DVD Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I haven't been a fan of Hollywood's "Let's Remake Everything That Was Ever Popular!" plan, but I was pleasantly surprised by the reboots and reincarnations of Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, and even J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie, which is out on Blu-ray and DVD today. I'd argue that maybe science fiction is immune to the remake syndrome, but then you have Michael Bay's two awful Transformers movies. So that sort of shoots my theory in the foot.

Whatever the case, it's been great to have so much quality science fiction to choose from lately. There's also a hell of a lot out there that deserves a second look. Forgotten series from the 60s and 70s that have classic storytelling, great characters, and a lot of elements that make up truly good sci-fi: robots, spaceships, and time travel. So while you're enjoying that slick new Trek Blu-ray (even the menus are amazing!) and waiting for James Cameron's Avatar to hit screens, here are some classic science fiction properties that need some new life.

Space: 1999

This was my first introduction to Martin Landau, and even now whenever I see him in something I keep expecting him to don a white tunic and take command of things. Landau co-starred in this with his then wife (and recent Mission: Impossible co-star) Barbara Bain. The series was set in the "far future" of 1999 via 1975, and revolves around the Moon getting knocked loose from orbit around the Earth. When it goes bye-bye, it takes with it the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha. So the Moon, in effect, becomes their U.S.S. Enterprise, and they have adventures around the galaxy. Highlights included the Eagle, a spaceship that looked like it was made out of scaffolding. My best friend had a model of this when we were kids, and it was highly coveted. There have been some attempts to revive it, even as a movie, but nothing has happened. Yet.

Click here for the disco-tastic opening credit sequence for Space: 1999, then head beyond the break for more sci-fi reboots we'd like to see..

It's no secret that video retailer Blockbuster had a rough quarter. Their profits are dipping, stores are closing -- suffice to say things aren't looking good. But, the company is looking for new ways to compete with services like Netflix and Redbox and so they're getting into the digital content game. But, as some critics have pointed out, the results so far are lackluster to say the least. Blockbuster and NRC/MOD systems have announced the pilot of digital media kiosks where customers use an SD memory card to download movies and TV to take home to play on their TV with the aid of a proprietary device (provided to participants of the trial). But the kicker has to be that the content would be DRM protected and customers pay $1.99 for a movie that must be viewed within 30 days and is only viewable for 48 hours.

The digital download service is just the latest in Blockbuster's new strategy to hold on to customers by offering something other than the brick and mortar experience. Some of their other ideas have included DVD subscription services and DVD kiosks. Blockbuster is hoping these new services could reduce the effect that illegal downloading has cost their bottom line as well as open them up to new tech-savvy customers. I understand that Blockbuster needs to fight off the pirates like everybody else, but I doubt that products bogged down with DRM are going to persuade your average pirate to go legit. But on the upside, at least Blockbuster's latest scheme would mean that there's nothing to return, and you don't have to deal with receiving damaged or scratched discs -- but in the grand scheme of things, that ain't much.

If Blockbuster wants to live to fight another day, I think they are going to have to come up with something a lot better than this, don't you?

If you are the type of person who likes to get their Christmas shopping done early, I've got some good news for you, because now is your chance to buy some seriously cheap DVDs. Variety is reporting that the online stores for Walmart, Target, and Amazon, have gotten into a DVD pricing war and passing those savings on to you. But don't worry, these aren't your usual discount bin selections, instead, big name titles like Star Trek, Night and The Museum 2, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be going for the low price of only $10 each.

It all started when Walmart announced last Thursday that they would be offering titles like Angels & Demons, Julie & Julia, and Terminator: Salvation at a lower price (but you were only guaranteed the discount price if you shopped online). The reason for the discount according to Walmart was to, "help families holiday shop during this difficult economic environment.", but most have just speculated that the retailer was suffering online and this sale is just the latest attempt to drum up flagging business.

It didn't take long before Target and Amazon jumped into the fray and now an all out 'pricing war' has begun between the three retailers. But before you get too excited, keep in mind that this isn't a shift to a new price scale for DVDs, and the discount is simply to drive new customers to shop online. Prices are expected to go back to normal by the time these titles go into wide release later this month -- so if you love a bargain, you're going to need to act fast.

OK, so just before we start, I want you to know that I'm going to try very hard not to make any jokes about the French in this post (even though a certain line of dialog from The Last of The Mohicans keeps running in my head). But, back to the news at hand: Variety is reporting that more than 2,000 French movie theaters will be turning off their lights between 6 and 7PM in protest of a new anti-piracy law, and since Wednesday is new release day in France, exhibitors thought that would be the most opportune time to make their point.

So what is their point exactly? Well, it turns out that French movie distributors are starting to feel the pains of rising services like VOD competing with first-run movie theaters for business. Originally, movie theaters were granted a six-month window of exclusivity before a flick could move on to other distribution channels, but under their new anti-piracy law, the home entertainment market will now only have to wait 4 months before a film becomes available for the DVD and VOD market. French cinema owners claim that this law is, "degrading of theater owners' economic conditions." (Even though, according to statistics, the box-office is up 3.4% from last year).

After the jump; French movie theaters aren't the only ones suffering...

The 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray and DVD of Say Anything came out yesterday, and to mark the occasion, numerous men with lots of free time dressed up in trench coats and hoisted boomboxes above their heads and marched throughout New York City serenading people with the strains of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes," and a cover version of the same song by The Lloyd Dobler Effect. Check them out in the gallery below.

Damn, that movie came out 20 years ago? That makes me feel incredibly old. The first time I saw that movie will be forever burned into my brain since it was my first and only date with the captain of the women's volleyball team in high school. However, the movie on Blu-ray looks better than it ever did back in theaters, circa 1989, and hopefully it'll inspire legions of Lloyd Dobler fans for years to come that will fare better than I did.

The Blu-ray version of the movie is a 1080p high-definition upgrade of the original DVD release from 2002, along with a newly remastered 5.1 audio mix. In addition to the upgraded image and sound, this includes all the features from the previous version (commentary from Cameron Crowe, John Cusack, Ione Skye, deleted scenes, and more), along with three new featurettes. The best of the bunch is "An Iconic Film Revisited: Say Anything... 20 Years Later" featuring new interviews with Crowe, Cusack, Skye, John Mahoney, and Nancy Wilson.

You wouldn't know it to look at them, but those red vending machines full of DVDs -- you know, the ones sitting outside McDonalds -- may be the biggest threat to the big box video stores since Netflix.

Redbox has announced that they'll be renting their half billionth DVD this week, just five years after they debuted with 12 kiosks in Denver, Colorado. Now boasting over 15,000 locations in 48 states, the convenience and low prices -- Redbox charges a flat $1 per day fee per disc -- have made them a major player in the video rental industry.

And the studios that produce the DVDs are split on whether or not that's a good thing.

Back in October 2008, Redbox, which is jointly owned by Coinstar and a subsidiary of McDonalds, filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios, alleging that the entertainment giant was abusing copyright and engaging in anti-competitive behavior. Universal had tried to force Redbox, who buy their discs from wholesalers, to sign the same sort of revenue-sharing deal that the big studios have with Blockbuster and Netflix. The deal would have limited Redbox's ability to resell used discs, decreased the number of DVDs available for rent, and taken a cut of their profits, to boot. Redbox understandably said no.

When Redbox declined to sign, Universal threatened to cut off the wholesalers who sell to Redbox, and to place a 45-day wait on the availability of new titles. This is, simply put, illegal. It's a violation of antitrust laws. So Redbox sued.

There's nothing quite like the phrase 'straight to DVD' to kill a film's chance of a little dignity, is there? The first thing that usually crosses my mind is, "It must be pretty bad if they aren't even willing to put it up on the big screen" -- which might be a tad unfair of me, but no one ever said gut reactions were fair. Hopefully this time I'll be proven wrong, because in a conversation with MTV Steve Niles (co-creator of the original graphic novel, 30 Days of Night) confirmed that a sequel to the 2007 vampire flick was already in the works, and that it would most likely be going direct to DVD.

According to Niles, a script has already been submitted, and he is hard at work on the project with Ben Ketai (director of the 30 Days webisodes). The sequel will be based on the comic book follow-up Dark Days, and the story centers on "the character of Stella Olemaun [who] heads to Los Angeles after surviving the vampire attack in Barrow, Alaska. She intentionally attracts the attention of the local vampire population in order to avenge the death of her husband, Eben, during the Barrow incident."

After the jump find out how Sam Raimi got involved and the possibility of a 30 Days franchise...

In the pantheon of mega-derided '80s films, few films can touch the inescapable reek of Howard the Duck. I know plenty of folks who dig Ishtar, Cobra, and Leonard Part 6 -- but remarkably few movie geeks have stood up and spoken out for Willard Huyck's Howard the Duck, which just recently arrived as a Special Edition DVD from Universal.

I'll spare you the plot machinations -- because frankly a movie this stupid deserves to be seen BY YOU at least once -- but I've always been amazed at the disparity between the source material and the cinematic adaptation. I've also been sickened by the girl on duck seduction scene, assaulted by the horrific Thomas Dolby music, and beaten into drooling submission by the flick's endlessly wretched puns.

But as a piece of mid-'80s big-budget mega-floppage? I find Howard the Duck more fascinating -- and more worthy of mockery -- than Hudson Hawk, Over the Top, and Toys put together. So imagine my ironic jubilation when I saw a new Howard the Duck DVD sitting on the video shelves, as if it were actually a real-live movie that people would want to own...

Dust off your fangs and your body glitter, the Twilight DVD is on its way. But the bigger news (courtesy of MTV) is that Summit is trying something a little different and offering the teen romance on VOD the same day the two-disc edition will hit shelves. So that means if you can't make it to one of those midnight release parties being held across the US, you can still be first on your block to fall in love with the pigment-challenged Edward Cullen all over again.

If you do decide to drag your poor parents out in the middle of the night line up for a copy, here's what you're going to get: the two disc set will have plenty of extras for lovers of all things Edward and Bella. Disc one provides the usual goodies like extended scenes and audio commentary from director Catherine Hardwicke and stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Disc two, however, is for the truly devout and has a seven-part documentary about bringing the novel to the screen, along with deleted scenes and a comic-con feature.

Studios have been trying for some time to close the gap between theatrical and home video releases. Back in 2006, Steven Soderbergh tried something similar with the release of his murder mystery, Bubble, but unfortunately for him it didn't quite work out as planned. But for fans of the Twilight series, collecting is a big pastime (no matter how creepy it gets) -- so even if they tune in rather than line up at their local Hot Topic, I'm pretty sure most fans will be buying a copy of the DVD either way.

Now I'll leave it to the fans out there: will you be first in line for Twilight, or will you be swooning from the comfort of your own home?

I was on my way home from seeing the nasty new Last House on the Left movie when I got a call from a friend, to whom I quickly explained that I was on my way to get a shiny new Pinocchio DVD. She paused for a second and said "From rape-revenge horror to old-school Disney sweetness? You're a strange one, Scott." And then she told me how gorgeous I am and hung up weeping.

But yes, it's true: If it's not a nasty-ass horror flick you're showing me, my second choice would be something like Toy Story 2, Flushed Away, or The Iron Giant. Call me childish if you like, but I don't know many children who could use the word "parsimonious" in a sentence. And, um, I just did. No, I don't exactly clap like a toddler as the animated features fly by, but I simply love this medium and (more pertinently) I adore most of the Disney Classics. To me they're some of the sweetest, "funnest," and most accessible form of classic cinema there is, and I'll live to be 143 before I apologize for admiring the artistry that goes into this stuff.

Anyway (as if the art of animation needs a defense from me), it's Walt Disney's second feature film, 1940's Pinocchio, that is now getting the full-bore deluxe two-disc 70th Anniversary DVD (and Blu-Ray) treatment. Couldn't come at a better time, too, because my Disney shelf (pictured below) was rrrrrreally missing this title. I'll spare you the plot synopsis (puppet becomes boy, gets into mischief, learns valuable lessons, becomes whale food, etc.) and the endless peals of laudatory adulation directed toward the old-school Disney filmmakers, and just focus on the DVD itself...