Avatar: Extended Edition – The highest grossing film of all-time gets the extended cut treatment this week, as this DVD set will contain three versions of the film. The theatrical cut, the theatrical re-release cut, and a collector’s edition cut of the film. The most notable addition to the film is the very beginning sequence that focuses on Jake Sully on Earth. The original Blu-Ray release of Avatar quickly became the highest selling Blu-Ray release of all time, so it will be interesting to see if this extended version of the film will be as popular.
Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore – The sequel to the 2001 film has cats and dogs teaming up to take down a psychotic cat named Kitty Galore who is looking for revenge on humans, dogs and cats after an assignment she was working on went wrong and made her lose all her fur. Her colleagues ridiculed her and her human family kicked her out of the house. It was a box office disappointment considering how well the first film did, but it’s hard for a sequel to be popular when the next installment comes nine years later. You have to be a very popular franchise (Indiana Jones or Toy Story) for people to be interested.
A Christmas Carol – Robert Zemeckis brings us this his version of the Charles Dickens Christmas classic that follows Ebenezer Scrooge and his story of being a miserable old miser to learning the true meaning of Christmas and caring for others and not just himself. Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth and Robin Wright Penn provide the voices for the characters, and Zemeckis once again uses his performance capture technology to create this animated version. I think the film is worth seeing, but there are definitely much better versions of the tale out there (including Mickey’s Christmas Carol, The Muppet’s Christmas Carol and the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol).
The Kids Are All Right – This film stars Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo in the story of a lesbian couple dealing with their sperm donor coming into their lives at their kids’ request. The catch is that both women used the same sperm donor. What starts out as being awkward soon becomes accepted until one of the women begins to have an affair with the sperm donor dad. I’m making the material sound heavier than it is, as the film is a dramedy. The Kids Are All Right received glowing review from critics and did reasonably well at the box office.
The Last Airbender – It’s funny that this is coming out on DVD today, considering it is based on the animated TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. This film is written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and follows the adventures of a brother and sister who befriend a boy that was trapped in ice named Aang. Although the siblings don’t know it at the time, Aang is The Last Airbender, as all the airbenders were killed by the Fire Nation while he was in ice for over a century. The siblings and Aang go out on a quest to bring the other nations together to take down the Fire Nation. This is definitely my least favourite film of Shyamalan’s as the acting is weak and the story was one I just didn’t care for.
Lottery Ticket – This film is about a teenager who lives in the projects who wins the lottery. Unfortunately, he cannot go and claim his prize until the 4th of July weekend is over, and during that time he has to try to hide the fact that he won from all his neighbours, who are incredibly nosy and will definitely want a piece of the winnings.
Metropolis – Fritz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece comes to DVD today in a newly restored edition that cinephiles will be quite excited about. The film is basically about two classes of people (one upper class the other lower class) living in a metropolis. One day one of the upper class ventures out onto the city streets to follow a girl and sees the horrible conditions the people have to live in. He goes on a quest to do something about that and to bring the two classes of people together. There’s more to the story than that, but it is worth seeing, especially for the art deco style the film has going for it.
The Office: Overtime – This is a DVD collection of digital shorts from the TV show The Office that were online, but now you can watch them all in one collection.
Robogeisha – Fans of The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police will be excited by this release. The film follows the adventures of two young girls (who are sisters) as they are kidnapped with the intent of changing them into robots. They are trained to be killers without mercy. One day, one of the girls does not follow the orders she is given and is now being hunted by the people who trained her. It’s over the top violence and definitely not for everyone.
TV ON DVD
Perry Mason: Season Five, Volume Two
Until Next Tuesday!
