Hancock (Unrated) [Blu-ray]
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2008 / 90 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Action, comedy, super-hero
Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
Director: Peter Berg
Plot Synopsis: Hancock turns the standard superhero movie inside-out: The title character (Will Smith) can fly, has superstrength, and is invulnerable, but he's also a sloppy, alcoholic jerk who causes millions of dollars in property damage whenever he bothers to fight crime. When he saves the life of a public-relations agent named Ray (Jason Bateman,
Arrested Development), Ray decides to improve Hancock's image--starting by having Hancock surrender himself to the authorities and go to prison for his lawless behavior. The idea is that once he's in prison, the crime rate will go up, and people will start to realize Hancock might be of value after all. This is only the first act of
Hancock--from there, the movie takes several clever turns that shouldn't be revealed.
Hancock isn't a great movie (among other things, director Peter Berg overuses close-ups with a hand-held camera to a degree that may cause motion sickness), but it is an extremely entertaining one. The script, which holds together far better than most superhero movies, has a propulsive plot, good dialogue, some compassion for its characters, and even an actual idea or two. The spectacular action at least gestures towards obeying the laws of physics, which actually makes the special effects more vivid. The three leads (Smith, Bateman, and Charlize Theron as Ray's wife, Mary) deftly balance the movie's mixture of comedy, action, and drama. All in all, a smart subversive twist on a genre that all too often takes itself all too seriously.
Disc Features: - Featurette: "Superhumans: Making Hancock" (HD, 12 minutes) - This is your basic promo, clearly made at the time of the film's production.
- Featurette: "Seeing the Future" (HD, 15 minutes)
- Featurette: "Building a Better Hero" (HD, 8 minutes)
- Featurette: "Home Life" (HD, 11 minutes)
- Featurette: "Bumps and Bruises" (HD, 10 minutes)
- Featurette: "Suiting Up " (HD, 8 minutes) - A look at the Smith's superhero attire and the other costumes in the flick.
- Featurette: "Mere Mortals: Behind the Scenes with Dirty Pete" (HD, 4 minutes)
- Digital Copy (SD) - Rounding out the set is a Digital Copy of the film provided on a second DVD.
Meet Dave [Blu-ray]
Fox Home Entertainment / 2008 / 90 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Comedy
Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Gabrielle Union, Eddie Murphy
Plot Synopsis: There’s something that makes Dave stand out from everyone else in New York City. It’s that he’s an alien! More accurately, he’s an alien ship, on a mission to Earth to save his home planet. Torn between the voices in his head – a tiny alien crew led by a high-strung, miniature version of himself – and the world around him, Dave struggles to appear normal. But when he falls for an Earth woman, the consequences are hilarious in this “cleverly conceived…comedy” with “plenty of laughs for all ages." (Urban Cinefile)
Disc Features: • Featurette: "The Making Of Meet Dave"
• Fox Movie Channel Presents: "Life After Film School With Director Brian Robbins," "Making A Scene," "World Premiere"
• Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending
• Crew Profiles
Space Chimps [Blu-ray]
Fox Home Entertainment / 2008 / 81 Minutes / Rated G
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Adventure, Animated, Family, Science Fiction
Starring: Andy Samberg, Jane Lynch, Stanley Tucci
Plot Synopsis: When Ham III, the slacker grandson of NASA’s legendary chimpanzee astronaut, is recruited to help retrieve a lost space probe, he has a close encounter of the hilarious kind as he teams up with the lovely Lieutenant Luna and their by-the-book commander, Titan. But when the ship crash-lands on a strange planet, can this mismatched chimp crew work together to save the mission without driving each other bananas? The simian slacker becomes a reluctant hero and learns the true meaning of courage as he and his crewmates risk everything in an effort to save the peaceful inhabitants of a distant planet from an evil dictator.
Disc Features: • TV Special: "Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session"
• Still Gallery
• TV Spots
HD Exclusive Content: • Trivia Track
Superman - Doomsday [Blu-ray]
Warner Home Video / 2007 / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Adventure, Animated, Comic Book
Starring: Ray Wise, Anne Heche, Adam Baldwin
Directors: Brandon Vietti, Bruce Timm, Lauren Montgomery
Plot Synopsis: The most shocking showdown in Superman history! When Lexcorp accidentally unearths the intergalactic serial killer Doomsday, Superman battles the creature head on in the fight of his life...literally. The world collectively mourns their fallen hero; humanity realizes it will never feel truly safe again. Superman's enemies rejoice all but Lex Luthor, who grieves the loss in his own demented manner, setting off a chilling chain of events that even he couldn't have foreseen. Inspired by the bestselling graphic novel of all time, DC Comics' The Death of Superman, this feature-length animated adventure boasts exciting action sequences that rivals anything you've ever seen starring the Man of Steel!
Disc Features: • Audio Commentary • Featurettes: "When Heroes Die: The Making of Superman Doomsday," "The Clash of the Juggernauts," "Requiem and Rebirth: Superman Lives," "Superman Doomsday: Behind the Voices," "Justice League New Frontier"
• Four episodes of 'Superman: The Animated Series hand-picked by Bruce Timm
• Wonder Woman Sneak Peek
Fred Claus [Blu-ray]
Warner Home Video / 2007 / Rated PG
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Comedy, Family, Holiday
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Stephen Baldwin
Director: David Dobkin
Plot Synopsis: Vince Vaughn is enormously enjoyable as the titular
Fred Claus, disgruntled older brother of the better-known St. Nicholas himself, i.e., the North Pole’s very own Santa (Paul Giamatti). A garrulous hustler running from the emotional fallout of the ultimate sibling rivalry, poor Fred keeps trying to find happiness through one failed scheme after another, pushing away the people who care about him most. When brother Santa puts the squeeze on him to help out in the toy factory atop the world, Fred turns the place into one big, raucous party. Unfortunately, he’s unaware that Santa and Mrs. Claus (Miranda Richardson) are under tight scrutiny from an oversight committee (represented by a calculating Kevin Spacey) and could be shut down. The film, directed by David Dobkin (
Wedding Crashers), gleams and twinkles the way a holiday movie should, and has plenty of fun material for youngsters, including a wacky chase scene in which Fred goes on the run from a half-dozen, angry Salvation Army Santas. But
Fred Claus is also supposed to appeal to hip adults with a taste for ironic farce, and on that score the movie feels like a succession of
Saturday Night Live skits more than an organic whole. Still, Vaughn holds everything together with a smart, insightful performance that looks deep into his character’s torment--with more than a few laughs.
Disc Features: • Audio commentary by director David Dobkin
• 3 Featurettes (HD): "Pause for Claus: Elves Tell All," "Sibling Rivalry," "Behind the Scenes of This Winter Wonderland"
• Additional scenes
• "Vince and Paul's Fireside Chats" - The stars interview each other
• Music Video: "Ludacrismis" by Ludacris
The Kingdom [Blu-ray]
Universal Studios Home Video / 2007 / 110 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Action, drama, military
Starring: Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx
Director: Peter Berg
Disc Features: • Audio Commentary With Director Peter Berg
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes: "Character By Character: The Apartment Shootout," "History of The Kingdom: An Interactive Timeline," "Constructing The Freeway Sequence," "Creating The Kingdom"
#Bonus material (in Standard-Definition):
- Audio Commentary by director Peter Berg
- Freeway Sequence
- Making Of
#Bonus material (in High-Definition):
- U-Control (Tutorial, The Mission Dossier, BonusView)
- Deleted Scenes
- The Mission Dossier
- The history of operation: Kingdom
HD Exclusive Content: • Picture-in-Picture (Bonus View)
Jarhead [Blu-ray]
Universal Studios Home Video / 2005 / 123 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Action, drama
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal,
Chris Cooper, Jamie Foxx Director: Sam Mendez
Plot Synopsis: Based on Anthony Swofford’s excellent
memoir about his experiences as a Marine Sniper in Gulf War I,
Jarhead is a war movie in which the waiting is a far greater factor upon the characters than the war itself, and the build up to combat is more drama than what combat is depicted. To some viewers hoping for typical movie action, this will seem like a cruel joke. But it’s not. It’s just the story as it was written, and if you liked the book, you will probably like the movie. If you didn’t, then the movie won’t change your mind.
The movie follows the trajectory of Swofford (played with thoughtful intensity by Jake Gyllenhaal) from wayward Marine recruit (he joined because he "got lost on the way to college") to skilled Marine sniper, and on into the desert in preparation for the attack on Iraq. No-nonsense, Marine-for-life Staff Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx), the man who recruited Swofford and his spotter Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) into the sniper team, leads them in training, and in waiting where their lives are dominated by endless tension, pointless exercises in absurdity (like playing football in the scorching heat of the desert in their gas masks so it will look better for the media’s TV cameras), more training, and constant anticipation of the moment to come when they’ll finally get to kill. When the war does come, it moves too fast for Swofford’s sniper team, and the one chance they get at a kill--to do the one thing they’ve trained so hard and waited so long for--eludes them, leaving them to wonder what was the point of all they had endured.
As directed by Sam Mendes (
American Beauty), the movie remains very loyal to the language and vision of the book, but it doesn’t entirely work as the film needs something more than a literal translation to bring out its full potential. Mendes’s stark and, at times, apocalyptic visuals add a lot and strike the right tone: wide shots of inky-black oil raining down on the vast, empty desert from flaming oil wells contrasted with close-ups of crude-soaked faces struggling through the mire vividly bring to life the meaning of the tagline "welcome to the suck." But much of the second half of the movie will probably leave some viewers feeling disappointed in the cinematic experience, while others might appreciate its microcosmic depiction of modern chaos and aimlessness.
Jarhead is one of those examples where the book is better than the movie, but not for lack of trying.
Disc Features:
Audio Commentaries - Director Sam Mendes offers the first commentary, and it's pretty straightforward.
Dreamboat Annie Live [Blu-ray]
Summit Entertainment / 2007 / Unrated
Street Date: November 25, 2008
Genres: Music
Plot Synopsis: Watch Ann and Nancy Wilson as they play their legendary debut album Dreamboat Annie live for the first time ever. The band tears into their hits "Crazy On You" and "Magic Man," and cover classic by Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd. Legendary Albums Live also contains fresh interview footage with the Wilson sisters as they recount their rise as a rock band and talk about some their greatest influences.
Four Christmases
Australia
Transporter 3
