How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
July 14, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who can start watching Virginia Madsen movies again now that The Number 23 has officially disappeared from public consciousness: The Haunting in Connecticut
There were boatloads of horror features released earlier in the year. Among the list of surprise hits is The Haunting in Connecticut, the Virginia Madsen-starrer that picked up $23 million in its opening frame (debuting only behind Monsters vs. Aliens) and $55.3 million domestically. The movie is supposedly based on true events. But knowing Hollywood, who knows for certain what parts of the flick actually have an ounce of truth in them. According to reports, there have always been inconsistencies amongst the family members in recounting what they may have seen. So the "facts" have that going for them as well.
Regardless, the movie follows one family's encounter with supernatural forces when they move to a Victorian home in upstate Connecticut. There, they learn that the home had once been a funeral parlor, and the owner's son provided a gateway for spiritual entities to cross over to our world.
Yeah, it sounds based on a true story to me too.
Because of its success, a sequel is in the works, titled The Haunting in Georgia. Like other movie franchises that play the same game but with fresh faces – I'm looking at you, Final Destination – The Haunting in Georgia will feature a similar story, but with new characters and setting.
Disc includes: Two Dead Boys: The Making of The Haunting in Connecticut featurette, The Fear is Real: Reinvestigating the Haunting – Parts 1 and 2 featurette, Anatomy of a Haunting featurette, Memento Mori: The History of Postmortem Photography featurette, audio commentaries, deleted scenes, trailer
For people who can't be Neil Armstrong: For All Mankind (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar in 1990, For All Mankind pieces together archived footage from six space missions that were previously unseen by the public. (NASA had hastily kept the information private for 20 years, then released it once the space race was decidedly cleared off the social relevancy scale). The footage – about 80 minutes in total – is arranged in a way to depict a single moon mission, even though much of it is arranged out of order. So no fault on the editor here. It's the way the director wanted it.
Available today is that same docu paired up with some new featurettes in sparkling Blu-ray.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, An Accidental Gift: The Making of For All Mankind featurette, interviews, Bean's Artwork featurette, audio highlights, astronaut IDs, a booklet of essays by film critic Terrence Rafferty and Reinert
For people who never knew advertising types could be so interesting to watch: Mad Men: Season Two
Like heterosexual women everywhere, AMC has a crush on Jon Hamm. The man is the face behind the network's #1 series and the reason for AMC's ability to smoothly transition from endlessly airing Silence of the Lambs and Casablanca to creating quality programming (Breaking Bad included) that is actually leaving a mark on American popular culture – and in important award shows ballots.
If you thought the debut season of Mad Men – about employees of a New York City advertising company – was good, it ain't got nothing on season two. Not only did its audience grow by more than 65%, but its rating on Meta Critic (a Rotten Tomatoes-like site for other media, like television) increased from a superb 77 to an outstanding 88.
Season three's 13-episode order kicks off on August 16th.
Disc includes: Audio commentaries, Birth of an Independent Woman: Part 1 and 2 featurette, An Era of Style featurette, Time Capsule featurette
For people who could've sworn they saw the guy from Stella in so many other things: The State: The Complete Series
Michael Ian Black has done a ton of television. His breakout role was on NBC's Ed, though his hilarious antics on VH1's I Love WHATEVER series is arguably most responsible for raising his following from cultish to something larger than cultish. (I mean, come on, we're certainly not going to give his hosting duties on Spy TV too much credit).
But before all that craziness, the guy starred on a little sketch-comedy show called The State. From many of the people who later went on to create (and appear on) Reno 911!, The State aired on MTV between 1993 and 1995 and scored legions of fans over three seasons by pairing bizarre characters with equally bizarre scenarios. According to TV.com, which praises The State's comedy for holding up still to this day, "even the few mediocre sketches on the show are better than 99% of today's sketch comedy."
Disc includes: Audio commentary, interviews, outtakes, unaired sketches
July 13, 2009
Blu-ray
Autour Du Blues Meets Larry Carlton & Robben Ford
Barbra Streisand: Live in Concert 2006
Crouching Tiger / Golden Flower / Flying Daggers (Triple Feature)
Death Trance
The Edge of Love
Explicit Ills
The Haunting in Connecticut
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Jose Feliciano Band: Paris Concert
Keane: Live
Mad Men: Season Two
Mike Stern: Paris Concert
National Geographic: Great White Odyssey
Shark Week: The Great Bites Collection
Stanley Jordan Trio: Paris Concert
The Towering Inferno
Wild Pacific
Yellowjackets: Paris Concert
DVD
1001 Classic Commercials (Set)
American Gladiators Original Series: Battle Begins
Barbra Streisand: Live in Concert 2006
Bewitched: The Complete Eighth Season
Bob Dylan: 1978-1989: Both Ends of the Rainbow (Special Edition)
Case Closed: Season 1
David Garrett: Live in Berlin
Death Trance
Depeche Mode: Ministry of Sound (Full Screen)
Doors: From the Outside Unauthorized
The Edge of Love
Eminem: Collectors Box Unauthorized (Set)
ER: Seasons 1-11 (Set)
ER: The Complete Eleventh Season (Widescreen)
Explicit Ills
For All Mankind (Criterion Collection)
G.I. Joe: Season One, Part One
Green Day: The Boys Are Back In Town Unauthorized
Joe Schmo 2
Journey to the Moon: 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11
Keane: Live
Korn: Collectors Box Unauthorized
Leverage: The 1st Season
Los Angeles Lakers: 2008-2009 NBA Champions (Full Screen)
Michael Jackson: Live in Japan
The Perfect Score (Widescreen)
Rolling Stones: The Biggest Bang
Shark Week: The Great Bites Collection
Tracey Takes On
Van Wilder: Freshman Year (Unrated)
Wild Pacific
Wire In The Blood: The Complete Sixth Season (Widescreen)
WWE: Allied Powers, World's Greatest Tag Teams
Yellowjackets: Paris Concert
[Rec] (Widescreen)