The New DVD and Blu Thread

Post by **Ben** » November 22nd, 2011, 1:55 pm

Well...caved in on Jurassic's BD set, since Amazon's pre-Black Friday deals took it down to $29.99 (for the non-dino Trilogy box, which is all I was after anyway) and so even if the transfers are not all that, it became more worthwhile.

Also got my eye on a few more BF deals (as if I haven't spent enough on recent purchases already)...!

Post by **Randall** » November 22nd, 2011, 7:23 pm

I picked up the LOTR Extended Ed. BD, down to $49.99 this week at Amazon (there's an even better price at Amazon.ca, but I don't do bilingual packaging). Super 8 and Miracle on 34th Street got ordered at the same time. If they manage a Superman BD set sale next, I'll have caught up (the Superman set, however, is in all-English packaging here, so I could do an Amazon.ca purchase for that one).

Also picked up 3 Criterions from Barnes & Noble with their sale - Beauty and the Beast, Cronos, and Island of Lost Souls.

And... just checked my mail, and the Mysterious Island BD arrived! (Along with The Best Of Thunderbirds CD set.)

Post by **Dan** » November 23rd, 2011, 12:04 am

I have forgotten the massive amount of stuff I've picked up thanks to the B&N Criterion sale.

Post by **Ben** » November 23rd, 2011, 7:27 am

I have such a large B&N Criterion wish list it's crazy. Took advantage of some deals though and am VERY tempted to go for Lost Souls. Also tempted by LOTR but ultimately waiting for the all-in collection, like with Harry Potter.

Amazon do have the Star Trek movies box for $40 but I fear I really have spent too much this quarter. I'm near to saying to heck with it, but then there is the sale over at the Warner Archive too!

What to do, what to do...

Post by **Randall** » November 23rd, 2011, 8:30 am

Amazon.ca has Citizen Kane UCE for under $30 today, so I snapped that up. Also got a few more BDs from Amazon.com last night, due to crazy sales--- Robots, The Island, Mimic Director's Cut, Amerian Graphitti.

Thinkin' I've gotta stop now... unless that Superman set goes on sale.

Post by **droosan** » November 24th, 2011, 2:49 am

I just traded-in my various random 'Casper the Friendly Ghost' DVDs, and bought the new Casper the Friendly Ghost: The Complete Collection, 1945-1963 3-disc boxed set from Shout Factory to replace them.

I also traded-in my various random 'UnderDog' DVDs, in anticipation of the UnderDog: The Complete TV Series DVD boxed set coming early next year.

Last week, I purchased a DVD collecting several episodes of The Mighty Hercules (hero of song and story, Hercules, winner of ancient glory -- fighting for the right, fighting with his might -- with the strength of ten ordinary men ..)

And on the Blu-ray front, I scooped-up The Cannonball Run .. one of my favorite 'casual viewing' movies, which I often play in the background whenever I'm in a silly mood. Only, now I can casually watch it in 1080p

Post by **EricJ** » November 24th, 2011, 4:30 am

Through a spartan campaign of trading in old Amazon DVD's, collecting old soda bottles (and turning the change into Amazon GC's at the Coinstar), and a lot of patience, saved up all fall to get the Blu-rays of Looney Toons Vol. 1 and Giorgio Moroder's Metropolis essentially free, and still have enough of my own resources left to pick up Harry Potter/Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 - 3D at Best Buy before the moratorium hits. (Never got around to seeing either of them in theaters, and the last-minute made-for-disk 3D on Pt. 1 was even worse than the movie itself.)

...Yep, I'm kicking back over the holidays.

Post by **Ben** » November 25th, 2011, 10:10 am

Well that sorted things out for me: B&N's Criterion sale is over, so I'll wait until next spring before I get Lost Souls and three or four others. Their Black Friday deals don't hold anything for me, so that's a bonus.

At the Warner Archive I did end up thinking to heck with it and went for their 5-for-$50 deal, which I think we're obliged to considering how expensive they are usually. Although I could have gone for a second order, I limited myself to some classic comedy: Hollywood Party, Clarence The Cross-Eyed Lion, and this month's three early Buster Keaton talkies.

Over at Amazon, the Star Trek movies kept calling me, and instead of a second WB order I figured I could go for them instead, but we just don't know if the director's/extended cuts might be around the corner for the next Star Trek (II) movie so I'm going to hold off there, which is very good for me, trust me.

Time to stop now...

Post by **droosan** » November 27th, 2011, 1:52 am

So, the day after I switch to a Christmas with the Chipmunks avatar -- BAM!! I find Christmas with the Chipmunks on DVD .. for US$7.99 ..!

So, I'm thinkin' maybe my next avatar should be Quickdraw McGraw ..

Post by **Ben** » November 27th, 2011, 4:22 am

Or Bre'r Rabbit!

Post by **Ben** » December 3rd, 2011, 6:02 am

Referring back to an earlier point about how cheap some catalog BDs have been getting, it's especially nice to see them coming out with nice bonus features to boot. Three Amigos!, for only $15, has a new restoration and 20 minutes of deleted scenes according to director John Landis:

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/blu-ra ... -ray-25678

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » December 20th, 2011, 9:50 am

Ben wrote: Over at Amazon, the Star Trek movies kept calling me, and instead of a second WB order I figured I could go for them instead, but we just don't know if the director's/extended cuts might be around the corner for the next Star Trek (II) movie so I'm going to hold off there, which is very good for me, trust me.

Time to stop now...

I'm counting on better editions of the original Trek films around the corner.

I just can't justify a purchase to myself when they all need some major clean-up and the only one that Paramount bothered to clean was "Wrath of Khan"... (Paramount once again proves to cheesy and cheap on Trek releases!) Might as well just stick to the previous Collector's Series DVD's if they're going to be that cheap with the movies ! I mean, for goodness' sake, the Original TV Series is in far better condition than the video releases of at least 4 of the original cast films!

*****************

Next year is otherwise shaping up to be an excellent year to be a Blu ray collector.

There's tons more classic films being released on the format. We're finally seeing a decent amount of Hitchcock being released to Blu ray. Many of these releases are 30s/40s films that have fallen into public domain but it looks like we're getting excellent studio prints on Blu ray.

On another front, there are some "Titanic" Blu rays coming out as well. Besides the 1997 film, "A Night to Remember" (1958) and the first 20th Century Fox Titanic release, "Titanic" (1953), are getting confirmed Blu ray releases. I never got the latter film on DVD but it's sorta worth a dip. "A Night to Remember" is probably the best docu-style and to more than a few fans of disaster films still the best treatment of the story.... I don't think the Cameron film is aging that well.

****************

On the anime front, there's been a number of excellent films already announced. There's a trilogy of features based on a series of novels called "Mardock Scramble". The first film has already been released on DVD in the Statues but will get a Blu ray release early next year (first quarter). This series is one that I'm looking forward to.

In addition, the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series has already been re-released (half of it) in bilingual/hybrid unedited format! Far superior release this time with the original Japanese audio in addition to the English dub. The second part of the series should be released some time in the next year.

We'll probably see at least two more Studio Ghibli films hit Blu ray, too. "Tales from Undersea" and "Howl's Moving Castle" have been released this year on BD in Japan. Following the trend of past release cycles, we'll probably see American releases as early as next summer/latest in the fall.

I'd certainly wait for the US anime BD releases as they're happening. The yen-to-dollar ratio is in the worst shape its been in since as long as I can remember. Everything on 5-inch disc (audio CD, DVD, Blu ray, games, etc.) is ridiculously expensive now! The upcheck in prices has been as much as $20-$30 more per disc since the value of the dollar crashed...

Post by **EricJ** » December 20th, 2011, 1:31 pm

("Tales from Undersea"?...Great, now he's got me picturing Sebastian the Crab in a Ghibli film.)

Reportedly, we're planning to get a bigger repackaging of the Disney Ghibli DVD's in time for "Arietty"'s wide release, although as for which ONE, if any, goes to Blu, remains to be seen.

Post by **Whippet Angel** » December 29th, 2011, 12:36 pm

*JUST now discovered that the Moroder version of Metropolis has been reissued on blu*

OMG OMG OMG!!!! I so totally want that!!!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » March 15th, 2012, 1:30 am

IT'S A TITANIC YEAR!!!!

Yeah, the big one coming up is still the Paramount home video release of the 1997 Cameron movie. Should be out with the 3D version after that runs its paces in theaters shortly. NOTE that I am discussing mostly Blu ray releases but there will be DVD releases paired for the older releases, too.

First up, though, is the 1953 Cliffton Webb/Barbara Stanwyck movie, titled "Titanic" (1953, also a Fox release -- wow they're creative with titles!). That release supposed to be April 3rd -- 7 days before the maiden departure! (I missed this one on DVD even though it was available for years... will probably snatch this disc up since it's the first Hollywood spectacle-worthy version of the story. I still prefer "A Night To Remember," though.)

Up next, but date not announced, will probably be the best documentary-style version of the story, "A Night To Remember." Criterion's doing this one so it will probably port over the old DVD extras plus introduce some new. Walter Lord has been dead about 10 years now so I would be surprised if there isn't a tribute to the author of the book the film's based on.

I can't imagine that the new Euro-mini TV series about Titanic (2012) will not end up on home video this year, either.

Fair chance that we will see other Titanic movie releases (on BD) including (most likely) the 1943 German propaganda version, 1929's Atlantic, the first talking picture version of the story, and possibly a hi-def master of the recently discovered silent German version of the Titanic released within 2 years of the disaster.

Raise the Titanic (1980) has become alternate reality fantasy since 1985 and even the late Lord Lew Grade wanted to forget about it! Chances are still good that a restored copy will hit Blu ray in at least Europe. The United States? I kinda doubt it!

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