DVDizzy.com: AUGUST 16-31, 2010 NEWS ARCHIVES

August 31, 2010 - Solitary Man stars Michael Douglas as a New York man who has fallen from grace. Far from alone, his destructive tendencies affect his girlfriend (Mary-Louise Parker), her teenage daughter (28 Weeks Later's Imogen Poots), his daughter (Jenna Fischer of "The Office"), his ex-wife (Susan Sarandon), and an old college buddy (Danny DeVito). Written by Brian Koppelman, who co-directed the film with his Rounders co-writer David Levien, Solitary Man comes to DVD next Tuesday from Anchor Bay with an audio commentary, a featurette, and the trailer. Full review...

Single-camera ABC sitcom "The Middle" stars Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") and Neil Flynn ("Scrubs") as a married Indiana couple with three trying kids. Season 1 comes to DVD today and we've got a review. Warner's 3-disc set holds 24 episodes plus deleted scenes, a gag reel, and two featurettes. Read all about the beginning of "The Middle"...

Our Disney DVD & Blu-ray Schedule has been updated with contents for October's Have a Laugh DVDs and other known releases for the remainder of 2010. Check it out!

August 29, 2010 - Lionsgate's upcoming DVD "Fraggle Rock": Scared Silly bundles three episodes of Jim Henson's fondly remembered 1980s Muppet TV series. The theme is fear and the timing ties this compilation to the Halloween retail season. The disc also holds an installment of the animated "Fraggle Rock" series, a sing-along song, and a complete episode of "Jim Henson's Animal Show with Stinky & Jake." Full review...

August 28, 2010 - You may have heard of our latest DVD review subject: "The Simpsons". The Thirteenth Season aimed at make us laugh again following the September 2001 terrorist attacks. In these 22 episodes, the Simpsons visit Brazil, Toronto, and Branson. Springfield makes it into the Duff Book of World Records. Guest stars include Ben Stiller, Reese Witherspoon, Richard Gere, Pierce Brosnan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, R.E.M., Phish, and Stan Lee. There are even Simpsons versions of Homer's Odyssey and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Now available, Fox's 4-disc set pulls out all the stops once again, with an audio commentary on every episode, deleted scenes, storyboard & animatic comparisons, sketch galleries, short featurettes, Ralph Wiggum highlights, commercials, and more than a few Easter eggs. Our thorough 2-page review fills you in on all of the above with lots of colorful screencaps.

August 27, 2010 - Disney has officially announced the Blu-ray debuts of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 for November 30th. Originally primed for the Diamond Edition line, the musical animated features will instead be released as a 2 Movie Collection in a 4-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray + DVD Combo ($45.99 SRP) and a concurrent 2-Disc Special Edition DVD ($39.99 SRP). Rather than delivering the advertised Fantasia World that was believed to have compiled a number of recent unavailable Disney shorts, the movies will be joined only by the Oscar-nominated Walt Disney/Salvador Dali collaboration Destino completed in 2003 and only on Blu-ray. Other Blu-ray exclusives include the documentary "Dali & Disney: A Date with Destino", BD-Live feature "Disney's Virtual Vault", an interactive art gallery, DisneyView sidebar art, and detailed notes from the newly-discovered Schultheis Notebook. Available on both the Blu-ray and DVD discs are audio commentaries and the featurettes "Disney Family Museum" and "Musicana: Walt's Inspiration for a Fantasia Sequel". Click here for cover art.

August 26, 2010 - We've got a look at Fox's Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy combo of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Adapted from the Jeff Kinney book series, this movie offers a comedic look at an average sixth grader's adventures in middle school. Now available, "The Cheesiest Edition" serves up deleted scenes, in-character shorts, a filmmakers' audio commentary, and more in a case that includes two diary entries from best friend Rowley. Read the full review.

August 24, 2010 - City Island centers on a secretive Italian-American Bronx family. This acclaimed independent dramedy stars Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, Emily Mortimer, and Alan Arkin. Now available, Anchor Bay's DVD includes an audio commentary by Garcia and writer/director Raymond De Felitta, deleted scenes, the featurette "Dinner with the Rizzos", and the trailer. Read our review.

As summer winds down, studios increase their DVD and Blu-ray release output. Get informed about all of today's new releases and read our full reviews of "The Simpsons": The Thirteenth Season, City Island, The Back-up Plan, and $5 a Day.

August 22, 2010 - Aaron Wallace renders tonight Date Night, with his look at the Blu-ray release of this hit mistaken identity comedy. Steve Carell and Tina Fey star as a married New Jersey couple who get mixed up with deadly criminals during their night in the city. Fox's set provides theatrical and extended cuts of the film plus deleted & extended scenes, an audio commentary by director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum), a gag reel, outtakes, camera tests, featurettes, and more. Read on.

$5 a Day stars Christopher Walken as a frugal, fraudulent old man looking to reconnect with his estranged son (Alessandro Nivola) on a cross-country road trip. Sharon Stone, Amanda Peet, Dean Cain, and Peter Coyote co-star in this independent dramedy. Available Tuesday, Image Entertainment's DVD includes cast and crew interviews, photo galleries, and a trailer. Full review.

August 20, 2010 - Amazon.com has added a new listing for a 10-disc Toy Story Trilogy Collection. The set will serve up a Blu-ray disc, a DVD, and a digital copy DVD-ROM for each film (with TS3 carrying a bonus Blu-ray as elsewhere). Though the list price is an even $100, Amazon is currently selling the collection for $69.99 (which could lower with their pre-order price guarantee).

August 19, 2010 - The second movie released by CBS Films, The Back-up Plan, provides a return vehicle for Jennifer Lopez after a few years away from acting. Lopez plays a New York pet shop owner who falls for a guy (Alex Loughlin, "Moonlight") immediately after getting pregnant through artificial insemination. This romantic comedy comes to disc next week with deleted scenes and a making-of featurette. Read our review.

Cemetery Junction is the first feature film written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators of "The Office" and "Extras." The movie came to DVD and Blu-ray this week, without having received an American theatrical run. Set in 1973 England, this coming-of-age dramedy centers on three friends uncertain if small town life is for them. Gervais, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, and Emily Watson provide support to young leads largely unknown to audiences across the pond. Sony's DVD includes a Gervais & Merchant audio commentary, a cast commentary, deleted scenes, bloopers, and two interview-based featurettes. Read our review.

August 17, 2010 - "Cougar Town", an ABC sitcom from "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence and writer Kevin Biegel, stars Courteney Cox as Jules Cobb, a divorced 40-year-old Florida real estate agent. Despite the title, the series quickly strays from Jules' younger man search, instead telling other stories pertaining to Jules, her family (including her 18-year-old son and ex-husband), and her neighbors and friends. Now available, Disney's The Complete First Season DVD holds 24 episodes on three discs. Bonuses include a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, bloopers, two webisode advice series, a "Jimmy Kimmel Live" sketch, and a music video. Our review includes a clip of the show and of a bonus. Read on...

In our latest review, Kelvin Cedeno takes a look at the Blu-ray debut of John Carpenter's post-apocalyptic cult classic Escape from New York. Set in 1997 and released in 1981, this career-changing sci-fi action flick stars Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, a skilled criminal given 24 hours to recover the President of the United States from the tough maximum security prison into which the entire island of Manhattan has been converted. Lee Van Cleef, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, and Isaac Hayes co-star. This recent MGM release includes a DVD alongside the hi-def disc, but both will disappoint some fans. Read the full review.

Get informed about all of today's new DVD and Blu-ray releases on our August schedule and go deeper with our reviews of "Cougar Town": The Complete First Season, The Last Song, Cemetery Junction, Skellig: The Owl Man, "Wolverine and the X-Men": Final Crisis Trilogy,

August 13, 2010 - UPDATED with bonus features! Per a tradition now in its fifth year, Disney has announced a November home video debut for this summer's Pixar movie. Toy Story 3 will be available on November 2nd in a single-disc DVD ($29.99 SRP), a 2-disc Blu-ray ($39.99 SRP), and a 4-disc Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy combo ($45.99 SRP). Plans for a two-disc DVD and a Combo gift set appear to have been dashed.

Adding to the trend to devalue the format still bought by a large majority of customers, the DVD will contain relatively few extras: Pixar's theatrically accompanying short Day & Night, the film's epilogue on its own, Buzz Lightyear mission log "The Science of Adventure", a "Paths to Pixar" piece on the studio's editors, "Studio Stories" on a cereal bar and a clean start, the featurette "Toys!" and "A Toy's Eye View" on Hong Kong Disneyland's Playland. Exclusive to Blu-ray are a Cine-Explore with audio commentary by director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla Anderson; an alternative commentary by the movie's lead story, technical, and animation artists; "Toy Story Trivia Dash" with Woody, Buzz, Rex, and Jessie; additional studio story "Where's Gordon?"; roundtable discussion "Bonnie's Playtime"; a Day & Night making-of; and 6 additional featurettes: "The Gang's All Here" (voice cast), "Beginnings: Setting a Story in Motion", "Goodbye Andy" (character design), "Roundin' Up a Western Opening", "The Accidental Toymakers of Pixar", and "Life of a Shot." The 4-Disc Combo Pack will pair up the light DVD and jam-packed Blu-ray discs and add a digital copy of the film.

Check out the cover art or place your Amazon.com preorder. Pixar's second sequel has become its all-time top-grossing film (not adjusted for inflation). The acclaimed day care center adventure will soon cross the $400 million domestic mark only eclipsed ten previous films (one of them animated). It's also poised to become only the seventh film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

Joining the blockbuster in stores (and snagging a spot once held for Finding Nemo's Blu-ray debut) as the now standard Pixar cross-promote is Mater's Tall Tales, which collects nine of the "Cars Toons" shorts that center on Lightning McQueen's trusty, rusty tow truck pal Mater. Two of these cartoons (Mater Private Eye and Moon Mater) have never before been released. The 38-minute compilation will be available on DVD ($26.99 SRP) and in a Blu-ray + DVD Combo pack ($29.99 SRP). Bonus features will include the featurette "Unmade Tall Tales" and a sneak peek of Disneyland's forthcoming Cars Land. Cover art.

Upcoming Disney Movies has been updated, with new write-ups on today's limited opener Tales from Earthsea and Prom, plus revisions to John Carter of Mars, Frankenweenie, Monsters, Inc. 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Toy Story 3, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Demi Moore and David Duchovny star in The Joneses, a new dramedy about a perfect suburban family that is really a corporate team trying to sell products to their neighbors. It's now available with deleted scenes. Kelvin Cedeno reviews the Blu-ray.

August 12, 2010 - "Wolverine and the X-Men": Final Crisis Trilogy brings Marvel's single-season animated TV series to a close with a three-part arc involving Jean Grey's abduction, Emma Frost's apparent duplicity, Magneto's war plan and Wolverine's anger at it all. Available next week from Lionsgate, the DVD includes writers' audio commentaries on the full saga, but there is one good reason not to add it to your collection. Find out...

August 10, 2010 - Skellig: The Owl Man is adapted from the award-winning 1998 children's novel by David Almond. In it, a boy (Bill Milner) discovers and befriends a strange man (Tim Roth) living in the garden shed of his family's rundown new rural home. Kelly Macdonald and John Simm co-star in this dramatic PG-rated fantasy with wings. Over a year after its British TV debut, the movie comes to DVD and Blu-ray next week. Full review...

Learn about today's new releases: August 10th DVD and Blu-rays.

August 9, 2010 - Miley Cyrus takes the first step towards a post-"Hannah Montana" acting career in The Last Song, a PG-rated Touchstone Pictures romance written by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook). Tough teen girl Ronnie (Cyrus) finds love with a local boy (Liam Hemsworth) while spending the summer with her divorced father (Greg Kinnear) in Georgia. I wonder if somebody will die... In stores next week, Disney's Blu-ray + DVD combo includes an audio commentary, Cyrus' music video with making-of featurette, and -- exclusive to Blu-ray -- deleted scenes and an alternate opening. Read the full review.

Sony has announced an October 5th home video release date for its well-received Jaden Smith/Jackie Chan kung fu remake of The Karate Kid. The $173 million-grossing family drama will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy Combo, both including Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never" music video. See the press release for full details. Cover art...

August 7, 2010 - Death at a Funeral questionably remakes the 2007 British film of the same name. This dark comedy about a patriarch's disastrous memorial service boasts a large, familiar ensemble cast headed by Chris Rock, who also produced and co-updated the original script. Joining him as relatives and family friends are Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Luke Wilson, James Marsden, Danny Glover, and lone holdover Peter Dinklage. Available Tuesday, Sony's DVD includes deleted scenes, a gag reel, three featurettes, and an audio commentary by Rock and director Neil LaBute. Read our full review.

August 6, 2010 - Disney appears to be warming to complete TV series DVD releases. Following the upcoming sets for "Scrubs" and "Lost", the studio is gathering the seven seasons of "The Golden Girls" in The 25th Anniversary Complete Collection ($149.99 SRP). Available November 9th, the 21-disc set will be packaged in a replica of Sophia's purse with collectible playing cards featuring the girls. Click here for packaging art and here to preorder from Amazon.com.

August 4, 2010 - Our newest review looks at The Criterion Collection's upcoming release of Crumb, Terry Zwigoff's acclaimed 1995 documentary about underground comix godfather Robert Crumb and his dysfunctional family. Available next week, the DVD includes a new Zwigoff audio commentary, a previous one by Zwigoff and Roger Ebert, nearly an hour of unused footage, a stills gallery, and some valuable in-case inserts. Full review...

Disney's press release for the September 14th DVD and Blu-ray release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time reveals the studio's efforts to make Blu-ray + DVD combos customers' first choice when buying. Though this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced sword and sandal epic, adapted from the popular video game series, performed well overseas (grossing over $200 million from foreign audiences), it was a complete dud stateside, earning less than half of its massive $200 million budget in North America. It's safe to say that the colon and subtitle were in vain. Read the announcement (with embedded video trailer).

August 1, 2010 - New month, new schedules. Check 'em out: August, September, October & Beyond.

Recent DVD and Blu-ray Reviews:
• After.Life - Christina Ricci plays a young schoolteacher who is killed in a car crash. At least that's what she is told by a funeral director (Liam Neeson) who claims he can communicate with the recently deceased. Anchor Bay's DVD includes a director's audio commentary, a making-of featurette, and the trailer.
• James and the Giant Peach (Special Edition Blu-ray + DVD) - The second and less famous of the 1990s stop-motion fantasies directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, this adapts one of Roald Dahl's most beloved novels. A young boy escapes the home of his abusive aunts Spiker and Sponge in a giant peach he shares with human-sized talking insects.
• Kick-Ass (Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack - Average comic book-loving teen Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) appoints himself a defender of New York. He is joined by foul-mouthed pre-teen Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her dramatic Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), who have bones to pick with a local kingpin (Mark Strong). Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse also enters the mix as a rich kid who becomes Red Mist.
• "The New Adventures of Old Christine": The Complete Third Season - This 2-disc manufactured on demand set is now available exclusively online direct from Warner. "Seinfeld"'s Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as a divorced Angeleno mom in this Emmy-winning CBS sitcom. Available exclusively from Warner online, the strike-shortened Season 3 includes guest appearances by Blair Underwood, Andy Richter, Dave Foley, and Jason Alexander.
• Henson's Place: The Man Behind the Muppets - Produced for British television, this 1984 documentary interviews the legendary Jim Henson and seven of his colleagues at the height of their film and TV success. Lionsgate's DVD includes a thorough look at 1985-86's The Amphibian, Henson Associates' first company yearbook, with commentary from its producer.
• Accidents Happen - Geena Davis returns in this limited-release coming of age dramedy as the menopausal matriarch of a 1980s American family repeatedly visited by tragedy. On DVD, this Australian film is joined by featurettes, interviews, deleted scenes, and two trailers.
• The Runaways - This music biopic centers on Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) as they come together to form an all-girl rock band in 1975 Los Angeles. Oscar nominee Michael Shannon co-stars as their producer. Following a slight limited theatrical performance, the film is now on DVD with an audio commentary by Jett, Stewart, and Fanning plus two making-of featurettes that gather comments from Currie (on whose book the film is based).
• Hot Tub Time Machine (Blu-ray) - Three friends (John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson) and a nephew (Clark Duke) take a trip to a rundown old ski spot, only to find themselves back in 1986. Chevy Chase and Crispin Glover co-star. Fox's Blu-ray supplies theatrical and unrated cuts of this raunchy comedy plus deleted scenes, four promotional spots, the theatrical trailer, and a digital copy.
• Multiple Sarcasms - Timothy Hutton plays a depressed family man who starts writing a play about his life. Mira Sorvino, Dana Delany, Stockard Channing, and Mario Van Peebles co-star in the independent drama, whose DVD includes a making-of featurette, extended cast & crew interviews, and a trailer.
• A Town Called Panic - Adapted from the Aardman TV series, this French-language stop-motion-animated comedy from Belgium is set in an eclectic universe populated by cheap's children toys. When a misplaced online brick order results in the destruction of their home, housemates Cowboy, Indian, and Horse embark on an adventure that takes them to the earth's fiery core, the North Pole, and the underwater world of pointy-headed thieves. Zeitgeist Films' DVD includes a 55-minute making-of documentary, deleted scenes, animation tests, interview clips with creators Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, a contest-winning stop-motion short, and the film's U.S. trailer.
• Sesame Street: 20 Years...and Still Counting! - Bill Cosby hosts this hour-long 1989 NBC TV special, which now understates the longevity and legacy of the landmark children's series but still delights with highlights and original material. Ray Charles and Placido Domingo (with Placido Flamingo) perform along with reflections by Jim Henson, creator Joan Ganz Cooney, and grown-up fans and cast members.

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