A site focused on international film like ours is can’t help but be excited to see the release of this year’s Academy Award winner for best foreign film, and The Lives of Others is no exception. As soon as it came out, everywhere I went I heard people talking about it, and anyone who had seen it insisted that it was a “drop everything and see the film now” kind of release, and they were right. Along side recent films The Free Will and Perfume, there’s a real case to be made that Germany is one of the true hotspots for creative filmmaking right now. The Lives of Others was released today both in DVD and Blu-ray formats, the latter being particularly exciting since most of the HD titles to date have been in the mold of summer blockbusters.

The Criterion Collection comes through again this week with two new titles. The Milky Way is the latest of many titles from Criterion by the celebrated director Luis Bunuel. The Milky Way is unquestionably lesser Bunuel but, as one of his most historically and doctrinally dense, it has been crying out for the context that only a Criterion release can provide. Those familiar with Catholic dogma and ecumenical history will find their advantage slipping away after viewers work their way through the wide selection of extras. Criterion’s decision to also release David Mamet’s film House of Games, while hardly surprising given Mamet’s popularity, is a rare example of the Criterion folks venturing into recent American cinema (it has also been available on a much cheaper MGM dvd for some time, by the way, though of course the Criterion dvd undoubtedly has superior extras). And though I love some of Mamet’s other films, particularly The Spanish Prisoner, I can’t say House of Games bowled me over the first time I saw it — this release will give me a good excuse to see it again (over a decade later) to see if I have a greater appreciation for it now that I’ve fallen so much deeper down the hole of movie mania.

On Region 3 DVD, the ever-reliable Celestial Pictures is back with a new batch of classic Shaw Brothers martial arts films, this week featuring several films starring the same cast that you may have seen in Five Deadly Venoms. This week’s releases include Coward Bastard, the long-awaited House of Traps and Magnificent Ruffians.

Region 2 DVD is fairly quiet this week. I was intrigued by this week’s release in France of Pars Vite, Reviens Tard (aka Have Mercy on Us All, aka Seeds of Death), a story in which one man tries to decipher cryptic warnings of a plague outbreak in Paris. But I do note fairly consistent negative reviews, so be warned, though I like the concept.

The Lives of Others and Perfect Strangers are the only major high-definition titles this week, exclusive to Blu Ray, though they are also coming out on standard definition DVD. Interestingly, HD-DVD sat this week out, with no new releases in the USA. As many of you have no doubt already heard, the format war had the biggest shake-up in over two years this week with Paramount and Dreamworks announcing that going forward, all of their releases will be available on HD-DVD only, reportedly because Microsoft paid Paramount and Dreamworks approximately $150 million to make the switch. This is quite a blow to the Blu-ray camp, and unsurprisingly Fox and MGM responded by announcing a slate of big releases that will be available only on Blu-ray before the year-end. These developments are mostly bad news, as HD-DVD was on the verge of dying a natural death, but at least the competition will keep prices down. My guess is this delays the resolution of the format war for at least a year, but that Blu-ray still emerges the victor. We’ll see…

Alright, enough of my babbling. A complete list of this week’s highlights follows below. Enjoy!

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Released This Week On DVD in the USA (August 21, Region 1, NTSC):

Broken English (Magnolia)
2007, USA, Director: Zoe R. Cassavetes

Exorcism (BCI/Eclipse)
1974, Spain, Director: Juan Bosch

The Far Side of Jericho (First Look Pictures)
2007, USA, Director: Tim Hunter, Western

House of Games (Criterion)
1987, USA, Director: David Mamet

The Lives of Others (Sony)
2006, Germany, Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

The Michael Haneke Collection (includes The Piano Teacher, Funny Games, Code Unknown, The Castle, Benny’s, The Seventh Continent, 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance) (Kino Video)

The Milky Way (Criterion)
1969, Spain, Director: Luis Bunuel, lesser Bunuel but nevertheless crying out for the context that only a Criterion release generally provides. Those familiar with Catholic dogma and ecumenical history will be at an advantage.

The Night of the Sorcerers (BCI/Eclipse)
1973, Spain, Director: Amando de Ossorio

Perfect Stranger (Sony)
2007, USA, Director: James Foley

Redline (Weinstein Company)
2007, USA, Director: Andy Cheng

Reel Talent: First Films by Legendary Directors (20th Century Fox)
Includes short films by George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis and Richard Kelly among others

Robocop (20th Anniversary Edition) (MGM)
1987, USA, Director: Paul Verhoeven

She (Kino Video)
1935, USA, Directors: Lansing C. Holden, Irving Pichel

South Park: Complete 10th Season (Paramount)
1997-Present, USA, Directors: Trey Parker and Matt Stone

Toho Triple Feature: Mysterians, Varan and Matango (Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock)
1957-62, Japan, Director: Ishiro Honda, all lesser tokusatsu films, but together this is a pretty nifty little set

Trapped in the Closet, Chapters 13-22 (Jive)
2007, USA, Director: R. Kelly

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Released This Week On DVD in France (August 22, Region 2, PAL):

Pars Vite, Reviens Tard (Gaumont Columbia Tristar)
2007, France, Director: Regis Wargnier

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Released This Week On DVD in the Hong Kong (August 23, Region 3, NTSC):

Coward Bastard (Celestial/IVL)
1979, Hong Kong, Director: Kuei Chih-hung, kung fu comedy, with Yuen Wah

House of Traps (Celestial/IVL)
1982, Hong Kong, Director: Chang Cheh, long-unavailable Venoms film

Magnificent Ruffians (Celestial/IVL)
1979, Hong Kong, Director: Chang Cheh, long-unavailable Venoms film

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Released This Week On BLU-RAY:

Immortal Beloved (Sony)
1994, USA, Director: Bernard Rose, Starring: Gary Oldman

The Lives of Others (Sony)
2006, Germany, Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (Lionsgate)
2002, USA, Director: Walter Becker

Perfect Stranger (Sony)
2007, USA, Director: James Foley

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Released This Week On HD-DVD:

No HD-DVD releases this week, in the USA at least

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Additional Links:
::: DVD Calendar — a Look at What’s Coming Up
::: Discuss This Week in DVD with Others in the Movie Forum Lounge
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“Where’s my Tae Bo exercise video!!!!”

Here at Cinema Strikes Back our goal is to sift through the masses of dvd information so you don’t have to — to cut straight to the good stuff, or at least what us handful of film geeks think is the good stuff. That means that many dvd releases are left off the list, either because they suck or more likely because we don’t know better. Although I can’t promise we’ll include everything sent to us (”ARRGH, How could you not include Postnatal Rescue or Topless Fight Club in this week’s lineup!”), we always welcome feedback, and I invite you to email me here if I’ve forgotten any important releases this week.