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 Criterion Collection: Videodrome Blu-ray Disc Review (0)
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of October 12 (1)

I’ve been sitting on this news for a few weeks, since the last Warner press event but now that it’s is out there, it’s fair game. Christopher Nolan‘s Inception, one of my favourite films of this last year, is due for Blu-ray Combo-Pack release here in North America on December 7. Note that the discs “Extraction Mode” is a version of Warner’s excellent “Maximum Movie Mode” and will offer some sort of picture-in-picture experience with over 90-minutes of bonus content from director Nolan and star Leonardo DiCaprio. Sounds great but from the looks of the package, I can’t help but get the feeling that we’ll end up seeing a more robust deluxe/ultimate collector’s edition of the film on Blu at this time next year.

Special Features:

• Extraction Mode: infiltrate the dreamscape of Inception – with this in-movie experience – to learn how Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio and the rest of the cast and crew designed and achieved the movies signature moments.
• Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious: taking some of the most fascinating and cutting-edge dream research to-date on lucid dreaming, top scientists make the case that the dream world is not an altered state of consciousness, but a fully functional parallel reality.
• Inception: The Cobol Job: now in full animation and motion, check out this comic prologue to see how Cobb, Arthur, and Nash came to be enlisted by Cobol Engineering and perform an extraction on Saito.
• 5.1 Soundtrack selections from Hans Zimmer’s score
• Conceptual art gallery
• Promotional art archive
• Trailers
• TV spots
• BD-Live
  • Project Somnacin: Confidential Files: get access to the highly secure files that reveal the inception of the dream-share technology.

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I wouldn’t consider myself a wild or devout fan of director Christopher Nolan‘s work. But goddamn did I ever love his most recent film, Inception! I know, I know, it’s far from perfect. There are a lot of elements of the script, the visuals and the direction that I would take issue with if I didn’t find the overall package so damn effective. And, to be honest, subsequent to seeing it on the big screen I’ve come to realize that a lot of my passion for the film begins with the wonderful score by Hans Zimmer. I’ve got it on my iPhone and listen to it regularly. So, for me, this is one of the most anticipated new Blu-ray releases of the year. And it looks like we’ll only have to wait until December to get our hands on it.

The following images and info are technically only applicable to the UK release of Inception but I’m certain the special features will be echoed on our edition, on this side of the Atlantic. And the release date will no doubt fall around the 6th of December.

As I’ve stated several times over, here on The Blu-ray Blog, I don’t really need to own all of the extra stuff packaged in these deluxe releases – in this case, the briefcase, the plastic top, movie cards, etc. I’m happy to have the film itself on Blu-ray, on my shelf. That said, I know these packages are popular, especially during the holiday season. Sadly, we can’t confirm yet that we’ll see this particular one outside of the UK. But we’ll let you know the moment we receive word, one way or the other. Expect an official announcement in the coming days.

Special Features:

• Limited edition aluminium briefcase
• PASIV (Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous) Device User Manual
• Movie art-cards
• Inception Spinning Top
• Maximum Movie Mode: Christopher Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio extract information about the world of Inception and learn about all things you may have missed in the film. Questions, answers, surprises and intrigue are all there for the taking!
• Prologue (Motion Comics):
  • Inception: The Cobol Job: Online comic that details how Cobb, Arthur and Nash came to be enlisted by Cobol Engineering to perform an extraction on Saito.
  • Inception: The Big Under: The story that reveals how Cobb and company get to Saito to put him under for the dream featured in the beginning of the film.
• Dream of Consciousness: Taking some of the most fascination and cutting-edge dream research to date on lucid dreaming, leading scientist to make the case that the dream world is not an altered state of consciousness, but a fully functional parallel reality.
• 15 Focus Pods
• Photo Gallery

Related posts

• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of December 7 (1)
• Inception Blu-ray officially announced and detailed (3)
• New Dark Knight: Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-ray coming soon? (1)
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1. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

I never in a million years thought I would put a show called The Vampire Diaries in the number one slot. Not being a Twilight fan (I’m more of a Bela Lugosi/Christopher Lee kind of vampire lover!) I kept my distance from the CW series this past year, avoiding what I perceived to be another network television dud. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

This is one hell of a show! I only got my review copy in a few days ago and have been trying to burn through the episodes as quickly as possible but sadly wasn’t able to make it to the end before having to talk about it. But let me tell you, I’m past the halfway point and I’m having a blast with the series! It starts off with a thud – another CW-tween clunker from the mind of Kevin Williamson, the creator of Dawson’s Creek. Those first few episodes are really clunkers, playing more like a rancid mixture of the worst parts of Gossip Girl and Twilight than quality horror/drama. Thankfully, the series takes a quick 180, and busts out an intriguing plot-line with enough gory twists and turns to satisfy even the most discriminating soap-operatic TV viewer. With it’s central human-girl and vampire-boy love story, coupled with more supernatural supporting characters and sub-plots than you can shake a stick at, the first season of The Vampire Diaries ends up playing more like a satisfying True Blood-lite than Twilight knock-off.

The image on the Blu-ray is pretty but also pretty inconsistent, with detail waxing and waning, colours running hot then cold and black crushing the crap out of everything. Not technically the picture of a reference release but very appropriate for the style of the series. As such, I’ve got to believe that the show was shot this way and not a product of a bad transfer. Audio is sadly only offered in a compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix, WHV standard for TV releases.

Despite a weaker-than-expected A/V polish for the Blu-ray release of The Vampire Diaries, the special features on the discs really shine. Along with a pretty compelling collection of featurettes and a commentary track from the series creators, the discs feature a downloadable audiobook of the first novel in the L.J. Smith series that the TV show is based on. Check out the full list of extras below.

Special Features:

• Pilot commentary
• Into Mystic Falls: bringing vampire lore and the high school experience from page to screen
• When Vampires Don’t Suck!: the popularity of vampires and the fans who love them
• The Vampire Diaries: A New Breed of Vampires — Casting the Series
• The Vampire Diaries: Vampires 101 – The Rules of the Vampire
• Unaired scenes
• The Vampire Diaries: A Darker Truth webisodes
• Second Bite: gag reel
• Downloadable audiobook of the bestselling novel The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening by L.J. Smith

Amazon: $44.99

2. THE EVIL DEAD

Completing the famous tongue-in-cheek horror trilogy in high-def, the original Evil Dead is now on Blu-ray and from what I’ve seen the transfer is out of this world! Sam Raimi fans shouldn’t hesitate to pick up this first-ever 1080p presentation of the film, as it appears to be the absolute best the film will ever look. Most of the extras are relegated to an unfortunate SD presentation, stuck on the bonus DVD in the package but the Blu-ray itself features a brand-spanking-new commentary track from the director and star Bruce Campbell. Highly recommended!

Amazon: $17.49

3. RED RIDING

I’m pretty bummed out that IFC crammed all three films of the Red Riding trilogy onto one disc. Based on David Peace‘s books about serial murder and police corruption in Britain over a period of time between the 70s and 80s, these made-for-TV efforts are so well done that they actually saw a limited theatrical release here in North America! After such critical acclaim, I’m really surprised they weren’t afforded more pomp and circumstance in their Blu-ray release.

Amazon: $24.99

4. SONS OF ANARCHY: SEASON TWO

I know very little about this show aside from the fact that it’s about guys on bikes. And that people love the crap out of it! Reviews have been fairly positive and seeing as how there isn’t a whole heck of a lot out on BD this week, I thought it was probably the most deserving of the number four slot this week. Am I wrong? Should I run out and grab this second season set when I’m through with my Vampire stories?

Amazon: $41.99

5. HARRY BROWN

Michael Caine packing heat, out for revenge in Get Carter mode, cracking the skulls of those who have wronged him — That’s all you need to know about Harry Brown. I haven’t seen it yet, though I’ve heard that it doesn’t quite live up to it’s Gran-Torino-UK premise. But negative reviews aside, this is exactly the sort of film that I’m a sucker for.

Amazon: $21.49

ANIME OF THE WEEK: Black Blood Brothers: The Complete Series

We must be inching closer to Halloween because all the vampire fliks are crawling out of the crypt! This weeks big anime release from our pals at FUNimation is the complete Black Blood Brothers series on Blu-ray and, while it’s a much different beast from its fanged high-def companion, it’s equally as entertaining.

The story is a deeply textured affair, following an ancient, powerful vampire named Jiro who is traveling with his young brother to the secret “Special Zone” where humans and vampires live together in peace. Caught up in the struggle to stop bloodthirsty creatures from the Kowloon Bloodline, Jiro uncovers a conspiracy to resurrect their dead king and infect both vampires and humans in the Zone.

The plotline sounds like adolescent trash but plays out to a fairly satisfying conclusion. Combined with a reasonable up-ressed transfer, booming Dolby TrueHD 2.0 English and Japanese audio and a lengthy collection of special features, this Blu-ray set is bound to be a hit with anyone who enjoys anime, battling vampires or battling anime vampires.

Special Features:

• Episodes 1 – 8 Commentary
• Episodes 9 – 12 Commentary
• Original TV Spots (1.33:1, 480i/60; 0:02.27)
• Original Commercials (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:04.29)
• Sneak Peeks (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:05.16)
• Textless Opening Song — Ashita no Kioku
• Textless Closing Song — Shinkirou
• Trailers:
  • Corpse Princess/Shikabane Hime
  • Dragon Ball Z Kai
  • Nabari no Ou
  • My Bride is a Mermaid
  • Full Metal Panic!

Amazon: $33.99

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

Related posts

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• New Dark Knight: Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-ray coming soon? (1)
• Inception Limited Edition Blu-ray detailed (1)
• Inception Blu-ray officially announced and detailed (3)

Do you see that video up above? That’s a clip from a new Dark Knight featurette called “Truck Flip“, detailing one of the practical effect shots from the film, with director Christopher Nolan and special effects supervisor, Chris Corbould narrating. This featurette is not included on the Blu-ray edition of the film that you probably already own. And it’s only a part of a package of 31-minutes of brand new, never before seen bonus content, only just revealed. Could this mean that Warner is preparing one of their Ultimate Collector’s Edition box sets for the film?

Given how embarrassingly feature-light The Dark Knight Blu-ray turned out, it’s quite likely that we’ll eventually see a UCE boxed set. But there have yet to be any solid indications of a new disc release for the title. Certainly nothing official from Warner Home Video. This new 31-minute collection of extras is only currently available to those who download the film from iTunes. But I’m guessing that it’s a timed exclusive and that Apple will lose the right to be the only one to offer it by the holiday season. Now, we could, by all rights be allowed access to these new features over BD-Live but that wouldn’t figure into the usual studio cycle of double and triple-dipping hot titles like this. So I wouldn’t bet the bank on that happening. But I won’t be surprised to find a new Dark Knight Blu-ray boxed set on the shelves this December or next, complete with this collection of new featurettes and more. That sounds about right. And hey, if we’re lucky, perhaps we’ll even get a Nolan commentary track this time around!

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