Continuing their never-ending crusade to occupy the majority of your Blu-ray rack, Warner Home Video is issuing more "Ultimate Collector's Edition" Blu-ray box sets this fall. First up, while not necessarily a "Collector's Edition", the upcoming Blu-ray release of 'Band of Brothers' will come in a case identical to that of the previous DVD release. As one of the best designed DVD cases ever (up there with 'Lord of the Rings Extended Edition' sets), no one should be disappointed with that news. Next, the upcoming Blu-ray release of 'JFK' will come via Warner's infamous digibook "coffee table" packaging. No word if the massive DVD set will also come in Blu. 'Casablanc' also gets the "Ultimate Collector's Edition" treatment on Blu-ray, with 40 minutes of special features, 2 feature-length commentaries, branded travel-related collectibles, and a photo book. No word if the film will also see a digibook release, but I'm guessing that it will. Even though it was just released on Blu-ray, 'I am Legend' will also get the box set boost featuring a ton of collectible items in fancy packaging. As this title is already available on Blu-ray, don't expect another single-disc release like the previously mentioned films. Those who do throw down the cash will get all new special features including a new filmmaker commentary and deleted scenes. Another recent film get the "Ultimate Collector's Edition" treatment in '300', but not this year. Warner is working on the BD-Live version of this film and it won't be ready until 2009. But, when it does arrive, expect to be treated with all the previous extras and two new documentaries ("Recreating the Spartan Era" and "300: Legend Filtered Through History, Graphic Novel and Film"). Finally, 'A Christmas Story' will get the box set treatment, packaged in a cookie-tin of all things. Again, this title has already been released on Blu-ray, so don't expect another single-disc release. None of these titles has been officially announced yet, so expect full specs and details to be released soon.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Dark Sky Films has announced that they are bringing the legendary gore documentary 'Faces of Death' to Blu-ray on October 7th, day-and-date with the DVD re-release.
Blu-Ray Superstore..
My top three underated horror blu-rays .
These are three horror movies you may not have seen on Blu-Ray. 28 Days later being my favorite of the three. Here is a review for each film.
28 Days Later: Hailed as the most frightening film since The Exorcist, acclaimed Director Danny Boyle's visionary take on zombie horror "isn't just scary…it's absolutely terrifying" (Access Hollywood). An infirmary patient awakens from a coma to an empty room…in a vacant hospital…in a deserted city. A powerful virus, which locks victims into a permanent state of murderous rage, has transformed the world around him into a seemingly desolate wasteland. Now a handful of survivors must fight to stay alive, unaware that the worst is yet to come…
Bram Stokers' Dracula: Columbia Pictures Bram Stoker's Dracula (Collector's Edition) (Blu-ray)Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Anthony Hopkins star in director Francis Ford Coppola's visually stunning, passionately seductive version of the classic Dracula legend. In "Bram Stoker's Dracula," Coppola returns to the original source of the Dracula myth, and from that gothic romance, he creates a modern masterpiece. Gary Oldman's metamorphosis as Dracula who grows from old to young, from man to beast is nothing short of amazing. Winona Ryder brings equal intensity to the role of a young beauty who becomes the object of Dracula's devastating desire. Anthony Hopkins co-stars as the famed doctor who dares to believe in Dracula, and then dares to confront him. Opulent, dazzling and utterly irresistible, this is Dracula as you've never seen him. And once you've seen "Bram Stoker's Dracula," you'll never forget it. American Psycho:Lionsgate American Psycho (Blu-Ray)Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a Wall Street yuppie, obsessed withsuccess, status and style, with a stunning fiancee (Reese Witherspoon). He is also a psychotic killer who rapes, murders and dismembers both strangers and acquaintances without provocation or purpose. Based on the controversial novel, the film offers a sharp satire to the dark side of yuppie culture in the '80s, while setting forth a vision that is both terrifying and chilling
Four of my favorite classic movies are coming to Blu-Ray soon. Cool Hand Luke being my favorite of the releases. Here is some information on the releases.
Warner has unveiled specs and box art for the September Blu-ray debut of the classic 'Cool Hand Luke.'As previously reported, 'Cool Hand Luke' will get the fully-remastered treatment from Warner on September 9, when the studio premieres the film on Blu-ray day-and-date with a new standard DVD re-issue.
Extras include all-new audio commentary with Newman biographer Erik Lax, the documentary "A Natural-Born World-Shaker: Making Cool Hand Luke" and the original theatrical trailer. Tech specs feature 1080p video and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround audio, plus standard Dolby dubs in French and Spanish.
Dirty Harry: Ultimate Collection Starring: Clint Eastwood, Sandra Locke, Andrew Robinson.Directors: Don Siegel, Ted Post, James Fargo, Clint Eastwood, Buddy Van HornPlot Synopsis: Contains all five Dirty Harry films: 'Dirty Harry,' 'The Enforcer,' 'Magnum Force,' 'Sudden Impact,' 'The Dead Pool'
Disc Features: Dirty Harry: Audio commentary by Richard Schickel .Featurettes: "The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry," "Dirty Harry: The Original," "Dirty Harry's Way"Interview Gallery (includes interviews with Patricia Clarkson, Joel Cox, Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Evan Kim, John Milius, Ted Post, Andy Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Urich)1993 TV Special: "Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso" Magnum Force Audio commentary by writer John Milius Featurette: "A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry" "The Hero Cop: Yesterday and Today"The Enforcer Audio commentary by director James Fargo Featurettes: "The Business End: Violence in Cinema," "Harry Callahan/Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films".
Sudden Impact Audio commentary by renowned film critic Richard Schickel Featurette: "The Evolution of Clint Eastwood"
The Dead Pool .Audio commentary by producer David Valdes and Cinematographer Jack N. Green Featurette: "The Craft of Dirty Harry"Box Set Exclusives (Bonus Disc) Bonus documentary: "Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows" 40+ page hardcover book .Wallet w/metal badge and removable laminated I.D. card. Five 5”x 7” Reproduction Lobby Poster Cards plus an exclusive UCE card Scorpio Portrait of a Killer Poster-Sized (19” x 27”) map of San Francisco detailing Harry's hunt for the killer. Never-Before-Seen Production Correspondence
Patton Starring: Frank Latimore, Karl Malden, George C. Scott Director: Franklin J. Schaffner.mdcPlot Synopsis: A critically acclaimed film that won a total of eight 1970 Academy Awards (Including Best Picture), Patton is a riveting portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest military geniuses. One of it's Oscars went to George Patton, the only Allied general truly feared by the Nazis. Charismatic and Flamboyant, Patton designed his own uniforms, sported ivory-handled six-shooters, and believed he was a warrior in past lives. He outmanuevered Rommel in Africa, and after D-Day led his troops in an unstoppable campaign across Europe. But he was rebellious as well insight and poignancy, his own volatile personailty was one enemy he could never defeat.Disc Features: Disc 1: Introduction by Francis Ford Coppola .Audio Commentary by Francis Ford Coppola.Disc 2. Documentary: "The Making Of Patton" Featurettes: "History Through the Lens: \Patton: A Rebel Revisited," "Patton's Ghost Corps". Production Still Gallery Accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith's Complete Musical Score.Behind the Scenes Gallery Accompanied by Audio Essay on the Historical Patton.
The Longest Day Starring: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum Directors: Ken Annakin, Bernhard Wicki, Andrew Marton .Plot Synopsis: The Longest Day is a vivid, hour-by-hour recreation of this historic event. Featuring a stellar international cast, and told from the perspectives of both sides, it is a fascinating look at the massive preparations, mistakes, and random events that determined the outcome of one of the biggest battles in history. Winner of two 1962 Oscars (Special Effects and Cinematography), The Longest Day ranks as one of Hollywood's truly great war films.
The first Blu-Ray players under $300.00 will be available Memorial Day
weekend. The one downside I see is that it will be Wal Mart that has it first.
Not to crazy about buying electronics from them because ever thing I buy from
there seems to cease working within a few months. I do believe that other
stores such as Best Buy and Circuit City will follow suit a few weeks after
Wal Mart rolls out the players.
It appears Funai a Japan based company and sold under the Magnavox brand will
make the hardware. Funai first announced its intentions to bow a Profile 1.1
Blu-ray set-top player during January’s Consumer Electronics Show. Sub $300
pricing was anticipated, but street dates and retailer partners weren’t
provided.
I believe the $200 mark is the ultimate goal for Blu-Ray players. The sub $
300 players should give sales a boost for a while.
This marks the first time at Wal-Mart that Blu-ray set-top players will
launch with price tags that dip below the $399 PlayStation 3. Currently, Blu-
ray set-tops start at $399. During the 2007 holidays, several BD players did
temporarily fall below $300, but set-tops have since risen back to the $399
mark this year.
The PS3 will remain one of the most advanced Blu-ray devices on the market.
The console is firmware upgradeable to Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0 with BD
Live. Funai’s players are not expected to playback BD Live Web-enabled
features.
Here are my top three movies available on Blu-Ray for May.I Am Legend : Review Will Smith stars in the third adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic science-fiction novel about a lone human survivor in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by vampires. This new version somewhat alters Matheson’s central hook, i.e., the startling idea that an ordinary man, Robert Neville, spends his days roaming a desolated city and his nights in a house sealed off from longtime neighbors who have become bloodsucking fiends. In the new film, Smith’s Neville is a military scientist charged with finding a cure for a virus that turns people into crazed, hairless, flesh-eating zombies. Failing to complete his work in time--and after enduring a personal tragedy--Neville finds himself alone in Manhattan, his natural immunity to the virus keeping him alive. With an expressive German shepherd his only companion, Neville is a hunter-gatherer in sunlight, hiding from the mutants at night in his Washington Square town house and methodically conducting experiments in his ceaseless quest to conquer the disease.
No Country For Old Men Review:The Coen brothers make their finest thriller since Fargo with a restrained adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Not that there aren't moments of intense violence, but No Country for Old Men is their quietest, most existential film yet. In this modern-day Western, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam vet who could use a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies (both human and canine). In examining the site, he finds a case filled with $2 million. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he's going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On the way from El Paso to Mexico, he discovers he's being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh (an eerily calm Javier Bardem). Chigurh's weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way--or loses a coin toss (as far as he's concerned, bad luck is grounds for death). Just as Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a World War II vet, is on Moss's trail, Chigurh's former colleague, Wells (Woody Harrelson), is on his. For most of the movie, Moss remains one step ahead of his nemesis. Both men are clever and resourceful--except Moss has a conscious, Chigurh does not (he is, as McCarthy puts it, "a prophet of destruction"). At times, the film plays like an old horror movie, with Chigurh as its lumbering Frankenstein monster. Like the taciturn terminator, No Country for Old Men doesn't move quickly, but the tension never dissipates. This minimalist masterwork represents Joel and Ethan Coen and their entire cast, particularly Brolin and Jones, at the peak of their powers.
Planet Earth Box Set. Review:As of its release in early 2007, Planet Earth is quite simply the greatest nature/wildlife series ever produced. Following the similarly monumental achievement of The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, this astonishing 11-part BBC series is brilliantly narrated by Sir David Attenborough and sensibly organized so that each 50-minute episode covers a specific geographical region and/or wildlife habitat (mountains, caves, deserts, shallow seas, seasonal forests, etc.) until the entire planet has been magnificently represented by the most astonishing sights and sounds you'll ever experience from the comforts of home. The premiere episode, "From Pole to Pole," serves as a primer for things to come, placing the entire series in proper context and giving a general overview of what to expect from each individual episode. Without being overtly political, the series maintains a consistent and subtle emphasis on the urgent need for ongoing conservation, best illustrated by the plight of polar bears whose very behavior is changing (to accommodate life-threatening changes in their fast-melting habitat) in the wake of global warming--a phenomenon that this series appropriately presents as scientific fact. With this harsh reality as subtext, the series proceeds to accentuate the positive, delivering a seemingly endless variety of natural wonders, from the spectacular mating displays of New Guinea's various birds of paradise to a rare encounter with Siberia's nearly-extinct Amur Leopards, of which only 30 remain in the wild.
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