DVD/Blu-ray Release Calendar: November 2014

  • Publish Date: October 29, 2014
  • Comments: ↓ 1 user comment

November 4

All movies are 2014 releases unless otherwise noted. Availability: DVDDVD | Blu-rayBlu-ray | Blu-ray and DVD Both Blu-ray and DVD
Note to Netflix users: Because Netflix is discontinuing its API, which allows other sites (like ours) to interface with Netflix, the "+Netflix Queue" links below will no longer be operational after November 13, 2014.

poster Hercules 47 Watch Trailer

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Directed by Brett Ratner and adapted from Steve Moore's comic, the second Hercules action-adventure film of the year (and the slightly superior one, following Renny Harlin's dud The Legend of Hercules) stars Dwayne Johnson as the son of Zeus, who leads a band of mercenaries into battle to return a king to his throne. Critics thought Johnson well-cast, and liked that the movie wasn't overly serious and that it aimed simply to entertain viewers. Unfortunately, on that last count, it didn't fully succeed.

poster Land Ho! 68 Watch Trailer

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This buddy comedy may have an older cast than your typical Hollywood summer entry, but don't let that deter you. Written and directed by Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens, Land Ho! follows former brothers-in-law Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson) and Colin (Paul Eenhoorn of This is Martin Bonner) as they vacation in Iceland together. Colin is recently divorced, so the more gregarious Mitch, a retired surgeon who used to be married to Colin’s wife’s sister, hopes a change in scenery will cheer him up. Though critics noted a distinct lack of narrative drive, they generally found the film to be an engaging character study and travelogue.

posterMaleficent 56 Watch Trailer

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Angelina Jolie returned to the big screen this summer (for the first time since 2010’s The Tourist) as the title character in this darker, live-action re-imagining of Disney’s 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty. The script comes from Linda Woolverton (Alice in Wonderland) and John Lee Hancock (Snow White and the Huntsman), and it finds Elle Fanning’s Princess Aurora in the middle of a battle between her father (Sharlto Copley) and Maleficent, a fairy who once had wings. Sam Riley, Brenton Thwaites, Miranda Richardson, and Juno Temple have supporting roles. The direction from first-timer Robert Stromberg (a veteran production designer and visual effects supervisor) was one reason for that less-than-stellar Metascore, with some critics also finding the film tiresome rather than fun.

poster A Most Wanted Man 73 Watch Trailer

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Working from a script by Andrew Bovell (Lantana), photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn brings his cool, austere style to his third feature, an adaptation of John Le Carré’s 2008 novel about Issa (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a young Chechen Muslim who arrives illegally in Germany and becomes the focus of a terrorist investigation. In one of his final screen roles completed before his death, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the head of a German spy unit who will use any means necessary to stop a threat. Caught in his web are Rachel McAdams as Issa’s lawyer, and Willem Dafoe as a banker sponsoring Issa’s defense. Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl (Rush), and Nina Hoss (Barbara) also star.

poster The One I Love 65 Watch Trailer

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This semi-improvised two-hander stars Mark Duplass (The League) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) as a struggling married couple who, under the advise of a therapist (Ted Danson, in a brief appearance), head to an isolated vacation cottage in an attempt to rekindle their marriage. We won't spoil the surreal twist this rom-dramedy takes at that point, but we will tell you that most critics found that the strong performances and dialogue helped make up for any weaknesses in the underlying concept.

More movie releases on November 4, 2014
82 DVD Archipelago DRAMA | Tom Hiddleston +Netflix Amazon
33 Blu-ray and DVD The Christmas Candle (2013) DRAMA | Susan Boyle, Hans Matheson +Netflix Amazon
62 DVD The Discoverers COMEDY | Griffin Dunne +Netflix Amazon
76 Blu-ray and DVD The Dog DOCUMENTARY +Netflix Amazon
72 DVD Exhibition DRAMA | Viviane Albertine, Liam Gillick, Tom Hiddleston +Netflix Amazon
51 DVD A Five Star Life FOREIGN/DRAMA +Netflix Amazon
68 DVD Fort Bliss DRAMA | Michelle Monaghan, Ron Livingston +Netflix Amazon
58 Blu-ray and DVD Frontera WESTERN | Ed Harris, Michael Pena, Eva Longoria +Netflix Amazon
66 Blu-ray The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended edition adds 25 minutes to film Amazon
  Blu-ray Man of the West (1958) WESTERN | Gary Cooper Amazon
48 Blu-ray and DVD Planes: Fire & Rescue ANIMATION/FAMILY | Dane Cook +Netflix Amazon
34 DVD Premature COMEDY | John Karna, Craig Roberts +Netflix Amazon
74 DVD Unrelated DRAMA | Tom Hiddleston +Netflix Amazon
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
  Blu-ray Doctor Who The Complete Matt Smith Years   Amazon
  DVD The Exes Seasons 1 & 2   Amazon
  DVD Gator Boys Season 3   Amazon
  DVD Hill Street Blues Season 3   Amazon
  DVD Hot in Cleveland Season 5   Amazon
  DVD Impractical Jokers Season 2   Amazon
  DVD Law & Order Seasons 15, 16, 17 (separate sets)   Amazon
  DVD M Squad Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD Merlin Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD The Merv Griffin Show Selected episodes from 1962-86 (12-disc set)   Amazon
46 DVD Napoleon Dynamite Season 1 +Netflix Amazon
  DVD Nash Bridges Complete series set   Amazon
66 Blu-ray and DVD The Newsroom Season 2 +Netflix Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Poirot Series 13   Amazon
  DVD Quantum Leap Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD Reno 911! Complete series set (uncensored)   Amazon
  DVD Sgt. Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show Complete series set   Amazon
  Blu-ray The Sopranos Complete series set (first Blu-ray release)   Amazon
60 DVD Touch Season 2 +Netflix Amazon
33 DVD The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story TV movie +Netflix Amazon
  DVD White Collar Season 5 +Netflix Amazon

November 11

poster Abuse of Weakness 77

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The often controversial but rarely boring Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl, The Sleeping Beauty) showed this very personal project at TIFF last year, and the strong reviews at the festival were matched by an equally positive response when the film opened in the U.S. late this summer. Weakness is based on the director's own 2004 stroke and her subsequent involvement with a notorious con man, Christophe Rocancourt, who swindled her out of most of her savings. Isabelle Huppert stars as Maud, a filmmaker (serving as Breillat’s alter-ego), who falls under the spell of the charismatic scam artist Villko, played by French rapper Kool Shen. A filmmaker who never shies away from difficult subjects (and often courts them), Breillat may have delivered her most revealing film yet.

poster Happy Christmas 70 Watch Trailer

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The timing of the DVD may be a bit more appropriate than the film's original theatrical release window in July, but when it opened then, Happy Christmas was the fourth film in 12 months from writer-director-actor Joe Swanberg, and it was also his best-reviewed film since Drinking Buddies kicked off that prolific streak. Christmas looks at what happens when the irresponsible Jenny (Anna Kendrick) moves in with her brother (Swanberg), his wife (Melanie Lynskey) and their two-year-old son (played by Swanberg's real-life son Jude). Also starring are Lena Dunham (Girls) as Jenny’s old friend, and Mark Webber as a pot-smoking babysitter who catches Jenny’s eye.

poster How to Train Your Dragon 2 76 Watch Trailer

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After its premiere at Cannes this spring, some critics were quick to claim this animated sequel superior to the original, high praise considering the critical and box office success of 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon. Though box office results were down slightly for HTTYD2, the Metascore indeed ticked up a few points. The story picks up with Vikings and dragons living in harmony, and Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless happily charting new territories and discovering a secret ice cave with hundreds of wild dragons being cared for by Hiccup’s long-lost mother (Cate Blanchett). A new threat emerges in the form of dragon hunter Drago Bludvist (voiced by Djimon Hounsou) as writer-director Dean DeBlois (returning without co-writer-director Chris Sanders, who moved on to do The Croods) ups the stakes for Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid (America Ferrera), and the other residents of Berk. Expect a third installment to follow in 2017.

poster Jersey Boys 54 Watch Trailer

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The importance of music in Clint Eastwood’s life and films (he is a jazz pianist and composer, has scored many of own films, and directed Bird, a biopic on jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker) is well documented, but until this summer he had never directed a musical. For his musical debut, he opted for an adaptation of Jersey Boys, the Tony award-winning jukebox musical about the rise and fall of 1960s rock group the Four Seasons. Rather than go with a more established film star, Eastwood asked John Lloyd Young to reprise his Tony-winning role as Frankie Valli. Joining him in the cast are Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, and Vincent Piazza, as well as Christopher Walken as mobster Angelo 'Gyp' DeCarlo. Critics couldn't agree on the film's merits; some found it solidly entertaining, while others described it as a major failure.

poster Tammy 39 Watch Trailer

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Melissa McCarthy stars as the titular character in this R-rated summer comedy directed by her husband (and fellow Bridesmaids actor) Ben Falcone from a script they wrote together. The film follows Tammy on a pretty bad day as she loses her job, totals her car, and catches her husband cheating. Needing to get away but finding her only option to be her alcoholic grandmother Pearl (Susan Sarandon), they hit the road together. This is the first feature script for the pair, as well as Falcone’s directorial debut, and it boasts a strong supporting cast that includes Allison Janney, Kathy Bates, Dan Aykroyd, Gary Cole, Mark Duplass, Toni Collette, and Nat Faxon. It turns out, however, that even Melissa McCarthy is incapable of writing a good Melissa McCarthy vehicle; critics (and even Metacritic users) mostly hated the film.

More movie releases on November 11, 2014
45 DVD Coldwater DRAMA/THRILLER +Netflix Amazon
  DVD The Compleat Al (1985) COMEDY | "Weird Al" Yankovic   Amazon
29 Blu-ray and DVD Drive Hard ACTION/COMEDY | John Cusack, Thomas Jane +Netflix Amazon
  DVD Fray DRAMA | Bryan Kaplan +Netflix Amazon
53 Blu-ray and DVD I Am Ali DOCUMENTARY/SPORTS +Netflix Amazon
30 Blu-ray and DVD Iceman FOREIGN/ACTION | Donnie Yen +Netflix Amazon
30 Blu-ray and DVD Let's Be Cops COMEDY | Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr. +Netflix Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five to Go 2014 live performance Amazon
54 Blu-ray and DVD Mood Indigo FOREIGN/DRAMA/COMEDY/FANTASY | Directed by Michel Gondry +Netflix Amazon
  Blu-ray Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) DRAMA | John Wayne Amazon
55 DVD Summer of Blood HORROR/COMEDY +Netflix Amazon
32 Blu-ray UHF (1989) COMEDY | "Weird Al" Yankovic, Michael Richards Amazon
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
  Blu-ray The Avengers Season 5   Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Batman Complete series set (remastered; first time on DVD/Blu-ray)   Amazon
15 DVD Dads Season 1 +Netflix Amazon
  DVD Deadliest Catch Season 9   Amazon
  DVD Family Ties Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD Gabriel Iglesias Stand-Up Revolution Season 3   Amazon
72 Blu-ray and DVD Getting On Season 1 [U.S.] +Netflix Amazon
  DVD Hey Arnold! Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD Highway to Heaven Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD Quincy Season 7   Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 6 (Lost Missions)   Amazon
  DVD Starsky and Hutch Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD Taxi Complete series set   Amazon
54 Blu-ray and DVD True Blood Season 7 (available separately: Complete series set) +Netflix Amazon
  DVD The Tudors Complete series set   Amazon
  DVD Wings Complete series set   Amazon

November 18

poster 22 Jump Street 71 Watch Trailer

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Phil Lord and Chris Miller maintained their 100% success rate (both critically and commercially) with their fourth film, a sequel to their big-screen reboot of the TV series that put Johnny Depp’s face on teen mags everywhere. This time, Jenko and Schmidt (a returning Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill) head to college (and spring break) to take down another drug ring. Expect plenty of knowing references to the repetitive nature of sequels as Ice Cube, Nick Offerman, Rob Riggle, and Dave Franco return as well.

poster Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 46 Watch Trailer

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This belated sequel to 2005’s Sin City takes a pair of Frank Miller’s existing stories (“A Dame to Kill For” and “Just Another Saturday Night”) and combines them with two new stories—one featuring Jessica Alba’s Nancy, and another focusing on a gambler played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Miller and Robert Rodriguez are back as co-directors, and while the film has the same look as the original (with the addition of 3D) and some of the same cast members (Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Powers Boothe, Jaime King), there are also new faces playing old characters (Josh Brolin steps in for Clive Owen, Dennis Haysbert for Michael Clarke Duncan, Jamie Chung for Devon Aoki), as well as completely new characters played by Eva Green, Ray Liotta, Christopher Meloni, and Juno Temple. Most critics found the sequel far inferior to the original film, though many also noted that Green almost single-handedly elevated every scene she was in.

poster The Wind Rises (2013) 83 Watch Trailer

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Japan's highest-grossing film of 2013 and an Academy Award nominee for best animated feature, The Wind Rises is reportedly the final film from legendary animator and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away). The film offers a fantastical (and visually stunning) portrait of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of Japan’s A6M Zero WWII-era fighter plane. In this English-dubbed American version (released here, as with prior Miyazaki films, by Disney), the vocal cast features Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Martin Short, and Stanley Tucci.

More movie releases on November 18, 2014
38 Blu-ray and DVD And So It Goes COMEDY/DRAMA | Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton +Netflix Amazon
37 Blu-ray and DVD Automata SCI-FI/THRILLER | Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith +Netflix Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) DRAMA Amazon
71 DVD Copenhagen DRAMA +Netflix Amazon
76 Blu-ray and DVD Housebound HORROR/COMEDY +Netflix Amazon
46 Blu-ray and DVD If I Stay DRAMA | Chloë Grace Moretz, Jamie Blackley +Netflix Amazon
44 Blu-ray and DVD Into the Storm ACTION | Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies +Netflix Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD It Happened One Night (1934) Criterion Collection release Amazon
  Blu-ray Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)FOREIGN/ANIMATION (1997 U.S. dubbed version) Amazon
  Blu-ray Princess Mononoke (1997) FOREIGN/ANIMATION (U.S. dubbed version) Amazon
49 Blu-ray and DVD Ragnarok FOREIGN/ACTION-ADVENTURE +Netflix Amazon
26 Blu-ray and DVD Reclaim THRILLER | John Cusack, Ryan Phillippe, Jacki Weaver +Netflix Amazon
49 DVD When Comedy Went to School (2013) DOCUMENTARY +Netflix Amazon
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
  DVD King of the Hill Season 7 / Season 8 (separate sets)   Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD The Paradise Season 2 +Netflix Amazon
  DVD Wolfblood Season 2   Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Worricker - Salting the Battlefield PBS Masterpiece! movie   Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Worricker - Turks & Caicos PBS Masterpiece! movie   Amazon

November 25

poster The Expendables 3 35 Watch Trailer

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Patrick Hughes (Red Hill) takes over directing duties for the third installment in Sylvester Stallone's increasingly expendable action franchise. The disturbingly large cast includes Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Victor Ortiz, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Antonio Banderas, Robert Davi, Kelsey Grammer, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, and probably several other major stars we forgot to mention. It's the first film in the trilogy to receive predominantly negative reviews from critics, though Banderas does his best to make it watchable.

poster The Giver 47 Watch Trailer

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Based on Lois Lowry’s Newbery-winning YA novel of the same name, director Phillip Noyce's (Salt) sci-fi drama follows Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) as he begins to question the rules of his conformist society when he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory. Jeff Bridges plays the Giver, and Meryl Streep is the evil Chief Elder. The cast also includes Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgård, Odeya Rush, and Taylor Swift. Critics found the film lackluster, shallow, and unsubtle, though few truly hated the film.

poster The November Man 38 Watch Trailer

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Pierce Brosnan stars as Peter Devereaux, an ex-CIA operative brought back in on a very personal mission, in this adaptation of Bill Granger’s novel There are No Spies. Devereaux finds himself up against his former protégé, Luke Bracey’s David Mason, as he tries to protect a key witness played by Olga Kurylenko. Director Roger Donaldson (The Bankjob) also cast Will Patton, who made a strong impression in Donaldson’s No Way Out over twenty-five years ago. Not making a strong impression: The November Man itself, which critics found forgettable at best (and incomprehensible at worst). A sequel was commissioned prior to this film's release in late August, but the film's lackluster showing may force a reconsideration of those plans.

poster What If 59 Watch Trailer

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Originally titled The “F” Word, What If is another recent (and not entirely unsuccessful) attempt to breathe new life into the struggling romantic-comedy genre. And that burden falls here on the chemistry between stars Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan. He plays Wallace, a medical school dropout recovering from a break-up and living with Adam Driver’s Allan (an enthusiast of sex and nachos), and she plays Chantry, an animator with an odd name and a longtime boyfriend (Rafe Spall). Groundbreaking, it's not, but What If did manage to charm a fair number of critics, thanks mainly to its cast.

More movie releases on November 25, 2014
59 DVD Beyond the Edge DOCUMENTARY +Netflix Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD L'avventura (1960) Criterion Collection release Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Les Blank: Always for Pleasure Criterion Collection release (14-film set) Amazon
69 DVD A Life in Dirty Movies DOCUMENTARY +Netflix Amazon
87 Blu-ray and DVD Manuscripts Don't Burn FOREIGN/DRAMA +Netflix Amazon
. Blu-ray and DVD A Merry Friggin' Christmas COMEDY | Joel McHale, Robin Williams +Netflix Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Nymphomaniac 1 & 2 Extended director's cut (2-film set) Amazon
  DVD Rhymes for Young Ghouls DRAMA +Netflix Amazon
45 Blu-ray and DVD Step Up: All In DRAMA/MUSIC | Ryan Guzman +Netflix Amazon
28 Blu-ray and DVD Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (2013) COMEDY/DRAMA | Tyler Perry +Netflix Amazon
50 DVD War Story DRAMA | Catherine Keener, Ben Kingsley +Netflix Amazon
TV on DVD/Blu-ray
  DVD Adventure Time Vol. 8 (Finn the Human)   Amazon
84 DVD Better Off Ted Season 2 (belated first DVD release of the 2nd season) +Netflix Amazon
  DVD Drunk History Season 1 & 2 set   Amazon
  DVD The Equalizer Season 4   Amazon
  Blu-ray and DVD Inspector Lewis Series 7   Amazon
  DVD Jeeves & Wooster Complete collection   Amazon
  DVD Mystery Science Theater 3000 Vol. XXXI   Amazon

 

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Comments (1)

  • Hautewerk  

    Thank you for posting this article earlier rather than later. I appreciate knowing noteworthy releases well ahead of time, and these features break down what's worth my time.

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