Category Archives: DVDs

Mar 12 2014
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DVDs, Movies, Pop Culture

Con-Fabulous

Swirling scandal saga based on real events from the 1970s

American Hustle

Blu-ray $40.99, DVD $30.99 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

L01F_AmerHustle_BD_O-ring_Q8_bluray

Director David O. Russell’s sprawling, swirling ‘70s saga, nominated for 10 Academy Awards, is a tale of con artists, FBI agents, a fake oil sheik, real gangsters, crooked politicians and others hustling to make it or break it against the backdrop of a real-life American scandal. The fabulous ensemble cast of Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner keeps the show rolling; the colorful clothes and disco-era hairstyles are dy-no-mite; and the soundtrack rocks with tuneful tracks of the era. Extras include a making-of documentary with the filmmakers and cast, plus deleted and extended scenes.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Mar 12 2014
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DVDs, Movies

Wild Weekend

De Niro, Freeman headline all-star, over-the-hill ‘Hangover’

Last Vegas

Last Vegas

Blu-ray + DVD + Digital $40.99 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline play grown-up childhood chums who reunite for a Vegas bachelor party weekend in honor of their last single pal (Michael Douglas). Will the wild, wanton ways of Sin City do these 60-somethings in, or can a wise, lovely lounge singer (Mary Steenburgen) keep them on the straight and narrow? Friendships are tested, Viagra jokes fly, smart-aleck young pups get their comedic comeuppance from old dogs, and Morgan Freeman pops some serious moves on the dance floor. Extras include several behind-the-scenes features.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Mar 06 2014
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DVDs, Movies

Who’s Hungry?

‘Catching Fire’ sequel quenches ‘Hunger Games’ appetites

Hunger Games_Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Blu-ray $39.99, DVD $29.95 (Lionsgate Home Video)

Things are pretty bleak for young folks who have to fight to the death in The Hunger Games. But on the bright side: The sci-fi trilogy’s second blockbuster movie, the No.1 box-office hit of 2013, is well on its way to cracking the billion-dollar mark in sales. So don’t feel too bad for Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, or Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz and Donald Sutherland, all of whom reprise their original parts (plus an appearance by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, in what would become one of his final roles). Bonus features include a nine-part behind-the-scenes documentary, commentary from director Francis Lawrence, and deleted scenes.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Mar 06 2014
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DVDs, Movies, Music, Pop Culture

Honoring Bob Dylan

Re-release recalls all-star 1992 concert event

Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert

Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, Deluxe Edition

Blu-ray, $24.98 / DVD $21.98 (Columbia/Legacy)

In 1992, superstar musicians of every stripe streamed into New York City’s Madison Square Garden to fête Bob Dylan on the 30th anniversary of his first album for Columbia Records and stage a concert in his honor. This music documentary, previously available only on VHS, features performances of Dylan classics by a parade of the era’s leading acts, including John Mellencamp, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Lou Reid, Johnny Winter, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, the O’Jays, The Band, Stevie Wonder, and former Beatle George Harrison. A feast for fans of one of America’s most iconic, enduring and ever-evolving singer-songwriters, now 72, it also includes 40 minutes of interviews, rehearsal footage, and other behind-the-scenes goodies.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Feb 26 2014
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DVDs, Movies

Live Like You Were Dying

McConaughey, Leto lead Oscar nominees in ‘Dallas Buyers Club’  

Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club

Blu-ray $34.99 / DVD $29.98 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)

Matthew McConaughey stars as a high-living, homophobic Texas cowboy whose life is turned inside out when he’s diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live. Taking matters into his own hands, he seeks alternative treatments—legal and illegal—and begins his own “buyer’s club” for the life-extending drugs he can’t obtain through conventional channels, eventually uniting an eclectic group of fellow social outcasts. Based on a true story from the 1980s, this powerful, inspiring tale resulted in six Oscar nominations, including Picture, Lead Actor for McConaughey, and Supporting Actor for Jared Leto, whose wrenching performance as the transgendered Rayon has already raked in dozens of awards, including trophies from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Feb 20 2014
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DVDs, Movies, Pop Culture

Far Out

Sandra Bullock is a knockout in thrilling outer-space drama 

Gravity

Gravity

Blu-ray +DVD + Digital Bonus Pack $35.99 (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)

Sandra Bullock stars in this technically dazzling Oscar-nominated thriller as a NASA medical engineer thrown into a terrifying struggle to survive after her first space shuttle mission suddenly erupts in catastrophe. George Clooney’s also along for some of the ride, but this is Bullock’s show all the way as her character stares down the blackness of the cold, indifferent, infinite void of the cosmos—and wonders how she can possibly get home.  Bonus content includes behind-the-scenes features, a short film by director Jonás Cuarón, and a look at the groundbreaking special effects, which create the most realistic, believable scenes of bodies and other “weightless” objects bobbing, bouncing, twirling, hurtling, and colliding ever depicted on screen.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Feb 12 2014
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DVDs, Movies

Sparks of Love

Roundup features star-studded movies based on romance novels

Nicholas_Sparks_DVD_Collection

Nicholas Sparks Limited Edition DVD Collection

DVD $69.97 (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)

Hey, lovebirds, here’s something to coo about: Seven star-studded movies based on the romance novels of Nicholas Sparks are now for the first time available together in this super-snuggly gift set. Sparks, if you don’t know, is the maestro of mushiness whose 17 books have been published in 50 languages and sold some 90 million copies worldwide—and turned into these flicks: Safe Haven (2013) with Julianne Hough; The Lucky One (2012) with Zac Efron; Dear John (2010) with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried; Nights in Rodanthe (2008) with Richard Gere and Diane Lane; Message in a Bottle (1999) with Kevin Costner; A Walk to Remember (2002) with Mandy Moore; and The Notebook (2004) with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Extras include a postcard set with images from each flick.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Feb 12 2014
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DVDs, Movies

Living for ‘Now’

Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley star in coming-of-age charmer

The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now

Blu-ray $24.99 / DVD $19.99 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

A charming, popular, live-for-the-moment high school senior Sutter (Miles Teller) falls for the shy, studious “girl next door” dreamer Aimee (Shailene Woodley) in this film-festival coming-of-age charmer that broke into the mainstream last summer. Can Sutter see past his “spectacular now” to what might lie ahead, both good and bad? Based on popular young-adult novel by Tim Tharp, it’s a sharp, soulful teen movie that tells it like it is, with a strong supporting cast (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyle Chandler, Brie Larson, and Bob Odenkirk from TV’s Breaking Bad). Bonus features include a four-part making-of feature, deleted scenes and commentary.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Feb 05 2014
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DVDs

Sea Man

Robert Redford goes it alone in a salty ocean saga

All is Lost

All Is Lost

Blu-ray $29.99, DVD $26.98 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

Robert Redford is a standout—and a stand-alone—in this amazing drama about an unnamed man, alone on a sailboat, after his craft is catastrophically damaged hundreds of miles from shore. He’s the only actor, there’s almost no dialog, and the story becomes a moving, mesmerizing, elemental saga of water, wind and the will to survive. Can he make it to the commercial shipping lanes before his meager supplies run out? Will anyone even know he’s in trouble? And what about those sharks? Extras include commentary with writer/director/producer J.C. Chandor and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jan 28 2014
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DVDs, Movies

Life in the Fast Lane

Director Ron Howard’s ’70s racing rivalry is a hip, sexy crowd pleaser

Rush

Rush

Blu-ray + DVD $34.98 / DVD $19.96 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)

Director Ron Howard’s thrilling recreation of the real-life rivalry between two 1970s professional racecar drivers, English daredevil playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and straight-laced Australian Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl), is a hip, cool-running crowd-pleaser set in the daring, dangerous golden age of Grand Prix racing. Olivia Wilde has a knockout supporting role as a globetrotting fashion model, and generous bonus features on the Blu-ray combo include a several mini-documentaries, including one on how Howard and his crew created the illusion of filming all over the world while shooting mostly in the United Kingdom, and another on the movie’s sexy flashback style.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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