quietearth [DVD News 08.12.13] scifi horror action thriller



For all you hardcore lovers of the special feature, here are this week's (and last week's) batch of new releases on Blu-ray and DVD.

First up we've got A Boy and His Dog, a film that long-time PA fans have been pining for for many years. This is one of those films that until this very moment has been a right of passage for people who love to search for hard-to-find movies, so I would say this is an important release.

Not only do we get a newly restored High-Definition transfer of the film, but we get a new conversation with writer Harlan Ellison(!) and director LQ Jones along with a commentary with LQ Jones, DP John Arthur Morrill and critic Charles Champlin.




I think critics were unduly hard on Oblivion and I think it has more to do with the way science fiction is viewed these days. People are quick to cry foul when a film seems to espouse a concept that we've seen before, which I think is unfair. The genre has always referenced the ideas of past films and literature. The Matrix was lauded for it, but Oblivion was criticized for it.

In reality, Oblivion feels like a win for fans of old-school scifi. No, it's not as mind-bending as 2001 or something, but by the end I felt like the movie strove to be more than a dumb actioner and was actually harkening back to the classic writings of Arthur C. Clark. In light of Elysium's thick headedness, I wonder if people will appreciate this one a bit more now.




Brandon Cronenberg's first film Antiviral slides in nicely with his father's early body of work. The film is one-of-a-kind; painstakingly shot and thematically relevant in terms of celebrity obsession. Casual viewers might find the film's pacing agonizing at times, but Cronenberg's big ideas transcend simply plotted story. My review is forthcoming.




A favourite here at QE, Errors of the Human body comes from the writer of the gut wrenching PA vision that was The Divide. Though don't go in expecting the same kind of story. Errors of the Human Body more in line with Antiviral in that its about mad science and redemption. I honestly can't wait to finally see this one.




Mud comes from the director of the amazing Take Shelter and so far Mud seems to be a critical darling. It's about two boys who fall in with a drifter and it's been compared to Stand By Me. Looking forward to it.




Produced by Eli Roth, Aftershock is about a real-life situation where all hell breaks loose when an earthquake lets a group of criminals out of a prison.




Hatchet III is the latest chapter in Adam Green's Victor Crowley trilogy. I loved the first, but thought the second retread old ground. Lots to see before this, but I plan on catching up to see where Green's taking the story.




Seconds comes to Blu-ray from Criterion. It's about Rock Hudson who has a mental breakdown because of a procedure that altered his identity so he could start his life over as someone else.It's a strange 60s relic of speculative scifi, so check it out.


Other Releases of Note:
- Olympus is Fallen

- A Place Beyond the Pines

- To the Wonder

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vandammage80 (9 years ago) Reply

Loved Oblivion. Looks AMAZING on blu!

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