Region 1 DVD Releases for October 31st, 2006
This week, celebrate Halloween with scaaary people like Tom Cruise.
Mission – Impossible III (Two-Disc Special Collector’s Edition)
Perhaps one of the most underrated blockbusters of the summer, MI:III breaks out of the gate with one of the best opening sequences of the year. Credit J.J. Abrams with bringing the Alias-riffic plot and direction and credit Laurence Fishburne and Philip Seymour Hoffman with bringing the mad support. Credit Tom Cruise’s couch-riffic offscreen behavior with a $133 million domestic gross on a $150 million budget. With international and DVD, I think they’ll still be okay. Not to mention that onscreen, Cruise does just fine.
Incidentally, that disappointing U.S. take may have inspired Paramount to (a) release this DVD on a Monday instead of the traditional Tuesday (this actually came out on October 30th) and (b) release it on DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray all on the same day, which is unprecedented.
Extras include commentary from Abrams and Cruise and loads of featurettes.
Tales of the Rat Fink
What project could bring together John Goodman, Tom Wolfe, Ann-Margret, Matt Groening, The Smothers Brothers and Stone Cold Steve Austin? A doc about custom car legend Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and his “anti-Mickey Mouse” symbol the Rat Fink, of course. The film uses Roth-style animation to tell Roth’s tale.
Extras include interviews with Roth.
Keeping Up With the Steins
If you didn’t get enough of Jeremy Piven planning his daughter’s Bat Mitzvah on Entourage, in this film he competes with a rival’s Bar Mitzvah. And, yes, he plays an agent in this one, too. Directed by comedy legend Gary Marshall’s son Scott. Not well received.
One of the commentaries features father and son, Gary and Scott. Think Scott’s Bar Mitzvah will come up?
It’s a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)
You’d think that the 60th Anniversary Edition would have something special. If by that you mean a featurette narrated by Tom Bosley, you’d be right. If you mean a super-tricked out edition like that 78-disc set they did for Ben Hur a while back, you’d be wrong. There’s also a tribute to Frank Capra by his son, but at this point I think a doc trying to link Francis Capra of Veronica Mars fame to the movie would be more interesting.
Ghost Whisperer – The Complete First Season
Did you know that Ghost Whisperer was nominated for an Emmy? Outstanding Main Title Design. In spite of a cool critical reception, the show garnered a devoted following and is already on its second season. Having never seen the show, I can only guess it falls somewhere between Medium and Tru Calling in terms of women-talking-to-the-dead shows.
Extras include commentary and featurettes.
Comments