Annnnnd we’re back. It’s been a long, long weekend for The Blu-ray Blog. Everyone was taking some time off, spending the days with family and just taking the opportunity to get in some rest and relaxation. I traveled back home to Ontario to celebrate my nephew’s tenth birthday! Many video-games were played. Many Blu-ray discs were watched. Many cupcakes were scarfed down. I think, between the sedentary celebrations and the cornucopia of food this weekend I probably put on a few pounds. Time to work them off by…writing this exciting Top 5 Blu-ray discs column? I think I’d probably burn more calories by playing more Tekken 6.
1. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE MOTION PICTURE TRILOGY
This is, without question, the release of the week. But it sure isn’t for everyone. Aside from the ongoing arguments regarding the potentially flawed picture quality of the discs, The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy set only features the theatrical cuts of all three films. Now, that’s not a big problem for guys like me, who enjoy watching both these and the longer, truer-to-the-book extended cuts, but I understand that this is heresy to some. Rest assured, the extended editions will make their way to Blu in due time. But if you count yourself among the few fans who aren’t crying “double dip” and can’t wait for the longer cuts to hit the shops, you can grab your own copies of the films on Blu today.
Also available today from Warner: Ralph Bakshi‘s animated version of The Lord of the Rings.
2. BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS
Absolute, bat-shit crazy Werner Herzog adaptation of Abel Ferrara‘s bat-shit crazy, original cult film. This time around, featuring a mind-altering performance by Nicolas Cage that reminds us, for the first time in years, that the man is actually talented and can bust it up onscreen when he feels so inclined. I can’t speak to the quality of the Blu-ray disc itself but at this super-low Amazon price, I doubt you’ll go wrong by taking the risk and buying blind.
Read more: First Look bringing Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans to Blu-ray
3. THE NATURAL
Once upon a time, before the days of Sphere and Jimmy Hollywood, director Barry Levinson made films as great as The Natural. This is one I didn’t think we’d see on Blu-ray any time soon, as I assumed it would need a lot of t.l.c. to make it shine in 1080p. I’m not sure what magic elixir Sony used to bring it to life in high-def but man, this is a beautiful Blu-ray disc! Packed with tons of extras, an incredible transfer and a killer lossless audio track, The Natural is a…home run.
Sorry. I couldn’t resist….it really is that good!
Full review later in the week!
Another adaptation this week which sees a classic film being recreated into a second, more contemporary yet still awesome film. The Thomas Crown affair took the Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway original and gave it a slicker, more action packed pace, along with some electric chemistry between stars Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Much like the Bad Lieutenant film, I haven’t given this one a look yet so I can’t attest to the quality of the audio and video. But priced at only $11.99 on Amazon, how can you possibly pass this one up?
5. COCOON
Ahhhh…Steve Guttenberg, aliens and old people. The ideal mix of ingredients to make cinema magic, right? Uhhhh… I was never a big fan of Cocoon growing up but it’s a really well done, classic 80s film from director Ron Howard, finally available on Blu-ray this week. For less than twenty bucks you get the film, an Opie commentary, a bunch of featurettes and trailers. Sounds pretty good for those of you who are fans of 80s movies, Ron Howard or magical grandparents.
HONOURABLE MENTION: Shaw Brothers Films on Blu-ray
DEAL ALERT: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE COMPLETE SERIES
As it has been for a while now, the brand new boxed set edition of the BSG: Complete Series is priced well below the MSRP on the Canadian Amazon site. As well as being priced well below its US counterpart. If you’re at all interested in this Blu-ray set, updated with BSG: The Plan and a trimmer, more practical case, you should jump on this low price now before Amazon.ca jacks up their price.
Amazon.ca: $149.99 CDN
Amazon.com: $209.99 US
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:
![The Protector [Blu-ray]](/wp_content/uploads/2010/04/51fftyhqstl_sl500_aa300__150x150.jpg "The Protector [Blu-ray]")
![Sharpe's Peril [Blu-ray]](/wp_content/uploads/2010/04/61sq7eyqdal_sl500_aa300__150x150.jpg "Sharpe's Peril [Blu-ray]")
![Sharpe's Challenge [Blu-ray]](/wp_content/uploads/2010/04/51o1iek7zal_sl500_aa300__150x150.jpg "Sharpe's Challenge [Blu-ray]")
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]]>Members of the AVS Forum who have had a chance to preview the upcoming Lord of the Rings Blu-ray set are reporting that the transfer/encode does not live up to expectations. The first film in the series, The Fellowship of the Ring is noted as purportedly being particularly soft and subject to overuse of Digital Noise Reduction (DNR), which causes faces to look waxy and detail to disappear.
Member eric.exe has posted a lot of screenshot examples, comparing the new Fellowship of the Ring Blu-ray with a previous HD broadcast of the film. He goes further to show the differences between the same shots used initially in Fellowship and then repeated in a montage sequence in its sequel, The Two Towers. Here are a only a couple of his many examples:
CLICK TO ENLARGE: Fellowship of the Ring Blu-ray
CLICK TO ENLARGE: Fellowship of the Ring HDTV Broadcast
CLICK TO ENLARGE: Fellowship of the Ring Blu-ray
CLICK TO ENLARGE: The Two Towers Blu-ray
Please visit the discussion thread on AVSForum.com for further screencap examples.
I don’t know about you but I’m going to hold off judging this release until I can inspect it in person. For the record, writer/director Peter Jackson has signed off on these new Blu-ray editions of his film trilogy and in most cases, that should be a ringing enough endorsement for anyone. There could be any number of reasons for these anomalies in image quality, from poor post-production on original film elements to a simple change in colour timing and contrast. It’s even possible that some DNR was added to cover up sloppy CGI in places. But like I said, at this point, for me, it’s too early to tell.
I’ll still be picking up the boxed set in a couple of weeks. I’ll let you know what I think of it at that time.
Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Lord of the Rings Blu-ray Box Set Details
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]]>Oh boy. I remember this animated version of Lord of the Rings quite fondly from my youth! This is some amazing, groundbreaking Ralph Bakshi animation. And while the rotoscoping technique isn’t favored by everybody (actors in costume were traced to create the animation) the result has now become a timeless classic. But I didn’t imagine we’d be seeing Lord of the Rings on Blu-ray this soon in the formats life cycle. It’s clearly being released as a compliment to the live-action Peter Jackson films, which hit the shops on the same day, April 6th. Can’t wait to see it again!
LORD OF THE RINGS (1978)
(April 6, 2010 – MSRP $29.99)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Special Features:
- Forging through the Darkness: The Ralph Bakshi Vision for The Lord of the Rings
- Digital Copy
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]]>We’ve told you all you need to know about the upcoming Lord of the Rings Blu-ray boxed set. But just in case you need a video to sell you on the high-def upgrade, take a gander at Warner Home Video‘s new Lord of the Rings Blu-ray trailer!
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Don’t toy with my emotions here, Warner! I’m telling you, I can’t take any more teasing. We first reported on the Lord of the Rings Blu-ray set last June, when it was set for a November release. Then we ran down the full Blu-ray disc details of the set. But all the while, the studio remained mum, refusing to confirm release date. Then came word that the set had been pushed back to 2010. And that word was confirmed by Warner. And Christmas was ruined forever.
But now it’s for real. Warner Home Video has announced an April 6th release date for the 9-disc box set. Disc details remain unchanged, with each films theatrical cut contained on a single Blu-ray disc, the other two discs related to each film being DVDs – one containing the digital copy of the film and the other a mere carbon-copy of the special features disc included with the original DVD release. I’ve got to admit, I am a bit disappointed that we’re not getting a little more. I mean, I understand that Warner is holding most of the special features for the Extended Edition releases, sometime in the future. But just rehashing the same old special feature DVD just seems lame. At least give us the content in HD! It’s a small consolation that the feature discs will be BD-Live enabled and contain a preview for the upcoming video game, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (Wii, DS, PSP, PS2 – June 30).
Warner Home Video has also announced that it will follow the Lord of the Rings set with a release of Ralph Bakshi‘s classic animated Lord of the Rings in a brand new Deluxe Edition a week later, April 13. No details on this one yet, but we’ll let you know if we hear anything!
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]]>Why? WHYYY?! Sometimes life isn’t fair. I guess Warner/New Line really wants me to watch my old DVD versions of Lord of the Rings one last time because, according to Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits (best site in the universe, BTW!), the boxed set of the theatrical cuts has been pushed back.
- “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Blu-ray release HAS been pushed into early 2010. Sources at the studio tell me that it’s now tentatively set for release in March of next year. There’s no official reason for the delay, because again the title hasn’t even officially been announced. But the sense we’re getting is that the studio already has a number of big 3rd and 4th quarter titles coming on Blu-ray this year – think Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, North by Northwest, etc – and they didn’t want Rings to get lost in the crowd. Pushing it back five months into early 2010 gives them more time to prepare and promote the title, and there will be still more BD players in people’s homes after the holidays anyway.”
Cry…
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Nooooo! Say it ain’t so! This can’t be happening, right? It’s all a dream, isn’t it? Sigh…
I have to admit, I’ve been getting a little worried that the Lord of the Rings Boxed set might not come out this year. After all, we’re well into September and Warner has yet to issue an official press release announcing it. That’s totally unlike them. And look, they’re being quite vocal about the Gone With the Wind set that hits stores on November 17th, a full couple of weeks after the proposed LOTR release date of November 2nd. Urgh. This sounds like it might be true. This is depressing…
So, now news has come from overseas that Aurum, the studio that handles the Rings films in Spain, has confirmed that they will be releasing the LOTR Blu-ray set next year because the films have been delayed until 2010 in the USA. I can also confirm that a Holiday GIft guide sent to me from Warner PR here in Canada, and which featured a handful of titles not yet officially announced, DID NOT include the Rings box set. This is too much evidence to simply ignore. I think I’m going to have to brace myself for a standard-def viewing of the trilogy this holiday season. Why is this happening, you might ask?
Blu-ray.com reports that a settlement was reached earlier this month between the Tolkien estate and New Line, which may be the cause of the delay but also confirms that Warner Germany will be releasing Ralph Bakshi‘s animated Lord of the Rings in November 2009. Sounds to me like there might be another issue if the Bakshi film is sneaking out. Perhaps Warner/New Line is rethinking the theatrical cut/ extended cut double dip?
Are you happier not having the box set of the theatrical cut of the Rings films and waiting another year for an ultimate set or would you rather have something, anything LOTR to watch this holiday season?
(BTW – Amazon.com is still pre-selling the Lord of the RIngs Blu-ray set for $69.99)
Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Lord of the Rings Blu-ray Box Set Details
Via: Blu-ray.com
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]]>THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE MOTION PICTURE TRILOGY
(THEATRICAL EDITIONS)
(November 3, 2009 – MSRP $99.98)
Video: 2.40:1 (1080p)
Audio: TBA
Subtitles: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian and Spanish
Special Features:
• LOTR.net featurettes
• Previews, theatrical trailers and TV spots
• Documentaries:
- ◦ Fellowship of the Ring:
- ▪ “Welcome to Middle Earth” (17 min.)
▪ “Quest for the Ring” (21 min.)
▪ “A Passage to Middle Earth” (42 min.)
- ◦ The Two Towers:
- ▪ “In the Set” (Starz/ Encore) (14 min.)
▪ “Return to Middle Earth” (WB) (45 min.)
- ◦ The Return of the King:
- ▪ “The Quest Fulfilled: A Director’s Vision” (23 min.)
▪ “A Filmmaker’s Journey: Making Of” (28 min.)
▪ National Geographic special (46 min.)
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]]>This is big news and it’s confirmed: we’re getting Lord of the Rings on Blu-ray on November 3rd!
Outside of the date, a price (MSRP $99.98 – Amazon $69.99) and this package art, the studios haven’t provided a hint of what we can expect in the box. That’s all we know at this point. But, hey, that’s pretty great. At least I feel confident that I’ll be getting some amazing, classic genre film on Blu before the holidays this year. I was beginning to worry that I’d have nothing to watch in December after Bill Hunt’s report of pushed-back titles, a few days ago.
I have to say, I really appreciate the way that Warner, New Line and director Peter Jackson are handling this release. Everyone involved has been very transparent in their plans, letting us know that an ultra-super-deluxe edition of Lord of the Rings is planned for release around the time that The Hobbit films hit theatres and that these Theatrical Editions of the LOTR: Motion Picture Trilogy are just to get the films out there early for the fans to enjoy in high-def.
But will this transparency make a difference? Are you going to spring for this box-set when you know another one is coming up in the next couple of years? Are you at all excited about re-purchasing these films?