Written and compiled by The Film Nest guest contributor “FightinIrish” (peep him in the Comments section)
Matt Damon’s best un-nominated performance of the year comes to Blu this week as do a lot of under-the-radar films from late last year. By “under-the-radar,” I mean poorly-performing, of course. There’s a pre-remake zombie flick and couple other oddities, but this week lacks the big-hitters. See if anything flights your fancy.
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Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh reunite, again, for this quasi-biographical political dark comedy about an informant working with the government to blow the whistle on the wrongdoings of the company he works for. This film had mixed reviews upon release, but I am a fan of the two main collaborators behind this and am pleased to see that at least it’s something different than the typical fare. Some have even said that Damon deserved a nomination for this role, but that will be left to be decided in movie blogs and chatrooms around the interweb. Our review.
Supplements: Audio commentary with director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Burns, Deleted scenes
I was kind of surprised to see Cyclops himself, James Marsden, being lined up with Cameron Diaz in this film, finding it interesting that he’s now, in the eyes of producers, capable of sharing screen time with someone as popular as she. Granted, this is a highly forgettable fall film, but top billing is top billing. Either way if you’re in for a unique, somewhat baffling and convoluted film, but overall decent thriller, grab this disc today.
Supplements: Commentary with Richard Kelly, Richard Matheson: In His Words, The Box: Grounded in Reality, Visual Effects, Music Video Prequels
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
The terror on cinema that is Twilight strikes again. No, this is not a spin-off or in any way connected to that series, feel about it what you will, this is just another story of how great it would be to become a mid-teen vampire. Just think of the benefits. No school, no acne, no dying, but then again you’ll never be old enough to drink, smoke or gamble legally, but ehh, that’s not stopping kids today who aren’t vampires. It’s surprising the level of supporting cast that’s here, from Hayek to Watanabe to John C. “Freaking” Riley (yes, “freaking” must be used at all times with his name), for basically a kids film. I guess they figured with the success of Harry Potter and Twilight they’d be in for a nice franchise payday.
Supplements: Deleted Scenes, Guide to Becoming a Vampire, Tour du Freak, U-Control Picture-in-Picture, Pocket Blu, My Scenes, BD-Live
The original George A. Romero film that’s now getting a big Hollywood remake. It’s one of the few remakes I’d actually be interested in seeing. This first film is of cult status and is getting the hi-def treatment by the great people at Blue Underground. The synopsis of this reminds me a bit of the 28 Days/Weeks Later films, where people are of a zombie-like nature, but aren’t truly zombies. One of my two must-see films of the week.
Supplements: Audio Commentary, Interview, Trailers
Here’s the other must-see film of the week for me. For some reason I can’t get enough of British melodrama-comedies. Growing up a fan of The Full Monty must be the culprit and this film looks to quench my thirst. Set in Leeds, England, this is the story of one of England’s greatest football (soccer) managers, Brian Clough, and his 44-day reign over their team, Leeds United. “Why was it only 44 days for someone as great as he,” must be answered in the film. Could you imagine Joe Torre or Bill Walsh only coaching a team for 44 days? Neither can I?
Supplements: Commentary with director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and producer Andy Harries, Deleted scenes with optional director’s commentary, Cloughisms with optional director’s commentary, Perfect Pitch: The Making of The Damned United, Creating Clough: Michael Sheen takes on ‘Old Big ‘Ead’, Remembering Brian, The Changing Game: Football in the Seventies, BD-Live
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
The only reason I really put this on here is for the special feature “Aquaman Live-action Pilot Episode.” This, I must see. Because of that, this may be the one disc that I actually purchase this week. Thankfully, it’s something that I also enjoy in the form of the DC comic universe. I’m not a huge comic fan, but I’m aware of the main players and I gather this is a film that puts all of our Justice League heroes against those from the “Bizarro” universe. As always, up is down, black is white and hello is goodbye (or “badbye”) in the Bizarro universe.
Supplements: DC Showcase: The Spectre, Bruce Timm’s Top Picks, Wonder Woman Live-action Pilot Episode, Aquaman Live-action Pilot Episode, Trailers, A First Look at ‘Batman Under the Red Hood’, Green Lantern First Look, Superman/Batman Public Enemies First Look, Wonder Woman: The Amazon Princess “, The New World” – Extended Cut
A very cut-and-paste comedy staring Uma Thurman, who you wouldn’t figure for these types of films. This is more Eddie Murphy/Robin Williams, of late, comedic fare. Everything that can go wrong does, but at the end of the day it all seems to work itself out right.
Supplements: Audio commentary with Katherine Dieckmann and producer Rachel Cohen, Interviews with Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards, Minnie Driver and director Katherine Dieckmann
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
It’s Troma, so don’t ever expect anything. If you’ve never seen a Troma produced or created film you owe it to yourself to see one, just so you can bring some ammo to the conversation. Anyway, I’m very sure that the title explains it all and if that doesn’t do it for you, check out the feature “Ron Jeremy’s ‘alternate happy ending.’” One can only imagine what that’s about.
Supplements: Att-hen-sion getting commentary by director Lloyd Kaufman and writer/editor Gabe Friedman, Commentary by stars Jason Yachanin and Kate Graham, Introduction by Troma co-founder Michael Herz, Interview with Troma star Joe Fleishaker, Sexy rooftop re-shoot, Explosion effect featurette, Ron Jeremy’s “alternate happy ending”, Troma’s first egg-a-morphic widescreen presentation, Music videos, deleted scenes, trailers, thighs the limit
It’s got Carrie Fisher in it. Yay.
Supplements: Yet to be announced
For all you WWE or TNA or ECW fans, here’s your wrestler-starring film of the month. Rob Van Dam and Bautista in a Walking Tall meets 2 Fast 2 Furious meets Rambo action film. After reading the synopsis for this film there are only two words that fit… “Vendetta Vendetta.”
Supplements: Set Life with Rob Van Dam, Interviews with the Stars, Stunts with Rob Van Dam, Kali training video with David Bautista, Marrese Crump and Oscar Lugo, Trailer
