DVD releases - September 2009

[tazber]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 10:54am

September 1
- All in the Family: The Complete Fifth Season (Comedy, TV)
- All in the Family: The Complete First Season (Comedy, TV)
- All in the Family: The Complete Fourth Season (Comedy, TV)
- All in the Family: The Complete Second Season (Comedy, TV)
- All in the Family: The Complete Sixth Season (Comedy, TV)
- All in the Family: The Complete Third Season (Comedy, TV)
- Barney: Barney's Halloween Party (Animation, Family)
- Ben 10 Alien Force: Season One, Volume Four (Animation)
- Brothers & Sisters: The Complete Third Season (Drama, TV)
- Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fifth Season (Comedy, Drama, TV)
- Disneynature: Earth (Adventure, Documentary)
- Impact (Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, TV)
- Plastic Man: The Complete Collection (Drama, TV)
- Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (Limited Edition with Plush) (Animation, Family)
- Rescue Me: Season 5, Volume 1 (Comedy, Drama, TV)
- Shaun the Sheep: Little Sheep of Horrors (Animation, Comedy)
- State of Play (Thriller)
- Sugar (Drama, Sports)
- Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season (Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller, TV)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 8 (Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, TV)

September 8
- Alvin and the Chipmunks Go to the Movies: Star Wreck (Animation, Family, TV)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Very First Alvin Show (Animation, Family, TV)
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Enchanted Musical Edition) (Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Musical)
- The Buttercup Chain (Drama)
- Crank: High Voltage (Full Charged with Digital Copy) (Action, Drama)
- Crank: High Voltage (Single Disc) (Action, Drama)
- The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen (Drama, Horror, Thriller)
- Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (Drama, TV)
- Homicide (Crime, Drama, Thriller)
- Important Things with Demetri Martin: Season One (Comedy, TV)
- Little Einsteins: Fire Truck Rocket's Blastoff (Animation, Family, TV)
- Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (Drama)
- Mad Monster Party (Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Musical)
- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Adventures in Wonderland (Animation, Family, TV)
- Model Shop (Drama)
- The Office: Season Five (Comedy, Drama, TV)
- Parks and Recreation: Season One (Comedy, TV)
- Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams (Special Edition) (Animation, Family)
- The Pursuit of Happiness (Drama)
- Summertree (Drama)
- That Hamilton Woman (Drama, Romance, War)
- Valentino: The Last Emperor (Documentary)

September 15
- An American Werewolf in London (Full Moon Edition) (Comedy, Horror, Romance, Thriller)
- Barbie and the Three Musketeers (Animation, Family)
- Bionicle: The Legend Reborn (Action, Adventure, Animation)
- Bodyguard: A New Beginning (Action, Drama)
- Crash: The Complete First Season (Drama, TV)
- Deadgirl (Unrated Director's Cut) (Horror)
- Easy Virtue (Comedy, Romance)
- Fame: Seasons 1 & 2 (Drama, Music, Romance, TV)
- Fear Itself: The Complete First Season (Horror, TV)
- Four Dragons (Action)
- Grace (Drama, Horror)
- Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Fifth Season (Comedy, Drama, Romance, TV)
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 4 (Comedy, TV)
- Marvel X-Men: Volume 3 (Animation)
- Marvel X-Men: Volume 4 (Animation)
- Monster Force: Volume One (Animation)
- My Name Is Earl: Season 4 (Comedy, TV)
- Phantasm II (Action, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller)
- Private Practice: The Complete Second Season (Comedy, Drama, TV)
- Sanctuary: The Complete First Season (Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi, TV)
- The Strawberry Shortcake Movie: Sky's the Limit (Animation, Family)
- White Night Wedding (Drama)
- The Wolf Man: Special Edition - Universal Legacy Series (Drama, Fantasy, Horror)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2-Disc Special Edition) (Action, Thriller)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Single-Disc) (Action, Thriller)

September 22
- 30 Rock: Season 3 (Comedy, TV)
- Battle for Terra (Animation, Adventure)
- Brotherhood: The Final Season (Crime, Drama, TV)
- Castle: The Complete First Season (Drama, TV)
- Clive Barker's Book of Blood (Original Director's Cut) (Horror)
- Friday the 13th: The Series - The Final Season (Horror, TV)
- Ghost Whisperer: The Fourth Season (Drama, Fantasy, TV)
- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Comedy, Romance)
- The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (Action, Animation, Comedy, Horror, Thriller)
- Jonas, Vol. 1: Rockin' the House (Family)
- Mercy Streets (Action, Crime, Drama)
- Observe and Report (Dark Comedy)
- The Paul Newman Tribute Collection (Various)
- Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (Comedy, Family, Mystery)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Motion Picture Collection (Sci-Fi)
- Taxi: The Fourth Season (Comedy, TV)
- Ugly Betty: The Complete Third Season (Comedy, Drama, TV)
- Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (Animation, Comedy, TV)
- Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection (Animation, Comedy, TV)
- Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana (Family)

September 29
- Away We Go (Comedy, Drama)
- Baby Einstein: World Animal Adventure (Family)
- Cagney & Lacey: The Menopause Years (Crime, Drama, Mystery, TV)
- CSI: NY: The Fifth Season (Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, TV)
- Disney Animation Collection: Volume 7 - Mickey's Christmas Carol (Animation)
- Filth and Wisdom (Comedy, Drama)
- The Girlfriend Experience (Drama)
- The Hills Run Red (Horror)
- How I Met Your Mother: Season Four (Comedy)
- Life on Mars: The Complete Series (Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, TV)
- Management (Comedy, Romance)
- Monsters vs. Aliens (Ginormous Double DVD Pack) (Animation)
- Monsters vs. Aliens (Single Disc DVD) (Animation)
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (Single-Disc Edition) (Animation)
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Animation)
- The Unit Complete Giftset (Action, Drama, Thriller, War)
- Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (10th Anniversary Edition) (Animation, Family)
- The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary - 2-Disc Special Edition) (Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Musical)

Updated On: 9/1/09 at 10:54 AM

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 11:01am

30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother... finally!

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 11:07am

SO happy about Barbie and the Three Musketeers!


BLEAK, I tell ya! Gone are the days ...

Half of those releases are re-releases or just price reductions. There are still plenty of old catalogue movies to be released. But no. We get special editions of Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Mad Monster Party instead. I love those movies, sure! I loved them the first time they came out on DVD, too.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 9:09am

How many times are they going to release the increasingly mis-named EXORCIST: VERSION YOU'VE NEVER SEEN?

[tazber]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 9:36am

I think this one is on BD, roscoe.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 9:38am

Nope. It's DVD. And it's the version we've already seen.

Warner Bros. is currently working on a BD release for 2010, Taz. It should include both versions we've already "not" seen.


EDIT: Here's a link with the scoop ...

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/tks-take/warner-planning-exorcist-blu-ray

Updated On: 9/2/09 at 09:38 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 9:41am

Well that's a waste then.

I don't even think doodle can get excited about this.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 9:45am

Not even doodle.

Sad very sad.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 9:57am

It isn't just this particular list of DVD releases. I'm not seeing much out there that I'm interested in getting. Even the Criterion Collection releases are getting, shall we say, less than exciting. I'm hoping that there'll be some special stuff for the holidays. There have been hints in their newsletters about some kind of Kurosawa Centennial-related items. Maybe a new box of early works like SANSHIRO SUGATA.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 10:07am

I had a list of all the Criterion releases for the fall, I'll see if I can find it and post it.

there was a lot of Kurosawa on BD, but also some really notable titles that I think might be of interest.

Updated On: 9/2/09 at 10:07 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 10:09am

Well, this is from their website. The list I saw had more titles, but at least here's some:
Fall releases

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 10:27am

Taz, yeah, I've seen that, I check their website on or about the 15th of each month for their upcoming release information. Not exactly a dazzling list of must-owns, I'd say. I enjoyed GOMORRAH and A CHRISTMAS TALE well enough, but not enough to blow that much money on them.

Have you seen this link? Interesting information on it...
Criterion Updates

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 10:30am

Just to sum up the "state of union" in DVD Land ...

We're still in transition mode. And we could be there for another 5-10 years. People are stuck waiting for downloads to revolutionize the industry.

And they will! But not now and not yet. It's way too early.

First of all, there is a big wakeup call with downloadable content. There are serious technical issues, ranging from the studios to the consumers. The mass public isn't as computer savvy as the studios think. And they don't want to be. They have better things to do with their lives. They don't want to babysit a download for hours. They don't know what to do if it crashes. They don't know how to store it or delete it, or in some cases, even how to play it back.

And not everyone is on the Internet, and many who are don't have DSL or high-speed, which would be required to be a regular downloading customer. This isn't iTunes. These are big, bulky, not-so-easy-to-manage files. Not so easy to store, either.

And that has nothing to do with quality. And the current quality is not up to BD standards. That will also take 5-10 years.

So ... here we sit in "Transition Land." The DVD boom is over. The download boom isn't here yet. The studios are confused. They can't tell if the lack of sales is due to the recession or the change in format and the change of thought in consumers' minds.

Personally, I think they should be charging ahead with DVD (standard def) releases. Blu-ray isn't going to revolutionize the industry. I do see BD sales increasing for a while to come, and many people with those HD TVs are going to prefer buying BD discs. It may turn out to be a larger group than the old "cinephile" Laser Disc crowd, but it will never be a global revolution like DVDs.

So, put out more standard-def DVDs! Most everyone has at least one player. Dig deeper. Studios still have plenty of titles (never released) that they could be offering. If they're worried about scraping the bottom of the barrel, they can package them in appealing new sets. Presentation is everything. Take a cue from TCM. They know how to make old material seem fresh, current, and interesting. Quit serving us the same burger, flipped over, pretending it's new. Consumers aren't being fooled. The only people being tricked by this tactic are the marketing departments themselves. Sales are NOT good on rehashed special editions. They should have stopped doing this a long time ago. The only time it works is when the original DVD release has been off the market for at least 7 or 8 years. (Very few can say that. Usually it's Disney.) Then you get a new group of buyers who didn't purchase the first release. Otherwise, leave it alone. Nobody cares that you changed the cover and added a 10-minute documentary.

Okay ... enough babbling.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 10:37am

Thanks for that post, Best. A nice summation.

I know that I personally am feeling the consumer burn-out on these issues. I just got my essentials covered on DVD when along comes this new Blu-Ray thing that is supposed to be so much better, and I'm faced with buying yet another goddamn copy of SEVEN SAMURAI. Sorry, I think I'll have to wait out this particular upgrade. When they get to the fabulous Ultra-Real Hi-Def Squared Chartreuse Ray, we can talk.

I like the idea of the Warner Archive system, where they burn DVDs basically on request of their less in-demand titles. I've read that the discs themselves aren't great though. Have you tried them?

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 10:53am

I haven't tried them yet, Roscoe. And you think I would have by now, right?

Two reasons:

1) They're too expensive. $19.95 each, which for a bare bones release is too much money today.

2) They're not remastered. They are taken from the "broadcast quality" masters. Meaning that they will look only as good (or perhaps with slightly better compression than broadcast streaming) than they look on TCM now, especially if you already have digital cable and a DVR.

If they were either remastered prints or cost less, I would bite. But they're really just trying to sell me something I can already get, for $20 bucks. No thanks.

The reason I bought so many Warner releases (the old TCM movies) was because of their wonderful remastering on titles like Robin Hood, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Citizen Kane, etc. They looked better than they ever did on TV. Much better. And they would often have a slew of extra features.

While the Warner Archives is a great idea, it's poorly executed. And it's already turned me (an old movie buff and DVD collector) off.

Updated On: 9/2/09 at 10:53 AM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 11:25am

I was thinking about getting a couple of the real obscurities, like the silent SCARAMOUCHE for example, the stuff that just isn't going to be on regular DVD ever. The prices are prohibitive, and I've found their website to be very poorly laid out and slower than any other website around.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 11:27am

I totally got a boner when i saw the "version I've never seen" on the list. I should've known it was too good to be true.

[EVIE]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 12:59pm

X-Men Vol 3 and 4, eeeeeep!

[tazber]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 1:05pm

Thanks for the link Roscoe. I personally can't wait for Z. I've heard so much about it and I liked Missing.

I also thing the MOD (manufacture on demand) is a great idea. And I do think it will take off at which time the studios will hopefully clean up the transfers.

Meanwhile, I have always agreed that the next revolution in home entertainment will be DL movies that can be viewed on hi-def tvs.
I saw today that the first 3-D tv (the new 3-D, not the anaglyphic red lens/blue lens we have now) will be available by the holidays in 2010.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 1:10pm

THAT HAMILTON WOMAN is great fun. Oh, and it was Winston Churchill's favorite movie!

[morosco]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 1:15pm

...DSL or high-speed, which would be required to be a regular downloading customer. This isn't iTunes. These are big, bulky, not-so-easy-to-manage files.

Most Internet service providers have monthly download caps. I haven't seen speculation on how these bulky downloads would affect those limits but surely they would.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/4/09 at 12:01am

morosco---You're absolutely right. I didn't go into the issue with that, but the caps are going to really put a damper on the convenience of downloading. You'll be paying for the movie you want to watch AND paying another charge to download it. As soon as you hit your maximum monthly allowance, your ISP will start charging you a fee to keep going. Most people will hit their max (currently only a few Gigabytes) after one movie. That's one film per month. Have fun!

I don't know of any ISP that's doing this yet. But everyone in the industry agrees (and has been told) that it's coming.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 9/4/09 at 12:41am

Wait...so...the new All in the Family releases...are they any different?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 9/4/09 at 11:55am

Is Wizard of Oz being released on Blu-Ray. I adored the remaster that was on TV last holiday season.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 9/4/09 at 10:25pm

We get the great William Castle box set in October. Otherwise, meh.