The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice You don't want to look too closely at any movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage—I mean, what can you expect? Don't pick this one apart like the critics did, and you’ll have a good time. Cage plays the sorcerer Balthazar in modern-day New York who's been hunting for his apprentice for hundreds of years, awaiting a showdown with the evil Horvath (Alfred Molina). He finds his protégé in Dave (Jay Baruchel), a nerdy college physics whiz who reluctantly agrees to learn Balthazar's tricks of the trade. The movie is definitely best when Cage is on screen (Baruchel’s kind of a whiny drag), but it moves along enough to keep you entertained. Extras: "The Making of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice," deleted scene (DVD); at least 8 featurettes, 5 deleted scenes, outtakes and more (BD)

Knight and Day This movie starts out promising, then turns south faster than you can say "Where’s Cameron Diaz been lately, anyway?" Diaz plays an unwitting pawn in a cat and mouse game involving a globetrotting superspy (Tom Cruise), rogue U.S. agents and foreign operatives—and oh yeah, a battery. That’s right, a battery. Unfortunately this battery wasn’t powerful enough to ignite any chemistry between the two A-list leads, who look like they'd be more comfortable in a '90s rom-com than this ill-advised and weird action-adventure-comedy that paints Diaz as a zany dingbat and Cruise as a middle-aged superhero with a tummy tuck. Extras: Making-of featurettes, viral videos and the "Knight and Someday" music video by the Black Eyed Peas and Cruise (DVD/BD)
 
Going the Distance Speaking of stars with chemistry, this movie has just that in Drew Barrymore and her real-life beau Justin Long, but that's about all this foul-mouthed flopper about a long-distance relationship spawned from a one-night stand has going for it. Extras: Deleted scenes (DVD/BD); the BD adds commentary, "How to Have a Perfect Date," "A Guide to Long-Distance Dating," "The Cast of Going the Distance: Off the Cuff"and the music video "If You Run" by Boxer Rebellion
 
Vampires Suck…and so, you probably guessed, does this movie. Even though the Twilight series is ripe for the parody picking (so, for that matter, is the entire overdone vampire movie genre these days), this toothless trifle from the Disaster Movie guys lacks both humor and bite. Extras: Theatrical/unrated versions, deleted scenes, gag reel (DVD/BD)
 
 
New to Blu
 
Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers The first two in the soon-to-be-trilogy of films about a hapless male nurse (Ben Stiller), his wife (Teri Polo) and all their wacky in-laws (Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman) make their way individually to Blu this week, both of which offer a sneak peek at Little Fockers (out Dec. 22). Extras: Feature commentaries with the cast, deleted scenes, featurettes on De Niro's character's beloved cat, baby wrangling, and more.
 
Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 Disney's groundbreaking 1940 classic that paired avante-garde animation with classical compositions finally gets the high-def treatment—you'll marvel at how well Mickey Mouse's "Sorcerer’s Apprentice" has held up, as well as "The Rite of Spring" and the dancing hippos. The 2000 sequel picks up where the original left off, adding guest hosts including Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury and Quincy Jones. Both movies are available as 4-disc BD combo pack or 2-disc DVD edition. Extras: The usual commentary and artwork featurettes. What you'll really want to check out though, is Destino—the short animated film on which Walt Disney and his surrealist friend Salvador Dali collaborated, and which was finished after both their deaths, and the 82-minute doc about the artists' relationship.