RA: Renters Anonymous - September 9th, 2008

Posted by Trevor

September 9, 2008

This Week: September 9th, 2008

New Releases

The Forbidden Kingdom - 6.8/10 - Trailer
Starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Liu Yifei, Collin Chou, Li Bingbing
An American teenager finds the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. But as soon as he has it in his hands, he is transported back to ancient China to help a group of warriors free the imprisoned Monkey King. This is the first cinematic adventure where Jackie Chan and Jet Li will meet face to face, but disappointingly it looks like they will be fighting side-by-side for most of the film. I was looking forward to a one-on-one battle of these two great martial artists, so I guess I’ll have to keep waiting. Even though this has choreography from the famous Yuen Woo-Ping (he worked on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Kill Bill series and the Matrix films) the film looks a little too family friendly for my taste.

Single Disc Special Features:

Full screen and widescreen transfers

Two Disc Special Features:

Commentary with director Rob Minkoff and writer John Fusco
Featurettes: “The Kung Fu Dream Team”, “Dangerous Beauty”, “Discovering China”, “Filming in Chinawood”, “Monkey King”, and “Eight Immortals”
Previsualization feature with director commentary
Blooper reel and deleted scenes
Digital Copy of the flim

Blu-ray Features:

Same features as the Two Disc DVD
1080p widescreen transfer
7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Recommendation: Rent

Baby Mama - 7.3/10 - Trailer
Starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear, Romany Malco, Sigourney Weaver
Tina Fey plays Kate Holbrook a successful single businesswoman who decides that she is ready to have a child but soon finds out that she will be unable to conceive. Kate decides to hire Angie as a surrogate mother (Poehler) so that she can start a family. To Kate’s surprise Angie shows up looking for a place to live. The film involves these two opposite characters attempting to live together and go through pregnancy and child birth together. I really enjoy Tina Fey as a writer, she did an excellent job on Mean Girls and is still putting out great material on 30 Rock, so I was disappointed to learn that Tina Fey did not write this film. This should be a decent comedy with a feminine touch.

Special Features:

Widescreen and Fullscreen transfers
Dolby Digital 5.1
Alternate Ending and Deleted Scenes
SNL: Legacy of Laughter
From Conception to Delivery: The Making of Baby Mama
Commentary with writer/director Michael McCullers, producer Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Blu-ray Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen transfer (1080p)
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
U-Control Picture-in-Picture feature
Same extras as the DVD release

Recommendation: Rent

Re-Releases

The Big Lebowski (10th Anniversary Edition) - 7.7/10
Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman
When “The Dude” Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.

Special Features:

2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Exclusive Introduction
The Dude’s Life
The Dude Abides: The Big Lebowski Ten Years Later
Making of The Big Lebowski
The Lebowski Fest: An Achiever’s Story
Flying Carpets and Bowling Pin Dreams: The Dream Sequences of the Dude
Interactive Map
Jeff Bridges Photo Book and Photo Gallery
Production Notes and Theatrical Trailers

Also available in a Limited Edition set with bowling ball packaging

Recommendation: Buy (for fans of the Dude)

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Blu-ray) - 8/10
Starring Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Julie Dreyfus, Chiaki Kuriyama
The lead character, called ‘The Bride,’ was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, lead by her lover ‘Bill.’ Upon realizing she was pregnant with Bill’s child, ‘The Bride’ decided to escape her life as a killer. She fled to Texas, met a young man, and on the day of their wedding was gunned down by an angry and jealous Bill (with the assistance of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad). Four years later, ‘The Bride’ wakes from a coma, and discovers her baby is gone. She, then, decides to seek revenge upon the five people who destroyed her life and killed her baby

Blu-ray Features: (Same on Vol 1 and Vol 2)

Making of Featurette
“5, 6, 7, 8′S” Musical performances
Dame Deleted Scene
Chingon Musical Performance
Tarentino Trailers

Recommendation: Buy (at least until Tarantino finally releases The Whole Bloody Affair)

Jerry Maguire (Blu-ray) - 6.8/10
Starring Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr, Bonnie Hunt, Regina King, Kelly Preston, Johnathan Lipnicki, Jay Mohr, Jerry O’Connell
Jerry Maguire used to be a typical sports agent: willing to do just about anything he could to get the biggest possible contracts for his clients, plus a nice commission for himself. Then, one day, he suddenly has second thoughts about what he’s really doing. When he voices these doubts, he ends up losing his job and all of his clients, save Rod Tidwell, an egomaniacal football player. Can Jerry resurrect his career while still staying true to himself?

Blu-ray Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen Transfer (1080p)
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Commentary with director Cameron Crowe, Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr
Deleted Scenes
Rehearsal Footage
“My First Commercial”
Drew Rosenhaus: How to be a Sports Agent
Music Video ‘Secret Garden’ by Bruce Springsteen
Making of Featurette
Jerry’s Mission Statement

Recommendation: Rent

Night Watch (Blu-ray) - 6.7/10
Starring Konstantin Khabensky, Mariya Poroshina
Among normal humans live the “Others” possessing various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of the dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the day while the night belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day Moscow the dark Others actually roam the night as vampires while a “Night Watch” of light forces, among them Anton, the movie’s protagonist, try to control them and limit their outrage.

Blu-ray Features:

1.85 Widescreen Transfer (1080p) with Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Commentary with director Timur Bekmambetov
Making of Night Watch
Characters, Story and Subtitles Featurette
Night Watch Trilogy Featurette
Seven Deleted Scenes
Extended Ending: ‘The Roof’
Comic book and poster still gallery
Theatrical Trailer
D-Box capabilities

Recommendation: Rent

Day Watch (Blu-ray) - 7.6/10
Starring Konstantin Khabensky, Aleksei Chadov, Gosha Kutsenko, Igor Lifanov, Zhanna Friske
Anton belongs to the Forces of the Light as well as his powerful girlfriend and apprentice, but his son is a powerful teenager from the Darkness and Anton protects him. When the balance between Light and Darkness is affected by the death of some evil vampires, Anton is framed and accused of the murders, and he chases an ancient chalk that has the power of changing the destiny of its owner.

Blu-ray Features:

2.35:1 Widescreen Transfer (1080p) with DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Dolby TruHD
Commentary with director Timur Bekmambetov
The Making of Day Watch Featurette
Russian TV Spots
Theatrical Trailer
D-Box capabilities

Recommendation: Rent

Rudy (Blu-ray) - 7.7/10
Starring Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty, Charles S. Dutton, Jason Miller, Vince Vaughn
Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.

Blu-ray Features:

1.85:1 widescreen transfer (1080p) with Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Rudy: The Real Story
Production Featurette
First Down with Sean Astin

Recommendation: Rent

The Unrated Blogger’s Cut

I will be renting The Promotion this week since it took a whole week to cross the border to Canada. Other than that my cart will be a little light this week, but if I had a blu-ray setup I would definitly be picking up the Kill Bill series.

What is everyone grabbing this week?

Coming up next week:
New: 88 Minutes*, Kabluey, Made of Honor*, Snow Angels, Speed Racer*, The Love Guru*
Re-releases: 1408**, Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary)*, Breakfast Club: Flashback Edition, Hulk**, Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy**, Risky Business (25th Anniversary)*, Sixteen Candles (SE), Weird Science (SE)
* denotes separate DVD and Blu-ray releases
** denotes Blu-ray only release