Criterion
The Human Condition
Jeanne Dielman
Hobson's Choice
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
Lookin' to Get Out
Lonely Are the Brave
Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Made in U.S.A.
One Step Beyond S1*
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982)
Ironweed (P&S!)
Johnny Handsome
Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 3
Pre-Code Hollywood
Nickelodeon
The Hit
Man Hunt
The Outlaw
Faces
Nikkatsu Noir
The Battle of Chile
The Maxx: Complete
The Head: Complete
Husbands
Read MoreElectric Shadow
Blu Locker
Summit would be wise to get their Blu-ray of Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (12 Jan 2010) to Academy voters ASAP. Just to be safe, send the DVD with it since not necessarily all voters have made the upgrade yet. All of them who have an HD setup to break in will eat this thing up. This could give Locker a second wind that Up in the Air doesn't have the opportunity to catch post-Avatar. I'm thinking that Academy voters who wait until later to send in their ballots will jump back on the Locker bandwagon.
The disc's light on extras, including only a commentary and a Behind the Scenes featurette. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal bounce interesting anecdotes back and forth here and there throughout. The scramble to find a particular pistol for use in a pivotal scene was particularly amusing. Boal again emphasizes that he didn't base Jeremy Renner's Sgt. James on just one guy, but on one of two schools of thought in the early days of the Iraq invasion. The other camp was composed of more cautious, procedural guys like Guy Pearce's Sgt. Thompson. The featurette is a decent, quickly-digestible piece that nicely serves as a 12-minute Oscar pitch. The only feature I could have (and still do) hope for is some sort of alternate, longer cut.
Read MoreDiscs of 2009: Warner & MGM Archives
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?
The Story of Three Loves
Genesis II & Planet Earth
Freebie and the Bean
Our Gang
I Died a Thousand Times
The Dogville Collection
The Joe McDoakes Collection
Gilda Live
Doc Samson: Man of Bronze
Read MoreDiscs of 2009: Unsung Distributors
Not everyone has the exposure of the major studios, or even the platinum standard that is Criterion. There are tons of titles that are not only
Oscilloscope
They recently picked up The Exploding Girl, which stars Zoe Kazan, who I find very intriguing as an actor.
Eclipse
Milestone
Acorn/Athena
Along with BBC/Warner (with whom they're neck-and-neck), Acorn/Athena is the leading distributor of non-US TV titles, especially from the UK.
Warner Archive
I've written a full post on a handful of examples out of the bushels of great titles that The Archive has brought to disc at long, long last.
MPI
VCI
First Run Features
Blue Underground
Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
Read MoreSXSW 2010: Kick-Ass and More
I saw an un-color-corrected, temp-scored version of Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass at BNAT11 in December, and most of my difficulty in posting about it before now came from the fact that the screening had to stop and re-start due to a tech issue. When you have an abrupt 20-minute intermission during a movie and chat with friends about how much you're all enjoying it, that can unfairly skew where you sit on it. Now that South by Southwest 2010 has announced it as their opening night movie, I'll get something up later today that's more substantive than "it's far better than your average post-modern superhero movie on its way to huge return business".
Even more interesting to me are the additional announcements, pasted below from the press release with running commentary:
Cold Weather - SXSW Alum Aaron Katz directs this feature about a former forensic science major and avid reader of detective fiction, who, after making a mess of his life in Chicago, returns to his hometown of Portland, Oregon. There, he, his sister Gail, and new friend Carlos become embroiled in something unexpected. [Katz is very much a "handmade"-style filmmaker. I've regretted missing previous features he's done that friends have had good things to say about. This one sounds interesting, so here's to hoping I get a shot at seeing it.]
Elektra Luxx - Following the successful world premiere of Women In Trouble at SXSW 2009 [successful I'll agree to, everybody dug that they were giving women more varied roles than they usually get to play], writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez returns with the world premiere of its hotly anticipated sequel [I only "hotly anticipate" it because it's a passion project for all involved. the original didn't set me on fire like it did various people who went out of their way to act like it was an English-language masterwork at the level of Almodovar (though stylistically it's similar)]. The film follows a hectic day in the life of former adult film superstar Elektra Luxx as she tries to survive in the straight world. The film stars Carla Gugino in the title role, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Timothy Olyphant, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Malin Akerman. [The main selling point of the original and this sequel is that the actors all gravitated toward being able to play against type and stretch their acting muscles in ways their day jobs don't let them. I can't say that I loved Women in Trouble, but the bit with Josh Brolin as a Brit rocker was sufficient for me to trust Sebastian Gutierrez with another hour and a half of my life.]
Hubble 3D - SXSW will present the first public screening of Hubble 3D at the Bob Bullock IMAX Theater. [I guess this means that I'm going to my first SXSW screening at the Bob Bullock IMAX] Through the power of IMAX 3D, Hubble 3D will enable movie-goers to journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur and mysteries of our celestial surroundings, and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA's history. The film is directed and produced by Toni Myers.
Lemmy - A documentary from director Wes Orshoski, the film delves into the personal and public lives of heavy metal icon and Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Nearly three years in the making, and featuring appearances by such friends/peers as Metallica, Dave Grohl, Billy Bob Thornton and pro wrestler Triple H, the film follows Kilmister from his Hollywood bedroom to the hockey arenas of Scandinavia and Russia. [I love music docs, but am not usually interested in ones that cover metal or metal stars, but Anvil! The Story of Anvil! has turned me around on that a bit.]
SATURDAY NIGHT - Directed by actor James Franco, the documentary looks at what it takes to create an episode of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Follow behind the scenes as the actors, writers and producers go through one frenetic week of trials and tribulations as each volley to get sketches on air. [Franco's hosting job on SNL recently was up there with the best in recent memory. This has rocketed to the top of my must-see list not only because I love the frantic pace of live TV production, but because I wonder what the inner workings of SNL look like.]
Now off to the doctor with me.
Read MoreSick Day
After I post something on SXSW's announcements of the day, I'm headed to the doctor (nothing serious, just your everyday "sick") and then back to sleep. Yesterday's Discs of 2009 piece was delayed by internet access quitting on me, so a double-dose is on its way later today (probably afternoon).
Read MoreSummer in Winter
There are a lot of bits and pieces of (500) Days of Summer that I can relate to from parts of my younger adult life. I didn't get around to seeing it until a Blu-ray arrived for review, and feel bad that I didn't see it on the big screen. I'm appending my Best New Release Blu-ray Transfers of 2009 post as we speak. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has always jockeyed hard for roles that will actually live on in the collective consciousness as much as possible.
His turn in The Lookout is among a select group of truly outstanding performances of the last decade that very few ended up seeing. He never mugs or goes too broad. Few actors of his generation have that capacity for control and sensitivity, and that's why I love watching him work. The pools of optimism in his eyes are refreshing to one in a society of hardened cynics and jerks who want nothing more than to shit on something new and unfamiliar.
The most amusing responses I've seen to this movie have been from man-children who take Tom's (Levitt) journey in the film as validation of their refusal to grow up. They don't see his relationship with Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) as a case where he grew and evolved as an emotional being, but rather, as a testament to the notion that everything that goes wrong in one's life is obviously the fault of "that evil bitch who lead me on". It's all deflection and finger-pointing with these guys, the same ones who hang out only with one another and no one else. These are the gangs of mouth-breathing giggleheads who parade around in little packs at film festivals to feel more popular in their isolation, laughing at every not-clever thing any of them say. These are the guys who are not (and may never be) past where Tom is in emotional growth.
The transfer on the Blu-ray is crisp and consistent throughout, and the audio gladly reminds that the days of hiss and sound artifacts on new releases are thankfully behind us. The extras leave little to be desired either. My favorite among them, and the simplest, is the Bank Dance short from director Marc Webb. He's good at working with these two actors, and I wonder if we'd see another collaboration down the line with different characters in a different story. The deleted and extended scenes include a couple of bits seen in the trailer but not the movie. The Making-of featurette is a bit more nutritious than is expected for pieces of its type. The web-posted Conversations with Zooey and Joseph are fun and entertaining as a "watch once" thing. The Summer @ Sundance piece is a nice glance at the world of the Sundance Film Festival for those who've never been (myself included). The included Digital Copy is one of the few I actually dump into my iTunes library and carry around from time to time.
Read MoreDiscs of 2009: Best Blu-ray Transfers (New Release)
Only part of the criteria for these Best Transfers honors lies in the quality of the movie itself. More important is the success in achieving the "movie theater in your home" feel. No matter what anyone says, the most important part of any home video release is how good it looks. Yes, looks are everything.
The most influential thing a movie could have going for it in this category is a great cinematographer. All the supplements and bells and whistles and figurines and lunch boxes in the world cannot make a lousy transfer look good. Today we're tackling the best transfers on New Release titles from last year. More "Best Blu Transfers" will come tomorrow.
Frozen River
Shot on a Panasonic Varicam in 720p DVC HD, Frozen River benefitted from having the company that invented the Blu-ray format blow it up to 1080p. As immigration dramas have seen a resurgence of late, it's nice to see one of them actually available on Blu-ray, let alone looking this good. The transfer still has that "Digital Video" feel to it due to the recording device, but much like Public Enemies, I like the raw, unvarnished look presented here.
Star Trek
In addition to ranking high on the Overall Value list, JJ Abrams' reboot is among the most crisp and delicious new release transfers on the format. Paramount really did everything necessary to make sure they didn't screw this one up. I wrongly didn't spend any time talking about the transfer in my original, first-on-the-net writeup.
Let the Right One In
As I said in my review many moons ago in March (back when I killed myself to synopsize the movie), it's really quite good. It does have its faults:
"If possible, the transfer looks cleaner than I remember the print looking last fall. If you want a great disc to test your contrast settings with, this is the one. That said, they used a single layer BD-25.
"There's a great deal of stark black & white mixed with a muted color palette that could have benefitted from the other 25GB of space. This is especially noticeable in scenes that feature lots of black. Detail is great, but the deep, deep black levels the format is capable of aren't absolutely perfect. We're not likely to see a double dip, so it would have been nice to have the second layer of data, especially since the extras are pretty minimal."
It should say something that a transfer that leaves a little to be desired is still one of the best new release transfers of the year. My extremely high standards may be a bit stringent, but when this is the third or fourth time many will theoretically re-buy the same catalog titles on home video, I want the first try to be done right.
Valkyrie
A thought ahead of its time from my original review:
"You mean the Tom Cruise as a Nazi movie?"
"He's in the German armed forces, but he isn't a Nazi."
"But...weren't they all Nazis?"
"No, actually. What were you planning to go see this weekend?"
"Night at the Museum 2, I heard Amy Adams' ass looks great in tho--"
"Go rent this and catch the other one when someone rents it at Thanksgiving, you'll thank me."
My first viewing of Valkyrie was digitally projected in 4K at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (early during BNAT X). The color and contrast in the transfer on the Blu-ray does not in any way seem like a jump down in clarity. A better movie than anyone gave it credit for being.
Gran Torino
The transfer of DP Tom Stern's work is thick with color depth and fine contrast. Warner Bros. didn't put a whole ton of extras on this, but the movie really speaks for itself just fine. I'm not surprised by the number of critics who soullessly decried Eastwood's use of amateur non-actors. Those "non-artists", along with the photography, added a real-world credibility and grit that few (if any) other 2008 releases even came close to touching.
Inglourious Basterds
Gorgeous period-appropriate locations and lovely tones of gold, red, and black adorn various sequences in Tarantino's popular and critical hit. Robert Richardson's photography is paid proper service by its representation here. I'm glad they didn't cram so much supplemental material on here that it cramped the space afforded to the 2.5-hour feature's video. The Nation's Pride premiere is the show-off sequence.
The Hangover
Lawrence Sher's work on this title doesn't get as much credit as the movie does for being hilarious and re-watchable as hell when drinking. Do you remember the last studio comedy, whether franchise or not, that looked this good?
Revolutionary Road
A stunning transfer of Roger Deakins' work is always a good reason to watch a movie that you (and most of the moviegoing public) missed. For more from the same shooter, see also: Doubt (definitely), The Reader (if you have nothing better to do).
Adventureland
One of the best reasons to use Adventureland to judge other recent HD transfers is the wide variety of lighting conditions and light sources used. Day, morning, dusk, night, midday, and everything in-between make an appearance (so far as I remember). Terry Stacey also shot the sublime In Her Shoes for Curtus Hanson.
Sugar
A good, old-fashioned 35mm indie shot on the cheap, Sugar sure as hell doesn't show its budget on Sony's immaculate-as-usual Blu-ray. Rich color, lovely depth of contrast, you know the drill. An excellent movie made all the better by the fact it looks outstanding. Sony Style stores should have this playing on a loop.
District 9
The true test of a movie with lots of effects is whether the big screen or the small screen shows the seams in the effects. I was surprised that the economically-challenged budget of this non-franchise, non-adaptation managed a more seamless presentation in both media than movies with five times the money. One of the most subtly surprising RED camera transfers I've seen thus far (along with Che).
The Girlfriend Experience
Steven Soderbergh's 2009 release beat his 2008 one to Blu-ray (by half a year!) and belongs in the same pantheon of reference-quality REDcode transfers along with District 9. Unlike D9, it's devoid of digital effects, but has art film aesthetics and techniques in spades: uneven/low lighting, intentionally blown out sequences, and lingering, contemplative takes.
Objectified
This one made the list not because director Gary Hustwit worked wonders with visual data in a way never before seen, but because he put his home video process together himself rather than letting a studio get its hands on it. Instead, he leveraged the might of Plexifilm, a distributor he created that focuses on quality of design (the theme that his film focuses on the most). This is the only title I've put on the proper list that I haven't watched on Blu-ray. I realize that I committed to putting only transfers I've laid my eyes on in the proper "best of" lists, but for every rule there must be a single exception.
Objectified is on here as a statement of my faith in the filmmaker and the same crew that put together a marvelous Helvetica Blu-ray. If you want a model for self-managing your home video distribution as an indie, take notes on what Hustwit is doing. The movie is also available for rent on iTunes just today, as a matter of coincidence.
(500) Days of Summer
[Added due to careless omission, mea culpa. 01.05.2010 @4:42pm]
From my just-posted review:
"The transfer on the Blu-ray is crisp and consistent throughout, and the audio gladly reminds that the days of hiss and sound artifacts on new releases are thankfully behind us."
The choices made in production and costume design really pop in HD resolution. None of the shades of blue or brown used ever get muddy thanks to rich contrast levels. One of the few movies that makes Los Angeles look beautiful, like a place I'd actually like to visit some day (yes, I've never been).
The Highly-Regarded But Unseen: Public Enemies, A Christmas Tale, Gomorrah
Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
Read MoreDiscs of 2009: You Missed...Genre Films
Discs of the Year (2009): An Introduction
I started dipping my toe in the water when it came to home video coverage in 2009. On the one hand, I had no idea how much I was taking on, but on the other hand, I feel that I have a better appreciation for how the majority of people actually experience cinematic entertainment. Whether they rented or bought a disc, most people now watch this stuff on laptops, portable media players, or while sitting on couches. It's gratifying that I'm now in the final stretch of completing nearly a year's worth of productivity. I posted Blu Controversy & Fiascos (there is a "DVD" sibling to it in the offing) a few days ago as a lead-in.
I had an extra helping of work because I didn't really dig into home video coverage in earnest until the summer of last year. There are major titles I missed just as in every year there are always one or two notable new releases that a critic will miss. So that I don't leave out titles that received universal acclaim, I'm including a short listing of "Honorable Mentions" at the end of each category.
Speaking of, the categories themselves took a great deal of time and consideration. For example, I've separated the best HD transfers of the year into 10 separate classifications based on type and vintage of the source material. I've had many "am I being too thorough" moments of doubt, but I'm fine after reading far too many "2009 Best of DVD/Blu-ray" lists that avoid any elaboration beyond "my mom likes this" or "dude, this was the most ass-kickingest year ever for Blu-ray, it was epic". Properly broken down, there are easily 80 excellent and exemplary Blu-ray transfers from last year. I could justify expanding that number to 96 (that's 8 a month) had I not missed so many. These transfers and packages are how many will first (and sometimes only) experience many films, from classics to forgettable new releases. Attention must be paid.
So, starting later today, I'll be posting at least one Discs of the Year entry a day until I'm done. I'll be combining multiple subcategories into individual posts so that there aren't a million buggers to go through. Here's a breakdown of the categories I'm covering (subject to change/re-configuration):
Best Blu-ray Transfers
Black & White (any era)
Vintage (Pre-1960) Color
Vintage (1960-1980) Color
Catalog (1980-1990) Color
Recent Catalog (1990-present) Color
2D Animation
3D/CG Animation
New Release (Movies)
Catalog TV
New Release (TV)
Best DVD Transfers
Black & White
Color
New Release (not counting titles also on Blu)
Animation
TV
Best Overall Value (Blu-ray & DVD)
Catalog
New Release
TV
Best of UK TV
Unsung Distributors
Excavated Archives
Eclipse (Non-Twilight)
On Disc At Last in 2009
2009's Under the Radar Discs
No English
Documentaries
Genrelicious
As Not Seen in Theaters
Swag Gone Wild
Industry Trends for the Better
Back later.
Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
Read MoreExtraction
I would love to see Mike Judge tackle remakes of Eric Rohmer's "Moral Tales". Extract carries on his inimitable stylistic touch and works very well on a variety of levels, including perfect comic utilization of Ben Affleck. The whole cast is unique and diverse. There's a sense of authenticity to everyone, including the one worker played by Judge himself. Ensemble strength like this is rare and has been for a while.
Retired Sexiest Man Alive Ben Affleck
Unlike Office Space, it isn't destined for cult canonization, but it's a perfectly good movie that didn't get enough attention because it's a solid situational comedy with no tabloid appeal or cheap, crass humor. Judge unfortunately was closer to the present day than the future with Idiocracy than anyone should be happy about. If only there had been 40 more nut-shots or 12 instances of someone shitting himself, then perhaps Extract would have reached the vaunted heights of major box office success stories. Home video should help raise its profile. Extras on the Blu-ray include a making-of (Mike Judge's Secret Recipe), a few extended scenes and one deleted scene. It deserves to be rented and seen at the very least. Judge devotees like me have already bought it. Extract hit the street last Tuesday (12.22).
Read MoreRetired Sexiest Man Alive Ben Affleck
Jam Session Hunger
To say that my favorite part of the It Might Get Loud Blu-ray is the trailer for Soul Power is no insult to Loud, but rather, an indication of my love for Power and the DVD/Blu coming in mid-January.
I'm not an instrumentalist at all, much less a guitarist (I gave up at age 6), but I had a good time with this meeting of the maestros. They all start out cautious, but let their hunger show and tuck in to a really pulse-quickening jam session between stories. I don't dislike Jack White nearly as much as many of my friends seem to, but I still had a better time overall listening to the stories from The Edge and Jimmy Page. The same people who are interested in this title as guitarists themselves should not settle for anything less than the DTS-HD Master audio on the Blu-ray. I'd love to see Davis Guggenheim or a talented director like him make a four-hour doc in this style about legendary cinematographers. If I had my pick, I'd go with Guillermo Navarro (who shot Loud), Vittorio Storaro, & Roger Deakins right off the bat, and round it out with Vilmos Zsigmond and...Steven Soderbergh maybe?
The half hour or so of deleted scenes are where it's at on the extras. More anecdotes and jamming are a good thing indeed. The 40-minute press conference from the Toronto Film Fest is a great learning tool for new and aspiring journalists and bloggers who want to know how to not act like an idiot when asking questions to talent. I didn't have the time to listen to the commentary track that features Guggenheim and producers Leslie Chilcott and Thomas Tull. There's a "movieIQ" trivia track that I didn't bother to switch on before watching the movie. Be aware that it requires BD-Live.
Read MoreDiscs of 2009: Blu Controversy & Fiascos
The past year has seen more people than ever moving to Blu-ray, and a greater quantity of titles hitting the format than ever before. With that multi-fold increase in volume, the various "growing pains" that have touched the format throughout the year aren't surprising. I've been keeping track, but I easily could have missed something. If you pick up on something I didn't, feel free to drop a line (the name of this column at gmail).
This is not an accurate translation of the words that Eli the vampire is saying.
Let the Right One In: How Do You Say "Re-Translation" in Swedish?
For some godawful reason, Magnolia/Magnet decided to use a different English subtitle track for the US home video release of this genre smash-hit. I'm guessing it had something to do with saving money by not paying the original translator. After some considerable controversy and outrage from fans, Magnet refused to issue a recall, but did state that future pressings of the DVD and Blu-ray would feature the "Theatrical" track and you would know it's a "new pressing" disc by this listing on the back cover. Word has filtered around that DVDs have started appearing in stores with the original subs, but nothing on the Blu-ray front. It's a shame, since the transfer is absolutely delicious.
Acid wash video.
The French Connection: The Transfer from Beyond Hell
Jeff has just today re-posted his righteous takedown of this aberration by director William Friedkin. "It's a scandal, it's a outrage" to be sure. This was the greatest travesty of the year, the decade, or the history of home video:
"I'm especially proud of is the slapdown I gave to director William Friedkin and his "high-contrasty, snow-grained, color-bleeding, verging-on-monochrome" Blu-ray of The French Connection that came out last February.
"This Blu-ray disc was, no exaggeration, the most offensive act of corporately-sanctioned vandalism to happen to a classic film in motion-picture history, and I'm thinking it can't hurt to give Friedkin another couple of lashes for completion's sake, just to put the cap on and to make double sure no one ever tries something like this again."
From your keyboard to the Movie Godz's ears, Jeff.
Ghostbusters: Grain Busted
I've yet to look at this disc myself, but the early word from press was perpetuated as enthusiasts ordered and received their copies. The transfer improves as the movie progresses, but it starts out especially grainy and muddy from all reports. Complaints frequently claimed DVD editions looked better in comparison.
Terminator 2 (US) vs. Terminator 2 (Europe): Codec Title Fight
When you look at these transfers side by side, they look noticeably different, but not because one was restored or remastered and the other wasn't. The difference is in the software compression used to squeeze the movie onto a Blu-ray. Most US discs are compressed using similar techniques, but not all European ones are, so even though both look good, each appears to have different "major plusses" that the other doesn't, whether it comes to contrast, color, or motion blur.
Gladiator: The Battle of Two Masters
When multiple rights holders are involved, you never know who is providing the transfer for a given release. The Extended Cut portions were properly mastered for HD in 2005, but not the Theatrical Cut. Colors are off in the Theatrical parts, and the resolution doesn't match the Extended bits to the point that anyone with an HD monitor could notice the difference. This was an unfortunate stain on Paramount's new Sapphire Series, which debuted with this and Braveheart. It also coincided with the point when they temporarily stopped sending advance review copies of everything from new release to catalog, and many speculated that Paramount had "something to hide". In this one case (and the one below), that may have been the case, but not so with the vast majority of their 2009 titles. I can't in good conscience recommend this title. The only reason I buckled and bought it was the sale price ($10) and the good-as-free $10 rebate coupon inside for existing DVD owners.
Star Trek (The Original Motion Picture Collection): The Wrath of DNR
Wrath of Khan looks better than ever, as does The Search for Spock, but The Motion Picture has some moments of obvious image fuzziness from Digital Noise Reduction. Would the average viewer notice? No, I don't think so. The latter three films all look amazing. Screenshots a-plenty went all over message boards across the net, but they made it look much worse than it really is. If I watched these things with a $10k HD projector, I'd probably go cry on a bag of money and get over it.
Dr. Strangelove: Or, How to Rewrite the History of Aspect Ratios
Jeff decried this release (which I've yet to touch) due to his read of excessive grain in the image and more offensively, a 1.66:1 aspect ratio instead of the original aspect ratio of "Academy" 1.33:1. Others report lovely picture quality and don't seem to care that it's not in Kubrick's intended OAR. It's astounding to me that aspect ratio fidelity is still an issue in this day and age. Did we learn nothing from DVD?
Graingate: The War on Grain
Whether talking about Criterion's The Third Man, Sony's Dr. Strangelove, or various other black & white titles, Jeff has waged a war against "Grain Monks" in 2009. The two "camps seem to be made up of people who love the additional grain as a more "accurate" presentation, and those who want it all scrubbed out, a la Lowry Digital's work on various Disney animated classics. The danger of being anti-grain is you end up being accused of defending the horror show that is Fox's Patton Blu-ray transfer and the weird-looking Sunset Boulevard DVD. What we need is moderation (not outright radicalism), which I think both ends of the argument agree on.
I'm going to get myself in trouble for here admitting that whereas I am not an entrenched Monk, I do disagree with him on his read of the Third Man transfer. I can't defend what Jeff saw on his display, but I can disagree as to who is to blame for his experience and that of others. I'm not alone in defending Third Man, but I am trying to come at it from a more reasonable stance than those treating him like an unknowledgeable jerk (which he's absolutely not). None of us are the bad guy. As usual, the consumer is the one getting screwed over.
The enemy is not one side or the other, but HDTV and blu player manufacturers who didn't standardize any sort of auto-equalizer for different types of content. There are newer sets that do this auto-calibration, like the HG10 series, but the feature should be industry-wide. You really have to be an obsessive tinkerer with some sort of formalized training in HD monitor calibration to get good separate presets for everything from B&W to Technicolor to modern content. As we see more B&W titles hit Blu-ray, we'll inevitably continue to have a lot to argue about in this regard.
Universal's Blu-ray Flippers: Anger Faster Than Lightning
The late in the year announcement that Universal is reviving their "DVD on one side, HD disc on the other" format was instantaneously met with disgust from all sides. One of the positives to Blu-ray is the thicker disc coating that prevents against scratching. That's only going to help the Blu-ray side of these little monsters. Goodbye disc art, hello Scratchland. Other studios are just issuing Combo Packs that include a separate DVD edition of the movie. Universal is...doing their own thing.
Sneaky Canadian "Eh" HD
Canadian DVD & Blu-ray distributor Alliance has been releasing all sorts of movies not yet available on Blu in the States. Titles run the gamut from recent releases to catalog classics like A Hard Day's Night. The problem is, they release them at 720i, 720p, 1080i, and basically resolution other than "True HD" 1080p. All these titles appear in search results when an oblivious American browses Amazon.com for "[movie title] + blu-ray". Thankfully, lots of their titles have been de-listed from Amazon in the last couple of months.
BD-Live: The Stillborn
The "internet connectivity" feature of Blu-ray is nothing close to a killer app. It's more of a "killed app" thanks to insanely long load times, a lack of implementation, or buggy first attempts to make it work. On top of that, tons of new Blu-ray owners don't even have net-connectable or connected players. The live chat screening with McG for Terminator Salvation was a hilarious good time, only enhanced by how often people got kicked off the connection. Studios need to bump up the speed of served content and really make home video a couch-based "happening" for any of this stuff to matter.
Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
Read MoreThis is not an accurate translation of the words that Eli the vampire is saying.
Acid wash video.
Disc Wanted: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
Is there hope that the new SherlockNRolla Holmes movie could bring this decidedly non-canon 1976 Holmes movie back into print on DVD?
Status: Out Of Print (DVD released by Universal in 1998)
Based on the apocryphal 1974 novel by Nicholas Meyer (later the writer-director-savior of the Star Trek franchise), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution was made just two years after the publication of the book. The film adapts the story of Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) staging an intervention for the drug-addled and crazed Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson). The Holmes canon is turned on its ear when we find out that an innocent mathematician named Dr. Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) is only his arch-nemesis in hallucinations and fever dreams. Watson dupes his friend into going to Vienna so that they can seek the assistance of Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin), their best hope to wrest the demons from Holmes' soul.
Joel Gray and Vanessa Redgrave also appear in supporting roles, though Redgrave receives second billing in the credits. A mystery and a villain do eventually emerge, but the movie is best-known for the re-imagining of the character and franchise. The movie strays a good deal more than the book from established canon in details and embellishments, but the plots are more or less the same. I should mention that the movie portrays Holmes as much more of a ladies' man than the book, which is probably the most ill-fitting part of Nicol Williamson's Holmes.
Seven-Per-Cent Solution is perfectly enjoyable as a piece of exceptionally high-grade fan fiction. Additionally, it's difficult to dispute the novelty of Duvall as Watson, Olivier as Moriarty, Excalibur's Merlin playing a manic Holmes, and Arkin doing a surprisingly good American-faking-an-accent Freud. This should be reissued, if only to allow the intrigued to witness Duvall's English accent in action. He worked his ass off on it (and it shows), but it's still pretty ridiculous.
The Image/MCA/Universal DVD that was issued in 1998 was among the first DVDs produced by Uni, and as a result, it had a low-quality Pan-and-Scan transfer. Don't blame Universal, since no one knew what they were doing at that point. The disc has been out of print as far back as 2002 from what I can gather. I had a copy once upon a time, which I sold at a tidy profit in college. I'd rather be without it than suffer that horrendous transfer. Australian and UK DVDs are available for import, but I'd prefer a properly-mastered US version all the same.
Click here to vote on TCM's "TCMdb" website for it to be brought back into print (this time in 16x9 widescreen). As of this writing, it's #274, so pass this story along to friends and let's see how high on the list we can get it. Studios respond to viral buzz more than anything else these days, so a sudden explosion in its ranking can and will make a difference as to its DVD fate.
I'm sure some torrenting gluttons will want to tell me that it can be freely downloaded illegally and that no one should feel remorse since it's out of print, but I'm already aware. Everyone should keep in mind that the version available would have to be either a rip of a VHS tape or the atrocious DVD pan and scan transfer that came before. Demand quality by voting with your buzz and dollars.
Disc Wanted covers the movies that should be available on disc, but (for whatever reason) are long out of print or have never seen the light of a DVD or Blu-ray laser in the US.
Read MoreThe Morals Of...All About Steve
You can collect loads of good karma by thanking people for not raping you. Intellectual women aren't so goddamn smart. In a dwindling industry, no one should be expected to copy edit the crossword puzzles. Stalking will lead you to enlightenment. Feed OCD and social anxiety disorders, but starve common sense and self-preservation. You can get a combination of set pieces from Twister and Jurassic Park on screen if you wrap them in a romantic comedy. Exploiting the deaf for comedic effect will never go out of style in Hollywood. Rescued children gain healing powers that eliminate the need for a hospital visit. A side of Katy Mixon goes well with everything. Hell is other people, but worse hell is avoiding the rest of society.
The Morals Of... sprang forth fully-formed from the head of a post I made to my Twitter feed.
Read MoreGreys in Blu
WB's Gone With the Wind Blu-ray, their second ultra-deluxe collector's edition of the year, is a tremendous achievement in picture and audio quality. The color depth and picture clarity rivals or exceeds my estimation of the outstanding Wizard of Oz set from earlier in the year. I'm far from a devoted fan of the narrative. The history of the production and the cinematography are what I'm head over heels for. All the extras from the previous 4-disc DVD set are carried over so far as I can tell, supplemented by some new bits here and there.
As I've warned before, the Target exclusive "non-velvet-box" version is the movie and none of the extras (save the commentary). If the Velvet Box price tag isn't your thing, then wait for a lower-priced version that does include the disc-based extras. I've included an unboxing video below that gives a look at all the extra bells and whistles included in the box. I've also included an unboxing of the 4-disc DVD Special Edition from a few years ago for comparison. As seen very briefly in the video, the DVD version had a smaller-sized reproduction of the original premiere program, which is found full-sized and unabridged in the Blu-ray box.
The most interesting and engaging among the new supplements are 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year and Gone With the Wind: The Legend Lives On. The "1939" piece is particularly interesting to watch now, 70 years later, when I'm seeing colleagues struggle to squeeze down to a top ten (or twenty, or thirty) list of best movies they saw in 2009. We've seen something of an echo of one of the greatest single years in cinematic exhibition this year in the sheer number of top shelf theatrical releases. The "Legend Lives On" piece was most entertaining in that it addresses how re-releases of GWTW on video and in theaters were arguably among the precursors of the now-infamous DVD double dip. Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War, a 1980 TV movie starring Tony Curtis, isn't particularly good, but it fits the theme and is a nice extra bit for completists. It covers the process of casting Scarlett, one of the many epic struggles that occurred during the making of the film. The same MGM: When the Lion Roared 6-hour doc that was included with the Wizard of Oz "deluxe box" set is in there as well. The copious docs and featurettes on the previous set are too numerous for me to bother including here in anything but what would look like a press release bulleted list, so I'll leave that for the curious to find elsewhere on the web.
As a whole, the packaging and treatment will be everything that die-hard fans of the novel and movie could dream of, and they'll probably be fine spending $40-plus for it. I don't know why anyone would get the DVD at this point, which Amazon lists at $51.99, a whole $9 more than the Blu-ray at $42.99. This theatrical-quality presentation of Gone With the Wind hit the street back on 11.17, and as much as I hate double dips in concept, this one offers drastically-improved picture and audio at a lower price than the previous DVD edition debuted at five years ago. File this one under "film school in a box".
Read More496: Paciencia Recompensada (Patience Rewarded)
The opening of the essay by critic Amy Taubin included in the accompanying booklet
(l.-r., top) title card, Gen. Gary Prado & Bolivian Presidente Barrientos, producer Laura Bickford, (bottom) co-writer Ben van der Veen, Benicio del Toro, co-writer Peter Buchman
The lifeless gaze of Ernesto Guevara
my handwritten (and re-written) notes sans the ones on the commentary, which were misplaced between last night and this morning
Amazon currently has the Blu-ray listed for pre-order at $33.99 and, oddly, doesn't have the DVD version listed at press time.
Personal Day
I'll share a bit on why I haven't posted anything today sometime in the morning. I was going to get the motor up and running early today, but I needed a day of reflection instead of a day of business-as-usual.
Read MorePotter Platters
Acronyminator
If I weren't keyed-in to the Terminator franchise, I wouldn't have had a clue what the hell was going on in Terminator Salvation. "HK's" and various other acronyms are thrown around like they mean something to the uninitiated. McG makes the pictures pretty and makes the whole thing look good and smooth, but the movie was dragged down by the "how do you solve a problem like John Connor" conundrum of perpetuating a franchise that has time travel at its center. You can only re-do your continuity so many times before everyone is lost. Having a series mythology timeline as a prominent supplemental feature on your home video release isn't really a good sign.
The Maximum Movie Mode is done over the theatrical cut of the movie rather than McG's preferred director's cut version, which is sort of puzzling. I do really like that for the purpose of picture integrity, they put the two cuts on separate discs. There are a couple of featurettes, one focusing on the Ducati-integrated motorbike Terminators and the other on how they explained themselves into the new movie's story. The movie looks and sounds fantastic on Blu-ray, but it's not going to be as indelible in fans' minds as T3, and boy can people hate on T3 if you give them a chance.
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