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Noteworthy DVDs released 8/3/10
PICK OF THE WEEK “The First Films of Akira Kurosawa” (Eclipse): Last year’s expensive “AK 100” box set contained only four Kurosawa films that were not available elsewhere — now Criterion has bundled them together for a no-frills set aimed at collectors who already owned “Seven Samurai” and the rest.
OTHER TOP PICKS “A Prophet” (Sony): Last year’s French crime saga, thought by many to deserve the Best Foreign Language Oscar, arrives on DVD and Blu- ray.
The King: In what would have been his 75th year, Warner is putting out the umpteenth collection of Elvis Presley’s films, the 17-movie “Elvis 75th Anniversary DVD Collection,” along with “Elvis On Tour.”
“Errol Flynn Adventures” (Warner Bros.): A quintet of new-to-DVD Flynn vehicles from the ’40s, including “Desperate Journey,” in which he co-starred with Ronald Reagan.
Schlockfest: Shout! Factory is the latest company to take its turn churning Roger Corman’s filmography onto disc — and with “Humanoids From The Deep” and “Piranha,” they’re the first to do it on Blu-ray.
FRESH FROM THE MULTIPLEX “After.Life” (Anchor Bay); “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” (Fox); “The Ghost Writer” (Summit); “Kick-Ass” (Lions Gate)
NEW ON BLU-RAY “The Breakfast Club” (Universal); “Escape from New York,” “Kalifornia” (MGM); “Charlie’s Angels” (Sony); “James and the Giant Peach” (Walt Disney); “Piranha” (Shout! Factory); “Road to Perdition” (Paramount)
ARTHOUSE/FOREIGN Shaw Brothers’ “The Duel” and “Shaolin Prince” (FUNimation); “Patterns Trilogy with Other Short Films,” “Towards Zero” (Zeitgeist)
FROM THE VAULTS Ava Gardner and James Mason in “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” (Kino); “The Kim Novak Film Collection” (Sony); Also, Universal is quietly delivering an odd assortment of oldies to disc this week, from the best-forgotten (“The All-Nighter”?) to the respectable (the theatrical adaptation “‘Night Mother”). Bizarrely, early reports say the studio will release some of these in pan-and-scan only, greatly diminishing their value for the few folks likely to pay for them.
DOCUMENTARIES “The Dungeon Masters” (FilmBuff); “Sweetgrass” (Cinema Guild); “Tapped” (Disinformation)
TV-ON-DVD “Days That Shook The World” Complete Series (BBC); “Hawaii Five-O” Season 9 (Paramount); “Henson’s Place: The Man Behind The Muppets” (Lions Gate); “Heroes,” Season 4, “Mercy” Complete Series, “Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell” Vol. 3 (Universal); “Lytton’s Diary” Complete Collection, “Monarchy with David Starkey” Complete Series (Acorn Media)
STRAIGHT(ISH) TO VIDEO “Blood Done Sign My Name” (Image); “Finding Bliss” (Phase 4); Jesse Eisenberg and Jim Gaffigan in “The Living Wake” (Breaking Glass Pictures)
KIDS’ STUFF “Curious George: Back to School” (Universal); “Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure” (Nickelodeon); “Back to School with Franklin,” “Mist Sheepdog Tales: Top Dog,” “Timothy Goes to School: The Great Race” (Phase 4); “The Rosemary Wells Collection” (Scholastic); “Sesame Street: P is for Princess” (Warner Bros.); “Veggie Tales: Sweetpea Beauty” (Vivendi); “Wubbzy Goes to School” (Anchor Bay)
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