THE SERIES:

“In the third season of the hit HBO drama series Game of Thrones, the Lannisters are barely holding onto power after a savage naval onslaught from Stannis Baratheon, while stirrings in the North threaten to alter the overall balance of power in Westeros. Robb Stark, King in the North, is facing major calamity in his efforts to build on his victories over the Lannisters while beyond the Wall, Mance Rayder and his huge army of wildlings continue their inexorable march south. Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen – reunited with her three fast-maturing dragons – attempts to raise an army to sail with her from Essos, in hopes of eventually claiming the Iron Throne. “

REVIEW:

Wow. What can I say about this season of Game of Thrones that hasn’t been exclaimed a thousand times over across the internet? Stunning. Fearless. Red!

I understand the stories that make up every episode and season of this award-winning show are merely adaptations of a popular series of fantasy books and should therefore not have too much praise heaped upon them for remarkable character arcs and groundbreaking plot work but holy good god, never before has anything the likes of Game of Thrones been attempted on the small or, for that matter, large screen. The scripts are tight but give most every character room to breathe and grow, all the while never feeling to the audience as if much time is allowed to pass, each scene bounding breathlessly to the next. It’s a remarkable feat of script craft, to be certain, to achieve this level of narrative depth juxtaposed with so much incredible, high-fantasy action and intrigue in so little screen time. I’m in awe.

Make on this season and those before might sound akin to hyperbole but Game of Thrones has proven itself, thus far, to be absolutely critic-proof (aside from those staunch hold-outs who insist on comparing the show to the book.) One can pick nits, sure, but on the whole, this is the best the medium has ever been. I only thank the good lords and ladies of HBO that there’ll be more!

In terms of the audio/visual presentation of the series on Blu-ray, well, I’m sure if you’re an avid reader of this site you know what to expect. Game of Thrones is, once again, the height of technical perfection on Blu. It looks far more detailed, colourful and vibrant than even the very attractive 1080p broadcast version of the show you no doubt viewed via cable or satellite last year. Audio is perfectly immersive and dynamic in another series of spot-on DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. These are very near reference quality discs.

Special features are once again plentiful (you’ll find a complete list below the screencaps), with the number of informative and fun commentary tracks outnumbering the actual episodes. In addition to the usual plethora of featurettes, deleted scenes and in-episode guides, this 5-Blu-ray set also includes a pretty rad picture-in-picture type of in-episode experience, not unlike Warner’s much-loved Maximum Movie Mode. There are a ton of interviews and behind-the-scenes videos to be screened within The Rains of Castamere Unveiled feature, as well as in-experience clickables. There’s no shortage of material to delve into here. Enough to please even the most passionate GoT fan.

Highest possible recommendation!!

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• A Gathering Storm – Look back at the stormy events of Season 3 in this 14-minute recap with cast and crew.
• The Politics of Marriage – Cast and crew examine the institution of marriage and its place in Game of Thrones.
• Inside the Wildlings – Go beyond the Wall with this introduction to the wildlings.
• New Characters – Meet the new faces in Season 3: Olenna Tyrell, Missandei, Mance Rayder, Tormund Giantsbane, Orell, Jojen & Meera Reed, Blackfish & Edmure Tully, Thoros of Myr, and Beric Dondarrion.
• Deleted Scenes/Extended Scenes – Five deleted and extended scenes.
• Audio Commentaries – 12 audio commentaries with cast and crew including David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, George R.R. Martin, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Kit Harington, Richard Madden, and more.
• In-Episode Guide – In-feature resource that provides background information about on-screen characters, locations, and relevant histories.
• Histories & Lore – Learn about the mythology of Westeros as told from the varying perspectives of the characters themselves.
• The Rains of Castamere Unveiled – Get an in-depth look at the creation of the most pivotal episode of Season 3 in this comprehensive exposé featuring cast and crew.
• Roots of Westeros – Explore the interconnected web of relationships, rivalries, and conflicts between the noble houses of Westeros with this interactive guide.

THE FILM:

“When the powerful Darkseid and his massive, relentless forces invade Earth, a group of previously unaligned super heroes – misunderstood and, in some cases, hunted by the authorities – discover the only way to fend off the attack will be to work together as a cohesive unit. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Shazam and, in his origin story, Cyborg combine their respective talents in an all-out battle to save the planet. Based on the 2012 graphic novel, “Justice League: Origin,” by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee, JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR provides a glance into the world before the Justice League was created, and offers the initial animated incarnation of DC Entertainment’s “The New 52.” “

REVIEW:

There’s a lot to like in this incarnation of Justice League but I don’t think it’s for me. Justice League: War is aptly named as most of its brief 79-minute runtime is taken up with battle scenes. Which is great in a comic book action adventure animated feature, don’t get me wrong. But the characters really suffer. There’s only so much you can do in such a short time with such a grand cast. And Justice League: War, for my money doesn’t quite succeed.

But the animation is bananas, with strong character designs by Phil Bourassa (Young Justice) and a powerful score by Kevin Kliesch. The voice acting, as usual, is top notch.

Justice League: War is a typical DC animation Blu-ray release with an encode that’s most likely faithful to a source that exhibits “flaws” like the occasional moment of colour banding or aliasing. It looks great for what it is – bright and colourful and very modern – and only suffers at the hands of the lower budget of the feature animation itself. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is suitably aggressive and dynamic. Excellent.

I enjoyed the special features on the Justice League: War Blu-ray but they’re not perfect. In lieu of a full commentary track, Jim Lee, illustrator of the original comics from which the film has been adapted, and director Jay Oliva sit down for a 20-minute long video examination of key scenes. They cover enough material that it feels like a nearly complete commentary track. Lee is also featured in a half-hour long biography doc which is only really relevant to the comic book crowd. The 24-minute long “Act D: From Animatic to Pencil Test” is often technical and offers a deeper look inside the creation of the film. There’s also a 9-minute long preview of the next DC animation project, Son of Batman, and four SD episodes of older DC Universe animated shows.

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• A Sneak Peek at Son of Batman – A look into the next DC Animated Feature with the creators and cast.
• Deconstructing Justice League: War with Jay Oliva & Jim Lee – Part commentary, part documentary, director Jay Oliva teams up with artist Jim Lee to compare and contrast the comic to screen process of some of the most memorable moments in the film.
• Creating Heroes: The Life and Art of Jim Lee – This documentary film explores the work of the master artist, from his early days to his current position at DC and collaboration with Geoff Johns.
• Justice League: War Act D – From animatic to pencil test.
• From the DC Comics Vault:
  • Justice League Unlimited Season 3 “Destroyer”
  • Batman: The Brave and The Bold Season 2 “The Malicious Mr. Mind”
  • Young Justice Invasion: Destiny Calling Season 2 Part 1 “Happy New Year”
  • Young Justice Invasion: Destiny Calling Season 2 Part 1 “Earthlings”
  • Standard DVD and UltraViolet Digital Copy of the film

THE FILM:

“All aboard for non-stop hilarity from Academy Award(R) winner Pedro Almodovar (Best Original Screenplay, “Talk to Her”, 2002). Shortly after liftoff from Madrid, the flight crew discovers something is wrong with the landing gear and their journey to Mexico City may be imperiled. Desperate to divert attention from the rapidly spreading news, a trio of campy flight attendants launches into fits of lip-synching, boozing, drugging and matchmaking with the colorful assortment of passengers.“

REVIEW:

I love the films of Pedro Almodóvar but his latest, I’m So Excited is a disappointment. The whole thing feels like a deranged fantasy, with none of the characters stuck on the “imperiled” airplane ever reacting with a level of panic that feels genuine. It doesn’t help the drama that many of the critical puzzle pieces of the plot are rooted on the ground, miles away from the drama in the clouds. I understand, though, that the film is meant to be a farce and, with that in mind, the treatment of the characters is not at all inappropriate. But the pacing and the tone don’t support the feeling of a farcical take on potential disaster. It’s a mix of styles and execution that just falls flat.

That said, this is Almodóvar. And Almodóvar at his worst is better than the majority of Hollywood pap. I’m So Excited has plenty of laughs and is, overall, quite fun, despite not coming together as well as the writer/director’s previous films.

I’m So Excited is striking on Blu-ray, brimming with colour and detail in every frame. The film was shot digitally on Arri Alexa Studio cams and every bit looks pristine here. Simply gorgeous. The Spanish language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also fantastic, providing a dynamic representation of all sonic aspects of the film from the dialogue and the sound effects to the bombastic musical numbers.

Bonus features are sadly few and far between. The “Making of” doc clocks in at an anaemic 6-minutes in length, feeling more like a clip show. The most interesting and substantial bonus is “Presenting I’m So Excited!“, a half-hour long sit-down with Almodóvar and actors Carlos Areces, Blanca Suárez, and Miguel Ángel Silvestre.

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Making I’m So Excited!
• Presenting I’m So Excited!
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews
• DVD Copy

THE FILM:

“Meet Big and Little Edie Beale: mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, and reclusive cousins of Jackie Onassis. The two manage to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, New York, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot. An impossibly intimate portrait, this 1976 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, codirected by Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer, quickly became a cult classic and established Little Edie as a fashion icon and philosopher queen. The Blu-ray edition features the 2006 follow-up to the film, The Beales of Grey Gardens, constructed from hours of extra footage in the filmmakers’ vaults.“

REVIEW:

Grey Gardens isn’t the kind of documentary that’ll play well to a wide audience these days but nearly four decades since its initial release it provides a glimpse into a couple of lives so outside of societal norms that it might have well been filmed yesterday. It’s a fascinating look into anther world.

Fans of the film might wonder how much better the 16mm footage will look on Criterion’s new Blu-ray upgrade when compared to their 2001 DVD release. The answer is SO much better! This 1080p upgrade allows the transfer to actually look like you’re watching film. The film grain comes on like a heavy curtain at times but that’s a good thing in this case. It’s evidence that the transfer is true to the source. Colours are robust and vivid and contrast is spot on. This disc is a joy to look at. The lossless audio upgrade is also substantial, providing additional depth and clarity not heard on the compressed DVD track.

There are also upgrades in the extras department of the disc. In addition to porting over the commentary, interviews, trailers and photos from the 2001 DVD, Criterion has added some exceptional new bonus goodies – an intro to the film by director Albert Maysles (recorded in 2006) and a whole new feature film, The Beales of Grey Gardens, composed from the outtakes of the original 1975 shoot! If the incredible new high-def transfer didn’t give you reason enough to upgrade, surely the bump in extras will.

Highly recommended!

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New 2K digital film restoration, approved by codirector Albert Maysles, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• The Beales of Grey Gardens, the 2006 sequel to the film
• Audio commentary for Grey Gardens, featuring Maysles and codirectors Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer, along with associate producer Susan Froemke
• Introduction to The Beales of Grey Gardens by Maysles
• Audio excerpts from a 1976 interview with Little Edie Beale, conducted by Kathryn G. Graham
• Interviews with fashion designers Todd Oldham and John Bartlett on the continuing influence of Grey Gardens
• Behind-the-scenes photographs
• Trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Hilton Als

THE FILMS:

“Established by Martin Scorsese in 2007, the World Cinema Project expands the horizons of moviegoers everywhere. The mission of the WCP is to preserve and present marginalized and infrequently screened films from regions generally ill equipped to preserve their own cinema history. This collector’s set brings together six superb films from countries around the globe, including Senegal (Touki bouki), Mexico (Redes), India and Bangladesh (A River Called Titas), Turkey (Dry Summer), Morocco (Trances), and South Korea (The Housemaid). Each is a cinematic revelation, depicting a culture not often seen by outsiders on-screen.“

REVIEW:

The simple fact that something like the World Cinema Project disc set exists totally blows me away. Six relatively obscure but important films from six different countries spanning nearly fifty years, all restored, preserved and collected in a small box you can keep in your home. Astounding. This is a hardcore cinephile’s dream come true.

As you’d expect, the presentation of the six films is a mixed bag, the older films generally showing the strains of their age moreso than their younger siblings. Redes (1936) is in the worst shape, having been restored from surviving elements a few generations off the originals. Given the films history it’s amazing we’re able to watch it at all. The only other problematic film in the bunch is The Housemaid (1960) which had two previously missing reels digitally reconstructed and restored from an English-subtitled print found in 1990. Evidence of digital manipulation is present here but, again, given the fact that those two reels had to have subs painted out, frame by frame, and then matched as closely as possible to the original negative scans comprising the rest of the restoration, this presentation is a miracle. The other four films look wonderful, across the board, exhibiting impressive detail and contrast. Audio is presented in lossless mono on all six films with audio generally matching up to the quality of the video – Redes and The Housemaid are far from pristine, while the other four films sound anywhere from good to great.

Extras are uniform across the board, with each film receiving a short introduction by Martin Scorsese (generally 2-3 minutes in length) as well as a follow up piece in the form of interviews, short docs and visual essays (ranging from 8-19 minutes in length). The packaging is unnecessarily thick, despite the six films being spread across only three Blu-ray discs (two films a disc) and as a result of the inclusion of the DVD versions in the box. I’m conceptually into the idea of the new dual format releases but in cases like the Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project box, it seems to cause the release to take up substantially more shelf space than would be otherwise necessary.

Highly recommended!

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

TOUKI BOUKI

“With a stunning mix of the surreal and the naturalistic, Djibril Diop Mambéty paints a vivid, fractured portrait of Senegal in the early 1970s. In this French New Wave–influenced fantasy-drama, two young lovers long to leave Dakar for the glamour and comforts of France, but their escape plan is beset by complications both concrete and mystical. Characterized by dazzling imagery and music, the alternately manic and meditative Touki bouki is widely considered one of the most important African films ever made.“

REDES

“Early in his career, the Austrian-born future Oscar winner Fred Zinnemann codirected with Emilio Gómez Muriel the politically and emotionally searing Redes. In this vivid, documentary-like dramatization of the daily grind of men struggling to make a living by fishing on the Gulf of Mexico (mostly played by real- life fishermen), one worker’s terrible loss instigates a political awakening among him and his fellow laborers. A singular coming together of talents, Redes, commissioned by a progressive Mexican government, was cowritten and gorgeously shot by the legendary photographer Paul Strand.“

A RIVER CALLED TITAS

“The Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak’s stunningly beautiful, elegiac saga concerns the tumultuous lives of people in fishing villages along the banks of the Titas River in pre-Partition East Bengal. Focusing on the tragic intertwining fates of a series of fascinating characters—in particular, the indomitable widow Basanti—Ghatak tells the poignant story of an entire community’s vanishing way of life. Made soon after Bangladesh became an independent nation, the elliptical, painterly A River Called Titas is a grand epic from a director who has had a devoted following for decades.“

DRY SUMMER

“Winner of the prestigious Golden Bear at the 1964 Berlin International Film Festival, Metin Erksan’s wallop of a melodrama follows the machinations of an unrepentantly selfish tobacco farmer who builds a dam to prevent water from flowing downhill to his neighbors’ crops. Alongside this tale of soul-devouring competition is one of overheated desire, as a love triangle develops between the farmer, his more decent brother, and the beautiful villager the latter takes as his bride. A benchmark of Turkish cinema, this is a visceral, innovatively shot and vibrantly acted depiction of the horrors of greed.“

TRANCES

“The beloved Moroccan band Nass El Ghiwane is the dynamic subject of this captivating musical documentary. Storytellers through song, with connections to political theater, the band became an international sensation (Western music critics have often referred to them as “the Rolling Stones of North Africa”) thanks to their political lyrics and sublime, fully acoustic sound, which draws on the Moroccan trance music tradition. Both a concert movie and a free-form audiovisual experiment, Ahmed El Maânouni’s Trances is cinematic poetry.“

THE HOUSEMAID

“A torrent of sexual obsession, revenge, and betrayal is unleashed under one roof in this venomous melodrama from South Korean master Kim Ki-young. Immensely popular in its home country when it was released, The Housemaid is the thrilling, at times jaw-dropping story of the devastating effect an unstable housemaid has on the domestic cocoon of a bourgeois, morally dubious music teacher, his devoted wife, and their precocious young children. Grim and taut yet perched on the border of the absurd, Kim’s film is an engrossing tale of class warfare and familial disintegration that has been hugely influential on the new generation of South Korean filmmakers.“

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New digital restorations of all six films, undertaken by the World Cinema Project in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• New introductions to the films by World Cinema Project founder Martin Scorsese
• New interview programs featuring filmmakers Abderrahmane Sissako (on Touki bouki), Kumar Shahani (on A River Called Titas), Metin Erksan and Fatih Akın (on Dry Summer), and Bong Joon-ho (on The Housemaid)
• New visual essay on Redes by filmmaker and critic Kent Jones
• New program on Trances featuring interviews with director Ahmed El Maânouni, producer Izza Génini, musician Omar Sayed, and Scorsese
• New English subtitle translations
• Three Blu-rays and six DVDs, with all content available in both formats
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a foreward by Jones and essays on the films by Richard Porton, Charles Ramirez Berg, Adrian Martin, Bilge Ebiri, Sally Shafto, and Kyung Hyun Kim

THE FILM:

“A profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak, Tokyo Story is the crowning achievement of the unparalleled Yasujiro Ozu (Late Spring). The film, which follows an aging couple as they leave their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director’s customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. Featuring lovely performances from Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu (There Was a Father) and Setsuko Hara (Late Autumn), Tokyo Story plumbs and deepens the director’s recurring themes of generational conflict, creating what is without question one of cinema’s mightiest masterpieces.“

This is one of the most important Blu-ray releases of 2013. Ozu is one of the finest filmmakers of the last century and Tokyo Story is commonly accepted to be his best work so it pleases me to say that this disc does the master and his film proud. Fans who’ve been anxiously awaiting this upgrade from Criterion’s 2003 DVD release won’t be disappointed with the new “Dual Format” package. Not only does it look and sound miles beyond the old disc but it’s stacked with extras.

The package contains a single Blu-ray, with two DVDs including the same content but in standard def, spanning the discs. I watched the Blu-ray and was blown away by the improvement from not only my old Criterion DVD but also the BFI Region B Blu-ray from a few years back. Criterion’s new release looks like it’s been afforded further restoration, cleaning up a lot of the dirt and damage apparent on the old transfers. Contrast is also improved, drawing further detail from the print.

My only gripe about the entire affair is that a film as substantial as this was crammed onto one disc with literally hours of additional high-def content. I wish the Tokyo Story package contained two Blu-ray discs – one for the film alone, encoded at a super high bitrate, and one for the extras (several documentary films – see below) – and skipped the DVDs entirely. I think a higher bitrate encode would’ve really allowed the transfer to sing. As it is, it’s close to being a revelation, but with a little more room to breathe I have a feeling this would be a perfect release.

The lossless mono audio track is surprisingly robust and stable for a film of this age. Restoration work has clearly been afforded to this aspect of the transfer as well, to great benefit. Tokyo Story sounds better than ever!

As I mentioned above, there’s a ridiculous wealth of bonus features on the disc. In terms of content, there’s nothing more I’d ask for – the docs are fantastic and exhaustive and the commentary ported over from the 2003 DVD, informative. But, as previously stated, I wish the three documentaries about Ozu had been given their own disc. Talking with Ozu (40-minutes), I Lived, But… (123-minutes) and Chishu Ryu and Shochiku’s Ofuna Studio (46-minutes) collectively weigh in at nearly four hours in length. That’s a lot of high-def video to cram on one Blu-ray alongside a 136-minute feature film.

Despite my singular reservation about the Tokyo Story presentation, Criterion’s latest release is highly recommended.

REVIEW:

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New digital restoration from a 4K film, transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary featuring Yasujiro Ozu scholar David Desser, editor of Ozu’s “Tokyo Story”
• I Lived, But . . . , a two-hour documentary from 1983 about Ozu’s life and career, featuring interviews with critics and former cast and crew members
• Talking with Ozu, a forty-minute tribute to the director from 1993, featuring the reflections of filmmakers Lindsay Anderson, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Aki Kaurismäki, Stanley Kwan, Paul Schrader, and Wim Wenders
• Documentary from 1988 about actor Chishu Ryu’s career at Shochiku’s Ofuna studios, featuring a lengthy interview with Ryu
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic David Bordwell

THE FILMS:

“Get ready for six chilling tales starring the master of horror, Vincent Price! This collection includes new and vintage bonus features that focus not just on each film, but on Price’s illustrious and enduring legacy as cinema’s most chilling actor. Films include: “The Pit and the Pendulum“, “The Masque of the Red Death“, “The Haunted Palace“, “The Fall of the House of Usher“, “The Abominable Dr. Phibes“, and “Witchfinder General“.“

REVIEW:

If you’ve been reading this blog at all over the last five years (holy crap, we’ve been around for five years now!!) you’re probably painfully aware of my love for classic horror films. I’m usually spouting off about Universal and Hammer horror but Roger Corman‘s Poe films are also favourites. With that in mind you won’t be surprised to read that the new Vincent Price Collection Blu-ray set, comprised largely of films Price made with Corman for American International pictures, is my favourite Blu-ray release of 2013. It’s not complete – it’s missing a few critical Price/Corman collabs, as well as the sequel to Phibes – but it’s the best collection of Price flicks I’ve ever seen on home video.

But enough of my nerd-gushing over the films themselves, what you want to know is if the Blu-ray discs look and sound great. You bet your life they do! This isn’t super-high bitrate, fully restored perfection here, but man, these films look amazing. The older the film, the softer the image, generally speaking. But Shout! has done them all proud. None have the benefit of being fully restored – you’ll see flecks and scratches here and there in the brighter scenes – but all the transfers appear honest and film-like, with little digital manipulation present. Colour and detail are great across the board. Audio on all six films is presented in outstanding mono DTS-HD Master Audio tracks, each exhibiting surprising depth and clarity.

This set of six films would be something to sing about if it contained the films alone. But when you consider the ridiculous wealth of bonus features included here, it puts the package firmly in the must-buy category. The commentary tracks, short docs and interviews are all worth checking out but the real joy are the rarely seen Vincent Price intros and outros on most of the films. They were created for Iowa public TV back in 1982 for a series called Vincent Price’s Gothic Horrors and are a true find. I hope Shout! are able to get a hold of the rights to release more Price films in this series in the very near future. I’m fantasizing about getting my grubby paws on a new Price box set every year.

Highly recommended!

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

THE HAUNTED PALACE

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM

WITCHFINDER GENERAL

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

SPECIAL FEATURES:

FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
• Vintage and rare Introduction and final words from Vincent Price
• Audio Commentary with Roger Corman
• Vincent Price Retrospective Commentary with author Lucy Chase Williams featuring Pitor Michael as the voice of Vincent Price
• Audio interview with Vincent Price by historian David Del Valle
• Theatrical Trailer
•Still Gallery

THE HAUNTED PALACE

• Vintage and rare Introduction and final words from Vincent Price
• Audio Commentary by author Lucy Chase Williams (The Complete Films of Vincent Price) and Richard Heft
• Audio Commentary by author Tom Weaver
• A Change of Poe- an interview with director Roger Corman
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

• Vintage and rare Introduction and final words from Vincent Price
• Audio Commentary by author Steve Haberman (Silent Screams: The History of the Silent Horror Film)
• Interview with Roger Corman
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM

• Vintage and rare Introduction and final words from Vincent Price
• Rare Prologue
• Audio Commentary with Roger Corman
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

WITCHFINDER GENERAL

• Vintage and rare Introduction and final words from Vincent Price
• Audio Commentary with producer Philip Waddilove and actor Ian Ogilvy
• Witchfinder General: Michael Reeves’ Horror Classic
• Vintage Interview with Vincent Price conducted by film historian David Del Valle (1987)
• Vincent and Victoria: an Interview with Victoria Price
• Theatrical Trailer
• Additional Vincent Price Theatrical Trailers
• Still Gallery

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

• Audio Commentary with director Robert Fuest
• Audio Commentary with author Justin Humphreys (Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget)
• Introductory Price: Undertaking “The Vincent Price Gothic Horrors”
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

THE FILMS:

“John Cassavetes was a genius, a visionary, and the progenitor of American independent film, but that doesn’t begin to get at the generosity of his art. A former theater actor fascinated by the power of improvisation, Cassavetes brought his search for truth in performance to the screen. The five films in this collection—all of which the director maintained total control over by financing them himself and making them outside the studio system—are electrifying and compassionate creations, populated by all manner of humanity: beatniks, hippies, businessmen, actors, housewives, strippers, club owners, gangsters, children. Cassavetes has often been called an actor’s director, but this body of work—even greater than the sum of its extraordinary parts—shows him to be an audience’s director.“

REVIEW:

You should have one of two questions for me regarding the John Cassavetes: Five Films Blu-ray set – should I buy it or should I upgrade from my old DVDs. The answer is yes, either way.

If you’ve never seen any of Cassavetes’ work, know that this box contains five of his most essential films. It’s by no means a complete collection (criminally lacking Husbands and Love Streams, amongst others) but provides the films that are key to understanding his work as a writer/director and his place in film history.

All five films feature brand new high-def transfers that look spectacular and are, across the board, astonishingly film-like. Owners of Criterion’s previously released DVD set will note the substantial upgrade by checking out the screengrabs below. Those expecting a glossy Hollywood image from any of these discs need not apply. Shadows and Faces, in particular, were shot on 16mm and exhibit a grain structure that’s bound to do the average viewer’s head in, if they don’t understand what they’re looking at. For enthusiasts like us, however, every single one of these transfers is pure magic. Each film sports a new lossless audio track, all of which seem more crisp and dynamic than their DVD counterparts, exhibiting a depth the lossy format clearly wasn’t capable of capturing.

If the hours of interviews, commentary tracks and documentaries aren’t enough for those of you seeking the film-school-in-a-box experience, there’s a stellar 80-page book included to keep you up late at night, busy with your studies.

Criterion’s John Cassavetes: Five Films is one of the must-buy Blu-ray releases of the year. Highest possible recommendation!

SCREENSHOTS:
Click to enlarge
(Note: All screenshots are created in the lossy jpg format which may cause additional compression artifacts and noise in the image.)

SHADOWS

FACES

A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE

THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE

OPENING NIGHT

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New high-definition digital restorations of all five films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• New high-definition digital restoration of Cassavetes’s 108-minute 1978 version of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
• A Constant Forge: The Life and Art of John Cassavetes (2000), a 200-minute documentary by Charles Kiselyak
• New interviews with actor Lelia Goldoni and associate producer Seymour Cassel about Shadows
• Silent footage from the Cassavetes-Lane Drama Workshop, from which Shadows emerged
• Restoration demonstration for Shadows
• Alternate eighteen-minute opening sequence for Faces
• Episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps from 1968, dedicated to Cassavetes
• Making “Faces,” a new documentary featuring interviews with actors Cassel, Lynn Carlin, and Gena Rowlands and director of photography Al Ruban
• Al Ruban on Lighting and Shooting “Faces,” a new video program featuring commentary by Ruban (Blu-ray); Lighting and Shooting the Film, an on-screen essay by Ruban, illustrated with video clips, that discusses the techniques and equipment used on Faces (DVD)
• Audio commentary for A Woman Under the Influence by sound recordist and composer Bo Harwood and camera operator Mike Ferris
• New conversation between Rowlands and actor Peter Falk about A Woman Under the Influence
• New interviews with actor Ben Gazzara and Ruban on The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
• New conversation between Rowlands and Gazzara about Opening Night
• New interview with Ruban about Opening Night
• Audio interviews with Cassavetes from the 1970s about A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night
• Trailers for Shadows, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night
• Stills and poster galleries
• Biographical sketches of the actors Cassavetes frequently cast in his films, written by Tom Chartity (John Cassavetes: Lifeworks) (DVD only)
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Gary Giddins, Kent Jones, Charles Kiselyak, Stuart Klawans, Dennis Lim, and Phillip Lopate; writings by and interviews with Cassavetes; and tributes to the filmmaker by director Martin Scorsese; actor and writer Elaine Kagan, Cassavetes’s former secretary; and novelist Jonathan Lethem

THE FILM:

“Peter Hunt (DEATH HUNT) directed this fast-paced action film, based on the best-selling novel by Wilbur Smith. Lee Marvin (THE DIRTY DOZEN) stars as a gruff, opportunist Colonel Flynn O Flynn who enlists the help of an upper-class Englishman Sebastian Oldsmith (Roger Moore) to carry out his ivory smuggling operations in East Africa during World War I. When Sebastian falls in love with O Flynn s beautiful young daughter (Barbara Parkins) the unlikely duo come to blows in the jungle but put their differences aside when forced to get their fortune past German occupying forces readying a battleship for war. Also starring Ian Holm (ALIEN) “

REVIEW:

If you can manage to trudge through the early minutes of this 1976 film starring Roger Moore, Ian Holm and a typically but lovably inebriated Lee Marvin, you’re in for a rousing adventure yarn in the spirit of The Man Who Would Be King.

Based somewhat loosely on actual events, Peter Hunt’s (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) Shout at the Devil spends a lot of its time early on waffling about, putting the characters through their paces before finally, after a convoluted series of plot point, getting to the exciting stuff. There’s a lot to love here and fans of the genre and of the actors will be more than pleased to spend a little extra time with the film.

The Blu-ray looks fantastic for a nearly 40-year-old buried treasure. This has either been slightly restored or the elements used to create this transfer are in fantastic shape. Colours are bold (perhaps pushed a little too much to the warm side of the spectrum) and detail is sharp. The DTS-HD Master Audio track is presented 2.0 but is essentially mono. Again, for a film this age it sounds great, with Maurice Jarre‘s score lighting up the dynamic range whenever it engages.

Sadly, there’s not much to speak of in the way of supplemental material here. Just a photo gallery. Oh, and the Blu-ray also comes packaged with the DVD version.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Photo gallery

THE FILM:

“In the late 1940s, the incandescent Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca) found herself so moved by the revolutionary neorealist films of Roberto Rossellini (Rome Open City) that she sent the director a letter, introducing herself and offering her talents. The resulting collaboration produced a series of films that are works of both sociopolitical concern and metaphysical melodrama, each starring Bergman as a woman experiencing physical dislocation and psychic torment in postwar Italy. It also famously led to a scandalous affair and eventual marriage between filmmaker and star, and the focus on their personal lives in the press unfortunately overshadowed the extraordinary films they made together. Stromboli, Europe ’51, and Journey to Italy are intensely personal portraits that reveal the director at his most emotional and the glamorous actor at her most anguished, and that capture them and the world around them in transition.

STROMBOLI

The first collaboration between Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman is a devastating portrait of a woman’s existential crisis, set against the beautiful and forbidding backdrop of a volcanic island. After World War II, a Lithuanian refugee (Bergman) marries a simple Italian fisherman (Mario Vitale) she meets in a prisoner of war camp and accompanies him back to his isolated village on an island off the coast of Sicily. Cut off from the world, she finds herself crumbling emotionally, but she is destined for a dramatic epiphany. Balancing the director’s trademark neorealism (exemplified here in a remarkable depiction of the fishermen’s lives and work) with deeply felt melodrama, Stromboli is a revelation.

EUROPE ’51

Ingrid Bergman plays a wealthy, self-absorbed socialite in Rome racked by guilt over the shocking death of her young son. As a way of dealing with her grief and finding meaning in her life, she decides to devote her time and money to the city’s poor and sick. Her newfound, single-minded activism leads to conflicts with her husband and questions about her sanity. The intense, often unfairly overlooked Europe ’51 was, according to Rossellini, a retelling of his own The Flowers of St. Francis from a female perspective. This unabashedly political but sensitively conducted investigation of modern sainthood was the director’s favorite of his films.

JOURNEY TO ITALY

Among the most influential dramatic works of the postwar era, Roberto Rossellini’s Journey to Italy charts the declining marriage of a couple (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) from England while on a trip in the countryside near Naples. More than just an anatomy of a relationship, Rossellini’s masterpiece is a heartrending work of emotion and spirituality. Considered a predecessor to the existentialist films of Michelangelo Antonioni; hailed as a groundbreaking modernist work by the legendary film journal Cahiers du cinéma; and named by director Martin Scorsese as one of his favorite films, Journey to Italy is a breathtaking cinematic benchmark.”

REVIEW:

This box set is going to be on every “Best Of 2013” home video list this year, mark my words. While not technically “complete” (there’s apparently one cut of Stromboli and two of Europe ’51 not included) this is more than film fans could ever hope for when it comes to this trio of rarely seen cinematic gems.

Rossellini and Bergman make a perfect pair. I can’t speak to what they were like together in real life, of course, but on screen, the combination of his language and her performance is pure poetry. I can see how they ended up in a relationship. Rossellini’s storytelling is impeccable and his incisive representations of love and relationships realistic and grounded. And that material is a blessing to an actor like Bergman, who simply lights up the screen in these films, particularly in her incredible transformation through Europe ’51, a film that’s something of a reworking of Rossellini’s own The Flowers of St. Francis. All three films in this set are progressive and modern. Don’t let the fact that they were made 60-years ago dissuade you from watching.

Where the films are nothing alike, however, is in their Blu-ray presentations. And that’s rather understandable given their age and the likely uneven care the source material has been afforded over the years. Journey to Italy looks the best of the three films. Remarkable even, boasting extraordinary depth and contrast. The Italian-language Europa ’51 is probably in the worst shape, with its English-language counterpart Europe ’51 close behind. Both show signs of damage, the Italian version looking softer and less stable. Stromboli and the Italian-language Stromboli terra di Dio, the oldest of the three films, both offer pleasing transfers, with Stromboli terra di Dio looking slightly brighter. All films look very film-like with nary a hint of untoward digital manipulation.

Audio is lossless mono on every film, whether Italian or English language. Journey to Italy offers the greatest dynamic range and has clearly required the least amount of stabilization. The other films show signs of repair but sound across the board quite impressive, considering their age and circumstance.

All right, let’s talk about bonus goodies. This set features nearly seven hours of bonus material. Eight and a half, if you count the commentary track on Journey to Italy. Wow. I’m at a loss for words. I just want to thank Criterion, on behalf of every film fan out there, for going to such incredible lengths to gather and create this stunning collection of supplementary material. They don’t need to do it, you know. They could just release the three films and call it a day. But to go so far as to get the rights to such film treasures as the feature-length archival documentaries Rossellini Through His Own Eyes and Ingrid Bergman Remembered, the old family home movies from Rossellini’s niece, G. Fiorella Mariani, included in the interview with her and Guy Maddin‘s My Dad is 100 Years Old, a short film tribute to Rossellini starring his daughter Isabella Rossellini just goes so far beyond the call of duty, these guys deserve some kind of reward. I guess that reward will just come by way of my eternal allegiance to them and the seemingly unending access I give them to my wallet.

Most of the extras in the set are found on the Journey to Italy disc and on the fourth disc included in the set, dedicated to bonus stuff. The box also includes an 86-page illustrated booklet of essays, letters between Rossellini and Bergman, interviews, articles and more.

I can’t recommend this box set highly enough. If you love film, you need to own this, plain and simple.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

STROMBOLI Special Features:

• New digital film restoration of the English-language version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New, restored 2K digital film transfer of the Italian-language version, Stromboli terra di Dio, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Archival television introduction by director Roberto Rossellini
• New interview with film critic Adriano Aprà
• Rossellini Under the Volcano, a 1998 documentary that returns to the island of Stromboli fifty years after the making of Stromboli
• New English subtitle translation

EUROPA ’51 Special Features:

• New digital film restoration of the English-language version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New digital film restoration of the Italian-language version, Europa ’51, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Archival television introduction by director Roberto Rossellini
• New interview with critic Adriano Aprà
• New interview with film historian Elena Dagrada about the different versions of Europe ’51
• New interviews with Isabella Rossellini and Ingrid Rossellini, daughters of Roberto Rossellini and Bergman (DVD)
• My Dad Is 100 Years Old, a 2005 short film, directed by Guy Maddin and starring Isabella Rossellini (DVD)
• New interview with Fiorella Mariani, Rossellini’s niece, featuring home movies shot by Bergman (DVD)
• The Chicken, a 1952 short film by Roberto Rossellini, starring Bergman (DVD)
• New English subtitle translation

JOURNEY TO ITALY Special Features:

• New, restored 2K digital film transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Archival television introduction by director Roberto Rossellini
• Audio commentary featuring film scholar Laura Mulvey
• New visual essays about Rossellini by scholars Tag Gallagher and James Quandt
• New interview with critic Adriano Aprà
• Ingrid Bergman Remembered, a 1996 documentary on the actor’s life, narrated by her daughter Pia Lindstrom
• A Short Visit with the Rossellini Family, a six-minute film shot on Capri while the family was there during the production of Journey to Italy
• New interviews with Isabella Rossellini and Ingrid Rossellini, daughters of Roberto Rossellini and Bergman (Blu-ray)
• Rossellini Through His Own Eyes, a 1992 documentary on the filmmaker’s approach to cinema, featuring archival interviews with Rossellini and actor Ingrid Bergman (Blu-ray)
• New interview with Fiorella Mariani, Rossellini’s niece, featuring home movies shot by Bergman
• My Dad Is 100 Years Old, a 2005 short film, directed by Guy Maddin and starring Isabella Rossellini (Blu-ray)
• The Chicken, a 1952 short film by Roberto Rossellini, starring Bergman (Blu-ray)