This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (10/29/13)

This week we got a couple treats and one failed trick. Pixar’s “Monsters University”, the studio’s first prequel (not that anyone asked for one) was a big hit this summer and generally received good reviews. I hope to catch up with it now that it’s available for home viewing. Let’s just say I wasn’t rushing to see it when it came out last June. That was a treat for the kiddos mostly, but “Springsteen & I” is a treat for fans of The Boss, aka Bruce Springsteen, a rock icon (and all-around cool individual) who’s still going strong.  And there’s this summer’s turd and this week’s trick. I haven’t seen it yet to see if it’s deserving of its failures, but man, were those trailers ever awful. But then again, my 7 year-old found them amusing.

Who know, maybe that could be a fun flick to catch for Halloween.

How about a vampire film that returns director Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game” and “Ondine”) to the undead? No, not zombies. Vampires. “Byzantium” stars Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan who play vampires holed up in a resort on the eastern coast. They share a fatal secret, one thatl townsfolk slowly learn about as locals start to disappear. The film also stars Sam Riley, Caleb Landry Jones and Johnny Lee Miller, but based on these two actresses alone, I’m interested.

It may be a slim week, but there’s a Criterion release to make note of.  You can add Michaelangelo Antonioni’s 1961 psychological drama “La Notte” starring Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau as a novelist and frustrated wife whose marriage is at an impasse. Over the course of one particular evening, the couple confront each other on infidelity (involving a sultry Monica Vitti) and deterioration. Set in the vapid Milan bourgeois of the time and filmed with a sensual and expressive lens, this follow-up to “L’avventura” is timeless, as it touches on the societal and romantic dissolve of a married couple.  

That’s it for this week! Previous reviews are highlighted below. Enjoy the Rundown….

• American Experience: War of the Worlds (DVD)
• Beauty of the Devil (DVD)
• Bounty Killer (DVD)
• Byzantium (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Cars: Ultimate Collector’s Edition (3-Disc Combo Pack) (Blu-ray)
• Damages: The Complete Series (DVD)
• Drug War (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Free Samples (DVD)
• Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (DVD)
• Gatchaman Complete Collection (DVD/Blu-ray)
• La Notte (Criterion Collection) (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Margarita (DVD)
• Monsters University (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Move Me Brightly: Celebrating Jerry Garcia’s 70th Birthday (DVD)
• R.I.P.D. (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Springsteen & I (DVD/Blu-ray)