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Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of February 7

Brenden — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:15:35 +0000

Not the strongest week of Blu-ray releases but there are some real gems here. Be sure to scroll all the way down to check the discs I didn’t highlight – MGM have another four catalogue releases that will most likely look pretty decent, Kino has released the original A Star is Born, Spider-man’s newest villain leads the cast in Anonymous, amongst many others.

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: LA JETÉE/SANS SOLEIL

One of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made and a mind-bending free-form travelogue: La Jetée and Sans Soleil couldn’t seem more different—but they’re the twin pillars of an unparalleled and uncompromising career in cinema. A filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, Chris Marker has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his investigations of time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. These two films—a tale of time travel told in still images and a journey to Africa and Japan—remain his best-loved and most widely seen.

The sole Criterion release this week is also the best new Blu-ray available this week. This disc might be perceived as a straight-ahead, plain-vanilla upgrade from an already available DVD but the fact that any of Chris Markers’ films are now available domestically in high-def is cause for celebration. Both La Jetée and Sans Soleil have been furnished with the high-definition treatment and both look better than they ever have before. The 28-minute long, 1962 film La Jetée, the clear inspiration for Terry Gilliam‘s 12 Monkeys, sports more detail than ever before and looks far more film-like with improved contrast and a nice sheen of grain present. Sans Soleil looks even better, with far more vivid colours and bolder contrast than the 1983 film was afforded in the now five-year old DVD transfer. Audio is presented in French and English mono tracks.

Recommended!

Special Features:

Restored high-definition digital transfers, approved by director Chris Marker, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
Two interviews with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin
Chris on Chris, a video piece on Marker by filmmaker and critic Chris Darke
Two excerpts from the French television series Court-circuit (le magazine): a look at David Bowie’s music video for the song “Jump They Say,” inspired by La Jetée, and an analysis of Hitchcock’s Vertigo and its influence on Marker
• Junkopia, a six-minute film by Marker about the Emeryville Mudflats
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by Marker scholar Catherine Lupton, an interview with Marker, notes on the films and filmmaking by Marker, and more

AMAZON: $27.99

LADY AND THE TRAMP

Fall in love with Walt Disney‘s Beloved Classic, “Lady And The Tramp” – now unleashed in glorious high definition for the first time ever on Blu-ray(TM)! Experience like never before the thrilling adventures of Lady, a lovingly pampered cocker spaniel, and Tramp, a freewheeling mutt with a heart of gold. This heartwarming tale now charms a new generation of families and fans with its exquisite animation, unforgettable songs and immersive bonus that reveals the extraordinary making-of process behind one of the greatest love stories of all time. This is the night to share a special bella notte with your family and introduce them to the film Janet Maslin of the New York Times News Service hails as “one of Disney’s most enduring classics” – now more beautiful than ever through the magic of Blu-ray(TM) high definition.

The next in the exceptional series of classic Disney films on Blu, fans of animation and classic films will want to grab up a copy of Lady and the Tramp. It sports a pitch perfect transfer, a new multi-channel as well as original sound mix and a ton of special features. There’s also another one of those “Disney Second Screen” apps that I love so much. I’m hoping to get my hands on this bad boy sometime soon.

AMAZON: $22.99

LOVE STORY

Love means never having to say you’re sorry. Everyone loves “Love Story“! One of the most romantic movies ever made also remains one of the most enduringly popular. This heartfelt 1970 tale of the love of a lifetime – the most successful Paramount movie up to that time – received seven Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and won one for Francis Lai‘s magnificent score. As filming was underway on “Love Story”, the filmmakers knew they had something special – so special that Erich Segal was simultaneously shaping his best-selling novel from his own screenplay. Stars Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw each received Academy Award nominations and became overnight movie sensations for their poignant portrayals of a young couple who cross social barriers, marry, and ultimately face the greatest crisis of all.

I’ve been avoiding Arthur Hiller‘s Love Story for 38 years now. Well, to be fair, it’s probably a lot fewer years than that, as I’m sure I only grew aware of the film around about my high school years. All that to say, it’s a film I really had no desire to see – an overly melancholic, sappy sounding drama from the early ’70s, starring a couple of actors who I’ve never found particularly compelling. Urgh. Don’t we continue to make craploads of those insipid things every year, to this day? I’m pretty sure I just saw an ad for one starring Rachel McAdams and the guy from G.I. Joe. Nevertheless, the fact that Paramount has just issued the film on Blu-ray is excuse enough to finally bite the bullet and give it a chance.

I think the thing that I enjoyed most about the film is the look of it, Boston in 1970, the clothes, furniture and cars. It’s a beautiful window into that time period, scant few years before I was born. The handheld camera-work gives it a visceral feel, allowing the film to more easily transport the audience into the world onscreen. I didn’t hate Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw. There’s a combative nature to their relationship that’s almost refreshing, even after all these years. They do connect, which makes the final moments of the drama all the more poignant. Love Story certainly isn’t a bad film. It’s just unfortunately manipulative and exists for the sole purpose of delivering its suckerpunch in the final act, which seems to me to undermine the previous hour’s worth of story.

Thankfully, Love Story looks great on Blu-ray, rich with film grain and sporting a ton of detail. This is a completely film-like presentation that easily proves to be some of the finer work Paramount has afforded one of their catalogue releases. Fans will be very pleased. Audio is front heavy, as is to be expected but presented in a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.

Special features are limited but nice, led by an exceptional, very informative commentary track by director Hiller. Less impressive but a decent watch all the same is the 15-minute long featruette, ‘Love Story: A Classic Remembered‘. The disc is rounded out with the theatrical trailer.
AMAZON: $11.99

THE HOUR

Romola Garai, Dominic West and Ben Whishaw star in “The Hour”, a thrilling six-part drama set in 1950s London when the BBC is about to launch an entirely new way of presenting the news. The dynamic Bel (Garai) is chosen to produce the new program, to be called “The Hour”, with handsome and well connected Hector (West) set to become the anchor, much to the annoyance of Freddie (Whishaw), a brilliant and outspoken journalist, whose passion continually lands him in trouble. Over the six episodes, the interplay of intense ambitions between our rising news team play out against the backdrop of a mysterious murder and Freddie’s controversial and dangerous investigation.

It appears that you folks in the US got this 2-disc set of the BBC series The Hour back in September. Well, we here, up in Canadia just got our hands on this bad boy this week, along with revised (and improved, if you ask me) package art! I enjoy the 6-episode series well enough but find the spy plot ultimately watered down, which drains the tension from the climax of the narrative. I love the style of the series, though, and would enjoy watching an entire follow-up season focused on the characters and their struggles inside the world of the emerging television business without an espionage plot shoehorned in. Mad Men doesn’t need James Bond to ramp up the tension!

This BBC Blu-ray sets looks fantastic, as they all seem to do. As par for the course, the presentation is detailed and film-like but is encoded at 1080i, not that you’ll notice. Audio is lossless stereo and is clean and clear throughout. There are two featurettes included in the set, that run a total of around half-an-hour in length – ‘Behind the Scenes‘ (10:09) and ‘Creating The Hour‘ (20:26).

AMAZON: CDN$ 39.98

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s “The Phantom of the Opera“, Cameron Mackintosh produced a unique, spectacular staging of the musical on a scale which had never been seen before. Inspired by the original staging by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne, this lavish, fully-staged production set in the sumptuous Victorian splendor of London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall features a cast and orchestra of over 200, plus some very special guest appearances.

It’s not quite the Universal Monsters version of the story that I fell in love with as a child, but Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s musical version of the Phantom of the Opera does hold some limited appeal to monster fans like me. And this new Blu-ray presentation of the 25th Anniversary concert of the popular show is bound to please not only devout fans of the musical but also the most critical of home video fanatic.

DOWNTON ABBEY: SEASON 2

Season 2 of the Emmy Award-winning Downton Abbey returns as The Great War rages across Europe, and not even the serene Yorkshire countryside is free from its effects. The men and women of Downton are doing their part both on the front lines and the home front, but the intensity of war only serves to inflame the more familiar passions—love, loss, blackmail, and betrayal.

I’m kicking myself for not getting in on the ground floor of the Downton Abbey hysteria. I had every opportunity to check out the first season on Blu-ray but poo-pooed it, assuming it was just another UK drama about people of privilege at the turn of the last century. Guess I called that one wrong. The second season of the hit series is collected here on 3-discs with 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio tracks and a bunch of extras.

AMAZON: $24.99

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1

In the highly anticipated fourth installment of, “The Twilight Saga“, a marriage, honeymoon and the birth of a child bring unforeseen and shocking developments for Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) and those they love, including new complications with young werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

Ah, Twilight. Here we are again, faced with the umpteenth sequel to the popular saga of teen-Vampire-lust. It’s been a few years now and I still haven’t seen a single entry in this franchise and it looks like that might be how things shake out for the rest of my time on this green rock. I’m not sad. I think my vampire time is better spent with Bela and Christopher Lee. But for those in love with Bella and Edward, you’ll want to be sure to grab up Breaking Dawn, Part 1 on Blu when it hits shops this Saturday.

No, for real, it’s being released on Saturday. I dunno. Don’t ask me.

AMAZON: $22.99

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:

[VIDEO] Three Reasons: World on a Wire – The Criterion Collection

Brenden — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:30:51 +0000

I actually don’t need any more reasons to be excited about Criterion‘s upcoming Blu-ray edition of Rainer Werner Fassbinder‘s World on a Wire but this new ‘Three Reasons’ trailer from the studio has got me seriously chomping at the bit to get my hands on the disc. In a muscular month of releases that includes the likes of Preminger‘s Anatomy of a Murder and Lena Dunham‘s Tiny Furniture, World on a Wire is the one that gets my blood pumping. Just look at that photography! My god, ’70s retro-sci-fi is super cool. Even cooler when it’s German.

The Blu-ray disc will be in shops in a little over two weeks.

WORLD ON A WIRE
(February 21, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Fassbinder’s “World on a Wire”: Looking Ahead to Today, a fifty-minute documentary about the making of the film by Juliane Lorenz
New interview with German-film scholar Gerd Gemünden
New English subtitles
Trailer for the 2010 theatrical release
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Ed Halter

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 24

Brenden — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:07:07 +0000

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.

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:

DreamWorks Sudio

Real Steel

Evangeline Lily

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 feature 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. Note that the audio track on the Annie Hall disc appears to be slightly out of sync (I’m not the only one experiencing this). The studio has been contacted and I’m certain that a fix will be imminent. I’ll let you know if/when I hear anything more on the subject.

UPDATE: Pausing and un-pausing the Annie Hall disc appears to remedy the audio sync issues. Whew!

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:

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 17

Brenden — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:05:55 +0000

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!

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:

Criterion April Blu-ray titles: Harold and Maude, Late Spring, The Organizer, Alambrista, Hollis Frampton

Brenden — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:40:15 +0000

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

Blu-ray Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Classics

Brenden — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:53:54 +0000

Almost there. We’re less than a week away from Christmas morning and thankfully, I’m almost through my yearly gift guide. This list of classics on Blu represents some of the best and most exciting high-def releases of the past year. Every last one of them would make an ideal gift for the real film fan in your life.

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* TV ON BLU
* ANIMATION

What can I say? I’m a massive, unadulterated fan of just about everything that comes out of The Criterion Collection. To me, the studio can do no wrong. I fork over a decent amount of my salary to them each and every year and 2011 has been no exception. Some of the most exciting titles to come out of Criterion are the older, more classic catalogue releases, quite often lovingly restored and always looking and sounding better than ever. The images above represent a handful of the classics Criterion published on Blu-ray this year. They all come highly recommended.

AMAZON: Click for price list

There’s absolutely nothing to complain about here in the Blu-ray debut of Scorsese‘s Taxi Driver. Everything is perfect – the restoration is gorgeous, the transfer to Blu is flawless, the audio is rich and dynamic and special features are numerous and informative, including the classic Scorsese/Schrader Criterion Collection commentary track! To top it all off, the packaging – a digibook-style gatefold case which includes a reproduction of the original movie poster and photographs – is a final, perfect touch of class. There’s nothing to complain about here. This is everything we fans could hope for. Even the price is incredible (the disc has been $13 at Amazon since its pre-order debut). So what are you waiting for? Go out and grab a copy of Taxi Driver on Blu-ray. It’s one of the finest films ever made presented here in in the best possible Blu-ray package.

Highest possible recommendation!!

AMAZON: $12.99

The Ten Commandments is a classic. It’s long, clocking in at over three and a half hours, but races by in a heartbeat. This is timeless, compelling stuff, with iconic, scene-chewing performances from the likes of Heston and Brynner.

Given the length of the film, Paramount has wisely opted to spread it over two Blu-ray discs, breaking at the intermission point, allowing for an optimal bitrate for its high-def debut presentation. And let me tell you, this thing looks fantastic! The Ten Commandments is one of the finest looking restoration/transfers I’ve yet seen on the format. Colours absolutely sing, brought to vivid, new life on Blu-ray by Ron Smith and his team of film restoration experts, with shocking amounts of detail and rock-solid contrast. I can’t get over how perfect this transfer is! The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack is also impressive, never able to achieve the full dynamic range of a modern soundtrack but always clean and clear, ably enhancing the source material with subtle, respectful use of multiple channels.

Paramount’s new Blu-ray release of The Ten Commandments receives out highest possible recommendation!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Commentary by Katherine Orrison, author of Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille’s Epic, The Ten Commandments
Newsreel: The Ten Commandments – Premiere in New York HD
Theatrical Trailers HD

AMAZON: $22.99

All the President’s Men is honestly one of the best films I’ve ever seen. In the top ten best ever, if you ask me. I can’t tell you how great it is to have it on Blu-ray, in this classy, hardcover digibook presentation from Warner Home Video. The transfer isn’t going to win any awards but retains a nice, solid film-like look throughout, with a much greater sense of depth than in the previous, flat DVD presentation. Colours seem acurate, grain is present and artifacts are nowhere to be found. This is the best the film has ever looked on home video.

AMAZON: $24.49

Coppola and the team at Zoetrope have done it again! I had little doubt that they’d deliver the best possible presentation for this film after their stellar work on last year’s Apocalypse Now Blu-ray sets. And sure enough, The Conversation is a slam dunk. Keep in mind, this is a natural looking, early ’70s film and the high-def presentation echoes that on every level. It looks like film, with all its grain and vibrancy. It’s a rich, thick image that any fan of the film will be impressed with. I have a feeling, however, that those with an eye more attuned to modern high-def presentations might not find this disc quite as pleasing. Lossless audio is presented in both the original mono as well as a new, expanded DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. The mono track is great for those who want to experience the film as it was initially released but the 5.1 track is worth a listen for its innovative sound design and the more dynamic treatment of Shire’s score. Fantastic!

The Conversation comes to Blu-ray with a nice selection of special features including one of the best director’s commentary tracks I’ve had the pleasure to listen to. Coppola always gives good commentary (check out his Godfather tracks or the original Criterion Bram Stoker’s Dracula Laserdisc commentary for some excellent examples) but this is one of his best, packed with tons of info on the production and the business in general. A great listen. Editor Walter Murch also provides a solid commentary track that isn’t quite as lively and well rounded as the director’s but a worthwhile listen all the same. David Shire’s interview features a handful of anecdotes and sees the composer revisiting his score on the piano as well as paying and singing with his former brother in law, Coppola.

AMAZON: $17.99

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.

AMAZON: $19.99

Sony has got another winner on its hands, presenting Das Boot, in its Blu-ray debut, in both the original theatrical cut and the much longer, more involved Director’s Cut, each on its own disc. There’s no hint here of the longer, uncut version, released to German television with a lengthy 293-minute runtime in 1988 and on DVD in 2004 but you know, that’s all right with me. The film becomes ungainly with that much extra footage anyway. In every other way, though, this 2-disc set is complete. While the transfers won’t wow most viewers new to the film, this is clearly the best it’s ever looked on home video. The Director’s Cut maxes out its dual-layer platter, leaving room for little else on the disc. I noticed some artifacting (clearly, the film doesn’t compress easily to fit the 50-gig limit) but it’s slight and won’t offend. Both versions appear similar, otherwise, with inconsistent grain and black levels, less detail than you’d hope but stable, if appropriately dull colour throughout. The longer cut features a nice DTS-HD Master 5.1 track, while the Theatrical Cut sports a lossless 2.0 track (advertised as 5.1).

Special features are fantastic across the board, highlighted by the feature length commentary on the Director’s Cut (hosted by disc producer Ortwin Freyermuth and featuring Petersen and actor Jürgen Prochnow) and the 45-minute HD doc, “Wolfgang Petersen-Back To The Boat“. I also really enjoyed “The Perfect Boat” featurette, which looks at the creation of the Director’s Cut of the film, finding a cut of the film that could exist between the truncated Theatrical version and the Uncut version that aired on TV.

Highly Recommended!!

AMAZON: $19.49

MGM, fresh from settling their bankruptcy woes, have been releasing dozens of catalogue titles through the past year, with transfers that are pleasing, in that they look like raw, scanned-in film transferred to disc with little-to-no restoration work put into them. But, honestly, I’d rather have discs with this type of transfer than those poorly “enhanced” releases we often see from other studios, with boosted colours and ‘DNR’ed-to-death smoothness. The three titles above rank among the studios finest of this past year, all looking and sounding better than ever and all new to Blu-ray.

AMAZON: $16.99-$17.99

Detail is astounding here on the Once Upon a Time in the West Blu-ray disc, in a picture that offers greater depth than you’d expect from a film of its age. Colours are vivid and sun-ravaged and blacks imposing and deep. Slight print damage survives the digital restoration and some unobtrusive wobble is present but nothing that will distract from this otherwise excellent presentation. This is what a studio can do with a classic film when they really put their minds to it. Paramount have included the original mono soundtrack for purists but you’ll want to check out the more dynamic, yet still tasteful, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Subtle ambient effects inform the sonic environment without compromising the original sound design of the film. Excellent work.

Special features have been carried over from the previously available DVD edition of the film and are, for the most part, well worth a look. The most impressive feature of the disc, however, is the fact that the studio has included two different cuts of the film for your viewing pleasure – the original theatrical 165-minute version as well as the 166-minute restoration.

Highly recommended!!

AMAZON: $15.99

Most of Kubrick‘s Warner films have been available on Blu for quite some time but this year, as part of a massive multi-disc release, the studio made their final two films in the director’s catalogue available. Both Lolita and Barry Lyndon have now been released in a boxed set and individually. The discs are, sadly, rather bare-bones affairs both feature pretty decent looking transfers and are both must-owns for fans of the director.

AMAZON: $17.99

Fox has released a fair number of deluxe-Blu-ray-book packaged discs over the past year. The four above represent the best of them, in my experience – all sporting great HD transfers and packed with bonus goodies. This is the way all true film classics should be presented!

AMAZON: Various

It’s been years since I’ve had to opportunity to sit down with either Pulp Fiction or Jackie Brown 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.

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.

AMAZON: CDN$ 15.00 and CDN$ 24.99

A lot of people have been waiting a long time for a Blu-ray release of the Vincente Minnelli classic Meet Me in St. Louis, and now that day has finally arrived! As decent as the 2004 2-disc DVD release was, fans of the 1944 musical will be bowled over by the improvements here on Blu-ray. To begin with there’s slightly more picture in the frame and that image is now resplendent with fine grain. You can imagine, if grain is visible then there’s a ton of detail on display. But the improvements don’t end there. The early pallet of Technicolor tones is far more vibrant and stable than in the past, making this transfer easily the most film-like edition of Meet Me in St. Louis available to date. The original mono audio has been “upgraded” to a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Thankfully, it’s fairly respectful to the original intent and only seems to fill the sound field when the music kicks in. Though it’s not exactly representative of the tracks origins, the sound does benefit from the lossless audios added dynamic range and fidelity.

Along with this fantastic new Blu-ray presentation, the Meet Me in St. Louis disc ports over the entire bounty of special features from the previously released DVD Special Edition, including the exceptional commentary track by Judy Garland biographer John Fricke with Margaret O’Brien, screenwriter Irving Brecher, songwriter Hugh Martin and daughter of producer Arthur Freed, Barbara Freed-Saltzman. There’s a half-hour long “making of” doc, as well as a 45-minute long TCM special on Judy Garland called “Becoming Attractions” that are both very much worth watching. The 1972 “Hollywood: The Dream Factory” doc is narrated by Dick Cavett and runs 50-minutes but, as you can imagine, is quite a dated affair at this point. The disc is rounded out with some archival shorts, an “Audio Vault” with a music only track, outtakes and more, the theatrical trailer and an intro to the film by Garland’s daughter Liza Minnelli. The Blu-ray and a 4-track CD Sampler are packaged within a 42-page digi-book.

AMAZON: $25.99

While Fox is rather new to the Blu-ray-book game, Warner has been at it for quite some time. And this year, they unleashed a whole host of their finest titles in the format, including some films new to Blu! Feature sets and transfer qualities vary greatly but the four above are definitely worth a look for any film fan.

AMAZON: Various

CLASSICS 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:

Criterion March Blu-ray titles: David Lean directs Noël Coward, Last Temptation of Christ, Letter Never Sent, The War Room, A Night to Remember

Brenden — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:52:02 +0000

It appears that March will prove to be a landmark month of Criterion Blu-ray releases for me for a couple of reasons – another stacked boxed set of classics making their Blu-ray debuts and one of my favourite films of all time finally receiving its high-def upgrade.

The David Lean directs Noël Coward boxed set includes 4 film collaborations between the director and writer, including the previously available Brief Encounter. The boxed set carries over the Bruce Eder commentary track from that old DVD while adding a ton of brand new bonus goodies. Martin Scorsese‘s The Last Temptation of Christ is one of the films on my list of Criterion DVDs in need of a Blu-ray Upgrade and as such, is probably the disc I’m most desperate to get my grubby paws on. It’s one of the finest gems in the director’s crown and one of the most often overlooked. Titanic disaster film A Night to Remember also receives an upgrade this month, arriving on Blu-ray with a few new special features and coincidentally timed to coincide with the re-release of James Cameron‘s Titanic film, presented in cinemas this time around with the magic of 3D! Speaking of perfect timing, D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus‘ election doc, The War Room comes to Blu just as another US election gets its pimp on. Last, but not least, is the Russian film Letter Never Sent, which I’ve never seen and hold no opinion of, outside of the fact that its Blu-ray release appears to contain nothing in the way of special features, aside from the standard Criterion booklet.

And that’s March…

DAVID LEAN DIRECTS NOËL COWARD
(March 27, 2012 – MSRP $99.95)
Video: 1.37:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

New high-definition digital transfers of the BFI National Archive’s 2008 restorations, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
Audio commentary on Brief Encounter by film historian Bruce Eder
New interviews with Noël Coward scholar Barry Day on all of the films
Interview with cinematographer-screenwriter-producer Ronald Neame from 2010
Short documentaries from 2000 on the making of In Which We Serve and Brief Encounter
David Lean: A Self Portrait, a 1971 television documentary on Lean’s career
Episode of the British television series The Southbank Show from 1992 on the life and career of Coward
Audio recording of a 1969 conversation between Richard Attenborough and Coward at London’s National Film Theatre
Trailers
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Ian Christie, Terrence Rafferty, Farran Smith Nehme, Geoffrey O’Brien, and Kevin Brownlow

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
(March 13, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack by supervising sound editor Skip Lievsay
Audio commentary featuring director Martin Scorsese, actor Willem Dafoe, and writers Paul Schrader and Jay Cocks
Galleries of production stills, research materials, and costume designs
Location production footage shot by Scorsese
Interview with composer Peter Gabriel, with a stills gallery of traditional instruments used in the score
PLUS: An essay by film critic David Ehrenstein

LETTER NEVER SENT
(March 20, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Dina Iordanova

THE WAR ROOM
(March 20, 2012 – MSRP $29.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by directors D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
Return of the War Room, a 2008 documentary in which advisers James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, and Paul Begala and others reflect on the effect the Clinton war room had on the way campaigns are run
Making “The War Room,” a conversation between the filmmakers about the difficulties of shooting in the campaign’s fast-paced environment
Panel discussion hosted by the William J. Clinton Foundation and featuring Carville, Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan, journalist Ron Brownstein, and surprise guest Bill Clinton
Interview with strategist Stanley Greenberg on the increasing importance of polling
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by writer Louis Menand

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
(March 27, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Audio commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, author and illustrator of “Titanic:” An Illustrated History
The Making of “A Night to Remember” (1993), a sixty-minute documentary featuring William MacQuitty’s rare behind-the-scenes footage
Archival interview with Titanic survivor Eva Hart
En natt att minas, a forty-five-minute Swedish documentary from 1962 featuring interviews with Titanic survivors
Trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Sragow

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

Brenden — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:45:06 +0000

Ha! Almost right on schedule this week. Just a few hours late. But a vast improvement, right? RIGHT?! Urgh…

There’s a lot of great stuff new on Blu-ray this week, folks. There are at least five discs listed below that could’ve easily been the Pick of the Week. But I went with the easy one. Seriously, though, don’t miss out on the others. Enough chit chat, let’s get to the reviews!

Blu-ray disc of the week: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

“

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a revolution; an action-packed epic featuring stunning visual effects and creatures unlike anything ever seen before. At the story’s heart is Caesar (Andy Serkis), a chimpanzee who gains human-like intelligence and emotions from an experimental drug. Raised like a child by the drug’s creator (James Franco), Caesar ultimately finds himself taken from the humans he loves and imprisoned. Seeking justice, Caesar assembles a simian army and escapes — putting man and primate on a collision course that could change the planet forever.

I’m not embarrassed to say it – Rise of the Planet of the Apes is not only one of the best summer blockbusters of 2011, it’s also one of the best films I’ve seen all year! Who’d have guessed that Fox could successfully reboot two of their most important franchises within a couple of months of each other this past summer? (X:Men First Class debuted the first week of June and Apes hit screens almost exactly two months later.) While I enjoyed the heck out of the X:Men reboot, I think director Rupert Wyatt knocked Apes out of the park. It doesn’t hurt, though, that the film boasts one of the tightest genre scripts in recent memory, a handful of fantastic actors who’re able to overcome the cardboard nature of their characters (Brian Cox, John Lithgow and Frido Pinto are pretty much the best ever), and some of the best motion capture/animation seen thus far in a live-action film. I don’t know that I’d give Serkis the Oscar for his lead role as Caesar, the leader of the apes, but his character is certainly the most compelling in the cast and the underlying tech that brings him to life is remarkable. Would it surprise you to learn that the film ends with a perfect setup for a sequel? Of course not. And I, for one, can’t wait to see it (Rise of the Battle for the Planet of the Apes?)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes offers one of the stronger Blu-ray presentations of the year. Depth and detail are out of this world on this disc. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is equally as muscular, with great dynamic range and clarity. It’s an aggressive and exciting track that you can easily use to show off your audio setup, especially if you fast-forward to the action-packed final act of the film.

Special features are numerous, as you can see if you scroll down to the list below. Most are deleted scenes (with unfinished effects) and brief featurettes that generally run under 10-minutes apiece. The real stars of the bonus goodies are the two commentary tracks, both packed with great information – the first from director Wyatt and the second from screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. There’s so much more here, including multi-angle features and BD-Live exclusives that I haven’t had the time to explore yet but it’s all indicative of the care and passion for this project and the production of this Blu-ray release. My only wish is that it had included a feature-length documentary but hey, you know me, that’s what I want from every disc release.

Highly recommended!

Special Features:

Feature Film
Deleted Scenes
- Alpha Gets Shot
- Will’s Meeting with Lab Assistants
- Will Discovers Caesar Has Solved Puzzles
- Caesar Plays with Bicycle
- Caesar Questions His Identity
- Caesar Bites Off Neighbors Finger
- Will Ignores the Risks of an Airborne Mutated Virus
- Rodney Gives Caesar a Cookie
- Rocket Gets Hosed by Dodge
- Caesar Destroys the Lab and Koba’s Attempted Revenge on Jacobs
- Caesar Pushes Helicopter
- Koba with Shotgun
Pre-vis for The Future
Capturing Caesar – Script to Screen
Studying the Genius of Andy Serkis
Multi-Angle: Rocket Cookie Scene
A New Generation of Apes
Breaking Motion Capture Boundaries
Breaking New Sound Barriers: The Music and Sound Design of Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Ape Facts
- Chimpanzee
- Gorilla
- Orangutan
Audio Commentary by Director Rupert Wyatt
Audio Commentary by Writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver
Character Concept Art Gallery
Three Theatrical Trailers
Digital Copy

AMAZON: $22.99

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

Senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all – he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the hottest girl in high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But trouble arrives when an intriguing stranger Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right – yet no one, including Charley’s mom (Toni Collette), seems to notice! After witnessing some very unusual activity, Charley comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on his neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone that he’s telling the truth, Charley has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp of the comedy-horror classic.

I skipped out on seeing the Fright Night remake in the theatre. I thought it looked like trash. I guess it is, you know? But it’s incredibly fun and imaginative trash. The best kind! Outside of the leading characters and the basic premise, it’s fairly safe to say that the whole story has been re-imagined. Okay, maybe re-imagined is a strong term here. Perhaps boosted, broadened, lengthened or deepened are better descriptors. The original narrative of the 1985 film was fairly straightforward but the remake adds complexity into the mix – Charlie’s social standing, Peter Vincent’s (David Tennant) traumatic childhood, Gerry’s lengthy, checkered past. There’s far more to digest here – and the original versions lean and mean approach to the same content proves that none of it is necessary – but director Gillespie handles it all with aplomb. He never forgets that at the film’s core, it’s a dark comedy. And he plays to those strengths leaving the big scares for the climax (which, though quite different and far more grandiose, pays tribute to the original.)

Fright Night comes to Blu-ray boasting a strong transfer with a healthy, high bit-rate transfer. This is a pretty dark film and there’s some crush built into the source but overall, this presenation looks detailed and film-like. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track is reference quality, with a robust surround presence and plenty of dynamic headroom to accurately reproduce the chilling Ramin Djawadi score and rattle your china with explosive lows. Great stuff!

I’m a little surprised that Disney and Dreamworks didn’t pack more bonus features into this 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD package. Outside of an 8-minute long featurette called “The Official “How to Make a Funny Vampire Movie” Guide” there’s very little sense given of what went into making the film. Beyond that, the disc offers a few minutes of deleted/extended scenes, a gag reel, a music video and a couple of short pieces culled from within the film.

AMAZON: $22.99

FRIGHT NIGHT and RAPTURE

If you’re like me and you love the original Fright Night you’ll be glad to learn that it’s also available on Blu-ray today. Here’s the catch though, it’s only available through Twilight Time (a studio within Screen Archives Entertainment that began licensing Sony titles for exclusive release a few months ago) and in a very limited release of 3000 units. So, if you want one, click on over there and grab it up as soon as you can. The studio is also releasing John Guillermin‘s 1965 dark fairy tale Rapture in limited edition Blu today. I’ve never seen the film but it looks like it might be a blind buy for me!

TWILIGHT TIME: $29.95 each

KUNG FU PANDA 2

“Kung Fu Panda 2“: An “A” with audiences everywhere, “Kung Fu Panda 2″ is “hilarious and full of heart” (Sandy Kenyon, WABC-TV) and a “winning sequel” (Scott Bowles, USA TODAY) to the Academy Award(R) nominated original film. “Kung Fu Panda 2″ packs a powerful punch, combining non-stop action, beautiful storytelling and stunning animation in this awesome adventure. “Kung Fu Panda: Secrets Of The Masters”: In this all-new “Kung Fu Panda” adventure debuting exclusively on DVD and Blu-ray, Po and the Furious Five uncover the legend of three of kung fu’s greatest heroes: Master Thundering Rhino, Master Storming Ox, and Master Croc.

Is Kung-Fu Panda 2 one of the best animated films of the year or one of the best films of the year, full stop? Tough for me to say right now, as I’ve only just watched it but damn, is it ever a winner! I mean, I enjoyed the first one as much as the next animation aficionado but I was blown away by this sequel. To be fair, I’m a bit of an aestheticist (is that even a word? No. No, it’s not…) – I’m a sucker for good design. And Kung-Fu Panda 2 has good design in spades. This is a fantastic looking movie! The crew of designers, illustrators and animators journeyed to China to gather reference and it shows. There’s so much gorgeous detail in every frame it’s almost distracting!

Thankfully, this isn’t just a great looking film, it’s also a fairly well written follow up to the 2008 original. The structure and outcome are a bit ho-hum, playing on typical themes in very predictable ways but the subtlety and comedy of the characters carry the show. Oh yeah, there’s also some incredible martial arts action here to hold your interest, just in case the funny and beautiful aren’t enough for you.

Like I said, Kung-Fu Panda 2 looks like a million bucks. And thankfully, so does the Blu-ray edition of the film. In fact, this is one of the best looking discs to be released this year. The digital-to-digital transfer is just about as perfect as the format gets, looking ridiculously detailed and colourful. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track is also reference quality. Actually, I’ll just say it, the audio here is perfect too. I can’t imagine a better sounding lossless track. This Blu-ray is definitely your new demo disc.

The hits just keep coming with the supplemental package on the Kung-Fu Panda 2 Blu-ray disc. The 2-disc set (Blu-ray and DVD) goes way beyond the call of duty and beyond the standard set of extras included on the average release. Aside from the ubiquitous commentary track, featurettes and trailers, the Blu-ray disc also includes a picture-in-picture “Animators’ Corner” which covers just about everything you’d ever want to know about the film and includes interviews, animatics, storyboards, art and much more! If that’s not enough KFP2 info for you, try out the pop-up “Trivia Track”, which covers even more ground. There’s a handful of deleted scenes with intros from director Jennifer Yuh Nelson and a couple interactive games for the kids. But wait, there’s more! To round out the set, the studio has included and all new short, the 23-minute “Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters” which delves into the background of the martial arts masters. And when you’re through with that, you can check out a preview episode of the upcoming Nickelodeon animated series, “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.”

Super extra highly recommended!

AMAZON: $22.99

THE ROCKETEER

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of director Joe Johnson‘s (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) action-filled, witty “The Rocketeer“. And now with state-of-the-art digital restoration and enhanced high definition sound, experience it as it jets off for the first time on Blu-ray(TM). The discovery of a top-secret jetpack hurls test pilot Cliff Secord into a daring adventure of mystery, suspense, and intrigue! Cliff encounters an assortment of ruthless villains, led by a Hollywood screen star who’s a secret Nazi spy (Timothy Dalton). With the help of his actress girlfriend, the young pilot battles enormous odds to defeat his foes who are anxious to use the device in an evil plan to rule the world! The dangerous mission transforms the ordinary young man into an extraordinary hero.

Hey, remember The Rocketeer?! It was Disney’s attempt to ride the superhero movie wave created in the wake of Tim Burton‘s 1989 Batman film. While it wasn’t a great success at the box office back in the day, it’s garnered something of a cult following these past twenty years. And for good reason. For all the fits and starts in its storytelling, it’s really a fun little period piece. In fact, it’s more relevant now then ever with director Joe Johnston having only just returned to the era of the Nazi-bashing hero this past summer with Marvel‘s über-successful Captain America: The First Avenger. The two films actually have a whole lot in common – tone, structure and genre being the most obvious – but both remain fairly true to their comic book origins.

The Rocketeer, much like its source material, is a bit stiff and very reverent to its influences. It does, however, feature some breakout performances from a young, clean cut Billy Campbell and the-girl-from-Labyrinth-grown-up Jennifer Connelly. Also, look for Terry O’Quinn (John Locke in Lost) as Howard Hughes! The Rocketeer isn’t the best or most exciting comic book film on Blu-ray but it’s a welcome addition to any fan’s library.

The film looks better than ever on Blu-ray. Sadly, I think it might be a little constrained on this single-layered platter. As colourful and detailed as this transfer appears, I can’t help but feel it would look more film-like or have a greater sense of depth if allowed to breath on a dual-layered BD-50 disc. But hey, like I said, this still looks great. Better than I’ve seen it looking since I watched it on the big screen twenty-years ago. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track can’t quite measure up to modern ones but it’s impressive nonetheless. James Horner‘s score is afforded plenty of headroom to breath, the LFE is given a reasonable workout and dialogue is always clean and clear.

The real crime of this Anniversary Blu-ray release is the fact that there are no special features included on it! You read that right, an anniversary release with no bonus goodies. Okay, I mean, there’s a standard-def trailer on here but come on, that’s barely a “feature”. It’s more like mocking the absence of features. Sheesh. Can you tell I’m a little steamed here? I was really looking forward to a commentary track, a Dave Stevens memorial (the creator of The Rocketeer passed away in 2008) or, if nothing else, a short cast and crew retrospective. But to no avail. The Rocketeer gets the shaft yet again. Why cain’t the man get him no respect?!

AMAZON: $18.99

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS

St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. Seventeen-year old Esther has fallen in love with John, the boy next door who has just moved in. He, however, barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transferred to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis just before the start of the St. Louis 1904 World’s Fair.

AMAZON: $25.99

BRANDED TO KILL and TOKYO DRIFTER

Criterion‘s got two critical Blu-ray upgrades out in shops today. Two Seijun Suzuki films that the studio issued on DVD over a decade ago, both of which have been desperate for some TLC, have been cleaned up, restored and given sparkling new transfers that reveal more detail (and in one case, a good deal more of the image on all sides) and offer up new supplements. Both Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter top my Christmas list this year. Hope my family is reading…

AMAZON: $35.99 and $27.99

VELVET GOLDMINE

Ewan McGregor (Angels & Demons), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (“The Tudors”) and Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, The Fighter ) star in this alluring journey through rock ’n’ roll’s most outrageous era. It’s been 10 years since glam-rock superstar Brian Slade (Rhys Meyers) faked his own death and vanished from the spotlight. Now, it’s the job of an investigative reporter (Bale) to uncover the truth behind his disappearance. Directed by Todd Haynes (I’m Not There) and acclaimed by critics, VELVET GOLDMINE delves into the vibrant ‘70s music scene with an all access pass and an uncompromising look at the flamboyance and excesses of its larger-than-life stars.

I really didn’t care for Velvet Goldmine the first time I saw it. It seemed at times indulgent and at times utterly confused. It didn’t occur to me until much later that both impressions follow the state of Bale’s character as he delves deeper into the upside down world of glam-rock stardom. I found myself coming back to the film over the years, running across it on late night TV, sitting at home, flipping channels or looking for something to watch while visiting my parents, exploring their endless number of satellite TV stations. It’s one of those strange films that seems to take time to grow on you. And now that it has, I can’t escape it.

Velvet Goldmine is better now than it was when it was released in 1998. It’s Citizen Kane as glam-pop mystery, looking backward at rock-god characters who strongly (and often directly) echo David Bowie and Iggy Pop. The film is best when re-imagining the glory days of glam but serves as just about as wonderful an ode to the cinematic style of Orson Welles as it does to that era of music. I think Haynes might have created the ultimate medium mash-up here.

Velvet Goldmine looks fairly soft on Blu-ray, presented in a single-layer disc transfer that does its best to feel its way around the various types of footage in the film. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, this is the best it’s ever looked on home video but it’s not the sort of presentation that’s going to “wow” you. Solid but not brilliant. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound track, on the other hand, just might take your breath away. All the music in the film – and there’s a lot of it – sounds absolutely stellar throughout.

The Canadian release I had the pleasure of reviewing (from Alliance – the US is out today from Miramax and Lionsgate) doesn’t include much in the way of special features but the newly recorded commentary track from Haynes and producer Christine Vachon is a really engaging listen. If you love the film, the director or the era the film covers you owe it to yourself to check this out. The only other bonus goodie on the disc is the theatrical trailer. The Canadian release also includes a DVD version of the film.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

Also available: VELVET GOLDMINE (US Edition)

AMAZON: $14.99

In Canada only: BLACK SHEEP

When sheep-aphobic Henry returns to sell his share of the family farm, he finds his brother has been genetically altering the animals. The resulting monsters go on a murderous rampage, and it’s up to Henry to stop them. With frighteningly grotesque effects courtesy of Peter Jackson’s WETA workshop, Black Sheep is “rife with bloody gore and funny gags”! (Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times )

Okay, look, I know that these types of films aren’t for everyone but I totally love Black Sheep. Forget for a moment that the effects are done by the Lord of the Rings guys (on a severely tight budget, but still…) and just drink in that this is a movie about zombie sheep in New Zealand. Not sold yet? All right, well, I’ll tell you a secret (a small spoiler, really) – it’s not just about zombie sheep, it’s also about WERE-SHEEP!! Giant, furry were-sheep, frothing at the mouth and damned if they’re going to be sheared!

Honestly, this is great stuff. It’s like a Kiwi Shaun of the Dead. That same type of tone – reverential to the horror films that inspired it but fresh and new and none too serious. I know the film has been kicking around on video and playing the circuit now for about four or five years. I honestly can’t believe it’s taken me this long to see it. Don’t you wait any longer, if this sounds like it might be your cup of tea. Order it, rent it, whatever. Black Sheep is fantastic low-budget comedy/horror!

All things considered, the film looks pretty decent on Blu-ray. Though it’s on a single-layered disc (yes, another one) it retains some depth and offers plenty of gruesome, bloody detail, especially in the brighter scenes. Audio is, sadly, only offered in a compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. No lossless on this bad boy! But what you get doesn’t sound any too awful, for what it is. You won’t be too disappointed at the lack of lossless here.

There are plenty of extras on the disc including a commentary track with writer/director Jonathan King and actor Nathan Meister, a half hour “making of” doc, a collection of deleted scenes with optional commentary, a blooper reel and the trailer.

AMAZON: CDN$ 19.99

HEAVENLY CREATURES

From acclaimed director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) comes a true-life story of the shocking crime that stunned a nation. When circumstances bring together two imaginative teenage schoolgirls, they quickly form an unwavering bond, creating a fantasy world that only they can share. But then their parents become disturbed by the intensity of the friendship, and threaten to keep them apart. In retaliation, the girls vow to stay together, devising a secret plan that leads to shocking consequences. Thrilling and provocative, HEAVENLY CREATURES stars Academy Award® winner Kate Winslet in her screen debut.

Heavenly Creatures in out in the US today but hit Blu-ray here in Canada last week. I posted my thoughts on the disc in last week’s roundup of new releases. You can check it out here.

AMAZON: $14.99

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:

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of December 6

Brenden — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:10:03 +0000

Sigh. Super late again. Sorry guys. This is a heavy, heavy month for me. I’m trying my best to stay on top of these releases but it’s tough going right now. I’m really looking forward to that couple of weeks off from the office over the holidays.

Anyway, enough griping, right? Scroll all the way down to check out some amazing Blu-ray titles out this past week that I’m not covering here in this new release post. Stuff like Cowboys and Aliens, The Help and Portlandia: Season One.

Blu-ray disc of the week: À BOUT PORTANT (POINT BLANK)

Produced by Cyril Colbeau-Justin and Jean-Baptiste Dupont, “Point Blank” also stars Roschdy Zem, Gerard Lanvin and Elena Anaya. Gilles Lellouche plays Samuel, a nurse working at a hospital when his pregnant wife (Anaya) is kidnapped before his very eyes. Knocked unconscious, he comes to and discovers that a dangerous criminal named Sartet (Zem) is responsible, and if he’s ever to see his wife again, he must do Sartet’s bidding. Samuel quickly finds himself pitted against rival gangsters and trigger-happy police in a deadly race to save the lives of his wife and unborn child.

You know, this might be a pretty sizable Blu-ray release week with a few major releases but in the last number of days, nothing impressed me more than this tight, little French thriller. Point Blank, as we all call it here in English speaking North America, is 84 of the most exciting, well shot, well acted minutes I’ve seen on film this year. Sure, I could punch a couple of holes in the narrative (there’s one moment in particular, where it seems everything would have been all right for the protagonist if he’d just followed his common sense, that just about sent me overboard) but those are small imperfections in an otherwise stellar film. The action is solid, the pacing is brisk and the plotting has just enough twists to keep the story interesting while you catch your breath between chases and shoot-outs.

Point Blank looks solid on Blu-ray, sporting a detailed, high-bitrate, film-like transfer that should please even the most critical of HD cinephile. With a handful of soft shots and a fairly muted palette, the presentation doesn’t rank amongst the finest on the format but appears completely accurate to the source material. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is a muscular one, punching you in the gut with every gunshot and filling the surrounds with the sounds of the seedier sides of Paris. Dialogue is always clean and clear throughout. Audio is available in the original French or in an English dub.

The Canadian disc I reviewed from eOne doesn’t appear to have any special features (Weird. Perhaps a licensing issue?) but the US edition from Magnolia includes a 50-minute “Making of” film.

Recommended!

AMAZON: $17.99

THE LADY VANISHES and A DESIGN FOR LIVING

Two more stellar looking releases from Criterion to add to my “PLEASE BUY THESE FOR ME FOR CHRISTMAS” list. The Lady Vanishes is a sweet looking upgrade from the 2007 DVD release (which was, itself, an upgrade from the 1998 DVD release) of the Hitchcock film while Ernst Lubitsch‘s Design for Living makes it’s debut in the collection this week. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on both of these classics soon (Perhaps around the 25th of this month? Anyone? Family?)

AMAZON: $26.99 and $31.99

THE DEBT

Academy Award® winner* Helen Mirren and two-time Academy Award® nominee** Tom Wilkinson star in The Debt, “a pulse-pounding and politically charged suspense thriller.” (Karen Durbin, Elle). In 1966, three Mossad agents were assigned to track down a feared Nazi war criminal hiding in East Berlin, a mission accomplished at great risk and personal cost – or was it? Thirty years later, the suspense builds as shocking news and surprising revelations compel retired team member Rachel Singer (Mirren) to take matters into her own hands. Co-starring Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain and Ciarán Hinds, it’s the film critics call “an intelligent thriller with superb performances.” (Claudia Puig, USA Today)

How do I talk about The Debt without revealing one of the major points of the film? Well, all right, let’s just start by saying that Worthington, Chastain and Marton Csokas play the younger versions of the characters played by Hinds, Mirren and Wilkinson, respectively. And I couldn’t help but be distracted by the fact that Csokas looks far more like Hinds than Worthington, as the story flashes back and forth. Is the casting all wrong here? No, you know what? It’s fine. In the end, the worst I can say about the performances is the standard Worthington-blank-slate argument. He’s not great and his Aussie accent slips through more often than it should but outside of that, the actors do a good job.

The story is compelling to be sure, as it flashes from the past, during the agents’ mission in Berlin to the late ’90s back in Israel, as they deal with the repercussions of their actions back in the day. But perhaps details of the past are not what they seem. By the end, everything comes to light in a satisfying conclusion that brings the story full circle. Mathew Vaughn and Jane Goldman (the pair responsible for such cinematic genre gems as X-Men: First Class and Stardust) crafted the screenplay based on the 2007 Israeli film Ha-Hov. It’s intersting to see Vaughn take on a writing gig that he’s not directing. John Madden, director of Shakespeare in Love, takes the reigns here, delivering his finest work since 1998.

The Debt looks soft on Blu-ray but, with such a high-bitrate presentation, I have to believe that’s due to the way it was shot and processed. Madden seems to want to keep things looking a bit dreamy, like a questionable memory from decades ago and the look of this disc plays into that. This is, otherwise, a handsome, seemingly colour-accurate and film-like presentation. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is fantastic, able to extend from moments of subtle ambiance to explosive sonic activity at a moments notice, all the while maintaining a clean, clear path for dialogue up the middle.

There are 3 featurettes on the Blu-ray edition of The Debt but none quite hit the 4-minute mark. Disappointing, to say the least. The showpiece of the extras then has to be the commentary track with director Madden and producer Kris Thykier. Sadly, while it’s full of anecdotes and production details, it’s not a very exciting or entertaining listen. I would recommend it to hard-core fans of the film only.

AMAZON: CDN$ 31.99

Also available: THE DEBT (US Edition)

AMAZON: $22.99

TORA! TORA! TORA!

“Tora! Tora! Tora!“… is the code that advised Japanese Imperial Navy commanders that the devastating December 7, 1941 attack on Hawaii commenced with utter surprise and without resistance. Torpedo bombers, dive bombers and fighter planes swept down upon Pearl Harbor and other military targets, killing over 2,400 and wounding over 1,200. More than a dozen ships were damaged or destroyed. Dozens of aircraft were lost. America, “the sleeping giant,” was abruptly awakened by WWII. “Tora! Tora! Tora!” is Twentieth Century Fox‘s meticulously researched and painstakingly authentic reenactment of “the date which will live in infamy” and the political and military intrigue that preceded it. This stunning and definitive war docudrama stars Jason Robards, Martin Balsam and E.G. Marshall.

The famous 1970 US/Japanese co-produce of Tora! Tora! Tora! hits Blu-ray nearly 70-years to the day after the real-life events the film re-creates on celluloid. I’m itching to get my hands on this disc as it apparently sports a stunning restoration and transfer of the film, and is packaged in one of those handsome digi-books I love so much. There are also a ton of extras here, including a commentary by director Richard Fleischer & Japanese film historian Stuart Galbraith IV, a bunch of docs on the film and the actual events of December 7, 1941 and more.

AMAZON: $19.99

HEAVENLY CREATURES

From acclaimed director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) comes a true-life story of the shocking crime that stunned a nation. When circumstances bring together two imaginative teenage schoolgirls, they quickly form an unwavering bond, creating a fantasy world that only they can share. But then their parents become disturbed by the intensity of the friendship, and threaten to keep them apart. In retaliation, the girls vow to stay together, devising a secret plan that leads to shocking consequences. Thrilling and provocative, HEAVENLY CREATURES stars Academy Award® winner Kate Winslet in her screen debut.

Seventeen years on, Heavenly Creatures really holds up. This is early Peter Jackson, fresh off of directing splatter-fest Dead Alive, clearly in the throws of perfecting his craft. The technical and artistic maturity on display here denotes remarkable growth in ability from his fun but fan-ish previous cinematic outings of note, including sci-fi/horror Bad Taste and puppet-porn Meet the Feebles. But don’t just check out Heavenly Creatures for Jackson. The performances are the thing here, and, while Winslet is fantastic, it’s really Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men) who steals the show. Watching this film, it’s a wonder a performer of her skill has remained in sitcom hell for so many years. It’ll be nice to see her return to features in more substantial roles.

Heavenly Creatures comes to Blu-ray in its uncut form. Fans of the film will be happy to learn that the film finally receives respectable treatment on home video! At long last, this thing looks pretty damn good. It’s still relatively soft, but this is far from those muddy-looking DVDs and Blu-ray discs of years past. This is a presentation in the proper aspect ratio with a good amount of detail, brilliant colour reproduction and a nice, overall film-like look. The soundtrack is a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. Nothing fancy here but she’s got it where it counts.

The only special feature on the Blu-ray disc is the theatrical trailer but this Canadian release that I reviewed (from Alliance) also packs in a DVD version of the film – a nice bonus! I’m pretty pleased with this Blu-ray presentation overall, just sad that it wasn’t possible to hook up something in the way of some decent extras. It’s far too significant a film to be bare bones like this.

NOTE: The US release of the Heavenly Creatures Blu-ray is December 13th.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

THE SIMPSONS: THE FOURTEENTH SEASON

Kang and Kodos invite you to add this Emmy Award(R) winning season to your collection filled with your favorite guest stars (Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Tony Hawk, Blink 182, and more) and exclusive features that will satisfy your hunger. Includes all 22 episodes from Season 14.

Hot damn, I still loves me some Simpsons! Season 14 isn’t the funniest or the wittiest of the many years worth of animated family hijinks but it’ll do in short order. Picking up the slack for the deficiencies in the feature content here is the bounty of stunning extras the studio has included in this 3-disc set. And that starts right at the packaging level! The slip-cover on the set features a reflective alien eye that provides a fancy “can’t-miss” look to the whole affair, while clearly gazing deep into your human soul. Inside you’ll find a thick 42-page booklet that outlines every single one of the set’s 22-episodes as well as all the special features. It also sports a friendly note from “hosts” Kang and Kodos, as well as a few words from Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

Diving into the content itself, you’ll find that every single episode has been given its own commentary track featuring various members of the cast and crew. The numerous featurettes across the discs are sadly quite short but usually entertaining enough. A couple of bonus “Treehouse of Horror” episodes have been added exclusively to the Blu-ray and are presented here in 1080p HD. There are also a host of deleted scenes, multi-angle storyboard/animatic and multi-language features that can be accessed through a number episodes.

As you most likely suspect, much like last year’s Thirteenth Season set, all the episodes on these discs are up-converted from standard definition sources, as no high-def masters exist. Taking that into consideration, everything looks fairly decent here. There’s no comparing the 4:3 full frame presentations to native HD material but fans of the show will be pleased with the rock solid colours and detail on display. This is probably as good as it gets.

AMAZON: $36.99

DRAGON TATTOO TRILOGY: EXTENDED EDITION

Based on Stieg Larsson’s literary phenomenon and featuring a breakthrough performance by Noomi Rapace, Stieg Larsson’s Dragon Tattoo Trilogy follows the unlikely heroine Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist. First as they unite to solve the case of a missing girl and then as they fight to uncover the truth about Salander’s past, a past full of secrets that a mysterious underground government group would kill to keep hidden. Featuring two hours of feature content never released in North America, the extended versions of the films are now offered together in English and French for the first time.

Just in time for the big screen, big budget Hollywood adaptation to hit screens, this stunning boxed set of the Extended Editions of the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (the made-for-Swedish-TV versions of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo / The Girl Who Played with Fire / The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) has now hit shops. The original “theatrical” cuts of the films have been available for some time now and collectors and fans have been eager to get their mitts on these longer cuts. Well, now Alliance (here in Canada and Music Box Films in the US) has heard their prayers and delivered just the boxed set they’ve been longing for.

I can’t speak to the US edition, but the packaging on the Canadian release looks fantastic! It’s a 4-page hardcover digi-book tucked into a solid cardboard sleeve, as you can see in the image above. I couldn’t be happier with the packaging. The only real drawback of the set is that the fourth disc, the one that contains all the bonus material, is a DVD that’s identical to the one included in the previously issued boxed set! It’s unfortunate that the studios couldn’t dig up a little, extra something new to include here, for those of us who bought the Theatrical Cut box. Note that the Canadian DVD doesn’t contain the supposedly excellent 48-minute long “Millennium: The Story” documentary included in the US collection (whose bonus disc is a Blu-ray, not a DVD!) but does include an additional interview with lead actress Rapace (12:30) and producer Soren Staermose (11:49.)

In poking around the internets before I received my review copies, I came upon the Home Theater Forum review of the US boxed set which notes that all 4 of the discs in the set are single layer BD-25 discs. I can confirm that the Canadian edition uses dual layer BD-50s for the three feature discs, sporting a much higher bitrate encode (seeming to average out around the 22Mbps mark, as opposed to the US which averages around 16Mbps according to the HTF review.) See, there is an upside to being Canadian after all! I’ll add that the films look and sound much better than I was expecting, with Dragon Tattoo itself being the strongest of the bunch. I should also add that each film is broken into 2 episodes which are played separately from the main menu. As a result of having more space on the discs than the US editions, our Canadian discs feature not only the original Swedish audio in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, but the English and French dubs as well (the US English dub track is compressed Dolby Digital 5.1!) I think we really scored with this fantastic domestic release from Alliance. The only thing it’s missing is that documentary, if you ask me.

NOTE: I did find that the discs were problematic in my PS3. Playback was a bit touchy. I’m in contact with the studio and will update this if I discover that there are issues with the discs themselves. My guess is that my machine is just starting to get picky in its old age. Time for a new “Slim” model? Maybe…

AMAZON: CDN$ 59.99

Also available: DRAGON TATTOO TRILOGY: EXTENDED EDITION (US Edition)

AMAZON: $46.99

THE HANGOVER: PART II

Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) travel to exotic Thailand for Stu’s wedding. What could go wrong? Director Todd Phillips‘ explosively funny follow-up to his award-winning smash hit demonstrates that though what happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, what happens in Bangkok can hardly be imagined.

As I watched The Hangover: Part II the other night, I couldn’t help but think that I might actually enjoy it to some degree if I were half in the bag, hanging out with my buddies. I think that’s probably the only way to experience this film. I don’t know what the production team and the executives at the studio were thinking when they made this thing. Sure, there are a lot of great little, filthy gags in the movie and all the performances are fantastic but everyone’s efforts are completely undermined by the atrocious script. Yes, it’s really that abominable. It’s greatest crime is simply that it regurgitates nearly every element of the first film, in what feels like a desperate attempt to match its success. Why not craft a new tale around another evening of debauchery? Why not make it the guys’ wives who’re hungover this time? Or hey, here’s an idea – how about not centering the film around another wedding? I really, really wanted to enjoy this film but I just couldn’t do it. The story is the same, the gags are the same. The only thing that’s new is the locale and that’s not enough to save it.

Thankfully, the Blu-ray disc looks and sounds spectacular. Warner has delivered a completely source-accurate high-def presentation here, that’s detailed and colour rich. Even if you don’t dig the film, there’s no denying that it makes a handsome looking Blu. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is equally as fine, with thunderous lows, plenty of immersive ambiance and clear dialogue. Special features are on the lite side, with 15-minutes or so of featurettes you can mostly skip, a 25-minute “Behind the Scenes” doc that’s got more laughs than the feature, an action montage and a 5-minute long Gag Reel.

AMAZON: $19.99

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – EXTREME BLU-RAY TRILOGY

A “mission” more than a decade in the making. Tom Cruise is IMF Agent Ethan Hunt, one of the greatest action heroes of all time, in the adrenaline-pumping suspense-filled blockbuster series “Mission: Impossible”. Filmed in the most exotic locations around the world by the biggest directors in Hollywood – Brian De Palma, John Woo and J.J. Abrams – the “Extreme Blu-ray Trilogy” presents every explosive moment in state-of-the-art sound and picture quality. Your mission, should you choose to accept it – experience the best action film collection.

These are the same three Mission: Impossible discs that have been previously released, on shelves again in new packaging and at a lower, more affordable price, just in time to take advantage of the hype surrounding the new film, Ghost Protocol. If you don’t already own these bad boys, now is the time to buy. Though, I have to say, it would be nice if the studio would see fit update these creaky old MPEG-2 encodes with some shiny new ones.

AMAZON: $27.99

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:

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of November 22

Brenden — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:25:44 +0000

I actually started tackling this post early this week, knowing full well that the onslaught of Black Friday deals would chip away at what little free time I would have to look at and review new Blu-ray discs. But alas, I find myself in the unfortunate position of publishing this New Release update late in the day as per usual. Luckily, there’s a lot of good stuff to check out here. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for titles I didn’t get a chance to review like Three Amigos!, Birth of a Nation and the latest season set of the Doctor Who TV show.

Blu-ray disc of the week: SUPER 8

JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg join forces in this extraordinary tale of friendship, mystery, and adventure. Super 8 tells the story of six friends who accidentally film a train wreck only to discover that something unimaginable escaped during the crash. Now, the only thing more mysterious than what it is – is what it wants. Experience the film that critics rave is, “filled with unstoppable imagination and visual effects to spare. It will put a spell on you.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

There are those of us who’ve been longing for the type of films and the style of filmmaking we came to know and love in the early ’80s in the work of Steven Spielberg – the magical, innocent feel of Close Encounters and E.T. that seems very elusive in cinema these days. I have a feeling that we can count filmmaker J.J. Abrams among us, as his latest film Super 8 is as much a love letter to a youth spent making films on the titular handheld camera as it is to the cinematic style of a man who would become something of a mentor to him.

Super 8 has just about everything going for it. It’s so slick and well shot, it stars the best and brightest cast of young kids to appear on the big screen since The Goonies and it sports another fantastic Michael Giacchino score. And, oh yeah, Abrams is a hell of a director who, In this case, absolutely nails that vintage Spielberg tone. It’s a cracking good yarn that really only loses some steam upon the moment of the big reveal. I mean, it’s not a bad reveal, I think I was just hoping to see something new or a little more imaginative. Perhaps a younger audience would look upon the plot with fresher eyes and not see that the twist in the tale is actually tired and predictable. It’s a testament to the filmmaking and all those involved in the production, though, that the single shortcoming of the film hardly matters a whit when the movie is just so overwhelmingly entertaining.

Super 8 looks fantastic on Blu-ray. I give Paramount a tough time about a good deal of their catalogue transfers but when they put their mind to these new releases they just knock them out of the park! And this one is no exception. This Blu-ray disc is reference quality with spot on colours, deep blacks and a light, perfect sheen of film grain. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 sound track is also a winner, providing booming lows, clean, clear dialogue and perfectly dynamic representation of the score. It’s honestly one of the most immersive tracks I’ve hear in ages. Just wait until you hear the train crash sequence. You’ll hardly believe your ears!

The Super 8 Blu-ray comes packed with special features including a killer commentary from Abrams, producer Bryan Burk, and cinematographer/lens-flare fanatic Larry Fong, a series of featurettes that, if viewed together, form an exhaustive feature-length doc about the making of the film and around 12-minutes of deleted scenes. There’s also a DVD and digital copy of the film in the package.

Highly recommended!

Special Features:

Commentary by writer/director J.J. Abrams, producer Bryan Burk and cinematographer Larry Fong
Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
- The Dream Behind Super 8
- The Search for New Faces
- Meet Joel Courtney
- Rediscovering Steel Town
- The Visitor Lives
- Scoring Super 8
- Do You Believe in Magic?
- The 8mm Revolution
Deconstructing the Train Crash
Deleted Scenes

DVD:

Feature Film
Digital Copy

AMAZON: $19.99

12 ANGRY MEN

12 Angry Men, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system that is as riveting as it is spare, this iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the dissenting member on a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. The result is a saga of epic proportions that plays out over a tense afternoon in one sweltering room. Lumet’s electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature film debuts.

Some say this film, Sidney Lumet’s first is his best. And now some are saying that this new Blu-ray edition of the courtroom classic from Criterion is the best it’s ever looked or sounded. I’m dying to get my hands on it and, by gum, if it doesn’t end up in a Black Friday sale some time this week it’s going to be the number one item on this year’s Christmas list.

AMAZON: $27.99

RUSHMORE

The dazzling sophomore film from Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox) is equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage, and screwball comedy. Tenth grader Max Fischer (The Darjeeling Limited’s Jason Schwartzman) is Rushmore Academy’s most extracurricular student—and its least scholarly. He faces expulsion, and enters into unlikely friendships with both a lovely first-grade teacher (The Ghost Writer’s Olivia Williams) and a melancholy self-made millionaire (Groundhog Day’s Bill Murray, in an award-winning performance). Set to a soundtrack of classic British Invasion tunes, Rushmore defies categorization; it captures the pain and exuberance of adolescence with wit, emotional depth, and cinematic panache.

Also making my Christmas list, if it doesn’t dip in price this week, is my favourite Wes Anderson film ever. I’ve just about burned out my Criterion DVD edition of Rushmore so I guess I’m about due for this upgrade. And with this release, I can tick another title off my list of Criterion DVDs most deserving of a Blu-ray upgrade. Now if only the studio would get around to Brazil…

AMAZON: $27.99

COP LAND

This tense action -thiller explodes with nonstop excitement and riveting star performances! Sylvester Stallone stars as Freddy Heflin, the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” – a small and seemingly town populated by big-city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive, deadly conspiracy among these local residents, he is forced to take action – and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols…and upholding the law!

Cop Land was released on Blu-ray a couple of weeks back by Lionsgate in the US of A. We, here in Canada, see the film hit shelves on Blu today via Alliance. This is exactly the same presentation that’s on the American disc. The only differences come in the form of branding and some trailers.

The transfer is a mixed bag and I can’t really pinpoint why. It looks really great at times, exhibiting tons of detail and definition but then, with other shots, suddenly appears soft. I can only imagine that the source material is all over the place – no doubt a result of limited budget – and resulted in this transfer that’s less than perfect. Lionsgate has been doing a bang up job with their Blu-ray presentations lately and I’d be shocked to learn that they cut corners here. All things considered, though, the disc looks pretty decent. It’s a big step up from the DVD.

Speaking of which, it’s been years since I’ve watched Cop Land and it really holds up. This is one of the best catalogue films I’ve watched recently and I’m so glad I’ve had this chance to revisit it. James Mangold writes and directs here and reminds me with every nuanced character and every show of machismo on screen why he’s the perfect choice to helm the next Wolverine film (yes, I’m actually kind of excited about Mangold directing Wolverine. Sue me!) But as awesome as the story is here, Cop Land is all about its killer cast – Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg, just about every cast member of The Sopranos and the list goes on and on.

The special features here are carried over from the previously available DVD edition of the film (which is actually included here as well, in the Canadian release) and include a decent commentary track from Mangold, Stallone, Patrick and producer Cathy Konrad, a 15-minute “making of” featurette, a storyboard comparison and a couple of pretty decent deleted scenes that you can choose to watch with optional commentary from Mangold, Stallone and Konrad.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND

George Clooney (Up in the Air) makes his directorial debut and stars alongside Drew Barrymore (He’s Just Not That Into You), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2) and Julia Roberts (Eat Pray Love) in the comedy thriller that poses an irresistible question: What would happen if a wildly successful TV producer was also a top secret CIA assassin? While a maverick creator of America’s favorite game shows gains notoriety for his smash television hits, he is also drawn into a shadowy world of danger as a covert government operative! But soon his double life begins to spiral out of control. Based on Chuck Barris‘s cult classic autobiography, this entertaining comedy is a killer hit!

Exactly along the lines of Cop Land, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind was released on Blu-ray a couple of weeks back by Lionsgate in the US of A. We, here in Canada, see the film hit shelves on Blu today via Alliance. This is exactly the same presentation that’s on the American disc. The only differences come in the form of branding and some trailers.

And just like Cop Land, this one was a pleasure to watch again, after only having seen the film once, way back when it was released in 2002. I’ve got to tell you that, as weird and subjective as it is, it really holds up. Clooney is one hell of a director and this is one hell of a debut. The script is never uninteresting and the performances are absolutely out of the world, with Rockwell devouring the screen at every opportunity. The only thing that makes the work feel dated is the over-the-top use of filters in the photography. It’s as if cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, fresh off his experimental work on Three Kings, felt like pushing every limit of the medium here in this production. And, as effective as that style might be at times, I find it simply distracting here.

So, don’t adjust your set, your Blu-ray looks exactly as it should – weird. Don’t worry, it’ll settle down after a time. And when it does, you’ll see just how fine this transfer is. There’s a lot to like here but with all the filtering and processing it’s tough to tell exactly how the disc is handling the source material. That said, fans of the film will be be more than happy with this upgrade. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also quite strong.

Much like the Cop Land disc again, the Confessions Blu-ray has carried over extras from the previously issued DVD which is included here as well, in the Canadian release. Bonus features include an entertaining commentary track from Clooney and Sigel, a fairly decent “Behind the Scenes” featurette that runs over 20-minutes, 23-minutes of, frankly amazing deleted footage with excellent optional commentary from Clooney and Sigel, screen tests, more footage of Gong Show acts and a few minutes looking at “The Real Chuck Barris”.

AMAZON: CDN$ 22.09

THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE

Based on a shocking true story, The Devil’s Double follows the riveting journey of Latif, a man forced to become the body double of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless son, Uday. Thrust into the debauched life of fast cars, easy women, and limitless power, Latif becomes virtually indistinguishable from the feared “Black Prince”. As war threatens Uday’s gangster regime, Latif realizes he must escape from the devil’s den – or die trying.

I enjoyed Lee Tamahori‘s The Devil’s Double for its story and design but the film belongs to Dominic Cooper, who plays both leading roles to perfection. The Blu-ray release is very strong with a vibrant, if not occasionally strange presentation and nice collection of extras. Check out my full review of the Canadian edition of the Blu-ray, linked to below.

AMAZON: CDN$ 24.99

Also available: THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE (US Edition)

AMAZON: $19.99

CONAN THE BARBARIAN

A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.

I’ve got a lot to say about this new Conan film but I’ll hold most of my thoughts for the inevitable full length review I’m plan to tackle whenever my screener arrives. I saw the film in theatres and feel comfortable saying that there’s a lot of fun to be had with the film. There are exciting action sequences, some scantily clad women and imaginative Frank Frazetta inspired images, rendered, for the most part, using the powers of the mighty CGI paint brush. Sadly, there’s also a whole lot that doesn’t work. But then again, I’m a massive fan of the original Conan film and might have had my personal bar set too high on initial viewing. Perhaps I’ll like this remake a lot more on Blu-ray?

AMAZON: $22.99

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