Blu-ray

THE MUPPETS Blu-ray/DVD Release Set for March 20

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 19th, 2012 at 2:59 pm

If you’ve been itching to revisit the delightfully charming The Muppets over and over again in the comfort of your own home, itch no more. Disney today announced that The Muppets will be released on March 20th on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Digital Download, and On Demand. Additionally, the studio is releasing a “Wocka-Wocka Value Pack” which includes the movie on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy plus a download card that allows fans to own all the songs from the glorious soundtrack.

Special features on the home video release include a feature called “Disney Intermission” which allows the viewer to pause the movie and watch as the Muppets come onscreen and entertain until the movie resumes playing. Also included is the extended version of Tex Richman’s Rap (sung so eloquently by Chris Cooper), a blooper reel, a look inside the making of a Muppet, deleted scenes, all the spoof trailers, and audio commentaries with star/co-writer Jason Segel, writer Nicholas Stoller, and director James Bobin. Hit the jump to check out the cover art for the different video formats and to read the full press release, which includes pricing, specs, etc.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 Two-Disc Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray Available February 11th, 2012

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: January 3rd, 2012 at 4:33 pm

If you’re looking for that perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your significant other (or want to get lost in a fantasy world while spending Valentine’s Day alone), look no further than the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. Available on February 11^th, you can take home the first half of the epic franchise finale which includes bonus features such as Bella and Edward’s Wedding Video, a six-part behind-the-scenes documentary and two fast forward features to get right to your favorite Edward and Jacob scenes.

Directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. Hit the jump for more on the special edition, including how fans can get themselves a discount.

Details and Cover Art for 4-Disc 3D Blu-ray of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: December 27th, 2011 at 10:24 am

Transformers: Dark of the Moon will get a second Blu-ray release in the new year, with a 4-disc Ultimate Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD combo pack due on January 31, 2012.  Director Michael Bay promises:

“This Blu-ray 3D of Dark of the Moon will blow you away.  If you’ve been waiting for the right time to get a 3D television, this is it.”

Additionally, if you are willing and able to spring for the 7-disc set with the whole Transformers trilogy, you receive a plaque of movie images signed by Mr. Bay.  The 4-disc set has nearly 4 hours of bonus features; the 7-disc set offers more than 10 hours.  Hit the jump for the full rundown on what to expect, plus cover art.

SCROOGED Blu-ray Review

by Phil Brown    Posted: November 16th, 2011 at 6:00 am

Though it rarely gets slathered with as much nostalgic love as A Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation, Scrooged is easily one of the finest yuletide perennials to slip out of Hollywood in the 80s. An adaptation of A Christmas Carol (possibly the most adapted book in film history other than, you know, that Bible thing), the film features Bill Murray at his curmudgeonly best, playing a fictional television executive who would probably exchange notes on how to properly abuse his staff with Kevin Spacey’s character in Swimming With Sharks. It’s a genius stroke of modernization and stunt casting that works so well it probably qualifies as the only adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale in which you’ll actually wish that Scrooge stayed evil. Hit the jump for our review of Scrooged on Blu-ray.

AIRPLANE! Blu-ray Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 23rd, 2011 at 11:06 am

Airplane! is one of the best comedies ever made.  It helped to pioneer the spoof genre (although Mel Brooks got there first) even though its humor goes far beyond parody.  It’s silly, it’s bizarre, it’s absurd, and it never falls in love with its own comedy.  There’s nothing smarmy or self-satisfied as much as there’s a wonderful freedom to try everything.  The miraculous thing about Airplane! is that almost every joke works.  But should you upgrade to the new Blu-ray or will the DVD suffice?

Disney’s Second Screen Technology Takes Special Features off the Blu-ray

by Hunter Daniels    Posted: October 23rd, 2011 at 7:17 am

When DVD first hit the scene it was, to steal a phrase from Disney’s Aladdin, “A whole new world.” The bonus features let cinephiles behind the scenes for the first time and laid bare the often-arduous mechanics behind crafting a feature film. But, as the medium matured, many of these features became stagnant. Now, with the advent of Blu-ray and the connectivity opportunities offered by iPads, film studios are once again finding new ways to expand upon the medium of bonus features.

Disney is out ahead of the pack, using big-ticket releases like Bambi and now Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to introduce new ways to interact with the film and encourage consumers to buy, rather than rent. Read on to hear about the new, “Second Screen” technology.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Hits Blu-ray on December 13th; Will Contain 12 Deleted Scenes

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 18th, 2011 at 8:56 am

Fox has announced that Rise of the Planet of the Apes will hit DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Download on December 13th. We previously reported that Rise of the Planet of the Apes re-shot its ending to remove a major character’s death.  We assumed/hoped the original ending would be included on the Blu-ray, but we still don’t have a definitive answer.  The Blu-ray contains 12 deleted scenes, and one of the scene titles hints that a character could die, but I’m not willing to confidently say that’s the original ending.  I’ll stick with assuming/hoping.

The Blu-ray also contains a healthy dose of other special features including audio commentaries, “Breaking Motion Capture Boundaries”, “Ape Facts”, and more.  Hit the jump for the press release, box art, and full list of special features.

THE COMPLETE JEAN VIGO and ORPHEUS Criterion Blu-ray Reviews

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: October 17th, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Jean Cocteau and Jean Vigo are two of the great towers of French cinema. Pre-New Wave, the two inspired filmmakers like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard with their different approaches. Vigo was an upstart filmmaker who died young and left an indelible impression, while Cocteau was a poet, playwright, painter, and all around artiste. All of Vigo’s films are collected in the Criterion Collection’s release The Complete Jean Vigo, while Orpheus – arguably Cocteau’s masterwork – has been upgraded for Blu-ray. Our review of The Complete Jean Vigo and Orpheus on Blu-ray follow after the jump.

SKATELAND Blu-ray Review

by Rob Vaux    Posted: October 17th, 2011 at 5:55 am

Many films embrace nostalgia, but few are swallowed whole by it the way Skateland is. It bends itself towards evoking the late 70s/early 80s in painstaking detail and then – having achieved the illusion – doesn’t have the first idea what to do with it. It mistakes pointless meandering for slow meditation, spinning a single dramatic event into an endless stumble through parties, parking lots and rehashed American Graffiti tropes in a vain effort to evoke a specific mood. Hit the jump for my full review of Skateland on Blu-ray.

THE FOX AND THE HOUND 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Review

by Rob Vaux    Posted: October 16th, 2011 at 7:00 am

Animated movies have undergone a sea change since The Fox and the Hound was first released in 1981. Disney was on its last legs back then: wallowing through decades of ennui that wouldn’t end until The Little Mermaid in 1989. In a lot of ways, The Fox and the Hound is a perfect example of how that creative malaise affected the Disney brand. It’s simple, straightforward and earnest: focused solely on small children without worrying about whether their parents were entertained or not. Its story presents a lovely lesson about prejudice and growing up, married to threadbare particulars that complicate its noble intentions. The sparkling animation arose between a clash of old and new, with members of Disney’s famous “Nine Old Men” battling interminably with upstarts like Don Bluth and Tim Burton. Indeed, the history behind the film is far more interesting than the film itself: a decent piece of second-tier animation utterly eclipsed by the Golden Age that followed it. Hit the jump for the full review.

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Coming to Blu-ray in 2012; Trailer and Artwork Released

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 28th, 2011 at 4:08 pm

Star Trek: The Next Generation is officially, and finally, coming to Blu-ray. StarTrek.com confirms the news, and says the discs will start hitting in January. Rather than kick off with season one, a sampler set of episodes will be the first Blu-ray to be released. The complete first season will hit shelves later next year, with the subsequent seasons to follow. The Next Generation ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994, with 178 episodes. For the HD transfer, CBS is returning to the original film negatives to bring the highest quality image. Visual effects won’t be upconverted, but instead the studio will recomposition them, culminating in true 1080p HD masters with 7.1 DTS Master Audio. Denise and Michael Okuda are overseeing the transfer.

The sampler will be called Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Next Level. It will include the feature-length version of the pilot, as well as the season three episode “Sins of the Father” and the season five episode “The Inner Light.” The Next Level will hit shelves on January 31, 2012 and has a suggested retail price of $21.99.  Hit the jump for the trailer and box artwork.

STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA Sells One Million Units for $84 Million in First Week

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: September 22nd, 2011 at 7:56 pm

Y’all voted with your wallets, and while George Lucas’ alterations are ill-advised, it’s an acceptable drawback to own cinema’s most popular franchise on Blu-ray.  Star Wars: The Complete Saga has already become the bestselling catalog Blu-ray disc of all time in the first week of sales: one million units, $84 million worldwide.  For comparison, Tangled is so far the top DVD of 2011 with $96 million and over 6 million units sold [The Numbers].  The Complete Saga will easily outgross it in the coming weeks, though I don’t know enough about the business to project the eventual unit sales.  A much higher bar was set by Avatar, which sold over 10 million units in 2010 for $183 million.

No matter the context, those sales are pretty amazing for a 9-disc set after week one.  Star Wars is immortal.  Read the full press release after the jump.

Trailer for the Upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA Blu-ray Shows Half-Second Snippets from THE AVENGERS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 21st, 2011 at 11:40 am

Paramount has announced that the Blu-ray Combo Pack for Captain America: The First Avenger will hit on October 25th and they’ve released a trailer showing off some of the special features included on the disc.  Among the special features will be a new Marvel One-Shot Short film starring Clark Gregg and a behind-the-scenes featurette for Joss Whedon’s The Avengers.  Since Captain America is a great movie, all these special features are icing on a delicious cake.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, the cover art, and a list of all the special features included on the disc.  There will also be a limited-edition 3D Blu-ray combo-pack for those who like their superheroes in pointless, post-converted 3D.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 and HARRY POTTER: THE COMPLETE 8-FILM COLLECTION Blu-rays Arrive on November 11th

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 20th, 2011 at 9:45 am

Warner Bros. has announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 will arrive on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, and Digital Download on November 11th.  Also due on November 11th is the DVD and Blu-ray box set for Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection as well as the video-game Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7. Since the press release doesn’t give details about the collection, I’m going to assume it’s made up of the previously-released, non-Ultimate Edition Blu-rays, and that the gigantic, super-collector’s edition of the Harry Potter series will arrive sometime next year.

Hit the jump for the full list of special features included on the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Blu-ray Combo Pack plus a look at the box art.

ATTACK THE BLOCK Coming to Blu-ray and DVD on October 25

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 12th, 2011 at 9:01 am

If you’re like me, and you’ve been insanely jealous of all those folks who have gotten to see Joe Cornish’s much buzzed-about Attack the Block, then I’ve got some very exciting news for you: Sony Home Entertainment is set to release the Edgar Wright-produced flick on Blu-ray and DVD on October 25th. Pretty much everyone who has seen the alien invasion film has loved it (including Matt and Steve), and I’ve been waiting in vain each week to see if it will finally screen in my city. If you’ve thus far been shit out of luck like me, or if you’ve already seen the film and want to own it so you can share it with every single person you know, all will be well next month.

Hit the jump for more details, including the full press release.

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