New Release Pick of the Week
Breaking Bad: Season 4
I've only seen the first season of Breaking Bad myself, but I was incredibly impressed with that season and all the buzz I've heard about the subsequent seasons has also been outstanding, so I'm giving the season four set a sight-unseen endorsement.
2012 USA. Creator: Vince Gilligan. Starring: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul.
Other New Releases
Act of Vengeance (2010 Turkey/USA, dir Mahsun Kirmizigul, stars Gina Gershon)
Bad Ass (2012 USA, dir Craig Moss, stars Danny Trejo)
Burn Notice: Season 5 (2011 USA, stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar)
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 8 92011 USA, stars Larry David)
Declaration of War (2011 France, dir Valérie Donzelli, stars Valérie Donzelli)
Fairly Legal: Season 1 (2011 USA, stars Sarah Shahi)
Falling Skies: Season 1 (2011 USA, stars Noah Wylie)
Hatfields & McCoys: Bad Blood (2012 USA, dir Fred Olen Ray, stars Christian Slater)
In Plain Sight: Season 4 (2011 USA, stars Mary McCormack)
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012 USA, dir Brad Peyton, stars Josh Hutcherson)
Machine Gun Preacher (2011 USA, dir Marc Forster, stars Gerard Butler)
Necessary Roughness: Season 1 (2011 USA, stars Patrick Johnson)
Pretty Little Liars: Season 2 (2011 USA, stars Holly Marie Combs)
Private Romeo (2011 USA, dir Alan Brown, stars Hale Appleman)
Seven Days in Utopia (2011 USA, dir Matt Russell, stars Lucas Black)
White Collar: Season 3 (2011 USA, stars Matt Bomer)
Catalog Picks of the Week
Yellow Submarine Blu-ray
The Beatles' trippy animated feature makes its way onto Blu-ray, with a fully remastered soundtrack to go along with it. The story is a loopy affair with the Beatles battling the Blue Meanies, but for the most part, it's an excuse for psychedelic colors and memorable music-making.
1958 UK. Director: George Dunning. Starring: The Beatles.
The Twilight Zone: Complete Series Blu-ray
The original Twilight Zone series still stands as one of the finest sci-fi shows ever made, with each self-contained story a wonderous glimpse into a slightly off-kilter world. It's been coming out on Blu-ray with a season here and a season there, but here's the whole thing in one shebang if you're a fan and haven't managed to get the individual seasons yet.
1959-1964 USA. Creator: Rod Serling. Starring: Rod Serling, various.
Other Catalog Releases
Pretty much all of the films included under "Universal's 100th Anniversary" are not newly released, but repackaged existing releases. Still, there's a lot of good films there and if you don't have them already, it's a good time to check them out. Do note that even though the "Universal's 100th Anniversary" packaging looks like they're all Blu-rays, there are a few that are just DVDs. The Blu-ray editions do all contain both DVD and digital copies as well, though, I believe.
UNIVERSAL'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY
American Pie Blu-ray (1999 USA, dir Paul Weitz, stars Jason Biggs)
The Big Lebowski Blu-ray (1998 USA, dir Coen Brothers, stars Jeff Bridges)
Casino Blu-ray (1995 USA, dir Martin Scorsese, stars Robert De Niro)
Earthquake DVD (1974 USA, dir Mark Robson, stars Charlton Heston)
Erin Brockovich Blu-ray (2000 USA, dir Steven Soderbergh, stars Julia Roberts)
The Fast and the Furious Blu-ray (2001 USA, dir Rob Cohen, stars Vin Diesel)
High Plains Drifter DVD (1973 USA, dir Clint Eastwood, stars Clint Eastwood)
King Kong Blu-ray (2005 USA, dir Peter Jackson, stars Jack Black)
The Mummy Blu-ray (1999 USA, dir Stephen Sommers, stars Brendan Fraser)
National Lampoon's Animal House Blu-ray (1978 USA, dir John Landis, stars John Belushi)
Smokey and the Bandit Blu-ray (1977 USA, dir Hal Needham, stars Burt Reynolds)
Spartacus Blu-ray (1960 USA, dir Stanley Kubrick, stars Kirk Douglas)
The Sting Blu-ray (1973 USA, dir George Roy Hill, stars Paul Newman)
United 93 Blu-ray (2006 USA, dir Paul Greengrass, stars David Alan Basche)
Winchester '73 DVD (1950 USA, dir Anthony Mann, stars James Stewart)
Babar: Season 1 (1989 Canada/France, stars Gordon Pinsent)
Blood Work Blu-ray (2002 USA, dir Clint Eastwood, stars Clint Eastwood)
Cocktail Blu-ray (1988 USA, dir Roger Donaldson, stars Tom Cruise)
Door to Door (2002 USA, dir Steven Schachter, stars William H. Macy)
Hell's Kitchen: Season 7 (2009 USA, stars Gordon Ramsay)
I Will Fight No More Forever (1975 USA, dir Richard T. Heffron, stars James Whitmore)
A Perfect World Blu-ray (1993 USA, dir Clint Eastwood, stars Kevin Costner)
Ransom Blu-ray (1996 USA, dir Ron Howard, stars Mel Gibson)
Sea of Love Blu-ray (1989 USA, dir Harold Becker, stars Al Pacino)
U.S. Marshals Blu-ray (1998 USA, dir Stuart Baird, stars Tommy Lee Jones)
Instant Watch Picks of the Week
Apocalypse Now and Apocalypse Now Redux
I finally got around to seeing Apocalypse Now a couple of years ago and immediately put it on my rewatch list, because one viewing simply isn't enough to take it all in. Perhaps that second viewing should be of the Redux version – both are now on Netflix Instant again, so you can take your pick.
1979 USA. Director: Francis Ford Coppola. Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall.
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Okay, I mostly put this one on here because I'm pretty excited to finally get the chance to see it; all previous attempts have been stymied by scheduling or availability difficulties. Even though I've heard from people who've seen it to lower my expectations, it still looks like such fun I couldn't help but put it to the top of my queue immediately.
2010 China/Hong Kong. Director: Tsui Hark. Starring: Tony Leung Ka Fai, Chao Deng, Carina Lau.
Other Instant Watch Releases
Bad News Bears (2005 USA, dir Richard Linklater, stars Billy Bob Thornton)
Black Rain (1989 USA, dir Ridley Scott, stars Michael Douglas)
The Bodyguard (2004 Thailand, dir Panna Rittikrai, Petchtai Wongkamlao, stars Piphat Apiraktanakorn)
The Bodyguard 2 (2007 Thailand, dir Petchtai Wongkamlao, stars Petchtai Wongkamlao)
Brideshead Revisited (1981 UK, stars Jeremy Irons, Diana Quick)
The Cable Guy (1996 USA, dir Ben Stiller, stars Jim Carrey)
Changing Lanes (2002 USA, dir Roger Michell, stars Ben Affleck)
Collapse (2009 USA, dir Chris Smith, stars Michael Ruppert)
Cutthroat Island (1995 USA, dir Renny Harlin, stars Geena Davis)
Darfur Now (2007 USA, dir Ted Bruan, stars Don Cheadle)
Fallen (1998 USA, dir Gregory Hoblit, stars Denzel Washington)
Fierce Creatures (1997 UK/USA, dir Fred Schepisi, Robert Young, stars John Cleese)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001 USA/Japan, dir Hironobu Sakaguchi, Motonori Sakibara, stars Alec Baldwin)
First Knight (1995 USA, dir Jerry Zucker, stars Sean Connery)
Forever Young (1992 USA, dir Steve Miner, stars Mel Gibson)
Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982 USA, dir Steve Miner, stars Dana Kimmell)
Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter (1984 USA, dir Joseph Zito, stars Erich Anderson)
Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives (1986 USA, dir Tom McLoughlin, stars Thom Mathews)
Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989 USA, dir Rob Hedden, stars Kane Hodder)
The General's Daughter (1999 USA, dir Simon West, stars John Travolta)
The Golden Child (1986 USA, dir Michael Ritchie, stars Eddie Murphy)
Green Wing (2004-2006 UK, stars Sally Bretton, Olivia Colman)
Grumpier Old Men (1995 USA, dir Howard Deutch, stars Jack Lemmon)
Halloween: Resurrection (2002 USA, dir Rick Rosenthal, stars Jamie Lee Curtis)
Hammett (1982 USA, dir Wim Wenders, stars Frederic Forrest)
A Home at the End of the World (2004 USA, dir Michael Mayer, stars Colin Farrell)
Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997 USA, dir Robert Markowitz, stars Peter Horton)
Look Who's Talking Too (1990 USA, dir Amy Heckerling, stars John Travolta)
Michael Collins (1996 UK, dir Neil Jordan, stars Liam Neeson)
My Left Foot (1989 UK, dir Jim Sheridan, stars Daniel Day-Lewis)
Nine Lives (2005 USA, dir Rodrigo Garcia, stars Kathy Baker)
One from the Heart (1982 USA, dir Francis Ford Coppolas, stars Frederic Forrest)
Paradise Now (2005 Palestine, dir Hany Abu-Assad, stars Ali Suliman)
The Patriot (2000 USA, dir Roland Emmerich, stars Mel Gibson)
Play Misty For Me (1971 USA, dir Clint Eastwood, stars Clint Eastwood)
Regarding Henry (1991 USA, dir Mike Nichols, stars Harrison Ford)
Rocky (1976 USA, dir John G. Avildsen, stars Sylvester Stallone)
Rocky II (1979 USA, dir Sylvester Stallone, stars Sylvester Stallone)
Rocky III (1982 USA, dir Sylvester Stallone, stars Sylvester Stallone)
Rocky IV (1985 USA, dir Sylvester Stallone, stars Sylvester Stallone)
Rocky V (1990 USA, dir John G. Avildsen, stars Sylvester Stallone)
The Sting II (1983 USA, dir Jeremy Kagan, stars Jackie Gleason)
Superfly (1972 USA, dir Gordon Parks Jr, stars Ron O'Neal)
The Ten (2007 USA, dir David Wain, stars Paul Rudd)
Urban Cowboy (1980 USA, dir James Bridges, stars John Travolta)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993 USA, dir Lasse Hallström, stars Johnny Depp)
Wild Wild West (1999 USA, dir Barry Sonnenfeld, stars Will Smith)
Expiring Films This Week
The Sicilian Girl (2009 Italy, dir Marco Amenta, stars Veronica D'Agostino) [6/7]
Pi (1998 USA, dir Darren Aronofsky, stars Sean Gullette) [6/9]
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2008 USA, dir Lee Daniels, stars Gabourey Sidibe) [6/9]
It Came from Kuchar (2009 USA, dir Jennifer M. Kroot, stars George Kuchar) [6/13]
See all expiring titles.
