SPEND YOUR MONEY!

NEW RELEASES

*Blu-Ray prices are in BOLD BLUE
  
The Bounty Hunter                 $17.99   $24.99   
Our Family Wedding              $17.99  $25.99 
Greenberg                              $17.99   $26.99   
Psych: Season 4                      $36.99    
White Collar: Season 1           $44.99

$4.75 DVDs

Robots
Matilda
Spongebob Squarepants: Triton’s Revenge
Go Diego Go: The Great Jaguar Rescue

$9 DVDs

Let’s Walk
Jillian Michaels Fitness DVDs
The Biggest Loser DVDs

———————————————–

NEW RELEASES

*Blu-Ray prices are in BOLD BLUE

The Bounty Hunter                 $17.99   $25.99   
Our Family Wedding              $19.99  $26.99 
Greenberg                              $19.99   $26.99   
Psych: Season 4                      $34.99    
White Collar: Season 1           $39.99

BLU-RAY sale

$19.99

Ponyo
Cars

$24.99

Monsters Inc.
A Bug’s Life

DVD Sale

$6.99

Snatch
Talladega Nights
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Pursuit of Happyness

$7.99

The Hangover
Office Space
Sunshine Cleaning
Hancock
Appaloosa
Fireproof
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Terminator Salvation

$14.99

Ponyo
Cars
Monsters Inc.
A Bug’s Life
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
The Princess and the Frog
When in Rome
It’s Complicated
Up in the Air
The Lovely Bones
Dear John
Legion
Daybreakers
From Paris with Love
Youth in Revolt

Video Game Sales Update

Target

Buy NCAA Football 11, save $20 on one of the following:

• Tiger Woods 11
• Skate 3
• Fifa World Cup South Africa
• Battlefield Bad Company 2
• Mass Effect 2
• Dante’s Inferno
• Dragon Age Origins
• Army of Two: The 40th Day

Best Buy

Buy 1, get 1 50% off sale on all Nintendo DS games
Split/Second $44.99
Major League Baseball 2k10 $29.99
NCAA Football 2011 $59.99 (+ 500 bonus points via Rewardzone Gamers Club = $10 coupon)
Split/Second (PC): $24.99
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PC): $49.99

TOYS R US

• Buy any DSi XL and Dragon Quest IX, get a $25 gift card (Sunday, 7/11 only)
• Dragon Quest IX $34.99 w/$15 gift card (all week long)

K-Mart

Alan Wake $34.99
Singularity $34.99
Call of Duty: War Collection $34.99
Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker $19.99
PSP-3000 $149.99

Dragon Quest IX + $10 Gaming Coupon + Featured titles 50% off w/purchase:

• Transformers Cybertron: Decepticons
• Mega Man Zero Collection
• Toy Story 3
• Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Pokemon: Heart Gold
• Pokemon: Soul Silver
• New Super Mario Brothers
• Sonic and Seaga All-Stars Racing
• Deca Sports
• Iron Man 2
• The Last Air Bender
• Rabbids Go Home
• Club Penguin 2
• Bakugan
• Transformers Cybertron: Autobots

THIS WEEK’S DVD REVIEWS at CHUD

Did you miss a review this week? A lot of titles go unnoticed during the hectic news days around the site.

Click here to discover some of the latest DVD reviews.

THE REST OF THE DVDs THIS WEEK

Alaska State Troopers: Season One
Black Angels
Black Cat: The Complete Collection
Body/Antibody
Born Into Shit
The Bounty Hunter
Caught In The Crossfire
Chloe
Crackie
Crush
Diary Of A Nymphomaniac
Don’t You Forget About Me
Feeding The Masses Horror Collection
Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 5
Formosa Betrayed
The Girl By The Lake
Golgo 13, Collection 1
The Greatest (2009)
Greenberg
Here And There
Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger
Holly
How To Make Love To A Woman
Killer Car
The Lucy Show: The Official Second Season
Magikano: The Complete Series (S.A.V.E. Edition)
Martin: The Complete Third Season
Middle Of Nowhere
My Year Without Sex
Mystery Science Theater 3000: XVIII
Naruto Shippuden, Vol. 11
009-1: The Complete Collection (S.A.V.E. Edition)
The Only Son/There Was A Father: Two Films By Yasujiro Ozu (The Criterion Collection)
Our Family Wedding
Parasomnia
Pasajeros
Psych: The Complete Fourth Season
Romeo x Juliet: The Complete Tragedy
Saint John Of Las Vegas
Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Tracy Morgan
Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Will Ferrell
Saving Grace: The Final Season
Saving Marriage
Scream Girls
Selling Hitler
Sesame Street: 20 Years … And Still Counting!
Shark Week: Jaws Of Steel Collection
SpongeBob SquarePants: Triton’s Revenge
Street Hawk: The Complete Series
The Super Hero Squad Show, Vol. 1
Supranova
Terribly Happy
2:37
UFC 113: Machida Vs. Shogun 2
Unearthed
Vivere
White Collar: The Complete First Season
World War I In Color (Athena)
WWE: Satan’s Prison – The Anthology Of The Elimination Chamber
Zift

BLU-RAY: IT’S GETTING CHEAPER

Alpha Dog
Aquarium Impressions
Assault On Precinct 13
The Bounty Hunter
The Cartel
Caught In The Crossfire
Chloe
Fireplace Impressions
Gabriel Iglesias: Hot And Fluffy – Live From Bakersfield
The Greatest (2009)
Greenberg
How To Make Love To A Woman
In Bruges
Insomnia
Middle Of Nowhere
Our Family Wedding
Parasomnia
Shark Week: Jaws Of Steel Collection
White Collar: The Complete First Season

VIDEO GAMES

section by: Justin Clark and SCOTT!

NCAA FOOTBALL 11
EA
360, PS3, PS2
7/13
MSRP: $59.99, $39.99 PS2

CLICK TO BUY FROM AMAZON!

……yep, it’s a college football game alright. Enjoy your roster update, sports fans.

DRAGON QUEST IX
Square Enix
DS
7/11
MSRP: $34.99

CLICK TO BUY FROM AMAZON!

It’s always deeply sad and embarrassing to watch Japan court international audiences with their RPGs lately. This time, realizing that every American made game has pointless, vestigial multiplayer nowadays, Squeenix followed suit, making the new Dragon Quest, essentially, a small scale MMORPG, which, as we are well aware, is a genre that’s enjoyed great success on the Nintendo D–yeah, screw it. Terrible idea, right up there with Final Fantasy XII‘s micromanaged “Western-inspired” battle system. Stick to what you’re good at, Japan. The furries demand more anthropomorphized farm animals in S&M gear.

OOOHHHHH: ON THE DLC TIP

DEATHSPANK
Hothead Games
XBox Live Arcade, PSN
7/13

I admit to still being hesitant to play the Monkey Island games, even the remakes, only because there’s no way I can go into those and pretend I don’t notice the swarm cloud of old school PC gamer hype looming around them. And if there’s one lesson I’ve learned in all my years, it’s that, Valve games notwithstanding, PC gamers generally cannot be trusted when it comes to telling console players what they’re missing out on. So, when you hear that the guy behind the Monkey Island games has a new, original Diablo-esque RPG coming out, some will see a game with amazing humor saddled with stiff gameplay of questionable quality, others probably haven’t stopped squealing in psychotic, childish glee yet to have an opinion.

ROCK BAND TUESDAY

The Vines Pack 01 ($8.49/680 MS points)

• Get Out
• He’s a Rocker
• Orange Amber +
• Outtathaway +
• Ride

Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Future Perfect Tense +

+ – Available for Lego Rock Band
$1.99/160 MS pts each

On one hand, The Vines at least know more than three chords, and their vocalist sounds like both his testicles have successfully descended. On the other hand, they commit the more cardinal sin a punk band could ever commit in that they’re boring as fuck. Which, call me cynical, makes me wonder why they’re not more successful. Maybe the Rock Band exposure will help, especially once people figure out, at some point, that damn near EVERYONE has heard that goddamned Ride song once or twice in the past year or so.

Thankfully, that Sweet Billy Pilgrim track is there to counteract the boredom. Buy it to support the awesome experimental pop band, play it for the banjo.

MUSIC

Section by Jeb D.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse

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You always try to filter out the macabre or sentiment factor when dealing with work from the recently deceased, but when an album bears the title Dark Night Of The Soul, and opens with the line “Pain- I guess it’s a matter of sensation,” and continues to “I shot you and stabbed you through the heart”-well, even as metaphor, it’s grim stuff. Despite the stellar list of guest collaborators (including Iggy Pop, James Mercer, and David Lynch), the overall effect is pretty on-the-nose as a bleak last testament from Mark Linkous. It’s not hopelessly dismal: “Just War” is the kind of relationship-as-armed-conflict song that Elvis Costello or Richard Thompson might come up with, sporting a sweet, melancholy Peter Gabriel-like tune, and the Lynch collaboration “Star Eyes” glides along on a path of seductive electronica. But let’s face it, an album with song titles like “Pain,” “Daddy’s Gone,” or “Grim Augury” (to say nothing of the title song) is aimed pretty well at those times when you need to be persuaded that there’s someone in the world even less happy than you are.

SYMPHONICITIES

Sting

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Honestly, the most surprising thing about this album is that it’s taken so long to happen. Mr. Sumner’s solo career has often seemed to be focused shedding the “low-rent” image of the early Police days, and cementing his reputation as a “serious” artist, which he does here by paying an orchestra to play on and around some of his best-known songs while he croaks them with what remains of that once-supple voice. What has always eluded Sting (and, to be fair, his former bandmates-he’s just better at it) is that songs like “Can’t Stand Losing You” or “Message In A Bottle” possess such musical virtues as they do because they were created by musicians who didn’t want to sound like everyone else, whether old-school rockers or classical composers. Post-Police, though, Sting has waged what feels like a ceaseless campaign to be enshrined as an elder statesman of pop. Personally, I loved The Police, and see no particular need for their music to “grow up” and be accepted into the realm of Muzak standards; Sting evidently doesn’t agree. The addition of the orchestral arrangements to songs like “Next To You” or “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” just make them feel like cheesy 80’s film soundtracks, and the hyped-up bombast visited on “You Will Be My Ain True Love” makes its plain-spokenness feel even more affected than on the original. Lesser material like “We Work The Black Seam” and “Englishman In New York” wear the bloat more comfortably, and “The Pirate’s Bride” concludes things on an appropriately lounge-y note. I’d give him credit for overlooking the obvious “Every Breath You Take,” except that I suspect he’s saving that for Volume 2. My guess is that this album is not exactly aimed at the CHUD demographic; your mom might like it, though. Maybe your grandmother. 

INTRIGUER

Crowded House

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Last year’s “comeback” album carried the weight of drummer Phil Hester’s suicide, and as a result felt like a somewhat muted piece that was almost Disk 2 of the Finn Brothers’ 2008 Everyone Is Here (which, in turn, was prompted by the death of their mother). This time around, Crowded House seem to be reaching back further, and there’s a bit of the musical variety of Together Alone, with distorted guitars and Allman-like organ. Finn’s writing remains strongly observant, with a great eye for the telling detail (“Amsterdam” paints a picture so vivid you could live in it), but neither he or Seymour seem to have the usual set of hooks in their pocket this time, and nothing grabs the ear with the immediacy of “Something So Strong,” “Weather With You,” or “Better Be Home Soon,” to name just a few. There’s not a bad song on the album, and if you were to shuffle it in with your other Crowded House albums, you might find that most of the songs hold up pretty well. But you won’t be rolling down the car window to sing along this time. 

KORN III – REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE

Korn

BUY IT FROM AMAZON!

When I went to audition this album, I was amused to see that about a half dozen sites claimed to have the “exclusive” stream to listen to. That was actually about the last amusing thing, though: the music is the same pompous metal melodrama that these gents have been cranking out for a couple of decades now. If the sound works for you, it’s as heavy as you remember it.  But, really, in the same week that Dark Night Of The Soul and Intriguer examine the reality of just how low life can bring you, nothing that these barking millionaires have to say on the subject of how tough life is resonates particularly. Evidently, they “don’t care about anything;” maybe, but it was more fun when Joey Ramone was saying stuff like that. And doubtless there’s a fascinating story behind their use of the roman numeral “III,” but I’ll let them have their secret.

Other Noteworthy 7/13 Music Releases

M.I.A., /\/\ /\ Y /\. Political music doesn’t have to be about easily-digested politics, and raging against consumerism is slightly more convincing coming from a risk-taking up-and-comer than the usual bloated millionaires. The success of Slumdog Millionaire provoked a backlash that probably got more than few people sick of “Paper Planes,” so it’s about time for Ms. Arulpragasam to deliver some fresh tracks.

Sun Kil Moon, Admiral Fell Promises. The nylon strings give the guitar work a classic feel, but the vocals still have the lazy slur, and the songs reach for a melancholy that, four albums in, they still haven’t completely earned. But if Iron and Wine rocks a bit too hard for your sensibilities, Mr. Kozelek keeps it gentle and discreet.

Soilwork, The Panic Broadcast. It says here that “there are few artists that need no introduction, but Sweden’s Soilwork are definitely one of them.” And who am I to argue? Pick to click: “Enter, Dog Of Pavlov.”

Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, and Lucy Kaplansky, Red Horse. Three important contemporary folk songwriters perform each other’s songs. Unfortunately, none of them are equally strong singers, so if you find a tune or two here that appeals to you, you’re going to want to look for the original. Still, useful as a sampler.

Joe Elliott’s Down N Outz , My Regeneration. Maybe the best collection of songs of any album released this week; the trick, of course, is that Def Leppard’s frontman didn’t write any of them; mostly, Ian Hunter did. Still, if you share my nostalgia for the days of Mott the Hoople, Overnight Angels, and the like, you’ve got to at least smile at the enthusiastic cover treatment they give to “Shouting and Pointing” or the heart-on-the-sleeve roughness of “3,000 Miles From Here.”

Jerrod Niemann, Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury. Jimmy Buffett, call your office.

Great Big Sea, Safe Upon the Shore. I’m guessing that this pleasant bit of folk-rock is the only album that will be released this year with songwriting contributions from Randy Bachman and Russell Crowe.

In This Moment, A Star-Crossed Wasteland. The wasteland part they’ve got right, but they’re kidding themselves if they think they’re stars; if they were, I’d be able to tell which name was the group, and which was the album. 

Innocence Mission, My Room in the Trees. Too precious? Of course. I try not to doubt their sincerity on songs like “The Happy Mondays” or “God Is Love,” but Karin Peris’ singing always retains a quality of arch detachment that leaves me wondering. Still, they do get a song in about “Rhode Island,” and I don’t think even Sufjan Stevens has done that yet.

THE WEEK OF JULY 13th 2010

GROUP EDITED by: TROY ANDERSON

DVD/BR SECTION by: Troy Anderson

CHLOE
Director: Atom Egoyan
Sony/Weinstein Company

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

Special Features

 

Chloe was fapworthy, but I’ve seen Egoyan do better. A lot of people made a big deal about the chick from Big Love doing hot lesbian action with Julianne Moore. Then, you had the rumors and internet gossip about Liam Neeson actually popping a load into the titular character’s voicebox. When you can get past the contrived plot, there’s even more lesbian action between my favorite redhead and the hot blonde that made me track this film down. In terms of Egoyan’s other work, it’s somewhere below Erotica but above Where The Truth Lies. I’d go into more about the flick, but the site is supposed to not go above an R-rating.

THE SUPERHERO SQUAD SHOW: VOLUME 1
Director: Michael Gerard

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

Special Features

The Superhero Squad Show is
a welcome change of pace from the other films I watched this week. Taking the first six episodes of the first season, we get to see Marvel reinvent their animated persona. Borrowing a cue or two from DC’s approach on The Brave and the Bold, we’re offered a refreshing look at our beloved characters. The heroes seem to be that basic Bendis mix of the legendary Avengers trio plus some newer favorites. Then, there’s Wolverine and the Punisher. I love how the other characters think that Frank Castle is a creepy weirdo and they don’t want anything to do with him. If you’ve got kids or you are a stunted man-child hiding behind social anxiety disorders, you’ll enjoy it.

GREENBERG
d. Noah Baumbach

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

SPECIAL FEATURES

Greenberg is the only Baumbach film that I haven’t really enjoyed. Sure, he really didn’t venture out of his comfort zones with this film. It’s just that I don’t buy Ben Stiller as a man tortured by his intellect. If you were going by just the trailers, you’d imagine it was a film about some old bastard that hates hipster shits. Honestly, it’s a bit more one-dimensional. There’s nothing about Greenberg that screams profound insight. You’ve seen better character dramas about pseudo geniuses desperately trying to escape their brain to find happiness. Compared to the other Baumbach films, you’ll notice two lacking factors. Anna Paquin’s hot ass and Nicole Kidman doing freaky shit in the dark.

THE BOUNTY HUNTER
d.  Andy Tennant

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

Special Features

• Featurettes

The Bounty Hunter is about a formerly married couple. Milo is the bounty hunter assigned to bring his ex-wife Nicole in for assaulting a mounted cop. The two have a battle of words and opinions, as they fight their way through Atlantic City. Eventually, Milo realizes that Nicole is onto something big. Laughs are had in this latest romantic comedy romp from director Andy Tennant. If you loved Hitch, you’ll want to pay the Bounty to your local Hunter. How in the fuck does Gene Shalit keep doing that kind of shit for decades? Is the moustache eating its way to his frontal lobe? Having to talk positively about the jackass that directed Fools Rush In makes me feel like I’ve been anally vandalized. If you’re married, you’re going to watch this. This is the kind of crap that attracts mid-level poon to the local Redbox. It’s like Spanish Fly for the Kohl’s demographic. 

NETFLIX INSTANT VIEW (POURING THE DIRT INTO BLOCKBUSTER’S GRAVE)

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