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[VIDEO] Funny Pulp Fiction Blu-ray trailer

[VIDEO] Funny Pulp Fiction Blu-ray trailer

We, the ticket and Blu-ray buying audience, always appreciate seeing that the studios understand how we feel about their films. With that in mind, it’s nice to see this new video from Lionsgate, which accurately sums up our feelings about the obscenely long wait for Quentin Tarantino‘s Pulp Fiction to finally make its Blu-ray debut (in stores October 4th.) Check it out!

Pulp Fiction [Blu-ray]


PULP FICTION


(October 4, 2011 – MSRP $19.99)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Special Features:

  • Retrospective Cast Interviews (New)
  • Critics Corner: Then and Now (New)
  • Pulp Fiction: The Facts featurette
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Behind the Scenes Montages
  • Production Design featurette
  • Siskel and Ebert “At the Movies” – The Tarantino Generation
  • Independent Spirit Awards
  • Cannes Film Festival – Palm d’Or Acceptance Speech
  • Charlie Rose Show – Interview with Quentin Tarantino
  • Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots
  • Stills Gallery

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Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of August 30

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of August 30

You know what? This is actually another pretty massive Blu-ray release week. In addition to my top picks, you’ve also got the latest seasons of great shows like Sons of Anarchy, House and The Twilight Zone, 3D releases of some recent Fox hits, individual releases of the Shrek films (previously only available in the Shrek boxed set from Paramount), Gus Van Sant‘s Good Will Hunting, nutrition vs. disease doc Forks over Knives and Thai actioner BKO: Bangkok Knockout (out in two weeks, here in Canada.)

As always, clicking the Blu-ray package art will zip you over to Amazon where every purchase you make through our links helps the site stay on its feet. We appreciate every single click and thank you again for continuing to read The Blu-ray Blog.


Blu-ray disc of the week: THE COMPLETE JEAN VIGO

The Complete Jean Vigo - The Criterion Collection


    Even among cinema’s legends, Jean Vigo stands apart. The son of a notorious anarchist, Vigo had a brief but brilliant career making poetic, lightly surrealist films before his life was cut tragically short by tuberculosis at age twenty-nine. Like the daring early works of his contemporaries Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel, Vigo’s films refused to play by the rules. This set includes all of Vigo’s titles: À propos de Nice, an absurdist, rhythmic slice of life from the bustling coastal city; Taris, an inventive short portrait of a swimming champion; Zéro de conduite, a radical, delightful tale of boarding-school rebellion that has influenced countless filmmakers; and L’Atalante, widely regarded as one of cinema’s finest achievements, about newlyweds beginning their life together on a canal barge. These are the witty, visually adventurous works of a pivotal film artist.

The Complete Jean Vigo is like Christmas come early for cinephiles but will most likely slip under the radar of casual North American film fans. But I’m here to tell you, this is the disc to pick up this week, if you get anything. This collection of four films comprises the entire body of work of the late, great filmmaker and, along with a killer supplemental selection, can almost be considered a master class in his ouvre and its influence. The most remarkable thing you’ll discover when watching through the films, dated between 1930 and 1934, when Vigo lost his life at the age of 29 as a result of literally working himself to death on his final film, is how they don’t feel like anything else from that time. While not completely modern, these films feel as if they were made alongside those of the French New Wave, related more in form and style to Breathless and The 400 Blows than the theatrical, stagey films of the era. It’s almost as if Vigo, who had a clear understanding of the language of the medium, was unveiling its magic and potential for future generations. Providing a glimpse of what was truly capable with film in its ability to both capture the truth in a moment as well as fashion the most imaginative dreamscapes in image and motion. These are four of the most important films you’ll ever see. This is one of the most important Blu-ray releases of the year.

All four of the films – À propos de Nice (1930, 23min, silent), Taris (1931, 9min, mono), Zéro de conduite (1933, 44min, mono) and L’Atalante (1934, 87min, mono) – look better than you’ve ever seen them before, the two oldest films from 35 mm fine-grain master positives, Zéro de conduite assembled from 35 mm fine-grain master positive and a 35 mm fine-grain duplicate negative and L’Atalante from the 2001 Gaumont 35 mm restoration negative (though I’d argue that Criterion has put a little more spit and polish on their transfer than is present on the Gaumont neg.) If you’ve seen these films before, get ready to be blown away by how vital they appear on this disc. If you’ve never seen them before, just get ready to be blown away. Audio, of course, can’t compete with anything modern but is given greater depth here in these uncompressed mono tracks.

The special features of this disc set can almost be considered exhaustive. I can’t get over the wealth of supplemental material crammed onto a single disc – the blessing and the curse of the Blu-ray. A blessing as you’d be hard pressed to find better analysis and appreciation of Vigo’s work outside of these masterful commentary tracks, the hour-and-a-half Cinéastes de notre temps episode and the Les voyages de “L’Atalante” restoration, among other fine splendid extras. A curse because there’s just way too much crammed onto this disc. I would have much preferred that Criterion spread the content over two Blu-ray discs and let the features breathe, as they did with the DVD edition, also released today. That said, I didn’t see any untoward digital noise or any other way the content might suffer from over-compression, despite the sheer bounty on the disc.

Highest possible recommendation!

Special Features:

  • New high-definition digital restorations of all of Jean Vigo’s films: À propos de Nice, Taris, Zéro de conduite, and L’Atalante (with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition)
  • Audio commentaries featuring Michael Temple, author of Jean Vigo
  • Alternate shots from À propos de Nice, featuring footage Vigo cut from the film
  • Animated tribute to Vigo by filmmaker Michel Gondry
  • Ninety-minute 1964 episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps on Vigo, directed by Jacques Rozier
  • Conversation from 1968 between filmmakers François Truffaut and Eric Rohmer on L’Atalante
  • Les voyages de “L’Atalante,” Bernard Eisenschitz’s 2001 documentary tracking the history of the film
  • Video interview from 2007 with director Otar Iosseliani on Vigo
  • New and improved English subtitle translations
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film writers Michael Almereyda, Robert Polito, B. Kite, and Luc Sante

AMAZON: $27.99

Also from Criterion this week:

ORPHEUS

Orpheus (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (1950)

    Jean Cocteau’s update of the Orpheus myth depicts a famous poet (Jean Marais), scorned by the Left Bank youth, and his love for both his wife, Eurydice (Marie Déa), and a mysterious princess (Maria Casarès). Seeking inspiration, the poet follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead, through Cocteau’s famous mirrored portal. Orpheus’s peerless visual poetry and dreamlike storytelling represent the legendary Cocteau at the height of his powers.

Cocteau was no doubt inspired by the dream-like imagery of Vigo’s films. He’s at the height of his powers here, in Orpheus, a Blu-ray upgrade essential for collectors and film fans alike.

READ MORE: The Criterion Collection: Orpheus Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $27.99

IF….

If . . . (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (1969)

    Lindsay Anderson’s If…. is a daringly anarchic vision of British society, set in a boarding school in late-sixties England. Before Kubrick made his mischief iconic in A Clockwork Orange, Malcolm McDowell made a hell of an impression as the insouciant Mick Travis, who, along with his school chums, trumps authority at every turn, finally emerging as a violent savior in the vicious games of one-upmanship played by both students and masters. Mixing color and black and white as audaciously as it mixes fantasy and reality, If…. remains one of cinema’s most unforgettable rebel yells.

A boarding school drama like Vigo’s Zéro de conduite, Anderson allows himself to slip into the surreal – another potential nod to the late French master.

READ MORE: The Criterion Collection: If…. Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $25.99


IN A BETTER WORLD

In a Better World (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2010)

    A provocative film that explores the difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness, In a Better World follows two Danish families and the unusual and dangerous friendship that develops between them. Bullied at school, Elias is defended by Christian, a boy greatly troubled over his mother’s death. So when the two become involved in an act of revenge with potentially tragic consequences, it’s their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy.

Ah! I was hoping and praying that a screener for A Better World (Hævnen) would turn up before today but alas, it wasn’t to be. That doesn’t diminish my enthusiasm to spend a good couple of hours with this Danish Academy Award winning film. I’m expecting the disc to be picture perfect, as is the case with most Sony Blu-ray transfers these days. Special features include commentary with director Susanne Bier and editor Pernille Bech Christensen, deleted scenes and an interview with Bier.

AMAZON: $30.99


THE COEN BROTHERS COLLECTION

Coen Brothers Collection (Blood Simple/Fargo/Miller's Crossing/Raising Arizona) [Blu-ray]Miller's Crossing [Blu-ray] (1990)Raising Arizona [Blu-ray]Blood Simple [Blu-ray] (1984)


Oh my god oh my god. This is a box full of awesome! But if you love movies at all you don’t need me to tell you this. It’s four of the best ever Coen Brothers films, three of which are new to Blu-ray, all collected in a spiffy looking box! Now, to be fair, all four films are also available on their own as of today, so the boxed set doesn’t offer you much beyond the box itself and a savings of somewhere in the neighbourhood of $20. As to the quality of the discs, I haven’t seen them yet myself (par for the course with Fox releases, which generally tend to show up a week or two after street date) but early reviews from DVD Beaver offer exactly the reviews I was expecting – honest transfers that present the movies exactly as they appear on film, without any tampering for good or ill (meaning Blood Simple still looks pretty low budget and Miller’s Crossing still a bit muddy.) I’m excited to get my hands on this box and will report more thoroughly on the titles once I’ve screened them.

AMAZON: $46.99


STRIKE

Strike: Remastered Edition [Blu-ray] (1925)

    The first full-length feature project of pantheon Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, Strike is a government-commissioned celebration of the unrealized 1905 Bolshevik revolution. The story is set in motion by a series of outrages and humiliations perpetrated on the workers of a metalworks plant. The Czarist regime is unsympathetic to the workers, characteristically helping the plant owners to subjugate the hapless victims. Finally, the workers revolt, staging an all-out strike. Here is where Eisenstein’s theory of “the montage of shocks” was given its first major workout. While the notion of juxtaposing short, separate images to heighten tension and excitement was not new, Eisenstein was the first to fully understand the value of using sudden-shock images (a bloody face, a fired weapon, a descending club) to make his dramatic and sociological points. Playing to mixed reviews and small audiences in Russia, Strike proved a success worldwide, assuring Eisenstein complete creative freedom on his next project, the immortal Potemkin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.

I’ve never seen Strike but Kino had me at “first full-length feature project of pantheon Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein.” If this transfer stands toe-to-toe with Kino’s best silents (Metropolis, The General) this Blu-ray disc should be something to behold. Extras include Eisenstein first short film Glumov’s Diary, a 37-minute doc called “Eisenstein and the Revolutionary Spirit” and a trailer for his Battleship Potemkin.

AMAZON: $20.99


THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] (2010)

    They’re back – and they’re not alone. The seductive characters of “The Vampire Diaries” return for a stunning 4-Disc 22-Episode Season Two. This time Elena, Stefan, Damon and the other residents of Mystic Falls are joined by sinister new blood. Released from the tomb, Katherine unleashes her personal brand of evil in a diabolical plot. The Originals – the world’s oldest and most dangerous vampires – hunt for Elena, who discovers she has a terrifying connection to their world. And now bloodsuckers aren’t the only monsters in town. On moonlit nights, werewolves roam in search of victims… including vampires, who succumb to a single werewolf bite. “The Vampire Diaries“: unending suspense, undying romance.

You’ll recall from last year around this time that I was a little taken aback by how much I enjoyed the first season of Vampire Diaries. I swear to God, I didn’t mean to watch it at all, never mind get caught up in the soap-operatic drama of the thing. But there you go. Warner sent the boxed set. I popped it in one night. And that was that. Now, with it’s second season wrapped up, I can honestly say I’ve grown tired of the once-vital series. I’m not sure if I care to sit through season three.

Perhaps it’s less the show itself and more about my attention span with series in their sophomore years. Vampire Diaries feels as if it suffers from the same problems I perceive in a lot of series’ year two – random musical-chairs relationship shifting, out-of-character action to drive desperate plot contrivances and general, all around silliness. Add to Diaries‘ missteps some critically dreadful miscasting (Daniel Gillies, not a particularly awful actor, should not be playing a millenia-old vampire, for example) and you can see how the show managed to chip away at my good will toward it over the course of this second batch of episodes. To it’s credit, it’s still well shot and still has some compelling performers leading the cast (even when Ian Somerhalder slips into parody he’s always entertaining.) And despite my grousing, I’ll most likely tune in to at least a few episodes of season three. But if the producers don’t figure out a way to make this thing sing again, I’m out.

Warner has yet to send over the Blu-ray screeners for The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Second Season. I’ll update this post when I get a gander at the discs. I can tell you this – this is one of the first Blu-ray season sets to receive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio tracks from Warner. Kudos to them for finally seeing the light. Extras include one commentary (on the episode “Masquerade“), deleted scenes, Pages of the Wolf (3 behind the scenes werewolf featurettes totaling around 20-minutes or so), “The Perfect Love Triangle: Vampires, Werewolves, Witches“, “Her Own Worst Enemy: Elena, Katherine and Nina! “, “Second Bite” gag reel and BD-Live.

AMAZON: $42.99


GANTZ

Gantz [Blu-ray]

    Kei Kurono and his childhood friend Masaru Kato attempt to save a man who has fallen onto the train tracks but are run down by an oncoming train. However, rather than finding themselves dead, they are transported to a strange apartment in which they find a mysterious black orb known as “Gantz”. Along with others there, they are provided weaponry and sent on missions to battle alien beings. Is this world, which tests your will to survive, a game or reality.

Gantz is a farily successful live-action Japanese adaptation of Hiroya Oku‘s manga series of the same name. And it is weeeeeird! I mean, it’s not really strange in the way it presents it’s characters – a collection of fairly normal students, fathers, grandmothers, etc. It’s the circumstances they find themselves in that presents the weirdness. The black orb called Gantz beams these folks to a barren, locked apartment and offers them magic alien-’sploding guns and cool black, plastic Evangelion-cum-Matrix super-suits to wear before shooting them out into the street to hunt otherworldy ne’re-do-wells. Why? Well, it’s never quite explained outside of the fact that these are aliens. I bet they’ve come to take over the earth. But that wouldn’t explain why these strange creatures all seem to be trying their best to hide and to be left alone. More questions abound; Are these recruited “warriors” just playing a game (they’re awarded points for every kill, just like a video game)? Are they alive or dead? And just what the hell is Gantz, exactly? I’m assuming most, if not all of these questions get answered in the sequel, which I await with bated breath. Gantz might not make a lot of sense but it’s a fun bit of Japanese post-modern superhero nonsense that’s got more style than your average X-Men film.

Gantz also looks like a million bucks on Blu-ray. Warner has afforded the film a killer, super high-bit-rate transfer that will knock your socks off. Any issue you’ve got with the way this bad boy looks harkens back to the source. This is a slick presentation. Audio is available in both the original Japanese as well as an English dub. Although most info states these to be lossy DD 5.1 tracks, my equipment is showing that both are DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. Awesome! I watched the Japanese as the English dub was doing my head in. The 3-disc set also contains two DVDs – one with an SD copy of the feature and a second with trailers and a 28-minute interview with director Shinsuke Sato.

AMAZON: $20.99


TOP GUN: 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Top Gun (Blu-ray + Digital Copy) (1986)

    Top Gun” takes a look at the danger and excitement that awaits every pilot at the Navy’s prestigious fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise is superb as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a daring young flyer who’s out to become the best of the best. And Kelly McGillis sizzles as the civilian instructor who teaches Maverick a few things you can’t learn in a classroom.

I can’t believe it but I actually found myself laughing at Top Gun watching it again for the first time in over a decade. Tony Scott’s ode to oiled-up pilots and their mechanical crotch-rockets is still a great, fun ’80s film but the blatant man-gazing photography (inspired by the work of Bruce Weber) is tougher to take seriously now than it was 25 years ago. Speaking of which… This film is actually 25 years old no?!. Urgh. Stick a fork in me, I’m old.

Look, it’s Top Gun. You’ve seen it. You either love it for what it is or you don’t. The F-14 action is pretty much unrivaled and Cruise is at his absolute best. What more do you need to know?

This new 25th Anniversary Blu-ray edition of Top Gun is actually just the same excellent disc from 2008 gussied up and given some new packaging. Nothing wrong with that! The transfer is a bit glossy and could probably use an update but holds up well enough. Audio is strong in various lossless formats (DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 among others) and special features plentiful enough you’ll have to spend an entire Sunday watching the disc to get through them all. I recommend the two-and-a-half hour long “Danger Zone: The Making of Top Gun“, if you check out anything. It’s a thorough and engaging documentary that covers just about every aspect of the film and its production. The disc also features a commentary track, multi-angle storyboards with commentary, a look inside the real Top Gun, music videos, trailers, behind-the-scenes featurette, Survival Training featurette, Tom Cruise interviews, and a digital copy of the film.

AMAZON: $9.99


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:

Rio (Four-Disc Blu-ray 3D/ Blu-ray/ DVD/ Digital Copy) (2011)The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [Blu-ray 3D] (2010)Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs [Blu-ray 3D] (2009)Sons of Anarchy: Season Three [Blu-ray] (2010)



Spice and Wolf: Season One [Blu-ray]Spice and Wolf: Season Two (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)Good Will Hunting [Blu-ray + Digital Copy] (1997)House, M.D.: Season Seven [Blu-ray] (2010)



The Nightmare Before Christmas (Three-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy) (1993)Nikita: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] (2010)The Twilight Zone: Season 5 [Blu-ray] (1964)Forks Over Knives [Blu-ray] (2011)



Prom (Blu-ray / DVD Combo) (2011)BKO: Bangkok Knockout [Blu-ray] (2011)Final Destination 2 [Blu-ray] (2003)Final Destination 3 [Blu-ray] (2006)



The Mummy Trilogy [Blu-ray]Shrek (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo) (2001)Shrek 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo)Shrek the Third (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo)



The Perfect Host [Blu-ray] (2011)Bereavement [Blu-ray] (2010)Wrecked [Blu-ray] (2011)Deadgirl [Blu-ray]



Skateland [Blu-ray] (2010)5th Quarter [Blu-ray] (2010)Latter Days [Blu-ray] (2011)Children of the Corn-Genesis [Blu-ray] (2011)



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The Criterion Collection: If…. Blu-ray Disc Review

The Criterion Collection: If…. Blu-ray Disc Review

If . . . (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (1969)

IF…. (1968, Blu-ray released August 30, 2011 – MSRP $39.95)

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The package art and product description of the Blu-ray edition of Lindsay Anderson‘s If… let you know you’re in for a tale with an explosive ending. They don’t, however, prepare you for the tension throughout, as school mates are wound tighter and tighter by constant mistreatment at the hands of teachers and upperclassmen.

    Lindsay Anderson’s If…. is a daringly anarchic vision of British society, set in a boarding school in late-sixties England. Before Kubrick made his mischief iconic in A Clockwork Orange, Malcolm McDowell made a hell of an impression as the insouciant Mick Travis, who, along with his school chums, trumps authority at every turn, finally emerging as a violent savior in the vicious games of one-upmanship played by both students and masters. Mixing color and black and white as audaciously as it mixes fantasy and reality, If…. remains one of cinema’s most unforgettable rebel yells.

Lindsay Anderson’s If…. made Malcolm McDowell a superstar. And rightly so. It’s his spirited debut performance in this film that inspired Stanley Kubrick to cast him in the lead role of his film A Clockwork Orange. But his signature manic energy is bottled up through most of Anderson’s film, waiting to be unleashed. And that, along with a potent sociopolitical message and some truly inspired directorial/editorial choices, is what gives it it’s power. I can’t tell you how many times during the runtime of the film I turned to my girlfriend and said, “There’s no way in hell I’d put up with that.” And I’m far from the anarchic type. I’ve learned over the years that if a film can get under my skin to that degree, it’s done its job. It’s the mark of great work.

That said, I found the random shifts from colour to black & white film stock to be more often distracting than effective (DOP Miroslav Ondříček admits, in the Cast and Crew supplement, that the choices were based more on technical needs than narrative ones.) I will admit that the shift back to colour worked a couple of times, jarring the narrative out of a dreamlike haze into reality. I didn’t outright dislike the surrealist bent the film takes as it progresses but would have preferred the film maintain the more realist approach it opens with. The surrealist moments tend too far toward the theatrical, more like a pretentious college play than the magic of Buñuel or Cocteau for my tastes. Neither of my criticisms is meant to diminish the power of If…. It’s a fantastic film, still potent after forty-three years.

Criterion released If…. on DVD way back in 2007, just in time to mark the film’s 40th Anniversary. This presentation seems culled from the same exceptional transfer but exhibits improved colour fidelity and detail and a marked reduction in compression artifacts. In fact, there’s absolutely no digital nastiness to be seen on this handsome-looking disc, which appears film-like from beginning to end.

From the booklet:

    Approved by cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček and assistant editor Ian Rakoff, this high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from an original 35mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, while Digital Vision’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.

The lossless mono audio track sounds its age – still thinner than a modern recording with limited dynamic range and some distortion present up top – but is, for the most part, clean and clear. If you have difficulty with some of the English accents or the whispering in the film, just pop on the English language subs for minute and they’ll get you through.

From the booklet:

    The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical track print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

The special features on the disc are all around excellent though perhaps not quite as plentiful as other Criterion releases. They’re replicated in full from the 2007 DVD release and include a very fine commentary track by film critic and historian David Robinson, who incorporates long segments of audio from McDowell, previously recorded in a 2002 interview, into his very informative analysis. For a more rounded look at the production, check out the 43-minute episode of BBC Scotland‘s program Cast and Crew, which gathers together a good deal of the production team to reminisce about the film. The 14-minute interview with actor Graham Crowden (the history teacher in the film) is pleasant and, through anecdotes about their friendship and work history, provides another glimpse at Anderson and his art. Finally, the 22-minute Thursday’s Children, is a 1954 short film directed by Anderson and Guy Brenton. Narrated by Richard Burton, it’s an illuminating, if terribly dated, look at a school for deaf children and the various methods employed to help them learn a language they’ll never hear. The Blu-ray disc is rounded out with a 32-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic David Ehrenstein as well as reprinted pieces by screenwriter David Sherwin and Anderson.

Special Features:

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček and assistant editor Ian Rakoff with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring film critic and historian David Robinson and actor Malcolm McDowell
  • Episode of the Scottish TV series Cast and Crew from 2003, featuring interviews with McDowell, Ondříček, Rakoff, director’s assistant Stephen Frears, producer Michael Medwin, and screenwriter David Sherwin
  • Video interview with actor Graham Crowden
  • Thursday’s Children (1954), an Academy Award–winning documentary about a school for deaf children, by director Lindsay Anderson and Guy Brenton and narrated by actor Richard Burton
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic David Ehrenstein as well as reprinted pieces by Sherwin and Anderson

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1925 Phantom of the Opera Blu-ray package art and details

1925 Phantom of the Opera Blu-ray package art and details

When the news hit a couple of weeks ago that there was going to be a Blu-ray edition of Lon Chaney‘s classic 1925/1929 film Phantom of the Opera, I think I went a little nuts. I posted all the details I could scrounge from all the forums and websites that were discussing the release. I even went so far as to talk about the version of the film I had just screened at the Fantasia Festival here in Montreal – a pretty nice 35 mm print projected with a score performed by a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by its composer, Gabriel Thibaudeau. It was shortly after that post went live that I returned to my old Image DVD edition of the film and realized it was he who composed and conducted the score for that disc. So, that soundtrack, present on the new Blu-ray, is not new work then. However, with the reveal of all the proper details of the disc, we now have a better picture of what the release will be like. And that includes what it will look like, as the package art has now also been revealed. I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on this one. I fear that it might be the only Universal Monster film to ever exist on Blu-ray at this rate.

Phantom of the Opera (1925) (Silent) [Blu-ray]


PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)


(November 1, 2011 – MSRP $39.98)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: PCM Stereo

Special Features:

  • All-new HD restoration of the film, with the Bal Masque sequence in two-strip Technicolor and other scenes hand tinted
  • 1925 and 1929 versions
  • New score by The Alloy Orchestra
  • Gaylord Carter’s famous 1974 score released for the very first time in stereo
  • Gabriel Thibaudeau’s 1990 score
  • New audio commentary by Dr. Jon Mirsalis
  • Gabriel Thibaudeau Interview
  • Photo Gallery
  • Phantom Script
  • Phantom Souvenir Program Reproduction
  • Trailer

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[VIDEO] X-Men: First Class Blu-ray trailer

[VIDEO] X-Men: First Class Blu-ray trailer

I watched the DVD screener of X-Men: First Class that Fox sent over the other night and, once again, enjoyed the heck out the film. In fact, I was trying to get work done while it was playing, which proved pointless, as I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. This is one hell of a fun little film! I’m really looking forward to Friday, September the 9th, the grab this up on Blu-ray and check it out in high-def. I’m expecting great things from this one.

P.S. Fassbender rules!

X-Men: First Class (+Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (2011)


X-MEN: FIRST CLASS


(September 9, 2011 – MSRP $39.99)
Video: 2.40:1 1080p
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

  • 10 Marvel “X-Men” Digital Comics with exclusive “X-Men: First Class” Backstory Comic (Blu-ray exclusive)
  • More than two hours of never-before-seen extras, including:
    • Cerebro Mutant Tracker: The complete interactive Mutant Database with interactive videos giving fans the ability to learn about their favourite mutants in the X-Men film franchise
    • Children of the Atom: An eight-part behind-the-scenes featurette, charting the film from
      pre-production through post-production, including visual effects techniques and cataloguing “X-Men” transformations through prosthetic make up and costume design
    • “X” Marks the Spot: An interactive feature allowing viewers the opportunity to learn more about specific scenes with talent interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
    • Extended and Deleted Scenes
    • BD-Live Portal with additional Cerebro Mutant Tracker profiles
    • Composer’s Isolated Score
    • Theatrical Trailer

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