DVD and Blu-ray Releases for October 21st, 2014
October 21, 2014
Like last week, it is not a very busy week on the home market. However, unlike last week, there are not a lot of prime releases. The second to last DVD / Blu-ray release for Mad Men tops the list. Well, it is the second to last release, until the Full Season Megaset comes out. The biggest theatrical release is The Purge: Anarchy, which was a huge hit, given its budget, but not a monster hit. As for the Pick of the Week contenders, it's Mad Men and Snowpiercer on DVD or Blu-ray. In the end I had to flip a coin to decide. I came up heads. Then I realized I should probably decide which movie is heads before I flipped the coin. Let's try that again. Snowpiercer is the Pick of the Week.
Annie Oakley: The Complete Series - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Bayonetta: Bloody Fate - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Billy Crystal: 700 Sunday - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon: Alice Cooper: Raise the Dead: Live From Wacken, Le Chef, La Dolce Vita, Deep Purple: Live in Verona, Dennis DeYoung... And The Music Of STYX Live In Los Angeles, F for Fake, The Girl Hunters, Gorky Park, Los Angeles Plays Itself, The Naked Face, Possessed, The Squad, and Sunday without God
Christmas Releases - Buy from Amazon: A Christmas Carol, Gift Of Winter, Santa's Magic Toy Bag, and To All a Goodnight
Downton Abbey Seasons 1, 2, 3, & 4 - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Earth to Echo - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
The Equalizer Season 3 - Buy from Amazon: DVD
The Fluffy Movie - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Gabrielle - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Kundo: Age of the Rampant Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Leslie Sansone: Walk Off Fat Fast - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Mad Men - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Perry Mason: Movie Collection: Volume 4 - Buy from Amazon: DVD
The Purge: Anarchy - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
The Scribbler - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
See No Evil 2 - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Seed: Complete First Season - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Sex Tape - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Silent Witness - Buy from Amazon: Series One: DVD and Series 17: DVD
Snowpiercer - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
TV on DVD Full Series Megasets - Buy from Amazon: Annie Oakley, Pee-wee's Playhouse, The Red Skelton Show: The Early Years - 1951 - 1955, and Square Pegs
The Vincent Price Collection II - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Just a quick note that the contest is underway and I have a screener to check out. I won't be doing a full featured review, but from what I've seen so far, it will be included on this year's Holiday Gift Guide.
The new game just came out, so this is a timely movie release. I hear the video game is great, but sadly, there are no reviews for the movie on Rotten Tomatoes right now.
A one-man special with Billy Crystal telling stories of his childhood.
There are a surprising number of concert films on this week's list of secondary Blu-ray releases. However, it's F for Fake that is the film I'm most interested in.
Just four Christmas films this week, and one of them is a Christmas themed horror film.
Are they going to release a new box set every year?
A family friendly alien movie. Almost everyone started comparing this movie to E.T., which really hurt its chances at the box office. Granted, its reviews didn't help either. It isn't a terrible movie, but there are better options out there.
If you liked the show, but hated the movie, you must still be happy that the movie resulting in the TV show being released on DVD so fast.
Gabriel Iglesias is a popular stand-up comic, but not popular enough to carry a movie. The film's reviews were weak, but the box office numbers were terrible.
A romance between two adults with learning disabilities. The reviews are outstanding, but it failed to find an audience in theaters. Hopefully that will change on the home market.
The reviews for this film are excellent, but it failed to find an audience in limited release. It takes place in feudal Japan and focuses on Kundo, the leader of a group of Robin Hood type thieves.
Normally I ignore these releases, but according to Amazon.com, this is in the top ten best-selling new releases of the week.
This film generated a lot of pre-release buzz for a limited release. However, it wasn't able to live up to the hype. Is it a miss? Or does it deserve a second chance on the home market? Check out our review for my opinion.
This is the first part of the last season of Mad Men, a TV series that has won 15 Emmys. Although strangely, it hasn't won any in the past three years. Has the show gotten significantly worse? Or has the competition just gotten a whole lot better? Won't know till the screener shows up.
The penultimate volume of Perry Mason TV movies. Are these TV movies worth checking out for fans? Or did the quality drop significantly this time around? Read our review to find out.
This film is better than the original, but it is still a somewhat flawed execution of a fatally flawed premise. (If The Purge ever went into effect, it would increase crime, not lower it.) Extras are weak, which further reduces the overall value.
A woman with mental illness is using an experimental treatment to remove her split personalities. However, as the process goes on, she begins to worry that the last unwanted personality that will be removed will be her. It's a good idea, but weak execution.
The early reviews suggest this film is much better than the original was. There are even a couple of actresses in the movie I really like. That said, I had to review the first film, so I don't really want to take my chances on this one. Maybe when there are more positive reviews I'll change my mind.
A Canadian TV show that appears to be based on Starbuck.
One of the worst wide releases of the summer. It is a comedy about a married couple who make a sex tape and then accidentally release it and have to get it back before anyone sees it. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to the sex appeal that premise promises, nor does it have enough laughs that a good comedy should have. The extras on the DVD are terrible and while the Blu-ray has more extras, they are still not enough to be worth a rental.
A British murder mystery drama. Each season is basically four 90-minute TV movies, so if you look at it like that and not a TV on DVD release, the price is reasonable. This week the first and the most recent seasons are coming out on DVD and I assume if they sell well enough, the rest of the seasons will be released sooner rather than later.
A post-apocalypse film that takes place in a train where all of the social and political classes are kept segregated. It is a strange setup, but the reviews are stunning. It did very well in limited release, but not well enough to expand truly wide. Fortunately, the studio is rewarding fans with a two-disc release that includes an audio commentary track, nearly hour-long making of featurette, featurettes on the special effects, etc. It's loaded and it is a contender for Pick of the Week.
Of the Megasets on this list, Pee-wee's Playhouse is the one that will be of interest to the most people.
A four-disc, seven-movie collection from the master of the macabre. The price-per-film isn't super low, but there are better extras that most similar releases, so it is worth picking up.
The first film earned weak reviews, but they keep making direct-to-DVD sequels.
Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, Earth to Echo, Sex Tape, The Scribbler, Gabrielle, The Purge: Anarchy, Snowpiercer, The Fluffy Movie, Life After Beth, See No Evil 2, Kundo: min-ran-eui-si-dae, Billy Crystal, Vincent Price, Gabriel Iglesias