DVD Talk: January 2012 Archives

There are some new titles coming out that might make it worth a trip to the video store this week. Check out these recent releases: The Thing (2011) [Blu-ray review] - this 2011 prequel-slash-remake is a damned good movie in its own right; Drive [Blu-ray review] - a pulsing, suspenseful and layered film; and The English Patient [Blu-ray review] - a modern epic that still plays well after all these years. Other reviews of note include Poldark: The Complete Collection [DVD review], The Mill & The Cross [Blu-ray review], and Night Train Murders [Blu-ray review]. Be sure to check out our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

Some cool discs have been reviewed over the past week. Check out these recent entries: Wings - The Academy awarded the very first Best Picture Oscar to this film, and it is now available in high definition; To Kill A Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition - unquestionably a classic; and Agatha Christie Poirot - Series 1 - an unmissible set of mysteries, now thankfully in broadcast order, neatly arranged, and in high-definition to boot. Other recent reviews include: Hell and Back Again; In Time, and Cast Me If You Can. Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

The Sundance Film Festival has come to a close, and DVD Talk's own Jason Bailey had the chance to take in 30 of the festival's most exciting independent, foreign, and documentary films. He's now posted a full wrap-up of the festival, with the best (including Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk With Me, the time-travel comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, and the Kubrick-obsessed documentary Room 237), the worst, and the most controversial of the 10-day Park City movie orgy. Check out Bailey's Sundance 2012 wrap-up here, and read his festival reviews in our Theatrical Reviews section.

This week in theaters, Liam Neeson and a crew of roughnecks survive a plane crash and battle the elements in The Grey. A young couple's marriage is threatened by the illness of their son in the French drama Declaration of War. And Sam Worthington steps out of the window of a skyscraper in Man on a Ledge. Also this week, Albert Nobbs, featuring Academy Award-nominated performances by Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, widens its release. Be sure to catch reviews of other recent Theatrical Films: Haywire, Coriolanus, The Man Nobody Knew, Crazy Horse, The Divide, The Iron Lady, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and A Separation.

The Sundance Film Festival continues in Park City, Utah, and DVD Talk's own Jason Bailey is getting an eyeful of the year's most exciting independent, foreign, and documentary films. Spike Lee returns to Brooklyn with Red Hook Summer, a controversial examination of religion and family. Writer/director/star Julie Delpy crafts a giddy follow-up to her sleeper hit "2 Days in Paris" with 2 Days in New York, this time adding Chris Rock to the mix. Comedian Mike Birbiglia makes his feature filmmaking debut (with some help from "This American Life"'s Ira Glass) in the charming and hilarious Sleepwalk With Me. And John Hawkes and Helen Hunt star in the moving and frank sex drama The Surrogate. You can keep track of Jason's Sundance progress via Twitter, and you can read his festival reviews in our Theatrical Reviews section.

More TV shows have made their way on to DVD, and DVD Talk has got them covered. Check out our reviews of some recent TV releases: Kojak: The Complete Movie Collection - these eight (!) TV movies are a terrific find for fans of Telly Savalas and the original series; Royal Pains: Season Three - Volume One - a terrific show that continues to improve; and Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs - a generally overlooked story from the Pertwee era, this adventure is surprisingly good with some nice twists and an interesting plot. Other shows recently reviewed include: L.A. My Home Town, Hawaii Five-O - The 12th and Final Season, and Frozen World: The Story of the Ice Age. Want more? Check out all of the TV on DVD reviews in the DVDTalk database.

This week the DVD Savant has a number of new reviews and articles including: Branded to Kill - Seijun Suzuki confirmed his rebel credentials by getting fired for making this frantic, stylistically bizarre meta-genre epic about a chipmunk-cheeked hit man with a strange thematic relationship with butterflies; The Iron Rose - The late Jean Rollin's morbid piece of poetry about a pair of young lovers who find themselves trapped and lost in a creepy cemetery at night; and The Roots of Heaven - John Huston's intense tale of an eco-activist going militant against ivory poachers and elephant hunters is an unusual and inspiring tale of conservation. Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

Some great discs are being released this week. Check out these new movies: 50/50 [Blu-ray review] - an honest tearjerker, in which the emotions are earned rather than manipulated; Paranormal Activity 3 [Blu-ray review] - the scariest and best paced film in this series yet; and Fascination [Blu-ray review] - one of the best looking of Jean Rollin's many beautiful and macabre films. Other reviews of note include Real Steel [Blu-ray review], Revenge [DVD review], and Shiver of the Vampires [Blu-ray review]. Be sure to check out our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

Our reviewers have been busy this week, filling the DVD Talk Review Database more great entries. Some new reviews of note include: Good Morning, Vietnam - a powerful film with a remarkable performance by the multi-talent that is Robin Williams; Thurgood - Laurence Fishburne's one-man show retells the life of the Supreme Court Justice and walks us through his process of attaining equality in the eyes of the law; and Drive - a pulsing, suspenseful, and layered film. Other recent reviews include: The Iron Rose; The Piano, and Mysteries of Lisbon. Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing and DVD Talk's own Jason Bailey is in Park City, Utah to take in some of the new year's most exciting independent, foreign, and documentary films, including the new West Memphis Three documentary West of Memphis, from producer Peter Jackson; Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon in the sleek thriller Arbitrage; the breathlessly entertaining Indonesian action extravaganza The Raid; and the explosive documentary examination of rape in the armed forces, The Invisible War. You can keep track of Jason's Sundance progress via Twitter, and you can read his festival reviews in our Theatrical Reviews section.

This week in theaters, director Steven Soderbergh tries his hand at the action genre with the help of MMA star Gina Carano in Haywire. Ralph Finnes makes his directorial debut with a modernized take on Shakespeare's Coriolanus. A son seeks the truth about his father, an elusive C.I.A. chief, in the documentary The Man Nobody Knew. The fourth film in the action-horror hybrid hits the screens with Underworld: Awakening. And legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman goes behind the curtains of a famed Parisian nude revue in Crazy Horse Be sure to catch reviews of other recent Theatrical Films: The Divide, The Iron Lady, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, We Need to Talk About Kevin, We Bought a Zoo, Pariah, A Separation, Albert Nobbs, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and The Artist.

It's been a bit too long since the last Anime Talk column! Even so, we've been going through a lot of anime titles here at DVDTalk and it's been a pleasure to be able to check out some great recent releases. Perhaps the most exciting new releases we have seen recently are the new re-releases of the classic anime Dragon Ball Z on the Blu-ray format. Or how about the awesome One Piece collection sets containing two Voyage DVD releases in one? Then we really got into the new Fairy Tail releases... the episodes are just so much fun and we can't seem to get enough of 'em! We even saw the conclusion of two favorites: Yu Yu Hakusho Season 4 arrived on Blu-ray and Revolutionary Girl Utena received its final artbox set of goodness on DVD. All this and some surprises in this month's Anime Talk!

More TV shows have made their way on to DVD, and DVD Talk has got them covered. Check out our reviews of some recent TV releases: Merlin: The Complete Third Season - in this third season this show really hits its stride, starting off with a bang and building to a great climax; Family Guy, Vol. 9 - Back for more of Quahog's worst family; and Archer: Season 2 - thirteen episodes of pure, unadultered genius. Highly Recommended. Other shows recently reviewed include: Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: Season 1, The Angry Beavers: Seasons 1 & 2, and Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXII. Want more? Check out all of the TV on DVD reviews in the DVDTalk database.

This week the DVD Savant has a number of new reviews and articles including: Design for Living - Ernst Lubitsch strikes pre-Code comedy gold in one of the more daring film concepts of the time: one woman and two artists seriously attempt a non-standard living arrangement: companionship, good humor, no sex. With Miriam Hopkins equally enticed by Gary Cooper and Fredric March, something's gotta give; Juarez - It's a large-scale historical epic, a famous tragic romance and an interesting look at political sympathies in Hollywood of the late 1930s. John Huston helped carve down the script, while Brian Aherne, Paul Muni, Bette Davis and John Garfield take leading roles; and The Forgotten Bomb - A new docu compares public attitudes with the reality of nuclear safety, from the issue of radioactive waste to the threat of rogue states and the ongoing nuclear standoff twenty years after the end of the Cold War.. Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

There are some new titles coming out that might make it worth a trip to the video store this week. Check out these recent releases: The Ides of March [Blu-ray review] - a good, well-executed potboiler; Traffic: Criterion Collection [Blu-ray review] - an excellent movie, plain and simple, bolstered by Steven Soderbergh's masterful direction and an extraordinary ensemble cast; and Eclipse Series 31: Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin [DVD review] - three excellent films that frequently tell us as much about their author as they do about his subjects. Other reviews of note include Bombay Beach [DVD review], The Last Hard Men / The Sky Riders [DVD review], and Division III: Football's Finest . Be sure to check out our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

This week the DVD Talk Review Database has some great new entries, including a few discs you may have overlooked. Recent DVD reviews include: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil - the film reinvigorates the horror-comedy genre by getting the basics right: a solid and inventive script, charismatic performers and a healthy dose of the red stuff; Margin Call - This impressive ensemble drama features strong turns from Kevin Spacey, Zachary Quinto and Jeremy Irons; and Final Destination 5 - Five films in, this splatter series is not yet out of gas. Other recent reviews include: Branded to Kill; Night Train Murders, and Dirty Pair: Original OVA Series. Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

This week in theaters, a group of apartment tenants attempt to survive a nuclear apocalypse--and each other--in The Divide. A longtime rock roadie returns home to face his failures in Roadie. Also this week, Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and Tild Swinton as the mother of a seriously disturbed teen in We Need to Talk About Kevin go into wider release. Be sure to catch reviews of other recent Theatrical Films: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, We Bought a Zoo, Pariah, A Separation, Albert Nobbs, Pina, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Artist, and Young Adult.

TV on DVD remains very popular with more and more favorites being released. New TV reviews include: Sledge Hammer! (The Complete Series) - this sereis is guaranteed to provide as many laughs the first time as the second and third time.; LOOK: Season 1 - an intriguing, entertaining little experiment that sets itself apart visually from other dramas, and director/writer Adam Rifkin's unusual sense of humor shines through; and Daktari: The Complete First Season - Recommended family fare... the show keeps it simple, keeps it light, and keeps it fun. Want more? Check out all of the TV on DVD reviews in the DVDTalk database.

This week the DVD Savant has a number of new reviews and articles including: Rapture - John Guillerman's intense drama sees an escaped prisoner taken in by a frustrated judge and his emotionally impaired daughter, who believes him to be her scarecrow come to life; Traffic - Steven Soderbergh nails the fraud that is the War on Drugs in a mini epic that dovetails three separate stories involving cops, crooks and upscale Americans. All are complicit in the hypocrisy; and Nothing but the Night - Another notable co-starring vehicle for Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, this suspense thriller almost-a-horror-film follows a series of murders to discover strange doings in a private orphanage on a Scottish isle. Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

Some great discs are being released this week. Check out these new movies: Moneyball [Blu-ray review] - a gripping and emotional experience that is a treat to watch for reasons that go beyond the diamond; Boardwalk Empire: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray review] - one of the most fascinating crime/mob dramas to ever hit television; and An Idiot Abroad [DVD review] - fascinating regardless of whether or not you are familiar with Ricky Gervais. Other reviews of note include Killer Elite [Blu-ray review], Aurora [DVD review], and Night and Day [DVD review]. Be sure to check out our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

Some great DVD and Blu-ray reviews have been added to the the DVD Talk Review Database recently including: Archer: Season 2 - Every last one of these thirteen episodes are pure, unadultered genius, making for a series that's in the running as the single best comedy on television; The Andy Hardy Collection, Volume 1 - six entries in this landmark series, all beautifully produced, sharply written, and expertly performed by the engaging cast and solid guest stars; and Rise of the Planet of the Apes - this film leaps out of the gate to resurrect a dormant franchise with an interesting origin story and a fascinating anchor in chimpanzee Caesar. Other recent reviews include: Three Investigators & Secret of Skeleton Island; astron-6, and I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive. Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

Some great TV shows have made their way onto DVD this week including: Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: Season 1 - the show mixes absurdity and awkwardness into a distinctly unique, funny and well-told story; The Lucy Show - The Official Fifth Season - the video transfers and extra features are splendiferous, plentiful, and often fascinating - if only all classic TV releases were this good; and Shameless - The Complete First Season - a fine and promising show with much to like - highly recommended. Other shows recently reviewed include: Crime Story: The Complete Series, Jersey Shore: Season Four, and Man in a Suitcase - Set 2. Want more? Check out all of the TV on DVD reviews in the DVDTalk database.

This week the DVD Savant has a number of new reviews and articles including: Nothing Sacred - One of the funniest and most famous screwball comedies sees terminally-ill Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard) feted in New York City as a brave woman facing certain doom. Little does reporter Fredric March know that he's being fooled again, after having already involved his newspaper in a humiliating fraud; Milestones / Ice - Directors Robert Kramer and John Douglas present two of the best filmic works from the radical left in the early 1970s; and Safe in Hell - Ever wonder just how sordid a Hollywood film could get in the pre-Code era? This William Wellman shocker from 1931 might just take the prize. Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

There are a few new releases this week that you won't want to miss. Check out these hot titles: Justified: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray review] - the quality writing and direction along with an authentic feel makes this show worth watching; The Guard [Blu-ray review] - Wickedly funny and sharply observant - one of the year's best films; and Mildred Pierce [Blu-ray review] - this HBO mini-series is a boldly conceived, brilliantly executed achievement and an unqualified must-see. Other reviews of note include Serendipity [Blu-ray review], Don't Be Afraid of the Dark [Blu-ray review], and She's All That [Blu-ray review]. Be sure to check out our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

TV on DVD remains very popular with more and more favorites being released. New TV reviews include: Mannix: The Final Season - A slam-bang finish to the series - the coolest private dick on network TV spins out in Chevy Camaro LT, and blasts off down the highway for good; Korg: 70,000 B.C. - an entertaining, suspenseful, straightforward depiction of a Neanderthal family trying to survive...from Hanna-Barbera, no less; and Call the Midwife - Season One - a charming show with rich characterizations and intriguing, historically interesting stories and situations. Other shows recently reviewed include: Masterpiece Mystery: Inspector Lewis Series 5, Tosh.0: Cardigans Plus Casual Jackets, and Hart to Hart Returns. Want more? Check out all of the TV on DVD reviews in the DVDTalk database.

What better way to start off the 2012 than by checking out the latest entries in the DVDTalk review database? Some of the reviews of note include: Seven Chances: Ultimate Edition - Though this film may not be one of Buster Keaton's regularly discussed works, it is one that is guaranteed to inspire a maximum amount of guffaws from even the most jaded audience member; Tokyo Drifter - one of Seijun Suzuki's finest and most influential films; and Looney Tunes Pepe Le Pew Collection - this one disc contains all the Pepe Le Pew cartoons in chronological order, and beautifully remastered too. Other recent reviews include: A Farewell to Arms: Kino Classics Edition; Eclipse Series 30: Sabu!, and Higher Ground. Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

As 2012 gets underway, DVD Talk offers a look back at not only the Top DVD and Blu-ray Releases of 2011, but also the year's best and worst theatrical releases. DVD Talk theatrical critic Jason Bailey takes a look back at the year in film, with the 2011's ten best narrative films and five best documentaries, in addition to the worst movies of the year and a roll call of 2011's finest performances. Check out Bailey's Year in Film feature here.