New DVD Releases: Avatar, Crazy Heart, The Lovely Bones

We’ve suffered through two straight weeks of DVD purgatory and now our patience is rewarded with a huge week of releases. Like the biggest week ever! And that’s hardly hyperbole, not when the number one box office champ of all time, Avatar hits shelves and has you wondering about investing in a 3D TV.

But that’s not the only thing going on sale. There’s more Oscar bait on display as Jeff Bridges‘ award winning performance arrives on DVD in Crazy Heart and nominee Stanley Tucci comes home in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones.

Check it all out below…

FEATURE FILMS

Avatar

DVD is the real litmus test for Avatar as a film. As an event, it’s already passed the test – with the breadth of the IMAX screen and the fun of its 3D backing it up. But as a movie? Well it’s never really been grilled in that way. We were too distracted.

Now Avatar has to come out of its shell. It can no longer hide behind its crazy effects or its massive spectacle. On DVD, the movie just has to stand for itself. Imagine someone who waited to catch it on DVD and popping it into a player attached to a 25-inch SD Tube TV from 1998. Will they have anywhere near the same opinion has a bespectacled IMAX gawker who was constantly attempting to touch the digital flora and fauna of Pandora?

Almost certainly not. And it remains to be seen if it’s a good enough movie to impress the average home viewer.

So if you’d like to participate in this experiment, check out the DVD.

Crazy Heart

Well, Jeff Bridges finally joined the club with this movie and it’s not the club you’re thinking about.

Yes, he did become part of the selective group of Oscar winners, but that doesn’t really tell his whole story. He also became one of the few multiple nominees who have won an Oscar for what is unarguably their worst nominated performance.

This has happened three times prior:

Paul Newman – The Color of Money (1986)

Newman starts the club after missing out on the award for far superior work in films like The Verdict, Hud, and Cool Hand Luke. Not to mention in The Hustler. Then he goes on to win an award for playing a washed-up pool player like a washed-up actor.

Al Pacino – Scent of a Woman (1992)

After many deserving performances (Ya know, like two Godfather movies) Pacino wins for yelling “Hoo-ha!” a lot. This win may have indirectly turned him into the horrible ham sandwich he is now. Oddly, he was also nominated for one of the best performances of his career in that same year for his turn as Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross, but they gave him this one instead. Weird.

Kate Winslet – The Reader (2009)

First of all, this was a supporting role. Second of all, she was much less effective in this role than she was in the same year for Revolutionary Road (not nominated). Thirdly, this was nothing compared to many of her other performances, most notably in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Now we have Bridges earning the fourth spot in this club for essentially slurring his way through a belly-hanger of a performance when his previously nominated work in films like The Contender and Starman was far superior. Not to mention non-nominated performances in films like The Big Lebowski and Fearless.

So is this really the performance of a lifetime? Not really. But don’t take my word for it, check it out on DVD.

Also:

• 35  Shots of Rum – Buy Now
• The Lovely Bones – Buy Now
• The Young Victoria – Buy Now

TV ON DVD

Movies may be great this week, but TV is less than spectacular.  In fact, much less than spectacular. . .

• “Falcon Crest”: Season 1 – Buy Now
• “Merlin”: Season 1 – Buy Now
• “Perry Mason”: Season 5, Vol. 1 – Buy Now

What DVD will you pick up this week?