Blu Monday
Blu Monday: Pirates Arrive in Oompa Loompa Land
Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
ATTACK ON LENINGRAD (2009)
Synopsis: When in 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, their troops quickly besieged Leningrad. Foreign journalists are evacuated but one of them, Kate Davies, is presumed dead and misses the plane. Alone in the city she is helped by Nina Tsvetnova a young and idealist police officer and together they will fight for their own survival and the survival of the people in the besieged Leningrad. (blu-ray.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
BAARIA (2009)
Synopsis: Peppino, the nickname of the boy at the story’s heart, is a tough little kid in the 1930s, used to the rough-and-tumble world of Baaria (local slang for Tornatore’s native Bagheria), a hot and dusty Sicilian village with one main street. His adventures are many and his memories singular: men gambling in the local square, goats eating his schoolbooks, and the enchantment of silent film screenings. All of this plays out against the darker canvas of black-shirted fascists strutting in the streets, the declaration of war and the ecstatic moment of liberation when the Allies land on the island. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
BAD TEACHER: Unrated Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (2011)
Synopsis: A comedy centered around a foul-mouthed, junior high teacher who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague — a move that pits her against a well-loved teacher. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Featurettes.
BATMAN: YEAR ONE Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (2011)
Synopsis: When Gotham City is in desperate need of heroes, two men take a stand for justice… but on opposite sides. Bruce Wayne returns home after years abroad to become a crimefighter, just as honest cop Lt. James Gordon moves to Gotham and finds corruption at every level. When Bruce becomes the masked vigilante Batman, the city explodes as his new nemesis Catwoman, the mob and Gordon all close in!
Don’t miss this thrilling DC Universe Animated Original Movie based on the groundbreaking story by Frank Miller and featuring two-time Emmy(r) Award winner Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Katee Sackhoff, Eliza Dushku and Alex Rocco in its stellar voice cast. Experience a bold and dynamic vision of the Dark Knight’s first year in action and the start of his enduring friendship with Jim Gordon. (warnervideo.com/batmanyearonemovie)
Special Features:
- Sneak Peek at Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie
- DC Showcase Animated Original Short – “Catwoman”
- Heart of Vengeance: Returning Batman to His Roots
- Conversations with DC Comics
- Audio Commentary with Alan Burnett, Sam Liu, Mike Carlin and Andrea Romano
- “Batman: Year One, Chapter 1” Digital Comic Book
- Two bonus episodes from Batman: The Animated Series, handpicked by Bruce W. Timm
BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST (2011)
Synopsis: Chronicling the influential hip-hop group’s rise to fame through its sudden break-up in 1998. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Commentary with director Michael Rapaport
- Featurettes
- On the red carpet at the Los Angeles Film Festival premiere
- A message from Zulu Nation featuring Mike G of Jungle Brothers
A BETTER LIFE (2011)
Synopsis: Illegal immigrant and hardworking single dad Carlos Galindo (Demian Bichir) embarks on a physical and spiritual journey in order to reconnect with his teenage son and keep him from getting pulled into the local gang life. From director Chris Weitz (About a Boy), A Better Life is a touching & poignant story that critics call “compelling,” “intelligent” & “heartfelt.” (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Audio commentary
- Deleted scenes
- Music video
CAPE FEAR (1991)
Synopsis:Academy Award®-winning director Martin Scorsese brings heart-pounding suspense to one of the most acclaimed thrillers of all time in Cape Fear. Earning an Academy Award® nomination for his brilliant performance, Robert De Niro stars as vicious psychopath Max Cady who emerges after being imprisoned for fourteen years with a single-minded mission – to seek revenge on his attorney Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Realizing he is legally powerless to protect his beautiful wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) and his troubled teenage daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis) against Max’s relentless psychological torment, Sam resorts to unorthodox measures, leading to an unforgettable, action-packed showdown on Cape Fear. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Documentary
- Deleted Scenes
- Photo Gallery
- Matte Paintings
- Behind-the-scenes footage
- Opening Titles by Saul Bass
- Theatrical Trailer
- My Scenes
- Pocket Blu
- BD-Live
Federico Fellini’s THE CLOWNS (1970)
Synopsis: Fellini exposes his great attraction for the clowns and the world of the circus first recalling a childhood experience when the circus arrives nearby his home. Then he joins his crew and travel from Italy to Paris chasing the last greatest European clowns still live in these countries. He also meets Anita Ekberg trying to buy a panther in a circus. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
THE CROW (1994)
Synopsis: Alex Proyas’s pulp revenge fantasy, based on a comic-book saga by James O’Barr, is dark, moody, and seductively overwrought; it’s an amazingly pure expression of morbid adolescent romanticism. The movie tells the story of a young rock musician named Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), who, guided by an otherwordly crow, returns from the grave to hunt down the thugs who killed him and his fiance. Proyas, whose previous experience is in commercials and music videos, has a flamboyantly artificial style that’s peculiarly well suited to this pop-mythic universe. The picture’s darkness is so complete that it becomes a kind of light. What gives the movie its greatest allure is the performance of Brandon Lee (who died, near the end of filming, in a freakish accident on the set). He incarnates this character so unself-consciously that glum Eric seems like teen-age despair apotheosized-Everykid as the most beautiful of losers. Also with Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, and David Patrick Kelly. Screenplay by David J. Schow and John Shirley. (Terrence Rafferty, The New Yorker)
Special Features:
- Behind-the-scenes featurette
- Extended/deleted scenes
- Storyboards and photo galleries
- Audio commentary with Alex Proyas
- Digital copy
DARKNESS FALLS (2003)
Synopsis: A vengeful spirit has taken the form of the Tooth Fairy to exact vengeance on the town that lynched her 150 years earlier. Her only opposition is the only child, now grown up, who has survived her before. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Filmmaker’s Commentaries
- Deleted Scenes
- Legend of Matilda Dixon
- The Making of Darkness Falls
- Storyboard Comparisons
THE GOONIES (1985)
Synopsis: A thrill-a-minute adventure film. When brothers Mikey (Sean Astin) and Brand (Josh Brolin) learn that greedy developers are forcing their family to move, they and their friends decide to have one last, precious adventure together. With the help of a treasure map they’ve found in the attic, the group, known as the Goonies, go in search of buried gold hoping against hope that if they find it, Mikey and Brand will succeed in keeping their home. (dvdtalk.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961)
Synopsis: A British team is sent to cross occupied Greek territory and destroy the massive German gun emplacement that commands a key sea channel. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- The Greek Resistance featurette
- Forging the Guns of Navarone: Notes from the Set featurette
- Ironic Epic of Heroism featurette
- Epic Restoration featurette
- A Heroic Score featurette
- Narration-free Prologue
- Roadshow Intermission
- Memories of Navarone retrospective documentary
- Message from Carl Foreman
- Great Guns featurette
- No Visitors featurette
- Honeymoon on Rhodes featurette
- Two Girls On The Town featurette
- The Old School Wizardry of The Guns of Navarone featurette
- World War II and the Greek Islands featurette
- The Real World of Guns of Navarone featurette
- The Navarone Effect featurette
- Military Fact or Fiction featurette
- Audio commentaries with Film Historian Stephen J. Rubin and Director J. Lee Thompson
THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE: Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (2009)
Synopsis: After the sudden death of his estranged son in rural Japan, an American man must go there to claim some important family items. While there, he discovers some secrets his son left behind. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Making-of Harimaya Bridge
- Cast and staff interviews
HELLRAISER: REVELATIONS (2011)
Synopsis: Two friends in Mexico discover the Lament Configuration and unleash Pinhead, but one decides to try to survive by swapping himself with someone else. Once they go missing, family members go in search of them, but find Pinhead instead. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
THE HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS: 20th Anniversary Edition (1980)
Synopsis: Led by their comedic and pranking leader, Newbomb Turk, the Hollywood Knights car gang raise hell throughout Beverly Hills on Halloween Night, 1965. Everything from drag racing to Vietnam to high school love. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Director’s Commentary
- Bonus Trailers
- Interactive Menus
- Talent Files
- Production Notes
THE HOWLING: REBORN (2010)
Synopsis: On the eve of his high school graduation, unremarkable Will Kidman finally bonds with the girl he has long yearned for, reclusive Eliana Wynter. But he also discovers a dark secret from his past – that he is about to become a werewolf. Now, in an effort to fight destiny and save their love as well as their lives, they must battle not only Will’s growing blood lust but an army of fearsome beasts bent on killing them… and then, us all. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Filmmakers’ commentary
- Behind the scenes featurette
IN A GLASS CAGE (1987)
Synopsis: Klaus (Gunter Meisner of ‘The Boys From Brazil’) is an ex-Nazi, a doctor whose war-time post in a concentration camp enabled him to commit the most appalling sex crimes against boys. After the war, living incognito in Spain, he again gives in to his depraved desires, until shame and despair drive him to an unsuccessful suicide attempt. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
KURONEKO: The Criterion Collection (1968)
Synopsis: In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with his own personal demons as well. From Kaneto Shindo, director of the terror classic Onibaba, Kuroneko (Black Cat) is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography. (Criterion.com)
Special Features:
- New high-definition digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the
Blu-ray edition) - Video interview with director Kaneto Shindo from the Directors Guild of Japan
- New video interview with critic Tadao Sato
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Maitland McDonagh and an excerpt
from film scholar Joan Mellen’s 1972 interview with Shindo
THE LAST CIRCUS (2010)
Synopsis: The story uses the backdrop of a circus. In the beginning, a circus performance is interrupted to recruit all able-bodied men into The Spanish Revolution. Thus, a battle scene takes place that includes a machete wielding clown in full make-up. The clown is ultimately taken captive, but his son Javier is still free. Thirty-something years later, Javier returns to the circus life, and gets himself a job as the sad clown. He is assisting Sergio, who happens to have a girlfriend named Natalia – the circus’ acrobat. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
MONTE CARLO (2011)
Synopsis: Actress and pop sensation Selena Gomez Naked (Ramona and Beezus, “Wizards of Waverly Place”) lights up the screen as Grace, a high-spirited high school graduate looking forward to a vacation in Paris with her best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy, “Melrose Place”), and stepsister Meg (Leighton Meester, “Gossip Girl”). Just as the girls think their trip is ruined when their hyperactive tour guide leaves them behind, Grace is mistaken for a wealthy socialite and the trio is whisked away to Monte Carlo for a thrilling week of glitz, glam, and unforgettable fun. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Monte Carlo Match Up
- Deleted Scenes
- Ding-Dang Delicious: The Boys of Monte Carlo
- Backstage Pass
- Theatrical Trailer
- Monte Carlo Couture
- Jet Setter’s Dream
- Gossip with the Girls
- Digital Copy
PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES (2011)
Synopsis: Unprecedented access to the New York Times newsroom yields a complex view of the transformation of a media landscape fraught with both peril and opportunity. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Additional Scenes
- Extended Interviews
- Journalists React to ‘Page One’
- Q&A Highlights with the Cast and Filmmakers
- Tim Arango with Joao Silva in Iraq
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES – 3D/Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (2011)
Synopsis: Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too. (blu-ray.com)
Special Features: Bloopers of the Caribbean.
PIRATE OF THE CARIBBEAN: 4-Pack Collection, 15 Disc Combo
Synopsis: (from highdefdigest.com)
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ – Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate “Captain” Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor’s daughter, from Jack’s former pirate allies, who are now undead.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ – Jack Sparrow races to recover the heart of Davy Jones to avoid enslaving his soul to Jones’ service, as other friends and foes seek the heart for their own agenda as well.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ – Captain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann must sail off the edge of the map, navigate treachery and betrayal, and make their final alliances for one last decisive battle.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ – Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too.
Special Features:
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2-Disc Blu-ray+1-Disc Digital Copy)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2-Disc Blu-ray+1-Disc Digital Copy)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2-Disc Blu-ray+1-Disc Digital Copy)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (1-Disc Blu-ray 3D +2-Disc Blu-ray+Digital Copy+1-Disc DVD)
- 1-Disc Blu-ray bonus disc that includes all-new never-before-seen short film “Wedlocked”
- Authentic replica Pirate’s Chest, a collectible map and an iconic skull disc case.
- And much more…
RED STATE (2011)
Synopsis: Three teenaged boys are lured to the town of Cooper’s Dell with the promise of a party. But instead of enjoying the night of their dreams, the teens are plunged into the nightmarish world of Pastor Abin Cooper and the Five Points Trinity, a fundamentalist group with a stockpile of weaponry and a deadly moral agenda. When word of the teens’ disappearance reaches the authorities, a military task force is mobilized. With Cooper’s Dell teetering between salvation and damnation, the ATF braces for a furious gun battle with Cooper and his heavily armed followers in this fever-pitched action thriller from writer-director Kevin Smith. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- “The Making of Red State” documentary
- Audio commentary with Kevin Smith
- Sundance speech with introduction by Kevin Smith
- Sundance ending
- Deleted scenes and Poster Gallery with introduction by Kevin Smith
THE ROBBER (2010)
Synopsis: BASED ON THE TRUE STORY Of a world class athlete turned criminal.
Based on the real-life story of one of Austria’s most-wanted bank robbers, The Robber is a breathless thriller “as lean and taut as its marathon-winning title character.” (LA Times).
Johann Rettenberger leads a double life as a championship runner and serial bank robber, sprinting between heists (and away from police cars) as many as three times a day. As portrayed in a riveting central performance by Andreas Lust (Munich), Rettenberger is an obsessive loner more concerned with his lap times than other human beings. Once he falls into a relationship with a social worker, Erika (Franziska Weisz), it becomes impossible to hide his crimes, and the violence he reserved for his robberies starts seeping into his daily life.
Director Benjamin Heisenberg has created a powerful, visceral study of a pathological adrenaline junkie. But The Robber, which is already slated for a Hollywood remake, is more than that: It’s also an action movie filled with “turbocharged chase-and-escape sequences” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) that will leave you gasping. (Kino.com)
Special Features:
- Trailers
- Stills Gallery
Kevin Smith: TOO FAT FOR 40! (2010)
Synopsis: Another recording of the writer/filmmaker speaking in front of a live audience.
Special Features: Unknown.
TOMCATS (2001)
Synopsis: Seven years ago, a bunch of friends make a bet that’ll give the last remaining bachelor a ton of money. Now, after losing a ton of money at a Vegas Casino, Michael Delaney has to quickly get his friend Kyle married so that he can collect the prize money to pay back his debt. (blu-ray.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
UNDER SUSPICION (1991)
Synopsis: In 1959 Brighton, disgraced cop turned private detective Tony Aaron works largely on falsifying adulteries for use as evidence in divorce cases. He involves his wife as the fictional co-respondent for painter Carlo Stasio but the pair are shot dead in the hotel room. In charge of the case is Frank, Tony’s ex-partner still on the Brighton force. His most likely suspects are Angeline, Stasio’s mistress who is set to inherit his house and pictures, and Tony himself, parts of whose story don’t seem to add up. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Unknown.
WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: 40th Anniversary 3-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition (1971)
Synopsis: Gene Wilder stars as Willy Wonka, maker of Everlasting Gobstoppers, Fizzy Lifting Drinks, Three Course Dinner Gum, and other sweet treats in this music-filled fantasy based on Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Join five contest-winning children on a tour of Wonka’s magical candy factory, staffed by the mysterious and diminutive Oompa Loompas. With Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum. Includes the songs “The Candy Man,” “Oompa-Loompa-Doompa-De-Do,” and more. 100 min. Soundtrack: English; audio commentary; featurettes; interview; more. Packaged in an individually numbered box, this special edition includes a Wonka bar, a pencil case with scented pencils and a scented eraser, the book “Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” a Golden Ticket replica, and archival letters. Three-disc set. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Audio commentary
- Featurettes
- Sing-Along
- Trailer
- Mel Stuart’s Wonkavision (New)
- A World of Pure Imagination (New)
- Individually Numbered Box
- Wonka Bar
- Pencil Case (with Scented Pencils and Eraser)
- Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Book
- Golden Ticket Replica
- Archival Letters
ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: REDEMPTION (2011)
Synopsis: Horror, adventure and over-the-top, post-nuke comic realism converge in Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption, a film that provides huge must-see appeal among adult male audiences. At the end of civilization, zombies greatly outnumber people and every day is a fight to see tomorrow. Rugged wanderer John Knox is saved by a ragtag group of survivors. As he settles in with his new family, maniacal raiders assault the camp and kidnap Sarah – Knox’s love interest. Knox and the few who escaped the attack join up with zombies and launch an all-or-nothing rescue mission on the raiders’ home fortress. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
- Commentary track with Johnny Gel, Screenwriter Matthew O’Day and Director Ryan Thompson
- Deleted scenes
- Still gallery
- “The Road to Redemption” – The Making of ZA:R
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