SPEND YOUR MONEY!

NEW RELEASES

*Blu-Ray prices are in BOLD
BLUE
     
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World                                                     $17.99  $24.99
Charlie St. Cloud                                                                   $17.99  $24.99
Grown Ups                                                                            $16.99  $19.99   $24.99

Get Him to the Greek                                                            $16.99  $22.99
Ramona and Beezus                                                              $13       $22.99

The Pacific                                                                            $44.99  $64.99
Diary of a Wimpy Kid                                                          $13  $19.99
Marmaduke                                                                          $13  $19.99
Moulin Rouge                                                                       $19.99
Romeo and Juliet (1996)                                                       $19.99

DVD SALE

$9

Spider-Man 3
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Easy Rider
Facing the Giants
Jerry Maguire / A Few Good Men
50 First Dates / Mr. Deeds
Air Force One / In the Line of Fire

BLU-RAY sale

$14.99

9
Quantum of Solace
Green Zone
This is It
Sherlock Holmes
District 9
Couples Retreat
The Wolfman (2010)

$22.99

Beauty and the Beast

CHRISTMAS DVD SALE

$7.99

Spongebob Squarepants: Christmas

$9.99

Elf
A Christmas Story

$12.99

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Animated)

$14.99

White Christmas
It’s a Wonderful Life

$16.99

Original Christmas Classics (Rankin and Bass)

———————————————–

NEW RELEASES

*Blu-Ray prices are in BOLD
BLUE
   
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World                                                     $17.99  $26.99
Charlie St. Cloud                                                                   $17.99  $26.99
Grown Ups                                                                            $16.99  $19.99   $25.99
Iron Man 2                                                                           $19.99   $27.99 

Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam                     $12.99   $19.99
Ramona and Beezus                                                              $19.99   $26.99
Toy Story 3                                                                          $19.99     $34.99  
Big Daddy                                                                             $14.99
Mr. Deeds                                                                             $14.99

Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series                                $54.99  $64.99 
The Pacific                                                                           $54.99  $64.99 
Tremors                                                                                $14.99 
Boondocks: The Complete Third Season                               $34.99
Sex and the City 2                                                                 $14.99

DVD Sale

$3.49

Rush Hour 3
A Time to Kill
Risky Business
The Pelican Brief
Friday After Next

$14.99

Predator
Get Him to the Greek
Robin Hood (2010)
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

BLU-RAY sale

$7.99

Crank
Planet Hulk
3:10 to Yuma (2007)

$9.99

The Spirit
Stargate
The Transporter 3

$12.99

Precious
Brothers
From Paris with Love

$19.99

Predator
Get Him to the Greek
Robin Hood (2010)
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
Last of the Mohicans
Sex and the City 2

TV on DVD SALE

Californication: Season 3                           $27.99    
Lie to Me: Season 2                                  $39.99
Metalocalypse: Season 3                           $22.99

$14.99

Futurama: Volume 4

$19.99

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 4
How I Met Your Mother: Season 2
The Unit: Season 4
24: Season 7

Video Game
Sales

Target

Call of Duty: Black Ops

$59.99

Best Buy

Call of Duty: Black Ops

$59.99
$79.99
$149.99

K-Mart

Call of Duty: Black Ops

$59.99

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

Antichrist (Criterion Collection)
The Battle Of The River Plate AKA Pursuit Of The Graf Spee
Bill Moyers: Genesis – A Living Conversation (Athena)
Bill Moyers: On Faith And Reason (Athena)
Bing Crosby: The Television Specials, Vol. 2 – The Christmas Specials
Californication: The Third Season
Californication: A 3-Season Pack
Charlie St. Cloud
The Chosen One (2010)
The Chronicles Of Narnia (BBC 1988)
Circus (PBS)
Comic Party Revolution: The Complete Series (S.A.V.E. Edition)
Cuba: The Accidental Eden (PBS)
Damned By Dawn
DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam! The Return Of Black Adam
Death Of A Snowman
Detroit Metal City
Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series
The Elia Kazan Collection: Selected By Martin Scorsese
5K1
The Four-Faced Liar
The Golden Girls: 25th Anniversary Complete Collection
Grown Ups
Hell’s Kitchen: Season Four
Hi-5: Complete Series
Hide And Go Kill
Hide And Go Kill 2
Hunt To Kill
I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale
Ice Blues: A Donald Strachey Mystery
Knucklehead
Ladies And Gentlemen … The Rolling Stones (Deluxe Edition)
Lie To Me: The Complete Second Season
Light Gradient
Locked Down
Love Ranch
Lovely, Still
Men Of A Certain Age: The Complete First Season
Metalocalypse: Season Three – The Dead Man
My Super Psycho Sweet 16 2 (DVD-R)
Mystery Science Theater 3000, Vol. XIX
Nikkatsu Roman Porno Trailer Collection
Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Puppet Master Collection
Ramona And Beezus
Rivals
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! The Complete Series
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics
Shaolin Rescuers (Shaw Brothers)
Sherlock: Season One
Shinsengumi Chronicles: I Want To Die A Samurai
Singin’ In The Rain
Soul Of The Sword (Shaw Brothers)
STOMP: Ultimate Collection – STOMP Live/STOMP Out Loud/Pulse
The Super Hero Squad Show, Vol. 2: Quest For The Infinity Sword!
Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives
Tree Of Heaven
Tsubasa: Season Two (Box Set)
Whale Wars: Season Three (Animal Planet)
Xam’d, Collection 2

BLU-RAY: IT’S
GETTING CHEAPER

Antichrist (Criterion Collection)
Charlie St. Cloud
The Chosen One (2010)
A Christmas Carol (1984 TV Movie)
The Christmas Collection: Home Alone 2/A Christmas Carol (1984)/Miracle On 34th Street (1994)/Jingle All The Way
Circus (PBS)
Cuba: The Accidental Eden (PBS)
Damned By Dawn
DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam! The Return Of Black Adam
Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series
5K1
Grown Ups
Grown Ups (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Holiday Classics Collection: A Christmas Carol (1984)/Miracle On 34th Street (1994)
Hunt To Kill
Knucklehead
Locked Down
Love Ranch
Metalocalypse: Season Three – The Dead Man
Ocean’s 11 (50th Anniversary Edition)
Ramona And Beezus (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Robin-B-Hood (Dragon Dynasty)
Rock And Rule (25th Anniversary Edition)
Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 Collection
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Sherlock: Season One
Tremors
The Two Escobars
Xam’d, Collection 2

MUSIC

Section by Jeb D.

LADY KILLER

Cee-Lo Green

BUY IT FROM AMAZON!

OK, so Harry Nilsson beat him to “Fuck You” by about thirty years; he’s still got enough musical imagination to dream of a world where Curtis Mayfield, Duran Duran, and Bill Withers are puttin’ the moves on a bevy of Bond babes. With the finger-snapping noir of “Bodies”  the brassy, straightforward plea of “I Want You,” the confident Motown swing of “It’s OK” and “Satisfied,” and the revved-up Prince-meets-007 of “The Ladykiller Theme,” Lady Killer is a dizzying ride through a history of soul music that never actually was, and a modern peek at a version of hip-hop that doesn’t quite exist anywhere outside Green’s ears.  He gets great mileage out of his guest stars: Belgium’s Selah Sue offers intense back-and-forth support on the yearning “Please,” and Philip Bailey is as creamy-smooth as you could hope on “Fool for You.” Green’s own vocals are brash and bold throughout; among other things, he gets more out of Band of Horses’ “No One’s Gonna Love You” than they put into it.  And let’s not overlook some simple, but sharp, lyric writing: “The truth is inconvenient“? Say that again, dude. Honestly, after working through the fifteen tracks on this album a few times, I’m not sure that “Fuck You” isn’t actually the least interesting cut here. Up there with Aloe Blacc and Janelle Monae among the year’s best R&B releases.

MAYHEM

Imelda May

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The surface trappings are rockabilly: Bettie Page outfits, standup bass, and guitarist Darrell Higham (May’s husband), who fronted several of the 80’s British neo-quiff bands that emerged in the wake of the Stray Cats. But this Irish lass with the big bodhran and bigger voice isn’t beholden to a single genre: there’s more grit than whine in her singing (at times she recalls predecessors as diverse as Julie London and Pat Benatar), and Higham’s playing these days leans more toward crunch and slash than twang. The sharp songwriting incorporates tough R&B (“Eternity”), sultry torch (“Bury My Troubles,” “All For You”), a touch of country (“Proud and Humble”), and some straight-ahead pop, including the gorgeous “Kentish Town Waltz,” a reaffirmation of May and Higham’s love in the face of adversity, and a song that you could easily imagine having come from a collaboration between Chrissie Hynde and Shane MacGowan. That’s not to say that May and her boys can’t get real real gone when it suits them (“Psycho,” “Sneaky Freak,” and the high-energy cover of “Tainted Love”) but the expertly-deployed musical touches like jazz trumpet (“Inside Out”) and ska horns (“Mayhem”) are the kind of thing that separate original talents from genre revivalists. I don’t know that I like the idea of including the remix of her hit “Johnny Got A Boom Boom,” from last year’s Love Tattoo: it’s an insanely catchy song, but putting it on two albums in a row could give the mistaken impression of a one-trick pony. One other caveat: right now, even though it’s supposedly a domestic release for 11/9, Amazon is only showing the CD at the import price of $23, with no download option. I suspect that will change shortly.

BAD BOOKS

Bad Books

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Manchester Orchestra meets Brand New for indie-folk fun. Kevin Devine and Andy Hull blend their (remarkably similar) voices in their own little mini-supergroup. The opener, “How This All Ends,” sets the tone: a precocious world-weariness that only occasionally tips over into cheap cynicism (“I Begged You Everything”). The sound is usually subdued, sometimes just the two singers and guitars, but when the Manchester Orchestra cranks it up behind them (“Baby Shoes,” “Please Move”), the album moves into more propulsive territory (the Beach Boys touches of “Holding Down The Laughter” are a nice surprise). Pick to click is the single, “You Wouldn’t Have To Ask,” driven by chiming guitars. Unfortunately, those few helpings of musical variety are spread too thinly around the album: neither Devine or Hull is a strong enough singer to compel attention without the full band textures, and constructing songs around lyrics like “The chemicals are coursing through our bloodstreams at incongruous rates” isn’t helping.  We end on a little trip through the southwest, with the isolated, wide-open spaces of “Mesa, AZ” and “Texas,” which ratchet the uber-sensitivity meter all the way up to twee. Fans of the two singer/songwriters will want to check out their latest; others can probably give it a miss.

EL JUSTICIERO, CHA, CHA, CHA-A TRIBUTE TO OS MUTANTES

Various Artists

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On the one hand, I love the fact that the bands performing this tribute to the veteran Brazilian psychedelic rockers are pretty much all new to me. On the other hand, what was once spontaneous (Os Mutantes came up with their name just as they were going onstage for an early performance) and revolutionary (Brazil in the 60’s and 70’s was not a comfortable time for anti-establisment drug-enhanced trippiness) feels a bit forced and sterile out of its original context: the very notion of a “tribute” album seems a little stuffy for a group whose outlook was so “in the moment,” and whose membership shifted so often and abruptly (and tragically: drug abuse and institutionalization were responsible for as many personnel changes as artistic differences). And, of course, my not knowing Portuguese doesn’t help with some of the songs (obviously something of an obstacle with the originals, too). There are some lovely high points, though: Rosal’s “Hey Boy” is light and seductive; Martin Buscaglia’s “Shaft”/”Superfly” arrangement make “Beso Exagerado” a canny look back at the musical scene of Os Mutante’s heyday as well as an irresistable dance track; and on “El Justiciero,” Omar Giammarco links the dangers that Os Mutantes faced from a repressive government with the today’s real-world politics. And, really, how many tribute albums stand on their own all that well in the first place?  Their principal usefulness is getting the listener excited enough to seek out the originals, and El Justiciero, Cha, Cha, Cha does that. The fact that it also gets you excited to seek out other work from these performers (in addition to the ones I cited, I’m going to be looking for more from Cafe Tacviba, Fito Paez, Aterciopelados, and La Chicana) is a nice bonus.

Other Notable 11/9 Releases

Viva ELVIS- The Album. You know what I think Elvis would have said about Cirque Du Solieil remixing his music all to shit? He’d probably have said “What the hell kind of circus ain’t got no elephants?”

Various Artists, Q: Soul Bossa Nostra. Grand tour of Quincy Jones’ lengthy career as a writer, producer, arranger, and bandleader, with folks like Jennifer Hudson, Snoop Dogg, and Wyclef Jean crooning and cooing and rapping over newly-recorded versions of classics that Jones originally produced and/or co-wrote, from the theme to the TV series Ironside, to pop hits like “Give Me The Night” and “Strawberry Letter 23.” I just can’t get past the auto-tune that mars performances like T-Pain and Robin Thicke on “P.Y.T.”; Snoop Dogg’s “Get The Funk Out My Face” is disappointingly bland; and the attempt by Ludacris to reclaim “Soul Bossa Nova” (here retitled “Soul Bossa Nostra”) from Austin Powers falls pretty flat. But there’s a few listenable gems: T.I., B.o.B., Prince Charlez, and Mohombi have great fun with the theme to “Sanford And Son,” and not only is Amy Winehouse evidently still alive, she provides the album’s funniest moments with a sloppy-drunk turn on Leslie Gore’s “It’s My Party.”

Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd, An Introduction to Syd Barrett. You don’t have to persuaded that Barrett was a genius (I’m not) to be interested in learning why so many people think he was, so here’s the story, for the first time combining his early Pink Floyd stuff with material from his solo albums in one collection. David Gilmour has remixed several of the cuts, and even added some subtle new touches of bass and guitar, which actually works against the roughness that made The Madcap Laughs feel so intimate and raw. That’s a small complaint, though; having “Arnold Layne,” “See Emily Play,” “Terrapin” and “Here I Go” all on one album makes me wonder if I ought to rethink my position on his genius.

Jamiroquai, Rock Dust Light Star. You know all the feverish, dance-floor funk that you didn’t hear on the Quincy Jones tribute album? Look no further.

Kid Cudi, Man On The Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager. Sharp, clever song cycle on the perils of getting what you wish for, set to a fascinating grab-bag of beats, sounds, and samples.

Gwar, Bloody Pit of Horror. Grrr. Arrrgh.

Cassandra Wilson, Silver Pony. The woman’s got a great voice, and her albums are always produced to the nines. But, really, this is Sade for people who think pop music is beneath them.

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Diamonds In The Dirt. Can a skinny blond girl from Birmingham pack up her Telecaster, move to Detroit, and rock the shit outta the blues? Um… yeah, actually.

Wyatt/ Atzmon/ Stephen, For the Ghosts Within. Talk about an artist with faith in the power of love and living: Robert Wyatt is the man who wound up in a wheelchair for life after a drunken fall off a hotel balcony, and came back singing “I’m A Believer.” The album is structured as a song cycle, incorporating a haunting blend of standards and originals, with Wyatt’s unique voice (think a less polished Antony Hegarty) backed by saxophonist/composer Gilad Atzmon and violinist/composer Ros Stephen.

Salome, Terminal. A metal band with no bassist needs to have a few tricks up its sleeve, and these folks certainly do. One of them involves a seventeen-minute tribute to Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music. Neat.

Josh Groban, Illuminations. On the odd chance that anyone cares, this guy can really sing.

Dio, At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987. And so it begins…

Various Artists, Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn. Tributes to artists who are principally singers, not songwriters, can be even less focused than most, but the good ones produce a few gems you probably didn’t expect. This time out, it’s the White Stripes on “Rated X” and Paramore’s Hayley Willams on “You Ain’t Woman Enough.”

Cradle Of Filth, Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa. Says here that COF “have continually refused to bow to convention or to conform to prevalent trends and fads.” Well, sure, no one else out there is playing metal with dark themes of blood, death and sexual excess.

Helloween, 7 Sinners. “Are You Metal?” “Who is Mr. Madman?” These and other vital questions answered in metallic terms. 

Amazon $5 Albums

Each month, Amazon offers a collection of 100 new and catalog album downloads for just $5 each. This month’s selections include recent releases from Bruno Mars, Wolf Parade, and Ra Ra Riot, catalog favorites from Arcade Fire and Radiohead, and hits collections from Sinatra, Prince, and more.

CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS
Activision
360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS
11/9
MSRP: $59.99/$49.99 Wii/$29.99 DS

CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM AMAZON!

Now that Treyarch is no longer the second string COD team, maybe we might actually get a polished single player campaign out of these guys. Considering they had two years to work on this, and they managed to get a new, uber-realistic engine made JUST for this game and some A-class actors to do voicework, there’s no excuse otherwise for the same level of detail to go into the campaign, especially if they’ve been listening at all to the earful Infinity Ward got for that lip-service single player experience Modern Warfare 2 got.

THE SLY COLLECTION
Sony
PS3
11/9
MSRP: $39.99

CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM AMAZON!

I’ve never been a fan of Sony’s first party platformers. They have the charm and attitude right, but the gameplay has always had far too much focus on collecting nuts, bolts, sparks, rings, dildos, etc to the point where actually getting interesting mechanics of environments to use your ill gotten booty on seemed like an afterthought. However, I’ve only played bits and pieces of the first two Sly Cooper games, and got the impression each time that these were something special as opposed to the Ratchets and Jaks of the world. It’s just by poor luck that I always stumble upon them when I’m playing, say, Psychonauts, or Mario 64 for the umpteenth time. So, I definitely approve of getting the chance to revisit these in sexy HD. If you have the money to find out if the 3DTV and PS Move support is worth it, can I borrow some?

Sidenote: FUCK YOU, EUROPE.

OOOHHHH: ON THE DLC TIP

GUWANGE
Cave
XBox Live Arcade
11/10
800 MS pts

It’s a Cave shooter. You know what you’re getting into. Just remember: Throw your controller left, or right. NOT directly toward the TV.

ROCK BAND TUESDAY

Bon Jovi Greatest Hits: Rock Band Edition ($19.99/1600 MS pts)

• Bad Medicine
• Blaze of Glory
• Have a Nice Day
• I’ll Be There For You
• It’s My Life
• Lay Your Hands On Me
• Livin’ on a Prayer (RB3 version) X
• Runaway X
• Wanted Dead or Alive (RB3 version) X
• We Weren’t Born to Follow
• Who Says You Can’t Go Home
• You Give Love a Bad Name (RB3 version) X

Deftones – My Own Summer (Shove It) X
New Order – Blue Monday X
Talking Heads – Burning Down the House X

$1.99/160 MS pts per track
X-Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansion available for 99 cents/80 MS pts

Like always, it seems, Harmonix doesn’t fuck around with the DLC list when a new game hits. My Own Summer has been a long time coming, and I can only imagine Harmonix sat on that track so long just so they could slap the Pro expansion on it and get players learning one of the greatest ominous riffs in modern metal from jump. I’m weird in that I actually prefer the Orgy cover to the original Blue Monday, and I assure you that’s the last time you’ll hear me say I prefer anything about Orgy, but it’s still a groovy track, especially for this game. You’ll start hearing parties of people drunkenly chanting Burning Down The House for miles on Tuesday.

Also, Bon Jovi.

The Week of November 9th, 2010

GROUP EDITED by: TROY ANDERSON

DVD/BR
SECTION by: Troy Anderson

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

Director: Edgar Wright
Universal

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

Special Features

• Four Audio Commentaries
• Trivia Track
• Deleted and alternate scenes with commentary from Edgar Wright
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the Bloopers
• Behind-the-scenes photo galleries including Edgar Wright’s photo blog
• Galleries: production photos, art galleries and marketing concepts

• U-Control: Storyboard picture-in-picture
• Visual effects
• Sound work
• Adult Swim™: Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation
• Scott Pilgrim vs the Censors: TV-safe version
• Behind-the-scenes production blogs by Edgar Wright from the set of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Trailers and TV spots
• Pocket Blu
• BD-Live
• Insider documentaries
• Alternate footage: A special look at alternative edits to the film
• Pre-production: A look inside the film’s pre-production process
  including storyboards, pre-visualizations, animatics, motion capture
  tests, rehearsal footage, casting tapes, hair/make-up tests and more
• The Music of Scott Pilgrim vs. the world: including four complete music videos and video remixes from legendary DJ Osymyso

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World proves that the CHUD curse still exists. This website can take a beloved geek property and pimp it to levels that it can never achieve with a mainstream audience. Does that mean it was a terrible film? Oh no, it’s solid as hell until you hit the Roxy Richter sequence. Everything from Richter’s introduction to the final compromised ending feels like Wright was overwhelmed by the material. The film still works for the first hour and you get the closest adaptation to the original Oni graphic novels. The entire cast synched with the characters and you couldn’t help but smile when you first saw that title card read Knives Chau – Age 17.

THE ELIA KAZAN COLLECTION
Director: Elia Kazan

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT AT AMAZON!

Special Features

The Elia Kazan Collection continues the proud tradition of FOX working its classic titles like no one else in the business. Sure, they don’t always include the best special features…but, they’re trying. Working together with Warner Brothers and SONY, Martin Scorsese helped to guide FOX through the production of this boxset. Viva Zapata, Wild River and America, America are making their DVD debuts in this release which stretches across 18 discs through 1945-1963. I would’ve liked to see some of Kazan’s later work in the 1970s, as well as the material he worked on with his son. But, I guess we’re going to have to wait for Archival releases for those films. In the end, it works as a nice counterpiece to Fox’s Murnau/Borzage and Ford collections.

ANTICHRIST: CRITERION COLLECTION
director: Lars von Trier