Blog

Region 1 DVD Releases for January 30, 2006

This week, Christian is the new indie.

Catch a Fire

Philip Noyce directs and Tim Robbins and Derek Luke star in this politically charged thriller about a man accused of a crime he didn’t commit, then radicalized by the torture he receives at the hands of his captors in 1980s South Africa. Based on the true story of Patrick Chamusso. Extras include commentary from Noyce, Robbins, Luke and Chamusso, among others.

Flyboys (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition)

Don’t know how this quite warrants a two disc collection, but at least the dogfight sequences in this WWI drama are supposed to be pretty neat. That’s about it. Extras include a whole mess of featurettes and a DVD-ROM game.

Facing the Giants

One of two Christian-themed films that came out of nowhere to make significant grosses last year. Shot by a church in Albany, Georgia for $100,000, this football drama went on to gross over $10 million. Doesn’t make it a well-reviewed film (it isn’t), but still a neat story. Extras include an interview with the University of Georgia Bulldogs Coach Mark Richt.

One Night With the King

This would be the other Christian-themed film to pull ridiculous grosses out of thin air, though this one, admittedly, had a major studio backing it (the new Fox/Faith label), which may explain how it managed to open in the top ten with virtually no major network advertising. Also had the star power of Omar Sharif, John Rhys-Davies, Peter O’Toole, and Tommy “Tiny” Lister, who really should be in more Biblical epics. Again, not all that well-reviewed. Cost 200 times as much as Giants and made about $3 million more.

The Marine (Unrated Edition)

The latest attempt by the WWE to practice tthe alchemy that turns wrestling icons like The Rock into action stars turned out more like See No Evil, which took Kane from “wrestling star” to “wrestling star who was in a movie once.” In this case, it’s John Cena facing off against Robert Patrick, which hardly seems fair.Don’t worry, the unrated edition also includes the rated edition on the same disc.

More here.