I know that this isn’t exactly Blu-ray news – well, it’s not Blu-ray related at all, to be honest – but this is so relevant to those of us who love movies. And beyond relevant to those of us who love (or loved) the Star Wars movies. The upcoming Del Rey book, The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is like the ultimate special-features collection, jam-packed full of never-before-seen photos and art from the film, along with new interviews, script-page reproductions, hand-written notes and much, much more. If you saw author J.W. Rinzler‘s 2007 The Making of Star Wars book, you’ll know what I mean when I say this book is going to be every nerds wet dream. And the trailer above is just a little taste of what the book has in store for you, when it hits shops on October 12.
Via: Topless Robot
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]]>It seems I rarely get an opportunity to go out to the movies any more. I don’t suspect I’ll get a chance to see the new Ridley Scott Robin Hood film until it hits home video. Luckily, I’ve had four new DVD releases from Columbia Pictures Robin Hood Collection to keep me company lately. Ranging from 1948 to 1960, these films are classics and a whole lot of fun to watch. If only they were on Blu-ray…
You might get the impression from the DVD covers above that these four films are in rough condition or have been colourized for home video. Far from it! All four films look great as far as standard-def presentations go. All were filmed in colour and are quite vibrant here, with fairly clean, if somewhat thin mono audio presentations (not a big surprise, considering the age of the films.) Hey, one of them is even presented in anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 widescreen! Way to go 1960!
So, Columbia’s Robin Hood collection discs all look and sound pretty decent but what about the movies themselves? Well, I don’t think any of the four would please a young, modern crowd with their hokey dialogue and clumsy fight scenes. But film enthusiasts and collectors need to sit up and pay attention to these releases. They’re, all four of them, quite a lot of fun and somewhat relevant to film history! The three earliest efforts in the collection, The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946), Prince of Thieves (1948) and Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) all echo the very famous and successful Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. In fact, both Bandit and Rogues play as pseudo-sequels, with the protagonist being the son of Robin Hood, instead of the man himself. This was Columbia clearly trying to cash in back in the day. And you know what, they did a decent job! These three early films are super fun to watch, with the only real sore spot being Rogue‘s John Derek being thoroughly unable to act his way out of a paper bag. He’s terrible! Thankfully, the movie only suffers so much at his hands.
Of the four new releases, the one I was most looking forward to was the 1960 Sword of Sherwood Forest produced by Hammer Films! I’m sorry to report that this is also the film I ended up enjoying least of all. I’m a Hammer fan. And, I admit, my expectations were a bit high with this one seeing as how it’s directed by Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula), co-stars Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed and is a follow-up to the popular 50s TV show, The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene! Sadly, Greene is showing his age here. He seems lazy in the role, relying on the unrelenting energy of villains Cushing and Reed to carry to film. While I’m happy to add this to my Hammer collection and ecstatic that the transfer is so healthy on DVD, I really wish the film itself had a more robust Robin in the lead.
Oh, and I really, REALLY wish that all four films were on Blu-ray. But that’s no surprise, is it?
Columbia Pictures’ Robin Hood Collection DVDs are available now.
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]]>My Neighbour Totoro. Castle in the Sky. Kiki’s Delivery Service. These are among my favourite films of all time. And they are all newly re-released on DVD this week from Disney.
I think writer/director/animator Hayao Miyazaki is an absolute genius and, after years and years of having to import his films through dubious channels we’re very lucky to finally have them available to us on home video. But I think it goes without saying that, while I’m pleased to have them in my home on DVD, I’d much rather have nice, new HD transfers on Blu-ray. Especially after seeing what Studio Ghibli‘s films can look like in high-def thanks to the brilliant Ponyo disc (read my full, gushing review here!)
All three of these Studio Ghibli films were previously released on DVD by Disney between 2003 – 2006. I compared the old discs with the new and discovered that all films are derived from the same transfers. Nothing new in that department. The feature discs themselves in each 2-disc set aren’t identical however, as there have been slight changes in trailers and menus. The greatest change you’ll find in these three new DVD sets is in the bonus feature department.
The second disc in each set features the bonus content and let me tell you, it’s a relative wealth of extras! Where the previous sets simply offered a storyboard-version of the film, these re-releases give you that and so much more. Utilizing the same design as the Ponyo disc, each bonus disc menu ushers you into “The World of Ghibli” which contains both the useless (but potentially fun for the under-5 set) interactive The World of Ghibli – Enter the Lands nonsense as well as The World of Ghibli – Behind the Studio – a series of short, candid interviews with Miyazaki, his composer Joe Hisaishi and producer Toshio Suzuki. The Hisaishi piece is, sadly, identical on each disc but aside from that, each little featurette is quite wonderful and almost worth the price of the upgrade for die-hard fans like myself.
Each bonus disc also features a film-related English subtitled sequence from The Scenery In Ghibli : Japan in Miyazaki’s Work / European Journey To Meet Miyazaki’s Work Blu-ray, which is an incredible addition to these US/Canadian DVDs!
All of the bonus features from the old DVDs have been carried forward, save for the inclusion of the credit-less opening and closing animation of Totoro.
Watching the Totoro, Kiki and Castle DVDs on my new Samsung LN40B750 made it quite clear that these films are not yet ready for Blu-ray. A lot of work is going to have to be done to get the films in shape for HD. Especially since we’ve now seen Ponyo on Blu-ray and know how brilliant these films can look in 1080p. If the rumours are to be believed, Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind will be making its way to Blu-ray this summer in Japan. I’ve got my fingers crossed that a North American release will follow quickly on its heels.
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It’s Saturday morning. I like to have a coffee (and pie, if it’s available) and watch a few cartoons before starting my day. Sadly, there’s not much on the old tube these days that holds my interest. Thank goodness for this collection of episodes from the first season of The Super Friends!
I’ll be the first to admit that the content here is pretty cheesy. But often so much so, that it’s actually quite funny! The first episode opens with Superman play-wrestling with junior team member, Marvin, a character who could just as easily be hanging out with Scooby Doo as a bunch of super heroes! In fact, the team has their very own Scooby, in the form of Wonder Dog (no relation to Wonder Woman.) Like I said, totally silly stuff.
Silly, yes. But also very, very long. Each one of these episodes clocks in at around 45 minutes! Unreal! As much as I enjoy these shows, the silly stories and lack of characterization tends to lose its charm after the 15-20 minute mark. It’s hard for me to believe that children could sit through episodes of this length way back in 1973, when the series debuted.
Illustrator and character designer Alex Toth’s Batman model sheets
But there’s a lot to love here. Chiefly, the brilliant minimalist character designs of master illustrator, Alex Toth. This stuff is fantastic! The animation team barely manages to stay on model but when they nail the designs, they look great. I really wish Warner had included a featurette about Toth and his work for animation studio Hanna Barbera on the DVD. In fact, any sort of featurette detailing the early years of this groundbreaking series would have been appreciated. Ah well. Maybe the Blu-ray edition that will hopefully be issued in the coming years will be a little more comprehensive. One can only hope!
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Argh! This is where it’s at! Nevermind that I enjoyed the crap out of the live action G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. This animated adventure, the 58 minute G.I. Joe Resolute bests it in almost every way. Its only problems – it’s too damn short and it’s not on Blu-ray. Like I said, “Argh!”
So, Paramount sent over the DVD this week and I’ve got to tell you, it’s so much nicer watching this show (series or movie?) off of a disc with a clean transfer than suffering through the blocky, blurry YouTube videos I’d been watching before. It’s a great little one hour story that really honours the years of comic books and cartoons that came before it.
And the DVD provides a few extra treats for Joe fans. In addition to a few more minutes of footage edited into the film (nothing much to speak of – a little more action, a little post-credits coda) the disc contains the “pilot” short that was screened at Comic Con last year. It’s a fantastic piece that really encapsulates everything the production team was shooting for.
The real treat, however, is the half-hour interview with the series creators. They tackle everything from design to production, taking questions sent in from fans along the way. Here’s a preview (SPOILER WARNING!):
Great stuff there!
What’s not so great is that I had only just convinced myself that the standard-def, relatively low-res version of G.I. Joe Resolute that appears on the DVD would be adequate enough to entertain me, only to have a high-def preview of it dangled in front of me before The Rise of Cobra film on Blu-ray. That’s right, when you pop in the new Blu-ray disc of the live action film, you’ll be treated to that same one-minute trailer that I’ve posted at the top of this article, but in glorious 1080p high-definition!! Double “Argh!”. It looks so much cleaner. So much more detailed. The colours are more vivid. The line-work more defined. How will I ever be able to watch it dumbed-down to 480p ever again?!
Perhaps G.I. Joe Resolute will turn up on the multi-disc G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Ultimate Edition Blu-ray that will no doubt show up sometime in the next couple of years. It might make the inevitable double-dip worth picking up!
For more info on the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Blu-ray disc, read my review here.
Previously on the Blu-ray Blog: Animated G.I. Joe: Resolute coming to DVD, not Blu-ray
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]]>As I just mentioned in my review of the Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Blu-ray disc, I’m a passionate fan of the Universal Monster films of the 30s and 40s. And through them, I’ve become fascinated with the actors who played many of the starring roles. In particular, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, most famous for their iconic portrayals of Dracula and the Frankenstein monster. Watching the newly released Karloff & Lugosi: Horror Classics on DVD over the last few evenings has just led me to feel overjoyed that we’ve finally got access to these fantastic films on home video while at the same time, frustrated that we haven’t seen a single horror classic from their era in high-def yet!
It’s been proven time and again that Black and White films can look spectactular on Blu-ray. And while the B&W movies presented in this newest collection may not be the “classics” that Lugosi and Karloff are most well known for, it would certainly be wonderful to see them make their way to Blu-ray. In particular, Michael Curtiz‘ (Casablanca, White Christmas) very stylish The Walking Dead, starring Karloff at his most pitiable. Fantastic and worth the price of the set alone!
WHV Press Release:
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KARLOFF & LUGOSI HORROR CLASSICS
The Walking Dead! Frankenstein-1970!
You’ll Find Out! Zombies on Broadway!
OCTOBER 6 FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO
Burbank, Calif., June 15, 2009 – Horror fans will again be screaming this Halloween when Warner Home Video debuts the Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics October 6 — four frightfully fun horror classics all in one collection and on DVD for the first time. Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, iconic horror actors best known for creating the screen’s original Frankenstein and Dracula characters, star here in other roles in The Walking Dead, Frankenstein-1970, You’ll Find Out and Zombies on Broadway. The 2-disc set will be available for $26.98 SRP.
The Walking Dead (1936)
The Walking Dead is a unique blend of cinematic horror and the classic Warner Bros. gangster stylings. This long-admired cult favorite stars Boris Karloff, who gives an outstanding performance as John Ellman, an ex-con framed for murder who’s sentenced to the electric chair. When Ellman is brought back to life through the miracles of science, his only task is to seek revenge against those responsible for his death. Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) directs this eerie tale.
Special Feature:
–Commentary by historian Greg Mank
Frankenstein-1970 (1958)
Nearly twenty years after his final appearance as the Frankenstein monster in Son of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff returned to the screen in a new film derived from the Mary Shelley story that first catapulted him to stardom. In this 1958 horror classic, Karloff appears in the role of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a descendent of the original doctor, whose depleted fortune forces him to grant a film crew access to the family castle to shoot a horror flick. It’s not all bad, though, since he now has a supply of fresh body parts ready for harvesting.
Special Feature:
–Commentary by historians Charlotte Austin and Tom Weaver
You’ll Find Out (1940)
Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre poke fun at their horror-genre personas in this wacky 1940 RKO mix of music, murder and mirth. The plot finds the trio of horror legends leaving a trail of terror and laughs along the way, as they plan a murder in order to nab a young heiress’ inheritance in a spooky, spoofy haunted house tale. The film was one of several hits of the era featuring the music and merriment of the then popular Kay Kyser and his band. The film’s original song, “I’d Know You Anywhere” was Oscar® nominated.
Zombies on Broadway (1945)
The emphasis is equally spread between horror and hi-jinx in this wacky RKO production that has endeared itself to generations of die-hard Lugosi fans. Here, Bela Lugosi stars as mad scientist Dr. Paul Renault who ends up with more than he bargained for when he encounters
two inept Broadway press agents (Alan Carney and Wally Brown) looking for a real-life zombie to use for a publicity stunt in promoting a new nightclub.
KARLOFF & LUGOSI HORROR CLASSICS
Street Date: October 6, 2009
Collection Pricing: $26.98 SRP
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]]>There were a lot of misstep’s in the early days of the TV to DVD goldrush. The Muppet Show got a bizarre series of “best of’s”, due to both rights issues and the tentative nature of DVD offerings at that time. Farscape was another prime example (funny that they both involve the Henson Co.?) , where semi season’s were offered in odd spurts at inflated prices. Some things have been re-issued; proper, fuzzy covered full season’s of The Muppet Show, and now Farscape as a complete boxed series comes out Nov 19th (sadly not on Blu-ray).
So here’s my wish-list offering this month. REBOOT!
I loved this show! Being a Canadian, I may have a special point of pride with this Canadian made show. It has pop culture references galore, all sorts of computer jokes, it’s action packed AND smart and the evolution of it’s animation quality is fun to watch. To slip in a geek moment, the best part of this show is that it is “self-aware”. While it draws on pop culture and classic story telling styles, it is very self contained and really draws you in because of that. It may be one of the few times I really felt like I was watching a NEW world, not just a slightly different version of ours or a variation on one of the classic archtype worlds. And for the god’s sake, the finale was a recap musical stage play.
Yes, it was heavy handed in it’s plots and groan worthy at times, but these are the things that made it great; it was such an amalgam of ideas that it just ran riot with it’s storytelling. It is packed, jam packed with things every minute of every episode and oscillates between fart jokes and existential themes with ease and variety.
The VHS and DVD releases of this show have been sporadic and unsatisfying at best, with a series of oddball distributions in the US and overseas which may have kept it from ever really hitting it big, despite being the first fully computer animated series.
But with continued fan interest, a webcomic and plans to make three features, you would think someone might want to generate some extra attention and profit at this point. And a company that has been so “plugged in” as Mainframe Entertainment/Rainmaker Animation, the opportunities to use Blu-ray’s online interaction capabilities seems like a no brainer, let alone the possibility of how good this all-CGI series could be made to look if it were re-rendered in HD.
Rainmaker is aware of how much fans want a boxed set, but it can’t hurt to remind them and maybe tell them what you think of Blu-Ray.
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]]>Oh wow! Spike Jonze has made a documentary on Maurice Sendak, the author of the book Where the Wild Things Are. Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak airs on HBO tomorrow night, October 14, in the USA, just in time to support Jonze’s adaptation of the book for the big screen! Both films look fantastic and I’m a bit gutted that we’re not going to see the documentary here in Canada (in fact, I had to use an American proxy server just to watch the geo-locked trailer for the doc!) I’m hoping and praying it will be included on Warner‘s eventual Blu-ray edition of the Where the Wild Things Are feature film. Hell, it might even get its own release at this rate. Word on the street has Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak shortlisted for an Academy Award!
While I might not have much faith in seeing the Sendak doc as an extra on the Wild Things Blu-ray disc, I can almost guarantee that we’ll see this series of featurettes on the creation of the soundtrack:
You’ll find a lot more on YouTube!
Meanwhile, if you can’t get your fill of Sendak’s work and want to show the world your love for his characters, check out Elaine Ho‘s cute, little silver Where the Wild Things Are pendants featuring two of the lead characters – the young boy, Max and Carol, one of the Wild Things!
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]]>This is me crying in my soup. I might have enjoyed myself a little bit watching G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in the theatre but I really got a kick out of the Warren Ellis penned animated series, G.I. Joe: Resolute! This is exactly what the live-action film should have been! The sad part, the reason for my tears is that G.I. Joe: Resolute has just been announced for release, hitting shops the same day as The Rise of Cobra (details here). But Paramount is only releasing it in a standard-def DVD edition. No Blu-ray! …Sob…
Ah well, you know what? I’ll be overjoyed to watch it on DVD (I know, strong words from a guy like me with my snobby HD tastes.) I’ve only ever seen the show on YouTube or through shifty looking downloads, so a pristine, crystal clear DVD version will be an improvement for me. Check out the details of the release:
Cover Art (Thanks to TVShowsOnDVD.com)
G.I. JOE: RESOLUTE (DVD)
(November 3, 2009 – MSRP $19.99)
Video: MPEG 2 “Widescreen”
Audio: Dolby Digital English 5.1
Special Features:
- “Now You know” teaser promo
- Interviews with Filmmakers
- Storyboards
- JOE Files
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All right. I actually went to the movies this past weekend to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. It was… fun. I had fun. I honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy myself at all, so, you know what? I guess I’m satisfied with it. Maybe all it takes to please me in my old age is Sienna Miller in a black wig and some ninja fights. Yeah, that sounds about right…
I may have been in love with the toys, the comics and the cartoon when I was growing up but in recent years I’ve found myself more attracted to G.I Joe parodies than anything else. In fact, with the absence of new toys or TV shows, it was the comedy shorts that seemed to be keeping the franchise alive in the public mind. And by the public mind, I mean my mind.
With the new film in the theatres, Funny or Die has decided to offer us a look at what the Joes and their Cobra enemies do on a night off. I’ve got to thank Rob over at Topless Robot for posting this video clip. It made my day today. Not only is it hilarious but it’s star studded! Look at the cast:
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• Alexis Bledel as Lady Jaye
• Billy Crudup as Zartan
• Zach Galifiankais as Snow Job
• Tony Hale as Dr. Mindbender
• Vinnie Jones as Destro
• Joey Kern as Tomax and Xamot
• Chuck Liddell as Gung Ho
• Julianne Moore as Scarlett
• Henry Rollins as Duke
• Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck
• Olivia Wilde as The Baroness
I would absolutely love to see this comedy short added to the eventual Blu-ray disc release of the film. And why not throw on those re-cut PSAs from a few years back. And some Robot Chicken, while we’re at it. And…and…THIS amazing, bizarre thing:
Via: Topless Robot