This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - June 12, 2012

I believe I have the winning ticket—so Sarah Jessica Parker's, it is!

James

Plath

First online:

Sunday, June 10, 2012 - 1:56pm

Yesterday I had to laugh when I read Howard Kurtz complain in a Newsweek-Daily Beast interview, “I’ve gotten 10 emails from Obama inviting me to dinner with Sarah Jessica Parker. It feels a little elitist.”

Ya think?

I’m not sure why a journalist has a hard time fathoming that there are two kinds of people in the world: the rich and/or famous, and the rest of us. I got one of those emails too and thought it a fun way to give at least one commoner the thrill of a lifetime. I mean, wouldn’t it be great if movie studios started promoting their Blu-ray and DVD titles the same way? This week, for example, maybe everyone who buys a Blu-ray or DVD of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” could be entered in a contest in which the winner gets the chance to be an extra in the third (you know it’s coming) Holmes film. Or those who buy “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray or DVD could be entered in a contest that rewards the winner with a prop used in the movie or lunch with Nicolas Cage. Too bad the home entertainment industry is booming, even in a bust economy, or studios might be that creative in marketing new releases.

Those two titles are the high-profile releases for the week of June 12, and in the battle of the sequels the winner is “Sherlock Holmes,” hands down. Movie Met’s John J. Puccio found it “mostly fun” and said “if you liked the first Guy Ritchie ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movie, you’ll probably like this second one as well.” In the action-film, Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson (Jude Law) take on the sinister Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris).

Criterion also takes the spotlight this week with three very different releases. You knew that at some point they’d release “The Gold Rush,” the 1925 silent comedy that Charlie Chaplin thought his best. His character, The Tramp, goes to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold rush and after a no-go at prospecting he ends up falling for a saloon woman. Like the other two titles from Criterion this week, “The Gold Rush” is available on both Blu-ray and DVD.

“Harold and Maude” made the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Funniest Movies of All Time because of its dark comedy. But the 1971 film starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort as a feisty 79 year old and a nihilistic twentysomething was originally a box-office flop. It’s taken on cult status over the years, though.

Then there’s the Criterion edition of Danny Boyle’s thriller “Shallow Grave,” a 1994 film starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox as friends whose new flatmate dies of a drug overdose, leaving behind a large suitcase full of money. And money is trouble, right? Yeah, well, I’d love the chance to have a little of that sort of mischief.

And speaking of mischief, the 1979 comedy that launched Bill Murray’s film career—“Meatballs”—comes to Blu-ray for the first time this week. In it, Murray plays a wacky (what else?) camp counselor whose efforts to make every camper have a fun time are challenged by a young man named Rudy (Chris Makepeace).

For a blast from the past (literally) there's "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero - The Complete First Series"—the animated 1983 TV miniseries in which Joe and his Special Missions Force took on Cobra.

Finally, it’s farewell to “Entourage,” as Season 8 comes to Blu-ray and DVD this week (review). A movie version is in development, but for fans of the HBO dramedy, this season is the end of the TV line. Loosely based on executive producer Mark Wahlberg’s early years in Hollywood, “Entourage” revolves around film star Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his buddies, who all have jobs to do in his circle. This season Vince is fresh from rehab and the guys all have their own problems.

So do I. And darn it, I didn’t win that dinner with the Obamas at Sarah Jessica Parker's house!

Here are select new releases for the week of June 12, 2012:

BLU-RAY

Accident (2009 Asian assassin thriller)
Chicago in Chicago (concert w/extras)
Dark Crystal, The / Labyrinth (Brian Froud Art Edition)
Demoted (2011 comedy)
Entourage: Season 8
Fate /Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works (anime)
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (+ UV Digital Copy) (2011 action-fantasy)
Gold Rush, The (Criterion)
Good Deeds (+ Digital Copy) (2012 Tyler Perry dramedy)
Harold and Maude (Criterion) (1971 comedy)
In Darkness (2011 holocaust drama)
Little Bit of Heaven, A (2011 Kate Hudson dramedy-romance)
Meatballs (1979 Bill Murray comedy)
Monster Brawl (2011 comedy-horror)
Shallow Grave (Criterion) (1994 crime caper)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (+ DVD + UV Digital Copy) (2011 action-drama)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (+ UV Digital Copy)
Superman vs. The Elite (2012 direct-to-DVD animation)
Thin Ice (2011 Greg Kinnear crime dramedy)
Too Big to Fail (2011 HBO drama)
Tosh.0: Hoodies (from Season 1)

Earth 3D (Region Free)
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (+ UV Digital Copy) (2011 action-fantasy)

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