What to rent: DVD releases for 3/11/08

Mike March 11th, 2008 DVD, Features, Movies

Blu-Ray fans will be rejoicing this week when they hit the video stores looking for movies to rent. The best picture of the year, according to Academy Awards, hits shelves today and a simultaneous release on the big Blu will make Javier Bardem fans stand up and cheer.

I wish he would have asked me to flip a coin in December and choose between my life and an HD-DVD player, because while I’m still alive, I’d also have 220 more dollars in my pocket.

Should I stop whining about HD-DVD dying the second I bought one? Okay, I will.

No Country For Old Men

The best film of 2007 and one of my favorites, this movie deserves a second-viewing for those of us trying to understand a sort of unusual ending. Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson and Bardem give fantastic-o performances, friend-o.

Rent it, buy it, but definitely see it.

Dan in Real Life

After seeing Steve Carell in so many goofy roles, so many characters where he embarrasses himself over and over, his role in Dan in Real Life was refreshing. It’s a light-hearted romantic comedy with a great little story and some fun moments.

Heck, even Dane Cook does a good job with a subdued performance.

A Blu-Ray Popcorn Fest

As I said above, this is your week if you have a Blu-Ray player. The stack of awesome titles coming out this week is mind-blowing:

Independence Day, I Robot, Gattaca, Dogma, Hitman, Dan in Real Life, and of course No Country for Old Men.

I’d buy Independence Day without even thinking, I totally love that movie. It HAS to look amazing in HD.

More DVD Releases

(By the way, if you want to purchase any of these titles, you may as well use our Amazon affiliate link and pay us 2 cents for every movie you buy. K thx…)

Bee Movie - Jerry Seinfeld is really the only thing I know about this animated feature
August Rush - With Keri Russell, this was supposed to be a cute little film
Tin Man - The Sci-Fi mini-series I tried to watch but only managed the first episodes. Probably a good idea to skip it.
Gattaca: Special Edition - I really enjoyed this sci-fi-ish film with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman.

Blu-Ray Titles

Appleseed Ex Machina (Warner)
August Rush (Warner)
Dan in Real Life (Walt Disney)
Dogma (Sony)
Gattaca (Sony)
Hitman (Fox)
I, Robot (Fox)
Independence Day (Fox)
No Country for Old Men (Walt Disney)
Sleuth (2007) (Sony)

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DVD, Features, Movies
academy awards, blu-ray, dan in real life, dogma, gattaca, independence day, no country for old men

Viewing 12 Comments

Jason 5 months ago 1 point
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I love Gattaca. That's a nice edition to the Blu-Ray library.

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Steven 5 months ago 1 point
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I really liked Dan in Real Life. Definitely worth a look.

That being said, I really just don't get why Dane Cook is so popular. He isn't that bad in this flick, but overall I just don't get it. Plus, he was in one of the worst movies I have ever seen - Good Luck Chuck.

Steven's last blog post..Top 100 Movies: No. 69 - The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

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Steven 5 months ago 1 point
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Oh yeah, No Country for Old Men should be required viewing. Just a great, great movie.

Steven's last blog post..Top 100 Movies: No. 69 - The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

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Mike 5 months ago 1 point
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I've always thought Dane Cook was hilarious on his comedy shows, and we watched Tourgasm on HBO and that was pretty interesting. A lot of people don't think he's funny though...it's sort of the idea that people either love him or hate him.

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Jason 5 months ago 1 point
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I always thought Dane Cook's stand-up was pretty funny too. I actually think he's not bad in films, but he hasn't been choosing great roles. I'm not sure what the huge backlash against him has been about. He did a good job in Mr. Brooks.

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Steven 5 months ago 1 point
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I completely forgot about Mr. Brooks. He was ok in that. Maybe Good Luck Chuck just left such a bad taste in my mouth that it has affected my opinion of him overall.

Steven's last blog post..Top 100 Movies: No. 69 - The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

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patrick 5 months ago 1 point
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No Country for Old Men is unassumingly clever, even funny at times... what happens next is always unexpected and yet it never goes "over the top." well done indeed.

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Mike 5 months ago 1 point
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Agreed...and the writing and dialog is brilliant.

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gadget 5 months ago 1 point
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I haven't seen No country for old men. I will have to give that a shot.

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The Trousered Ape 5 months ago 1 point
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Dan in Real Life, Gattaca, and I, Robot are good. Blu came through this week.

The Trousered Ape's last blog post..Blu-ray Releases - 3/11/2008

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Rob O. 4 months ago 1 point
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I've gotta be the voice of dissent here on "No Country for Old Men." I was totally engrossed right up until the end. It was an atmospheric and chilling tale. But the ending was far too unfinished and abrupt for me. Sure, I picked up on Tommy Lee Jones' revelation that his place in this time was drawing to an end, but that wasn't enough. Maybe the ending would've been more satisfactory if I had read the book, but that shouldn't be a prerequisite for an enjoyable and fulfilling movie.

Also, I thought Javier Bardem did a good turn as the stunning and creepy-as-hell killer, but honestly, either Tommy Lee or Josh Brolin deserved more nods for their fine, skillful acting.

One last thing, I live in West Texas and the portrayal of the towns in this movie are a bit skewed. The rural areas that figured mostly in the film were spot on, but the larger cities didn't look or feel nearly so authentic. For some reason, El Paso sorta felt more like a vintage Las Vegas to me. Odessa was all wrong. Juarez didn't feel nearly seedy enough. I dunno if they actually filmed on location, but the urban settings felt generic.

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Mike 4 months ago 1 point
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Seems like you did like it, just had a problem with the ending.

I sort of felt the same way, but I enjoy weird endings, so it didn't bother me that much. It does give you a feeling like they just forgot an entire reel though when putting the movie together :)

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