New Releases (Across the Board):
12 Years a Slave – Steve McQueen’s award winning film finally comes home and it only took a few months this time.
Cold Comes the Night – Alice Eve and Bryan Cranston star in this neo-noir film about motels, double deals and broken people trying to make good.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – This actually comes out Friday, but since I don’t do Friday’s here it is today.
Girl Rising – This DVD only release showcases the Girl Rising social movement with nine stories about girls across the globe featuring all-star narration including Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, Selena Gomez, Liam Neeson, Priyanka Chopra, Chloë Grace Moretz, Freida Pinto, Salma Hayek, Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys and Kerry Washington.
The Grandmaster – Wong Kar-wai dips into the Ip Man well and pretty much nails it right out the gate.
Hours – The late great Paul Walker must rise against time, flood and electricity to save his hospital bound preemie daughter during Hurricane Katrina.
Johnson Family Vacation – Cedric the Entertainer does his best to enter the family comedy arena. Is he better than Ice Cube? That’s a silly question. No one’s better than Ice Cube.
The Last Days on Mars – Mars Zombies is all I know about this. And that may be enough.
Oldboy – I’ll be reviewing this later this week, so look for that. Did I like it? Maaaaaaaaybe.
Blu-ray Library Reissues:
Because there are quite a few worthwhile upgrades this week, let’s just list them out – most are Universal, but all are fun films.
TV On DVD (& Blu-ray):
There’s also a nice pile of TV stuff streeting as well. Since I work on Venture Bros., I’ll hold my tongue except to say: the set is great and the show is awesome.
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 11
Ancient Aliens: Season 5, Volume 2
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Fully Roasted
Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor
Mr. Peabody & Sherman Volume 1: American Legends & Volume 2: Great Explorers DVD
Rawhide: The Seventh Season, Volume 1 & Volume 2 DVD
The Venture Bros.: Season Five
Finally, here are two favorite films of mine coming to MOD:
The Year of Living Dangerously
Aside from a little film coming to DVD from one of our own (who? who? who?), there’s not a whole lot of note coming next week – so come back again if’n you want and I’ll tell you who among our ranks made good. I might also have something funny or insightful to say about Stallone, Statham, the Coen Brothers, Jewish literature, Beat Takeshi, Christian Bale and James Dean.
Until better times, keep spinning those discs…
– Todd Doogan