New on DVD & Blu-ray This Week: May 25, 2010

This Week's Must Have:
True Blood: The Complete Second Season
The second season of Alan Ball's hit Showtime vampire series picks up pretty much right where the first season left off. That said, it's not long before things around Bon Temps change drastically. We're introduced to new characters, new plot lines, and lots of new vampy goodness. What works here is that True Blood never fails to impress - even when it's dragging its heels for a few episodes there's still enough campy fun to make watching worth it. There are a few detours we probably could have done without - Jason's involvement with the anti-vampire sect being a major one, Eggs being another - but it all adds up in the end. Plus, there were plenty of changes that made the series all that much richer and fully developed. The arrival of Jessica (the nubile young vampire that Bill takes under his wing), Eric playing a larger role overall, and a guest spot by Evan Rachel Wood all come to mind immediately.

For fans of the series (or even fans of the excellent books by Charlaine Harris), season two is just another shot of "V." It keeps you interested the entire way through and keeps you begging for more. The arrival of season three can't come soon enough.

Such a solid season simply begs to get a quality Blu-ray and DVD release. Luckily, HBO Home Video comes through with a Blu-ray package full of interesting, informative, and interactive features. There are seven (yup, seven) Audio Commentary tracks with the cast and crew spread across the episodes, Character Perspectives, Pro Anti-Vampire Feeds, The Vampire Report: Special Edition, and Fellowship of the Sun: Reflections of Light. It's a broad, fully realized release that any fan of True Blood should be happy to have on their shelf. Highly highly recommended and easily this week's must have title.

Also on DVD & Blu-ray:
The Road
Don't let the lukewarm critical reception of John Hillcoat's The Road fool you. It's a hell of a fine film and one that I think people will be examining for years to come. The problem is, in my opinion, that most of the critics who unjustly bashed the film were too eager to compare it to its source material. And there's just no way possible for any film to match the genius of Cormac McCarthy's adored, best-selling, and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Just no way.

What the film does do successfully, however, is cast the right people in the right place, boast a gorgeously dark and dingy color palette, and provide an incredibly bleak look at a future post-apocalyptic world. It's a downright depressing film, but it's one that lingers in your mind for days and one that you'd actually revisit despite its bleakness. An excellent film sadly misunderstood. Let's hope it finds its audience on Blu-ray and DVD.

Sony's Blu-ray includes the Blu-ray exclusive MovieIQ feature, along with Director's Commentary, Deleted and Extended Scenes, and a solid Making Of documentary. Check it out.

Stagecoach: Criterion Collection
John Ford's 1939 classic finally gets a respectable Blu-ray and DVD release courtesy of the very people who always manage to give deserving films their respectable releases: Criterion Collection. Stagecoach really started it all. The masterpiece film took the maligned B-movie Western genre and turned it into an A-list affair. John Wayne made his name, and an entire genre got the respect it rightfully deserved. Stagecoach gave us all that. And now Criterion finally gives the film the home video release it deserves. Visually stunning (amazing really for a film as old as this one), and boasting crystal clear audio, this is a beautiful restoration.

Not only that, but Criterion also packs in their standard extensive list of extra material. Just take a look at this astonishing list of special features: Audio Commentary by western authority Jim Kitses, the 1917 silent Ford feature Bucking Broadway, an extensive 1968 video interview, a new video appreciation of Stagecoach, a new video interview with Ford's grandson Dan Ford, a new video piece with journalist Buzz Bissinger, a new video homage to legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt, a video essay detailing Ford's visual style, the 1949 radio dramatization of Stagecoach, the theatrical trailer, and a booklet that includes an essay by David Cairns and the short story that inspired the film. Yup, all that.

Do I really need to give you another reason to pick up this absolute masterpiece on Blu-ray? Didn't think so.

City of the Living Dead
From Western masterpieces to Lucio Fulci's near Zombie masterpiece. City of the Living Dead comes from a man that knows how to make a zombie film. Want proof? Look no further than some of his other features as well. Zombie and The Beyond being the two best examples. They're all a bit of a mindfuck, but a welcome one for any fan of the genre. Yeah, there's your typical schlock zombie fare: gates of hell, portals, closing the portals, etc but it's all packed in with some of the most shockingly zombified footage you'll ever see. Fulci is a master - master - of the genre. He knows his zombies and he knows how to serve up a good scare. Blue Underground brings the film to Blu-ray for the very first time with a brand new transfer from the original uncensored negative and a plethora of zombie goodies. This is an absolute must have for the horror crowd.

Dear John
You pretty much know what you're in for when you go to see a Nicholas Sparks adaptation on the big screen, right? I mean, they all mostly follow the same path. What makes them interesting (sometimes...) are the pieces of the puzzle in each film. The Notebook launched the careers of two of cinema's brightest young stars (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) as well as cementing Nick Cassavetes as a director of note. Nights in Rodanthe had a stellar location and two huge stars (Richard Gere and Diane Lane). Dear John takes The Notebook's path by placing two budding stars in the spotlight (Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried), both of which have been better in much better films. It's your typical heartstring-puller and one that you'll probably soon forget (unless you're a teenage girl). There's nothing outrightly wrong with Dear John, but there's not really much that's right about it either.

Sony provides an Alternate Ending, Outtakes, Deleted and Alternate Scenes, their Blu-ray MovieIQ, and A Conversation with Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, and Lasse Halstrom. All typical fare, but not all that bad. You could certainly do worse.

New on Blu-ray:
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Oh, Joss Whedon! I'll watch every single thing you do. Buffy..., Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse. The list goes on and on. But perhaps one of the most interesting and culture-grabbing of all Whedon's projects has been his Internet sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The smash hit that features stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day (among others) quickly became the must-see video across the web upon its release. In fact, the feature pretty much changed the face of Internet video forever - giving it a relevance that it previously lacked. I really don't need to say much about the series itself as you've likely seen it already and possibly even own the DVD version.

That said, this is the first time Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog has made its way to Blu-ray and that's reason enough to pick up a copy.

New on DVD Only:
Hoarders: The Complete Season One
It's a strange thing to review the first season of a show about people who compulsively hoard items when, as a film reviewer, there's a damn good chance your house if filled to the brim with DVD and Blu-ray discs. That said, my DVD and Blu-ray hoarding has nothing on some of the tortured people featured on Hoarders. Their problems are extreme with a capitol "E" and watching them muddle through trying to clean up their enormous mess makes for some of the most engaging viewing you can find on television.

What sets apart Hoarders from the rest of the television docudrama crowd is the tight pacing and expert editing. You really feel like you're a part of these people's lives by the time the hour is through. You're pulling for them to conquer their demons, clean up their house, and get their lives back together. Kudos to A&E for putting together such a well-made show. If you want to see just how poorly this subject can be handled, just watch TLC's recent copycat show, Hoarding: Buried Alive. It's not necessarily a complete train wreck, but it's nowhere near as compelling as A&E's show.

Hoarders: The Complete Season One spreads over five hours of programming across two DVD discs and leaves plenty of room for more than twenty minutes of never-before-broadcast footage. While it would have been great to have some additional follow-up interviews with the participants, what we do have here is easily worth your twenty bucks. That is, unless you already have about 5,000 DVDs clogging up your apartment. Ah heck, even then it's worth it!

Mystery Team
Dan Eckman's Mystery Team is just flat out fun. Using a mostly unknown cast only breaths extra life into this tale of kid detectives now grown up and trying to solve a murder at the age of eighteen. It's charming, smart, and sorely underseen. Not only that, but Lionsgate provides some great extra material including an Audio Commentary, a Making Of Documentary, a Comedy Short, a Gag Reel, Deleted Scenes, a Pre-Production Test Scene, and Sword Club. If you've got a few extra dollars in your DVD budget this week, Mystery Team is certainly the way to go.