Next up: The Best New Blu-ray Discs of the Year!

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* TV ON BLU
* ANIMATION
* THE BEST OF THE YEAR

• The Criterion Collection: Black Orpheus Blu-ray Disc Review
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of September 14 – BREATHLESS (À BOUT DE SOUFFLE)
• criterion.com

AMAZON: Click for price list

The Complete Metropolis is unquestionably one of the finest and most important Blu-ray releases of the year. This restoration, incorporating 25-minutes of newly discovered footage back into the film for the first time in decades, is absolutely stunning in high-def and is necessary viewing for every film fan. This disc receives our highest possible recommendation.

READ MORE: The Complete Metropolis Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $29.49

David Lean‘s Lawrence of Arabia might not be available on Blu yet but Sony has given us the next best thing in their brilliant new high-def transfer of The Bridge on the River Kwai. The boxed set contains a bunch of unnecessary collectibles, but the disc is to die for!

READ MORE: The Bridge on the River Kwai Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $19.99

And speaking of Lean, his very fine and highly under-rated Doctor Zhivago was released on Blu-ray earlier this year in a nice, new digi-book edition from Warner. If the photography and the music don’t get you, Omar Sharif surely will. Purely briliant!

READ MORE: Doctor Zhivago: 45th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $28.99

Who doesn’t just absolutely love the original King Kong?! The Merian C. Cooper film has inspired a couple of remakes, tons of knock-offs and countless filmmakers over the years. And it’s never looked or sounded better on home video than on this gorgeous new Blu-ray edition from Warner. Highly recommended!

READ MORE: Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of September 28 – KING KONG

AMAZON: $25.99

And while we’re on the subject of brilliant films made with stop-motion animation, don’t miss out on the incredible Blu-ray edition of Ray Harryhausen‘s Jason and the Argonauts! I still can’t get over what a great job Sony did restoring and transferring this to Blu. You have to see it to believe it!

READ MORE: Jason and the Argonauts Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $20.99

As I stated in my review of the A Star is Born Blu-ray, I really hate musicals. But I’m always willing to make an exception for a well made film presented in a pretty great Blu-ray edition. This is classic Judy Garland and James Mason in a classic George Cukor film. Don’t miss this WHV digi-book edition of the Blu-ray!

READ MORE: A Star is Born Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $24.99

There aren’t a whole lot of special features on this new Blu-ray edition of the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty but the film itself has never looked or sounded better on home video. This isn’t a flawless restoration here but it’s a great package, including a hardcover digibook, that most collectors and fans will be satisfied with.

AMAZON: $22.99

This gorgeous restoration has been a long time in coming! We film fans have been waiting to get our grubby mitts on a cleaned up, digital copy of The African Queen for ages. It’s one of those few titles that didn’t appear on DVD at all until just this year, when it also saw release on Blu-ray. John Huston‘s classic starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn has never looked or sounded better and is a must for all film fans.

READ MORE: Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of March 23 – THE AFRICAN QUEEN

AMAZON: $24.99

Speaking of Bogey and Huston, Warner recently hit us with amazing Blu-ray editions of a couple of their finest collaborations – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Maltese Falcon! Both look fantastic, considering their ages, with the transfer for Treasure often quite breathtaking. The discs both contain a myriad of special features, which you can read about here.

AMAZON: $18.49, $17.49

Kino has been absolutely killing it this year with silent film releases on Blu-ray! Aside from their killer high-def version of Metropolis, I think my favourite title has to have been Douglas Fairbanks‘ The Black Pirate. I never thought a two-strip Technicolor film of this age could look this good in high-def! Amazing!

AMAZON: $22.99

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM KINO:

Nuts to the Coen brothers! This here original version of True Grit is the real deal. This classic John Wayne film co-starring the likes of a very young Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall, is pretty stunning here in its new Blu-ray incarnation. The special features are all carried over from the previously issued DVD but hold up well.

AMAZON: $17.99

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

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* TV ON BLU
* ANIMATION
* THE BEST OF THE YEAR

Related posts

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What a tough week! On first glance, it didn’t seem to me that there was a whole lot hitting the shops but then, when I began to assemble the TOP 5 list, I quickly discovered otherwise. There’s some great stuff here, including a couple of films that my girlfriend has claimed are the best movies she’s seen all year and a whole lot of amazing catalogue releases including the first ever North American Hammer Films release in HD!

1. THE A-TEAM

I had no choice but to rank The A-Team tv-to-cinema adaptation as the number one Blu-ray release this week, as my girlfriend claims it’s the best film of the year. Honestly, we saw it in the theatre several months ago and I thought it was fun and far more coherent than I expected it to be. The performances are strong (Liam Neeson doing his best grizzled George Peppard with Bradley Cooper and Sharlto Copley following up their spotlight gigs in The Hangover and District 9 respectively) if not a bit tongue in cheek and the action is way over-the-top fun. It’s ok! But my girlfriend couldn’t stop raving about it. And my nephew couldn’t stop raving about it. So, there must be something there. Of any of the new Blu-ray discs out this week, The A-team is most likely the best bet to entertain a wide audience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• The Devil’s in the Details: Inside the Action with Joe Carnahan
• Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Plan of Attack
• Character Chronicles
• Visual Effects Commentary with Visual Effects Supervisor James E. Price
• BD-Live

AMAZON: $22.99

2. TRUE GRIT

Hot on the heels of the Coen brothers’ remake comes Paramount‘s high-def debut of the Henry Hathaway original True Grit. What an amazing film! Not only does it feature John Wayne in one of his final performances (and what a performance it is!) but the film can also boast great early turns by Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall! The Blu-ray contains all the same features as the previously issued DVD (excellent commentary track and handful of featurettes) but is technically a step-up. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound track is dialogue and center heavy but opens wide for the rich, robust Elmer Bernstein soundtrack while the 1.85:1 presentation seems to be the most film-accurate on home video to date, exhibiting greater detail, more accurate colour and just a hint of film grain. My guess is that the studio used an slightly older HD master and could bump the detail up a hair with a fresh one but I doubt we’ll be seeing another release of this duster anytime soon so fans need to rush out and grab this one up while they can!

AMAZON: $17.99

3. THE BLACK PIRATE

I can’t even believe that in 2010 we’ve seen such amazing silent era films as Metropolis, The General and Battleship Potemkin released on Blu-ray! I feel a bit spoiled, to be honest. And today sees the addition of another silent great to the roster – Douglas Fairbanks‘ fun, two-strip technicolor The Black Pirate is out on Blu-ray, thanks to the great folks at Kino. The disc is a revelation, looking so much better than you’d expect and offering the choice of the original 1926 Mortimer Wilson orchestral score in Linear PCM 2.0 or a DD 2.0 Lee Erwin organ score. Kino has really knocked it out of the park here! And the the disc just gets better, as it includes a wealth of quality special features including a very informative commentary track from film historian Rudy Behlmer, a b&w “Talkie” version of the film and heaps of outtakes and stills. Highly recommended!

AMAZON: $25.99

4. THE TOWN

Ben Affleck sure is making a lot of effort not to suck lately. He must’ve gotten tired of churning out duds like Daredevil and Gigli and instead, now seems to be putting forth a serious effort to deliver some decent films onto the cinemascape! The Town is his second dramatic crime-thriller following the 2007 Gone Baby Gone. The Blu-ray disc features two cuts of the film – the 125-minute theatrical cut and 153-minute extended version – both crammed onto one disc without seamless branching (there are little to no noticeable quality issues despite the low-bandwidth video encodes.) They offer significant differences and are both worth watching, along with Affleck’s commentary track, which dissects the additions. The hearty DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 brings the love and may bust-up your glassware with all it’s punchy gusto. Muscular audio design and dynamic range will leave you breathless.

AMAZON: $24.99

5. THE OTHER GUYS

My review copy of The Other Guys arrived last week. As the credits were rolling my girlfriend announced that this was the best film she had seen all year. I reminded her that she had previously claimed that The A-team was the film of the year. She offered up a “hrmpht” and asked to see the gag reel.

This is a real return to form for the team that brought you Anchorman. Will Ferrel and all his cohorts (too many brilliant comedians to name here) are in top form, improving their way through a mostly incoherent buddy-cops-versus-evil-businessmen plot. The laughs don’t stop when the film is over as the special features, of which there are a multitude, act as an extension of the films gags, offering up hours of deleted scenes and cut-loose improv comedy. After watching all the ad-libbing on the set I’ve got to wonder if the shooting script wasn’t maybe just a loose outline.

AMAZON: $22.99

6. VAMPIRE CIRCUS

Yeah, I know. It’s another six-disc Top 5 list this week. But I just can’t let the post publish without talking about Vampire Circus! I haven’t seen the Blu-ray disc yet so I can’t speak to the quality of Synapse Films‘ work yet but I’m just so damned happy that somebody is manning up and releasing a Hammer film in high-def! This bad boy really looks fantastic on the surface, packed with special features including an all new documentary on the making of the film. I’m sincerely hoping for the best with this disc and praying, if it’s up to snuff, that you’ll all go out and buy a copy. Maybe then the studios will see that there’s an audience for these films in HD. Here’s hoping that the classic Dracula and Frankenstein films make their way onto Blu by this time next year!

AMAZON: $20.49

NEW THIS WEEK ON 3D BLU-RAY:

AMAZON: $31.99 , $29.99

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:

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Well, this isn’t the most overwhelming Blu-ray release day of the year but there are certainly some incredibly drool-worthy new titles out in shops today. Titles so amazing, in fact, that I’m going to be forced to place my top 3 picks this week all in the number-one slot. They are all must-own discs and I simply can’t rate one above the other!!

1. CRONOS

Cronos has never been my favourite film but it’s a damn important one. It’s the world’s introduction to the modern-gothic vision of Guillermo del Toro. The low-budget gateway into a dark-elegant style that would come to fruition in films like The Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth. This skewed and innovative take on the classic vampire tale is, when viewed in context, quite a marvel.

The gorgeous Blu-ray edition of the film is quite stunning when you consider its indie origins. But then again, you’d expect no less from a Criterion disc, would you? No matter what you think of the film itself, you’ll certainly be impressed with its high-def presentation and the special features that accompany it, which include a couple of excellent commentary tracks, a newly completed short film and a truly magical tour of Del Toro’s home offices and collections.

Highly recommended!

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Guillermo del Toro and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, including optional audio with the film’s original Spanish-language voice-over introduction as well as DTS-HD Master Audio
• Two audio commentaries, one featuring del Toro and the other producers Arthur H. Gorson and Bertha Navarro and coproducer Alejandro Springall
• Geometria, an unreleased 1987 short horror film by del Toro, finished by the director in 2010, plus a new video interview with him
• Welcome to Bleak House, a video tour by del Toro of his office, featuring his collectibles and personal work
• New video interviews with del Toro, Navarro, and actor Ron Perlman
• Video interview with actor Federico Luppi
• Stills gallery
• Trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation, approved by del Toro
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Maitland McDonagh and excerpts from del Toro’s notes for the film

READ MORE: Criterion announces December Blu-ray titles: Videodrome, Cronos

AMAZON: $29.49

1. VIDEODROME

That’s right. This is a two-Criterion Blu-ray week! Along with Del Toro’s Cronos, the studio is serving up the Blu-ray debut of David Cronenberg‘s classic Videodrome and it looks and sounds so much better than it ever has before. I run hot and cold on Cronenberg’s films but Videodrome has always just worked. A twisted look at the world of the media and how we consume it as it consumes us, the film holds up despite the dated technology on display (I haven’t seen that many VHS tapes in years!)

Criterion serve up the same excellent collection of special features as they did on the previously issued Videodrome DVD but the move here to high-def makes this an easy upgrade. There’s a lot more detail to see, colours pop and there’s a nice overall film-like look to the transfer. Audio is only monaural but uncompressed with more dynamic range than previous offerings.

Highly recommended.

Special Features:

• High-definition digital transfer of the unrated version (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack)
• Two audio commentaries: David Cronenberg and director of photography Mark Irwin, and actors James Woods and Deborah Harry
• Camera (2000), a short film starring Videodrome’s Les Carlson, written and directed by Cronenberg
• Forging the New Flesh, a new half-hour documentary featurette by filmmaker Michael Lennick about the creation of Videodrome’s video and prosthetic makeup effects
• Effects Men, a new audio interview with special makeup effects creator Baker and video effects supervisor Lennick
• Bootleg Video: the complete footage of Samurai Dreams and seven minutes of transmissions from “Videodrome,” presented in their original, unedited form with filmmaker commentary
• Fear on Film, a 26-minute roundtable discussion from 1982 between filmmakers Cronenberg, John Carpenter, John Landis, and Mick Garris
• Original theatrical trailers and promotional featurette
• Stills galleries featuring hundreds of rare behind-the-scenes production photos, special effects makeup tests, and publicity photos
• A booklet featuring essays by writers Carrie Rickey, Tim Lucas, and Gary Indiana

READ MORE: Criterion announces December Blu-ray titles: Videodrome, Cronos

AMAZON: $29.49

1. INCEPTION

Christopher Nolan‘s Inception might have been my favourite Hollywood film of 2010. I’m fully aware of all the character deficiencies and possible plot holes in the script but I don’t care. The film managed an incredible feat, as far as I’m concerned and spent the first three-quarters of the narrative setting it up – a storytelling gag wherein a group of characters live and interact at different speeds within different dream states. It’s a fantastic narrative gymnastic feat that has never been attempted before and I think it succeeds in a marvelous way. Also, I can’t stop listening to Hans Zimmer‘s incredible score for the film. Seriously. Every time I put my iPod on it’s Inception. I think it might be bordering on unhealthy.

I haven’t gotten my hands on the Blu-ray yet but I’m assuming that despite its lack of Maximum Movie Mode it’ll be one of Warner‘s best discs of the year. Really looking forward to it!!

READ MORE: Inception Blu-ray officially announced and detailed

AMAZON: $17.99

4. MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON

There’s a lot of talk about Stéphane Brizé‘s Mademoiselle Chambon being a modern, “French provincial version of Noel Coward‘s Brief Encounter” but that’s selling this wonderful little film short. It’s a thoughtful, sensitive romance that feels wholly original. With it’s pregnant pauses and long silences, the pacing won’t be for everyone but believe me, this small scale film is well worth the watch.

AMAZON: $31.49

5. LOST IN TRANSLATION

Lost in Translation is one of my all time favourite films so I have no choice but to place it in my Top 5 list, despite the fact that I haven’t experienced it on Blu yet. I’m really hoping that Universal has delivered a top tier transfer for the film and at least carried over the special features from the DVD, if not created a whole host of new extras for this release. They haven’t done great work with their standard catalogue releases in the recent past so here’s hoping they’ve got their act together for this one!

AMAZON: $19.99

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:

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THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS (1927, Blu-ray released November 23, 2010 – MSRP $39.95)

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. You’ll never believe how beautiful, rich and detailed an old silent, black and white film from the twenties can look in high-def until you feast your eyes on Kino‘s new The Complete Metropolis Blu-ray disc.

I’m sure you’re well familiar with Fritz Lang‘s landmark cinematic vision of the future, Metropolis. Without which there would be no Blade Runner or Star Wars or Universal Monsters or, to be frank, no films being made as we know and love them today. Yeah, it’s a pretty important piece of work that’s influenced damn near every director, screenwriter and production designer working in the medium today. But chances are, unless you were lucky enough to catch it as it played the festival circuit in the last year, you haven’t seen The Complete Metropolis – a reconstruction of the previously truncated and heavily edited original film using a newly discovered 16mm print, which brings Lang’s masterwork closer to his cut of the film than its been in decades.

The 25-minutes of added footage are a welcome addition, significantly altering the pacing and the structure of the film. But these scenes, moments and quick cuts now spliced into clean, nearly-pristine 2001 restoration appear markedly different – scratched and dirty, dull with less detail and in a slightly different aspect ratio (a black bar crops the top portion of most images). Sadly, this is the best that could be done with the newly discovered footage. In fact, there are instances where available elements were too far gone to recover and exist now in the film as text, explaining the moments of lost story. Despite the less-than-perfect nature of this “complete” edit, we film fans can now watch this, one of the finest films ever made and rejoice that we’re finally able to experience the story as it was meant to be seen.

To make a blanket statement about the quality of the image on The Complete Metropolis Blu-ray disc would be misleading but to say that the overall transfer is accurate, free of digital tampering and mostly astounding wouldn’t be steering you wrong. To be honest, I found it quite breathtaking. Sure, the source is uneven, with images ranging from rich, detailed perfection to those that are cropped, scraped, low contrast and barely watchable, but all things considered, it’s tough to complain about the results. As wonderful as it is to see this complete, restored version of Metropolis in all its high-def glory, its equally great to hear the original, full Gottfried Huppert score, presented here in both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track and a LPCM 2.0 track. Both presentations are dynamic, full and very impressive. Intertitles are in English. There’s no option to watch with original German titles.

Special features on the Blu-ray disc are excellent but few in number. The hour-long “Voyage to Metropolis” covers the history of the film, from production to restoration, to present day. Featuring interviews with the director himself and HD production art and stills, every fan owes it to themselves to see this doc. It’s almost worth the price of the disc alone. An interview with the museum curator who discovered the 16mm print used for the new footage and a trailer for the film round out the package. Sadly, none of the extras from the 2003 release are present this time around, so you might want to hold on to your old DVD. Also absent is the commentary track from the Masters of Cinema U.K. edition of the Blu-ray (locked to Region B.) The MOC and Kino discs are otherwise identical.

Super-extra-highly recommended!

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This is an amazing week for Blu-ray – not only in that there are a handful of pretty amazing new releases (and some duds) to grab up but that there are more deals to be had this week on titles and players than at any time of the year, thanks to the incredible BLACK FRIDAY sales in the USA. If new releases aren’t your thing this week, you can find a handy, constantly-updated Black Friday Blu-ray Guide to sales and sale prices here.

1. AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY

I know I’ve said this a few times recently, but this really might be the Blu-ray release of the year. Criterion have assembled a box full of seven of the most important and influential films from the late 60s/early 70s, all made and produced by Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider and Steve Blauner. And of course, each one has been prepped and transferred with the same love and care that Criterion give each standalone release, individually stacked with great special features.

Less well-known films, Head, A Safe Place and Drive, He Said hold up well amongst their popular siblings. In fact, though most film fans will pick up the boxed set for The Last Picture Show or Five Easy Pieces, I think the true delight will be the discovery (or re-discovery, as the case may be) of these hidden gems.

Higher profile Blu-ray releases and boxed sets might steal the spotlight this holiday season but the true coveted prize for any true film-fan will be this incredible, robust collection of films from Criterion. America Lost and Found: The BBS Story receives our highest possible recommendation.

FULL DETAILS HERE: Criterion Collection America Lost and Found: The BBS Story Blu-ray set contains Easy Rider, Last Picture Show, Five Easy Pieces

Amazon: $87.49

2. THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS

Speaking of incredible, influential and must-own releases of the week, The Complete Metropolis Blu-ray release from Kino is the newly released disc that you don’t put on your Christmas list – you run out and buy it today. Metropolis is inarguably one of the most important films ever made and now, for the first time in decades, we have the opportunity to see it in its complete form. Well, as close as technology and available resources allow.

The film was censored, ravaged from its initial length to a truncated 90-minutes. This version, which looks incredible on Blu-ray, for the most part, restores a good deal of the story and brings the run-time to a more film-accurate 145-minutes. This is a landmark Blu-ray release that shouldn’t be missed at any cost!

Amazon: $29.49

3. DEADWOOD: THE COMPLETE SERIES

On any other week, this would have easily been the number one release. The Deadwood: The Complete Series Blu-ray boxed set showed up at my door just as I was stepping out on vacation. As a result I haven’t been able to watch it yet but I’ll tell you, the damn thing weighs a ton! It’s packed with 13-discs of one of the best shows to ever have aired on television. And knowing HBO as I do, I’d be willing to bet that the quality of the packaging and the transfers are all beyond reproach. It’s an expensive set but an easy recommendation, even without having viewed a single one of the 13 discs.

Amazon: $137.99

4. THE EXPENDABLES

Ahhh, Sly. I totally missed this one in the theatres. (I know, you’re shocked, right?) But strangely, I have a feeling that this testosterone-fueled 80s callback will be better enjoyed on the smaller screen, just as we all truly fell in love with this type of film on cable and VHS back in the day. Call me crazy, but I’m actually more excited to check this out on Blu-ray than in the theatre. I’m looking forward to having the boys over, ordering pizza and busting out The Expendables very soon. Too bad the disc doesn’t have a VHS-quality transfer as one of the special features. … I can’t believe I just wrote that…

Amazon: $19.99

5. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH

I have a feeling I’ll take a little heat for this but I loved The Pillars of the Earth! After steadfastly avoiding the television mini-series format for ages, I found myself quickly sucked into this brilliantly executed medieval melodrama, adapted from the bestselling novel by Ken Follett. Admittedly, the fact that the show is produced by Ridley and Tony Scott and stars a ton of amazing actors (Donald Sutherland, Gordon Pinsent, Hayley Atwell, Ian McShane, Matthew Macfadyen to name a few) makes watching what could have been a very weak movie of the week-style program an easier pill to swallow. The castles and bloody battles look great on the 3-disc Blu-ray set, despite the fact that the 6-episodes are actually encoded in 1080i (the back of the packaging incorrectly states that the encoding is 1080p.)

Amazon: $38.99

6. SALON KITTY

Another week, another sixth title in the Top 5 list. I’m sorry, but I can’t wrap up this column without pointing out that the lude, rude and all-together very nude (see what I did there, with the rhyming?) Salon Kitty has made its way to Blu-ray thanks to the dirty boys and girls of Blue Underground. Three years before he would shock the world with Caligula, Tinto Brass delivered a lengthy, somewhat muddled World War II-era film about a madame whose brothel is bugged in an attempt to gather bedside intel from unsuspecting Nazi soldiers. Brass takes the subject matter seriously but undermines his intent with over the top tits and ass. Fans of the film will be happy to know that Salon Kitty looks and sounds better than ever on Blu-ray and includes a limited but informative collection of extras (“Inside ‘Salon Kitty:’ Interview with Director Tinto Brass“, “Designing ‘Salon Kitty:’ Interview with Production Designer Ken Adam“, international trailer and three radio spots)

Amazon: $22.49

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

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What a week! If not for the lack of 3D version of Avatar, I think we could officially claim this as the most massive outing for the new three-dimensional format do date. Even still, with eight films new on 3D Blu, James Cameron‘s Pandoran epic, with its multiple cuts, bevy of extras and near perfect presentation, still reigns supreme.

1. AVATAR EXTENDED COLLECTOR’S EDITION

Nothing beats the heavyweight champ. The biggest film of the year or possibly even of all time. James Cameron’s Avatar makes its triumphant return to Blu-ray this week in a 3-disc set that’s bound to find its way under damn near every Blu-ray fan’s Christmas tree this year.

Not only is this Extended Collector’s Edition packed to the gills with the deleted scenes and extras you’ve been waiting the year to see but it also features three cuts of the award winning film, all demo-disc worthy. With the technical quality of the video and audio presentation off the charts (and surprisingly equal to the stand alone disc available earlier this year) this Blu-ray set has claimed the crown of high-def title to beat! Bring on the challengers!!

Special Features:

Disc One

• Original Theatrical Version
• Special Edition Re-Release
• Collector’s Extended Cut
  • 16 more minutes and exclusive alternate opening)

Family Audio Track (All Objectionable Language Removed)

• Original Theatrical Release
• Special Edition Re-release

Disc Two

• Capturing Avatar: An in-depth feature length documentary with James Cameron, Jon Landau and cast and crew
• Deleted scenes: including over 45 minutes of new never-before-seen deleted scenes
• Production materials (BD-exclusive)

Disc Three (BD-exclusive)

• Open “Pandora’s Box” and go deeper into the filmmaker process
• Interactive Scene Deconstruction: Explore the various stages of production through three different viewing modes
• Production shorts: 17 featurettes covering performance capture, scoring the film, 3D Fusion camera, stunts and much more
• Avatar Archives, including original scriptment, 300 page screenplay and the extensive Pandorapedia
• BD-live Portal with additional bonus materials

Amazon: $24.99

2. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

On any other week, Charles Laughton‘s Night of the Hunter would have easily been in the number one slot. This nightmarish Mother Goose tale is sadly the only film the famous actor ever directed and it’s a damn shame. Because it’s a masterwork. Robert Mitchum has never been better or more creepy.

Criterion finally does the film justice, presenting it in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 as opposed to the 1.33 of previous presentations. Couple that with Criterion’s exceptional package of special features and this is clearly one of the finest releases of the year.

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary featuring assistant director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones
• Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter,” a two-and-a-half-hour archival treasure trove of outtakes from the film
• New documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman
• New video interview with Simon Callow, author of Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor
• Clip from the The Ed Sullivan Show, in which cast members perform live a scene that was deleted from the film
• Fifteen-minute episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film
• Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez
• Gallery of sketches by author Davis Grubb
• New video conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter”
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow

Amazon: $36.49

3. MODERN TIMES

Criterion does the Little Tramp justice as well this week. Charlie Chaplin‘s final outing as his most famous character has never looked better in this restored 2K-resolution digital transfer. Gone are the rounded corners and frayed edges of precious transfers, replaced with a rich, detailed image. There have been some nice editions of this film in the recent past but nothing bests this new one from Criterion. Recommended!

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New audio commentary by Chaplin biographer David Robinson
• Two new visual essays, by Chaplin historians John Bengtson and Jeffrey Vance
• New program on the film’s visual and sound effects, with experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
• Interview from 1992 with Modern Times music arranger David Raksin
• Chaplin Today: “Modern Times” (2004), a half-hour program with filmmakers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
• Two segments removed from the film
• Three theatrical trailers
• All at Sea (1933), a home movie by Alistair Cooke featuring Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, and Cooke, plus a new score by Donald Sosin and a new interview with Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge
• The Rink (1916), a Chaplin two-reeler highlighting his skill on wheels
• For the First Time (1967), a Cuban documentary short about a projectionist who shows Modern Times to first-time moviegoers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Saul Austerlitz and a piece by film scholar Lisa Stein that includes excerpts from Chaplin’s writing about his travels in 1931 and 1932

Amazon: $29.49

4. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)

Speaking of Charles Laughton, his turn as the cruel Captain William Bligh in the 1935 edition of Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable is new on Blu this week. Warner‘s new restoration looks mostly fantastic (there is some damage on the print that has not been restored yet…but nevermind, this looks great!) on Blu-ray. Certainly the best its ever looked on home video. The disc is packaged in a nice hardcover digibook but includes sadly few special features.

Amazon: $25.99

5. SHERLOCK JR./THREE AGES

Kino‘s new Blu-ray with both the short films Sherlock Jr. and Three Ages is a welcome addition to the studios Buster Keaton collection. While the visuals are nowhere near as reference quality as The General or even Steamboat Bill Jr., Sherlock Jr is certainly impressive. Three Ages doesn’t fare quiet as well but is still a treat in high-def. The disc has a host of extra features such as multiple music tracks, a commentary track, documentary and more!

Amazon: $25.99

6. ROBO-GEISHA

Another week, another sixth entry in the Top 5 list. I haven’t seen FUNimation‘s new Robo-Geisha film yet but based on the sheer entertainment value and disc quality of the studio’s recent Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl I thought this release was probably worth a mention. I’ve seen the trailer and I haven’t been the same since. I haven’t been able to get the image of geisha girls shooting ninja stars from their butts out of my head since…

Amazon: $21.99

NEW THIS WEEK ON 3D BLU-RAY:

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
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Kino is absolutely killing it for me right now. I just got their Complete Metropolis and Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray discs in the mail yesterday and they are amazing! And now this news, that the studio is preparing to deliver a classic Douglas Fairbanks film to Blu. The Black Pirate looks like it’s going to be one hell of a feature packed disc, if the list of extras below is any indication. I’m hoping this release will mark the beginning of Kino’s efforts to bring their entire Fairbanks collection to high-def. I’d give my best hunting bow to get my hands on a Blu-ray copy of his Robin Hood film from 1922!

Special Features:

• Restored two-strip Technicolor version, mastered in HD
• Original 1926 score by Mortimer Wilson, conducted by Robert Israel (1996)
• Organ score by Lee Erwin
• Audio Commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer
• Complete “talkie” version, minus intertitles, with orchestral score and narration by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (75 min., B&W)
• 18 Minutes of outtakes, with commentary by Rudy Behlmer
• 29 Minutes of additional outtakes, courtesy of the Library of Congress
• Photo gallery

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We got our first look at the UK Masters of Cinema Metropolis Blu-ray boxed set back in May and holy crap did it appear to be the best thing ever. I was really, really hoping that the North American version from Kino International would be an exact copy, complete with commentary track and comparable packaging (take a look at the gorgeous MoC version here.) Sadly, it seems the Kino edition might be a bit more of a stripped down affair.

From the looks of things, the Kino Blu-ray will only have a single feature to hold over its UK counterpart – an interview with the museum curator where the new footage from Fritz Lang’s classic of the silent cinema was discovered. As nice as that sounds, I have to lament that we won’t be getting the David Kalat and Jonathan Rosenbaum commentary track or the incredible-looking 56-page book of the MoC boxed set on this side of the Atlantic. Those seem like fairly significant extras to miss out on – a couple hours of analytical discussion as well as pages upon pages of essays, photos and art.

But I really shouldn’t complain. I mean, at the end of the day, the film is the thing, right? And it shouldn’t really matter who gets what extras. We’re all getting a Blu-ray disc with a transfer of the film based off of this brand new, best-ever print, so it’s Christmas-time for all of us! I think we’re all very fortunate to have as much. And perhaps the Kino edition will actually live up to the MoC at the end of the day. Either way, I can’t wait to get my hands on Metropolis on Blu-ray. November can’t come soon enough!!

Special Features:

• Voyage to Metropolis, a 50-minute documentary on the making and restoration of the film (in HD)
• Interview with Paula Felix-Didier, curator of the Museo del Cine, Buenos Aires, where the missing footage was discovered
• 2010 re-release trailer
• Limited Edition Collectible 3-D Lenticuar Box Packaging

Via: The Digital Bits.com

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