The New DVD and Blu Thread

[American_dog_2008]

New Moomin movie with songs by Bjork.

http://www.gucca.dk/dvd-film/mumitrolde ... 128506.php

[Vernadyn]

Just picked up Social Network and Let Me In. I heaven't seen the former, despite being a Fincher fan, so looking forward to it. About the latter, it's strange... the more times I watch it, the more disappointed I am that some of the relationship scenes aren't longer or more fleshed out (not to mention the cheesy looking CG attack scenes). On the other hand, I become more and more impressed with Giacchino's score and the superb acting of the two kids. Kodi really surprised me, and Chloe is definitely going to make it big (or at least she deserves to--we all know how capricious Hollywood can be.)

As for upcoming releases, I'm already looking forward to Tangled.

[droosan]

Just got Stoked: Season 1 in the mail. This DVD set is only available from Canadian retailers (I purchased mine from Amazon.ca) .. it will not be in U.S. stores.

Gotta admit, it took a while for me to 'warm up' to the show on Cartoon Network .. but that was somewhat due to its haphazard broadcast schedule; even though it generally followed Total Drama, it would just as often be 'pre-empted' by some other series .. and its episodes were seldom re-aired. But (of course!) once I did fall for Stoked's charms .. CN quietly dropped the series from its line-up, entirely.

Stoked is currently well into its second season on Canada's Teletoon channel .. but in the meantime, stateside fans of the show have been out-of-luck.

This 3-DVD set collects all 26 episodes from the first season (including several that CN never aired). Nothing much in the way of bonus features .. but it's nice to finally be able to enjoy the series at my convenience..!

The production design on Stoked is absolutely gorgeous. The characters are great fun, and the stories have a nice mix of silliness and verisimilitude (anyone who has ever worked in the service industry will find themselves cringing in recognition from time to time).

And here's the opening title, which I'm linking because it's just incredibly awesome (among my recent favorites, for sure!) ..



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Important Addendum: just thought I'd add that this DVD set is not anamorphic; IOW, it is presented in a 4:3 aspect which is 'letterboxed' for 16:9. So, if you're watching these DVDs on a widescreen TV (as most folks by now perhaps would), there will be black bars on all four sides of the picture.

As 'Bummer' might say: "That's a strike!!"

However, I'm still thoroughly enjoying this DVD set, otherwise (just starting the second disc, tonight).

[Randall]

That does look nice. Funny, I've never seen the show before. I guess my kids moved away from Teletoon once we got the Family Channel, which is basically Disney Canada. Now, I'm exposed more to Hannah Montanna and Suite Life on Deck. Myself, I rarely watch shows as they're broadcast, usually catching up on DVD instead.

Speaking of, I just picked up some stuff on sale, like Fringe S1, and all the Torchwood sets on Blu-ray, blind buys all. Also, Secret of Kells, Mary and Max, and Doctor Zhivago. From eBay, I used my paypal balance to snag some Hammer double features that I didn't have, plus the recalled When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth/Moon Zero Two double from Amazon Marketplace, as I finally found someone selling it for well under a hundred bucks. Oh, and I got the Incredible Hulk complete series for $41--- great price on Amazon last week.

[American_dog_2008]

The Greek Oscar nom Dogtooth will be avialable on Blu Ray at the end of this month.

[GeorgeC]

American Graffiti is hitting Blu ray in May....

From the Digital Bits (yesterday): "In announcement news today, here's some great news: Universal has just set an American Graffiti: Special Edition for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/31. "

American Graffiti is significant since it was George Lucas' second theatrical film (THX-1338 preceded it) and probably the "most human" he directed. In addition to being pre-Star Wars, it featured the first wide exposure (but not necessarily the first films) of Harrison Ford, Ron Howard (as an adult), Cyndi Williams, Suzanne Summers ("Three's Company"), and Mackenzie Philips.

Graffiti has been considered one of the more profitable studio films released theatrically. Total production costs were well under $500,000 and it grossed in the neighborhood of $100million in the first decade of its existence. It also featured a nice mix of 1950s rock 'n roll and a cameo apperance by the late DJ Wolfman Jack.

I've never sat through the whole thing when it ran on TV on AMC and other channels but the BD might be interesting.

Universal gave Lucas a shot when they financed and distributed American Graffiti. They missed the chance of a decade when they turned down his Star Wars spec script! Months later, and after visiting the other studios, Lucas received funding from 20th Century Fox largely on the basis of pre-production paintings done by Ralph McQuarrie. He was also championed by then-Fox chairman, Alan Ladd, Jr., who was intrigued by the Star Wars concept...

[Randall]

I've been itching to see AG again since reading the Lucas book Skywalking a few years ago. That book gave me a real appreciation of what Lucas was going for, as it was a really personal film for him. I've held out on getting the DVD, waiting for a Blu-ray announcemnt, so this'll go on my wish list for sure.

[GeorgeC]

Being released tomorrow --

Tales from Undersea (Ghibi, DVD-only) -- flawed adaptation of Ursula le Guin's Earthsea saga directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayoa...;

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (BD + DVD combo pack) -- the latest Ghibli re-release by Disney in the Blu ray format... Look forward to at least another Ghibli Blu ray release in the US by the end of the year; most likely Castle in the Sky will be the next US Ghibli BD release; kinda doubt we'll see My Neighbors the Yamadas hit BD, too, in the US, but Disney still surprises occasionally;

and, finally(!) the BD release of John Boorman's classic, Excalibur.

Bad news on the Excalibur BD. No new extras. Same commentary audio track and the trailer as with the previous DVD release. Same video master as the HD-DVD release several years back so it's a noticeable video upgrade over the DVD.

Excalibur and the two anime releases are definitely in my future "must-buy" list...

[EricJ]

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (BD + DVD combo pack) -- the latest Ghibli re-release by Disney in the Blu ray format... Look forward to at least another Ghibli Blu ray release in the US by the end of the year; most likely Castle in the Sky will be the next US Ghibli BD release; kinda doubt we'll see My Neighbors the Yamadas hit BD, too, in the US,

Um, probably because DisneyUS has to follow after the Japanese releases for studio-embargo reasons, and Japan seems to be following chronological order?
Which means that Castle will probably be next, and if we see MNtY, it won't be for four or five more releases.

(Yes, we know the point you were trying to make, but....you're George and I'm me.)

[droosan]

Both Castle in the Sky: Laputa and My Neighbors, the Yamadas were released on Blu-ray in Japan this past December.

Plus which, Ponyo's been on BD in both Japan and the US for over a year, now.

[Whippet Angel]

Grr... I really want Nausicaa, but I'm trying not to spend a lot of money, and I just got Bambi this week (I kinda felt obligated to, as it's my favorite traditionally animated film of all time).

On a related note, I finally caught Castle of Cagliostro on netflix this weekend, and really enjoyed it. I'm not familiar with the Lupin III characters, but I still found it to be an enjoyable film, with a bit of a "victorian romance" vibe to it. I'll likely get it when it comes on blu.

[GeorgeC]

I really only expect Castle in the Sky (not named Laputa for Spanish translation reasons in the US) to show up on BD later this year in the US.

I don't think Yamadas did that well on DVD in the US in the first place. It's probably not even that popular in Japan, either. Doubt Disney will do a domestic BD release of Yamadas. <SIGH> Add that next to a couple of other films I'll have to import on BD later.

There really doesn't seem to be much rhyme-and-reason to the BD releases of Ghibli films in Japan other than that they're releasing back-catalog films maybe 2-3 per year as they restore and remaster them for hi-def. Really, if they did these things by chronological release, Totoro should have been released on BD in Japan by now, too.

The main reason for the US delays is reverse-importation... by Japanese fans. The films on BD are 60% cheaper in the US and even economy air mail doesn't cost much that much for DVD's/BD's. The hardcore Japanese video collectors would obviously go after the US releases (if they were released same street date with the Japanese BDs) that are only different with regards to US-specific promos (maybe the John Lasseter "I'm best buddies with Hayao" video that introduces all the Ghibi films on home video in the US) and the English-subs for the Japanese language-only extras.

Heh.... "Best buddies with Hayao."

You think the translators aren't telling Mr. Lasseter what Mr. Hiyazaki really thinks about a lot of things???? Miyazaki is supposedly a world-class grump!

[droosan]

Whippett, The Castle of Cagliostro is already available on Blu-ray in Japan .. and it even includes the Streamline Pictures' english voice-track! Japan and North America also share the same Region encoding for Blu -- so it plays flawlessly, with no 'hardware hoops' required..!

As GeorgeC notes, though, it'll likely be available at a much cheaper price, once it sees a stateside release (the trouble with that being: who knows when that might be?).

Japanese Blu-ray titles still average ~US$70 for feature-length movies, ATM. And, of course, that's before shipment charges. So, if you're on a budget .. yeah.

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But, yes .. Cagliostro is a fantastically-fun adventure flick..!

[EricJ]

Whippett, The Castle of Cagliostro is already available on Blu-ray in Japan .. and it even includes the Streamline Pictures' english voice-track! Japan and North America also share the same Region encoding for Blu -- so it plays flawlessly, with no 'hardware hoops' required..!
As GeorgeC notes, though, it'll likely be available at a much cheaper price, once it sees a stateside release (the trouble with that being: who knows when that might be?)

It's Manga US's one other claim to fame (besides the Ghost/Shell TV series), so fans are expecting it to come to Blu as soon as Manga dips more toes in the water. Whenever that might be.

And of course, the Lupin III TV series already aired on Cartoon Network, with a hideous CN-style dub. (Although the series was more in the original martini-hero comic-book style, and less in the Miyazaki--In fact, the Japanese were disappointed in Cagliostro for turning the characters too "cuddly".) But at least it got the first third-half of the series on Geneon disk with the original subs, for those who want to Netflix.

[Whippet Angel]

Heh, I was intrigued enough to netflix the first disc of the series, so we'll see how that goes.

Hey Ben, nice review on Bambi btw. There's only one thing that I totally disagreed with you on. I've never considered the interlude for I Bring You a Song to be too long, or drawn out. That's probably my favorite scene in the whole film!