New Releases On Blu Ray & DVD: 5/14/13

Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer’s CLOUD ATLAS, starring Tom Hanks (Reader Digest's most trusted man in America), along with Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, and Ben Whishaw (all playing multiple roles), comes out today in a Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack and a standard stand-alone DVD release. The film, which I called “epically entertaining but empty” in my review when the film was released theatrically last October, is joined by 7 “Focus Point” featurettes that add up to around an hour.



Next up, the newest addition to the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE franchise, John Luessenhop’s TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D is out today in a 3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital Copy + UltraViolet package and a single disc 2D DVD (also contains Digital Copy + UltraViolet). I don’t have a 3D TV so I can’t speak for that aspect, but the movie, which picks up where Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original film ends (with footage from the first to boot), is pretty trashy and stupid, yet still fun, if you have no issues with gory deaths that is.

TEXAS CHAINSAW comes with a mess of Special Features including three (!) commentaries including and a “Chainsaw Alumni” commentary featuring stars Bill Moseley, Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns and John Dugan, eight featurettes, an alternate opening, and the theatrical trailer. This is reportedly a reboot to kick off a new 6-part series to rival the SAW franchise. If that’s the case, count me out.

Roman Copppola’s really strange looking A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III, starring Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray, is also among today’s releases in single disc Blu Ray and DVD editions (no Digital copies or UltraViolet included here). It got awful reviews (it holds a 16% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but I still can’t help putting it in my queue. Special Features: a 25 minute “making of” featurette, a 12 minute segment about one of the real life graphic artists whose work inspired director Coppola, and a commentary with Coppola, who also co-wrote the ill-fated production. 

On the older film front, today’s releases include a Criterion Collection edition of Delmer Dave’s classic 1957 Western 3:10 TO YUMA on both Blu ray and DVD, three Hal Hartley films (his 1989 debut THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH, 1988’s THE BOOK OF LIFE, and 2005’s THE GIRL FROM MONDAY) also hit both formats, as does Sam Raimi’s 1985 comedy CRIMEWAVE, co-written with the Coen brothers, another film I gotta queue up. 

Finally, the 21-disc Fraggle Rock: 30th Anniversary Collection is available from (on DVD only, which is just as well since the image is often as fuzzy as the Fraggles themselves), containing all 96 episodes from the HBO show's mid '80s run with a bunch of Special Features (2 discs worth) and a Red Fraggle mini-plush. 



If this set is way too much of Jim Henson’s Fraggles than you or your kids can take, there is a neat 6 episode sampler DVD also out today: “Meet the Fraggles” (pictured above on the left) which has some of the best episodes from the show’s 4 seasons, especially the wonderful song-filled first episode “Beginnings,” which is one of Henson’s best half hour productions ever, and considering how good the 5 seasons of The Muppet Show are that’s saying a lot. Speaking of The Muppet Show, seasons 4 and 5 are still not available on DVD! Somebody do something about this!

As always for a complete list of what’s out today on Blu ray and DVD check out Amazon’s New Releases department.

More later…

THE MUPPETS: Go Ahead, Call It A Comeback

THE MUPPETS (Dir. James Bobin, 2011)

It’s not surprising that somebody would try to reboot the Muppets. I mean, every other franchise in the world has been dusted off in the last decade so why not Jim Henson’s once wildly popular creations?



And it’s not surprising that that somebody would be Jason Segel, the oafish man-child best known for his work with Judd Apatow and the hit TV series How I Met Your Mother. Segel is a huge Muppets fan, who previously proved he could provide puppetry power in the Dracula musical climax of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, so there’s that.



But what is surprising is that THE MUPPETS is really good.



Segel, with the assistance of co-writer Nicholas Stoller, and director James Bobin, has wonderfully captured the spirit of the Muppets I knew as a kid in the ‘70s and ‘80s, making it feel like the muddled Muppet movies made in the ‘90s never existed.



The film has quite a lengthy, yet quite enjoyable, buildup before we see our old felt friends in which we meet a new Muppet named Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), who lives in a small town (named Smalltown) with Segel as his brother Gary. You see, somehow Muppets can be related to humans – we never see their parents or get any explanation, which is just as well.



Segel, and his longtime girlfriend Amy Adams, take Walter to Los Angeles to visit the Muppet Theater and Muppet Studios, only to them find them to be abandoned cobweb-covered tourist attractions that an evil oilman named Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) is targeting to tear down so he can drill for oil.



So it’s up to Walter, Segel, and Adams to re-unite the Muppets so they can save their old digs. They find Kermit living in a dark mansion alone with his memories (well, and an ‘80s robot that serves Tab and New Coke – nice fitting retro joke, huh?).



Once they convince Kermit to join them, they’re off to find Fozzie Bear (in a sleazy Reno casino tribute band called “The Moopets”), Miss Piggy (now Fashion Editor of Paris Vogue), and the Great Gonzo (currently a corporate CEO of a plumbing empire). Most hilarious is Animal in court-appointed anger management therapy with Jack Black as his sponsor.



With the help of a montage they locate the others (Rowlf the Dog, the Swedish Chef, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beeker, Dr. Teeth, etc.), and they got a back-to-basics ‘hey, everybody let's put on a show' thing a-happenin'.



They have trouble getting a network to broadcast their telethon, as TV executive Rashida Jones tells them: “You guys aren’t famous anymore.” However Jones still gives them a shot, and the gang go full throttle to put on a money-raising spectacular in which almost every Muppet gets a chance to shine.



Bret McKenzie, from Flight of the Conchords, whose series was also helmed by director Bobin , wrote a few catchy songs for the production including the recurring theme “Life’s a Happy Song," and the Linz and Segel sung “Man or Muppet.”



I could’ve done without a few of the song/dance numbers – Amy Adams/Miss Piggy’s “Me Party” is a screen time waster, and Cooper’s rapping on “Let’s Talk About Me” is just plain awful - but for a great deal of its breezy 2 hour running time THE MUPPETS is a lot of fun.



Even the tacked on Segel/Adams rom com subplot (i.e. he forgets their 10th anniversary dinner in the midst of Muppet madness) doesn’t detract from the large amount of pure cinematic happiness on hand here.



I loved how so much of the meta material was laugh out loud funny, really enjoyed the abundant cameos which I won’t spoil, and was impressed at how dead-on the Muppet voices are – especially Steven Whitmire who has been doing Kermit since Henson died in 1991, and has often sounded a little off, but thankfully not here for the most part.



It’s certainly the best Muppet movie since Henson died, but it’s much more than that. Segel and co. have pulled off a tribute that revitalizes the furry family friendly franchise in the most welcome way.



More later...