New in Home Entertainment – December 4, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sensuality and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Anytime a film hits a billion dollars in world-wide gross, especially without being in 3D and charging the extra 3D bucks, you know the movie has to be a crowd-pleaser.  Supposedly being the third and final film in writer/director Christopher Nolan’s highly successful Batman trilogy, Dark Knight Rises tells the story that takes place immediately following the events of The Dark Knight.  Batman has basically retired until a new villain named Bane (Tom Hardy) takes over the city of Gotham, leaving Bruce Wayne no choice but to come out of hiding and take on the super villain.  While its hard to match up to the Oscar-winning performance of Heath Ledger we saw in Dark Knight, Hardy is a very frightening bad guy and the plot he is involved with is as complex as it is dark.  My only complaints are the film feels overly long at 165 minutes and PG-13 is too light of a rating.  I know they couldn’t put out an R rate movie, but to tone the violence down to such levels makes the film seem inauthentic.  And I am fairly certain that even my novice editing skills could have improved the movie by slicing and dicing about 20-30 minutes off the run time in order to help the pacing.  But still, it is a worthy finale to the Dark Knight trilogy and should be an extremely popular stocking stuffer this holiday season.  B+

Finding Nemo
Rated G
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
Surprisingly, this immensely famous Pixar film has never seen a blu-ray release.  I’m slightly shocked that Disney didn’t put one out last year knowing they could release again after the 3D theatrical run, and get more folks waste more cash to buy the newest edition.  Thankfully they chose to just give it a huge release now and it is stuffed with great extras new and previous.  But more importantly, the film is simply gorgeous in hi-def.  Watching Marlin and Dory on their fantastic journey to find little Nemo has never looked or sounded as good at home.  And while I’m not a big fan of many of the home 3D presentations, this one does utilize its after-market 3D effects well.  A

East Bound and Down: The Complete Third Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In this third and most likely final season of HBO’s hit show, former major-league pitcher Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) is now back in America pitching for the minors in Myrtle Beach.  Cocky and dumb as ever, Kenny finds himself left alone with his baby he just found out about and breaks every record possible for worst father of the year.  This last season is much stronger than the second but also much darker.  And they even saved the best episode of the show for last reaching new heights for stupidity and reckless behavior.  B+