Every Monday, we’ll be letting you know which Blu-rays and DVDs will be available for purchase or rental tomorrow.
What looks good to you?
A sexually and racially charged film noir from Oscar®-nominated director Lee Daniels (Precious), THE PAPERBOY takes audiences deep into the backwaters of steamy 1960s South Florida, as investigative reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) and his partner Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) chase a sensational, career-making story. With the help of Ward’s younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) and sultry death-row groupie Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman), the pair tries to prove violent swamp-dweller Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) was framed for the murder of a corrupt local sheriff. Based on the provocative bestselling novel by Pete Dexter (Mulholland Falls, Rush), The Paperboy peels back a sleepy small town’s decades-old façade of Southern gentility to reveal a quagmire of evil as dark as a Florida bayou.
Taken 2
He hunted them, he found them, he killed them; now they have come back to settle the score. Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated actor, Liam Neeson (Clash of the Titans, Taken, Batman Begins) returns as Mills, the retired CIA agent who stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim from kidnappers. When the father of one of the villains Bryan killed swears revenge, and takes him and his wife hostage in Istanbul, Bryan must enlist the help of Kim to escape. Bryan then employs his unique tactics to get his family to safety and systematically take out the kidnappers, one by one.
Produced by Luc Besson (The Professional, Taken) and directed by Olivier Megaton (Colombiana, Transporter 3), TAKEN 2, features gritty supporting performances from Famke Janssen (X-Men Franchise, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), Maggie Grace (“Lost,” The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2) and Rade Sherbedgia (X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1).
To Rome With Love
To Rome With Love is told in four independent vignettes about four characters whose adventures change their lives forever: an average Roman wakes up one day to find himself a well-known celebrity; an American architect revisits the streets on which he used to live as a student; a young couple on their honeymoon are pulled into separate romantic encounters; and an American opera director tries to turn a singing mortician into a star.
This enchanting romantic comedy features a star-studded cast including Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin (TV’s “30 Rock”), Academy Award® winner Roberto Benigni (Best Actor, Life is Beautiful, 1999), Academy Award® winner Penelope Cruz (Best Supporting Actress, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 2009), Judy Davis (A Passage to India), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Greta Gerwig (Damsels in Distress) and Ellen Page (Inception). Alison Pill (TV’s “The Newsroom”) and Allesandra Mastronardi also star in the film.
Merlin: The Complete Fourth Season
Merlin is back for a fourth season with even more magic adventure and romance!
The young wizard struggles to protect Prince Arthur in the perilous world of Camelot. While battling deadly assassins mystical monsters and the most powerful sorcerers Camelot has ever seen Merlin now has to face his toughest challenge yet when Morgana’s blind determination puts at risk Arthur’s future as well as the very balance of the world.
Featuring exciting new villains white-knuckle stunt sequences and spectacular CGI monsters Merlin season four is more thrilling than ever.
Men of a Certain Age: Season Two
TNT’s critically-acclaimed television series Men of a Certain Age, starring Emmy® winner Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond), Emmy winner Andre Braugher (Homicide: Life on the Street, TNT’s Salem’s Lot) and Golden Globe® winner Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap), will return to DVD on Jan. 15 with the release of Men of a Certain Age: The Complete Second Season. The three-disc DVD set will include all 12 episodes from the series’ second and final season. Bonus features will include audio commentary for each episode by Romano and series co-creator Mike Royce, as well as Jon Manfrelotti and several show writers; never-before-seen deleted scenes; interviews; a “Bitter/Sweet 50” featurette; gag reel; Scarpulla rap video; and behind-the-scenes footage.
Life is Too Short
HBO® presents a new comedy series from executive producers Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (The Office, HBO’s Extras and The Ricky Gervais Show) and starring actor Warwick Davis who portrays a conceited, self-aggrandizing version of himself. In Life’s Too Short, Davis’ character is an actor desperately trying to jumpstart his waning career and maintain his status as Britain’s go-to little person who often seeks advice from old pals Gervais and Merchant in hopes that their A-list celebrity connections will aid his career. With cameos by Liam Neeson, Johnny Depp, Sting, Steve Carell, Helena Bonham Carter, Cat Deeley, and others, Life’s Too Short hilariously charts Davis’ every move as he tries to maintain his pride and self-respect in a series of uncomfortable, often-humiliating situations.
Sleeper
Drawing on the great tradition of silent comedy, Sleeper is Woody Allen’s first film to tame his verbal wit and showcase his emerging skill with visual and physical comedy. Starring Diane Keaton (directed by Allen for the first time), Sleeper is “a bizarre mixture of New York neuroses, splendidly lunatic sight gags, Alice-in-Wonderland illogic, and too-funny-to-be-painful satire” (Los Angeles Herald-Examiner) When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap, he discovers the future’s not so bright: all women are frigid, all men are impotent, and the world is ruled by an evil dictator, a disembodied nose! Pursued by the secret police and recruited by anti-government rebels with a plan to kidnap the dictator’s snout before it can be cloned, Miles falls for the beautiful – but untalented – poet Luna (Keaton). But when Miles is captured and reprogrammed by the government – to believe he’s Miss America! – it’s up to Luna to save Miles, lead the rebels, and cut off the nose, just to spite its face.
Get a clue as Cartoon Network prepares to release the second DVD from its award-winning animated series, The Amazing World of Gumball “The Mystery.” Available on January 15, 2013, the DVD includes 12 hilarious episodes from season one – including the titular episode “The Mystery” – and a character gallery, all ready to have the entire family laughing. The feature episode follows Gumball as he sets out to solve the biggest mystery of his life – who stuffed Principle Brown into his locker? In this mystery everyone’s a suspect, and the outcome is something that can only happen in The Amazing World of Gumball.
Brimming with laughter, tears and subtle beauty, Hannah and Her Sisters is a magnificent “summation of [Woody Allen’s] career to date” (The New York Times). Winner of three OSCARS,r* and featuring a brilliant all-star cast, Hannah and Her Sisters spins a tale of three unforgettable women and showcases Allen “at his most emotionally expansive, working on his broadest canvas with masterly ease” (Newsweek) The eldest daughter of show-biz parents, Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife, loving mother and successful actress. A loyal supporter of her two aimless sisters Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest), she’s also the emotional backbone of a family that seems to resent her stability almost as much as they depend on it. But when Hannah’s perfect world is quietly sabotaged by sibling rivalry, she finally begins to see that she’s as lost as everyone else, and in order to find herself, she’ll have to choose – between the independence her family can’t live with and the family she can’t live without.
I Am Bruce Lee is the amazing story of one of the greatest icons ever to enter the public consciousness, the first film to truly tell Bruce Lee’s story in his own words and actions, as well as through the eyes of the international stars from the worlds of film, television, music and sports.Featuring original interviews with UFC President Dana White, NBA Superstar Kobe Bryant, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, actor Mickey Rourke, The Black Eyed Peas’ Taboo, legendary martial artists Dan Inosanto, Richard Bustillo, Bob Wall (Enter the Dragon) and Gene LeBell, and unprecedented conversations with Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee and his wife Linda Lee Cadwell, plus the best of Bruce Lee’s ground-breaking martial arts action films and rare archival footage, I Am Bruce Lee is the definitive story of a man whose legacy will endure forever.
For the FIRST-TIME EVER this complete animated series, that includes 23 FULL-LENGTH EPISODES and 46 ORIGINAL JACKSON 5IVE SONGS, is available to fans everywhere! With 2 complete songs in each episode you can join JACKIE, TITO, JERMAINE, MARLON and MICHAEL on tour, laughing at their crazy adventures and singing your heart out along the way GROOVY!
The original UK Being Human is back for an all-new season. In an old hotel in a sleepy seaside town a vampire a werewolf and a ghost try their best to live normal human lives. Yet despite their efforts to be left in peace there are members of their own kind determined to rid the world of humanity. With the vampires still wanting to strike and The Old Ones on their way Annie and her two new housemates – Tom and Hal – find themselves in the middle of the struggle. But now not only are there vampires to keep at bay there’s also a wicked ghost on the loose and someone’s trying to expose the existence of werewolves. Being human has never been tougher.
THE MOST FRIGHTENING MONSTERS ARE ALL AROUND US! Bret Harrison (“Grounded for Life”) stars as a frustrated teen who dreams of escaping his miserable life in a small Alabama town for a special effects make-up job in Hollywood, creating grisly monsters. His dream may even be in reach when he’s hired to design the community’s annual Halloween spook house and falls in love with a local girl (Laura Prepon, “That ’70s Show”). But there are real monsters in his way, including an abusive stepfather (Kevin Gage, Heat) who terrorizes his mother (Ashley Laurence, Hellraiser), a fanatical religious group who attack his work, and his girlfriend’s own shocking secret that may destroy their happiness together. Based on the inspiring true story of writer/director Robert Hall, award winning special effects makeup designer whose work includes “Teen Wolf,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” and Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2.
CRIME STORY
Jackie Chan stars in one of his grittiest roles ever as a police detective on the edge, who must race against time to solve a deadly kidnapping case. Based on the shocking true story of a billionaire abducted in a bold ambush, and filled with explosive martial-arts battles, Crime Story pulses with tension and excitement. Director Kirk Wong (The Big Hit) deftly combines acrobatic fight choreography with edge-of-your-seat action for this thrilling and dramatic tour-de-force for Jackie Chan.THE PROTECTOR
Written and directed by James Glickenhaus (The Exterminator), The Protector stars Jackie Chan and Danny Aiello (Do the Right Thing) as a pair of NYPD cops sent to Hong Kong to catch a drug lord who has kidnapped the daughter of his former associate. Also starring martial-arts star Moon Lee (Angel Force) and Roy Chiao (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), this thriller features Hollywood-style action sprinkled with Chan’s death-defying stunts.
After being granted a questionable transfer that will keep him stateside as his National Guard unit deploys for Iraq, Lieutenant Danny Sefton (Seth Gabel) becomes embroiled in a last minute AWOL attempt by one of his soldiers (Bow Wow) — forcing him to choose between his loyalties to the fleeing soldier, his unit and his fiancé.
Awe-inspiring, brutal and stunning, Wake in Fright is the story of John Grant, a bonded teacher who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundanyabba, planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But, as his one night stretches to five, he plunges headlong toward his own destruction. When the alcohol-induced mist lifts, the educated John Grant is no more. Instead there is a self-loathing man in a desolate wasteland, dirty, red-eyed, sitting against a tree and looking at a rifle with one bullet left… Believed lost for many years, Wake in Fright has been painstakingly restored by Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive and AtLab Deluxe, and is presented in its original uncompromising form.
Sixteen-year-old Melissa Kennedy has been missing for almost three months and the town of Ridgedale is coming unhinged. Sylvia Potter (Lindsey Shaw of ”Pretty Little Liars” and ”Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide”) wants so badly to be in love. Then sexy, quiet, rich kid Lucas Green (Jamie Johnston of ”Degrassi: The Next Generation”) transfers to Hampton Prep and the sparks fly – despite the warnings of almost every friend in her circle. But what seems like a love story hits a major twist when the police begin an investigation into Lucas’ involvement in the Melissa Kennedy case. What really happened to Melissa and how long can Lucas and Sylvia’s relationship last in the face of this mystery? Jean-Luc Bilodeau (”Baby Daddy” and ”Kyle XY”) and Kaitlyn Leeb (Total Recall) co-star in this intense thriller.
Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie Brenek (Kyra Sedgwick) see little cause for alarm when their youngest daughter Em becomes oddly obsessed with an antique wooden box she purchased at a yard sale. But as Em’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, the couple fears the presence of a malevolent force in their midst, only to discover that the box was built to contain a Dibbuk, a dislocated spirit that inhabits and ultimately devours its human host.
