‘Priest,’ ‘Muppets’ on Blu-ray/DVD This Week

Priest, the post-apocalyptic vampire Western action movie (yeah, it’s a mouthful), hits shelves this week.

It was made by Screen Gems, the company known more for its modestly-budgeted thrillers and comedies, such as Obsessed and Friends With Benefits, and the company had ambitious plans for this one, it’s most expensive movie ever, which was made in the $70 range range.

Film Review: Priest

But despite some really cool elements – the good cast (Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandent, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, Lily Collins, Christopher Plummer, Stephen Moyer), an animated intro by Genndy Tartakovsky, a couple of cool action scenes – the movie never feels like its operating in any sort of reality, with the world, the story and the characters given short-shrift.

Some of the deleted scenes are fun to watch, just to see how the actors face off against non-existent creatures in a green-screen environment.

The Muppets return this November 23 in a new movie called…The Muppets. And the movie is rumored to get a substantial preview this weekend at the D23 Expo, where one scene that may be shown invovles Kermit singing a song called Pictures in My Head.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is capitalizing on the new movie, issuing in Blu-ray/DVD combo packs The Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets from Space.

Manhattan, was the 1984 directorial debut of Frank Oz, the man who gave live and voice to Yoda, and may interest die hard fans more than Space since its bonus features include 14 Jim Henson interviews on various subjects, from magic to puppetry to working with Oz.