By far, the biggest release this week is The Dark Knight Rises, the ambitious, overstuffed, flawed, and yet nonetheless entertaining conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. An unused poster for The Dark Knight Rises can be seen in the header image above. You can buy The Dark Knight Rises on its own, or all three of Nolan’s Batman films in a trilogy set. There’s a fancy limited edition that comes with a broken Bat cowl statuette.
The other big new releases are the indie darling Beasts of the Southern Wild, the horror anthology V/H/S, the oddly un-kid-friendly The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and the Astroglide alternative Butter. I’m also intrigued by the documentary on Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, which I missed in theaters but wanted to check out.
On the re-release side, lots of cool animation. Will Vinton’s 1985 claymation classic The Adventures of Mark Twain hits DVD and Blu-ray. This movie was a favorite of mine when I was just a wee lad, and I’ve included a memorable and creepy scene after the cut. A new edition of Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Ninja Scroll comes out as well, a favorite of mine when you could still call anime “Japanimation” without being laughed at, mocked, and run out of town. There are also multi-disc editions of Finding Nemo and Up.
Rounding out releases, there’s a new embiggened version of Cameron Crowe’s doc Pearl Jam Twenty, Gamera and Godzilla flicks, and Blu-ray debuts for the Criterion Collection’s version of Brazil, Catch Me If You Can, Blue Angel, eXistenZ, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. With the last one, it’s just the movie, not the MST3K episode. Why anyone would watch that movie without Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow, I have no idea.
Take a look at the new releases on DVD and Blu-ray after the cut.
New Releases
12/12/12 (DVD, Blu-ray)
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (DVD, Blu-ray)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (DVD, Blu-ray)
Bleach the Movie: Hell Verse (DVD, Blu-ray)
Butter (DVD, Blu-ray)
The Dark Knight Rises (DVD, Blu-ray)
The Dark Knight Trilogy (Batman Begins / The Dark Knight / The Dark Knight Rises) (DVD, Blu-ray)
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (DVD, Blu-ray)
Herbert Grönemeyer – Herbert Grönemeyer (Blu-ray)
Lady Antebellum – Own the Night World Tour (DVD, Blu-ray)
Last Ounce of Courage (DVD, Blu-ray)
The Odd Life of Timothy Green (DVD, Blu-ray)
Sexion d’Assaut – L’Apogee a Bercy (Blu-ray)
Silent Night (DVD, Blu-ray)
Thunderstruck (DVD, Blu-ray)
V/H/S (DVD, Blu-ray)
Wu Dang (DVD, Blu-ray)
Re-releases
The Adventures of Mark Twain – Collector’s Edition (DVD, Blu-ray)
The Blue Angel: Remastered Standard Edition (Blu-ray)
Brazil [Criterion Collection] (Blu-ray)
Catch Me If You Can (Blu-ray)
Comic Book Confidential: 20th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)
Decasia (Plus: Light is Calling) (Blu-ray)
eXistenZ (Blu-ray)
Finding Nemo – Five-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition (DVD, Blu-ray)
Finding Nemo – Three-Disc Collector’s Edition (DVD, Blu-ray)
Francis Ford Coppola: Five-Film Collection (Apocalypse Now / Apocalypse Now Redux / One From the Heart / Tetro / The Conversation) (Blu-ray)
Gamera the Brave (Blu-ray)
Godzilla vs. Biollante (DVD, Blu-ray)
Hope Springs (DVD, Blu-ray)
Hostel & Hostel II – Double Feature (Blu-ray)
Last Breath (Blu-ray)
Ninja Scroll (DVD, Blu-ray)
Oklahoma! (Hugh Jackman stage production) (Blu-ray)
Pearl Jam Twenty – Three-Disc Deluxe Edition (DVD, Blu-ray)
Psychotica (Blu-ray)
Purple Noon [Criterion Collection] (DVD, Blu-ray)
Ritual: Tales From the Crypt (Blu-ray)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: Remastered Edition (Blu-ray)
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over / Adventures of Sharkboy (Blu-ray)
Suddenly (Blu-ray)
Tell No One (DVD, Blu-ray)
Up – Five-Disc Combo (DVD, Blu-ray)
Westerns Unchained (25 Films) (Blu-ray)
