RT on DVD

RT on DVD: Exclusive Incredible Hulk Featurettes, New Casino Royales

Also, Playboy out of the DVD business! Won't someone think of the children?!

by | October 20, 2008 | Comments

This week, Hulk smaaaaaaaaashes onto DVD and Blu-ray with hours of bonus content and that buzzed-about cameo by Captain America. It’s also a bountiful week for James Bond fans, as Casino Royale and a six pack of classic Bond flicks make their way to Blu-ray. Read on for more of this week’s hottest DVD news and releases!

1. New to DVD: The Incredible Hulk (3-disc Special Edition) – 67%
 

After earning a pretty penny at the global box office this summer, Marvel’s rebooted green-skinned monster smashes his way onto DVD and Blu-ray this week with not one, not two, but three discs of Hulk-ified goodness. And trust us, those three discs are filled to the brim with special features and hours of coveted bonus footage that just might contain glimpses of a certain cameo by Captain America!

As director Louis Leterrier promised months ago, you’ll get plenty of deleted scenes and unused footage on The Incredible Hulk‘s DVD and Blu-ray debut. Most intriguing for Marvel fans will be the film’s alternate opening scene, in which the gamma-afflicted Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) travels solo through the Arctic on a suicide mission, but involuntarily Hulks out when he tries to end his life. Look for a brief shot of Captain America and his shield, frozen in the ice below.

In addition to the alternate opening and previously unseen footage, the set includes a ton of behind-the-scenes featurettes (on the effects, the Hulk and Abomination, the action sequences, and adapting it from the comics) as well as a commentary with Leterrier and cast member Tim Roth and a bonus digital copy of the film. Blu-ray buyers will get the immersive, interactive U-Control feature, as well as BD-Live features that allow you to chat and share scenes with your friends. Three-disc Special Edition ($34.98), Blu-ray disc ($39.98).

Watch the exclusive clips from the Incredible Hulk DVD release below!


Next: Let these Strangers invade your home.

2. New to DVD: The Strangers (Unrated) – 43%


In his feature film debut, director Bryan Bertino turned an intimate, $9 million horror flick into $73 million worldwide box office success – and earned a higher-than-average Tomatometer for the genre. Now, just in time for Halloween, you can check out the tale of a couple (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) trapped and terrorized in their own home by three masked assailants, which critics credited as a stylishly-filmed throwback to the thriller-chiller slashers of the 1970s.

The Strangers DVD comes with both the theatrical cut and an Unrated cut, which adds two minutes (amounting to two scenes) of additional material. A handful of deleted scenes and a making-of featurette accompany the release.

Next: Playboy pulling out of DVD market


3. Playboy bailing on DVD


For those of you who care, the end of an era is upon us: Playboy has
announced plans to stop DVD production altogether. Thanks to dwindling home video sales, the company that Hef built is moving their adult content towards digital distribution in an effort to save $12 million a year. Which begs the question: who here hasn’t been doing their part to support Playboy Home Video??

Next: Disney’s Pinocchio headed for Blu-ray

4. Pinocchio headed for Blu-ray


After seeing the re-release of their classic Sleeping Beauty beat Iron Man in home video sales this month (which also came in at Number 2 on the Blu-ray charts), Disney has announced plans to release another of their biggies to Blu-ray next year. The 70th anniversary edition of Pinocchio will hit shelves March 10, 2009 (though technically, it’s only the 69th birthday of Disney’s fib-telling wooden boy) and, like the hugely successful Blu-ray release of Sleeping Beauty, will include all-new featurettes and a standard DVD version of the film.

Suggested retail price will be $29.99 for the two-disc standard release and $35.99 for Blu-ray.

Next: Don’t hassle the Hoff – get Knight Rider: The Complete Series on DVD

5. New to DVD: Knight Rider The Complete Series


Since NBC’s cheese-tastic remake series appears headed for cancellation, K.I.T.T. fans can take comfort in the news that the original show, which ran from 1982 to 1986, is available this week in its entirety on DVD. (Besides, it has 100 percent more Hasselhoff, which is ALWAYS a good thing.)

Knight Rider: The Complete Series comes to DVD this week in a spectacularly bad ass box set that includes all four seasons, the television sequel Knight Rider 2000, K.I.T.T.’s original blueprints and owner manual, and more special features. Best of all, the packaging includes its own built-in flashing red light that plays a loop of the theme song – a nifty extra so powerful it requires the strength of three AAA batteries (included). (Incidentally, after receiving a copy of the box set, the RT office sounds like Busta Rhymes is about to launch into “Fire it Up.” What can we say? We’re suckers for KR.)

Knight Rider: The Complete Series is available for SRP $119.98.

Next: Bond hits Blu-ray

6. New to DVD: Casino Royale 40th Anniverary/Casino Royale Blu-ray/ Bond Blu-ray 6-pack


Even though it’s a full month away from blowing your mind, Quantum of Solace is already drumming Bond fans into quite the fervor. The proof: about a billion ways to prepare for Bond’s next coming this week on DVD alone.

For silly retro kicks, pick up the 40th Anniversary Edition of Casino Royale (1967), the David Niven-Woody Allen-Orson Welles spoof with a Burt Bacharach score that was directed by no less than five directors, including the legendary John Huston.

For more proper Bond fare, check out the six classic James Bond films newly released on Blu-ray, including Dr. No, Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love, and Thunderball. All six Blu-ray discs are available separately for $34.98 or as a six-film set for $179.98.

Then again, maybe the Blonde Bond is more your style. Make a date with Daniel Craig’s 007 and watch him flip the script on four decades of Bond lore with Casino Royale (2006), available in a 2-disc Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray. Why double dip, if you already have the first Blu-ray release at home? In addition to previously released extras, the 2-disc Collector’s Edition includes six new featurettes and a commentary tracks.

Next: To Kevin Smith, on his 37th birthday.

7. New to DVD: Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith



 

Everyone’s favorite Clerks director is back with a new stand-up DVD, Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith. In the vein of his “Evening with.” shows, Threevening was filmed in Smith’s home town of Red Bank, New Jersey on the occasion of his 37th birthday. If you enjoyed those often-marathon stand-up acts, tune in for more amusing anecdotes about his acting gig on Live Free or Die Hard, the making of Clerks II, his love for Battlestar Galactica and disdain for Hayden Christensen in Star Wars, his online battles with fansites like AICN, and more.

Next: Ben Stein brings controversial doc to DVD

8. New to DVD: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed – 8%



 

With Bill Maher’s Religulous and David Zucker’s An American Carol duking it out at the box office, add another extreme partisan flick to the pile. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed drew controversy (and an abysmal Tomatometer) and criticisms that accused it of being propaganda in the guise of a balanced documentary. What’s it all about? That explanation might be better left to former Nixon speechwriter, game show host, TV personality and committed anti-Darwinist Ben Stein, who co-wrote and stars in the controversial film which champions the cause of intelligent design while decrying Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Next: Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd in High Definition!

9. Sweeney Todd Blu-ray



 

Although the bloody tale of razor-wielding anti-hero barber Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) made its theatrical debut during the merry Christmas holiday, it lands on Blu-ray much more appropriately in time for Halloween. Whistle along to Sweeney Todd’s murderous fancies and soak in director Tim Burton’s rich, Gothic palette in the glory of HD. Just don’t expect any new bonus material, as everything on the extras menu has been released previously on DVD.

Next: Direct to DVD Picks of the Week!

10. DTVs of the Week: Cuba Gooding Jr.’s Linewatch, Vice (Darryl Hannah and Michael Madsen), Anaconda 3 (Hasselhoff)



 

Lastly, a shout out to a trio of almost-tantalizing direct-to-video flicks hitting shelves this week!

First up, the latest from seminal What The Hell Happened To. subject, Cuba Gooding Jr.! His latest thriller, Linewatch, had the air of “direct-to-video” about it when we first heard of it, though more than a few surprising names find themselves stuck alongside the cursed actor in the border cop drama, including Sharon Leal (Dreamgirls), Evan Ross (ATL – and son of Miss Diana), and – well, that’s about it. Director Kevin Bray has had a tough time recovering since 2004’s underappreciated Walking Tall, guest-directing a dozen television shows before landing Linewatch, in which Gooding Jr.’s gangbanger-turned-border patrol officer is coerced into helping his old pals bring drugs into Mexico.

Almost as deserving of a “What the.” reaction is our next DTV: Vice, an indie cop thriller that reunites Kill Bill assassins Michael Madsen and Darryl Hannah! The plot somehow involves a team of cops, a drug bust gone wrong, and a mystery killer picking off the officers one by one, and also stars Bubba from Forrest Gump (Mykelti Williamson) and Dogg Pound rapper Kurupt, in his latest role since Half Past Dead 2!

And finally, we come to the creature feature sequel, Anaconda 3. It stars David Hasselhoff. Need I say more? (Admittedly, the fact that Jonathan Rhys-Davies also stars in this made-for-TV spectacle makes us die a little bit inside.)