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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
Annie
(2014) Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx,Cameron Diaz, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Director's commentary, "The Making-of Annie," "You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" music video. Blu-ray adds bloopers; "Something Was Missing" deleted song with Jamie Foxx; Sing-Alongs: "Hard Knock Life," "I Don’t Need Anything But You," "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here," "Opportunity" and "Tomorrow"; fourf eaturettes: "It's a Hard Knock Camp," "Fun With Sandy the Dog," "A Day on Set With Quvenzhane" and "Moonquake Lake – On Set!"; "Tomorrow Around the World": photo gallery; trivia track. (Sony).
Dexter: Most Shocking Episodes
Three-disc set with 10 episodes, $24.99. For fans new and old, Dexter's most shocking moments are available in one killer collection, including the unforgettable pilot episode that started it all, his devastating confrontation with the Trinity Killer , and eight more chilling episodes. Michael C. Hall stars as the titular antihero who -- through eight seasons -- coped with his insatiable homicidal urges and navigated through life as a vigilante serial killer. Formats: DVD. Extras: "Dissecting Dexter Part 1: Dexter's Origins," "Dissecting Dexter Part 2: Dexter's Awakening," "Dissecting Dexter Part 3: Dexter's Coming of Age," "The Kill Room," the first two chapters of "Dexter in the Dark." (CBS/Paramount).
Disorder
(2009 -- China) Huang Weikai's one-of-a-kind news documentary captures, with remarkable freedom, the anarchy, violence, and seething anxiety animating China's major cities today. Unshowable on China's heavily controlled television networks, or in China's cinemas, "Disorder" springs from an emerging underground media, of which Huang Weikai is one of the leading figures, filmmakers who reject compromise and cooperation with the official media channels and censors. Huang Weikai collects footage from a dozen amateur videographers and weaves them into a unique city symphony of urban social decay: One man dances in the middle of traffic while another attempts to jump from a bridge before dozens of onlookers. Pigs run wild on a highway while dignitaries swim in a polluted river. The result is a unique and compelling film capturing the ground-level upheaval of Chinese society like no other film before it. Formats: DVD, VOD. (Icarus Films).
Exodus: Gods and Kings
(2014) Dir.: Ridley Scott; Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, John Turturro. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 3D/Blu-ray Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Deleted and extended scenes, commentary by director-producer Ridley Scott and co-screenwriter Jeffrey Caine. Blu-ray adds "The Exodus Historical Guide," a feature length trivia track; "Keepers of the Covenant" documentary including 14 enhancement pods; "The Lawgiver's Legacy: Moses Throughout History"; "The Gods and Kings Archive"; promotional featurettes including the HBO First Look; 11 galleries. (Fox).
Ghost Whisperer: The Complete Series
(2005-10) Twenty-nine disc set with all 107 episodes plus bonus features, $79.99. Formats: DVD. (CBS Home Entertainment/Paramount).
Mark of the Devil
(1970 -- West Germany) Once proclaimed as "positively the most horrifying film ever made", "Mark of the Devil" arrives in a director-approved edition featuring a new restoration. A bloody and brutal critique of religious corruption, "Mark of the Devil" sees horror icon Udo Kier play a witchfinder's apprentice whose faith in his master (Herbert Lom) becomes severely tested when they settle in an Austrian village. Formats: Blu-ray Disc. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment Group).
Muck
(2015) Kane Hodder, Lachlan Buchanan, Puja Mohindra, Bryce Drape, Lauren Francesca. After narrowly escaping an ancient burial ground, a group of friends find themselves trapped between two evils, forcing them to fight, die, or go back the way they came. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. (Anchor Bay).
My Girl BLU-RAY DEBUT
(1991) Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Macaulay Culkin, Anna Chlumsky. Restored at 4K resolution. Extras: Commentary with writer Laurice Molinari; two new featurettes: "A Day on Set: Bingo!" behind-the-scenes look at filming the very funny bingo scene with Aykroyd and Curtis; "A Day on Set: First Kiss" offers a rare look at filming Thomas and Vada's first kiss; original theatrical behind-the-scenes featurette created for the theatrical release featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Chlumsky, Culkin, Aykroyd and Curtis. (Sony).
Revelation: The End of Days
(2013) Two-disc set of the History Channel miniseries that brings viewers an imagining of the end of the world and life as predicted in the Bible, told through the perspective of several different people,with first-hand accounts from found footage, cell phones and cameras to illustrate the world's final days. Formats: DVD, $14.98. (Lionsgate).
Ride the Pink Horse
(1947) Hollywood actor turned idiosyncratic auteur Robert Montgomery ("Here Comes Mr. Jordan") directs and stars in this striking crime drama based on a novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. He plays a tough-talking former GI who comes to a small New Mexico town to shake down a gangster who killed his best friend; things quickly turn nasty. "Ride the Pink Horse" features standout supporting performances from Fred Clark, Wanda Hendrix, and especially Thomas Gomez, who became the first Hispanic actor to receive an Academy Award nomination for his role here. With its relentless pace, expressive cinematography by the great Russell Metty ("All That Heaven Allows)", and punchy, clever script by Charles Lederer ("His Girl Friday") and Ben Hecht ("Spellbound"), this is an overlooked treasure from the heyday of 1940s film noir. New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: Commentary featuring film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini; new interview with Imogen Sara Smith, author of "In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City"; Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1947, featuring Robert Montgomery, Wanda Hendrix, and Thomas Gomez; an essay by filmmaker and writer Michael Almereyda. (The Criterion Collection).
Something Wicked
(2014) Shantel VanSanten, John Robinson, Julian Morris, Brittany Murphy. A young couple seeks to re-build their lives after a disastrous car crash kills her parents but secrets from their past threaten to disrupt their budding relationship: Christine is stalked by a creepy, masked stranger, while James experiences freakish encounters that nearly kill him. Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital. (ARC Entertainment).
Top Five
(2014) Dir.: Chris Rock; Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, J.B. Smoove, Gabrielle Union, Cedric the Entertainer, Kevin Hart, Whoopi Goldberg, Tracy Morgan, Sherri Shepherd, Brian Regan, Ben Vereen. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Blu-ray extras: Commentary by Chris Rock and JB Smoove, "It's Never Just A Movie: Chris Rock and Top Five," "The Making of Top Five," "Top Five" Andre Allen standup outtakes, "Top Five Moments You Didn't See in the Film," deleted scenes. (Paramount).
Troop Beverly Hills BLU-RAY DEBUT
(1989) Shelley Long, Craig T. Nelson, Betty Thomas, Mary Gross. Restored at 4K resolution. Extras: Deleted scenes; two new featurettes: "The Real Phyllis Nefler: Ava Ostern Fries": Ava Ostern Fries, the real life Phyllis Nefler, discusses how she was inspired to create the film using her real-life experiences with her daughter's Girl Scout troop; "Shelley Long Remembers Troop Beverly Hills." (Sony).
TURN: Washington's Spies: The Complete First Season
(2014) Three-disc set with all 10 episodes of the AMC series that tells the true story of the Culper Ring -- an unlikely team of secret agents during the American Revolution who not only went on to help George Washington turn the tide of war but also gave birth to modern spycraft. Formats: DVD: $49.98, Blu-ray Disc: $59.99, Digital. Extras: "The History of TURN: Washington's Spies," "From Art to Image," deleted scenes. (Anchor Bay).
Vice
(2014) Thomas Jane, Bruce Willis, Ambyr Childers, Johnathon Schaech, Bryan Greenberg, Colin Egglesfield. Julian Michaels (Willis) has designed the ultimate resort: VICE, where anything goes, and the customers can play out their wildest fantasies with artificial inhabitants who look, think and feel like humans. When an artificial (Childers) becomes self-aware and escapes, she finds herself caught in the crossfire between Julian's mercenaries and a cop (Jane) who is hell-bent on shutting down VICE. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Commentary with director Brian A. Miller and actors Ambyr Childers and Bryan Greenberg, "Behind the Scenes of Vice" featurette, cast and crew interviews. (Lionsgate).
Wolfy, the Incredible Secret
(2013 -- France) Animated tale about friends Loulou the wolf and Tom the rabbit, inseparable since they were little, who live the easy life in the Land of the Rabbits. But Loulou, who thought he was an orphan, learns that his bohemian mother is alive, and they set out to find her in the Land of the Wolves -- but they arrive in the middle of the Meat-eaters' Festival, a yearly get together for the world's great carnivores, putting their friendship to its ultimate test. Winner of the Cesar Award for Best Animated Film. Formats: DVD, Digital. (Random Media).
March 15, 2015 (ISSN 1094-3676). |
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