Blu-ray Today: Ghosts, God and Queen

The Conjuring – I’m told this is the scariest movie of the year, but cannot report back on that score, since circumstances contrived to keep me from every single press screening (and there were many). So maybe demonic forces are trying to keep me from panning something just to put you off, but I figure it’s a must-see for anyone partial to haunted house movies no matter what. Of course, if you prefer them a little more vintage, today also sees the release of The Uninvited (Criterion Collection) from 1944, starring Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey.

Only God Forgives – From the people who brought you Drive, it’s the best ripoff of Lost Highway-era David Lynch I think I’ve ever seen. When a dipshit American beats a hooker to death, it ignites a feud that involves a Thai cop who wears a sword on his back, a hapless Ryan Gosling, and his ball-busting criminal mom (Kristin Scott-Thomas). Promoted as a “Ryan Gosling kicks ass” movie, it’s actually a lot weirder and more artful, though there’s violence aplenty. Sure to evoke a strong opinion either way (mine is positive).

Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics – Why should you sit through a documentary full of talking heads telling you what you already know about how comic-book characters speak to our emotions and the dark parts of our psyche? Because Christopher Lee’s the narrator. Don’t fuck with him.

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert – It’s a slow week, and this 1992 concert was awesome, with the highlight surprisingly being Extreme (yes, the “More Than Words” guys) whose Queen cover medley briefly looked like it would be their ticket to bigger and better things. And then Gary Cherone went to Van Halen. There’s also a live Ted Nugent Blu-ray coming out this week, but I’m not even gonna go there…not even as an excuse to say “poon tang.” Oops, did it anyway.

Primeval New World: The Complete Series – I gather that this is a Canadian remake of an English series about time-traveling dinosaurs. My only question: which country is more polite about the degree to which prehistoric lizards interfere with the daily routine?

That’s seriously about it for this week. Anything else you’re looking to pick up?