What a tough week! On first glance, it didn’t seem to me that there was a whole lot hitting the shops but then, when I began to assemble the TOP 5 list, I quickly discovered otherwise. There’s some great stuff here, including a couple of films that my girlfriend has claimed are the best movies she’s seen all year and a whole lot of amazing catalogue releases including the first ever North American Hammer Films release in HD!

1. THE A-TEAM

I had no choice but to rank The A-Team tv-to-cinema adaptation as the number one Blu-ray release this week, as my girlfriend claims it’s the best film of the year. Honestly, we saw it in the theatre several months ago and I thought it was fun and far more coherent than I expected it to be. The performances are strong (Liam Neeson doing his best grizzled George Peppard with Bradley Cooper and Sharlto Copley following up their spotlight gigs in The Hangover and District 9 respectively) if not a bit tongue in cheek and the action is way over-the-top fun. It’s ok! But my girlfriend couldn’t stop raving about it. And my nephew couldn’t stop raving about it. So, there must be something there. Of any of the new Blu-ray discs out this week, The A-team is most likely the best bet to entertain a wide audience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• The Devil’s in the Details: Inside the Action with Joe Carnahan
• Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Plan of Attack
• Character Chronicles
• Visual Effects Commentary with Visual Effects Supervisor James E. Price
• BD-Live

AMAZON: $22.99

2. TRUE GRIT

Hot on the heels of the Coen brothers’ remake comes Paramount‘s high-def debut of the Henry Hathaway original True Grit. What an amazing film! Not only does it feature John Wayne in one of his final performances (and what a performance it is!) but the film can also boast great early turns by Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall! The Blu-ray contains all the same features as the previously issued DVD (excellent commentary track and handful of featurettes) but is technically a step-up. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound track is dialogue and center heavy but opens wide for the rich, robust Elmer Bernstein soundtrack while the 1.85:1 presentation seems to be the most film-accurate on home video to date, exhibiting greater detail, more accurate colour and just a hint of film grain. My guess is that the studio used an slightly older HD master and could bump the detail up a hair with a fresh one but I doubt we’ll be seeing another release of this duster anytime soon so fans need to rush out and grab this one up while they can!

AMAZON: $17.99

3. THE BLACK PIRATE

I can’t even believe that in 2010 we’ve seen such amazing silent era films as Metropolis, The General and Battleship Potemkin released on Blu-ray! I feel a bit spoiled, to be honest. And today sees the addition of another silent great to the roster – Douglas Fairbanks‘ fun, two-strip technicolor The Black Pirate is out on Blu-ray, thanks to the great folks at Kino. The disc is a revelation, looking so much better than you’d expect and offering the choice of the original 1926 Mortimer Wilson orchestral score in Linear PCM 2.0 or a DD 2.0 Lee Erwin organ score. Kino has really knocked it out of the park here! And the the disc just gets better, as it includes a wealth of quality special features including a very informative commentary track from film historian Rudy Behlmer, a b&w “Talkie” version of the film and heaps of outtakes and stills. Highly recommended!

AMAZON: $25.99

4. THE TOWN

Ben Affleck sure is making a lot of effort not to suck lately. He must’ve gotten tired of churning out duds like Daredevil and Gigli and instead, now seems to be putting forth a serious effort to deliver some decent films onto the cinemascape! The Town is his second dramatic crime-thriller following the 2007 Gone Baby Gone. The Blu-ray disc features two cuts of the film – the 125-minute theatrical cut and 153-minute extended version – both crammed onto one disc without seamless branching (there are little to no noticeable quality issues despite the low-bandwidth video encodes.) They offer significant differences and are both worth watching, along with Affleck’s commentary track, which dissects the additions. The hearty DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 brings the love and may bust-up your glassware with all it’s punchy gusto. Muscular audio design and dynamic range will leave you breathless.

AMAZON: $24.99

5. THE OTHER GUYS

My review copy of The Other Guys arrived last week. As the credits were rolling my girlfriend announced that this was the best film she had seen all year. I reminded her that she had previously claimed that The A-team was the film of the year. She offered up a “hrmpht” and asked to see the gag reel.

This is a real return to form for the team that brought you Anchorman. Will Ferrel and all his cohorts (too many brilliant comedians to name here) are in top form, improving their way through a mostly incoherent buddy-cops-versus-evil-businessmen plot. The laughs don’t stop when the film is over as the special features, of which there are a multitude, act as an extension of the films gags, offering up hours of deleted scenes and cut-loose improv comedy. After watching all the ad-libbing on the set I’ve got to wonder if the shooting script wasn’t maybe just a loose outline.

AMAZON: $22.99

6. VAMPIRE CIRCUS

Yeah, I know. It’s another six-disc Top 5 list this week. But I just can’t let the post publish without talking about Vampire Circus! I haven’t seen the Blu-ray disc yet so I can’t speak to the quality of Synapse Films‘ work yet but I’m just so damned happy that somebody is manning up and releasing a Hammer film in high-def! This bad boy really looks fantastic on the surface, packed with special features including an all new documentary on the making of the film. I’m sincerely hoping for the best with this disc and praying, if it’s up to snuff, that you’ll all go out and buy a copy. Maybe then the studios will see that there’s an audience for these films in HD. Here’s hoping that the classic Dracula and Frankenstein films make their way onto Blu by this time next year!

AMAZON: $20.49

NEW THIS WEEK ON 3D BLU-RAY:

AMAZON: $31.99 , $29.99

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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Kino is absolutely killing it for me right now. I just got their Complete Metropolis and Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray discs in the mail yesterday and they are amazing! And now this news, that the studio is preparing to deliver a classic Douglas Fairbanks film to Blu. The Black Pirate looks like it’s going to be one hell of a feature packed disc, if the list of extras below is any indication. I’m hoping this release will mark the beginning of Kino’s efforts to bring their entire Fairbanks collection to high-def. I’d give my best hunting bow to get my hands on a Blu-ray copy of his Robin Hood film from 1922!

Special Features:

• Restored two-strip Technicolor version, mastered in HD
• Original 1926 score by Mortimer Wilson, conducted by Robert Israel (1996)
• Organ score by Lee Erwin
• Audio Commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer
• Complete “talkie” version, minus intertitles, with orchestral score and narration by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (75 min., B&W)
• 18 Minutes of outtakes, with commentary by Rudy Behlmer
• 29 Minutes of additional outtakes, courtesy of the Library of Congress
• Photo gallery

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• The Complete Metropolis Blu-ray Disc Review (2)

Keaton plays William Canfield, Jr., a Boston collegian who returns home to the deep south to assist his father (Ernest Torrence) with work on his Mississippi River steamboat, a job he’s clearly not cut out for. Willie quickly gets in over his head when faced with his father’s riverboat rival, John King (Tom McQuire) who also happens to be the father of his sweetheart, Kitty (Marion Byron). Physical comedy ensues, leading to one of the most awe-inspiring (and famous) slapstick sequences ever put to film, as Willie struggles against a tornado that’s devastating his town, literally bringing houses down upon him! If you’re a fan of the work of Jacques Tati, Guy Maddin or Rowan Atkinson‘s Mr. Bean you’ll easily fall under the spell of this silent gem.

And if you’re already a fan of Steamboat Bill, Jr. or just a fan of film in general, you owe it to yourself to add this Blu-ray disc to your collection. The transfer might not achieve the pristine perfection of Kino’s previous Keaton release, The General, but this is truly beautiful work. Created from a 35mm dupe picture negative, most likely a couple of generations from the original negative, the results here are stunning. I’m certain the film has not looked this good in generations! That said, there is some understandable damage present on the print, as well as moments when the whites are blown out to quite an extreme (perhaps due to the way the film was shot by Bert Haines and Devereaux Jennings, as posited by Kino producer Bret Wood) and instances of noise that could be due to compression. But outside of those slight observations, this is a detailed image, with surprisingly deep blacks and a gorgeous sheen of film grain. Steamboat Bill, Jr. looks amazing for its age!

There are a cornucopia of audio options to accompany the visuals on the Steamboat Bill, Jr. Blu-ray disc, including a robust sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 score by the Biograph Players. Tight and dynamic with a good amount of low end, the surround track sounds crisp and new in its presentation while maintaining an “old-timey” feel, appropriate for the content, through its composition. A 2.0 option is present for those who find the 5.1 immersion a little jarring while watching silent film. There is also a Dolby Digital mono vintage organ score by Lee Erwin.

The disc is not only a stunner when it comes to the presentation of the feature but it also manages to impress with its collection of worthwhile extras, chief among them being the complete alternate version of the film, comprised entirely of variant takes and camera angles! Known as the Killiam version (as the 35mm element originates from the Paul Killiam film collection now owned by Worldview Entertainment) this second look at the film is a rare treat for fans but might not be distinct enough to wow the casual viewer. The sole audio option for this version of the film is a Dolby Digital 2.0 piano score by William Perry. A 12-minute “Visual Essay” featurette highlights the differences between the two versions of the film.

The disc is rounded out by a stills gallery, a montage of Keaton pratfalls and stunts and a couple of versions of the folk song that inspired Steamboat Bill, Jr. – one by Edward Meeker and one by Irving Kaufman.

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No! Say it ain’t so! Criterion Collection discs have a habit of going out of print (AKA O.O.P. for those of us used to seeing the sign on Criterion sites and catalogue listings) and selling out quickly. Until today, no Criterion Blu-ray had suffered this fate. Carol Reed‘s The Third Man is the first to fall.

According to Blu-ray.com, both the Blu-ray and the DVD edition of The Third Man have fallen out of print. Now, keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to find the disc on the shelves right away. The Third Man will be available through all retail channels while their supplies last. But when they dry up, Criterion won’t be able to supply with any more. That will be that. No more The Third Man on Blu-ray. Unless you don’t mind paying through the nose on Ebay, that is.

The Third Man Blu-ray disc is currently available at Amazon.com for $23.99. I recommend ordering it up pronto, if you don’t already have a copy. This is one of the finest films ever made and a fantastic Blu-ray presentation.

Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Black and White Films Look Spectacular on Blu-ray!

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Look, this isn’t really news. Not to any of us who’ve been grabbing up every Criterion Blu-ray for the last year, anyway. But Home Media Magazine has just published a nice, lengthy piece on the glory of Black and White film presentations on Blu-ray disc. When they’re done right, there’s nothing better!

There are a lot of great quotes in the article from the likes of restoration expert, Robert A. Harris to disc producer, Van Ling. Lee Kline, technical director for Criterion gets in on the action stating,

“Now we’re able to replicate more precisely these films as they first appeared.”

He pointed to the July Blu-ray release of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion as a great example.

“Once you look at Blu-ray, you can’t imagine watching the DVDs of these films ever again,” he said.

The piece gets a little bit more technical, addressing the need for film grain and quality of dynamic range in b&w. Really interesting stuff! Head on over and check out the article. It’s certainly worth a read.

Previously on The Blu-ray Blog:

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