Home Media Magazine » Blog » TK's Take
|
|
SUBSCRIBE : MAGAZINE | NEWSLETTER
Insights from home entertainment industry experts. Home Media blogs give you the inside scoop on entertainment news, DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases, and the happenings at key studios and entertainment retailers. “TK's Take” analyzes and comments on home entertainment news and trends, “Agent DVD Insider” talks fanboy entertainment, “IndieFile” delivers independent film news, “Steph Sums It Up” offers pithy opinions on the state of the industry, and “Mike’s Picks” offers bite-sized recommendations of the latest DVD and Blu-ray releases.
The big winners at the South by Southwest Film Festival were Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture, which won the narrative jury prize, and Jeff Malmberg’s Marwencol, which won the documentary jury prize, according to indieWIRE.
“… This is amazing to win just one week after Kathryn Bigelow winning the Oscar,” Dunham said while accepting the award.
Tiny Furniture, according to indieWIRE, is about a 22-year-old girl who comes home from college with a film degree and little direction. Marwencol follows a man seeking recovery after a fight in his backyard, which doubles as a fabricated World War II era town.
The rest of the winners are as follows:
Best Documentary Runner-up: War Don Don
Special Jury Award – Best Ensemble: Myth of the American Sleepover
Special Jury Award – Best Individual Performance: Brian Hasenfus in Phillip The Fossil
Feature Film Audience Awards
Documentary Feature: For Once in My Life
Narrative Feature: Brotherhood
Short Film Jury Awards
Narrative Shorts: Cigarette Candy
Runner Up: Teleglobal Dreamin’
Documentary Shorts: Quadrangle
Runner Up: White Lines and The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug
Animated Shorts
Winner: The Orange
Runner Up: One Square Mile of Earth
Experimental Shorts
Winner: Night Mayor
Runner Up: Kids Might Fly
Music Videos
Winner: Cinnamon Chasers, “Luv Deluxe”
Runner Up: Grizzly Bear, “Forest”
Texas Shorts
Winner: Petting Sharks
Runner Up: The Big Bends
Time Warner Cable & Ovation Young Filmmaker Scholarship for Texas High School Short
Winner: Give the Dog a Bone
Runner Up: The Sleep Project
SXSW Special Awards
SXSW Wholphin Award
Winner: Quadrangle
SXSW Chicken & Egg Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award: Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture
Special Award - The Chicken & Egg Pictures “We Believe in You” Award: Martha Stephens for Passenger Pigeons
For a full list of winners and more coverage, check indieWire.
And check out the Los Angeles Times’ coverage of the event, including reviews of some of the films that screened.
By: Billy Gil
The Twilight Saga: New Moon hits stores March 20 at midnight, and some retailers are staying open late Friday night so dedicated fans can be among the first to get a copy. Here's a handy guide detailing where to go for retailer exclusives and the best price.
Title: The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Street Date: March 20, 2010
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
List Price: $32.99 DVD, $34.99 Blu-ray
Extras: The regular edition includes commentary, a behind-the-scenes documentary and four music videos
Also due March 20 is the companion DVD Twilight in Forks: The Saga of the Real Town, which lists at $19.99.
The guide is based on online promotions and the weekly ad circulars of some retailers. Prices may vary.
Amazon.comRegular Edition: $16.99 DVD, $19.99 Blu-ray
Twilight in Forks: $9.99
Best BuyRegular Edition: $19.99 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray; Doorbuster price (midnight sales): $16.99 DVD, $21.99 BD
Steelbook edition w/cell phone skins: $24.99 DVD, $29.99 BD; Doorbuster price: $19.99 DVD, $24.99 BD
Twilight in Forks: $14.99
TargetRegular Edition: $16.99 DVD, $19.99 Blu-ray;
Target-exclusive Deluxe Edition (extra featurettes, deleted scenes): $19.99 DVD, $24.99 BD;
Twilight in Forks: $9.99;
$5 gift card when New Moon DVD or BD is purchased with Twilight in Forks, Astro Boy or Bandslam
Wal-MartWalmart.com
(prices reflect online listing)
Regular Edition: $17 DVD, $19.96 Blu-ray;
Ultimate Fan Edition (Eclipse preview): $24.96 DVD, $29.96 BD;
Twilight in Forks: $12.86
Gift pack of regular New Moon DVD w/Twilight in Forks: $29.96
Barnes & NobleBN.com
(prices reflect online listing)
Regular Edition: $23.09 DVD, $27.99 Blu-ray
Barnes & Noble version with collectible dreamcatcher bag clip: $27.19 DVD, $39.99 BD
Twilight in Forks: $15.99
BordersBorders.com
(prices reflect online listing)
Regular Edition: $22.99 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray
Borders exclusive with medallion: $29.99 DVD
Twilight in Forks: $16.99
ToysRUs.com
(prices reflect online listing)
Regular Edition: $24.99 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray
Regular Edition: $22.99 DVD, $27.99 Blu-ray
Twilight in Forks: $12.99
Regular Edition: $24.99 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray
Twilight in Forks: $14.99
Regular Edition: $26.06 DVD, $27.99 Blu-ray
Regular Edition: $24.99 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray
Twilight in Forks: $11.99
By: John Latchem
The Princess and the Frog with Best Buy's guide book
Among the several decent titles released March 16, most retailers focused their attention on the latest Disney animated flick, The Princess and the Frog. Casting a shadow over the day, however, was the impending release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, due at midnight on March 20, with several retailers showing off promotional displays days in advance.
The major Frog exclusives could be found at Best Buy and Target, and both stores linked their promotion to the purchase of either the single-disc or combo-pack Blu-ray version of the film.
Best Buy offered an Essential Guide book with purchase of The Princess and the Frog, while Target offered a coin purse embroidered with the film’s logo. Target also sold a Princess Tiana doll for $24.99.
Barnes & Noble gave customers $6 savings with the purchase of any version of the film and its CD soundtrack (offered at $16.99).
Timed to the Frog release, Best Buy also offered at $9.99 such Disney favorites as Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Pete’s Dragon, Tarzan and Hercules, all packed with a coloring book and sticker sheets.
Otherwise, retailers were already heavily promoting their New Moon deals. Best Buy even offered discounts on the DVD and Blu-ray for those customers who showed up for special midnight sales Friday night. (See our retail guide to New Moon here).
A Target in Santa Ana, Calif., devoted half a wall in its DVD department to displaying “Twilight” merchandise, from books to toys to puzzles and discs of the first movie.
Target also had a promotion offering a $5 gift card with the purchase of any version of New Moon with any version of Astro Boy, Bandslam or Twilight in Forks, all from Summit Entertainment. Curiously, the shelf card touting the deal indicated it was valid from March 16-20, even though New Moon wouldn’t be available until the last day.
Target's "Twilight" Section |
By: John Latchem
As one of 23 Americans who still uses AOL as their personal email service, I frequently get news updates from a variety of sources right there on my snazzy, newly redesigned AOL home page. But a recent story from WalletPop really ticked me off — not so much the story as the snide headline: "3D TVs hit the market, but do you need one?"
Now, I'm one of those people who really hates any sentence (generally directed at me by my wife) that begins, "You need to...." I only "need" to do three things, and eating and sleeping are two of them. But since when has "need" ever factored into an entertainment option? None of us really "needs" anything — not DVD, not video games, not Blu-ray Disc, not a plasma TV, not any TV at all. Heck, if our entertainment consumption hinged solely on need, we'd be tramping through the bushes, playing hide-and-seek or tag or building rock forts, simply because we'd have to make do with our imaginations. Entertainment is not a need; it's a frill, a perk, an add-on.
And whether or not we choose a particular entertainment option depends primarily on one thing, which can be expressed in several ways: Is it fun? Will we enjoy it? Will it bring pleasure into our lives? Will it bring a smile to our faces?
3D certainly fills the bill. I enjoy watching movies in 3D, and I can't wait to start watching movies in 3D in my home. I'm happy that companies are making plans to sell 3D TVs, and while I won't be among the first wave of buyers, I can certainly see getting one within a year or so. In fact I believe that one day 3D TV will be the new standard.
I'm not saying we're going to watch everything in 3D, or even that we would want to. But I do relish the notion of being able to watch certain movies or programs in 3D, be it Alice in Wonderland or some other colorful, complex fantasy, or the Chargers winning the Super Bowl (come on, it can happen!).
3D is just the latest in a series of enhancements to the basic TV set, which popped into living rooms in the 1940s and 1950s and has been getting better and better all the time. First came color, then stereo, then cable (giving us more programming choices), then VHS, then DVD, then flat-screen, then high-def — and now, in swift succession, Blu-ray Disc and 3D.
No, we don't need any of it. But we sure like it when we get it. And isn't that the whole point of entertainment?
By: Thomas K. Arnold
Street 3/16
Sony Pictures, Drama, B.O. $4.7 million, $28.96 DVD, $34.95 Blu-ray, ‘R’ for sexual content, language and some drug material.
Stars Penélope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Bianca Portillo.
2009. Taken as a brief for the rarified view that cinema is life’s highest calling, here’s one of the stronger arguments, given what happens to its blinded filmmaker protagonist, for the sanctity of the “director’s cut.” Simply calling it a reasonably good time falls a tad short because the portions that Penélope Cruz dominates are pretty potent.
Extras: A Variety Q&A with Cruz, a short film by director Pedro Almodóvar, deleted scenes and some red carpet material from last fall’s New York Film Festival.
Read the Full Review
Warner, Documentary, $19.98 DVD, NR.
2008. To paraphrase Calvin Coolidge, the business of this documentary is business, which is why the limited utilization of classic Warner Bros. scenes isn’t a problem here. This one is about blood kin. And, at least figuratively speaking, blood.
Read the Full Review
MPI, Drama, $19.98 DVD; $29.98 Blu-ray, ‘R’ for language and some sexual references. In French with English subtitles.
Stars Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini.
2009. The story undeniably takes place in one of the world’s photographic cities, and the DVD had a richer sound mix than I expected (which can pull you into the action in subliminal ways). Oscar winner Juliette Binoche is merely the best-known name in a large cast, deglamorized to play a no-frills social worker and single mom whose dancer brother (Romain Duris) needs a heart transplant.
Extras: Minor making-of and background featurettes.
Read the Full Review
PBS, Documentary, $24.99 DVD, Unrated
2009. Putting politics aside, you can’t find a more apt keyword for this 87-minute documentary to have in its title than “building.” So much of it deals with primitive highways, railroads, bridges and trestles — all constructed over land that tends to buckle some due to seasonal weather change.
Read the Full Review
Available Now via Amazon.com CreateSpace
Universal, Comedy, $19.98 DVD, NR.
Stars Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Herbert Lom.
1966. Gambit was never more than agreeable fluff, but agreeable easily trumps disagreeable, right? The plot hinges on the physical resemblance of a Eurasian nightclub entertainer (Shirley MacLaine) to the dead wife of an Arab multimillionaire played by (longtime Inspector Clouseau nemesis) Herbert Lom. The Amazon print is a little grainier than I’d like, but I think this is due less to it being an on-demand DVD-R than the fact that Gambit was shot in cost-cutting Techniscope, whose inherent grain was better suited to Sergio Leone Westerns than escapist comedies. But this is still a handsome couple hours of entertainment, having earned Oscar nominations for costumes and art/set decoration and sound.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
TK’s Take is brought to you this month by
Sign up for Home Media's Daily newsletter to receive breaking entertainment news and other features.
© 2010 Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact us | Site Feedback
Questex Entertainment : Agent DVD / Home Media Conferences
