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Recent release DVD and blu-rays for sale near you. See more at DVD Guide about the latest release DVD and movie information.

27 Nov

The Incredibles Set the Stage for the MCU Success

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The most important scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t when Tony Stark tells a crowd, “I am Iron Man.” It isn’t when Black Panther first exclaims, “Wakanda Forever!” It isn’t when Thanos snaps his fingers. It’s when the Avengers slump down after the Battle of New York and enjoy some much deserved shawarma. The heroes don’t do anything spectacular. They have their costumes undone and they slouch instead of stand. They don’t even speak with one another. At that moment, the MCU crystalized into a franchise less about superheroes using their fantastic powers to save the world, and more…
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27 Nov

New Batman Movie Update Confirms DCU’s Approach to the Dark Knight

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Where is the Batman? Lately, that’s a question asked not just by Gotham City criminals, but by superhero movie fans as well. With The Batman and The Penguin winning over fans to Matt Reeves‘s realistic take on the world of the Dark Knight and DC Studios relaunching their universe, expectations for the Caped Crusader have never been higher. While speaking with Collider, DC Studios co-head James Gunn provided an update about the future of the Batman in the revamped DCU. “There’s no set timeline for anything,” Gunn said. “The one thing that I’ve tried to make clear to people from…
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27 Nov

Gladiator 2: The Colosseum Never Had Sharks, But There Are Crocodiles in the Real History

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This article contains Gladiator II spoilers. “Filling the Colosseum with water looks silly,” one friend said months ago after the first trailer for Gladiator II dropped. “Why are there battleships in the arena?” asked another while watching the scene where Paul Mescal’s Lucius manned an oar and dodged arrows before the mob of Rome. Yet as you have likely heard by now, the Romans really did stage miniature naval battles for the citizenry’s amusement and distraction—including probably inside the Colosseum (though some still dispute the claim). Even so, there is one element in Gladiator II that does strain incredulity: the…
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27 Nov

The Best Movie Sword Fights of All Time

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When it comes to climactic finales, a great sword fight can put an action movie over the top. From the classic swashbucklers of the 1950s to the global genres of samurai dramas and Kung Fu flicks—not to mention the occasional fantasy or comedy—sword fights are the cutting edge of fight choreography.  The best sword fights fuse emotionally charged conflicts with precisely choreographed action. The stakes must be big for characters to want to cut each other so deeply. And there are so many levels of great sword fights. As absurd as it seems, the hilarious fight between King Arthur (Graham…
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26 Nov

The Star Trek Movies Kind of Ruined Jean-Luc Picard

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“It’s like being inside joy.” That’s how Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) describes the experience of entering the Nexus, the strange phenomenon that drives the plot in Star Trek: Generations. When one enters the Nexus, their deepest desires, their deepest needs, come to life. Which is why the scientist Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell) will do anything he can to get back to it after he’s ripped away during a Starfleet rescue mission. The Nexus provides more or less what you’d expect for William Shatner’s James T. Kirk, including a ranch with horses, the promise of adventure around the corner, and a (probably)…
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26 Nov

Glicked Box Office Reminds Us That Nobody Knows Nothing

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Would 2021 be the year “the movie musical took its last bow?” Like many others, The Guardian posited exactly such doom and gloom after Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights flopped (as did the Dear Evan Hansen movie, but that one was less surprising…). Meanwhile Ridley Scott himself lamented the movie diets of Millennials when he complained in the same year that younger filmgoers didn’t show up for The Last Duel.  Had movie tastes permanently changed for the worse after the pandemic? We’ll admit that even we entertained some of this, as did The…
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26 Nov

The Politics of Wicked Hit Harder in 2024

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When Wicked opened on Broadway 21 years ago, famed New York Times critic Ben Brantley provided the musical with one of his typically backhanded notices. While giving high marks for Kristin Chenoweth’s undeniable talent in creating Galinda, as well as specific elements of the production like Eugene Lee’s sets, the Times arbiter remained cool toward the musical’s songs, book, and even its allegorical ambitions. “As a parable of fascism and freedom, Wicked so overplays its hand that it seriously dilutes its power to disturb,” Brantley wrote when comparing the show’s vividly technicolor subtexts to the more opaque leanings of L.…
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24 Nov

Gladiator 2: Why That Virgil Quote Is So Important to Lucius’ Story

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This article contains major Gladiator II spoilers. Ridley Scott has made a triumphant return to the arena with Gladiator II, a piece of cinema with a capital “C” that has all the spectacle you would want from a sequel to his 2000 masterpiece. But just as with the Russell Crowe-starring original, Gladiator II doesn’t simply coast on its epic military campaigns and brutal Colosseum battles. It wants to say something too. It’s also clear that Sir Ridley is a fan of the classics—a fact you might’ve picked up on in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. And in Gladiator II, he and…
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24 Nov

The Wicked Movie Dramatically Improves on ‘Defying Gravity’

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If you have the slightest familiarity with Wicked, you know Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation had to shatter the roof off when it came time to bring Stephen Schwartz’s iconic song, “Defying Gravity,” to the screen. Marketing is supposed to sell you on a film, of course, but every trailer that featured the number in some teasing capacity undersold it—as if hoping not to get expectations up. Yet for some fans, the choice left a sour taste in the mouth due to incomplete visuals and Cynthia Erivo’s voice not being as theatrical as the Ephabas who came before her. Now…
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23 Nov

Gladiator 2 Leaves Out Fascinating Real History of Emperor Caracalla

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This article contains major Gladiator II spoilers. Denzel Washington is one of those truly gifted actors. The kind where watching him read from a tax return could be amusing. So witnessing him devour the scenery of Ancient Rome as the ambiguous, and ultimately sinister, Macrinus is nothing less than pure joy. Over the course of 148 minutes, Washington’s double-dealing social climber is able to manipulate every other character in the film and dominate each scene, right up until the end of the film where we learn Macrinus has nothing less than the throne in his sights. During Gladiator II’s third…
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22 Nov

The Star Trek: First Contact Plotline That Is Still Incredibly Powerful Today

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Toward the end of Star Trek: First Contact‘s first act, an away team from the USS Enterprise describes their world. “Mankind [starts] exploring the galaxy,” LeVar Burton’s Geordi La Forge declares. Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) continues, “It unites humanity in a way that no one ever thought possible. When they realize they’re not alone in the universe, poverty, disease, war—they’ll all be gone within the next 50 years.” These descriptions ring true to anyone who has seen Star Trek before. Ever since Gene Roddenberry created the first episodes back in 1966, the franchise harnessed a Kennedy era optimism while building…
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22 Nov

Wicked Review: An Epic Musical Divided Against Itself

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The term “stagebound” is familiar to anyone who’s seen enough Hollywood adaptations of Broadway musicals. In the desire to get everything people like about a stage show into the movie, producers move heaven and boards to squeeze it all onto the screen, no matter how antithetical it might be to another medium. Jon M. Chu and Universal Pictures’ extravagant transfer of Stephen Schwartz’s beloved Wicked musical is the opposite of that. It’s something new. Not in terms of fidelity. Wicked the Movie is slavishly faithful about duplicating your favorite moments from Wicked the Show—but only half of that show. Aye,…
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22 Nov

Marvel Just Confirmed X-Men Plans for Future MCU Movies

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Even the grouchiest viewer of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law swooned a bit when Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters asks the robot K.E.V.I.N. the question on everyone’s mind: “When are we getting the X-Men?” While the robot Kevin dodged the question, the real Kevin Feige finally provided a more serious timeline during the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore. “I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize,” Feige told attendees (via Deadline) while talking about bringing more characters together in future MCU films. “Right after that, the whole story of Secret…
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21 Nov

How to Train Your Dragon Movie Needs to Overcome Disney Remakes’ Worst Flaw

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Live-action adaptations of beloved animated movies are nothing new. Disney has been creating such films for three decades. However, they didn’t hit their stride until the last 10 years or so. After the immense success of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Maelficent (2014), The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), and many others, Disney has delved deep into their vault, seemingly remaking every popular animated property they have at their disposal.  It was only a matter of time before another animation powerhouse dipped their toes in these waters, and DreamWorks Animation has unsurprisingly become the first to bite. The…
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21 Nov

Wicked and Gladiator 2: Are We Getting Barbenheimer 2.0?

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About half a year ago, I had a disagreement with a colleague about the prospects for Wicked. Admittedly, I am the more agreeable when it comes to musicals, but even as someone who never loved the Wicked stage show, I got a shiver of excitement when I heard the first teaser end with Cynthia Erivo’s voice warming up a “Defying Gravity” crescendo. It was like a vocalized mic drop. Even so, my musically-allergic friend seemed less impressed about Wicked’s box office future. After all, didn’t the In the Heights movie, which like Wicked was directed by Jon M. Chu, and…
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21 Nov

Deadpool’s Weird Transition from Edgelord to Disney Family Movie Hero

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In the first trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds’ ever loquacious Wade Wilson gives a suspicious glance at the batons in the hands of the TVA Agents who interrupted the birthday party. “Is that supposed to be scary? Pegging isn’t new for me, friendo,” Wade tells his assailants. Then, after waiting the appropriate beat of time for an audience giggle, he looks directly into the camera. “But it is for Disney.” With that last part, Deadpool his full arrival in the MCU. The gag doesn’t just highlight the Merc with a Mouth’s famous fourth-wall breaking awareness. It also indicates…
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20 Nov

The Original Gladiator 2 Saw Russell Crowe Return as an Immortal Time Traveler

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When audiences return to Rome’s Colosseum for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II they will surely be entertained by the spectacle of warriors fighting for their lives—and for the fickle attention spans of Roman emperors and an angry public. It’s WWE 200 A.D.. Much like its Oscar-winning predecessor Gladiator, Gladiator II is a story of an unlikely hero from humble beginnings who wants to rain bloody vengeance upon an empire’s elite. In that regard, Paul Mescal’s Lucius is not so different from Maximus, the titular gladiator played by Russell Crowe. But what many fans might not know is that Maximus was almost…
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19 Nov

The World Is Not Enough Is the Most Underrated James Bond Movie

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What is the most underrated James Bond movie? That is a question that might have as much to do with when you ask it as it does the films themselves. Take On Her Majesty’s Secret Service for example. Over years and decades, it was generally treated as the black sheep of the Eon Productions canon; the one that was rejected by audiences in 1969 because Sean Connery isn’t there, and the one that would get slipped in very late at night on TBS marathons in the ‘90s because it starred the one-and-done George Lazenby. Yet today the film’s bittersweet tone…
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19 Nov

Red One’s Box Office Coal Raises Eyebrows Over Spending $200+ Million on Christmas Movie

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As it turns out, Christmas did not come early this past weekend at the box office, even with a nominal holiday action movie playing in theaters around the world. Indeed, the long troubled and forthcoming Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans two-hander, Red One, saw its Yuletide hopes dashed over the weekend when estimates came in pegging the Christmas spectacle’s opening at $34 million. While technically the number one movie in North America, that number is down considerably when even compared to plenty of Johnson’s other family friendly high-concept films like Black Adam (which was considered a disappointment when it opened…
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17 Nov

Marvel’s Very Best MCU Cameos Ranked

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Surprise cameo appearances have become the bread and butter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU has been chock-full of cameos since the franchise’s inception, from introducing major players in post-credits scenes to featuring A-list celebrities in hilarious bit parts. So today we are counting down the 25 best cameos the mega-franchise has to offer.  Before we begin, it’s essential to specify precisely what constitutes a cameo. For the sake of our list, cameos are brief appearances from a notable character or actor which do not extend for longer than a couple of scenes. Some surprise reveals, such as Tobey…
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