Greetings War Movie Monday fans. This week’s pick is the 1970 20th Century Fox classic Tora! Tora! Tora! which depicts the attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday December 7, 1941 as seen through the eyes of both the American and Japanese Forces. The attack on Pearl Harbor was what hurtled a shocked and outraged America into the chaos of World War II.

The film was made at a time in which a lot of the information was becoming available to the general public who were still unaware of the political back story which led up to the attack. The film was primarily casted with B-list talent as to not draw attention away from the story.

The cast includes Martin Balsam (Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, Cmd-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet), Joseph Cotten (Sec. of War Henry L. Stimson), E.G. Marshall (Col. Rufus Bratton), Soh Yamamura (Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, Cmd-in-Chief, Imperial Navy), James Whitmore (Vice Adm. William “Bull” Halsey), George Macready (Sec. of State Cordell Hull), and Jason Robards (Lt. Gen. Walter Short, Cmd-in-Chief, U.S. Army Forces Hawaii).

As with most every week, this week sees the release of more new movies and TV shows on Blu-ray and DVD. Of the titles dropping this week we’re most interested in Edge of Darkness, Legion, Daybreakers, the first time Blu-ray release of Karate Kid I and II, the release of the Kurosawa collection and the debut of Mel Brook’s History of the World Part One on Blu-ray (pictured above with Mel Brooks and Harvey Korman).

Check them out.

Movies

Daybreakers ~ Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe (Blu-ray and DVD)

Edge of Darkness ~ Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston (Blu-ray and DVD)

Essential Art House: Kurosawa Collection (Hidden Fortress/Ikiru/Throne of Blood) (Blu-ray and DVD)

Father of the Bride 1 & 2 ~ Steve Martin (Blu-ray and DVD)

Hang Em High (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] ~ Clint Eastwood, Ed Begley, Bruce Dern, and Dennis Hopper (Blu-ray – 2010)

History of the World Part 1 ~ Mel Brooks, Dom Deluise, Harvey Korman (Blu-ray)

This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for The Blind Side, the new season of Mad Men, the Blu-ray release of The African Queen, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Fantastic Mr. Fox and the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Yojimbo, with Toshirô Mifune (pictured above). Yes, it’s black and white, get over it.

Check them out:

Movies

After Dark Horrorfest Vol. 4 (Dread / The Final / The Graves / The Hidden / Kill Theory / Lake Mungo / The Reeds / Zombies of Mass Destruction) ~ Don McManus, Ryanne Duzich, Teddy Dunn, and Daniel Franzese (Blu-ray and DVD)

Bigger Than Life (The Criterion Collection) ~ James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau (Blu-ray)

Brothers ~ Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman (Blu-ray and DVD)

Days of Heaven (The Criterion Collection) ~ Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard (Blu-ray)

Fantastic Mr. Fox ~ George Clooney, Meryl Streep (Blu-ray and DVD)

Red Cliff International Version – Part I & Part II ~ Tony Leung (Blu-ray)

The African Queen ~ Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn (Blu-ray)

The Blind Side ~ Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron (Blu-ray and DVD)

With President’s Day weekend behind us it’s now time to think about some late Valentine’s Day presents. In case you want to pick up something extra for your valentine or you completely forgot to get something at all, a great movie on Blu-ray or DVD makes a perfect gift. Fortunately, there’s some new ones coming out this week just in time.

Among this week’s selection we’re interested in are new to Blu-ray movies such as Law Abiding Citizen, Halo Legends, the Dirty Harry Collection, Contempt, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran and debut of TV series Barnaby Jones and the latest installment of Cannon. Also, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (pictured above with Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro) gets the 20th Anniversary treatment with a new Blu-ray release.

Movies

Black Dynamite ~ Michael Jai White (Blu-ray and DVD)

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever ~ Michael Bowen, Rider Strong (Blu-ray and DVD)

Contempt ~ Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Fritz Lang (Blu-ray)

Dirty Harry Collection (Dirty Harry / Magnum Force / The Enforcer / Sudden Impact / The Dead Pool) ~ Clint Eastwood (Blu-ray and DVD)

Goodfellas (20th Anniversary Edition) ~ Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci (Blu-ray)