Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of November 22

I actually started tackling this post early this week, knowing full well that the onslaught of Black Friday deals would chip away at what little free time I would have to look at and review new Blu-ray discs. But alas, I find myself in the unfortunate position of publishing this New Release update late in the day as per usual. Luckily, there’s a lot of good stuff to check out here. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for titles I didn’t get a chance to review like Three Amigos!, Birth of a Nation and the latest season set of the Doctor Who TV show.

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: SUPER 8

JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg join forces in this extraordinary tale of friendship, mystery, and adventure. Super 8 tells the story of six friends who accidentally film a train wreck only to discover that something unimaginable escaped during the crash. Now, the only thing more mysterious than what it is – is what it wants. Experience the film that critics rave is, “filled with unstoppable imagination and visual effects to spare. It will put a spell on you.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

There are those of us who’ve been longing for the type of films and the style of filmmaking we came to know and love in the early ’80s in the work of Steven Spielberg – the magical, innocent feel of Close Encounters and E.T. that seems very elusive in cinema these days. I have a feeling that we can count filmmaker J.J. Abrams among us, as his latest film Super 8 is as much a love letter to a youth spent making films on the titular handheld camera as it is to the cinematic style of a man who would become something of a mentor to him.

Super 8 has just about everything going for it. It’s so slick and well shot, it stars the best and brightest cast of young kids to appear on the big screen since The Goonies and it sports another fantastic Michael Giacchino score. And, oh yeah, Abrams is a hell of a director who, In this case, absolutely nails that vintage Spielberg tone. It’s a cracking good yarn that really only loses some steam upon the moment of the big reveal. I mean, it’s not a bad reveal, I think I was just hoping to see something new or a little more imaginative. Perhaps a younger audience would look upon the plot with fresher eyes and not see that the twist in the tale is actually tired and predictable. It’s a testament to the filmmaking and all those involved in the production, though, that the single shortcoming of the film hardly matters a whit when the movie is just so overwhelmingly entertaining.

Super 8 looks fantastic on Blu-ray. I give Paramount a tough time about a good deal of their catalogue transfers but when they put their mind to these new releases they just knock them out of the park! And this one is no exception. This Blu-ray disc is reference quality with spot on colours, deep blacks and a light, perfect sheen of film grain. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 sound track is also a winner, providing booming lows, clean, clear dialogue and perfectly dynamic representation of the score. It’s honestly one of the most immersive tracks I’ve hear in ages. Just wait until you hear the train crash sequence. You’ll hardly believe your ears!

The Super 8 Blu-ray comes packed with special features including a killer commentary from Abrams, producer Bryan Burk, and cinematographer/lens-flare fanatic Larry Fong, a series of featurettes that, if viewed together, form an exhaustive feature-length doc about the making of the film and around 12-minutes of deleted scenes. There’s also a DVD and digital copy of the film in the package.

Highly recommended!

Special Features:

Commentary by writer/director J.J. Abrams, producer Bryan Burk and cinematographer Larry Fong
Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
- The Dream Behind Super 8
- The Search for New Faces
- Meet Joel Courtney
- Rediscovering Steel Town
- The Visitor Lives
- Scoring Super 8
- Do You Believe in Magic?
- The 8mm Revolution
Deconstructing the Train Crash
Deleted Scenes

DVD:

Feature Film
Digital Copy

AMAZON: $19.99

12 ANGRY MEN

12 Angry Men, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system that is as riveting as it is spare, this iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the dissenting member on a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. The result is a saga of epic proportions that plays out over a tense afternoon in one sweltering room. Lumet’s electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature film debuts.

Some say this film, Sidney Lumet’s first is his best. And now some are saying that this new Blu-ray edition of the courtroom classic from Criterion is the best it’s ever looked or sounded. I’m dying to get my hands on it and, by gum, if it doesn’t end up in a Black Friday sale some time this week it’s going to be the number one item on this year’s Christmas list.

AMAZON: $27.99

RUSHMORE

The dazzling sophomore film from Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox) is equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage, and screwball comedy. Tenth grader Max Fischer (The Darjeeling Limited’s Jason Schwartzman) is Rushmore Academy’s most extracurricular student—and its least scholarly. He faces expulsion, and enters into unlikely friendships with both a lovely first-grade teacher (The Ghost Writer’s Olivia Williams) and a melancholy self-made millionaire (Groundhog Day’s Bill Murray, in an award-winning performance). Set to a soundtrack of classic British Invasion tunes, Rushmore defies categorization; it captures the pain and exuberance of adolescence with wit, emotional depth, and cinematic panache.

Also making my Christmas list, if it doesn’t dip in price this week, is my favourite Wes Anderson film ever. I’ve just about burned out my Criterion DVD edition of Rushmore so I guess I’m about due for this upgrade. And with this release, I can tick another title off my list of Criterion DVDs most deserving of a Blu-ray upgrade. Now if only the studio would get around to Brazil…

AMAZON: $27.99

COP LAND

This tense action -thiller explodes with nonstop excitement and riveting star performances! Sylvester Stallone stars as Freddy Heflin, the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” – a small and seemingly town populated by big-city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive, deadly conspiracy among these local residents, he is forced to take action – and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols…and upholding the law!

Cop Land was released on Blu-ray a couple of weeks back by Lionsgate in the US of A. We, here in Canada, see the film hit shelves on Blu today via Alliance. This is exactly the same presentation that’s on the American disc. The only differences come in the form of branding and some trailers.

The transfer is a mixed bag and I can’t really pinpoint why. It looks really great at times, exhibiting tons of detail and definition but then, with other shots, suddenly appears soft. I can only imagine that the source material is all over the place – no doubt a result of limited budget – and resulted in this transfer that’s less than perfect. Lionsgate has been doing a bang up job with their Blu-ray presentations lately and I’d be shocked to learn that they cut corners here. All things considered, though, the disc looks pretty decent. It’s a big step up from the DVD.

Speaking of which, it’s been years since I’ve watched Cop Land and it really holds up. This is one of the best catalogue films I’ve watched recently and I’m so glad I’ve had this chance to revisit it. James Mangold writes and directs here and reminds me with every nuanced character and every show of machismo on screen why he’s the perfect choice to helm the next Wolverine film (yes, I’m actually kind of excited about Mangold directing Wolverine. Sue me!) But as awesome as the story is here, Cop Land is all about its killer cast – Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg, just about every cast member of The Sopranos and the list goes on and on.

The special features here are carried over from the previously available DVD edition of the film (which is actually included here as well, in the Canadian release) and include a decent commentary track from Mangold, Stallone, Patrick and producer Cathy Konrad, a 15-minute “making of” featurette, a storyboard comparison and a couple of pretty decent deleted scenes that you can choose to watch with optional commentary from Mangold, Stallone and Konrad.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND

George Clooney (Up in the Air) makes his directorial debut and stars alongside Drew Barrymore (He’s Just Not That Into You), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2) and Julia Roberts (Eat Pray Love) in the comedy thriller that poses an irresistible question: What would happen if a wildly successful TV producer was also a top secret CIA assassin? While a maverick creator of America’s favorite game shows gains notoriety for his smash television hits, he is also drawn into a shadowy world of danger as a covert government operative! But soon his double life begins to spiral out of control. Based on Chuck Barris‘s cult classic autobiography, this entertaining comedy is a killer hit!

Exactly along the lines of Cop Land, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind was released on Blu-ray a couple of weeks back by Lionsgate in the US of A. We, here in Canada, see the film hit shelves on Blu today via Alliance. This is exactly the same presentation that’s on the American disc. The only differences come in the form of branding and some trailers.

And just like Cop Land, this one was a pleasure to watch again, after only having seen the film once, way back when it was released in 2002. I’ve got to tell you that, as weird and subjective as it is, it really holds up. Clooney is one hell of a director and this is one hell of a debut. The script is never uninteresting and the performances are absolutely out of the world, with Rockwell devouring the screen at every opportunity. The only thing that makes the work feel dated is the over-the-top use of filters in the photography. It’s as if cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, fresh off his experimental work on Three Kings, felt like pushing every limit of the medium here in this production. And, as effective as that style might be at times, I find it simply distracting here.

So, don’t adjust your set, your Blu-ray looks exactly as it should – weird. Don’t worry, it’ll settle down after a time. And when it does, you’ll see just how fine this transfer is. There’s a lot to like here but with all the filtering and processing it’s tough to tell exactly how the disc is handling the source material. That said, fans of the film will be be more than happy with this upgrade. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also quite strong.

Much like the Cop Land disc again, the Confessions Blu-ray has carried over extras from the previously issued DVD which is included here as well, in the Canadian release. Bonus features include an entertaining commentary track from Clooney and Sigel, a fairly decent “Behind the Scenes” featurette that runs over 20-minutes, 23-minutes of, frankly amazing deleted footage with excellent optional commentary from Clooney and Sigel, screen tests, more footage of Gong Show acts and a few minutes looking at “The Real Chuck Barris”.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE

Based on a shocking true story, The Devil’s Double follows the riveting journey of Latif, a man forced to become the body double of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless son, Uday. Thrust into the debauched life of fast cars, easy women, and limitless power, Latif becomes virtually indistinguishable from the feared “Black Prince”. As war threatens Uday’s gangster regime, Latif realizes he must escape from the devil’s den – or die trying.

I enjoyed Lee Tamahori‘s The Devil’s Double for its story and design but the film belongs to Dominic Cooper, who plays both leading roles to perfection. The Blu-ray release is very strong with a vibrant, if not occasionally strange presentation and nice collection of extras. Check out my full review of the Canadian edition of the Blu-ray, linked to below.

AMAZON: CDN$ 24.99

Also available: THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE (US Edition)

AMAZON: $19.99

CONAN THE BARBARIAN

A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.

I’ve got a lot to say about this new Conan film but I’ll hold most of my thoughts for the inevitable full length review I’m plan to tackle whenever my screener arrives. I saw the film in theatres and feel comfortable saying that there’s a lot of fun to be had with the film. There are exciting action sequences, some scantily clad women and imaginative Frank Frazetta inspired images, rendered, for the most part, using the powers of the mighty CGI paint brush. Sadly, there’s also a whole lot that doesn’t work. But then again, I’m a massive fan of the original Conan film and might have had my personal bar set too high on initial viewing. Perhaps I’ll like this remake a lot more on Blu-ray?

AMAZON: $22.99

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
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