Electric Shadow

Discs of 2009: Best Blu-ray Transfers (Black & White)


Best of the Best The Seventh Seal: The Criterion Collection I've never seen a print of Bergman's best-known work, and have since ever subsisted on the original Criterion DVD. The thick, inky blacks and stark whites have never been as splendid as presented here. Best of the Best Last Year at Marienbad: The Criterion Collection When I reviewed this back in July, I was sent the DVD, which looked just fine. I've since gone on and purchased the Blu-ray on my own and am satisfied putting it in the same field as the other Criterion successes on this list. Best of the Best Wages of Fear: The Criterion Collection This is lovely and deserving of the not-so-grainy acclaim given to it by Jeff last year. Best of the Best The 400 Blows: The Criterion Collection I would love to see the rest of the "Antoine Doinel" films released at this quality. I long-considered picking up that box set, and would gladly get them one at a time if they need to spread them out. Best of the Best The Third Man: The Criterion Collection At my own peril, considering my editor's unending hatred for this transfer, this is one of the creme de la creme of vintage B&W masters. The wide gap between Jeff's take on it and many other, myself included, is puzzling to me. As I said in the Blu Controversies and Fiascos post: "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." Best of the Best The General From a brief review I posted last year: "It's definitely the best home version of the movie I've watched. The depth of detail throughout the portions I've watched are up there with WB's new Wizard of Oz 8K transfer, aside from some scratches and dirt. The additional visual data make the picture appear close to three dimensions deep." Gojira From a Disc Roundup back in September: "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 Diary of Anne Frank This is the cleanest and most crisp (but grainy) transfer of a classic movie that birthed the Holocaust Oscar Movie genre. It's a Wonderful Life From my review: "...includes the colorized version on a separate Blu-ray disc, so I thankfully never have to touch it. The original trailer is included in the best shape possible, and as has often been the case on catalog titles, it's a great comparative piece to how lovely and sumptuous with detail the Blu-ray picture is. It, like Gump, includes a $10 rebate for owners of previous DVD editions. This is a wise move for studios that want people to switch to Blu-ray." Clerks From my review of the Kevin Smith Collection set: "The transfer is actually an improvement over the DVD, so the joke about "how is Clerks going to look better in 1080p?" is misguided to say the least. The previous discs suffer from lack of contrast that the Blu-ray has in spades. The most important thing is to make sure your monitor is calibrated for black & white picture with lots (and lots) of grain." The Highly-Regarded But Unseen: Raging Bull, Repulsion, Wings of Desire, A Christmas Carol Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
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Bobcat le Auteur

Before I get into the extras on the World's Greatest Dad DVD, here's a bit from I'm re-running from my original review: "Robin Williams and Daryl Sabara are paired magnificently here, with Sabara surprising me the most with his portrayal of the world's worst kid. Kyle (Sabara) is the living embodiment of the mallrat mutants that make people not want to leave the house anymore. Everything is "gay" and "stupid" to him, and he has no concerns but his personal obsessions."

The brilliant Daryl Sabara, playing much more immature and toxic than he is in real life. It takes a brain to play a sleaze well...
"Lance (Williams) is stuck with this cromagnon in a boy's body for his son, a beautiful girlfriend who doesn't want their relationship to be public, and diminishing attendance in his Poetry class. Lance is an aspiring writer who's never gotten noticed or published in a big way, and he's trapped on all sides until something terrible happens, offering him an escape at a cost. This inciting incident doesn't happen until a ways into the movie. Perhaps it's been spoiled for you already, perhaps not. Either way, I refuse to specifically spoil the tragedy that befalls Kyle's dad. It's hilarious for only an instant, quickly turning heartbreaking and soulful." "That is the very moment many will discover that Bobcat Goldthwait is a truly gifted director and storyteller. With no qualifications, I feel that after this and Stay (retitled Sleeping Dogs Lie), he's one of the most talented auteurs we have discovered in the first years of this century. I'm convinced that had he let any studio or backer muscle him around, the movie would not be so wholly satisfying. The fact he stood his ground is a rarity in an industry of complacency and kiss-asses." The DVD & Blu-ray features a few deleted scenes (but more notably outtakes) among other things. The best piece in there is the behind-the-scenes featurette that runs about 20 minutes. The catch some nice moments from the final day of shooting in particular. The commentary with writer/director Goldthwait is really excellent. He mentions this, but you can tell that he listens to a lot of commentary tracks himself. A music video and an HDNet featurette round things out.
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Discs of 2009: Best Blu Transfers (Vintage Catalog)

For the purpose of this list and for future reference, vintage titles are mathematically "older than 30 years". The titles listed here all came out pre-1980 and are in color. The next entry will cover Black & White transfers from any era. I've broken the below titles into 1960-1980 and Pre-1960 for comparison's sake. 1960-1980

Best of the Best Pierrot Le Fou: The Criterion Collection I bought this just recently for possible inclusion here, and it's taking top honors among its peers. A full review is forthcoming, but after giving it a spin the other day, Raoul Coutard's sumptuous photography put the idea of how wonderful Band of Outsiders and other Jean-Luc Godard movies could look in HD. Best of the Best Playtime: The Criterion Collection I likewise bought this, my favorite Monsieur Hulot movie, for consideration here. Just as with Pierrot, I'm happy to report that it exceeds expectations. Gimme Shelter: The Criterion Collection As with Monsoon Wedding, Criterion's restoration gurus have worked wonders with 16mm source material here. Grease This is one of the most startling improvements I've seen, likely due to the muddy TV mastering that's been running for a couple of decades. Easy Rider From my review: "The most beautiful thing about Sony's new Blu-ray transfer of Easy Rider is the rich color palette only hinted at in the previous DVD edition. The browns and reds don't bleed together, and the landscape can be seen in enough new detail that it isn't just there, it pops. The finer detail on the characters both at rest and in motion is gorgeous, from articles of clothing down to spokes in wheels. I've never seen Easy Rider projected (which kills me, honestly), but the natural grain in the image makes it look like a newly-struck print. One of the reasons I love the Blu-ray format is that it allows me the opportunity to get as close to seeing a print of so many classic films as I very well may. Repertory or "revival" screenings are really on the decline and have been for years." Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory From my review a couple of months ago: "Warner Bros. is batting a thousand this year on Blu-ray upgrades of catalog titles, and this is another great example. The master appears to be the same as the HD-DVD on this single-layer BD-25, but with some minor additional spot cleaning." Being There If only all of Hal Ashby's movies got this kind of treatment. With the slump in catalog title sales since the recession, we may have to live with DVDs instead of Blus for a while. Saturday Night Fever The preponderance of low lighting situations have always made VHS and DVD versions of this movie extremely dark. This transfer shows that there really was contrast in the original photography instead of shadows and murk. Rocky II If they pulled any more grain out of the picture on movies as old as this one and the first Rocky (which was out on Blu before the "Undisputed Collection" hit), 70's Stallone would look as plastic in the face as modern Stallone does. The Highly-Regarded But Unseen: The Complete Monterey Pop, Woodstock, The Man Who Fell to Earth, For All Mankind*, In the Realm of the Senses, Midnight Express, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, The Inglorious Bastards, 3 Days of the Condor, Gigi *For All Mankind's footage is all 1960's vintage, even though the movie was rleeased in the 80's Pre-1960

Best of the Best Wizard of Oz Oz fans have been poring over every home video and repertory revival screening for a few decades picking out the improvements each step of the way. The flying leap forward of this year's 70th Anniversary restoration and remastering is bigger than that going from VHS to DVD. Warner Bros. wisely invested the pile of money and amount of preparation to really make this one shine. Best of the Best North by Northwest In addition to being a personal favorite, this Blu-ray is one of the best available in terms of presentation. Like Oz and the two below, it truly reveals the value in a home HD setup reproducing a theatrical viewing experience. "I agree with Jeff, this is like watching a fresh print in first run. In a year of remarkable HD home video transfers, I didn't think I'd be as stunned as I was within the opening minutes of watching Warner's North by Northwest Blu-ray...I've never seen the film this clean and clear, and with little evidence of any Digital Noise Reduction at all. The red color-shift issues on the previous DVD edition are completely gone, and the level of detail is just jaw-droppingly good. Some of the best examples include the costumes and depth of field in interior locations, but above all the sequence in the cornfield, from the dust swirling to the dead stalks of corn is the best showcase." Best of the Best Gone With the Wind As I said in my recent review: "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." Best of the Best An American in Paris I remember very clearly how completely impossible it was to find this disc anywhere in Austin, Texas of all places during its week of release. I had no choice but to mail order it from Amazon. It's among the first ten or fifteen Blu-rays I added to my collection, and it stands as one of the most impressive transfers. The dream ballet in particular is just jaw-dropping. The Highly-Regarded But Unseen: South Pacific Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
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Understandable Needy-ness

I've spent the better part of a week figuring out how to phrase what I'm going to say about Jennifer's Body without being perceived as sexist, mean, or irresponsible. Here goes.

The handful of people who've defended JB since its initial release are applauding what it represents rather than the half-baked, alternately bland and over-spiced dish that came out of the oven. Most specifically, defenders love the idea of a horror movie that doesn't involve a lot of rape-with-no-escape scenarios, female torture fetish situations, and loads of stalked n' murdered women. I like that idea too, but the disparate ingredients used here are like some Iron Chef contestant went nuts trying to be original and stuck whole sardines in a chicken pot pie. A friend once said that when women complain to him about horror movies always being about killing young women, he said, "we'll stop taking you to movies about killing you when you stop taking us to movies about you marrying us where you are played by an anorexic blonde." I'm far from a gorehound, but I agree with him to an extent. I feel that a horror movie can be about killing boys and not drag and make you want to do yourself in, but this time around they missed the mark. The Blu-ray features two commentaries: one with director Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody (the Theatrical Cut) and one with just Kusama (Unrated). I haven't had the time to go all the way through them, but the first chunk of the double-team one is very sparse and no more enlightening than the overlong movie itself. I haven't so much as touched Kusama's solo one. Also included are deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, behind-the-scenes video diaries, a gag reel, and (believe it) extras dedicated specifically to Megan Fox.
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Zhivago Digibook Blu

David Lean's epic romance that stars Omar Sharif will hit in a Blu-ray "digibook" on 4 May 2010. New extras include all previous DVD special edition extras plus the retrospective Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration and an eight song CD sampler from the score. After North by Northwest, I have extremely high expectations from this one.

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The African Queen at Last (For Real!)


Finally available somewhere other than a Best Picture marathon on TCM.
One of the long-standing, most-requested classics will finally hit Blu-ray and DVD on March 23rd after a six-year restoration process. There was a false-start rumor in June of last year that it would hit in October of 2009, but that date came and went. From the press release: "Romulus Films--one of the film's original production companies--provided access to the original three-strip negative at a London facility where the film was carefully scanned and digitized. The separate elements were then transferred to Los Angeles and painstakingly recombined and inspected frame by frame to ensure that every detail aligned and that any dirt and scratches were removed." "To ensure that the restored picture matched the filmmakers' original vision, Paramount arranged a screening of an MPAA archive print for the film's original cinematographer, Academy Award winner Jack Cardiff [editor note: now deceased, I called for more of his work on disc last April], whose comments were recorded live during the screening. That same archival print was later screened alongside the newly restored version so that the restoration team could ensure that all of Cardiff's notes had been addressed. The result is a vibrant, warm picture that reverentially recreates the film as it was originally meant to be seen." The African Queen will be available in both standalone DVD & Blu-ray editions as well as super-deluxe, limited-edition frills versions. No Warner Bros. "you have to buy the bells and whistles box" business here. Both DVD & Blu versions include the new doc "Embracing Chaos: Making The African Queen", which focuses on how Cardiff's cinematography on Queen impacted the rest of the industry at the time. It includes interviews with Martin Scorsese, Tony Huston, Richard Schickel and others on top of plenty of archival footage and Cardiff family home movies. The Limited Edition box includes "the Lux Radio Theater broadcast of The African Queen, a reproduction of Katharine Hepburn's out-of-print memoir The Making of The African Queen or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, a Senitype film frame collectible reproduction and postcards with images from the film." Mark this one on your buying calendars. Paramount is quoting pricing as follows: $19.99 U.S. (DVD), $26.99 U.S. (Blu-ray), $34.99 U.S. (DVD Box Set), and $43.99 U.S. (Blu-ray Box Set).
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Discs of 2009: Best Blu-ray Transfers (Animation)

When friends new to Blu-ray ask what's best to start with, I tell them "animation" every time. 2009 was a great year, with plenty of new, catalog, and classic titles dropped on the format. I've decided to split these into Traditional Animation and CG Animation categories, since not all CG animated movies are 3D, nor are all traditional-style animated flicks "2D". Traditional Animation

Best of the Best Coraline From my review lo so many months ago: "Universal's Blu-ray of Coraline (available tomorrow) features one of the best home video transfers of the year, hands-down. The movie is undoubtedly in the running for one of the Best Animated Feature slots among a potentially tough field (UP, Ponyo, A Christmas Carrey, 9, The Princess and the Frog). If Universal wants Coraline to be a player in that race, they should get copies of this Blu-ray to Academy voters now to lay some groundwork. As I understand it, the rules for the category allow for up to five nominees, but they've only done three since its inception." Best of the Best Pinocchio No one expected Pinocchio to look this good until they cracked open their Blu-rays earlier this year. My earliest memories of it are a black clamshell-clad VHS tape that I considered among the scariest movies I'd ever seen when I was in elementary school. The colors have never been this vivid or bright, nor has the fine detail ever been this clean. Best of the Best Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs Another tremendous cleanup job by Lowry Digital, this makes me wonder how good Cinderella is going to look. The Highly-Regarded But Unseen: Akira, Fire & Ice, A Charlie Brown Christmas How the Grinch Stole Christmas I've heard no end of good things about Akira, but I can't pretend to have seen this new master of it. WB never sent review material on Charlie Brown or Grinch, and it simply wasn't in the budget to buy them. I'm told by friends that the transfer is so crisp on Fire & Ice you can see the specks of dirt in the cels. CG Animation

Best of the Best Sita Sings the Blues Since undergoing a knucklebuster of a copyright fight with the rights holders of some nearly 100-year-old music that's integral to the movie, director Nina Paley has made this movie fully free to download with the simple request that you help support her, the artist. Her website is full of merchandise that the discerning buyer can purchase for themselves or a loved one. Though not conventionally distributed, you can obtain the full HD version of the movie and compress it only as much as is necessary to squeeze it onto a dual-layer Blu-ray disc. The resulting picture quality is absolutely breathtaking. It's most unfortunate that Sita is not among the field of contenders for Best Animated Feature. Best of the Best UP, A Bug's Life, and Monsters, Inc. It doesn't make much sense to separate these considering their common source and degree of quality. These, along with WALL-E and Ratatouille, are the easiest no-brainer recommendations to make to someone starting a Blu-ray library. The digital-to-digital transfers are so good because they intentionally delayed the titles in different instances for quality assurance (a la Criterion). As a result, there's not an ill thing that can legitimately be said about these masters. Best of the Best Waltz with Bashir One of the best films of last year melded animation, documentary, and a foreign conflict. The mixture makes it all the more palatable for people who are normally resistant to one of the three components. This is another bang-up job from Sony. Battle for Terra I liked this movie a great deal more than it appears my contemporaries did, but it's not as absorbable for adults as say a Pixar movie or a Henry Selick movie or an animated classic one grew up watching. Just because you're a geek doesn't mean that every cartoon caters to you specifically or at all, so calm down. I sure loved Fern Gully when I was a kid, but the movie that I saw then and the version that I would see now as an adult wouldn't match up, I don't think. Terra's from-the-digital-source transfer is as good as you can get without the 3D. Ice Age 3 The movie is terrible, but one sequence in particular was just gorgeous: a dream sequence in which Simon Pegg's character faces a giant Baryonyx dinosaur in a torrential downpour. That one scene is the finest work Blue Sky has ever done. The Highly-Regarded But Unseen: South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, 9, Bolt, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
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Discs of 2009: Best Blu Transfers (Recent Catalog pt.2)

There were so many excellent transfers of titles from 1980-1990 that I had to split them out to their own separate post. From here on, I'm going very concise on these so that I can finally be done with the wonderful, marvelous year that was 2009 in DVD & Blu-ray releases. For those who've asked, there will be a summary post that is just titles in list form with no commentary.

Best of the Best The Last Emperor: The Criterion Collection Director of Photography Vittorio Storaro demanded a modified aspect ratio (2.00:1) instead of the original 2.40:1 for this release. I'd ordinarily complain, but the color grading and contrast are such a drastic improvement over previous DVDs that I'll fall back on my worship of Storaro and Bernardo Bertolucci. Best of the Best Do The Right Thing A rich, hot transfer of one of my favorite films (and the Obamas' first date movie) is the best I've ever seen it. Best of the Best Kagemusha: The Criterion Collection As I said in my August 2009 review: "The picture is the closest I've seen to a film print on my television, with what I'm deeming a 'Whole Grain' level of detail. I'm not a fan of Digital Noise Reduction and never have been. This transfer is clean, raw, and vivid." An American Werewolf in London A reference-quality example of dark, early-1980's photography and the marvelous practical effects work of Rick Baker. Field of Dreams A movie that I've had difficulty watching since my father had a stroke, the transfer here replicates the presentation of the film the first time it "elevated" me watching it with my dad. Night of the Creeps The most unlikely but wonderful restoration/re-release of the year is also one of the crown jewels in Sony's HD mastering crown. The Last Starfighter From a the 18 August 2009 Disc Roundup: "I've seen complaints online of digital scrubbing, edge enhancement, DNR, and so on, but I didn't pick up on anything that particularly bothered me. My mantra on this stuff is "consider the source material," and I'm at a disadvantage due to the fact I never saw a print of this movie projected. I'll be damned if the Blu-ray doesn't impress anyone who's known this movie on VHS for most of its life, though. The CG shots are remarkably clear and crisp, and the live-action stuff looks up to par when compared to what a relatively recent print I saw of Flight of the Navigator looked like." Logan's Run See above on all counts. The cover art makes it look like a pilot for a new "SyFy" Channel series. I had never seen this movie before, but had a relatively fun time with it. I'm not certain what anyone would get out of remaking it, but if Bryan Singer wants to do it, then let him. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan I saw a newly-struck print of this shortly after reviewing the Blu-ray, and I was stunned by how alike they were in grain structure and picture quality, from effects shots to action scenes to conversational scenes. Big Trouble in Little China Last year, I lost a good friend to cancer. He introduced me to this movie in college. I've loved it since and treasured it even more so since his last days. I've never seen this on anything but DVD, but Fox did a magnificent job on this disc. Labyrinth & The Dark Crystal From the 29 September 2009 Disc Roundup: "Sony has really outdone themselves with the transfers on these two Henson Company classics. I've never seen either one of these movies projected, just VHS copies and DVDs, and they both look jaw-droppingly good. Sony is handily maintaining its reputation as one of (if not the) best Blu-ray houses in town, as well they should, having invented Blu-ray in the first place." Say Anything Another top-notch Fox transfer, I said in November that despite a horrendous piece of cover art, "the transfer is solid and the audio is stellar." The Highly-Regarded But Unseen: The Last Metro, El Norte, Silverado, Starman, The Princess Bride, Groundhog Day, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Amadeus, Stop Making Sense, and Gremlins Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
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10 Things 10th

It's a terrible disservice to 10 Things I Hate About You that ABC/Disney has turned it into an ABC Family Channel series that pales in comparison to the perfect storm that is the now 10-year-old movie. It's a great deal more disappointing that the screenwriters of this movie are now scripting things like The Ugly Truth.

The best parts of the half-hour 10th Anniversary retrospective featurette on the Blu-ray are the significant amounts of vintage interview footage (with a wonderfully prescient Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the oh-so Hollywood way in which director Gil Junger says "the first time I met Heath Ledger, I knew right then 'Wow... Movie. Star.' " Ledger's entrance on-screen is met with somber reflection by the commentary participants. The marketing, for better or worse, is all centered around Ledger and never-before-seen footage (audition & interview footage in the retrospective). The movie stands up these years later, and the Blu-ray will offer kids who were in elementary school when it came out the opportunity to see it at quality on-par with what I remember from my high school days. Amazon has the Blu-ray for $19.99 and the DVD for $12.99 (both have identical extras).
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Meatball Surprise

I didn't grow up loving the book that Cloudy with Chance of Meatballs is based on, so I have no standard for comparison there. When I set it up against the various CG-animated studio movies I've suffered through in doctors' offices and waiting rooms of all sorts, this movie is like finding chilled glacier water in a desert.

Inspired casting all around (especially Mr. T) combined with young, risk-taking directors makes for a lot of fun that hits the ground running and doesn't stop. I wish I'd seen it in 3D now. The "Making-of" and the "Voices of" featurettes are more engaging than what you usually get on kid-friendly releases. The extended scenes, development scenes, and progression reels are actually pretty cool . The commentary includes star Bill Hader and directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, and and it's warm and fun throughout. Great to do housework to on a Saturday. The biggest pain in the ass on this title is that to use the Digital Copy it advertises, you have to own both a PS3 and a PSP. On top of that, you can only watch the digital version on the PSP. I also hate that the DVD copy included has both widescreen and Pan & Scan versions of the movie on it. What is this, 1998? Amazon has the current Blu-ray version for $24.99, but just as this one was announced, the 3D Blu-ray standard was ratified by the Blu-ray Disc Association (I think that's what they ended up calling it). Sony announced a tentative release of a 3D Cloudy Blu-ray for this summer. The polarized 3D TVs will still cost, oh, $15k on average, but if you want to walk into a Sony Style store and watch the whole thing, you'll probably be able to do so. I hope that means they'll do a theatrical re-release so that I can see the version discussed on the commentary, which apparently they "went nuts on with the 3D".
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Disc Roundup (Movies & TV) 05 Jan 2010

Disc Roundup is going through a substantial paring-down in 2010 so that I can focus on individual title coverage and get these posted in a more timely fashion. Since I don't get my hands on every disc in advance of release, I'll come back and add a link to individual reviews of titles once they're posted.

Movies New Release of the Week Lorna's Silence (DVD only) New Release Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Blu-ray and DVD) Review The Final Destination (Blu-ray and DVD) Review 50 Dead Men Walking (Blu-ray and DVD) Trucker (DVD only) Loren Cass (DVD only) Catalog New to Blu-ray 10 Things I Hate About You 10th Anniversary Edition (also DVD) Review The Green Berets Dogtown & Z-Boys Riding Giants Cheaper by the Dozen 2 Television New Release of the Week American Experience: The 1930's Catalog Release of the Week Super Friends! Season 1 Volume 1 Catalog Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week Battlestar Galactica Season 1 New Release Chuck Season 2 Big Love Season 3 The Philanthropist Complete (UK) Catalog Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures Complete Disc Roundup is posted each week and updated as reviews are posted on individual titles. Unless otherwise noted in the linked reviews, assume that screener copies of titles reviewed were provided by the respective studio.
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Discs of 2009: UK TV

I wanted to highlight some wonderful TV shows from the UK that hit the US this past year. Some have never seen these shores, and yet others have been gussied up and re-mastered. Regardless, these are the few among many TV imports to Region 1 in 2009 that I highly recommend you take notice of, rent, or buy.

The I.T. Crowd: Season 1-3 Remember when a sitcom wasn't shot like a movie or a fly-on-the-wall documentary? My favorite sitcom on television anywhere, I wholeheartedly urge fans to buy the I.T. Crowd DVDs (great extras) and not just download them or watch them on Netflix Watch Instantly. This show stars some of the funniest people in the known universe and centers around a corporate IT department (two guys and their tech-unsavvy boss). I've seen most of these episodes upwards of four times each, and some specific ones still make me laugh so hard it's difficult to breathe. Life on Mars: Seasons 1 & 2 (DVD only) The American remake of this smash hit show was cancelled during its first season. I feel they should have just aired this original, available as of July and November of 2009, respectively. It follows police officer Sam Tyler, who is hit by a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973. A spin-off show, Ashes to Ashes, is in the process of finishing. To say much about either would be like telling someone what's ahead on the show Lost: you'd spoil and confuse the life out of them. Suffice to say it's the best bits of a police procedural and a time-shifting sci-fi drama.

Torchwood: Children of Earth (Blu-ray and DVD) By not watching this, you're missing out on the second of should-be Oscar contender Peter Capaldi's two excellent performances of last year. Torchwood as a series is a spinoff of Doctor Who, but this miniseries doesn't require a history with either show (even though it serves as the third season of Torchwood). The writing very wisely provides the necessary background without bludgeoning you with exposition or winks and nudges. I had no idea what to expect when sitting down to watch this and found myself absolutely captivated. All the children in the world stop dead in their tracks over a couple of days and start repeating "we are coming" over and over in advance of the arrival of some aliens. For me, the whole thing is wonderful mostly for the fact that it evokes the golden age of sci-fi on television.

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (DVD only) As I said back in September: "This 13-episode set of detective tales is based on stories written by Conan Doyle contemporaries. None of them feature Holmes himself, but they're all set in the same Victorian world. Thames Television premiered The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes on ITV in the U.K. back in 1971. Nearly 40 years later, it's still interesting, excellent television. This edition is marked "Set 1" because ITV commissioned a second series of 13 episodes that aired in 1973. One can safely assume Acorn Media will be releasing that one as well at some point. "It's an anthology-format series, and all the characters follow the Holmes model for the most part. For me, it plays like Marvel Comics' What If? series. What If? Sherlock Holmes Were a Woman/Ghost Hunter/Thief and so on. Featured actors include: John Neville, Peter Vaughan, Donald Sinden, Donald Pleasence (Blofeld!), and Jeremy Irons. Irons' turn is notable in that it's his first on-screen appearance." The Secret Policeman's Ball(s) (DVD only) This collects the early (original) charity shows through the late 1980's. They've recently been revived. The Genius of Charles Darwin (DVD only) Creationism can go jump off a cliff. This is an erudite, thorough (and then some) doc miniseries that gives more than a Wikipedic explanation and examination of Darwinian theory. As I said back in December: "I categorize strict Creationists and Scientologists in the same theological bucket of strange creatures. I actively enjoy watching Creationists squirm when I talk about Darwinian evolution and the very old age of the planet. Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, presents The Genius of Charles Darwin, an exceptional three-episode program about the development of the theory presented in Darwin's On the Origin of Species. It's now on DVD thanks to Acorn Media's Athena Learning label. "The thing that's most valuable about this DVD set is that the special itself is about 2.5 hours long, and the extras disc includes 4.5 hours of content. Of that, 4 hours is made up of interviews with the subjects of the main program, so you can go more or less in-depth as you wish. The remaining half hour is comprised of three Tales from the Galapagos Islands specials."

The Mighty Boosh: Seasons 1-3 (DVD only) A surrealist comedy that only gets more and more strange as it goes on. As I said way back in July: "Rightly compared to surrealist Sid & Marty Krofft creations, The Mighty Boosh primarily concerns the lives of two zookeepers and a pile of misadventures that regularly include musical numbers and truly unpredictable narratives. "On the one hand, I'm thrilled that I can finally catch up with the whole series, but it's a lot to get through. Each season is split across two discs and contains featurettes, Commentaries, Outtakes, and Deleted Scenes. The original Pilot is on Season 2. All three seasons are highly recommended, and no, one need not be high to enjoy the show." Later in the year, Warner Bros. double-dipped with a Special Edition box that had extra goodies in it. Kingdom: Season 2 (Blu-ray & DVD) If England elected their King, I'm sure we'd be on Stephen Fry's umpteenth term by now. It's sad to note that there is no more to Kingdom after its third season, since ITV canceled the show in October of last year. Fry plays Peter Kingdom, a small-town solicitor (lawyer) dealing with life, friends, family, and neighbors. A delightful show worth watch-instantly-ing, renting or buying. The Complete Jeeves & Wooster (DVD only) Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie still leave me in stitches watching this and A Bit of Fry and Laurie. The two shows' recording schedules overlapped during the early 90's, long before Laurie became Dr. Gregory House to so many people. It's nice to have everything all in one slimmer, sleeker box. Pulling: Seasons 1 & 2 Pulling is a dark sitcom co-created by, about, and starring a woman. It's the anti-Sex and the City because it's so grounded in the real world, real people, and real working-class household budgets. A marvelous breath of fresh air.

Gavin & Stacey: Season 1 (DVD only) I know equal numbers of (a) people who love this show and (b) hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. It's not so bad, as I said back in May: "The third entry in a series of UK TV shows I enjoy that most fellow Americans haven't heard of, Gavin & Stacey (starring Mathew Horne and Joanna Page) is loads better than US sitcoms of similar stripes. The titular characters, he English (from Essex) and she Welsh, meet by coincidence over the phone while working for companies miles and miles apart in their respective countries. "After striking up an ongoing teleflirtation, they decide to meet in person for the first time at Leicester Square. Yes, the romance setup is meet-cutesy, but the dialogue and humor are foul-mouthed (or minded) and sharply-honed. The stuff they get away with saying and doing on BBC3 would never make it unneutered onto US broadcast TV." Fawlty Towers: Remastered (DVD only) Blackadder: Remastered (DVD only) If you don't know what these are, you should start with them to gain some appreciation for TV comedy. You'll have then seen among the very best of the best and have unappeasable standards. I reviewed these new sets here. Edge of Darkness: The Complete Series (DVD only) Since I enjoyed both the original miniseries as well as the movie of State of Play, I wonder whether I should recommend anyone watch this first or not. On the one hand, it's dead good. On the other, I can guarantee it'll compromise your ability to enjoy the movie thanks to a tour-de-force performance by Bob Peck (known best as Muldoon from Jurassic Park to Americans) in his signature role. We lost Peck far too soon thanks to cancer in 1999.

Murphy's Law Season 1 (DVD only) From back when it was released and I called it the Release of the Week: "This is a really strong police procedural starring the excellent (and under-appreciated) Irish actor James Nesbitt (Bloody Sunday, Match Point). Nesbitt plays Detective Tommy Murphy, who goes to work for the Metropolitan Police undercover. He's stubborn, a hard drinker, and great to watch. I'm just a couple of episodes in, but I'm sure I've easily found a new show with which to be obsessed. It's gritty, meaty, and very well-written. Normally only 5 episodes of a show would seem like a rip off, but realize these episodes are 90 minutes long apiece and comprise an entire season of episodes from the British style (quality over quantity)." The Steve Coogan Collection (DVD only) If you only know Coogan as "that English guy in Night at the Museum" or "that English guy in Tropic Thunder", then get your credit card out. Included here are no less than all of Coogan's brilliant BBC series and minis: Knowing Me, Knowing You...With Alan Partridge, I'm Alan Partridge, Saxondale, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, Coogan's Run, Paul and Pauline Calf's Video Diaries, Paul and Pauline Calf's Cheese and Ham Sandwich, and The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon. I was never sent this for review, but plan to pick it up at some point. The Sherlock Holmes Collection (BBC) (DVD only) In this set you find the five surviving 1960's Holmes telefilms that star Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock as Holmes and Watson. Up first is Cushing re-playing The Hound of the Baskervilles (the Hammer one came first). Amazon has this for $15 at the moment. BBC Pride & Prejudice (Blu-ray) No matter how good I thought Joe Wright's 2006 P&P was, Colin Firth is Darcy to so many people that I'll always be wrong and they'll always be right. A&E put the immortal, undying BBC miniseries that made Firth every grandmother, mother, and daughter's wet dream for ever and always on Blu-ray. It really does look absolutely lovely from the five minutes or so I watched on a friend's copy. The Prisoner (1967) (Blu-ray) I've never watched The Prisoner, and that's why this entry was specifically timed to go up on what my friend Will Goss calls "Fessup Friday" on Twitter. It's on my list so that "when I have $50 to throw at something" or "when I can find a contact at A&E Home Video", I'll dive right in. The previously-available DVD version of this title was apparently abominable, but this one has gotten nothing but raves. Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
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Exposing Che


Criterion's Che Blu-ray (19 Jan 2010). Pre-order price has held firm at $33.99, a very reasonable price for the relative value. I reviewed it in full two weeks ago.

Simple, evocative iconography.

Cases open: Disc 1 (left, with booklet) and Disc 2 (right, with a surprise).

I wasn't aware there would be a fold-out poster (measures approx. 9.5"x12.75")
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Discs of 2009: Best Blu Transfers (Recent Catalog pt.1)

I've split these into two categories: 1990-2000 and 2000-present (I should note that Animated and B&W titles are going in their own category). The majority of these titles were originally mastered for DVD, but a fair number are HD-DVD ports. The greatest challenge facing the studios on these titles was not being lazy and just going auto-pilot on them. The 2006 Stargate Blu-ray (now discontinued and replaced by a superior version) is a great example of a screw-up in this regard. 1990-2000

Screencap from DVD Beaver's review.
Best of the Best Braveheart: Paramount Sapphire Series Paramount's phenomenal job on Gibson's oft-imitated (in Big Speech scenes) Best Picture winner more than makes up for the screw-up on Gladiator's transfer. I missed it in theaters and first saw Braveheart on VHS. I think the two-tape set is still somewhere amongst my belongings. The DVD was a revelation, and this was yet another. Natural Born Killers My review was brief, but the extreme care given to this transfer is obvious based on the heavy involvement of Oliver Stone in re-cutting the movie and providing a very tight reflection essay on one of his most controversial films in a career full of them. Heat Three directors I think of as being the most meticulous when it comes to HD transfers of their movies: Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher, and Michael Mann. Jeff mentioned a while ago that this transfer didn't make him sit up and go "wow!", but after doing an exhaustive side-by-side comparison of the cut on this Blu-ray and the previous DVD edition, I'm pretty impressed with the improved contrast depth. I've got too many irons in the fire at the moment to put together a standalone piece on the differences in the edit just now, but I'll have it up in the next week. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country The most recent of the Original Series movies definitely carries the best source from which to work. I had the misfortune to miss this one theatrically but caught its predecessor instead with my father. None of the DNR issues reported on older titles in the Original Motion Picture Collection are present here.

Forrest Gump : Paramount Sapphire Series From my initial thoughts: The Gump disc's resolution upgrade is most evident thanks to the abundant detail evident in each frame of Zemeckis' multi-period film, from costuming to trees and dust and brush. Richer color depth and so on are in there, but the big difference visually is how fluidly you can watch the picture without unintended distractions. The lower-res afforded by DVD caused a lot of blur and unintentional optical illusions in checkered or otherwise patterned fabric. All those sweeping aerial shots, and particularly the very busy Vietnam scenes are crystal-clear now. It's a smoother ride overall that requires less corneal gymnastics. Fight Club One of the first DVDs I bought was the "brown paper wrapper" version of Fight Club, which set a high water mark for quantity and quality of extras presented on the format. The 10th Anniversary Blu-ray is a big jump forward in picture quality from the DVD and takes all the extras (including easter eggs) and arranges them in a nice, straightforward fashion after a fake-out when the disc loads. They added in a couple of new supplements, one of which is the Spike TV Awards "Guy Movie Hall of Fame" acceptance by Fincher, Norton, and Pitt (who calls presenter Mel Gibson "sugartits" once on-stage). The Mask of Zorro There are plenty who have grown to pretend as though they've hated this movie all along. Banderas and Zeta-Jones are not the big box office draws that they were when this one came out, and the allegedly-awful sequel (which I've yet to watch) didn't help the legacy of the first revival of the franchise with a latin Zorro. A musical adaptation of the Isabel Allende novel has also since flopped and closed. I may be unfairly influenced by having been a young Latino boy who put on a cape and played with toy swords. Zorro was the "superhero" that it was "okay" for me to play on the playground. All the rest have to be really Anglo-riffic. The transfer on this Blu-ray tugged on that memory thread that tied back to my first viewing of the movie in a theater. HD-DVD Refugee 12 Monkeys My favorite Gilliam movie joins other titles listed below as HD-DVD "ports". They're almost all feature-identical to the "Red-ray" versions (albeit with a higher bitrate generally). I never saw a single one of these on HD-DVD, so I'm no authority on comparing presentation, but the video on this disc uses up a whopping 38GB of space. My years-old DVD SE pales in comparison to this disc, which features more film-like grain presentation and better color gamut. 2000-present

Best of the Best Monsoon Wedding: The Criterion Collection One of Criterion's great masterstrokes this year was their gorgeous work on not only this 16mm-shot feature but the various short films included as well. Mira Nair does not deserve "director jail" or anything resembling it due to having been stuck with helming the quite drama-free life story of Amelia Earhart. I would hope, however, that she uses this opportunity to make something independently in India, free of studio overhead and expectations ruling her creative work. She is one of my favorite modern filmmakers thanks to this movie. Someone hand her a RED camera, a decent budget to hire the right people, hopefully re-team her with Naseeruddin Shah, and see what happens. Best of the Best HD-DVD Refugee Zodiac Another "the Academy will answer to the Movie Gods" case, I wanted to give some special attention to this, the first movie shot on full HD cameras to hit an HD home video format. The HD-DVD came out almost a year to the day that this Blu-ray hit the streets wayyy back in January 2009. They've wisely maintained the split of the feature on disc one and the supplemental stuff on disc 2.

Ride Around the World From my just-posted review: This 2008 IMAX feature went largely-unnoticed by review sites when it hit shelves at the beginning of December, but it deserves to be mentioned here. Argentina, Morocco, Mexico, British Columbia, and good ol' Texas look absolutely majestic as recorded here. The 70mm sequences in The Dark Knight are about as close as most people have gotten to actually seeing what large-format film can look like in HD. This provides an exceptional opportunity to really show off what your setup can do.

HD-DVD Refugee Children of Men Of the various HD-DVD Refugees that hit Blu this year, this one looks the best. Cuaron's film was ignored by the Academy for so much as a nomination just three years ago. One might imagine that had the "field of ten" been in play then, we could have seen Children of Men as well as Pan's Labyrinth nominated for Best Picture. HD-DVD Refugee Seabiscuit The "reference scene" on this one would be...any of the horse-racing sequences. It's not as much a blur in HD, and you get better bearings than on DVD (how I originally saw it). HD-DVD Refugee Cinderella Man Deep, dark sepia tones and crisp, clean movement really show this movie off the way it deserves to be seen.

HD-DVD Refugee Hot Fuzz In addition to the movie being great, this disc looks better than most "real" action movies have for me on Blu-ray. Most of those titles are so focused on the mass market that they cram everything on one disc and pay no attention to giving preference to the bitrate on the disc. HD-DVD Refugee Shaun of the Dead The only thing I don't like here is that this title, whose DVD menus were fun and matched the movie, has been assimilated into the collective that is Universal's totalitarian menu structure and style. The picture looks as good as I remember the packed mall-tiplex screenings I hit when it was in general release. The Highly-Regarded But Unseen (1990-2000) The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Leon: The Professional, Chungking Express, Bottle Rocket, Star Trek TNG Collection, Contact, Payback (2000-present) Sin City, Winged Migration, 300 Recent Catalog pt.2 will cover titles released from 1980-1990. Stay tuned. Discs of the Year is a look back at the year in disc releases and trends, from the best to the worst.
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The Most Finalest Ever

I'm reasonably certain I saw the first and second Final Destination movies back-to-back on DVD. The first one was kind of novel and different, but either the second one made me fall asleep, or I'd had a lot of wine and it was late. The Final Destination, expected to be the very last one ever until they "maybe make another one, who knows" is a nice, gimmicky send-off to the franchise.

I don't know if they intentionally jabbed at how they set up a bunch of rules for the "universe" of FD and then broke all of them, but I thought the movie was hilarious. They went as broad with the stereotypes as they could and made a 3D movie theater the site of a mass killing in a movie that was going to screen predominantly in 3D venues. The only rules that the movie sticks to are that (1) you shouldn't give a shit about anyone in the movie and (2) keep your arms inside the ride at all times. The "exclusive first look" at the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie is little more than some side glances as the new Freddy makeup and some sincere graciousness on Jackie Earle Haley's part. The two alternate endings really show how terrible, terrible decisions are avoided. There's some pre-visualization and storyboard stuff in there along with a "Deaths of..." featurette that is similar to other titles where members of the cast and crew talk through how people die and how hard their work is on a day-to-day basis. The only extras that aren't exclusive to the Blu-ray are the digital copy, the anaglyph (red/blue) 3D version of the movie, and some additional scenes. None of the additional scenes really add much of anything, to be quite honest. If you want to get it, Amazon is selling the Blu-ray for $20 as of this posting, just $3 more than the DVD without all the real extras. This $20 New Release pricing is a good sign.
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The Morals Of...Jennifer's Body

Revenge is morally just. Period.

With the help of an Oscar, you can get away with making a sluggishly-paced horror movie that is so tongue-in-cheek that you can taste air with your lips closed.

Going by the nickname "Needy" when your name is actually "Anita" will only make you more outcast.

No good comes from forgetting to drain huge abandoned indoor pools that have been overgrown with roots and vines for years.

Everything is always some boy's fault.

A girl may greet another girl in an endearing, clever-as-hell manner with no repercussions by calling her the name of a feminine hygiene product.

All boys are easily-manipulated morons.

The Morals Of... sprang forth fully-formed from the head of a post I made to my Twitter feed.

Ride Around the World: IMAX Trip on Blu


This 2008 IMAX feature went largely-unnoticed by review sites when it hit shelves at the beginning of December, but it deserves to be mentioned here. Argentina, Morocco, Mexico, British Columbia, and good ol' Texas look absolutely majestic as recorded here. The 70mm sequences in The Dark Knight are about as close as most people have gotten to actually seeing what large-format film can look like in HD. This provides an exceptional opportunity to really show off what your setup can do. The feature is only 40 minutes long, but that's IMAX for you. The only thing that really bothered the hell out of me was the fact the filmmakers show the extremely controversial Mexican vaquero (cowboy) sport of horse-tripping and leave it at that. Roping is one thing, but this stuff is just brutal. No one needs to train that "skill" anymore. Traditions are meant to become things of the past.

The score by Austinite Brian Satterwhite (who I've managed to not meet at about a million local events) is lush, not at all what I'm used to on IMAX features (or modern westerns for the most part). Also on the disc is an episode of the American Quarter Horse Association program America's Horse. As I'm also not used to on IMAX Blu-rays/DVDs, it's actually worth watching. "Horse people" with Blu-ray setups would do well to grab a copy. Otherwise, it's more than worthy of recommending for a Netflixing or rental.
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The Morals Of...The Final Destination

Screenwriters can try all they want to give a character a real name, but if you write him a certain way, people will only know him as Blondie McDouchebag.

A line as stupid and racist as "your time's coming, chocolate" is always capable of making a movie infinitely easier to see for what it is.

The song "Why Can't We Be Friends" makes everything better.

Contemplating murder will get you killed.

You can break as many rules as you want so long as you created them or own the intellectual property rights to them.

The Morals Of... sprang forth fully-formed from the head of a post I made to my Twitter feed.