What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:30:00 -0800

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, 30 Days of Night is available if you have the need to get the bejesus scared out of you, and you can finally catch the emotional Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale on DVD.

The Darjeeling Limited
In the latest addition to director Wes Anderson's growing collection of movies that feature dysfunctional families, The Darjeeling Limited gives us Anderson's typically quirky characters, his stylized look and of course some witty, awkward dialogue. The movie stars Adrien Brody alongside Anderson regulars Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman as brothers who plan a road trip across India.

The first part of the film contains all the goofy and neurotic trademarks of this director's films, though the story takes an unexpected dark turn in the middle. While there are certainly problems with this movie, fans of Wes Anderson won't be disappointed. The DVD's special features include the film's prequel Hotel Chevalier which stars Natalie Portman.

Two more movies you might enjoy are out this week, so read more

Death at a Funeral
I've been waiting for Death at a Funeral to come out on DVD as it was one of my Must-Haves this month and I never got to catch it in the theaters. The movie received a lot of great reviews from critics and audience members alike, and the tag line perfectly sums up what I've heard about it: "From director Frank Oz comes the story of a family that puts the F U in funeral."

I'm a big fan of those find-humor-in-the-bleakest-of-situations stories so I'm really excited to see this one. Special features include a gag reel as well as commentaries by the film's writer, Dean Craig, and director Frank Oz.

Beowulf
The epic English poem comes to life (albeit with some liberties taken) as a 3-D animated film thanks to director Robert Zemeckis. Voiced by big-time talent including Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins and John Malkovich, the movie tells the story of a Scandinavian warrior's journey to find and kill some terrifying monsters. In Beowulf, Zemeckis again employs the motion-capture process used in The Polar Express, which proves very impressive during the battle scenes.

Today this title is also released in an unrated director's cut version which takes the chains off the film's scenes that include violence and nakedness. Special features include a treat for folks interested in animation with plenty of making-of featurettes, an extensive look behind the scenes, and an odd bit with Zemeckis discussing how much he hated the original poem.

Extras Preprares Its Extra Special Finale

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:30:00 -0800

If you're a fan of Ricky Gervais and his Emmy-winning series Extras, then you might want to mark your calendars: The Extra Special Series Finale will premiere Dec. 16 on HBO, wrapping up the saga of Andy Millman and his low-level actor friends with 80 more minutes of wackiness.

Gervais and his co-writer Stephen Merchant certainly seem to love the movies-as-finales device; they did a similar thing to end the BBC version of The Office several years back. So far, everyone's keeping mum on the specifics of the Extras movie, saying only that Andy (Gervais) is still desperate for respect and "is about to take drastic measures that will turn his life upside down" - which could pretty much describe every episode of Extras ever.

But so often, Extras is really about its guest stars (David Bowie, anyone?), and on that front, the movie seems promising. Clive Owen will be showing up, along with Gordon Ramsay and George Michael. Hopefully simultaneously. I mean, really, can you even imagine a circumstance that would get those three interacting in a room together? The mind boggles.

If you've never seen Extras, or you'd just like to be "havin' a laugh" right now, you can check out a couple of my favorite clips from the series when you read more

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