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New in Blu: 'The Last Exorcism' and 'Machete'
There may be a ton of new Blu-ray releases hitting store shelves today, but unfortunately there are very few titles anyone is bound to want to rush out and buy. On the new release front, The Last Exorcism, Machete and Catfish are the most interesting titles, but even those three aren't going to motivate very many people to head to Best Buy on their lunch break.
There are a ton of catalog releases, however, that may pique the interest of fans of basic cable classics like Austin Powers and Desperado. But unless a favorite of yours is amongst the list below, you're probably best left to consider everything on this list as rental material only.
Top Shelf
The Last Exorcism (Lionsgate, $22.99)
The Movie: I think I've yet to find anyone who is a bigger fan of The Last Exorcism than I am. I say that not to paint myself as some kind of, "I liked it before everyone else!" dork, but to point out that very few people responded to Daniel Stamm's film as strongly as I have. For a lot of people this is just another found footage horror movie that falls victim to the cliches of its genre. And I can see exactly why people would say that, but for me, it's acting is stronger and its story more compelling than any other found footage flick out there. It's not hurt one bit by its PG-13 rating, either.
The Features: Haven't spent any time with the disc, but its feature set includes two commentary tracks (one with the producers, one with the director and stars), a making-of, and two featurettes about real exorcisms. And while all of those sound mildly interesting, I'm saddened to see "Alternate Ending" not listed anywhere.
Who Should Buy It: People who already love the film. If you haven't seen it yet, however, it's just a rental.
Click here to buy 'The Last Exorcism'
Middle Shelf
Backdraft: Anniversary Edition (Universal, $19.99)
The Movie: Movies like Backdraft are the perfect remedy for sharp pangs of '90s nostalgia. By no means a great movie, as is the case with most movies directed by Ron Howard, Backdraft embodies everything that was great about '90s thrillers: Solid, God-they-look-so-young cast; montages set to cheesy music; a procedural investigation; and a surprising amount of practical special effects.
I love the way Backdraft makes an entirely natural combination of chemical reaction and physics out to be some kind of sentient villain. I love how Red Shoe Diaries William Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh's sex scene is. I love that the only thing that divides Kurt Russell the father and Kurt Russell the son is a mustache. I love that Robert De Niro is some kind of arson whisperer. I love how utterly obnoxious and demanding to be burnt to a crisp the rookie fireman is.
The Features: This disc actually has a nice armful of special features, but 99% of them are non-HD carryovers from the anniversary release a few years back. If you're a big fan of the movie, or if you're a firefighter, they're great, but there's nothing here that will make a lover out of a hater. The Blu video transfer is about standard for the medium - nothing to write home about at this point - but it does feature an above average sound mix that showcases the kind of practical bombast that blockbusters used to have.
Who Should Buy It: Firefighters, men who would have been in their '30s in the '90s, and that's about it.
Click here to buy 'Backdraft'
Catfish (Universal, $27.99)
The Movie: When I saw Catfish for the first time last year, I had no idea what I was getting into. At that point, the only buzz around the movie was that it was a must-see and that you shouldn't know anything about it. I walked in with a clean slate and found myself completely compelled by the story in ways that few films of 2010 managed to do. Then the lights came on, I walked out of the theater and the spell it had cast on me was soon broken.
Catfish is the perfect kind of movie to know nothing about and just stumble into. As soon as you're given time to think about it, to reflect back on the construction of it, however, you're bound to start liking it less and less...
The Features: ...And that's precisely where the Blu-ray should come swooping in with a myriad of special features that further enhance the Catfish story. But it doesn't. There is just a single, 25-minute Q&A on this disc that is essentially worthless. The questions it asks are all perfectly valid questions, but the trio behind the film give terrible, stumbling answers to them and it all snowballs into a cringe-inducing segment that I doubt many people will see through to completion.
And that sucks, because when I interviewed the Catfish trio around the time of its theatrical release last summer, they told me tale of a treasure trove of special features that were really going to make the home video release something to talk about. Not only was it supposed to contain deleted scenes from the feature, but a number of interesting-sounded goodies like short films on some of the film's characters as well as after-the-fact interviews with friends and family that, if you've seen the film, you know would absolutely be worth watching.
None of that is here, however. Was it given the axe? Did it ever exist? Is Universal going to double dip this release in the near future? I have no idea, but it's not here.
Who Should Buy It: No one. That's not a condemnation of Catfish the movie, which I think is a fascinating product in and of itself, but a condemnation of a Blu-ray disc so barebones it might as well have been designed specifically to be rental-only.
Click here to buy 'Catfish'
All the Rest
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (New Line Cinema, $13.99)
Click here to buy it
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (New Line Cinema, $13.99)
Click here to buy it
Austin Powers in Goldmember (New Line Cinema, $13.99)
Click here to buy it
Case 39 (Paramount, $23.99)
Click here to buy it
Dinner for Schmucks (Paramount, $24.99)
Click here to buy it
El Mariachi/Desperado (Sony, $13.99)
Click here to buy it
Ever After: A Cinderella Story (20th Century Fox, $18.99)
Click here to buy it
Gun (Image, $16.99)
Click here to buy it
Hope Floats (20th Century Fox, $18.99)
Click here to buy it
Howl (Oscilloscope, $29.99)
Click here to buy it
Ishtar (Sony, $18.99)
Click here to buy it
Machete (20th Century Fox, $21.99)
Click here to buy it
My Dog Skip (Warner Brothers, $13.99)
Click here to buy it
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Sony, $14.99)
Click here to buy it
A Walk in the Clouds (20th Century Fox, $18.99)
Click here to buy it