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Gift Guide 2016: DVD and Blu-rays

Downton Abbey: Complete Limited Edition Collector’s Set

Led by Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, and Maggie Smith, the acclaimed ensemble cast brings to life all the drama and intrigue of the inhabitants of Downton Abbey, the lavish English country manor, home to the Earl of Grantham. This complete collection set includes all 52 episodes of the series of this Golden Globe SAG and multi-Emmy Award-winning series, following the Crawley family and their servants through all of the splendor and romance, desire and heartbreak, scandal and rumor that Downton Abbey viewers across the globe have grown to love. Extras include Working Downton Abbey pull-bell (the famous bells from the Downton Abbey open!) ready to hang on the wall or stand on a shelf, Collectible set of six elegant cork-based coasters featuring the official Downton Abbey crest, The Costumes of Downton Abbey, an exclusive photo-filled booklet featuring a forward from executive producer Gareth Neame and Collectible hardcover book with 22 discs featuring all 52 episodes including each season finale Christmas special, video extras from each season, full color photography and favorite quotes from iconic characters.

 

For The Love of Spock

A one-of-a-kind documentary sure to unite Trek fans worldwide, For the Love of Spock tells the life of Star Trek‘s Mr. Spock and the actor who played him, Leonard Nimoy, for nearly fifty years. The film’s focus began as a celebration of the fifty-year anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series, but after Leonard passed away in February 2015, his son, director Adam Nimoy, was ready to tell another story: his personal experience growing up with Leonard and Spock.

Adam not only shares details on the creation, evolution, and universal impact of Mr. Spock, but also about the ups and downs of being the son of a TV icon. The film is filled with never-before-seen footage and interviews of friends, family and colleagues that include William Shatner and the original Star Trek cast, Zachary Quinto and the new crew of the Starship Enterprise, filmmaker JJ Abrams and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

This Special Director’s Edition Blu-ray features surround sound, the official For the Love of Spock theatrical trailer, extras: Leonard Nimoy’s Boston, Kickstarter Gallery, Tribeca Panel, Trivia Time with Jason Alexander, On Set with the Big Bang Theory, Director Audio Commentary, Tribeca Teaser, with English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired.

 

Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro (The Criterion Collection)

Throughout a career that encompasses both visually arresting art-house hits and big-budget Hollywood spectacles, director Guillermo del Toro has continually redefined and elevated the horror genre with his deeply personal explorations of myths and monsters.

These three Spanish-language films, each a tale of childhood in troubled times, showcase his singular fusion of the fantastic and the real.

Drawing inspiration from a rich variety of sources, from Alfred Hitchcock to Francisco de Goya, the gothic-infused stories collected here—populated by vampires, ghosts, and a fairy-tale princess—make evident why del Toro is considered the master cinematic fabulist of our time.  Includes Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, with extras including commentaries, interviews, documentaries, featurettes, a 100-page companion book and more.

 

Supergirl: The Complete First Season

Born on the doomed planet Krypton, Kara Zor-El escaped at the same time as her cousin, Superman, but didn’t arrive on Earth until years later after being lost. Raised by her adopted family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex, and learned to hide the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin.

Years later, at age 24, living in National City and working as an assistant for Catco Worldwide Media mogul Cat Grant, Kara has spent so many years trying to fit in that she forgot to ever stand out.

All that changes when she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and become the hero she was always destined to be.

With the help of Daily Planet photographer James Olsen, her bioengineer sister Alex, and the research of the super-secret, off-the-grid Department of Extra-Normal Operations (DEO), who are tasked with keeping the Earth safe from aliens, Kara takes to the skies to protect her world. Extras include featurettes, deleted scenes, Comic-Con panel and gag reel.

 

Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood

The American movie business started as peepshows and grew into a near-mythical art form that used an exciting new technology to create drama, laughter and adventure literally bigger than life.

Here is the whole story – the glamour and the sweat, the collaborations and the conflicts, the careers that skyrocketed and the dreams that crashed – in the biggest production ever from TCM, the world’s prestige source for films and film history.

Seven enthralling hours of movie clips, rare footage, interviews and keen insight from Hollywood insiders and historians trace moviemaking from its humble beginnings through the Golden Age to the New Hollywood of the ’60s. It’s a saga as exciting as any that ever appeared on the silver screen.

 

 

Sliders – The Complete Series

Journey to parallel Earths with the iconic sci-fi adventure series that have thrilled fans for five gripping seasons.

Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys-Davies, Sabrina Lloyd, Cleavant Derricks are Sliders – an unlikely group of travelers who encounter alternate versions of everything and everyone they once knew and loved as they attempt to make the one slide that will take them home.

Packed with every incredible episode, this complete series is sure to take viewers on the ultimate trip beyond the boundaries of imagination.

Includes all 87 episodes and features numerous guest stars including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Issac Hayes , Julie Benz,Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Don Most, Robert Englund, Danny Masterson, Tommy Chong, Melinda Clarke, Adrienne Barbeau, J. August Richards, Mark Sheppard, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Julie Adams, Kristanna Loken, Neil Flynn and Chi McBride.

 

Hell on Wheels: The Complete Series

Across 57 episodes, Hell on Wheels: The Complete Series unspools the fan favorite in its entirety.  Winner of three consecutive Western Heritage Awards for Outstanding Fictional Drama, this epic 17-disc set delivers more than 40 hours of gritty, award winning entertainment.
Hell on Wheels tells the epic story of post-Civil War America, focusing on a Confederate solider (Anson Mount) who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who have killed his wife. His journey takes him west to ‘Hell on Wheels,’ a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time. The series explores the railroad’s institutionalized greed and corruption, the immigrant experience, and the plight of the newly emancipated African-Americans during reconstruction. Over time, Hell on Wheels chronicles this potent turning point in American history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be.

With the stunning landscapes surrounding Calgary standing in for the epic sweep of the West,  bringing the hardscrabble American frontier into living rooms across the country for five compelling seasons, Hell on Wheels is now available in one attractive set, giving fans the opportunity to relive this landmark Western again and again.

 

American Horror Story: Hotel

Check in to the fifth season of the deliciously diabolical series from creators Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk, starring a killer cast that includes Lady Gaga – in her Golden Globe-winning role as The Countess – along with Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Matt Bomer, Denis O’Hare and Sarah Paulson.

A string of grisly murders is traced back to the sinister, sensuous Countess (Gaga), an infamous resident of the stylish Hotel Cortez, an enigmatic, six-story, art-deco hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. American Horror Story: Hotel is a visually stunning, visceral feast.

The plot follows Elizabeth, the owner of the hotel, as she tries to protect herself and her children from the fury of her past lover that seeks revenge on her, as well as John Lowe, a Los Angeles homicide detective on the task-force for a series of grisly murders that lead him in the direction of the hotel. Other guest stars include Evan Peters, Wes Bentley, Chloë Sevigny, Cheyenne Jackson, Mare Winningham, Naomi Campbell, Gabourey Sidibe, Richard T. Jones, Max Greenfield, Mädchen Amick, Darren Criss, Alexandra Daddario, David Naughton and Robert Knepper.  Extras include featurettes.

 

Knight Rider – The Complete Series

“Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.

Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless in a world of criminals who operate above the law.”

Self-made billionaire Wilton Knight rescues police Detective Lieutenant Michael Arthur Long after a near fatal shot to the face, giving him a new identity (by plastic surgery) and a new name: Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff).

Wilton selects Michael to be the primary field agent in the pilot program of his public justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). The other half of this pilot program is the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), a heavily modified, technologically advanced Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with numerous features including an extremely durable shell and frame, controlled by a computer with artificial intelligence (voiced by William Daniels). Michael and KITT are brought in during situations where “direct action might provide the only feasible solution”.

Heading FLAG is Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare), who provides Michael with directives and guidance. Dr. Bonnie Barstow (Patricia McPherson) is the chief engineer in charge of KITT’s care, as well as technical assistant to Devon.  For 84 episodes Michael and KITT fought the various forces of evil including KITT’s nemesis KARR.  Notable guest stars include Judy Landers, Alan Oppenheimer, Guy Stockwell, John Vernon,  M.C. Gainey, Richard Anderson,  Dick Durock,  Robin Curtis, Geena Davis, Jason Bateman,  Arye Gross, Clu Gulager,  Tony Dow,  Catherine Mary Stewart, Jim Brown, Robert Pine, Keith Coogan, Janine Turner, P.J. Soles, Christopher McDonald and many more.

 

Star Trek: The Original Series – The Roddenberry Vault

In honor of the show’s 50th Anniversary, and just in time for holiday gift giving, the three-disc collector’s edition Blu-ray set from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution gives fans unprecedented access to never-before-seen footage from the production of Star Trek: The Original Series.

During the shooting of Star Trek, bits and pieces of episodic footage were left on the cutting room floor and later preserved in film canisters by The Roddenberry Estate. Recognizing the value of the footage, CBS painstakingly catalogued, transferred, analyzed, and pieced together these Vault materials, which include alternate takes, deleted scenes, omitted dialogue, outtakes, and original visual FX elements.

Star Trek: The Original Series – The Roddenberry Vault includes twelve classic episodes chosen for their relevance to the Vault materials, and presented in 1080p High Definition with both DTS 7.1 Master Audio as well as newly restored original Mono. Eleven of these episodes contain isolated music tracks. Newly recorded audio commentaries appear on three fan-favorite episodes.

Each of the set’s three discs features documentaries that weave together the previously unseen Vault materials with all-new interviews by key creative and production personnel and famous fans. The documentaries include:

  • Inside The Roddenberry Vault Rod Roddenberry introduces viewers to the discovery of his father’s long-lost Star Trek film reels. With footage from each of the 12 episodes, this three-part special feature offers a guided exploration into the historical significance of the newly discovered material through new interviews with dozens of Star Trek alumni and historians
  • Star Trek: Revisiting A Classic offers a look back at the origins of the iconic series, including glimpses of life on the set with new interviews featuring guest stars, directors and production personnel.
  • Strange New Worlds: Visualizing the Fantastic dives into the creation of spaceships, transporters, and the classic Star Trek visuals. The in-depth feature combines newly found original visual effects elements photography along with interviews with effects masters and Star Trek veterans such as Industrial Light & Magic founding member Richard Edlund, Doug Drexler, Dan Curry and Gary Hutzel.

Star Trek figures interviewed for these exclusive documentaries include William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk); writers Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, David Gerrold and John D.F. Black; director Ralph Senensky; casting director Joseph D’Agosta; visual effects artist Richard Edlund; and actors from the 12 featured episodes such as Clint Howard (“The Corbomite Maneuver”), BarBara Luna (“Mirror, Mirror”), Leslie Parrish (“Who Mourns for Adonais?”), Charlie Brill (“The Trouble with Tribbles”), Michael Forest (“Who Mourns for Adonais”), Bobby Clark (“Arena”) and Elinor Donahue (“Metamorphosis”). Plus, the collection features new interviews with an impressive array of some of Star Trek’s biggest fans including The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady, The Simpsons writer/producer David Mirkin, Family Guy writer/producer David A. Goodman, NASA’s Bobak Ferdowsi, Bill Nye (The Science Guy), and more.

Giving fans access to even more fragments of unseen footage and omitted dialogue from the groundbreaking series is a collection of Vault materials entitled Swept Up: Snippets from the Cutting Room Floor.

Includes the episodes The Corbomite Maneuver, Arena, Space Seed, This Side of Paradise, The Devil in the Dark, The City on the Edge of Forever,  Operation – Annihilates, Metamorphosis, Who Mourns for Adonais?, Mirror, Mirror, The Trouble With Tribbles, Return to Tomorrow.  Extras include featurettes, commentaries and isolated scores.

 

DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year

DC Super Hero Girls, the younger, female-focused take on DC Comics’ characters goes bigger than ever in their first feature-length animated movie.

It’s time for the annual Hero of the Year ceremony and the students of Super Hero High compete for the top prize. But the festivities take a turn when Dark Opal targets the heroes and steals some of their most valued possessions to form the ultimate weapon! It’s up to the students at Super Hero High to spring into action! But can Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl and Bumblebee stop Dark Opal and his mysterious partner-in-crime, Eclipso to save the day?

The voice cast includes: Grey Griffin (Wonder Woman), Anais Fairweather (Supergirl), Mae Whitman (Batgirl/Barbara Gordon), Tara Strong (Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy) Teala Dunn (Bumblebee), and Stephanie Sheh (Katana). Special Features include six of the animated shorts featuring the DC Super Hero Girls.

 

Mad Max: Fury Road: Black & Chrome Edition

From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary Mad Max franchise, comes Mad Max: Fury Road, a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken.

Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.

Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) stars in the title role in Mad Max: Fury Road—the fourth in the franchise’s history. Oscar winner Charlize Theron (Monster, Prometheus) stars as the Imperator, Furiosa. The film also stars Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Days of Future Past) as Nux; Hugh Keays-Byrne (Mad Max, Sleeping Beauty) as Immortan Joe; and Nathan Jones (Conan the Barbarian) as Rictus Erectus. Collectively known as The Wives, Zoë Kravitz (Divergent) plays Toast, Riley Keough (Magic Mike) is Capable, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) is Splendid, and supermodel Abbey Lee is The Dag, and Courtney Eaton is Fragile. Also featured in the movie are Josh Helman as Slit, Jennifer Hagan as Miss Giddy, and singer/songwriter/performer iOTA as Coma-Doof Warrior.

Now available in Black & White (err…Chrome) as George Miller originally intended and including an introduction by the filmmaker, Mad Max: Fury Road is not only visually stunning, also but the definitive way to experience the world of Mad Max.

 

Howards End

Named Best Picture of the Year and nominated for nine 1992 Academy Awards (including Best Picture,Best Director and Best Actress), Howards End is a dazzling adaptation of E.M. Forster’s classic novel of Edwardian England.

The film tells the story of the Schlegel sisters, Margaret (Emma Thompson) and Helen (Helena Bonham Carter); of a rich businessman, Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins), and his frail wife, Ruth (Vanessa Redgrave), and their children; and of an unhappily married young bank clerk, Leonard Bast (Sam West), whom the Schlegel sisters befriend. These three families are in complete contrast to each other. Margaret and Helen are idealistic, independent and highly educated. The Wilcoxes are uncultured and utterly conventional. Leonard Bast is poor and underprivileged, but with intellectual aspirations. Unexpectedly, when Mrs. Wilcox dies, Mr. Wilcox proposes to and is accepted by Margaret Schlegel. Her sister Helen is shattered by this marriage, and in reaction to it, turns to Leonard Bast. The story has become a tangle of opposites, and through the agency of Mr. Wilcox’s son Charles (James Wilby), it turns to tragedy. But in the end, thanks to the moral strength of Margaret, who believes that opposites can meet, that different kinds of people can connect, there is a resolution that is almost a triumph.

This anniversary edition includes a slipcase with a booklet containing essays as well as commentary, featurettes, trailers and three conversations/interviews between James Ivory and others at screenings and festivals.

 

Ip Man Trilogy

Starring Donnie Yen, the Ip Man Trilogy, takes place from the Twenties through the Forties.

Ip Man:  Set in Foshan, China during the Sino-Japanese War, an infamous Japanese occupation has brutally dismantled the once-great city. Proud men have been laid low, reduced to fighting their neighbors to the death for a precious bag of rice. Defined by courage and devoted to peace, one man stands for his people: Grandmaster Ip Man (Donnie Yen), whose matchless fighting skills are revered all over China. He refuses to teach Wing Chun, his cherished martial arts style, to the invading Japanese soldiers, and is forced to fight for the honor of his country in a series of battles that culminate in a kill-or-be-killed showdown with General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), Japan’s greatest fighter.

Ip Man 2:  International superstar Donnie Yen reprises his role as real-life kung fu Grandmaster Ip Man, now a newly-arrived citizen in British-occupied Hong Kong. Master Ip wishes to open a Wing Chun academy to teach his unique style to a generation of new students, but is blocked by a corrupt group of martial arts masters led by Master Hung (Sammo Hung). They refuse to allow him to teach in peace until he proves himself as a kung fu master. His trouble continues when he s forced to enter a savage King of the Ring boxing match against Twister (Darren Shahlavi), a Western-style boxer who insults the Chinese locals, in a East-versus-West fight to the finish.

Ip Man 3: Igniting the screen in the role that made him an icon, Donnie returns to the blockbuster martial arts series as Ip Man, the real-life Wing Chun grandmaster who mentored countless students, including several martial arts masters and action star Bruce Lee. When a ruthless real estate developer (Mike Tyson) and his team of brutal gangsters make a play to take over the city, Master Ip is forced to take a stand against the crooks, thugs, gunmen, and another rival Wing Chun master (Jin Zhang) to protect his students, his city, and his own family. Fists will fly as some of the most incredible fight scenes ever filmed, choreographed by the legendary Yuen Woo Ping, come to life in this genre classic.

Extras include cast interviews.

 

John Carpenter’s The Thing Collector’s Edition

One of the greatest films in the history of pop culture!

In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years.

Soon unfrozen, the form-changing alien wreaks havoc, creates terror… and becomes one of them. Ensemble includes Kurt Russell, A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney and Richard Masur.

Extras include commentaries, trailers, tv spots, radio spots, galleries, interviews, documentary, tv broadcast version, outtakes, vintage featurettes & product reel and annotated production archive.

 

 

Miami Vice – The Complete Series

From executive producer Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) comes the explosive Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning series that defined a decade and lives on in this must-own Complete Series set.

Go undercover with James “Sonny” Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Phillip Michael Thomas), two of the Vice Department’s coolest cops, as they take on the scum in Miami’s steamy underworld. Filled with action, guest stars, and featuring the hottest soundtrack with music from legends including Phil Collins, U2, Peter Gabriel, The Who, Aerosmith, Gun N’ Roses, The Cure, Public Enemy and more! Each gritty, unforgettable moment of the revolutionary series pops with sizzling 5.1 Surround Sound.

Described as “MTV Cops”, Miami Vice served as a showcase for a number of talented actors often in some of their earliest roles including Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, John Leguizamo, Helena Bonham Carter, Dan Hedaya, Ving Rhames, Luis Guzmán, Joe Morton, Liam Neeson, Bill Paxton,Vincent D’Onofrio, Viggo Mortensen, Ron Perlman, Wesley Snipes, Annette Bening, Dylan Baker, John Michael Higgins, Oliver Platt, Michael Richards, Chris Elliott, Alfred Molina, Chris Rock, Kim Coates, Lou Diamond Phillips, Nathan Lane, Lori Petty, CCH Pounder, Michael Madsen and Kevin Corrigan.

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