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Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of April 27

Brenden — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:00:07 +0000

If I had the power to name this week, I think I would have to dub it “The Mighty Catalogue Release Week”…or something like that. I mean, there are a couple of major new releases this week but my god, there are a ton of amazing older titles hitting shelves today. It’s tough to be interested in a new title when so many of my favourite oldies are hitting Blu today. But to be truthful here, there isn’t really a clunker in this list. Including the discs that didn’t make my top 5. They’re all worth a look!

But if I had to put them in order of preference, to pick a Top 5, this is what I’d end up with:

1. THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS

If you’ve read this blog in the past, you know that I’m an unabashed Terry Gilliam fan. And while there are a whole host of his films that just plain don’t work for me, I can’t count the The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus among them. It’s not his best flik, by far, but it manages to incorporate so many themes and images from his past work that I couldn’t help but feel warmly toward it. It’s good stuff. I may not have had a chance to check out the Blu-ray disc yet, but it’s so jam packed with goodies I’m willing to bet it’s the best new disc available this week!

Note: The Canadian release of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is still a week away. E1 Entertainment will get the Blu-ray into shops north of the 49th parallel on May 4th.

Amazon: $22.99

2. DUNE

I can’t wait to get my hands on this Blu-ray edition of David Lynch‘s Dune! Not because there’s any new content on the disc, or additional cuts of the film, or anything fun or different here. Nope. It’s just the plain old vanilla original cut of the film with most of the extras from the last DVD incarnation. But you know what? That’s enough for me. I’m so excited to get a chance to see Dune in 1080p!

Amazon: $18.99

3. TOMBSTONE

I love Tombstone! It’s far from a perfect film (there’s a lot of hokey, tired dialogue and melodrama) but this 1993 western about the famous showdown between Wyatt Earp and the Cowboys boasts a damn-near perfect cast – Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Billy Bob Thornton, Charlton Heston and the list goes on and on! The disc is stunning, the best the film has ever looked but far from textbook perfect. Still worth a purchase, if you’re a fan of the film or of westerns in general.

Amazon: $20.99

4. ELIZABETH, ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE

I’m still dying to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It’s making the list this week only as a companion to the first film, which has been a favourite of mine for years now. Incredible costumes and production design, beautiful, rich photography and a riveting performance from Cate Blanchett are the obvious reasons to grab this disc but don’t overlook the fact that Elizabeth features a healthy dose of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war – the stuff that all epic stories are made of!

Amazon: $17.99, $19.49

5. RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

I’ll admit that I wasn’t blown away by Ride with the Devil. I was expecting a lot more from it. I’m a big fan of Ang Lee and will gladly watch any film he makes but something about this one just didn’t click with me. That said, I’m more than excited to give it another shot on this brand new Criterion Collection Blu-ray edition. There aren’t as many special features as you’d expect from a Criterion disc, but a couple of commentary tracks, the one with Lee and writer James Shamus in particular, might shed some light on why I didn’t connect with this odd civil war epic. This one is a renter for me but totally worth a look.

Amazon: $26.99

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:

Universal bringing David Lynch's Dune to Blu-ray

Brenden — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:42:12 +0000

Holycrapholycrapholycrap…This is big news for me. Universal has revealed that they’re finally going to release David Lynch’s Dune on Blu-ray on April 27th! I’m such a huge fan of this film. I know, I know…it’s not perfect. It’s got a lot of problems. It’s not exactly like the book. It’s ridiculous and weird. I’ve heard it all before. But I grew up with this adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s sci-fi classic and like a lot of failed genre films from the 80s, it has a very special place in my heart. I’m excited to finally get to see it in beautiful 1080p.

Details appear to echo the old, relatively well-received HD-DVD release from a few years back with the exception of the addition of DTS-HD audio and the loss of a photo gallery. We don’t have any package art yet so I’ve included a selection of Blu-ray art from the various European releases instead!

DUNE
(April 27, 2010 – MSRP $26.98)
Video: 2.35:1 1080p
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

UPDATE: Here’s the actual cover art from Universal.

Sigh…I prefer the Euro covers…

Via: The HD Room

Double Dip Alert! 300: The Complete Experience Blu-ray Announced

Brenden — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:20:46 +0000

If you followed the history of this film on high-def formats, you most likely saw this one coming miles away. Timed to take advantage of the release of Zack Snyder‘s Watchmen on home video, 300: The Complete Experience will hit the shelves on July 21, packing all the features from the HD-DVD onto the Blu-ray edition of the film, along with some new BD-Live functionality and a book!

To be fair to Warner, this isn’t your average double-dip story. You see, way back in July of 2007, when 300 first came to home video, there wasn’t a Blu-ray player on the market that could handle the advanced BD-Live functionality (outside of the PS3, that is) required to take advantage of the additional features. The Complete 300 – A Comprehensive Immersion and the bluescreen picture-in-picture were available on the HD-DVD but held back from Blu-ray, giving our first cue that we would eventually see a more robust edition released on the format once all the hubbub over “profiles” settled down. And from the looks of this list of extras on the disc, it will have been well worth the wait:

300: THE COMPLETE EXPERIENCE
Digibook edition with 40-page book
Video: 1080p VC-1
Audio: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD

Special Features:

• The Complete 300 – A Comprehensive Immersion (new): interactive picture-in-picture experience which provides 3 unique perspectives to explore while you watch the film:
◦ Creating a Legend – Frank Miller and Zack Snyder Interpret a Classic Tale
◦ Bringing the Legend to Life – Building a World From a Comic
◦ The History Behind the Myth – The Real Story of The Hot Gates

• Bluescreen picture-in-picture (new)
• Audio commentary by director Zack Snyder, writer Kurt Johnstad and director of photography Larry Fong (already included in 1st edition)
• The 300- Fact or Fiction? (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Who Were The Spartans – The Warriors of 300 (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Preparing for Battle – The Original Test Footage (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Frank Miller Tapes (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Making of 300 – A look at how the movie was made (in SD; already included in 1st edition)
• Making 300 in Images (in SD; already included in 1st edition)
• Webisodes (in SD; already included in 1st edition)
• Additional Footage – Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Zack Snyder (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• BD-Live (new): Media Centre; Live Community Screening; My WB Commentary
.

Via: Blu-ray.com

Spielberg on Blu-ray: A.I. confirmed for Europe, Minority Report and Jurassic Park in the works

Brenden — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:12:27 +0000

Artificial Intelligence takes over Blu-ray in Europe this July

Steven Spielberg, one of Hollywood’s most lauded and successful directors, has only had a single film released on Blu-ray to date. Sony gave us the extraordinary Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition in November of 2007 amidst rumours that Universal, then putting their full weight behind their competing format, was going to trump it by dominating the Spielberg market with titles like E.T., Jaws and Jurassic Park on HD-DVD. This, of course, didn’t come to pass. A year and half later, we’re still waiting to see anything more from the Spielberg library in High-def.

While not quite the old-school Spielberg news one would pray for, Blu-ray.com brings us some pleasant announcements nonetheless: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is officially scheduled to be released in Germany and Spain this July (Spanish package artwork shown). Amidst this release news, retailers in Denmark have been told by Fox to expect to see Minority Report on Blu-ray sometime this year. And last but not least, Spielberg himself has stated in Australian movie magazine Film Ink that he’s planning something ‘special’ for the Jurassic Park Blu-ray disc, to see release after A.I. hits the shelves.

While nothing has been announced for North America or the U.K. as yet, we expect to learn of the studios plans for A.I. shortly. In the meantime, remind yourself how you pine for the less saccharine cinematic stylings of 70s-80s Spielberg by drinking in this trailer for his 2001 film:

Got HD-DVD? Warner will exchange them for Blu-ray!

Brenden — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:27:39 +0000

Once again Warner Bros. is taking the lead in the home video industry and is doing something about that stack of HD-DVD coasters they conned you into buying two years ago. Instead of putting your drinks on them, you can package up your old, dead media, throw some loose change at Warner and they’ll get you back some shiny new Blu-ray discs in 4-5 weeks for your trouble. While not a perfect deal (there are a handful of limitations in place) Warner is at least attempting to rectify the damage caused by the format conflict. When will the other major studios do the same?

Red2Blu Trade-in Program

1. Click here and select the HD DVD titles you want to exchange for Blu-rays.
◦ Limit one exchange per title
◦ Upgrade fee of $4.95
◦ Shipping fee of $6.95 per order ($8.95 per order for Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico)
2. Mail the original cover-art to Warner’s processing center
3. Receive new discs in 4-5 weeks

In addition, if you’re looking for something to do with your busted up HD-DVD player, Engadget has got you covered.

Via: blu-ray.com
and: EngadgetHD

The Blu-ray Blog » HD-DVD

Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of April 27

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