New to Blu-ray Release of the Week (A) Gojira (Godzilla) Audio Commentary with Gojira experts Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski, Original Theatrical Trailer Featurettes: Story Development, Making of the Suit After a great deal of comparison watching, the new Blu-ray offers a great deal more clarity than what is to be assumed going from DVD to Blu-ray. The image is not particularly grainy, not so much due to DNR, but the fact that the existing elements are far from perfect. Some may instinctively leap to complain about picture quality as they did on the DVD, but this is about as good (if not better) than release prints came out thanks to scratches and dirt that were on the original soft-emulsion negative before and after adding optical effects. Cutting rooms were notoriously difficult to keep clean, and when you mix the wear and tear adding "analog" effects can add, this is really what the best restoration prints of Gojira look like. The only thing missing in the jump from the Classic Media's prior DVD release is the U.S. version, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Amazon has it for $12.99 at the time of this writing, and it carries my highest recommendation. New to Blu-ray Release of the Week (B) Hot Fuzz Every last feature from the 3-disc Ultimate Edition DVD is ported over with upgraded picture and sound. This is one of my very favorite action films, without qualification. I'd shoot a gun straight up in the air for it. Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead (below) were available about a month in advance exclusively from Best Buy, and I know plenty of people who gladly paid $20 apiece for them. New to Blu-ray Release of the Week (C) Shaun of the Dead New to US Blu-ray: Lucy Davis' video diary, Joe Cornish's video diary, TV Bits (Remembering Z-Day), Audio Commentary w/ Bill Nighy & Penelope Wilton, Audio Commentary w/ actors who played Zombies The thing I miss most in the move to Blu-ray for Shaun is the original DVD menus, which were replaced with the now-standard "Universal Blu-ray menus" that feature unified navigation on all Universal titles. I didn't find the above-listed extras on my original US DVD, and may have missed a couple. New Release of the Week Observe and Report (Blu-ray & DVD) Blu-ray exclusive (all extras): Gag Reel, Seth Rogen & Anna Faris: Unscripted, Basically Training, Forest Ridge Mall Security Recruitment Video, Picture-in-Picture Commentary with director Jody Hill and actors Rogen and Faris My review from a couple weeks ago can be found here. New Release O'Horten (DVD only) A delightful Norwegian movie about a train engineer's adaptation to forced retirement, O'Horten is yet another Sony Pictures Classics title that not enough people saw in theaters (as is so often the case with arthouse fare). The audience is given a protagonist whose life has been anything but spontaneous for over four decades, and the beauty of the movie is that it never allows you feel like you know what will happen next in Odd Horten's journey. This is a movie it won't take long for Netflix to get to you, but will stick with you for a while. It's as much about the human condition in general as it is having a good time. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Blu-ray & DVD) Matthew McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a self-centered womanizing photographer and Jennifer Garner is the nice girl he never had the sense to settle down with. Breckin Meyer plays Connor's younger brother, who's getting married to a bridezilla played by Lacey Chabert. I got so tremendously bored watching this that it was difficult to not take a nap. I woke up each time Robert Forster showed up to play the bride's caricature-drawn military dad. My god do I love Robert Forster. The movie begins, middles, and ends exactly the way you'd expect. Battle for Terra (Blu-ray & DVD) I never hated this movie, preachy though it may have been. Unlike many animated movies aimed at children, it isn't selling toys, just do-gooder ideology. I never got to see it in 3D, but I wish I'd had the chance. Adam Resurrected (DVD only) This would be on more people's radar had Goldblum been nominated for Best Actor as many thought that he would. Catalog New to Blu Star Trek: TNG Motion Picture Collection (also on DVD) (Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis) On a cursory inspection, the DVD transfers on all of these are improved from the previous DVD versions. I haven't touched to Blu-rays, but I've read a couple reviews and forums posts that point to DNR issues, but I'm not seeing nearly as much complaining as many did on the previous 6-movie set. The fact these are all relatively new masters compared to the TOS movies makes a big difference all on its own. All four TNG movies carry over previous DVD extras with the exception of Michael Okuda's text commentaries (oh well). In terms of new extras, there's a new commentary on each disc and four installments of an interview with Brent Spiner. There are a pile of new featurettes, most of which seemed interesting from the few minutes each I gave them. The one I did watch the whole way through, Reunion With the Rikers, was excellent for anyone who loves Frakes-Sirtis banter. I grew up with TNG, so things like this really make me smile. Complete Monterrey Pop Collection (Criterion) As with Warner Bros.' Woodstock release earlier this year, the top reason to get this set must be the lossless audio. I'm sure the picture is improved, but my supposition is that it can't be a staggering improvement. I'll allow, of course, that Criterion being Criterion, they could have pulled off a coup with this one. Reissue The Paul Newman Collection None of the titles included here are new to DVD, so the only exclusive is the book. The price is reasonable for what's included if you're going gift-buying, but I'd hope for a Blu-ray version. I haven't gotten my hands on the book, so I don't know how good it is, but frankly I'd be amazed if it's better than Shawn Levy's biography Paul Newman: A Life. Direct to Video Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side I fell asleep watching the original Family Guy Star Wars parody. I don't expect this one is much better. Ghost Cat Ellen Page stars in this 6-year-old made for TV movie, and let me assure you, it is definitive when it comes to "made for TV". First off, it's readily apparent that it was scripted with commercial breaks built-in. It appears Animal Planet aired it sometime in 2007. Natalie (Page) and her widower father move into the home of an older lady with a 15-year-old cat. The sweet old lady and the cat both pass away. There's an attractive lady neighbor with two sons, one of whom is age-appropriate for Natalie. The Attractive Lady Neighbor runs an animal rescue, and the Greedy Nephew of The Old Lady wants his inheritance and also wants to push the Attractive Lady Neighbor off her land in exchange for a payoff from the Evil Land Developer. The movie is actually better than most of the stuff I flip past on cable, and it's kid-appropriate, with not a hint of sexuality or real scares to be found. [Note: it's on IMDb as Mrs. Ashboro's Cat] Disc Roundup (Movies) is posted each week at some point, depending on how many discs there are to get through. Unless otherwise noted, screener copies of titles reviewed were provided by the respective studio. If you think I've missed something, feel free to send me an email.

Release of the Week An American Werewolf in London Full Moon Edition (Blu-ray & DVD) Beware the Moon [1:37:32] feature documentary Rick Baker: I Walked With a Werewolf [7:38] Previously-available extras: Feature Commentary with David Naughton and Griffin Dunne, Making An American Werewolf in London [5:16], An Interview with John Landis [18:20], Make-up Artist Rick Baker [11:15], Casting the Hand [11:00], Outtakes [3:08] The previously-released supplemental materials above are almost entirely duplicated in new interviews in Beware the Moon, which one should only watch after having seen the movie. I wouldn't ordinarily make that note, but I know plenty of people playing Blu-rays out there could be seeing the movie for the first time. The Walked With a Werewolf featurette has a very limited glimpse at the recently-delayed Wolfman movie with Benicio del Toro. As I blurbed the other day: I wish more studios treated their top-tier catalog titles like Universal has decked-out their second dip on An American Werewolf in London. The main attraction is Beware the Moon, a 97-minute feature documentary about the making of the movie put together by fans of the film, not a studio marketing department. It was obviously shot in HD, but is SD on the Blu-ray. That's the only unfortunate thing about it. What host/director Paul Davis may lack in game show-host charm and polish he more than makes up for in thoughtful staging, structure, and balance. this doc makes the Interview with John Landis and various other extras from the previous DVD & HD-DVD redundant for the most part. The movie looks like a fresh, grainy 35mm print from 1981 and the sound is top notch. Amazon has the Blu-ray for $16.99, and it's better than the vast majority of catalog upgrades out there. New Release Easy Virtue (Blu-ray & DVD) Feature Commentary by director Stephan Elliott & write Sheridan Jones Blooper Reel [8:47] 4 Deleted Scenes [4:48] NY Premiere featurette [6:09] I reviewed this one a few days ago. A couple thoughts from that writeup: "Easy Virtue is about English society heir John Whitaker (Ben Barnes) bringing a feminist, independent wife named Larita (Jessica Biel) home to meet his parents (Firth and Kristen Scott-Thomas). Noel Coward's sociological comedy is rather enjoyable as it lives on the printed page, but it is much more fun in filmed form thanks to the talents of Firth and the always sublime Scott-Thomas. Barnes and Biel do good work in the parts they're given. Of the two of them, Biel outperformed my expectations most. "If there's one most unsung performance from what I've read by others, it's that of the absolutely marvelous Katherine Parkinson as John's sister Marion, who's infatuated with an imaginary fiance. Parkinson is one of the stars of my beloved The I.T. Crowd that plays on Britain's Channel 4 and is most easily found on DVD or Netflix Watch Instantly in the USA." Trumbo (DVD only) Paul Giamatti reads another letter written by Trumbo [4:45] Danny Glover (not in the final cut at all) reading a letter written by Trumbo [3:39] Trumbo is about more than just left versus right or American versus Communist, just as the Blacklist itself was. I'm trimming a longer piece on this for posting before Fantastic Fest obliterates my schedule this weekend. Triangle (DVD only) The Making of Triangle [6:15] Behind the Scenes [13:31] I forgot to mention a couple days ago that this is yet another Magnet title that defaults to an ear-splittingly bad English dub track by default. From my Sunday review: "The lazy comparison I've seen made to Triangle is Grindhouse, which is only similar to this movie in that it features famous directors teaming up. In just that respect, they're quite different, since instead of separate features, Hong Kong kings Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, and Johnnie To directed a single act (in the order listed) of a single "heist gone wrong" picture. "As for the movie, it's solid stuff thanks to the three acts feeling about as cohesive as they would in a film directed by only one of these guys. It gets a bit muddled toward the middle, but the third act saves it. I intentionally avoided poking around to see who directed which part so that I wasn't watching it thinking "ah, how very To" or "Ringo you aesthetic mad genius, how I love you," but I still kinda picked up on who did what in the opening minutes of sections 1 and 2. I don't expect that to be the same for people who aren't into the work these guys do. For those who do, I should note that there's a nice nod in Ringo's act back to Tarantino, who was inspired by City on Fire when writing Reservoir Dogs. "I enjoy the approaches of the three directors and I relish a good heist movie, so I was quite happy and at home here. Plot threads go unresolved or dropped in places, but save one instance of attempted vehicular homicide approaching Amnesia Bullets levels of implausibility, Triangle never remotely approaches laughable territory." X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Blu-ray & DVD) Commentaries: (1) Director Gavin Hood, (2) Producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter Featurettes: The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with X-Men creators Stan Lee and Len Wein, Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Gavin Hood Alternate Scenes: Memory Erase Sequence, Tag Scene: Japan Blu-ray Exclusives: "Wolverine Weapon X Mutant Files Featurette: 10 Character Chronicles, "The Thrill of the Chase: The Helicopter Chase Sequence", "X Connect and On Set With Gavin Hood", X-Facts Trivia Track, Fox Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere BD-Live Exclusive: IMDb Live Lookup (requires internet-connected player) The best thing about this release is the Live Lookup BD-Live feature, which is actually useful. It live-checks IMDb over the player's internet connection for biographical info and credits for people in the movie, many of whom are emerging stars not unlike Hugh Jackman on the heels of the first X-Men movie. I'm amazed it's taken this long for this to be available on Blu-ray titles. Before long, I should hope that this is as much a standard feature as Chapter Selections. I didn't go see Wolverine just as I didn't see a number of other summer tentpoles (like Transformers 2...never watched the first either). From the rumors surrounding the script's insistence on cramming every licensable character imaginable into one less-than-smooth story to the dreadful word of mouth that followed The Big Leak of 2009, I had little interest in making time for this. I've read comics for years, and I couldn't care less about a movie centering on Wolverine. After finally sitting through the damn thing on Monday, I can easily say I wish that I hadn't. The only thing terribly stimulating for me was thinking of Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" when the image of Weapon XI came around. There was no relation to the actual story of Ellison's, mind you, but simply a connection between the imagery and that title. Good actors and directors and crews can only do good work when given good ingredients. That being said, no one cares what I think and I'm not actively trying to tell anyone that I know mindless, badly-staged action any better than the next guy. What I am saying however is that this could have been much, much better. I'd really like the sequel to make this one disappear from memory. Grace (Blu-ray & DVD) Part of an exclusive pre-release date deal where Best Buy was selling this and Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz for $20 a pop, Grace is the odd one out that I'm not terribly interested in. Catalog New to Blu Hero (also on DVD) Digital Copy Featurettes: Close-up of a Fight Scene, Inside the Action: A Conversation With Quentin Tarantino & Jet Li, "Hero Defined" Making-of Storyboards Soundtrack Spot One of my most anticipated titles of the week has not disappointed in the least. This goes right on the Chinese martial arts Blu-ray shelf next to Crouching Tiger, House of Flying Dagger, and Curse of the Golden Flower. I can finally retire my Hong kong import DVD I bought two years before Miramax released this movie stateside. The Close-Up of a Fight Scene extra is new. Hero and the other three Kung Fu titles below are available separately and in a 4-Blu box set for $74.99 ($30 for Hero on its own). Iron Monkey Donnie Yen Interview Quentin Tarantino Interview The Blind Swordsman Zatoichi Exclusive Interviews with Crew Behind the Scenes These are both blugrades of their previous editions. The picture and sound is fantastic on both. Iron Monkey is $25.99 on its own from Amazon, as is Zatoichi. The Legend of Drunken Master (Jui kuen II) English Dub Audio ONLY Behind the Master: An Interview with Jackie Chan This is actually Drunken Master 2, and the same disapppointing shortcoming of the DVD is on this disc: the original Cantonese audio track isn't even optional, it's nowhere to be found. I was hoping this would be fixed, given this opportunity. Oh well, maybe next time. The featurette is again carried over from DVD. Army of Darkness Screwhead Edition Creating the Deadites [21:26] Alternate Ending [4:39] Theatrical Trailer The transfer is great. The sound is booming and clear. The problem here is that this is far from a definitive HD version of a title that I own around four versions of on DVD. The fact there aren't more extras on this thing is borderline hilarious to me. The video transfer is so good that I can make out dust & dirt on the lens and in the frame. The Creating the Deadites featurette is new and just fine by me, but other than that, all you have is an ending and a trailer that might look great in HD, but does nothing to make up for missing documentaries and commentary tracks. What a goddamn shame. The Hannibal Lecter Collection: Manhunter The Silence of the Lambs Hannibal The first movie and the sequel are new to Blu, but Demme's masterwork is a reissue of the existing Blu-ray. Silence of the Lambs retains the same extras from its prior Blu-ray release, but Manhunter and Hannibal are both completely barebones even though previous DVD extras are out there. Misery Child's Play These two titles are part of a trend that I'd like to see stop. They both include DVD copies of the movie (the most recent SE's presumably), but the Blu-rays are movie-only. Are studios saving bitrate on the Blus by leaving the extras that were never going to be higher than SD quality out, or are they building obsolescence into "first gen" Blu-ray discs? The latter is sure what it looks like to me at this point. The odd thing is, this "no extras" Blu thing didn't happen on Spaceballs, also an MGM title released by Fox Home Entertainment.... Wrong Turn Wrong Turn 2 Van Helsing ...and mysteriously these three don't need a separate DVD for all the extras (yes, I know that Helsing is Universal, not Fox). The picture and sound upgrades on all three are noticeable. There's not a whole lot to say other than that. Catalog Repackage/Reissue I Am Cuba Ultimate Edition Spanish and Russian Soundtracks The Siberian Mammoth feature documentary Film About Mikhail Kalatozov feature documentary Long Interview with Martin Scorsese Interview with co-author Yevgeney Yevtushenko Original American trailer Collectible Booklet Long out of print in the US, Mikhail Kalatozov's anti-Batista film was re-released by Milestone Films last week in a deluxe three-disc DVD set complete with a cigar box-style case and piles of extras. It's $35.96 on their website versus $44.95 at Amazon. I'm not sure if shipping and sales tax could bring the prices closer to parity, but I'd go with getting it from Milestone if only because there's a disgustingly long wait time from Bezos-Mart. I hope to review this one during or after Fantastic Fest, depending upon when I can secure a copy. The Wes Craven Horror Collection (DVD only) The Serpent and The Rainbow Shocker The People Under the Stairs This is a pretty solid deal at $15 on Amazon, which breaks out to $5 each. There's also a $5 Candy Coupon inside the case. Isn't that nearly what it cost to rent movies at Blockbuster? Wow, what a difference! John Carpenter Master of Fear (DVD only) The Thing Prince of Darkness Village of the Damned They Live This is an even better deal than the Wes Craven set, with four movies for $15 at Amazon and the same $5 Candy Coupon inside. I'm not a sugar junkie, I just like the seasonal Reese's Pumpkins, so sue me. Disc Roundup is posted each week at some point, depending on how many discs I have to get through. If you think I've missed something, feel free to send me an email at the name of this column at gmail dot com.