RA: Renters Anonymous - November 18th, 2008

Posted by Trevor

November 18, 2008

This Week: November 18th, 2008

New Releases

Wall-E - 8.7/10 - Trailer
What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL*E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL*E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL*E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets an adventure into motion. Joining WALL*E on his journey across the universe is a cast of characters including a pet cockroach and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Single Disc Special Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen
Commentary with Andrew Stanton
Deleted Scenes
Sneak Peek: WALL-E’s Tour of the Universe
Animated Short: Presto
New Animated Short: BURN-E

3-Disc Special Features:

All of the features of the Single Disc DVD plus:
Featurettes: “The Pixar Story”, “BnL Shorts”, “Wall-E’s Treasures and Trinkets”
Lots of Bots storybook
Bot Files
Digital Copy

Blu-ray Features:

All of the features of the 3-Disc DVD plus:
Geek Track
Cine-Explore with Andrew Stanton
PiP enhancement of BURN-E
Axiom Arcade suite of “retro style videogames with a twist”
BD-Live Enabled

Recommendation: BUY (for yourself and everyone you know)

Tropic Thunder - 6.9/10 - Trailer
Starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Brandon T. Jackson, Steve Coogan
During the filming of a Vietnam war movie, the director decides that he isn’t getting the best performances from his actors. Soon he decides to put the actors into the actual jungle in the middle of a real war so he can film them. Ben Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, the action hero who tried to play a serious actor with disastrous results. Jack Black is Jeff Portnoy, the comedian who is known for playing multiple roles in his movies. And Robert Downey Jr is Kirk Lazarus, the Australian Academy Award winner who undergoes a medical procedure so that he can play the African American character in the film. This movie is a giant spoof on Hollywood and a good one at that.

1-Disc Special Features

2.35:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Theatrical Cut of the Film
Commentary with Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr.
Featurettes: “Blowing Shit Up”, “The Hot LZ”, “Make-Up Test with Tom Cruise”, “Full Mags”
Rain of Madness Trailer
MTV Movie Awards: “Tropic Thunder”
Cast Featurettes

2-Disc Special Features:

2.35:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Unrated Director’s Cut of the Flim
Commentary with Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr
Featurettes: “Blowing Shit Up”, “The Hot LZ”, “Make-Up Test with Tom Cruise”, “Full Mags”, “Before the Thunder”, “Designing the Thunder”, “Dispatches from the Edge of Madness”
Rain of Madness Trailer
MTV Movie Awards: “Tropic Thunder”
Cast Featurettes
Deleted and Extended Scenes
Alternate Ending
Video rehearsals
Dreamworks Public Service Announcement

Blu-ray Features:

2.35:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with Dolby TrueHD 5.1
All of the features of the 2-Disc DVD

Recommendation: Rent (Tom Cruise is hilarious)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - 6.3/10 - Trailer
Starring Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera
In “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2,” based on Ann Brashares’ best-selling series of novels, four young women continue the journey toward adulthood that began with “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” Now three years later, these lifelong friends embark on separate paths for their first year of college and the summer beyond, but remain in touch by sharing their experiences with each other as they always have-with honesty and humor. Discovering their individual strengths, fears, talents and capacity for love through the choices they make, they come to value more than ever the bond they share and the immeasurable power of their friendship.

Special Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Featurette:”Go Jump Off a Cliff”
Additional Scenes
Gag Reel
Digital Copy of the Film

Blu-ray Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1
All of the features of the DVD release

Also available: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Limited Edition Giftset
Parts I & II on DVD plus the novel that launched the series

Recommendation: Rent

Re-Releases

300: Limited Collector’s Edition - 7.6/10
Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headley, Dominic West, David Wenham, Rodrigo Santoro
When the ambitious King Xerxes of Persia invades Greece with his huge army to extend his vast slave empire, the brave Ling Leonidas brings his personal body guard army composed of three hundred warriors to defend the passage of Thermopylae, the only way by land to reach Greece. Using courage and the great battle skill of his men, he defends Thermopylae until a treacherous Greek citizen tells King Xerxes a secret goat passage leading to the back of Leonidas’s army. Meanwhile, his wife Queen Gorgo of Sparta tries to convince the council to send the Spartan army to fight against the Persians.

Special Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Commentary with Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Larry Fong
Documentary: “300 Spartans: Fact or Fiction?”
Featurette: “Who Were the Spartans?: The Warriors of 300″, “The Making of 300″, “Making 300 in Images”
Frakn Miller Tapes: Unfiltered Conversations with Frank and Friends
Additional scenes
Webisodes
“To the Hot Gates: A Legend Retold”
Digital Copy of the film
52-Page hardcover art book
Six collectible photo cards
Lucite display with motion film image

Recommendation: Rent

Monty Python’s Holy Trinity

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Life of Brian (1979)
The Meaning of Life (1983)
6-Disc DVD Collection with Widescreen presentations and DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0

Recommendation: Buy (for Monty Python fans)

Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog takes his camera to Antarctica where we meet the odd men and women who have dedicated their lives to furthering the cause of science in treacherous conditions. A scientist studies neutrinos, which are everywhere, yet elusive; he likens them to spirits. A researcher’s nighttime performance art includes contorting her body into a luggage bag. A survival guide teaches his students to survive white-out conditions by wearing cartoon-face buckets over their heads. Animal researchers milk mother seals as part of their study. Volcanologists offer advice on what to do when a volcano erupts. A pipefitter shows us the anomaly in his hands that he says are a sign he descended from Atzec royalty. A former Colorado banker drives what he has christened Ivan the Terra Bus. An underwater diver shows his colleagues DVDs of apocalyptic sci-fi films like Them! (1954). And — though Herzog declares he’s not “making another film about penguins” — we meet a penguin researcher who answers the filmmaker’s questions about homosexuality and insanity in his subjects. We also meet an individualist penguin, who breaks away from the other birds to run toward the mountains, facing certain death

Special Features:

1.78:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Commentary with Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser and Peter Zeitlinger
Under the Ice
Over the Ice
Dive Locker Interview
South Pole Exorcism
Trailer
Seal Men
Seals & Men
Jonathan Demme Interviews Werner Herzog

Blu-ray Features:

1.78:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1
All of the features of the DVD release

Recommendation: Rent

8 Mile (Blu-ray) - 5.5/10
Starring Eminem, Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy
A rap version of “Saturday Night Fever.” B-Rabbit, a wannabe rapper from the wrong side of Detroit’s 8 Mile, has problems: he dumps his girlfriend when she tells him she’s pregnant; to save money to make a demo tape, he moves into his alcoholic mom’s trailer; his job’s a dead end, and he’s just choked at the local head-to-head rap contest. Things improve when he meets Alex - an aspiring model headed for New York - and a fast-talking pal promises to set up the demo. Then new setbacks: Alex isn’t faithful, mom rejects him, rifts surface with his friends, and he’s mugged by rivals. Everything hinges on the next rap showdown at the club. Can B-Rabbit pull truth out of his cap?

Blu-ray Features:

2.35:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
The Making of 8 Mile
Uncensored Eminem Rap Battles
Uncensored “Superman” music video

Recommendation: Pass

Heathers (Blu-ray) - 7.7/10
Starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, Penelope Milford, Glenn Shadix
Veronica mingles with Heather I, II and III to be as popular as them, even though she hates them. She hates them enough to wish they were dead, but she would never want to be their cause of death though. When she starts dating Jason Dean, however, she finds herself involved in the murdering of most of her enemies, covered up as suicides.

20th High School Reunion Edition - Blu-ray Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Commentary with Michael Lehmann, Denise Di Novi and Daniel Waters
Featurettes: “Return to Westerburg High”, “Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads”
Original Ending Screenplay Excerpt
Theatrical Trailer

Limited Edition Locker Set Features:

All of the features of the regular Blu-ray release plus:
DVD copy of the film
A numbered locker
20-page hardcover Heathers yearbook
“Awesome” T-Shirt
14 locker/fridge magnets
Collectible Westerburg algebra book

Recommendation: Buy

The Unrated Blogger’s Cut

I love Pixar and I loved Wall-E so that’s what I’ll be picking up and watching. If you have not seen it yet, you have to pick it up, don’t bother renting it, just buy it, you will be glad you did. Although I enjoyed Tropic Thunder, I don’t think it deserves a second viewing so I won’t be purchasing that one, but if you haven’t seen Tom Cruise in the hairy balding fat suit then you have to rent it.

Coming Soon: