Definitely near the top of the eagerly-awaited list, Disney has finally unveiled their high definition restoration of The Jungle Book (Walt Disney, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), and it looks just as spectacular as all of their recent restorations – like it could have been made yesterday. All of the bonus material from the previous DVD release has been ported over, with the addition of a brand new introduction, an alternate ending, featurettes, a spotlight on Disney animation, and more. An ace treatment of a true classic, and just leaves 101 Dalmatians and Aladdin as the big missing flicks.
Just because the 50th anniversary has wrapped doesn’t mean that fans aren’t still getting treated to goodies from the vaults, as another Patrick Troughton 2nd Doctor adventure gets a special edition release in Doctor Who: The Moonbase (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). As with most of Troughton’s stories, this one has missing episodes, but they’ve been lovingly recreated his battle against the Cybermen using the still-extant audio tracks in animated form. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, featurettes, galleries, and PDF goodies from the archive.
To say About Time (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) is a goopy mess is an understatement, but because it’s a Richard Curtis film, it’s also a button-pushing master manipulator with that goop, that sadly doesn’t understand that its sole focus should have been on the much better-realized father-son relationship than the awkward time travel courtship of its lead and his eventual wife. Yeah, it’s complicated. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, featurettes, and a blooper reel.
The House of York and the House of Lancaster vie for the throne of England in the historical miniseries The White Queen (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.99 SRP), which dramatizes the real game of thrones between Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort, and Anne Neville in the year 1464. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes.
While it’s not quite up to Pixar or even Dreamworks standards, Free Birds (Fox, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is a fun little self-aware romp in the vein of Hoodwinked, as a pair of turkeys decide to travel back in time in order to take themselves and their brethren off the Thanksgiving menu. And hijinks ensue. Bonus materials include featurettes and a music video.
While we’re marking time until the next full season Blu-Ray release, catch the next 16 episodes in Regular Show: Mordecai + Margaret Pack (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, DVD-$19.82 SRP), which also features a bonus Steak Me Amadeus commercial.
The folks at Mill Creek continue to keep budget-conscious cinephiles in their thoughts with another batch of multi-film collections and television show re-releases, the latest of which include 90s Night In (Threesome, The Velocity Of Gary, Wilder Napalm, Go!, Hexed, The Mating Habits Of The Earthbound Human, Jersey Girl, The Suburbans), Silver Screen Romances (The Solid Gold Cadillac, Angels Over Broadway, We Were Strangers, Music In My Heart, The Marrying Kind, Adam Had Four Sons, It Should Happen To You, Down To Earth), Big Screen Romances (The Luzhin Defense, This Is My Father, Tempest, Violets Are Blue, No Small Affair, The Man Who Loved Women, Modern Romance, Perfect), Chick Flicks (If Lucy Fell, Sweet Hearts Dance, Imaginary Heroes, You Light Up My Life, Moscow On The Hudson, I’m With Lucy, Mr. Jones, Lies & Alibis (Mill Creek, $9.98 SRP each), Tear Jerkers (Swept Away, My Life, Avalon, To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday, All The Pretty Horses, The End Of The Affair), British Cinema Showcase (Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, Last Orders, Still Crazy, Crush, Driving Legends, Young Adam) (Mill Creek, $9.98 SRP each), The Three Stooges: 6 Movie Set (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), The Ellen Show: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), Gotham City Serials: Batman/Batman And Robin (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), and The Tick: The Entire Series (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP).
Most fear to tread in the footsteps of Hitchcock, but that didn’t stop to the BBC from making an enjoyable take on the tale of trainboard mystery, The Lady Vanishes (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), as a young woman is unwittingly drawn into a sinister plot.
It’s been a few years, so evidently we’re due for a special Diamond Edition re-release of the musical Chicago (Lionsgate, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$14.99 SRP), which comes fully remastered and with over 2 hours of new bonus materials, including a retrospective documentary with the cast & crew.
It’s a shame that WB’s latest animated tale from the DC Comics universe, Justice League: War (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP) looks so darn good, because it’s rather spiffy animation is unfortunately brining to life DC’s rather abysmal “New 52” continuity reboot. There are highlights here and there, but it’s hard to care about a collection of formerly epic superheroes turned into a band of many malcontents with few redeeming traits. Bonus materials include featurettes and a sneak peek at the next animated feature, Son Of Batman.
Best to forget the Lindsey Lohan of it all when you can instead see Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West as Burton And Taylor (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), a much better portrait of the on-again, off-again couple’s love affair as it played its final act while both were starring in the play Private Lives. Bonus materials include a pair of featurettes.
When a security expert is deceived and wrongfully imprisoned in the world’s foremost high security prison, he must recruit a fellow inmate in order to attempt a daring escape in, errr… Escape Plan (Summit, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which is noteworthy because the two leads attempting the breakout are Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
Enjoy Shirley’s swan song, as the penultimate seventh season of Laverne & Shirley (CBS, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) is the last full season to feature Penny Marshall, as she makes a quick departure two episodes into the eighth and final season to come.
Never would I have believed that Mike Tyson would one day do a one-man show on Broadway, but that’s exactly what Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), as the former heavyweight champion of the world presents his side of his often controversial life. Bonus materials include interviews.
That Wadjda (Sony, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$40.99 SRP) is a Saudi Arabian film from a female writer/director is remarkable enough, but that it’s also a moving tale of a young girl in a fiercely patriarchal society who wants nothing more than to buy her own bicycle in defiance of that society is where its true power lies. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurette, and a Q&A.
The second season of the modern relaunch of Dallas (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) also marks the untimely exit of Larry Hagman and his iconic J.R. Ewing, a character which came to define this new series as much as he did the old, and whose mysterious death leaves massive repercussions for everyone left in his wake. Bonus materials include featurettes, deleted scenes, and the 2013 PaleyFest panel.
How about a soundtrack round up for this week? Certainly! You’ve got Patrick Doyle’s score to Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Varese Sarabande, $13.03 SRP), Tuomos Kantelinen’s The Legend Of Hercules (Lionsgate Records, $7.99 SRP), Christopher Lennertz’s Ride Along (Varese Sarabande, $12.59 SRP), Alexandre Desplat’s Monuments Men (Sony Masterworks, $11.88 SRP), Nicholas O’Toole & Jonathan Davis’s After The Dark (Varese Sarabande, $14.84 SRP), Marcelo Zarvos’s Enough Said (Varese Sarabande, $19.98 SRP), Bear McCreary’s Knights Of Badassdom (Sparks & Shadows, $14.98 SRP), and David Torn’s That Awkward Moment (Varese Sarabande, $13.98 SRP).
So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…
-Ken Plume
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Although the second season had its rough spot in the middle, the third season of Sherlock (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) has been absolutely stellar. In fact, I daresay the middle installment this time around, which found our dear detective the best man at Watson’s wedding, was near perfection as both TV and a feature (as these adventures are, in fact, feature-length). Either way, if you haven’t seen this season, rectify a grievous oversight – and if you have seen it, see it again. Bonus materials include a trio of featurettes.
