Magnolia / 2010 / 126 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: July 05, 2011
Overall Grade 
Highly recommended
Genres: Periodic action packed, ancient warrior
Starring: Koji Yakusho
Director: Takashi Miike
Plot Synopsis: Cult director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition) delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era. 13 Assassins - a masterful exercise in cinematic butchery (New York Post) is centered around a group of elite samurai who are secretly enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord in order to prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war torn future.
Disc Features:
- Deleted Scenes (HD, 18 min.)
- Interview with Director Takashi Miike (HD, 19 min.)
- Trailer (HD, 2 min.)
Sony / 1981 / 208 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: July 05, 2011
Overall Grade Highly recommended Genres: Action packed, war
Starring: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Plot Synopsis: This 282-minute version of Das Boot is the full-length TV series, originally shown in six parts but here edited into a seamless whole. Director Wolfgang Petersen has since graduated to mega-budget Hollywood productions (2004's Troy for example), but has never managed to even come close to this, his German-language masterpiece. Petersen and his sterling cast (including Jürgen Prochnow in his best role as the U-boat Captain) went to great lengths to ensure that this claustrophobic depiction of life aboard the German sub U-97 while attacking British convoys in the Atlantic is thoroughly authentic, and totally convincing. Even the set itself, which is a replica of a U-boat interior, had no false walls, so all camera angles are necessarily from within its horribly narrow, overcrowded and sweaty confines. The result is certainly the finest submarine drama ever made, and one of the most compelling depictions of the physical, psychological and emotional effects of warfare.
This miniseries is rather longer than the movie version, which is also available on DVD in a director's cut version. The differences are not in matters of plot, but in the pacing: everything here takes longer to happen, while the crew must sit around, bicker, swear, and sweat it out--the agonizing searching for action, the tension of the attack, the terrible stress of hiding from enemy destroyers. Everything unfolds as if in real time, which is the great advantage a TV production has over a movie (contrast, for example, Band of Brothers with Saving Private Ryan). This, therefore, is the definitive presentation of a World War II classic.
Disc Features:
- Commentary with Director Wolfgang Petersen - Director Wolfgang Petersen is joined by actor Jürgen Prochnow and director's cut producer Ortwin Freyermuth on this commentary track.
- Back to the Boat - Documentary (HD, 45 min) – This is a recently produced documentary on the making of the film. Interviews with the cast and crew are included along with some behind-the-scenes footage.
- Maria's Take (HD, 9 min)
- The Perfect Boat – The Director's Cut (HD, 13 min)
- Captain's Tour – Inside the Boat (HD, 8 min)
- Behind the Scenes (1981) (SD, 1 hr)
- The Battle of the Atlantic (1983) (HD, 40 min) – The actual history behind German submarines is detailed here with lots of archive footage from the war and various interviews with German and British veterans describing the difficulties and strategy of their naval battles.
- BD-Live
Other releases/ Back catalog releases:
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