This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry's.
G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA
(Available as single-disc and 2-Disc Edition)
Wearing its Saturday morning cartoon influences on its sleeve as proudly and prominently as the dunce cap on its head, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a goofy, cheesy, logic-defying exercise in silliness that thumbs its nose at physics and includes lines like "Deploy the sharks!" said with a straight face. Yeah, I pretty much loved it. On the 'so-dumb-it's-enjoyable' scale (in this particular case, a more fitting benchmark than the 'so-bad-it's-good' scale), the film comes very close to fulfilling its potential (Ninja in a jetpack – Check!), but stops just shy of being consistently fun and hilarious enough to give it much rewatch value (Why aren't the sharks armed with laser beams? C'mon Sommers, get with the program!). Viewers may feel like bashing the film for the absurdities of its narrative, its lack of complex characters, and its overall disdain for the necessity of plot to facilitate action set pieces, and they have every right to do so. It seems a little pointless though, considering that audiences are given full disclosure of the film's intentions the moment they read the title.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Single-disc DVD – Audio commentary by director Stephen Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay. 2-disc DVD & Blu-ray – Includes everything on the DVD, as well as a Big Bang Theory: The Making of G.I. JOE featurette, a Next-Gen Action: The Amazing Visual FX and Design of G.I. JOE featurette, and a digital copy of the film.
| BEST DVD PRICE* | ||
|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Fry's |
| $15.99 | $15.99 | $14.77 |
| Amazon – $15.99 | ||
*Does not include 2-Disc Edition, which costs $19.77 at Fry's, and $22.99 at each of other the listed stores (including Amazon).
| BEST BLU-RAY PRICE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Fry's |
| $24.99 | $24.99 | $22.77 |
| Amazon – $19.99 | ||
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3
Everything about this movie is one giant clusterfuck of a miscalculation. From Tony Scott's desperate attempts to convince audiences that they're watching an action movie to John Travolta's apparent departure from the Village People and embarrassingly forced delivery of curse words (not to mention lines like, "Lick my bunghole, motherfucker!"), there is nary a single element of this remake to the solid '70s original that even partially works, let alone lives up to its predecessor. Scott's hyperactive editing style may have sounded good to the studio on paper ("This will keep viewers entertained while having to sit through all of that pesky dialogue!"), but ultimately, all it does is detract from any chance there could have been for a more realistic atmosphere, which would've been appropriate given the relatively small scale of the heist at hand (in Hollywood terms, anyway). That's a minor complaint compared to what happens later, however, as Scott takes repeated detours from the central storyline to feature outrageous car crashes and police officers flying off motorcycles, all of which are heavily emphasized for the sake of justifying the "Summer blockbuster" tag. Even the smaller details are handled poorly, such as Denzel Washington's character's relationship with his wife, which I can only assume was meant to earn both laughs and some sort of an emotional response, only to instead come across as contrived, awkward and artificial. Some may take comfort in the fact that the film consistently straddles the line of excessive mediocrity without ever becoming outright terrible, but for me, that's worse. At least with a movie that's terrible, it does elicit an emotional response. With The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, the only emotional response I had was boredom, and eventually, frustration at the realization that I'd have to discuss it.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: DVD & Blu-ray – Commentary with director Tony S
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