Crandall and Mercy are joined by their first ever female guest Charlotte Armstrong. We chat Fright Night, Conan the Barbarian, Pom Wonderful presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, The Beaver and throw in a little Ghost Rider 2, Superman, Batman and G.I. Joe talk for good measure – plus viewer mail! Whew, this is one jam packed episode clocking in at nearly an hour!
Rainn Wilson turns the dial on his Dwight Shrute character from “The Office” up to bat-shit crazy as the Crimson Bolt in SUPER.
All hail Caesar! Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a worthy prequel to the Charlton Heston sci-fi classic.
The spotlight is on the man in the hat this week as we take a look at Witness and Extraordinary Measures. Plus details on our photoshop contest (final week to win Superman on blu-ray!) and viewer mail.
Armchair Directors are flying solo as we chat a bit about Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Paul, Your Highness, Super and G.I. JOE: Retaliation.
Jesse Eisenberg is the bomb (literally!) in 30 Minutes or Less.
Hey everybody! You may have noticed that New to Blu took July off. Slacking yet again, July had only a small handful of titles that are really worth adding to your collection.
The Blue Brothers – The classic comedy finally hits high-def so break out the shades!
Limitless – Bradley Cooper carries this cool and crazy thriller – the last act isn’t perfect but the movie is refreshing and original.
Source Code - Speaking of refreshing and original, although it lifts concepts from The Matrix and a few others, Duncan Jones’ follow up to MOON, starring Jake Gyllenhaal is a great thrill ride. Touching, thoughtful and exciting.
Insidious - The scariest flick of 2011 hits blu-ray to scare you at home!
Now onto August!
AUGUST 2
Better Off Dead – I doubt you’ll be able to find this for ‘Two Dollars!’, but regardless, I’m forking over the cash for one of my favourite 80′s comedies, finally in high def. John Cusack stares as a hapless teenager, love sick over a girl who dumps him for the hotshot on the ski team (for real). After several failed suicide attempts, Lane takes part in an exciting ski race to win the heart of Beth. Lots of wacky character inhabit this world and you’ll be quoting this flick for years to come. “Now that’s a real shame when folks be throwin’ away a perfectly good white boy like that.”
Conan The Barbarian - Both Arnold Conan flicks arrive in new HD version on blu-ray and hopefully they’ve been treated right. The original Milius’ flick is a bonafide classic.
Eastbound & Down: Season 2 – Vulgar, disgusting and repulsive…also hilarious. That’s the best way to sum up both season 2 of this show and lead character Kenny Powers played by Danny McBride. If you like McBride’s borderline grotesque schtick, you’ll have a blast. If you don’t, avoid!
AUGUST 9
Super – I didn’t get a chance to see James Gunn’s latest flick, since it didn’t get much of a release up here in Canada, but it’s got a good cast, featuring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page and Nathan Fillion. On paper it sounds like a touch of Kick-Ass meets Defendor but I’m sure Gunn will put his signature ‘sick’ spin on it. Could be cool.
Paul - After the great success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, director Edgar Wright went off to do Scott Pilgrim, while Pegg and Frost wrote this alien flick, directed by Superbad’s Greg Matolla. Paul is pretty damn funny, especially for fans of sci-fi. Great performances from Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jason Bateman and Seth Rogen, along with Pegg and Frost make this something memorable. A few jokes miss the mark, but for the most part, I really enjoyed this one.
AUGUST 16
Demolition Man – a guilty pleasure, the dvd looked horrible, so I’m hoping for a significant upgrade. I think this probably should have been on a double feature with another cheap Stallone flick but if I can find it cheap, I’ll be watching Snipes get smashed to pieces in HD.
Dexter: Season 5 - after one of the best seasons of any TV show, featuring John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer, Dexter had it’s work cut out for it… I don’t think season 5 reaches those heights but it remained engaging and extremely well done. A worthy addition to your Dexter collection, can’t wait for season 6.
The Big Lebowski - FINALLY! The world’s most quotable flick, one of my top 10 of all time and the Coen Bros. crown jewel. The dude will finally abide in blu. Lebowski is a real ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ affair, and I hope if you are in the ‘hate it’ camp, you’ll give it another shot to maybe be won over by it’s crazy charms. “Over the line! Mark it zero, Dude”
The Muppets Take Manhattan/Muppets From Space – also in the ‘it’s about damn time’ column, Sony releases two Muppet flicks, as Muppet fever officially kicks off leading up to the new film. Manhattan was a special movie to me as a child, and I still love every minute of it. Muppets From Space is underrated IMO and has a lot of great moments. Fingers crossed that these look good.
August 23 is pretty weak.
AUGUST 30
Sons of Anarchy: Season 3 - The boys from Charming are back, on a mission to save Abel from the Irish. A few episodes really feel dragged out and watching while they aired week to week got painful, but I have a feeling breezing through them on disc will hide most of the flaws. The first two seasons were so dynamic, the stagnation of plot lines here was glaring…however the finale is explosive and nearly redeemed the lesser moments, so I’ll be rewatching this in preparation for Season 4.
Raising Arizona – Speaking of Coen Bros. classics, before Nicolas Cage got crazy, he was hilarious as an inept criminal who falls in love with a police woman, Holly Hunter. The two find out they can’t have children, so they take to kidnapping a baby from a group of quints. Hilarity ensues. (also available as part of a box set with Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing and Fargo).
The Vampire Diaries: Season 2 – If you like Twilight and Dawson’s Creek, this show is right up your alley. This show is definitely a guilty pleasure but has lots of fun twists and turns (however it seems for every 2 things right, they do something inanely stupid). The snappy dialogue and sharp characters make this one better than just ‘another vampire/werewolf’ cash in.
That’s it for August – too bad September doesn’t have any high profile titles coming out… oh, wait. Crandall out.
