So much stuff worth mentioning coming out on DVD and/or Blu-Ray this week that I gotta split this sucka’ up into two posts...

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FUNERAL SINGERS (DVD)


I cautiously raved about this neat little indie music movie during our SXSW recap this year. Cautiously because if there ever was a movie that wasn’t made for everyone, it’s this one. It features Austin local Angela Bettis (“May”) as Zel, a soothsayer who works out of her big old country house doing readings for whoever sees her sandwich board on the side of the road and stops by. Her seemingly lonely life isn’t as it seems at all because her house is filled with ghosts who keep her company, including a little girl and a full ghost house band, which is played by the Chicago experimental band Califone. While the story is about Zel’s relationship with the ghosts becoming strained when they start to believe she’s keeping them from passing on, the movie serves as an extended album for the band, named as it is after their 2009 album and being directed by one of their members, Tim Rutili. The film can be enjoyed on either level, both the story and the prominent No-Wave Americana soundtrack (for lack of a better term to define it as) having a haunting, ethereal quality that is more meditative than clearly defined. The odd beauty of both is marked for a select group that I guess I belong to, but I won’t be surprised to see many who will be outraged that I’d ever suggest watching such a thing.
EXTRAS: ‘ghost interviews’; Califone music video; Live Califone performance on set; 3 featurettes; trailer

CLICK HERE TO BUY All My Friends Are Funeral Singers

DAVID CROSS: BIGGER AND BLACKERER (DVD and CD)

Who knew that the bad guy from “Alvin and the Chipmunks” had a comedy career? And I hope you know I’m kidding, as Cross has been one of the most prolific and funny comedians working on the scene now for some time, breaking into the scene with his and Bob Odenkirk’s legendary sketch comedy show “Mr. Show”, later as an integral part of “Arrested Development” and appearing on almost everything else you can imagine. But stand-up has long been his bread and butter. This new concert video marks his fifth released (solo) stand-up and it’s more of what the fans of his comedy have come to expect. Which is to say, if you’re not an atheist-leaning left winger with a high tolerance for shocking stuff, you might not be able to come to terms with his schtick. So, of course, from my point of view, it was great. For instance, it was as if Cross read my mind in one particularly funny bit where he compared the Mormons to Scientologists. But that should give you a little taste of how little he cares about sacred cows (or how little I do). He definitely functions better when he actually has a point to make than when he’s going purely for shock value and thankfully, he leans more towards having something to say on this release. Apparently the CD has 25% different material on it than the DVD so big fans are gonna want to pick up both of them.
EXTRAS: Deleted scenes; Fold out poster of the cover
CLICK HERE TO BUY Bigger and Blackerer

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (Blu-Ray and DVD)

A major heads-up to you gore-hounds out there, it looks like the Lucio Fulci collection is coming out a movie at a time in HD. What better way to see that lovely bright red Italian gore; if there ever was a movie absolutely splattered with it, it’s this one. A priest hangs himself in a cemetery which opens a hellmouth that Buffy isn’t around to close. Soon, super powered zombies are running around, people are being buried alive, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! This horror classic has to be seen if for no other reason than to see the legendary scene where a girl vomits up every organ in her body. What’s not to love?
EXTRAS: 30 minute making of featurette with interviews; solo interviews with two of the stars; Fulci retrospective featurette; promotional material; trailers; radio spots
CLICK HERE TO BUY City of the Living Dead [Blu-ray]

DEAR JOHN (Blu-Ray and DVD)

Yes, that’s right, I’m actually going tell you that if you have a choice between teleporting zombies that cause organ vomiting and this sappy ‘here we go again’ romance based (of course) on another Nicholas Sparks novel (which may cause vomiting as well), I’m gonna unquestionably go with the zombies. Maybe my priorities are out of whack but if so, I hope they stay that way. Channing Tatum plays a Special Forces soldier who meets Amanda Seyfried while he’s on leave from the Iraq war. They fall hard for each other despite Channing’s seriously douchey anger issues. And then lots of Nicholas Sparks type stuff happens. Seen one of his movies? You won’t have much trouble predicting where this one is going to go, especially with that title. Even the wonderful Richard Jenkins as John’s autistic father can only do so much to save this predictable clunker that manages to stop just short of being a waste of time by the generally competent direction of Lasse Halstrom. And now I’m going to tell you how I REALLY feel...
EXTRAS: Deleted and alternate scenes; Alternate ending; outtakes; Conversations with Lasse, Channing, and Amanda (aka, mutual circle jerk); “Transforming Charleston” - how they made parts of the city look like other parts of the world; “Military in Movies” - filming the military scenes; featurette on coin collecting, I guess there because of the weird subplot in the movie; 30 minutes about the younger autistic kid in the movie. Even the extras are preposterously manipulative.
CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL SPILL.COM REVIEW
CLICK HERE TO BUY Dear John [Blu-ray]

DJANGO (Blu-Ray and DVD)

What is “Django”, you ask? Why, it’s only the most influential, bloody, and awesome western that you’ve probably never seen. Which is why this new HD release makes me SO happy. While most folks have been exposed to the spaghetti westerns only as far as the 'Dollars' trilogy that Clint Eastwood starred in, there were a lot more folks making these films than Sergio Leone. “Django” is certainly one of the best of them, leaving behind such a mark that it inspired over 30 unofficial sequels and references in everything from “Reservoir Dogs” to “Cowboy Bebop” to “Star Wars”. The tale follows the titular star (Franco Nero) who drags around a coffin behind him everywhere he goes as he searches for the Mexican bandit who murdered his wife. If you’re even VAGUELY a fan of the western genre, and I can hear you playing "Red Dead Redemption" out there, you should seriously run out to pick up this slice of awesome right now.
EXTRAS: Interviews with Franco Nero and the assistant director about the film; “The Last Pistolero” - a 2002 short film with Nero starring which takes a modern twist on the spaghetti western genre; trailer; “Westerns, Italian Style” - 1968 doc about, well, the title says it, now doesn’t it?
CLICK HERE TO BUY Django [Blu-ray]

DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG (Blu-Ray)

For those Joss Whedon fans who couldn’t bring themselves to watch “Glee” even for a Whedon-directed episode, this fantastic Neil Patrick Harris starring internet special coming out on blu-ray might serve as a pleasant stop-gap before whatever Joss springs on us next. Harris plays the bad doctor, a mad scientist supervillain who isn’t really all that super or villainous (despite his best intentions) and would much rather figure out how to get the affections of local laundromat acquaintance Felicia Day (and who wouldn’t?) than battle ego-maniacal ‘good’ guy Captain Hammer (played to the hilt by Nathan Fillion). With ridiculously wonderful songs both in the original three part series AND on the one-of-a-kind musical commentary track, there’s no excuse for not having checked out one of the finest moments yet from the House of Whedon. And speaking even as someone who already owns the DVD version....WANT!
EXTRAS: The aforementioned, “Commentary: The Musical”, the most meta-commentary track ever made; a more regular commentary track with the three Whedon brothers joining Harris, Fillion and Day; “Making of” featurette; “Evil League of Evil Application Videos” - ten of them sent in by fans; Outtakes; Behind-the-scenes of the “A Man’s Gotta Do” sequence; “Evil League of Evil Interview” - Joss off-camera interviews the league; original teaser trailer
CLICK HERE TO BUY Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog [Blu-ray]

Stay tuned for Part Two of my weekly New Releases List coming later today...