The two-disc edition of Sin City easily makes the earlier single-disc theatrical-cut release obsolete by including the regular theatrical cut on the first disc, recutting the movie into four extended segments on the second disc (separated by story line), then piling on an impressive load of bonus features. But there's a catch.
Fran Rubel Kuzui's 1992 tongue-in-cheek vampire comedy is sugarcoated horror, an unusual mix of the cute and scary, with a splash of postmodern pop nonsense to give culture critics something to think about. Kristy Swanson plays a Valley Girl who learns she belongs to a line of ancient vampire killers. After training under the watchful eye of a mentor (Donald Sutherland), she becomes a spandex-wearing, kung-fu kicking, stake-stabbing babe and the mortal enemy of a narcissistic master vampire (Rutger Hauer).
Batman Begins discards the previous four films in the series and recasts the Caped Crusader as a fearsome avenging angel. That's good news, because the series, which had gotten off to a rousing start under Tim Burton, had gradually dissolved into self-parody by 1997's Batman & Robin. As the title implies, Batman Begins tells the story anew, when Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) flees Western civilization following the murder of his parents.
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) prowls the steel-and-microchip jungle of 21st-century Los Angeles. He's a Blade Runner stalking genetically made criminal replicants. His assignment: kill them. Their crime: wanting to be human. The story of Blade Runner is familiar to countless fans, but few have seen it like this. Because this is director Ridley Scott's own vision of his sci-fi classic. This new version omits Deckard's voiceover narration, develops in slightly greater detail the romance between Deckard and Rachael (Sean Young) and removes the "uplifting" finale.
