UltimateDisney.com and DVDizzy.com: February 1-15, 2010: News Archives
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February 15, 2010 - Head back to the Clubhouse for Aaron Wallace's "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse": Minnie's Bow-tique review. The DVD disc born out of the Playhouse Disney series, this one holds four episodes prominently featuring Minnie Mouse. Two of these are unaired and two of them are equipped with four types of Adventure Mode playback. Click here for the full review.
Kelvin Cedeno brings us a review of Amelia, Fox's much-anticipated but little-noticed Amelia Earhart biopic. Mira Nair directs Hilary Swank as the pioneer aviatrix, while Richard Gere plays husband George Putnam. The now available Blu-ray includes deleted scenes (featuring Virginia Madsen as Putnam's cut first wife), several featurettes, and a digital copy. Read the full review.
February 12, 2010 - We've just posted our review of "Shaun the Sheep": A Woolly Good Time. This stop-motion claymation series from Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations returns to DVD next week in a new compilation from HiT Entertainment and Lionsgate. This one includes a sing-along and short making-of featurette. More...
February 9, 2010 - Our newest review looks at one of today's biggest releases: A Serious Man. The latest film from Joel and Ethan Coen, this dark comedy tells the tale of a Jewish 1960s physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) dealing with various life setbacks, from divorce to putting up his unstable brother (Richard Kind). Recently chosen as one of the ten films competing for the Best Picture Oscar, A Serious Man is joined by three bonus features on DVD. Read the full review.
Our Serious Man coverage doesn't stop there, however. Aaron Wallace brings us an interview with the film's Golden Globe-nominated star Michael Stuhlbarg in a 1-on-1 interview. Stuhlbarg, a veteran Tony-nominated stage actor, claims his first leading film role in the acclaimed film. He tells us how he landed the part, what it's like to act for the Coen Brothers, his take on the film's message, and what's next. Don't miss An Interview with Michael Stuhlbarg.
We've updated our new/upcoming release schedules: February, March, April & Beyond.
February 7, 2010 - Our latest DVD review covers "Gary Unmarried": The Complete First Season. The CBS sitcom stars Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall as a newly-divorced couple adjusting to family and love lives apart after 15 years together. Available this week, ABC/Disney's 3-disc set holds 20 episodes plus a making-of featurette, bloopers, and tours of the sets and Ed Begley, Jr.'s eco-friendly home. Click here for the full review.
February 6, 2010 - "Scrubs"' Sarah Chalke stars in our newest DVD review subject, Maneater. Chalke plays a 32-year-old L.A. socialite determined to marry who gets caught in a love triangle. In stores Tuesday, this 2009 two-part Lifetime miniseries co-stars Judy Greer, Philip Winchester, Marla Sokoloff, Noureen DeWulf, and Maria Conchita Alonso. Read on...
February 5, 2010 - Kelvin Cedeno brings us a new Blu-ray review of Whip It. Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut with this PG-13 comedy about a socially awkward teenaged girl (Juno's Ellen Page) who joins a roller derby league and finds it empowering. Now available, Fox's Blu-ray includes deleted scenes, a Fox Movie Channel interview, and a digital copy. Read the full review.
February 3, 2010 - There has been much speculation and uncertainty regarding Disney's home video plans for its most treasured animated classics. Last fall's premiere Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, has yet to be followed by a second release or even a firm announcement. Now, thanks to a tip from someone aware of Disney's retail schedules, we've gotten word of the studio's plans for its tentpole titles. This year's anticipated Diamond Editions are still on track to make it to stores in 2010. Beauty and the Beast is slated to make its Blu-ray debut in October, with Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 following in December. Meanwhile, already heavily-marketed Dumbo, which isn't part of the Diamond line but was clearly intended for re-release this week, won't arrive until February 2011 (rendering its proposed 70th Anniversary Edition moniker more accurate). Beyond that, a big October 2011 splash is expected for one of Disney's biggest all-time titles; The Lion King is set to bow on Blu-ray then. As always, all of these plans are subject to change until they're formally announced (and sometimes even after that). But we had to pass this news along to give you an idea of how long you'll be waiting for these highly-anticipated high-def debuts and standard-def returns.
Shia LaBeouf, Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Ethan Hawke, Julie Christie, Eli Wallach, Robin Wright Penn, and James Caan are just some of the many stars appearing in our latest review subject, New York, I Love You. A sequel in spirit to Paris, je'taime, this international production weaves together more than ten primarily romantic stories set in New York City. Now available, the DVD includes two bonus segments (one of which marks the writing/directing debut of Scarlett Johansson), remarks from Brett Ratner and four other directors, and the trailer. Read the full review.
February 2, 2010 - This morning, Up became only the second animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. (Only Beauty and the Beast previously did it.) An asterisk may be required, though, as this year the Oscars doubled the Best Picture field from five contenders to ten. Pixar's film will compete against Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air. While Up isn't expected to win the top prize, it is the favorite in the Best Animated Feature category, where it faces Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, and surprise nominee The Secret of Kells. For the full list of nominations, visit Oscar.com.
January 30, 2010 - Are you ready for some football? If so, put on your pads for our review of Air Bud: Golden Receiver Special Edition. In this theatrically-released 1998 sequel, the wonder dog and his best friend Josh (Kevin Zegers) join Fernfield's football team, while Josh's widowed mom (Cynthia Stevenson) begins dating the family's new vet. In stores Tuesday, this unlikely re-release subject contains a sports report from Buddy's kids (the talking puppies of the popular "Buddies" movies) and a whistle. Be sure to read this review.
January 29, 2010 - Our newest review looks at the acclaimed horror comedy Zombieland. With humanity threatened by ravenous zombies, a college student (Jesse Eisenberg), a Southern man (Woody Harrelson), and two sisters (Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin) join forces to stay alive, wipe out the undead, and enjoy life's little pleasures. Available next week, Sony's DVD includes an audio commentary, two featurettes, deleted scenes, visual effects deconstructions, promotional trailers, a webisode, and seven Easter eggs. Don't miss our full review.
Our March release schedule is filling up with DVD and Blu-ray news for movies released to theaters in the fall and around the holidays. Among the latest additions: The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Princess and the Frog, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and Where the Wild Things Are. Check it out.
January 27, 2010 - Our newest review subject, The Boys Are Back, is one of the latest Miramax films to come to DVD following a quiet theatrical run. Clive Owen stars as a widowed British sportswriter struggling to single-handedly rear his two sons in Australia. Based on Simon Carr's experiences and directed by Shine's Scott Hicks, this PG-13 drama is now available with a narrated photo gallery and featurette. Read the full review.
Old Dogs, the underperforming Robin Williams and John Travolta PG-rated comedy, will be released March 9th in a single-disc DVD ($29.99 SRP), a single-disc Blu-ray ($39.99 SRP), and in a three-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack ($44.99 SRP). The DVD will include only bloopers and deleted scenes, while the standalone Blu-ray adds Travolta and daughter Ella Bleu's "Every Little Step" music video. Besides the digital copy, the Combo will also contain two additional exclusives in Bryan Adams' "You've Been a Friend to Me" music video and the featurette "Young Dogs Learn Old Tricks."
Soon to gross $100 million domestically, Princess and the Frog leaps to home video on March 16th in the same three arrangements as Old Dogs. Its single-disc DVD will hold a filmmakers' audio commentary, deleted scenes, a Princess Portraits game, and a music video for Ne-Yo's end credits song "I Never Knew I Needed You." The Blu-ray disc, which will be the same on its own and in the Combo with DVD and digital copy, will add a number of exclusives including art galleries and the featurettes "The Disney Legacy", "The Making of a Princess", "Disney's Newest Princess", "Conjuring the Villain", "The Return to Hand-Drawn Animation" and "Bringing Life to Animation."
Cover art for The Princess and the Frog and Old Dogs plus a third update for the Toy Story Blu-rays coming the same month can all be seen here.
Recent DVD and Blu-ray Reviews:
• Surrogates (Blu-ray & DVD) - Adapted from a graphic novel, Touchstone Pictures' PG-13 sci-fi action film is set in a near-future where humans live vicariously through picture-perfect robots. Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell star as FBI agents investigating the first homicide to have occured in years. [Related Interview: Director Jonathan Mostow]
• I [Heart] Jonas - Just in time for Valentine's Day, the second 7-episode compilation of the Jonas Brothers' single-camera sitcom arrives with magnets of all three Jonases and an exclusive feature in which American Idol winner Jordin Sparks gets "JoBro'd!" (pranked).
• "Make It or Break It": Volume One - This ABC Family original drama centers on four competitive teen gymnasts and their lives on and off the mats. Disney's 2-disc set holds all ten hour-long episodes (one of which is extended) plus deleted scenes and a featurette.
• Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side (Blu-ray) - This second send-up of Star Wars films has Seth MacFarlane's irreverent animated comedy retelling The Empire Strikes Back with the Griffin family and friends in the parts. The hour-long feature is accompanied by an audio commentary, a fact track, two table reads, a featurette, an animatic comparison, and, only on Blu-ray, a digital copy.
• "10 Things I Hate About You": Volume One - This single-camera ABC Family original sitcom revives the characters from Touchstone's 1999 teen comedy film, depicting the Stratford sisters' life as the new girls in a California high school. The 2-disc set holds the ten episodes aired to date, two cast/crew audio commentaries, bloopers, the pilot episode of gymnastics drama "Make It or Break It", and two featurettes.
• Jennifer's Body (Blu-ray) - Diablo Cody's follow-up to her Oscar-winning Juno screenplay is a darkly comedic horror film about a cheerleader (Megan Fox) and best friend (Amanda Seyfried) whose lives change after a chaotic concert fire. Fox's recent Blu-ray holds both the film's theatrical cut and an extended version plus two audio commentaries, deleted scenes, video diaries, a gag reel, and more.
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