March 21st, 2011
It's a deceptively slow week when it comes to DVD and Blu-ray releases. Have I mentioned how much I love the word, "deceptively"? It is worse than meaningless and actually reduces the amount of information given in any sentence it appears in. In this case, the first sentence could mean the week appears to be slow, but it is actually quite busy. Or it could mean the week appears busy, but is quite slow. Unfortunately, it's the latter. There are four first run releases coming out on the home market, which is more than most weeks, but all four missed expectations to one degree or another. Additionally, there's only one new release that I'm seriously considering for Pick of the Week, The Venture Bros.: Season Four on Blu-ray. In fact, there are a couple Blu-ray catalog titles that are more interesting than any of the first run releases. Leading the way there is Stand By Me, which is not only a great movie, but the Blu-ray isn't shovelware and includes Blu-ray exclusive extras like a Picture-in-Picture track. So which release is the Pick of the Week? I can't decide, so let's call it a tie.
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March 18th, 2011
The Absent is a low-budget horror film that its director, Sage Bannick, had been trying to get made for a while. When he gave up on trying to make the film in the studio system, he made it on his own, but with a much lower budget and therefore with fewer resources. But will this adversely effect the film? Or will the trade-off between money and creative control be worth it?
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March 14th, 2011
Another exhaustingly slow week. It seems like forever since there was a week with two or more top-tier releases. There is one film that was a hit both at the box office and with critics, The Fighter, while most of the rest failed to succeed in both areas and during a normal week many would have not even been worth mentioning. That said, The Fighter would have been a contender for Pick of the Week even if the competition was stronger than average and the DVD or the Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack is worth grabbing.
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January 7th, 2011
If you are interested in winning Oscars, you are a week late. Since its too late to go for Oscars, and the competition in the limited release front is so strong, this time of year tends to be soft when it comes to quality limited releases. However, it's not all bleak, and there's one or two that are winning over critics or have a shot at cracking $1 million at the box office.
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