This Week In Blu-ray & DVD: The Expendables Go Head to Head with Transformers, Power Rangers and a Big Tits Zombie

Welcome back to This Week In Discs!

As always, if you see something you like, click on the image to buy it.

Tarantino XX 8-Film Collection

Haven’t seen this Blu-ray set yet, but at less than $9 per movie (based on Amazon’s current price) it seems like a no-brainer. The collection includes Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Volume 1 & 2, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds and True Romance. There are three spectacular films in that list, three pretty great ones and two more of varying quality, and all eight are presented in HD with the original special features intact.

The set also includes two bonus discs with new features including nearly five hours of discussion on Tarantino’s films, a two hour retrospective and five trailer variations for his upcoming Django Unchained. [Extras: Individual special features per disc, extensive new featurettes]

Nothing else to buy this week!

Big Tits Zombie

Pitch: Includes both 2D and 3D versions, so, that’s promising…

Why Rent? A quintet of Japanese strippers (including the absolutely adorable Sola Aoi) discover a Book of the Dead that leads to corpses rising from the grave to eat the living. The ladies are forced to take up arms to fight for their survival, and if that means flashing the occasional zombie all the better. It’s lowbrow and low budget entertainment, but there’s lots of fun to be had.

From my 2010 review: “The effects run the gamut of okay to awful especially when the CGI blood appears, but for every disembodied head with visible fishing line holding it afloat there’s a teeth-lined vagina that shoots flames… so I’m not complaining.” [Extras: Featurette, two pairs of 3D glasses]

The Expendables 2

Pitch: Thinking maybe they don’t really know what ‘expendable’ means…

Why Rent? Barney (Sylvester Stallone) and his crew take on a revenge-fueled mission after a new recruit is killed, but are Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris up to the task of taking down Jean Claude Van Damme? This sequel ups the action to include a lot of bloody and gory bullet damage as well as some entertaining hand to hand action, but it’s still fairly ridiculous from beginning to end. Jet Li disappears way too soon too. Still, it’s a lot of fun seeing these guys share the screen and wise-cracking their way through the action. Also available on DVD. [Extras: Commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, gag reel]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Complete Series

Pitch: For folks who like their children’s entertainment with sides of morality, dubbing and subtle racism…

Why Rent? When an intergalactic evil named Rita Repulsa escapes imprisonment and takes aim on Earth, five spunky teens are tasked with saving all of mankind. They’re given kung fu powers, spandex color coded to their race and/or gender and some mechanized dinosaurs to help their cause. It’s essentially divided into three increasingly entertaining parts… the teens interacting and teaching lessons about morality and teamwork; masked stunt doubles flipping; and fighting incompetent bad guys and giant monster mayhem.

The humor is pretty terrible and the fight choreography is lacking when they’re fighting sans masks, but there’s an undeniable charm to the series. Kids from the 1990s grew up with this as the most popular show on TV which probably explains something about today’s society. [Extras: Tons of featurettes]

Transformers Prime: Season Two

Pitch: 26 episodes of CGI robots and not one of them urinates on the lawn…

Why Rent? Megatron and his Decepticons are up to their old tricks as they manipulate Optimus Prime into joining their malevolent cause. The Autobots and their human friends (including Ernie Hudson!) fight to protect Earth and rescue Optimus. This popular animated series from The Hub uses a stylized type of CGI that may take some getting used to, but it’s worth it for the unexpectedly darker tone the stories sometimes take. Truth be told, the show is more entertaining and often more exciting than the last two Transformers movies. Also available on DVD. [Extras: Interviews, featurettes]

Nothing to avoid this week!

Also out this week, but I haven’t seen the movie/TV show, review material was unavailable, and I have no blind opinion:

Dragons: Riders of Berk
The Dust Bowl
Heaven’s Gate (Criterion)
The Trap