DVD/Blu-ray DISCussion (New for 9.14.10)

By: Justin Moody | Movie News | September 15, 2010

There are six new DVD and Blu-ray releases for you lovely people this week: four of them are comedies, whilst the others are a big action blockbuster and a horror/thriller. Plus, it is an excellent week for re-releases, with classics like Se7en, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Breathless making it on to Blu-ray.

First Release
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Letters to Juliet (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Just Wright (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Paper Man (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Boogie Woogie (DVD and Blu-ray)
- My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (DVD)

Re-Release
- Breathless (Blu-ray)
- The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Blu-ray)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Blu-ray)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Blu-ray)
- Delicatessen (Blu-ray)
- Se7en (Blu-ray)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Blu-ray)
- Unleashed (Blu-ray)
- Jacob’s Ladder (Blu-ray)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) (Blu-ray)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
For a blockbuster, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had a number of advantages: it had the king of the Blockbuster, Jerry Bruckheimer, producing, and Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) directing. Jake Gyllenhaal had the lead role and he was known for making dramatic films such as Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain and Zodiac. Gyllenhaal was supported by rising star Gemma Arterton and veterans Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina. However, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was based on a video game and good adaptations are tough to come by. But Bruckheimer was able to turn a theme park ride into a successful trilogy so how hard could adapting a video game really be?

Set in medieval Persia, Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal) is ordered by his father to lead an attack on a city suspected of selling weapon’s to Persia’s enemies. But Dastan finds a magical dagger and with Princess Tamina (Arterton) has to protect from his uncle (Kingsley) who has his own plans for the weapon.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 37% (poor)
Player Affinity Score: 5.7/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: An Unseen World: Making Prince Of Persia

Additional Blu-ray Features: Deleted scene: The Banquet: Garsiv Presents Heads; An Unseen World: Making Prince Of Persia

Additional Blu-ray Combo Pack Features: CineExplore: The Sands Of Time - Take control of the dagger and use it to unlock secrets behind your favorite scenes! Turn back time and uncover over 40 spellbinding segments - Including "Walking Up Walls", "Filming In Morocco", and "Ostrich Jockey Tryouts" - with this exclusive interactive feature.

Amazon Price:

$16.99 (DVD), $23.99 (Blu-ray), $27.99 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

Letters to Juliet (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
With Amanda Seyfried becoming a rising star after roles in Mean Girls, Mamma Mia!, Jennifer’s Body and Chloe, she has been given the leading role in Letters to Juliet. Directed by Gary Winick (13 Going on 30), the film also stars Vanessa Redgrave, Chris Egan and Gael Garcia Bernal (Y tu mama tambien).

While on a romantic holiday in Verona, Italy with her fiancé Victor (Garcia Bernal), Sophie (Seyfield) becomes fascinated by the famous wall of letters. She discovers a decades-old unanswered letter, responds, and to her surprise the author, Claire (Redgrave), and grandson Charlie (Egan), arrive to the city.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 41% (poor)
Player Affinity Score: 4.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Audio Commentary with Amanda Seyfried and Director Gary Winick; Deleted and Extended Scenes; The Making of Letters to Juliet: In Italia; A Courtyard in Verona

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

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 2 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 0 stars (out of 5). Rent it

Just Wright (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Queen Latifah has had a very mixed career of commercial and critical success and flops. She has starred in Hairspray and Chicago, but ends up counter-balancing with What Happens in Vegas… and Taxi. Latifah is joined by rapper Common (Wanted, Terminator Salvation) and they are directed by Sanaa Hamri (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2). Latifah plays Leslie Wright, a physical therapist asked to treat injured basketball star Scott McKnight (Common).

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 48% (average)
Player Affinity Score: 6.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $14.99 (DVD), $24.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 2 stars, Video 0 stars, Audio 0 stars, Extras 1.5 stars, Replay 0 stars (out of 5). Rent it

Paper Man (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Actor Kieran Mulroney and his partner in crime, writer Michele Mulroney, write and direct their first feature film together, a surreal drama comedy called Paper Man. The two attach an impressive cast, Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber), Emma Stone (Zombieland), Ryan Reynolds and Lisa Kudrow.

Daniels plays Richard Dunn, a failing novelist living in Long Island with his surgeon wife Claire (Kudrow). But with the aid of local teenager Abby (Stone), Richard sets out to write his next novel and reconnects with his childhood imaginary friend Captain Excellent (Reynolds).

Despite some poor reviews the Mulroneys wrote the script for next winter's "Sherlock Holmes 2."

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 29% (bad)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $15.49 (DVD), $25.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

Boogie Woogie (DVD and Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Danny Moynihan writes the adaptation to his own novel, Boogie Woogie, with Duncan Ward directing. Boogie Woogie boasts an impressive ensemble cast, including Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United), Heather Graham (Boogie Nights), Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Christopher Lee and Amanda Seyfried.

Set in London, Boogie Woogie is a comedy of manners about the international art scene. All the characters, including art dealers, assistants and gallery owners set out to do anything to come up on top.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 33% (bad)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $17.99 (DVD), $20.49 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (DVD)

What's the Deal?
The surrealist director of Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr., David Lynch has turned into a producer for My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. German orator Werner Herzog (Rescue Dawn, Grizzly Man), directs and co-writes this film that he has described as a horror film. To top it all off, the cast includes Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), Willem Dafoe, Chloe Sevigny (Zodiac) and Grace Zabriskie (Twin Pecks).

Told in flashbacks, the police arrive to explore the murder of Mrs. McCullum (Zabriskie) by the hand of her son Brad (Shannon). With Detective Havenhurst (Dafoe) investigating, the flashbacks look at the lead-up to the event.

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is loosely based on the case of Mark Yavorsky, who murdered his mother after being inspired by Aeschylus’ Oresteia.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 51% (avearage)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Commentary track with Werner Herzog, Herb Golder and Eric Bassett; Interviews with Werner Herzog and Herb Golder; Behind-the-scenes footage; Previews; Short Film -Plastic Bag (narrated by Werner Herzog)

Amazon Price: $19.49 (DVD)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

Breathless (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Director Jean-Luc Godard is one of the best known filmmakers of French New Wave Cinema. His feature debut Breathless is considered one of the best examples of the artistic movement.

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg play Michel and Patricia, two lovers on the run after Michel kills a police officer and steals a car. On the streets of Paris, the two try and make money so that they can escape to Italy in a film that is both a crime drama and an uncontroversial romance.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 96% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Archival Interviews with Director Jean-Luc Godard and Actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville; ; Video Interviews with Coutard, Assistant Director Pierre Rissient, and Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker; ; Two Video Essays: Filmmaker Mark Rappaport's Jean Seberg and Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Breathless" as Criticism; ; Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède, an eighty-minute French Documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the Cast and Crew; ; Charlotte et son Jules, a 1959 short film by Godard featuring Belmondo ; ; French Theatrical Trailer; ; Plus: A Booklet feauturing an Essay by Scholar Dudley Andrew, Writings by Godard, François Truffaut's original treatment, and Godard's Scenario

Amazon Price: $29.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
If you have not heard of Lord of the Rings then I’m sure you enjoyed your trip to Pluto. New Zealander director Peter Jackson made an ambitious project when he adapted J.R.R. Tolkein’s classic novels. He made all three Lord of the Rings films back to back, which was a big risk for New Line Cinema.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, tells how the Dark Lord Sauron has risen again in Middle Earth and his force are gaining strength. With the dark forces of Mordor on the search for the Ring of power, a hobbit named Frodo (Elijah Wood) is given the near-impossible task to destroy the Ring. With the aid of the Fellowship, Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Aragon (Viggo Mortensen), Boromir (Sean Bean), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and hobbits Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippen (Billy Boyd) they set out to Mount Doom to get rid of the evil power.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 92% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 9.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $18.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
After The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was a massive success, the next two films were a license to print money. Joining the cast this time are David Wenham (300), Miranda Otto (War of the Worlds (2005)), Bernard Hill (Titanic) and Karl Urban (Star Trek), with Andy Serkis’ role as Gollum increasing.

After the Fellowship breaks up, Frodo and Sam continue to Mount Doom, taming Gollum along the way, but they end up getting captured by Faramir (Wenham). Merry and Pippen end up getting captured by Orcs, but escape into the forest of Fangorn, meeting an Ent (a tree like creature), Treebread (Rhys-Davies). Finally, Aragon, Legolas and Gimli end up in the middle of Rohan’s war with the evil wizard Saruman’s orcs, leading to the excellent Battle of Helm’s Deep.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 96% (excellent)

Player Affinity Score: 8.8/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $18.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Last but certainly not least is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, completing the trilogy. Only one more actor joins the cast, John Noble (Fringe), playing the crazed Steward of Gondor, Denethor.

Frodo and Sam continue with their quest into the harsh depths of Mordor, being led by the schizophrenic Gollum. Gandalf, with Pippen by his side, goes to the capital of Gondor, Minas Tirith, to defend the city from Sauron's forces. Meanwhile, Aragon has to accept his destiny as the rightful King of Gondor and go on a dangerous quest of his own to ensure victory.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 94% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 9.1/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $18.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

Delicatessen (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is best known for directing Amelie and is a very respected filmmaker. Delicatessen was his feature debut, a dark surreal fantasy comedy.

In post-apocalyptic France food is in short supply. A clown, Louison (Dominque Pinon) moves into a run-down apartment above a delicatessen. He falls for the butcher’s daughter, Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), but when they find out that Julie’s father (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) is really selling human meat, Julie has to decide between her new love and her father’s business.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 86% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: N/A

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $28.49 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

Se7en (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
After a misstep with his directorial debut, Alien 3, David Fincher struggled to find work. Luckily, he was allowed to direct Se7en and he has since never looked back. He became one of Hollywood’s best directors, making Fight Club and Zodiac afterwards. This script was written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Sleepy Hollow) and the film starred Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Detective Lt. William Somerset (Freeman) is on the edge of retirement, but with Detective David Mills (Pitt) they are assigned the case of a serial killer who murders people via methods involving the seven deadly sins. This is a dark, atmospheric, gritty film and in my opinion Fincher's best work.

We PAMers are all looking forward to Fincher's latest, The Social Network, released Oct. 1.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 84% (very good)
Player Affinity Score: 9.2/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: 4 Commentaries Featuring Director David Fincher, Actors; Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman and Other Collaborators on the Film; Additional/Extended Scenes; Alternate Endings; Exploration of the Opening Title Sequence from Multiple Video Angles with Various Audio Mixes and 2 Commentary Tracks; Production Design and Still Photographs with Commentaries; The Notebooks: Full MotionVideo Details “John Doe’s” Writings; Theatrical Trailer

Amazon Price: $24.99 (Blu-ray)

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

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of only three films to win all five major Oscars (Best Film, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay). Based the Ken Kesey novel, Milos Forman (Amadeus) directs an excellent film, with great performances from Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher (Flowers in the Attic).

Randle McMurphy (Nicholson) is a man in serving a sentence for statutory rape. He is trying to avoid hard labour. But Nurse Ratched (Fletcher) leads a harsh regime and Randle tries to upset her established order.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 96% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 8.7/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: Completely Cuckoo, a comprehensive 87-minute retrospective in its full original length Michael Douglas, Milos Forman and Ken Kesey describe how a movie landmark was made with actors and patients lonlocation in a working mental hospital; ; Commentary by Director Milos Forman, Producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz providing scene-by-scene insight into the creative choices made in creating this timeless film; ; Revealing additional scenes and theatrical trailer

Amazon Price: $31.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 5 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 3.5 stars, Extras 5 stars, Replay 5 stars (out of 5). DVD Talk Collector Series

Unleashed (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Luc Besson (Leon), writes and produces Unleashed (aka Danny the Dog), a martial arts film starring megastar Jet Li, with Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa), Morgan Freeman and Kerry Condon (Rome) to handle the acting side. Besson protégé, Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk) directs, with the director of Taken, Pierre Morel working as the cinematographer.

Li stars as Danny, a brilliant martial artist who is controlled by a collar. Loan shark Uncle Bart (Hoskins) uses him as attack dog and fight in underground competitions. But when Danny escapes, Sam (Freeman), a blind piano tuner, teaches Danny that he is really human.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 65% (good)
Player Affinity Score: 7.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $20.49 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

Jacob's Ladder (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Jacob's Ladder is a psychological thriller, directed by Englishman Adrian Lyne (9½ Weeks, Fatal Attraction) and written by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost). Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption) stars and is supported by Elizabeth Pena (*batteries not included), Danny Aiello (The Godfather Part II) and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction).

Jacob (Robbins) is a traumatised Vietnam veteran living in Brooklyn. He is trying to get back to a normal life with his girlfriend Jezzie (Pena). He suffers from nightmarish visions, but when he makes contacts with men from his old unit he discoveries he is not alone.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 71% (good)
Player Affinity Score: 4.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $14.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 4.5 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 3 stars, Extras 3.5 stars, Replay 4 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) (Blu-ray)

What's the Deal?
Jack Finney’s novel, The Body Snatchers has been adapted three times. The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers is considered a sci-fi classic, but the 1978 remake is considered a film strong enough to match that verison's quality. Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff) directs with W.D. Richer (Big Trouble in Little China) on writing duties. The cast of the film includes Donald Sutherland (M*A*S*H), Brooke Adams (The Dead Zone), Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park) and Leonard Nimoy.

Set in San Francisco, humans are be replaced by emotionless pod people by an alien race. The film looks at ordinary people as the invasion is about to happen.

Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 97% (excellent)
Player Affinity Score: 8.0/10

DISC DETAILS

DVD Special Features: N/A

Amazon Price: $16.99 (Blu-ray)

Score (DVDTalk.com): N/A

DVD/Blu-ray DISCussion (New for 9.14.10)

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