I remember like it was yesterday: 15 years old, seeing a trio of films at my local theater twenty years ago. This particular day the trip consisted of Anaconda, Austin Powers, and my favorite of the three, Luc Besson‘s original space saga, The Fifth Element. Now, two decades later Besson wrote and directed another new space adventure, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and to get crowds ready, The Fifth Element is returning to theaters thanks to Fathom Events and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
One thing is for sure, Luc Besson really likes to think outside the box. That is pretty clear in what we have been seeing in the marketing campaign for his new film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. A new trailer dropped this morning, giving us another look at the space opera The Professional director has created. Some even call the film the spiritual successor to The Fifth Element. Judging by the looks of things, that is very true.
This week’s edition of The Digital Wire has so much Blu-ray and DVD release info coming out of its news-hole only a dam constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers could contain the flood. Soak it all up folks because I’m taking next week off to cover the home video department of Geeks of Doom’s annual Holiday Geek Gift Guide.
Below you’ll find info on several future home video releases complete with technical specs, release dates, and links to pre-order at Amazon. We would greatly appreciate it if you use those links to order because a small percentage of each order helps keep this website running at max power. The cover art for certain titles has yet to be finalized.
Giovanni Manzoni (Robert DeNiro) was once one of the most feared and respected mob bosses in New York. Times have certainly changed. For some unexplained reason Manzoni turned stoolie for the FBI and was moved into the Witness Relocation Program under the supervision of veteran agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones). Now he’s Fred Blake, a nondescript writer living in a small town in Normandy, France with his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), son Warren (John D’Leo), and daughter Bella (Dianna Agron). The family hates being so far removed from their familiar Brooklyn neighborhood and all of their friends and relatives, but they try to make the best of a lousy situation.
Their efforts don’t last though; unable to deal with the dual pressures of maintaining a false identity and the inquisitive, somewhat hostile townspeople, the Blakes soon revert to their old ways of violence and corruption, with Stansfield working desperately to keep them in line so their cover isn’t blown. Fred’s obsession with getting rid of the brown water that runs through the pipes of their quaint French home and Warren’s escalating criminal behavior at school eventually bring down the full wrath of Don Luchese (Stan Carp), the imprisoned rival Mafia boss Fred snitched on. The don dispatches a team of heavily armed assassins to Normandy to make the Blakes a blood-stained memory. Unable to depend on further protection from Stansfield and the other Feds, Fred and his family must show the mob back home that a simple name change doesn’t make the Blakes any less dangerous than before.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
