This is ridiculous. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many brilliant titles being released on Blu-ray disc on a single day! I’m not quite certain how a film or Blu-ray fan is meant to survive, you know, afford food and rent while keeping up with all of this awesomeness! Sigh…second and third jobs, here I come!

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1. APOCALYPSE NOW: THREE DISC FULL DISCLOSURE EDITION

Despite the incredible force of new Blu-ray disc releases this week, Francis Ford Coppola‘s dangerous masterpiece of war and death, Apocalypse Now battles its way to the top of the heap. This feature-packed 3-disc set seems to be the definitive edition of the film, presented here with both cuts enjoying stunning new transfers and kitchen-ware rattling sound. This is without question one of the most highly anticipated Blu-ray discs of the year among cinephiles and it delivers in every regard. Don’t miss out on it!

Special Features:

• Apocalypse Now – The 1979 Cut and Apocalypse Now Redux
• “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” including optional audio commentary with Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola
• 48-page collectible printed booklet with special note from Francis Ford Coppola, never-before-seen archives from the set, behind the scenes photos and more
• John Milius Script Excerpt with Francis Ford Coppola Notes
• Storyboard Gallery
• Photo Gallery, including images from photographer Mary Ellen Mark
• Marketing Archive
• “A Conversation with Martin Sheen” interview by Francis Ford Coppola
• “An Interview with John Milius” interview by Francis Ford Coppola
• Complete Francis Ford Coppola interview with Roger Ebert at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
• Monkey Sampan “lost scene”
• Additional Scenes
• “Destruction of the Kurtz Compound” end credits with audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola
• “The Hollow Men,” video of Marlon Brando reading T.S. Eliot’s poem
• “The Birth of 5.1 Sound” featurette
• “Ghost Helicopter Flyover” sound effects demonstration
• “A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now” featurette
• “The Music of Apocalypse Now” featurette
• “The Synthesizer Soundtrack” article by music synthesizer inventor Bob Moog
• “Heard Any Good Movies Lately? The Sound Design of Apocalypse Now” featurette
• “The Final Mix” featurette
• “Apocalypse Then and Now” featurette
• “The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now” featurette
• “PBR Streetgang” featurette
• “The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now” featurette

Amazon: $41.99

Also available in a 2-Disc Special Edition: $26.99

2. SEVEN SAMURAI

All right, this is a total no-brainer. In fact, this disc should have been out years ago and been every Blu-ray owner’s very first purchase. But the extra time with the film elements has afforded Criterion the opportunity to improve upon the insanely great transfer they offered up on the last DVD edition of The Seven Samurai, allowing them to knock this very first North American high-def presentation of the film out of the park! You’re going to have to see it to believe it. Very highly recommended!

Special Features:

• All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Two audio commentaries: one by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie; the other by Japanese-film expert Michael Jeck
• A 50-minute documentary on the making of Seven Samurai, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
• My Life in Cinema, a two-hour video conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima produced by the Directors Guild of Japan
• Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences, a new documentary looking at the samurai traditions and films that impacted Kurosawa’s masterpiece
• Theatrical trailers and teaser
• Gallery of rare posters and behind-the scenes and production stills
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Kenneth Turan, Stuart Galbraith, Arthur Penn, and Sidney Lumet and an interview with Toshiro Mifune

Amazon: $36.49

3. PSYCHO

That’s right. Coppola. Kurosawa. Now Hitchcock. Incredible! Now, I haven’t gotten my grubby hands on a screener of Psycho so I can’t speak to the quality of the transfer here. But this release is a pretty big deal for Universal and I would be shocked if they buggered it up to any degree. I suspect that the film is going to look and sound better than ever, now on Blu and packed to the gills with a great set of extras.

Amazon: $17.99

4. PREDATORS

Aaargh!! Predators!!! Fox sent me an early review copy of the film…ON DVD!!! I really got a kick out of it – so much better than Predator 2 or any of the “Aliens vs.” films but nowhere near as genius as the Governator original – but I have no idea what the Blu-ray looks and sounds like. It was a pretty dark film but considering that it’s a brand-spanking-new release, it should by all rights be brilliant in high-def.

Amazon: $24.99

5. MOULIN ROUGE and ROMEO + JULIET

Add director Baz Luhrmann to the long list of esteemed directors with classic films debuting on Blu-ray today, though in his case, as classic as his films may have become they aren’t nearly of similar vintage. Nevertheless, these are both wonderful, colourful movies that have both been given a great deal of attention in their transition to Blu-ray by the director himself, to ensure that the transfers were handled in the best possible fashion to suit his vision. I honestly can’t wait to sit down with both films myself and witness the results!

Amazon: $18.49 each

6. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

What? Huh? There’s a sixth entry this week? But..this is a Top 5 list, isn’t it?

Okay, yeah, I’m cheating but damn, I can’t let the week pass without pointing out this incredible Rocky Horror Picture Show Blu-ray package. Again, I haven’t received my review copy yet (the perils of being a Blu-ray reviewer in Canada!) but from all accounts the film looks and sounds stellar, better than it deserves to considering its origins. There are a ton of special features and the whole thing is packaged up in a nice hardcover digibook, perfect for your upcoming Halloween cross-dressing party!

Amazon: $18.49

ANIME OF THE WEEK: Eden of the East: The Complete Series

It’s very possible that Eden of the East might go beyond “anime of the week” to be classified as “anime of the year”! This eleven episode animated series created by Kenji Kamiyama, writer-director of the popular Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, proved so popular with audiences in Japan that two feature films were rushed into production following its conclusion (the Blu-ray boxed set includes the series’ episodes only but I’m certain that we’ll see both The King of Eden and Paradise Lost on the format in the coming months).

The story centers on Akira Takizawa, a young man with no memories, dropped into the middle of a layered conspiracy with nothing more (and when I say nothing more, I mean nothing more) than a gun and a cell phone with access to billions of Yen and a woman who can make any request he makes a reality. It sounds bizarre but Akira quickly discovers that he is one of 12 chosen individuals, agents called Seleção who have the power to save a Japan that has grown dangerously lackadaisical and “careless”. And if, for some reason, he fails in his mission, he will be murdered.

The excellent, well designed Production I.G. animation of Eden of the East looks great on Blu-ray, if not a bit soft. I have to believe that the haze over the image is a stylistic choice and not a result of poor up-resing of the animated elements. Either way you slice it, the shows are a joy to watch in high-def. The original Japanese Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is pleasant and immersive, while not overly expressive. There’s also an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 for those who prefer to avoid subtitles.

Disc-2 of the set provides a host of excellent special features, the finest of the lot being the multiple interview featurettes with most of the primary creatives and performers from the show. There are also trailers, TV spots and a textless version of the closing song animation.

Highly recommended!

Amazon: $36.99

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
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