Two straight-to-DVD releases of note this week. One worthy of the top five. One tucked away in the long list, where it belongs.
Robots
It wasn't quite Ice Age, but this latest attempt by Fox to take on the DreamWorks and Pixar CG entertainment empires did fairly well critically and financially, and certainly had one of the best casts to boot: Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge, Paul Giamatti, Dan Hedaya, James Earl Jones, Greg Kinnear, Natasha Lyonne, Stephen Tobolowsky, Stanley Tucci, and Diane Weist. And what other project could finally bring Al Roker, Paula Abdul, and Amanda Bynes together?
In what may be a first, the extras include an X-box racing game. And speaking of Ice Age, there's a featurette on the making of the sequel.
Lords of Dogtown
Once you've made the documentary (in this case, Dogtown and Z-boys), is it really necessary to create a fictionalized account of the same story? Even Spielberg's upcoming Munich terrorist tale takes place after the events in One Day in September. Still, Stacey Peralta revisited the material of his doc (and his past, as one of the original Z-Boy skateboarders) with Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch along for a ride helmed by Thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke with mixed results.
It's unclear if the "Unrated Director's Cut" has any extra features other than the word "UNRATED" in scratchy letters on the cover, but I'm betting they put that hardcore sex scene between Emile Hirsch and his skateboard back in.
Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
This DVD-only release, essentially a thank you from Seth MacFarlane to his fans for bringing back The Family Guy by buying so many DVD's, centers on the Griffin's most entertaining family member. And, if you've seen the preview they keep showing during the broadcast, you know there's an awesome Lethal Weapon shout-out in there somewhere. Really, do you need to know anything more?
Keep an ear out for Drew Barrymore, Ron Livingston, Renee Auberjonois (as Odo!), Michael Clarke Duncan, and half the cast of 90210.
Extras include commentary by MacFarlane and others, plus a "bonus uncensored audio track" - I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds good.
The Amazing Race: The Complete First Season
Reality TV fans who know, and the Emmy judges who agree with them, say this is the best of the genre. Those of you already familiar get 90 minutes of extra footage, interviews with the host and producers (including Jerry "why am I only good when it comes to television" Bruckheimer), and commentary on four episodes. It's reality TV you can watch without having to yell "Don't look at me!!!" if someone comes in the room.
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