I’m out of town for the week, on vacation and visiting my folks in the country where internet access is as rare a thing as social interaction. As I’m a day late getting you this Top 5 New Release list and my time online is sadly quite brief, let’s just bust into it. It’s an exciting week on Blu, with a lot of kick-ass catalogue titles being released alongside Kick-Ass the movie…Sorry. Bad pun.

1. THE GHOST WRITER

Roman Polanski‘s The Ghost Writer is one of the best films I’ve seen all year. It might not be the most high-profile Blu-ray release of the week, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best thing going. It’s a great script by Robert Harris (adapting his novel of the same name) with some incredible performances by some of my favourite actors (I’ll watch pretty much anything starring Ewan McGregor.) Highly Recommended.

From the Blu-ray:

“When a gifted ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is hired to write the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), he quickly finds himself trapped in a web of political and sexual intrigue. Lang is implicated in a scandal over his administration’s harsh tactics, and as the ghostwriter digs into the politician’s past, he discovers secrets that threaten to jeopardize international relations forever. Co-starring Olivia Williams and Kim Cattrall, it is a taut and shocking thriller from acclaimed director Roman Polanski (The Pianist).“

Special Features:

• An Interview with Roman Polanski
• The Ghost Writer: Fiction or Reality?
• The Cast of The Ghost Writer

Amazon: $26.99

2. KICK-ASS

I enjoyed Kick-Ass well enough when I saw it in the theatre but thought it well beneath the hype that was surrounding it. I could happily go without seeing the film again but I’m curious to see how the image turned out in the Blu-ray disc transfer seeing as how the visuals were notoriously drenched in DNR from the get-go – a stylistic choice by DOP Ben Davis and director Matthew Vaughn. Kick-Ass grabs the number two position this week by heat-factor alone. It’s the disc that most people want to get their hands on right now (it’s still the #1 Blu-ray on Amazon as I type this!)

Amazon: $22.99

3. ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

Escape from New York on Blu-ray. ‘Nuff said. If you’re not down with classic John Carpenter and classic Kurt Russell I’m not sure there’s any hope for you. This is one of their finest collaborations ever – the first and best outing of the tough-as-nails, gruff Snake Plissken character. I pray that this new Blu-ray edition lives up to the quality of the film itself but I fear the original elements might not have given MGM much to work with.

Amazon: $18.49

4. JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

Henry Selick hasn’t really been grinding out a million films since his big breakout animated extravaganza The Nightmare Before Christmas. But the few movies he has managed to produce in that time are true gems. James and Giant Peach might not be a picture perfect Blu-ray disc but it’s a welcome addition to my animation collection. Full review coming this week.

Amazon: $24.99

5. A PROPHET

Combine the HBO prison drama OZ with a touch of the Godfather and you’ve got a glimpse of where Jacques Audiard‘s A Prophet will lead you. It feels epic at its monster 149-minute run-time but honestly doesn’t waste a minute of screen time. This is two-and-a-half very tense hours that will fly right by. One of the best films of 2009 and highly recommended on Blu-ray!

Amazon: $28.99

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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Looks like Europe is getting another sweet batch of Studio Canal Collection Blu-ray discs! This group of six titles is set to hit shops this coming September and includes a number of titles that were hinted at in the trailer we saw earlier this year. No other information is available at this time, aside from names and month of release. However, we do have package art for all six Blu-ray discs.

As mentioned in our previous article, not all of these titles will make their way to North America, as the licenses for them are held by different studios in the various territories (for instance in the USA The Graduate is from MGM, The Pianist from Universal, etc.) But considering we may not see Mulholland Drive or Delicatessen on Blu here on this side of the Atlantic anytime soon, I can certainly see myself doing a little importing come September.

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FOR ALL MANKIND (14 Jul 2009, 1 Disc SRP: $39.95)

Disc Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by producer-director Al Reinert (with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
• Audio commentary featuring Reinert and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to set foot on the moon
• An Accidental Gift: The Making of “For All Mankind,” a new documentary featuring interviews with Reinert, Apollo 12 and Skylab astronaut Alan Bean, and NASA archive specialists Don Pickard, Mike Gentry, Morris Williams, and Chuck Welch
• On Camera, a collection of excerpted on-screen interviews with fifteen of the Apollo astronauts
• New video program about Bean’s artwork, accompanied by a gallery of his paintings
• NASA audio highlights and liftoff footage
• Optional on-screen identification of astronauts and mission control specialists
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film critic Terrence Rafferty and Reinert

REPULSION (28 Jul 2009, 1 Disc SRP: $39.95)

Disc Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
• Audio commentary featuring director Roman Polanski and actress Catherine Deneuve
• A British Horror Film (2003), a documentary on the making of Repulsion, featuring interviews with Polanski, producer Gene Gutowski, and cinematographer Gil Taylor
• A 1964 television documentary filmed on the set of Repulsion, featuring rare footage of Polanski and Deneuve at work
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar and curator Bill Horrigan

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