Turn off the Lights

DISCussion: New on DVD and Blu-ray (7.2.2013)

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is a renounced classic and this week it has earned a new re-release. Though there are no extras available this Blu-ray re-release features DVD and Digital Copies.

First Release

- 6 Souls (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The House I Live In (DVD)

Re-Release

- Jaws (1975) (Blu-ray)
- E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) (Blu-ray)
- The Producers (1968) (Blu-ray)
- The Trouble with Harry (1955) (Blu-ray)
The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) (Blu-ray)


Jaws
(1975) (Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb (screenplay), Peter Benchley (novel)
Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

Jaws was the movie that made Steven Spielberg the force he is today in Hollywood and it is still one of his most popular movies. Based on a novel by Peter Benchley, the tourist destination of Amity Island, Massachusetts is being terrorized by a killer shark. The police chief, Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) has to battle the mayor of the town who does not take the threat seriously, resulting with Brody, a marine biologist, Quint (Robert Shaw) and a hunter, Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) to find the deadly great white shark.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
100% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating:
79/100 (very good)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
9.5/10

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$18.89 (Blu-ray)


It is a thin week of releases with only two new releases coming out. Whilst on the re-release front there is another Steven Spielberg movie and three very different comedies.


6 Souls
(DVD and Blu-ray)
 
Directed by Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
Written by Michael Cooney
Starring: Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

6 Souls
is a psychological-horror movie that has taken three years for to arrive to America, with it being one of the last nations to receive it.

Julianne Moore stars as Cara, religious psychiatrist whose new parent Adam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a man with multiple personality syndrome. As she investigates his case Cara discovers all of Adam’s personalities were murder victims. But when Cara’s daughter Sammy (Brooklynn Proulx) disappears she has to race against time to solve the mystery of Adam so she can save Sammy.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
4% (awful)
Metacritic Rating:
28/100 (very bad)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
5.5/10

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$19.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):
Content 2 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 0 stars, Replay 1.5 stars (out of 5). Skip It.


The House I Live In
(DVD)


Written and directed by Eugene Jarecki
Starring: Nannie Jeter, David Simon

The House I Live In
is a critically praised documentary from Freakonomics director Eugene Jarecki about the war on drugs, looking at it from different aspects. We see it from the eyes of dealers, police officers, a judge and prisoners as the movie looks at the causes of the war, what perpetuates it and how can it be stopped.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
93% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating:
77/100 (very good)

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price: $12.99 (DVD)


E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) (Blu-ray)

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Melissa Mathison
Starring: Henry Coyate, Robert MacNaughton, Dee Wallace, Drew Barrymore

The other Steven Spielberg re-release this week is of his 1982 family sci-fi movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, a movie that is considered the quintessential Spielberg movie.

Elliott (Henry Thomas) is a 10-year-old child whose parents are recently divorced. One night he finds an alien in his back garden and with his older brother, Michael (Robert MacNaughton) and younger sister, Gertie (Drew Barrymore) help the alien contact his homeworld as it slowly gets sicker.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
98% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 94/100 (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
8.3/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Disc One: Feature film--2002 version; A special introduction by Steven Spielberg; Disc Two: Feature film--1982 version (Dolby Surround English/French/Spanish only); A Look Back featurette; Disc Three: The Evolution and Creation of ET (longer version); Design, Photographs & Marketing: hundreds of production photographs, conceptual drawings and original advertising in an interactive environment; The Reunion: The cast and filmmakers discuss the impact of the film; John Williams featurette; Live at the Shrine: John Williams conducts for the 20th Anniversary Premiere; DVD-ROM features with Total Axess includes behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, etc

Amazon Price:
$26.98 (Blu-ray)


The Producers
(1968) (Blu-ray)

Written and directed by Mel Brooks
Starring: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Kenneth Mars, Dick Shawn

The Producers was Mel Brooks’ directional debut and is one of his most celebrated movies, winning an Academy Award for Best Writing. Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) is an aging Broadway producer who comes up with he thinks is a sure fire scheme; create a deliberate flop so he can keep his investors’ money, leading him to make ‘Springtime for Hitler’.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating:
97/100 (excellent)

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: “The Making Of The Producers” Documentary; Mel And His Movies: The Producers; Theatrical Trailer; Photo Gallery

Amazon Price: $24.96 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 4 stars, Replay 5 stars (out of 5). DVD Talk Collector Series.


The Trouble with Harry (1955) (Blu-ray)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes (screenplay), Jack Trevor Story (novel)
Starring: Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Mildred Natwick, Mildred Dunnock, Jerry Mathers, Royal Dano

The Alfred Hitchcock re-release this week is his dark comedy The Trouble with Harry. Based on Jack Trevor Story’s novel The Trouble with Harry is set in a small Vermont town where a dead body is discovered in the woods and everyone in the town thinks they have something do to with the death.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 90% (excellent)

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$16.99 (Blu-ray)


The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) (Blu-ray)

Directed by John Landis
Written by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Starring: Bill Bixby, George Lazenby, Evan C. Kim, Tony Dow, Donald Sutherland, Tara Strohmeier, Branscombe Richmond

The release of Movie 43 in January was compared to The Kentucky Fried Movie, but The Kentucky Fried Movie is more fondly remembered. Made as an anthology movie of various comedy skets, The Kentucky Fried Movie was directed by John Landis and written by Airplane writers Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 78% (very good)

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$16.96 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):
Content 4 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 3.5 stars, Extras 3.5 stars, Replay 5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.

Comments

Meet the Author

Follow Us