This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (10-23-12)

It’s a week before Halloween. Check it out – you got Honest Abe hunting down vampires, some dudes wearing skeleton masks in a new Oliver Stone movie and a stripping Channing Tatum! And those aren’t just costume ideas! Out of those three, I’ve seen “Magic Mike”, directed by Steven Soderbergh (he reteams with Tatum after “Haywire”), loosely based on Tatum’s own experiences as a stripper in Tampa, Florida. Even if you had no interest in seeing it, just know that it has a clever screenplay, some solid performances (especially by Tatum and Matthew McConaughey) and more stellar work by Soderbergh. So, what else is out this week?

A couple sci-fi films get the money-grabbing re-release treatment on Blu-ray. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Blade Runner”, there’s a 4-disc edition of the classic. Not sure how this differs from the 25th anniversary 5-disc edition briefcase that sits on my shelf, but I have a feeling I won’t be missing out. Alex Proyas’ 2004 blockbuster “I, Robot” is getting released on Blu-ray in 3D. Why is that a big deal? Well, it’s the first time (at least that I can tell) that a movie that was not released in 3D or re-released in 3D is getting a Blu-ray 3D release. Obviously, that’s for a limited amount of consumers, because not everyone has a home 3D Blu-ray player. Interesting.

Also out this week, Lorene Scafaria’s new film “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” starring Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley kind of came and went this past summer, but it has my curiosity. Another Disney Tinkerbell-centric animated movie “Secret of the Wings” is out this week as well. John Schlesinger’s 1971 drama “Sunday Blood Sunday, starring Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson and Murray Head (and Daniel Day-Lewis in his film debut, as “Teenage Vandal”), has received the Criterion treatment. It was Schlesinger’s first film after “Midnight Cowboy” and treated homosexuals in a more favorable light.

One title that seems absolutely unintentionally hilarious is “247°F”. It’s about a group of young friends who get trapped in a sauna and reunites Scout Taylor-Compton and Tyler Mane from Rob Zombie’s two “Halloween” flicks. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I’d see it just for laughs.

Here are some releases I plan on catching up with – Filmmaker Mads Brugger uses humor in his jaw-dropping descent into one of the most dangerous places on the planet: Central African Republic, in the darkly comic documentary “The Ambassador” (now streaming on Netflix) which follows the corrupt business of selling diplomatic titles to exploit the lucrative and limited resources of war torn, third world nations. “The Invisible War” is a documentary released earlier this year directed by Kirby Dick (“Twist of Faith”, “This Film is Not Yet Rated” and “Outrage”) that focuses on rape and sexual assault in the Unites States military.

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

• 247°F (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 3D (DVD/Blu-ray)
• The Ambassador (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Aria, the Scarlet Ammo (Limited Edition Combo Pack) (Blu-ray) 
• Blade Runner (4-disc 30th Anniversary Edition) (Blu-ray) 
• Crooked Arrows (DVD/Blu-ray)
• The Ernie Kovacs Collection: Vol. 2 (DVD)
• Fantasy Island: The Complete Third Season (DVD)
• Fatherless (DVD)
• The Fugitive: The Complete Series (The Most Wanted Edition) (DVD)
• The Invisible War (DVD)
• I, Robot 3D (Blu-ray) 
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent – The Eighth Year (DVD)
• Lost Girl: Season One (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Magic Mike (DVD/Blu-ray)
• The Penalty: Kino Classics Special Edition (Blu-ray) 
• Perry Mason: The Seventh Season – Vol. (DVD)
• Peter Gunn: The Complete Series (DVD)
• Secret of the Wings (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Stanley Kubrick’s Fear and Desire (35MM Archival Restoration) (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – The Complete Season Four (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Sunday Bloody Sunday (Criterion Collection) (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Wrong Turn 5 (DVD/Blu-ray)