Home Video Exclusives

[JohnIan101]

Target - July 3rd, 2018


Nella: Royal Quests
Exclusive store release $9.99

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - July 3rd, 2018


WolfCop: 2 Film Collection
Exclusive store release; BD only $12.99

The Shannara Chronicles (available now)
Exclusive BD set - season one and two $24.99

Jurassic Park: 25th Anniversary Collection (available now)
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $69.99

Ant-Man (available now)
Exclusive steelbook; BD/DC combo $24.99

[JohnIan101]

A brand new entry!

This outing we get babes, bombs and greed with a 1970s flair...



"Freaky Deaky" was released on home video on February 26th, 2013.

It streeted against "Lady For A Night", "Chasing Mavericks", "The Master", "The Carol Burnett Show: This Time Together" and "Oasis Of The Zombies: Remastered Edition".

DVD only release, originally came with a non-embossed slipcover over a transparent case. There is artwork on the inside (Breanne Racano as Robin Abbott laying in a black bikini on a bed with a sucker). No insert was issued.

This is a direct-to-video release; was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, April 22nd, 2012. And yes, director Charles Matthau is the son of actor Walter Matthau.

- - -

One exclusive, an oddity.



Best Buy had exclusive wraparound window (first time I've encountered) and "'70s Sideburns", yup you read correctly. These are wearable brown sideburns (with pre-adhesive).

Came in a small bag inside the case - as you can see above, wraparound window lets you see the sideburns inside.

Sold for $9.99 and was so hard for me to find.



The exclusive edition did not come with slipcover, above. Had to be creative and got my slip from Wal-Mart, almost too late. The store gets rid of inventory rather soon - replaced by newer titles.

Anyhow, my Best Buy did not carry it - in fact never did. Quite frustrating, almost gave up. But less than a month later was in the High Desert (Southern California) visiting a friend and made one last effort, their store. Yes, they had a couple of copies.

Did not realize until after watching... I had this DVD for five years; viewed on May 30th, 2018.

- - - - - - - - - -

Rant.

Would recommend. For those who haven't...



Year is 1974; Detroit, Michigan - bomb squad detective Chris Mankowski (Billy Burke) wants to move up to homicide, but gets stuck in Sexual Assault Investigations. Here he meets Greta Wyatt (Sabina Gadecki) a wannabe actress who claims she was raped (though through the course of the film, becomes real fuzzy - I'll cover in a few).

For the most part, she's a party girl going by the name 'Ginger'. She was at a festivity held by millionaire, Woodrow 'Woody' Ricks (Crispin Glover). Mankowski does his job and investigates the claim.

Soon it blows up into a side case of extortion by Robin Abbott and her former, now requited partner Skip Gibbs (Christian Slater) - demolition. She is the brains behind a scheme to scare Woody into giving them (her) several millions, not to get an explosive surprise.

The cover story being - buying the rights to her romance novels; turn them into Hollywood movies.



Robin is an acquaintance of Woody and his brother Mark Ricks (Andy Dick). When their parents died, Mark got a car. Woody got the house and fifty million.

Woody is a mess, fueled by alcohol and prescription drugs - a haze, that has him quite childlike. His butler, Donnell Lewis (Michael Jai White) runs the house. Making sure Woody doesn't hurt himself and is fed, a full time babysitter. All the while trying to get as much money from him as possible - but considers him, like his son.

It's an odd relationship. Sure, he's protecting 'Mr. Woody', but it's more than money.



Pretty much each time Glover is on screen he steals the scene; so many WTFs. He's drinks a martini with his cereal and milk with a shot to Pepto - his morning meal. The way he sits on the couch or making bizarre associations.

Is Woody retarded or just super high? Real short attention span, all the time.

The plot point that started it - the 'maybe rape' gets Greta under threat from Donnell since he trying to stop a lawsuit from her from happening. He finds out where the party girl lives. Shaken, Chris takes her in who is staying at his father's place since he's on vacation in Florida.

And because he can't go home.

His wife/girlfriend (wasn't made clear), threw him out days earlier; worse yet - his car is stolen, leaving him to borrow his dad's car. A vintage 1950s classic.

Things get complicated with so many folks trying to scam and/or threat Woody out of cash. Even Chris joins in - getting ten grand to disarm a failed attempt, a bomb dumped in the swimming pool. He knew it was a dud, but took the deal before telling Donnell the dynamite rig was rendered harmless.

Nobody here is fully clean, just various shades of gray with some very murky - the deadly kind.

I am not doing this justice; smiled a lot, laughed a few times at a cool, modest budget flick ($6,000,000 estimated) that should be better known. Seek it out, sway.

Okay, the 'maybe rape'. It's not black and white.

Quite unclear - even Greta changes her mind upon seeing Woody after the party. Did something happen? Consensual? Sex? During the party, a very drunk - on her own accord, Greta wandered into Woody's bedroom. Then got naked.

Not in bra and panties, but totally nude and alone in the room at the time. Why did she do that in the first place?

Party is still on; Woody comes to his room to sleep/nap, finds a naked party girl waiting for him. He take her to bed... that's it. The rest is fuzzy. His natural state is - barely there, at the party; even drunker. Could he even get it up? What little Greta remembers is him falling asleep next to her, dropping into slumber.

Hinted is that he might have taken her to bed then snoozed, no sex. When I say 'taken', I don't mean by force. Clouded Woody is a gentle dope. At one point later, Woody is awed by Greta and offers to marry her. Sooo pretty.



The real star here is Gadecki. She plays her sweet, not some blonde air head. Greta is trying to do the right thing and get sucked into the quandary.

Looked at her filmography, this is the only thing I've see her in. She should be more famous.

*shrugs*

There is something quite out of place - actress Breanne Racano. All her lines appear to be dubbed over. She's in the short making-of featurette, speaking. I still fuzzy on that. Robin has a husky voice. Perhaps doing that inflection made it sound... dubbed.

The other is the ending. The final bit before credits roll.

Mankowski and Greta drive off in a new car, together. Woody is in the house, Donnell is leaving to join him. Then an explosion happens in the background, not seen, but heard. Was that some kind of backup bomb by Skip??? We don't see the aftermath. Did Woody get blown up? No answers.



Gave this some thought, vibe wise, there is a quasi-companion flick. "The Baytown Outlaws" is a 2012 movie with 1970s feel. Far more action and less mystery. But has such enjoyable characters. This is on DVD for pretty cheap on Amazon.

Too bad they didn't make a sequel, "The Baytown Outlaws" has room for at least another installment. Like with "Freaky Deaky" it was a blind buy - no regrets.

Anyhow, FD is based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard.

Oh yeah, before you ask, Andy Dick's role was short. Would've been nice to have seen more of Mark.



Above is the paperback version with the better cover. The hard cover edition is nothing to write home about, art wise.

Come back here on July 19th, 2018 for a tale of being your own travel agent and all the troubles it gets you - especially from an armed secret society fueled by Samuel Jackson.

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - July 10th, 2018

A Quiet Place
Exclusive BD/DVD combo $24.99

National Parks Adventure (3D)
* Exclusive 4k release; 4k BD/BD combo $22.99

Dream Big: Engineer Our World (3D)
Exclusive 4k release; 4k BD/BD combo $22.99

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - July 17th, 2018


Rampage
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $29.99
Exclusive steelbook; BD/DVD/DC combo $29.99

A Quiet Place (available now)
Exclusive steelbook BD/DVD combo $24.99

[JohnIan101]

Target - July 10th, 2018


A Quiet Place
Free $5.00 gift card with 4K BD/BD/DC combo purchase $24.99

- - - - - - - - - -

CD available 7/13

"Kidz Bop 38" with 4 exclusive bonus tracks $9.99

[JohnIan101]

Target - July 17th, 2018


Harry Potter: Year 7 2 Disc BD set
Exclusive patch; BD only release $15.99

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense


[An earlier version of this PT was originally posted on July 26th, 2015 on JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum.]

What appears to be a miraculous gift can make you the target of zealots in "Jumper"...



The motion picture opened on February 14th, 2008. It was made with a budget of $85,000,000 (estimated) and grossed over $80 million during its U.S. theatrical run; counting foreign receipts it made $222,231,186. The film opened number one at the box office, the following week it dropped to number two.

The feature opened against "Juno", "The Bucket List", "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and "Step Up 2: The Streets".



The two disc set, "Digital Copy Special Edition" came with a lenticular slipcover. The single disc version did not. The SE came with a second disc which housed the digital copy. There were two inserts. 1) Single sided ad for General Tire with a web address for a contest; win a free set of car tires. Yeah, that feels pretty random. 2) A small insert, Digital Copy instructions. It expired on June 9th, 2009.

Never owned the single disc version, which was pretty light on extras. I can imagine that it only came with General Tire ad.

- - -

There was a single exclusive from Wal-Mart, a comic book prequel, "Jumper: Jumpscars". It came in a foil cardboard long box, which I still have as you can see from the scan below.



This streeted on June 10th, 2008 for $14.44. One huge catch - this exclusive was only attached single disc version. Being anal, I bought it and sold the movie on Ebay. And yeah, I lost money on this.

I was going to scan the graphic novel cover, but the long box shows it unobtrusive. Pass. This is a self contained story; one hundred pages. It was published by Oni Press. The story was written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir. It's roughly the same size as a DVD case. And no, will not fit inside.

The story is told in flashbacks; Paladin trainee Jessica - we follow her as she goes on her first case. Her mentor is Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson). They are looking for a child Jumper, who in escaping from the Paladins, causes a death; a pedestrian is struck by a car. Roland kills the kid without any mercy.

By chance she learns of another Jumper nearby and investigates. She falls for the guy, Andrew. But in the end, she does her job to much regret. He was harmless, just a sightseer. And cared for her, Andrew saved her from an attacker.

The present; her new target is David Rice (Hayden Christensen). Jessica is having second thoughts on killing him, for now she's monitoring the kid.

I appreciate that this was not preview or chapter of a larger comic. I wish this was standard comic exclusive, but its not.

- - - - - - - - - -

Footnotes.

Just so you know, "Jumper" was intended to be posted for this past June, but things popped up and here it is.



Something I didn't know until researching, this film is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Steven Gould, published in 1992 (hardback) by Tor Books. Only bare elements carried over to the big screen. Gould's book has three sequels, "Reflex" (2004), "Impulse" (2013) and "Exo" (2014). There was even a short story sequel to "Reflex" called "Shade" (2008).

- - -

Like the production for "Back To The Future" (1985), there was a stop and go on filming.

Sure.

For that film, the lead character, Marty McFly wasn't originally Michael J. Fox - it was actor Eric Stoltz. The problem was that the part needed charisma. Not an insult to Mr. Stoltz, he's a good actor. But at that point in time he wasn't the right person. Four weeks of filming were in the can before filmmaker decided this wasn't working and recast the role with Fox. The rest is history. Stoltz's departure was amicable.

The same happened for "Jumpers".

Production began in May of 2006 and stopped for three weeks. The role of David Rice was played by Tom Sturridge best known as Roger Gosselyn from "Being Julia" (2004). In this version the main character is eighteen years old.



The role of his girlfriend/love interest, Millie was then played by Teresa Palmer. At the time she was probably better known as Vanessa from "The Grudge 2" (2006). I know her as Tori Frederking from "Take Me Home Tonight" (2011). And of course as Julie Grigio from "Warm Bodies" (2013). She's so frackin' huggable.

Did not know she was Australian, she does a great American accent. Palmer was a guest on "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" (February 12th, 2013), she was plugging "Warm Bodies". Holy crap. Please don't talk like that; not cute Australian, it's friggin' burly!

So what happened in June that cause the shut down?

Producer Tom Rothman convinced director Doug Liman that a recast could open the film to a wider audience, since as it stood - this was a teen flick. So David was turned into a twenty-five year old, this resulted in a redo.



And that's when Hayden Christensen was given the role of Rice. And if you do this, you might as well do that. So Millie was recast as well with Rachel Bilson a.k.a. Little Miss Vixen.

This alteration allowed them to do a slightly more mature relationship, said slightly.

20th Century Fox also liked the idea since Christensen was famous (or infamous if you like) for the "Star Wars" prequels, a known actor unlike the first version where the main stars were up-and-comers.

A side note; this was this film that brought Christensen and Bilson together. Not married, but they have a daughter together, Briar Rose Christensen. She became a mom at thirty-three. I've seen some recent beach pixs, Bilson bounced back from the kid. Though she and Christensen separated in late 2017.

Going back to BTTF, only some stills and few seconds of footage remains of Stoltz as McFly. The rest were trashed/lost. Too bad since that's about half the film. Would love to see him as Marty; edit the footage into the movie for as long as it can. Have that as a special feature, oh well.

- - -



There was a video game based on the movie, "Jumper: Griffin's Story" from Brash Entertainment in February of 2008. It released for Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's Wii.

The game received terrible ratings.

- - - - - - - - - -

Rant.



That's a good villain, Rolan - a true believer. The graphic novel gives a bit of a back story for the Paladins. They have been around since ancient Egypt, killing Jumpers.

Why?

In short, they're zealots. Only God has powers; as Roland says to Jessica, they're "unnatural".

They tear the fabric of reality when they jump. This is POWER we're talking about here. Vast power with vast consequences. And using that power means ignoring those consequences. So they're corrupted from the start.

- Roland from the comic

Add to the mix a good number of Jumpers of crooks and thieves with little to no afterthought to repercussions. It gives them justification for the slayings, the betterment of mankind; self-appointed guardians.

It make sense.

- - -

Food for thought; Millie was a Jumper...

When the house was sinking into the water; David was slipping into unconsciousness. She grabs him and kisses him - just before she does, she closes her eyes. Both are now instantly at the library. Roland believes David made a last second jump. What happened next?

Millie was trying hard to revive him, slapping David multiple times. The thing is - Jumpers can't jump if they're unconscious. She is one of them. In the second book, "Reflex" (also by Gould). it's revealed that Jumping can be learned, if you passed enough space folds yourself, which is what Millie had been doing with her beau. The book take place ten years later with her having companied thousands of jumps with David.

She is at the point where she can generated her own brain waves to fold space. This talent only manifests, the first time when life is threatened. Like any skill it needs to be refined. The bigger implication is that this is latent, ANYONE can Jump if exposed to enough of them. Something the Paladins would kill to keep a secret.

And that's it - come back on August 9th, 2018 for mindless actioner and a henchwoman who going with racoon chic. Time to catwalk with garbage cans.

Sorry about being a day late, I forgot.

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - August 7th, 2018


The Death Of Superman
Exclusive graphic novel; BD/DVD/DC combo $22.99

[JohnIan101]

Target - August 7th, 2018


The Death Of Superman
Exclusive steelbook; BD/DVD/DC combo $24.99

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense


[An earlier version of this PT was originally posted on September 12th, 2013 on JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum.]

This time out we locate a kidnapped boy, stop an assassination plot and do battle with blonde hit woman who looks like a Euro tramp (as in streetwalker) in "Transporter 2"...



The motion picture opened on September 2nd, 2005. It was made with a budget of $32,000,000 (estimated) and grossed over $43 million during its U.S. theatrical run; counting foreign receipts it made $85,167,639. The film opened number one at the box office, the following week dropped to number three.

The feature opened against "The Cave", "March Of The Penguins", "Four Brothers" and "Wedding Crashers".

By the way, actress Kate Nauta has airbrushed cleavage added to that poster. She's an A Cup, I'm not being cruel, just pointing out a detail.

This release originally came with a cardboard slipcover which mirrored the case's wraparound. It came with an insert; chapter listing sheet.

- - -

This is gonna be a simple, meat & potatoes PT entry. *shrugs*



There was one exclusive to be had and it was from Circuit City, a bonus disc.

This set streeted on January 10th, 2006 for $14.99. This came in a two disc case. There is no menu screen, it just plays; so there is no screen snap.

It housed a single featurette "Transporter 2: Making The Music" with a 21:01 minute run time.

This was something I almost didn't pick up. At the time, this was going to be purchased at a much later date - when the DVD would be on sale... say $10.00 or so.

Was at Circuit City to pick up "Underworld: 2 Disc Unrated Extended Cut", the re-release with a bonus disc. I browsed through their weekly ad and saw the listing for "Transporter 2". And took that home as well.

Some perspective; this was at a time before I used the internet to know in advance - store exclusives. I missed a lot of them during this period. Last month I finally acquire an exclusive for a 2006 box set. A bonus disc for a TV series that I wouldn't learn, until years later and spent the following next years trying to find it; on and off. It's now mine. And will be a topic in a future Past Tense.

Oh yeah, there was another... somewhat. The slipcover and wraparound mention that bonus featurette, making them exclusives of a sort, since the regular editions obviously does not.

- - - - - - - - - -

Rant.



I enjoyed this movie, it's part of my library as are the others in the series (though the third was kinda weak - especially the female lead [Natalya Rudakova]). There is a good twist here; the real reason behind the kidnapping.

The action scenes are most creative (well choreographed). And it was nice to see François Berléand reprise his role as Inspector Tarconi.

I am surprised there hasn't been another in the franchise.

Worldwide Totals:

"The Transporter" (2002) - $43,928,932
"The Transporter 2" (2005) - $85,167,639
"The Transporter 3" (2008) - $108,979,549
"The Transporter: Refueled" (2015) - $72,629,670

Kinda scratching my head why another hasn't happened yet. They're somewhat cheap to produce. Cheaper still since the last one didn't have Jason Statham, a reboot.



Make no mistake, these films are light on story. It's a rather simple structure; all about getting Frank Martin (Statham) from point A to point B and making his journey a rather hard experience - seeing him be creative.

And lets be honest, these action vignettes are so over the top they borderline cartoonish. But that's okay, Martin lives in this hyper real world anyway.

Yeah, where's the next for that matter? Where's "Crank 3"? C'mon.



C'mon...

You know the series is awesomely absurd - need more Chev Chelios!

Oh yeah, back in 2009 there was a mock trailer; "Crank 3: Merry Cranksmas". Quite sway.

They picked the wrong guy to mess with on Christmas. Chev Chelios is no bah humbug!

El Grincho has stolen Chev's Christmas spirit (actually his decorated tree) and he has ONE HOUR to get it back before the holiday will be dead to him.

Yes, you read correctly.

Go to YouTube, type in "Crank 3 Trailer Merry Cranksmas" in search. Or if you know how, "3UbZFdegGlQ". It's still there (as of writing), I checked. Uploaded on December 24th, '09 by DinghisKhanComedy.

Going back for a moment, the franchise.



There was a TV series, but that only lasted two seasons (2012 - 2014). Both seasons are on DVD.

I own season one, bought from Best Buy some years back... still haven't gotten around to watching it.

On my 'to watch' pile. I'll get to it.

- - -

Okay. Let's talk about her...

The Big Bad's henchwoman, Little Miss Lola.



My words.

I do not find her attractive. Please put "more" clothes on. She almost looks androgynous. Wait - androgynous and anorexic. Dude, just look at that picture. There is no reason for her to dress like that. And if you're gonna do that - you must be it (like Selene from "Underworld" [2003], Alice from "Resident Evil" [2002], Lara Croft from "Tomb Raider" [2001], Cataleya from "Colombiana" [2011] or the first female Reaper from "The Other Side" [2006]).

Kate Nauta just isn't, though I will say her character's demise was satisfying.

And what's with all the mascara? Was the racoon-look all in vogue in '05? Though I can see Lola rummaging through dumpsters - no really.

Okay. Nauta does have a nice voice. I will give her that.

Jack Billings (Hunter Clary), I'm so glad the stolen child was given enough screen time as the story needed and not over. Stuff like that can ruin a movie. This is an adult feature (yes, I know it's rated PG-13, you know what I mean), not something for meant kids.

I did enjoy Gianni (Alessandro Gassman), the main villain. Well played sir. He's what you want as the foil, bigger than life, cunning and just pain evil.

In the original film, Frank Martin drove a BMW. Now he drives the Audi. Apparently BMW did not sign on for the sequel.

- Roger Ebert

Even Ebert like the movie in his review. This is nothing more than a popcorn flick, don't try to over think it, just enjoy.

- - - - - - - - - -

Just Because.



Statham was dating (now baby momma), Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. She co-stared with Shia LaBeouf in the third entry; "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" (2011) as Carly Spencer. I keep getting her confused with another VS model, Candice Swanepoel (I know, I'm not the only one; above right). And in my opinion, the WAY better version of the two.

Indeed. That's it folks. Come back on August 23rd, 2018 for a brand new entry - with a 1980s flavor.

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - August 14th, 2018


Avengers: Infinity War
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

The Avengers
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - August 21st, 2018


Deadpool 2
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99
Exclusive steelbook; BD/DC combo $29.99

Ash vs Evil Dead: Complete Third Season
Exclusive steelbook; BD only $21.99

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eight Season
Exclusive lenticular packaging; BD only $39.99

[JohnIan101]

Target - August 14th, 2018


Avengers: Infinity War
Exclusive 40 page gallery book; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $32.99

- - - - - - - - - -

CD available now

"Nicki Minaj - Queen" with 2 exclusive songs $13.88

[JohnIan101]

Target - August 21st, 2018


Deadpool 2
Exclusive not suitable for children's book; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $27.99
Exclusive not suitable for children's book; BD/DC combo $22.99

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eight Season
Exclusive steelbook; BD only $42.99