Blu Monday
Blu Monday: Citizen Anakin and Rosebuds on Tatooine
Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
THE 10th VICTIM (1965)
Synopsis: It is the 21st Century, and society’s lust for violence is satisfied by “The Big Hunt,” an international game of legalized murder. But when the sport’s two top assassins (Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress) are pitted against each other, they find that love is the most dangerous game of all. As the world watches, the hunt is on. Who will become THE 10TH VICTIM? THE 10TH VICTIM is the international cult classic whose wild action and sexy style has influenced a generation of movies, from THE RUNNING MAN to the AUSTIN POWERS series. Remastered from original archival negative materials, this outrageous satire is presented here in its original Italian language with optional English subtitles. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Marcello: A Sweet Life (2006) (102 Mins.)
- Theatrical Trailer
3 WOMEN: The Criterion Collection (1977)
Synopsis: In a dusty, underpopulated California resort town, a naive southern waif, Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek), idolizes and befriends her fellow nurse, the would-be sophisticate and “thoroughly modern” Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall). When Millie takes Pinky in as her roommate, Pinky’s hero worship evolves into something far stranger and more sinister than either could have anticipated. Featuring brilliant performances from Spacek and Duvall, this dreamlike masterpiece from Robert Altman careens from the humorous to the chilling to the surreal, resulting in one of the most unusual and compelling films of the 1970s. — Criterion.com
Special Features:
- High-definition digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentary featuring director Robert Altman
- Galleries of rare production and publicity stills
- Original theatrical trailers and television spots
- PLUS: An essay by critic David Sterritt
35 & TICKING (2011)
Synopsis: Centers around the lives of Victoria, Zenobia, Clevon, and Phil — all friends approaching the age of 35 and struggling to build the families they’ve always dreamed of. While Zenobia (Parker, “Soul Food,” “Brown Sugar”) is still looking for a man, Victoria (Jones, “Castle,” “One on One”) is married to a man who doesn’t want children. Clevon (comic Hart, “Not Easily Broken,” “40 Year-Old Virgin”), meanwhile, is too geeky to get a woman, and Phil (Keith Robinson, “Dreamgirls”) is already married with children, but his wife is not very interested in being a mother. All four of them try to rectify their romantic lives and futures while their biological clocks tick away. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
- Photo gallery
- Deleted scenes
ANOTHER EARTH (2011)
Synopsis: On the night of the discovery of a duplicate planet in the solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident. — IMDb.com
Special Features: Unknown.
THE APARTMENT (1960)
Synopsis: Bud Baxter is a struggling clerk in a huge New York insurance company. He’s discovered a quick way to climb the corporate ladder – by lending out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. He often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits and one night he’s left with a major problem to solve. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
BRAND NEW DAY (2009)
Synopsis: “If you loved Mamma Mia, this Brand New Day is for you.” (Sirius/XM Radio) Oscar-winner “Geoffrey Rush is awesome” (Ain’t It Cool News as a hilariously devout minister chasing a runaway seminary student named Willie across the land down under. As Willie tries to make it back to the girl of his dreams, he embarks on a glorious, uproarious road trip filled with music, magic, and foot-stomping fun. Based on a beloved Australian musical, Brand New Day is “one of the most delightful, heartfelt and crowd-pleasing musical comedies in years.” NYC Movie Guru) — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1992)
Synopsis: A flighty teenage girl learns that she is her generation’s destined battler of vampires. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
CITIZEN KANE: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (1941)
Synopsis: Orson Welles’ timeless masterwork (#1 in the American Film Institute’s 1998 list of Best American Movies) is more than a groundbreaking film. Presented here in a magnificent 60th anniversary digital transfer with revitalized digital audio from the highest quality surviving elements (Disc One), it is also grand entertainment, sharply acted (starting many of Welles’ Mercury Players on the road to thriving film careers) and superbly directed with inspired visual flair. Depicting the controversial life of an influential publishing tycoon, this Best Original Screenplay Academy Award® winner (1941) is rooted in themes of power, corruption, vanity — the American Dream lost in the mystery of a dying man’s last word: “Rosebud.” — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Audio commentaries with Peter Bogdanovich and Roger Ebert
- World Premier of Citizen Kane featurettes
- Interviews with Ruth Warrick and Robert Wise
- Production galleries (featuring commentary from Roger Ebert)
- Deleted scenes
- Theatrical trailer
- Full-length The Battle Over Citizen Kane documentary on DVD
- HBO Films’ docudrama RKO 281, starring Liev Schreiber as Orson Welles and James Cromwell as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst on DVD
- 48-page collector’s book
- 20-page reproduction of the 1941 program
- Lobby cards
- Production memo and correspondence reproductions
CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP (2010)
Synopsis: After a much-publicized departure from hosting NBC’s Tonight Show, O’Brien hit the road with a 32-city music-and-comedy show to exercise his performing chops and exorcise a few demons. Filmmaker Rodman Flender’s documentary, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, is an intimate portrait of an artist trained in improvisation, captured at the most improvisational time of his career. It offers a window into the private writers room and rehearsal halls as O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour” is almost instantly assembled and mounted to an adoring fan base. At times angry, mostly hilarious, we see a comic who does not stop — performing, singing, pushing his staff and himself. Did Conan O’Brien hit the road to give something back to his loyal fans, or did he travel across the continent, stopping at cities large and remote to fill a void within himself? — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (2002)
Synopsis: A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous “friends,” escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Director Kevin Reynolds
- 5 Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Filmmakers Including Alternate Final Duel
- The Napoleonic World Production Design Featurette
- En Garde Multi-Angle Sword Fighting Feature
- The Pen, A Retrospective on author Alexandre Dumas
- Adapting A Classic Screenwriting Segment
- The Clash Of Steel Stunt Choreography Piece
- Layer-By-Layer Interactive Sound Design Feature
DON’T SAY A WORD (2001)
Synopsis: Michael Douglas is “tremendous” (Tribune News Services) in this psychological thriller “in the classic Hitchcock tradition” (The New York Observer). When the daughter of a prominent New York psychiatrist (Douglas) is kidnapped, his only hope for her safe return is to pry a 6-digit number from the memory of a troubled teenage girl – and time is running out! — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
THE EXTERMINATOR: Unrated Director’s Cut (1980)
Synopsis: A man’s best friend is killed on the streets of New York. The man (Robert Ginty) then transforms into a violent killer, turning New York into a great war zone and Detective James Dalton (Christopher George) is the only one to stop him. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Director James Glickenhaus
- Theatrical Trailer and Television Spots (HD)
THE FRIGHTENERS: 15th Anniversary Edition (1996)
Synopsis: In the sleepy little town of Fairwater, a monstrous evil has awakened…an evil so powerful, its reach extends beyond the grave. Director PeterJackson and Executive Producer Robert Zemeckis unleash a riveting thriller with the most spectacular special effects this side of the hereafter. For Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), death is a greatway to make a living: ridding haunted houses of their “unwelcome” guests.” But he’s in cahoots withthe very ghosts he promises to evict! It’s the perfect scam…until Frank finds himself at the center of a dark mystery. A diabolical spirit is on a murderous rampage, and the whole town believes Frank is behind it. Boasting music by Danny Elfman and co-starring Trini Alvarado, Jeffrey Combs and John Astin, this supernatural chiller is so fiendishly entertaining, it’s scary! — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Peter Jackson Intro
- The Making of The Frighteners
- Feature Commentary with Director Peter Jackson
- Storyboards
HALLOWEEN II: 30th Anniversary Edition (1981)
Synopsis: Picking up precisely where its predecessor left off, Halloween II follows the same ill-fated characters as they encounter the knife-wielding maniac they left for dead in the first Halloween. It seems the inhuman Michael Myers is still very much alive and out for more revenge as he stalks the deserted halls of the hospital where his sister (Jamie Lee Curtis) lays waiting. As he gets closer and closer to his terrified target, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) discovers the chilling mystery behind the crazed psychopath’s savage actions. Written by horror masters John Carpenter (‘The Thing’) and Debra Hill (‘Escape from New York’), Halloween II is a spine-tingling dark ride into the scariest night of the year. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Alternate Ending
- Terror in the Aisles
THE HAUNTING OF MOLLY HARTLEY (2008)
Synopsis: Molly Hartley (Bennett) hopes that with her mother locked away in a mental ward, she can forget the violence of her family’s past and start over. She has found a new life, a new school and a new boyfriend (Crawford). But when her secret past and haunting nightmares continue, Molly fears she has inherited her mother’s psychosis. What she doesn’t know is that she’s inherited something else… a secret far more horrifying than any fate she can imagine! — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
HESHER (2010)
Synopsis: Hesher is a loner. He hates the world and everyone in it. He has long greasy hair and homemade tattoos. He is malnourished and smokes a lot of cigarettes. He likes fire and blowing things up. He lives in his van, until he meets TJ. — IMDb.com
Special Features:
- Deleted scenes
- Interviews
- Sketch Gallery
- Outtakes
HIDE AND SEEK (2005)
Synopsis: Robert Dinero and Dakota Fanning send pulses racing in this “genuine scare-fest” (The Calgary Sun) that delivers terrifying twists and a shocking surprise ending. At their new home in upstate New York, newly widowed psychologist David Callaway (De Niro) tries desperately to help his traumatized daughter Emily (Fanning) deal with her mother’s death. But before long, both David and Emily are being terrorized by someone – or something – named Charlie: a “friend” who may or may not be imaginary but is definitely the stuff nightmares are made of! Ready or not… “you’ll be jumping out of your seat!” (Richard Roeper) — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES: Unrated (2006)
Synopsis: A cross-country road trip takes a deadly turn in this spine-tingling remake of Wes Craven’s classic horror masterpiece about a stranded family that falls prey to a freakish clan of bloodthirsty mutants in the New Mexico desert. Packed with gut-wrenching gore, ghastly makeup effects and heart-stopping suspense, The Hills Have Eyes will keep you on the edge of your seat – and your sanity! — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
INCENDIES: Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (2010)
Synopsis: When notary Lebel (Remy Girard) sits down with Jeanne and Simon Marwan to read them their mother Nawal’s will (Lubna Azabal), the twins are stunned to receive a pair of envelopes — one for the father they thought was dead and another for a brother they didn’t know existed. In this enigmatic inheritance, Jeanne sees the key to Nawal’s retreat into unexplained silence during the final weeks of her life. She immediately decides to go to the Middle East to dig into a family history of which she knows next to nothing. Simon is unmoved by their mother’s posthumous mind games. However, the love he has for his sister is strong, and he soon joins her in combing their ancestral homeland in search of a Nawal who is very different from the mother they knew. With Lebel’s help, the twins piece together the story of the woman who brought them into the world, discovering a tragic fate as well as the courage of an exceptional woman. An adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad’s hit play, INCENDIES is a deeply moving story that brings the extremism and violence of today’s world to a starkly personal level, delivering a powerful and poetic testament to the uncanny power of the will to survive. — sonyclassics.com
Special Features:
- Commentary with director Denis Villeneuve
- Remembering the Ashes: Incendies Through Their Eyes featurette
LAKE PLACID 2: Unrated Edition (2007)
Synopsis: Suspecting that another giant croc has begun to wreak havoc on the populace, Lake Placid’s easygoing sheriff, James Riley (John Schneider), and a beautiful Fish and Wildlife agent (Sarah LaFleur), must form an uneasy alliance with a cocky big game hunter (Sam McMurray) and his guide (Joe Holt), to capture the beast. Meanwhile, Riley’s rebellious young son (Chad Collins) sets out on a lakeside camping trip with the locals – including hottie named Kerrie (Alicia Ziegler) – and finds he has to fight her his life or become the crocodiles next meal. But only crazy, croc loving Sadie (Cloris Leachman) knows that these predators have multiplied and are determined to consume the whole town….one bite at a time! — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT: Unrated Collector’s Edition (1972)
Synopsis: Before horror fans Saw the current wave of shockers featuring fiercely Hostel villains, Wes Craven delivered this “important genre landmark” (Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review) that’s thrilling, disturbing, action-packed and filled with unrelenting terror. On their way to a rock concert, two teenagers (Sandra Cassel and Lucy Grantham) are kidnapped by a gang of escaped convicts. Although they put up the fight of their lives, the girls are drugged, tossed in a car trunk and driven into the woods by the savage, murderous gang… only to wake up to a horror they could not have imagined. Filled with shocks, twists, turns and action, this knuckle-whitening film “never lets us out from under almost unbearable dramatic tension” (Roger Ebert). — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
LE QUATTRO VOLTE (2010)
Synopsis: LE QUATTRO VOLTE (The Four Times) is an ineffably beautiful meditation on the mysterious cycles of life. Set in Italy’s mountainous region of Calabria, it traces the path of one goat herder’s soul, as it passes from human to animal to vegetable to mineral. Director Michelangelo Frammartino was inspired by Pythagoras’ belief in “four-fold transmigration” of souls, but his film is far more physical than philosophical. In gorgeous long takes, he captures the daily routines of the herder, a baby goat, an imperious tree and a humble charcoal kiln. Plus there is a scene-stealing cameo from a stubborn sheepdog, who hilariously interrupts an Easter Procession. Working as both a spiritual investigation and a documentary of Calabrian life, LE QUATTRO VOLTE’s placid surface hides a complex understanding of humanity. Everything is connected in Frammartino’s sublimely mystical universe, in which he finds both humor and pathos in the hypnotic rhythms of everyday life. — Kino.com
Special Features:
- Theatrical Trailer
- Stills Gallery
LOURDES (2009)
Synopsis: In order to escape her isolation, wheelchair-bound Christine makes a life changing journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
LOVE WEDDING MARRIAGE (2011)
Synopsis: A happy newlywed marriage counselor’s views on wedded bliss get thrown for a loop when she finds out her parents are getting divorced. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
MANHUNTER (1986)
Synopsis: FBI agent Will Graham (William Petersen) has captured the diabolical Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Brian Cox), nearly losing more than just his mind in the process. But when Graham is called out of retirement to hunt the psychopath known as “The Tooth Fairy” (Tom Noonan in a role Entertainment Weekly calls “one of the freakiest madmen Hollywood has ever given us”) he must once again confront the horrors of “Hannibal The Cannibal.” If Will Graham enters the mind of the serial killer, can he ever come back? Joan Allen (The Contender), Dennis Farina, Kim Greist and Stephen Lang co-star in this shocking thriller directed by Michael Mann and adapted from the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. But be warned: Fans and critics alike consider Manhunter to be far superior to The Silence Of The Lambs, as well as one of the most unnerving serial killer movies ever made. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
MEEK’S CUTOFF (2010)
Synopsis: The year is 1845, the earliest days of the Oregon Trail, and a wagon team of three families has hired the mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains. Claiming to know a short cut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage. Over the coming days, the emigrants must face the scourges of hunger, thirst and their own lack of faith in each other s instincts for survival. When a Native American wanderer crosses their path, the emigrants are torn between their trust in a guide who has proven himself unreliable and a man who has always been seen as the natural enemy. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
MY LIFE AS A DOG: The Criterion Collection (1985)
Synopsis: My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund) tells the story of Ingemar, a twelve-year-old from a working-class family sent to live with his uncle in a country village when his mother falls ill. There, with the help of the warmhearted eccentrics who populate the town, the boy finds both refuge from his misfortunes and unexpected adventure. Featuring an incredibly mature and unaffected performance by the young Anton Glanzelius, this film is a beloved and bittersweet evocation of the struggles and joys of childhood from Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallstrom. — Criterion.com
Special Features:
- High-definition digital transfer, approved by director Lasse Hallstrom (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Shall We Go to Your or My Place or Each Go Home Alone? (1973), a fifty-two-minute film by Hallstrom, with a video introduction by the director
- Video interview with Hallstrom
- Original theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson and an appreciation by author Kurt Vonnegut
NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT (2010)
Synopsis: In Chile’s Atacama Desert, astronomers peer deep into the cosmos in search for answers concerning the origins of life. Nearby, a group of women sift through the sand searching for body parts of loved ones, dumped unceremoniously by Pinochet’s regime. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (2000)
Synopsis: George Clooney (The Perfect Storm) and John Turturro (Cars 2) embark on the adventure of a lifetime in this hilarious, offbeat road picture. And now, for the first time, this quirky gem shines more brightly than ever in Blu-ray High Definition! Fed up with crushing rocks on a prison farm in Mississippi, the dapper, silver-tongued Ulysses Everett McGill (Clooney) busts loose, except that he’s still shackled to two misfits from his chain gang: bad tempered Pete (Turturro) and sweet, dimwitted Delmar (Tim Blake Nelsen) With nothing to lose and buried loot to regain, the three embark on a riotous odyssey filled with chases, close calls, near misses and betrayal. Experience every unpredictable moment as it plays out in the crystal-clear sound and breathtaking picture quality of Blu-ray. Populated with strange characters, including a blind prophet, sexy sirens and a one-eyed Bible salesman (John Goodman), O Brother, Where Art Thou will leave you laughing at every outrageous and surprising twist and turn! — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette
- “Man of Constant Sorrow” music video
- Storyboard-to-screen comparisons
- Theatrical trailer
THE TEMPEST (2010)
Synopsis: The sorceress Prospera spirals through vengeance to forgiveness as she reigns over a magical island, cares for her young daughter, Miranda, and unleashes her powers against shipwrecked enemies. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with director Julie Taymor
- Russell Brand rehearsal riff
- Music video: Reeve Carney, “O Mistress Mine”
THOR: 3D/Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (2011)
Synopsis: The powerful but arrogant warrior Thor is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth, where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by director Kenneth Branagh
- Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant, Road to the Avengers
- 11 Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary (7 Blu-ray exclusive)
TRAINSPOTTING (1996)
Synopsis: Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends. — IMDb.com
Special Features:
- Audio commentary from director Danny Boyle, star Ewan McGregor, producer Andrew McDonald, and screenwriter John Hodge
- Deleted scenes
- Making of featurette
- Interviews
- Film retrospective
- Digital copy
TRUE LEGEND (2010)
Synopsis: So Chan was a wealthy man obsessed with kung-fu who fell from grace after he and his family became the victims of conspiracies. Eventually, he rises from his compromised state as a beggar and transforms himself into a martial arts master, patriot and folk hero, honored as the “King of Beggars.” — highdefdigest.com
Special Features:
- Behind the scenes
- Storyboards
- QR Code inside packaging for access to more material
WITHOUT MEN (2011)
Synopsis: The women of a remote Latin American town are forced to pick up the pieces and remake their world when all the town’s men are forcibly recruited by communist guerrillas. — highdefdigest.com
Special Features: Unknown.
Friday, September 16th, 2011
STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA, Episode I-VI (1977-2005)
Synopsis: Contains ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,’ ‘Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,’ ”Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,’ ‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,’ ‘Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back,’ and ‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.’ — highdefdigest.com (Do I really need to summarize these movies for you?)
Special Features:
- Star Wars Tech
- Star Warriors
- A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later
- Prop, Maquette and Costume Turnarounds
- Star Wars Spoofs
- The Making of Star Wars
- Supplementary Interviews with Cast and Crew
- Audio Commentaries
- Deleted, Extended and Alternate Scenes
- The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX
- Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
- Matte Paintings and Concept Art
- Anatomy of a Dewback
- Supplementary Interviews with Cast and Crew
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