News

We’re here to let you know what’s out there for your entertainment dollar.  Every week a new batch of DVD’s gets shipped out and thrown onto the shelves.  This week we’ve got films with Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni, Robert Redford and Jennifer Lopez, and Maria Bello and Sean Bean, an uncensored stop on the Insomniac Tour, a new collection of Laurel and Hardy DVD’s, season sets of The Bob Newhart Show, Farscape, and In Living Color, and more.  Take a peek inside for the full list.

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Here’s what is getting released today on DVD:

Film:

Fun with Dick & Jane – Jim Carrey and Tea Teoni play a married couple who turn to a life of crime after he loses his job.  Remake of the 1977 original with George Segal and Jane Fonda.  The DVD contains commentary with director Dean Parisot and screewriters Judd Apatow and Nicholas Stoller, deleted scenes, a gag reel and pubicity junket outtakes.

An Unfinished Life – A widow (Jennifer Lopez) and her daughter (Becca Gardner) move to a Wyoming ranch to stay with her father-in-law (Robert Redford) who blames her for the death of his son.  Morgan Freeman and Josh Lucas also star.  The DVD contains commentary by director Lasse Hallstrom, a still gallery, and featurettes on the making of the film and training Bart the bear.

The Greatest Game Ever Played – True story of Francis Ouimet’s surprising victory at the 1913 US Open gets the “based on true events’ treatment here.  Directed by Bill Paxton the film stars his son James Paxton.  The DVD includes commentary by the director and writer Mark Frost and a collection of featurettes on the film and the Francis Ouimet.

Wolf Creek (Unrated Version) – Forgettable horror flick from last year that begins with a group of friends in the Australian Outback and ends with lots of running, screaming, and dead bodies.  The DVD contains commentary from writer/director Greg McLean, producer Matt Hearn, and actors Cassandra Magrath and Kesti Morassi, a featurette on the making of the film, and deleted scenes.

The Dark – Only slightly less forgettable horror flick starring Sean Bean and Maria Bello who play parents of a drowned child who encounter a ghost of a young girl who died 60 years ago and looks more than a little like their daughter.  The only extra incuded on the disc is an alternative ending.

Mission Impossible Collector’s Set – Repackaging the first two films and the extras from those discs on this new all-in-one collection.  Also out today is a separate remastered vesion of the special collector’s editon of the first film.

Family/Animated:

Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin – Christpher Robin goes off to school and Pooh, misunderstanding the situation, rounds up the gang to organize a rescue mission.  Extras include a bonus short, a game, and Pooh’s symphony.

Bratz: Genie Magic – Adventures of fashion concious teens Cloe, Jade, Sasha, and Yasmin who befriend a genie in this movie version of the computer animated television show.  The set includes an extra episode of the show.

Collections:

Laurel and Hardy Giftset – Three of the duos films from the early 40’s Jitterbugs, Great Guns, and The Big Noise are packaged together here.  Extras inclue commentary by historian Randy Skretvedt, Movietone news clips, still galleries, original trailers, and featurettes on the duo.

TV:

Dave Attell’s Insoniac Tour Uncensored! Presents Sean Rouse, Greg Giraldo, and Dane Cook – The Insomiac Tour presents 98 minutes of uncensored stand-up from Attell, Rousse, Giraldo, and Cook.

The Bob Newhart Show – The Complete Third Season – Dr. Bob and gang return for 24 episodes.  The collection includes commentary by Newhart for three episodes and a featurette on the making of the show.

The Merv Griffin Show – 40 of the Most Interesting People of Our Time – Clips from the show that lasted almost a quarter of a century on network TV.  The set includes over nine hours of interviews with guests ranging from Jerry Seinfeld, Ingrid Bergman, and Orson Welles, to Ronald Regan and Richard Nixon.  Extras on the set include a video montage of Merv Griffin and select commentary.

Farscape – Season 3, Collection 3 – The last seven episodes of the third season of the Sci-fi original.  The collection also contains commentary for four of the episodes by directors, cast and series creator Rockne S. O’Bannon.  Also included are cast interviews, deleted scenes, original promos, featurettes on the aliens of the show and the third season, updated character histories, and production design galleries.

In Living Color – Season Five – Final season of the Wayans’ sketch comedy includes all 26 episodes on three discs with Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, David Allen Grier and more.

We’re here to let you know what’s out there for your entertainment dollar.  Every week a new batch of DVD’s gets shipped out and thrown onto the shelves.  This week we’ve got Crash and Brokeback Mountain, along with an old eighties favorite starring a helicopter (nope, not Airwolf), my runner-up for worst film of 2005, and season sets of Knight Rider, The A-Team, and Magnum P.I., and more.  Take a peek inside for the full list.

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Here’s what is getting released today on DVD:

Film:

Crash (2-Disc Director’s Cut Edition) – The controversial Oscar chosen Best Picture of the Year gets a new two-disc DVD.  Admit it you either loved it or hated it; the film made my top ten list of 2005.  The new “director’s cut” contains four minutes of additional footage, an introduction by director Paul Haggis, commentary by Haggis, Don Cheadle, and co-writer Bobby Moresco, deleted scenes and a collection of featurettes on L.A., the making of the film, the director, storyboards, and a music video.  Read Aaron’s original review here and my review here.

Brokeback Mountain – Ang Lee’s love story between two cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) won at every major awards except the Oscars (though Lee did manage to steal Best Director from George Clooney).  Though the film didn’t make my top ten list it did turn up on both Aaron’s (check it out) and December’s (click here).  The DVD contains featurettes on the making of the film, cowboy style, and Ang Lee – but no commentary.  Read the original reviews here, here, and here.

Blue Thunder (Special Edition) – 1983 action flick with Roy Sceider and one awesome heliocopter gets the special edition treatment.  The DVD includes a remastered Dobly 5.1 track and commentary with director John Badham and editor Frank Morris.  The featurettes include making the film, building the chopper, and a 1983 promo.

Family/Animated:

The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – This film barely, and I mean barely, missed being my #1 worst film of 2005 (click here for full list).  The most evil, offensive, subversive and intolerant “kids” film of all time teaching the nobility of the jihad and how war is always just and impossible to lose as long as you’ve got God on your side comes to DVD.  Yah.  Out today in a regular one-disc with bloopers and commentary from the stars and director and a two-disc special edition (NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) that also contains extras like a diaries from the stars and director (they’re all 9 year-old girls) and featurettes on C.S. Lewis, the creatures of the film, a Narnia time-line, special effects, and more.  Read the original review

Collections:

Mel Brooks Box Set Collection – The box set includes eight Mel Brooks films packaged together including Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, History of the World: Part I, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, The Twelve Chairs, To Be or Not to Be, and the new releases of High Anxiety and Silent Movie available for the first time on DVD.

Documentary:

Bob Dylan 1975-1981: Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years – Documentary following Dylan’s 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue that included a benefit for Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and his “gospel years” in the late 70’s.  Included are interviews with Rubin Carter, Scarlet Rivera, Rob Stoner, Jerry Wexler, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Ms. Jacques Levy, Regina McCrary, Spooner Oldham, Al Kasha and more,  concert clips and footage, and never before seen photographs.

TV:

Magnum P.I. – The Complete Fourth Season – Magnum, Higgins, Rick and TC in all 21 fourth season episodes plus the “Mac’s Back” episode from season five, and a TV flashback featurette.

Knight Rider – Season Four – Final 22 episodes, including the two-part opener, of the talking car and the “man who does not exist” The final season is memorable for the new “super-pursuit mode” and added character of RC3.  Extras include blueprints of K.I.T.T.

The A-Team – Season Four – Hannibal Smith and the gang return for 23 episodes from the fourth season of the show which introduces Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell and includes the two-part opener where the team is finally put on trial for those crimes “they didn’t commit.”

Dawson’s Creek – The Complete Sixth Season – Final season of the WB’s teen breakout hit contains all 23 episodes including the two-hour series finale with commentary by series creator Kevin Williamson and producer Paul Stupin.  Extras include a photo album, character bios, script pages, and trivia.

Star Trek Fan Collective – Time Travel – The top time travel episodes of Star Trek as chosen by the fans.  The set includes “Tomorrow is Yesterday” and “City on the Edge of Forever” (but not “Assignment: Earth”) from TOS, “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” “Cause and Effect,” “Time’s Arrow,” and “All Good Things…” from STNG, “Little Green Men” and “Trials and Tribble-ations” from DS9 (though sadly absent from this set are “The Visitor” and “Far Beyond the Stars”), and “Year of Hell” and “Endgame” from Voyager.  Extras include pop-up text commentary for three of the episodes.

Full House – The Complete Third Season – This set contains all 22 episodes of the thrid season adventures of the Tanner family along with a montage of Dave Coulier’s impressiions on the show.