Criterion April Blu-ray titles: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Blow Out, Le Cercle Rouge, more

From the looks of things, The Criterion Collection will be gracing us with another brilliant slate of Blu-ray discs come April. I’m particularly excited about upgrading my DVD copy of Terry Gilliam‘s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, because, as I feared over a year ago, Universal‘s Blu-ray release of the film just didn’t cut the mustard. I’m expecting great things from this new director approved transfer! Oh yeah, and Blow Out in HD! And more Melville! And Ken Loach! …Continued…

Lord of the Rings: Extended Editions and more Kubrick on Blu-ray in 2011

Okay, I’m sorry, didn’t we just go through this nonsense twelve months ago? The theatrical editions of the Lord of the Rings films were released on Blu-ray to great controversy last year, partly due to transfers that didn’t seem to live up to most expectations and partly due to the exclusion of the much-lauded Extended Editions. And now, after the studio and director Peter Jackson himself assured us that the less-than-ideal Blu-ray releases already in our hands were only to tide us over until the mega-perfect Ultimate boxed set would be released many years down the road, along with the coming of The Hobbit, we now find out that Warner is on the verge of unleashing the longer cuts on Blu this year! …Continued…

Is Blu-ray an Inferior Format to DVD? – A Rebuttal

David Chen of /Film asks this question in a follow up to a controversial piece written by former New York Times design director, Khoi Vinh. The short answer is, of course, no, the format itself is not inferior. Not by a long shot. But the user experience is, in many cases. And just about everyone from the hardware manufacturers to the Hollywood studios are to blame. …Continued…

The Incredibles heading to Blu-ray in April

Pixar‘s The Incredibles will make its Blu-ray debut on April 12th in a 4-disc combo pack with a DVD and digital copy. I have to say, despite the fact that the studio has released a ton of brilliant animated films since (Wall-E, UP!, Toy Story 3, etc.) I still consider Brad Bird‘s playful superhero fable my favourite. Can’t wait to finally see it in 1080p! …Continued…

[VIDEO] Directors Oliver Stone, Baz Luhrmann, and Michael Mann on Blu-ray from CES 2011

Last week, Fox gathered a mighty collection of directors in the Panasonic booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to discuss the merits of the Blu-ray format. Oliver Stone, Baz Luhrmann, and Michael Mann have all recently seen stellar releases of their films – most notably the excellent Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Moulin Rouge and Last of the Mohicans, respectively – in stunning, remastered transfers on Blu-ray discs from Fox. …Continued…

Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 11

It’s not a particularly overwhelming week in terms of sheer numbers of discs hitting the shops but damn, are there ever some amazing new titles coming out today, including a Blu-ray that could potentially be one of the best releases of the year! You read that right, it’s only the second week of 2011 and we may already have one of the best Blu-ray discs of the year on our hands. And it’s not even from Criterion!! …Continued…

Dinner for Schmucks Blu-ray Disc Review

There’s a particular type of humour that fuels the engine of Dinner for Schmucks. A very silly, high energy, aggressive, almost desperate style of comedy. The work of Mel Brooks comes to mind. Despite my affection for most of the performers in the film, the style of the piece is just so over the top that it manages to induce far more cringes that it does laughter. That said, I did laugh. And more than a few times. …Continued…

Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Weeks of December 28 and January 5

It’s catch up week, here at The Blu-ray Blog. I took some time off over the holidays to spend time with my family and recharge my movie-watching batteries. But now it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Let’s start with a little catch-up of recently released discs. …Continued…

[VIDEO] Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray Trailer

… and here’s the official Star Wars Blu-ray trailer from Fox that I was just telling you about, touting the upcoming September 2011 release of the Complete Saga in a 9-disc set! …Continued…

9-Disc Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray box coming in September

Whoa!

The news is coming in fast and furious now about the upcoming 9-Disc Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray box due to hit stores this coming September!

Here’s what we’ve got so far from the Star Wars.com and Amazon pre-order pages. I’ll keep this updated as we learn more… …Continued…