Here’s another two-week release and review roundup for you, folks. This gets us all caught up now, with the holiday and post-holiday Blu-ray releases. It’s been a slow few weeks in the shops but things are about to heat up. I’m really looking forward to the discs coming out over the next few weeks. More reviews coming shortly!

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.

JANUARY 3

Blu-ray disc of the week: THE GUARD

“The Guard is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen must join forces to take on an international drug- smuggling gang – one, an unorthodox Irish policeman and the other, a straitlaced FBI agent. Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational and crass personality and a subversive sense of humour. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a maverick with his own moral code. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn’t much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it. When a fellow police officer disappears and Boyle’s small town becomes key to a large drug trafficking investigation, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humourless FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. “

I know we’re only a few days into 2012 but The Guard is one of the nicest surprises of the new year, thus far. The unassuming package art of the Blu-ray release from Alliance (identical to the Lionsgate disc in the US) doesn’t inspire much enthusiasm but, surprisingly, isn’t too far off accurately depicting the film. It might be quiet, small and unassuming, yes, but what really sets the film apart from other stories about small town crime is its dry, unflinching sense of humour. There’s no doubt about it, Gleeson simply steals the film in what is no doubt his most hilarious and original role in years. I’d go far as to say that a series of films starring his Sergeant Boyle would make a lot of fans, myself included, quite happy. Not much of a crime thriller or mystery but an entertaining character piece with lots of laughs.

The Guard comes to Blu-ray in a fairly dull looking presentation. If I was a betting man, I’d put money on this film being a low budget affair and this transfer being spot-on accurate to the source but as it is, there’s very little visual-wow on display here. There are some deep blacks and some vivid colours every now and then but the overall soft nature of the image will leave you wanting. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is clean and clear and dialogue heavy. Be warned, those of you who have difficulty with accents, the Irish brogue can run a bit thick at times and, though easily heard, is often tough to understand.

There’s an impressive collection of bonus goodies on this Blu-ray, considering its modest pedigree. The audio commentary with director John Michael McDonagh and actors Cheadle and Gleeson is fun and full of anecdotes and definitely worth a listen. Supplement that with the 20-minute ‘making-of’ doc and you’ll have a pretty good idea of how this film was put together. Outtakes, deleted scenes and ‘Extended & Alternate’ scenes are split into three section but total nearly a half-hour in length. The disc also includes ‘The Second Death‘, the short film that inspired The Guard, as well as a 20-minute long Q&A with the director and stars and the theatrical trailer.

Recommended!

AMAZON: CDN$ 31.99

Also available: THE GUARD (US version)

AMAZON: $23.99

CONTAGION

“An international traveler reaches into the snack bowl at an airport bar before passing her credit card to a waiter. A business meeting begins with a round of handshakes. A man coughs on a crowded bus… One contact. One instant. And a lethal virus is transmitted. When Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to Minneapolis from business in Hong Kong, what she thought was jet lag takes a virulent turn. Two days later, she’s dead in the ER and the doctors tell her shocked and grieving husband (Matt Damon) they have no idea why. Soon, others exhibit the same mysterious symptoms: hacking coughs and fever, followed by seizure, brain hemorrhage… and ultimately death. In Minneapolis, Chicago, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, the numbers quickly multiply as the contagion sweeps across all borders, fueled by the countless human interactions that make up the course of an average day. A global pandemic explodes. At the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers mobilize to break the code of a unique biological pathogen as it continues to mutate. Deputy Director Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) tries to allay the growing panic despite his own personal concerns, and must send a brave young doctor (Kate Winslet) into harm’s way. At the same time, amid a rising tide of suspicion over a potential vaccine, – and who gets it first – Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) of the World Health Organization works through the network of connections that could lead back to the source of what they’re dealing with. As the death toll escalates and people struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones in a society breaking down, one activist blogger (Jude Law) claims the public isn’t getting the truth about what’s really going on, and sets off an epidemic of paranoia and fear as infectious as the virus itself.“

I tend to run hot and cold on Soderbergh‘s work so I always enter into a viewing of one of his films with some trepidation. Thankfully, Contagion is one of the ‘hot’ ones. This is a scary good little film. I guess I say ‘little’ because for all of its world hopping and political drama, this is really a character piece, and the filmmakers always keep things intimate. Though the tale deals with a pandemic threatening to wipe out a large fraction of humanity, Soderbergh rarely allows the camera to sway from Damon, Cotillard, Fishburne and crew. And I think it’s that camera work, stylish and colourful as it is, along with tight performances and a killer score by Cliff Martinez (the ex-Chili Pepper and frequent Soderbergh-collaborator whose recent score for Drive should be nominated for some kind of award this statue-season) that make me love Contagion so much. If the story weren’t so predictable and tired this would be one of my top films of the last year.

There’s crazy detail in this Blu-ray transfer but some smeary images and occasionally less-than-inky blacks keep it from being reference quality. I’m certain those deficiencies are in the HD source but that’s no excuse, right? This is a really great looking disc, though, and fans of the film will no doubt be pleased with the presentation. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also right on the money. While not the most immersive or dynamic track I’ve ever laid ears on, it’s clean and clear and seemingly accurate.

The real failing of the Contagion Blu-ray disc is the limited selection of special features. There’s an 11-minute long look at the reality of the film, a 5-minute long featurette on the experts who consulted on the film and a 2-minute long, rather jovial look at the life of a virus. The disc also has BD-Live functionality. And that’s it!

AMAZON: $24.99

MILDRED PIERCE

“She gave her daughter everything. But everything was not enough. Don’t miss the premiere of the latest renowned HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce“, which brings to life the memorable characters introduced in James M. Cain’s classic 1941 novel of pride and privilege in the middle class. Starring Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet, and co-written and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Haynes, this five-part drama is an intimate portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly divorced during the Depression years, as she struggles to carve out a new life for herself and her family. The story explores Mildred’s unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter Veda (Evan Rachel Wood), as well as the complex relationship she shares with the indolent men in her life, including her polo-playing lover Monty Beragon (Guy Pearce) and ex-husband Bert Pierce (Brian F. O’Byrne).“

I haven’t had a chance to watch this mini-series through to its conclusion yet but from what I’ve seen, Mildred Pierce fits with Haynes’ distinctive brand of cinematic storytelling – somewhat cold and removed but intellectually stimulating and nice to look at. There’s no denying that the man is a gifted filmmaker with a great eye, and that Winslet and Pearce knock it out of the park (I guess Wood is also doing a great job but her character is not an easy one to like) but it’s tough to fall in love with this 5-part HBO show. Fans of Boardwalk Empire might be interested to take a look though, as the narrative falls within the same era as that series but sports production design that puts it to shame. Say what you might about Mildred Pierce but it looks gorgeous!

As wonderful as the production design is, the series is shot rough and doesn’t make for a shiny, crisp looking Blu-ray. It’s shot on 16mm and exhibits all the grain and limited detail the format brings to the table. That said, the Blu-ray is well encoded, with stable colours and deep blacks. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is modest and dialogue heavy but warm, dynamic and all-around pleasing. Extras include two commentaries with Haynes, co-writer Jon Raymond and production designer Mark Friedberg, ‘Inside the Episodes‘ featurette for each episode and a half-hour long ‘making of’ doc.

AMAZON: $34.99

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

“Producers Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Orphanage) and Mark Johnson (Chronicles of Narnia) join forces to deliver DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, a tale of hair raising, spine-chilling horror. Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undistrubed since the strange disappearance of the mansion’s builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient, dark-dwelling creature who conspire to drag her down into the mysterious house’s bottomless depths, she must convince Alex and Kim that it’s not a fantasy – before the evil lurking in the dark consumes them all. “

I heard a lot of smack-talk and read a lot of negative reviews about Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, so you can imagine how little enthusiasm I had for screening this Blu-ray disc from Alliance (again, identical to the US release.) Boy, was I mistaken about this film! I enjoyed the hell out of it. Sure, it’s far from perfect, but I felt it hit all the right notes for the kind of creepy throwback fright-fest it aims to be. In fact, I found myself wincing at the genuinely frightening prologue sequence, shocked but thankful that this adaptation of a decades-old made-for-tv kids movie would go to these gruesome lengths! The script by producer Guillermo Del Toro is tight and right on the money, while the film, directed by newcomer Troy Nixey, exhibits all the visual fingerprints of the Pan’s Labyrinth director. In fact, it looks like it belongs right alongside Del Toro’s own films in that series (Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos.) I can’t believe how much I enjoyed Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and easily recommend it to fans of those films.

I’m also happy to report that the film looks like a million bucks on Blu! It’s actually a miracle that this encode looks this great, given the overall darkness of the film. There’s an incredible amount of detail in this presentation, even in the darkest scenes. Well done, all around. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is no slouch either, with creepy-crawlies scritching around from one speaker to another in one of the most immersive tracks I’ve listened to in a while. The only failing of this otherwise extraordinary disc is in its dearth of bonus features. There’s only a 20-minute long ‘making of’ doc (three very short featurettes combined) and an art gallery. Nice little extras both, but nowhere near what this disc deserves.

AMAZON: CDN$ 27.99

Also available: DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (US edition)

AMAZON: $19.99

SHARK NIGHT

“Arriving by boat at her family’s Louisiana lake island cabin, Sara (Sara Paxton) and her friends quickly strip down to their swimsuits for a weekend of fun in the sun. But when star football player Malik (Sinqua Walls) stumbles from the salt-water lake with his arm torn off, the party mood quickly evaporates. Assuming the injury was caused by a freak wake-boarding accident, the group realizes they have to get Malik to a hospital on the other side of the lake, and fast. But as they set out in a tiny speedboat, the college friends discover the lake has been stocked with hundreds of massive, flesh-eating sharks! As they face one grisly death after another, Sara and the others struggle desperately to fend off the sharks, get help and stay alive long enough to reach the safety of dry land. ”

I’m going to be completely honest with you here, a few minutes into Shark Night I picked up my laptop and continued on with that evening’s work. That’s right, I didn’t afford it my full attention. And I don’t feel guilty about it. Shark Night is the kind of fast, fun, trashy feature that’s built for multitasking. It’s a party movie. It’s at it’s best when you’re flirting with your girlfriend or chugging beers with your buds. If you were to actually focus on the film, you’d find yourself mighty disappointed with the ridiculous plot, paper-thin characters, and lightweight performances. Also, there’s no nudity. Yes, I found that shocking as well. There are some gory thrills, as is to be expected from a movie of this variety, but that’s about all the excitement Shark Night manages to trap in its net.

This film was clearly created for 3D. Sharks, exploded debris and eviscerated kid parts fly at the camera rather often. But this 2D edition of the film fails to take advantage of the carnage. Perhaps a 3D transfer of Shark Night would make the film ‘pop’ a little more but as it is, the Blu-ray is surprisingly flat and often soft. There are moments where it shines but, honestly, there’s nothing to get excited about here. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers plenty of thunderous power but it sometimes gets in the way of the dialogue. The mix is far from perfect but at least it packs a punch. Extras are on the light side of things, sporting a mere three 5-minute long featurettes about the film and sharks in general, a montage reel of the movie’s shark attacks and the theatrical trailer.

AMAZON: $19.99

JANUARY 10

Blu-ray disc of the week: BOARDWALK EMPIRE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

“From Terence Winter, Emmy Award(R)-winning writer of “The Sopranos”, and Academy Award(R)-winning director Martin Scorsese, “Boardwalk Empire” is a lavish period drama set in Atlantic City, following the life and times of Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) – the undisputed political and criminal mastermind whose grip on power and control of the city’s liquor supply is under constant threat.“

HBO has finally seen fit to release the first season of their hit Boardwalk Empire on Blu-ray!! Fans have been waiting, and waiting impatiently at that, for this boxed set to hit, as the second season of the program debuted last fall and just as quickly drew to a close. Though there’s no Blu-ray release on the horizon for those most recent episodes, we fans now have the pleasure of revisiting the initial run of the show. If you haven’t yet been indoctrinated into the world of the ’20s Atlantic City boardwalk scene, the crime, the bootlegging, the scores of women who, strangely, want to hook up with Buscemi week after week, now is the perfect opportunity to dive right in. I’ll be straight with you and let you know the first few episodes are a bit of a tough slog (props to Scorsese, though, who directed a very stylish pilot for the series) with a messy narrative of far too many characters and no solid base. But this is one of those rich HBO series that sorts itself out after a time and will reward your perseverance. Give it a shot and stick with it!

This 5-disc set from HBO and Warner looks, as is typical of the hi-def product born of this holy union of studios, absolutely brilliant! If you watched the show on cable, the look of it on disc is going to knock your socks off. Detail, colour and contrast are all beyond reproach. Likewise, the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is a winner – clean and clear, with plenty of dynamic headroom to present resonant highs and booming lows. The Blu-ray set also sports a crap-ton of fantastic special features, most exciting of which is the Enhanced Viewing Mode picture-in-picture track, available on each episode. Don’t be satisfied with merely listening to the six audio commentary tracks on the DVD set (also here on Blu) when you can check out the Blu-ray exclusive EVM which features interviews with cast, crew and a host of historians, production details and more. If that’s not enough for you, the various featurettes in the set have a total runtime of nearly an hour-and-a-half, which, all together, gives you a feature-length making-of doc!

Recommended!

Special Features:

• Blu-ray includes Enhanced Viewing on all 12 Episodes
• Evolving Character
• Dossier
• Making Boardwalk Empire
• Speakeasy Tour
• Six Audio Commentaries with Cast and Crew
• And Much More!

AMAZON: $34.99

MONEYBALL

“Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) challenges the system and defies conventional wisdom when his is forced to rebuild his small-market team on a limited budget. Despite opposition from the old guard, the media, fans and their own field manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Beane – with the help of a young, number-crunching, Yale-educated economist (Jonah Hill) – develops a roster of misfits…and along the way, forever changes the way the game is played. “

Not only have I not laid eyes on this Blu-ray but I’ve yet to see the film itself as well. I’m listing it here amongst the top releases of the week because of the critical acclaim the film has received. That and the fact that this is a Sony Blu-ray release which is damn near a guarantee of technical quality. I can’t recall a recent Sony disc that has let me down. The disc contains four featurettes and a blooper reel.

AMAZON: $19.99

CITIZEN KANE (70TH ANNIVERSARY BLU-RAY BOOK)

“Orson Welles‘ masterwork (#1 in the American Film Institute’s list of Best American Movies) dazzles anew in a superb 70th-anniversary digital transfer. It’s grand entertainment, sharply acted (starring many of Welles’ Mercury Players on the road to thriving film careers) and directed with inspired visual flair. Chronicling the stormy life of an influential publishing tycoon, this Best Original Screenplay Academy Award(R) winner (1941) is rooted in themes of power, corruption, vanity – the American Dream lost in the mystery of a dying man’s last word: “Rosebud”.“

Those of you who love Citizen Kane but were loath to purchase the bloated Ultimate Collector’s Edition boxed set that was released back in September will be happy to know that the Blu-ray is now available in a nice, affordable and easily-shelvable Blu-ray digi-book edition! That’s right, now you can get the exact same amazing Blu-ray disc release without being stuck with all the reproduction goo-gahs and promotional junk and you won’t be forced to find that larger space to store the giant UCE box. This disc is presented in the same handsome style of hardcover digi-book that Warner has released in the past. It’s 48-pages of pics, storyboards and film facts that house the feature Blu-ray and the bonus DVD – the feature-length ‘The Battle Over Citizen Kane‘ doc.

AMAZON: $38.95

FILM SOCIALISME

“Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt) triumphantly returns to the screen with FILM SOCIALISME, “a remarkable and beautiful and challenging” (Glenn Kenny, MSN) essay on the state of Mediterranean life, culture and history. It is split into three parts, the first set on a garish cruise ship traveling the Mediterranean Sea (with Patti Smith among its guests). Godard contrasts the rich and conflicted history of the ship’s ancient itinerary with the ostentatious gluttony of its well-to-do passengers. The second part descends on a struggling rural French rest stop, whose owners, seeking to change their fate, are running for office. It is their discontented children, though, who point towards an alternate future. Finally, the film closes in a gorgeous, aggrieved montage that acts as an idiosyncratic history of the past and future of the region. Anticipating the Greek debt crisis and the Arab spring, FILM SOCIALISME “is both timeless and timely” (J. Hoberman, Village Voice), shot in shimmeringly beautiful HD, but also hurtling headlong into the socio-political crises of our times. ”

Another release I haven’t laid eyes on but consider a blind buy. New Godard, shot digitally in HD and, according to early reviews, looking stunning on Blu-ray from the good folks at Kino. I really can’t wait to get my hands on this bad boy.

AMAZON: $29.99

KILLER ELITE

“Jason Statham (The Italian Job), Academy Award® nominee Clive Owen (Inside Man) and Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) star in Killer Elite, “one of the best action thrillers of the year!” (Richard Roeper) When two of the world’s most elite operatives — Danny, a retired contract killer (Statham), and Hunter, his longtime mentor (De Niro) — go up against the cunning leader of a secret military society (Owen), their hunt takes them around the globe from Australia to Paris, London, and the Middle East. As the stakes rise along with the body count, Danny and Hunter are soon plunged into an action-packed game of cat-and-mouse where no one is what they seem. Based on a shocking true story, it’s an explosive, no-mercy thrill ride where the predator ultimately becomes the prey. “

Word on the street is that I might be getting a screener of Killer Elite in short order. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the film but I tend to believe it’s going to be a lot of ridiculous fun. And, by the way, this film is in no way related to the great Sam Peckinpah Killer Elite film from the ’70s, which starred Godfather alums and personal heroes James Caan and Robert Duvall!

AMAZON: $19.99

Canada only: THE HILLS HAVE EYES

“The Carters are an all-American family on their way to California when their car breaks down far from civilization in the remote southwestern desert. But they are not alone. Watching from the hills is a very different kind of clan, a family of marauding inbred cannibals with an unspeakable taste for human flesh and monstrous brutality. In the nightmare that follows, what depravities must this wholesome family endure to survive? And in a primal wasteland ruled by lust and rage, who will become the most shocking savages of all? Dee Wallace, James Whitworth, Susan Lanier and Michael Berryman co-star in this disturbing cult classic written and directed by horror-master Wes Craven (“Last House on the Left”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Scream”.“

The Hills Have Eyes hit Blu-ray in the US way back in September. As far as I can tell, this Canadian release should be the same in just about every way, aside from the fact that it’s only hitting shops this week, over four months later, up here in the great white north. Anywho, this is another one I have yet to see with my own two eyes but hear tell might show up in my mailbox. I’ll keep you apprised of any developments!

AMAZON: CDN$ 16.49

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:

Related posts

• Boardwalk Empire coming to Blu-ray in January (0)
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of May 4 (0)
• [VIDEO] Citizen Kane: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray trailer (0)
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of June 22 (5)
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of February 23 (0)