This Week In DVD: The Ruins, Stop-Loss, Batman: Gotham Knight, And More
This Week in DVD is a new column on /Film compiling all the latest info regarding new DVD releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry's.
BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT(Available as single-disc and 2-Disc Special Editions)
What The Animatrix did for The Matrix, Gotham Knight does for Nolan's Batman series. This straight-to-DVD anthology collects six animated segments, each with their own unique Japanese anime style, and acts as a segway of sorts from Batman Begins to The Dark Knight. The quality of the shorts are varied, with specific ones noticeably excelling in animation, story, and the amount they add to the Batman mythology, while others are a little more dull and feel essentially like filler. Overall though, there's still enough here to appeal to die-hard and even casual fans. (That is, as long as you know what you're in for.)
Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: The 2-disc set includes a sneak peek at Wonder Woman, an audio commentary, a documentary about Batman's villains, a documentary about Bob Kane and the creation of Batman, and four episodes from Batman: The Animated Series.
*Does NOT include 2-Disc Special Edition, which costs $19.99 at Target, $22.99 at Best Buy and Circuit City, and $24.99 at Fry's.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Steelbook box art, plus a free character guide (with purchase of the 2-Disc Special Edition).Where? Best Buy.EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Bonus episodes of Batman Beyond.Where? Target.EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Free Batman patch.Where? Circuit City.
THE RUINS(Available as regular and Unrated Editions)
While not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, The Ruins deserves special notice for being one of the few horror films in recent years to tackle such a clichéd set-up—a group of good-looking American teenagers venture to a foreign country and get into all sorts of crazy shenanigans (in this case involving evil plants)—and manage to not completely suck at executing it. (Take that, M. Night Shyamalan!) In fact, just about everything that most horror films fail at, this movie exceeds at to some degree. So if you've become bored with all the J-horror remakes and want to see some good old-fashioned, suspense-filled, gore-laden, psychologically-twisted fun, then The Ruins is pretty much your only option (as far as new releases go).
Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: An audio commentary, a making-of featurette, a look at the development of the plants, a featurette about the set design, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and the original theatrical ending.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Save $5 when you buy any two of the following: The Ruins, Stop-Loss, and Superhero Movie.Where? Best Buy.EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Free $5 gift card with purchase of both The Ruins and Stop-Loss.Where? Target.EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Save $5 with purchase of both The Ruins and Stop-Loss.Where? Circuit City.
STOP-LOSS
Director Kimberly Peirce's follow-up to Boys Don't Cry isn't a flawless movie, as has been noted by audiences and critics in regards to its sloppy political message, but its heart is in the right place, and the sincere performances keep the picture engaging all the way through. The story focuses on the act of stop-lossing, which involves a solider being forced to return to duty after already serving his full term. As far as movies portraying the Iraq war go, this is one of the more successful efforts.
Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: A commentary, a making-of featurette, a boot camp featurette, and deleted scenes.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Save $5 when you buy any two of the following: The Ruins, Stop-Loss, and Superhero Movie.Where? Best Buy.EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Free $5 gift card with purchase of both The Ruins and Stop-Loss.Where? Target.EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Save $5 with purchase of both The Ruins and Stop-Loss.Where? Circuit City.
BATMAN BEGINS (LIMITED EDITION GIFT SET)
For those of you who don't yet own Batman Begins (anybody?) or just love splurging on cool box sets, Warner Bros. has seen fit to milk the release of The Dark Knight even further with this gratuitous but welcome limited edition gift set, which also marks the first time the movie's been made available on Blu-ray. In addition to the Two-Disc Special Edition of the film, it comes with an exclusive sneak peek of The Dark Knight, a ticket to see The Dark Knight in theaters (up to $7.50), a 128MB flash drive including 18 images from The Dark Knight, a Batman Begins lenticular, and five collectible Batman Begins post cards.
Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: Aside from all the box set goodies (listed above), the special features are the same as what was found on the previous two-disc release.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Joker lithograph.Where? Best Buy.
THE X-FILES: REVELATIONS
For those of you who need to take a break from all the Dark Knight hype, don't forget that there's another fanboy-favorite sequel coming out soon with The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Big-time fans of the show probably won't need this new set, since they likely own all the DVD seasons already, but for those of you who are interested, creator Chris Carter and producer Frank Spotnitz have hand-picked 8 of the show's best episode, each of which connects to the new movie and acts as an introductory guide for unfamiliar viewers. Plus, if you take advantage of the free movie ticket to see the new film, it basically only costs you $5. What do you have to lose?
Blu-ray? No.Notable Extras: This two-disc set comes with a ticket to see The X-Files: I Want to Believe (up to $8.50), a series introduction, 8 episode introductions (which explain their relation to the upcoming film), and footage from the Q&A panel at WonderCon.
SUPERHERO MOVIE (EXTENDED EDITION)
The spoof movie genre gets yet another savage beating with Superhero Movie, although thankfully it's not as severe as the self-inflicted eye-gouging you'd receive upon watching Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie, or Date Movie. At least here they attempt in places to actually spoof the genre at hand, even if it is rarely successful. It's essentially a carbon copy rip-off of Spider-Man, minus the action, and come to the think of it, the laughs as well.
Blu-ray? No.Notable Extras: An audio commentary, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and two featurettes.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? Save $5 when you buy any two of the following: The Ruins, Stop-Loss, and Superhero Movie.Where? Best Buy.Other noteworthy DVDs available this week...
Stargate Atlantis (Season 4) – Monk (Season 6) – Sleepwalking – Psych (Season 2) – Fearless (Director's Cut) – The Mummy (2-Disc Deluxe Edition) – The Mummy Returns (2-Disc Deluxe Edition) – The Mummy (Universal Legacy Series) (1932) – The Batman (Season 5) – Van Helsing (2-Disc Collector's Edition)
Discuss: What are you planning to rent or buy this week?
$7.99 – Live Free or Die Hard, 28 Weeks Later, Little Miss Sunshine, Once, The Last King of Scotland, and more...$5.99 – Borat, Waiting..., Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, American Beauty, Idiocracy, American Psycho (Unrated), Reservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary Edition), Syriana, Stripes (Extended Cut), and more...$19.99 – Veronica Mars (Seasons 1-3) [Ed. Note – If you haven't yet seen this show, you're missing out.]
$5.99 – Superman II (The Richard Donner Cut), V for Vendetta, Blade, Blade II, and more...$6.99 – Equilibrium, The Warriors (Ultimate Director's Cut), and more...
$8.99 – The Fly (Special Edition), Wall Street (Special Edition), Tora! Tora! Tora!, Predator, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The French Connection, Alien, and more...$4.99 – Boys Don't Cry, Sexy Beast, Raising Arizona, TAPS, and more...