Entertainment > Movies / TV DVD Releases: Week of April 18th Posted by R. Flagg on Apr 18, 2006, 17:02

Notable Releases

Moonstruck (Deluxe Edition)

Best Price: $14.02 @ DeepDiscountDVD.com

The Features:

� Commentary Featuring Cher, Director Norman Jewison and Writer John Patrick Shanley

� Moonstruck: At the Heart of an Italian Family

� Music of Moonstruck

� Pasta to Pastries: The Art of Fine Italian Food

� Collectible Italian Recipe Cards

Titus (Special Edition)

Best Price: $14.64 @ DeepDiscountDVD.com

The Features:

� Commentary with Julie Taymor

� Score Only and Commentary Track with Composer Elliot Goldenthal

� Scene Specific Commentary by Anthony Hopkins and Harry Lennox

� Q&A with Julie Taymor at Columbia University

� Muse of Fire: The Making of Titus

� Making the Penny Arcade Nightmares

� Costume Gallery

� American Cinematographer Articles

� Theatrical Trailers and TV spots

The Complete Mr. Arkadin: A.K.A. Confidential Report (Criterion Collection)

Synopsis:

Orson Welles� Mr. Arkadin (a.k.a. Confidential Report) is one of cinema�s great mysteries. How did a globetrotting narrative of espionage, amnesia, and backstabbing come to be itself marked by these qualities?

In the film, small-time American smuggler Guy van Stratten is hired by elusive billionaire Gregory Arkadin to investigate the tycoon�s past. What follows is a dizzying descent into the Cold War landscape of a Europe trying to erase its history. In making the film, Welles was ultimately banned from the editing room by producer, and undercover Soviet agent, Louis Dolivet. As a result, many versions exist, none of them definitive.

The Criterion Collection is proud to collect the many faces of Mr. Arkadin into one box for the first time. From the story�s beginnings in radio to the novel published under Welles� name to an all-new �comprehensive version� of the film.

Best Price: $30.95 @ DVDPlanet.com

The Features:

� Commentary by scholars Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore

� Interviews with Welles biographer Simon Callow, star Robert Arden, radio producer Harry Alan Towers, director Peter Bogdanovich, and film archivists Stephan Droessler and Claude Bertemes

� Three half-hour episodes of the radio program The Lives of Harry Lime, upon which the film is based

� On the Comprehensive Version, a new documentary featuring Droessler, Bertemes, and Bogdanovich

� Outtakes, rushes, and alternate scenes from the film

� Extensive stills gallery

� 36-page booklet with essays on the film and its different versions

� Mr. Arkadin: The novel, with a new preface by Robert Polito and a booklet featuring J. Hoberman; Rosenbaum, historian Francois Thomas and Droessler on the three versions

Cross Of Iron (Special Edition)

Synopsis:

Cross Of Iron is the only war film directed by master filmmaker Sam Peckinpah. With the same tenacity and style he brought to such classics as The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, and The Getaway, Peckinpah delivers a riveting and violent tale of men on the front lines of battle.

Set in 1943, this explosive epic centers on Corporal Steiner (James Coburn), an accomplished but war-weary combat veteran leading a group of German soldiers on the Russian front. Steiner's authority comes under attack when Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) takes over command of his troops. A Prussian aristocrat, Stransky has one goal in mind: to win the coveted Iron Cross, Germany's highest medal, at any cost. The two military aces soon face off in an intense and deadly battle of wills.

Best Price: $18.13 @ DeepDiscountDVD.com

The Features:

� New Widescreen 16:9 Anamorphic Transfer

� Commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince, author of "Savage Cinema: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise of Ultraviolent Movies"

� Original Theatrical Trailer

� Photo Gallery of German Lobby Cards

Breakfast on Pluto

Synopsis:

Set in the politically tumultuous London in the '70s, this tale follows the exploits of Patrick "Pussy" Braden (Cillian Murphy), a transvestite prostitute on a quest to find love and a place to call home. Abandoned as a baby in his small Irish hometown and aware from a very early age that he is different, Patrick survives this harsh environment with the aid of his wit and charm, plus a sweet refusal to let anyone and anything change who he is.

Best Price: $18.46 @ DVDPlanet.com

The Features:

� Commentary with Director Neil Jordan and Cillian Murphy

� Behind the Scenes of Breakfast on Pluto

Carbide And Sorrel

Synopsis:

The hilarious and rare classic of German cinema is a road trip adventure set in the last days of World War II. Cigarette factory worker Kalle (Erwin Geschonneck) must travel hundreds of miles without a truck to bring a load of carbide back to Dresden, where his chain-smoking co-workers will use it to weld their ruined factory back together. Dogged by every possible mishap, Kalle braves an odyssey by road and water, dodging dogs, mines, policemen, Red Army soldiers, a conniving U.S. Army officer and the attention of a nymphomaniac widow in order to return with his precious cargo.

Best Price: $17.58 @ DVDPacific.com

The Features:

� Trace of Memories: A Portrait of Frank Beyer

� Short film: News from the West

� Original theatrical trailer

� Photo gallery

� Critical essay

The Gleiwitz Case

Synopsis:

To justify their invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, the Nazi high command hatches a secret plan. Six Polish men from an SS training camp are sent on a special mission to the town of Gleiwitz, close to the Polish border. When the order is given, a concentration-camp prisoner dressed in a Polish uniform will be shot and produced as 'evidence' of a Polish raid in Gleiwitz. The next day, the 'provoked' Germans will launch their 'counterattack'.

Reminiscent of the Weimar avant-garde and Leni Riefenstahl in form and style, this one-of-a-kind masterpiece brings to life an unforgettable true story.

Best Price: $17.58 @ DVDPacific.com

The Features:

� Essay: The Case of The Gleiwitz Case

� Film about editor Evelyn Carow

� Original Trailer

� Photo Gallery

Mrs. Henderson Presents

Synopsis:

Recently widowed well-to-do Laura Henderson (Judi Dench) is at a bit of a loose end in inter-war London. On a whim she buys the derelict Windmill theatre in the West End and persuades impresario Vivian Van Damm to run it, despite the fact the two don't seem to get on at all. Although their idea of a non-stop revue is at first a success, other theatres copy it and disaster looms. Laura suggests they put nudes in the show, but Van Damm points out that the Lord Chamberlain, who licenses live shows in Britain, is likely to have something to say about this. Luckily Mrs. Henderson is friends with him.

Best Price: $17.99 @ Best Buy

The Features:

� Commentary by director Stephen Frears

� Making-of

One Bright Shining Moment

Synopsis:

When presidential candidate George McGovern took on incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972, no one really expected him to win - and he didn't. But in his bold, grassroots, seat-of-the-pants campaign, which energized young and progressive Americans to a degree never before seen, we find the genesis of today's powerful and sophisticated progressive movement.

Using a wealth of amazing archival materials, interviews with provocative figures including historian Howard Zinn, and extensive interviews with McGovern himself, this "tremendously thought-provoking tribute to the one man who could have dramatically and permanently altered America's political landscape for the better is essential viewing." (CBS Radio)

Best Price: $20.62 @ DVDPacific.com

The Features:

� Deleted Scenes

� Vietnam Storyteller

� Interview with Amy Goodman

� Theatrical Trailer

Other Releases

Americano

The American President (Mother's Day Gift Set with Card and Gift Wrap)

A Bigger Splash

The Bodyguard (Mother's Day Gift Set with Card and Gift Wrap)

Brotha Lynch Hung: Ghetto Celebrities, Volume 1

Bruce Lee, We Miss You

The Buccaneers

The Chess Players

The Chiefs

Coachella

Cuban Blood

Dandelion

Dead Bodies

Destination America

Doogie Howser, M.D.: Season Four

Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Birth Of A Band - Live At The Isle Of Wight

Games of Love and Chance

The Grind

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities

Honest Bra

Immortals Of Kung Fu

Irresistible

Jargo

Kickboxer: 5 Disc Collector's Set

The Killing Time

Klepto

The Last Drop

The Lawmen Collection

Meeting Daddy

Mercenary for Justice

Message In A Bottle (Mother's Day Gift Set with Card and Gift Wrap)

Michael Palin: Sahara

The Mill On The Floss

Mother And Son

National Geographic: San Francisco's Great Quake

NHL Original Six Series: The New York Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup Champions

Ocean Park

Playing for Change

Remington Steele: Season 3

The Second Circle

Secret of the Snake and Crane

Shaolin vs. Manchu

Struggle Through Death

Stryker

Sweet November (Mother's Day Gift Set with Card and Gift Wrap)

Ultimate Fighting Championship Classics: Volume 3

Ultimate Fighting Championship Classics: Volume 4

Unveiled

Venice Underground

Voyeur Fantasies

Who Wanna Battle?

William Shakespeare Compilation Box Set

You've Got Mail (Mother's Day Gift Set with Card and Gift Wrap)

Notable Horror & Sci-Fi Releases

Hostel (Unrated)

Best Price: $14.99 @ Best Buy

The Features:

� Commentary with Director Eli Roth

� Commentary with Director and Executive Producers Quentin Tarentino

� Commentary with Director and Producers

� Commentary with Director and Harry Knowles of AintItCoolNews.com

� Hostel Dissected: Multi-Part Behind-the-Scenes

� Kill the Car!: Multi-angle interactive Feature

Event Horizon (Collector's Edition)

Best Price: $12.99 @ Best Buy

The Features:

� Commentary by director Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt

� The Making of Event Horizon - 5 Documentaries:

-Into the Jaws of Darkness

-The Body of the Beast

-Liberate Tutume Ex Infernis

-The Scale to Hell

-The Womb of Fear

� The Unseen Event Horizon: The unfilmed rescue scene

� Conceptual Art: Montage of paintings and drawings of uniforms, ships and more

� The Point of No Return: The Filming of Event Horizon

� Theatrical trailer and Video Trailer

Bad Dreams

Synopsis:

In the mid-70s, the members of the love cult Unity Fields sought �the ultimate joining� by dousing themselves with gasoline and committing mass suicide. A young girl blown clear of the fiery explosion was the only survivor. Thirteen years later, Cynthia awakens from a coma inside a psychiatric hospital with only buried memories of that horrific day. But now, her fellow patients are each being driven to their own violent suicides. Has the sect�s hideously burned leader (Richard Lynch) returned to claim his final child, or is something even more depraved lurking within her Bad Dreams?

Best Price: $8.99 @ DeepDiscountDVD.com

The Features:

� Commentary with Writer/Director Andrew Fleming

� The Making of Bad Dreams

� The Special Effects

� Behind the Scenes

� Original Ending

� Trailer

� Screenplay (DVD-ROM)

Natural City

Synopsis:

Rebuilt after a devastating war, the world of 2080 has given rise to advanced technologies including the creation of cyborgs. Created with artificial intelligence (AI), human-like emotions and great strength, they serve one master for their entire lifespan. When the cyborgs revolt, R (Yoo Ji-tae) and Noma (Yoon Chan), Rs best friend and commander, lead an elite military squad ordered to eliminate the rebellion. Unbeknownst to anyone, R has fallen in love with Ria (Seo Rin), his cyborg, and is illegally harvesting AI chips from dead cyborgs in order to save her life. Torn between his love for Ria and the battle to save mankind, humanity�s fate hangs in the balance.

Best Price: $15.13 @ DeepDiscountDVD.com

The Features:

� The Story of Natural City

� Deleted Scenes

� Cast Interviews

� Original Theatrical Trailer

Other Horror & Sci-Fi Releases

Crazed Killers

Day The World Ended/The She Creature

Hostile Hauntings

Mr. Hell

Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis

Savage Sickos

The Sentinel: The Complete First Season

Thundercats: Season Two, Volume One

Visiting Hours

Anime Releases

Gatchaman, Volume 11: Phantoms And Demon Kings

Gatchaman, Volume 12: Death Girls And The Abominable Snowman

Gatchaman: Collection 6

Ultra Maniac: Volume 7 - Magical Ending

Best Buy Weekly Deals

2 For $20:

9 to 5 (Sexist, Egotistical, Lying, Hypocritical Bigot Edition)

Blade: Trinity (Unrated)

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (Special Edition)

Ice Age (Super Cool Edition)

The Last Samurai (2-Disc)

Lords Of Dogtown (Unrated Extended Cut)

Office Space (Special Edition With Flair!)

Remember The Titans (Director's Cut)

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Special Edition)

Scarface (Anniversary Edition)

Stealth (Special Edition)

The Transporter (Special Delivery Edition)

Unleashed (Unrated)

The Warriors (Ultimate Director's Edition)

Alien vs. Predator

Blow

The Bourne Supremacy

Constantine

Fight Club

Friday

Full Metal Jacket

Into The Blue

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Circuit City Weekly Deals

3 for $15:

Boat Trip (Unrated)

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (Unrated Special Edition)

Mercury Rising (Collector's Edition)

Midnight In The Garden of Good & Evil (Special Edition)

Stir of Echoes (Special Edition)

Claudine

Dance With Me

Doc Hollywood

Dying Young

The Enforcer (Jet Li)

Fist of Legend

For Love Of The Game

G.I. Jane

Great Expectations (1998)

Harlem Nights

Indecent Proposal

The Last Castle

The Legend of the Swordsman

Like Water for Chocolate

Lionheart

Monster

Pretty in Pink

Sex & The City Essentials: Breakups

Sex & The City Essentials: Romance

Shaft (2000)

Sliding Doors

Waterworld

What About Bob?

While You Were Sleeping