We're almost halfway through the year, so I thought it'd be good to get some honors out of the way (and get ahead on my year-end series of pieces).
Vintage Restoration Feasts
Best of the Best
Days of Heaven
Malick's first Blu-ray is one of the most stunning home video transfers I've ever seen, and that's partly thanks to the stunning cinematography captured by two of the best guys in the business.
Best of the Best
Stagecoach
This is one of the great salvage jobs ever done in the realm of home video restoration.
Best of the Best
8 1/2
Vivre Sa Vie
Yojimbo & Sanjuro
These are all molto bene black & white HD feasts.
Ran
It looks better than I've seen it on home video, but I'm withholding final judgment, having not yet seen the restored print (coming later this summer). I will say that I greatly prefer Criterion's DVD subtitle translation and extras to those found on this one.
Make Way for Tomorrow (DVD only)
Make Way is a rare film in that it features a romance between elders, but its presence on DVD is even more special, since so many wonderful movies form the 30's are nowhere to be found on disc anywhere.
Bigger Than Life
What a great introduction to the Collection for Nicholas Ray. The transfer looks great, but the supplements really make this one worth having. Beware cortisone!
Satisfying New Releases
Best of the Best
Che
If Sony can't match the fulfilling supplements found here with Lawrence of Arabia next year, I'll be sad indeed.
Best of the Best
Avatar
No extras, no commercials, and a gorgeous transfer make this worth renting even if you want the "Late 2010" edition with extra stuff.
The Hurt Locker
Moon
In the Loop
A Serious Man
The Informant!
Up in the Air
These are all good movies in one respect or another, but in particular the cut sequences on UITA are among the most revealing extras on any major studio video release this year.
2012
The movie blows, but it's great after a few brews and looks great.
Animated Stunners
Best of the Best
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
These are missing features in the Ultimate Toy Box, so collectors should hang onto their copies.
Best of the Best
Fantastic Mr. Fox
What a fulfilling, wonderful movie. The extras are nice, and leave little for a theoretical Criterion edition to fill in (I don't expect Fox to ever license it out).
Best of the Best
Ponyo
The first Miyazaki Blu-ray just makes me want more of the catalog library to see the light of a Blu laser, from Totoro to Mononoke to Spirited Away.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
I couldn't see myself watching this over and over, but I had a great deal of fun with it the one time, particularly Mr. T as the town cop.
The Princess and the Frog
This release boosts my expectations of upcoming "Disney Animated Flagship" titles as they hit home video. I really enjoyed the movie, and didn't expect it would be able to reach the heights of Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King.
On Disc At Last
Best of the Best
Ride with the Devil
The Ang Lee-sanctioned cut of this movie is sitting on my shelf, and it's finally moved to the primary "to watch" group now that I'm most of the way through my backlog.
Best of the Best
Hammer Films: The Icons of Suspense Collection
The six movies contained here have long-needed to be available on disc, and thankfully, the resurgence of the Hammer brand will help get more of these out sooner than later.
The Slammin Salmon
A long-time coming to shelves, the latest form the comic geniuses behind Super Troopers is a fun one indeed. It was made in the run-up to the WGA Strike, and came out pretty damn fun.
Letters from Fontainhas
This Pedro Costa box has been tempting me for weeks.
The Fugitive Kind
Oh, how I wish this were available as a Blu-ray. This adaptation of Williams' Orpheus Descending is really quite good, with Brando in the lead.
Fellini's Casanova
Not among the most well-regarded of Federico Fellini's work, this one hit DVD in Europe recently, with no R1 release in sight as of yet.
Gambit [Universal Vault]
Kitten with a Whip [Universal Vault]
Dragnet (1954) [Universal Vault]
The Last Remake of Beau Geste [Universal Vault]
Tell Them Willie Boy is Here [Universal Vault]
The Incredible Shrinking Woman [Universal Vault]
Blue Collar Shoot Out [Universal Vault]
The Landlord [MGM MoD]
The Gallant Hours [MGM MoD]
These are all Amazon exclusives, and I bought Gambit (though I haven't watched it). It's a great thing that these titles are finally obtainable, but it's nearly impossible to know they've come out, since there aren't any regular press releases for these or any Manufacture on Demand releases. Unless you are searching Amazon for a particular title, there's no way to know it's been released. I'm not bitching about not getting review comps (though they'd be nice), but rather, that it's as hard as it could be for the audience that's receptive to these titles to know they exist!
The Ladykillers
I have to qualify this inclusion since the transfer is horrendous. I'm just noting that it's actually on disc in the US now and that the extras are pretty good.
Orson Welles in King Lear
Orson Welles: The Paris Interview
I'm Welles-obsessed and proud. The way to get on my good side is to buy me one of these. That last sentence is for my wife and my mother.
Taste Recommendations
You may have not heard of these, but they're worthy Netflixings at the least, whether or not they become purchases.
Best of the Best
Red Cliff: Parts I & II
This was the great epic of the last year that no one in the US saw in theatres. Magnolia's presentation here is fantastic, and demand has finally won out over the abridged version that no knowledgeable person bought. You can now find this edition on store shelves across the country.
Best of the Best
Lorna's Silence
A killer movie, the likes of which are rare in any movie house. I didn't recognize one of the brothers from Summer Hours as the cracked-out husband.
Best of the Best
Revanche
Hunger
Summer Hours
These three examples of IFC's long-term deal with Criterion are great indications of what is to come.
Best of the Best
The Brothers Bloom
A surprise and a find for many, this movie's reputation and life will bloom (ha-ha, aren't I hilarious) on home video.
Best of the Best
Soul Power
This jumped on to my favorite music docs list pretty quickly after I saw it at SXSW09. The words Zaire 74, Ali, James Brown, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, and other either mean something to you, or they will (and profoundly) once you watch this.
Hachi
Family friendly, and based on a true (Japanese) story.
Broken Embraces
The new Almodovar may or may not be a great film to you once you've finished it, but the Blu-ray is a great exemplar of the power on how truly wonderful old-school, "cinematic" pictures can look.
Passing Strange
Disagree if you will, but I take every opportunity to watch anything done by Spike Lee.
The Yes Men Fix the World
I love these guys. Their brand of re-information is more honest than most of what is fed through the mainstream media pipe.
The Horse Boy
I'll be talking more about this profoundly affecting familial journey through the early years of Autism later this month. I'm trying to line up some interview/update content to pair with it.
35 Shots of Rum (35 Rhum)
My friend Jesse tells me this is excellent, and I include it here as the one I haven't seen but am desperate to see.
The Brothers Warner
A wonderful look at the story behind the underdog brothers who ended up dominating the evolving studio system.
Catalog Blu-grades
Traffic
Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Pride & Prejudice
To Live and Die in L.A.
The Natural
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Clash of the Titans (1980)
These are all rather good, though a few lack features found on their DVD counterparts (the first three).
Notable TV Hours
Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Set 2
Murphy's Law Season 2
Tenspeed and Brown Shoe Complete Series
Kingdom Season 3
Poldark Season 1
These are all great British TV shows you may have never heard of.
Small Wonder Season 1
I remember being creeped out by this show when I was a kid, and I don't know how much worse I'd find it today. Hey, there it is, though!
Sight Unseen
I've heard good things on all of these, but have personally viewed none of them.
Rosselini's War Trilogy (DVD only)
Spine number 500 is the first decent presentation of at least one of these movies, all of them international classics.
Lola Montes
Paris, TX
Lola is sitting on my shelf, unloved and unwatched, but not for long.
Battleship Potemkin
An Education
The Barbara Stanwyck Collection
Goodfellas
Minority Report
Collateral
Clint: 35 Years 35 Films
Bronson
The Beaches of Agnes
The Baader-Meinhof Complex
I've heard good things on all of these but not seen or experienced them with my own eyes.