By David Weiner
10:39 AM PST, March 5, 2014
May the odds be ever in your favor! The Hunger Games: Catching Fire arrives this week alongside Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave; Oldboy; The Grandmaster; Paul Walker's final dramatic role in Hours and more.
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New on Blu-ray & DVD: March 4
Lionsgate
May the odds be ever in your favor! The Hunger Games: Catching Fire arrives this week alongside Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave; Oldboy; The Grandmaster; Paul Walker's final dramatic role in Hours and more.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (available March 7)
Lionsgate
The blockbuster worldwide hit arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Digital HD, Video on Demand and Pay-Per-View on Friday! Now that Katniss Everdeen (the returning Jennifer Lawrence) and her fellow tribute Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) have defied the odds and survived The Hunger Games together, they're sent throughout the various districts on a "Victory Tour" that has a lot more to do with politics than adulation. Along the way, Katniss senses a rebellion simmering -- one that she and Peeta may have sparked – with serious consequences, as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) determines that Katniss and Peeta must once again enter the arena for the deadly Quarter Quell, which could change Panem forever. Bonus features include a Blu-ray-exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, Surviving the Game: Making Catching Fire, deleted scenes, an audio commentary with director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson, as well as a sneak peek at Divergent!
12 Years a Slave
20th Century Fox
The brand-new Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, this stirring Steve McQueen film about a true story pulls no punches about slavery and is intensely engrossing from heartbreaking start to finish. The film follows the dramatic turn of events experienced by Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor in a stunning performance) in the pre-Civil War era, a free black man from upstate New York who is double-crossed, abducted and sold into slavery in the South. There, he struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. McQueen expertly manages an all-star cast that includes a sadistic and twisted Michael Fassbender, a genial Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano in a love-to-hate-him role, and newcomer Lupita Nyong'o in a heartbreaking performance that earned her a Best Supporting Actress statuette. Bonus features include A Historical Portrait and behind the scenes featurettes on The Team and The Score.
Hours
Lionsgate
The late Paul Walker delivers his final dramatic performance in this gripping Hurricane Katrina tale as Nolan Hayes, a New Orleans man who tragically loses his wife (played by Genesis Rodriguez) during childbirth after she goes into early labor. With Hurricane Katrina raging around the hospital and forcing an evacuation, Nolan is forced to stand his ground and keep his baby daughter alive on a ventilator that's entirely dependent on a hand-cranked battery. With no one else around to help and new threats around every corner, Nolan faces one life-and-death decision after another and must fight to keep his helpless baby alive. Bonus features on the DVD and Digital HD include a music video by Safran and a PSA for Paul's charity Reach Out World Wide.
The Grandmaster
Anchor Bay
International stars Zhang Ziyi and Tony Leung headline Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's sumptuous martial arts film inspired by the life and times of the legendary kung fu master Ip Man, who trained Bruce Lee and taught him some of his best moves. The epic story spans the tumultuous Republican era that followed the fall of China's last dynasty, a time of chaos, division and war that was also the golden age of Chinese martial arts. Bonus features include a The Grandmaster: From Ip Man to Bruce Lee; conversation with Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee; The Grandmaster according to RZA, and more behind-the-scenes footage.
Oldboy
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Spike Lee directs this unflinching remake of the Korean cult classic, with Josh Brolin in the lead as Joe Doucett, a wreck of a man who is unexpectedly kidnapped and kept in solitary confinement for 20 years. Suddenly set free without a word of explanation, Joe becomes obsessed with finding whoever is responsible for imprisoning him and wreaks havoc upon his captors, oblivious to the fact that his freedom is actually part of a plan for his true punishment. Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlito Copley co-star. Bonus features include The Making of Oldboy and Transformation.
The Venture Bros.: Complete Season Five
Turner
The super-fun, globetrotting animated Adult Swim series hits Blu-ray and DVD with the Venture family facing the treachery of enemies old, new, and within, from the steamy jungles of Central America and sparkling sands of the Greek Islands to the seedy back alleys of Tangier and the jagged cliffs of By-Golly Gulch. Special features include two bonus episodes, commentaries, deleted scenes and more. Guest voice appearances include Aziz Ansari, Bill Hader, Kevin Conroy, Gillian Jacobs and Tim Meadows.
The Last Days on Mars
Magnolia Pictures
Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, and Olivia Williams star in this sci-fi thriller that takes place on the eve of the very first manned expedition to Mars crew's return to Earth. Ready to return, they make an astounding discovery -- fossilized evidence of life on Mars – and soon come to realize that their find of life might be the death of us all.
Cold Comes the Night
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Bryan Cranston stars opposite Star Trek Into Darkness beauty Alice Eve in this gripping thriller about a motel proprietor (Eve) in financial trouble who has let a corrupt cop (Logan Marshall-Green) take advantage of her situation. When a hardened career criminal (Cranston) stops over at the motel with a large amount of cash to deliver cash to a boss, a series of double crosses leaves a cloud of mayhem and murder.