Wreck-It Ralph
4-Disc 3D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital l 2-Disc Blu-ray/DVD l DVD
Directed by Rich Moore
Starring John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Mindy Kaling, Ed O’Neill, Dennis Haysbert
Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: March 5, 2013

Get your head in the game. Disney’s best video game is not one you can play, but rather one you watch, as Wreck-It Ralph jazzes up the screen with pure fun and affection. Now the giant hit movie arrives on Blu-ray shelves. Press start for this Disney In Depth Blu-ray review of Wreck-It Ralph.

The bad guy doesn’t want to be a bad guy. Have we seen this plot before? Maybe to some respect, but Ralph takes this concept to a most pioneering level where puns and references a plenty do not interfere with sophisticated storytelling. Supposedly-villainous Ralph just wants some appreciation, so he ventures outside his ’80s-era game to prove his worth. He attains that value via unexpected means, meets some crazy folks along the way, and realizes his potential in who he has always been.

Trailers from Hell! Volume Two
DVD
Starring Joe Dante, John Landis, Guillermo Del Toro, and Roger Corman
Shout! Factory
Release Date: July 5, 2011

I love DVD collections of old movie trailers. Since 2005, Synapse Films has been releasing volumes of classic grindhouse and drive-in exploitation trailers on DVD under the 42nd Street Forever and early this year unleashed their first Blu-ray edition in the series. One of those discs can provide an entire evening’s entertainment for the true connoisseur of cinema. Independent home video distributors understand the slim but still lucrative market value of a movie trailer collection. If you ask a bunch of people what their favorite part of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez B-movie double feature homage Grindhouse was, chances are most of them will say they loved the spoof trailers directed by Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, and Rodriguez. Movie geek meccas like the Alamo Drafthouse and the New Beverly Cinema often program vintage trailers to go along with that night’s film selection. People still make their old trailer compilations for fun. Roth even talked about making a feature film in the form of a reel of trailers.

Trailers from Hell is a highly-addictive website where film directors, writers, and producers provide introductions and commentaries for the trailers to some of their favorite films. From beloved classics to obscure cult flicks, from Oscar-winning epics to kinetic blasts of pure psychotronic insanity, there is no vintage preview that the TFH crew will not unearth and gab about to the delight of movie geeks everywhere. They’ve even started releasing DVD collections of the finest trailers and commentaries on their site that they could secure the rights to through the amazing Shout! Factory, a true friend to film fans with expansive DVD and Blu-ray libraries (and this is the part where yours truly sheepishly raises his hand). So with that in mind I bring you Trailers from Hell! Volume Two.

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Volume XXIV
DVD
Directed by Kevin Murphy
Starring Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and Kevin Murphy
Shout! Factory
Release Date: July 31, 2012

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is one of the greatest television shows in history. It’s easily in my top five favorite shows of all time. When I’m having a lousy day and I want to feel better about myself few things cheer me up as watching Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, and their sardonic robot companions Tom Servo (voiced and performed by Kevin Murphy) and Crow T. Robot (Trace Beaulieu) on the Satellite of Love rip apart the horrible Z-grade genre flicks they’re subjected to on a weekly basis by the cruel Dr. Clayton Forrester (Beaulieu) and his hapless assistant TV’s Frank (Frank Conniff) with magnificent aplomb. Shout! Factory took over the DVD distribution of the show from Rhino back in 2008 and ever since have been releasing several box sets of the show’s finest episodes every year with fresh supplements.

This time around the company has gifted us with a very special edition of MST3K: none of the movies submitted for the disapproval of the crew of the S.O.L. in this set originated in the United States. We get two movies from Japan, one from Finland by way of the former Soviet Union, and the set closes out with a oily gem from South of the border, down Mexico way. I suppose you could call this the first MST3K foreign film collection if you want to give it more class than it really deserves – which is none at all – so with that mind let’s get into Mystery Science Theater 3000 XXIV.

The late, great Ron Asheton, one of the paramount figures of the original Detroit hard rock/early punk sounds and styles whose work with the original incarnation of The Stooges garnered him as an important of a factor to its influence and staying (raw) power as much as the five foot one man who was born with sonic attitude, Iggy Pop, is being immortalized on a forthcoming DVD to be released in April of this year.

The DVD, which commemorates the man’s legacy and talents via testimonials by fans and friends alike, and a full-length tribute concert done by surviving band members, which was recorded and filmed back on April 10, 2011, bears the direct and to the point title: A Tribute To Ron Asheton.

You can check out the trailer for the DVD here below, along with the track listing and other details.

Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season
Blu-ray | DVD
CREATORS: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, George R. R. Martin (author)
STARRING: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Richard Madden, Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Stephen Dillane, Conleth Hill, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams, Iain Glen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Jack Gleeson, Sophie Turner, Alfie Allen, Liam Cunningham, James Cosmo, Rory McCann, Gethin Anthony, Gwendoline Christie, Carice van Houten, Joe Dempsie, Charles Dance, Donald Sumpter, Kristian Nairn, John Bradley, Sibel Kekilli, Natalia Tena, Finn Jones, Oona Chaplin, Natalie Dormer, Nonso Anozie, Rose Leslie
HBO
RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2013

I’ve developed something of a young tradition, one that I hope to continue for the next handful of years or so…if the old gods and the new see fit. As someone who was introduced to George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” universe by HBO’s adaptation of the books (I read, but not nearly as much as others), Game of Thrones, I, like many others—much to the chagrin of readers who had been singing its praises for years—instantly found myself obsessed with this incredibly detailed world, its unique and complex characters, and a long, rich history that could force many aspiring writers to retire their quills for the rest of their days.

After the first season came and went and instantly became one of my favorite new shows, the next logical step was to jump into the books. A year is a tortuous amount of time to wait for something this good. And while most people already knew how brilliant the books were, I soon found out that reading through after seeing the season was an exciting way to add new layers to the story. As I was nearing the end of the first book, the first season was getting ready to arrive on Blu-ray and DVD and season two was nearing its premiere. And so it began. As I write this I near the end of book two, I’m rewatching season two (and all the wonderful special features) on Blu-ray, and season three of the show inches ever closer.