Warner Home Video Tabs Feb. 25 And The Blu-ray And DVD Street Date For Gravity

The Best Picture winner for 2013 will likely come down to three candidates.   Director Steve R. McQueen’s film adaptation of the Solomon Northup novel, 12 Years a Slave, director Steve Greengrass’ deeply flawed — but the nevertheless entertaining — Captain Phillips and the majesty of Gravity.

Of course there will be others in contention.   Anytime you have Harvey Weinstein with a $100 million box office and critical success — that being Lee Daniels’ The Butler — you can expect today’s best showman to make it a competitive race.   Scorsese and DiCaprio have teamed for the Wolf of Wall Street … that should be there.  And, Tom Hanks could be competing with himself with both the aforementioned Captain Phillips and director John Lee Hancock’s Disney biopic, Saving Mr. Banks.

Everything else is either too small or haven’t had the theatrical exposure to generated enough buzz … yet!

If “Hollywood” (and we use that term loosely) wants to make a statement and erode theatre-going audiences even further, then a majority of the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will select 12 Years a Slave as the Oscar-winner for Best Picture.  That’s the PC thing to do.  It is an excellent film and based more or less on actual events prior to the Civil War.   Case closed.

If Hanks knocks Hanks off and both Scorsese and Weinstein come up short, then the winner is … Gravity.

On Feb. 25 (just days before the March 2, 2014 Academy Awards festivities), Warner Home Video will serve-up a three-SKU helping of writer/director Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity.   In the works are a stand-alone DVD edition and two Blu-ray/DVD Combo Packs — one with and one without a 3D viewing option (all three SKUs include UltraViolet).

The ARR is 144 days and the current box office take is an stratospheric $251.5 million.

No word at this time as to bonus goodies, but you can expect this not to be a barebones home entertainment product offering.

In other release news from Warner Home Video, Blu-ray editions of both director Stanley Donen’s 1957 romantic musical comedy, Funny Face (teaming Audrey Hepburn with Fred Astaire) and Billy Wilder’s 1954 romantic comedy, Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden) will be released on Apr. 8.

On the DVD release front, a three-disc helping of The Middle: The Complete Fourth Season has been added to Feb. 25 and both Teen Titans Go!: Mission to Misbehave - Season One, Part One and Venture Bros.: The Complete Season Five will be available as double-disc SKUs on Mar. 4.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Well Go U.S.A.'s On The Job Arrives On DVD And Blu-ray On Feb. 18

Well Go U.S.A. announced this past week that Filipino writer/director Erik Matti’s sensational crime thriller, On the Job, will be heading to DVD and Blu-ray on Feb. 18.

The ARR comes in at 144 days and the limited domestic theatrical run generated ticket sales of $164,620.

If this foreign language import isn’t remade into a big-budget, big-star American blockbuster than it is only because the powers that be are either asleep or brain dead.   This is one sweet — and cleverly twisted — mystery/thriller!   And what makes it even more compelling … it is actually based on a prison scandal that took place in the Philippines.

The film opens with the noise and celebration of a street festival.   Dancing goes hand-in-hand with gunplay as two assassins emerge from the clutter of the crowd to execute — for all to see — a high-level drug dealer.

We only come to realize as the story progresses that the hitmen, Mario "Tatang" Maghari (Joel Torre) and Daniel Benitez (Gerald Anderson) are inmates, who periodically “vanish” from prison to carry out their assignments.   It’s the perfect cover!!!

Indeed, the police investigation — headed by Sergeant Acosta (Joey Marquez) — is stymied by the mysterious disappearance of the assassins.   Where are they hiding?  Who are they?   Who do they work for … and why the killings?

His investigation is further complicated by the arrival of a green-behind-the-ears federal investigator named Francis (Piolo Pascual), who may be carrying water for those involved in the scheme.

It’s complicated.  It’s clever … and it is loaded with action!

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Samson And Delilah On Blu-ray From Paramount Home Media On Mar. 11

Timed for Easter (Apr. 20 in 2014) is Paramount Home Media’s Mar. 11 Blu-ray debut of director Cecil B. DeMille’s 1949 biblical epic, Samson and Delilah, with Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr in the title roles and screen veterans George Sanders and Angela Lansbury starring as Saran and Semadar respectively.

Nominated for five Academy Awards, with wins for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, this Technicolor treasure has been fully restored for Hi-Def with Dolby TrueHD Mono sound.

Also on the release calendar from Paramount in March are two waves of new DVD announcments.   Mar. 4 brings forth the latest Dora and Boots adventure, Dora the Explorer: Dora in Wonderland, plus two four-disc SKUs for the Clint Eastwood TV Western classic, Rawhide: The Seventh Season, Part One and Rawhide: The Seventh Season, Part Two.

On Mar. 18 look for DVD editions of Bubble Guppies: Animals Everywhere!, Flashpoint: The Final Season (a three-disc collection) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutagen Mayhem.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Wolfe Video's Pit Stop Heads To DVD On Feb. 4

There are no secrets in a small town.  Dodge, Texas (a few miles off of the I-45 between Houston and Dallas) is such a small town … by all accounts it is a nice, quiet little town.   Peyton Place — way up there in New England a half-century ago — was probably a nice, small, quiet little town as well (and you know how that worked out).

This is the location for writer/director Yet Tan's (Happy Birthday, Ciao) latest award-winning film, Pit Stop, which is making its DVD debut courtesy of Wolfe Video on Feb. 4.

Gabe (Bill Heck) is divorced, a construction worker who works hard at co-raising his daughter with his ex-wife Shannon (Amy Seimetz) … she knows his “secret” and they make the best of it.   Still, it is a lonely existence for a gay man in a small, Texas town.

When an equally lonely blue collar worker named Ernesto (Marcus DeAnda) finds his life in turn-around after his younger companion moved on he meets Gabe (not really a meet-cute, but a more mundane online hookup) and complication arise that challenge not only their lives, but those around them.   Small towns can be like that.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

The Adventures Of Champion The Wonder Horse From Film Chest On Feb. 4

Film Chest announced this past week that the long wait is over for collectors anxious to get their hands on the 1955/56 short-lived Western adventure series, The Adventures of Champion the Wonder Horse — a spinoff of the popular TV series of the period, The Gene Autry Show, with the legendary Western and theatrical serial filmmaker Armand Schaefer acting as the show’s producer.

23 episodes have been restored from surviving film materials and will arrive on Feb. 4 as a three-disc collection.   The series, starring child star Barry Curtis as Ricky North and Gene Autry’s Champion, featured guest stars that proved to be a virtual who’s who of Western stars of the period, including Tristram Coffin, Roy Barcroft and Walter Reed.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Forward 13: Waking Up The American Dream On DVD From Cinema Libre On Jan. 21

Cinema Libre announced this past week that documentary filmmaker Patrick Lovell’s Forward 13: Waking Up the American Dream, a self-portrait of the wreckage of his life following the 2008 financial crisis, will be heading to DVD on Jan. 21.

He set out on a cross-country trip to see what others were experiencing — professionals, real estate brokers, small business owners, etc. — and along the way ran smack dab into the middle of the Occupy Wall Street movement.  

Thought-provoking and insightful, regardless of your politics … and if you listen carefully you can’t help but wonder if we are on our way to another bubble and another “Wall Street” financial meltdown (think: Twitter with a current market value of $31.4 billion and no profits in sight — sounds a lot like the housing market on the run-up to 2008).

Bonus features include deleted scenes and additional interviews.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Captain Phillips Heads To DVD And Blu-ray On Jan. 21

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has dropped the Best Picture contender, Captain Phillips, into the same street date Tuesday as the previously announced Blue Jasmine.   That would be Jan. 21 (leaving little time over the holidays for sales solicitation … but that may not be a worry with Best Picture prospects on the horizon).   

The ARR for DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack product offerings (with UltraViolet) is 102 days and ticket sales have grown to $103.5 million.

Bonus goodies include commentary from director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93, The Bourne Supremacy, etc.) and a three-part behind-the-scenes featurette titled “Capturing Captain Phillips.”

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Laughing To The Bank For Image Entertainment On Feb. 18

Sometimes you just have to take a page from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky if you are going to get ahead in the Hollywood entertainment game.   He wrote it and was basically told that someone else — with a name — would have to star in the title role.   He rolled the dice, said all or nothing … the rest is history.

That’s what b-list (or is it way down the list?) actor Brian Hooks (playing himself and directing) is faced with in the Image Entertainment DVD release on Feb. 18 of Laughing to the Bank.

When his idea for a television series finds no takers — “Why would we want to do a production with you?”   Hooks decides that he will just produce it himself … and that’s where the story begins, in a seedy Vegas hotel room, with Hooks trying to piece together — for the benefit of a couple of thugs who would like nothing better than to slap him silly — where the budget money went after a night of celebrating.   

Yes, he did pull off the production money part, hence the celebration!!!   We can also give you a hint as to what happened to the cash … Fat Betty (Devyn Ashley) had something to do with its disappearance!!! 

Though a series of flashbacks (basically sketch comedy bits by Hooks and his cast of characters) we get his “Rocky” tale of just how difficult it is for a nobody to get a break in Hollywood.  

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Green Apple Entertainment's DisOrientation Ready For DVD On Jan. 28

Green Apple Entertainment has tagged Jan. 28 as the DVD rollout date for actor-turned-director Russell Whaley’s insightful look (tongue firmly planted in cheek here) at the current state of higher education.   

Titled DisOrientation, it doesn’t take long to discover that there are book smarts, street smarts and party smarts when it comes to matriculating at the college or university of your choice.   Finn (Eric Toms) falls into the latter category, he has spent virtually all of his college years “studying” the fine art of partying (much participation has been required). 

In fact, he’s gotten so good at it — participating, that is — that holding onto a dorm roommate has proven to be a difficult task and holding onto a C- average has long stopped being a goal.   It is just a matter of time when partying meets the harsh reality of academics and he will have to make a go of it in the real world (or move back home).

But there’s a change in the wind as the dorm gods have assigned Toby (Todd Gaebe), a 15 year-old brainiac, as his new roomie.   The challenge for Finn is to keep the kid from going into full panic mode (not helped by a steady stream of co-eds parading through their room) before getting him accustomed to college life (basically sex and alcohol) … and in return perhaps some of that genius will rub off on him just long enough to get through another semester is his major!!!

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

 

 

Kino Lorber's Nuit #1 Makes Its DVD Debut On Feb. 4

Kino Lorber announced this past week that the Canadian French-language winner of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, Nuit #1, will be making its domestic DVD debut on Feb. 4.

Montreal-based filmmaker Anne Émond, making her feature-length directorial debut here, delivers an interesting “romantic” drama that pretty much defies being lumped into any particular category.   

Clara (Catherine de Léan — The Depraved, Twice a Woman) and Nikolai (Dimitri Storoge — Through the Mist, Les Lyonnais, etc.) are thirty-somethings, single, educated and drifting.   They hook up at a very loud rave concert/party and end up heading over to his place for some casual sex … something to do.   Nothing more than a one-night stand with no expectations. 

Films at this point would normally move onto the next day or date, drop one of the participants (not needed for the storyline) or develop the storyline from this “meet cute” set up.  Filmmaker Émond takes an entirely different tack … just as you expect the evening to end with Clara’s departure a conversation begins and before the final credits the two work their way into some fairly heavy reveals.

They each have secrets — issues — that have isolated them; alone and deeply flawed.   In a social commentary sense, Nuit #1 begins with noise, lights and crowds — life without living — and builds through intimacy and quiet conversations — in a sort of a round-about way — to friendship and a basic human need for someone just to listen.

Will there be a future for Clara and Nikolai together?   Hard to tell, but this first encounter is certainly one worth exploring.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

                       

Gentle Ben And Peter Rabbit Head To DVD On Feb. 18 From Paramount Home Media Distribution

Paramount Home Media Distribution announced this past week that Dennis Weaver and Clint Howard will return on Feb. 18 in the four-disc/28 episode collection of Gentle Ben: Season Two.

 The Nick Jr. CG-animated adventures of Peter Rabbit and his sidekicks Benjamin and Lily will also be heading to DVD on Feb. 18 as a two-SKU product offering.   Being made available with multiple episodes from the series are Peter Rabbit and Peter Rabbit: Spring Into Adventure.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Midnight Releasing's Slaughter Daughter Heads To DVD On Feb. 4

Midnight Releasing has selected Feb. 4 as the DVD debut date for the Brain Damage Films release of writer/director Travis Campbell’s Slaughter Daughter.

Scream Queen, Nicola Fiore (Ms. Cannibal Holocaust, She Wolf Rising, etc.) stars as Farrah, a repressed beauty — suffering something of an emotional break — who is living under the oppressive thumb of her sexually deviant and sadistic mother (Leesa Rowland).   Hate is not a strong enough word to describe her feelings for dear old mom!

Her salvation comes from an unexpected source.   While hold up in her room, not dealing with anything for weeks on end, Farrah strikes up a pen pal relationship with a notorious death row serial killer named Jackson Miles (Tim Dax), who takes a liking to this “broken angel” and begins tutoring her on the fine art of killing!    This is, as this twisted story unfolds, a winning combination.

This nifty spin on the slasher genre comes with a blooper reel, deleted scenes and webisodes. 

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report