I’ve been writing this “Weekly Picks” column now for over a year now (on and off.) It’s time to switch things up. Instead of simply highlighting a random selection of the weeks new Blu-ray releases, it seems to me that it might prove more useful to present an ordered list of the best of the best. So, starting this week, the “Weekly Picks” column will become a “Top 5 New Releases” article! How do you like them apples?
I know…there isn’t much of a noticeable difference. Just some numbers down the left hand side of the screen. Sigh… It’s not too late to return to the old format, you know…Let me know what you think!
Like I said in my announcement article for this Blu-ray release, I loves me some Coen Brothers! But I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t yet own a single one of their films on Blu. I missed the Burn After Reading and Fargo releases last year, as well as both editions of No Country For Old Men. Let me assure you, I won’t let A Serious Man pass me by. Typical for Coen releases, the A Serious Man Blu-ray is feature light, with only a couple of “Making-of” featurettes and a helpful “Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys” doc.
2. BRONSON
Tom Hardy plays the lead role in this electric profile of “Britain’s most violent prisoner”, but he’ll always be Shinzon, the Picard clone/Romulan leader of Star Trek: Nemesis to me! There’s no question that this over-the-top, highly stylized film isn’t for everyone but there’s a reason Bronson made so many Top 10 films of 2009 lists – it’s gritty, surreal and packed with black humour. And did I mention that Tom Hardy is brilliant in it?
Classic, Golden-age Governator! Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this 1987 adaptation of a Stephen King story, where convicts are given a chance to avoid incarceration by appearing on America’s most popular television game show. Arnold will be a free man if he can successfully run a gauntlet of brutal killers on his way to the outside world. By Crom, don’t those fools know who they’re up against!?! Conan is going to take them to the cleaners!! The late Family Feud host, Richard Dawson co-stars in an unusually sleazy but delightful turn.
4. DARE
I haven’t seen this one but I recommend it to you as it was recommended to me – Dare is more than a typical high-school school drama, with singing or dancing teens. It’s a critical examination of the way teenage stereotypes shape and define young lives. Writer/director Adam Salky expands his 2005 short into a debut feature film that could become this generations Pretty in Pink or Cruel Intentions.
Oi. This looks like a real stinker to me. But on a week like this, it’s a struggle to find 5 amazing releases. The Time Traveler’s Wife is an adaptation of the popular Audrey Niffenegger novel of the same name and appears here on the merit of said popularity alone. Oh, and I also really like Eric Bana. And Rachel McAdams is pretty easy on the eyes. And I understand that it involves time travel, which, as a story device, I’ve become quite partial to in the last year or so.
ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:
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