The A.V. Club - DVD

DVD: Contest:Win Anvil: The Story Of Anvil T-shirts and autographed DVDs

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:03:00 -0600

Have you seen it yet? The documentary about the most kick-ass metal band that nobody's ever heard of? You probably should. And now you've got a chance to win an autographed DVD (ARV: $24.98) and/or an Anvil T-shirt, which says "METAL ON METAL" on the back. Just send us an e-mail with your preference--T-shirt or DVD, and we'll pick some winners on or about November 30. (The T-shirts are mostly XXL, so keep that in mind.) Employees of Onion Inc. and their families are not eligible, so don't even try it, Mom. If you ...

DVD: Contest:Win Humpday on DVD

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:56:00 -0600

"It's been a decade since Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) were college bad boys. Ben is living contently with a good job and a great wife, until his old buddy Andrew shows up on his doorstep late one night. Andrew, who lives as a vagabond artist, invites Ben out to a wild party. Excessive drinking combined with the irrational need to one-up each other leads to a mutual dare that locks them into entering an amateur porn contest together." Roger Ebert called it "funny, observant, and thought-provoking." Our own Scott Tobias loved it, calling it "Old Joy ...

DVD: Newswire:Warner Bros. will upgrade your DVDs to Blu-ray (for a fee)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:40:00 -0600

Been coveting that Blu-ray edition of A Clockwork Orange or The Dirty Dozen, but don't know what to do with the perfectly fine DVD version you've already got sitting on your shelf? Warner Brothers has set up a website called DVD2Blu, through which owners of selected WB DVDs can receive an authorization to mail in the old discs for the fancy new ones. The cost? A minimum of eight bucks per title, plus shipping. So, not a bargain, exactly. But if you've got a mania for order and can't stand duplication, this could be just the ...

DVD: Review:Downhill Racer

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0600

Bob Dylan sang about how there’s no success like failure, but in the films of Michael Ritchie, the opposite is often true. Elected to the Senate after a brutal, compromise-filled campaign in The Candidate, Robert Redford turns to his closest advisor and asks, “What do we do now?” He’s lost sight of the sure moral ground on which he once stood, and the trip across the finish line has left him—to borrow another Dylan line—with no direction home. The Candidate was conceived as the second in a series of Redford-starring/Ritchie-directed movies about what it takes ...

DVD: Review:Xavier: Renegade Angel—Seasons 1 And 2

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0600

In its second season, Vernon Chatman and John Lee’s kid-show parody/avant-garde mindfuck Wonder Showzen didn’t just go out with a bang, it damn near committed highly public suicide, after salting the earth to ensure that nothing could ever grow in its place. When you’ve smuggled a Molotov cocktail of heresy, provocation, vicious satire, and flagrant puppetry onto MTV2, then taken the unholy result to places never dreamed possible on basic cable, what do you do for a follow-up? If you’re Chatman and Lee, you create a furry, deluded New Age spiritual guru with a beak ...

DVD: Review:Forrest Gump

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0600

How does a movie go from being a triumph to a punchline? The multi-Oscar-winning hit Forrest Gump experienced what later movies like Crash, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, and Slumdog Millionaire would go through, suffering such a strong backlash that in some circles, it’s all but impossible to find anyone who even likes the movie, let alone thinks it deserved to be named Best Picture of 1994. And yet in other circles, Forrest Gump remains beloved, and on its original release, it was widely considered a breath of fresh air: a summer blockbuster with wit, heart, and style, sweeping through ...

DVD: Review:DVDs In Brief: November 18, 2009

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

An awful lot in J.J. Abrams’ re-imagining Star Trek (Paramount) doesn’t make much sense, starting with the way smug, show-offy asshole James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) hops over an entire military hierarchy to become captain of the starship Enterprise. But that’s par for the course in this energetic Trek, which is more interested in sleek, pretty actors and heady action than in the well-intentioned but sometimes clunky humanist preaching of Treks gone by. It isn’t always palatable or believable, but it’s almost always exciting… After Borat transformed Sacha Baron Cohen from pay-cable cult hero ...

DVD: I Watched This On Purpose:Twilight

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Sometimes, even The A.V. Club isn’t impervious to the sexy allure of ostensible cultural garbage. Which is why there’s I Watched This On Purpose, our feature exploring the impulse to spend time with trashy-looking yet in some way irresistible entertainments, playing the long odds in hopes of a real reward and a good time. Cultural infamy: 2008’s Twilight has a Metacritic score of 56. That’s pretty lousy, but looking over the list of semi-positive reviews (whoa, Entertainment Weekly gave it a B?), it doesn’t sound like the sort of train wreck that normally demands ...

DVD: Contest:Win Funny People on DVD

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:11:00 -0600

We've got ten copies of the Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler summer flick, which also features a whole mess of great funny people that you love: Seth Rogen, Jason Schwartzman, Jonah Hill, Eminem... All you've gotta do is send an e-mail here, and the lucky winners will be chosen at random on or around November 30. ARV of prize: $29.98. Employees of Onion Inc and their families are not eligible. SYNOPSIS: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann star in this seriously funny film from writer-director Judd Apatow, (The 40-Year-Old Virgin andKnocked Up). When famous comedian George Simmons ...

DVD: Contest:Win Bruno on DVD (again!)

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:05:00 -0600

Yeah, we just gave away a bunch of Bruno DVDs last week, but guess what? We got some more! Ten more to be exact. You know you want one, because Bruno was damn funny. "Better than Borat," says Entertainment Weekly. Just send US an e-mail this time, and ten lucky folk will receive one in the mail, hopefully in time for Christmas.(US addresses only please, and include your mailing address in the e-mail.) ARV of prize: $29.98. Employees of Onion Inc. and their families are not eligible. Good luck!

TV: Contest:Win the It's Always Sunny Christmas special on DVD

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:57:00 -0600

You're a fan of the high-larious regular show, so why not strap on your Christmas boots and join in the fun with the It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas special? We've got five copies of the DVD to give away to you lucky kids. All you need to do is send us an e-mail with your mailing address (US addresses only, sorry), and if you've been very naughty this year, you could get one. ARV of prize: $26.98. Winners will be chosen on or around November 30. Employees of Onion Inc and ...

DVD: Contest:Win Fight Club on special-edition Blu-ray

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:22:00 -0600

YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. But you might think you're special if you're one of five lucky winners of Fight Club, the 10th anniversary edition, on Blu-ray. It's an amazing-looking set, complete with a new joke from David Fincher that you'll discover when you pop the disc in. Also: Commentaries from all kinds of people, deleted and alternate scenes, and more. Exclusive to the Blu-ray: a featurette on the movie's sound design, Flogging Fight Club featurette, and something called "Insomniac Mode." So just send us an e-mail with your mailing address (US only, sorry), and five ...

DVD: Newswire:New Fight Club Blu-Rays not actually defective

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:18:00 -0600

We were delighted, then baffled, then again delighted when the new Blu-Ray version of Fight Club arrived in the mail the other day. Popping it into the A.V. Club Blu-Ray player we watched in dismay as the menu screen appeared, and with it images and music from 1999 Drew Barrymore comedy Never Been Kissed. As much as we adore that movie—with its documentary-like depiction of the Chicago journalism scene—it was Fight Club we wanted to watch. Then the image gave way to Fight Club’s familiar living IKEA catalog and we realized we’d been duped. So ...

DVD: Newswire:DVD Release List – 11/17/09

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0600

It’d be a lot easier to tell you what’s not worth checking out this week than it is to point you to the gems. Among other things, this week sees the release of three of 2009’s best films: the sharp indie comedy Humpday, the moody Korean vampire romance Thirst, and the rousing summer blockbuster Star Trek. Television aficionados are well-served this week too, beginning with the DVD premiere of the It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Christmas special, and continuing with complete series sets of Rome, The Sopranos and the short-lived Andy Barker, P.I.. Devotees of ...

DVD: Hater:Grown-Ups Is Somehow A Real Movie

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:20:00 -0600

Adam Sandler surveys the room. At a long table sit some of his best friends in comedy: David Spade, Kevin James, Chris Rock, and Rob Schneider—who, as always, came with a crate of autographed The Animal DVDs "just in case." Looking at them, Sandler brightens. He feels a dull ache deep in his left knee. This can only mean one of two things: Either it's gonna rain this afternoon, or his body is physically reacting to the energy of all the comedic talent in the room. Sandler knows it's a sure sign that this movie is gonna ...

DVD: Better Late Than Never?:Ghostbusters

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

We all have cinematic blind spots: notable directors, eras, or entire genres of film we’ve glossed over, either by accident or design. I admittedly probably have more than most of the cinephiles who populate the A.V. Club offices and comment boards. But whereas most people are pretty tolerant of my ignorance of Dogme 95 or the oeuvre of Luis Buñuel, the blind spot that’s always earned the most indignant “What do you mean you’ve never seen ________?” outcries is blockbusters of the early-to-mid-’80s. Indiana Jones? We’ve already covered that. The Goonies? Haven’t ...

DVD: Contest:Win Say Anything: 20th Anniversary Edition on DVD

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:29:00 -0600

You've seen it already, right? "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen." We've got five copies of Cameron Crowe's classic Say Anything..., starring John Cusack, to give away to you, lucky readers. It's the just-released 20th-anniversary edition, loaded with special features. You won't even know where to start processing all of this goodness. Your black little heart will leap with joy. It might feel like Christmas. Just send us an e-mail with your mailing address (US only, sorry, there's no Christimas in other countries) and we'll pick the winners on ...

DVD: Contest:Win Food Inc. on DVD

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:23:00 -0600

O, The Oprah Magazine says "It might change your life," but don't let that stop you from watching this maddening, excellent documentary about how the world's food is produced. Our own Nathan Rabin said of the film: "Robert Kenner’s slick, convincing documentary surveys a grim milieu where scientists have tampered so dramatically with the DNA of chickens and cows that they’ve devolved into grotesque, ghoulish caricatures and Bush appointees to the FDA act as attack dogs for big business instead of watchdogs for consumers." So yeah, not exactly a light night at the movies, but pretty ...

TV: Contest:Win The Guardian: The First Season on DVD

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:13:00 -0600

Perhaps you know Simon Baker from The Mentalist (or perhaps you don't), but it might be a good idea to get to know him as The Guardian. In the complete first season, he's "a high-powered attorney arrested on a drug charge, who must now perform 1500 hours of community service." Guess who else is in it: Dabney Coleman. That's cool. So just send us an e-mail (including your mailing address) here, and five lucky winners will get a copy of the DVD set. Contest ends November 25. US addresses only, sorry. Employees of Onion Inc and their ...

DVD: Review:The William Castle Film Collection

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0600

“This is the Fright Break,” a friendly but insistent voice says near the end of Homicidal, as an animated stopwatch counts down the 45 seconds given to any audience member who wanted to flee the film’s gruesome climax. They could even get their money back, too, provided they were willing to suffer the humiliation of sitting in something called Cowards’ Corner. History is fuzzy as to whether many took advantage of the refund offer, but it’s a good bet that Homicidal’s producer and writer William Castle had already calculated he wouldn’t lose money on the gimmick ...