Star Trek is coming to DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download on November 17, 2009.

Like with many big-name summer blockbusters, Star Trek is getting a few retail exclusive releases at select stores like Target and Best Buy. I don’t usually concern myself too much with different versions of DVDs, unless an exclusive strikes my interest. In this case, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek was my absolute favorite movie of the year (not surprising, since I’m a Trek fanatic), so naturally, I know how to think carefully on which version of the home entertainment release I’ll be choosing.

Check out the list of retail exclusives for the U.S. and Canada here below and feel free to help me decide which I’ll be getting! [...]

A group of trenchcoat-wearing, boombox-lifting Lloyd Dobler look-a-likes took to the streets of New York City today in celebration of the 20th anniversary release of Say Anything on DVD and Blu-ray.

The Doblers, which called themselves “Mobler,” began their adventure at Penn Station and make their way around the city to Washington Square Park and Union Square before ending their journey at Times Square, where the indie band Lloyd Dobler Effect put on an acoustic performance of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” [...]

Disney/Pixar’s latest animated features comes to DVD and Blu-ray on November 10, 2009. In celebration, the studio has released 8 retro posters created for the film.

Check them out here below (and click for larger, full view), along with details on the DVD/Blu-ray bonus features.

Synopsis
Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios take moviegoers up, up and away on one of the funniest adventures of all time with their latest comedy-fantasy. Up follows the uplifting tale of 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. Their journey to a lost world, where they encounter some strange, exotic and surprising characters, is filled with hilarity, emotion and wildly imaginative adventure. [...]

I absolutely love the American Pie franchise, especially since it stars one of my favorite comedic actors ever, Mr. Eugene Levy.

After the original R-rated trilogy movies were released in theaters, the franchise shifted to the direct-to-DVD market with their American Pie Presents line. Now, coming out on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download on December 22, 2009 is the latest installment, American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, available in both Rated and Unrated versions.

CraveOnline has both the standard and uncensored trailers for the film, which sees Levy’s return as the wannabe insightful dad Noah Levenstein, along with a story about three high school virgins who find a “legendary guide to seduction” at their school library. Unfortunately, it’s missing a few pages, which leads the sex-obsessed boys on a crazy journey to lose their virginity and reconstruct this sexual “Bible.”

Apparently, the Book of Love has a bunch of celebrity cameos, like Bret Michaels and one that totally caught my eye — C. Thomas Howell, my first celebrity crush! Now I’m really curious what he’ll be doing in the film.

See below for synopsis, casting, and DVD/Blu-ray details [...]

The Gold Box deal of the day over at Amazon today is The Omen Collection on Blu-ray for only $44.99 (that’s 65% off the list price of $129.98).

This Blu-ray collection contains the 1976 classic film The Omen, our first encounter with spawn of Satan, Damien, as well as its sequels Damien: Omen II (1978) and Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981). The set also includes the 2006 remake, known as 666: The Omen.

All the original movies come with feature commentary, with the first film having several commentries, including one by director Richard Donner. The Omen also has a trivia track and deleted scenes, as well as features pertaining to the remake [...]

The Plan is the new Battlestar Galactica prequel that fills us in on some of the storylines that we’ve seen, but from the other side of the fence: the Cylons’ point of view. The movie is directed by Admiral William Adama himself (Edward James Olmos) and will feature most of your favorite stars and characters. A teaser trailer for the movie was released a while back (and has since been pulled), but now you can see the new trailer for the show right here!

Back in August, Olmos appeared on Attack of the Show and pleaded with the fans to make sure that they purchase the movie when it comes out on October 27, 2009, because if it sold around 350,000 to 500,000 copies in its first day of release, we would see “many plans” (Read: Could Big Numbers For ‘The Plan’ Mean More ‘Battlestar Galactica’?). No one knows what exactly this means, but one would assume there’s a lot more DVD movies like this to be made if the success keeps flowing. [...]

300: The Complete Experience
Blu-ray Edition
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West
Warner Bros Home Video
Release Date: July 21, 2009

If people loved the way Sin City (another Frank Miler comic book) was made with such flavor that popped off of the screen, I am sure that people will get on their knees and bow for Zack Snyder’s new kind of filmmaking, a movie simply called 300. It is a bloody, sexual, and extremely violent movie that uses computers unlike any other movie that we’ve seen in past years. Even though I am kind of biased to computer generated movies (Lord of the Rings) this particular one made me sit back and enjoy the visuals that surpasses the greatest PS3 game. I like the natural filmmaking (no blue screen or green screen), not the kind that your next door neighbor can do on his laptop computer while just passing the time. This being something that I’ve never seen before, I let it work its magic and try not to let that ruin the movie, which it didn’t.

This movie is about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC which takes place in a narrow path between mountains on the coast of Greece, which translates to “Hot Gates.” A ripped and honorable King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) has a problem as his 300 army of Spartans are out numbered 100 to 1 as they go to war with the Persian army that includes giants, elephants, rhinoceros, ninjas, and creatures. They are lead by a gay commander (who is a tall man as he towers over everyone) Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) who wants everyone to answer to him [...]

This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout ‘Save us!’…and I’ll whisper, ‘no.’

What would you do in order to ensure the safety of all mankind? Would you sacrifice millions of lives if it meant saving billions of other lives and creating a perfect and peaceful world? This is the impossibly difficult scenario placed in front of a small group of crime fighters known simply as Watchmen.

Watchmen is based on the timeless graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The book is the only graphic novel on Time magazine’s top 100 novels of all time — a truly epic feat for its platform. For many years, the novel was also called “unfilmable” by most people who strongly believed that no one could faithfully and accurately adapt the complex story and characters into a movie [...]

The 2-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray release of Fast & Furious doesn’t just come with higher definition video quality than its DVD counterpart, it’ll also comes with a free companion iPhone/iPod Touch application that grants viewers access to an exclusive “Virtual Car Garage” feature.

The iPhone/touch acts as a remote control specific to the Blu-ray disc, that allows users to control 360-degree views of the movie’s suped up racers and instantly pull up exclusive technical specs for cars featured in the film.

It’s the first of many special edition discs that will include support for a companion application with the ability to control interactive content over the Internet via Wi-Fi connected Blu-ray players, according to Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Future companion apps like this will allow viewers to use their mobile devices as a virtual remote control and also to download bonus content from the discs to their iPhone/iPod that they can watch on-the-go [...]

Yeah, baby, yeah!

The Gold Box deal of the day today at Amazon is the Austin Powers Collection on DVD for only $15.99 (60% off the list price of $39.98) or Blu-ray for only $32.99 (56% off the list price of $74.98).

Both DVD and Blu-ray sets come with all three Austin Powers movies — Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery; Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; Austin Powers in Goldmember — all of which star Mike Myers as the title character, a 1960’s British spy who awakens three decades after being cryogenically frozen not realizing that his hipster style went out long ago. In this series of spoofs of 1960’s spy films, Myers also plays several other characters, including Powers’ nemesis, Dr. Evil.

Both DVD and Blu-ray sets, dubbed the Shagadelic Edition Loaded With Extra Mojo, come with the three movies — the DVD version with three separate cases packed in a 3-pack box — and include documentaries; commentaries; deleted and alternate scenes; music videos, and trailers [...]

The Gold Box deal of the day today at Amazon is the Blade Runner Five-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition on limited edition DVD for only $37.49 (52% off the list price of $78.92) or on Blu-ray for only $18.99 (53% off the list price of $39.99).

The DVD version comes packaged in a limited edition individually numbered case that looks like Rick Deckard’s briefcase, complete with handle, and includes a lenticular motion film clip from the original feature, miniature origami unicorn figurine, miniature replica spinner car, collector’s photographs, and a signed personal letter from director Sir Ridley Scott.

Both DVD and Blu-ray sets contain five versions of the classic scifi film starring Harrison Ford, including the newest “Final Cut” version from director Ridley Scott; there’s also the 1982 theatrical and unrated international versions; the 1992 director’s cut without Deckard’s voiceover narration and “happy ending” finale and adds the unicorn” sequence; and the rare workprint version with altered opening scene and altered scenes, Deckard narration only in the final scenes, no “unicorn” sequence or “happy ending,” and alternate music [...]

The Gold Box deal of the day today at Amazon is Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition on DVD for only $31.99 (57% off the list price of $74.98) or on Blu-ray for only $56.99 (56% off the list price of $129.95).

This collection includes all five of the Dirty Harry films, which star Clint Eastwood as badass detective “Dirty” Harry Callahan — Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, The Dead Pool.

Both collections contain bonus materials, such as feature-length documentary Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows; several featurettes; a 42-page hardcover book; a replica Harry Callahan wallet with inspector’s badge and I.D. card; five 5″ x 7″ reproduction lobby poster cards; never-before-seen production correspondence; a Scorpio Portrait of a Killer Poster-Sized (19″ x 27″) map of San Francisco detailing Harry’s hunt for the killer, and much more [...]

With the release in theaters today of the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Gold Box deal of the day today at Amazon is Harry Potter Years 1-5 in a Limited Edition DVD Gift Set for only $56.99 (52% off the list price of $119.97) or on Blu-ray for only $56.99 (56% off the list price of $129.98).

Both collections include the first five movies — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — plus plenty of bonus materials, including additional footage and features on creating the magical world of Harry Potter from book to screen, the various houses of Hogwarts, the stunts and craftsman, and much more.

The limited edition DVD gift set also contains a Harry Potter DVD game “Hogwarts Challenge,” as well as an exclusive “Harry Potter’s Bookmark Collection” and collectible trading cards, and is packaged in a case made to look like a traveling trunk similar to what Harry uses when he goes off to Hogwarts every year [...]

The Gold Box deal of the day over at Amazon today is Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology on DVD for only $35.99 (55% off the list price of $79.98) and on Blu-ray for only $57.99 (55% off the list price of $129.95).

The anthology includes the Batman films released in theaters from 1989-1997: Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns and Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.

Both sets come packed with bonus materials, including full-length director’s commentary for all the films, along with features on the history of the characters, bonus footage, behind-the-scenes of the films, the music, and much more [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is the The Ultimate Matrix Collection on Blu-ray for only $57.99 (that’s 55% off the list price of $129.95).

This Blu-ray edition features all three Matrix films — The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions — in high definition, along with The Animatrix presented in 1080p for the first time.

There’s 35 hours’ worth of bonus material included in this set pertaining to the making of the trilogy, the music, stunts, effects, deleted scenes, commentaries, and much more. There’s also a digital copy of The Matrix [...]

LOST
The Complete Second Season, Blu-ray Edition
Starring: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O’Quinn
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release date: June 16, 2009

I didn’t start watching Lost until the second season was underway. All I knew about it before then was that everyone who watched the show was on the edge of their seats talking about numbers and hatches and “others.” All I saw was some people staring down a metal shaft with confused looks on their faces. Oh how little I knew back then.

Things really change in the second season. The survivors learn a lot more about the history of the island, the Dharma Initiative, and “The Others.” The writers also found a plausible way to introduce several new characters into the series as we see what happened to the people in the tail end of the plane (though off camera issues would result in many of the having short lived stints on the show.) We also get to meet Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), the man whose fate is intricately tied to the island and who knows what caused the crash of Oceanic 815 in the first place. Then there’s ‘Henry Gale’ (Michael Emerson), possibly the best addition to a TV show’s cast… ever.

Season two also showed the first signs of weakness in the show’s writing. While entertaining, some episodes seem to drag on, rehashing the same plot over and over in an attempt to fill in the gaps between the first and last episodes [...]

LOST
The Complete First Season, Blu-ray Edition
Starring: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O’Quinn
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release date: June 16, 2009

Remember when the average Lost episode had a plot about finding drinkable water, shelter, and learning which survivors could hunt and which could help build shelter? Those were the days, the days before the average plot revolved around time traveling, ageless strangers, ancient Egyptian statues, and electromagnetic anomalies.

There’s nothing wrong with the new seasons of Lost, but even the most dedicated fans must admit the show’s plot has become increasingly complex over the years. The first season is possibly the only season Lost writers could refer to as “simple.” After all, this is a season where an entire episode is dedicated to looking for Sun’s (Yunjin Kim) missing wedding ring. Lost was the first TV series to be released on Blu-Ray, but they started with Season 3. So now they’ve gone back and released the first two seasons.

You would be hard pressed to find a better TV show to have in high definition than Lost, too. The beautiful Hawaiian backgrounds stand out more in the earlier seasons when the island’s natural scenery was still important. The picture quality is, not surprisingly, incredible at 1080p [...]

Dexter
The Complete Second Season, Blu-ray Edition
Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez
Paramount Home Entertainment
Release date: May 9, 2009

One of the most original and entertaining shows on TV returned for a second season with vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall). After following Dexter’s journey of self-discovery in the first season, this time around viewers watch Dexter struggle with new, complicated emotions as he tries to evolve as a person and a killer.

The second season of the hit Showtime series has some serious strengths and weaknesses. First and foremost, the plot goes to the obvious logical step in exploring Dexter’s world by seeing what would happen if Dexter’s crimes were discovered. When a group of scuba divers discover the bodies of Dexter’s victims, he must struggle with keeping up appearances while trying to cover tracks he never thought would be uncovered.

All the while, Sgt. Doakes (Erik King), who was simply suspicious of Dexter in the first season, is now convinced Dexter is hiding something, and stalks him everywhere. This makes Dexter’s usual nighttime activities impossible. The stress of controlling his impulses, avoiding suspicion, and coming to terms with having killed his own brother, Dexter’s internal turmoil is increased ten-fold [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is Superhero Blu-ray Collection for only $79.95 (that’s 62% off the list price of $208.75).

This 8-disc Blu-ray boxed set includes seven major (and relatively recent) superhero action films from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment: Spider-Man High Definition Trilogy (Spider-Man / Spider-Man 2 / Two-Disc Spider-Man 3), Ghost Rider (Extended Cut), Hellboy (Director’s Cut), Underworld (Unrated), and Underworld Evolution.

That’s a nice pick of movies right there. Now let’s do the math: $79.95 divided by 7 movies is about $11.42 each. The Spider-Man blu-ray trilogy is selling for $49.99 on its own and the other films are much more than $12 each, so this is a pretty sweet deal for Blu-ray, and for major blockbuster titles on Blu-ray at that [...]

A Bug’s Life Blu-ray Edition
Directed by John Lasseter & Andrew Stanton
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Dave Foley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Denis Leary, Madeline Kahn, Phyllis Diller, John Ratzenberger
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: May 19, 2009

On November 25, 1998, Walt Disney Pictures and the budding Pixar Animation Studio put out their second feature-length computer-animated motion picture after the classic Toy Story, and this movie was called A Bug’s Life. When it came out, the movie cost only $60 million to make, and pulled in over $350 million at the in box office, which was an amazing feat, seconded only by Toy Story’s $30 million budget and over $350 million box office take. Even with these impressive numbers, Pixar still fought through many troubled times before really taking off and never looking back.

Since then, eight more Pixar movies have been released, and as we all know, they have all been brilliant. Pixar is now majorly considered to be completely fail-proof — and all of this started with the first couple of Toy Story movies and A Bug’s Life.

A Bug’s Life tells the story of a colony of ants who have collected a pile of food in order to pay off a bigger, more-dangerous group of grasshoppers lead by Hopper (Kevin Spacey) who demand payment from the little ants [...]