New Releases, 19 December 2006
Twas the week before Christmas, and look at what’s out.
- American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (Unrated) (widescreen) (2006)
- American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (Unrated) (full-frame) (2006)
- American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (full-frame) (2006)
Really, if you’re the type of person likely to buy this direct-to-DVD masterpiece, what are the odds that you’ll want the rated edition in full-frame? I’d think that would be kinda low.
- The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania (2005)
That right there is my DVD title of the month, if not the year.
- Gene Simmons Family Jewels: Season One (2-disc set)
What, the Osbournes weren’t enough of a train wreck for you? Ah, well, at least Gene is a comics fan.
- Jet Li’s Fearless: Unrated Edition (Huo Yuan Jia) (widescreen) (2006)
- Jet Li’s Fearless: Unrated Edition (Huo Yuan Jia) (pan-and-scan) (2006)
I admit it — I’d like to see this one. Does that make me a bad person?
- The Lady in the Water (widescreen) (2006)
- The Lady in the Water (full-frame) (2006)
Remember when people cared about M. Knight Shyamalan’s movies? I still haven’t watched THE VILLAGE and I own the DVD.
- The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines (2006)
It’s funny that this is out the same week as another season of ER. Noah Wylie stars in both.
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
It’s the hottest, hippest indy movie of the season.
- My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)
Uma Thurman plays a superpowered woman who doesn’t take getting dumped too well. Reviewers didn’t much care for it, as I recall.
- Police Story: Special Edition (Ging chaat goo si) (2-disc set) (1985)
Jackie Chan, right?
- A Scanner Darkly (2006)
More rotoscoped animation from the people who brought you WAKING LIFE.
- The Simpsons: Season Nine (4-disc set)
Can’t go wrong here, can you?
- Step Up (2006)
Saw this one in the theaters. It’s all so very familiar - two people from opposite sides of the track dance for love. More or less. Guys, if you get stuck sitting through this with your girlfriend, don’t sweat it - the lead chick is cute.
- The Wicker Man: Collector’s Edition (2-disc set) (1972)
- The Wicker Man (widescreen) (2006)
- The Wicker Man (pan-and-scan) (2006)
Nicolas Cage remakes a 70s movie.
Next week: Brian DePalma’s latest bomb, THE BLACK DAHLIA.
December 19th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
My Super Ex-Girlfriend was horrible. Not funny horrible, just badly made horrible. I stopped laughing at it’s horribleness only a few minutes in, then sort of slipped into a mild coma for the rest of it.
December 19th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Step Up, much like “You Got Served,” looking interesting because of the dance sequences.
December 19th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Huh. Not even a full thought in that last comment. Anyway, I might watch Step Up for the dance stuff alone. I’m a coreography whore.
December 19th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
To answer your question about FEARLESS: No, it wouldn’t make you a bad person. That’s one of my favorite movies of the year. The same for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.
THE BLACK DAHLIA I will never, EVER see. I don’t want De Palma’s awful recent work tarnishing my memories of his great films.
December 19th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
De Palma… more misogyny and dry-humping of Hitchcock’s corpse than you can shake a stick at…
And avoid that Nic Cage remake, the original Wicker Man 2-DVD edition is the way to go. A classic horror film that doesn’t need excessive gore and cheap scares in order to spook the heck outta you. OK, so there’s nudity but cmon, when it’s Britt Eckland in her prime….
December 20th, 2006 at 4:01 am
Give THE VILLAGE a shot. I was very lukewarm about it before I saw it. Then, after I watched it, I was angry at myself for waiting so long to see it. If you don’t know the twist, and you liked his previous movies, you owe it to yourself to watch this one.
December 20th, 2006 at 11:23 am
Ye, Police Story is Jackie Chan. I saw Lady in the Water in the theater and I LOVED it. I know a lot of people are burned out on M. Night, but I still enjoy his work and will probably continue to watch his movies. I really enjoyed The Village as well. So, Lady in the Water was a no brainer for me to purchase this week.
December 24th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania was reviewed in Leonard Maltins show on the Reelz channel. It looks sorta interesting. Enough that I am throwing it on the Netflix queue.