How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
September 9, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
For people who want to know what happens when two of the funniest women in comedy align (all that's missing is Kristen Wiig): Baby Mama
After separating from the Weekend Update desk in 2006 due to Tina Fey's burgeoning comedy career, best friends Fey and Amy Poehler reteamed earlier this year for Baby Mama, developed from the creative mind of writer-director Michael McCullers (Austin Powers 2 and 3). In the film, Fey plays a successful single businesswoman, Kate (think Liz Lemon copy), who like any woman at 37 decides it's high time she has a kid. However, when she learns her plan would no longer be possible, Kate gets a South Philly working girl (Poehler) to become her surrogate mother. All for the most part is okay until the surrogate shows up at Kate's doorstep, begging for a place to stay.
Ultimately, the flick was hit-or-miss with the critics, who over at Rotten Tomatoes rated a barely fresh 61% positive. The comedy didn't disappoint at the box office, where it managed to double its $30 million budget.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, alternate ending, deleted scenes, Saturday Night Live: Legacy of Laughter featurette, From Conception to Delivery: The Making of Baby Mama featurette.
For people who want to know what Jeff Bridges was doing pre-Obadiah Stane: The Big Lebowski (10th Anniversary Edition)
Similar to how Joel and Ethan Coen are following up their Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men with Friday's release of the much lighter Burn After Reading, the duo did a similar thing a decade ago by releasing cult comedy The Big Lebowski two years after Fargo. The former, released in 1998, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a special anniversary edition DVD.
Featuring an eclectic soundtrack, unconventional dialogue and fantastic dream sequences, The Big Lebowski stars Jeff Bridges as the title character, an avid bowler from L.A. who actually prefers going by a simpler name: "the Dude." The story picks up when he's mistaken for a multimillionaire of the same name, which leads the Dude into scrounging around for a million-dollar ransom to free the real rich guy's kidnapped wife. John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore and John Turturro also star.
Disc includes: The Dude's Life featurette, The Dude Abides, The Big Lebowski Ten Years Later featurette, The Lebowski Fest: An Achiever's Story featurette, Flying Carpets and Bowling Pin Dreams: The Dream Sequences of The Dude featurette, interactive map, Jeff Bridges' photo book, Making of The Big Lebowski featurette, photo gallery.
For people who never thought someone with a name like Beatrix Kiddo could be so feisty: Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2 [Blu-ray]
Finally getting their due on Blu-ray are the opening two chapters in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill franchise. (Rumors of a possible sequel - or two - haven't quite died yet). The revenge drama, starring the perfectly-cast Uma Thurman as a deadly bride who has some unfinished business to take care of, is chock full of homages to earlier film genres, like martial arts movies, Japanese samurai and spaghetti westerns. Half of the fun is trying to figure out the original source of Tarantino's material. Even better, now you can watch that unforgettable buried alive scene just as it appeared in theaters.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 disc includes: The Making of Kill Bill Vol. 1 featurette, bonus music performances by The 5, 6, 7, 8's.
Kill Bill Vol. 2 disc includes: Deleted scene, Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of Kill Bill Vol. 2 featurette, Kill Bill Vol. 2 Premiere featurette.
For people who need a movie suggestion when Hiro Nakamura comes calling for a recommendation: The Forbidden Kingdom (Special Edition)
Both Jackie Chan and Jet Li have been active professional actors for more than a quarter of a century, and yet the men, both Chinese martial artists, have yet to appear in a film together - until now. The Forbidden Kingdom marks the first time the vet actors showcased their fighting skills in the same release.
The Forbidden Kingdom is about an obsessed-with-kung-fu-classics American teenager (Michael Angarano) who makes quite the discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Monkey King, a Chinese sage and warrior. With relic in hand, the boy unexpectedly travels back through time to ancient China to embark on a quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King (Li) alongside a crew of mythic martial arts warriors. While Chan plays the role of Lu Yan, the Drunken Immortal, Li puts in double duty as both the Monkey King and Lan Cai He, the Silent Monk.
The flick marks kid-vid helmer Rob Minkoff's first venture into more adult subject matter. His previous directorial credits include The Lion King, Stuart Little (and its poor performing sequel) and The Haunted Mansion. And his action director, Yuen Woo-ping, is legendary. He's had a hand in some of the most popular martial arts/action films from the past decade, like The Matrix trilogy; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill franchise.
Disc includes: The Kung Fu Dream Team featurette, Dangerous Beauty featurette, Discovering China featurette, Filming in Chinawood featurette, Monkey King and the Eight Immortals featurette, blooper reel, deleted scenes, audio commentary, previsualization featurette.
For people who enjoy verbal harassment: Judge Judy: Second to None
Since its 1996 debut, Judge Judy has maintained a firm stranglehold on daytime ratings, consistently drawing in more viewers than any other courtroom-themed reality show. Surprised by this? I'm not. When courtroom television is the topic of conversation, this special 65-year-old bundle of sass is likely to instantly pop in your head. The woman is so in bed with pop culture that she even scored her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a little over two years ago.
After finding success last year with her first direct-to-DVD title, Judge Judy: Justice Served, the lady storms back in stores today with a collection of nearly two more hours of her finest moments separated into 10 small-claims cases. Highlights include a man suing a young girl for filing a phony police report and an eBay user who cons bidders into buying pictures of cell phones for hundreds of dollars. Tisk tisk.
Disc includes: Judyisms featurette, Judy on Entertainment Tonight featurette, Tribute to Judy from The Montel Williams Show featurette.
September 9, 2008
Absent Minded Professor / Son of Flubber (Double Feature)
Avril Lavigne: Best Damn Tour Live in Toronto
Awakening
The Bad Pack
Beauty And The Beast (Essential Art House)
Bicentennial Man / Mission To Mars (Double Feature)
Black Stallion (Includes Music CD)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Spike - Love is Hell
Chaos
Charles Dickens (Includes Music CD)
Child's Play (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
A Christmas Without Snow (Full Screen)
Cider House Rules / Shipping News (Double Feature)
Cool Hand Luke (Deluxe Edition)
CSI Miami: Seasons 1-6 (Set)
CSI: Miami - The Sixth Season
A Day at the Beach
Day Watch (Unrated)
The Death Of The Incredible Hulk
The Elevator Movie
Emily of New Moon: 1st Season
Event Horizon (Lenticular Artwork)
Evolve Your Brain
The Fall (Widescreen)
A Family Of Cops (2-Disc Edition)
A Family Of Strangers (Full Screen)
The Fast And Furious Collection (Double Feature)
Fist Of Legend (Ultimate Edition)
Foreign Exchange
Friday The 13th (Lenticular Artwork)
Gangster World
Grey's Anatomy: Season 4 Expanded
Gulliver's Travels (Widescreen)
A Haunting: Season 4
Heckler (Widescreen)
The Hills Have Eyes Unrated Collection (Unrated)
House Of The Dead (Director's Cut)
The House of Traps (Widescreen)
How The West Was Won (Special Edition)
I Want Candy
Inspector Gadget / Inspector Gadget 2 (Double Feature)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3
Jaded
Jerry Maguire
Knife In The Water
Last Days of Left Eye
Light and the Sufferer
Lord Of The Flies (Essential Art House)
Medium: Seasons 1-4 (Set)
Medium: The Fourth Season
Metro / Holy Man (Double Feature)
Moreno
Night Watch
Nowhere Land
Nympha (Widescreen)
Pet Sematary (Lenticular Artwork)
The Plans of Man
Pumpkinhead (Lenticular Artwork)
Red Eye (Lenticular Artwork)
The Ring (Lenticular Artwork)
Seed (Unrated)
Sleepy Hollow (Lenticular Artwork)
Smallville: Seasons 1-7 (Set)
Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season
Something Beneath (Widescreen)
Son of Sam (Widescreen)
South of Pico
Species Collection (Set)
Star Appeal
Superman Returns (TrueHD Audio)
Through the Valley
Tortoise vs. Hare
Trail Of A Serial Killer
Ugly Betty: The Complete Second Season
We Are Together (Widescreen)
What Lies Beneath (Lenticular Artwork)
Wings: Seasons 1-7 (Set)
Wings: The Seventh Season