The Week of December 7th, 2010

GROUP EDITED by: TROY ANDERSON

DVD/BR
SECTION by: Troy Anderson

INCEPTION

Director: Christopher Nolan
Warner Brothers

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

Special Features

  • Extraction Mode: Infiltrate the movie’s imaginative landscape to learn
    how Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the cast and crew designed and achieved the film’s signature moments
  • Dreams: Cinema of the
    Subconscious: Can the dream world be a fully functional parallel
    reality? Joseph Gordon-Levitt and leading scientists take you to the
    cutting edge of dream research
  • Inception: The Cobol Job: Comic prologue in full animation and motion: see the events that led to the beginning of the movie
  • 5.1 soundtrack selections from Hans Zimmer’s versatile score
  • Conceptual art, promotional art, and trailer/TV spot galleries
  • Via BD-Live: Project Somnacin–Confidential Files: Access highly
    secure files that reveal the inception of the dream-share technology

Inception remains one of the Best Films of the Year. In a year like this, that’s not really saying much. However I do have to commend Nolan on being able to take his conceptual film artistry to the next level by trying to add tragic romance into the mix. DiCaprio and Cotillard deserve equal praise, as they sell the magic of Cobb and his obsession to return an idealized life. Illusion, fantasy, reality and dream are all portrayed as fleeting moments where two lovers wait for the next kick to bring them back together. Some might say that the film is about forgiveness and trying to find the means to move on. I don’t believe that Nolan is being that straightforward, as he wants us to question the simulation and accept the fallacy that is complacent living. Nothing is real.

CRONOS: CRITERION COLLECTION
director: Guillermo del Toro

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

Special Features


  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Audio commentary featuring Guillermo del Toro
  • Audio commentary featuring the producers
  • Geometria, an unreleased 1987 short horror film by del Toro
  • Welcome to Bleak House, a video tour by del Toro of his office
  • New video interviews with del Toro, Navarro, and actor Ron Perlman
  • Video interview with actor Federico Luppi
  • Stills gallery
  • Trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation

    • Cronos is a simple debut offering from director Del Toro about the quest for eternal life. When shopkeeper Jesus Gris discovers a small golden box, he believes that it is a long lost treasure from a 16th century alchemist. Working with his nephew, he tries to find a way to keep it safe from those might want to steal it from him. The first time that Jesus tries to use the Cronos device, he discovers that it stabs the user and leaves them with a severe bloodlust. Sure, the wounds closes and the user become revitalized. It’s just that your extended life is dependent on your blood hunt. The Criterion Collection continues to astound me with their recent choices that break out of the Arthouse and go for the underappreciated gems that litter throughout International Cinema. Check out Del Toro’s unreleased early film Geometria in the supplemental material area.

    VIDEODROME: CRITERION COLLECTION
    director: David Cronenberg

    CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

    SPECIAL FEATURES

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer of the unrated version
  • Audio commentary – David Cronenberg w/ director of photography Mark Irwin
  • Audio commentary – actors James Woods and Deborah Harry
  • Camera (2000), a short film by Cronenberg
  • Forging the New Flesh, a half-hour documentary
  • Effects Men, an audio interview
  • Bootleg Video: the complete footage of Samurai Dreams
  • Fear on Film, a roundtable discussion from 1982
  • Original theatrical trailers and promotional featurette
  • Stills gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production photos

    • Videodrome remains one of my most beloved entries into the