Paramount Home Media
Distribution put forth a blizzard of new Blu-ray and DVD product announcements
this past week … Selma, The Gambler and the return of Liev Schreiber
as Ray Donovan, professional “fixer” for the rich and powerful who reside in LA
LA LAnd, are all at the top of the list.
Streeting on May 5 will
be DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet) editions of director Ava
DuVernay’s Best Picture nominee, Selma.
The ARR works out to 130
days and domestic ticket sales stand at $51 million.
The riveting portrayal of
civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by David Oyelowo (Interstellar,
The
Butler, Jack Reacher, Lincoln) is the very glue that holds
this Best Picture candidate together, and yet his name was not included in the
five finalists for the Best Actor Oscar.
Really?
Such are the mysteries of
the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and its voting members. Selma is Oscar-worthy, but Oyelowo
is not? Go figure.
But then these are the
same enlightened voters who selected Birdman — an ego-driven tale about a
once famous actor who has hit the skids — as Best Picture. Ten, 20 years from now Birdman will not be
remembered, but filmmaker Clint Easterwood’s powerful American Sniper will be …
that is the film that registered emotionally with paying theatre patrons, not Birdman. But it was deemed too political.
Perhaps this same group
of self-serving, ego-driven narcissists who anointed Birdman Best Picture also
found that David Oyelowo’s performance as the slain civil rights’ leader was
too political as well. Indeed, these
are the mysteries of the Academy voters that will likely never be understood.
You want an example? How about Shakespeare in Love as
Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan in 1998!
If you can decipher that bid of nonsense out, then the voting record of
the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will become
crystal clear and as easy to understand as the core elements of string theory.
As to bonus goodies
(exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU), viewers will have two separate commentary
options — one featuring director Ava DuVernay (I Will Follow, Middle
of Nowhere) and the film’s star, David Oyelowo, and a second that teams
DuVernay with her long-time filmmaking associates, film editor Spencer Averick
and the film’s director of photography, Bradford Young.
Other bonus features
include five production featurettes, deleted and extended scenes and the music
video, “Glory,” performed by Common (aka: Lonnie Lynn) and John Legend (aka:
John Stephens).
Streeting one week
earlier, on Apr. 28, will be both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with
UltraViolet) editions of director Rubert Wyatt’s remake of the 1974 film of the
same name, The Gambler.
The ARR is 123 days and
domestic ticket sales at the local multiplex registered $33.7 million.
Mark Wahlberg reprises
the role first made famous by James Caan … the name of the character as been
changed from Axel Freed to Jim Bennett, but the academic calling of literature
professor remains the same. Oh yes, and
the addiction to gambling carries over as well!
Jim Bennett finds that
his addiction has landed him in a deep, deep hole and indebted to some very
unsavory characters. With his life on
the line he finds that his only out is to make THE BET!!!
Bonus goodies (exclusive
to the Blu-ray SKU) are five featurettes — “Mr. Self Destruct: Inside The Gambler,” “Dark Before Dawn: The Descent of
The Gambler,” “Changing The Game: Adaptation,” “In The City: Locations” and “Dressing
The Players: Costume Design” — and deleted and extended scenes.
On
May 26 everyone’s favorite “fixer” returns as four-disc DVD and three-disc
Blu-ray collections of Ray Donovan:
The Second Season.
Liev Schreiber stars as
Ray Donovan, with Jon Voight returning
once again as his criminally scheming father Mickey, in another 12 episodes of
double-dealing, scams and ultra violence (murder is a benevolent act in
Mickey’s world).
Bonus
goodies include selected episode commentaries.
Not
done yet!!! Also on the way from
Paramount Home Media Distribution on the first street-date Tuesday in June
(June 2) are DVD releases of Bonanza:
The Official Eighth Season, Volume One (a five-disc set), Bonanza: The Official Eighth Season, Volume
Two (four discs), Dora the
Explorer: Whirl & Twirl Collection (a double-disc collection), L Word: The Complete Series (a
whopping 24 disc set) and Max &
Ruby: Sharing and Caring.
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