This Week On DVD and Blu-ray: January 27, 2009

If picture and sound aren't necessities for you then you are probably best left with your DVD releases considering this is going to be an expensive investment. If you haven't bought any of these titles yet and were looking at this one to be where you start then I definitely urge you to pick it up, it doesn’t get much better.

The set is listed at $64.99 at Amazon, which isn't necessarily that expensive when it comes to a Blu-ray set and since these three titles aren't available individually on Blu-ray this may be the only option for HD Bourne for the time being. Considering a lot of Blu-ray titles are listed around $25 and up at Amazon getting these for $21.63 each is a mild bargain… mild.

When it comes to these films I am not necessarily a huge fan, but I think Peter Sellers is always fun to watch. I probably wouldn't rush out to buy any of these titles since a Netflix rental would probably satisfy me, but if you are a big fan it wouldn't hurt to have the complete collection.

Seriously, a fist fight in a bar? That’s the dramatic climax you have for me? Pride and Glory is a film that was, at the very least, acceptable for 105 minutes of its 125 minute running time, but it offers up one of the most absurd climaxes imaginable as it seems the screenwriters just ran out of ideas and said, "Forget it, let's just solve it all right here and right now." That they do as this flick co-written and directed by Gavin O'Connor with the writing help of Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces and Narc) is certainly able to step out of the nasty shadow looming from last year’s dreadful corrupt cop drama We Own the Night, but following the final 20 minutes it may actually end up lower on the pile.

I can't say much more than that.

But take a step back. What if all the races were switched? If the neighbor were white, the husband next door black, his wife white? Same script. It would be the story of a sociopathic white racist. It might be interesting, but it would have trouble getting made. The casting of Jackson as the neighbor creates a presumption of innocence that some will hold on to longer than the story justifies. Don't think for a moment that LaBute doesn't know audience members will be thinking about that switch of identities. He wants us to. All of his films feature nasty people who challenge nasty thoughts or fears within ourselves. Is this movie racist for making the villain black or would it be equally racist by making the villain white? Well? What's your answer?

I did not connect to the movie on any level, let alone on the level Roger did, but it may be worth a watch just to form your own opinion and give his review a read.