300 (2007) Director: Zack Snyder. Stars: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro. In single-disc and two-disc Special Edition. Extras: Commentary by Snyder, writer Kurt Johnstad and director of photography Larry Fong; deleted scenes; featurettes: “The 300: Fact or Fiction?” in which historians, authors and filmmakers reveal how much of the film was based on fact, “Who Were the Spartans: The Warriors of 300,” which touches on the customs and ways of life of the Spartan that werent explicitly shown in 300 but were used by the actors and filmmakers to help build their characters, “Frank Miller Tapes” that shows how the outspoken Miller continued to push his limits to realize his graphic novel in the world of film”; Webisodes with behind-the-scenes peeks on the set of “300”; photo gallery. (Warner).
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The Darwin Awards (2006) Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies. (Fox).
“A forensic detective (Joseph Fiennes) is obsessed with “The Darwin Awards,” a Web site devoted to saluting the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who creatively remove themselves from the human gene pool by accidentally killing themselves in the most outrageous ways. When he’s fired for bungling a case, he offers his profiling services to a life insurance company where, with the aid of a tough insurance claims investigator (Winona Ryder ), he tries to identify these idiots … before they die.”
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The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 4 (Warner)
Click here for full details.
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Warner has loaded ten films into this, the fourth, volume of their Film Noir Classic Collection. Highlights include Crime Wave and Act of Violence. Decoy is one of the most…unusual noir films I have seen. Can’t remember the last time anyone was raised from the dead in this genre.
I will have a review up in the next day or so.
Hawaii Five-O: The Second Season (1968) Seven-disc set with 25 episodes, $54.99. (Paramount).
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Yeah boy! Danno and crew are back busting criminals on the islands… actually, it may only be one island they are doing their busting on. Truth be told, this is a little before my time.
But Mr. Jordan is one the case and will have a review for us in the next week or so.
Pulp Fiction Art: Cheap Thrills and Painted Nightmares (2005) Documentary look at pulp fiction magazine art that became a widespread pop culture phenomenon from the 1920s to the 1950s. Hundreds of paintings are showcased, many recently restored and in their original splendor; $19.99. (Kultur International).
Rebus Set 2 Four-disc set with four mysteries of the British television series based on the Edgar-winning Ian Rankin bestselling books, featuring hard-drinking detective John Rebus; $49.99. (Acorn Media).
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Next week brings us the Thin Man titles as well as new editions of Bubba Ho-tep, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version) and Crime Story and the DVD debut of Disturbia.
For more info on forthcoming releases, check out the Crimespree Cinema DVD Calendar.
