Blu-ray Movies
"Jack Reacher"
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- Category: Blu-ray movies Blu-ray movies
April 2013
A Pristine Blu-ray Reveals an Entertaining Crime Procedural
Paramount 7922916
Format: Blu-ray
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Werner Herzog. He’s a film director extraordinaire, having directed both documentaries (Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World) and fiction adventures (Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Rescue Dawn, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans). He has staged opera at Bayreuth and La Scala, written over 50 film scripts, produced over 20 titles, and has worked in many aspects of film, including sound. This everyman has also acted, and in Jack Reacher, we find him perfectly cast as the Zec, a man who has sacrificed his fingers over the years, proving that he’s willing to go to any length to survive.
"The Blob"
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April 2013
'50s Sci-Fi Fave in Radiant Color
The Criterion Collection 91
Format: Blu-ray
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"It creeps and leaps and glides and slides . . ." It's hard not to like a villain from outer space that can be described in a Burt Bacharach-Mack David title song, and it's easy to overlook The Blob's deficiencies, given such an earnest presentation. If it's not a great horror story or an A-list science-fiction thriller for you, The Blob is a slice of Americana and a time capsule to the long past 1950s. In spite of its cheesy special effects (or perhaps because of them), it has become a cult favorite.
"Badlands"
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March 2013
One Sumptuous-Looking Crime Spree
The Criterion Collection 651
Format: Blu-ray
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In 1973, Badlands established Terrence Malick as a new director to be noticed and launched the careers of Martin Sheen (Kit) and Sissy Spacek (Holly). It was Malick's first feature film, based on a killing spree by teenager Charles Starkweather that occurred in the late 1950s. Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, fled Lincoln, Nebraska, after Starkweather killed Fugate's mother, stepfather, and two-year-old stepsister. While on the run, Starkweather killed seven additional victims but was caught and sent to the electric chair on June 25, 1959. Fugate protested that she had been Starkweather's captive, but the court didn't buy it and found her guilty as an accessory. She served 17 years in prison.
"Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown"
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March 2013
BBC Earth Documentary Is One of the Best of Its Kind
BBC Earth
Format: Blu-ray
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Have you ever wondered what the black rhinos and elephants do after dark down by the watering hole? Puzzle no longer, as the newest BBC Earth documentary, Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown, uses special new starlight cameras to show you. Spoiler alert: it turns out that rhinos aren't really loners all the time, and that they can even go a little crazy by the light of the moon. One truly trips out. Elephants, not to be outdone, have their own sort of post-hippie love fest.
"On the Waterfront"
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February 2013
No Matter What the Aspect Ratio, Brando's Performance Towers
The Criterion Collection 647
Format: Blu-ray
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The Criterion Collection has consistently brought us the best extras to contribute to a fuller enjoyment of its feature films. But for On the Waterfront, the company has outdone itself, bringing us three different versions of the movie. To clarify, it’s exactly the same cut presented in three different aspect ratios: 1.66:1 on the main Blu-ray Disc, and 1.33:1 and 1.85:1 on a second Blu-ray.
"The Awakening"
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February 2013
Standard Ghost Story Benefits from One Good Extra Feature
Universal 61124958
Format: Blu-ray
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Extras can often heighten one's enjoyment of a Blu-ray's feature presentation, but they are usually self-congratulatory puff pieces. There are plenty of those here, as director Nick Murphy really likes to talk, even when he's just repeating what he's already said. But imagine my surprise to find a genuinely interesting special feature on this Blu-ray: a little piece called "A Time for Ghosts."
"The Tin Drum"
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January 2013
The Banned German Classic Now on Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 234
Format: Blu-ray
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Made in 1979, The Tin Drum is a visually stunning film that will leave every viewer with images to remember, although it will probably be a different list for each person. Directed by Volker Schlöndorff, and based on the popular novel by Günter Grass, the movie tells the story of Oskar Matzerath, who decides at age three that he doesn't want to be an adult. To get his wish, he falls down a flight of stairs, and from that point on, with one exception, he never grows on the outside but matures inside until he becomes a 17-year-old boy in a child's body. And Oskar has a weapon to keep the adult world at bay: his scream breaks glass -- everything from spectacles to windows.
"Purple Noon"
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December 2012
A Handsome Blu-ray Transfer for Highsmith's Ripley
The Criterion Collection 637
Format: Blu-ray
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Purple Noon is based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith titled The Talented Mr. Ripley. If that sounds familiar, it might be because director Anthony Minghella made a film in 1999 based loosely on the same novel, with Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow in the leads.
"Manufactured Landscapes"
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December 2012
Outstanding Film Honoring Photographer Edward Burtynsky
Zeitgeist Films 21148
Format: Blu-ray
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Zeitgeist Films has a solid reputation for releasing outstanding, obscure titles on DVD. The company has quite a few dramas, but its documentaries are where it really excels. Zeitgeist has just made the transition to Blu-ray, and Manufactured Landscapes is one of its first releases in that HD format.
"Rashomon"
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November 2012
Kurosawa's Masterpiece on Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 138
Format: Blu-ray
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There's little disagreement that Rashomon is one of Akira Kurosawa's greatest films, and there's sure to be a consensus that the great Japanese director's masterpiece has never looked better than it does on this Criterion Blu-ray Disc. I found it near astonishing at times, as copies I had seen before were riddled with noise and looked fairly washed out as far as contrast goes. This Criterion release blows them all away, even their own earlier DVD version.
