Your Entertainment Ticket.net

BUENA VISTA HOME ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES JANUARY DVD RELEASES

SWING VOTE (Now available)

Swing Vote is now on DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def starring Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Brammer, Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci and George Lopez, is hit comedy by Touchstone Pictures.

The movie centers on Bud Johnson (Koster) who finds himself the attendion of the nation media when his vote is accidently not counted. Just a regular guy, Bud actually never registered to vote, unfortunately for him, his righteous daughter registerd for him. When the final count is made, Bud finds himself the tie-breaker for deciding the President of the United States.

Political operatives swarm his tiny hometown in New Mexico in an all-out battle for his ballot and there are no lengths the Republican incumbent Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer) and Democratic candidate Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper) won’t go to in order to curry Bud’s favor. As the underhanded antics of their campaign managers, played by Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane, create some havoc, Bud realizes that beyond the implications for the nation, this is his shot at winning his daughter’s respect.

The DVD and Blu-ray Bonus Features include:

Inside the Campaign: The Politics of Production – Go behind the scenes for a look at the all-star cast, the real political pundits and the small town location of Belen, New Mexico that all combined to bring this movie to life.

Deleted & Extended Scenes – With optional commentary by director and writer Joshua Michael Stern

Audio Commentary – Feature commentary with writer and director Joshua Michael Stern and writer Jason Richman.

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (Now available)

Now on DVD from Miramax Films is the provocative story of love, power and betrayal, Brideshead Revisited. The film features a performance by two-time Oscar Winner Emma Thompson. Based on Evelyn Waugh’s much-loved novel of the same name, the film recreates the decadent world of British aristocracy. Director Julian Jarrold transports viewers to patrician England in the 1920’s where an aspiring young artist yearns for a woman and a house he can never attain in stunning locations in England, Morocco and Venice, and featuring period costuming and British countryside settings.

Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), a young man of modest means but considerable ambition, has just begun his studies at Oxford University, when he encounters flamboyant aristocrat and fellow student Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw). Infatuated with his new friend’s hedonistic lifestlye, Charles eagerly accompanies him to the family’s opulent mansion, Brideshead, where the eccentric clan and the palatial 18th century estate entrance him. But when Charles falls for Sebastian’s beautiful sister Julia (Hayley Atwell), his friend reacts with jealousy and the siblings’ domineering mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), rules out the possibility of marriage for reasons of class and religion. As Charles becomes further involved with the Marchmain family, he realizes that at Brideshead, everything comes at a price.

The DVD bonus features include:

The World of Brideshead—Invites viewers to go behind the scenes with the cast and

crew of Brideshead Revisited as they reveal the painstaking attention to detail required

to capture the lavish world of British aristocracy between the wars.

Audio Commentary—Feature commentary with director Julian Jarrold, producer Kevin

Loader and screenwriter Jeremy Brock.

Revealing Deleted Scenes—With optional commentary by director Julian Jarrold,

producer Kevin Loader and screenwriter Jeremy Brock.

MARY POPPINS 45 Anniversary Edition (January 27)

Available at store on January 27 is the Oscar nominated Mary Poppins 2 disc 45th Anniversary Edition with special bonus features and an exclusive behind the scenes look at the Broadway show. Based on the popular children’s story by P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins tells the story of a magical nanny who changes the lives to two rowdy, but neglected kids. The film introduced the word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to millions of youngsters when it came out in 1963. Some of the memorable songs include Just a Spoonful of Sugar, Step in Time and Jolly Holiday. The film was an innovator in combining live action with animation and Dick Van Dyke’s dance with the penguins started it all. In addition to a lot of bonus features tied in with the Broadway show, a special The Cat That Looked Like a King short is also on the bonus disc.

THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC GOURD (January 27)

Available on January 27 is Walt Disney Pictures’ The Secret of the Magic Gourd. The film tells the story of Raymond, a young daydreamer whose vivid imagination has made him an outcast at school. On a solo fishing trip, Raymond reels in the mysterious magic gourd, who offers to make all his wishes come true. When each of Raymond’s seemingly simple wishes backfires, creating unintentional consequences for the boy, he realizes that "there's no such thing as an unearned reward," but with a little hard work, he can create his own kind of magic and achieve his dreams. The movie features the voice of High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu as the title character.

Bonus features include a multi-level game called Too Many Toys, a featurette on the making of the film, bloopers and a music video.

BABYLON A.D. 

Starring: Vin Desel, Michelle Yeoh, Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson and Mark Strong

Directed by: Mathieu Kassovitz

Rated:  This version of the film is Unrated and contains added violence, action, language and sexuality

By John Delia

This is one of those action junkie films that gets you involved in the plot with a lot of explosions, fighting, chases with a lot of shooting, fantasy guns, rockets, oh and did I say explosions.  Actually the science fiction plot is rather good and if you like stories that take place in the future and involve the salvation of mankind, than this movie is for you.

The plot is very intriguing.  It is the not-too-distant future. Thousands of satellites scan, observe and monitor our every move. Much of the planet is a war zone; the rest, a collection of wretched way stations, teeming megalopolises, and vast wastelands punctuated by areas left radioactive from nuclear meltdowns. It is a world made for hardened warriors, one of whom, a mercenary known only as Toorop (Diesel), lives by a simple survivor's code: kill...or be killed. His latest assignment has him smuggling a young woman named Aurora (Thierry) along with her guardian Sister Rebeka (Yeoh) from a convent in Kazakhstan to New York City.  When Toorop finally finds out the value of the person he is transporting, he has to make a decision that may cost him his life.

It was great seeing Diesel and Yeoh team up in a film.  The two are consummate warriors and they show a lot of their stuff in this film.  I loved the scene where Diesel has to fight a veritable giant in a cage.  The combat between the two is sometimes comical due to their size.  As for Yeoh her age has not deterred from her ability to make the movies that made her famous in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  She still has the talent and ability to knock her adversary into tomorrow.

The cinematography, especially the snowmobile shoot-out is amazingly beautiful and well choreographed.  CGI works it’s magic here, but it’s the cameras capturing the fast moving ski-carts as they blaze across the snow covered mountain side trying to outrun two jets armed with rockets and machine guns, that do all the work.  Whether it is a dark interior or a submarine cracking though the ice or a car chase with Hummers, the cameras are shooting with wide-open lenses capturing all the action.

In addition to bringing the film to you Unrated and Extended, the special bonus features are heavy and include two-discs, one of which allows you to make a digital copy of the film to save in the event the original gets damaged.  But the winners here are the science fiction featurette tell alls; Babylon Babies, Artic Escape, Hummers in Flight and Fit for the Screen.  If you like seeing how it was done then scope out this section of disc number one.  

Topping the special bonuses however is a special digital graphic novel that is the prequel to Babylon A.D.  Unique in that it sets up the why of the story, but a spoiler, I would not view this until you have seen the film.  

The film contains a lot of violence, some sexuality, and strong language and should be viewed by responsible adults.

FINAL ANALYSIS:  Babylon A.D. is an action junkie’s best friend. (4 of 5 Palm Trees)