DVD Geeks

On the latest DVD Geeks, we get to recap our favorite and least favorite DVDs from 2011 and look forward to what 2012 has to offer.

We’ve brought together a wide array of genre favorites, overlooked gems and a few big-budget blockbusters to create an eclectic list. Some of our choices may surprise you! If you disagree, let us know…

We’ll also recap some of the recent newest releases in our Honorable Mentions and spend a few minutes looking at the 25th anniversary release of the punk love story “Sid and Nancy,” now making its Blu-ray debut.

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As we closer to the end of the year and the holiday gift-giving season is in full effect, we dig deep into three remarkable DVDs sure to make spirits bright.

First up, Woody Allen continues his recent successes with the feel-good romantic fantasy of the year “Midnight in Paris.” Owen Wilson stars as a writer at a crossroads in his life and seeks out the advice and escape of his newfound friends (Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dali, F. Scott Fitzgerald) who happen to be living their lives nearly 80 years ago.

In “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” we get a modern prequel to one of the greatest science fiction franchises of all time. It’s so good, it almost made us forget about that Tim Burton debacle from a few years back. James Franco stars as the scientist on the verge of a breakthrough for degenerative brain disease, but he may have kickstarted the apes’ rapid rise along the evolutionary scale.

Finally, the creative duo of Charles and Ray Eames re-defined art and design during the middle of the 20th century and their impact still holds sway today. In “Eames: The Architect and the Painter” we get a solid look at their creative output as well as a peek into their private lives.

All of this plus a couple of special geek gift ideas, our weekly honorable mentions and much more!

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Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short

Yes El Guapo! This week on DVD Geeks, we have a plethora of new DVD titles for your enjoyment!

We’ll start things off with the all-star, good-natured comedy “Our Idiot Brother” which puts Paul Rudd as a charmingly clueless hippie whose good intentions fall flat on his neurotic family.

Next up, the horror anthology comes roaring back with the hilarious (and sometimes really gross) “Chillerama” which features four directors plying their craft to make us squirm in our seats. From “Wadzilla” and “I Was A Teenage Werebear” to “The Diary of Anne Frankenstein,” there’s a little something to shock, offend and amuse everyone.

One of those “Chillerama” directors, Adam Rifkin, gets another shot with us in his provocative Showtime series “Look.” The premise is interesting: strong together overlapping character stories in a quasi-reality style show captured entirely on surveillance cameras.

Finally, we celebrate the return of Dusty, Ned and Lucky in the 1986 John Landis comedy “The Three Amigos.” It’s one of the best written comedies of the era, and we’re pleased as a plethora of pinatas to have it in a solid home video release after 25 years.

Join us for all those and more on tonight’s show!

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Robert Wagner in "It Takes A Thief"

Robert Wagner was cool before he was cool. Before he was “Number 2″ in the Austin Powers movies, and before he was Jonathan Hart in “Hart to Hart,” he was Alexander Mundy in “It Takes a Thief.” The series chronicles the exploits of a thief who is hired by the government to use his unique skills in special covert assignments. All three seasons of the late-’60s show are now delivered in a box set rife with features and some usable swag.

We’ve also got a dark, adult take on a fairy tale with the French release “The Sleeping Beauty.” This ain’t your Disney classic…

We also delve into a massive undertaking from A&E with their Blu-ray release “World War II in HD” which takes their all-color documentary series into the high-def realm. Narrated by Gary Sinise, this series breaks with usual documentary format and presents a very personal (and shockingly illustrated) look at the individual experience of war.

Finally, we have a special treat from our Star Trek author friends David Mack, Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward. Each year at the Shore Leave convention, they and an assemblage of other writers/editors and other ne’er-do-wells take turns roasting a guest of honor for charity. This year, it was Robert Greenberger in the hot seat, and we have the hilarious results in this exclusive DVD only available from David Mack’s website.

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When the late Dennis Hopper teamed up with director David Lynch for “Blue Velvet,” they created a dark, disturbing character in Frank Booth. We get to take a look back 25 years later at all the twists and mysteries in this film making its debut on Blu-ray. They’ve gone all out with vintage special features as well as an incredible (and well-restored) 50 minutes of lost footage that helps illuminate the characters in all new ways.

We’ve also got the new comedy “The Change-Up” which puts a raunchy spin on the age-old premise of switching personalities – this time with Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. With a strong supporting female cast (Olivia Wilde and Leslie Mann), we’ll see if the movie can rise above its tired premise and gross-out pedigree.

If comedy and twisted drama aren’t your thing, we have an oddity for our show: a historical drama about the so-called “Scopes Monkey Trial” called “Alleged.” But this movie isn’t all that it seems – even with its killer cast of Colm Meaney, Brian Dennehy and Fred Thompson – we’ll find out what’s really going on under the surface.

Also on Blu, we’re celebrating the releases of Angelina Jolie’s breakout role in “Gia” and the celebrity-fueled racing comedy “Cannonball Run”

All those plus our weekly Honorable Mentions, a very special Geek Pick and more!

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Lon Chaney in "The Phantom of the Opera"

Tonight’s episode is our post-Halloween roundup of the most interesting horror titles of the season. We kick things off with a trove of honorable mentions including some great Roger Corman schlock, a splatter fest from Herschell Gordon Lewis and a few TV delights.

For featured picks, we’ll look at a definitive Dracula documentary that seeks to separate fact from fiction, the long-awaited Blu-ray release of Lon Chaney’s classic “Phantom of the Opera” (in its original 1925 cut and the more popular 1929 release) and a new kind of zombie film, the gritty British thriller “Devil’s Playground.”

Since we have a love for the odd find, we dig deep into a new documentary about gore-master Herschell Gordon Lewis – he who brought us such classics as “The Gore Gore Girls,” “Blood Feast” and “The Wizard of Gore.” Finally, we see if the modern gore-fest “Wrong Turn 4″ can be saved by its exceptional special features including a thorough commentary from the director, behind the scenes footage and the saga of making a movie in near blizzard conditions.

All that plus a very special Geek Pick!

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