06/21/11 Recommended New Releases

Another solid week of releases, and it is one that can surely benefit from the Best Buy coupon I mentioned last week: Save $5 on any DVD/Blu-ray priced $14.99 and up. On to the movies:

The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi, 2011) - Loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story, Adjustment Team; starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Michael Kelly. You can read my review of the film here.

Format: Blu-ray/DVD/DC Combo - The Blu-ray version of the film includes an exclusive feature (a 33-minute, interactive behind-the-scenes featurette), is BD Live-enabled, and comes with the DVD and a Digital Copy of the film. It is on sale at most retailers for $22.99 this week, though you can save an extra $5.00 with the Best Buy coupon provided at the top of this post.

Unknown (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2011) - Based on the French novel, Out of My Head by Didier van Cauwelaert; starring Liam Neeson, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Diane Kruger, Bruno Ganz, and Frank Langella. You can read my review of the film here.

Format: Blu-ray/DVD/DC Combo - The Blu-ray version has an exclusive feature (though it is only 5 minutes in length), and includes the DVD version of the film as well as a Digital Copy. It is on sale for $22.99 this week, but can be had for a little cheaper with the Best Buy coupon.

Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) - The Criterion Collection brings us this adaptation of the Mickey Spillane novel. Ralph Meeker stars as Mike Hammer, a private detective whose decision to pick up a hitchhiking woman one night has dire consequences.


Format: DVD - As I have mentioned in the past, I prefer my Criterions on DVD. The supplements are the same for both formats, and the DVD is significantly cheaper at $19.99 via Amazon (Best Buy does not carry the title in stores). If you have a MovieStop in your area, it is on sale for the same price as Amazon this week.

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (Jeffrey Shwarz, 2007) - a documentary about legendary showman William Castle, whose five-decade career included a slew of low-budget thrillers promoted by innovative gimmicks designed to enhance the theatrical experience. Joe Dante's 1992 comedy, Matinee, stars John Goodman as a character inspired by Castle.

Format: DVD - Only available on DVD. I do not believe it is being sold in stores anywhere, but Amazon has it for $17.99.











Finally, I will wrap up this update with a mention of the first downloadable character add-on for Mortal Kombat, which was released today for Xbox 360 and PS3 users. You can purchase the new character, Skarlet, for $5.00 (400 Microsoft points). For Xbox 360 users, however, the better option is to purchase the "Mortal Kombat Season Pass," which is priced at $15.00 (1200 Microsoft points). With the season pass, you will get Skarlet, as well as three other fighters as they are released in the future: Kenshi and Rain in July, and another fighter in August whose identity has yet to be revealed. Furthermore, with Skarlet comes Klassic Costumes for Cyrax and Sektor. Klassic Costumes for Smoke and Noob Saibot will accompany the July content, and two more unrevealed costumes will come with the August content. So, $15.00 now, and you will be able to download these fighters and costumes at no additional cost as they are released (essentially getting four for the price of three). This Xbox 360-exclusive deal is meant to compensate for PS3 users receiving an exclusive fighter (Kratos) and his stage, so they will wind up shelling out an extra $5.00 to acquire all the fighters. A fair trade-off, in my opinion. Anyways, my money is on the mystery fighter being Reiko, but we shall see soon enough...