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DISCussion: New on DVD and Blu-ray (7.9.2013)

Universal Studios are re-releasing a number of movies this week, including our Recommendation, the classic coming-of-age teen movie The Breakfast Club.

First Release

- Spring Breakers (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Admission (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Host (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Dead Man Down (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Gatekeepers (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Boy (DVD and Blu-ray)

Re-Release

- The Life of Oharu (1952) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Gattaca (1997) (Blu-ray)
- Charade (1963) (Blu-ray)
The Jerk (1979) (Blu-ray)
- The Breakfast Club (1985) (Blu-ray)
- Sixteen Candles (1984) (Blu-ray)
- Liar Liar (1997) (Blu-ray)


The Breakfast Club
(1985) (Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*

Written and directed by John Hughes
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy

The Breakfast Club is considered one of the essential teen movies of the 80s and one of John Hughes’ best movies. This teen comedy-drama tells the story of five high school students from different social groups who have to spend a Saturday detention together and end up looking pass the stereotypes.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
91% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating:
62/100 (good)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
7.0/10

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$12.99 (Blu-ray)


There are a number of movies being released and re-released this week, including the cult hit Spring Breakers, the Oscar nominated documentary The Gatekeepers and the classic sci-fi movie Gattaca.


Spring Breakers
(DVD and Blu-ray)

Written and directed by Harmony Korine
Starring: James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, Gucci Mane

Spring Breakers is one of the most divisive movies of 2013: it is fast becoming a cult hit but there are equal amount of people who like and hate the movie. Written and directed Harmony Korine (writer of Kids) Spring Breakers stars Disney icons Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens who are deliberately playing against type.

Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Hudgens), Cotty (Rachel Korine) and Faith (Gomez) are four bored college friends who go to Florida for two weeks of fun. Instead of the usual activities of drinking, sex and drug taking, the young women end up teaming up with a local drug dealer, Alien (James Franco) who promises them a thrill ride they will never forget.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
65% (good)
Metacritic Rating:
63/100 (good)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
8.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: "Breaking It Down: Behind SPRING BREAKERS" Featurette; VICE Featurettes: "An Inside Look at the ATL Twins" and "Real-Life Partying in Panama City Beach"; "Harmony's Ear Candy" Featurette (Music Inspiration / Interviews); Music Videos; Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Harmony Korine; Deleted Scene/Outtakes; TV Spots; Trailer

Amazon Price:
$14.96 (DVD), $17.96 (Blu-ray)


Admission
(DVD and Blu-ray)


Directed by Paul Weitz
Written by Karen Croner (screenplay), Jean Hanff Korelitz (novel)
Starring: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd

Based on a novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz, Admission is a romantic dramedy about Portia Nathan (Tina Fey), a Princeton admissions officer who is in competition to find the best candidates for the university. She has a tense relationship with her mother (Lily Tomlin) and her relationship with her boyfriend (Michael Sheen) is going nowhere. But during a recruitment trip to an alternative school she becomes close to an old college friend, John (Paul Rudd) and finds out one of the students could be the child she gave up for adoption 18 years ago.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
38% (poor)
Metacritic Rating:
48/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
4.3/10 (read our review)

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price: $18.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):
Content 2.5 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 0.5 stars, Replay 2 stars (out of 5). Rent It.


The Host
(2013) (DVD and Blu-ray)

Directed by Andrew Niccol
Written by Andrew Niccol (screenplay), Stephenie Meyer (novel)
Starring: Saorise Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Iron, Diane Kruger, William Hurt

Following the success of The Twilight Saga Stephenie Meyer’s other hit novel, The Host was adapted into a movie. In the future Earth has taken over by a parasitic alien race known as Souls. Melanie Stryder (Saorise Ronan) is a human who is captured by the Souls and infused with one of them, Wanderer, with the hope of finding the human resistance. But when Melanie/Wanderer escapes the different personalities fall for two different men, Ian (Jake Abel) and Jared (Max Irons) as a Soul known as The Seeker (Diane Kruger) is determined to find them.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
9% (awful)
Metacritic Rating: 35/100 (poor)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
4.0/10 (read our review)

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$17.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):
Content 1.5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 2 stars, Replay 1.5 stars (out of 5). Rent It.


Dead Man Down
(DVD and Blu-ray)

Directed Niels Arden Oplev
Written by J.H. Wyman
Starring: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper, Terrence Howard, Isabelle Huppert

Following the success of the Swedish adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Danish director Niels Arden Oplev’s follow movie is made his English language debut, the thriller Dead Man Down, produced by WWE Studios.

In the New York underworld a major crime boss Alphonse’s (Terrence Howard, Iron Man) associates are being murdered. What Alphonse does not know is one of his main henchmen, Victor (Colin Farrell) is committing the kills as he take part in an elaborate revenge with a mysterious woman called Beatrice (Noomi Rapace).

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 37% (poor)
Metacritic Rating:
39/100 (poor)

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price: $16.96 (DVD), $18.96 (Blu-ray)


The Gatekeepers (DVD and Blu-ray)

Directed by Dror Moreh
Starring: Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter, Yuval Diskin, Carmi Gillon, Yaakov Peri, Avraham Shalom

The Gatekeepers is an Academy Award nominated documentary from Israel. This documentary offers an insight into Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service and interviews six former heads of the organisation for the first time ever.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 93% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating:
91/100 (excellent)

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$19.96 (DVD), $24.83 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com):
Content 4.5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 3 stars, Replay 4 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.


Boy (DVD and Blu-ray)


Written and directed by Taika Waititi
Starring: James Rolleston, Taika Waititi, Luke Crone, Cohen Holloway, Pana Hema Taylor

Boy is a coming-of-age movie from New Zealand. Set in 1984 the movie follows “Boy” (James Rolleston), an 11-year-old child who lives with his brother, his nan and tribal cousins. His idols are Michael Jackson and his father (Taika Waititi). But Boy’s idolized vision of his father is shattered when he finds out he is no more than a thug.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
88% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating:
70/100

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$20.48 (DVD), $24.99 (Blu-ray)


The Life of Oharu (1952) (DVD and Blu-ray)


Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Written by Kenji Mizoguchi, Yoshikata Yoda (screenplay), Saikaku Iharu (novel)
Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka, Tsukie Matsuura, Ichiro Sugai, Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura

From the Criterion Collection this week is the re-release of the Japanese movie The Life of Oharu, the tragedy of Oharu (Kinuyo Tanaka), a Japanese noble who is exiled after falling in love with a man from a lower station, leading to a life of sorrow and humiliation.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 100% (excellent)

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features:
New high-definition digital film restoration; Introductory commentary by scholar Dudley Andrew; Mizoguchi's Art and the Demimonde, an illustrated audio essay featuring Andrew; Kinuyo Tanaka's New Departure, a 2009 film by Koko Kajiyama; New English subtitle translation; PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Gilberto Perez

Amazon Price: $20.97 (DVD), $27.97 (Blu-ray)


Gattaca (1997) (Blu-ray)

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law

The other Andrew Niccol movie of the week is his debut feature Gattaca, which is still considered his best movie.

In the future eugenics and genetic engineering are common place and society has split into two sects, the genetically perfect upper class and the lower naturally conceived underclass. One member of the underclass is Vincent (Ethan Hawke) takes the identity of a man, Jerome (Jude Law) so he can take part in a spaceflight. But when a man is murdered Vincent becomes a suspect.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
82% (very good)
Metacritic Rating: 64/100 (good)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
9.6/10

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$9.49 (Blu-ray)


Charade (1963) (Blu-ray)

Directed by Stanley Donen
Written by Peter Stone (screenplay), Marc Behm, Peter Stone (story)
Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn

Charade
is a classic comedy-thriller celebrating its 50th anniversary and it has been re-released onto Blu-ray to mark the occasion. Audrey Hepburn plays Regina “Reggie” Lampert, a Parisienne woman whose husband has been murdered and she ends up being hunted by various factions who want the money he has stolen. Reggie’s only ally is Peter Joshua (Cary Grant), but he has his own motives.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (excellent)

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Restored high-definition digital transfer; Audio Commentary featuring Stanley Donen and Peter Stone; Original theatrical trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Bruce Eder  

Amazon Price: $13.99 (Blu-ray)


The Jerk (1979) (Blu-ray)

Directed by Carl Reiner
Written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias
Starring: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh, Jackie Mason, Dick O’Neill, Mabel King

The comedy The Jerk was one Steve Martin’s first starring role and his first writing credit. Martin stars as Navin R. Johnson, a man lacking intelligential capabilities who somehow finds an invention that makes him a wealthy man.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 84% (very good)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
7.4/10

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$13.86 (Blu-ray)


Sixteen Candles (1984) (Blu-ray)

Written and directed by John Hughes
Starring: Molly Ringwald, Paul Dooley, Justin Henry, Anthony Michael Hall

The teen comedy Sixteen Candles was John Hughes’ directional debut and one of Molly Ringwald’s most famous movies as she stars Samantha Baker, a teenager who is about to turn 16 and where everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes):
86% (very good)
Metacritic Rating: 57/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score:
6.0/10

DISC DETAILS

Amazon Price:
$7.99 (Blu-ray)


Liar Liar (1997) (Blu-ray)

Directed by Tom Shadyac
Written by Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur
Starring: Jim Carrey, Justin Cooper, Maura Tierney, Jennifer Tilly

Jim Carrey starred in Liar Liar when he was at the height of his powers and a fondly remembered movie. Carrey stars as Fletcher Reede, a successful career lawyer who is about to make partner in his firm. But his success comes at the cost of his family and when he misses his son’s birthday party, he wishes his father cannot lie for a day and it so happens to occur on the day of Fletcher’s biggest case.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 81% (very good)
Metacritic Rating:
68/100
Entertainment Fuse Score:
7.3/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features:
Bridging the Comedy Chasm, an original featurette featuring interviews with Tom Shadyac, Jim Carrey, Brian Grazer, and behind-the-scenes footage shot on location; A Deleted Scene; Photo Gallery; Outtakes

Amazon Price: $12.99 (Blu-ray)

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