The Blu-ray Blog » Animation

Transformers Prime: Season One Blu-ray announced and detailed

Brenden — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:55:35 +0000

I bought my nephew the opening multi-part saga of the new Transformers Prime animated show on DVD for Christmas this year. We watched the Darkness Rising disc on boxing day (see the trailer embedded up above) and I’ve got to say, outside of the clunky, chunky and unattractive character designs of the human children, this show knocked my socks off! Great story, fun animation and plenty of awesome Transformers action. Oh, and zombie-robots. There are zombie-robots in this thing!! Awesome! I’m glad to see that Shout! Factory is biting the bullet and putting this series on Blu-ray. I’m looking forward to watching the remaining episodes when the Transformers Prime: Season One Blu-ray arrives in shops on March 6th.

From the press release:

Prepare to experience the world of TRANSFORMERS PRIME like never before with perfect picture visuals and the purest digital sound available when the entire first season of the award-winning CGI animated series TRANSFORMERS PRIME arrives in stores everywhere in North America on March 6, 2012 in a deluxe 4-DVD set and a Limited Edition 4-Disc Blu-ray™ collection from Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Hasbro Studios.

Both the DVD and Blu-ray collections of TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON boast all 26 action-packed episodes (including the 5-part miniseries Darkness Rising) and special bonus content. For a limited time only, TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Limited Edition 4-Disc Blu-ray contains a 96-page IDW graphic novel based on this hit series.

Delivering a new level of heavy metal action and family entertainment for all ages, the limited edition Blu-ray collection is priced to own at $64.99 SRP. The deluxe 4-DVD set is sold separately and has a suggested retail price of $ 29.93 SRP.

The TRANSFORMERS saga starts a new chapter as old foes return, legendary heroes rise, and new ones are found in unlikely places. The new EMMY Award winning series TRANSFORMERS PRIME, A Hasbro Studios production, currently airs on The HUB television network in the U.S. and Teletoons in Canada, deepens the epic mythology of both the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS, while starting a new chapter for a new generation of fans.

In early 2011, loyal TRANSFORMERS fans, as well as families and kids, were introduced to this visually stunning five-part miniseries on The HUB. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee, AUTOBOT Ratchet, Bulkhead, and many others are back to “roll out” against Megatron’s latest attempt to conquer Earth. And Megatron proves to be more powerful than ever, having acquired a rare element that allows him mastery over life itself. OPTIMUS PRIME and the AUTBOTS may be few against the Decepticon hordes, but they find increased strength through bonds forged with three human teenagers.

Season One of TRANSFORMERS PRIME boasts an all-star voice cast, including Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Steve Blum, Jeffrey Combs, Adam Baldwin, Markie Post, Ernie Hudson, among other notables. TRANSFORMERS PRIME is produced by Hasbro Studios, with Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Kline serving as executive producers. Kurtzman and Orci served as writers for the feature films TRANSFORMERS and TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen.

TRANSFORMERS PRIME recently garnered two Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation and six Emmy nominations. “

TRANSFORMERS PRIME: SEASON ONE
(March 6, 2012 – MSRP $64.99)
Video: 1080p
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

Special Features:

Original Making of Special
15 Audio Commentaries with the Creative Team and Voice Cast
Toy Featurette
Season Two Teaser Debuted at New York Comic-Con 2011

Macross 30th Anniversary Blu-ray boxed set coming to Japan

Brenden — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:14:57 +0000

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)

Blu-ray Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Animation on Blu

Brenden — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:08:43 +0000

All right, time is running out to get these Blu-ray gift guide recommendations posted so let’s get back to it! I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum here, in order to hasten the process.

Next up: Classics on Blu-ray

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* TV ON BLU

It’s no secret that the films of Hayao Miyazaki run as close to perfection as possible in my eyes. And Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was my first exposure to the brilliant filmmaker’s work. So, as you can imagine, this film holds a pretty special place in my cinephile-heart.

This new Blu-ray edition of the film is quite a sight to behold. Simply stunning. Those of you who’re familiar with the film will look on the transfer as something of a revelation, revealing bold colours and details on the linework not apparent until now. This hi-def presentation is true to the film, still exhibiting grain, soft-shots as well as the occasional flaw, dirt and jumped animation cel but it’s absolutely beautiful. Both the original Japanese soundtrack as well as the excellent English dub are available here in faithful, full DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks.

Highly Recommended!!

AMAZON: $24.99

Disney has really outdone themselves this year with their animated releases. In fact, if the studio had only released Bambi on Blu-ray, they’d still be in excellent standing with this reviewer. The stunning restoration work combined with killer special features including the Disney Second Screen app on that disc totally blew me away this past year. I honestly can’t say enough about the Bambi Blu-ray disc. The others are pretty great too, don’t get me wrong. But, sorry Lion King, the deer wears the crown in 2011!

AMAZON: Various

50 of some of the greatest Looney Tunes cartoon are together for the first time on Blu-ray(TM). Releasing in a digibook with rare images and cartoon guide by historian Jerry Beck, this collection has been digitally restored and remastered. This 3 disc collection contains some of the franchise’s most enduring shorts featuring all your favorite Looney Tune Characters! Disc One features 25 classics from the immortals: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote and more! Disc Two includes 25 shorts featuring One-Shot Classics and the complete collection for each of the following characters: Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Witch Hazel, Marc Anthony and Ralph Phillips. Disc Three contains over 5 hours of content saluting animator Chuck Jones, insightful documentaries and rare shorts from Jones and others.

You need to buy this 3-disc boxed set. I’m serious. If you don’t pick this one up there might never be another collection of classic Looney Tunes shorts in HD. Please support this one and ensure that Warner keeps cranking ‘em out into the future! My full review is inked to below.

Highly recommended!

AMAZON: $38.99

Celebrate the most enduring team in animation history with a collection fans will want to chase and catch! This highly anticipated release includes over 40 remastered shorts starting with “Puss Gets The Boot”! Enjoy these highly collectible set with Improved Picture and Audio for the first time ever! Also includes: “The Midnight Snack”, “The Night Before Chritmas”, “Fraidy Cat”, “Dog Trouble”, “Puss N’ Toots”, “The Bowling Alley Cat”, “Fine Feathered Friend”, “Sufferin’ Cats”, “The Lonesome Mouse”, “The Yankee Doodle Mouse”, “Baby Puss”, “The Zoot Cat”, “The Million Dollar Cat”, “The Bodyguard”, “Puttin on The Dog”, “Mouse Trouble”, “The Mouse Comes To Dinner”, “Mouse In Manhattan”, “Tee For Two”, “Flirty Birdy”, “Quiet Please!”, “Springtime For Thomas”, “The Milky Waif”, “Trap Happy”, “Solid Serenade”, “Cat Fishin’”, “Part Time Pal”, “The Cat Concerto”, “Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Mouse”, “Salt Water Tabby”, “A Mouse In The House”, “The Invisible Mouse”, “Kitty Foiled”, “The Truce Hurts”, “Old Rockin’ Chair Tom”, and “Professor Tom”.

I’m absolutely blown away by how fantastic these cartoons look on Blu-ray. I wasn’t expecting any of the original 37 Tom and Jerry shorts to sport such vivid colours or to retain any of their vintage film-like qualities. But Warner has just knocked it out of the park here in this initial collection of the uncut, unedited versions of these films that date back as far as 1940. They’re classics, they look great and there’s a decent amount of bonus goodies for fans.

AMAZON: $23.99

It’s been a whole year since I was “wowed” by FUNimation‘s startlingly great Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Blu-ray disc. I had little doubt that the sequel film would live up to the heights achieved by the first volume of the four-film series and I’m happy to report that it does more than that. It’s an even more engaging film that shares its predecessors killer technical merits. Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance is a must-have anime Blu-ray, if ever I’ve seen one.

AMAZON: $16.49

Warner and DC Comics continue to roll out their series of direct-to-video animated features, this past year tackling two of the most beloved modern superhero sagas of all time, as well as unleashing an anthology of animation to support a live-action feature release. Neither All Star Superman or Batman: Year One quite live up to their four-colour counterparts but still manage to provide some of the finest representations of the characters on screen to date. Green Lantern: Emerald Knights presents a bunch of related shorts about the Green Lantern corps and is a fun sci-fi superhero romp, if not an entirely satisfying one. All three films provide must-own entertainment for any true DC Comics fan.

AMAZON: Various

If you didn’t know better, you could easily be fooled into thinking Rio was the newest CGI animated Pixar release, what with it’s strong sense of design and reasonably funny (even to adults), smart script. But this charming little fish-out-of-water tale comes to us courtesy of Fox and they’ve done a bang-up job here. Rio not only looks spectacular in it’s design but also in it’s digital-to-digital Blu-ray transfer. This is a reference quality disc, near perfection, that you can proudly use to show off your new HD screen and multi-channel sound system.

Highly recommended!

AMAZON: $25.99

In a lot of ways, I feel like Sylvain Chomet‘s The Illusionist was robbed of a golden statue earlier this year. It clearly wasn’t the popular choice amongst it’s more kid-friendly peers but it’s most likely the best animated film of the past year. The Oscar, of course, went to Toy Story 3 (was there ever any question?) but my affections are rewarded to The Illusionist – a sensitive, watercolour love-letter to late-filmmaker Jacques Tati and my favourite city in the world, Edinburgh.

AMAZON: $24.99

Rango is a sheer joy to watch. It’s weird as all get-out, but the tripped out story, animation and design-work, along with brilliant performances by Johnny Depp and crew, really make this thing come alive. It’s surprising to learn that this is actually ILM’s very first feature length animated film, but, with George Lucas‘ digital special effects studio’s long history of movie-magic-awesomeness, it won’t surprise you to hear how stunning it looks.

AMAZON: $19.99

I’ve got to say, I don’t really care for the live-action, hour-long CW series, Supernatural. But I’m crazy for this collection of half-hour anime adaptations of the show! The animation seems to make everything creepier and, for me at least, a lot more compelling. If your loved one likes horror stories and animation, this 2-disc Blu-ray set is the one to pick up.

AMAZON: $29.99

As more and more studios find great success with their animated properties, we’re beginning to see spin-offs and direct-to-video sequels appear in greater number. This holiday season sees both Fox and Paramount/Dreamworks taking advantage of their box-office cartoon-candy by unleashing a couple of seasonal additions to their finest properties. Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special clocks in at under a half-hour long and, while it looks and sounds decent on Blu and sells for a low price point, it’s nothing more than a glorified stocking stuffer. DreamWorks Dragons is a bit more substantial all around, offering a longer and stronger extension of its franchise as well as throwing in a few decent extras for good measure. One thing’s for sure with both releases, though, kids will love them.

AMAZON: Various

ANIMATION ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

Kung-Fu Panda 2 Blu-ray coming next week

Brenden — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:57:05 +0000

When I first reported on Kung-Fu Panda 2 coming to Blu-ray way back in July, there were only a handful of pre-order hints about the disc lingering around the fringes of the internets. Well, now that we’re just over a week away from its official release on October 13th I thought I’d post the full feature list, found below and the nifty, detailed trailer above. I’ve got the disc in hand and will have a full review for you early next week. I’m really looking forward to diving into it.

KUNG-FU PANDA 2
(December 13, 2011 – MSRP $49.99)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 7.1

SPECIAL FEATURES:

An episode of Nickeleodeon’s Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness television series
Kickin’ It with the Cast featurette which highlights old and new cast members
Three deleted scenes, hosted by director Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Filmmakers’ commentary with director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, producer Melissa Cobb, production designer Raymond Zibach, and supervising animator, kung fu choreographer, and story artist Rodolphe Guenoden
World of DreamWorks Animation promos
Previews
Sneak peek at DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters feature
Panda Stories featurette on the animals that inspired Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2
Kung Fu Shuffle featurette where Master Shifu teaches an update of the classic shell game
Ni Hao—Learn Chinese featurette
Two Kung Fu Panda World memberships
Blu-ray Exclusives

Animation Inspiration featurette on the real locations that influenced the film
The Animators’ Corner featurette with the film’s creators, animators, and cast and crew offering commentary on Kung Fu Panda 2‘s development
Pop-up trivia track

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of November 15

Brenden — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:07:41 +0000

What a week! It might not seem overwhelming at a glance but there’s such an embarrassment of fantastic discs hitting the shops today, it’s tough to actually give them all time in the spotlight. Don’t miss those I didn’t cover in my highlights, including the controversial Blu-ray release of My Fair Lady (read more about the controversy here), the shiny, new How To Train Your Dragon cartoon, the Sigur Ros concert film, Inni and Hansjörg “Giorgio” Moroder‘s ’80s music version of Metropolis.

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: THREE COLORS

“This boldly cinematic trio of stories about love and loss, from Krzysztof Kieślowski was a defining event of the art-house boom of the 1990s. The films are named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution—liberty, equality, and fraternity—but that hardly begins to explain their enigmatic beauty and rich humanity. Set in Paris, Warsaw, and Geneva, and ranging from tragedy to comedy, Blue, White, and Red (Kieślowski’s final film) examine with artistic clarity a group of ambiguously interconnected people experiencing profound personal disruptions. Marked by intoxicating cinematography and stirring performances by such actors as Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Irène Jacob, and Jean-Louis Trintignant, Kieślowski’s

Three Colors is a benchmark of contemporary cinema.

This is the Criterion Blu-ray release I feel I’ve been waiting for all year. The culmination of everything the studio does well – grabbing up the rights to the best foreign and indie films, providing them the finest presentations possible and cramming the discs they’re on full of bonus goodies. And the Three Colors trilogy of films by Krzysztof Kieślowski are some of the most iconic foreign/indie films of the ’90s, easily deserving a place in the collection. In fact, many would argue that the inclusion of these films in the Criterion library is long overdue.

The transfers on all three films are just about everything a fan could hope for, with Red knocking it out of the park. The films look better than ever before on home video, and most likely better than most have seen them in the cinema. Though not as vivid and clear as modern, big budget presentations, Blue, White and Red all look like film, with tons of detail, accurate colour, a healthy amount of grain present and no hint of digital manipulation. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks on all three discs are superb, exhibiting surprising dynamic range and depth, while clean and clear throughout. Fantastic!

As you expect from Criterion, the supplemental features are exhaustive, with the only unfortunate omission being the Annette Insdorf commentary tracks from the previously released Miramax DVD versions of the film. Thankfully, Insdorf chimes in here in a 20-minute long “video essay” on the Blue disc. Tony Rayns and Dennis Lim do the same for White and Red, respectively. “Kieslowski’s Cinema Lesson” featurettes are carried over, providing brief but valuable commentary on the films from the director himself. Also carried over from the DVD is a sequence of scenes from Blue with commentary by star Juliette Binoche. The White and Red DVDs had similar features with Julie Delpy and Irene Jacob but they don’t appear to have made the transition to Blu. But let’s nevermind the rest of the content from the old DVDs. What you’ll will find on these discs will blow you away, from exclusive interviews with cast and crew, to various documentaries on the man and his work to a couple of his student films, presented here for the first time in glorious HD. In fact, I should note that all the special features on the discs are in HD – just another little thing that makes Criterion the best at what they do!

Highest possible recommendation!

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restorations with DTS-HD Master Audio
Three cinema lessons with director Krzysztof Kieślowski
New interviews with composer Zbigniew Preisner; writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz; and actors Julie Delpy, Zbigniew Zamachowski, and Irène Jacob
Selected-scene commentary for Blue with actress Juliette Binoche
Three new video essays, by film writers Annette Insdorf, Tony Rayns, and Dennis Lim
Kieślowski’s student short The Tram (1966) and his fellow student’s short from the same year The Face, which features Kieślowski in a solo performance
Two short documentaries by Kieślowski: Seven Women of Different Ages (1978) and Talking Heads (1980)
Krzysztof Kieślowski: I’m So-So . . . (1995), a feature-length documentary in which the filmmaker discusses his life and work
Two multi-interview programs, Reflections on “Blue” and Kieślowski: The Early Years, with film critic Geoff Andrew, Binoche, filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, cinematographer Sławomir Idziak, Insdorf, Jacob, and editor Jacques Witta
Interviews with producer Marin Karmitz and Witta
Behind-the-scenes programs for White and Red, and Kieślowski Cannes 1994, a short documentary on Red’s world premiere
Original theatrical trailers
New and improved English subtitle translations
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Colin MacCabe, Nick James, Stuart Klawans, and Georgina Evans, an excerpt from Kieślowski on Kieślowski, and reprinted interviews with cinematographers Sławomir Idziak, Edward Klosinski, and Piotr Sobocinski

AMAZON: $55.49

Also new from Criterion this week: THE RULES OF THE GAME

Considered one of the greatest films ever made, The Rules of the Game (La règle du jeu), by Jean Renoir, is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners in which a weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances. The film has had a tumultuous history: it was subjected to cuts after the violent response of the premiere audience in 1939, and the original negative was destroyed during World War II; it wasn’t reconstructed until 1959. That version, which has stunned viewers for decades, is presented here.

AMAZON: $27.99

LOONEY TUNES PLATINUM COLLECTION: VOLUME ONE

Highly recommended!

AMAZON: $38.99

WEST SIDE STORY

The greatest love story ever told…in the most acclaimed musical of all time…is now on Blu-ray! Experience every sensational song, dazzling dance number and magical movie moment of “West Side Story” in sparkling high definition with pure 7.1 digital sound – along with fascinating special features created exclusively for this 50th Anniversary Edition! Winner of ten Academy Awards(R), including Best Picture, this electrifying musical sets the ageless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in 1950s New York. Featuring an unforgettable score, exuberant choreography and powerful performances by Natalie Wood, Russ Tamblyn, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris, “West Side Story” will forever resonate as a true cinematic masterpiece.

As is par for the course with Fox and MGM releases, my review copy will turn up after release date. That means I can’t tell you from first hand experience whether or not this new West Side Story Blu-ray release lives up to all the hype. What I can say is that this is one of the most significant releases of the year. And, apparently, one of the most controversial. There seems to be a technical error in the transfer that has turned a dissolve from an image to the main title into a fade-out/face-in situation. In addition, critics on the web are noting faded opticals with poor flesh-tones and contrast. However, those same critics also speak of a brilliant, stable scan with exceptional colour. So, my advice at this point is to purchase with caution. I’ll chime in again on this one when I get my hands on a copy.

AMAZON: $16.99

BEGINNERS

Golden Globe® nominee* Ewan McGregor (Star Wars I, II, III ), Academy Award® nominee† Christopher Plummer (Inside Man), and Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) star in Beginners, an uplifting comedy about how funny and transformative life can be. When graphic designer Oliver (McGregor) meets free-spirited Anna (Laurent) shortly after his father (Plummer) has passed away, Oliver realizes just how much of a beginner he is when it comes to long-lasting romantic love. Memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life, encourage Oliver to open himself up to the potential of a true relationship. Inspired by writer/director Mike Mills’ own father, it’s an original love story that critics cheer is “smart, poignant and often hilarious!” (Karen Durbin, Elle)

Mike Mills‘ Beginners is a wonderful film. I reviewed the Canadian Blu-ray release a couple of weeks back and, let me tell you, it’s exceptional, all around. It’s linked to below. Check it out.

AMAZON: $24.99

BELLFLOWER

Best friends Woodrow and Aiden spend all of their free time building “Mad Max”-inspired flamethrowers and muscle cars in preparation for a global apocalypse. But when Woodrow meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love, he and Aiden quickly integrate into a new group of friends, setting off on a journey of love and hate, betrayal, infidelity, and extreme violence more devastating and fiery than any of their apocalyptic fantasies.

I think I’m having a love affair with Oscilloscope Labs. In my limited experience with this studio they appear not to be able to do any wrong, delivering unusual, unforgettable films in near perfect presentations with a nice smattering of bonus features! And Bellflower, the debut feature from 21st Century Mad-Max wannabe Evan Glodell, fits the bill to a tee. This is one crackerjack of a little film. It’s not perfect, mind you – it kind of goes off the rails near the end of the second act and never really recovers – but damn, if it hasn’t got it where it counts.

Glodell and his cohorts are the twisted sort who build home-made flamethrowers and Lord Humungous-style apocalypse-driving muscle cars in their spare time so it’s no surprise that Bellflower is fashioned around their particular proclivities. Sadly, the team also seem to be subconsciously effected by the storytelling cliches of modern “mumblecore” cinema and fall into the trap of actually filming a tepid indie romance instead of letting their killer hardware do the talking. And because of the direction the romantic angle leads the narrative, the powerful moments near the end of the film feel cheap and manipulative. Luckily, there are enough idiosyncratic character moments, in-your-face violence and gorgeous, gritty imagery courtesy of Glodell’s custom outfitted Silicon Imaging SI-2K Mini Digital camera to make Bellflower really sing.

Speaking of imagery, this Blu-ray disc looks fantastic! I mean, the film itself looks like nothing I’ve ever seen before – vibrant, and detailed, yet dirty, dark and dull at the same time. Oscilloscope’s transfer replicates every nuance of the oddball source and the results are breathtaking. Seriously, you need to see this to believe it. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 has got it where it counts but it drives home the budget nature of the voice recording in the production. Dialogue sounds thin and even clips at times. But this isn’t a fault of the disc. It’s the nature of the low-budget beast. Extras include an entertaining and informative 23-minute “making of” featurette, a 10-minute rundown of the completed “Medusa” Road Warrior muscle-car, 7-minutes of outtakes and the theatrical trailer for the film. All this packaged in another winning double-gatefold digipack made from recycled material. I love this studio!

AMAZON: $23.99

EVIL DEAD 2

After a relaxing cabin vacation doesn’t go as planned, Ash (Bruce Campbell) is left with three dead friends, an undead girlfriend and an angry evil spirit on the loose. As nightfall approaches, Ash must prepare to again battle the legions of the damned if he wants to make it to dawn. Welcome to EVIL DEAD II, director Sam Raimi‘s infamous second film in his gleefully gory, cult classic EVIL DEAD franchise – starring Bruce Campbell as the most lethal and groovy hero in horror movie history! With over four hours of special features, this 25th Anniversary Edition of EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN will leave you gasping for more!

All right, horror nerds! Time to throw out your twelve DVD copies of Evil Dead 2 now because the big, bad Blu-ray has finally arrived to replace them. I know, Anchor Bay already released it on Blu a couple of years back. But seriously now, were you happy with that transfer and that paltry selection of extras? The correct answer is no, you weren’t, and you want more. Well now, thanks to Lionsgate (and Alliance, if you live in Canada, as I do) you can have more in this spiffy, new 25th Anniversary Blu-ray.

The studio was promising a better transfer for the film’s anniversary and I’m pleased to report that they have delivered! Evil Dead 2 has never looked better on home video. That’s not to say that this presentation is going to win any awards. It’s still uneven, with a fair number of soft shots and a grain structure that comes and goes in waves but on the whole, this is a vast improvement from anything I’ve seen before. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is solid and seems to offer a slight uptick in dynamic response from the previous Blu-ray, with boomy lows and brighter highs.

As nice as it is to have a more respectable HD presentation of the film on Blu, this new edition of Evil Dead 2 really shines in the extras department. The new disc carries over the famous (and hilarious) commentary track from star Bruce Campbell, director Sam Raimi, co-writer Scott Spiegel and special makeup effects artist Greg Nicotero as well as a couple decent featurettes – the 17-minute long “Evil Dead II: Behind the Screams” and 32-minute long “The Gore the Merrier” – both of which are presented in their original SD. The highlight of the new HD extras is the feature-length doc “Swallowed Souls: The Making of Evil Dead II“. Split up into seven parts and running a total of 98-minutes when viewed together, this thing is comprehensive but most likely covers a lot of ground that hardcore fans already know. There’s also a half-hour’s worth of rough looking “behind the scenes” footage, consisting of Nicotero’s on-set home movies and deleted scenes and a brand new, 8-minute long trip back to the original location of the shoot. Cool stuff! The disc is rounded out with four stills galleries covering “Advertising & Memorabilia,” “Behind-the-Scenes,” “Special Make-Up Effects” and “Stop Motion Animation.”

The Canadian edition that I had the pleasure of screening, which is otherwise identical to the US version, also contains a DVD copy of the film.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

Also available: EVIL DEAD 2 (US version)

AMAZON: $9.99

INFERNAL AFFAIRS

The award-winning crime thriller that inspired THE DEPARTED has been hailed by critics everywhere for its gritty action and international superstars. Chan Wing Yan (Tony Leung, Hero) is a hard-nosed veteran cop sent undercover to infiltrate the notorious Triad crime ring. An expert at bringing down violent syndicates, Chan thinks it’s going to be a routine mission. What he’s not prepared for is the discovery that the Triad’s boss (Eric Tsang, The Accidental Spy) has planted a mole (Andy Lau, The Legend of Drunken Master) in the police department… and now Chan is being hunted down. In this battle of wills, only one cop can win!

I don’t recall but were a lot of film fans claiming they like Scorsese‘s The Departed better when it was called Infernal Affairs back in the day, when it was first released? I hadn’t seen the original Chinese film at that point so the storyline was all new to me and decent enough. Maybe not the best Scorsese I’d ever seen but you know. Good movie. Infernal Affairs is a very different creature, to me. I mean, both films share the same narrative DNA but the tone is just so damn different and it’s paced like a rocket in relation to the US film. I think I might have ended up preferring Infernal Affairs if it weren’t for the twist ending which is just so damn…infernal! I mean, infuriating! In any case, this version of the story is the balls. Like I said, it’s really well paced, with just enough action, intrigue and humour to carry you through the 101-minute runtime (50-minutes shorter than Scorsese’s bloated film.)

I don’t know what to think of the Blu-ray presentation of the film. I mean, I know how it looks to me, on my screen, I’m just not sure why. My guess is that Lionsgate is working off the source material Miramax had in it’s possession back in the day, when they made the deal to distribute the film in North America, instead of seeking out the original negative or an interpositive that could provide a more faithful, film-like presentation on Blu. As a result, we’re left with a transfer that’s fairly dull and flat with signs of digital tampering to make it appear to pop a bit more in 1080p. The real shame of the whole thing is that this is probably the best we’ll do where this film is concerned unless we’re willing to import (there’s a Hong Kong Blu-ray release from 2007 that is well reviewed around the internets.) The Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, on the other hand, is excellent across the board, offering clean, clear dialogue, plenty of surround effects and some thunderous lows. There’s an English dub track as well but if you listen to that then you and I can’t be friends any more.

Special features are all carried over from previous DVD releases and are all in SD. They include a 15-minute “makine of” featurette, 6-minutes of “behind-the-scenes” footage, an alternate ending and a couple of trailers.

The Canadian edition from Alliance which I had the pleasure of screening and which is otherwise identical to the US version, also contains a DVD copy of the film.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

Also available: INFERNAL AFFAIRS (US Edition)

AMAZON: $14.99

FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SERIES

John Crichton. Astronaut. Flung through a wormhole and lost in a galaxy far from home. He finds himself in the middle of a prison break, surrounded by hostile aliens, soaring through space inside a glorious living space ship called Moya. Hunted by the relentless Peacekeepers, he allies himself with his unimaginably alien fellow refugees and searches for a way home. So begins the epic sci-fi classic “Farscape“. A fusion of live action, state-of-the-art puppetry, prosthetics and CGI, “Farscape” features mind-boggling alien life forms, dazzling special effects, edge-of-your-seat thrills, irreverent humor and unforgettable characters all brought to life by the creative minds at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. No wonder it’s been called the most imaginative sci-fi series in television history. Here, in time for the series tenth anniversary, are all four “Farscape” seasons, 88 episodes, together for the first time in one epic collection. These are the adventures of Moya’s crew, Crichton, Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, warrior Ka D’Argo, azure priestess Zhaan, spritely thief Chiana, Dominar Rigel, Pilot and many others. Like Moya herself, this package contains amazing surprises including hours of bonus materials, making-of featurettes, commentaries, interviews, deleted scenes and much more. Prepare for Starburst.

Oh man, I loved Farscape and am totally stoked for this four-season boxed set. If you’re like me and jonesing to pick this up (which we should both probably do sooner than later as it’s relatively cheap on Amazon right now) keep in mind that this show was created in SD. While this case of SD-to-HD doesn’t appear to walk the same dangerous road taken by the Highlander series boxed sets, it does merit some research by the buyer before handing your credit card over to make the purchase. Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits has a great interview with New Video‘s Dan Kenny about the restoration of the series and the production of the Blu-ray discs. There are even some screencaps and Blu/DVD comparisons so go check it out before you buy!

AMAZON: $96.99

ASSASSINS CREED: LINEAGE

“Assassins Creed: Lineage” is a prequel to the video game “Assassin’s Creed II”. It revolves around Ezio’s father, Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, and gives insight on the game’s backstory and universe. Giovanni is an assassin living during the Renaissance in 15th century Italy. At this dawn of a new era, a conspiracy is being plotted by one corrupt family to overthrow the powerful Medici family and destroy a unified Italy. As an assassin, Giovanni must face this threat and bring justice. The story introduces the situation before “Assassin’s Creed II”, and the enemies of both characters.

I don’t quite know what to say about this Blu-ray release as I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy as yet, but the word on the street is that this little 45-minute live-action film, a supplement to the Assassin’s Creed game story, is pretty damn effective and entertaining! I’m looking forward to watching it and the bounty of film and video game related special features included on the disc.

AMAZON: $10.99

Exclusive to Canada: ANIMATION EXPRESS 2

The NFB enriches the world of animation with unforgettable works through its collaboration with the most talented artists and artisans in a spirit of creativity and innovation. The Animation Express 2 compilation presents the best from the 2009-2011 crop, created by filmmakers of diverse cultural origins, including such luminaries as Paul Drissen, Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby, Co Hoedeman, Georges Schwizgebel and Koji Yamamura. A selection of 21 films that will delight audiences by taking them into unexplored regions.

I guess it’s animation-on-Blu-ray week here in Canada. Not only do we get our hands on the first of hopefully many Looney Tunes collections but we’re also fortunate enough to receive the second collection of animated shorts from the National Film Board of Canada (we just call it the NFB or the ONF for those who parle français.) You might recall that the first Animation Express collection was released back in 2009 and featured a decidedly modern collection of shorts, adding a few classics in for flavour. Animation Express 2 is much of the same but focuses on the films created since the first disc was released. As in any collection of work from a variety of artists, this one is a mixed bag. But I think it’s safe to say there’s got to be something in the 27 provided shorts for just about everyone. And for the animation fan, the whole thing is very nearly a dream come true. This is high quality work from a broad range of voices and styles.

All 27 shorts are crammed onto a single dual-layer disc which sounds like a pretty decent idea on the surface. Until you realize that those 27 short films actually sport a combined runtime of over 5-hours long! That’s a lot of video to stuff onto a disc while expecting a decent HD image. So, much like the content of the disc itself, the 1080p presentations are a mixed bag, more often than not sporting decent amount of detail but appearing softer than they probably should in a perfect world, suffering here under a variable bitrate that often runs around the DVD mark. Keep in mind, that static images in animated films don’t require the same video bandwidth as live action but all the same, I feel like all the films on this disc would have looked sharper and had a greater sense of depth in their presentations if the content had been spread over two Blu-ray discs. Audio is also a compromise, offered in various language varieties of compressed Dolby Digital.

There are no special features on the disc (thank goodness – where would they have found the room?!) but 6 of the films are exclusive to the format, one of which is available here with an optional 3D presentation! Kind of cool, I guess, if you’ve got a 3DTV and are into that kind of thing.

AMAZON: CDN$ 27.97

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:

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:24:12 +0000

LOONEY TUNES PLATINUM COLLECTION: VOLUME ONE (1936-1966, Blu-ray released November 15, 2011 – MSRP $59.96)

SHORTS:	★★★★★
VIDEO:	★★★★½
AUDIO:	★★★☆☆
EXTRAS:	★★★★☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

I don’t know what’s more amazing about this collection of 50 Looney Tunes shorts – the fact that I’m shockingly familiar with most of them, able to recite the dialogue along with the characters despite not having seen the films for around 20 years or so, or the fact that there’s content here that I’ve never laid eyes on until now. Despite a couple of confusing and mildly frustrating points, this is one hell of a perfect boxed set of amazing cartoons, looking better than ever on Blu-ray!

50 of some of the greatest Looney Tunes cartoon are together for the first time on Blu-ray(TM). Releasing in a digibook with rare images and cartoon guide by historian Jerry Beck, this collection has been digitally restored and remastered. This 3 disc collection contains some of the franchise’s most enduring shorts featuring all your favorite Looney Tune Characters! Disc One features 25 classics from the immortals: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote and more! Disc Two includes 25 shorts featuring One-Shot Classics and the complete collection for each of the following characters: Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Witch Hazel, Marc Anthony and Ralph Phillips. Disc Three contains over 5 hours of content saluting animator Chuck Jones, insightful documentaries and rare shorts from Jones and others.

There’s a ridiculous wealth of incredible content spread over these three Blu-ray discs. Nearly every single one of the newly transferred, re-mastered cartoon shorts featured here is a iconic classic – the films that come to mind when you think Looney Tunes. And you’re not going to believe how stunning they all look in HD. Now, I know a lot of folks feel a little burned by this set, with the studio revisiting these shorts that they’ve published several times already on DVD while the fans are desperate to get their hands on those shorts that still remain unreleased. But it’s clear that a lot of work, time and love has been put into getting them right for HD and believe me when I tell you, if this Blu-ray set doesn’t sell, the studio will be hard pressed to invest in a second one. With that in mind, you can understand why they’ve assembled the most popular shorts, yet again, for this collection, giving it the best chance of appealing to the widest possible audience. It also insures that the best shorts are afforded the high-def treatment, in the unfortunate circumstance that there won’t be any more Blu-ray sets in the future. I, for one, pray that doesn’t happen. Because what the studio has accomplished here deserves to be seen and that attention deserves to be afforded to the rest of the Looney Tunes library. Fantastic!

As mentioned above, the feature content on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One Blu-ray discs looks fantastic! But don’t expect any kind of uniformity in presentation. The source material these discs have culled from is all over the map, spanning a thirty year time period – the most recent short having been created 45-years ago. Grain, scratches and blemishes differ from film to film but appear often enough to note here – these aren’t perfect restorations of aged content, but beautiful, honest, new transfers which have been lovingly mastered. They all look like film and some even appear clean enough to have been produced recently. This is remarkable work. The only source of disappointment here is that Warner has once again cut corners with the audio presentation – instead of the lossless audio tracks they might’ve afforded these films, the best they’re allowed is modest high-bitrate Dolby Digital Mono tracks. Don’t get me wrong, they sound all right, and because the audio is compressed there’s an allowance for additional content to be packed onto the discs, so it’s not all bad. It’s a trade off I can live with but it’s far from a perfect solution.

A good deal of the “extra” content packed onto the discs comes in the form of featurettes and an endless stream of audio commentaries, isolated score and “in the sound booth” tracks. This is all great stuff for sure and nearly worthy of sacrificing the opportunity to have the feature soundtracks presented in lossless audio. I sampled a few commentary tracks and, let me tell you, they are total gems! Whether you’re listening to Ren & Stimpy creator/animator John Kricfalusi enthuse over early Daffy Duck offering “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery” or historian and Cartoon Brew editor/owner Jerry Beck (who also wrote the included 52-page digibook liner notes and consulted on the Blu-ray set) introducing and curating archival comments from director Chuck Jones, writer Michael Maltese, and layout artist Maurice Noble on “What’s Opera, Doc?“, you’re in for a real treat. There are 23 audio commentary tracks to be found on Disc One of the set and 14 more on Disc Two.

As if that’s not enough, each of those discs also feature a ton of featurettes, most of which are presented in SD and have appeared on previous Looney Tunes DVDs (three are presented in HD – “Mars Attacks! Life on the Red Planet with My Favorite Martian” “Razzma-Taz: Giving the Tasmanian Devil His Due” and “The Ralph Phillips Story: Living the American Daydream” – and are, as far as I can tell, more recent productions) but are totally worth checking out. These amount to about 95-minutes worth of documentary content over the first two discs. The third disc in the set is more or less all about animation director Chuck Jones, featuring three SD docs about his life and career which total over two-and-a-half hours of viewing. There’s also a collection of his shorts, presented in a mix of SD and HD. A little out of place but no less appreciated is 7-minutes of work reel footage from Jones’ classic The Grinch Who Stole Christmas production. Amazing to see this in a pencil test version! Disc three is rounded out with a 7-minute animation/live-action hybrid short called “The Door” and 9 additional Looney Tunes cartoons in SD.

Highly recommended!

Disc 1: features 25 classics from the immortals: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote and more

Disc 2: 25 shorts featuring One-Shot Classics and the complete collection for each of the following characters: Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Witch Hazel, Marc Anthony & Ralph Phillips

Disc 3: Contains over 5 hours of content saluting animator Chuck Jones, insightful documentaries and rare shorts from Jones and others!

Disc 1 Episode Guide:

Hare Tonic
Baseball Bugs
Buccaneer Bunny
Old Grey Hare, The
Rabbit Hood
8 Ball Bunny
Rabbit Of Seville
What’s Opera, Doc?
Great Piggy Bank Robbery, The
Pest In The House, A
Scarlet Pumpernickel, The
Duck Amuck
Robin Hood Daffy
Baby Bottleneck
Kitty Kornered
Scaredy Cat
Porky Chops
Old Glory
Tale Of Two Kitties, A
Tweetie Pie
Fast And Furry-ous
Beep, Beep
Lovelorn Leghorn
For Scent-imental Reasons
Speedy Gonzales

Plus 6 Behing The Tunes (Featurettes):
Wagnerian Wabbit: The Making of What’s Opera, Doc?
Twilight in Tunes: The Music of Raymond Scott
Powerhouse in Pictures
Putty Problems and Canary Rows
A Chuck Jones Tutorial: Tricks of the Cartoon Trade
The Charm of Stink: On the Scent of Pepé le Pew

Disc 2 Episode Guide:

One Froggy Evening
Three Little Bops
I Love To Singa
Katnip Kollege
The Dover Boys at Pimento University
Chow Hound
Haredevil Hare
Hasty Hare, The
Duck Dodgers In The 24th Century
Hare-way To The Stars
Mad As A Mars Hare
Devil May Hare
Bedevilled Rabbit
Ducking The Devil
Bill Of Hare
Dr. Devil And Mr. Hare
Bewitched Bunny
Broom-stick Bunny
Witch’s Tangled Hare, A
A-haunting We Will Go
Feed The Kitty
Kiss Me Kat
Feline Frame-up
From A To Z-z-z-z
Boyhood Daze

Plus 5 Behing The Tunes (Featurettes)
It Hopped One Night: The Story Behind One Froggy Evening
Wacky Warner One-Shots
Mars Attacks! Life on the Red Planet with My Favorite Martian
Razzma-Taz: Giving the Tasmanian Devil His Due
The Ralph Phillips Story: Living the American Daydream

Disc 3 (All Special Features):

A Greeting From Chuck Jones
Chuck Amuck: The Movie
Chuck Jones: Extremes & In-Betweens, A Life In Animation
Chuck Jones: Memories Ofchildhood
The Animated World Of Chuck Jones (9 Cartoons)

– Point Rationing Of Foods
– Hell-Bent For Election
– So Much For So Little
– Orange Blossoms For Violet
– A Hitch In Time
– 90 Day Wondering
– Drafty, Isn’t It
– The Dot And The Line: A Romance In Lower Mathematics
– The Bear That Wasn’t

How The Grinch Stole Christmas! Pencil Test
The Door
Bonus Cartoons (9 Cartoons)

– Fright Before Christmas From Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales
– Spaced Out Bunny From Bugs Bunny’s Bustin’ Out All Over
– Duck Dodgers And The Return Of The 24 1/2th Century From Daffy Duck’s Thanks-For-Giving Special
– Another Froggy Evening
– Marvin The Martian In The Third Dimension
– Superior Duck
– From Hare To Eternity
– Father Of The Bird
– Museum Scream

[VIDEO] Disney’s Cinderella: Diamond Edition Blu-ray trailer

Brenden — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 01:06:48 +0000

I can’t wait to see the new Gossip Girl version of Disney‘s Cinderella. If the trailer above is any indication, all the classic music in the film has now been replaced with the contemporary soundtrack of on-screen teen lust – all rebellious guitars and triumphant cymbal-crashes.

I kid, of course. If this upcoming Diamond Edition Blu-ray of the film is anything like it’s predecessors, Cinderella will look and sound as it always has, only better, brighter and cleaner. There’s no word yet on when the disc will be released but with the Lady and the Tramp: Diamond Edition coming up in the spring, it’s a safe bet the studio will save Cinderella for the fall of 2012. Consider this trailer a super sneak peek!

[VIDEO] Finding Nemo Blu-ray Trailer

Brenden — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:27:52 +0000

At long last, it looks like Finding Nemo is on it’s way to Blu-ray. It’s about time too, as it’s the last Pixar film to be released on the format. No release date or details yet but the trailer embedded above has made its way onto the internets, promising we’ll see some Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich fishies in HD sooner rather than later. The best guess, at the moment, is that the disc will hit around the time of the films big-screen 3D release, next September. Okay, I guess that’s kind of later than I’d like. But, you know, at least we’re not talking about 2013 here!

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of October 4

Brenden — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:17:39 +0000

Another killer week here, with way too many cool new Blu-ray releases to cover in the post. Be certain to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the article and click on some of the other worthwhile titles new to the format this week, like Fast Five, the newest flick in the Fast and Furious franchise, Peter Jackson‘s Dead Alive, more Miramax films new to Blu in Cinema Paradiso, Life is Beautiful and The Cider House Rules as well as Tim Buton classics Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Blu-ray disc of the week: THE LION KING

The wait is over. For the first time ever, experience the majesty of Disney’s epic animated masterpiece as it roars off the screen and into your living room on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D. With a spectacular digital picture, spine-tingling high definition sound and immersive bonus features—you will feel the love for this critically acclaimed and universally beloved classic like never before.

Embark on an extraordinary coming-of-age adventure as Simba, a lion cub who cannot wait to be king, searches for his destiny in the great “Circle of Life.” You will be thrilled by the breathtaking animation, unforgettable Academy Award®–winning music (1994: Best Original Score; Best Song, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”) and timeless story. The king of all animated films reigns on Disney Blu-ray 3D—magic in a new dimension.“

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever really given The Lion King it’s due. This is such a well crafted film, from the script to the music to every single visual, static and in motion, up there on the screen. It’s a true work of art that, for me, has been sullied with hype and the incessant overplaying of every Elton John ditty in the piece. Honestly, if I never hear ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’ again in my life, I’ll be alright.

You can imagine the effort involved to block the effect those songs have on me, as I watch the film again, attempting to appreciate it anew, fresh and sullied. And I think I managed it. I focused on the tight script and the pitch-perfect characters, performed with such razor precision by the likes of James Earl Jones, Rowan Atkinson and Jeremy Irons that the voice-work elevates the material to a new place of awesome. I focused on the ground-breaking animation, combining CGI with traditional cel-painted frames in ways never-before attempted. I focused on the score by the always-wonderful Hans Zimmer who, at his best here, makes me forget that his awe-inspiring cues will often lead into trite pop songs that more-or-less strip the film of its potential to feel timeless and iconic. I guess I don’t need to tell you where my issues lie with The Lion King.

But the songs are an integral part of the film. And they, like everything else here, are well done, for what they are. I just don’t like them. That’s a personal-taste-thing. They take me out of the action, as singing characters often do in film and theatre. But, I understand, that’s the nature of the beast here. And this beast is unquestionably King for a reason, still the highest grossing animated film to date. It’s a classic that every animation and film fan should have in their Blu-ray library.

You’ll also want to add The Lion King Blu-ray to your collection to show off your Audio/Visual gear as it’s one of the most technically incredible releases of the year. Disney offer up another transfer of one of its classic animated films that borders on perfection. Detail is out of this world, blacks are deep and colours are vivid and pounce right off the screen! Amazing. Equally as powerful is the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track that rumbles deep and stampedes around your surround system with the best of them. This is your new demo disc!

There are a nice collection of newly created special features on the disc including a couple of docs – Pride of the Lion King and The Lion King: A Memoir- Don Hahn – that are definitely worth your time. Both are presented in HD and look fantastic, aside from the SD archival material used within. All the new animated and still content is also presented in HD but is only worth watching for those who need to dig deep. I don’t think the casual viewer will want to sit through failed gags in storyboard form. Once again, Disney really kills it with their Second Screen feature for iPad and PC, which allows you to view additional content on your device while watching the film on your big screen. Most of the extras from the previously available DVD sets are still available here, but only through the BD-Live portal, which, to me, is a pain in the ass. I would’ve much rather had them on a second disc, instead of the included DVD copy of the film that’s in the package.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

4 Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
Deleted Song
The Morning Report: Extended scene
Never-Before-Seen Bloopers
Disney Second Screen*
Pride of The Lion King
The Lion King: A Memoir- Don Hahn
Disney Sing Along Mode
Interactive Gallery
Audio Commentary
Disney’s Virtual Vault: Classic DVD Features Powered by BD-Live*

AMAZON: $21.99
or in a 3D combo pack: $29.99

Also available: THE LION KING TRILOGY

AMAZON: $74.99

Canadian versions: PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN

I was very fortunate to be able to review the Canadian editions of the Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown Blu-ray releases from Alliance. Aside from slight differences in packaging and branding on the discs, these releases are identical to their US counterparts.

It’s been years since I’ve had to opportunity to sit down with either film but I’m happy to report that, for the most part, they hold up! Jackie Brown in particular has aged well, perhaps because it’s the product of a Quentin Tarantino who was a more mature filmmaker or perhaps it’s simply because the film has been spared the fate of the icon of ’90s cinema that is Pulp Fiction.

Fiction‘s mix-and-match structure and hipster-style never fail to impress, even after all these years and after so many poor imitations. It’s such a well assembled film with an endless number of iconic shots, songs and performances. But I have to admit I find a lot of the dialogue to be masturbatory – if I never have to hear another Tarantino character repeatedly asking a question (“What does Marsellus Wallace look like?”) only so they might deliver a lame punchline it’ll be too soon. Jackie Brown doesn’t feel like it’s there to show off at all. It’s a far more settled and self-contained narrative with characters who live and breathe with their own sense of purpose and desire, which tends not to serve their puppet-master’s ego. That said, I truly love both films and am pleased to report that each is extremely well handled in their Blu-ray debuts.

The Pulp Fiction Blu-ray disc sports a sticker with Tarantino’s signature and is meant to communicate his stamp of approval. I’m not sure why Jackie Brown didn’t receive the same treatment because both discs appear to have similar transfers (and, I’m led to understand that the filmmaker personally approved the latter film’s transfer to Blu as well.) They both look really great with a few notable oddities. Colour and contrast appear to have been boosted in both cases, causing some black crush and white blow-outs but allowing a considerable bump in temperature and tone. Both discs also receive demo-class DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtracks, with Fiction‘s perhaps a touch more dynamic and playful through the sound-space.

Most, if not all, special features have been carried over from previous DVD editions of the films, with little new added to the mix here. Both discs feature a “critic’s roundtable” of sorts, where Elvis Mitchell, Scott Foundas, Stephanie Zacharek, Tim Lucas and Andy Klein chat about the films, their merits, failings and lasting impact on cinema. The Pulp Fiction clocks in at about 20-minutes while the Jackie Brown conversation is nearly three-quarters-of-an-hour long. “Not the Usual Mindless Boring Getting to Know You Chit Chat” is the only other new feature – a 43-minute retrospective on Pulp Fiction, featuring interviews with cast and crew all presented in HD! Fantastic.

Pulp Fiction Special Features:

Retrospective Cast Interviews (New)
Critics Corner: Then and Now (New)
Pulp Fiction: The Facts featurette
Deleted Scenes
Behind the Scenes Montages
Production Design featurette
Siskel and Ebert “At the Movies” – The Tarantino Generation
Independent Spirit Awards
Cannes Film Festival – Palm d’Or Acceptance Speech
Charlie Rose Show – Interview with Quentin Tarantino
Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots
Stills Gallery

Jackie Brown Special Features:

Critic’s Corner: Then and Now – (New)
Jackie Brown: How It Went Down featurette
“A Look Back at Jackie Brown” – Interview with Quentin Tarantino
Chicks With Guns Video
Siskel & Ebert “At the Movies”- Jackie Brown review
Jackie Brown on MTV
Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots
Stills Gallery

AMAZON: CDN$ 15.00 and CDN$ 24.99

US versions also available: PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN

AMAZON: $15.99 and $10.49

SUBMARINE

Young Oliver Tate’s coming of age is coming even sooner than expected. Prone to daydreaming, listening to French crooners and indulging other self-absorbed fantasies, Oliver (Craig Roberts) suddenly finds himself submerged in real-life, dual challenges — plotting to lose his virginity with a quirky new girlfriend (Yasmin Paige), while also struggling to reconcile his parent’s (Golden Globe® winner Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor) marriage, even though his mom seems smitten with the self-help guru next door (Paddy Considine). This charmingly original comedy from executive producer Ben Stiller and writer/director Richard Ayoade, has been pronounced by Vogue magazine ”a charming mix of quirk and cool.”

I’m so angry that Richard Ayoade’s Submarine isn’t receiving a Blu-ray release here in Canada. This is one of the coolest films of 2011 and Alliance is only delivering it to home video on DVD. Blech. I guess I’ll be importing the Anchor Bay Blu-ray from down south. DVD Beaver calls the transfer “surprisingly adept” while DVD Verdict claims the disc sports a “very close approximation to the theater presentation”, which is all I need to know before adding it to my Amazon cart.

AMAZON: $25.99

AMER

An eroticized homage to 1970s Italian giallo horror films… Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s pastiche tour-de-force plays out a delirious, enigmatic, almost wordless death-dance of fear and desire. Its three movements, each in a different style, correspond to the childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of its female protagonist. Drawing its stylized, hyperbolic gestures from the playbooks of Bava, Leone, Argento and De Palma and taking them into a realm of near-abstraction. Amer has genre in the blood. Its bold widescreen composition, super-focused sound and emphatic music (lifted from original giallo soundtracks), and razor-sharp cuts make for an outrageous and intoxicating cinematic head-trip. Featuring music from composers Stelvio Cipriani, Bruno Nicolai and the legendary Ennio Morricone.

Amer is another film I’ve been following online through reviews/articles/interviews/etc. but have yet to actually see. But, in truth, this is probably the Blu-ray release I’m most excited about this week. But only because of the pent up anticipation for a viewing of this modern Giallo horror. Blu-ray.com gives the disc high marks, with a source-accurate transfer of this “ravishingly beautiful film”. Extras include five short films by the filmmakers and some trailers.

AMAZON: $31.49

SCREAM 4

In Scream 4, Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (played by Emma Roberts) and her Aunt Kate (Mary McDonnell). Unfortunately Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

I can’t speak to the actual Scream 4 Blu-ray disc from Anchor Bay but I reviewed the Canadian release from Alliance that’s part of The Complete Scream Collection and it’s fantastic. It replicates the US disc in every way (aside from Alliance branding and trailers) and is well worth a look. For more on the disc and the film, see my review of the Complete Collection, linked to below:

AMAZON: $22.99

Available exclusively in Canada: THE COMPLETE SCREAM COLLECTION

AMAZON.CA: CDN$ 49.99

HARAKIRI and SALO

Both of Criterion‘s Blu-ray new releases are re-issues, which is to say that neither is the most exciting title hitting shops this week but are both worth a look anyway. I mean, come on, they’re Criterion discs, right?! For those mature viewers with the ability to handle disturbing imagery, the studio takes another stab at releasing Piere Paolo Pasolini‘s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom on home video. This is a stronger presentation than the BFI Blu-ray disc and, packed with bonus goodies, is worth the upgrade for fans. Harakiri is also a worthy upgrade, presenting a far more solid and balanced transfer than the previously released DVD, that’s every bit as good, if not better than the Eureka Entertainment BD from the UK. A strong supplemental package makes this release a winner! Both discs are, of course, highly recommended.

AMAZON: $27.99 and $34.99

THE WALKING DEAD: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON – 3-DISC SPECIAL EDITION

After waking from a coma in an abandoned hospital, police officer Rick Grimes finds the world he knew gone – ravaged by a zombie epidemic of apocalyptic proportions. Nearby, on the outskirts of Atlanta, a small encampment struggles to survive as ‘the dead’ stalk them at every turn. Can Rick and the others hold onto their humanity as they fight to live in this terrifying new world? And, amidst dire conditions and personal rivalries, will they ultimately survive one another? AMC‘s The Walking Dead is an epic, survival adventure series from the director of The Shawshank Redemption and the producer of The Terminator and Aliens.

This is a fantastic package. It’s just really unfortunate that this isn’t what the studio released back in March, instead of the two-disc, feature-lite set that most fans picked up. I think they’re going to have a lot of irate customers on their hands – folks who wish they would’ve held off grabbing the first set in favour of waiting for this, more feature-rich release. If you didn’t buy the previous set, this is your huckleberry. If you did and you dig extras, better start looking for a painless way to trade up.

Now available in Canada: ONG BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR

Thai stuntman Tony Jaa makes his starring debut in this martial arts action film directed by Prachya Pinkaew. Ja plays Ting, who was discovered as an infant in a village in rural Thailand and raised by monks who taught him the Thai martial art of muay thai. Ting is sent to Bangkok when the head of the town’s statue of the Buddha, to which they pray to bring the annual rains to their drought-stricken region, is stolen. The country boy is plunged into the big city’s seething criminal underworld, and forced to use his fighting skills to dispatch a parade of thugs in an underground fight club on his way to finding the criminal mastermind who stole the Buddha head so he can return it before drought and starvation bring his hometown to ruin.

Tony Jaa is God here. I’m not sure he’s ever been better than in the original 2003 Ong Bak. This is Jaa just getting started in his career, before he got lost in his head and wandered off the set of Ong Bak 2 to become a monk (well, that’s the legend anyway.) Here, he’s just Ting, a young man from a small farming village on a journey to recover a stolen artifact, who just happens to find more trouble than he bargained for. There’s no pretense. No grand spiritual journey or commentary about life. Just an honest-to-goodness quest with some honest-to-goodness muay thai fighting that’ll blow your mind.

Jaa is unreal. He’s so fast that many of his moves here are shown in slow motion and from several angles, played out over and over again so you can see that this is the man accomplishing these feats himself, without special effects or wires. He’s an acrobat, a gymnast and an unbelievable martial arts talent who could damn-near become the next Bruce Lee if he’d just get his head out of his ass and embrace his place in cinema. Watch Ong Bak and marvel at the man and his moves and pray he returns to form, creating something of this ilk sooner rather than later.

Alliance is releasing Ong Bak on Blu-ray in Canada today, in an exact duplicate of the disc from Fox, released in the US last year. As was reported at the time, this is something of a baffling transfer. There’s a note about it, right there in the extras for all to see, stating that this Blu-ray presentation is the result of a new scan from an “original 35 mm internegative of the film” with additional “color correction, image stabilization and digital cleaning”. But, man, you’d never know it. The film looks soft, often muddy, with colours bopping around like jazz from scene to scene. Admittedly, this is a marked improvement over the DVD transfer but, I guess as a fan, I was just praying for better. This was a super-low budget film and it’s very possible that this is best it can look but don’t go into watching this disc expecting anything revelatory. The Thai 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track doesn’t fare much better, sounding thin and unremarkable most of the time.

There are a good many bonus features provided on the disc but, sadly, they’re all quite brief and all in standard-def. You should check them out, though, as any footage of Jaa working his craft is worth a few moments of your time. The B-roll footage is the best thing going here, proving the only look at the behind-the-scenes work that went into making the picture.

Special features include:

Tony Jaa and stuntman performance at French screening
The 8 Movements of Muay Thai
French rap music video with Tony Jaa
Making of the music video
B-Roll (behind the scenes):
- Taxi stunts
- Legs-ablaze fight sequence
- Arena fight sequence

AMAZON: CDN$ 18.19

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:

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of September 20

Brenden — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:23:45 +0000

It’s not a really big week for Blu-ray releases but I guess, no matter how many new discs were unleashed today, nothing could live up to the epic nature of last week. Aside from the discs I highlight below, there are a handful of notable TV-on-Blu releases (the multi-Emmy winning Modern Family!), Alejandro Amenábar‘s The Others, Chromeskull 2, Vamp and many more. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to check them out!

Blu-ray disc of the week: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

The names Audrey Hepburn and Holly Golightly have become synonymous since this dazzling romantic comedy was translated to the screen from Truman Capote‘s best-selling novella. Holly is a deliciously eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. George Peppard plays her next-door neighbor, a writer who is “sponsored” by a wealthy Patricia Neal. Guessing who’s the right man for Holly is easy. Seeing just how that romantic blossoms is one of the enduring delights of this gem-like treat set to Henry Mancini‘s Oscar(R)-winning score and the Oscar(R)-winning Mancini-Johnny Mercer song “Moon River”.

When Paramount gets one of their classics in their sites and really puts their heads down and gets to work on it, they deliver one hell of a stunning Blu-ray release. Breakfast at Tiffany‘s has long been recognized as one of the more iconic Audrey Hepburn performances, if not the iconic performance (I’m personally more of a Roman Holiday kind of guy, myself), but it’s so much more than that. It features a terrific straight-man turn by George Peppard, inspired direction by Blake Edwards and one of the finest Henry Mancini scores ever. And don’t forget that this picture spawned the Johnny Mercer hit ‘Moon River’! An then there’s the script, based on Truman Capote’s book and the clothes by Hubert de Givenchy and the photography by Franz Planer and Philip H. Lathrop… And the list goes on. If any film in Paramount’s library is worthy of a special Anniversary release it’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. You’d think that this one would have been worthy of the Sapphire label, wouldn’t you? Leads one to believe we might have seen the last of that line of discs from the studio…

The transfer to Blu-ray of Breakfast at Tiffany‘s seems to have elicited something of a controversy online, in early reviews. There have been claims that the image is scrubbed to the bone by DNR, digital noise reduction, reducing detail to a minimum and skin to wax. I’m here to tell you that’s bunk. This is one hell of a great looking disc. Grain is there for the observant eye to see, not reduced but very fine in the image and always on the move. Colours pop as if the film was only lensed yesterday and detail is in crazy abundance. I can’t say enough about this presentation but that it needs to be seen to be believed. And if there’s been an overzealous use of DNR, then I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.

In addition to a fine restoration of the original mono track (sadly, only presented in compressed Dolby Digital), there’s a very respectful 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track that adds just the right amount of surround flavour to the original mix, without spicing things up to the degree that a modern track would. You won’t hear any booming bass here but Mancini’s score sounds incredible and dialogue is clean and clear up the middle. Fantastic!

The special features on the disc are a mix of new HD content and featurettes previously available on DVD editions of the film. All are worth watching, though I will say that I found the 20-minute ‘A Golightly Gathering‘ tough to sit through, as members of the cast who appeared in the famous party scene gather together years later to reminisce about the film. ‘Henry Mancini: More than Music‘ is an excellent 20-minute look at the life and work of the famous composer. ‘Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective‘ also runs around 20-minutes and deals with the controversy of Mickey Rooney‘s infamous “yellowface” performance in the film, attempting to give some modern perspective to the only black-spot on the production. The galleries and trailers are also presented in HD. The bulk of the remainder of the extras are still in SD, culled from the DVD extras. They’re short and show their age but are worth a look. Producer Richard Shepherd‘s commentary track is a pretty decent listen as well, offering tons of anecdotes and information on the production.

All in all, this is a killer package. One of Paramount’s finest Blu-ray offerings of 2011. Super extra highly recommended!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Commentary by producer Richard Shepherd
A Golightly Gathering
Henry Mancini: More Than Music
Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective
The Making of a Classic
It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon
Behind the Gates: The Tour
Brilliance in a Blue Box
Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany
Photo Galleries
- The Movie
- Production
- Publicity
Original Theatrical Trailer

AMAZON: $19.99

LE BEAU SERGE and LES COUSINS

Criterion is releasing the first two films by Claude Chabrol on Blu-ray today. I had a chance to screen Le Beau Serge, the film that kicked off the French New Wave movement, and the disc is phenomenal! I haven’t seen Les Cousins yet but there’s little doubt that it’ll sport a similarly excellent transfer. I’ll chime in on that one once I get my hands on it. In the meantime, check out my full review of Le Beau Serge!

AMAZON: $27.99 each

DUMBO

For the first time ever, in celebration of this landmark film’s 70th anniversary, experience the daring adventures of the world’s only flying elephant with a dazzling all-new digital restoration and brilliant Disney Enhanced High Definition Theater Mix Sound. The inspirational tale of Dumbo, the courageous baby elephant who uses his sensational ears to soar to fame with the help of his clever best friend Timothy Q. Mouse, will thrill and delight audiences of all ages. And now, the award-winning music and empowering messages about friendship and belief in yourself reach new heights in this must-have Blu-ray(TM) high definition presentation of Walt Disney’s animated classic, “Dumbo“.

This is another amazing restoration of a Disney classic, easily as stunning as the presentations on the Blu-ray disc releases of Bambi and Pinocchio. Animation collectors and film fans alike will want to pick up the Dumbo Blu-ray disc for its transfer and exceptional special features before the studio throws it back in “The Vault” for another few years! Read my full review linked to below.

The Blu-ray Blog » Animation

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