Blu-ray 16th June Release

Friday the 13th (Extended Killer Cut and Theatrical Cut) (Amazon Digital Bundle + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Warner Home Video / 2009 / Unrated
Street Date: June 16, 2009

Genres: Suspense thriller

Starring: Derek Mears, Jared Padalecki, Arlen Escarpeta
Director: Marcus Nispel

Plot Synopsis: If you thought a bigger budget and an A-list producer (Michael Bay) would go to Jason's head, well, forget it. The indestructible villain of so many bottom-of-the-barrel shockers isn't about to change his shtick, and the 2009 Friday the 13th proves it. This, the umpteenth sequel (nope, it's not a remake of the origin story) to the original 1980 movie, gives us a clever prologue that manages to fit an entire Jason Voorhees killing spree in a brisk and bloody 20 minutes. Jumping ahead six weeks, the film introduces a carload of clueless teens headed for a weekend at a lakeside cabin, plus a lone motorcyclist (Jared Padalecki) in search of his missing sister (Amanda Righetti). When the "lakeside" happens to refer to Crystal Lake, of course, there can be only one outcome. Cue the hockey mask, and pass the machete. Bay and director Marcus Nispel, who collaborated on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, are surprisingly indifferent to changing up the formula this time, although there's more care taken in building up a few characters, and for once the comic relief (mostly supplied by Aaron Yoo and Arlen Escarpeta) is pretty funny. You might even regret the slaughter of a couple of these young folk, which is an unusual feeling in Friday-watching. The film's Jason is quite the athletic fellow, and he's assembled an elaborate underground corpse-hiding lair in the vicinity of Crystal Lake. How he's been able to live down there for 30 years (if the film's own timeline is to be believed) and had enough unwitting campers pass by to keep himself entertained is anybody's guess. But if they keep coming, he'll keep slashing.

Disc Features: The Blu-ray disc includes both the extended Killer Cut (which is 106 minutes compared to 97) and the theatrical cut, though it defaults to play the Killer Cut; if you want the theatrical cut, you have to select it on the special-features menu. It's hard to imagine choosing to watch the theatrical cut, however. In addition to some more of Amanda Righetti and of Jason, the extra nine minutes is mostly more gore in the gory scenes and more sex in the sexy scenes. If you're squeamish you might not want those things, but if you're that squeamish you probably don't want to watch Friday the 13th in the first place, right? The longer cut will give you more of the stuff that you probably watch this movie for. But the theatrical cut is on the disc if you want it, as well as a couple of 11-minute featurettes on the new movie and the franchise, three deleted scenes (a different version of Jason getting his mask, the police response to the phone call, and a revised climax), and "The 7 Best Kills," which provides behind-the-scenes info on key deaths. A commentary track, which combines movie and franchise trivia with picture-in-picture footage of crew members discussing the film, is pretty sporadic (it tends to appear more frequently on the important scenes) and repeats some of the info in other features (which is pretty common). There's also a second disc with a Digital Copy of the film, and additional features on BD-Live.

Burn Notice: Season Two [Blu-ray]

Fox Home Entertainment / 2008 / 682 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: June 16, 2009

Genres: Action, Spy

Plot Synopsis: Covert intelligence operative Michael Westen has been punched, kicked, choked and shot. Now he’s being burned, and someone’s going to pay! When Michael receives a “burn notice,” blacklisting him from the intelligence community and compromising his very identity, he must track down a faceless nemesis without getting himself killed in the process. Meanwhile, Michael is forced to double as a private investigator on the dangerous streets of Miami in order to survive.

Disc Features:
• Audio Commentaries on three episodes
• Featurette: "NIXin' it up on 'Burn Notice'"
• Deleted Scenes

Ghostbusters [Blu-ray]

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 1984 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: June 16, 2009

Overall Grade Highly recommended






Genres: Comedy, suspense thriller

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray
Director: Ivan Reitman

Plot Synopsis: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the script, but Bill Murray gets all the best lines and moments in this 1984 comedy directed by Ivan Reitman (Meatballs). The three comics, plus Ernie Hudson, play the New York City-based team that provides supernatural pest control, and Sigourney Weaver is the love interest possessed by an ancient demon. Reitman and company are full of original ideas about hobgoblins--who knew they could "slime" people with green plasma goo?--but hovering above the plot is Murray's patented ironic view of all the action. Still a lot of fun, and an obvious model for sci-fi comedies such as Men in Black

Disc Features:

• Audio Commentary
  
• Featurette: "Scene Cemetery" (SD, 9 minutes) - This collection of 10 deleted scenes is comically and aptly named. Though they would've added little to the film, they are still enjoyable and amusing to watch, notably the "Bums" clip.
  
• Featurette: "On the Scene with the 'Ghostbusters'" (SD, 10 minutes) - This vintage featurette always brings back memories of the '80s.
  
• Featurette: "Cast and Crew Featurette" (SD, 11 minutes) - Originally recorded for the 1999 DVD release, this featurette is the most recent collection of interviews with Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis chatting about the film and its impact.
  
• Featurette: "SFX Team Featurette " (SD, 15 minutes) - This is a panel discussion with the original F/X team relating their experience of working on the film, while photos of the props are dispersed throughout.
  
• Featurette: "Multi-Angle Featurettes" (SD, 6 minutes) - Broken into three sections ("Spook Central Exploding," "She's A Dog," and "Crossing the Streams"), fans can enjoy watching the rough video and animation work in before-and-after fashion done to three particular scenes.
  
• Featurette: "Storyboard Comparisons" (SD, 6 minutes) - Again, broken into three sections ("Slimer," "Dogs Drag Dana," and "Atop Spook Central"), viewers can watch the hand-drawn storyboards and compare them to the film's final cut.
  
• Theatrical Trailers (HD) - This collection of previews includes 'The Da Vinci Code: Extended Cut,' 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' 'Men in Black,' 'Fired Up!,' 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop,' 'So I Married an Axe Murderer,' and 'You Don't Mess With the Zohan.'

Back Catalogue Blu-ray: