Film School Rejects » Blu-ray News

Director’s Cut of ‘Watchmen’ Doesn’t Come With Intermission

Dr. Cole Abaius — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:40:08 +0000

When Watchmen came out just two months ago, wasn’t everyone walking out the theater wishing that it was even fucking longer than it was? Didn’t think so. However, I’m sure there were some of you that desperately wanted to see more Rorschach and maybe a few of the scenes from the graphic novel that didn’t make the cut.

Have no fear! Because the Director’s Cut of the film that’s winging its way onto DVD and Blu-ray on July 21st will have 25 more minutes of film including that ink-faced bastard and the sequence in which Hollis Mason meets his maker.

Even cool is the inclusion on the Blu-ray of the Maximum Movie Mode, where you can watch the film alongside some incredibly in-depth looks at the making of the film, the graphic novel popping up side by side, and commentary from the filmmakers. It’s the feature that made the Sin City Blu-ray the best we’ve seen this year (or ever), and it promises to be just as cool for Watchmen.

The DVD seems pretty standard, but the Blu-ray will also include:

A feature on the mechanics and science behind Watchmen.
A real-world timeline that examines our universe as compared to that of the film.
The 25 extra minutes.
Production stills and concept art.
A look at the psychology behind vigilantism and heroism.
A much-needed, revolutionary “Pause” feature which allows you to go to the bathroom or get a drink without missing a second of the movie.

It also comes with a music video from My Chemical Romance if you’re into that sort of thing.

I have no idea whether you should shill out money to buy this thing when it comes out, but I have a feeling that it will magically end up on the doorstep here at the Reject Office so that Neil can put his discerning eye to it for his Blu-ray Report Column. Until then, get excited or remember a simpler time not so long ago when no one could talk about anything except this movie.

What do you think?

Check out the full cover art below (click to enlarge)

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series Packaging Revealed

Neil Miller — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:35:52 +0000

Anyone who picked up the Battlestar Galactica prequel release Caprica a few weeks back may have noticed an advertisement for what could be the coolest DVD collector’s set of the year: The Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series set. And if you are like me, that brief glimpse was more than enough to get your credit card out. But I would urge you to calm down, baby birds. This thing isn’t hitting shelves until July 28th.

Of course, that won’t stop you from drooling over the packaging, which can be seen below. The ambitious 20-disc Blu-ray Hi-Def set and a 25-disc standard DVD set contains every episode of television’s most original, thought-provoking series, together with extensive bonus materials delving deep into the richly imagined world of the hit SCI FI Channel original show.

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series is currently available for pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD over on Amazon.

Warner Bros. Wants to Paint Your HD-DVD Collection Blu

Neil Miller — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:25:06 +0000

As this site’s resident Blu-ray watchdog, I would be failing mightily if I didn’t mention a cool new program that Warner Bros. Home Video has started today. For only $4.95 per title plus shipping and handling, the folks at WB are offering you the chance to do something with those HD-DVD titles that you purchased back in the day. And if you’re like me, you’ve got more than a few titles. The program, which can be found over at Red2Blu.com, is executed in three simple steps:

Select Warner Bros. HD-DVDs that you want to upgrade to Blu-ray (Limit 1 per HD-DVD title)
Mail the original HD-DVD cover art (no copies) to their processing center
Receive your new Blu-ray discs of the same title within 4-6 weeks

At $5 plus shipping, this is a steal. Your average Blu-ray title is going to run you $25, so even if shipping is another $5, you’re still only looking at $10 to upgrade. I will be interested in seeing whether other studios pick and run with similar programs. Now I just need to go and dig out my copies of Blade Runner and Blazing Saddles on HD-DVD and send it in…

Do you still have a bunch of HD-DVDs laying around? If so, do you think you’ll be participating in this program?

Save the Date: Mad Men Season 2 DVD and Blu-ray on July 14

Neil Miller — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:24:00 +0000

Yesterday the folks from AMC revealed via Facebook the official details on the Mad Men season two DVD and Blu-ray releases, and I thought I would share them with you since we all know that everyone should be watching this show. According to the posting, the DVD and Blu-ray sets will be released on Tuesday, July 14, 2009, just in time for the show’s third season, which starts later this summer.

The special features will include:

Audio commentaries with cast and crew on all 13 episodes
“Birth of an Independent Woman, Part 1 and Part 2” – from housewives to working women, this featurette examines the rise of female independence in the Mad Men era
“An Era of Style” – this featurette explores the fashion of the 1960’s and its lasting influence on designers today
“Time Capsule” – interactive featurettes paying homage to historical events of the 1960’s and the daring generation that lived through them

The two sets are already available for pre-order on Amazon, with the Blu-ray currently retailing for $37.39 and the DVD selling for $44.99. I would chalk that up as a win for those of us who collect the HD format. You don’t see the Blu-ray coming in cheaper that often. You might want to get your pre-order on.

Snow White Re-Awakens in Oct. 2009, This Time It’s On Blu-Ray

Michelle Graham — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:20:15 +0000

It’s been a while, but Snow White is headed back for another high definition release and this one is set to eclipse the last by, well, Blu-ray proportions. The first Disney full length animated film ever made and Disney’s first ever DVD, not to mention the first DVD to ever sell 1 million copies in a single day, is returning this October, and it’s going for pure high definition bliss.

On October 6th, 2009, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will be released in a special combination pack, similar to those released for Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio. This pack includes both Blu-ray and DVD versions of the movie, allowing those who haven’t yet traded in their old entertainment systems to invest in the Blu-ray version whilst it’s available, without having to purchase the DVD separately for current viewing. Since this will be Ms. White’s first appearance on the market since 2001, it makes sense to invest while she’s still around, as knowing Disney’s sales strategies, it’s not likely to be for long and when she’s gone, she’s gone.

I was lucky enough to buy this on DVD the first time around, and it was a pretty impressive DVD for the time it arrived at. After recently investing in the Sleeping Beauty combo pack and viewing it on a high definition tv, I have been completely convinced to buy all Disney releases in Blu-ray format from now on. Even though the movie was animated way back when (1959, for those that were wondering), the quality is fantastic and they’re bound to achieve the same thing with Snow White’s remastered print.

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter DVD and Blu-ray Details

Neil Miller — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:37:57 +0000

As expected, the folks at Warner Bros. Home Video have announced the details for the DVD and Blu-ray release of Tales of the Black Freighter, the companion film to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen. This supplemental release, which follows the major substory within the book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, will be released on March 24, a few weeks after the Watchmen movie hits theaters on March 6. Included in the press release was this official synopsis:

They’re in the book. And on this disc. From the director of Watchmen and 300 come two tales from the celebrated graphic novel that do not appear in the extraordinary Watchmen Theatrical Feature. Tales of the Black Freighter (featuring the voice of 300s Gerard Butler) brings to strikingly animated life the novels richly layered story-within-a-story, a daring pirate saga whose turbulent events may mirror those in the Watchmen’s world. Stars from the Watchmen movie team in the amazing live-action/CGI Under the Hood, based on Nite Owls powerful first-hand account of how the hooded adventurers came into existence. Two fan-essential stories. One place to watch the excitement. Watching the Watchmen begins here.

There is also a small assortment of special features, including a first look at The Green Lantern:

DVD (MSRP $19.95)

Under The Hood (Hollis Mason’s Tell-All)
Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen
A First Look at Green Lantern

Blu-ray (MSRP $29.95)

Under The Hood (Hollis Mason’s Tell-All)
Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen
A First Look at Green Lantern
Digital Copy

WHV’s release did not include any official runtime, though this is expected to run around 30 minutes. Also, interestingly enough, WHV’s official website lists the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD with a rating of PG-13 and the Blu-ray as Not Rated. We had previously been told that it was going to be an R, so we are currently working to find out what the real story is. Of course, this is not the only DVD companion piece for the March 6 release of Watchmen. WHV is also releasing a Watchmen Motion Comic on March 3 in advance of the theatrical release. You can check it out on Blu-ray and DVD over at Amazon.com.

Awesome Deal: Amazon Goes 50% Off Over 200 Blu-ray Titles!

Neil Miller — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:09:56 +0000

It is time to break out all of those gift cards and that $20 you got from grandma and pick up some content for that sweet new Blu-ray player you opened yesterday morning, folks. At least my hope is that you all got a Blu-ray player — my expectation is that the readership in my Blu-ray Report weekly column will double this coming week. It’s an aggressive goal, I know, but where else are you going to go for great Blu-ray reviews?

Reviews aside, today is all about good deals. And it appears once again as if Amazon has the goods in the Blu-ray department. This morning they launched a 50% off sale on over 200 Blu-ray titles. And while these sales normally include older releases, Amazon is dealing on some of the best Blu-ray’s from the past few months. Here are a few specific highlights:

WALL-E (One of the Best BD releases of the year, if not ever) – $24.49
Lost: Season 4 – $49.99
A Clockwork Orange – $13.99
John Carpenter’s The Thing – $16.49

I have not yet had the chance to look through all of the titles, but just in skimming over the first 60-70 I’ve noticed that there are a ton of titles priced under $15. All of those are a great deal. For the full listing of Blu-ray titles on sale, just head over to Amazon.com’s Blu-ray Store.

More People Have Iron Man on Blu-ray Than Have a Copy of the Bible

Neil Miller — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:00:54 +0000

Sure, Bill Maher is currently trying to bring the world of organized religion to its knees with his film Religulous, but can he compete with the fact that Robert Downey Jr. is encroaching on the popularity of Jesus. Alright, maybe not Jesus, but certainly one of those 12 Apostles. All kidding aside though, it appears that this Iron Man Blu-ray released — one that I proclaimed to be the definitive Blu-ray release of 2008 — is selling like crazy, at least according to Jon Favreau.

As our friends at Slashfilm pointed out, Favs called in to the Howard Stern show to (a) talk about the film’s budget and (b) tell the world that Iron Man has already become the best-selling Blu-ray release of all time in just 48 hours of being available. Now, there is about as much evidence to support this as there is evidence of my threesome with Blake Lively and Leighton Meester last week (which will be included in the Gossip Girl Season 2 DVD bonus features), but we have a little saying around here that should help: In Favs We Trust.

For those who don’t trust us, here is a clip from Favreau’s appearance on the Stern show:

The Dark Knight Blu-ray Details and Cover Art Released

Neil Miller — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:02:32 +0000

Today Warner Bros. finally announced some of the details around the December 9th Blu-ray release of the year’s highest grossing film, The Dark Knight. As expected, the release will include a very special 2-Disc Limited Edition set that will feature a Bat-pod statue along with the movie and supplemental features. You can see more of the box art for both the Limited and standard Blu-ray releases in the photo gallery below.

For me, The Dark Knight could very well be one of those “game changing” Blu-ray releases. Having spent years working in consumer electronics retail, I can tell you that a few releases have come along that have spurred fans into adopting new technology. Back in January 2002, the DVD release of The Fast and the Furious had fans reaching for post-Christmas sale items, buying Playstation 2’s and $110 DVD players in order to see Vin Diesel and Paul Walker drive around in supped up Honda Civics. And just last year, the now dead HD-DVD format saw a major boost with the release of Transformers. For movie fans that have been holding out, mostly because of the continuing high prices of equipment, The Dark Knight could be the kind of release that pushes them over the edge.

Would you consider buying a Blu-ray player in order to get The Dark Knight in high definition?

Disney Classics to Get Blu-ray Release with a Platinum Shine

Michelle Graham — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:09:39 +0000

Last year, Blu-ray was battling HD-DVD for control of the next generation of media. This year, it has been embraced by every production company around, with amazing packages coming out for movies such as Transformers and the upcoming Incredible Hulk release.

Ever since Disney started releasing platinum editions way back when in 2001, no one has been content with their vanilla editions. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs showed exactly what the studio was capable of, giving heaps of extras and even a game on top of a pristine print of a beloved classic, and the platinum range has been impressing ever since.

Now Disney has announced that they’re going Blu-ray on our asses, bringing their platinum standard over to the new format with some quite impressive improvements. Of course, being Disney only some of the movies will be brought out of the vault before being locked away again to protect us from our own greed… or to ensure that Disney’s demand is kept high. Sort of like Creme Eggs!

Starting on October 7th, the Disney Blu-ray Platinum collection will unveil its first title, Sleeping Beauty, complete with web features such as in-movie chat rooms through Disney’s BD-Live network (though this feature will be restricted to the US until the release of Snow White in 2009) and video messaging. Personally, I would rather watch a movie in peace, but hey, those crazy kids!

After Sleeping Beauty, a whole slew of releases are on the cards, with Disney releasing a schedule of 6 other movies, releasing between Spring of 2009 and Autumn of 2010. Spring 2009 sees the release of Pinocchio for the first time since 2002, while Autumn 2009 brings Snow White back to the DVD screen and with it the global launch of the BD-Live network.

2010 has a double whammy release with Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 released side by side. As if this wasn’t enough, sometime in 2010 will also see the first ever release of Destino, a movie worked on by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney himself, thought lost until 2003 when it was rediscovered and completed by Walt’s nephew, Roy Disney.

Finally, the icing on the cake arrives in Autumn of 2010 with Beauty and The Beast returning from the vault after 8 long years languishing in the dark. When Disney last released a platinum edition of Beauty and the Beast back in 2002, it hit the ball not only out of the park but around the world. The epitome of everything a movie lover could want, with luxurious packaging and features on a wealth of aspects such as the Broadway musical and developing the story and characters. All that on top of three different editions of the movie (a special edition including deleted scenes, the original theatrical version and the work-in-progress screened at the New York Film Festival prior to the movie’s release), it’s not quite clear how Disney could top themselves here. I sure am eager to see them try though.

Criterion Goes Blu-Ray

Conrad Rothbaum — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:03:37 +0000

A few months ago I just said, “fuck it,” and bought a Blu-Ray player.

I was reluctant to do so—I have a pretty substantial Standard-Def DVD collection. I don’t want to keep re-buying my favorite movies over and over again in different formats for the rest of my miserable goddamn life.

But then I watched 3:10 to Yuma in Blu-Ray at a friend’s place and caved at the sight of Christian Bale’s pores during those close-up shots. I went out and purchased a player. Since then, I have bought only two Blu-Ray DVDs, and rented like three. Sigh.

Here, finally, perhaps my investment in that clunky, noisy, load-screen heavy machinery will pay off:

Criterion is going Blu-Ray, and has announced its first Blu-Ray titles as The Third Man and The Man Who Fell To The Earth (to be released on November 18th), with Chungking Express, Last Emperor and Bottle Rocket to follow (on November 25th).

All five are jam-packed with interviews, commentary and (unnecessary) making-of documentaries, as all Criterion DVDs are (actually, a weird exception is Chungking Express, which has very few gratuitous extras). Check out some of the specifications below:

Bottle Rocket Criterion DVD
SRP: $39.95 – DVD and Blu-ray
Street date: 11/25/08

Wes Anderson first illustrated his lovingly detailed, slightly surreal cinematic vision in this witty and warm portrait of three young middle-class misfits. Fresh out of a mental hospital, gentle Anthony (Luke Wilson) finds himself once again embroiled in the machinations of his best friend, elaborate schemer Dignan (Owen Wilson). With the aid of getaway driver Bob (Robert Musgrave), they develop a needlessly complex, mildly successful plan to rob a small bookstore—then go “on the lam.” Also featuring Lumi Cavazos as Inez, the South American housekeeper Anthony falls in love with, and James Caan as local thief extraordinaire Mr. Henry, Bottle Rocket is a charming, hilarious, affectionate look at the folly of dreamers. Shot against radiant southwestern backdrops, it’s the film that put Anderson and the Wilson brothers on the map.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman
- Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on Blu-ray)
- Commentary by director/co-writer Anderson and co-writer/star Owen Wilson
- The Making of “Bottle Rocket”: an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman featuring Anderson, James L. Brooks, James Caan, Temple Nash Jr., Kumar Pallana, Polly Platt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Musgrave, Richard Sakai, David and Sandy Wasco, Andrew and Luke and Owen Wilson, and Robert Yeoman
- The original thirteen-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film from 1992
- Eleven deleted scenes
- Anamorphic screen test, storyboards, location photos, and behind-the-scenes photographs by Laura Wilson
- Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman
- The Shafrazi Lectures, no. 1: Bottle Rocket
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese, and original artwork by Ian Dingman

Chungking Express Criterion DVD
SRP: $39.95 – DVD and Blu-ray
Street date: 11/25/08

The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is one of the defining works of nineties cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works. Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack supervised by director
Wong Kar-wai (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on Blu-ray)
- Audio commentary by noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns
- U.S. theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from a 1996 Sight and Sound interview with Wong by Rayns
- More!

Fanfan La Tulipe Criterion DVD
SRP: $29.95
Street date: 11/18/08

Legendary French star Gérard Philipe swashbuckled his way into film history as the peasant soldier Fanfan in Christian-Jaque’s devil-may-care romantic action-comedy. In eighteenth-century France, Fanfan joins King Louis XV’s army to avoid a forced marriage to a local lass. And thus begins an adventure that sees Fanfan getting himself out of close scrapes and into tight squeezes with Gina Lollobrigida’s impostor fortune teller, Adeline, on his way to fighting in the Seven Years’ War. Filled to the brim with dazzling stunts and randy innuendo, Fanfan la Tulipe, which won the best director prize at Cannes and was a smash hit upon its initial release, remains one of France’s all-time most beloved films.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New, restored digital transfer
- New video program about actor Gérard Philipe
- A clip from the colorized version of the film
- Theatrical trailer
- Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Kenneth Turan and an excerpt from Georges Sadoul’s monograph on Philipe

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold Criterion DVD
SRP: $39.95
Street date: 11/25/08

John Le Carré’s acclaimed bestselling novel, about a Cold War spy on one final, dangerous mission, is every bit as precise and ruthless onscreen in this adaptation directed by Martin Ritt. Richard Burton delivers one of his career-defining performances as Alec Leamas, whose hesitant but deeply felt relationship with a beautiful librarian (Claire Bloom) puts what he hopes will be his last assignment, in East Germany, in jeopardy. An intelligent, hard-edged, and even tragic thriller, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is etched with realism and suffused with genuine political and personal anxiety.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- New interviews with author John Le Carré and cinematographer Oswald Morris
- The Secret Center: John Le Carré (2000), a BBC documentary on the author’s extraordinary life and work
- Acting in the ’60s: Richard Burton, a 1967 interview with the BBC’s Kenneth Tynan examining the actor’s performances
and accomplishments
- Gallery of set designs
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic
Michael Sragow and a reprinted interview with Ritt
- More!

The Third Man (BLU-RAY) Criterion
SRP: $39.95
Street date: 11/18/08

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime—and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas’s evocative zither score; Graham Greene’s razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker’s dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, just continues to grow in stature as the years pass.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- Restored high-definition digital transfer
- Uncompressed mono soundtrack
- Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
- Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by film scholar Dana Polan
- Shadowing “The Third Man” (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film
- Abridged recording of Graham Greene’s treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
- “Graham Greene: The Hunted Man,” an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC’s Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
- Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
- The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 “A Ticket to Tangiers” episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles, and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man
- Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer
- Actor Joseph Cotten’s alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
- Archival footage of postwar Vienna
- A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by Luc Sante

The Man Who Fell to Earth (BLU-RAY) Criterion
SRP: $39.95
Street date: 11/18/08

The Man Who Fell to Earth is a daring exploration of science fiction as an art form. The story of an alien on an elaborate rescue mission provides the launching pad for Nicolas Roeg’s visual tour de force, a formally adventurous examination of alienation in contemporary life. Rock legend David Bowie, in his acting debut, completely embodies the title role, while Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn turn in terrific supporting performances. The film’s hallucinatory vision was obscured in the American theatrical release, which deleted nearly twenty minutes of crucial scenes and details. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Roeg’s full uncut version, in this exclusive director-approved high-definition widescreen transfer.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY EDITION FEATURES:
- High-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg
- Uncompressed stereo soundtrack
- Audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry
- Video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg
- Performance, video interviews with actors Candy Clark and
Rip Torn
- Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell
- Audio interview from 1984 with author Walter Tevis, conducted by Don Swaim
- Multiple stills galleries, including Routh’s costume sketches; behind-the-scenes photos; and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James
- Gallery of posters from Roeg’s films
- Trailers
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Graham Fuller

The Last Emperor (BLU-RAY) Criterion
SRP: $39.95
Street date: 11/18/08

Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor won nine Academy Awards, unexpectedly sweeping every category in which it was nominated—quite a feat for a challenging, multilayered epic directed by an Italian and starring an international cast. Yet the power and scope of the film was, and remains, undeniable—the life of Emperor Pu Yi, who took the throne at age three, in 1908, before witnessing decades of cultural and political upheaval, within and without the walls of the Forbidden City. Recreating Ching-dynasty China with astonishing detail and unparalleled craftsmanship by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, The Last Emperor is also an intimate character study of one man reconciling personal responsibility and political legacy.

Something really appeals to me about seeing Orson Welles’ pores in hi-def. However, knowing criterion and Blu-Ray, these babies will probably also feature exorbitant, unnecessary prices.

Netflix Raising Prices For Blu-ray Disc Renters

Kevin Kelly — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:13:48 +0000

I was at Best Buy yesterday, picking up a spare battery for my camera, when I overheard some people checking out the HD televisions. They had a billion questions, and the blue-shirted, khaki-pantsed kid couldn’t quite keep up with them, and just kept saying, “Well, HD is the best.” When they asked about Blu-ray players and DVDs and such, he said kept saying “Just get a Playstation 3,” even though they’d said they didn’t want that. When they started in on 1080p vs. 1080i vs. 720p, my head exploded.

Netflix is now saying that they’re going to raise the prices for Blu-ray subscriptions, which boggles the mind a bit. If you haven’t been living under a rock on an Amish farm somewhere, then you know that Blu-ray emerged triumphant over HD-DVD recently, paving the way to make things easier for consumers. Supposedly. Netflix themselves announced in February that they’d stop carrying the HD-DVD format, but this new price change is hard to comprehend.

Just how does Netflix decide that someone is a “Blu-ray subscriber?” Right now, you’re free to rent Blu-ray or regular DVDs from them, and it’s no secret that regular DVD has a much larger selection of titles than Blu-ray does, so won’t customers be renting from both camps? Even those with Blu-ray players? Or do you just rent one Blu-ray title, and then Netflix hits you with what amounts to a technology tax?

According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, since Blu-ray discs cost more money to purchase, they’re going to start charging a premium to accounts who rent Blu-ray discs. Now, I have to call shenanigans here. Yes, it’s true that those discs cost more, but we’re not talking an exorbitant amount here. Remember the good old days when video tapes used to be “rental priced”? Companies would charge $100 for a movie, so only video rental houses could afford it and then they’d make their money back by renting the same tape out 25 times or whatever.

Basically, with Netflix’s pricing plan, you rent a movie from them three times or so, and it’s paid for. All this harping about raising prices is just going to piss people off, and make it even more confusing to the end user who just wants to figure out which TV to get, which player to purchase, and what discs to rent from Netflix. If you throw one more monkey wrench into that already overbalanced machine, it’s going to blow up and kill the market with shrapnel.

Firefly Coming to Blu-ray?

Neil Miller — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:33:12 +0000

Yes, we are very aware that the clock has struck midnight here on the East Coast, meaning that the barrage of April Fool’s Day jokes has begun on the web, but this one you can take to the bank — we are not playing games here at Film School Rejects. We are not going to be telling you that Christian Bale has signed on for Justice League or that Jake Gyllenhaal is playing Spider-Man, we are actually going to be reporting the news that is, as far as we know, completely true.

This little tidbit comes to us from our most faithful spy, PatientZero, the humanoid who brought us the news about The Blob hitting the big screen in Wolverine. This time, he comes to us with news that will tickle the fancy of any Joss Whedon fan — and we know that there are a lot of you out there. Check it out:
——

Hello Rejects,

Got a little bit of news that might interest you and your readers so I figured I’d share again. Fan favorite and tragically canceled show “Firefly” will be getting the High Definition treatment! Now I’m personally a big fan of the series, so this is good news to me! “Firefly” will be hitting stores later this year (no idea on the exact date) in the Blu-Ray format. Of course everyone knows that “Firefly” was created by comic superstar Joss Whedon and was like a space-western show that spawned the movie “Serenity.” It’s criminal how little attention this show and movie got, so I feel the need to spread the word that Blu-Ray is coming! Support this series! I for one want more more more!

PatientZero.

———-

So there you have it — for anyone who was itching for a Blu-ray release of Firefly, you have some good news today. Of course, as you can see we have very limited details, so we don’t know the when part of the equation. Either way, it is coming, so be on the lookout.

American Gangster Tops the High-Def Disc Sales Chart

Bradley Kreft — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:01:51 +0000

Following the recent decision of Toshiba to end its support of HD DVD, the battle of the high-def formats has taken a considerable turn in Blu-ray’s favour. Yet Universal’s HD release of American Gangster has proved to be a plucky wee fighter in this fight for supremacy, blowing away its Blu-ray rivals in the sales charts.

American Gangster came out guns blazing in its first week, leading VideoScan’s Weekly High-Def Disc Sales Chart for the week ending 24 February. HighDefDigest reports that Ridley Scott’s crime epic, which was incidentally released on the same day as the Toshiba announcement, sold almost twice the amount of units as the leading Blu-ray runner Michael Clayton. Not bad for a format that looks to be on the decline.

However before you HD fans out there get too excited, it must be pointed out that the remaining nine titles on VideoScan’s chart were all Blu-ray releases. This just further emphasizes the well-known fact that Blu-ray is very much in control of the high-def market, despite the best efforts of American Gangster.

VideoScan’s complete list of the ten top-selling high-def releases for the week ending 24 February 2008:

1. American Gangster (HD DVD); INDEX: 100
2. Michael Clayton (Blu-ray); INDEX: 62.24
3. The Rock (Blu-ray); INDEX: 27.26
4. Cars (Blu-ray); INDEX: 26.18
5. We Own the Night (Blu-ray); INDEX: 24.29
6. Planet Earth (Blu-ray); INDEX: 22.69
7. Con Air (Blu-ray); INDEX: 21.37
8. Gone Baby Gone (Blu-ray); INDEX: 19.89
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Blu-ray); INDEX: 19.26
10. Crimson Tide (Blu-ray); INDEX: 18.28

Blu-ray Wins the Format War, But What Did It Really Win?

Brian C. Gibson — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:40:44 +0000

This is in response to AP writer Peter Svensson’s article on the death of HD-DVD.

When HD-DVD first released, it sounded like a logical step. Television had made the jump from standard definition and digital broadcasts, to high definition. So why wouldn’t DVD do the same? It would be another logical step for another company, say Sony, to step up and compete against this new format. So what we had now, was a war. There was a war between formats, reminiscent to the media war of Beta vs. VHS. So what is different between that much earlier war, and this most recent one? The first war gave a clear and concise conclusion, whereas this one still leaves consumers confused.

During the late 1970’s and the early 1980’s you could either watch TV or listen to records. The need for a recording media was there. You couldn’t go out and rent a movie, the technology wasn’t there yet. But along came Betamax and VHS. They both changed everything. Once you had the technology, there was nothing to go back to. When VHS prevailed, consumers had already agreed to the need of the idea of personal media and embraced it. It didn’t matter who won, because the consumer was who won in the end.

Another victory came right before Y2K. Now we had grown tired of the big, clunky tapes that needed to be rewound. VHS was the norm, and we were yet again faced with another change on the horizon. All types of disc formats were hitting shelves and sure enough, the smaller and most practical media won out. DVD was a logical step for us to take. We were promised better picture, digital audio, small media, no need to rewind and special features. We needed DVD, and we were winners once again.

Within the last two years though, we were faced with another decision: HD-DVD or Blu-Ray? What did they both have to offer other than better picture, better audio and more special features? A higher price-tag for the players and discs. It sounds like a logical step to take, but this one doesn’t change our lives that the past two have. From polls that I have seen, a large percentage of people don’t even realize that they are or aren’t watching High Definition. I know that at least my own parents can’t notice the difference between standard DVD and HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. So is upgrading really a necessary step to take?

What I’m trying to say is, that the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray was exactly that…a battle. It was a battle of two Davids, fighting for the right to take on their Goliath: Standard DVD. In short, Sony has won exclusive rights to take on a much larger media that has its grasp on nearly every home in the world. Consumers should have been happy that the format war is over right? Most should probably still be skeptical on making the jump. Blu-Ray beat HD-DVD, but can it beat DVD?

If you look at the best selling Blu-Ray Disc of 2007 (300, 472,400 units for the year), and compare it to the first week of release for a rather mediocre DVD (1408, 666,243 units in first week), it is easy to see which format has a stronger grasp on consumers. Sure, you can now argue that more and more people will be buying Blu-Ray players…but will it be the demographic that counts? The bread and butter for DVD is families, whereas the bread and butter for Blu-Ray is tech-20’s who usually are renters and not owners. Most renters will be watching movies in a central area, one room, on their home theater system. Most home-owning families watch their movies in several rooms. So when the newest Disney film releases on disc, will it be an advantage or disadvantage to have a disc that only works in a specified player in the house?

At the current price of Blu-Ray players, most families will not be running out to buy one. Those who do though, might be forced into buying more than one copy of a film so that it can be enjoyed in every room of the house. This is where HD-DVD had an advantage by developing combo-discs that contained both standard and HD versions of the films. In short, expect now to have an even bigger decision to make. First it was just HD vs. Blu-Ray. Now it is Blu-Ray vs. your entire collection. Only you, the consumer, can decide. Let’s hope we all make the right decision.

Sound Off: Are you more likely to by a Blu-ray player now, or just stick with standard DVD?

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