HBO / 2010 / 730 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: May 31, 2011
Genres: TV series, vampires, werewolves
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard and William Fichtner
Director: Patrick Lussier
Plot Synopsis: The 12 episodes composing True Blood: The Complete Third Season are either the best yet or the most ridiculous, depending on one's opinion of the increasing number of monsters entering the scene. As last season saw an onslaught of pagan and ancient Greek-derived "supernaturals," as they're called by Bon Temps' citizens, this season welcomes everything from werewolves, to vampire royalty, to that surprise-being that Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) finally discovers she shares genes with. While the first two seasons centered on the spicy love affair between Sookie and Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), this season branches out once again from the vampire-human cultural blender. From the first episode, "Bad Blood," when Bill is whisked off to meet the King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington (Denis O'Hare), whose villainous scheme will inform all ensuing episodes, one gets less of Sookie and Bill, and more of everything else. For example, Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) reveals himself this time around, starting in the episodes "Beautifully Broken" and "It Hurts Me Too," in which he tracks down members of his past and in turn meets some new family, like his mischievous brother, Tommy Mickens (Marshall Allman). Following up on Eggs's death at the end of season two, Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) and Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) have multiple police dramas, especially in later episodes like "I Smell a Rat" and "Fresh Blood." This season, too, presents some of life's greatest challenges to Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), as if she hadn't suffered enough after her new love Eggs was shot. Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), as a foil couple to Sookie and Bill's vampire-human coupling, have enormous hurdles to jump over simply to continue dating. While all of these dramas make the characters in Bon Temps come alive like never before, the silliest of the plots continues on, unfortunately, as Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq (Evan Rachel Wood) has to battle King Edgington for Vamp-Blood sales territory. On the up side of that chess-game narrative, Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) and his femme fatale, Pam De Beaufort (Kristin Bauer), play much larger roles this season, and in the finale, "Evil Is Going On," Eric not only discovers his deep past history but struggles through his rockiest present dangers thus far.
Interestingly, though Sookie is still the protagonist, True Blood appears to be shifting to a wider view, emphasizing the overall community and the effects supernatural warfare has on Bon Temps collectively. Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis), still one of the most charming characters, discovers more about his past, thanks to nurse Jesus Velasquez (Kevin Alejandro), and Jason too discovers a new calling, thanks to Crystal Norris (Lindsay Pulsipher). If anything, this season of past recollections and the realizations of future callings will allow for this excellent series to carry on into infinity, as magical creatures continue to grace this setting enriched with full-fledged characters. Vampires were, as the cast confirms this time around, only the beginning.
Disc Features:
- Audio Commentaries — Six of the season's episodes include commentaries. The tracks are for "Beautiful Broken," "It Hurts Me Too," "9 Crimes," "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues," "Hitting the Ground," and "Evil is Going On." Commentators include directors Scott Winant , Michael Lehmann, David Petrarca, Anthony Hemingway ; actors Alexander Skarsgard , Kristin Bauer Van Straten, Denis O'Hare, Anna Paquin, Joe Manganiello , Stephen Moyer ; and writers Alexander Woo and Brian Buckner.
- Post Mortems (HD, 22 min.)
- Anatomy of a Scene: Episode 2 (HD, 11 min.) — Alan Ball and the crew for the season's second episode put together a scene that includes a werewolf attack.
- True Blood Lines (HD)
- Previews and Recaps (HD)
- Music Video (HD, 3 min.) — Snoop Dog performs a song entitled "Oh Sookie".
Summit Entertainment / 2011 / 104 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: May 31, 2011
Genres: Action, Thriller, Fantasy
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard and William Fichtner
Director: Patrick Lussier
Plot Synopsis: Take lurid 1970s B movies about fast cars and loose women, add a dash of Nicolas Cage at his most deadpan, and sprinkle CGI and 3D technology on top, and you've got Drive Angry 3D. Damned badass Milton (Cage) literally busts out of hell to rescue his infant granddaughter from a Satan-worshiping cult leader named Jonah King (Billy Burke from the Twilight movies). On his way Milton picks up Piper (Amber Heard), a blond waitress with a bad attitude and a worse boyfriend. But hot on their trail is the Accountant (William Fichtner), a demonic emissary of ambiguous intentions but unstoppable power. From there it's a series of car chases, shootouts, and sex scenes, and sometimes sex scenes that are also shootouts (a bit that was done better, it must be said, in the underrated Shoot 'Em Up). Don't ask for coherence or common sense; this is a movie where pretty much any character's main motivation can be summed up as sheer cussedness. Drive Angry 3D maintains a general sleazy good humor, and Fichtner at least is enjoying himself--he's giving exactly the kind of unexpected, offbeat performance that Cage used to specialize in. (Cage himself is pretty lackluster here, sadly, and wearing one of his worst hairpieces to boot.) This is self-conscious trash; think of it as a companion piece, both in intention and quality, to Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse compilation.
Disc Features:
Access: Drive Angry –activate dynamic "scene specific" features including interviews with cast and filmmakers, track the body count in Milton's Mayhem, and more
Audio Commentary with Filmmakers Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer
Deleted Scenes with Filmmaker Commentary
Other releases/ Back catalog releases:
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