DISC JUST IN for 12/1/09

Here’s a look at the hottest new DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases for the week of December 1, 2009:

BLU-RAY MOVIES
A Christmas Tale (Criterion)
The Green Mile (Warner)
Gremlins (Warner)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Universal)
The Mask of Zorro (Sony)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Fox)
Paper Heart (Anchor Bay)
Ride Around the World: IMAX (Image)
The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (Criterion)
Secondhand Lions (Warner)
Snatch (Sony)
Terminator: Salvation (Warner)

DVD MOVIES
The Brooklyn Heist (Image)
A Christmas Tale (Criterion)
The Girl in the Park (Genius/Weinstein)
Into the Storm (HBO)
The Jazz Singer: 30th Anniversary (Anchor Bay)
Live! (Genius/Weinstein)
Love Comes Softly Collection (Fox)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Fox)
Paper Heart (Anchor Bay)
Ride Around the World: IMAX (Image)
The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (Criterion)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (Lionsgate)
Terminator: Salvation (Warner)

TV-on-DISC
Ben 10: Alien Swarm (Warner)
Better Off Ted: Season 1 (Fox)
The Donna Reed Show: Season 3 (Virgil)
Mental: Season 1 (Fox)
MST3K: Volume XVI (Shout! Factory)
Pale Force (New Video Group)
Saturday Night Live: Season 5 (Universal)

HIGHLIGHTS

Gimme Shelter – The 1970 documentary chronicling the Rolling Stones’ ill-fated free concert in San Francisco gets the Criterion treatment on Blu-ray. As such, the disc features a brand new high-def transfer helping Gimme Shelter look about the best it can. 

Gremlins - Warner’s Blu-ray of Joe Dante’s classic create feature won’t be winning any technical awards, but it certainly looks better than my old DVD. Extras are scant but fans will enjoy the Dante commentary.

Lock, Stock - Guy Ritchie rarely strays far from his fast-talking caper comedy formula, but there’s nothing wrong with that if his films work.  And Lock, Stock works. Universal’s new Blu-ray boasts impressive DTS-HD audio the but video is only a negligible upgrade from DVD.

Mask of Zorro – Swashbucklers don’t get much better than this. With Anthony Hopkins doing the dramatic heavy lifting and a palpable chemistry between Antonio Banderas and sexy newcomer Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mask makes for a great night at the movies. Sony’s Blu-ray looks and sounds absolutely spectacular.

Night at the Museum 2 – As much as it pains me to say, even the adorable Amy Adams can’t save this Ben Stiller sequel from its own mediocrity. Die-hard fans of the original will probably enjoy it, but that’s largely because it’s just more of the same. On the bright side, Fox’s Blu-ray looks and sounds quite good and there’s no shortage of HD bonus material.

Paper Heart – I really had high hopes for this one, mainly due to my man-crush on funny man Michael Cera. Unfortunately, Charlene Yi is just downright irritating. You may remember her as the stoned girl on Seth Rogen’s couch in Knocked Up and she often seems just as dopey here. That said, Yi’s paper models and puppet productions – which accompany the love stories of the random strangers she meets on her journey – are absolutely priceless.

Ride Around the World – A worldwide history of the cowboy? Shot for IMAX? On high definition Blu-ray? Giddyup.

Secondhand Lions – The Blu-ray’s less than stellar video shouldn’t stop you from renting this charming Michael Caine and Robert Duvall film about a young boy (Haley Joel Osment) and the adventures he has when he’s forced to live with his two eccentric uncles.

Snatch - Guy Ritchie cut his teeth on Lock, Stock but Snatch is arguably his masterpiece. Starring a plethora of amusing Brits and a bizarrely-entertaining Brad Pitt, Snatch is a hard film to dislike. Sony’s Blu-ray gives the film a stunning technical upgrade coupled with a handful of extras, including a BD LIVE-enabled "Cutting Room" feature, which lets users edit their own scenes.

Terminator 4 - Can somebody please find Christian Bale some Chloraseptic? Bale’s Batman voice is only one of the frustrations contained within McG’s Terminator: Salvation; for example, why does Bale – starring as resistance leader John Connor – get so little screen time? The film spends considerably more time following Marcus Wright (played impressively by newcomer Sam Worthington)  – a wanderer with a secret I won’t spoil here. Warner’s Blu-ray gives the admittedly awesome moto-terminators sequence the necessary sound and fury, but I can’t say I’m in any rush to watch the film again. Blu-ray fans will definitely want to check out the McG-hosted "Maximum Movie Mode" feature, similar to what Zack Snyder did on the sweet Watchmen disc.

GREG’S PICK OF THE WEEK

The Green Mile (Blu-ray)
Warner Home Video | Rated R | 1999 | 188 mins | $34.99

If you’ve seen The Shawshank Redemption or The Mist, you know that Stephen King + Frank Darabont = cinematic greatness. Add Tom Hanks to the equation and it sort of becomes a no-brainer. The Green Mile, a serial novel penned by King and directed by Darabont, is the gripping, supernatural tale of a southern prison guard (Hanks) and the miraculous turns his life takes when he receives a new inmate: a hulking Michael Clarke Duncan.

Warner brings Darabont’s 3-hour opus to Blu-ray sporting deluxe DigiBook packaging and the results are exceptional. The film’s subburnt imagery looks superbly detailed in 1080p and the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is both nuanced and agressive when need be.  A healthy assortment of standard defintion extras round out this excellent Blu-ray offering from Warner.   

EVALUATION SYSTEM
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 projector
Carada Masquerade screen system (92")
Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-ray Disc player
Oppo DV-983H DVD player
Onkyo TX-SR805 A/V receiver
Noble Fidelity L-55 LCRS speakers
Datacolor SpyderTV PRO 2007 video calibration
Monster Power HTS5100 power center
BetterCables HDMI interconnects
UltraLink speaker wire