Add to Queue 76: Disciplinary Edition

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Media | A2Q Archives | A2Q on Twitter | A2Q #76 | February 10, 2009

Lots of quality catalog titles hitting Blu-ray this week. I’m most looking forward to revisiting History of Violence, David Cronenberg’s excellent look at the long-term effects of violence on a man’s life. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Cronenberg without at least a few shots to remind you how frail the human body is. I’m also a fan of Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, and I’m glad to see that the Blu-ray release will have both the Director’s Cut and the far superior Theatrical Cut; it’s another example of a film where post-release fiddling lessened both its quality and its impact.

Also threatening to bust my entertainment budget is the Blu-ray release of Raging Bull, one of the movies that made both DeNiro and Scorcese the legends they are today. I’m curious about Chocolate, a martial arts movie in the vein of Ong Bak, whose story is about an autistic woman using her intense fighting skills to collect debts owed her late mother by a criminal organization. Video game fans should not check out Doom and Street Fighter, unless you are looking for camp. Speaking of camp, the cult classic Boondock Saints hits Blu-ray to underwhelm and disappoint a whole new crowd of people who might have heard about it from a friend who swears it’s “totally awesome!”. That person is not your friend.

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Not Pictured: The Rundown; The Way of War; Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13 / Bojack Unbound

Thanks for reading Add to Queue, GameSpite’s weekly round-up of US Blu-ray release highlights. Sorry, rest of the world; region locks are the industry’s way of saying they still don’t understand the Internet. Cover art courtesy of Amazon. Follow Levi Tinney on Twitter, or add him to your PSN or XBL friends list: VsRobot. You can also contact him via e-mail via levivsrobot [at] gmail [dot] com. Today (February 10th) is his 30th birthday.

24 thoughts on “Add to Queue 76: Disciplinary Edition”

  1. Chocolate is more serious than Ong Bak, same director but more story and more attempts at emotions. Great fight scenes though, and outtakes in the credits showing the lack of OH&S on Thai film sets. I think one guy broke his neck.. Worth seeing anyway, but maybe only if you find it on special.

    And man, Boondock Saints is totally awesome. Well, mostly awesome. I reckon it’s great anyway.

  3. Are they releasing the Street Fighter movie to capitalize on SF4 or something? Because unless that movie is secretly far better or kitschier than I remember, there’s no positive synergy and no real point.

  5. Donny Darko is, like, really deep. No one can actually explain why it is, and after watching it you might get the impression that it’s actually pretty dumb, but it’s, like, totally deep.

    I think History of Violence was originally slated to be a Van Damme flick BTW.

  6. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who thought Boondock Saints wasn’t everything people say it is. I enjoyed the movie for the most part, but then it took a turn for the worse during the ending.

  7. Having no familiarity with A History of Violence’s source material, the movie was freakin’ awesome.

  8. Has anyone seen Ping Pong Playa or My Name Is Bruce? I had heard of neither, but my interest was piqued by the covers.

  11. mrbuu – if you like any of the Evil Dead movies, My Name is Bruce is an awesome movie for the fans to watch. Hell, if you like any b-movie / zombie flick at all, you’ll probably appreciate it.

    Amadeus always kind of bugged me because I was taking a music history class at the time, and I knew the truth: the antagonist in the movie was actually Mozart’s FRIEND.

  12. What no mention about Chocolate, I liked that movie the most of the ones listed for this week.

  13. Boondock Saints: So bad it’s good. Wilhelm Defoe going over the top as a gay detective was the worst and therefore best part of that movie.

  14. I also have a number of friends who swear by Boondock Saints. Unfortunately I have seen it over 5 times. It is OK to watch once, but it is retarded.

  15. I loved Boondock Saints… back in high school. Now, it’s just kinda…. eh.

    A History of Violence is pretty damned good. Some advice: don’t read the OGN. It’s very different in plot and tone, and well…. it pretty much sucks.

  17. Calorie Mate: is it anything like Bubba Hotep? :)

    My picks this week would be (in no particular order): Amadeus, Raging Bull & Donnie Darko. A History Of Violence was OK but I like Eastern Promises better. Boondock Saints was pretty Meh, considering like everyone else people kept saying how good it was… it wasn’t really that good people.

  18. Kind of, but much more self referential. They even talk about Bubba Hotep a few times. If you’re even asking that question, though, you’ll love it.

  19. A history of violence sucks ass. Blech.

    Amadeus, though? Great movie. Amazing costumes and great music.The DVD I bought was of such garbage quality that I’m hoping the Blu-Ray fixes it dramatically. I also love Donnie Darko, but I hear the extras disc is merely the DVD disc, and therefor I won’t support the release.

  21. I am *very* glad that so many people are replying that they dislike Boondocks. I am so used to everyone acting like it’s freakin’ Casablanca. One of the poorest of the many Pulp Fiction rip-offs. The only good thing that came out of it is the excellent documentary about the making of the film. (The director is a rage-aholic and likely burned all his bridges while making Saints).

    I love History Of Violence, but I’m used to the pushback now. It’s a very quiet movie, much more of an arthouse flick than the title suggests.

  22. I’m glad to see people that liked History of Violence… I thought I was the only one! I also agree that the Theatrical Cut of DD is better; Kelly in general needs to learn that sometimes, at least in a visual medium, less is more.

    Also, Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game is totally awesome.

  23. History of Violence: good, but not one of Cronenberg’s best.
    Boondock Saints: bleh.
    The Rundown: I was expecting to completely hate this movie but it was actually very entertaining.

  24. on my drive into work today… there was a man standing on the corner with a friggin’ boondock saints hoodie… no lie.

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