Here’s another two-week release and review roundup for you, folks. This gets us all caught up now, with the holiday and post-holiday Blu-ray releases. It’s been a slow few weeks in the shops but things are about to heat up. I’m really looking forward to the discs coming out over the next few weeks. More reviews coming shortly!

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JANUARY 3

Blu-ray disc of the week: THE GUARD

“The Guard is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen must join forces to take on an international drug- smuggling gang – one, an unorthodox Irish policeman and the other, a straitlaced FBI agent. Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational and crass personality and a subversive sense of humour. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a maverick with his own moral code. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn’t much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it. When a fellow police officer disappears and Boyle’s small town becomes key to a large drug trafficking investigation, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humourless FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. “

I know we’re only a few days into 2012 but The Guard is one of the nicest surprises of the new year, thus far. The unassuming package art of the Blu-ray release from Alliance (identical to the Lionsgate disc in the US) doesn’t inspire much enthusiasm but, surprisingly, isn’t too far off accurately depicting the film. It might be quiet, small and unassuming, yes, but what really sets the film apart from other stories about small town crime is its dry, unflinching sense of humour. There’s no doubt about it, Gleeson simply steals the film in what is no doubt his most hilarious and original role in years. I’d go far as to say that a series of films starring his Sergeant Boyle would make a lot of fans, myself included, quite happy. Not much of a crime thriller or mystery but an entertaining character piece with lots of laughs.

The Guard comes to Blu-ray in a fairly dull looking presentation. If I was a betting man, I’d put money on this film being a low budget affair and this transfer being spot-on accurate to the source but as it is, there’s very little visual-wow on display here. There are some deep blacks and some vivid colours every now and then but the overall soft nature of the image will leave you wanting. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is clean and clear and dialogue heavy. Be warned, those of you who have difficulty with accents, the Irish brogue can run a bit thick at times and, though easily heard, is often tough to understand.

There’s an impressive collection of bonus goodies on this Blu-ray, considering its modest pedigree. The audio commentary with director John Michael McDonagh and actors Cheadle and Gleeson is fun and full of anecdotes and definitely worth a listen. Supplement that with the 20-minute ‘making-of’ doc and you’ll have a pretty good idea of how this film was put together. Outtakes, deleted scenes and ‘Extended & Alternate’ scenes are split into three section but total nearly a half-hour in length. The disc also includes ‘The Second Death‘, the short film that inspired The Guard, as well as a 20-minute long Q&A with the director and stars and the theatrical trailer.

Recommended!

AMAZON: CDN$ 31.99

Also available: THE GUARD (US version)

AMAZON: $23.99

CONTAGION

“An international traveler reaches into the snack bowl at an airport bar before passing her credit card to a waiter. A business meeting begins with a round of handshakes. A man coughs on a crowded bus… One contact. One instant. And a lethal virus is transmitted. When Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to Minneapolis from business in Hong Kong, what she thought was jet lag takes a virulent turn. Two days later, she’s dead in the ER and the doctors tell her shocked and grieving husband (Matt Damon) they have no idea why. Soon, others exhibit the same mysterious symptoms: hacking coughs and fever, followed by seizure, brain hemorrhage… and ultimately death. In Minneapolis, Chicago, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, the numbers quickly multiply as the contagion sweeps across all borders, fueled by the countless human interactions that make up the course of an average day. A global pandemic explodes. At the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers mobilize to break the code of a unique biological pathogen as it continues to mutate. Deputy Director Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) tries to allay the growing panic despite his own personal concerns, and must send a brave young doctor (Kate Winslet) into harm’s way. At the same time, amid a rising tide of suspicion over a potential vaccine, – and who gets it first – Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) of the World Health Organization works through the network of connections that could lead back to the source of what they’re dealing with. As the death toll escalates and people struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones in a society breaking down, one activist blogger (Jude Law) claims the public isn’t getting the truth about what’s really going on, and sets off an epidemic of paranoia and fear as infectious as the virus itself.“

I tend to run hot and cold on Soderbergh‘s work so I always enter into a viewing of one of his films with some trepidation. Thankfully, Contagion is one of the ‘hot’ ones. This is a scary good little film. I guess I say ‘little’ because for all of its world hopping and political drama, this is really a character piece, and the filmmakers always keep things intimate. Though the tale deals with a pandemic threatening to wipe out a large fraction of humanity, Soderbergh rarely allows the camera to sway from Damon, Cotillard, Fishburne and crew. And I think it’s that camera work, stylish and colourful as it is, along with tight performances and a killer score by Cliff Martinez (the ex-Chili Pepper and frequent Soderbergh-collaborator whose recent score for Drive should be nominated for some kind of award this statue-season) that make me love Contagion so much. If the story weren’t so predictable and tired this would be one of my top films of the last year.

There’s crazy detail in this Blu-ray transfer but some smeary images and occasionally less-than-inky blacks keep it from being reference quality. I’m certain those deficiencies are in the HD source but that’s no excuse, right? This is a really great looking disc, though, and fans of the film will no doubt be pleased with the presentation. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also right on the money. While not the most immersive or dynamic track I’ve ever laid ears on, it’s clean and clear and seemingly accurate.

The real failing of the Contagion Blu-ray disc is the limited selection of special features. There’s an 11-minute long look at the reality of the film, a 5-minute long featurette on the experts who consulted on the film and a 2-minute long, rather jovial look at the life of a virus. The disc also has BD-Live functionality. And that’s it!

AMAZON: $24.99

MILDRED PIERCE

“She gave her daughter everything. But everything was not enough. Don’t miss the premiere of the latest renowned HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce“, which brings to life the memorable characters introduced in James M. Cain’s classic 1941 novel of pride and privilege in the middle class. Starring Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet, and co-written and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Haynes, this five-part drama is an intimate portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly divorced during the Depression years, as she struggles to carve out a new life for herself and her family. The story explores Mildred’s unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter Veda (Evan Rachel Wood), as well as the complex relationship she shares with the indolent men in her life, including her polo-playing lover Monty Beragon (Guy Pearce) and ex-husband Bert Pierce (Brian F. O’Byrne).“

I haven’t had a chance to watch this mini-series through to its conclusion yet but from what I’ve seen, Mildred Pierce fits with Haynes’ distinctive brand of cinematic storytelling – somewhat cold and removed but intellectually stimulating and nice to look at. There’s no denying that the man is a gifted filmmaker with a great eye, and that Winslet and Pearce knock it out of the park (I guess Wood is also doing a great job but her character is not an easy one to like) but it’s tough to fall in love with this 5-part HBO show. Fans of Boardwalk Empire might be interested to take a look though, as the narrative falls within the same era as that series but sports production design that puts it to shame. Say what you might about Mildred Pierce but it looks gorgeous!

As wonderful as the production design is, the series is shot rough and doesn’t make for a shiny, crisp looking Blu-ray. It’s shot on 16mm and exhibits all the grain and limited detail the format brings to the table. That said, the Blu-ray is well encoded, with stable colours and deep blacks. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is modest and dialogue heavy but warm, dynamic and all-around pleasing. Extras include two commentaries with Haynes, co-writer Jon Raymond and production designer Mark Friedberg, ‘Inside the Episodes‘ featurette for each episode and a half-hour long ‘making of’ doc.

AMAZON: $34.99

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

“Producers Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Orphanage) and Mark Johnson (Chronicles of Narnia) join forces to deliver DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, a tale of hair raising, spine-chilling horror. Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undistrubed since the strange disappearance of the mansion’s builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient, dark-dwelling creature who conspire to drag her down into the mysterious house’s bottomless depths, she must convince Alex and Kim that it’s not a fantasy – before the evil lurking in the dark consumes them all. “

I heard a lot of smack-talk and read a lot of negative reviews about Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, so you can imagine how little enthusiasm I had for screening this Blu-ray disc from Alliance (again, identical to the US release.) Boy, was I mistaken about this film! I enjoyed the hell out of it. Sure, it’s far from perfect, but I felt it hit all the right notes for the kind of creepy throwback fright-fest it aims to be. In fact, I found myself wincing at the genuinely frightening prologue sequence, shocked but thankful that this adaptation of a decades-old made-for-tv kids movie would go to these gruesome lengths! The script by producer Guillermo Del Toro is tight and right on the money, while the film, directed by newcomer Troy Nixey, exhibits all the visual fingerprints of the Pan’s Labyrinth director. In fact, it looks like it belongs right alongside Del Toro’s own films in that series (Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos.) I can’t believe how much I enjoyed Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and easily recommend it to fans of those films.

I’m also happy to report that the film looks like a million bucks on Blu! It’s actually a miracle that this encode looks this great, given the overall darkness of the film. There’s an incredible amount of detail in this presentation, even in the darkest scenes. Well done, all around. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is no slouch either, with creepy-crawlies scritching around from one speaker to another in one of the most immersive tracks I’ve listened to in a while. The only failing of this otherwise extraordinary disc is in its dearth of bonus features. There’s only a 20-minute long ‘making of’ doc (three very short featurettes combined) and an art gallery. Nice little extras both, but nowhere near what this disc deserves.

AMAZON: CDN$ 27.99

Also available: DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (US edition)

AMAZON: $19.99

SHARK NIGHT

“Arriving by boat at her family’s Louisiana lake island cabin, Sara (Sara Paxton) and her friends quickly strip down to their swimsuits for a weekend of fun in the sun. But when star football player Malik (Sinqua Walls) stumbles from the salt-water lake with his arm torn off, the party mood quickly evaporates. Assuming the injury was caused by a freak wake-boarding accident, the group realizes they have to get Malik to a hospital on the other side of the lake, and fast. But as they set out in a tiny speedboat, the college friends discover the lake has been stocked with hundreds of massive, flesh-eating sharks! As they face one grisly death after another, Sara and the others struggle desperately to fend off the sharks, get help and stay alive long enough to reach the safety of dry land. ”

I’m going to be completely honest with you here, a few minutes into Shark Night I picked up my laptop and continued on with that evening’s work. That’s right, I didn’t afford it my full attention. And I don’t feel guilty about it. Shark Night is the kind of fast, fun, trashy feature that’s built for multitasking. It’s a party movie. It’s at it’s best when you’re flirting with your girlfriend or chugging beers with your buds. If you were to actually focus on the film, you’d find yourself mighty disappointed with the ridiculous plot, paper-thin characters, and lightweight performances. Also, there’s no nudity. Yes, I found that shocking as well. There are some gory thrills, as is to be expected from a movie of this variety, but that’s about all the excitement Shark Night manages to trap in its net.

This film was clearly created for 3D. Sharks, exploded debris and eviscerated kid parts fly at the camera rather often. But this 2D edition of the film fails to take advantage of the carnage. Perhaps a 3D transfer of Shark Night would make the film ‘pop’ a little more but as it is, the Blu-ray is surprisingly flat and often soft. There are moments where it shines but, honestly, there’s nothing to get excited about here. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers plenty of thunderous power but it sometimes gets in the way of the dialogue. The mix is far from perfect but at least it packs a punch. Extras are on the light side of things, sporting a mere three 5-minute long featurettes about the film and sharks in general, a montage reel of the movie’s shark attacks and the theatrical trailer.

AMAZON: $19.99

JANUARY 10

Blu-ray disc of the week: BOARDWALK EMPIRE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

“From Terence Winter, Emmy Award(R)-winning writer of “The Sopranos”, and Academy Award(R)-winning director Martin Scorsese, “Boardwalk Empire” is a lavish period drama set in Atlantic City, following the life and times of Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) – the undisputed political and criminal mastermind whose grip on power and control of the city’s liquor supply is under constant threat.“

HBO has finally seen fit to release the first season of their hit Boardwalk Empire on Blu-ray!! Fans have been waiting, and waiting impatiently at that, for this boxed set to hit, as the second season of the program debuted last fall and just as quickly drew to a close. Though there’s no Blu-ray release on the horizon for those most recent episodes, we fans now have the pleasure of revisiting the initial run of the show. If you haven’t yet been indoctrinated into the world of the ’20s Atlantic City boardwalk scene, the crime, the bootlegging, the scores of women who, strangely, want to hook up with Buscemi week after week, now is the perfect opportunity to dive right in. I’ll be straight with you and let you know the first few episodes are a bit of a tough slog (props to Scorsese, though, who directed a very stylish pilot for the series) with a messy narrative of far too many characters and no solid base. But this is one of those rich HBO series that sorts itself out after a time and will reward your perseverance. Give it a shot and stick with it!

This 5-disc set from HBO and Warner looks, as is typical of the hi-def product born of this holy union of studios, absolutely brilliant! If you watched the show on cable, the look of it on disc is going to knock your socks off. Detail, colour and contrast are all beyond reproach. Likewise, the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is a winner – clean and clear, with plenty of dynamic headroom to present resonant highs and booming lows. The Blu-ray set also sports a crap-ton of fantastic special features, most exciting of which is the Enhanced Viewing Mode picture-in-picture track, available on each episode. Don’t be satisfied with merely listening to the six audio commentary tracks on the DVD set (also here on Blu) when you can check out the Blu-ray exclusive EVM which features interviews with cast, crew and a host of historians, production details and more. If that’s not enough for you, the various featurettes in the set have a total runtime of nearly an hour-and-a-half, which, all together, gives you a feature-length making-of doc!

Recommended!

Special Features:

• Blu-ray includes Enhanced Viewing on all 12 Episodes
• Evolving Character
• Dossier
• Making Boardwalk Empire
• Speakeasy Tour
• Six Audio Commentaries with Cast and Crew
• And Much More!

AMAZON: $34.99

MONEYBALL

“Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) challenges the system and defies conventional wisdom when his is forced to rebuild his small-market team on a limited budget. Despite opposition from the old guard, the media, fans and their own field manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Beane – with the help of a young, number-crunching, Yale-educated economist (Jonah Hill) – develops a roster of misfits…and along the way, forever changes the way the game is played. “

Not only have I not laid eyes on this Blu-ray but I’ve yet to see the film itself as well. I’m listing it here amongst the top releases of the week because of the critical acclaim the film has received. That and the fact that this is a Sony Blu-ray release which is damn near a guarantee of technical quality. I can’t recall a recent Sony disc that has let me down. The disc contains four featurettes and a blooper reel.

AMAZON: $19.99

CITIZEN KANE (70TH ANNIVERSARY BLU-RAY BOOK)

“Orson Welles‘ masterwork (#1 in the American Film Institute’s list of Best American Movies) dazzles anew in a superb 70th-anniversary digital transfer. It’s grand entertainment, sharply acted (starring many of Welles’ Mercury Players on the road to thriving film careers) and directed with inspired visual flair. Chronicling the stormy life of an influential publishing tycoon, this Best Original Screenplay Academy Award(R) winner (1941) is rooted in themes of power, corruption, vanity – the American Dream lost in the mystery of a dying man’s last word: “Rosebud”.“

Those of you who love Citizen Kane but were loath to purchase the bloated Ultimate Collector’s Edition boxed set that was released back in September will be happy to know that the Blu-ray is now available in a nice, affordable and easily-shelvable Blu-ray digi-book edition! That’s right, now you can get the exact same amazing Blu-ray disc release without being stuck with all the reproduction goo-gahs and promotional junk and you won’t be forced to find that larger space to store the giant UCE box. This disc is presented in the same handsome style of hardcover digi-book that Warner has released in the past. It’s 48-pages of pics, storyboards and film facts that house the feature Blu-ray and the bonus DVD – the feature-length ‘The Battle Over Citizen Kane‘ doc.

AMAZON: $38.95

FILM SOCIALISME

“Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt) triumphantly returns to the screen with FILM SOCIALISME, “a remarkable and beautiful and challenging” (Glenn Kenny, MSN) essay on the state of Mediterranean life, culture and history. It is split into three parts, the first set on a garish cruise ship traveling the Mediterranean Sea (with Patti Smith among its guests). Godard contrasts the rich and conflicted history of the ship’s ancient itinerary with the ostentatious gluttony of its well-to-do passengers. The second part descends on a struggling rural French rest stop, whose owners, seeking to change their fate, are running for office. It is their discontented children, though, who point towards an alternate future. Finally, the film closes in a gorgeous, aggrieved montage that acts as an idiosyncratic history of the past and future of the region. Anticipating the Greek debt crisis and the Arab spring, FILM SOCIALISME “is both timeless and timely” (J. Hoberman, Village Voice), shot in shimmeringly beautiful HD, but also hurtling headlong into the socio-political crises of our times. ”

Another release I haven’t laid eyes on but consider a blind buy. New Godard, shot digitally in HD and, according to early reviews, looking stunning on Blu-ray from the good folks at Kino. I really can’t wait to get my hands on this bad boy.

AMAZON: $29.99

KILLER ELITE

“Jason Statham (The Italian Job), Academy Award® nominee Clive Owen (Inside Man) and Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) star in Killer Elite, “one of the best action thrillers of the year!” (Richard Roeper) When two of the world’s most elite operatives — Danny, a retired contract killer (Statham), and Hunter, his longtime mentor (De Niro) — go up against the cunning leader of a secret military society (Owen), their hunt takes them around the globe from Australia to Paris, London, and the Middle East. As the stakes rise along with the body count, Danny and Hunter are soon plunged into an action-packed game of cat-and-mouse where no one is what they seem. Based on a shocking true story, it’s an explosive, no-mercy thrill ride where the predator ultimately becomes the prey. “

Word on the street is that I might be getting a screener of Killer Elite in short order. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the film but I tend to believe it’s going to be a lot of ridiculous fun. And, by the way, this film is in no way related to the great Sam Peckinpah Killer Elite film from the ’70s, which starred Godfather alums and personal heroes James Caan and Robert Duvall!

AMAZON: $19.99

Canada only: THE HILLS HAVE EYES

“The Carters are an all-American family on their way to California when their car breaks down far from civilization in the remote southwestern desert. But they are not alone. Watching from the hills is a very different kind of clan, a family of marauding inbred cannibals with an unspeakable taste for human flesh and monstrous brutality. In the nightmare that follows, what depravities must this wholesome family endure to survive? And in a primal wasteland ruled by lust and rage, who will become the most shocking savages of all? Dee Wallace, James Whitworth, Susan Lanier and Michael Berryman co-star in this disturbing cult classic written and directed by horror-master Wes Craven (“Last House on the Left”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Scream”.“

The Hills Have Eyes hit Blu-ray in the US way back in September. As far as I can tell, this Canadian release should be the same in just about every way, aside from the fact that it’s only hitting shops this week, over four months later, up here in the great white north. Anywho, this is another one I have yet to see with my own two eyes but hear tell might show up in my mailbox. I’ll keep you apprised of any developments!

AMAZON: CDN$ 16.49

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
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Next: Animation on Blu-ray

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS

You can always tell that the holiday shopping season is approaching when the handsome boxed sets start showing up in stores. This new 13-disc collection of all ten episodes of HBO series Band of Brothers and all ten episodes of its follow up series, The Pacific is a real beaut. From the matte finish of the carboard box (watch out for greasy finger-prints on this one), reflective silver print treatment and hidden, magnetic lid lock, you know you’re in for a treat before you even remove the thick, weighty book from it’s housing. Lifting a ribbon attached to the bottom interior of the box raises the hardcover tome from it’s housing, revealing book-packaging of the sort used for the Rome boxed set, but at twice the width. Most of the glossy pages hold two Blu-ray discs full of episodes, with the exception of the pages that bridge the two series, which houses but a single disc containing the sole new feature in the set – He Has Seen The War, an hour-long documentary featuring the surviving members of both Easy Company and the 1st Marine Division whose exploits are dramatized in the series’. It’s an excellent doc but not worth re-purchasing both Band of Brothers and The Pacific on Blu-ray for, if you already own both boxed sets. The rest of the discs and all their features are identical to those previously available.

Highly recommended for those who don’t already own the series and for those ultimate fans who are completists.

AMAZON: $105.49

Season Three is the most disappointing Clone Wars season yet but it’s still some of the most entertaining, thrilling sci-fi TV out there. The series hits a handful of lows in this collection of 22-episodes, including a three-parter that lingers in a sort of “Force realm” where Anakin is taught allegorical lessons and far too many Jedi-free episodes, that instead feature Jar Jar and the droids. But the season is balanced out with some of the best episodes of the series thus far. The three part “Nightsisters” arc which pits Force-powerful witches and Darth Maul’s brother against the forces of the Jedi and the Sith is as awesome as the Clone Wars has ever been! The transfers are gorgeous, as usual, and audio is finally presented in a lossless format. The standard collection of featurettes and “Jedi Temple” bonuses are present but gone is the fancy digi-book packaging. Season 3 is packed in a run-of-the-mill snapper case, housed in a slipcase. Despite the relative drawbacks of this season set, I still highly recommend it.

AMAZON: $34.99

AMAZON: $22.49

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

READ MORE: The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season – 3-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $24.99

One of the funniest and finest television comedies in years made its Blu-ray debut this past summer in a 2-disc set that contains all thirteen episodes of the first season. Louie might be a little crass for the most conservative viewers but it’s so original and such a clear breakout hit for comedian and star Louis C.K. that it’s worth a look by even the most timid of sitcom fans. The Blu-ray disc features a nice high-def presentation, culled from digital footage shot on the Red One camera, that only falters during the pilot episode. The 5.1 DTS-HD soundtrack is solid enough for this sort of program – clean and clear but not terribly immersive. There are 11 commentary tracks to check out in the set, over half and hour of deleted content and a 4-minute interview with the star.

AMAZON: $17.99

As usual, Dexter’s family life is in peril (no, I’m not going to tell you what’s tearing them apart this time) and he spends the season trying to sort out his place within it. Seeking solace, he returns to his criminal-eviscerating ways but, in the midst of disposing of one particular serial killer, inadvertently rescues the fiend’s next victim. Lumen, as played by Julia Stiles is damaged from her ordeal but far from helpless. She and Dexter develop a deep connection and open up to one another. But now that she knows the real Dexter, will their shared secrets put them at greater risk or will they become the ultimate dark passenger teamup?

As per Showtime, CBS and Paramount‘s norms, the 3-Disc Dexter: The Fifth Season Blu-ray set is technically marvelous! There aren’t any bonus goodies on the Blu-ray discs themselves but the package claims you’ll be able to access cast and crew interviews as well as episodes of other programs over the BD-Live portal once it goes live.

AMAZON: $40.99

If your loved one is a proper nerd, their fascination with fantasy doesn’t end with guys in capes and warp-drive powered starships. They probably love themselves some good old sword and sorcery too! With that in mind, why not hook them up with the first season of the classic, British Robin of Sherwood series, now on Blu-ray and looking better than ever? This ‘modern’, young take on the story of the bandits of Sherwood forest is far more gripping and real than any version before or since, despite the odd episode that relies too deeply on paganism and magic. The 4-disc set carries over all the special features of the DVDs and is worth every penny.

AMAZON: $59.99

Another year, another couple of boxed set collections of The Simpsons and Futurama. I just gave a thorough once over of the feature-packed Simpsons set in last week’s New Release post so I’ll direct you there if you want to read again about how much I enjoyed this boxed set, despite the fact that the feature content is up-converted from SD. I anxiously await the new Futurama 2-disc Blu-ray set, due for release on December 20th. If it’s anywhere near as good looking and hilarious as last year’s Blu-ray release it’ll be an absolute must-own. Bring it on!

AMAZON: $38.99 and $27.99

Season Three of Fringe continues to follow the exploits of FBI agent Olivia Dunham, crackpot-scientist Walter Bishop and the team as they fight the good fight against the weird stuff that’s taking over their world as a result of a breach into an parallel dimension. The season is compelling as it shifts back and forth between alternate versions of the characters – good Olivia trapped in another universe one episode, bad Olivia in ours the next. The show never ceases to be fun and if you or your loved one already have the first two boxed sets you won’t want to miss this one!

The big news about this boxed set is that Warner has finally seen fit to grace its TV-on-Blu releases with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks instead of the lossy mixes of the past. Fringe: The Complete Third Season is one the first titles to benefit and I expect great things. As usual, the discs are packed with extras including a few commentary tracks, featurettes, a gag reel, trailers and more.

AMAZON: $45.99

HBO‘s New Orleans drama Treme is a tough show to get into, you know, starting off slow and heating up over the course of the first half of this first season. But it’s a commitment that rewards the viewer in the end, leading into a fiery second season, which will be collected on Blu-ray before you can say “Chicken Gumbo”. This Blu-ray disc set looks and sounds great, as I’m sure you’d expect from HBO. As there’s a great focus on the music of the city in this series, you’ll be happy to know that the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is absolutely pitch-perfect – a demo-quality soundtrack with great dynamic range during the musical interludes and convincing atmosphere throughout. Special features are abundant, with episode commentaries, music commentaries, “making-of” featurettes, and an interactive “Look at the Music and Culture of New Orleans“.

AMAZON: $45.99

And now a few words from our reviewer, Chris Tucker:

Anyone who was a fan of Starz‘s Spartacus: Blood and Sand will be happy to hear about the Blu-ray release of it’s mini prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. You’re not left out on anything by missing Blood and Sand. In fact you can do no better than to start here and get the story behind the story. If you watched the show on cable and enjoyed the way the digital-shot footage looked, wait’ll you see it on Blu, presented clearer and at a much higher bitrate. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is even more powerful, spreading itself judiciously around the sound field, offering plenty of dynamic range for thunderous blows in the arena and the fullness of the score, all the while keeping dialogue clean and clear up the middle. Special features are plentiful and are, for the most part, found on the second disc of the 2-disc set. Getting to the commentary tracks can prove to be a challenge and involves clicking through too many menus but are ultimately well worth the effort. The main featurette runs almost 15-minutes long and is a fairly standard studio EPK piece. The rest of the features are quite short, all running around 5-minutes in length, give or take a minute, but offer plenty of fun looks behind the scenes, interviews and bloopers.

AMAZON: $24.99

Oh my God, True Blood is addictive. The Complete Third Season proves to be the most compelling season yet. But not always for the best reasons. Watching True Blood feels a lot like how I would imagine reading a dirty, yet well crafted romance novel would make one feel. I know I’ve been sucked into pulpy, low-class fare full of naked skin, spilled blood and creatures of the night but damn, I just can’t stop watching. And I don’t feel guilty about it, either. Much like the previous two seasons, the writing is strong and unpredictable, production design is pulpy, sweaty and dark and performances are solid across the board.

HBO and Warner deliver another fang-tastic Blu-ray transfer (sorry) with True Blood: The Complete Third Season. If you’ve seen the first two seasons on Blu, you know what I’m talking about. Blacks are deep and striking, colours are vivid and detail abounds. I did note some compression issues in the blacks but unless you’re watching an improperly calibrated LCD from off-centre, you’ll never notice. The sound track is beyond reproach, with every neck bite and howl to the moon perfectly reproduced in ambient, dynamic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. This third season features the best collection of extras for the series to date, with every episode awarded its own picture-in-picture ‘Enhanced Viewing Experience‘ and short ‘Post Mortem‘ follow-up. There are 6 commentary tracks, an 11-minute “Anatomy of a Scene” breakdown, an interactive guide to the characters, previews, recaps and a music video.

AMAZON: $34.99

Vampire Diaries feels as if it suffers from the same problems I perceive in a lot of series’ sophomore outings – random musical-chairs relationship shifting, out-of-character action to drive desperate plot contrivances and general, all around silliness. That said, it’s still a fun way to kill a few hours, if you’re into vampires, werewolves and teen-makeouts.

Warner‘s Blu-ray transfers look great, as you might expect. And, again, it’s one of the first Blu-ray season sets to receive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio tracks from the studio. Kudos to them for finally seeing the light. Extras include one commentary (on the episode “Masquerade“), deleted scenes, Pages of the Wolf (3 behind the scenes werewolf featurettes totaling around 20-minutes or so), “The Perfect Love Triangle: Vampires, Werewolves, Witches“, “Her Own Worst Enemy: Elena, Katherine and Nina! “, “Second Bite” gag reel and BD-Live.

AMAZON: $42.99

Season One was all about set up. Getting Ray (Thomas Jane) comfortable in his new role as gigolo and Tanya (Jane Adams) comfortable in her new role as pimp. It’s safe to say that one worked out a little better than the other as Ray has …ahem… risen to the occasion while his business partner can barely …ahem… keep her end up. Season Two sees all relationships becoming as strained as possible to the extent that I often wanted to reach right into the TV set and strangle some of the characters (read: Tanya.) The fact that this show is getting me wound up at all is evidence that the creators are doing something right here. I don’t want to give any plot details away but there are big changes afoot by the time the season wraps up, with most characters exploring a new status quo. I don’t pretend to feel as if Season Three will bring any resolution but I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.

As always, HBO delivers a solid Blu-ray release in Hung: The Complete Second Season. It’s far from the most attractive looking show on the air but the Blu-ray does it justice in just about every way, appearing source-accurate from beginning to end. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks are more muscular than the image on the image on the disc, delivering concert-quality music reproduction, clean, clear dialogue and plenty of ambient sound. Extras on the disc include a “Hung: Inside the Series” featurette, deleted scenes and five audio commentaries with the creators, producers and writers of the show.

AMAZON: $28.99

I can’t believe it took me so long to get into this show! Eastbound and Down is one of the funniest things on TV these days. It’s a show about an egotistical ass of a down-and-out former baseball superstar who insists he’s still a superstar while crashing at his brothers house and substitute teaching at the local elementary school. Amazing. Uncomfortable. And never not funny. This is great stuff. Danny McBride is a comedic genius.

Both Season One and Two boxed sets are new this year and look as good as the source material allows. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is a whopper and offers a more bang for your buck than you’d expect. Both sets feature commentary tracks, deleted scenes and featurettes.

AMAZON: $26.99 each

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This isn’t an official announcement, but the good, sneaky folks at comicbookmovie.com have been able to wrangle up the details, package art and street date for Warner and HBO‘s upcoming and much anticipated Game of Thrones Blu-ray boxed set. I’ve got to say, this looks pretty great. Far more full featured than I’m accustomed to seeing from HBO boxed sets. The timing for the release, if CBM has gotten this correct, should directly precede the debut of the second season of the television series, which makes the date seem totally legit. I’ll confirm this for you when Warner officially announces the Blu-ray set, which we should hear about in short order. Until then, just consider this a very unofficial sneak peek.

GAME OF THRONES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
(March 20, 2012 – MSRP $79.98)
Video: 1080p
Audio: TBA

EXCLUSIVE BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• Blu-Ray Complete Guide to Westeros: An interactive compendium of the noble houses and lands featured in Season One, PLUS 24 exclusive histories of the Seven Kingdoms as told by the characters themselves.
• Anatomy of an Episode: An in-episode experience that explores the creative minds and colossal efforts behind episode six, “A Golden Crown”.
• In-Episode Guide: In-feature resource that provides background information about on-screen characters, locations, and relevant histories while each episode plays.
• Hidden Dragon Eggs: Find the hidden dragon eggs to uncover even more never-before-seen content.

ALSO INCLUDED:

• Making Game of Thrones: An exclusive 30-minute feature including never-before-seen footage from the set and interview from the cast and crew.
• Creating the Show Open: An inside look at the creation of the Emmy-winning opening title sequence for Game of Thrones
• From the Book to the Screen: Executive producers David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, and author George R.R. Martin talk about the challenge of bringing Martin’s epic fantasy novel to life on HBO.
• Character Profiles: Profiles of 15 major characters as described by the actors portraying them.
• The Night’s Watch: An in-depth look at the unique order of men who patrol and protect the Wall, a 700-foot ice structure that separates the Seven Kingdoms from the darkness beyond.
• Creating the Dothraki Language: An insightful glance into the comprehensive language created for the Dothraki people in Game of Thrones.
• Audio Commentaries: Seven audio commentaries with Cast and Crew including David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, George R.R. Martin, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, and more.

Via: Ryan Gallagher

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Boom goes the dynamite! Justin over at High Def Disc News just got the scoop on the Boardwalk Empire Blu-ray release we’ve all been waiting to hear about. The January 10th release date that’s been circulating for the past week or so is confirmed, as is the standard HBO feature set. So, I guess the only big mystery here is why the studio is waiting until January to get this into stores, completely missing out on the Second Season launch of the series as well as the holiday buying season.

Forums are speculating that it could have something to do with boosting post-holiday margins but I’m not so sure. HBO usually has a boxed set release going into the holidays and this year they’re coming up pretty short, with only a re-packaged Band of Brothers/Pacific offering that isn’t quite going to set sales on fire (I had good money on either The Wire or the rest of The Sopranos hitting Blu in November but that’s not happening.) It looks to me as if something is up over there. I just don’t know what. Let’s hope they get it all sorted before Game of Thrones is due to come out on Blu. I want to watch the first season again before new episodes air, don’t you?

BOARDWALK EMPIRE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
(January 10, 2012 – MSRP $79.98)
Video: 1.78:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio

Special Features:

• Blu-ray includes Enhanced Viewing on all 12 Episodes
• Evolving Character
• Dossier
• Making Boardwalk Empire
• Speakeasy Tour
• Six Audio Commentaries with Cast and Crew
• And Much More!

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The popular HBO half-hour comedy Eastbound and Down is making its way to Blu-ray on August 2nd. Warner Home Entertainment will bring both the first and second seasons of the series to Blu in double disc sets with bonus content that will include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, making-of featurettes and outtakes. I haven’t seen a single episode of this series but I’m always game to give HBO shows a shot. And this one looks like a hoot! Retail for each 2-disc set is $39.98.

“Former Major League pitcher Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) used to have it all: fame, endorsements and a lucrative contract. Now, after hard living took its toll on his fastball, Kenny has found himself crashing with his brother’s family and teaching gym class at a North Carolina middle school he once attended. Wherever he goes, Kenny wreaks havoc with his boorish behavior and even makes a pre-emptive romantic strike on his former high school squeeze, now a teacher engaged to the school principal. Out of baseball, and discarded by the game he abused so well, can Kenny succeed in his plot to triumphantly return to the big leagues? ”

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Has it already been a year since I reviewed the second season box set of HBO‘s True Blood series? Well, not quite, but we’re close enough to the anniversary that Warner has announced the release of the follow up, the True Blood: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray boxed set. It doesn’t look too drop-dead impressive at first glance, what with only a single special feature, but the press release for the announcement explains that the PIP feature branches out to “Bonus Viewing Events” such as:

“Character Perspectives, straight from the mouths of Jessica, Andy, Tommy, and Alcide; Flashback/Flash Forward, a move through time allowing for ‘Flashbacks’ to relive pivotal moments in the series or ‘Flash Forwards’ to reveal the significance of a certain scene; Vampire Histories/Character Bios, background stories on favorite characters in the show; and Hints/FYIs, for more trivia facts, show hints and clues“.

Seems pretty substantial to me. The season set will be in shops on May 31st.

TRUE BLOOD: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON
(May 31, 2011 – MSRP $79.98)
Video: 1.78:1 1080p AVC
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Special Features:

• Picture-inPicture Enhanced Viewing experience on all 12 episodes

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Tomorrow: Animation on Blu-ray

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* ANIMATION
* CLASSICS
* THE BEST OF THE YEAR

I hope you’ve been working out because HBO’s 13-disc Deadwood: The Complete Series Blu-ray boxed set is a seriously weighty affair. This is one solid brick of high-def western goodness! The discs, which feature all 36-episodes from the series’ three seasons as well as gobs of special features, are housed within the pages of a gorgeous, solid hardcover book – much the same as last years’ Rome: The Complete Series set. The packaging is honestly a beautiful thing to behold, providing a slipcase for the book and all of the discs to rest in. Along with stunning video transfers, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks that border on perfection and all of the special features from the previously issued DVD sets (17 audio commentaries and over 6-hours of HD docs and featurettes), you’ll be hard pressed to find anything to dislike about this amazing Blu-ray boxed set. Unless, of course, you have an aversion to foul-mouthed (VERY foul) cowboys.

READ MORE: HBO’s Deadwood: The Complete Series Blu-ray officially announced and detailed

AMAZON: $124.99

Following their hit WW II miniseries Band of Brothers, HBO brings us a kind-of sequel in The Pacific – a 10-part look at the allies’ struggles against axis powers in the far east. Producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg do their best to live up to Brothers‘ epic, emotional narrative and, for the most part succeed. The Pacific isn’t quite as engaging but proves to be equally cinematic and equally as memorable. The Blu-ray disc set consists of 5 discs in digibook packaging, housed in a tin case (almost exactly matching the Band of Brothers Blu-ray set, but a touch thinnner.) The series looks and sounds spectacular and features a great selection of quality of extras – “Enhanced Viewing Experience” picture-in-picture and “Field Guide” on all episodes as well as over an hour of docs and featurettes.

READ MORE: HBO The Pacific Blu-ray set announced and detailed

AMAZON: $66.99

Ah, Lost. It’s been over half a year since the groundbreaking series came to an end and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it as a whole. I mean, it had it’s high points (see my review of the Season 5 Blu-ray boxed set) and it’s dreadfully low points (remember Season 2?) But no matter how you feel about the series, there’s no denying it was infectious and quite memorable. Another point you can take to the bank is that it looks and sounds like a million bucks on Blu. In fact, I’d argue that it’s very nearly a different experience in high-bandwidth high-def. You can start over from the beginning with Lost: The Complete Series Blu-ray boxed set, pictured above – a comprehensive puzzle box filled with all 6 seasons worth of episodes along with scads of extras, collectibles and hidden secrets.

AMAZON: $179.99

The CG Clone Wars series has been my guilty pleasure now for a couple of years. I record and save new episodes as they air, hoarding them for those perfect Saturday morning marathons. The Blu-ray collections of the series do one better than just slapping the show on disc. These beautiful high-def presentations allow the Clone Wars to be seen as it was meant to be – in its original aspect ratio, instead of the cropped-for-TV versions we see on The Cartoon Network. The newest collection, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – The Complete Season Two features all 22 episodes, “Jedi Temple Archives“, featurettes and a 64-page book.

READ MORE: Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Two Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $41.99

The Pillars of the Earth is the perfect gift for that person in your life who loves their sword fights and royal intrigue laced with a hefty dose of melodrama. This is a quality production from producers Ridley and Tony Scott that both looks and sounds great on Blu-ray. You won’t find a lot of special features here but no matter. The play’s the thing.

READ MORE: The Pillars of the Earth Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $44.99

I admit to not keeping up with Futurama since its miraculous return but am excited to catch up when this new Blu-ray boxed set turns up on December 21st. The 2-disc set includes all 13 new episodes and features such as deleted and extended scenes, audio commentaries and featurettes.

AMAZON: $30.99

Season 13 of The Simpsons marked the beginning of the shows return to form, after several seasons of less than spectacular episodes. Fans will definitely want to add this Blu-ray set to their collections for the exceptional DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack as well as the substantial batch of extras (commentary tracks on every episode!!) Take note that the episodes were produced in SD so the video presentation is a high-def encoded up-convert and a pretty nice one at that.

AMAZON: $40.99

Warner has packaged the three individual releases of the Peanuts holiday specials together into one handy boxed set. That means, if you or your loved one don’t already own the Christmas, Halloween and Thanksgiving Blu-ray discs, you’re in luck because you can now get them all together at a lower price. The discs and special features are identical to the individual releases, each one presenting an additional animated special and a short featurette. This is not reference material high-def but a definite improvement over whats previously been available.

AMAZON: $38.99

I think I can safely say, after watching two entire seasons of Fringe, that it’s hands-down the best genre show currently airing on TV. I actually held off watching season 2 for the entirety of the last year in anticipation of burning through it on Blu-ray. And burn I did!! The X-Files vibe takes even more of a back seat this season, in favour of furthering the story of agent Olivia Dunham, the Bishops and the secret experiments that tie them together. The episodes, once again look amazing on Blu. But, as they continued to do, WHV only serves up a compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Ah well. Such a small disappointment in an otherwise amazing set. Special features include commentary on four episodes, a gag reel, a host of featurettes and more!

AMAZON: $45.99

My girlfriend got me into The Human Target last year. I wasn’t interested for the longest time but finally gave in and boy am I ever glad I did. What a fantastic, fun series this has been. This collection of first season episodes are so spirited and packed with adventure and fun and danger and… well, everything you’d want from a TV show adapted from a comic book.

Christoper Chance is a bodyguard and security expert for hire. Along with his crack team of operatives, he integrates himself into his client’s lives in order to draw out the forces that threaten them. The Blu-ray transfers are nice, if not a bit compressed (12 episodes onto 2 discs!) with Warner’s typical DD 5.1 audio mix souring the milk slightly. Special features include commentary on the pilot, deleted scenes and a couple of featurettes.

AMAZON: $35.49

From my review of the boxed set:

“With a cast of great characters and compelling b-movie storylines, True Blood is just as silly, soap operatic and supernatural in its second season as it was in its first. Perhaps even more so! And that fun transfers in whole to this exceptional Complete Second Season Blu-ray set!”

This is another killer (pun intended!) Blu-ray boxed set from HBO. As is par for the course, all episodes look and sound fantastic. Outside of the excellent commentary tracks the supplemental material is fairly anemic. See what I did there? With the blood-thing? Urgh…

READ MORE: True Blood: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $47.49

And hey, speaking of vampires, here’s another great series about TV and film-goers’ favourite bloodsuckers! I didn’t expect to like The Vampire Diaries at all. AT ALL! And yet, after watching this first season on Blu-ray I’m hooked. It’s one of the shows I never miss on TV now, week to week. All 22 episodes are present and accounted for, all looking amazing in their high-def debut. Again WHV cheaps out on the audio, delivering only compressed DD 5.1 tracks. Not to worry though, they actually sound pretty good. Special features include a commentary track, tons of featurettes, a downloadable audio book and tons more!

READ MORE: Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of August 31

AMAZON: $45.99

Entourage has been another guilty pleasure for me for years. And this season, the sixth season feels like a climax of sorts. Despite the fact that the show has continued on into a seventh year, this Blu-ray boxed set collection gives a real sense of closure for the Hollywood escapades of movie star Vinnie Chase, manager Eric Murphy and all their pals by the time it ends. All 12 episodes look and sound better than they deserve, thanks to the wizards at HBO. Special features include commentaries, featurettes and a short film directed by Matt Damon!

AMAZON: $26.99

Thomas Jane stars in Hung as coach and “happiness consultant” (read: male hooker) Ray Drecker, doing what he does best with the gifts the good Lord has given him. Like, um…coaching sports and stuff. This half-hour drama is honestly a lot of fun but feels brief at a paltry 10-episodes. Collected in boxed set form, they just zoom by! The technical presentation isn’t quite up to HBO’s usual high standards but that doesn’t mean things look or sound grim here. The Blu-ray boxed set is, sadly a bit lite on the special features with a handful of commentary tracks being the most noteworthy.

AMAZON: $27.99

TV SHOWS ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY
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MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* ANIMATION
* CLASSICS
* THE BEST OF THE YEAR

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With new HBO boxed sets like The Pacific and the incredible Deadwood: The Complete Series freshly unleashed upon the public it’s very possible to forget that the studio released some truly great gift-worthy titles earlier in the year. To make certain that you don’t overlook both the True Blood and Entourage Blu-ray season boxed sets, the studio has hit us with these fairly entertaining, if not mildly confusing ads. What do you think? Will you be putting either on your wish list this year or giving either as a gift?

READ MORE: True Blood: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Disc Review

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HBO has finally officially announced their November release of the hit series Deadwood on Blu-ray. Special feature details have yet to be nailed down but here’s a good idea of what you can expect when the boxed set is released:

DEADWOOD: THE COMPLETE SERIES
(November 23, 2010 – MSRP $209.98)
Video: 2.7:1 1080p
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

• Commentary tracks
• “The Meaning of Endings” featurette with David Milch
• “The Real Deadwood: Out of the Ashes” featurette
• Q&A with the Cast and Creative Team from The Paley Center for Media
• “Deadwood 360″ Tour
• Al Swearengen Audition Reel as performed by Titus Welliver
• And more!!

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Well now, this is a welcome sight to wake up to this morning! It seems that the fan’s cries have finally worn down HBO and forced them to release Deadwood: The Complete Series on Blu-ray at long last! Now, we don’t have a formal announcement from Warner and HBO or any sort of details yet, but the preorder has gone live on Amazon.com, providing us with this package art – a sure sign that we’ll see this boxed set before the holiday season. Deadwood: The Complete Series carries a steep suggested retail price of $209.98 but is available at Amazon for only $146.99.

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