How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
August 19, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
For people who have never seen a movie featuring LAPD law enforcement: Street Kings (Special Edition)
Probably taking the year off in 2007 to reconsider why he ever thought it a good idea to star alongside Sandra Bullock in Alejandro Agresti's dreadful and logically inconsistent The Lake House, Keanu Reeves returned more to form as an L.A. cop in David Ayer's Street Kings, Reeves' first feature film release in nearly two years. In it, Reeves stars as Tom Ludlow, a cop who questions the loyalties of everyone around him after being framed for murder by those closest to him.
Alongside Reeves in the drama are Hugh Laurie, the smart-as-a-whip star of Fox's hugely successful House; Forest Whitaker and two stars of hip hop, Common and The Game. Ultimately, the movie did okay business at the box office, with worldwide totals eclipsing the $60-million mark.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, Street Rules featurette, L.A. Bete Noir: Writing Street Kings featurette, Street Cred featurette, deleted scenes, alternate takes, vignettes, behind-the-scenes clips, digital copy of Street Kings for iPod and other portable music players.
For people who know what Skynet, Tech-Com and Cyberdyne are: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 1
Sure, the third Terminator film released five years ago ended with a doozy of a cliffhanger. But who knew the franchise actually still had life in it, especially when star Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor of California in late 2003, just about eliminating the Austrian's possible involvement in future films? Well, the original big screen franchise is alive and well, with a fourth installment starring Christian Bale due out summer 2009. And now the series has a compliment on broadcast television in Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Chronicles, which aired a brief nine-episode debut season earlier this year.
The series features some of the same characters from the film franchise, but with different actors filling in the roles. Picking up where Terminator 2 left off, Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) and her son, John (Thomas Dekker) focus their energies on stopping the creation of Skynet after Terminators from the future again appear in their lives. They are also helped by a Terminator named Cameron (Summer Glau of Firefly), whose sole purpose is to protect John by posing as a female student at the boy's school. Season two, planned to be 22 episodes, starts Sept. 8.
Disc includes: Creating the Chronicles featurette, audio commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reel, cast audition tapes, storyboard sequence, summer dance rehearsal, director's cut of episode titled The Demon Hand.
For people blown away by greatness: 2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal vs. Federer
The world's top two players - Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer - surely entertain audiences time and time again when the powerhouses butt heads in the tennis circuit's biggest tournaments. The most recent Wimbledon, however, stands as their greatest match against one another, and arguably the greatest men's tennis match of all time. At four hours and 48 minutes, the match ranked as the longest Wimbledon final in the English tournament's 122-year history, with the Spaniard ultimately defeating the five-time Swiss champ in five sets.
I by no means keep up with men's professional tennis, and in fact had not planned to watch the match when I initially scanned the television dial for entertainment on a rainy Sunday morning. But thank God I can be one of the lucky ones who can say they saw this thing live. It was simply outstanding tennis.
Disc includes: Bare bones.
For people who play the "what if" scenarios over and over and over in their heads: Recount
Just about one million viewers tuned in May 25th for HBO's film focusing on the confusion that was the 2000 U.S. Presidential election (a considerably low number for the pay cable network, which generally sees much higher figures for its original programming). Even so, the surprising numbers give zero justice to the quality of the finished product, which earned mostly positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and a total of nine Emmy nominations (to be handed out on September 21st).
The film chronicles the famed Bush v. Gore case in 2000, beginning with the Presidential election on November 7th and ending with the Supreme Court ruling that put an end to the election recount a little more than a month later (enter sad face here). The stars aligned for this one, too, with the likes of Kevin Spacey, John Hurt, Laura Dern, Tom Wilkinson, Denis Leary and Ed Begley Jr. making up the lead cast.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, interviews with Kevin Spacey and the real Ron Klain, interviews with Bob Balaban and the real Ben Ginsberg, The True Inside Story of the 2000 Presidential Election featurette.
For people who forgot The CW was still a broadcast network: Gossip Girl: The Complete First Season
Based on the young adult book series of the same name, Gossip Girl breathed new life into The CW network, which otherwise kinda failed during the 2007-08 season (as far as its previously new, and now cancelled, series are concerned). Starring Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley, among others, the teen drama revolves around a group of young adults growing up on New York's Upper East Side and how they deal with sex, drugs, jealousy and other issues.
Like the books, it's narrated by an omniscient character, aka Gossip Girl (voiced by Heroes' Kristen Bell), who runs a blog about the teenage socialites that keeps the drama surrounding the exclusive circle of friends constantly on overdrive. To no one's surprise, the series was developed by Josh Schwartz, who years earlier brought us Fox's The O.C., and Stephanie Savage, a fellow O.C. scribe.
Disc includes: Unaired scenes, three featurettes, music videos, gag reel, free download of the original bestselling book.
For people bored with the whole High School Musical thing: Camp Rock
The Disney Channel is on an indisputable roll right now with its slate of original movies. We all know about the High School Musical franchise, which reached an impressive 7.7 million viewers in its 2006 debut (only to be followed by a ridiculous 17.2 million viewers with its 2007 sequel). Other originals have premiered to similar numbers, but nothing touches the nearly nine million who turned out for Camp Rock, which became the channel's second-highest rated movie ever.
And it's this movie that is responsible for skyrocketing the careers of the Jonas Brothers, who landed lead roles in the comedy about a teen girl (Demi Lovato) who is overheard singing at a camp for music by a teen pop star (Joe Jonas), who makes it his mission to find the girl behind the beautiful voice. A sequel, again featuring Hanson's predecessors, hits the airwaves next year.
Disc includes: Jonas Brothers: Real-Life Rock Stars featurette, Introducing Demi Lovato featurette, Camp Memories featurette, Hasta La Vista: From Rehearsal to Final Jam featurette, Too Cool: Setting the Scene featurette, Start the Party music video, We Rock music video, movie sing along, Camp Rock karaoke.
August 19, 2008
24 Eyes (Criterion Collection)
Affinity
An American Crime
Bloodrayne / Bloodrayne 2 (Double Feature)
Camp Rock
Cracking the Prophetic Code
Dana Carvey: Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies
Deal
Dexter: The Second Season
Don Quixote
Enough
Evil Awakening
Fighting with Anger
The Fletch Collection
Flutter Serenade
Freshman Orientation
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds
Harvest Of Fear / Demonic (Double Feature)
Her Best Move
House: Season Four
House: Seasons 1-4 (Set)
I Wish I Had A House Like This (Full Screen)
Immortal (Collectible Tin Box)
Justice League Unlimited: Season One
The Life Before Her Eyes
Love And A .45 (Widescreen)
Love and Mary
Married... With Children: Complete Ninth Season
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
My Faraway Bride
Never Love A Stranger
Nixon (Director's Cut)
Pacific & Eddy
Please Vote for Me (Subtitled)
Prom Night (Unrated)
The Proposition
Quid Pro Quo (Widescreen)
Requiem For A Bodyguard / Traitor's Rhapsody (Double Feature)
Resort Tales
Restraint (Widescreen)
Reverend, I'm Available
The Riddle
Rockville Slayer / Dark Hours (Double Feature)
Rumbling Hearts: The Complete Series (Boxed Set)
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Series (Set)
The Small Back Room (Criterion Collection)
Somebody Help Me / April Fools (Double Feature)
Strange But True
Tales of Blood (Set)
Things You Don't Tell
Transformers Animated Season 1
The Unseen
Wayside School: Season 1
The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd / The Rainbow (Double Feature)
William Tell
The Wizard of Gore (Widescreen)