Superman Unbound
Blu-ray Multipack | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by James Tucker
Starring Matt Bomer, Stana Katic, Molly C. Quinn, John Noble
Release Date: May 7, 2013

First and foremost, I’m not a huge Superman fan. I prefer my heroes a bit more…mortal, you know? That said, I am sometimes forced to reassess a character based on who is writing the storyline, script, what have you. Animated superhero shows have a certain appeal to me, regardless of the main characters. Watching the Super Friends on Saturday morning is probably one of my favorite childhood memories and I find any excuse to try to relive that excitement. And the chance to watch and discuss Superman Unbound was way too cool to pass up. Now on to the review…

DC Entertainment does love to change up the voice actors quite a bit, don’t they? This incarnation of the Man of Steel is voiced by none other than White Collar star Matt Bomer. This became a very distracting issue for me, just to let you know. I kept envisioning Big Blue as an art thief in New York and not the Kryptonian hero of Metropolis. But maybe that’s just me [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is Sex and the City: The Complete Collection Deluxe Edition DVD box set for only $74.99 (that’s 57% off the list price of $174.92).

The Deluxe Edition DVD box set comes with all 94 episodes of the six seasons of the HBO series plus both Sex and the City movies, along with exclusive bonus content from all seasons; a bonus disc featuring 90 minutes of exclusive interviews with Michael Patrick King and the writers; alternate endings; audio commentary; behind the scenes featurettes; deleted scenes, and more [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day at Amazon today is the Fast and Furious 1-5 Bundle on Blu-ray for only $37.99 (that’s 63% off the list price of $102.90).

The DVD bundle is also on sale today for only $27.49 (that’s 62% off the list price of $71.90).

The Blu-ray bundle has all five Fast & Furious movies on Blu-ray as well as a Digital Copy, along with bonus features for all the movies like commentary, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes features.

- The Fast and the Furious
- 2 Fast 2 Furious
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
- Fast & Furious
- Fast Five

Note – this deal is valid only for today, Wednesday, April 24, 2013 til 11:59pm while supplies last [...]

Marvel Knights: Inhumans
DVD
Directed by Marvel
Shout! Factory
Rated: Not rated
Release Date: April 23, 2013

In Attilan, no one can, or should, hear Black Bolt scream.

The Marvel Knights: Inhumans movie has been released. It is an adaptation of the 12 issue Marvel Knights comic written by Paul Jenkins with art by Jae Lee. Come ponder with me the reasoning of the king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, as he navigates the politics of humans and near gods.

This Shout! Factory release is a motion comic. I can’t say that I was entirely pleased by that prospect. A lot of motion comics take away from the internal experience of reading comics. And the limited motion does no favors to the animation genre. For a long time, the motion comic did nothing for me. Then the Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D., Iron Man: Extremis, and the Astonishing X-Men: Gifted series were released and changed my opinion of this new medium to a more positive outlook. That is when I figured out subtlety is the key to a good motion comic execution.

How does the Inhumans movie measure up in this bold new genre? Have a look below the jump to find out. [...]

In 1981, maverick Pittsburgh filmmaker George Romero, still hot off the smashing worldwide success of his full-color zombie horror epic Dawn of the Dead, made the most personal movie of his career: Knightriders. An intimate and action-packed story of a traveling troupe of artists, actors, and stunt riders who engage in jousting matches on souped-up motorcycles, Knightriders was the first major screen role for future star Ed Harris and overcame lackluster box office and initial audience reception to become a cult classic that continues to endure as one of Romero’s finest movies more than three decades later.

British home entertainment outfit Arrow Video has granted Knightriders its first release on Blu-ray in the entire civilized this month and is celebrating the occasion in high style by giving the movie a full restoration and some new in-depth supplements. (A new Knightriders Blu-ray will be out this July for the U.S.) [...]

Iron Man: Rise Of The Technovore
Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Hiroshi Hamazaki
Starring Norman Reedus, Matthew Mercer, Eric Bauza
Marvel Entertainment/Sony Pictures/Madhouse Studios
Release Date: April 16, 2013

Suffice to say that I am an Iron Man fan. Got the iconic character tattooed to my back years ago (along with a couple dozen others) and I buy almost as much Shellhead merchandise as I do Caped Crusader stuff. So yeah, I asked to review Iron Man: Rise Of The Technovore as soon as it was offered up. I did, after all, pretty much like the Marvel Anime: Iron Man- The Complete Series that I reviewed here a while back. So I naturally thought it would be a fun watch. And it’s totally like I jinx myself every time I think like that, because “fun” didn’t even get near this mess.

To be honest, Iron Man: ROTT was well animated, there was nothing with which I could find a complaint (other than words not syncing with lip movements). And it wasn’t the voice actors that made me unhappy as they were okay for the most part, though the trademark Tony Stark glibness wasn’t really to be found here. No, I’m going to just have to say it was because the main story made almost no sense. Honestly, it was ridiculous at the very least and the iconic characters were not represented well at all. [...]

Zombie Flesh Eaters
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, Richard Johnson
Arrow Films
Release Date: December 3, 2012

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is House – The Complete Series DVD box set for $83.99 (58% off the list price of $199.98).

The DVD set comes with 41 discs of all 8 seasons of the popular Fox medial drama House, which aired from 2004 to 2012. The show starred Hugh Laurie in the title role, along with Anne Dudek, Lisa Edelstein, Olivia Wilde, David Morse, Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, among many other stars.

Note, this deal is valid only for today, Friday, March 22, 2012, until 11:59pm PST while supplies last [...]

The recent Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic) thriller Side Effects is making its way to home video with the announcement that the movie will be arriving on Blu-ray and DVD on May 21st. If you can’t wait until then, it will also be available via digital download beginning on May 7th.

The movie stars Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network) as a woman who begins suffering from terrifying anxiety after her husband (Channing Tatum — Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street) is released from prison for insider trading. Seeking an answer, she sees psychiatrist Dr. Banks (Jude Law — Sherlock Holmes, Road to Perdition), who prescribes her an experimental new drug, which ends up having deadly side effects. [...]

Wreck-It Ralph
4-Disc 3D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital l 2-Disc Blu-ray/DVD l DVD
Directed by Rich Moore
Starring John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Mindy Kaling, Ed O’Neill, Dennis Haysbert
Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: March 5, 2013

Get your head in the game. Disney’s best video game is not one you can play, but rather one you watch, as Wreck-It Ralph jazzes up the screen with pure fun and affection. Now the giant hit movie arrives on Blu-ray shelves. Press start for this Disney In Depth Blu-ray review of Wreck-It Ralph.

The bad guy doesn’t want to be a bad guy. Have we seen this plot before? Maybe to some respect, but Ralph takes this concept to a most pioneering level where puns and references a plenty do not interfere with sophisticated storytelling. Supposedly-villainous Ralph just wants some appreciation, so he ventures outside his ’80s-era game to prove his worth. He attains that value via unexpected means, meets some crazy folks along the way, and realizes his potential in who he has always been. [...]

Trailers from Hell! Volume Two
DVD
Starring Joe Dante, John Landis, Guillermo Del Toro, and Roger Corman
Shout! Factory
Release Date: July 5, 2011

I love DVD collections of old movie trailers. Since 2005, Synapse Films has been releasing volumes of classic grindhouse and drive-in exploitation trailers on DVD under the 42nd Street Forever and early this year unleashed their first Blu-ray edition in the series. One of those discs can provide an entire evening’s entertainment for the true connoisseur of cinema. Independent home video distributors understand the slim but still lucrative market value of a movie trailer collection. If you ask a bunch of people what their favorite part of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez B-movie double feature homage Grindhouse was, chances are most of them will say they loved the spoof trailers directed by Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, and Rodriguez. Movie geek meccas like the Alamo Drafthouse and the New Beverly Cinema often program vintage trailers to go along with that night’s film selection. People still make their old trailer compilations for fun. Roth even talked about making a feature film in the form of a reel of trailers.

Trailers from Hell is a highly-addictive website where film directors, writers, and producers provide introductions and commentaries for the trailers to some of their favorite films. From beloved classics to obscure cult flicks, from Oscar-winning epics to kinetic blasts of pure psychotronic insanity, there is no vintage preview that the TFH crew will not unearth and gab about to the delight of movie geeks everywhere. They’ve even started releasing DVD collections of the finest trailers and commentaries on their site that they could secure the rights to through the amazing Shout! Factory, a true friend to film fans with expansive DVD and Blu-ray libraries (and this is the part where yours truly sheepishly raises his hand). So with that in mind I bring you Trailers from Hell! Volume Two [...]

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Volume XXIV
DVD
Directed by Kevin Murphy
Starring Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and Kevin Murphy
Shout! Factory
Release Date: July 31, 2012

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is one of the greatest television shows in history. It’s easily in my top five favorite shows of all time. When I’m having a lousy day and I want to feel better about myself few things cheer me up as watching Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, and their sardonic robot companions Tom Servo (voiced and performed by Kevin Murphy) and Crow T. Robot (Trace Beaulieu) on the Satellite of Love rip apart the horrible Z-grade genre flicks they’re subjected to on a weekly basis by the cruel Dr. Clayton Forrester (Beaulieu) and his hapless assistant TV’s Frank (Frank Conniff) with magnificent aplomb. Shout! Factory took over the DVD distribution of the show from Rhino back in 2008 and ever since have been releasing several box sets of the show’s finest episodes every year with fresh supplements.

This time around the company has gifted us with a very special edition of MST3K: none of the movies submitted for the disapproval of the crew of the S.O.L. in this set originated in the United States. We get two movies from Japan, one from Finland by way of the former Soviet Union, and the set closes out with a oily gem from South of the border, down Mexico way. I suppose you could call this the first MST3K foreign film collection if you want to give it more class than it really deserves – which is none at all – so with that mind let’s get into Mystery Science Theater 3000 XXIV. [...]

The late, great Ron Asheton, one of the paramount figures of the original Detroit hard rock/early punk sounds and styles whose work with the original incarnation of The Stooges garnered him as an important of a factor to its influence and staying (raw) power as much as the five foot one man who was born with sonic attitude, Iggy Pop, is being immortalized on a forthcoming DVD to be released in April of this year.

The DVD, which commemorates the man’s legacy and talents via testimonials by fans and friends alike, and a full-length tribute concert done by surviving band members, which was recorded and filmed back on April 10, 2011, bears the direct and to the point title: A Tribute To Ron Asheton.

You can check out the trailer for the DVD here below, along with the track listing and other details [...]

Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season
Blu-ray | DVD
CREATORS: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, George R. R. Martin (author)
STARRING: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Richard Madden, Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Stephen Dillane, Conleth Hill, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams, Iain Glen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Jack Gleeson, Sophie Turner, Alfie Allen, Liam Cunningham, James Cosmo, Rory McCann, Gethin Anthony, Gwendoline Christie, Carice van Houten, Joe Dempsie, Charles Dance, Donald Sumpter, Kristian Nairn, John Bradley, Sibel Kekilli, Natalia Tena, Finn Jones, Oona Chaplin, Natalie Dormer, Nonso Anozie, Rose Leslie
HBO
RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2013

I’ve developed something of a young tradition, one that I hope to continue for the next handful of years or so…if the old gods and the new see fit. As someone who was introduced to George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” universe by HBO’s adaptation of the books (I read, but not nearly as much as others), Game of Thrones, I, like many others—much to the chagrin of readers who had been singing its praises for years—instantly found myself obsessed with this incredibly detailed world, its unique and complex characters, and a long, rich history that could force many aspiring writers to retire their quills for the rest of their days. [...]

Are you a massive fan of HBO’s Game of Thrones? Are you planning to pick up Season 2 of the show when it’s released on Blu-ray and DVD this upcoming Tuesday, February 19th? Do you also just so happen to live in the general area of New York City’s Union Square?

If so, then we have a very cool quickie contest for you to enter!

This Monday evening (February 18) beginning at 8pm a special event is being held at the Union Square Best Buy in New York City in celebration of the midnight release of the Season 2 Blu-ray and DVD. The first 300 people in line will receive an awesome Game of Thrones gift bag, and there will be music, food, and other things to check out as well.

But for TWO of our lucky readers near Union Square, you’ll get special VIP access, which means early entry to the event and a guaranteed gift bag!

Be sure to continue reading for details on what will be going on at the event and how you can enter! [...]