This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (06-19-12)

You just devoured the recently-released “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” and you’re coming down hard from your Nicolas Cage high – what do you do?!?! Worry not, “Seeking Vengeance” is here! That’s right, just when you thought it was safe, there is always some buggy new Cage flick right around the corner. If that kinda Cagey-ness isn’t for you, you can always throw a party at your friend’s place and watch “Project X” the teen party comedy (no, not a remake of the Matthew Broderick chimp thriller), produced by Todd Phillips (director of “Old School” and “The Hangover”) someone who knows a few things about crazy parties. Another comedy out this week is “Wanerlust”, which finds director David Wain with actor Paul Rudd reteaming (“Wet Hot American Summer” and “Role Models”) for a comedy with Jennifer Aniston about a New york couple who escape to a Georgia commune. Or you can just chill out at home with “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” starring Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon, and….Rae Dawn Chong (!?!). All of these movies seem like comedies, but they appear to offer enough variety to make them pique your interest, or at least mine.

 

I’ve heard good things about the family drama “Big Miracle” starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski, based on a true story about the rescue of two gray whales trapped in ice in Alaska. The source material comes from the 1988 book Freeing the Whales by Tom Rose, which covers the much-publicized story that was called Operation Breakthrough,

 

I have to say, titles like “A Bag of Hammers” and “Cat Run” have me curious. “A Bag of Hammers” is a comedy and feature film debut for writer/director Brian Crano starring Jason Ritter and the wonderful Rebecca Hall. The action thriller “Car Run” starring Paz Vega and Janet McTeer is directed by John Stockwell (a director I usually like, but one who lost credit with the recent sinker “Dark Tide” starring Halle Berry as psyche-scarred shark whisperer). Either of these seem like desent rentals.

 

There are some bizarre “Anniversaries” being celebrated this week, for titles that are new-to-Blu-ray. For those Madonna, Christan Bale and Whoopi Goldberg completists, there’s “Evita” turning 15, and  “Newsies” and “Sister Act”, both turning 20!  Not necessarily the titles who’ve been clamoring for, but there’s an audience for everything.

 

Looks like it’s also a Spalding Gray day, with two films directed by Steven Soderbergh, focusing on the American actor, playwright, and monologuist. Both 1997’s “Gray’s Anatomy” (please don’t confuse the title with the ABC medical drama) 2010’s “And Everything is Going to Be Fine” are documentaries that focus on Gray’s work, life, and death, which are now getting the Criterion treatment. It’s ironic, considering my first exposure to Gray was in Soderbergh’s delightful 1993 film “King of the Hill”, so it makes sense that the director would’ve built a rapport with the neurotic and often hilarious artist.

 

That’s it for this week! Enjoy the Rundown….