UK DVD Releases: Monday 12th January 2009

DVD PICKS

Standard Operating Procedure (Sony): A disturbing but fascinating documentary in which director Errol Morris examines the photographs taken during the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003. Using interviews with the soldiers, Morris weaves their stories together with the actual images, re-enactments and graphics to create a chilling portrait of one of the most notorious episodes of the Iraq war.

The regular DVD has the following features:

• 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
• English, French, Italian and Spanish DD5.1 Surround
• Subtitles: English, English HOH, Arabic, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (Parisian), German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Slovene, Spanish (Castilian), Swedish, Turkish
• Director’s Commentary
• Deleted Scenes

The Blu-ray Disc is coded for all regions (A, B and C) and features:

• 1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen
• English, Italian (VO) and Spanish (VO) 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
• French (VO) 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English, English HOH, Arabic, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
• Commentary with Director Errol Morris
• Los Angeles Premiere Q&A with Director Errol Morris
• Berlin Film Festival Press Conference
• Diplomacy in the Age of Terror: The Impact of Diminished Rule of Law on International Relations
• 9 New Additional Scenes
• Nearly 2 hours of new interview footage featuring Tim Dugan, Hydrue Joyner, Steven Jordan, Jeremy Sivits & Samuel Provance

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Pineapple Express (Sony): A comedy about two pot-smoking slackers (Seth Rogen and James Franco) who go on the run, directed by David Gordon Green (a big change of pace for him after films like George Washington and All The Real Girls). Co-written by Rogen and produced by Judd Apatow it is an amusing caper although it isn’t quite as laugh-out-loud funny as previous Apatow productions like Superbad and Knocked Up. Despite that there are enough decent action sequences and gags to recommend it.

The 2-disc DVD breaks down like this:

Disc 1: Main Feature

• Includes Theatrical & Extended Cuts of the film
• Anamorphic Widescreen
• English DD5.1 Surround
• Polish and Turkish Dolby Surround
• English Audio Description Track
• Subtitles: English, English HOH + many more including Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch and Hindi
• Commentary with filmmakers and cast
• Extended and Alternate Scenes
• Gag Reel
• The Making of Pineapple Express
• Injury Report Featurette

Disc 2: Extra Features

• Bonus Digital Copy of the film
• 5 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
• Deleted Scenes
• Seth’s Apartment
• Raw Footage
• Rehearsal Footage
• And Much More!

The Blu-ray Disc features all the content of the 2-Disc DVD plus an exclusive game ‘Ride the Express’. Features include:

• Includes Theatrical & Extended Cuts of the film
• 1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen
• English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
• English Audio Description Track
• English, English HOH and Hindi subtitles
• Ride the Express Game – BD Exclusive
• Commentary with filmmakers and cast
• Extended and Alternate Scenes
• Gag Reel
• The Making of Pineapple Express
• Injury Report Featurette
• Bonus Digital Copy of the film
• 5 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
• Deleted Scenes
• Seth’s Apartment
• Raw Footage
• Rehearsal Footage

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Somers Town (Optimum): The latest film from Shane Meadows didn’t reach the heights of This is England, but was still a charming urban tale of an unlikely friendship between two teenagers in an area of North London. Thomas Turgoose and Piotr Jagiello were very good in the two lead roles and Perry Benson offered solid support as an Arsenal supporting deckchair seller.

The regular DVD and the Blu-ray disc have the same extras which are:

• 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
• English DD2.0 Stereo and DD5.1 Surround
• English HOH subtitles
• Interviews with Shane Meadows, Thomas Turgoose, Piotr Jagiello and Perry Benson
• Shane Meadows Master class at Tribeca Film Festival
• TV Spots
• Trailer

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ALSO OUT

Apparitions (2 Entertain)
Aristocrats (Acorn Media)
Just Add Water (Sony)
Red Sorghum (Drakes Avenue Pictures)
Resident Evil: Degeneration (Sony)
Sakuran (ICA)
Speak Easily (Powis Square Pictures)
The Big Bang Theory – Season 1 (Warner)
The Devil’s Chair (Sony)
The Diary of Anne Frank (Contender)
The Sadist (Powis Square Pictures)

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