This Week in DVD

Valkyrie: Uh, I haven't done due diligence on this one this week because, frankly, I thought this movie came and went on DVD months ago. It's the WWII flick in which Tom Cruise, as a German soldier, wore an eye patch for authenticity but didn't bother with a German accent. An eye patch in a two-hour-plus movie? Big deal, fella. A guy wore one on 'Days of Our Lives" for YEARS, and that was 5 days a week.

Man Hunt: This title is of course a natural tie-in with "Valkyrie" because...
Well, because it features someone targeting Adolf Hitler. If you thought I was going to make a "Man Hunt" joke about Tom Cruise, well, this blog is too classy for that. And too non-lawyered up. Unlike in "Valkyrie," star Walter Pidgeon does not wear an eye patch, at least not that I recall.

By my calculations, this release of "Man Hunt" brings the number of loaded DVDs of classics from the Fox library this year to...one. Seriously, something happened over there, and the once-rocking studio has come to a halt with its back catalogue. Enjoy this tie-in marketing opportunity while you can. But while you're enjoying it, ask Fox what the heck happened to its Film Noir line.

Paul Blart, Mall Cop: I heard that Kevin James originally thought Paul Blart should wear an eye patch in this movie.

Warner Brothers "Collections": I am going to put aside the question of the inherent desirability of a "Charles Bronson Collection" consisting of "Teflon" and "St. Ives" (Charles Bronson fans probably have guns). Where does WB get off calling a DVD with TWO movies "a collection"? The Steve McQueen Collection, or any of the slew of similar releases from the studio this week, should have more than just two flicks. I don't care what the dictionary says, that's a double feature, not a collection. WB even put "Double Feature" at the top of the boxes. They know.

Peyton Place Volume 1: It's a cool surprise that this early nighttime serial drama/soap is coming to DVD, but I find it odd that we haven't seen any cutesy black and white TV ads touting "Peyton Manning's Place" as the Colts QB is digitally inserted in old footage to "interact" with Ryan O'Neal. Can Shout Factory be the only entity in Corporate America that can't talk Peyton Manning into pitching its product?

Paramount Centennial Collections: 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "El Dorado": Centennial in this case refers to the number of times the movies have already been out on DVD, and, yes, I think I made the same smart-ass remark a while back when some Audrey Hepburn movies came out, but if Paramount is gonna recycle its movies, I'm gonna recycle my jabs.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle: Paramount saves those movies it hasn't released 100 times for Criterion. I've never seen this Mitchum flick, wanted to see it, and now will see it eventually. A lot of people who like a lot of movies I do like this one a lot.