DVD Releases: December 8, 2009

Harry Potter & A Million Releases!
The big release of the week is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and it's coming to us in many different permutations. I've got my eye on the 2 Disc Special Edition which is available on DVD and Blu-Ray (amazon.com even has a DVD/BluRay combo!). But it's not just the Half-Blood Prince that is being unleashed, as their are new editions of both Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets are having 'Ultimate Collector's Edition's released which I'm sure completists are thrilled about. If you need to catch up on all of the Harry Potters they have some amazing deals on films 1 through 6 available together in gift packs on DVD and Blu-Ray. Talk about a great holiday gift idea! The Harry Potter mores are great ones to watch during the holidays.

Excited about
Quite a few released to be excited about this week. I'm looking forward to finally catching up with Julie & Julia, based on the book of the same name about a woman who blogs her through a Julia Child cookbook. Public Enemies also makes it's DVD release, and Michael Mann creates yet another beautiful crime film, this one historically set and stars Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard. Also on the crime train is the police surveillance drama Overheard / Qie ting feng yun. Or if you'd rather get your scare on check out Home Movie a found footage horror flick starring Adrian Pasdur and is totally creepy.
Criterion
I feel like a kid outside a candy store window when I look at the Criterion releases, they are so beautiful. This week we have a spectacular releases: AK 100: 25 Films of Akira Kurosawa. Yep. 25 Kurosawa films. Wow. You can see the details of the what is included over at the Criterion site, just a sample of such includes: Rashômon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai / Shichinin no samurai, Throne of Blood / Kumonosu jô, The Hidden Fortress and many, many more.

Documentaries
Lots of docs this week! First up is The Cove, which was a huge hit at Hot Docs in 2009 and is currently on the Oscars short list for documentaries but I'll admit my hesitation to see it considering it's focus is unearthly animal cruelty. Also in release is Beautiful Losers which is about a collective group of DIY artists and designers, and last up is The First Saturday in May which follows trainers during the 2006 Kentucky Derby.

Wildcards
Wildcards for the week include Japanese horror film Gun-Kyu, romance/musical Moonlight Serenade starring Amy Adams and Moon Bloodgood and haunted house horror flick The Skeptic.

Not a Film
"Lost" Season 5 release is timely as Season 6 hits our TV screens Feb 2, 2010.

Titles on Amazon.ca (Canada):


Titles on Amazon.com (US), if available: