MovieFreak.com - "New Blu's On the Block - January 1, 2013" Feature Article


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FEATURE ARTICLE

New Blu's On the Block - January 1, 2013

Rating: Various

Distributor: Various

Released: January 1, 2013

Written by Sara Michelle Fetters

Editor-in-Chief
www.moviefreak.com

New Blu's On the Block
Blu-ray and DVD Releases for January 1, 2013

First off, I’d like to take this moment to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope you all survived the Mayan apocalypse and are looking forward to another year of mundane everyday craziness. Seriously, here’s hoping all our readers the best of all things possible and a glorious 2013. As one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite films might say, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

With that out of the way, I almost didn’t due a column to kick off 2013 because, as like last week, there really aren’t a lot of reasons to go through the trouble. Unlike last week, though, where the only notable release was the somewhat excruciating The Words (read my Theatrical Review), to kick off this new year all three of the major titles hitting Blu-ray are worth talking about. As such, I figured I should suck it up and write a column. Make of that what you will.

Oh! And just in case you didn't see it, check out my 'Best of Blu-ray' column as part of this year's 2012 Recap. There's plenty of food for thought for those who think themselves cinematically inclined and collector's of hi-def awesomeness.

Looper

From my theatrical review (read it here): “[Rian] Johnson directs with supreme confidence, handling things with pinpoint precision building events to their unsettling, yet entirely gratifying, conclusion. Looper asks more questions than it can answer, and not every aspect is as perfect or as expertly handled as I’d have liked it to be, but overall this is Grade A sci-fi entertainment of the first degree. The darn thing works, and like all great time travel epics this is one trip spanning the generations I can’t wait to experience again.” The movie featured prominently in my 2012 Recap while my just posted Blu-ray Review is now live for you to take a look at as well.

Cosmopolis

From my theatrical review (read it here): “[Cosmopolis] has passion, a kinetic drive bordering on hypnotic. This is a world similar to our own yet at the same time completely alien, the parallel energies running through the proceedings keeping me off-balance and continually on the edge of my seat. As stilted and as aloof as the dialogue and the mannerisms can be, as theatrically monotone as he asks his cast to say their lines, there is reason to all the madness, a point to the tedium, everything building to a treatise on the here and now that packs a mighty wallop.” For more on this release, check out my Blu-ray Review.

Justified: The Complete Third Season

Justified is an awesome show, plain and simple. I was blown away by the first two seasons, the last one just about as perfect as episodic television gets. As such, I can’t wait to get my hands on season three which, sad to say, hasn’t arrived as of yet (but I’ve been promised by the publicist a review copy actually is forthcoming). Expect a full review of the season to appear pretty much immediately just as soon as this Blu-ray set arrives in my mailbox.

OTHER NOTABLE BLU-RAY RELEASES

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· Being Human: The Complete Second Season

· The Thompsons

NOTABLE DVD RELEASES

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Little Birds

Fifteen-year-old Lily (Juno Temple) and her best friend Alison (Kay Panabaker) live on the shores of the Salton Sea among rundown trailers parks, rotting household items, drained pools and decaying streets. What was once an oasis for the wealthy and famous has become a near ghost town, leaving its residents fighting for breath in the deep end. Lily feels eternally claustrophobic and rebellious, living with her manic, single mother (Leslie Mann), clinging to hope for something more exciting than visits with her young and already washed up Aunt (Kate Bosworth). When they meet a few visiting street kids, the girls' bond is finally tested and Lily convinces Alison to follow the boys back to Los Angeles. Not intimidated by the journey ahead, Lily is hopelessly drawn to one of the boys and the freedoms of their lifestyle. But in the big city, Lily and Alison quickly fall into the boys' world of scams and petty crime. Lily is determined to stay and make it work, while Alison is overwhelmed and eager to return home. When an idea is hatched to use Lily as bait for men with money to steal, things quickly escalate to a life-changing moment. Lily must decide how far she will go to grow up and Alison must decide how far she will go to protect Lily. (Description reprinted from Amazon.com)

The Trouble with Bliss

Meet 35-year-old Morris Bliss (Michael C. Hall). He is clamped in the jaws of New York City inertia: he wants to travel but has no money; he needs a job but has no prospects; he still shares an apartment with his widowed father (Peter Fonda); and, perhaps worst of all, the premature death of his mother still lingers and has left him emotionally walled up. When he finds himself wrapped up in an awkward relationship with the sexually precocious, 18-year-old daughter (Brie Larson) of a former classmate, Morris quickly discovers his static life unraveling and opening up in ways that are long overdue. (Description reprinted from Amazon.com)

OTHER NOTABLE DVD RELEASES

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· Trial & Retribution – Set 6

NOTABLE NEW BLU-RAY ANNOUNCEMENTS