09/06/11 Recommended New Releases

This week is fairly prolific for both home video and video games; expect more of the latter in the weeks to come, as all of the major fall releases are coming our way. The films hitting shelves today:

Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011) - Saoirse Ronan stars in the titular role of a 16-year-old raised in the isolated wilderness of Finland by her ex-CIA-agent father (Erica Bana) to become a lethal assassin. Her training complete, Hanna is sent on a mission that takes her through Europe, where she must defend herself from agents dispatched by an intelligence operative (Cate Blanchett) determined to stop her.

Format: Blu-ray - There are a handful of exclusive features that makes the Blu-ray more alluring; it is available at most retailers for $19.99 this week. For those who prefer DVD, but might upgrade at some point in the future, both Target and Best Buy have a combo pack available that include both formats for $22.99.

Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983) - This update of the 1932 film, starring Al Pacino as Cuban-refugee-turned-drug-lord Tony Montana, is a film that certainly needs no introduction.

Format: Blu-ray - Today the film hits Blu-ray in the form of a limited edition 'Steelbook' release. Along with the special features from prior releases of the film, new to the Blu-ray release are a Picture-in-Picture Experience and a "Scarface Scoreboard" U-Control feature, which tallies the F-bombs and bullets fired as you watch the film. Also included is a DVD containing the original film directed by Howard Hawks as well as 10 collectible art cards. Amazon has it available for $19.99, and you will find it in Best Buy stores for the same price.

Scream Trilogy (Wes Craven, 1996, 1997, 2000) - Though Wes Craven's popular self-reflexive horror trilogy already received the Blu-ray treatment (via individual releases) when the fourth installment hit theaters earlier this year, the first three films have been re-released yet again, this time in a Blu-ray boxed set.

Format: Blu-ray - For those who already own the DVD release of the trilogy, this new boxed set contains most (but not all) of the special features from that release. However, exclusive to this set are two new documentaries: Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective, and Scream: The Inside Story. It is available at Amazon for only $19.99. Also, do note that unlike the stand-alone Blu-ray release of Scream (which contained the 103-minute theatrical version of the film), the boxed set has the 111-minute director's cut.

NOTE: X-Men First Class will be released on Friday, September 9th.

X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn, 2011) - From the director of Kick-Ass comes this prequel to the blockbuster films inspired by the Marvel Comics series, starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Kevin Bacon. Set in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the film details the formation of the X-Men as a CIA division and the early friendship/alliance between Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender). Along with a ragtag team of fellow mutants, Charles and Erik pursue the malicious Sebastian Shaw (Bacon) across the globe in an effort to prevent him from sparking a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Format: Blu-ray - A slew of exclusive features makes the Blu-ray format more appealing; Best Buy will be selling it for $22.99 this week, and though the price on Amazon at the time of this post is $24.99, I would expect it to drop to at least $22.99 by the time it releases this Friday






On the video game front, there are two majors releases this week:

Dead Island (developed by Techland; published by Deep Silver) - The game that has had folks talking ever since its announcement trailer debuted in February is out today. A first person RPG, Dead Island is set on the fictional island of Banoi, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, where the player's character (selected from four different choices) wakes up in the midst of a zombie outbreak.

The game is available for the Playstation 3 ($59.99), Xbox 360 ($59.99), and PC ($49.99) platforms. A 'Special Edition' was available to those who pre-ordered from GameStop; it includes alternate cover art as well as a voucher for an exclusive in-game weapon ("The Ripper") and the "Bloodbath Arena" DLC content. For those looking to make the most of their purchase, there are a few deals available. K-Mart is offering a $20 Gaming Coupon* for Shop Your Way Rewards members (which is free to join); Best Buy is offering a free copy of Zombieland on DVD or Blu-ray with purchase; Target is offering a $20 gift card with the purchase of two select titles, with Dead Island being among those on the list.

Resistance 3 (developed by Insomniac Games; published by Sony Computer Entertainment) - Set four years after Resistance 2, the latest in Insomniac Games' award-winning franchise opens to a world in which approximately 90% of the population has been either killed or transformed into Chimera. You play as Joseph Capelli, who has been dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army and gone into hiding with his wife and son in Haven, Oklahoma. However, when Dr. Fyodor Malikov finds Capelli and presents him with a plan to potentially turn the tide against the Chimera forces, he must leave his family behind and embark on a mission to New York City.

The game is available exclusively for the Playstation 3 ($59.99). In addition to the standard edition, a Playstation Move bundle dubbed the "Doomsday Edition" is also available for $149.99. It includes, along with a copy of Resistance 3: 1 Playstation Eye Camera, 1 Playstation Move Motion Controller, 1 Playstation Move Navigation Controller, and 1 Playstation Move Sharp Shooter peripheral. As with Dead Island, there are also a few deals available for Resistance 3 this week. K-mart is offering a $20 Gaming Coupon* for Shop Your Way Rewards members (which is free to join); Best Buy is offering 50% off of select PS3 titles with purchase (most notable among them is inFamous 2); Target is offering a $20 gift card with the purchase of two select titles, with Resistance 3 being among those on the list.

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*Gaming Coupons are issued with your receipt and are generally valid beginning on the following Sunday for a set period of time (one to two months). Furthermore, as the name implies, they are only valid on gaming products.