There’s a lot to like on Blu-ray this week, aside from the discs I’m highlighting, Scroll down to the bottom to check out the four-film Fernando Di Leo crime collection, a couple of seasons of Poirot, new Transformers releases, Rutger Hauer in The Mill and the Cross and so much more.

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: DRIVE

“Ryan Gosling stars as a Hollywood stunt driver for movies by day and moonlights as a wheelman for criminals by night. Though a loner by nature, “Driver” can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband. After a heist goes wrong, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). Soon he realizes the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash and is forced to shift gears and go on the offense. “

Drive is one of the best films of 2011, hands down. It might be the best movie I had the opportunity to see in theatres last year. And I’m super excited about its release on Blu-ray today. I didn’t receive an early screener to review (apparently Alliance, the distributor here in Canada, aren’t making them available to the press) but, if the early word is on the money, this is a killer disc as well. Yep. No bones about it. I’m going to be hitting up the old Future Shop by my office to grab up one of these bad boys as soon as possible.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Five behind-the-scenes featurettes:
  • Drive Without A Driver: Talking with Director Nicolas Winding Refn
  • I Drive
  • Under The Hood
  • Driver and Irene
  • Cut To The Chase

AMAZON: $19.99

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION – THE NEXT LEVEL

“Set in the 24th century, the exploits of the U.S.S. Enterprise continue as it explores the universe, seeking new life and new worlds.“

Ho. Lee. Crap. I don’t think I’ve been this excited about Star Trek: The Next Generation since way back in the late ’80s. This little sampler Blu-ray, which features three of the most popular episodes of the series (well, four, if you count the 90-minute pilot as two episodes) is simply spectacular and has succeeded in giving me a brutal case of sci-fi-TV blue-balls, the likes of which can only be cured by serving me up with a proper, full and complete Season One boxed set! Seriously, the only drawback of this stellar Blu-ray is the fact that it’s over so quickly and there won’t be any more until much later in the year. And for that reason alone, this is a tough disc to recommend, unless you can grab it up super cheap.

Based purely on its content and its technical handling, though, this is a blind buy. All of the episodes hold up, aside from the obvious weaknesses of the pilot (or any TV pilot, for that matter.) The studio has done a bang-up job scanning the film and transferring it to 1080p digital, as you’d expect after the incredible job they did on the Original series episodes. They’ve recomposited and, in some cases, recreated the standard-def special effects for these discs and they also look amazing. In fact, everything is seamless here, with the exception of a few seconds of muddy SD video (used in place of a strip of film that couldn’t be located, and may be forever lost) that proves the purpose and the quality of these exceptional new transfers. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 tracks are also quite muscular, considering their age and origins but can’t compete with the clarity and raw power of modern Hollywood soundtracks. There isn’t much to speak of in the way of supplemental material here. Only a few trailers for the Season One set and the iPad app.

AMAZON: $14.99

MALCOLM X

“Filmmaker Spike Lee, actor Denzel Washington and other top talents vividly portray the life and times of Malcolm X. “Here’s a man who rose up from the dregs of society, spent time in jail, reeducated himself and, through spiritual enlightenment, rose to the top,” Lee says. Academy Award winner Washington was an Oscar nominee and the New York, Boston and Chicago Film Critics choice as 1992′s Best Actor.“

Malcolm X finally makes its way to Blu-ray this week, after having been announced for release in years past. I’m happy to say that this announcement was the one that stuck, and the handsome 2-disc digibook package is now available for purchase, just in time to celebrate Black History Month. Lee’s film holds up after twenty years (yes, it’s actually been that long), jam packed with incredible performances (including Washington’s Oscar nominated stunner), gorgeous photography by DOP Ernest Dickerson and Terence Blanchard‘s wonderful score. My problem with this release has nothing to do with the film itself or its packaging but in the fact that Warner have crammed the nearly three-and-a-half hour long film onto a single Blu-ray disc that also includes a bunch of supplements!!

The studio saw fit to split the similarly lengthy Ben-Hur up onto two discs, to allow the encode to breathe a bit and to take advantage of all the benefits the format has to offer. I’m not sure what they were thinking here (well, yes, I think I can guess that it has to do with money) but Malcolm X would’ve been better off split in two. That said, Warner manage to deliver a very attractive and film-like high-def presentation that’s unquestionably the best the film has ever looked on home video. Grain is present, colours pop and contrast seems spot on. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is equally strong but generally front and center heavy.

Bonus features have been carried over from the previously released DVD and include an excellent, information packed commentary from Spike Lee, Ernest Dickerson, Barry Alexander Brown and Ruth Carter. There’s also the half-hour long ‘By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Malcolm X‘ and 20-minutes worth of deleted scenes with Lee intros to check out (didn’t I tell you there was a lot of stuff crammed on this one disc?) The digibook package houses a second disc as well – a DVD containing the 90-minute long Malcolm X documentary from 1972. The 40-page book includes an essay entitled “Spike Lee: Meeting Controversy Head On” along with a timeline.

AMAZON: $29.99

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

“Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his brilliant performance as the Southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The way in which it captures a time, a place, and above all, a mood, makes this film a masterpiece. The setting is a dusty Southern town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape. Though he is obviously innocent, the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forward to defend him – except Peck, the town’s most distinguished citizen. His compassionate defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect and admiration of his two motherless children.“

I love To Kill A Mockingbird and can’t wait to get my hands on this new Blu-ray from Universal. I understand that the studio have done a great job with this disc, given the surviving elements. Archivist Robert A. Harris has a nice write up of the disc over at hometheaterforum.com including a history of the film and the restoration of its elements.

AMAZON: $17.99

MONKEYBONE

“After a car crash sends repressed cartoonist Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser) into a coma, he and the mischievous Monkeybone, his hilarious horny alter-ego, wake up in a wacked-outawaystation for lost souls. When Monkeybone takes over Stu’s body and escapes to wreak havoc on the real world, Stu has to find a way to stop him before his sister pulls the plug on reality forever! ”Saturday Night Live”’s Chris Kattan, Bridget Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg co-star in this inventive blend of live action and stop-motion animation, loaded with must-see, eye-popping F/X and some of the crudest, laugh-out-loud humor since ”South Park”. “

Oh wow, is Monkeybone ever tough to sit through. But I can totally see where director Henry Selick (Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas) was trying to go with it. As it stands, the film is a confused mess of live action comedians doing their level best to mesh with a half-realized world of stop motion mayhem. And there are moments of pure genius there, where you almost want to jump out of your seat and scream “Yes!” but they’re tempered with a third act that goes off the rails, and feels like a bad, overlong Saturday Night Live skit. It’s common knowledge that the studio pulled the rug out from under the production leaving Selick to pick up the pieces and make what he could with what he had. And with that in mind, Monkeybone is worth a look. Fans of the director/animator will certainly want to check it out.

Anchor Bay does a solid job with the Monkeybone Blu-ray disc, serving up a colourful, detailed transfer that actually manages to add some sizzle to the film. If you’ve only ever seen it on DVD or (gasp!) VHS, you might want to give it another look on Blu. That extra ‘POP’ goes a long way here. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is active and dynamic for its age but can’t compete with modern Hollywood fare. There are, sadly, no bonus features to enjoy on the disc – a real lost opportunity to discuss the finer, animated elements of the film along with the squabbles and lack of financing that spoiled it, if you ask me.

AMAZON: $15.49

GRAND CANYON

“When a lawyer’s (Kevin Kline) car breaks down in a dangerous Los Angeles neighborhood, a tow-truck driver (Danny Glover) arrives just in time to save his life. The two men begin a deep friendship that sets off a chain of unsettling and surprising events involving their families and friends for years to come. Lawrence Kasdan’s powerful, uplifting film about the harsh realities of contemporary urban life co-stars Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell, Mary-Louise Parker and Alfre Woodward. “

I loved Grand Canyon a lot when I first saw it, way back in the ’90s, when it was released. I love it a lot less now that I’ve watched the new Blu-ray from Anchor Bay but not as a result of anything the film or disc does wrong. Okay, the film does one thing completely wrong – there’s a dream sequence, that I had completely blocked from my memory, that goes on forever and sucks the life out of the narrative – and I find it shocking that a filmmaker of Kasdan’s ability would miss its suckiness! But outside of that drastic misstep, the only issue I have with the film is that it feels so dated. It’s such a product of the ’90s, from the clothes, the new-age style of the score, right down to the way the dialogue is handled. I think it all totally worked at the time but the window dressing here just doesn’t hold up. The narrative, however, and the performances are all around excellent. It’s a nuanced, surprising story well told, with interesting, well rounded characters. I still like Grand Canyon and love, love, love Kasdan’s work on the whole (c’mon, dude wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark!) but if you’re averse to watching sentimental dramas steeped in decades old cultural cues, you might think twice about sitting down with the film.

Grand Canyon probably looks as good as it ever will on this new Blu-ray disc. But it’s a damn soft presentation. In fact, it quite often looks only a slight tick above the level of a standard-def DVD. Detail is sometimes excellent and colours always impress, but this is overall an unimpressive, if not source-accurate, transfer. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is a bit of all right, though, far more dynamic and immersive than most dramas tend to be. Much like Monkeybone – and, I imagine, all Fox catalogue releases from Anchor Bay – there are no special features on the disc.

AMAZON: $15.99

NEW FROM MIRAMAX/LIONSGATE

Miramax and Lionsgate are unleashing a torrent of Academy Award winning heavyweights on Blu-ray this week. I haven’t gotten my hands on a one of them yet but early reviews are resoundingly positive on every title. Considering that they’re all priced to move, you can’t go wrong grabbing up any of your favs from this bunch.

AMAZON: $9.99 – $15.99

NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS

It was released as SECOND HOUSE ON THE LEFT, NEW HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and TORTURE TRAIN. The ads screamed, “Most movies last less than two hours! This is one of everlasting torment!” It remains one of the most graphically fiendish films in exploitation history, the story of two teenage girls traveling through Europe, forced into a nightmare of sexual assault and sadistic violence. Irene Miracle (INFERNO, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS), Flavio Bucci (SUSPIRIA), Macha Meril (DEEP RED), and Marina Berti (WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS?) star in this depraved shocker directed by Aldo Lado (SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS, WHO SAW HER DIE?) and featuring a haunting score by Ennio Morricone (THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE). Experience evil gone off the rails: NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS is now presented in a brand-new High Definition transfer from the original uncensored negative!

I don’t know if you’ve got the stomach for this, but if you’re the sort who enjoys a Blue Underground Blu-ray, you’re probably as excited as I am to pick up a copy of Night Train Murders. There’s no doubt that this will be the best this gore-fest has ever looked on home video but what I’m aching to hear is Morricone’s score in the new lossless DTS-HD track! This isn’t the most feature-rich BU disc to hit shops but it does sport an interview with Co-Writer/Director Aldo Lado, some radio spots and the trailers for the film.

AMAZON: $26.99

DREAM HOUSE

“Successful publisher Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quit a job in New York City to relocate his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from Ann Paterson (Naomi Watts), a neighbour who was close to the family that died. As Will and Ann piece together the disturbing puzzle, they discover that the story of the last man to leave Will’s dream house will be just as horrifying to the one who came next.“

Dream House is weird. I mean, my most cutting criticism of it is the goddamn marketing of the film – If you watch the theatrical trailer most all of the twists and turns of the plot will be spoiled for you. What a piss off! There’s a whole lot wrong with the way the film is handled but the one thing it might have done for me is offer up a shocking twist. But it didn’t even get the chance to do that, as I had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting through a spoilerific trailer for the film only a few days prior to my screening of it. Sigh.

In any case, I was actually shocked at one aspect of the film, truth be told – and that’s the fact that it’s directed by Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father!) This kind of psychological horror seems outside of his comfort zone. But kudos to him fro trying. Ultimately, though, the narrative here just doesn’t hold together. Without spoiling too much I’ll just say that the antagonist doesn’t add up to much and feels rather tacked on at the end of the film. After all of Craig’s agonizing, there’s just not much pay-off. This is, however, one of the strongest casts I’ve seen in a film recently and their work is almost enough to keep you invested in it. Caleb Deschanel‘s photography is also quite fine, as per his usual.

The Dream House Blu-ray does Deschanel proud, presenting his work in a faithful and sumptuous light. Colours are bold and blacks deep here. The image is often soft, however, but that’s part of the intended look of the film. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is also a touch softer than you’d expect, but again, that’s part of the design. This is a solid, clear track with excellent dynamic range and just enough atmosphere to heighten the creep-factor.

The Canadian edition of the Dream House Blu-ray seems to have a few extra interviews on it, with cast members and crew, but otherwise special features mimic the Universal disc from the US – a host of short, EPK-style featurettes and trailers.

AMAZON: $19.99

Only in Canada: CELL 211

“The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot — the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal. “

I always feel a little better about our country when we Canadians get an exclusive release. I don’t think Daniel Monzón‘s Cell 211 is the best Spanish film I’ve seen recently, despite the fact that it swept up a bajillion Goya awards in 2010 and is set to be re-made by Hollywood, but it makes for a solid evening of prison-riot entertainment.

It’s Juan’s (Alberto Ammann) first day on the job at the prison when a riot breaks out. He’s trapped inside with a rowdy horde of inmates who believe he’s one of them. Juan tries his best to navigate his way out of the touchy situation, past murderous lifer Malamadre (Luis Tosar) and the prison bars, back to his pregnant wife waiting on the other side. Elements of the plot come off as silly or rather ‘convenient’ at times and betray any authenticity the film might have had. But it never fails to ratchet up the tension and provide the kind of lock-up thrills you hope for in this sort of prison drama. Cell 211 never approaches the better episodes of Oz, and never really gets inside your head or your gut, but it’s got enough charm and vigor to provide a good night’s cinematic fun.

Cell 211 looks pretty decent on this Blu-ray from eOne. I suspect that the transfer is accurate to the source material but you’ll notice detail come and go, dependent on shot type and scene. Colour and blacks are always solid, though, in this reasonably film-like presentation. Audio is available in the original Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or a French DTS-HD dub. There are, sadly, no special features on the disc.

AMAZON: CDN$ 25.49

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:

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Oh man, I can’t believe Scorsese‘s Hugo has already been announced for release on Blu-ray. Didn’t it just make its theatrical debut a few weeks ago? I’m going to be gutted if I don’t get a chance to see it in 3D in the cinema, as this one was shot in the format and, apparently, takes subtle advantage of it. These shorter release windows are killing me. In any case, check out the disc details below, as Hugo will be available in two flavours at two different prices – a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo and a 3-disc set with the 3D version.

HUGO
(February 28, 2012 – MSRP $44.99 [2-disc], $54.99 [3-disc])
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

• Shoot the Moon (The Making of Hugo)
• The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
• The Mechanical Man at the Heart of Hugo
• Big Effects, Small Scale
• Sacha Baron Cohen: Role of a Lifetime

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TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON 3D
(January 31, 2012 – MSRP $54.99)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: 7.1 Dolby TrueHD

Disc 1 (Blu-ray):

• Feature film in high definition

Disc 2 (Blu-ray):

• Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon
  • Rising from the Fallen: Development and Design
  • Ready for Prime Time: Filming Across America
  • Battle in the Heartland: Shooting in Chicago
  • Attack of the Birdmen: Aerial Stunts
  • Shadow of the Sentinel: Post-Production and Release
• Uncharted Territory: NASA’s Future Then and Now
• Deconstructing Chicago: Multi-Angle Sequences
  • Previsualizations with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto
  • Previsualizations/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto
  • Visual Effects with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler
  • Visual Effects/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler
• The Art of CYBERTRON AUTOBOTS
• DECEPTICONS
• Environments
• Weapons and Gear
• Ships

Disc 3 (Blu-ray 3D):

• Feature film in high definition 3D

Disc 4 (DVD):

• Feature film in standard definition
• Digital Copy—Compatible with iTunes® and Windows Media

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It’s like all my fondest and wildest Blu-ray dreams are coming true all at once!! First the Universal Monsters films, then the Macross anime series and now a good portion of Hammer Films‘ catalogue films have all been announced for release this year. Is everyone celebrating an anniversary, or what? This is nuts! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining but my bank account is going to be mighty drained by the time December rolls around if all of these releases come to pass as they’ve been announced.

Hammer films have apparently met with the rights-holders for most (if not all) of their films and are planning a massive restoration effort, along with accompanying home video releases. Don’t ask me how they’ve managed this miracle because this sort of cross-studio planning is usually the thing of nightmares and more often than not, completely impossible. No new North American Blu-ray releases have been announced yet but the studio has made clear that the UK will be getting handsome new HD editions of Dracula, Prince of Darkness (March 5th – complete with licensed Christopher Lee, Suzan Farmer, Francis Matthews and Barbara Shelley commentary track from the 1998 Anchor Bay DVD!), The Reptile (May 7th) and Plaque of the Zombies (May 7th) through partnership with Studio Canal and Optimum Home Entertainment in the next few months. Count those discs, along with the already released (and apparently quite stunning) Quatermass And The Pit (October 2011) and Paranoiac (July 2010) discs and the UK is absolutely spoiled with Hammer Blu-ray discs, relative to our paltry (but very fine) two domestic releases – Vampire Circus and The Man Who Could Cheat Death.

Hammer have stated that North American release news is forthcoming with a Dracula, Prince of Darkness disc (that apparently matches the UK release in every way) a certainty in the coming months. I’ll post an update as soon as I hear anything. In the meantime, keep up with the Hammer restoration effort over on the studio’s excetional blog: blog.hammerfilms.com. There are already great pieces up there about their releases schedule and the issue of their films Original Aspect Ratios in both the UK and US. Bookmark and read now!

From the press release:

” 19 January 2012: In a landmark collaboration, Hammer today announced that STUDIOCANAL, Anolis Entertainment (Germany), Pinewood, illuminate Hollywood fka HTV and others are coming together to undertake a major restoration of the iconic Hammer film library. The project will bring over 30 movies into HD format for Blu-ray and new media exploitation in the 21st Century. This represents substantial investment by Hammer and its key partner STUDIOCANAL, and is testimony to the extraordinary regard with which the Hammer legacy is held internationally, with some materials for the project being provided by Hammer’s original US production partners Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures.

Dracula Prince of Darkness is the first title scheduled for release in the global restoration project and will be released in the UK in conjunction with STUDIOCANAL in March 2012. The partnership continues throughout the spring for the releases of The Reptile and The Plague of The Zombies, and will also include The Devil Rides Out, Rasputin the Mad Monk and The Mummy’s Shroud during the course of the year.

Hammer will also release definitive versions of its three hugely-influential original Gothic classics in the UK: The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy.

As well as featuring a fully-restored HD picture and restored sound, the remastered films will boast a host of newly-filmed extras, including interviews with cast members. These documentary extras are being produced by Hammer expert and historian, Marcus Hearn – author of the recent “The Hammer Vault”.

Pinewood Studios carried out the restoration of the first three Studiocanal titles after housing the original negatives for the films, restoring the original UK title sequence to The Plague of The Zombies as well as the UK title cards to Dracula Prince of Darkness.

Recently-discovered footage that was originally cut from the British version of Dracula has been restored by Molinare to the BFI’s 2007 restoration courtesy of The National Film Center at The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. The Japanese footage features an extended and particularly gruesome death scene for Dracula, as well as a moment considered too erotic by the censors of the day.

Following the discovery and restoration of the Japanese footage to Dracula, Hammer is keen to unearth further “lost” scenes and on-set footage from The Curse of Frankenstein, The Mummy and other titles in their library, and hope that any private collectors with viable unseen elements will contact the company.

In addition, Hammer will regularly be posting to a “Restoration Blog”, which will give a unique insider’s view on the entire process, from material selection right the way through to release. The blog can be followed at: http://blog.hammerfilms.com

Other companies involved in the restoration project include Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging and Thought Equity Motion in the US and Cineimage and Deluxe 142 in the UK.

Simon Oakes, President and CEO of Hammer commented, “Our decision to restore some of Hammer’s most famous titles not only allows existing fans to experience the films again in high definition, but also encourages a new global audience to discover Hammer for the first time – especially as we get ready to release our next exciting new Hammer project The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe. We have a busy year ahead but are confident that our Blu-ray plans will ensure that Hammer’s legacy will live on for generations to come.”

John Rodden, General Manager UK Home Entertainment for Studiocanal added, “The great Hammer films are uniquely stylish and ceaselessly entertaining. Like the vampires and other supernatural forces they depict, they appear to be deathless, re-emerging relentlessly to thrill and terrify new generations of film fans. STUDIOCANAL is immensely proud to continue its investment in the best of British cinema both past and present by restoring and re-releasing these films.”“

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One of the bestestest and funniestest flicks ever made is coming to Blu-ray in just over a month’s time. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is probably the least likely film to benefit from a transfer to high-def but I’m anxious to see what Grover Crisp and his wizards over at Sony digital can do with the muddy, low-def elements of the 1975 no-budget comedy film. It’s a favourite of mine and if it can benefit from the format, I’ll be the first to trumpet that fact to the world.

The studio is also launching an iPad app on the same day that is said to offer further insights into the making of the film. As far as I know, this is Sony’s first foray into the iApp world, so it’s tough to say how this will work out. I will say that as a $4.99 supplement, they’ll be hard pressed to rope the more moderate Python fans in, even with the $5 rebate coupon. More details in the PR below…

From the press release:

“From the fertile minds of the 20th Century’s most brilliant and outrageous comedy troupe comes their most highly regarded comedy classic – Monty Python and the Holy Grail – debuting on Blu-ray™ March 6th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Canada. Their second feature film stars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin as we follow King Arthur and his knights in their search for the Holy Grail. Encounter the Black Knight, the Killer Rabbit, The Knights Who Say ‘Ni’! and the Black Beast of Aaaargh! The Blu-ray set is brimming with coconuts, shrubberies and swallows (African or European), OOPS, we mean loads of bonus materials, including over thirty minutes of new Blu-ray exclusive special features. This medieval madness will be available on Blu-ray for $19.99 SRP.

Also debuting on March 6 is the first Monty Python interactive iTunes app. “The Holy Book of Days” is a rich companion to the film, letting fans explore each of the 28 days of the filming of the movie through outtakes, diaries, audio recordings, scripts, and scores of stills. New illustrations, animations, and the story of the filming in the Pythons’ own words make each day of the Holy Grail come alive. The app offers a second screen experience too, letting users control and navigate the Blu-ray™ from the iPad. “The Holy Book of Days” will be available for $4.99 in the App Store. For a limited time, Sony is offering a $5 mail-in rebate when consumers purchase both the Blu-ray and iTunes app. “

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
(April 6, 2012 – MSRP $19.99)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Special Features

Blu-ray Exclusive:

• The Film re-mastered to high definition standards never before seen
• The Holy Book of Days Second Screen Experience
• Lost Animations with introduction by Terry Gilliam
• Outtakes & Extended Scenes with introduction by Terry Jones

Blu-ray Features:

• Scintillating commentaries by Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones and even more revealing commentaries by John Cleese, Eric Idle & Michael Palin
• Quest for the Holy Grail Locations with Michael Palin & Terry Jones
• Lego Knights: The Knights of the Round Table in Lego
• Special Japanese Version
• How To Use Your Coconuts (an educational film)
• BBC Film Night on location
• Three Songs to sing-along
• Cast Directory Photo Gallery

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Yargh! I actually had this post ready to go this week, when MGM dropped six new titles in my lap (see below), pushing my ability to get it out to you back by several days. But it’s well worth it. Their latest batch of catalogue titles are all must-buys, all essential cinema on Blu at a very affordable price.

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: GODZILLA

“Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama made in Japan at a time when the country was still reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning more than twenty sequels and spinoffs. This first thrilling, tactile spectacle continues to be a cult phenomenon; here, we present the original, 1954 Japanese version, along with Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, the 1956 American reworking starring Raymond Burr (Rear Window). “

Criterion fans have been waiting an age to see this day come to pass. The hint of Gojira joining “The Collection” has been lingering like a stolen promise for more than a decade now. But here we are finally, arriving at the day of days, when the original giant lizard film is finally awarded the home video treatment it has long deserved. That’s right, Godzilla is on Blu-ray! I mean, Godzilla has actually been on Blu before but sporting a pretty sucky transfer. So really, we can consider this new Criterion release the only release moving forward. Sadly, demand was apparently quite great for screening copies of the film and yours truly didn’t make the cut. But from reading reviews of the disc from those fortunate enough to get it early, the transfers of both the original Japanese version of the film and the US cut starring Raymond Burr are astounding. I can’t wait to check this one out firsthand!

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by David Kalat (A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series)
• New high-definition digital restoration of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Terry Morse’s 1956 reworking of the original, starring Raymond Burr
• Audio commentary for Godzilla, King of the Monsters by Kalat
• New interviews with actor Akira Takarada (Hideto Ogata), Godzilla performer Haruo Nakajima, and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai
• Interview with legendary Godzilla score composer Akira Ifukube
• Featurette detailing Godzilla’s photographic effects
• New interview with Japanese-film critic Tadao Sato
• The Unluckiest Dragon, an illustrated audio essay featuring historian Greg Pflugfelder describing the tragic fate of the fishing vessel Daigo fukuryu maru, a real-life event that inspired Godzilla
• Theatrical trailers
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman

AMAZON: $27.99

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

“The Moment of Truth, from director Francesco Rosi (Salvatore Giuliano) is a visceral plunge into the life of a famous torero—played by real-life bullfighting legend Miguel Mateo, known as Miguelin. Charting his rise and fall with a single-minded focus on the bloody business at hand, the film is at once gritty and operatic, placing the viewer right in the thick of the ring’s action, as close to death as possible. Like all of the great Italian truth seeker’s films, this is a not just an electrifying drama but also a profound and moving inquiry into a violent world—and perhaps the greatest bullfighting movie ever made. “

We didn’t receive a copy of Criterion’s Godzilla Blu-ray but the studio was able to get The Blu-ray Blog an early screener of The Moment of Truth, also available in stores today. This isn’t a film for the queasy of stomach. It’s bullfighting. Footage of real, honest to goodness bulls being taunted and gored. And it’s tough to watch. I’ll admit, I turned away at times, unable to bear witnessing the torture of an animal onscreen. But the film has value and shouldn’t be ignored just because it features footage that’s uncomfortable to watch. Rosi fashions a narrative here, beginning with real-life footage and spinning it into a familiar, comfortable story of a talented, driven athlete whose star is on the rise. It’s easy to connect with and moves along at a good clip, despite occasionally pulling away to reveal a more documentarian look at the Spanish way of life. As magnetic as Mateo is in and out of the ring however, the real star of the film is the photography. Images here are gritty yet fluid and almost always breathtaking.

And speaking of those images, the footage in The Moment of Truth looks spectacular on Blu-ray. As per Criterion’s standard, you won’t find any untoward digital manipulation here (some sharpening is present, handled with great restraint) but those who dislike film grain will want to run for the hills. This is one handsome transfer, thick with rich, film-like grain. Colours pop and blacks are deep. Great work, as usual, from Criterion. The lossless Italian language track is bold and quite clear, with a hint of ever-present hiss in the background. The final music cue distorts in a strange way right before the film ends but I assume that’s due to damage in the source.

Sadly, there isn’t much on this disc in the way of special features. The only bonus goodie you get is a 14-minute interview with director Rosi, recorded in 2004. It’s a candid and very informative chat that you’ll want to check out if you’ve watched the film but I can only imagine how much more might’ve been discussed during a feature length commentary track. Ah well. Missed opportunities. The Blu-ray disc is packaged along with an illustrated booklet which features an essay by critic Peter Matthews.

AMAZON: $21.99

50/50

“Inspired by a true story, “50/50” is an original story about friendship, love, survival and finding humor in unlikely places. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen star as best friends whose lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis in this new comedy directed by Jonathan Levine from a script by Will Reiser.“

I’m not going to mince words here, I initially avoided watching 50/50 because I thought it looked like crap. I didn’t care for the poster art or the trailers and I wasn’t sold on the notion of a comedy about cancer. Also, I felt like I could use a break from both Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the stars of the film. Boy, was I wrong about this film. 50/50 is not only funny and moving but all-around one of the best films I’ve seen this year. Rogen and Gordon-Levitt come off more genuine and genuinely funny here than in their recent work. Perhaps because they’re riffing on a script by their pal Will Reiser that the writer based on his own real-life struggle with cancer. Reiser is a wise man and never allows things to get too heavy handed and ultimately clarifies that the tale is more about friendship than it is about the disease. I don’t want to paint the picture of this film as light and cheery. It does deal with the issues facing Gordon-Levitt’s character and all that his myriad struggles entail, but it’s all very human and without a touch of melodrama. What a refreshing change!

The Blu-ray presentation of 50/50 is also a breath of fresh air. Detailed, balanced and completely film-like in every way, the film is a joy to watch in 1080p. Likewise, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is all-around fantastic. Fans of the film will want to listen to the group commentary track, even if they usually avoid such things. This one is a fun, often funny gathering of pals Rogen, Reiser, producers Ben Karlin and Evan Goldberg, and director Jonathan Levine. The disc also contains an 8-minute ‘making of’ featurette, five deleted scenes with optional commentary, an additional 10-minutes of behind-the-scenes discussion of specific scenes and a couple minutes of Rogen and Gordon-Levitt destroying a painting.

Recommended!

AMAZON: $17.99

THE WHISTLEBLOWER

“Academy Award Winners Rachel Weisz and Vanessa Redgrave head a powerful cast that includes Oscar Nominee David Strathairn in writer-director Larysa Kondracki‘s harrowing dramatic thriller. When Nebraska cop Kathryn Bolkovac (Weisz) accepts a U.N. peacekeeper position in post-war Bosnia, she discovers a deadly sex trafficking ring. Risking her own life to save the lives of others, she uncovers an international conspiracy that is determined to stop her, no matter the cost. With masterful acting and a heart-racing plot, “The Whistleblower” is an acclaimed film inspired by actual events.“

Okay, I love Rachel Weisz. Let’s just get that out of the way first. I’ll watch just about anything she’s in. And even when she’s starring in a film I find less-than-stellar, I usually enjoy watching her all the same (sigh… Is that creepy?) But it honestly took me a little while to acclimate to her performance style in The Whistleblower. She plays a Nebraska cop and plays her, well, very American. That’s okay, of course, but when she’s putting on the accent and playing tough it’s a lot more challenging to buy her in the role. Through a good part of the first act of the film, she’s just not very convincing. But as the very-tense plot heats up, and Bolkovac is pitted up against sex traffickers, any awkwardness in Weisz’ performance fades away, and the compelling real-life narrative overtakes any and all potential weaknesses. By the end of the film, I was literally at the edge of my seat. It’s tough to sit idly by in the audience, when watching such heinous atrocities unfold onscreen, knowing that they’re based on things that really happened. The Whistleblower is intense and infuriating and definitely worth watching.

You’ll be impressed with the look of The Whistleblower on Blu-ray. Often dark (some detail is lost in the blackest of shadows), sometimes soft, but always film-like with plenty of grain and detail on display, this is a great looking disc with a modern transfer. LIkewise, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is right on the money. It’s not going to ‘wow’ you with Hollywood-style sonic gymnastics and bombast but it’s dynamic, clean and clear.

Sadly, there’s only a single special feature on the Blu-ray disc – a 5-and-a-half-minute long featurette called ‘Kathy Bolkovac: The Real Whistleblower‘. It’s certainly worth a look, if you enjoyed the film, as it gives a rare look at the real people who inspired the work.

AMAZON: $17.99

WINGS

“The first film ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture is finally available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, “Wings” starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen and Gary Cooper. “Wings” is the story of two men who have gone to war and the girl they both leave behind. Director William A. Wellman makes one of his most humanistic statements as he explores the devastating results of war.“

Film fans and fans of home video restorations will want to sit up and take note of Paramount‘s work on Wings – this is stunning stuff. Touted as the first Best Picture Oscar winner (in fact, it won the award for “Outstanding Picture, Production” while Murnau‘s Sunrise won the award for “Unique and Artistic Production” – both could equally be considered “Best Picture” by today’s standards), most folks alive today have never seen a decent looking print of William A. Wellman’s landmark film. It’s really what makes this Blu-ray release all the more special. It seems the studio has gone to great lengths to gather the finest surviving elements of the silent classic, give them the best possible scan and assemble and massage them into a reasonably clean and very watchable modern restoration. The results are simply stunning and need to be seen to be believed. In fact, though we’re only in the first month of 2012, this very well might be a contender for Blu-ray release of the year! The care given this film’s journey to Blu and the fact that it’s the first in a line of Anniverary releases for the studio gives me great hope for the follow-up titles like Chinatown and To Catch a Thief. It’s going to be a good year.

As you’d suspect from my praise of the work done to restore Wings and bring it to Blu-ray, the film sports a spectacular transfer that bests any visual reproduction in living memory. This is a completely film-like presentation that’s cleaner and more detailed than it has any right to be. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is even more surprising in what it brings to the package. The track features a radiant “re-recorded score composed by J.S. Zamecnik (orchestrated and arranged by Dominik Hauser; featured pianist — Frederick Hodges) with sound effects by Ben Burtt“!! As brilliant and effective as the score is, it’s Burtt’s sound effects that are the true surprise and delight of the track. Purists offended by the sonic revisionism of sound effects in a silent film might want to stick with the Gaylord Carter organ track, rendered not quite as fully as its lossless counterpart here, in Dolby Digital 2.0.

There’s nearly an hour’s worth of bonus content on the Blu-ray in the form of three featurettes. ‘Wings: Grandeur in the Sky‘ runs over 25-minutes and acts as a brief but fairly comprehensive look at the making of the film and its place in cinema history. ‘Restoring the Power and Beauty of Wings‘ provides the behind-the-scenes information that restoration and preservation enthusiasts clamor for on discs like these while ‘Dogfight!‘ looks at aerial combat and the evolution of fighting aircraft.

Highly recommended!

AMAZON: $19.99

REAL STEEL

“A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kentonm, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.“

And now a word from our reviewer in the field, Chris Tucker:

I’m not a boxing fan, I’m a robot fan, so booting up DreamWorks Sudio‘s Real Steel I had at least a fighting chance of being entertained. The odds would have been upped if I were a fan of cheese. The film stars Hugh Jackman as a down-and-out ex-boxer, now as a has-been controller of giant fighting robots. Jackman gains custody of his heretofore unknown son, some cute kid, that he initially just takes advantage of until he grows to love him while battling at his side in dusty cow-pens, abandoned zoos and futuristic sporting arenas. Evangeline Lily also makes an appearance to smile tenderly upon father and son. If you have ever watched another movie you can write the rest of the script by yourself.

There, I got my shots out of the way so now I can tell you how great the disc looks. Its beautifully shot with some really nicely lit scenes and sweet color throughout. The 1080p transfer is very crisps and the special effects are pretty outstanding. The whole reason for this film, the special effect robots, look and move quite well (though they leave much to be desired in terms of character design and fight orchestration). Technically, the fight scenes are so well done that you don’t spend any time scrutinizing them, which is a shame since you’re permitted the time to see what Jackman is doing and saying. The story might take a few punches but the transfer can stand up to any fight.

The film features a DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack and there was no need to ride the remote for this one. I’ve got no complaints on the sound for either music or dialogue here.

There are heaps of extra features:

-Second Screen with director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Date Night).
-making of the robots (really interesting how they mix real robots with CGI but this segment at under 5 minutes was way too short)
-Deleted and Extended scenes (not much here)
-Sugar Ray Leonard: Cornerman’s champ ( not interested in watching this part, sorry)
-fake 10 minute ESPN-type biography on Jackman’s character
-making of metal valley (15 minutes behind the scenes of a pretty mundane 30 seconds of screen time)

Ultimately the film dies because, just like robots, it has no heart. In place of its soul is just regurgitated Hollywood cheese.

Thanks, Chris!

AMAZON: $27.99

MGM CLASSICS ON BLU-RAY

Just as I was getting ready to publish this post earlier in the week, this package of six outstanding films arrived – three Hitchcock classics, two from Woody Allen and a Billy Wilder! It’s like manna from film-buff heaven. You might look at these and think “Holy crap, that’s great! If only these were Criterion releases…” and I guess you’d be right on some level. The package design leaves something to be desired on most of the six releases (what were they thinking with the Hitchcock designs?!) and the Annie Hall and Manhattan could use some love in the Special Features-department. I’m not certain what Criterion could add to the Allen films (he’s notorious for resiting the addition of extras to disc releases of his films) but I will say that the studio probably couldn’t offer up transfers of these films that are any better than what MGM and Fox have made available here. These discs look fantastic!!

If you were to compare the six discs, you’ll clearly find some more visually impressive than others – The Apartment, Manhattan and Rebecca are absolutely breathtaking, while Annie Hall, Spellbound and Notorious sport softer, less immediately awe-inspiring presentations. All six, however, appear to have avoided any untoward digital manipulation and seem to be be completely faithful, film-like representations of their celluloid origins. I’m taken aback by how all-around great this batch of releases looks. All the films sport mono DTS-HD Master Audio tracks with the exception of The Apartment, which has been remixed and expanded into a subtle and inoffensive 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track.

Aside from the Allen films, which only feature their respective theatrical trailers, these releases are fairly robust with extras, all of which are carried over from the most recent DVD releases from MGM. The Hitchcock films in particular sport a great deal of bonus goodies. Those who own the Criterion DVD versions of those films will want to hold onto them for the exclusive extras that don’t show up here. The only crossover material of note are the radio plays, isolated scores and some interviews. The bulk of the Criterion material -including their commentary tracks by film scholars Marian Keane (Spellbound and Notorious) and Leonard J. Leff (Rebecca) and historian Rudy Behlmer (Notorious) – remains exclusive to those now out-of-print DVDs.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

REBECCA

• Commentary by Richard Schickel
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• The Making of Rebecca
• The Gothic World of Daphne DuMaurier
• Screen Tests
• Radio Plays
• Hitchcock Audio Interviews
• Theatrical Trailer

NOTORIOUS

• Commentary with Film Professor Rick Jewell
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• The Ultimate Romance: The Making of Notorious
• The American Film Institute Award: The Key to Hitchcock
• 1948 Radio Play starring Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman
• Hitchcock Audio Interviews
• Restoration Comparison
• Theatrical Trailer

SPELLBOUND

• Commentary with Film Historians Thomas Schatz and Charles Ramirez Berg
• Running With Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism and Salvador Dali
• Guilt By Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound
• A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming
• 1948 Radio Version of Spellbound Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Hitchcock Audio Interview
• Original Theatrical Trailer

THE APARTMENT

• Commentary with Film Historian Bruce Block
• Inside The Apartment
• Magic Time – The Art of Jack Lemmon
• Theatrical Trailer

AMAZON: $16.99 each

JEAN ROLLIN VAMPIRE FILMS FROM REDEMPTION

I’ve never seen any of these five Jean Rollin vampire films, released this week by Kino via their newly acquired ‘Redemption’ label, but I’m dying to get my hands on them to see what the fuss us all about. They look like a ton of euro-trash fun.

AMAZON: $18.99-$22.49

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:

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• Criterion January Blu-ray titles: Godzilla, Belle de Jour, Moment of Truth, Traffic (0)
• Criterion teases original 1954 Godzilla on Blu-ray (1)
• GOJIRA! The Original Godzilla, King of the Monsters stomps onto Blu-ray this September (2)
• Annie Hall, Midnight Cowboy, Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound and The Apartment coming to Blu-ray in January (0)
• Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of December 6 (2)

Continuing on with Blu-ray news that’s totally blowing my mind, the Japanese arm of Bandai Visual has revealed that they’re planning to unleash a massive Blu-ray boxed set of the original Macross series in honour of its 30th Anniversary (the first episode aired back in October of 1982.) This show, in the guise of the first third of the Robotech saga, as we saw it here in North America back in the ’80s, was instrumental in shaping my love for anime, the giant robot genre and for serial storytelling in general. I don’t think it’s too far fetched to say that some aspect of the story, the design or the legacy of the series is present in my life on an everyday basis (aside from the fact that I’m perpetually gazing at the three large character models I have sitting above my television.) The news that all 36 of the series’ original episodes will be available on Blu-ray this May is throwing me into something of a fit. As I’m sure the obsessive amongst you will understand, I need to own these discs. The problem, however, is twofold – the boxed set is prohibitively expensive and there’s no hint of English on it, either by way of dub or subtitle. What’s a fanboy to do?

Two Macross Blu-ray boxed sets will ship in Japan on May 25th – the regular set priced around $500 USD and the deluxe ‘COMPLETE’ boxed set that includes an additional disc of extras and a bunch of extra printed material, priced at around $600 USD. I’ve detailed the ‘COMPLETE’ set below (via: animenewsnetwork)

SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS: 30TH ANNIVERSARY COMPLETE EDITION BLU-RAY BOX
(May 25, 2012 – MSRP ¥47,250)
Video: 4:3 1080p
Audio: Japanese Linear PCM Monaural (no subtitles)

Special Features:

• All 36 episodes
• a booklet (with staff interviews, pre-production designs from when the creators were working on early series concepts called “Genocidas” and “Megaload/Megaroad”)
• a box illustrated by character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto
• inner jacket covers illustrated by mechanical artist Hidetaka Tenjin
• a music video collection (edited from pachinko and pachi-slo machine footage)
• the 30th anniversary special that ran on the Family Gekijō channel
• promotional videos from the Macross PlayStation 2 game
• the “Macross Special” version of the first two episodes that aired in the original premiere
• the original broadcast version of episode 11
• the credit-less opening and ending animation sequences
• the opening and ending sequences from “Macross Special”
• the super-deformed version of the opening sequence
• commercials of the time
• additional materials
• Replicas of the 1983 tome Macross Perfect Memory, the scenario script for the first episode, storyboards (for the opening sequence, episode 1, and episode 27), and a collection of illustrations (from DVDs, LDs, plastic models packages, and elsewhere)

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Another late entry. Sorry, dudes. I ended up out of town for the week on another project and have been playing catch-up since returning to town on Friday. Let’s not waste any more time chatting about things and get to the reviews of this week’s releases. There’s some amazing stuff out this week. Check it out!

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 IDES OF MARCH

“Ambition seduces and power corrupts in this nerve-wracking thriller from Academy Award nominated director George Clooney. Idealistic campaign worker Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) has sworn to give all for Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), a wild card presidential candidate. However, during a brutal Ohio primary Stephen gets trapped in the down-and-dirty battle and finds himself caught up in a scandal where the only path to survival is to play both sides.“

I think 2011 might have been the year that Ryan Gosling became the coolest man on Earth. The one-two punch of Drive and George Clooney’s The Ides of March, making its Blu-ray debut this week, have cemented the steeley, chiseled Canadian as one to watch through 2012. Can he remain cool for a further 365 days or were these two films a fluke? It remains to be seen. But let me tell you, if you feel his performance was too simple, direct or one-note in Drive, Gosling proves he’s got the chops to deliver in Ides of March. As dutiful Stephen Meyers working for Clooney’s Governor Mike Morris (yes, the multi-talented Clooney not only directs, produces and shares writing credit here but stars in the film as well) Gosling might play it cool but political and personal games that threaten his character’s hard-won career see the actor run the gamut of emotions. I think he’s the real thing. And, more importantly here, The Ides of March is really good. Actually, it’s really great. Fans of political thrillers like All The President’s Men will want to check this one out post haste!

In addition to being one of the better films of late 2011, The Ides of March is one of the best looking Blu-ray discs I’ve had the pleasure of screening in recent memory. This is great work from Sony (via Alliance on the Canadian disc I watched) with a natural, rich grain structure, a ton of detail and colour that’s spot on. A perfect transfer with a perfect encode. Beautiful! The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is, likewise, right on the money but features less of a ‘wow’ factor, as much of the soundtrack is center-channel-focused dialogue. Bonus goodies on the disc include an excellent, if not slightly dry commentary from Clooney and writer/producer Grant Heslov and almost half an hour of featurettes.

Highly recommended!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with George Clooney and Grant Heslov
• Developing the Campaign: The Origin of The Ides of March
• Believe: George Clooney
• On The Campaign: The Cast of The Ides Of March
• What Does a Political Consultant Do?

AMAZON: CDN $27.99

Also available: THE IDES OF MARCH (US Edition)

AMAZON: $17.99

REDLINE

““Redline” is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car – all the while, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonoshee – but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race.“

Redline is, without question, one of the most hotly anticipated Blu-ray releases of the last year. Hell, it’s so good I damn near proclaimed it “Disc of the Week”. There’s only a couple of things that keep this exceptional Blu-ray release from that distinction, here on The Blu-ray Blog – the first is the fact that anime is still a niche genre of product that I can’t really recommend to everybody (there’s no way my sister would ever sit through this film) and the second is that, while this is a remarkable film on so many levels, the story and plot are pretty inane and somewhat incomprehensible. But honestly, for this sort of animated film, I don’t mind some weakness in narrative if there’s an overwhelming inventiveness elsewhere. And Redline is hella inventive! From the outlandish characterizations, automotive design and all-’round nutso animation, every aspect of this film simply screams originality. I challenge you to watch Redline and not enjoy the hell out of it. If you like anime, that is.

Anchor Bay‘s high-bandwidth encode rocks the Redline transfer, handling the grand swaths of black and fast action with aplomb. This is a fantastic, vivid, colourful Blu-ray presnetation from start to finish! Great looking stuff here. The Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is also all kinds of awesome! I only sampled a touch of the English mix but it seemed to replicate the original in clarity, immersiveness and all around crazy-ass bombast.

Special features include a thorough, hour-long “Perfect Guide to Redline” with interviews, designs, storyboards and more. There’s also a documentary piece that’s half as long and half as interesting. This excellent Blu-ray release is topped off with the “2006″ trailer.

AMAZON: $19.99

FIRST SQUAD

“Set during the opening days of World War II on the Eastern Front. Its main cast is a group of Soviet teenagers with extraordinary abilities; the teenagers have been drafted to form a special unit to fight the invading German army. They are opposed by a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer who is attempting to raise from the dead a supernatural army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross and enlist them in the Nazi cause.“

Sigh. I had such high hopes for First Squad: The Moment of Truth. On the surface, it’s a super-cool Russian/Japanese co-production, slickly designed and animated by the geniuses at Studio 4°C (Tekkon Kinkreet, Genius Party.) But, at its core, it’s a collection of genre cliches that hues too close to Zack Snider‘s Suckerpunch for comfort. The story is supposed to take place during the second world war but the filmmakers have made certain that the First Squad all sport clothing and makeup that ratchets up their “cool factor” without consideration for the period. Is there a reason that the protagonist has a katana with a mini beanie baby dangling from the hilt like a modern day cell phone charm other than someone in the production team thought it would be “cool”? That’s what most of the film feels like – a hodgepodge of stereotypical anime elements mashed-up with a touch of Russian history. I like girls with katanas slicing through zombie soldiers as much as the next nerd but for me, First Squad just doesn’t come together.

I will say, however, that Anchor Bay’s Blu-ray presentation of the film is gorgeous. Though colours are purposely desaturated, the image is radiant and clean, with tons of detail to spare. When animation is well handled on Blu-ray, it really makes the format shine. First Squad is very fine, well rendered high-def eye candy, to be sure. The Russian Dolby TrueHD 5.1 I selected for viewing was also quite strong, though I found the soundtrack/subtitle combinations to be dodgy until I settled on Russian audio with English subs (the default seems to offer mostly English language dialogue but neglects to sub the audio that remains in other languages. D’oh!) Aside from a shorter, hour-long cut of the film, which normally runs 73-minutes, there isn’t a special feature of which to speak of on the disc. It’s a shame, as I’d be keen to know how this co-production came together.

AMAZON: $19.99

BELLE DE JOUR

“The porcelain perfection of Catherine Deneuve (Repulsion) hides a cracked interior in the actress’s most iconic role: Séverine, a chilly Paris housewife by night, a bordello prostitute by day. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel (Viridiana) is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits. “

This week’s premiere Criterion release, if you ask me, is the long awaited Blu-ray edition of Buñuel’s Belle de Jour, arguably the surrealist filmmaker’s most accessible and most commercially successful work. I generally prefer his style when he’s working the more eye-slicing, ants-emerging-from-wounds end of the spectrum but here, in this examination of a woman’s psychological struggle, he uses his skills juxtaposing disparate images to imply narrative in a more direct yet subtle fashion. The film follows Séverine down a path of experimentation with Buñuel cutting occasionally to images from her subconscious – moments from her past and her quite vivid imagination – to allow the viewer some insight into the motivating factors at play inside her. It’s not quite as jarring nor as uncanny as previous work but the more evocative and direct choices give the film a less playful and more earnest feel in line with the themes of the narrative and Deneuve’s stoic beauty.

The Blu-ray disc marks another fine, very film-like presentation from Criterion. There appear to be similarities in this and the print used for the Studio Canal Region B disc but colour timing is unique to both (warm scenes in one are often cold in the other and vice versa.) Both discs are very fine and quite detailed, leaving your selection of which to purchase down to personal preference or Region lock. The lossless mono audio track is also excellent, proving quite robust and dynamic, despite its limitation of age and channels. Music sounds full and expressive and the French language dialogue is clean and clear.

Supplements, as per Crierion’s usual, are plentiful and very well done. The commentary track by Princeton professor Michael Wood, author of the BFI Film Classic book Belle de Jour, is jam-packed with information about the film itself and its cast and crew but is often quite dryly delivered. Mister Wood sounds like a typical academic and would clearly benefit from having a lively companion in the sound booth. The highlight of the disc is a nearly 20-minute long doc newly produced by the studio. That Obscure Source of Desire features commentary on the themes of Belle de Jour by writer and sexual-politics activist Susie Bright and film scholar Linda Williams and is well worth watching. The 11-minute interview with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere is also worth a look (and, surprisingly, it’s in English!) There’s also an 8-minute long segment from a 1966 program called Cinema which features on-set interviews with Carriere and Deneuve. The disc is rounded out by several trailers and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Melissa Anderson and a 1970s interview with Buñuel.

Recommended!

AMAZON: $27.99

TRAFFIC

“Traffic examines the question of drugs as politics, business, and lifestyle. With an innovative color-coded cinematic treatment to distinguish his interwoven stories, Steven Soderbergh embroils viewers in the lives of a newly appointed drug czar and his family, a West Coast kingpin’s wife, a key informant, and police officers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The film, which delivers a complex and nuanced take on an issue of international importance without sacrificing any energy or suspense, is a contemporary classic, and the winner of four Oscars, for best director, best screenplay, best editing, and best supporting actor for Benicio del Toro.“

I didn’t receive a review copy of Criterion’s Traffic upgrade (their DVD version of the film was released back in 2002) but this Steven Soderbergh film is certainly worth a look for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. The Blu-ray disc carries over the fantastic collection of special features from its SD counterpart, including multiple commentary tracks, tons of deleted scenes and several process demonstrations.

AMAZON: $27.99

DEAD POETS SOCIETY

“Academy Award winner Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, “Good Will Hunting”, 1997) delivers one of his most memorable performances in “Dead Poets Society” – digitally restored and presented for the first time ever in breathtaking Blu-ray High Definition. For generations, Welton Academy students have been groomed to live lives of conformity and tradition – until new professor John Keating inspires them to think for themselves, live life to the fullest and “Carpe Diem.” This unconventional approach awakens the spirits of the students, but draws the wrath of a disapproving faculty when an unexpected tragedy strikes the school. With unforgettable characters and beautiful cinematography, “Dead Poets Society” will captivate and inspire you time and time again.“

It had been years since I’d seen Peter Weir‘s Dead Poets Society and my recollections of it had faded, entering into a screening of the new Blu-ray disc edition of the film. Much of the film remains timeless and quite powerful – the stunning, pitch perfect photography of John Seale (The English Patient, Witness), the performances of the boys, their parents and the teachers (Kurtwood Smith will always be criminal Clarence Boddicker to me but here, playing an overbearing dad, I almost forget how he nearly killed Robocop) and the stuck-up-private-school-versus-free-thinking story itself. The two elements that occasionally pulled me out of the film, however, are also occasionally the things that give it its flavour.

Dead Poets Society is some of Robin Williams’ best work but every now and then he lets go and does his schtick. I think that might have worked back in the ’80s but it really feels out of place now. Likewise, composer Maurice Jarre delivers some truly inspired music throughout but his occasional overuse of dated synthesizers really drags the flavour of the film down. It’s too bad, because the compositions are excellent, it’s just the voices he’s using to play them that bring the cheese. But don’t allow these minor missteps to keep you from the film. It’s still a winner after all these years and definitely a mid-century prep-school drama worth a look.

Dead Poets Society has always been a fairly soft film and remains so in its Blu-ray debut. This 1080p, high-def presentation however, is in every way a faithful representation of how the film is meant to look and does it justice in just about every way. Colour is rich, blacks are deep and the whole affair maintains a nice film-like quality about it. You’re not going to convert anyone to Blu-ray with this disc but it’s got it where it counts. The largely front-heavy DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 also seems to be source-accurate, only lacking in areas where age and source material keep it from reaching the top of the class.

Special features have been carried over from the previously released DVD edition of the film and include and excellent commentary track from Weir, Seale and writer Tom Schulman, a nearly half-hour long retrospective doc (that, sadly, is all the worse for the lack of comment from Weir and Williams) and 8-minutes of ‘Raw Takes‘. There’s also a brief look and the life and career of late sound designer Alan Splet and a 15-minute long ‘Cinematography Master Class‘ with Seale. The disc is rounded out with a trailer.

AMAZON: $13.99

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM

“For the first time in stunning Blu-ray High Definition, Academy Award winner Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, “Good Will Hunting”, 1997) delivers a tour-de-force performance in the 25th Anniversary Edition of the hit comedy “Good Morning, Vietnam“! Enjoy the unsurpassed digital sound quality of Blu-ray High Definition as Army deejay Adrian Cronauer (Williams) spins a red-hot soundtrack of ’60s hits. His sidesplitting comedy and rapid fire wit make him a hero to the troops, but quickly get him in hot water with his by-the-book superiors. Featuring a behind-the-scenes look at Williams’ hilarious radio monologues, “Good Morning, Vietnam” remains the quintessential Robin Williams comedy.“

It must be Robin Williams week over at Disney, because the studio decided that simply releasing a single Blu-ray disc starring the famous funny man just wouldn’t do. I have to say, after screening both films, that Barry Levinson‘s Good Morning Vietnam holds up a lot better after all these years than Dead Poets does. Williams’ humour is on point here and, in fact, the focus of the narrative. It’s as if the story was crafted to take advantage of his particular skills. The supporting cast is all around brilliant, the photography often beautiful to behold and the music selections absolutely classic. It’s hard to find fault with Good Morning Vietnam. I guess if you happen to find Williams grating you won’t like the movie but in that case, I’d question why you even started watching it at all, given it’s clearly his showcase.

Good Morning Vietnam looks suspiciously clean in its Blu-ray debut. Closer inspection reveals some haloing and edge enhancement – telltale signs that the studio has been hard at work using their DNR and sharpening tools to “spruce” things up here. Don’t get me wrong, this is still far and away the best I’ve seen the film look since my initial viewing in the theatre but those in search of a perfect, pure transfer won’t find it here. At least the music in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sounds like a million bucks! The track itself is far from perfect but the music in the mix doesn’t seem to suffer.

Like the Dead Poets Society Blu-ray release, special features have been carried over from the previously available DVD and include a pretty decent, 35-minute long ‘Production Diary‘ and 13-minutes of raw footage of Williams behind the radio station microphone, riffing and improvising on the material in the script. Great stuff!

AMAZON: $13.99

GANTZ II: PERFECT ANSWER

“Determined to resurrect friends who have died in battle, Kei and other members trapped in the “in-between” world of Gantz are aiming to score the 100 points needed to break through. An emergence of a mysterious investigator, however, complicates the situation further. The battle continues on as the two dimensions start to merge together. Some fight for love, and others fight for justice. At the end, who will sacrifice the most.“

What just happened there? Huh? Granted, it’s been a few months since Warner sent over the first part of the Gantz film series but I’ve got to admit, I’m still kind of lost. Gantz II: Perfect Answer opens with a recap of the previous film that had me nodding and saying “Uh huh” and “Oh yeah, that guy!” quite a bit but once things got rolling with the story I found myself stupefied. I did get up to speed in most aspects of the plot before things drew to a close but let me tell you, this film provides everything but the “Perfect Answer.”

SPOILER ALERT

Unless I missed something critical, there’s no perfect answer about where the black ball comes from and/or why it wants the aliens killed. It’s clear that the aliens have got a beef but man, after sitting through two-and-half hours of this business, you’d think we, the audience, deserve some kind of explanation.

SPOILER OVER

In any case, no matter my disappointment with the plot, I found this Gantz film to be nearly as much fun as the first, with a ton of amazing action and more stylish production design than you can shake a stick at. If you like super-fast martial arts, swordfights and gun battles without a clear plot than you’ll enjoy the hell out of these films.

Much like the Blu-ray disc of the first film, Gantz II: Perfect Answer looks great in 1080p. There’s plenty of detail, colours, though desaturated, appear spot on and the blacks are deep and rich. Video is encoded at a nice, high bandwidth allowing for an encode that can handle all the fast movement through the films multitude of dark environments. The Japanese language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is even more impressive, providing a clear rendering of all environments, with clean dialogue from the center channel, a dynamic, full representation of the score and impressive low-end response that nearly took out one of our walls in the house. Most impressive! Note: Avoid the English dub track and just watch in the original Japanese with English subs. You won’t like the English dub. Trust me.

Bonus features on housed on a seperate DVD and feature a 22-minute interview with director Shinsuke Sato, trailers and cast profiles. There’s also a DVD copy of the film included in the package.

AMAZON: $19.99

LICENSE TO DRIVE

“For teenager Les Anderson (Corey Haim), the two most important things in life are getting his driver’s license and getting together with the hottest girl in high school (Heather Graham in one of her first film roles). But when Les fails the exam, he “borrows” the family’s prized ’73 Cadillac for his big date. An innocent girl. A harmless drive. What could possibly go wrong? Try a fearless best friend (Corey Feldman) with an insane plan, a high school hottie with too much to drink, angry drag racers, crazed militants, a police roadblock, a crash course in car theft, a very angry father (Richard Masur), a very, very pregnant mother (Carol Kane) and much more! Nina Siemaszko and Grant Goodeve co-star in the awesome ’80s comedy hit.“

Here’s another one I haven’t seen since I was about fifteen years old. I can’t believe I’m saying this but my sister and I used to love License to Drive. It wasn’t a “Two Coreys” thing (although I’m sure she was probably keen on one of them to some degree back in the day) or a Heather Graham thing (she’s actually not very cute in this film) but rather just a love of fast, fun kid-hijinks movies. Watching this one again now kind of reminds me of the programs my niece and nephew watch on the Disney channel – there are teenage crushes, gross-outs aplenty, the foiling of nasty jocks, parents who “just don’t understand” and incorrigible siblings. All the ingredients are there for this to be an episode of the Hannah Montana or iCarly or the like. That’s not a bad thing, just good reason for why I feel totally out of touch with the film now, as a thirty-something old man. Folks my age will get a kick out of re-visiting License to Drive once but will want to pass this disc down to their kids as soon as they’re done with it.

Anchor Bay affords this little throwback with a surprisingly decent transfer. There’s nothing remarkable here – detail, colour and contrast are all fine but not breathtaking – but this presentation is far better than you’d expect an aging catalogue film like this warrant. Kudos to the folks at Anchor Bay for caring! The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is nothing to write home about but is clear and clean and allows sufficient dynamic headroom for the awesome ’80s music to sound pretty good. Sadly, the only special features on the disc are a 7-miinute long vintage promotional featurette and the theatrical trailer. I guess that’s better than nothing, right?

AMAZON: $12.99

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:

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Can you believe this? To this day, I have yet to see a single film in the Twilight series. It’s true. So the trailer above means very little to me. Nor does the release of the Blu-ray disc of the penultimate film, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. It’ll be on store shelves in a few weeks, which I take to mean that the final installment of the series will be hitting cinemas shortly thereafter. At this point, I think I’m just going to wait ’till this whole things is wrapped up before I dive in and experience sparkling vampires for myself.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1
(February 11, 2012 – MSRP $33.99)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

Special Features:

• 6-PART MAKING-OF DOCUMENTARY
• WEDDING VIDEO
• JACOB’S DESTINY
• EDWARD FAST FORWARD and JACOB FAST FORWARD
• AUDIO COMMENTARY by director Bill Condon

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Wow, this last month has just rocketed by. It feels like I was just posting about Criterion‘s March titles a few days ago and here we are already, talking about this funky line-up of releases for April. I hate to say it, but I’m not that familiar with this batch (see what happens when you don’t go to film school, kids?) but that actually makes me all the more anxious to sink my teeth into them. I love a new discovery! And that pack of Hollis Frampton shorts looks like it’ll easily sate my desire for unusual and experimental cinema. Both The Organizer and ¡Alambrista! appear to be compelling commentaries on the power of people and human spirit, which makes for great filmmaking at times but more often than not results in being delivered with a fist of ham. I trust Criterion, though, and expect the former while fearing the latter. So, I guess I’m most excited to get my hands on Ozu‘s classic Late Spring (with a feature-length Wim Wenders doc on the director!) and Ashby‘s cult-fav Harold and Maude, which, according to Devin Faraci, sports a cover by cartoonist extraordinaire, Jordan Crane! Huzzah!

HAROLD AND MAUDE
(April 17, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Optional remastered stereo soundtrack
• Audio commentary by Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson and producer Charles B. Mulvehill
• Illustrated audio excerpts of seminars by Ashby and writer-producer Colin Higgins
• New interview with songwriter Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Wood; a 1971 New York Times profile of star Ruth Gordon; and excerpted transcripts of two interviews, one from 1997 with star Bud Cort and director of photography John Alonzo and one from 2001 with executive producer Mildred Lewis

A HOLLIS FRAMPTON ODYSSEY
(April 9, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

Early Films
Manual of Arms (1966 • 17 minutes • Black & White • Silent)
Process Red (1966 • 3 minutes, 30 seconds • Color • Silent)
Maxwell’s Demon (1968 • 4 minutes • Color/Black & White • Silent)

Surface Tension (1968 • 9 minutes, 30 seconds • Color • Monaural)
Carrots & Peas (1969 • 5 minutes • Color • Monaural)
Lemon (1969 • 5 minutes • Color • Silent)
Zorns Lemma (1970 • 60 minutes • Color • Monaural)

Films from Hapax Legomena
(nostalgia) (1971 • 36 minutes • Black & White • Monaural)
Poetic Justice (1972 • 31 minutes, 30 seconds • Black & White • Silent)

Critical Mass (1971 • 25 minutes, 30 seconds • Black & White • Monaural)

Films from Magellan
The Birth of Magellan: Cadenza I (1977–1980 • 6 minutes • Color • Monaural)
Pans 0–4 and 697–700 (1974 • 1-minute each • Color • Silent)

INGENIVM NOBIS IPSA PVELLA FECIT, Part I (1975 • 5 minutes • Color • Silent)
Magellan: At the Gates of Death, Part I: The Red Gate I, 0 (1976 • 4 minutes, 20 seconds • Color • Silent)

Winter Solstice (1974 • 33 minutes • Color • Silent)
Gloria! (1979 • 9 minutes, 30 seconds • Color • Monaural)

• Audio commentary and remarks by filmmaker Hollis Frampton on selected works
• Excerpted interview with Frampton from 1978
• A Lecture, a performance piece by Frampton, recorded in 1968 with the voice of artist Michael Snow
• Gallery of works from Frampton’s xerographic series By Any Other Name
• PLUS: A booklet with an introduction by film critic Ed Halter and essays and capsules on the films by Frampton scholars Ken Eisenstein, Bruce Jenkins, and Michael Zryd

¡ALAMBRISTA!
(April 17, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital restoration, with 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New audio commentary featuring director Robert M. Young and coproducer Michael Hausman
• New interview with actor Edward James Olmos
• Children of the Fields, a 1973 short documentary by Young, accompanied by a new interview with the director
• Trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Charles Ramírez-Berg

LATE SPRING
(April 17, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

• High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by Richard Peña, program director of New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center
• Tokyo-ga (1985), filmmaker Wim Wenders’s ninety-two-minute documentary about director Yasujiro Ozu
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critic Michael Atkinson and Japanese-film historian Donald Richie

THE ORGANIZER
(April 24, 2012 – MSRP $29.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Introduction by director Mario Monicelli from 2006
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by film critic J. Hoberman

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