Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of August 24

Brenden — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:47:57 +0000

This weeks best Blu-ray releases deliver us a healthy dose of TV shows, classic films and animation. But nothing can compete with the juggernaut of a series that is Lost! It’s an easy call for the number one slot this week.

1. LOST: THE COMPLETE SIXTH AND FINAL SEASON

Well, this is a no-brainer. If the final Blu-ray season collection of the Lost tv series isn’t on your radar this week you’re missing out. This is one of the strongest releases of the year, featuring one of the best shows ever to air on network television in a damn-near perfect video and audio presentation. Not to mention the incredible and robust set of special features included in the set. I’ll save my musings about this final season of the series for a full review of the season set where I can go on at length about the controversial decisions the production team made to bring the series to a close along with my thoughts on the story in general.

But!

If, by chance, you happen to be one of those rare people who hasn’t had a chance to watch any of the series yet, you’re in luck…

Amazon: $47.99

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY TODAY -

LOST: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

…because the entire series, all six-seasons are now available in one amazing and convenient boxed set! Owners of individual seasons may even want to trade up to this big, bad-boy as it offers an extra secret disc of bonus content as well as tons of collectibles and goo-gahs.

Amazon: $194.99

2. THE SIMPSONS: THE 13TH SEASON

Hardcore fans might look at this thirteenth season of the long-running animated show as something of a mixed bag as it marks the beginning of Al Jean‘s first season as Show Runner and the subtle (to some, drastic to others) shift in tone from The Simpsons of previous seasons to the style of stories we still see from Jean’s team today. Either way, collectors will be happy to add another season to their shelves and fans will praise the return of creator commentary tracks. Here’s hoping Fox gets us more Simpsons on Blu-ray soon!

Amazon: $39.99

3. SHOGUN ASSASSIN (30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION)

I used to collect the Lone Wolf and Cub comic books back in the 80s, when they were first issued in English with those great Frank Miller and Bill Sienkewicz covers (yeah, I’ve still got ‘em!) Shogun Assassin is an American edit of the first two Japanese film adaptations of the series, smushed together into one slick package with a brand new rock soundtrack. It might not be as pure as the original versions but it’s still all kinds of fun. Read all about it in our previous post, here: Shogun Assassin coming to Blu-ray.

Amazon: $14.99

4. MACHINE GUN MCCAIN

Okay, this is a gangster film you’ve probably never seen. Why should you care about Machine Gun McCain? I’m going to throw some names at you here to see if I can can convince you – the film stars John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands and the always stunning Britt Ekland, with music by…get ready… the master, Ennio Morricone!!! The disc is produced by the Criterion of b-movies, Blue Underground so you’re guaranteed something nice to look at. I mean, aside from the lovely miss Ekland.

Amazon: $17.49

5. HANDMADE FILMS COLLECTION – TIME BANDITS, MONA LISA, WITHNAIL AND I, THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY

Oh man, I was so so so excited for these four classic British movies produced by Handmade Films to make their way onto Blu-ray. But not like this. All four of these should be Criterion releases. Hell, they’ve all been Criterion titles at some point and I wish they would goddamn well get their asses back there, to a studio that will treat them with some respect. Image has just chucked them all unceremoniously onto single-layer discs, compressed to hell with very few extras. And the worst offense? Time Bandits is only presented in 1080i. That’s right. Interlacing on a disc of a movie shot on film, in this day and age. Despite my reservations about the quality of the discs, all of these films are wonderful and most have never looked as good as they do on these cheapo discs.

Amazon: $12.99 each

ANIME OF THE WEEK: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2

If you picked up Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 1 back in May (it was one of our recommended Blu-ray discs for the week of May 25th!) you’ve no doubt been counting the days until you could get your hands on the follow-up thirteen episodes. Well, anime fans, the day has come and let me tell you, if you’re into this sort of thing, this second boxed set featuring the adventures of the Elric brothers is going to blow your mind!

While the first thirteen episodes were all about set-up, covering familiar ground and essentially condensing the first 30-or-so episodes of the original series into a small, more palatable chunk, the episodes found on the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2 Blu-ray discs find their way into new, unexpected and exciting territory. Al and Ed Elric are Alchemists – young magicians of a sort – who lost some significant body parts to their forbidden experiments. Their quest to find the mysterious Philosopher’s Stone which can make them whole again now takes a dark turn, leading them to lose dear friends and face painful secrets that could lead the boys to ruin. To speak more specifically about the story would spoil a host of surprises but rest assured, if anime is your thing, you won’t feel cheated by Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2.

The Blu-ray discs look pretty good, for upconverted content and sound great in both Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. I only wish there were more substantial bonus materials in the Blu-ray set, beyond the two commentary tracks from the English language voice cast.

Amazon: $33.99

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:

The Simpsons: The Complete Twentieth Season Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:39:18 +0000

THE SIMPSONS: THE COMPLETE TWENTIETH SEASON (2008-2009, Blu-ray released January 12, 2010 – MSRP $59.99)

While never being a rabid fan of The Simpsons, I’ve always enjoyed the show and try my best to catch new episodes when I can. More often than not I’m stuck with the syndicated reruns which seem to play non-stop on some channel, somewhere along the digital dial. I was delighted to get my hands on this Simpsons: The Complete Twentieth Season Blu-ray set, as I had only managed to see around half the episodes last year. What a treat!

It was so nice to have a chance to catch up on all the episodes I missed. The series holds up surprisingly well after a couple of decades. It might not have the bite or social relevance it once had but it delivers more than it has any business delivering after so long on the air. There’s a part of me that would like to see the series grow beyond it’s initial set-up, allowing characters to age, come together or move away from one another – send Bart to college, let Maggie walk and speak, bring a new child into the Simpson house. But at the same time, that growth quite often sounds the death knell of a series and the jumping of the proverbial shark. In that light, I’m glad to see that the Simpsons has stayed the course and remains one of the consistently quality comedies on the air!

The twenty-one episodes of the season are all complete and present, spread over two Blu-ray discs and looking and sounding pretty good. The first disc contains the nine holdover episodes from Season 19 that ran in 2008, produced in standard def and at the old 4:3 aspect ratio. Don’t be surprised by the black bars on either side of your screen when you watch those bad boys. They are no doubt up-converted from their native 480i for the Blu-ray 1080p presentation and as such look the part. There’s a lot of banding and aliasing of the sort you’re used to seeing in upconverted material. In this case, considering the source material, the presentation is completely acceptable.

The second disc is where all the real treats lie! The final twelve episodes of the season, the brand new ones were created and broadcast in high-def and feature a vast improvement in image quality. The 4:3 aspect ratio is gone, replaced by a beautiful wide 16:9, most of the banding and aliasing issues have been taken care of and there’s a whole lot more detail present on the screen. And hey, the studio even re-animated the opening in high-def, representing the more modern, tighter designs of the characters for the first time! All in all, the Blu-ray set looks as you would expect when dealing with lower-budget television animation and doesn’t disappoint.

What is disappointing, however is the severe lack of special features on The Simpsons: The Complete Twentieth Season Blu-ray disc set. Where previously issued DVD sets were jam packed full of commentary tracks, deleted scenes, featurettes and galleries, The Simpsons first appearance on Blu (aside from their feature film) is devoid of any extras, save a very brief 4-minute trailer for Morgan Spurlock‘s 20th Anniversary Simpsons special. (Oh, and the menus are hand-drawn by Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Kind of neat.) With these anemic offerings, I can’t help but feel that there will be a bigger, better, more robust boxed set on the horizon.

Casual fans will be pleased by this set, finding the entire season on only two discs which means it takes up very little shelf space. Hardcore fans will cry out for the extras they’re used to getting on the DVD season sets.

The Blu-ray Blog » Dan Castellaneta

Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of August 24

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