Weekly Picks

Blu-ray Picks for the Week of May 12

By brenden ⋅ May 11, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I saw the new Star Trek film on a giant IMAX screen this past Thursday night. I was so tired and stressed out from deadlines that all I really wanted to do was skip the film, go home and sleep. Instead, I powered through and by God am I ever glad I did! While far from high art, J.J. Abrams has managed to craft a fantastic popcorn entertainment from a dull, beaten down decades old property. He’s polished up the franchise and breathed new life into the adventures of Captain Kirk and his crew, paving the way for a twenty-first century Star Trek renaissance. As such, I’ve eschewed the more obvious picks this week - films from the Coen brothers, Leone, Penny Marshall - in favour of this glorious collection of six sci-fi classics:

PICK OF THE WEEK FOR MAY 12 - STAR TREK: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE COLLECTION

Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection on Blu-ray disc features one of my favourite films of all time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, for the first time on home video in 1080p high-def. There’s nothing like watching two of television finest over-actors chewing big-budget scenery in a tightly scripted, brilliantly scored (James Horner!) sub-battle styled space-operatic epic. In Khan, Nicholas Meyer delivered a film that not only stands the test of time as a great Star Trek film, but a truly fine piece of sci-fi cinema. Smart, boisterous, and touching, Star Trek II on Blu-ray is worth the purchase of the box-set alone.

While I haven’t had a chance to examine the results of the transfers in this box-set, I can recommend it whole-heartedly on the basis of the feature-rich collection of extras and the entertainment value of most of the films (if you value your time, you’d do well to skip the fifth film in the series, The Final Frontier directed by William Shatner on a shoestring budget. It’s a real stinker).

For a full list of all features, see our previous run-down of all the Star Trek releases.

Watch the video below for a special preview of Star Trek: The Captains’ Summit bonus disc:

ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about the Blu-ray:

Tags: Coen Brothers, IMAX, Sergio Leone, Star Trek, Weekly Picks