Welcome back to an old feature made new. More about how it works at the end of the article.
Individual releases are listed in no particular order. Assume Blu-ray on all unless otherwise noted. Click on the links to purchase at Amazon. This supports the site and this feature.
These posts are periodically updated with more info. Follow the Arthouse Cowboy twitter feed for notifications of additions.
3:10 to Yuma (Criterion Collection)
Ghostbusters "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray
7 May 2013
The visual effects featurette on the Blu-ray should only be watched if you want to spoil some of the magic of the scares, but it's the best extra on the disc (aside from the original short with Guillermo del Toro intro). The movie itself is an enjoyable only-need-to-see-once experience for me, but at some point I'll put the commentary on while I clean my office. The creative team is smart, and there must be anecdotes from the set that are worth hearing.
Superman Unbound - New Release of the Week
I don't know why DC/WB don't do small theatrical runs of some of these movies. Saturday morning at 11am and 1pm for two weeks, that's all I ask. This one hit a sweet spot in having Superman (and Supergirl) beat the circuitry out of robots, like the good ol' Max Fleischer cartoons I watched growing up.
Presentation quality is on par with the library of DC Animated projects made thus far, including extras that are catnip for comic book nerds and neophytes alike (provided you like the feature). The commentary is a good background listen, though they occasionally get a bit caught up in the movie (understandible) and, as a result, quiet. The scope of the next one looks...big. Included also, as is the custom now, are episodes from 90's-to-00's DC Animated Series.
The movie is contemplative, impressionistic, and absolutely gorgeous. Shane Carruth didn't wait nine years to make a second feature so that he could avoid big, huge ideas and a meditative lens. The movie assumes you are willing to spell for yourself, whether you spell "color" with a "u" or not, that's your preference and part of the experience. Sorry if that comes off as precious and arty-farty, but I'm not sure how else to write about a movie that is about personal discovery, exploration, and the cycle(s) of life...and more. A reader alerted me to complaints of audio sync issues with the Blu-ray in this set. Others have complained of picture quality issues.
To dismiss the PQ complaints, the movie was recorded on a GH2, which is in a radically lower cost and sophistication bracket than the more costly and top-end Viper or RED. Banding and artifcating in the picture is just what shooting on one of these looks like. The look presented here is s much data as would make a difference at 1080p. They did not skimp there. I looked into what I heard complaints about, regarding the audio sync. The problem is there and very pronounced on the 5.1 surround track. It's still a problem on the 2.0 stereo track, but not nearly as pronounced as on the 5.1. Neither is an acceptable state of affairs, and I solely blame the distributor, who are in charge of the mastering, not the director and producers. Cinedigm had better cover this disc replacement program out of their pockets, and soon.
The Assassin's Blade (aka Butterfly Lovers)
I understand why Well Go USA didn't go with the "aka" title, which makes this sound like a documentary that airs at 3am on PBS. The movie's action director also did Hero and House of Flying Daggers, which are more familiar to most western audiences than any other wu xia movies of the last decade. The cover art makes this look much more serious than it is. It's more a lady-dresses-as-a-dude romcom thing along the lines of the Disney version of Mulan.
GKIDS continue doing God's work, releasing movies that would otherwise much less likely see US release at this standard of quality. An excerpt from the grpahic novel and a featurette fill in gaps for those (like me) who'd never heard of the source material. Set in 1930's Algeria, the intersection of Jews, Arabs, and the French makes for an interesting dramatic setup, but when you add in this cat, it becomes another thing entirely. It is certainly not the garden variety "animated cat movie". The asking price for the disc is steep, but at least give it a rental.
The Great Escape - Catalog Release of the Week
I don't like "this is as good as it'll ever look" as a reviewing term, since I've seen it applied to discs that obviously feature glaring flaws. The tragedy of ultra-popular movies that have played for years on TV and made piles of money on VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD is that their popularity and mass audience appeal mean archival, high-quality film elements do not as likely exist for them. Some bits of this Blu-ray look outstanding. Others are soft, and not due to intentional soft focus. Barring new, better source elements magically appearing, this transfer is functionally the best I believe MGM (Fox) Home Video could manage. Having not seen it in original release, and barring the director (Sturges) or cinematographer (Fapp) returning to the land of the living, I'm also uncomfortable saying that the color timing is off (as others have). As much better as it is to see more natural flesh tones, the blues still don't "feel" right, not quite as "navy" as would seem right. Across the board, I have never seen the movie look this good on home video or on ratty dupe-of-a-dupe-of-a-dupe 35mm prints. The price is reasonable, and all previous extras are carried over.
A Blu-grade of a reasonably good-looking DVD, the sound and color are the most noticeable improvements here, aside from the general benefits of 1080p.
Band of Outsiders (Criterion Collection)
Haven't looked at this first-hand, but reviewers I trust approve of the AV upgrade.
It might look great, but there are absolutely no extras.
Jeff Garlin as a Harvey Weinstein analogue in Soderbergh's Full Frontal
Phyllis Diller with Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock Season 7
Echo Bridge $5.99 Blu-rays: Full Frontal, Dragon Lord, Committed, The Grifters, The Hoax, Jersey Girl, Fortress, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Hellraiser 7, Heaven, Fresh, Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball, The Nameless, She's So Lovely
As far as I can tell, these all retain the DVD special features
Could not find this at any brick & mortar store in Austin. Not sure when I'll catch up to it.
30 Rock Season 7 (DVD only)
Not one season of this show has been released on Blu-ray. Is Universal planning a forced double dip on the show's fanbase? of the most popular shows of the last ten years? Sony has done the same thing with Community. I haven't listened to the commentaries yet, but the only other notable extra is the series finale retrospective featurette. At this point, I would wait for the seemingly-inevitable Blu-ray Complete Series Set.
Fringe Season 5
Fringe: The Complete Series
The Complete Series Set is not currently cheaper than buying the season sets individually, and it hasn't been since release. It does not contain any exclusive single disc of extras or anything stupid like that, for once in home video history. Save yourself the money and grab the individual sets (most of which may be available used).
More New Releases
More Catalog Blu-grades
The Verdict
An Officer and A Gentleman
Viva Zapata!
The Secret Garden (1949)
The Secret Garden (1949)
Duffy of San Quentin
Warner Archive (all DVD only)
All of the following is copied from the newsletter these guys do each week. I just received review copies of Secret Garden and Duffy of San Quentin, which will be reviewed here soon (along with the two latest Forbidden Hollywood sets).
POPEYE: THE 1960s CLASSICS VOLUME 1 (1962) With TV reruns of the Fleischer/Famous Studios theatrical shorts proving that Popeye still packed a spinach-powered punch that delivered smash ratings, King Features commissioned a new series of Sailor Man shorts under the aegis of executive producer Al Brodax. The TV incarnation of Popeye made up for its scaled back animation with a broadened narrative scope while still staying true to the source. Thanks to the continued use of voice actors Jack Mercer (Popeye), Mae Questel (Olive) and Jackson Beck (Bluto who was now called Brutus) as well as the use of veteran Popeye animation talents who were then working at Paramount Cartoon Studios, these shorts remained authentic. The addition of a number of Thimble Theater comic strip characters making their cartoon debuts – including King Blozo, Toar, and Sea Hag - only added to the shorts “yam what I yam” charm. All of the Paramount TV Popeye cartoons are contained in this stupendous 2-Disc, 72-Episode set.
PENROD AND SAM (1931) Years before he would helm many installments in the Bowery Boys series of laffers, prolific director William Beaudine directed another sort of boy picture altogether, bringing Booth Tarkington's Penrod and Sam to the screen in their first talking feature. Leon Janney and Frank Coghlan Jr. play the titular "In or In Club" founders, while Billie Lord and Nestor Aber make for a dynamite pair of pre-teen nemesis. And Cameo the dog comes close to stealing your heart - and the show - as Penrod's pooch, Duke. Yep - children and dogs. No one tell W.C. Fields.
TENTH AVENUE ANGEL (1947) Kid thesp phenom Margaret O'Brien headlines this late Forties fabular look back at tenement life during the Great Depression. Flavia Mills is the darling of the street and self-appointed guardian angel of the hard-scrabble and stout-hearted denizens of Tenth Avenue. But Flavia's world comes crashing down when she learns those she loves best have been lying to her and it will take a miracle to restore her faith. Outstanding cast includes Angela Lansbury, George Murphy and Phyllis Thaxter. Directed by Row Rowland.
THE SECRET GARDEN (1949) Frances Hodgson Burnett's children's classic gets a top notch adaptation courtesy of MGM that makes the gothic roots of Mary Lennox's journey delightfully apparent. The cast includes leading kids Margaret O'Brien and Dean Stockwell along with Herbert Marshall as the embittered lord of the manor, Elsa Lanchester as a cackling maid with no sense of place, Brian Roper's as forest-lad Dickon and a real star-turn by an uncanny trained raven. Beware!, Lurking inside the black and white walls of The Secret Garden are (spoiler alert!) some stunning TechniColor sequences. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox.
WITHOUT A TRACE: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON (2007-2008) The penultimate season of Without a Trace, although truncated by the writer's strike, delivered the drama in spades (not to be confused with Samantha Spade) as the show skillfully played out an year-long arc that might best be described as Jack Malone: His Fall and Rise. The season starts with the team slowly being pulled into uncovering a massive human trafficking syndicate responsible for the disappearance of hundred of girls. Soon after, the dedicated investigators of the Missing Persons Unit are tasked with a particularly important person to locate: Jack Malone, who disappeared after trying to tackle the ring solo. And that's just the beginning of Jack's long slog back to the light as his history of warrantless searches, witness intimidation and violation of FBI case protocol in pursuit of justice may finally cost him his career. Other missing persons include a waitress who won 32 million in the lottery to an extreme fighter, a mall Santa Claus and a case uniting the MPU with head CSI Gil Grissom (William Peterson). Other notable guests in this 5-Disc, 18-Episode Collection include James Marsters, Henry Thomas, Nancy McKeon and Sprague Grayden. Stars Anthony La Paglia, Poppy Montgomery, Enrique Murciano, Jr., Eric Close, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Roselyn Sanchez.
DUFFY OF SAN QUENTIN (1954) New warden Clinton T. Duffy takes a walk down noir street to confront violence and corruption at San Quentin in a gritty tale of romance and redemption. Based on Duffy’s memoir and starring Louis Hayward, Joanne Dru, Paul Kelly and Maureen O’Sullivan. Newly Remastered
From the extras on Cloud Atlas
Delmer Daves' 3:10 to Yuma
Delmer Daves' Jubal
14 May 2013
Cloud Atlas - New Release of the Week
One of the best movies of last year was barely seen by anyone. It's big, densely-packed, and the only way to synopsize it is to say that it's about "life, the universe, and everything" wih regard to humanity. The Blu-ray includes almost an hour of featurettes and
3:10 to Yuma (Criterion Collection) - Catalog Release of the Week
No disrespect to the remake, which is fine and everything, but the original outstrips it in every way. One of the greatest among great westerns, this one also features two of the best performances given by Van Heflin and Glenn Ford. The cover art is so gorgeous that I wish I could buy it as a poster. The essay from Kent Jones rightfully calls out the tragedy of Delmer Daves not being viewed through the auteur lens as his contemporaries have been. If you doubt westerns can be high art,
Right alongside Daves' much better-known classic, this color 2.55:1 oater stars not only Glenn Ford, but Ernest Borgnine and Rod Steiger too. Ford is a wandering cowboy. Borgnine is the rancher who takes him on for work. Steiger is the already-on hand who gets jealous of the new guy. Add in a rancher's wife with a wandering eye, and you get a western you wish more people had seen. This is one of Criterion's no-extras releases, though it (like 3:10) has a great Kent Jones essay in the booklet.
Charlie Hunnam and Chris O'Dowd play brothers Frank(ie) and Bruce. The former is tortured and pranked all the time by the latter. Frankie has a one-night stand videotaped by his ex-con brother. The video gets out. Chris Noth plays washed-up actor dad to Lizzy Caplan, the one-night stand girl. Ron Perlman plays Bruce's transsexual computer hacker prison pal. It isn't every day you get a chance to see Charlie Hunnam slow-dance with Hellboy in a dressing gown.
Set during a period of governmental corruption, war with Japan, and a humanitarian crisis in the Henan province, this movie co-stars American actors Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody alongside a massive Chinese cast. The story looks at the circumstances that contributed to the deaths of three million in China during WWII.
An early Sam Raimi feature that gets the loving Shout! Factory treatment.
Ghostbusters "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray
Reviewed here, this is a massive improvement over the 2009 disc. I expect that other "Mastered in 4K" releases listed below look just as improved. I have no idea how the "Mastered in 4K" versions of super-recent stuff (like Amazing Spider-Man and Total Recall [2012]) could be so radically improved, outside of enhanced color gamut that one can only see on a 4KTV.
Ghostbusters "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray
More New Releases
Texas Chainsaw
A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III
More Catalog Blu-grades (all from Olive Films)
The Unbelieveable Truth
The Miracle of the Bells
Second Chorus
Three Faces West
More "Mastered in 4K" (improved picture, no extras at all)
Warner Archive (all DVD only)
Pasted from their newsletter (reviews of some to come):
SINCERELY YOURS (1955) Long before HBO took us Behind the Candelabra (thanks to the talents of Messrs. Soderbergh, Douglas and Damon) Władziu Valentino Liberace was a household one-name superstar, thanks to his smash hit syndicated TV series and Las Vegas revue, when Warner Bros. cast him in this remake of the George Arliss vehicle, The Man Who Played God. Under the stewardship of veteran camera hand George Stevens, Liberace was backed-up by a first-rate supporting "string" section featuring Dorothy Malone, JoAnne Dru and William Demarest. Mixing melodrama and music, Sincerely Yours depicts a maestro facing a future sans music, while his fiancé is finding romance with another. So what's a fate-tossed bravura showman to do? Lip-read and interfere in his neighbor's lives, that's what! Liberace performs a score of songs in the film, rendering the cost of admission musically moot, including an extended nightclub scene that captures the lightning in a bottle that was Liberace live on stage complete with sighing spinsters. Newly Remastered.
THE MONOGRAM COWBOY COLLECTION VOLUME SIX: JIMMY WAKELY Monogram's ace cowboy crooner (and true country crossover pop star) Jimmy Wakely rides and warbles across a blistering six-gun sextet that captures two phases of his screen career. First up, we draw a pair of aces with two films where Jimmy shares the screen with John “Dusty” James and Lee “Lasses” White. Then we get a quartet featuring the comic turns of prolific number two man, Dub "Cannonball" Taylor. As an added bonus, Whip Wilson makes his Monogram debut alongside Jimmy in 1948's Silver Trails. Collection includes:
- Riding the Dusty Trail aka Riders of the Dawn (1945) Three cowpokes and a baby!
- Lonesome Trail (1945) Bandits try to steal an election - and an entire town!
- The Rangers Ride (1948) Civil war vets take on a secret police state!
- Range Renegades (1948) Western royalty Jennifer Holt is the evil mastermind!
- Silver Trails (1948) Hear the crack of the Whip!
- Brand of Fear (1949) One of Wakely's best - with superb versions of "There's a Rainbow Over the Range" and "Cool Water." Remastered from the best available 35mm film elements.
STAMPEDE (1949) It's a full-house of Western wonder as Rod Cameron, Gale Storm and Johnny Mack Brown team up for this tale of water rights and gunfights. When settlers arrive at the town of Blackwell, Arizona they discover that the McCall brothers (Rod Cameron and Don Castle) control the water, and the cattlemen aren't inclined to share. Rebuffed by the sheriff (Johnny Mack Brown), one fiery tempered settler (Gale Storm) takes justice - and a long gun - into her own hands. Directed by prolific phenom Lesley Selander with a script co-written by a (very) young Blake Edwards.
SHORT GRASS (1950) Lesley Selander rides again, in this oater that re-teams Rod and Johnny Mack. This time 'round Rod plays a drifter who fails to steer clear of cordite-flavored trouble after falling hard for a rancher's daughter (Cathy Downs). Framed for a robbery and shot in the back, the drifter gives the ill-gotten goods to the rancher (Stanley Andrews) before fleeing. Returning half a decade later, he finds the rancher murdered, the daughter married to a lush, and a Marshall (Johnny Mack Brown) mooning over the lady. Also features Alan Hale, Jr.
WILD STALLION (1952) Following the murder of his parents during an Indian raid, a young boy (Orley Lindgren) becomes obsessed with his pet white colt that escaped during the raid. Raised on an army post, the boy becomes a wild horse hunter and continues his quest for his lost pet who's grown into a magnificent white stallion that leads a pack of wild horses. An early production from the legendary Walter Mirisch, starring Ben Johnson and a trio of future TV titans - Edgar Buchanan, Hayden Rorke, and Hugh Beaumont.
RIDER ON DEAD HORSE (1962) Allied Artists continues to step into the New Westerns of the 1960s with this six-gun saga that mixes seedy with its oats. Three prospectors (John Vivyan, Bruce Gordon and Charles Lampkin) bury their gold to protect it from Apache attack. No sooner than you can say "Sierra Madre", greed turns the trio into a killer, a victim, and a corpse. But unfortunately for the killer, only the man he left for dead knows the way back to the secret cache. Also stars Kevin Hagen and Lisa Lu.
Going forward, this weekly column will feature new disc releases, from mass market DVD and Blu-ray to Manufacture-on-Demand DVD and limited-run discs.
Each installment will list the most relevant releases of the week with a pile of screengrabs and as short of a review as I can write. This isn't in the interest of saving myself work, but rather, to offer an alternative to people writing 1000 words to effectively say "looks and sounds great, extras are mostly fluff", or a 2500-word essay extolling the virtues of a slasher movie, which belongs in an Intro to Film professor's grading pile.
In time, I am going back to cover the months I've missed thus far in 2013, since these articles are also prep for each year's Best in Blu-ray mega-article, which I want to have done as close to the end of the year in question as possible in future.