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Top 5 New on Blu

Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 11

It’s not a particularly overwhelming week in terms of sheer numbers of discs hitting the shops but damn, are there ever some amazing new titles coming out today, including a Blu-ray that could potentially be one of the best releases of the year! You read that right, it’s only the second week of 2011 and we may already have one of the best Blu-ray discs of the year on our hands. And it’s not even from Criterion!!


1. THE SOCIAL NETWORK

The Social Network Blu-ray

I can’t really even put into words what a classy affair Sony‘s The Social Network Blu-ray release is. Do you see that package art above? Yeah, that’s not even the actual sleeve. It’s a little bit of paper folded over the package, detailing its contents. When you buy The Social Network Blu-ray disc, unwrap the plastic and peel back the paper slip-cover, what’s revealed is a gorgeous, waxy, jet-black paper sleeve, with the film’s tagline embossed into it. Nothing else. Just classy and simple. And gorgeous in every way. The two Blu-ray discs themselves are within and just as nice to behold.

And then there’s the movie itself. Without question, one of the finest of 2010. It tells the tale of the men (the boys) who built Facebook, sharply written and smartly directed by the superstar creative team of Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher, respectively. The Social Network Blu-ray is beyond reproach, arriving in a 2-disc set that allows the encode of the film to breathe, alone but for a couple of commentary tracks on a dual-layer disc. It looks and sounds fantastic! The second disc is crammed full of wonderful bonus content including a very watchable and informative feature length doc.

Highly recommended!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • Two audio commentaries:
    • David Fincher
    • Writer Aaron Sorkin and cast
  • How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook?: a feature-length documentary in four parts
  • David Fincher and Jeff Cronenweth on the Visuals
  • Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter and Ren Klyce on Post
  • Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and David Fincher on the Score
  • Ruby Skye VIP Room: Multi-Angle Scene Breakdown
  • In the Hall of the Mountain King: Reznor’s First Draft
  • Swarmatron

READ MORE: The Social Network coming to Blu-ray

AMAZON: $34.95


2. ARMY OF SHADOWS and ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS

Army of Shadows (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (1969)Robinson Crusoe on Mars (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (1964)

It’s another one of those killer double-Criterion days, where our favourite boutique home video studio releases more than one new Blu-ray disc at a time, squeezing another couple of twenty-dollar bills from our already hemorrhaging wallets! The first Criterion discs of 2011 make an odd couple indeed – a gripping film about the French resistance in their battle against the Nazis and a somewhat psychedelic, colourful ’60s adventure of an astronaut stranded on Mars. It goes without saying that both discs, upgrades from previously issued DVDs, look and sound much better than ever before, in their stunning, high-def debuts. Army of Shadows benefits from a somewhat famous 2006 restoration (the 1969 Jean-Pierre Melville film had gone unseen on this side of the Atlantic before then) while Robinson Crusoe on Mars‘s move to 1080p reveals the limitations of old-school optical effects.

Both discs come highly recommended!

Army of Shadows Special Features:

  • High-definition digital transfer of the 2004 restoration, supervised by director of photography Pierre Lhomme with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Optional DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring film historian Ginette Vincendeau
  • Interviews with Lhomme and editor Françoise Bonnot
  • On-set footage and excerpts from archival interviews with director Jean-Pierre Melville, cast members, writer Joseph Kessel, and real-life Resistance fighters
  • Jean-Pierre Melville et “L’armée des ombres” (2002), a short program on the director and his film
  • Le journal de la Résistance (1944), a rare short documentary shot on the front lines during the final days of German-occupied France
  • Film restoration demonstration by Lhomme
  • Theatrical trailers
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critic Amy Taubin and historian Robert O. Paxton, as well as excerpts from Rui Nogueira’s Melville on Melville

Robinson Crusoe on Mars Special Features:

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring screenwriter Ib Melchior, actors Paul Mantee and Victor Lundin, production designer Al Nozaki, Oscar-winning special effects designer and Robinson Crusoe on Mars historian Robert Skotak, and excerpts from a 1979 audio interview with director Byron Haskin
  • Destination Mars, a video featurette by filmmaker and space historian Michael Lennick detailing the science behind the film
  • Music video for Lundin’s song “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”
  • Stills gallery
  • Theatrical trailer
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by Lennick as well as Melchior’s “Brief Yargorian Vocabulary” (a glossary of original alien dialect) and a list of facts about Mars, both from his original screenplay

READ MORE: Criterion January Blu-ray titles: Army of Shadows, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Broadcast News

AMAZON: $39.95 each


3. DANCES WITH WOLVES

Dances with Wolves (20th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (1990)

I’ve been waiting years to finally see Dances With Wolves and now, with this new Blu-ray release I might finally get my chance. I haven’t gotten my hands on a review copy yet but I understand that despite the films extended 4-hour run-time, it looks incredible on Blu-ray. By all accounts, Fox/MGM have delivered another winner here, in a 2-disc set that carries over most, if not all of the special features from the previously available DVD edition of the film, while adding a couple of new, Blu-ray exclusive interactive extras and a featurette.

READ MORE: Dances with Wolves coming to Blu-ray

AMAZON: $29.99


4. RAGING BULL

Raging Bull (30th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (1980)

If you missed out on the 2009 release of Raging Bull on Blu-ray, this new 30th Anniversary Edition presents the perfect opportunity to grab up this amazing Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro classic in gorgeous 1080p. It includes over 50-minutes of brand new special features along with the same acclaimed high-def transfer afforded the film in its previous edition.

AMAZON: $29.99


5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

Once Upon a Time in America [Blu-ray] (1984)

Another DeNiro classic! Sergio Leone‘s complex, flawed gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America makes its Blu-ray debut today, presented in an edit closer resembling the director’s vision, shifting through time via flashbacks (as opposed to the US distributor’s chronological cut). Sadly, the nearly 4-hour film is crammed onto a single disc and, encoded at a fairly low bitrate, looks all the lesser for it. The Blu-ray is still a clear improvement over the previously issued DVD, and carries over most of its special features.

AMAZON: $24.98


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

Piranha [Blu-ray 3D] (2010)Piranha [Blu-ray] (2010)Alpha & Omega (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2010)The Endless Summer [Blu-ray + Digital Copy]

The Great Debaters [Blu-ray] (2007)Sordid Lives: The Series [Blu-ray]The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System [Blu-ray 3D] (2010)Universe: Complete Season 5 [Blu-ray] (2010)


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2 comments for “Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 11”

  1. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by theblurayblog. theblurayblog said: THIS WEEK IN BLU-RAY: January 11 http://bit.ly/dU8zUw [...]

    Posted by Tweets that mention Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 11 -- Topsy.com | January 11, 2011, 5:06 pm
  2. [...] list of complaints that sets one format apart from the other. A menu-lite, ad-free Blu-ray like Robinson Crusoe on Mars from The Criterion Collection will load ten-times faster on my 3-year old Playstation 3 than a DVD [...]

    Posted by Is Blu-ray an Inferior Format to DVD? – A Rebuttle | January 14, 2011, 3:56 pm

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