DVD and Blu-ray Releases for July 30th, 2013
July 29, 2013
It's a good thing I didn't get Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Four on Blu-ray reviewed last week. I was tempted, because there were so few new releases worth considering for Pick of the Week; however, there are even fewer contenders for Pick of the Week this week. Both Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Four and Redemption are worth picking up, but the former is better value and it is the Pick of the Week. The only other real contender is Cloudburst on DVD, which is the winner of this week's Puck of the Week, for best new Canadian release. Samurai Pizza Cats: The Complete Series is also worth picking up, but I would wait till the price drops.
The Angry Beavers: The Complete Series - Buy from Amazon
Assault on Wall Street - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
An Awkward Sexual Adventure - Buy from Amazon
Banshee: Season One - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Black Rock - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon: Angel and the Badman, Another: Complete Collection, Bee Gees: One Night Only, Bus Stop, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, The Devil's Backbone (Criterion Collection), The Fog, God's Little Acre, The Incredible Melting Man, Love Me Tender, Niagara, Peggy Sue Got Married, Scorpions: Moment of Glory, and That Touch of Mink
3-D Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon: G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Cloudburst - Buy from Amazon
Filly Brown - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
G.I. Joe: Retaliation - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 3D Combo Pack
Hunted: The Complete First Season - Buy from Amazon
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The Magic School Bus - Buy from Amazon: In a Pickle, Revving Up, and Space Advenures
NBA 2013 Championship: Highlights - Buy from Amazon: Buy from Amazon
Power Rangers: Seasons Four - Seven - Buy from Amazon
Samurai Pizza Cats: The Complete Series - Buy from Amazon
Space Warriors - Buy from Amazon
Teen Beach Movie - Buy from Amazon
Touched By an Angel: The Eighth Season - Buy from Amazon
Under the Bed - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Veggietales: Maclarry & Stinky Cheese Battle - Buy from Amazon
WWE: ECW Unreleased, Volume 2 - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
A Nickelodeon cartoon from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. It has a lot of fans, but I don't think it was as good as Rocko's Modern Life, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Powerpuff Girls, Home Movies, and some of the other cartoons that were on TV during the same time period.
Written and directed by Uwe Boll. Okay, it is not as bad as some of his films, but it is still really bad.
In its native Canada, this film was called My Awkward Sexual Adventure. I'm not sure why they changed the name. It is about a conservative accountant who is dumped by his girlfriend because he is not as adventurous in bed. So he decides to become more adventurous, but for that he will need a guide into the stranger area of the sexual landscape. The film earned good reviews and it is worth checking out.
A con-man arrives in a small town and takes over the identity of a murdered sheriff. This series airs on Cinemax, which is beginning to have a rather large stable of original shows. This one is earning mostly good reviews, while the DVD and the Blu-ray have lots of extras. Worth picking up.
Three childhood friends, Kate Bosworth, Lake Bell, and Katie Aselton, go camping in the woods to reconnect. There, they meet a trio of returning soldiers, and while at first they get along, something happens and soon the three are running for their lives. The reviews were mixed, which is terrible for a limited release, but just fine for a low budget action film on the home market. Extras include audio commentary track, behind-the-scenes, and a featurette on the music. Worth checking out, but a rental will likely be enough.
There are quite a few secondary Blu-rays coming out this week that are worth looking at, including a couple of Marilyn Monroe movies. However, I think the best of these is The Devil's Backbone.
Only one 3D release of the week. Then again, it is the biggest box office hit coming out on the home market this week, so it should do rather well on the home market.
A Canadian movie about an elderly lesbian couple traveling from the United States to Canada so they can get married. When the film opened in Canada earlier this year, there was only one review on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was positive. Now there are five reviews, and they are all positive. This is still too few reviews to judge a movie, but if you are interested in LGBT cinema, Canadian movies, or just like Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker as actresses, then it is worth picking up.
This film opened in nearly 200 theaters, which is really high for a limited release. It did very well during its opening weekend, but wasn't able to maintain its run very long. The reviews were only mixed, which goes partway to explaining why it collapsed so fast. If you are a fan of hip hop music, then it is worth checking out. However, a rental will probably be enough for most people.
I'm still waiting for the screener for this release. Its reviews were very weak, but it did earn a lot of money on the worldwide box office, given its release date. Maybe fans of the cartoon will like it more than the average critic did.
Melissa George stars as Sam Hunter, a special agent working for a private contractor, Byzantium. She narrowly escapes an attempt on her life, an attempt that might have come from one of her co-workers. She returns a year later to Byzantium trying to find out who tried to have her killed. The reviews are good, but the first season is coming out on a DVD-R release and the price-per-minute is high.
D.C. Comics dominate the direct-to-DVD market with plenty of really strong releases every year. This one stars Nathan Fillion, Ron Perlman, Dana Delany, Cary Elwes, among others. The early reviews are much better than average for D.C. Comics and fans of the Flash should pick it up right away.
Three more DVDs from the educational series from the 1990s. A couple of them are just single discs, but Revving Up is a three-disc set that runs for more than four hours.
Real fans want full games, not highlights.
This show has been around so long, that a complete series Megaset would be prohibitively expensive. Also, they are still making more episodes. They did release a "Complete Series" set, but that was just the Mighty Morphin run. This box set includes Zeo, Tubro, In Space, and Lost Galaxy, plus bonus features.
One of the greatest animated imports from Japan. For those who don't know the background here, the show was known as Kyatto-Ninden Teyandee, but when it was imported, there were no translations given, so the distributor here decided to ignore the original plot and make up their own. This should have been a disaster. After all, it would be nearly impossible to come up with a plot for 90% of TV shows if you were limited to dubbing in new dialogue, but it works. I'm not happy with the price, but hopefully it will drop from its list price of $80. Even a 30% discount would be enough to be worth picking up.
We held a contest for this film a while back, when it was a Wall-mart exclusive, but now it is getting a wide release on the home market. Unfortunately, it is DVD only, while the Wall-mart exclusive was Blu-ray. There is only one review on Rotten Tomatoes, but it is positive, so that's something. I would hold off buying it until there are more reviews to check out, but if you are interested in a family friendly adventure, then maybe it is worth a rental.
We are at the halfway point for this installment of the Star Trek franchise. Can The Next Generation match Season Three, which had a number of classic episodes? Or has the series peaked? Read our review to find out.
Like with season three, the fourth season finale and the fifth season premiere were a two-part storyarc. And like last time, it is being released as a TV movie, of sorts, on its own Blu-ray. Is is worth picking up? Or should fans stick with the full-season sets? Check out our review for my opinion.
The basic plot feels far too similar to Pleasantville. However, it is a Disney Channel Original Movie and its target audience wasn't alive when Pleasantville came out. Additionally, this film earned some of the best ratings ever for a DCOM and fans of the movie are helping it become one of the best selling new releases of the week.
The penultimate season of this long-running faith-based show. There was quite a gap between releases, but it appears the studio is going to finish this series' home market run shortly.
Most weeks, this film would have slipped between the cracks. However, it is a really slow week and I could use the filler. The reviews are not bad, when compared to most direct-to-DVD horror films. Fans of such films might want to give it a try.
Another DVD in the long-running faith-based direct-to-DVD kids franchise focuses on Veggies who impart Biblical messages.
It's professional wrestling. Either you are not interested, or you know a lot more about it than I do.
Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Filly Brown, Black Rock, Cloudburst, Under the Bed, Assault on Wall Street, Space Warriors, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Marilyn Monroe, Lake Bell, Uwe Boll, Kate Bosworth, Dana Delany, Olympia Dukakis, Cary Elwes, Nathan Fillion, Brenda Fricker, Melissa George, Ron Perlman, Katie Aselton