ClubHooligan.com - Burning it up at both ends

Web posted January 10, 2008

New on Video&DVD

DAVID GERMAIN
Selected home-video releases

'3:10 to Yuma' clocks in on DVD

ll Crowe and Christian Bale bring the Western back to the big screen with class and style in this compelling remake of the 1957 Glenn Ford tale. Crowe stars as a flamboyant outlaw captured by the law, with Bale a financially ailing farmer who hires on to help escort the bad guy through rough country where they face threats from Indians and a gang of Crowe accomplices aiming to spring their boss. The DVD has deleted scenes, a handful of featurettes and commentary with director James Mangold. The Blu-ray high-definition release comes with those extras plus more detailed making-of segments, including a featurette on the effect of the railroad on 19th century America and a conversation with Elmore Leonard, whose short story was the basis for both films. DVD, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.99.

'Sunshine'

The end of the world is at hand in Danny Boyle's sci-fi saga set 50 years from now, when the sun is dying and a band of astronauts sets out on a daring last-gasp mission to re-ignite the fading star. Cillian Murphy leads an ensemble cast as the scientist who developed the bomb that the crew aims to deliver into the sun, with Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Troy Garity and Rose Byrne co-starring as fellow space travelers. The DVD and Blu-ray releases have a huge batch of deleted scenes - including an alternate ending - all accompanied by commentary from director Boyle. Other extras include a collection of production-diary segments for the Web offering behind-the-scenes glimpses of the film. DVD, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98.

'Zodiac: The Director's Cut'

David Fincher's very long dramatization about the 1970s serial slayer known as the Zodiac Killer grows even longer in this extended version that clocks in at nearly three hours. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a newspaper cartoonist obsessed with uncovering the identity of the killer, whose string of unsolved slayings terrorized the San Francisco area. Co-starring are Robert Downey Jr. as a newsman and Mark Ruffalo as a police detective also on the trail of the killer. DVD set, $36.99; HD DVD, $39.99.

TV on DVD:

"Two and a Half Men: The Complete Second Season" - Charlie Sheen returns as a guy trying to maintain his swinging bachelor lifestyle while sharing a home with his divorced brother and 11-year-old nephew. DVD set, $44.98.

"The Waltons: The Complete Sixth Season" - The Depression is coming to an end, but World War II looms for the wholesome Walton clan. DVD set, $39.98.

"Gunsmoke: The Second Season, Volume 1" - James Arness is back as lawman Matt Dillon in the Western series that debuted in the 1950s and ran a phenomenal 20 seasons. DVD set, $36.99.

"Lovejoy: The Complete Season Two" - Another Western TV star, Ian McShane of "Deadwood," previously played an antiques dealer who solved crimes on the side in the British series that debuted in the mid-1980s. DVD set, $49.98.

"MI-5: Volume 5" - The spy series centered on operatives of Britain's intelligence agency carries on with a five-disc set. DVD set, $79.98.