ROTTEN TOMATOES: RT on DVD: National Treasure 2, Diary of the Dead, Plus Salo News!

RT on DVD: National Treasure 2, Diary of the Dead, Plus Salo News!

Plus, new dates for Gossip Girl on DVD and more.

by Jen Yamato | May 19, 2008

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Exciting announcements abound this week (Fearless Director's Cut! A new Little Mermaid movie! Gossip Girl on DVD!) while Nicolas Cage's treasure-hunting adventure sequel, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, tops new releases.

Jet Li's Extended Fearless Comes to Region 1!

Jet Li's "final" wu-shu epic -- not to be confused with regular old action films and Hollywood fluff like The Forbidden Kingdom, in which he continues to star -- was a modest success with American audiences when it opened in 2006. But the original cut, which featured an additional 35 minutes of footage and an entire subplot starring Michelle Yeoh, was never released in the U.S. ....until now! Universal has announced the July debut of Jet Li's Fearless: The Director's Cut, which will include the original theatrical, unrated, and 141-minute director's cuts along with deleted scenes and a featurette. Look for the two-disc release this July 8.

More dirty hidden images headed our way...

Similarly exciting news, different demographic: they're making a new Little Mermaid movie! Prequel tale The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning will hit shelves August 26 and tell the story of how Ariel -- redhead, ocean princess, collector of whose-its and whatz-its galore -- became the girl she was, before she turned into a dissatisfied, soul-trading teenager who longed to become human, get legs, find love, etc.

OMG, kids!

The best show you won't admit to watching (unless you're a fourteen-year-old girl, in which case it's mandatory viewing) is coming to DVD this August! See what's got the Facebook generation abuzz by checking out the soapy goings-on among the posh Manhattan private school crowd. Extra features slated for the 5-disc package include unaired scenes, a gag reel, featurettes, and a download of the first source novel, as read by Christina Ricci. Like we said, OMG!

OMFG, nerds!

Lastly, earning the exclamation "OMFG" is news that Criterion has moved forward with their long-awaited release of the most notorious film not currently available on DVD: Salo. Pier Paolo Pasolini's anti-Fascist tale of moral and physical degradation was told in such graphic detail that the film was banned in many countries; out of print for years, DVDs of Salo had been going for hundreds of dollars in recent years. Criterion now shares details of the two-disc August release, which will include a documentary about the film, a documentary about the final scene, new interviews, and more.

Click for this week's new releases!

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(1-14 of 14 posts) | Reply

jokerboy1991 writes:
on May 19 2008 06:47 PM

Ill rent National Treasure, even thought its a crappy rip off version of the Indy flicks (which are amazing). Ill rent Diary of the Dead, I like Romero. I might even rent Strange Wilderness to see how bad it is. Thats cool there releasing a FEARLESS DIRECTOR'S CUT.

(Reply to this)

darrinsgoodman writes:
on May 19 2008 08:29 PM

for zombie fans like myself - i've seen that best buy has an exclusive zombie book with "diary of the dead"

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divinecc writes:
on May 19 2008 08:37 PM

Diary was a huge let down. I'm a Romero fan and it just wasn't that good. Too unrealistic.

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Dachshund96 writes:
on May 19 2008 09:00 PM

Please, somebody, stop Cage from acting. My god he is so friking horrible.

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divinecc writes:
on May 19 2008 09:01 PM

Hes not that bad, its just the scripts he chooses are. He was great in Adaptation.

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mssk8erboy writes:
on May 19 2008 10:15 PM

While i will agree that Cage was amazing in Adaptation, he is terrible in nearly everything else. Why does he find it necessary to be so over the top, he over acts everything.

-MIKE

Also, he was great in Matchstick Men, probably my favorite film of his.

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RottenDC writes:
on May 20 2008 12:15 AM

Spotted: A 24 year old guy filling a piggy bank until August so that he can join the fun with Manhattan's Upper East Side elite.

xoxo,
Gossip Girl

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on May 20 2008 04:48 AM

Salo and Diary ftw.

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rsav1976 writes:
on May 20 2008 07:12 AM

Diary was very good, worlds better than Land of the Dead, which never should have been made and was really compromised by script revisions. Don't listen to people putting it down. And as far as the Cloverfield comparisons, aside from the shaky camera, they aren't even in the same ballpark. Diary was much more enjoyable and really earns the R rating.

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Jen Yamato writes:
on May 20 2008 09:51 AM

I don't know if I'm ready for Salo. But I am ready for Gossip Girl OMGLOL

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dethburger writes:
on May 20 2008 11:50 AM

Diary was a big let down. It had its moments but it also had too many major leaps in logic. Who is going to film their friend being attacked by a zombie, running and screaming for several minutes, instead of helping...dumb.

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vitajex writes:
on May 20 2008 02:32 PM

I've seen Salo (on VHS) and I have to say that anybody who pays $400 for it is a fool!

I think Passolini is very, very over-rated.

I didn't like Salo, The Gospel According to St. Matthew or The Decameron.

They're not particularly visually exciting (Bertolucci's the Italian for visuals), nor are they particularly well-written.

I'll file him away with Fellini, i.e. pretentious and vapid. Of course, I might just be harboring some deep-seated hatred of Italians... though I find Benigni quite entertaining...

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cypress550 writes:
on May 20 2008 03:45 PM

i though diary was good it has its flaws but what movie doesnt now a days

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Spiderbash writes:
on May 20 2008 05:57 PM

Didn't National Treasure 2 come out in November? Also I think that Diary came out in febuary. Moving on I'll rent Diary soon. I'm the biggest Zombie fan in my school so this is a must see for me.

(Reply to this)