New on DVD & Blu-ray: 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire', '12 Years a Slave', 'The Grandmaster'

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - One of my top 5 films of 2013, the second installment in The Hunger Games series gets a new director and better storytelling as the odds turn away from Katniss's favor. She and Peeta are once more thrown into the arena, this time against former winners of the previous Hunger Games. President Snow is constantly watching her and there's a rebellion brewing, with Katniss the face of it all. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jenna Malone, Sam Claflin, Woody Harrelson, and Elizabeth Banks. 

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12 Years a Slave - The 2014 Best Picture Winner, and also in my top 5 picks of 2013, 12 Years a Slave follows the true story of Solomon Northrup from freedom to slavery and back again. He is tricked, sold into slavery, and moved to Louisiana where he is forced to endure mistreatment, terrible working conditions, and the harshness and cruelty of slavery. A meaningful and hard film to watch, but nevertheless important and integral to our society. The film stars Chiwetel Ijiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Paul Dano. 

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Oldboy - The Spike Lee remake follows the same story of a man obsessed with getting revenge after he finally leaves his prison to find out why he was kidnapped and put away in solitary confinement for no good reason. The film stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharlto Copley. 

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The Grandmaster - It begins as the story of Ip Man, the legendary teacher of Bruce Lee and a master of the Wing Chun school of kungfu. It becomes the portrait of a bygone era and a lost world. The film stars Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Wang Qingxiang, Song Hye Kyo, Zhang Jin, and Ziyi Zhang. 

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Hours - The late Paul Walker's final film before his untimely death, Hours tells the story of a man who's wife has just given birth to a premature baby. Needing the ventilator to stay alive, he has to stay by the baby's side when the electricity goes out and he can only use the generator by cranking every few minutes. All of this is happening in the wake of Hurrican Katrina as the man and his child wait to be rescued in a dire situation. The film also stars Genesis Rodriguez, Nancy Nave, and Shane Jacobson. 

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The Last Days on Mars - On the last day of a mission to Mars, something astounding is discovered: evidence of fossilized bacteria. An astronaut disobeys orders in order to gain more samples but when astronauts start disappearing, the crew suspects that there is much more danger involved with the sample they found than they could have imagined. The film stars Liev Shreiber, Elias Koteas, and Olivia Williams. 

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2013's Top 5 Fight Scenes!

When talking about entertainment two words almost always come up as must have's, sex and violence. Rocky covered the romantic side of things the other day with her 'Top 5 Kisses of 2013', which you can check out here, now it's time for the other side of that one-two punch of sure fire fun. Without further adieu let's get to some gratuitous violence, shall we?

5. Iron Man 3- Iron Man suit fleet VS The Mandarin

Iron Man 3 was not a good film, to be honest it was downright bad when it came to the final development of what was to be Tony Stark's archenemy. Yet, even the crappiest gift can have a pretty bow, and that's what we got at the end of Tony Stark's latest adventure. It's pure visual candy with plenty of easter eggy goodness for comic fans (see: Hulkbuster), it isn't particularly rewarding to the storyline nor does it make much sense in more than one facet but DAMN is it sweet to see the Iron Man squadron of suits come flying to Tony and that, my friends, is what merits a place at the bottom of this list. 

4. Star Trek: Into Darkness- Klingon showdown

While more of a gun battle than a straight up fight there was no way I could leave this scene off the list. Benedict Cumberbatch was already on the fast track to my favorite actors list after seeing Sherlock, but this scene, in which he mows down a squadron of Klingon warriors perfectly illustrates the capabilities of this villain. Extra points for the cool black hooded trenchcoat!

3. The World's End- Bar Fight

It's kind of an odd thing to have a movie show up in both a best fights list and a funniest scenes list. Unfortunately I ran into the same problem that Mae did earlier this week when she included The World's End in her Top 5 funniest scenes of 2013 list, which you can check out here, that problem is that, oddly, there seem to be no clips of these scenes anywhere on the 'net. In any event the fight that puts this awesome flick on my list of best fights comes about 3/4 of the way into the film when the group decides to stop trying to be inconspicuous and take the blanks head on. If you haven't seen this movie get out there and do so now, watching Nick Frost nail a combat roll and the wield two bar stools like a veteran bar ninja is one of the greatest things to happen inside of a theater this year. The best part? It's not done for laughs, the choreography is legit and would not look out of place in something like a remake of Roadhouse (with different actors of course). 

2. GI Joe: Retaliation- Snake Eyes V Storm Shadow 2
Do I really need to explain my reasoning here? These guys are the ultimate ninja warriors, the characters we all wanted to be the most when we were kids...hell even their names are right out of Encyclopedia Badassica. We got to see a lesser version of this ultimate showdown in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra but the battle we get in Retaliation blows that one away. As if that weren't enough we also get Jinx, Snake Eyes protege, and a legion of Storm Shadow trained ninja thrown in the mix.

1. The Grandmaster- Opening Fight Scene
Prior to the release I was prepared to have this movie at the top of every list I do this year, sadly Wong Kar Wai's epic film chronicling the legendary Ip Man fell apart after the first 20 minutes. But you know what? Those first 20 minutes make it worth it. To a true martial arts fan seeing a well choreographed, beautifully show fight scene is no different than anyone else watching a top level ballet. The way Wong Kar Wai captures the flow of movement throughout this entire opening scene make it one of the most breathtaking fight scenes I've seen to date. What really puts it over the top and earns it #1 over Snake Eyes V Storm Shadow is the striking use of black and white and the wonderfully artistic rainfall which both serve to extenuate the beauty of the martial art.

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Cinema Royale #31- Special Guest: Eric Bana; The Grandmaster, Short Term 12

On a very special Cinema Royale, Munich and Troy star Eric Bana calls in to talk about his terrorism thriller, Closed Circuit!

Plus, +Julian Lytle  joins me to reviewWong Kar Wai's anticipated martial arts epic, The Grandmaster, and Lauren Bradshaw calls in to look at Short Term 12!

You can find Cinema Royale every single week on Blogtalkradio, Itunes, Libsyn, and Podomatic. Listen to this week's episode below...

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*CLOSED* 'The Grandmaster' Advance Screening

The story of the legendary Ip Man has been told many times before, but with The Grandmaster, famed director Wong Kar-Wai brings it to life like never before! The story chronicles the life of the Wing Chun kung fu master, who would serve as Bruce Lee's teacher. We want you to experience The Grandmaster before everybody else by attending an advance screening held at Landmark E Street on Wednesday August 21st at 7:30pm.

To qualify, you MUST be a fan of Punch Drunk Critics on Facebook,so if you haven't "Liked" us yet please go there and do so now. Simply leave a comment here with your name, email address, and favorite martial arts film. We'll be using the Gofobo ticketing system for this one, so you'll need to register there as well. 20 winners will be selected and notified on Saturday August 17th.

Good luck!  The Grandmaster opens in DC on August 30th.

Grandmaster

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