Hey folks, Bobert here! Another week of new releases and another edition of New Release Tuesday is coming right-atcha! This is what I would call a slim pickins kind of week, with only a couple of must-haves for me, but a pretty big selection of curiosities.  As usual, the assortment of Blu-ray output includes new stuff (not all necessarily worth seeing), Hi-Def updates (resistance is futile) , and a few classics ( I’m using that term loosely) getting the shiny blue disc treatment. Go beyond the break to see all that and more…

Bobert’s Blu-Ray Pick of the Week…
Bobert Kinda Liked It — ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
The Brains… Shauna Cross, Drew Barrymore
The Faces… Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig
The Goodies… Featurette, Deleted & Alternate Scenes
Bobert Says… Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut tries ever so hard to be an unconventional and fresh take on the rather overused Coming-of-Age/Sports flick hybrid, using everything from the setting (the weird and wild of city of Austin, TX) and the film’s sport-of-choice (Roller Derby) to get this intent across. At times it almost feels like she’s yelling at the audience from behind the screen, promising that what they’re about to see is “Too Cool for School”. Unfortunately, despite Barrymore’s best efforts, WHIP IT very quickly falls into the tropes and cliches of the Tired & True genres. But I still ended up liking the flick regardless. Maybe it was Ellen Page’s performance that sold me, or any of the other great work from supporting players like Daniel Stern (the voice of the WONDER YEARS!), Alia Shawkat (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT), Kristen Wiig (EXTRACT), Zoe Bell (ANGEL OF DEATH), and Juliette Lewis (WAY OF THE GUN). They’re slight for the most part, but their inclusions make it pretty tough to not recommend the flick. Just prepare for one the most predictable Sports movie endings you’ll likely to see, and a few Coming-of-Age ones too.

I like to joke that the sub-subtitle for MICHAEL JACKSON: THIS IS IT should be “IS THAT ALL THERE IS?“, borrowing from various reviews that call the Not-Quite-Concert film a vacuous and hollow attempt to cash in on the late King of Pop’s renewed fandom. But I won’t lie, I am curious. Like many from my generation, I watched Jackson go from the biggest superstar in the world to the punchline of countless bad jokes. The tour in London was poised to return him to a semblance of that popularity, but from the moment of that event announcement in early 2009, I had a feeling we would never see it come to pass. Might be interesting to at least get a glimpse of what could have been…

I kinda wanted to see SURROGATES, a Sci-Fi Actioner directed by hit or miss director Jonathan Mostow (BREAKDOWN — Hit, TERMINATOR 3 — Miss), when it came out in theaters last year. After all it stars one of my favorite actors, Bruce Willis in this case, and is based on a fairly well received graphic novel by the same name. Seems like a recipe for at the very least a yummy popcorn snack. Well somehow I managed to stay away, but Kryos saw it and liked it well enough. That makes SURROGATES my rental pick of the week. Hopefully it doesn’t disappoint too much. That trailer sure as hell ruined the ending though…

The Criterion Collection has another Blu-ray release for those famished cinephiles looking for high-quality art films in Hi-Def (that includes me kids). The good folks have dipped into Wim Wenders filmography again, this time pulling out 1984′s PARIS, TEXAS. Following one man’s desperate attempt to put the pieces of his shattered life back together, the film’s stark cinematography and arresting images have made it a classic among film fans the world over. The technical presentation on this disc is sure be of the utmost quality, and the supplementals included will keep fans busy for at least a good couple of days. A no-brainer for yours truly, but beware those who lack patience for deliberately paced cinema…

Whenever a film comes around that dares to defy the Hollywood norm and embraces a supposedly outdated style, it demands my attention. Just reading the title GIVE ‘EM HELL MALONE fills me with film geek glee, and the fact that talented folk such as Thomas Jane, Ving Rhames, and director Russell Mulcahy (ok, maybe “talented” is stretching it a bit) are involved makes me even more excited for the mysterious Action/Film Noir that seemed to fly underneath everyone’s radar last year…

As for the rest… Joe Wright’s best films, PRIDE & PREJUDICE and ATONEMENT, arrive on Blu-ray this week. Never seen the former (I kinda have an aversion to these Costume Dramas), but the latter made my eyes all moist. Yeah, you heard me right… The horror — THE HORROR! The latest in the apparently unstoppable series (there’s a 7th one on the way later this year), SAW VI burrows itself into so-called Horror fans’ brains this week. So is that how you contract stupid? Probably… 1980 Alan Parker directed FAME arrives on Blu-ray, just in time to show that bratty remake how a Musical about struggling students at a Performance Art school is done right… THE TOOLBOX MURDERS, a 1978 Slasher flick about a deranged handyman going on a killing spree in a quiet apartment complex in Los Angeles, also gets the upgrade today. How can you not wanna see it after that synopsis!? I mean, the idea of a quiet apartment complex just sounds to unreal to miss… The documentary SOUL POWER chronicles the Zaire 74 musical festival, an event that featured performances from the likes of B.B. King and James. Meant to essentially be a promotional  advertisement for The Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight bout between Ali and Foreman, the event became its own beast. Concert film fans should be looking forward to this one… And finally, that big lug King Kong gets his very own animated adventure with KONG: RETURN TO THE JUNGLE. I suppose someone out there asked for this — right?

Well that’s all for now folks. Until next time, keep those discs spinning!