Each week DVDs come out. Some of them are worth your time and money and some aren't. Some of them are movies I've seen, and some of them aren't. Regardless, I give you my opinion on the big releases of the week. If the releases sound like something you want to buy, just click the link to go to amazon.com and you'll support Cinema Blend with a few pennies. Take it or leave it, here's the DVD Blend.
Oldboy
We kick off this week with the vengeance tale Oldboy, an asian film imported into the U.S. that’s not a “kung-fu” flick! Critics really seemed to enjoy this Korean film, but unfortunately most of the people in America who’ve seen it have done so via torrents since it had an extremely limited run. Finally Oldboy comes to DVD and I have to say this release is awesome! Cast aside your ill-gotten bootlegs and check out the real deal. With absolutely gorgeous cinematography and an incredible story of mystery, Oldboy is guaranteed to keep you either captivated or wincing as the ill-treated protagonist pounds out revenge and attempts to figure out just what the hell is going on.
Gladiator (Extended Edition)
Another revenge tale returns to DVD this week with an extended edition of the American Academy of Motion Picture’s biggest mistake since Annie Hall and Marisa Tomei (just kidding, unlike Gladiator Tomei has actually proven she deserved her award). Don’t get me wrong, Gladiator is a good film. It’s just not a great film. Personally I don’t think extending the movie seventeen minutes is really going to make it a great movie, but I’ll never know. While I was really looking forward to reviewing an extended, three disc version of Gladiator neither me nor any of the critics here seem interested in dropping the almost $30 to buy a copy. Longer may be better, but twice the price of the old version isn’t cool.
Click to purchase Gladiator (Extended Edition)
The Ring 2 (Unrated Edition)
Let’s keep that vengeance going with um... well, theoretically the creepy little girl from the first Ring is kind of trying to get revenge in this sequel to the 2002 American adaptation of the Japanese Ringu. What I don’t understand is this: If the Japanese original wasn’t that great, and the American remake was considered to be more successful, then why bring the Japanese director over to direct the sequel? That’s kind of like hiring Uwe Boll or Paul W.S. Anderson to direct a sequel to a Spielberg film, or replacing Tom Hanks with Freddie Prinze Jr. Seeing as how Ringu 2 wasn’t the last Japanese chapter about “the ring”, expect yet another sequel or prequel in the future... hmmm... is Uwe Boll free?
Click to purchase The Ring 2 (Unrated Edition)
| Other titles released this week that might be worth your time: | |||
| Row 1 - Cell 0 | Layer Cake - This was a movie a lot of people suddenly cared about when its director, Matthew Vaughn, was announced as the director of X-Men 3. Now that he’s been replaced, nobody cares about Layer Cake again. Better luck next time English films. | Row 1 - Cell 2 | A Lot Like Love - This was also a movie lots of people cared about... no, wait, nobody cared about another Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy. Come on Ashton. You’ve proven you can act, stop doing these fluff pieces, or was Butterfly Effect that painful for you to pull off? |
| Row 2 - Cell 0 | |||
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | The Truman Show - Special Collector’s Edition - Finally! I’ve been wanting to add this movie to my collection for a while, but the bare-bones edition that was out went against my DVD philosophy. The extras on this are far from complete (no director’s commentary?) but at least there’s finally something there. | Row 3 - Cell 2 | Witness - Special Collector’s Edition - Finally! Yeah, I know, I need to stop trying to use the same gag twice. Is it wrong that I think of the Cyndi Lauper '80s song every time I hear this movie's name? Ahem... early reports claim the bonus material here is more complete than Truman, although there’s still no commentary track. |
| Row 4 - Cell 0 | |||
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | Alf - Season 2 - Alf returns for more wacky ‘80s fun! The second season sees Alf pay tribute to “Gilligan’s Isle”, appear as a guest host on “Late Night With David Letterman”, and celebrate Halloween. As a typical sitcom, we also get a very special Christmas episode sure to remind us all about the true meaning of Christmas (that has nothing to do with religion). Oh Alf, is there nothing you won’t do to make us laugh? | Row 5 - Cell 2 | Beauty Shop - Let’s be honest, Beauty Shop is only here because I needed another DVD to fill this space so I could talk about “Alf”. I had hoped Margaret Williams would agree to review this one since she so enjoys ragging on Queen Latifah. Instead we won’t give it any coverage, but read Margaret’s Taxi review for the same effect. |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 |
| Other titles released this week that aren't worth your time: |
| Row 0 - Cell 0 |
