New Video Releases for the Week of April 13, 2010
We picked a pretty lousy two week stretch to open this column with. Last week’s biggest release did $1.7 million at the US box office and this week’s hit $8 million. By all accounts Bad Lieutenant and Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked) are good movies, they just aren’t that sexy to kick a column off with (well, aside from stars Eva Mendes and January Jones).
So, here are this week’s new DVD, Blu-ray, and Netflix Instant Watch titles. Each film will include their Flickchart global statistics (when available), as well as three direct links to rank the title against similar movies (one good, one average and one bad) to help nail down where the movie belongs on your chart.
DVD Pick of the Week:
The Offence – (DVD)
If anybody is still on the fence about whether or not Sean Connery can act, watch this movie right now. It’s my favorite non-Bond performance by any former Bond besides Timothy Dalton in Hot Fuzz. I can’t recommend this one enough, watching Connery snap after years on the job during a rough molestation case is breathtaking to watch. The movie is exclusively available through Amazon, and is also streaming on Hulu. Here’s the trailer (the slo-mo shot at the end of it is perfect):
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: –
Total Times Ranked: –
Percentage of Times Won: –
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: –
Directly rank it against: Good • Average • Terrible
Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked) – (DVD and Blu-ray)
Buzz on this one is very positive and it looks like it has a nice little soundtrack. Plus, January Jones and Gemma Arterton. And Nick Frost for the ladies…
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: #3896
Total Times Ranked: 3340
Percentage of Times Won: 58.41%
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: 8
Directly rank it against: Good • Average • Terrible
The Slammin’ Salmon – (DVD and Blu)
The latest box office dud from the Broken Lizard guys. I really liked Super Troopers, and Club Dread at least held my interest. The fact that they got Michael Clarke Duncan and Lance Henriksen to be in it will make me rent it at some point in the future.
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: 10279
Total Times Ranked: 34
Percentage of Times Won: 72.89%
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: 0
Directly rank it against: Good • Average • Terrible
Apollo 13 – (Blu-ray)
Given all the ingredients, this movie would’ve been hard to mess up. Very solid flick.
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: 232
Total Times Ranked: 165121
Percentage of Times Won: 46.45%
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: 1811
Directly rank it against: Good • Average • Terrible
The Great Mouse Detective – (DVD)
Why, oh why, is this not Blu-ray! It’s an under-seen little Disney gem that features Vincent Price in a starring voice role.
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: 2325
Total Times Ranked: 4380
Percentage of Times Won: 36.03%
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: 6
Directly rank it against: Good • Average • Terrible
Defendor – (DVD)
The latest in the recent trend of being all meta about our superheroes. This one’s gotten good reviews and Woody Harrelson can make an average movie watchable.
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: 8198
Total Times Ranked: 70
Percentage of Times Won: 64.39%
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: 0
Directly rank it against: Good • Average • Terrible
Love the Beast – (DVD)
Eric Bana’s love letter to his car. Even though it features interviews with Dr. Phil and Jay Leno, it apparently has more heart and soul in it than pretty much everything that came out last year.
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: –
Total Times Ranked: –
Percentage of Times Won: –
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: –
Directly rank it against: Good • Average • Terrible
The Best Man – (DVD)
Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson in an apolitical movie about two Presidential candidates trying to stay above all the muck-raking they’re expected to take part in. Very solid character piece from the aftermath of the Kennedy shooting. Funny bit of trivia, Ronald Reagan was rejected for a lead role in it because he “didn’t look Presidential enough.”
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: 7277
Total Times Ranked: 128
Percentage of Times Won: 51.40%
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: 0
Fitzwilly – (DVD)
Dick Van Dyke plays “an eccentric philanthropist’s dutiful servant, who resorts to thievery in order to keep his now-penniless employer living in style.” I’ve caught this on TCM a couple times and it’s a load of fun, as pretty much every Dick Van Dyke movie is.
Flickchart’s Global Ranking: 9399
Total Times Ranked: 103
Percentage of Times Won: 31.11%
Users Who Have It In Their Top 20: 0
New on Netflix:
Ninja Assassin’s 28 day moratorium is over this Tuesday. Don’t know if you caught the news – but starting with Avatar, Fox and Universal will join WB by not allowing their new releases to hit Netflix for 28 days in exchange for more streaming content.
Monday the 12th:
- Moon – (Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey)
Tuesday the 13th:
Thursday the 15th:
Friday the 16th:
Apollo 13 is one you know will be a big hit on Blu Ray. A movie like this is the reason to own blu – awesome sound, excellent picture (and effects for that matter) and as a bonus – a solid story.
It’s actually been a pretty good month for blu ray releases –
Collateral, Lord of the Rings, Apollo 13, and within the next few weeks – Minority Report, Armageddon, and Saving Private Ryan.