This Week In DVD: Punisher: War Zone, Twilight, And More

By Adam Quigley/March 17, 2009 7:00 am EST

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This is a movie in which a man literally punches through someone’s head. Another scene has a man being exploded mid-air by a rocket launcher. Moments like these are littered throughout Punisher: War Zone, which is a sequel/reboot that clearly has no intention of taking itself seriously. The downside though, is that in order to get these stunningly ludicrous (and yet completely badass) sequences, you’re also forced to trudge through some truly pitiful acting and dialogue. For some, this could very well add to the film’s appeal, giving it a cartoonish B-movie charm that earns it “so bad it’s good” status. And to some extent, I’d even agree with that assessment, but I also feel like there are one too many dull spots to warrant a full recommendation.

Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: The single-disc contains no extras, while the 2-Disc includes an audio commentary, making-of featurettes, and a digital copy of the film.

ELEGY

This kind of romance/drama isn’t the type of thing that generally interests me, but I have a rule about movies starring the amazing Ben Kingsley: as long as he doesn’t look like a total retard, it’s probably worth watching. With the exception of a movie or two, the success rate of this rule has been exceptional, as proven by A Sound of Thunder, Bloodrayne, and The Love Guru. And if the reviews for Elegy are to be believed, the rule applies here as well.

Blu-ray? No.Notable Extras: A commentary with screenwriter Nicholas Meyer, and a Poety of Elegy featurette.

TWILIGHT(Releases on Saturday, March 21, 2009)

We already reviewed Twilight on the /Filmcast, and quite frankly, I have no interest in spending much more time discussing it. Simply put, it’s a dumb movie adapted from a dumb book. In a desperate attempt to understand what it is about the book that women find so fascinating, I actually skimmed through a little of it and felt as though I was reading an embarrassing erotic fantasy story written by some 16-year-old girl that had never planned on sharing it with anybody. Suddenly, the reason for the book’s popularity became very clear to me: it’s porn for tween girls. Translate that to film, and what do you get? Awkward, stilted dialogue and lots of scenes of characters staring longingly into each other’s eyes. What fun.

Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: This 2-Disc Special Edition includes an audio commentary with Catherine Hardwicke, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, 5 extended scenes, 5 deleted scenes, a 7-part documentary (‘The Adventure Begins: The Journey from Page to Screen’), and a ‘Comic-Con Phenomenon’ featurette.

EXCLUSIVE DEAL:What? 3-Disc Deluxe Edition with over 45 minutes of extra content, including: a conversation with Stephanie Meyer, Robert Pattinson on “Becoming Edward”, Kristen Stewart on “Becoming Bella”, music from the film, and free iTunes downloads with a digital copy of the film.Where? Target.