This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - January 31, 2012
A lot of people thought that “Drive” should have received more than a “Best Sound Editing” Oscar nomination. Heck, even “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” did better, earning nods for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. "Drive" comes out on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" on 3D Blu-ray in a week that’s starting to feel like an Oscar tune-up.
And the winners are: “The English Patient” (1996—9 Oscars, including Best Picture), “Shakespeare in Love” (1998—7 Oscars, including Best Picture), “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962—3 Oscars, including Best Actor and Screenplay), “The Piano” (1993—3 Oscars, including Best Actress), “Adaptation” (2003—1 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), and “Frida” (2002—2 tech Oscars).
All of them come out on Blu-ray this week, along with “Malcolm X” (1992—2 Oscar nominations).
While the adults are assembled in one room to oooh and ahhh over some of Hollywood’s best, the kids can watch the brand new “Treasure Buddies” in the other room. And the intellectuals can huddle around a Blu-ray capable tablet watching “Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking” and make fun of the folks with plebian tastes who just dragged the TV and furniture outside to soak up the sun and watch “Two-Headed Shark Attack.” It’ll probably be tough for anyone to watch anything else, though, with all those Michael Bay explosions rocking the neighborhood.
How doomed you are, Autobots. You simply fail to understand that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Yeah, yeah, Sentinel Prime. But if the many are wrong-headed or just plain EVIL? I don’t think so!
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” received mixed reviews from fans of the toy-inspired series, but it looks oh so slick with tremendous CGI work and special effects. This time, the Autobots go up against the Decepticons on the moon to try to learn the secrets of a Cybertronian spacecraft that could determine which race comes out on top. Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Tyrese Gibson star. It's available in 3D Blu-ray this week.
Then there’s “Drive,” the high-octane thriller about a Hollywood stuntman whose life takes a few sharp turns after he tries to help a neighbor. Ryan Gosling gets the ride of his life, with Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston also appearing in this adaptation of the James Sallis novel (who’s already published a sequel, Driven).
As for the Academy Award-winners new to Blu this week, everyone will have his/her own favorites. “The English Patient” is a 162-minute epic war romance-drama starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Willem Dafoe (Blu-ray review). But it’s so slow that I’d have to agree with Elaine, from “Seinfeld.” I much preferred Joseph Fiennes as The Bard in "Shakespeare in Love" (trailer), which also starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Geoffrey Rush in a comedy-romance that's structured much like Shakespeare's (review). But it's tough to top Horton Foote's adaptation of the Harper Lee novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," with Gregory Peck earning a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as a southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape. It's powerful and well acted, and Movie Met's John J. Puccio says the Blu-ray is a "must-own." Meanwhile, Movie Met's Ranjan Pruthee called "The Piano" a "lyrical, mesmerizing piece featuring a superb performance from Holly Hunter" in a period drama about a woman's loneliness--the first time anyone won Best Actress without speaking a word. Then there's "Frida," a solid biopic about painter Frida Kahlo played with passion by Salma Hayek (review), another excellent biopic starring Denzel Washington as "Malcolm X" (Blu-ray review), and "Adaptation," a wry puzzler starring Nicolas Cage as a screenwriter struggling to adapt a non-fiction book about orchid thieves (trailer).
For the kids there's "Treasure Buddies," the latest installment of the Disney series featuring talking live-action puppies engaged in all sorts of endeavors. This time they're treasure-hunting in Egypt (trailer). The direct-to-video movie is available on both Blu-ray and DVD, but if you want to set up a Blu-ray double feature, "Snow Buddies" comes to HD for the first time this week.
Finally, for big thinkers there's "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking," a highly-rated TV documentary from 2010 that was written by Hawking, out on Blu-ray, and for Carmen Electra fans and escapist brainless fun there's "2-Headed Shark Attack," which was filmed around Key West. The title pretty much says it all: Bikinis, boat drinks, and blood.
Here are select new releases for the week of January 31, 2012:
BLU-RAY
Adaptation (2002 puzzler)
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 1
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 2
Another Take on Catherine (2011 CoCo vehicle)
B Gata H Kei, Yamada’s First Time: Complete Series (Ltd. Ed. + DVD) (anime)
Big Year, The (2011 comedy)
Double, The (2011 crime mystery)
Dream House (2011 drama-thriller)
Drive (+ UV Digital Copy) (2011 action-thriller)
Ef, A Tale of Memories: Complete Collection (anime)
English Patient, The (1996 drama)
Fairy Tail: Part 3 (+ DVD) (anime)
Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection (Caliber 9 / The Italian Connection / The Boss / Rulers of the City)
Frida (2002 biopic)
Grand Canyon (1991 crime drama)
In Time (2011 futuristic action-thriller)
Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (2010 documentary)
Malcolm X (Blu-ray Book) (1992 biopic)
Mill and the Cross, The (2011 period drama)
Night Train Murders (a.k.a. Last Stop on the Night Train) (1975 horror-thriller)
Nothing in Common (1986 drama)
Outrage: Way of the Yakuza (2011 crime-action)
Piano, The (1993 period romantic drama)
Queen: Days of Our Lives (2011 rock documentary)
Scout, The (1994 sport dramedy)
Star Trek, The Next Generation: The Next Level
Shakespeare in Love (1998 period dramedy)
Snow Buddies (+ DVD) (2008 live-action puppy adventure)
Soldier’s Story, A (1984 Denzel Washington drama)
Texas Killing Fields (2011 crime drama)
Thing, The (+ DVD + Digital Copy + UV Copy) (2011 horror)
To Kill a Mockingbird (50th Anniversary Edition) (+ DVD + Digital Copy)
To Kill a Mockingbird (50th Anniv. Ed.) (Blu-ray Book + DVD + Digital Copy)
Transformers Ltd. Ed. Collector’s Trilogy (7-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Boxed Set)
Treasure Buddies (+ DVD) (2011 direct-to-video live-action puppy adventure)
2-Headed Shark Attack (2012 direct-to-video)
3D
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (+ Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) (2011 sci-fi sequel)
RECENT RELEASES
Big Year, The (2011 comedy)
Drive (2011 action-thriller)
In Time (2011 futuristic action-thriller)
Thing, The (2011 horror)
CATALOG TITLES
To Kill a Mockingbird (50th Anniversary Edition)
FAMILY/CHILDREN
Baby Babble 3: Next words, T D N
Leapfrog: Numberland
Treasure Buddies (2011 direct-to-video live action puppy adventure)
TV-ON-DVD
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 1
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 2
Diagnosis Murder Movie Collection
Hey Dude: Season 2
In the Footsteps of Marco Polo (2008 documentary)
Poldark: Complete Collection
INDIE/ART-HOUSE/FOREIGN
Chalet Girl (2011 romantic comedy)
Dog Jack (2010 Civil War drama)
Double, The (2011 crime mystery)
Dream House (2011 drama-thriller)
Janie Jones (2010 drama)
Let England Shake: 12 Short Films by Seamus Murphy
Mill and the Cross, The (2011 period drama)
Other F Word, The (2011 comic documentary)
Outrage: Way of the Yakuza (2011 crime-action)
Queen: Days of Our Lives (2011 rock documentary)
Texas Killing Fields (2011 crime drama)
Thunder Soul (2010 music documentary)
2-Headed Shark Attack (2012 direct-to-video)
ANIME/MANGA
Ef, A Tale of Memories: Complete Collection (anime)
One Piece: Collection Four
