Hey folks, Bobert here with another edition of New Release Tuesday! Things have certainly (and thankfully) slowed down to a more reasonable pace this week, offering some relief to cinephiles and their wallets everywhere after last Tuesday’s blitzkrieg. Make no mistake however, there are still quite a few must-buys in today’s pile of shiny new discs. Not to mention a few Hi-Def update of classics, such as MY COUSIN VINNY, SLING BLADE, and WATERBOY. Go beyond the break to see what’s waiting for you on DVD and Blu-ray shelves this week…

The Big Releases…

Everybody can relax, Ol’ Jack Burton has arrived! BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, one of Bobert’s 10 favorite movies of all-time, finally gets the Hi-Def treatment this week! I know I know, it’s like a pleasure-overload and joygasm all rolled up into one! From Kurt Russell’s irresistibly narcissistic delivery and John Carpenter’s assured direction (not to mention wonderfully ’80s synth soundtrack) to the wonderfully kitschy Chinese mysticism and over-the-top action sequences, this about as weird and wild as you’d want a fun popcorn movie to be. And while the cover boasts an extended cut, all you’re getting is deleted scenes and extended ending separate from the main feature. And gundam that Blu-ray cover is hideous with its Photoshop cut and pastery . The original special edition that came out a few years back on DVD featured the original Drew Struzan painted poster as the cover, and its sorely missed here. But enough quibbling, go pick up BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA on Blu-ray now…


McJeffrey saw THE SOLOIST in theaters earlier this year (right before the advent of the Summer movie season in fact) and didn’t exactly fall in love with it. See for yourself in his full review right here. Despite McJeffrey’s less-than-glowing write-up, I’m still curious to see Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx do their thing for a couple of reasons; One is due to director’s Joe Wright’s involvement (I was surprisingly shaken and impressed by 2007′s ATONEMENT), and the other is how vocal some critics were about their love for the film and their feeling that it was unrightfully abandoned by its studio (DreamWorks). Well the Summer Movie season is almost over and now everyone has a chance to check out THE SOLOIST on Blu-ray. Will it win over some new fans, or is it destined to be the forgotten Oscar Bait of the year? Check it out this week on Hi-Def and decide for yourself…

Oh No She Didn’t…That was the original title of OBSESSED, the Beyonce Knowles Vs. Ali Larter thriller that’s coming to Blu-ray this week. No one on the FnJ staff dared to see the movie, but I have a feeling someone would’ve braved it had the flick retained that original deliciously exploitative title. As it turns out the flick didn’t need any of our money to help it out, becoming a reasonably big hit with audiences right before the Summer movie season laid waste to the rest of the smaller competition. Don’t ever underestimate the purchasing power of horny adolescent boys, desperate to catch a glimpse of Beyonce skin during the requisite climatic cat fight. That demographic alone probably made up 40 – 50% of the flick’s grosses. Anyway, the flick comes out on Blu-ray this week if you’re interested at all…

I don’t have the sort of nostalgic attachment to Disney’s original ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, but even without that sentimental hang-up I could tell RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN was a bad idea from the get-go. It really didn’t help the film’s cause when The Rock (or Dwayne Johnson as his friends call him) was cast as a cab driver (totally believable) that helps the Alien kids escape to the titular Witch Mountain, especially after his last Disney effort (THE GAME PLAN) was as putrid as it was. The remake’s director Andy Fickman, Hollywood’s latest Hack-For-Hire whose previous credits include SHE’S THE MAN and the aforementioned GAME PLAN, seems to have taken a shining to Mr. Johnson since this is their second flick together. But apparently none of those worrisome aspects kept folks away from the theater cause RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN made its budget back and then some. I’ll probably check it out only because the lovely Carla Gugino (WATCHMEN, SIN CITY) appears in the flick as a discredited scientist, the sexiest kind there is. That’s a pretty good reason as far as I’m concerned. The Blu-ray lands this week…

Under the Radar Curiosities…

MUTANT CHRONICLES had a run on Xbox Live’s Video-On-Demand almost a month before it hit theaters. Despite having a chance to see Simon Hunters long-talked about Independent Sci-Fi Actioner (I remember the short film he made years ago to shop around the project to studios and thinking it had potential) ahead of time, I decided against ponying up the extravagant amount of Gamer Points (or whatever the hell they call’em) required to rent it. I suppose thats a bad sign. The flick looks low-budget, slightly mindless, and heavy on the CG action. But you have semi-decent actors in Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, John Malkovich, and Devon Aoki, so obviously something attracted them to the project. Hopefully it wasn’t a fat paycheck (unlikely since this was an Independent flick with no Big Studio financing). Sadly the critics were pretty unkind to the movie when it premiered in theaters this past April, But Kryos said it was pretty alright. Good enough for me! Look out for Kryos’ full review in the near future, and check out MUTANT CHRONICLES on Blu-ray this week…

One of the simplest pleasures in life for me in 2007 was going over to TaiFighter’s place Sunday nights and catching the latest episodes of JOHN FROM CINCINNATI, ENTOURAGE, and FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS. Then JFC got canceled, ENTOURAGE got to be a real downer, and TaiFighter no longer had HBO. Bummer. But I was so enamored with FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS and its Kiwi stars Bret McKenzie, Jemaine Clement, and Rhys Darby that I continued to catch the show occasionally on the internets. I also got their show album, which included amazing tracks like “Business Time”, “Bowie”, and “Albi the Racist Dragon”. I lost touch with the show after its first season, but now The Complete Second Season (reportedly their last) has made its way onto DVD this week. So it’s time for one and all to rekindle their love for this eccentrically humorous duo and their haplessly incompetent band manager…

Here’s a flick McJeffrey downright hated, committing the one grave cinema sin he cannot suffer: Being a bore. I’ll be the first to admit that the Italian Crime flick GOMORRAH is a slow and sometimes tedious examination of the urban underworld in the Campania region of Italy, where mundane details and often indistinguishable characters litter the frame. However, I will say the effect is certainly the antithesis of everything American Gangster flicks create. There’s no glorification or glamorization of the Mafia occurring here, as it sometimes ends up being in films like GOODFELLAS, SCARFACE, or THE GODFATHER. Its presents an ugly truth through a straight forward narrative that leaves you feeling trapped but enlightened, having no qualms with embracing the down-n-dirty reality of its subject matter. And there’s gotta be something worth seeing if Marty Scorsese loves the flick enough to publicly support it as vehemently as he has. Folks who like their Mobster movies filled with eccentric characters and high-energy action sequences will undoubtedly leave bored, but for those of you that welcome something a bit more measured and deliberate then GOMORRAH is a Crime Drama to see. Check out the DVD this week…

A Russian Epic that combines the blood-soaked brutality of CONAN THE BARBARIAN and the fantastic scope of LORD OF THE RINGS? You had me at “blood-soaked”. WOLFHOUND is a 2007 Russian Action Fantasy flick that never got much love over here in the states like Russian Blockbuster NIGHT WATCH or the Historical Epic MONGOL, but now its here on Standard-Def home video with hopes of finding the kind of audience starved for a nice and violent swords and sorcery flick. Give it a looksee this week on DVD…

In 2003 the Thai Action film industry got a big boost thanks to Tony Jaa and his death-defying feets in ONG BAK. Since then various studios from The Weinstein Company to Magnolia have imported everything they could get their hands. Some were good like TOM-YUM-GOONG (known as THE PROTECTOR here in the states) and CHOCOLATE, but the majority have been pretty horrendous (DYNAMITE WARRIOR). I’ve also noticed a trend in Thai Action films towards mixing Action with supernatural or superheroic elements, with typically less-than-stellar results. The latest Thai Action flick to come over is DEMON WARRIORS, a little film about a Detective who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to gain the abilities he needs to defeat formidable foes. Magnet (an arm of Magnolia Pictures that specializes in Genre fair) has kindly sent us a copy, and we’ll be getting a review up soon. In the meantime, if the flick sounds like your cup ‘o’ tea and you’re the adventurous type, check out DEMON WARRIORS on DVD this week…

And The Rest…

Well that’s all for now folks. Until next time, this is Bobert saying — Keep Those Discs Spinning!