The events of September 11, 2001 had a profound effect on the United States of America that forever changed us as a nation. We live in a post-9/11 world, and it is impossible to go back to “the way things were before.” Though it’s been a decade since the event, in the scope of things we’re still living in the immediate aftermath of the most devastating domestic terror attack in history. Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has now dealt with these effects in two films, as she previously focused on the events of the Iraq War with her 2008 Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, and her brilliant 2012 drama Zero Dark Thirty masterfully chronicles the decade-long hunt for the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks: Osama Bin Laden. The result of the latter is a taut procedural thriller that not only entertains, but also provides a difficult and introspective look at America’s place in the post-9/11 world. Hit the jump for my review of Zero Dark Thirty on Blu-ray.
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Here’s a brief look at this week’s new Blu-ray releases:
Hit the jump for details on the extras included on the aforementioned Blu-rays.
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by Jackson Posted: March 21st, 2013 at 12:00 am
Tackling a seminal work of fiction always presents a filmmaker with a unique set of challenges, even more so than book adaptations in general. For director Joe Wright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard on Anna Karenina, those included not only condensing a mammoth book into a slightly over two-hour movie but doing so in a manner that stood out from the numerous previous adaptations. The result is a mixed bag with many parts to love individually but a whole that simply falls short.
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Here’s a look at this week’s new Blu-ray releases:
Hit the jump for details on the extras included on all the aforementioned releases.
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by Rob Vaux Posted: March 17th, 2013 at 5:33 am
And now we come to the curious case of one Fredrick Charles Krueger: pederast, serial killer and beloved boogeyman of one of the biggest horror franchises of all time. The A Nightmare on Elm Street series didn’t start the slasher movie trend, or even perfect it, but it did take it on one hell of a ride. With the release of a new Blu-ray compilation – containing the first seven films in the series – we have a new chance to look at its various highs and lows. Hit the jump for my full review.
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by Rob Vaux Posted: March 15th, 2013 at 5:49 am
Confession time: I’m not all that fond of Peter Pan. Walt Disney’s animated classic took the world by storm in the 1950s, justifying decades of development and turning an entire generation of boomers into entitled man-children in the process. Disney certainly wasted no time in exploiting its success, re-releasing it in theaters numerous times and granting it perennial status as one of his company’s signature films. But in truth, it pales before many of the studio’s less commercially profitable movies, and now remains a fossilized product of its era rather than a timeless enchantment for all ages. Hit the jump for my full review.
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It’s been 25 years since the diminutive title hero of Ron Howard’s Willow first saved the world from an evil queen; now you can relive the swords-and-sorcery epic on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time. Warwick Davis (Harry Potter series) stars as an unlikely hero who must rescue an infant destined to overthrow a wicked queen before she can sacrifice the child. Assisting him in his quest are the roguish swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), the impaired sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes) and two comical creatures known as Brownies (Rick Overton, Kevin Pollak) who are even smaller than Willow himself. Standing in their way are Princess Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) and the vicious General Kael (Pat Roach) who will do anything to deliver the infant to the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh).
While the remastered edition of Willow on Blu-ray is well worth the purchase, there are sufficient extras to please fans of all ages. Though there is a lack of a feature commentary option, Howard takes viewers through a variety of deleted scenes as well as a retro making-of featurette. Davis is also on hand to narrate his own personal video diary he captured during the production and there are a variety of special effects artists who explain the then cutting-edge techniques applied to the film. Plus, find out what happened to the missing acorn! Hit the jump for my review of Willow on Blu-ray.
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by Rob Vaux Posted: March 13th, 2013 at 5:32 pm
2012’s Best Animated Feature Oscar for Brave shows us just how powerful branding can be. The Pixar label swayed Academy voters, most of whom failed to notice that it didn’t feel much like a Pixar flick at all. The brain-trust responsible for the studio’s extraordinary creative run picked up stakes for Disney, and their ethos was on full display with one of Brave’s fellow nominees, Wreck-It Ralph. That film showed us all the wit and imagination that we expected from Pixar, while Brave remained a run-of-the-mill princess movie at best. The voters never looked past the studio names. Brave scored the gold, while the infinitely more deserving Wreck-It Ralph had to console itself with also-ran status. Hit the jump for my full review.
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by Rob Vaux Posted: March 13th, 2013 at 5:27 am
What a curiosity is Blood and Chrome, the red-headed stepchild of the Battlestar Galactica universe. Initially intended as a more “action-packed” series following the cerebral Caprica, it failed to impress the brass at Syfy, and ended up as an online release before a perfunctory screening as a stand-along movie. Now that it’s out on Blu-ray, its odd (and frankly justified) status can be viewed at leisure. Hit the jump for the full review.
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Here’s a brief look at this week’s new Blu-ray titles:
Hit the jump for extras details on all of the aforementioned releases.
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by Rob Vaux Posted: March 12th, 2013 at 5:51 am
Here’s the thing about Sinister: it knows that we’re onto it. A lot of horror movies evince a certain self-awareness, but Sinister doesn’t use it to nudge us in the ribs. It uses it to scare the holy crap out of us. The big reveal (which I daren’t mention here) involves one of the oldest clichés in the genre: the kind that makes audience members say “why don’t they just…?” and destroy the whole movie in the process. Sinister has our number, and is more than happy to punch it up as often as it can. Hit the jump for my full review.
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Writer/director Stephen Chbosky’s adaptation of his own novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower was one of the most well-received films of 2012, and now we here at Collider are happy to be giving away a couple of copies of the film on Blu-ray to some lucky fans. As one of my favorite films of last year, I found Perks to be a surprisingly effective coming of age drama that never came off as schmaltzy, and the pic is well worth watching for the swell performances by Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, and Emma Watson alone.
We’ve got three copies of the Blu-ray to give away, and it’s a great home video release for fans of the film as it comes with two insightful audio commentaries from Chbosky and the cast. Hit the jump to find out how you can win.
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by Jackson Posted: March 8th, 2013 at 5:22 am
Woody Allen seems to elicit strong responses from a large majority of cinephiles, either rapid fandom or extreme distaste. The middle ground, of which I am a member, is relatively small. I have always taken each Allen film on its individual merits. Having absolutely loved Midnight in Paris, I eagerly anticipated To Rome With Love, hoping it would continue in that vein. Alas.
Hit the jump my review of To Rome with Love on Blu-ray.
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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off. Batman’s return to an exorbitantly crime-ridden Gotham has been felt across the city – he’s wanted by the cops, the citizens are divided on the idea of a man who takes the law into his own hands and the mutants, having watched their leader get his ass handed back to him by the Batman, have splintered off, some becoming “Sons of Batman,” a violent vigilante group. Meanwhile, the Joker, free of the catatonic state he resided in during Part 1, is poised to wreak deadly havoc. And finally, on the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, the President of the United States has enlisted Superman as his own personal boyscout/henchman to keep the peace.
Hit the jump for my review of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 on Blu-ray.
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Here’s a brief look at new Blu-rays hitting shelves this week:
Hit the jump for special features details for the aforementioned new releases.
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