This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (07-03-12)

Let’s see if we can dig up some patriotic-themed motion pictures to watch on this holiday week. Eh, kinda doubtful. Here’s a couple standouts though that I haven’t gotten around to reviewing yet. It’s only fitting that writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait’s latest film, the satirically titled “God Bless America”, gets released on The 4th of July! His scathing comedy about the dumbing down of American society as seen by the incessant 24/7 coverage of pop culture and media  is a violent look at the current absence of kindness in our nation. Not necessarily an easy watch, but there is truth underneath the unsettling humor. Then there’s the 2011 Australian film “The Hunter” directed by Daniel Nettheim and starring Willem Dafoe as a reclusive hunter-for-fire, who takes a job that has him tracking down a Tasmanian Tiger. The film received a limited release this past Spring and is a must for fans of Dafoe and for those who dig character studies that move along at their own pace. Worth it just for the location shots alone, which provide captivating cinematography of the Tasmanian landscape. Other than those two, kind of a slim week for new releases.

New to Blu-ray this week, is the cult classic “Barbarella” a Franco-Italian sci-fi film from 1968. Cheesy, cheeky and silly, the movie is based on Jean Claude-Forest’s French Barbarella comics. It stars Jane Fonda as the titular character, showing much more erotica than in any other role she’s been in. Not sure how it all holds up today, but it certainly is Midnight Movie material.

One notable anniversary edition is Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”, which is now 25 years old. If you’ve never seen this penultimate war film, than you’d best check it out. Based on the 1979 novel The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford, the film follows a platoon of Marines through training where we meet a cruel drill sergeant (an iconic performance by R. Lee Ermey) as well as two of those marines during the Tet Offensive. Those marines are played by Matthew Modine, Arliss Howard, Adam Baldwin and an unforgettable Vincent D’Onofrio. Rather than being an overall look at the Vietnam war, it’s an examination of the callous coldness and harrowing madness of war. Similar to last week’s “Deliverance” Blu-ray, is showcased in premium Blu-ray Book packaging with 44 pages that include a personal letter and intimate reflections from Modine, as well as behind-the-scenes photos specifically selected for this release. It also includes a newly added bonus disc with the a 60 minute documentary “Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes” that sheds light on the genius and “rhythm of the genius” at work.

• The American Dream (DVD)
• Barbarella(Blu-ray)
• Born on the Fourth of July (Universal 100th Anniversary Edition) (Blu-ray)
• Battle Force (DVD)
• Django, Kill….If You Live, Shoot! (Blu-ray)
• Dynasty: Season Six, Volume One (DVD)
• Dynasty: Season Six, Volume Two (DVD)
• The Forger (DVD)
• Full Metal Jacket (25th Anniversary)(Blu-ray)
• God Bless America (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Home on the Range(Blu-ray)
• The Horse Whisperer (15th Anniversary Edition) (Blu-ray)
• The Hunter (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Joe + Belle (DVD)
• Kino Classics Presents: The Devil’s Needle and Other Tales of Vice And Redemption (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Madame Bovary (DVD)
• Mannix: The Seventh Season (DVD)
• Phenomenom(Blu-ray)
• The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (DVD)
• Step Up(Blu-ray)
• Streets of San Francisco: Season Three, Volume One (DVD)
• Streets of San Francisco: Season Three, Volume Two (DVD)
• Treasure Planet(Blu-ray)
• Under the Tuscan Sun(Blu-ray)
• Wind Blast (DVD/Blu-ray)
• The Women of SNL (DVD)