DVD and Blu-ray Releases for December 6th, 2011
December 6, 2011
I hate this time for year, because of the holidays. Due to the five-day Thanksgiving long weekend and the Christmas shipping rush, screeners are even more likely to arrive late. Most of the prime releases I'm supposed to review are still on route. It makes it hard to keep up to date on reviews, plus it makes it really hard to figure out what the Pick of the Week should be. The Help is in contention, but I want to see the Blu-ray first. In the end, I went with the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Extended Trilogy Box Set on Blu-ray.
24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to NHL Winter Classic - Buy from Amazon
Big Love: Buy from Amazon: Season Five or The Complete Series
Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon: Design for Living (The Criterion Collection), The Lady Vanishes (The Criterion Collection), Life, Above All, Madea, Mission: Impossible: Blu-ray Trilogy, Rapt, Santa Claus, Shakira: En Vivo Desde Paris, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and Vietnam in HD
3D Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon: IMAX: Arabia
Christmas Releases - Buy from Amazon: A Christmas Wish, Christmas Spirit, A Christmas Wedding Tail, Don't Open till Christmas, Elvira's Movie Macabre - Santa Claus Conquers The Martians / Beast From Haunted Cave, Santa Claus, Santa Claud (Blu-ray), and Santa Claus vs. The Zombies
Complete Series Megasets - Buy from Amazon: Big Love, Captain Power, Rozen Maiden, and Skeleton Warriors
Cowboys and Aliens - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
The Debt - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Designing Women: Season Five - Buy from Amazon
Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury - Buy from Amazon: DVD Double-Pack or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Elvira's Movie Macabre - Santa Claus Conquers The Martians / Beast From Haunted Cave - Buy from Amazon
The Game: Season Four - Buy from Amazon
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Extended Trilogy Box Set - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The Hangover II - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
The Help - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Jane Fonda: Prime Time: Trim, Tone & Flex - Buy from Amazon
Law & Order: Season Nine - Buy from Amazon
The Love We Make - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXII - Buy from Amazon
Perry Mason: Season Six, Volume Two - Buy from Amazon: Buy from Amazon
Point Blank - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Portlandia - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Sarah Jane Adventures: Complete Fourth Season - Buy from Amazon
The Simpsons: Season 14 - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The Winter Classic is the annual outdoors game played in the NHL. These have become quite popular since they started and this DVD shows the behind-the-scenes preparation for the game. Is it worth picking up for fans of the game? Won't know till the screener arrives.
Still Waiting for the screener for this release, although I don't know if I'll be receiving the final season or the complete series.
The best of the rest of the Blu-ray releases are led by a couple of Criterion Collection releases, while Santa Claus is a must have for fans of B-movies. A couple more notes. Firstly, I hope to get Tora! Tora! Tora! shortly. Secondly, I was able to look over the Mission: Impossible release and it's just the old Blu-ray with a new box. Granted, it's cheap, but the technology has improved over the past few years, I was hoping for improved audio / video quality.
Only one 3D title this week, and it's edutainment, so it is unlikely to be a factor in overall sales.
There's quite a few Christmas releases this week, including a couple of horror films and a couple of B-movie classics. Personally, I want to see the Elvira release the most.
Only handful of Complete Series Megasets, including only one that could sell significant numbers.
Just a quick note that I'm expecting to get a screener, but it is currently late.
A late summer release, which usually means its garbage. However, the film earned very strong reviews and did quite well at the box office given its small opening weekend theater count. I'm hoping to get a screener and at the moment without knowing the details of the extras, it's on the border between being a rental or being worth a purchase.
This series earned 18 Emmy nominations, but only won one (for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series). This is the last season for both Delta Burke and Jean Smart and for many fans, it's the last season worth picking up.
Fans of How to Train Your Dragon have to wait a couple more years for the sequel, but they can fill the time with this DVD and / or Blu-ray. But is it worth checking out? And is there enough entertainment value to make it worth picking up? Read our review for my opinion.
So far I've put in requests for every Elvira DVD that has come out this year, and so far I've received none of them. This hasn't arrived yet, but I remain hopeful that it will.
This is the first season for the show on BET, but I won't know if the changes were for the better till after the screener arrives.
With the remake coming out in just a few weeks, it makes perfect sense to re-release the franchise on DVD / Blu-ray. This is the original version of the movie, not the one cut for American audiences, plus there's a bonus disc with hours of special features. Worth picking up if you are a fan of the franchise.
The Hangover was one of the biggest surprise hits of 2009, so it was inevitable they would make a sequel. However, this time around the reviews were much worse than before. There are almost no extras on the DVD, just some outtakes, while the Blu-ray has a couple featurettes. If you were a big fan of the first film, it still just adds up to a rental.
Just a quick note that the screener arrived, but it arrived late. I'll get to the review A.S.A.P.
A Christmas special set in the Ice Age world. Is it worth checking out for those waiting for Continental Drift? And is it good value for the money? Check out our review for my opinion.
You know it's a slow week when an exercise video cracks the front page on Amazon's list of new releases.
Great show, weak DVD releases. Shows that deal with murder mysteries generally need some extras on the DVD to be worth picking up, especially if they don't have a season-long arc that demands watching the episodes in the proper order to make sense. And since this show is syndicated practically 24 hours a day, it's hard to recommend the DVD release over just watching repeats on TV.
A behind-the-scenes documentary look at Paul McCartney's journey through New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attack, while he prepared for The Concert For New York City.
The penultimate season of of Lucille Ball classic series from the 1960s. The previous season stumbled a bit, but was it able to recover? Check out our review to find out.
One of my favorite TV shows of all time. So how does the latest volume compare to those released in the past? Won't know till the screener arrives.
This film struggled to find a sizable audience during its theatrical run. It was able to match its production budget, but wasn't able to reach $100 million. Will it perform better on the home market? Read our review for my opinion.
One of the first and most well known courtroom dramas. It lasted on the air for nearly a decade in its original form (not to mention countless TV movies later on). Is the latest DVD release able to live up to previous ones? Check out our review for my opinion.
A doctor saves a man's life, but that man is a mob boss. And when his underlings kidnap the doctor's wife, the doctor is forced to help the mob boss escape the hospital and get to freedom,
A TV show focuses on a yuppie / left-wing enclave in Portland and the problems they have while trying to life an "organic" lifestyle. The film has earned good reviews and it is worth checking out for those who check to make sure their coffee is fair trade, as well as those who like to make fun of those people. It is especially good if you are in both groups. And let's face it, a lot of people who do check labels do like to make fun of those who take the practice way too seriously.
A low budget horror film coming out Direct-to-DVD. Can it rise above this lowly description? Check out our review to find out.
A Doctor Who spin-off aimed at a younger target demographic than the main show. That said, even adult fans of the show might want to pick it up and it is a great way to get kids into Science Fiction.
Still waiting for the screener. I'm 90% sure I've seen all of the episodes from this season, or at least the vast majority of them. However, I can't remember enough to say how much the show had fallen off its peak without a quiet refresher. It is also coming out on a Limited Edition, but it costs $5 more for just a different box.
The show finally releases a full-season DVD after countless single-disc releases. How many episodes here were previously reviewed? And are the remainder worth all the double-dips? Read our review to find out.
This film is based on a series of juvenile mystery novels that were first published in the 1960s. They are more popular in Germany than in America, despite being American, so it is not surprising a German studio tackled the adaptation first. Does it work? And is the DVD worth picking up? Check out our review for my opinion.
For a cartoon based on little more than a series of unconnected toys, Tranformers have shown amazing staying power. The latest TV series started as a five-part mini-series, which is being released on DVD this week. Will it please old school fans? Or is it aimed at too young a target demographic like some of the past seasons? Read our review to find out.
Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, Män som hatar kvinnor, The Debt, The Hangover Part II, Die drei ??? - Das verfluchte Schloss, Cowboys and Aliens, Flickan som lekte med elden, Luftslottet som sprängdes, The Help, Mr. Poppers's Penguins, A bout portant, Psychic Experiment, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury