Well, things still aren’t quite back to normal around here. But while we struggle to get the site ship-shape, I thought I’d sneak in the details of Warner‘s upcoming digibook release of the original 1933 King Kong film. From all appearances it will have all the special features created for the deluxe DVD edition a few years back. Nothing new though, aside from the swanky high-def transfer. Can’t wait for this one!
KING KONG (1933)
(September 28, 2010 – MSRP $34.99)
32-Page Hardcover Digibook
Video: 1.37:1 1080
Audio: TBA
Special Features:
- Commentary by creature creator Ray Harryhausen and visual effects artist Ken Ralston, with archival sound bites from Merian C. Cooper and Fay Wray
- I’m Kong: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper (2005 TCM documentary)
- The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World (7-part documentary)
- Trailers
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]]>Remember how I had trouble getting inspired to pick up one of last weeks new Blu-ray releases? Well, let me tell you, that’s so far from being an issue this week. There’s actually just way, way too many quality discs coming out over the next few days, from a couple of new Criterion releases, an Oscar winner and the biggest box office blockbuster of 2009. This is a going to hurt my wallet something fierce.
1. AVATAR
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the King of the Box-office world has another hit on his hands and its this weeks number one Blu-ray! But before you get too excited and rush out to your local video shop to grab up a copy of Avatar on Blu today, remember that its release date is actually a couple of days from now, Earth Day, April 22. The disc itself is a bare-bones affair, sporting only the film in 1080p on the Blu-ray and standard-def on DVD, with nary an extra in sight. You’ll have to wait until November for the full featured, multi-disc, bonus feature-replete edition of the film, if that’s the kind of thing you prefer. Still, though this isn’t a perfect release, the amount of heat surrounding it assures it the number one slot this week.
2. Two From Criterion: VIVRE SA VIE, SUMMER HOURS
The only reason that these two new releases from Criterion aren’t in the number one slot is because Avatar looks to be the biggest film of all time. But rest assured, both easily trump the 3D other-world epic in terms of over-all quality. The two films have little in common, aside from country of origin. Both are French films, but Vivre sa Vie is a classic Godard film from 1962 while Summer Hours is a contemporary effort from director Olivier Assayas, released in 2008. Buy the Godard for the incredible visual design and the lovely Anna Karina. Buy Summer Hours for its honest, naturalistic style and the wonderful, beautiful Juliette Binoche.
3. CRAZY HEART
I still haven’t seen Crazy Heart but god damn do I love me some Jeff Bridges. He won the ‘Best Actor’ Oscar for his performance here. The film also won ‘Best Original Song’ for ‘The Weary Kind’. Those seem like two pretty good reasons to give this disc a shot.
At one point dubbed ‘The Greatest Film of All Time’, Battleship Potemkin is a silent gem, crafted by genius filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. While its been in the public domain for quite some time, this Blu-ray release comes to us from Kino International, who have already delivered an exemplary example of what Blu-ray can do for films that are nearing the century mark (Keaton‘s The General) and will continue to do so when they release a Blu-ray edition of the new restoration of Fritz Lang‘s Metropolis later on this year.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Steven Spielberg‘s Minority Report when I saw it in theatres, lo, those many years ago. But you know what? This new Blu-ray has made a convert out of me. I’m not sure if its the film itself or absolutely pitch-perfect transfer and encode that made me really enjoy it this time around but I found that I was eating up every moment of the film. The production design, music, photography – everything here is so wonderful and well thought out. And looks as good as it ever will on this incredible Blu-ray. On any other week, this release would probably have garnered the number one slot. Highly recommended!
Worth a look: THE YOUNG VICTORIA
Worth a look: THE LOVELY BONES
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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]]>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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My gut reaction is to avoid over-hyped films like the plague. I don’t know. Maybe it’s not rational. But generally speaking, I’m not attracted to the films that “the masses” flock to. And so it was with District 9. I actually had no desire to see it. Everyone was buzzing about it this past summer. Aside from Star Trek, it was the film to see. But I wasn’t taken in by the trailers I saw. It really wasn’t doing anything for me. But boy, did I make a bad call on this one. District 9 is one of the best films I’ve seen all year. Totally unexpected. It does just about everything right – it’s got a fun, compelling story, CGI effects that blend in perfectly to the filmed background elements and some of the best, most believable acting I’ve seen on film in ages.
What makes District 9 even more incredible is that it’s essentially an indie film (a thirty-million dollar indie film, but indie nonetheless!) Writer/director Neill Blomkamp adapted his 2005 short film Alive in Joburg, along with Peter Jackson lending his weight as producer and high-school chum, writer/director/actor Sharlto Copley in the lead role of Wikus van de Merwe to become a mass-market, sci-fi blockbuster hit. They shot on location in Chiawelo, Soweto in a handheld, documentary style on nine of Jackson’s HD RED cameras (an affordable video camera that produces professional HD footage.) The story is essentially an allegory for South Africa’s apartheid, with insectoid aliens in place of a repressed human community, filmed in an actual impoverished neighbourhood whose residents had recently been relocated. It’s so well rendered that the plight of the aliens in the film is almost tangible. It may devolve somewhat to a relatively simple chase-film toward the third act but this thing has got heart. And great performances. And action….everything, really. I can’t wait to watch District 9 again!
The disc itself is an absolute joy to behold. Damn-near perfect across the board – incredible, crisp visual presentation with a dynamic, rich and immersive DTS-HD MA 5.1 track supporting it. This is the new demo disc for your home theatre system. This is the film you want to put on to impress your pals when they come over to check out your new display.
And the power of this Blu-ray doesn’t stop at its presentation. Sony has packed this thing with some really compelling special features including one of the most listenable, informative director’s commentary tracks I’ve heard in ages. There are also 22 additional and deleted scenes (Blomkamp ended up with a lot of material on his hands as most scenes were improvised!), a wonderful, 3-part 35-minute documentary and an interactive map with enough clickable info to keep you occupied for hours. The disc is rounded out by an additional collection of featurettes covering the nature of the improvised scenes, the transformational make-up worn by Copley through the film, the design of the world and the groundbreaking special effects of the film. Oh yeah, there’s also Sony’s Movie IQ feature (you know, the always-connected feature that feeds you IMDB style info on all the cast, crew etc. while the movie plays) and a digital copy of the film for your PSP.
And just because they had a few extra GBs available on the disc, Sony has included a playable demo of the new God of War game for the PS3 and let me tell you it’s a whole lot of fun. I’m not quite sure what it has to do with the film but I’m pretty happy to play it!
Well done Sony! District 9 Blu-ray disc is one of the best Blu-ray discs of 2009! No hoe video collection should be without it.
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]]>We’re only a few days away from Christmas, which means there’s not much time left to pick up that perfect gift for the Blu-ray fanatic in your life. If you’re having trouble finding something, we recommend using our handy-dandy gift guide, full of ideas from boxed gift sets to the best Blu-ray player in the world. If you still don’t see anything you like, maybe one of these new releases will float your boat.
I just watched District 9 on Blu-ray. This is one of the best films of the year. I’m blown away! And not only is the film itself amazing but the Blu-ray is damn fine as well. Great looking, packed with great special features and a killer demo of God of War 3 for the PS3 which cost me several hours of my Sunday evening. Super-extra-highly recommended!
I’m not a big fan of Family Guy. But I loves me some Star Wars! So I’m game to check out any send-up of the franchise. I watched the Blue Harvest Family Guy film and wasn’t that impressed but I can’t say I didn’t have any fun watching it. There’s something kind of cool about how slavishly they follow the original films. Anyway, I’m looking forward to watching Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Dark Side.
I literally just accepted delivery of my review copy of (500) Days of Summer a couple of minutes ago. I’m so excited to see this! There’s been a lot of talk about this film being one of the better releases of the year. A sort-of romantic comedy for intelligent people. Let’s hope it lives up to the hype!
Extract is the new film from Mike Judge, the man who brought us Office Space and the King of the Hill animated TV series. Word of mouth on this film has been less-than stellar. In fact, some folks flat-out don’t care for Extract. But I think high-expectations, based on Judge’s stellar Office Space, have muddied the waters a bit, not allowing the film to be judged on its own merits. I’ve got my review copy here and hope to see for myself tonight. Review pending…
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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]]>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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When we posted the details for the District 9 Blu-ray disc a couple of weeks ago, we had no idea that it would include a demo of the upcoming God of War III PS3 videogame! The combinination of PS3 videogame and Hollywood film is an industry first for Blu-ray in North America and a pretty exciting development, if you ask me.
I’ve never been terribly interested in playing BD-Java games, as some discs have offered up. They seem like tacked-on ideas half-heartedly concocted in an attempt to fulfill the promise of Blu-ray discs extensibility. What I am interested in though, is a full featured PS3 game propagated from the film I’m watching and on the same disc! I understand that if this does indeed come to pass, it’ll most likely only be on a Sony disc of a Sony Pictures film. Fair enough. So no X-Men or Batman game/movie combos. But hope springs eternal for something really cool on the upcoming Spiderman 4 Blu-ray disc, likely to be issued around the holidays in 2011!
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]]>I just saw this trailer for the first time a few nights ago, when screening my review copy of Blood: The Last Vampire from Sony. Wow. I’m really sorry I missed the Peter Jackson produced, Neill Blomkamp directed District 9 when it was in theatres and I’m really looking forward to December 29th, the day it hits home video. Details of the release below:
DISTRICT 9
(December 29, 2009 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p AVC
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Special Features:
- • movieIQ
• cinechat
• Joburg From Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9 – Interactive Map
• Director’s Commentary
• Koobus Big Gun
• The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log Three-Part Documentary
• The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log – Chapter 3: Refining District 9
• Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus
• Innovation: Acting and Improvisation
• Conception and Design: Creating the World of District 9
• Alien Generation: Visual Effects