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DVD / Blu-ray New Releases: October 15, 2013: PACIFIC RIM, A HIJACKING

Jaeger Kaiju Pacific Rim

This summer’s rock ‘em sock ‘em megablockbuster Pacific Rim (2013) stomps onto store shelves today. Director Guillermo del Toro’s action flick stars heavy hitters Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Max Martini. Fearsome alien creatures known as Kaiju rise from the depths of the ocean to terrorize coastal cities around the world. In response, the world’s superpowers develop powerful robotic prototypes strong enough to battle the Kaiju. They keep them at bay for a while until the Kaiju increase their strength and overwhelm the Jaeger program into shuttering. With only four remaining Jaeger robots in existence and a handful of men with the bravery and knowledge to pilot them, the program regroups in Hong Kong to attempt to put an end to the Kaiju invasion once and for all.

Tobias Lindholm’s Danish suspense drama A Hijacking (2012) releases today. The film stars Johan Philip Asbæk, Søren Malling, and Dar Salim. Somali pirates take over a Danish cargo ship and demand a large ransom from the firm that owns the freighter in order to secure the freedom of the crew. The company enters into negotiations with the hijackers but fail to pay the ransom demanded. This leads to an increasingly dangerous situation for the hostages who must sit in limbo for months on end as their company negotiates with the pirates’ representatives in order to bring about a satisfactory compromise for both sides.  Arrow previously released a Blu-ray of the film in the UK; Magnolia’s release is superior in that it provides more language options and a higher average bitrate of 36.00 Mbps on a BD-50.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars fans will rejoice today with the release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Five (2012-2013) by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The Clone Wars advance through the galaxy while Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Master Yoda, and Padawan Ashoka struggle to maintain order and to stop the advancement of the dark forces. Season five comes as a three disc set (on Blu-ray) with the original aspect ratio and five languages available for subtitles; the audio track has many options including an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

Comedian Kevin Hart continues to release stand up discs at a dizzying pace with his latest Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (2013). Filmed at his sold out Madison Square Gardens performances on his Let Me Explain tour last year, Hart delivers even more of his life documentary approach and self-deprecating humor in this 75 minute set. The show is available as a DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray combo pack with DVD+Blu-ray+UltraViolet Copy+Digital Copy.

Fox and MGM are getting on the dramatic TV series violence bandwagon ridden to success by Gang of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad with their release today of Vikings: Season One. Historically, Vikings were not known for their tearful renditions of Kumbaya  nor their espousal of the hippie philosophies of peace and love; this first season does not disappoint as we follow Viking Chief Ragnar Lothbrok, his wife Lagertha, and his ambitious brother Rollo as they fend off enemies and fight to maintain their family and freedom. Vikings comes as a three Blu-ray disc set with an English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack and subtitles in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Well Go USA releases Drug War (2012) today. Zhang, a police captain, strikes a deal with drug kingpin Choi to give up information on his partners in a drug smuggling ring in order to avoid the death penalty. Hong Kong director Johnny To’s drama stars Louis Koo, Honglei Sun, Crystal Huang, Gordon Lam, Suet Lam, and Eddie Cheung.

Other notable releases today include:

Madonna: MDNA World Tour   

The Colony

In the Mouth of Madness

Barbara

High Plains Drifter: 40th Anniversary Edition

Love Actually (10th Anniversary Edition)

The Heat

Shrek: The Musical

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Defiance: Season One

Anger Management: Volume 2

Maniac

The Untold History of the United States

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (Blu-ray)

Weird Science (Blu-ray)

Backdraft (Blu-ray)

Fletch (Blu-ray)

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.

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Romney J. Baldwin

Romney Baldwin, Former FilmBook Writer, and Roaming, Pouncing writer-for-hire.
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