February 17th, 2014
It's a horrible week for me. The biggest release of the week is Game of Thrones: Season Three. I was supposed to review the Blu-ray, but it hasn't arrived yet. Usually HBO releases arrive a little early, not late. On the other hand, it was a holiday last week, at least it was where I live, so perhaps the mail was delayed. Or perhaps they ran out of copies before they got to me. It's the uncertainty that sucks the most, because right now the Blu-ray Combo Pack costs just $30 on Amazon.com. Of course you buy it at that price. The only reason not to, is because you want the Limited Edition Box Set instead. On the other hand, after Game of Thrones, there are practically no major releases. According to Amazon.com, the second best new release is the Criterion Collection release for The Fantastic Mr. Fox. It's a great movie, but it failed to make an impact at the box office, so a Blu-ray double-dip shouldn't sell that well.
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February 15th, 2014
Chicago came out in 2002 and was a surprise hit earning more than $300 million worldwide on a $30 million production budget. It was a surprise hit, in part because movie musicals had not been able to find an audience like that in a long, long time. Musicals have been around for as long as movies have had sound. The first film with spoken dialogue, The Jazz Singer, was also the first movie musical. But the heyday of movie musicals ended about forty years before Chicago hit theaters. Unfortunately for a lot of studios, Chicago wasn't able to reinvigorate the movie musical genre. Has the decline in the genre meant Chicago hasn't aged well? Or have more recent musicals failed to match it at the box office, because they have also failed to match its quality?
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February 11th, 2014
It's a strange week on the home market. If you look at the top ten selling new releases on Amazon.com, there are a couple of first run releases, a catalog title, TV on DVD release, and some limited releases. That's basically every category there is. The biggest release is Ender's Game, a film that failed to find an audience in theaters. It barely earned overall positive reviews and it isn't a contender for Pick of the Week. Some of the other best-selling releases are contenders, like The Jungle Book: Blu-ray Diamond Edition or Sherlock: Season Three on DVD or Blu-ray. There are also a few of the smaller releases that were in consideration, including Doctor Who: Story 33: The Moonbase and G.B.F. on DVD. But in the end, I went with Wadjda on Blu-ray Combo Pack for Pick of the Week. One last note, Dry Spell is coming out on Video on Demand. It's a good chance to support ultra-low-budget filmmaking and the reviews I've read have been positive.
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January 23rd, 2007
Business is starting to pick up again for DVD releases. It's still not up to the level of the pre-Christmas boom, or even the yearly average, but at least it's not a desolate wasteland either. There were a couple releases that were contenders for DVD Pick of the Week, but in the end I went with This Film is Not Yet Rated - Buy from Amazon, but since I work in the industry, at least tangentially, my enjoyment of the movie may have been increased somewhat.
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December 19th, 2005
For those looking for last minute gifts (and you can't get much more last minute than this), there are many, many former wide releases coming out this week.
Unfortunately, only one such film earned even reasonable reviews, and that was Serenity - Buy from Amazon, which is our DVD Pick of the Week.
Also earning that honor is Party of Five - The Complete Second Season.
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August 22nd, 2003
April 25th, 2003
April 14th, 2003
March 31st, 2003
March 29th, 2003
March 28th, 2003
March 23rd, 2003
March 21st, 2003
March 17th, 2003
March 10th, 2003
March 3rd, 2003
March 2nd, 2003
February 24th, 2003
February 21st, 2003
February 19th, 2003
February 15th, 2003
February 11th, 2003
February 11th, 2003
February 9th, 2003
January 28th, 2003
January 5th, 2003
