SPEND YOUR MONEY!
NEW RELEASES
*Blu-Ray prices are in BOLD
BLUE
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam $17.99 $26.99
The Office: Season Six $29.99 $37.99
Killers $16.99 $22.99
Date Night $16.99 $24.99
Diary of a Wimpy Kid $16.99 $24.99
Death at a Funeral $16.99 $22.99
Our Family Wedding $16.99 $22.99
Chuck: Season 3 $37.99 $47.99
Supernatural: Season 5 $37.99 $47.99
Smallville: Season 9 $37.99 $47.99
Solitary Man $19.99
Thomas the Tank Engine: Misty Island Rescue $12.99 $17.99
$4.75 DVD Sale
Stuart Little
Wedding Crashers
The Shawshank Redemption
Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
$10 DVD Sale
Coraline
Marley & Me
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Up in the Air
Wall Street———————————————–
NEW RELEASES
*Blu-Ray prices are in BOLD
BLUE
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam $19.99 $29.99
The Office: Season Six $31.99 $41.99
Killers $13.99 $18.99
Chuck: Season 3 $38.99 $45.99
Supernatural: Season 5 $37.99 $45.99
Smallville: Season 9 $39.99 $46.99
Criminal Minds: Season 5 $39.99
MacGruber $19.99 $26.99
TV on DVD Sale
$19.99
Lost: Seasons 1-5
House: Seasons 1-5
NCIS: Seasons 4-6
Supernatural: Seasons 1-4
The Mentalist: Season 1
The Office: Seasons 1-5
$24.99
Sons of Anarchy: Season 1
DVD SALE
$3.99
Charlie Wilson’s War
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Blazing Saddles
The Corpse Bride
Twister
$7.99
Ghostbusters
Starship Troopers
3:10 to Yuma (remake)
Underworld
$9.99
Tears of the Sun
Armored
The Code
Julie & Julia
Law Abiding Citizen
$14.99
The Stepfather (2009)
Video
Sales Update
Target
Nothing major
Best Buy
Nothing major
TOYS R US
Nothing major
K-Mart
Nothing major
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
American Cowslip
American Chopper: Season Six Collection (TLC)
At The Edge: Life At The Vertical Limit (Wild Asia)
Being Michael Madsen
Blood Into Wine
Blue Drop: The Complete Collection
Bobby Moore: Hero (Tony Palmer)
Boy Meets World: The Complete First Season (Reissue)
Boy Meets World: The Complete Second Season (Reissue)
Boy Meets World: The Complete Third Season (Reissue)
Brahms And The Little Singing Girls (Tony Palmer)
By The Will Of Genghis Khan
A Call Girl
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
Caravaggio
Chuck: The Complete Third Season
Clatterford: The Complete Season Three
Coyote Ragtime Show: The Complete Series (S.A.V.E. Edition)
Criminal Minds: Season Five
Detroit Remember When: The Jewish Community
Doc West
Doctor Who: Story 106 – The Creature From The Pit
Doctor Who: Story 129 – The King’s Demons
Doctor Who: Story 135 – Planet Of Fire
The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (Shaw Brothers Dragon Dynasty)
The Exploding Girl
Fixer: The Taking Of Ajmal Naqshbandi
For A Fistful Of Diamonds
Frosty The Snowman
Full Metal Panic! Season One
Genshiken 2: DVD Collection (Standard Packaging)
George Lopez: HBO Comedy Specials – Tall, Dark And Chicano/America’s Mexican
Ghastly Grabs, Vol. 1: Sick And The Dead/Raving Maniacs/Invitation
Ghastly Grabs, Vol. 2: Gorno/Drawing Blood/Inexchange
Ghastly Grabs, Vol. 3: Killer Story/Pony Trouble/Cope
Growth
The Guardian: The Second Season
Hansel And Gretel
In From The Cold? The World Of Richard Burton (Tony Palmer)
Jackie Chan: Kung Fu Master
John Rabe
Jurassic Park III (Widescreen Collector’s Edition)
Kevin Pollak: The Littlest Suspect
Killers (2010 Movie)
Last Of The Summer Wine: Vintage 1985
Laughology
Less Than Perfect: Season One
The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond
Love In The Nick Of Tyme
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Road Rally
Mr. Right Now! (10th Anniversary Edition)
My Bride Is A Mermaid, Pt. 2
NFL: Dallas Cowboys Heroes
NFL: History Of The Miami Dolphins
The Norm Show: The Complete Series
The Office (USA): Season Six
Parsifal: The Search For The Grail (Tony Palmer)
Persons Unknown: The Complete First Season
The Phantom (2009 Syfy Miniseries)
The Photograph
Pie In The Sky: Series Three
Playing For Time
Prime Suspect: The Complete Collection
Scholastic Storybook Treasures: The Halloween Stories Collection
Shooting Star(s): The Rise Of Hip Hop Photographer Johnny Nunez
Skins, Vol. 3
Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season
Snow Blind
Solitary Man
Supernatural: The Complete Fifth Season
Taroko National Park: Nature’s Creation
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Hammer Horror
TCM Greatest Gangster Films Collection: James Cagney
TCM Greatest Gangster Films Collection: Prohibition Era
That Evening Sun (Standard Cover)
That Evening Sun (Night Cover)
Thomas And Friends: Misty Island Rescue
Trapped (2009)
UFC: Best Of WEC
Videocracy
Wall Street (Insider Trading Edition)
Wonders Of The Solar System (BBC)
BLU-RAY: IT’S
GETTING CHEAPER
Africa: Blu-ray 3-Pack – A Kingdom For The Dzanga Gorilla/Africa’s Super Seven/Africa’s Outsiders
At The Edge: Life At The Vertical Limit (Wild Asia)
Being Michael Madsen
The Black Dahlia
Blood Into Wine
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Chuck: The Complete Third Season
Forbidden Planet
Full Metal Panic! Season One
Hatchet
Jim Gaffigan: Beyond The Pale
Killers (2010 Movie)
The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond
Lost In Space (1998 Movie)
Mars Attacks!
Matrix Reloaded
Numb
The Office (USA): Season Six
Peanuts: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Peanuts: It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
The Phantom (2009 Syfy Miniseries)
The Player
Poltergeist (Reissue)
Pulse
A Scanner Darkly (Reissue)
The Skeleton Key
Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season
Solitary Man
Supernatural: The Complete Fifth Season
Taroko National Park: Nature’s Creation
That Evening Sun (Standard Cover)
That Evening Sun (Night Cover)
Thomas And Friends: Misty Island Rescue
THX 1138
Tommy: The Movie
UFC: Best Of WEC
Wonders Of The Solar System (BBC)
section by: Justin
Clark and SCOTT!
SPIDER-MAN: SHATTERED DIMENSIONS
Activision
360, PS3, Wii, DS
9/7
MSRP: $59.99; $49.99 Wii; $29.99 DS
CLICK TO BUY FROM AMAZON!
There hasn’t been a quality Spider-Man game since Spider-Man 2, and even that has shown its cracks over the years. Like all their other ill-treated properties, Activision’s tried everything under the sun short of releasing a Spider-Man Pilates game, with varying degrees of failure. And this game has them essentially attempting four different Spider-Man games in one. I’d like to believe only needing to craft a fourth of a game per Spidey might give them some measure of focus, resulting in an overall stronger title, but why bullshit you? We know who’s developing this thing.
R.U.S.E.
UbiSoft
360, PS3, PC
9/7
MSRP: $59.99; $49.99 PC
Oh, Ubisoft. You know I love you guys, right? So, I’ve got to break your hearts right now and get it done: REAL TIME STRATEGY DOES NOT WORK OR SELL ON CONSOLES. I know there’s a lot of people at a lot of studios who have this pie in the sky dream of making the RTS equivalent of Goldeneye 64, and there are a bunch of cool features showing up in R.U.S.E. that sound really slick (the level of individual decisions impacting future storyline in particular), but this is simply a gameplay sensibility that’s just not going to carry over where the real money’s changing hands. Notice how the highest profile RTS in ages just came out, and the lack of clamor for a console port? Good reason for that.
TOM CLANY’S HAWX 2
UbiSoft
360, PS3
9/7
MSRP: $49.99
Continuing the theme of misguided military acronyms this week, the first H.A.W.X. was a scattershot mess. The feel was right, in that they don’t try to make it a flight simulator and you can whip planes around to your hearts delight without having to worry much about the specifics, but the actual gameplay and dogfights themselves were just geriatric, unengaging affairs. H.A.W.X. 2 looks like they upped the excitement a bit, but, frankly, at this point, any flying game that isn’t a Crimson Skies sequel would earn the same scorn from me.
KINGDOM HEARTS: BIRTH BY SLEEP
Square Enix
PSP
9/7
MSRP: $39.99
I’ve gone back and forth on the Kingdom Hearts series over the years, where one minute it’s right up my alley, and I’m having a blast exploring this dichotomous universe, and the next I’ll want to send every copy hurtling into the dead abyss of space back to the mind of an uncaring God that allowed His creations to fuck things up this spectacularly. Birth By Sleep promises a long overdue set of tweaks to the battle system, mini-games that aren’t total wastes, and a less linear style of character development, but I’m not entirely sure this is enough to make a series that’s always been close-but-no-cigar cross into good territory once and for all.
NHL 11
EA
360, PS3
9/7
MSRP: $59.99
Yep. That’s hockey all right. Have fun.
BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD
Warner Home Video Games
Wii, DS
9/7
MSRP: $39.99; $29.99 DS
CLICK TO BUY FROM AMAZON!
Prior to Arkham Asylum winning at damn near everything forever, the last game to do anything truly interesting with the property was the Adventures of Batman and Robin on SNES. The pacing and gameplay were much slower than its contemporaries at the time (noteably, the hand-animated Genesis version, and the stellar Batman Returns on SNES), but it was, at the time, closer than anyone had gotten to being more than just a random beat-’em-up starring Batman. Brave and the Bold is still an old school beat’-em-up, and apparently, the game’s intended audience takes some of the bite out of the difficulty, but more love has gone into replicating the feel of the show (which more of you need to be watching, I might add) and the joy of teaming up with some of DC’s finest than in most games that AREN’T Arkham Asylum. Besides, it’s good to have a reason to pull out the Wii besides avoiding having to talk to your grandparents about when you’re gonna settle down.
OOOHHHH: ON THE DLC TIP
MASS EFFECT 2: LAIR OF THE SHADOW BROKER
Bioware
XBox Live, PC
9/7
800 MS pts
There’s been fun, quality DLC for Mass Effect 2 so far, but this may be the only one that I might mark as vital, as this truly bridges ME1 and 3, with decisions in this mission carrying over to the forthcoming sequel, and a story that truly brings Liara T’Soni back into the fold, and any relevant storyline decisions you made in the first game along with her. This is sure to be fantastic news for those who caught the blue chick fever back in ME1 only to find that the romance didn’t carry over, though pre-suicide mission space coitus with Yvonne Strahovski mopped up a lot of gamers’ tears, I’m sure.
DRAGON AGE ORIGINS: WITCH HUNT
Bioware
XBox Live, Playstation Network, PC
9/7
$7/560 MS pts
And on the other end of Bioware’s RPG spectrum, there’s yet more Dragon Age DLC, answering all the questions everyone had about the witch Morrigan and her actions during the main game. No, I still haven’t played it. Yes, I know I need to jump on this shit. Yes, I know you’re holding my family hostage until I do, you can pick up the money at the pier at 2am.
PLANTS VS ZOMBIES
PopCap Games
XBox Live Arcade
9/8
1200 MS points
My dislike of playing games on PC, and not owning an Apple anything capable of games (I have a 32 GB classic IPod and haven’t needed anything more) means this game has still never passed into my hands. However, like Peggle before it, now that this thing is hitting XBox Live, it means my soul once again belongs to PopCap Games for a few months, as yet another terrifyingly addictive, charming game seeks to usurp what little free time I have. For those who do know and love the game, PopCap wants another piece of your asses too, since they’ve added co-op and a versus mode where you get to play from the zombie side. It’ll be fascinating to see how this game does, considering almost everybody who’s played it owns it on at least 4, 5, 17 different platforms.
ROCK BAND TUESDAY
Snoop Dogg Pack 01 ($13.49/1080 MS pts)
- Beautiful
- Drop It Like It’s Hot
- Ridin’ In My Chevy
- Sensual Seduction
- Snoop’s Upside Ya Head
- Tha Shiznit
- That’s Tha Homie +
- Who Am I (What’s My Name)?
$1.99 per track
+=Available for Lego Rock Band
Well, they told us this was coming months ago, and I still feel just as conflicted about it as before. Drummers and bassists will likely have plenty to do, guitarists, not so much. Keyboard support will likely help, and I will be deeply disappointed if Rock Band 3‘s harmony support isn’t immediately put to work on What’s My Name, but otherwise, it’s the first genuine dose of hip hop the game’s gotten in all this time, and it’s simply the wrong artist.
Yes, feel free to read that as “There better be Roots’ Things Fall Apart DLC coming”.
Music
Section by Jeb D.
INTERPOL
Interpol
I know that Interpol has been trying for years to shake the label of “American Joy Division”, but song titles like “Memory Serves” and “Barricade” can’t help but recall the Mancunian doom patrol, while the metronomic rhythms of “Success” and “Lights” wear that influence on their sleeves. But Interpol has always made explicit the pop connections that Curtis and company only implied, with the layered vocal harmonies of “Memory Serves” and “Summer Well;” and the guitar riff that drives “Safe Without” verges dangerously close to being catchy. Yeah, the songs are mostly twice as long as they need to be, and there’s too much self-pitying bilge like “I was on my way to tell you it’s no good / I was on my way / chasing my damage” that’s reminiscent of a junior-high-school attempt at “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” but I do like the grounded world view of “I did not take to analysis / So I had to make up my mind.”
LIGHT ME UP
The Pretty Reckless
Never having watched Gossip Girl, I came to this without any preconceived notions of what to expect from Ms. Momsen (Lohan? Clarkson? Duff?). On the evidence, she’s Courtney Love’s smartass kid sister: got a nice line in guitar-based growling, and a clutch of modern-celeb shock stories; “I’m just sixteen if you know what I mean / Do you mind if I take off my dress?” she politely inquires before offering you “anything you need” because she’s “not above having to beg.” Her band slams past any question of irony, leaving that for Momsen’s in-your-face vocals. There’s the usual adolescent melodrama (“Make Me Wanna Die,” “Miss Nothing,”), but also the occasional clear-eyed perspective (“You,” “Just Tonight”). Of course, given precedent, you’d expect rehab by the next album; girl sounds like an awfully ancient seventeen at this point. Still, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she’s crafted a lot of this as much from observation as experience: in other words, she thinks she can handle it. Be interesting to watch, anyway.
AUDIO SECRECY
Stone Sour
I’m not sure that “Digital (Did You Tell)” is any worse a pun than “D’yer Mak’er”, but at least Zep didn’t feel the need to spell it out for you. The droning piano of the title track will feel like the longest 1:43 that you’ve ever sat through, while you wait for the payoff, which comes in the form of a “Mission Statement” in which our hero asks his audience to “tell me who I am” (I doubt that they’re laying out consultant’s fees for helping them with that, though). They’re “Dying,” they’re “Bitter,” they’re “Haunted.” And ain’t we all? Still, there’s something to be said for a band that can work up thundering outrage over the idea of “Nylon.” “This is me, not giving a fuck,” roars Corey Taylor. No, that would be me.
PREPARE THE PREPARATIONS
Ludo
If anyone had told me that there was a band out there whose goal in life was to marry Fountains of Wayne with The Darkness… well, hell, at least it’s an idea, right? Plenty of groups don’t even have that. “Cyborgs vs. Robots” would appear to come down on the side of whichever group is prepared to employ the dinkiest synth sound, and “Whipped Cream”‘s leering tone is almost redeemed by its radio-ready chorus. Ludo seems to take the dictum about success though faking sincerity so much to heart that the occasional lyrical cleverness can get undermined by the “wink wink nudge nudge” surrounding it on tracks like “Rotten Town” and “Overdone”: you’re afraid that as soon as you start taking them seriously, they’re going to pop out of the speakers and yell “Psych!” The girl whose eyes are compared to “All The Stars in Texas” might be somewhat confused by the arch recounting of her swain’s small-time heists, all set to a boogie beat that resembles ZZ Top being played through a Speak N Spell. “Anything For You” lifts an ironic eyebrow at songs of devotion (“I have crossed the astral plane and communed with the dead / But people always seem to want some proof / I got pictures / But I’d give them all up for you“), before going soft in the end (“But the best story that I could ever tell is the one where I am growing old with you“). But after all, no matter how hard you get, when it’s over, we all soften up. Why should these goofballs be any different?
Other Noteworthy 9/7 Releases
Sara Bareilles, Kaleidoscope Heart. She’s “a basket case without you,” and worries that you’ll take a “Machine Gun” to her emotions. Literate, sensitive, more grounded than Tori Amos, more accessible than Kate Bush. But really, wouldn’t a “Kaleidoscope Heart” look pretty weird?
Jerry Lee Lewis, Mean Old Man. I honestly don’t know if this is more of the sessions that produced 2006’s Last Man Standing, but it’s pretty much the same story: The Killer pits what’s left of his voice against a parade of partners (Clapton, Hag, Willie, etc.; with John Mayer and Kid Rock tossed in for the youngsters out there). Lewis may not rock as hard as he once did, but it’s a genial enough outing. My faves are the two “country” Stones covers: “Dead Flowers” with Mick, “Sweet Virginia” with Keef.
Southern Culture On The Skids, The Kudzu Ranch. Rick Miller’s Dick-Dale-Meets-John-Lee-Hooker guitar and Mary Huff’s cheerfully seductive vocals make for a most welcome helping of rocking Southern hospitality, the band’s first album of all-new material in five years. And while the songs are the usual tasty deep-fried fun (“My Neighbor Burns Trash,” “Bad Boys”), with a smidge of socal realism (“Bone Dry Dirt,” “Busy Road”), the instrumental mashup of “Come As You Are” and “Lucifer Sam” is my favorite track of the week.
Jukebox the Ghost, Everything Under the Sun. Is it the piano that makes so much of the smarts sound like snark? Or is it Thornewill’s chirping vocals? Good stuff either way, though: Sparks for norms.
Eden Brent, Ain’t Got No Troubles. Don’t you believe it: this Delta hottie has pretty much the same ol’ hard times as everyone else, but her barrelhouse piano, Dixie arrangements, and unique vocal combination of nasality and throatiness make this one of the best blues albums of the year.
Todd Rundgren, For Lack of Honest Work. Three disks of live Todd, sound quality middling to fine. More Utopia than you (or anyone) needs, but otherwise catches the hits (“It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference,” “Hello It’s Me”) and the shoulda-beens (“Black Maria,” “Want Of A Nail”). Inspirational: “I Hate My Frickin ISP.”
Bachman & Turner, Bachman & Turner. Hey, what happened to “No new crap!”? Simpsons references aside, I’m not generally fond of hearing old bands revisit past glories, but this album surprised me: the poppier aspects of songs like “Takin’ Care of Business” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” are downplayed in favor of a heavier, blues-rocking sound. Nothing you haven’t heard before, but if you’re looking to flick your Bic and do a bit of fist-pumping, these boys got your back.
Steeldrivers, Reckless. Urgent back-country bluegrass and Steve Earle-style ballads. “Guitars, Whiskey, Guns and Knives”– pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?
Brendan James, Brendan James. He’s clever enough to do a Rubik’s Cube, but still “stupid for your love.” And his piano playing is just as sensitive-smart.
Thermals, Personal Life. Finding love worries them; losing it inspires them. In other words, they’re as confused as you and me, but they rock harder.
Helmet, Seeing Eye Dog. You’d look long and hard through the Beatles’ catalog to find a song that would benefit less from being thickened and slowed down than “And Your Bird Can Sing.” But that’s what you get when you ditch the majors to self-release: there’s no one to call you out on your crap. At least “White City” isn’t the Pogues song, and “Welcome to Algiers” is kinda catchy.
Megadeth, Rust In Peace: Live. 20th anniversary live performance of Rust in Peace, plus a few other faves. For better or worse, the week’s most self-recommending release.
THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 7th 2010
GROUP EDITED by: TROY ANDERSON
SECTION by: Troy Anderson
THE OFFICE: SEASON SIX
Brought forth by: Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and others
NBC/Universal/Sheinhardt Wig Company
CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!
Special Features
- Episode Commentary: Commentaries featuring the cast and crew of The
Office on episodes such as “The Promotion,” “Niagara,” “The Lover,”
“Murder,” “Secret Santa,” “Sabre,” “The Delivery” and “Happy Hour.” - More than Four Hours of Deleted Scenes
- Two Extended Episodes
- Blooper Reel
- “Podcast” Minisode: In the exclusive version of the minisode
“Podcast,” Gabe (Zach Woods) tries to impress corporate by recording a
podcast for the Sabre website. However, his plans for a small
meaningful, profile of Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) quickly unravel as the
rest of the office forces Gabe to become the reluctant host of a late
night style talk show. - Welcome to Sabre Featurette: Full-screen version of the corporate welcome video starring Kathy Bates and Christian Slater
- The Office Promos: Dwight’s Tribute to Canada & My Favorite Memories
The Office: Season Six started stronger than last season.
