

Alice in Wonderland arrives on DVD for the third time this generation. The Tim Burton version is currently proving that any piece of crap can make 250 million plus during its theatrical run. Blu-Ray penetration is at an all-time high, while the market for classic animation is exploding. What does Disney choose to do? Dig up four hours of archival material and slap it on a Special Edition that sports the same transfer as the last release. If this wasn’t such a slow week, I wouldn’t have taken the time to shit on this title.

THE KILLER
d. John Woo

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Special Features

Dragon Dynasty shits the bed again. You might wonder why I keep taking the time to mention their lackluster Blu-Ray titles. Well, I just want to have a word of warning for any potential buyers. The guys and girls that like the Asian Action classics will go far out of their way to pick these titles up. Much like the last couple of fucked-up Blu-Ray offerings, this disc only sports a 1080i transfer. The audio is a lossless Cantonese mix that would’ve barely passed DVD standards. But, what makes it all worse is that it’s a PAL to NTSC transfer that looks like shit. I know that Vivendi has taken over the titles since Weinstein Company’s home video wing went tits up. But, this is unacceptable. 

VIDEO GAMES

section by: Justin Clark and SCOTT!

WARIOWARE: D.I.Y.
Nintendo
Nintendo DS, WiiWare
Release Date: 3/28
MSRP: $34.99

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Hi, my name is Justin. I have a Warioware problem. This is one of those rare series that despite years of repetition gets a giant Arjen Rudd approved diplomatic immunity card from me, and despite Nintendo milking this franchise just like all their others till the teat turns purple, it remains ridiculously fun and fresh, and addictive. It is pure, uncut, digital Colombian. This newest incarnation takes a page from the LittleBigPlanet book of creativity, and allows players the opportunity to create their own minigames to be traded amongst other DS players, or to the game’s big cousin on the WiiWare, where anyone can download it from a specialized internal network that anyone can access at anyti–oh, wait, sorry. I’m thinking of an online system that works.

PRISON BREAK: THE CONSPIRACY
South Peak Interactive
PS3, Xbox 360
Release Date: 3/30
MSRP: $39.99

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The game is developed by Zootfly, who, to their credit, is responsible for getting that Ghostbusters game made thanks to that “just screwing around” demo they floated around a few years back, and DeepSilver, who are responsible for the Let’s Play series on the DS.

If you’re a Prison Break fan: I’m sorry. I’m VERY sorry.

OTHER GAMES OF INTEREST

• Samurai Shodown Sen (360, $49.99, 3/30)

• Dead or Alive Paradise (PSP, $29.99, 3/30)

OOOH: ON THE DLC TIP

HEAVY RAIN CHRONICLES EPISODE ONE: THE TAXIDERMIST
Playstation Network
Release Date: 4/1
$4.99

The sum total of Heavy Rain is less than its ambitions would have you believe, but there’s still a compelling, worthwhile gaming experience to be had there, full of tension, empathy, tough decisions, to say nothing of eerily spectacular digital tits. That’s at least worth a rental. The film school dropouts at Quantic Dream aren’t done with you just yet, though, as the first of several downloadable episodes hits the PSN this week, this one focusing on Madison Paige’s first tense encounter with an Origami Killer suspect. Oddly enough, The Taxidermist was actually the first playable demo of Heavy Rain, created in 2008. Considering how overwhelmingly positive reviews have been for said demo and its DLC incarnation, and how lukewarm the ACTUAL demo came off, I’m not sure how hosed one should feel by that fact.

ROCK BAND TUESDAY

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold As Love ($19.99/1600 MS)
• Up From the Skies
• Spanish Castle Magic +
• Wait Until Tomorrow +
• Ain’t No Telling +
• Little Wing +
• If 6 Was 9 +
• You Got Me Floatin’ +
• Castles Made of Sand
• She’s So Fine +
• One Rainy Wish +
• Little Miss Lover
• Bold As Love +
• Valleys of Neptune

(individual tracks are $1.99/160 MS points each. )
+ – Available in Lego Rock Band

HENDRIX. TUESDAY. YES.

And apparently, there’s more coming. A lot more. Possibly even a standalone game.

Good job, Harmonix.

This still doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for White Album DLC, you know.

MUSIC

section by: Jeb Delia

NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH

Erykah Badu

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Some
people compare her to Billie Holiday, but I hear Ann Peebles. The fact
that one was an instinctive genius, and the other a very good soul
singer, isn’t a knock on Badu, who gets as much mileage out of neo-soul
as Sharon Jones, with what sounds like about a fifth as much effort; in
other words, she doesn’t have to strain to get her effects. Like, say,
Ann Peebles… or, come to that, Billie Holiday, so maybe I need to
rethink this.  Despite the “Part Two” in the
album title, the use of analog sound and acoustic instrumentation makes
this installment go down more smoothly and seductively than its more
strident predecessor: if New Amerykah was a bracing shot to get you up and pumped, Part Two’s an after-dinner aperitif leading you-know-where.

WU MASSACRE

Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Raekwon, Meth Ghost and Rae 

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This Charming Life

Joan Armatrading

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Her
voice and presence have always been a bit too big for the plainness of
her subject matter, and she lacks the consistent gift for the telling
detail that might have made her the rocker’s Phoebe Snow (not that I’d
have wished that on her). But, by golly, she’s still around, still her
own woman, and for the first time in this century, has a band that
sounds like putting her songs across is a calling, not a day job. OK,
so her ideas of “Virtual Reality” also date back to the previous
century, and a “Goddess of Change” is about the last thing I’d call
her. She can rock, though. That’s not to be taken for granted.

 

I WILL BE

Dum Dum Girls

 

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

If
someone told you they’d found some early Sleater-Kinney demos, and then
played them for you over the phone… well, it would sound something like
this, and if you’re anything like me, that would make it your favorite
album of the week (I realize that may say more about me than about
you—or about the week).  Gets right to the
point: eleven songs in twenty-nine minutes. Also look for the single of
“Jail La La”: not only is the song irresistible, but the non-album
b-side is the Stones’ “Play With Fire” as The Cramps might have
imagined it.

Other noteworthy 3/30 music releases:

Black Francis: Nonstoperotik. Haven’t
heard it yet, or I’d probably have more to say about it. His website
says that he wrote these songs “by candlelight in the studio.” Hmmm.

Evelyn Evelyn: Evelyn Evelyn. Tim
Burton and Danny Elfman creating a musical about the love lives of
cojoined (“Siamese”) twins? No? OK, what if one of the Dresden Dolls
did it instead? Still no sale? Boy, tough crowd.

 

Stacey Kent: Raconte Moi. She
tends to sing like the words were an afterthought anyway, so since I
don’t speak French, this is probably my favorite album of hers so far.

 

 

Barenaked Ladies: All In Good Time.
Evidently, they are now down from four occasionally funny and
overly-twee singers, to three. But they can still, between them, play
every instrument known to man.

 

Tomasz Stanko: Dark Eyes. Not only does this veteran jazz trumpeter deserve to be better-known, he kicks off one song with a lick from “Aqualung.”

THIS WEEK’S DVD REVIEWS at CHUD

Did you miss a review this week? A lot of titles go unnoticed during the hectic news days around the site.

Click here to discover some of the latest DVD reviews.

———————————————–

NEW RELEASES

*Blu-Ray prices are in BOLD BLUE

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel            $16.99  $22.99 $24.99
Sherlock Holmes                                                    $16.99   $24.99
An Education                                                          $19.99   $26.99
The Blind Side                                                        $16.99   $24.99   
The Killer                                                                $19.99   $24.99   
IMAX: Under the Sea                                            $19.99   $26.99   
Alice in Wonderland                                               $17.99 

DISNEY Sale

Buy any two of these Disney titles on DVD Save $6, on Bluray Save $15

Alice in Wonderland                          $19.99
Princess and the Frog                        $19.99  $29.99
Toy Story                                                       $29.99
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs     $19.99 $29.99
G-Force                                            $19.99 $29.99
Up                                                    $19.99 $29.99

$9.99 Blu-Rays

Pandorum
Ocean’s Thirteen
The Transporter
Be Kind Rewind
The Mask

$19.99 TV Season Two-Pack Sale

Miami Vice: Season 1 & 2
Coach: Season 1 & 2
Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 1 & 2
The Starter Wife: Season 1 and Mistress Pack

VIDEO GAME DEALS

Best Buy has a Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off sale on all Nintendo DS games

Mass Effect 2 is $39.99 at Target.

Bioshock 2 (360/PS3) is $49.99 at Amazon, PLUS you can get the first game free with purchase by adding it to your cart.

Also at Amazon: Get 1600 MS points and a 3 Month Live subscription together for $29.99

Best Buy
Buy One, Get the Second 50% off on ALL DS Titles

FREE Bakugan Limited Edition Game with ANY DS System Purchase ($24.99 value)

PC Games
Sims 3 $29.99
Sims 3 World Adventures Expansion Pack $29.99
Aion $29.99

Toys R’ Us
Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off – All Wii video games $39.99 or less

20% off all DSi XL accessories when you buy any DSi XL system (system regular MSRP $189.99)

Buy 1 Get 1 Free – all $29.99 DS Imagine, Petz, and Style Lab games

3 for $40 on the following Nick Jr. DS games

* Dora Saves the Mermaids
* Wonder Pets Save the Animals!
* Ni Hao Kai-lan New Year’s Celebration
* Go Diego Go Safari Rescue
* Dora Saves the Snow
* The Backyardigans
* Dora Puppy
* Go Diego Go Great Dinosaur Rescue

Target
Xbox 120gb elite system $299.99 plus Free $50 GC.

Left for Dead 2- $45
Halo 3 ODST- $49.99
Mass Effect 2- $39.99
Wii Sports Resort w/motion plus- $49.99
Assassin’s Creed 2 ps3/360-$29.99
Madden 10 ps3/360-$49.99 (Wii-$39.99, PSP- $29.99)
CoD: Modern Warfare 2 ps3/360-$49.99
Lets Get Cooking ds- $19.99
Imagine Fashion Designer DS- $19.99
WarioWare D.I.Y DS- $34.99
Smackdown Vs Raw ps3/360- $49.99
Lego Indiana Jones 2 ps3/360- $37 (PSP- $19.99)