Home Entertainment News

DVD / Blu-ray New Releases January 7, 2014: ARCHER, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE

Archer: The Complete Season Four

F/X Network’s offbeat spy comedy Archer has managed to reinvigorate the network and garner a healthy fan base of its own with its mix of James Bond-esque cool, biting wit, sexy period sets, and infectious theme music. The World’s Best Spy is back with Archer: The Complete Season Four.This season the employees of the ISIS spy agency all undergo a personal growth of sorts: Malory (Jessica Walter) somehow finds herself married, while Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) scrambles to find his footing as he recovers from amnesia, and Lana (the excellently sultry and comedic Aisha Tyler) struggles with the real meaning of her work at the spy agency. The season also stars Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, showrunner Adam Reed with guest appearances by Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schall, and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm. The agents bounce from the Bermuda Triangle to the Vatican all with cocktail soaked flair and inappropriate interoffice cross-pollination and some of the best action sequences outside the real James Bond films.

In We Are What We Are (2013), director Jim Mickle retells the Mexican horror movie of the same name with an American gothic twist. The Parkers, a private family living in a small town, have a shocking secret. In the wake of their mother’s death, sisters Rose (Julia Garner) and Iris (Ambyr Childers) are left to care for their brother Rory (Jack Gore) and aging father Fran (Bill Sage). It also becomes their duty to carry on with a macabre family custom, one which is slowly uncovered by a series of discoveries by the locals following a big storm. Entertainment One has released the horror film as either a single disc Blu-ray or a single disc DVD packaged in a slipcover with original pressing.

Advertisement
 

Well Go USA continues its tradition of bringing martial arts excellence to the American public with the release of Wang Zi Ming‘s Badges of Fury (2013). The action comedy stars powerhouse Jet Li, Michelle Chen, Collin Chou, Lik-Sun Fong, and Stephen Fung. Hot shot young police officer Wang and his veteran conservative partner Huang are assigned to investigate a series of murders across Hong Kong. They reach an impasse after discovering all the victims were former lovers of an aspiring Hong Kong starlet Liu and decide one of them should go undercover as her lover in order to flush out the killer. Badges of Fury is available in its original Mandarin with English subtitles.

Stuart Blumberg makes his directorial debut in the romantic dramedy Thanks for Sharing (2013). Like his screenplay for The Kids Are Alright, Blumberg explores sexual identity through four sex addicts who struggle to avoid relapse. The film is mostly a lighthearted look at a largely misunderstood condition, though Tim Robbins, Josh Gad, Mark Ruffalo, and Alecia Moore do manage to bring gravity to some scenes. Ruffalo is particularly effective as he stumbles in trying to forge a normal relationship with a new love (played by ). Moore (you may know her as Pink!) also shines as a troubled former wild child who bonds with Gad’s character.

Spain’s irrepressible director Pedro Almodóvar is back with his longtime collaborators Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz in the madcap I’m So Excited! (2013). Set aboard a doomed aircraft, I’m So Excited! peeks in on the crew and passengers of flight 2549. A technical failure has endangered the flight and the crew must do everything within their power to entertain the passengers and keep their minds off the impending crash. The Blu-ray combo pack comes with a few special features including a making of, theatrical trailers for other Sony titles, the film’s theatrical trailer, and Presenting: I’m So Excited! where moderator Thomas Campbell discusses the film with writer/director Almodóvar and actors Carlos Areces, Blanca Suárez, and Miguel Ángel Silvestre. Packed with typical Almodóvar lunacy, the film showcases the filmmaker at his best: examining the human psyche under crisis under a microscope and teasing out what makes us unique—and uniquely funny.

Other notable releases include:

The Act of Killing

Star Trek Enterprise: Season Three

Runner Runner

Copper: Season Two

Legit: The Complete First Season

Big Ass Spider!

The Hurricane

4 Film Favorites: Leonardo DiCaprio (Shutter Island, Blood Diamond, The Aviator, Body of Lies)

The Killing Fields (Digibook)

Advertisement
 

Coal Miner’s Daughter

Gorillas in the Mist

Throne of Blood

Tequila Sunrise

Closed Circuit

Being Human (DigiPack)

Notting Hill

Cape Fear

The Last Starfighter

The Mummy

Nova: Making Stuff 2

The Cassandra Crossing/The Domino Principle

Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life

Hail Mary

Leave your thoughts on this week’s New Releases below in the comments section. For more DVD / Blu-ray news, videos, and information, visit our Blu-ray News Page and our DVD News Page. Become notified when a new news column is published by subscribing to us by Email, “follow” us on TwitterTumblr, or “like” on Facebook.

FilmBook's Newsletter

Subscribe to FilmBook’s Daily Newsletter for the latest news!

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Romney J. Baldwin

Romney Baldwin, Former FilmBook Writer, and Roaming, Pouncing writer-for-hire.
Back to top button
Share via
Send this to a friend