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DVD/Blu-ray DISCussion (New for 9.27.11)

Ben-Hur is often cited as a classic epic movie, winning 11 Oscars and becoming one of the influence on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. It is still a highly regarded movie and it is Player Affinity’s Recommendation of the Week. This DVD and Blu-ray box-set has five discs containing documentaries, commentaries and even the 1925 silent movie.

First Releases
- Carlos (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Lost Future (DVD)
- The Ledge (DVD)
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon (DVD and Blu-ray) (release date Sept. 30)

Re-Releases
- Ben-Hur (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Phantom Carriage (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Footloose (Blu-ray)
- Mimic (Blu-ray)
- Basket Case (Blu-ray)
- Nirvana: Live at the Paramount (DVD)


Ben-Hur (DVD and Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*

What's the Deal?
The word epic is thrown around too often these days, but the 1959 movie Ben-Hur does live up to that word. Based on an 1880 novel, Ben-Hur, A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur is one of only three movies to win 11 Oscars. Starring Charlton Heston and directed by William Wyler (Roman Holiday), this historical adventure takes place in the time of Jesus Christ in the 1st Century in the Roman Empire. Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Heston) is a Jewish prince in Judea when he is accused of attempted assassination of the Roman Governor. Sold into slavery, Ben-Hur has to regain his freedom, gain revenge against the man who forced him into slavery and free his mother and sister. Ben-Hur has some of the most famous set-pieces ever put to film and this five-disc release has everything Ben-Hur fans could want.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 91% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 7.3/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: DISCS 1 AND 2: The Movie; The 1959 Winner of a Record-Setting 11 Academy Awards®* – Including Best Picture, Actor (Charlton Heston) and Director (William Wyler) – Restored Frame by Frame from the Original 65MM Camera Negative and Remastered for Maximum Picture and Audio Clarity; Commentary by Film Historian T. Gene Hatcher with Charlton Heston; Music-Only Track Showcasing Miklos Rozsa’s Award-Winning Score; DISC 3: New Special Features FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY CHARLTON HESTON & BEN-HUR: A PERSONAL JOURNEY; Retrospective on the Ben-Hur Star Written and Directed by His Son Fraser C. Heston, Featuring Never-Before-Available Images and Footage from the Heston Family Archives; DISC 4: The 1925 Silent Version; Thames Television Restoration with Stereophonic Orchestral Score by Carl Davis; DISC 5: Vintage Special Features; Documentaries Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema and Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic; Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures – Audiovisual Recreation Via Stills, Storyboards, Sketches, Music and Dialogue; Screen Tests; Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards® Telecast; Newsreels and Trailers; MONUMENTAL COLLECTIBLES!; CHARLTON HESTON: THE BEN-HUR DIARIES; Reproduction of Charlton Heston’s Personal and Insightful Diary from January 1958 to April 1960, Chronicling His Time Before Production Started Through the Academy Awards; EXCLUSIVE BOOK WITH RARE PHOTOS, PRODUCTION ART AND REPRODUCTIONS FROM THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL PRESSBOOK

Amazon Price: $34.99 (DVD), $44.99 (Blu-ray)

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





The other major DVD and Blu-ray releases are the mega blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the full six-hour cut of Carlos. For you music fans, there is a concert movie Nirvana: Live at the Paramount and horror fans have Mimic and Basket Case to look forward to.


Carlos (DVD and Blu-ray)

What’s the Deal?
If you were a fan of the 2010 movie Carlos, this DVD and Blu-ray release is a full 5.5-hour miniseries. This is not unprecedented, Das Boot was released as a movie, then as a director's cut and finally as a six hour TV series released in Germany. Many critics consider this version the definitive version. Directed by Olivier Assayas (Paris, Je T’aime, Summer Hours), Edgar Ramirez (Che) plays Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, aka Carlos the Jackal, as he kidnaps, bombs and hijacks his way through Europe and the Middle East as he becomes one of the most notorious terrorists ever.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 93% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 7.5/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: New digital transfer, supervised and approved by directors of photography Denis Lenoir and Yorick Le Saux, with DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition; New video interviews with director Olivier Assayas, Lenoir, Le Saux, and actor Édgar Ramírez; Twenty-minute making-of documentary on the film’s OPEC raid scene; Original theatrical trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Colin MacCabe and Greil Marcus, plus biographies on selected historical figures portrayed in the film, written by the film’s historical adviser, Stephen Smith;
Much more!

Amazon Price: $33.99 (DVD), $34.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):  N/A


The Lost Future (DVD)

What’s the Deal?
There is only one reason why anyone would be interested in this Syfy channel TV movie: Sean Bean. He obviously needed the work. TV Director Mikael Salomon (Band of Brothers, The Agency) helms this movie set in a post-apocalyptic future where a virus has wiped out most of humanity and recreations of extinct animals are roaming the Earth. A group simply tries to survive all this, believing they are the last humans on Earth.
 
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): N/A
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Making-of Featurette, Cast/Crew Interviews

Amazon Price: $14.99 (DVD)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


The Ledge (DVD)

What’s the Deal?
We are unlikely to get a death match between Ann Coulter and Richard Dawkins, so The Ledge is possibly your best bet to see a conflict between a fundamental Christian and an Atheist enforcing their beliefs on everyone. Written and directed by Matthew Chapman (Runaway Jury), The Ledge has a strong indie cast: Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Patrick Wilson (Watchmen), Liv Tyler and Terrence Howard (Iron Man). The Ledge premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

The Ledge starts with Gavin Nichols (Hunnam), an atheist standing on the ledge of a tall building after having an affair with the wife (Tyler) of a fundamentalist Christian (Wilson), who gives Gavin have a test of faith, or lack of it.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 11% (awful)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Trailer; Interviews

Amazon Price: $11.99 (DVD)

Score (DVDTalk.com):  N/A


Transformers: Dark of the Moon (DVD and Blu-ray) (Release Date Sept. 30)

What’s the Deal?
 Transformers: Dark of the Moon had to be an improvement from the last sequel. "Revenge of the Fallen" was long, had a weak plot filled with holes and the less we say about the Twins the better (I still go off on a psychotic rant about them). Even Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf disowned it, saying it was rushed and they often worked without a script. Megan Fox was fired after calling Bay “Hitler” and replaced by Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as the female lead. This was actually an improvement. John Malkovich, Patrick Dempsey and Frances McDormand all join the multi-million dollar franchise.

During the dying days of Cybertron’s Civil War, an Autobot spaceship crashed on the Moon in 1961 with an invention that could end the conflict. America sets out to land on the Moon to study the technology and the Autobots find their old leader, Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy) in a dormant state. The Deceptions want the technology to turn Earth into Cybertron and invade the planet, starting with Chicago. But of course, none of this is as important as Sam Witwicky (Le Beouf) trying to get a job.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 36% (poor)
Player Affinity Score: 5.9/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


The Phantom Carriage (DVD and Blu-ray)

What’s the Deal?
This 1921 silent movie is both an early and important example of Swedish cinema and an important influence on Ingmar Bergman. Based on a novel by Selma Lagerlof, The Phantom Carriage was written by, directed by and starred Victor Sjöström.

If the last person to die on New Year's Eve is a great sinner then they have to pull the Phantom Chariot for a year, collecting the souls of the dead. David Holm (Sjöström), is a abusive drunkard who is given this sentence. A Salvation Heart girl, Edit (Astrid Holm) believes she could bring redemption to David and shows him the error of his ways.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): N/A
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $20.99 (DVD), $27.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Footloose (Blu-ray)

What’s the Deal?
We know how Hollywood works. If a remake is about to come out then, it is the perfect time to re-release the original. The 1984 movie was directed by Herbert Ross (The Turning Point) and written by songwriter Dean Pitchford. Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer (Fame), Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters) and John Lithgow star in this dancing movie, as Ren McCormack (Bacon) moves from Chicago to a small town where dancing and rock music are forbidden due to the efforts of local preacher Reverend Shaw Moore (Lithgow). Footloose is loosely based on events in Elmore City, Oklahoma.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 58% (average)
Player Affinity Score: 7.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $17.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A


Mimic (Blu-ray)

What’s the Deal?
Guillermo del Toro has found  a lot of success in both Hollywood and World Cinema. The horror movie Mimic was his first Hollywood movie, starring Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite), Jeremy Northam (Gosford Park) and Alexander Goodwin.

In Manhattan, a disease carried by cockroaches is killing children across the island. Entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler (Sorvino) makes a mutant breed of the bug to kill the roaches, but hree years later her species has evolved into man-sized monsters that can copy humans.

Mimic ended up having two sequels.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 58% (average)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Video Prologue with director Guillermo del Toro; Audio commentary with director/co-writer Guillermo Del Toro; “Reclaiming Mimic” featurette; “A Leap In Evolution – The Creatures of Mimic” featurette; “Back Into The Tunnels – Shooting Mimic” featurette; Deleted scenes; Storyboard animatics; Gag reel; Theatrical Trailer

Amazon Price: $9.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):  N/A


Basket Case (Blu-ray)

What’s the Deal?
As well as being the title of an excellent Green Day song, Basket Case is a horror comedy. Kevin Van Hentenryck stars as Duane Bradley, a man who carries his deformed Siamese-twin brother in a basket who sets out to get revenge on the doctors who removed him against his will.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 78% (very good)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: New full-frame HD transfer preserving the original 16mm camera ratio; New video introduction by Frank Henenlotter; Audio commentary by director Frank Henenlotter, producer Edgar Levens; Rare outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from the Directors; Two theatrical trailers plus TV spot; 2001 video short: In Search of the Hotel Broslin; Two rare Basket Case radio spots; Gallery of Basket Case exploitation art and behind-the-scenes

Amazon Price: $12.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):  Content 4.5 stars, Video 5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 3.5 stars, Replay 4.5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.



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