This week on DVD and Blu-ray - May 20th 2008

This week on DVD and Blu-ray - May 20th 2008.

What's New
By Jason P. Vargo
FIRST ONLINE May 20, 2008

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With the end of the format war and every studio pledging support (not to mention releases) for the Blu Ray Disc format, it´s inevitable the weekly "must have" list is going to be skewed toward high definition. But fear not, faithful readers! I´m not going to forget good old standard DVD. After all, is that any way to treat a lover who has given us a decade´s worth of faithful monogamy, bringing classic-and not so classic-films to home video? Where would we be without "Jaws 3-D" on our shelves? How about each of the permutations the "Alien" series has gone through? Oh no! We´re not forgetting regular, plain non-high def content. Treat a lady right and she´ll always bring you home.

Well, at least that´s what Captain Kirk said.

It´s hard to point to one "major" release this week, with both "National Treasure" flicks hitting Blu Ray (and two standard def versions for "Book of Secrets"). The hardest working man on the net, Managing Editor Jim Plath, gives us views on the goodies: Blu Ray "National Treasure"; Blu Ray "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets"; and the two disc special edition of "NT2." For the sake of completeness, there is also a single disc version of the sequel available today, but who buys the barebones discs anymore, right? If you don´t know yet, Amazon is running a nifty sale on the Blu Ray versions: both flicks for $39.99. Click the link, buy them, support us. You know the drill. (Personal plug: I checked out the movie back in its theatrical release.)

Who else is on the radar? Our buddies over the Paramount are re-releasing a whole slew of Blu Ray Discs which were recalled after they jumped to the HD DVD camp last year. The List. Go ahead and add the following: "Black Rain," "Failure to Launch," "Freedom Writers," "Hustle & Flow, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "The Italian Job" (2003), "Letters From Iwo Jima," "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), "Mission: Impossible," "Mission: Impossible 2," the "Ultimate Missions Collection," "Nacho Libre," "Norbit," "Payback: Straight Up-The Director´s Cut," "Reds," "We Were Soldiers" and "U2-Rattle & Hum."

What about something for the non-high def crowd? A Special Edition release of "24: Season One." Oh, how we long for the good old days of Nina and Terri. But not Kim. Definitely not Kim. The Sundance Channel series "Nimrod Nation." One, because of the name. Two, it´s set in Michigan. And, really, any publicity for the Great Lakes State is good publicity. Trust me. A couple last HD DVD´s from Warner ("Ocean´s Eleven" and "Ocean´s Twelve") before the format goes completely belly up at the end of the month. And "Square Pegs," featuring a super-young Sarah Jessica Parker (a tie-in with the "Sex and the City" movie, no doubt) and Merritt Butrick, perhaps best known as David Marcus from the "Star Trek" feature films…and T´Jon from the heavy-handed anti-drug Nancy Reagan era "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Symbiosis."

So there we have it. A little something for everyone…and a lot for the Blu Ray adopters. And just in time for those economic stimulus checks to hit the mailbox. What wonderful world we live in.

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