{"id":58447,"date":"2013-11-25T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/?p=58447"},"modified":"2017-09-01T09:08:34","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T16:08:34","slug":"bluray-highlights-nov-24-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/bluray-highlights-nov-24-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Blu-ray Highlights: Week of November 24th, 2013 &#8211; Pass the Stuffing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Thanksgiving this week, which can only mean that it&#8217;s time to bring out the turkeys. Oh, I suppose that&#8217;s not entirely fair. Still, holiday weeks are always a slow time for new Blu-ray releases. Fortunately, this one has a couple of impressive box sets worth taking a good look at.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"polls-489\" class=\"wp-polls\">\n\t<form id=\"polls_form_489\" class=\"wp-polls-form\" action=\"\/blog\/index.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t<p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"poll_489_nonce\" name=\"wp-polls-nonce\" value=\"2b48cb9e74\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t<p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"poll_id\" value=\"489\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t<p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"poll_multiple_ans_489\" name=\"poll_multiple_ans_489\" value=\"27\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Which Blu-rays Interest You This Week (11\/26\/13)?<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"polls-489-ans\" class=\"wp-polls-ans\"><ul class=\"wp-polls-ul\">\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5695\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5695\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5695\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9834\/accel_world_s1.html\">Accel World: Set 1<\/a>' (Viz)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5696\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5696\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5696\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9895\/big_star_nothing.html\">Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me<\/a>' (Magnolia)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5697\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5697\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5697\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/10146\/bs_live_gathered.html\">Black Sabbath Live... Gathered in their Masses<\/a>' (Universal \u2013 November 25th)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5698\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5698\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5698\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9860\/breaking_bad_complete.html\">Breaking Bad: The Complete Series<\/a>' (Sony)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5699\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5699\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5699\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9859\/breaking_bad_final.html\">Breaking Bad: The Final Season<\/a>' (Sony)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5700\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5700\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5700\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9893\/the_canyons.html\">The Canyons<\/a>' (MPI)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5701\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5701\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5701\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/7415\/day_animals.html\">Day of the Animals<\/a>' (Scorpion Releasing)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5702\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5702\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5702\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/10224\/don_cherry_hhh.html\">Don Cherry's Hard Hitting Hockey<\/a>' (Eclectic)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5703\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5703\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5703\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9992\/far_finished.html\">Far From Finished<\/a>' (Comedy Central)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5704\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5704\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5704\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9466\/georgecarlin_lifeworthlosing.html\">George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing<\/a>' (MPI)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5705\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5705\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5705\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/10030\/getaway_2013.html\">Getaway<\/a>' (Warner Bros.)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5706\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5706\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5706\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9776\/hotd_ova_drifters_dead.html\">High School of the Dead Ova: Drifters of the Dead<\/a>' (Section 23)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5707\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5707\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5707\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9629\/horror_show.html\">The Horror Show<\/a>' (Scream Factory)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5708\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5708\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5708\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/10002\/jobs_2013.html\">Jobs (2013) <\/a>' (Universal)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5709\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5709\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5709\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/8998\/knightriders.html\">Knightriders<\/a>' (Shout! Factory)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5710\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5710\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5710\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9985\/murdoch_mysteries_s6.html\">Murdoch Mysteries: Season 6<\/a>' (Acorn Media)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5711\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5711\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5711\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9986\/poirot_s10.html\">Poirot: Series 10<\/a>' (Acorn Media)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5712\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5712\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5712\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/10300\/popeye_41.html\">Popeye the Sailor 41 Classics HD<\/a>' (8th Man)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5713\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5713\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5713\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9755\/red2.html\">RED 2<\/a>' (Summit)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5714\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5714\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5714\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9949\/sam_jackson_triple.html\">Samuel L. Jackson Triple Feature (The Long Kiss Goodnight, Coach Carter, Changing Lanes)<\/a>' (Warner Brothers)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5715\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5715\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5715\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9944\/sf_triple_feature.html\">Sci-Fi Triple Feature (The Omega Man \/ Soylent Green \/ Logan's Run)<\/a>' (Warner Brothers)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5716\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5716\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5716\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9777\/storia_della_arcana_famiglia_complete.html\">Storia Della Arcana Famiglia: Complete Collection<\/a>' (Section 23)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5717\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5717\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5717\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9943\/sylvester_triple.html\">Sylvester Stallone Triple Feature (Over the Top \/ Tango &amp; Cash \/ Demolition Man)<\/a>' (Warner Brothers)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5718\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5718\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5718\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9917\/wolf_children.html\">Wolf Children<\/a>' (FUNimation)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5719\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5719\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5719\">'<a href=\"http:\/\/bluray.highdefdigest.com\/9884\/zat\u00f4ichi_the_blind_swordsman_criterion.html\">Zat\u00f4ichi: The Blind Swordsman (Criterion)<\/a>' (Criterion)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5720\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5720\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5720\">Other (Tell us in the Comments)<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"poll-answer-5721\" name=\"poll_489\" value=\"5721\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-5721\">Nothing for me this week.<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<\/ul><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><input type=\"button\" name=\"vote\" value=\"   Vote   \" class=\"Buttons\" onclick=\"poll_vote(489);\" \/><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"#ViewPollResults\" onclick=\"poll_result(489); return false;\" title=\"View Results Of This Poll\">View Results<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"polls-489-loading\" class=\"wp-polls-loading\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-polls\/images\/loading.gif\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading ...\" title=\"Loading ...\" class=\"wp-polls-image\" \/>&nbsp;Loading ...<\/div>\n\n<h5>New Releases<\/h5>\n<p>The first &#8216;RED&#8217;, from 2010, was a silly and insubstantial but entertaining little action comedy. I didn&#8217;t pay to see it in a theater, but I enjoyed catching it on cable. Even so, it&#8217;s not the sort of movie that desperately needed a sequel. Yet here we have one anyway. Reviews for &#8216;<strong>RED 2<\/strong>&#8216; were pretty mixed. I think I&#8217;ll be fine waiting for HBO on this one too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;<strong>Jobs<\/strong>&#8216;, formerly titled &#8216;jOBS&#8217;, is a bio-pic about Apple founder and megalomaniac Steve Jobs\u2026 as played by Ashton Kutcher. WTF is that about? A recent experience buying and attempting to set up an iPad Air for my mother-in-law reminded me how much I absolutely despise Apple products. (Anyone who says that the iOS interface is in any way even remotely intuitive or user-friendly is a fucking liar.) As such, I didn&#8217;t have a whole lot of interest in this movie to start. Add Kutcher, and I&#8217;m left puzzled as to whom this is targeted at. Apple fanboys are likely to feel offended at the casting of the &#8216;That 70s Show&#8217; doofus as their holy lord and savior, and general moviegoers have shown on multiple occasions that they just can&#8217;t take him seriously in dramatic roles. We&#8217;re left with a movie that appeals to basically no one.<\/p>\n<p>On the one hand, Ethan Hawke has had a very good year, with the surprise box office success of &#8216;The Purge&#8217; and the art house acclaim of &#8216;Before Midnight&#8217;. On the other hand, his car chase thriller &#8216;<strong>Getaway<\/strong>&#8216; was one of the biggest flops of the year. For a time after it opened, the movie was spared from a perfect 0% <em>Rotten Tomatoes<\/em> savaging by just one single favorable review (written by a friend of mine, funnily, who gave it a lukewarm pass on the basis of lowered expectations). It <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/getaway\/\">currently sits at 3%<\/a>. Needless to say, not too many people were impressed by this. I&#8217;m sure that Hawke&#8217;s career will survive, but I&#8217;m not so sure about co-star Selena Gomez.<\/p>\n<p>You might think that the direction of Paul Schrader and a screenplay from novelist Bret Easton Ellis might yield something worthwhile. Not so, says pretty much everyone who saw &#8216;<strong>The Canyons<\/strong>&#8216;. The movie is notable only for pairing actual porn star James Deen with soon-to-have-no-other-options-left-except-porn trainwreck Lindsay Lohan. Reportedly, all of the latter&#8217;s nude scenes in the film were leaked online by the producers in an attempt to drive up VOD rentals, but Lohan is so skeevy these days that I can&#8217;t believe even that holds much appeal for anyone.<\/p>\n<h5>Catalog Titles<\/h5>\n<p>The title of Blu-ray Release of the Week (if not the year) simply must go to Criterion&#8217;s massive &#8216;<strong>Zat\u00f4ichi: The Blind Swordsman<\/strong>&#8216; box set, which contains all <em>25 films<\/em> in the long-running and beloved Japanese samurai series made between 1962 to 1973. (The only understandable exclusions are a 26th film produced much later in 1989, and Takeshi Kitano&#8217;s attempted reboot from 2003.) If you have any interest in this, get yourself over to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/dvd-zatoichi-the-blind-swordsman\/26570794?ean=715515112116\" rel=\"no follow\">Barnes &#038; Noble 50% Off Criterion sale<\/a>, where it can be had for only $112.49 until December 2nd.<\/p>\n<p>Although perhaps not as exciting as that, Shout! Factory has unearthed another cult obscurity \u2013 George Romero&#8217;s 1981 &#8216;<strong>Knightriders<\/strong>&#8216;. The director&#8217;s attempt to prove that he could make something other than zombie movies, this one is the bizarre tale of Renaissance Faire re-enacters who perform jousts on motorcycles. Yeah, it sounds weird, but Ed Harris is the lead, so it has that going for it. <\/p>\n<h5>Television<\/h5>\n<p>Did you, like me, miss out on all the big hoopla about &#8216;<strong>Breaking Bad<\/strong>&#8216; while the show aired? Now that all is said and done, Sony offers both the final season and a <em>Complete Series<\/em> package perfect for those who&#8217;ve waited for the opportunity to start at the beginning and plow through the whole shebang in one big marathon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>That &#8216;Zat\u00f4ichi&#8217; set sure is tempting. Unfortunately, this isn&#8217;t a good time for me to be making big purchases, and I probably wouldn&#8217;t have time to watch 25 movies anytime soon anyway. I&#8217;ll have to put that on my wish list for a later B&#038;N sale. Will you jump in on that or anything else this week?<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Thanksgiving this week, which can only mean that it&#8217;s time to bring out the turkeys. Oh, I suppose that&#8217;s not entirely fair. Still, holiday weeks are always a slow time for new Blu-ray releases. Fortunately, this one has a couple of impressive box sets worth taking a good look at.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_excerpt -->","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":58452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[147,67,6375,1183,719,4188,666,1108,6728,6031,1068,6184,194,1483,3902,1708,6637,6724],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58447"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86876,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58447\/revisions\/86876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}