Paramount Pictures hits the waves with HAWAII FIVE-0: THE COMPLETE SERIES (review)

Hit the waves with new millenium's McGarrett and Danno in the 2010-2020 reboot of HAWAII FIVE-0 when Navy SEAL Steve McGarrett assembles a team with a New Jersey detective, an ex-cop fired for corruption, and an academy graduate to take on the island's most dangerous criminals and international terrorists.

REVIEW LINK: Paramount Pictures (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

HAWAII FIVE-0: THE COMPLETE SERIES DVD specs: 

• Ten complete seasons on fifty-nine dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Surround Audio
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround on season one
• Optional English SDH Subtitles on all seasons 
• Optional French subtitles on season one
  
• Optional Spanish subtitles on seasons one through four
• Optional Portuguese subtitles on seasons one through six
  
• Thirteen episode commentaries with the cast and crew
• Deleted, extended, and alternate scenes for several episodes
• Gag reels for every season
• Season overview featurettes
• Additional featurettes on effects, stuntwork, etc.
• Original series episode "Hookman"
• Exclusive bonus DVD featuring "Looking Back: The Cast Celebrates 10 Seasons" ten part featurette,
  "Celebrating 50 Years of Hawaii Five-0", "All for One" music video, "Ohana" music video

 

88 Films and Jackie Chan battle SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN (review)

Jackie Chan plays a mute young monk in a Shaolin temple who is dismissed as hopeless until he trains under a prisoner monk, not realizing that the man is the leader of a deadly group of bandits who will wreak vengeance upon the temple unless he can use the man's own fighting skills against him.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (alternate mix), and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Asian cinema expert Brandon Bentley
• Audio Commentary by Hong Kong cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
• "Rick Baker on Shaolin Wooden Men" interview
• "Shaolin Chamber of Death: How Trans-Global Pictures brought Jackie Chan to Britain"
• Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer
• English Theatrical Trailer
• Japanese Theatrical Trailer
• Japanese TV Spot
• Further Attractions
• Reversible cover with brand-new artwork from R.P. "Kung Fu Bob" O'Brien and alternative Hong Kong poster artwork
• The first pressing includes a limited edition slipcover, set of 4 double-sided art cards, and A3 foldout poster.
  

88 Films resurrects the Dragon with Jackie Chan's NEW FIST OF FURY (review)

THE BIG BOSS/FIST OF FURY producer/director Lo Wei handpicked Jackie Chan to be the next Bruce Lee which proved to ber a bad fit in spite of Chan going on to become a martial arts superstar.  In this early effort NEW FIST OF FURY, Chan plays a Taiwanese street thief who may be the only hope of avenging the Dragon's death at the hands of Japanese occupiers.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

NEW FIST OF FURY Blu-ray specs:

• 1976 Mandarin Cut (2 hours):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Mandarin and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Asian cinema expert Brandon Bentley and artist/Hong Kong cinema expert R.P. “Kung Fu Bob” O’Brien
• Audio Commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Andrew Staton
  
• 1980 Cantonese Cut (82 minutes):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Cantonese and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
  
• Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer
• English Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover with original Hong Kong poster artwork and brand-new artwork from R.P. “Kung Fu Bob” O’Brien
• The first print run includes a slipcover with brand-new artwork from R.P. “Kung Fu Bob” O’Brien and an extensive booklet by Bruce Lee Historian and Martial Arts movie reviewer for Martial Arts Illustrated and World of Martial Arts magazines Andrew Staton.
  

Scorpion Releasing mounts P.O.W. THE ESCAPE (review)

David Carradine takes a Chuck Norris roll as a colonel who takes a unit into Vietnam to rescue prisoners of war who will officially be declared "missing in action" if they do not survive in this Cannon war pic from the makers of AMERICAN NINJA.

REVIEW LINK: Scorpion Releasing (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

P.O.W. THE ESCAPE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Interview with director Gideon Amir
• Interview with screenwriter James Bruner
• Interview with stunt coordinator Steve Lambert
• Theatrical Trailer
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers

Exclusively available from Ronin Flix.

Scorpion Releasing sounds the alarm for DEF-CON 4 (review)

After launching a nuclear missile in the midst of a conflict between the US and the USSR, an American satellite station flight crew find their ship repogrammed to head back to an Earth they no longer recognize in this Canadian post-apocalyptic pic from New Wold Pictures.

REVIEW LINK: Scorpion Releasing (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

DEF-CON 4 Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Interview with composer Christopher Young
• Theatrical Trailer
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers
• Reversible Cover
  

Montage Pictures captures THE PAINTED BIRD (Review)

A young boy wanders a hellish Eastern European landscape in search of his parents in the brutal Czech drama THE PAINTED BIRD based on the novel by Polish author Jerzy Kosinski (BEING THERE).

REVIEW LINK: Montage Pictures/Eureka Video (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE PAINTED BIRD Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.40:1 Widescreen
• Czech DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English Subtitles
• "11 Colours: The Making of The Painted Bird" making-of documentary (125 mins) 
• Stills Gallery
• The first 1,000 copies come with a limited O-card slipcase and a collector’s booklet featuring an essay on the film by Jason Wood
  

88 Films celebrates NEW YEAR'S EVIL (review)

Cannon Films rings in the New Year with this eighties slasher in which a popular music DJ is hosting a New Year's Eve music show when she begins receiving phone calls from a psychopathic killer who promises to kill one victim at midnight in each time zone and that she will be the final victim.  HAPPY DAYS' Roz Kelly and HARDBODIES' Grant Cramer star.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

NEW YEAR'S EVIL Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Emmett Alston
• Audio Commentary by The Hysteria Continues
• Audio Commentary by journalist and critic Scott Harrison
  
• "Call Me Eeevil" retrospective documentary with cinematographer Thomas E. Ackerman and actors Kip Niven and Taaffe O'Connell
• "Murder at Midnight" video essay by Chris O'Neill
  
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• The first print run of 3,000 copies come with a limited edition slipcover and a booklet "Midnight Chimes and Killer Crimes" by film historian Andrew Graves.