It’s the last week of September and probably the finest looking for Blu-ray releases. We might not be seeing the glut of titles from weeks past but the discs hitting the shops today are some of the best you’ll see all year, including some essential catalogue titles and one of the biggest blockbuster hits of this past summer. Here we go!

1. THE THIN RED LINE

If you ask me, everything director Terrence Malick touches becomes pure cinematic gold. But I totally understand that his metered, poetic style of storytelling isn’t for everyone. So this, my strongest recommendation of the week, is really a recommendation for those who can appreciate this film: a thoughtful look at war and the toll it takes on the men who fight the battles, where the camera watching them occasionally gets lost in a slow shot of a leaf, or lingers on a long sunset over a white beach. That’s Malick. Making profound statements through a collection of deliberate, meditative images. The Thin Red Line is one of the most moving and unique war films ever made. And now, it’s one of the most visually arresting Blu-rays produced, thanks to Criterion. This is one of the best high-def presentations of the year. Highly recommended!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Terrence Malick and cinematographer John Toll with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• New audio commentary by Toll, production designer Jack Fisk, and producer Grant Hill
• Interviews with several of the film’s actors, including Kirk Acevedo, Jim Caviezel, Thomas Jane, Elias Koteas, Dash Mihok, and Sean Penn; composer Hans Zimmer; editors Billy Weber, Leslie Jones, and Saar Klein; and writer James Jones’s daughter Kaylie Jones
• New interview with casting director Dianne Crittenden, featuring archival audition footage
• Fourteen minutes of outtakes from the film
• World War II newsreels from Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands
• Melanesian chants
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Sterritt and a 1963 reprint by James Jones

Amazon: $29.49

2. MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE

What’s that, you say. Another new Blu-ray disc release from Criterion? That’s right, folks. Two new Criterion discs in one week. And this is another gem. Director Nagisa Oshima‘s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence has time and place in common with Malick’s Line but focuses not on the fields of war but instead on a P.O.W. camp. Starring David Bowie in a rich leading role that pits him against his captor, Ryuichi Sakamoto (yes, the composer, who not only stars in the film but crafted its amazing score!), Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence also features a young Takeshi Kitano (yes, the famed actor/writer/director/Takeshi’s Castle host!) in his first dramatic role!

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition master with DTS-HD Master Audio
• The Oshima Gang, an original making-of featurette
• New video interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Paul Mayersberg, actor Tom Conti, and actor-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto
• Hasten Slowly, an hour-long documentary about author and adventurer Laurens van der Post, whose autobiographical novel is the basis for the film
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film writer Chuck Stephens and a 1983 interview with director Nagisa Oshima by Japanese film writer Tadao Sato

Amazon: $29.49

3. KING KONG (1933)

Speaking of must-have discs, the new Blu-ray edition of the original King Kong is out in shops today! Warner Home Video presents this bad boy in a gorgeous hardcover digi-book and includes all the incredible special features from the excellent 2005 DVD release. The transfer isn’t going to blow away the casual viewer, as the source material isn’t in sparkling, pristine condition. But if you’re a film fan of any sort, or if you just love the 1933 version of Kong, you’re going to fall in love with this high-def presentation. It’s very, very true to the film and an unquestionable improvement over the previously issued DVD. Though, not to the extent that I would recommend those with smaller screens (40″ or less) make the upgrade – outside of some additional clean-ups and a more robust grain structure, and unless you have a very keen eye, I’m not sure you’ll notice much difference on a smaller display. Nevertheless, this is great release. Very highly recommended!

Special Features:

• Commentary by creature creator Ray Harryhausen and visual effects artist Ken Ralston, with archival sound bites from Merian C. Cooper and Fay Wray
• I’m Kong: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper (2005 TCM documentary)
• The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World (7-part documentary)
• The Lost Spider Pit Sequence
• Creation Test Footage with Commentary by Ray Harryhausen
• Trailers

Amazon: $24.99

4. IRON MAN 2

Oh, Iron Man 2. I had such high hopes for you. But alas, the genius of your original cinematic outing wasn’t to carry over to your sequel: a sequel that replaces carefully crafted moments featuring strongly motivated characters acting within the logic of the film, with ridiculous, over the top scenes that come out of nowhere, and force out-of-character action to serve plot contrivances. Or to service Marvel‘s eventual Avengers superhero team film.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy Iron Man 2. I just know it could have been better if director Jon Favreau had been left to his own devices and not forced to shoehorn Venom into the film. Oh wait…

Amazon: $24.99

5. BATMAN/SUPERMAN: APOCALYPSE

Gahhh!! Another DC Comics animated feature film, direct to Blu-ray (and DVD, if you’re still into those old SD platters.) I didn’t receive my review disc yet so, having not seen it, I can’t recommend it on its own merits. But if past entries in this series are any indication, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is going to be a shit-ton of fun!

Amazon: $19.99

SPECIAL MENTION: Private Eyes

Oh. Em. Gee. I had completely forgotten about The Private Eyes. I used to love this film when I was a kid. I don’t recall much about it now, in my old age, outside of the fact that my younger-self believed it to be a very Scooby Doo-like live-action film, both funny and spooky, with a great mystery and a couple of daring sleuths (Don Knots and Tim Conway) at the heart of it. Sigh…I miss going to Saturday matinees at the old Park Cinema in Welland…

I haven’t seen the film in years and know nothing of the track record of the studio releasing the Blu-ray so proceed with caution. But if you do pick it up, please let me know what you think!

Amazon: $26.49

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

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God help me but I’m going to be completely broke by the end of this year if this keeps up. I’m sorry to sing the same song over and over again but Criterion proves month after month that they can read my mind, choosing some of my favourite films to bring to Blu-ray. And this batch of announcements, all due out this coming September is no exception. From Godard to Malick, Donen to Oshima – these are all incredible movies and I need to own them all on Blu-ray! Details below:

PS: See, I told you Criterion was preparing The Thin Red Line for Blu-ray disc!

PPS: If you love Godard, as I do, rush out and grab up the Breathless Blu-ray as soon as it hits the shelves. It’s licensed from Studio Canal and, for all we know, could end up going Out Of Print sooner than we suspect, just as other Criterion titles have of late.

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound and enhanced for widescreen telelvisions
• Audio commentary: A conversation with Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone
• The Films of Stanley Donen: A selected filmography, with an introduction by Donen biographer Stephen M. Silverman
• Peter Stone’s career highlights
• Original theatrical trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

Special Features:

• Restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard
• Archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville
• New video interviews with Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker
• New video essays: filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport’s “Jean Seberg” and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum’s “Breathless as Film Criticism”
• Chambre 12, Hotel de suede, an eighty-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew
• Charlotte et son Jules, a 1959 short film by Godard, starring Belmondo
• French theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring writings from Godard, film historian Dudley Andrew, François Truffaut’s original film treatment, and Godard’s scenario

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition master with DTS-HD Master Audio
• The Oshima Gang, an original making-of featurette
• New video interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Paul Mayersberg, actor Tom Conti, and actor-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto
• Hasten Slowly, an hour-long documentary about author and adventurer Laurens van der Post, whose autobiographical novel is the basis for the film
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film writer Chuck Stephens and a 1983 interview with director Nagisa Oshima by Japanese film writer Tadao Sato

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Terrence Malick and cinematographer John Toll (with DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition)
• New audio commentary featuring Toll, production designer Jack Fisk, and producer Grant Hill
• Outtakes from the film
• Video interviews with several of the film’s actors, including Kirk Acevedo, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, Tom Jane, Elias Koteas, Dash Mihok, and Sean Penn
• New video interview with casting director Dianne Crittenden, featuring original audition footage
• New interview with composer Hans Zimmer
• New video piece featuring interviews with editors Billy Weber, Leslie Jones, and Saar Klein
• An interview with writer James Jones’s daughter Kaylie Jones
• World War II newsreels featuring footage from Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Sterritt and a 1963 essay by James Jones on war films

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When I read the notice from Criterion, posted on their blog yesterday morning, that another chunk of their collection of films is about to go Out Of Print (O.O.P. as we home video enthusiasts refer to it) I damn near shed a tear. Sad as I am to see Nicolas Roeg‘s The Man Who Fell To Earth fall OOP (ironically, mere days after his brilliant film Walkabout was released), at least I had a chance to grab up Criterion’s gorgeous Blu-ray edition of the film. At least Criterion had the opportunity to offer us a Blu-ray edition of the film! The same can’t be said for the rest of the titles on this list, all fantastic films in their own right. Films that we may now never see in a Criterion Blu-ray edition. Buñuel!! Godard!! ARGH!! Say it ain’t so…

From Criterion.com:

Dear Criterion collectors,

The following titles are going out of print effective June 30:

Billy Liar
Bob le flambeur
Diary of A Chambermaid
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Kind Hearts and Coronets
The Man Who Fell to Earth (DVD and Blu-ray editions)
The Milky Way
The Phantom of Liberty
That Obscure Object of Desire
Touchez pas au grisbi
A Woman Is a Woman

We will be selling copies only while supplies last, so order yours soon. As ever, we will try to relicense the films so that they can rejoin the collection sometime in the future.

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The boxed set is packed full of goodies and discs of bonus features. (Read a full run down of The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray disc set in out previously posted article.) But never mind all that. What matters here is the transfer. And Warner has gone back and scanned the original Technicolor camera negatives at 8K resolution so it’s bound to look better than ever. If the awesome visuals and new 7.1 Dolby TrueHD surround mix aren’t enough to make you pick this up, remember that you’re also getting all of the old DVD bonus features along with over 4 hours of brand new content in a box filled with goodies like a 52 page coffee table book, a watch, reproductions of vintage material like the film budget and campaign book and so much more!

The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition is currently available at Amazon.com for only $51.99!

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Ok, so I’m kind of dreading watching this again. I’m pretty sure a lot of Labyrinth won’t hold up for me, unlike the Henson Company‘s Dark Crystal (which will always be genius) But as much as I fear the experience I’m equally as excited to revisit this film. And the details for the upcoming UK release are just stoking the fire! I think we can safely assume that the North American edition of Labyrinth will mimic the UK, including an identical rich feature set. Even if the film itself fails to please me, the commentary, making-of doc and picture-in-picture features will provide me hours of nerdgasm. I can’t help but wonder if any of the extras will address the mystery of the Bowie-package…

Incidentally, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment UK has also announced my beloved Dark Crystal for release on the same date, August 31st. Though we have no details on the Blu-ray disc for you at this time, I’m fairly certain we’re going to get another making-of doc, Froud commentary track and ‘Storytellers’ Picture-in-Picture feature. And the excitement doesn’t end there! Sony has yet to formally announce the title in North America but the disc is listed up on Amazon.com already, further confirming that we can expect an announcement soon and a release date not too far in the future.

Labyrinth is scheduled for a September 1st release in the USA and Canada.

LABYRINTH (UK Release)
(August 31, 2009 – MSRP £17.99)
Video: 1080p AVC
Audio: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD

Special Features:

• “Inside The Labyrinth” Making of Documentary
• Commentary with Brian Froud
• Journey through the Labyrinth: “Kingdom of Characters”
• Journey through the Labyrinth: “The Quest for Goblin City”
• The Storytellers Picture-in-Picture (BD Exclusive)

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Find your way through the Labyrinth in September

Today’s announcements and revelations are out of control!

Someone over at Walmart has jumped the gun and listed Sony‘s upcoming catalog release slate, from July through October. There isn’t the slightest hint of a detail about any of these discs outside of title and release date but that’s not going to stop me from crowing about that fact that we’ll be seeing Labyrinth in high-def this September!

Far from rumour, (the Henson Company has confirmed the release via Twitter, adding that the Dark Crystal isn’t quite ready for Blu yet) this upcoming Blu-ray edition of Labyrinth may well be the Special Edition that fans have been waiting for! DVD versions have served up simple, yet fairly good looking bare-bones releases, leaving fans to dream of the supplemental material that might one day be included on a future disc. That day may have come!

Will the Blu-ray offer up a documentary, behind-the-scenes video of Jim Henson and crew, vintage interviews or possibly even the holy grail of Labyrinth on home video – a David Bowie commentary track?

Dare to dream…

• July 28: ‘A River Runs Through It’
• August 11: ‘About Last Night…’, ‘Blue Thunder’, ‘Starman’, ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’
• August 18: ‘Go’
• September 1: ‘Labyrinth’
• September 8: ‘The Quick and the Dead’, ‘Silverado’
• September 15: ‘Easy Rider’, ‘Punch-Drunk Love’
• October 13: ‘The Craft’, ‘Wolf / Dracula / Frankenstein Trilogy’ (‘Wolf’, ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’, ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’)*
• October 20: ‘Freedomland’, ‘Snatch’

*Wolf and Frankenstein only available in Trilogy pack

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