ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS
(June 10, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.77:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by Robert Hunt
L’ECLISSE
(June 10, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
HEARTS AND MINDS
(June 17, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by Luba Lukova
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK
(June 17, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.77:1 1080p
Audio: 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by Eric Skillman
JUDEX
(June 17, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by Ron Wimberly
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
(June 24, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Special Features:
New cover by Rodrigo Corral
ALEXANDER: THE ULTIMATE CUT
(June 3, 2014 – MSRP $49.99)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: TBA
SPECIAL FEATURES
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG
(April 8, 2014 – MSRP $35.99)
Video: 1.78:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
SPECIAL FEATURES
Money. Power. Women. Drugs. Temptations were for the taking and the threat of authority was irrelevant. For Jordan and his wolf pack, modesty was quickly deemed overrated and more was never enough.
“THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
(March 25, 2014 – MSRP $39.99)
Video: 2.40:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
SPECIAL FEATURES
THE SERIES:
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:
ACE IN THE HOLE
(May 6, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by F. Ron Miller
OVERLORD
(May 13, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by Steve Chow
LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
(May 20, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: 3.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio
Special Features:
New cover by Sarah Habibi
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU
(May 27, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 2.35:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio
Special Features:
New cover by Eric Chase Anderson
RED RIVER
(May 27, 2013 – MSRP $49.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
New cover by Eric Skillman
Despite her warnings, Jonathan arrives four weeks later at a large, gloomy castle. Out of the mist appears a pale, wraith-like figure with a shaven head and deep-sunken eyes who identifies himself as Count Dracula. The events that transpire slowly convince Harker that he is in the presence of a vampyre. What he doesn’t know is the magnitude of danger he, his wife and his town are about to experience.”
NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE
(May 20, 2014 – MSRP $24.97)
Video: 1.78:1 1080p
Audio: TBA
SPECIAL FEATURES
Note: the new disc appears to have lost the 4-minute long “Intimate Portrait: Madeline Kahn” featurette. If that’s a big deal to you, you better hold on to your old disc.
BLAZING SADDLES: 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
(May 6, 2014 – MSRP $24.98)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: tba
SPECIAL FEATURES
THE FILM:
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:
Sigh.
In the meantime, I’ll watch the shit outta Son of Batman film when it comes out on Blu-ray May 6 and I’ll no doubt love it!
SON OF BATMAN
(May 6, 2014 – MSRP $24.98)
Video: 1.78:1 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
SPECIAL FEATURES