Blu-ray Highlights: Week of May 25th, 2014 – I Want You, on Team Zissou

Long weekends are never long enough, but we hope you had a good one. If you’re all done with your memorializing, it’s time to get back to work with a look at this week’s new assortment of Blu-ray discs.

Which Blu-rays Interest You This Week (5/27/14)?

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New Releases

Endless Love‘ – The original 1981 film adaptation of ‘Endless Love’ was hardly a classic for the ages. Nominated for six Razzies at the time, the movie was only ever notable for its syrupy Lionel Ritchie theme song and a salaciously creepy sex scene where the mother character spies on her 15-year-old daughter (Brooke Shields) losing her virginity and then tries to seduce the girl’s boyfriend later. So, yeah, ick. Needless to say, the new PG-13, CW-friendly remake has none of that. What’s the point, really?

Catalog Titles

Wes Anderson fans can rejoice that all of the director’s films are finally available on Blu-ray (save for his most recent, ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, which is coming shortly). I’m not sure what the delay on this one was, but the Criterion Collection has just now gotten around to upgrading ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou‘ to the high definition glory it deserves. As I’ve written about previously, Anderson’s movies can be incredibly divisive. Even among his own fans, ‘Life Aquatic’ often gets short shrift. I think the film is hilarious and have eagerly awaited the Blu-ray.

Also from Criterion is Howard Hawks’ first Western, 1948’s ‘Red River‘, starring John Wayne as a ruthless cattle rancher who feuds with Montgomery Clift as his estranged son.

In anticipation of the impending sequel, DreamWorks reissues ‘How to Train Your Dragon‘ in a Collector’s Edition with a few new supplements (primarily episodes of the spin-off TV cartoon). However, in doing so, it appears to drop the majority of bonus features from the older release. Nor does it include the 3D edition of the film. In other words, if you already own ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ on Blu-ray, you’ll find little incentive to double-dip. This one is geared for first-time purchasers.

Horror aficionados may look forward to the ’80s slasher ‘Sleepaway Camp‘ or the 1973 TV movie ‘Dan Curtis’ Dracula‘. The latter was originally known as ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’, but has been retitled to avoid confusion with the Francis Ford Coppola film. In a bizarre bit of casting, Jack Palance stars as the blood-sucking Count.

Television

I gave up on A&E’s ‘Longmire‘ a little ways into the first season. Although I liked the character and the setting, the show just didn’t do enough to set itself apart from the countless other police procedurals on the air right now. From what I saw, it isn’t a bad show. I just lost interest. If you’re more of a fan than I am, the first and second seasons are available as a package from the Warner Archive.

Meanwhile, the BBC celebrates its longest-running sci-fi program with the TV movie ‘Doctor Who: An Adventure in Space and Time‘, which dramatizes the creation and early years of the series.

I’m really excited about ‘The Life Aquatic’, and will put ‘Red River’ on my wish list for later. Which titles do you favor this week?

6 comments

  1. William Henley

    Just Doctor Who for me – really looking forward to it. I am vaguely interested in Life Aquatic – I’ve never seen it, and didn’t hear about it when it was at theaters – it is just like one day, I heard about this movie with Bill Murry and directed by Wes Anderson, and I was like “why haven’t I heard about this movie?”

      • William Henley

        I actually did not know that. But this movie had been out about two years before I had first heard of it.

        • William Henley

          Hahaha, I just figured out why! I am horrible with names, I was thinking Wes Craven! BIG difference! Been thinking for years that this horror director had done a comedy movie with Bill Murray and was thinking I was missing something great!

          Well, now I am going to have to start checking out Wes Anderson movies.

          I should really use IMDB more often!

  2. David Duprey

    The Must-Buy for me this week is Red River (Criterion). This was the first movie I ever saw of John Wayne which I happened upon on AMC while feigning sick to get out of school. This began my love of all things John Wayne.

    Also, Longmire: First and Second Seasons. I really enjoy this show. And the Doctor Who: An Adventure in Space and Time. Only became a fan of Who since the Reboot in 2005.

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