The school season is about to begin, which means you'll have a little extra time to yourself -- maybe. If that's the case, you may want to catch up on a couple of brand-new Blu-rays.
This week's spotlight should keep you busy for a little while. It's The Walking Dead: The Complete Third Season. We're three seasons into this post-apocalyptic story and the surroundings are continuing to deteriorate. That said, this AMC show is fresher than ever, thanks to several new characters and some pretty shocking departures as well. Besides the zombie-filled 16 episodes included, the Blu-ray set also has a great selection of special features. You can even opt for the limited-edition box, if you're brave enough to keep zombie heads out on your mantel.
If that's one too many heebie-jeebies for you, there are plenty of other options for the week including Buz Luhrmann's lavish remake of The Great Gatsby, the very first big-screen adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a very pumped up Mark Wahlberg, a black comedy about those wacky Nazis, and much more.
Did we miss one of your favorites for the week? Have something to say about one of this week's new releases? Sound off in the comments below. Otherwise, all of these titles are out as of August 27, 2013, except where noted. Enjoy!
The Walking Dead: The Complete Third Season
Ready for another round of zombie-fied fun? This third season continues the post-apocalyptic adventures of police officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the rest of the survivors, as they attempt to take refuge inside a prison. If the zombies aren't bad enough, wait until you see what's behind those prison walls. Yikes.
This five-disc set features all 16 heebie-jeebie-filled episodes from the third season, each of which has a 1.78:1 image and a chilling Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track. It's also got a pretty impressive collection of extras, including commentary for select episodes, deleted scenes, and shorts on deaths, zombies, the season, Chandler Riggs, David Morrissey's "Governor," new hire Danai Gurira, and much more.
For the truly brain-dead, Anchor Bay is also releasing The Walking Dead: The Complete Third Season Limited Edition set. This option comes with a "zombie head tank," which was created for this set by McFarlane Toys. [Anchor Bay]
The Great Gatsby
This movie wasn't exactly great, according to our own Joe Lozito. However, The Great Gatsby does have a ton of acting talent and some nice visuals as well. Baz Luhrmann's extravagant update does have the same old story, with would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) crossing paths with party-boy millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), during the Roaring Twenties. Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, and Isla Fisher also star.
Apparently, the big difference between the 2D and 3D sets is that 3D disc. Otherwise, both have a sharp 2.40:1 image and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Each one also has a decent set of special features, including shorts on the book, the music, the time period, the fashions, and even the 3D. Other extras include deleted scenes, a peek at five different segments, and a behind-the-scenes short via Maguire. Each version also includes a standard-def DVD and an UltraViolet Digital Copy of the film. [Warner Bros.]
Pain & Gain
Michael Bay once again inflicts a little theatrical pain and it pays off with a big gain at the box office. The Transformers director ditches the robots and hires some serious muscle for this one. Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne (that's "The Rock" to you) Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub and Ed Harris all star in the partially true story of a group of bodybuilders gone bad -- like in criminal way.
Bay is pretty well known for some serious eye (and ear) candy in his films, so you can expect a nice looking 2.40:1 image and a booming Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track for this one. The movie has been heavily criticized for taking liberties with the true story, so it's not surprising that there's nothing about the inspiration here. What is surprising is that there's nothing at all. The only extras included in this 2-disc set are the standard-def DVD and an UltraViolet Digital Copy of the film. [Paramount]
Sons of Anarchy: Season Five
FX's insanely popular drama rides in high-def once again! This season, Jax (Charlie Hunnam) takes the reigns of the club, better known as SAMCRO. Of course, he's sort of reluctant about his new role -- and who wouldn't be? This season is filled with backstabbing and well... front-stabbing. It's a bloody violent one.
Fans should be pretty happy with the collection of special features included with this 4-disc set. There are deleted scenes, gag reels, and a handful of commentary tracks. Also worth noting is that show creator Kurt Sutter gets his own featurette and there's a "Key Character Good-Bye" short. [Fox]
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
This is the film that started it all! It has our favorite tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff, and he's sticking pretty close to A.A. Milne's original stories. The film pulls several familiar shorts into one movie, including "The Honey Tree," "The Blustery Day," and "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too." It's also a great way to introduce new audiences to the franchise and the Hundred Acre Wood's other cuddly characters, including Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, Kanga, Roo and Eeyore.
This is the first time that the 1977 classic has come to Blu-ray, so Disney has digitally restored and remastered the film's 1.66:1 image. It also comes with your choice of a new DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, as well as the original Dolby Digital 2.0 mix. There are also has several super-cute, super-short special features, including the interactive "Pooh Play-Along," the classic "A Day for Eeyore" short, a making-of featurette, and the Winnie the Pooh theme performed by Carly Simon. Most interesting is that this set has five brand-new Pooh shorts: "If I Wasn't So Small," "Piglet's Drawings," "The Expedition," "Geniuses" and "The Honey Song." Also worth noting is that the 2-disc set has the Disney Intermission feature, a standard-def DVD and a Digital Copy of the movie. [Disney]
To Be or Not to Be: Criterion Collection
Can Nazis be funny? Well, not really on purpose. However, director Ernst Lubitsch certainly makes the group the butt of many jokes in this classic 1942 dark comedy. He casts Jack Benny and Carole Lombard (in her last role) as husband-and-wife thespians in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, who manage to use their talents to outsmart the troops. Robert Stack (Airplane!) also stars.
Criterion has restored the 1.37:1 image and includes a lone LPCM mono track. There's also Criterion's typical selection of extras -- and that's a good thing. Expect an all-new commentary with film historian David Kalat, two episodes of The Screen Guild Theater, and the 2010 French documentary on the director titled, Lubitsch le patron. Also check out Pinkus's Shoe Palace, a 1916 German silent short starring Lubitsch himself. The single-disc set comes packed with a booklet that includes an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien. [Criterion]
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