RA: Renters Anonymous - January 13th, 2009

Posted by Trevor

January 13, 2009

New Releases

My Best Friend’s Girl - 8/10 - Trailer
Starring Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, Alec Baldwin
Tank (Dane Cook) is put to the ultimate friendship test when his best friend Dustin (Jason Biggs) hires him to take his ex-girlfriend Alexis (Kate Hudson) on a lousy date just to show her how great her former boyfriend is. When Alexis finds Tank more fascinating she decides that she wants Tank, and wants to take him to a wedding instead of Dustin. Dustin tries to become more like Tank in an attempt to get Alexis back. In the meantime, Tank is trying to make Alexis like Dustin again, but Dustin is trying to mess up the wedding and ruin Tank’s and Alexis’s relationship at the same time.

Special Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Commentary with Jason Biggs, Jordan Cahan and Greg Lessans
Commentary with Howie Deutch
Featurettes: “Making It in Beantown”, “Men and Women: The Good, The Bad and The Cast”, “On a Scale of A-to-Z: Like Father, Like Son”, “The Prom: America’s Awkward Rite of Passage”
Deleted and Extended Scenes

Gag Reel

Blu-ray Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1
All of the features of the DVD release, plus:
The Tanking Game - a MoLog exclusive: using a 7 minute section of the film where Dane does not tank the date, you are challenged to do the tanking using MoLog. Add alternative stage directions: put nasty words in characters’ mouths and dirty thoughts in their minds. Also includes sound effects and props from the film, like fart noises and sex toys.

Recommendation: Rent/Pass (depending on your enjoyment of Dane Cook)

Appaloosa - 5.8/10 - Trailer
Starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons, Lance Henriksen
Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a murderous rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.

Special Features:

Both 2.40:1 Widescreen and 1.33:1 Fullscreen versions with Dolby Digital 5.1
Commentary with Ed Harris and Robert Knott
Additional Scenes
Featurettes: “Bringing the Characters of Appaloosa to Life”, “Historic Accuracy of Appaloosa”, “The Town of Appaloosa”, “Dean Semler’s Return to the Western”

Blu-ray Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD 5.1
All of the features of the DVD release, plus:
Digital Copy of the Film

Recommendation: Pass

Mirrors - 6/10 -Trailer
Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton
In New York, the former NYPD detective Ben Carson is hired to work as night watch of the remains of the Mayflower Department Store that was partially destroyed by fire many years ago. Ben became alcoholic and was retired from the police force after killing a man in a shooting. His marriage was also destroyed and now he is living in the apartment of his younger sister Angie. However he has not been drinking for three months and sees the employment as a chance to rebuild his life. When he goes to the rounds in his first night, he finds that the mirrors are impeccably clean and his colleague explains that the former night watch was obsessed by the mirrors. After a couple of nights, Ben sees weird images in the mirrors, but due to the lack of credibility of his past, his ex-wife Amy believes he has hallucinations as a side effect of his medication. When Angie is found brutally murdered in her bathtub, Ben discovers that there is an evil force in the mirror that is chasing him and jeopardizing his family.

Special Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Unrated/Rated versions of the film
Deleted Scenes plus an Alternate Ending
Reflections: The Making of Mirrors
Mythology of Mirrors: Behind the Mirror

Blu-ray Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1
All of the features of the DVD release, plus:
Anna Esseker Backstory
Animated Storyboard Sequence
Mirror Images: PIP Commentary
PIP Scene to Storyboard Comparison
Trailers
Digital Copy of the Film

Recommendation: Pass

Swing Vote - Trailer
Starring Kevin Costner, Paula Patton, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci, George Lopez, Madeline Carroll
Kevin Costner stars as Bud Johnson, an apathetic, beer slinging, lovable loser, who is coasting through a life that has passed him by, except for the one bright spot in his mundane existence, his precocious, over achieving twelve-year old daughter, Molly. She takes care of them both, until one mischievous moment on Election Day, when she accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the presidential election coming down to one vote, her dads.

Special Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Commentary with Joshua Michael Stern and Jason Richman
Inside the Campaign: The Politics of Production
Deleted and Extended Scenes

Blu-ray Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with Dolby TrueHD 5.1
All of the features of the DVD release

Recommendation: Pass

Brideshead Revisited
Starring Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Michael Gambon
The memoirs of Captain Charles Ryder who is stationed at Brideshead Castle during WWII and remembers his involvement with the owners of the Brideshead estate: the aristocratic yet Catholic Flyte family and in particular brother and sister Sebastian and Julia.

Special Features:

2.40:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Commentary with Julian Jarrold, Kevin Loader and Jeremy Brock
The World of Brideshead
Deleted Scenes

Recommendation: Pass

Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach
Starring Sean William Scott, Randy Quaid, Anthony David Miles
Gary Houseman (Seann William Scott) is an overenthusiastic high school janitor who steps-up to lead the school’s loser tennis team to the state finals when the acting coach drops dead. The brash and often insulting new coach is intent on inspiring these underdogs not only to win, but also to stand-up for themselves. Although his coaching tactics may be unorthodox, including motivating his star player with a pre-game stripper, his heart is in the right place. Besides, sometimes it takes big balls to play hard-ball.

Special Features:

Making of Balls Out
Outtakes
Deleted Scenes

Recommendation: Pass

Without a Paddle: Nature’s Calling
Starring Oliver James, Amber McDonald, Jerry Rice
What do you get when you mix a lawyer, a slacker and a British Guy with the great outdoors? The wettest, wildest, and most outrageous road trip since Lewis & Clark! As a last wish for a little old lady, Ben the lawyer (Oliver James), his best friend Zach (Kristopher Turner), and a wacky Brit, Nigel (Rik Young), team up to find her missing granddaughter. But there’s one little problem…She’s somewhere deep in the wilderness getting in touch with nature. See what happens when three guys without a plan, without a chance and without a clue fall out of the pan and into the fire! LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!

Special Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Featurettes: “Up the Creek: The Making of”, “Furious Nuts”
Additional Scenes
Gag Reel

Blu-ray Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen 1080p Transfer with Dolby TrueHD 5.1
All of the features of the DVD release, plus:
Treehouse Tales featurette

Recommendation: Pass

Re-Releases

Supercop - 6/10
Starring Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Yuen Wah
A Hong Kong police officer, Chia Chu is sent undercover to mainland China to break up a drug smuggling ring. After breaking the brother of the drug lord out of prison, he and another agent (a beautiful communist policewoman) are taken to Hong Kong to work for the syndicate. The wife of the crime boss has been arrested in Malaysia for drug trafficking and is soon to be executed. However, she is the only person who knows the account number of a secret Swiss bank account containing millions in drug money. While the two officers are in Malaysia preparing for the jail break, Chia chu accidentally runs into his girlfriend May, who has travelled there from Hong Kong. Soon his cover is blown, the criminals kidnap his girlfriend and he is forced to help them pull off the jail break.

Special Features:

2.35:1 Widescreen with DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1
Commentary with Bey Logan
Flying High: Interview with Jackie Chan
Dancing with Death: Interview with Michelle Yeoh
The Stuntmaster General: Interview with Stanley Tong
The Fall Guy: Interview with Ken Lo

Recommendation: Rent

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Centennial Collection) - 8.1/10
Starring Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen
Struggling writer Paul Varjak moves into a New York apartment building and becomes intrigued by his pretty, quirky neighbor Holly Golightly. Holly’s lifestyle confuses and fascinates Paul; in public she flits through parties with a sexy, sophisticated air, but when they’re alone she changes into a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses.

Special Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 1.0
Commentary with Richard Shepherd
“A Golighty Gathering”
“Henry Mancini: More Than Music”
“Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective”
“The Making of a Classic”
“It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon”
“Behind the Gates: The Tour”
“Brilliance in a Blue Box”
“Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany”
Galleries
Trailers

Recommendation: Rent

Funny Face (Centennial Collection)
Starring Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michael Auclair, Robert Flemyng
Fashion photographer Dick Avery, in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton’s dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott, the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer.

Special Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 1.0
“Kay Thompson: Think Pink”
“This Is VistaVision”
“Fashion Photographers Exposed”
“The Fashion Designer and His Muse”
“Parisian Dreams”
“Paramount in the 50s”
Photo Galleries
Trailers

Recommendation: Rent

My Bloody Valentine (Restored Special Edition) - 6/10
Starring Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck
There’s a big valentine-party planned in the little coal mining town of Valentine Bluffs, Nova Scotia. It is the first Valentine’s Day party in 20 years, because then there was an accident in the mine, and the accident happened because the men responsible for the security was at the party. The sole surviving miner, named Harry Warden, later killed them, and told the town NEVER to arrange a Valentine’s Day party again. The party begins, and so does the killing.

Special Features:

1.85:1 Widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1
Restored Special Edition including deleted/censored original footage
Remastered Soundtrack in 5.1 Surround Sound
Never-before-seen lost footage
Deleted Scenes
Featurette: “Bloodlust: My Bloody Valentine and the History of the Slasher Film”
Bloodlines: an Interactive Horror Film History

Recommendation: Rent

The Unrated Blogger’s Cut

It looks like a lot of lame new releases this week, no blockbusters or amazing indie flicks. Even though I was a fan of Dane Cook as a standup, I don’t really see him pulling off any great movie roles and this one looks no different, but with nothing else to do I might end up renting My Best Friend’s Girl. As for the re-releases, Supercop was my very first Jackie Chan movie and I was instantly hooked, amazing martial arts and humor, what a great combo. So if I have enough pennies in my piggy bank, I’ll be smashing that lil porker on the sidewalk and picking up Supercop on DVD.

Coming Soon: