All week, Amazon has been offering up Lightning Deals, limited quantities of various products for a discounted price for a 4-hour window of time, as a prelude to the biggest shopping day of the year — Black Friday. You have to be on the lookout for these deals and once the item runs out, the sale is over. Meaning, if you see something on sale that you want, buy it immediately before it’s gone.

Amazon has released the Lightning Deal schedule and prices for Movies & TV on DVD and Blu-ray for Friday, November 25, starting at 12:30AM PST (that’s 3:30AM EST) and running through 11:30pm PST. See list of Black Friday deals here below, along with more information on how these special deals work.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011

12:30 a.m. – 4:30 a.m. PST

Hot Tub Time Machine
Blu-ray – $4.99

U-571 (Collector’s Edition)
DVD – $.99

Charlie Wilson’s War (Widescreen Edition)
DVD – $.99

Bruno
DVD – $.99

The Gold Box deal of the day at Amazon today is Disney’s Cars Director’s Edition and The Lion King Trilogy Blu-ray collections for 55% off.

Cars Director’s Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo, which includes Cars, Cars 2, and Mater’s Tall Tales, is on sale for only $53.99 (down from $119).

The 8-disc The Lion King Trilogy 3D Blu-ray/DVD Combo box set, which includes The Lion King, The Lion King 1½, and The Lion King 2, is only $44.99 (down from $100).

Cars 2
5-Disc Blu-ray 3D | 2-Disc Blu-ray | DVD
DIRECTED BY: John Lasseter, Brad Lewis
WRITTEN BY: Ben Queen
STARRING: Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, John Turturo, Bonnie Hunt, Jason Isaacs, Thomas Kretschmann, Eddie Izzard
Disney*Pixar
RELEASE DATE: November 1, 2011

I love Pixar movies. And I don’t just mean that loosely; I mean I truly and honestly LOVE Pixar movies. From that first wide-eyed viewing of Toy Story back in 1995 to today, they’ve released some of the best (and some of my own personal favorite) movies of all time.

Even my least favorite Pixar movie—2006’s Cars—is a movie I still very much enjoy, despite the fact that I went in thinking I wouldn’t be a fan (shame on me for thinking such things about a Pixar flick). That’s just how good they are. And so you can imagine my and many, many others’ surprise when a veritable landslide of negative feedback started flowing in upon the release of their latest feature, Cars 2.

Could it be so? Could there really be a…bad *gulps* Pixar movie? Or was this just a case of constant perfection leading people to go out of their way to seek out imperfections and declare failure no matter how good or bad the actual film was?

Cars 2
Directed by John Lasseter
Starring (voices): Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, John Turturro, Eddie Izzard
Release Date: June 24, 2011

Any human aspect or human presence cannot be located in the original Cars or in Pixar’s latest film Cars 2. This is the films’ biggest set back. We who have become transfixed by the genius behind the films of Pixar (which is celebrating 25 years of studio existence this year) remember all too vividly the ruthless food critic, Anton Ego, of Ratatouille swallowing a bit of ratatouille and immediately becoming reacquainted with a childhood he had seemingly forgotten. And who can forget Andy’s feeling of anguish and the sad grimace that takes over his face in Toy Story 3 when he finally figures out that he needs to give away his toys. Almost all of the successful Pixar films have an unbreakable relationship with all things human. Cars 2 veers from that ostensibly perfect trajectory to embrace a world where no existence of human life has ever been documented. This all sounds a tad bleak, but that is the world we are thrust into with the Cars‘ films.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced the items to be included in their 2011 commemorative stamp program, which includes five new Pixar stamps.

Several Disney-Pixar movie characters are part of the five different designs that make up the 20-stamp pane Send A Hello collection: Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars; Remy the rat and Linguini from Ratatouille; Buzz Lightyear and two of the green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story; Carl Fredricksen and Dug from Up; and the robot WALL*E from Wall*E.

The Send a Hello “Forever” stamp will go on sale on August 19, 2011.