Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of March 13

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Top 5 New on Blu

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of March 13

By Brenden ⋅ March 14, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Filed Under Alexander Skarsgård, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling, Criterion, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, John Hurt, Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Kiefer Sutherland, Kirsten Dunst, Lars Von Trier, Martin Scorsese, Melancholia, Michelle Williams, Paramount, Peter Jackson, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin, The Last Temptation of Christ, Udo Kier

I’m bowled over by the quality of the discs this week. I can’t recall a week in recent memory where I had the pleasure of watching so many amazing movies! My thoughts on them and the Blu-ray discs they’re presented on are all below.

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Blu-ray disc of the week: MELANCHOLIA

In this beautiful movie about the end of the world, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and brother-in-law John (Kiefer Sutherland). Despite Claire’s best efforts, the wedding is a fiasco, with family tensions mounting and relationships fraying. Meanwhile, a planet called Melancholia is heading directly towards Earth… MELANCHOLIA is a psychological disaster film from director Lars von Trier.

After watching Lars von Trier’s latest cinematic experiment in fraying my nerves, I can’t help but imagine assembling a mini film festival with Melancholia, Malick‘s The Tree of Life and Aronofsky‘s The Fountain, three stylistically similar films dealing with similar themes and imagery, all with a penchant for heavenly bodies and classical music. (All right, to be fair, Clint Mansell‘s score for The Fountain isn’t classical but what would it be without the incredible Kronos Quartet!) Honestly, these three directors all rank among my favourites of all time and all three of these films, while flawed, are some of the best I’ve seen. (Again with The Fountain – yes, I love it. Sue me.) I’m not sure if anyone would sit through my little cinema-auteur wank-fest but I’d be in heaven.

Of the three films, Melancholia is the least self-indulgent. Von Trier is on point, as usual, and doesn’t lose the plot, as they say, to the concept. There might be a planet about to collide with the Earth, but this film is more concerned with broken relationships and psychological pain passed down. It’s clear that sisters Justine and Claire have been damaged by their parents. They’re not healthy women. But Claire fights through it and attempts to maintain a happiness with her husband and child. Justine would have a planet crashing into her whether Melancholia was nearing Earth or not. Everything is doom and gloom and sadness and darkness for her. Melancholia is almost a relief of a kind, to her, evidence of her right to feel as she does. And a validation of her state of being. It provides a release. And in that, a kind of beauty. And that’s where the film begins. And those moments are stunning. I’m in awe.

Thank the heavens above that Melancholia looks nearly perfect on Blu-ray. Detailed, colourful and source-accurate, you’ll be in awe of this disc from the first frame onward. The center-focussed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is very dialogue-centric but really opens up when the Wagner music kicks in. Great stuff.

I enjoyed the bonus goodies on the Canadian version of the disc from eOne (virtually identical to the US version), for what the handful of included featurettes are worth, but can’t help feel a little burned by the absence of the director’s commentary track and feature-length doc that were included on the UK Blu-ray release from Artificial Eye (I can take or leave the extra interviews.) Look, the 4-featurettes are good. You should watch them. Von Trier is always interesting to listen to and there are a few insights here. But at a little over half-an-hour’s worth of content, the extras here feel a bit leaner than they could have.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

About Melancholia
Special EffectsThe Visual Style
The Universe
HDNet: A Look at Melancholia
Theatrical Trailer #1
Theatrical Trailer

AMAZON: CDN$ 29.59

Also available: MELANCHOLIA

AMAZON: $18.49

THE DESCENDANTS

A high-powered Hawaii real estate lawyer (George Clooney) finds his ordered existence shattered when a boating accident leaves his wife in a coma, leaving him in charge of the young daughters (Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller) he barely knows. After finding out his wife was having an affair, he drags the girls along on his hunt for the other man, making for moving revelations along the way. Alexander Payne‘s affecting comedy-drama also stars Nick Krause, Matthew Lillard. 115 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English (SDH), Spanish; featurettes; bonus digital copy. Also includes a DVD version of the film. Two-disc set.

Every week there’s got to be at least one major release I’m pining for, that I didn’t get to review before street date. This week it’s Alexander Payne’s The Descendants. I’m hoping to snag a copy in the next few days, and if I do, I’ll definitely report back.

AMAZON: $19.99

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

From Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson comes the epic adventures of Tintin. Racing to uncover the secrets of a sunken ship that may hold a vast fortune — but also an ancient curse — Tintin and his loyal dog Snowy embark on an action-packed journey around the world that critics are calling “fun for the whole family.”* *ABC-TV (Chicago)

I don’t quite know how they managed it but director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson manage to skirt the uncanny valley with their brilliant, breathless animated franchise opener, The Adventures of Tintin, available now on Blu-ray disc from Paramount.

AMAZON: $21.99

YOUNG ADULT

Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron stars as Mavis Gary, a 37-year-old former prom queen, and current writer of young adult novels, who returns home to relive her glory days and win back her now-married high school sweetheart. When she finds her homecoming more challenging than expected, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate and both must face the harsh realities of growing up in this brilliant and bittersweet story critics are hailing as a “one-of-a kind comedy”* and “quirky, funny, heartfelt.”** *Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly ** Manny, DeLa Rose, NBC TV

What a week! I can’t tell you how many dodgy looking films I’ve checked out this week that have turned out to be pure and utter gems. I think the most surprising of the bunch was Young Adult, the latest film from young superstar filmmakers, director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody. The trailers make it look unappealing. Most of the marketing material is horribly unattractive (I admit, though, I kind of dig the Blu-ray package art.) And the premise doesn’t fill my soul with the kind of “wonder” that leads a guy to buy a movie ticket or rent a disc. But defying all odds, Young Adult is wonderful from beginning to end. This isn’t a laugh-out-loud kind of comedy but a film more in line with the tone of Reitman’s previous effort, Up In The Air. It’s light and rather fun but the protagonist at the center – this time around, the ravishing Charlize Theron – suffers from something missing inside that leads to a journey that ultimately reveals deeper, darker flaws. Sounds serious there, that end bit. But believe me it never weighs the film down. The cast is great, the script is tight and the soundtrack is full of golden ’90s rock gems. Young Adult might be the buried treasure of the year.

And it’s no slouch on Blu-ray either. Paramount has afforded the film a top-notch transfer and encode and it looks great. Not the absolute slickest Blu-ray you’ve seen but rock solid and perfectly suited to the film in every way. And the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is pretty decent as well, when given the opportunity to open up and get a bit noisy.

The disc offers a nice selection of special features including an informative and conversational commentary track with Reitman, director of photography Eric Steelberg and assistant director/ producer Jason A. Blumenfeld, a 17-minute “making of” featurette, a 6-minute “The Awful Truth: Deconstructing a Scene” featurette with insight from Cody and 7-minutes or so of deleted scenes. Don’t miss the 46-minute long “Q&A Featuring Janet Maslin & Jason Reitman at the Jacob Burns Film Center“, whatever you do, as a lot of ground is covered regarding process, which isn’t really touched on anywhere else. Good stuff.

AMAZON: $19.99

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

During Marilyn Monroe’s (Oscar® Nominee Michelle Williams) first trip to London to film “The Prince and the Showgirl,” with Sir Laurence Olivier (Oscar® Nominee Kenneth Branagh), she befriends Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), an ambitious 23 year-old production assistant on the set. As their relationship progresses Colin’s focus shifts from making his way in the film business to rescuing her from the pressures of celebrity life. When Monroe’s new husband, playwright Arthur Miller, makes a brief trip to Paris, Clark takes the opportunity to introduce her to the world outside of Hollywood fame. Based on the true story by Colin Clark, this memoir describes a magical week in which Monroe opens herself up to a stranger and finds in him a confidant and an ally.

I can honestly say that I wasn’t expecting much at all from Simon Curtis‘ My Week With Marilyn, least of all that it would be one of the best and most engaging films I’ve seen in the last year. Colour me surprised. The film, and its Blu-ray presentation are both top notch.

AMAZON: $19.99

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull), is a towering achievement. Though it initially engendered enormous controversy, the film can now be viewed as the remarkable, profoundly personal work of faith that it is. This fifteen-year labor of love, an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s landmark novel that imagines an alternate fate for Jesus Christ, features outstanding performances by Willem Dafoe (Antichrist), Barbara Hershey (Hannah and Her Sisters), Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets), Harry Dean Stanton (Paris, Texas), and David Bowie (The Man Who Fell to Earth); bold cinematography by the great Michael Ballhaus (Broadcast News); and a transcendent score by Peter Gabriel.

Well, will you look at that. Criterion‘s Blu-ray edition of The Last Temptation of Christ just showed up at my front door and, sadly, I haven’t had a chance to give it a look yet. I’ll get you a more thorough review of the disc in the next week but for now, just know that this is not only one of Scorsese’s best films but one of my all time favourite movies full stop. If I were a betting man I’d put a solid fin down that you won’t go wrong just rushing out and picking this disc up, without me popping it into my player to tell you how gorgeous it looks in 1080p.

AMAZON: $27.99

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel comes a big-screen action adventure update of the Three Musketeers, conceived and shot in state-of-the-art 3D. They are known as Porthos, Athos, and Aramis—three elite warriors who serve the King of France as his best Musketeers. After discovering an evil conspiracy to overthrow the King, the Musketeers come across a young, aspiring hero — D’Artagnan — and take him under their wing. Together, the four embark on a dangerous mission to foil the plot that not only threatens the Crown, but the future of Europe itself.

Oh boy. The Three Musketeers is Dumas by way of The Matrix, complete with bullet-time and superhero get-ups. I guess that’s not particularly a bad thing because the mash-up results in a lot of silly fun. But it also sets a tone that tells a savvy audience how they can typically expect the film to play out. And this one is exactly what it appears to be. Would you expect anything less from the man who gave you the Resident Evil films?

Director Paul W.S. Anderson fills his take on the literary classic with heaps of very able British and European actors, lending it more gravitas than it probably deserves. The cast is nearly unraveled, however, with the dubious additions of Anderson’s wife Milla Jovovich and the young, awkwardly-American and awkwardly-coiffured Logan Lerman in the leading role. Neither the finest or weakest performers in the bunch can help or hurt the derivative and cliched script. It is what it is – aspects of Dumas’ work thrown in a blender with whatever genre junk the filmmakers thought the film-going public would perceive as “cool”. With a flat script, no character and familiar gags, it just doesn’t work. On the bright side, a lot of the action is fun and the whole affair looks like a few million bucks.

And so does The Three Musketeers Blu-ray. The one thing I can really say about this film is it looks fantastic in high-def. The disc shows off all the detail in the costumes and sets. They really nailed the look here. This could be a demo disc, if you don’t mind adding it to your collection. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also très musculaire! While providing a balanced sound field with clean, clear dialogue up the middle throughout the film, this one will surprise you with booming cannonball attacks and exploding secret tunnels. Technically, this disc is a winner.

For those interested in looking deeper, there’s also a collection of bonus goodies, here on this Canadian edition of the film from Alliance. Like its US counterpart the Blu-ray disc features a commentary track with Anderson and producers Jeremy Bolt and Robert Kulzer, nearly 15-minutes of deleted scenes and four very (very!) brief featurettes, all under 3-minutes in length. The Canadian disc lacks the US’ feature length picture-in-picture ‘Access: Three Musketeers‘ feature but gains a pop-up trivia and facts track. Sadly, it didn’t seem to work on my PS3. Hm.

AMAZON: CDN$ 24.99

Also available: THE THREE MUSKETEERS (US Edition)