November 10, 2009

The DVD releases are looking 'Up' this week a bit, plus we finally get that Ultimate Cut of 'Watchmen'...

Indeed, there are two very worthwhile DVD selections this week that I've mentioned in the title, along with some other interesting releases. Overall, it's a very good week to be shopping for new things to own. For my PICK OF THE WEEK, it's a close call, but I'm going with:
Up
One of the best films of the year to many, this may be Pixar's most mature work yet. The first 15 minutes of the film remain the best individual sequence I've seen this year. Carl's adventure in this film is fantastic, and the film is worth owning for anyone who likes Pixar, or just good animation in general.
-Also out today is the definitive edition of Watchmen, called Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut. Spread out over 5 discs (or 4 on Blu-Ray), this has the film as it was intended (all 3 and a half hours or so of it) to be seen originally. It also includes all of the other features that were sold separately till now. While I liked the movie, I thought it could have been made better. This version of the film is much better, so I highly recommended this to everyone who liked the film, especially if you don't own it yet.
-There are other interesting films out as well. One is Michael Keaton's directorial debut The Merry Gentleman. It's a very interesting crime drama that was ignored in theaters, but will likely find a life on DVD. The same could be said of Spread, Ashton Kutcher's attempt to show growth. It's less successful, but still somewhat interesting to watch. There's also The Accidental Husband, a mildly charming romantic comedy with a great cast that fell victim to The Yari Film group going under. Finally, there's Ballast, which had a big showing at the Spirit Awards last year. I found it mildly overrated, but it's still a good film.
-Not everything can be good this week, and to prove the point, The Ugly Truth is out too this week. I found it to be a complete failure and a waste of two good actors. I'd avoid this one like the plague if I were you, but that's for you to decide.
-My Vintage pick this week is, in honor of the release Friday of Ben Foster's new film The Messenger (which we posted an early review of a month or so back. Go here to read it.), one of the other successful movies to deal with coming home from Iraq. It's Stop-Loss and I found it to be amazingly underrated. If you never gave it a chance last year, do so now and see what you think.
-What will you be watching on DVD this week?

4 comments:

  1. I rarely deal with double dips, but Watchmen was worth it this week...

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  2. I picked up Watchmen and Up. Watchmen was definitely worth it as a whole package because of the amount of stuff that came with it. Not only do you get the definitive 3 1/2 hour cut with the Black Freighter story woven into it, but you also get previously unreleased special features and a blu-ray (or dvd if you go standard def) copy of Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic), and digital copy of the theatrical cut (though I'd rather have a digital copy of the director's cut or ultimate cut personally). As a whole package, its one of the best blu-ray releases out there and one of the best double dip since The Lord of the Rings extended editions.

    Up, of course, is definitely worth getting on blu-ray, as you get the 2 disc blu-ray, a dvd copy, and digital copy, for a really good price (19.99 at Best Buy).

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  3. that being said, Heat also got a blu-ray release this week, and Star Trek comes to blu-ray next week, but I imagine a lot of people may skip on dvd purchases this week and be getting Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

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