It's been a great summer of movies but things are winding down as kids across the country head back to school. "The Dark Knight Rises" as well as "The Avengers" made this a "super" hero summer for the film industry but don't worry, I'm certain you'll still hear about how hard it has been for the studios. No matter, the good DVD's are starting to pick back up after a few lack luster weeks. Let's get started!
The Raid: Redemption (2012)
dir. Gareth Evans
This is a great action picture with a lot of high flying stunts! This is one of those movies that is just a lot of fun and highly enjoyable. Rent it!
Product Description:
As a rookie member of an elite special-forces team, Rama (Iko Uwais) is instructed to hang back during a covert mission involving the extraction of a brutal crime lord from a rundown fifteen-story apartment block. But when a spotter blows their cover, boss Tama (Ray Sahetaphy) offers lifelong sanctuary to every killer, gangster and thief in the building in exchange for their heads. Now Rama must stand in for the team's fallen leader Jaka (Joe Taslim) and use every bit of his fighting strength - winding through every floor and room to complete the mission and escape with his life.
The Hunger Games (2012)
dir. Gary Ross
Loved this book and it skewed my opinion on the movie. I liked the movie, but in retrospect there were several moments that had I not read the books I would have been completely lost on the narrative. One example is when Peeta helps Katniss escape after the Tracker Jacker attack. He goes from helping to buried and dying for no reason. Overall I still recommend the movie and highly recommend the books as well!
Product Description:
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her younger sister's place and must rely upon her sharp instincts when she's pitted against highly trained Tributes who have prepared their entire lives. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Jaws (1975)
dir. Steven Spielberg
Nothing like Shark Week, and to commemorate JAWS is finally getting a Blu Ray release! HUZZAH!
Product Description:
Directed by Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg, Jaws set the standard for edge-of-your-seat suspense quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon and forever changing the movie industry. When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town’s chief of police (Roy Scheider), a young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again. Featuring an unforgettable score that evokes pure terror, Jaws remains one of the most influential and gripping adventures in motion picture history.
The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection) (2001)
dir. Wes Anderson
arguably Wes Anderson's best film in a Criterion release, you can't go wrong!
Product Description:
Royal Tenenbaum (Unforgiven’s Gene Hackman) and his wife, Etheline (Prizzi’s Honor’s Anjelica Huston) had three children—Chas, Margot, and Richie—and then they separated. Chas (Meet the Parents’ Ben Stiller) started buying real estate in his early teens and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of international finance. Margot (Shakespeare in Love’s Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of $50,000 in the ninth grade. Richie (Rushmore’s Luke Wilson) was a junior champion tennis player and won the U.S. Nationals three years in a row. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. The Royal Tenenbaums is a hilarious, touching, and brilliantly stylized study of melancholy and redemption from Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited).
BETTER IN BLU
These are movies that finally get a release on Blu Ray even though they've been available in other formats for years.
Shaft (1971)
New Jack City (1991)
