Warner to open vault, release on demand DVDs
March 23, 2009 at 9:55 pm | Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray | Leave a commentTags: Beatty, Grant
Warner Brothers is finally going ahead with a project that some studios (Sony most prominently, I believe) have talked about for a long while. WB is going to produce rare films that are not available on DVD on a sale-by-sale basis.
The time from purchase to shipment is roughly a week. Warner Bros. just released the first 150 titles (including films starring Cary Grant and Warren Beatty) in the experiment, ranging in years from 1923 to 1986. They will add roughly 20 films to the collection a month, and representatives say that their goal is to get their entire film library (some 6,800 movies) up there.
The first 150 titles are available at the Warner Archive and run for $19.95. Discount code XB392 will get you 25% off.
Criterion to release Benjamin Button?
March 19, 2009 at 8:55 am | Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Movies | Leave a commentTags: Anderson, Benjamin Button, Criterion, Life Aquatic
According to Reuters, Criterion will be releasing the two-disc edition of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Criterion is best known for releasing the definitive (although sometimes only) home video releases of important classic and foreign films, though they sometimes dabble in contemporary cinema. I believe this will be the first current film that they release as the first home video version since Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou in 2005.
Official word is expected today.
It’s definitely a surprising choice, but Benjamin Button is definitely due some awesome special features, and Criterion can deliver those.
Obama gives the gift of movies
March 16, 2009 at 4:06 pm | Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Movies | Leave a commentTags: Obama
The British tabloids (which are generally worse than their American counterparts) did a little freak-out last week when in a diplomatic visit, Pres. Obama gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a box set of 25 classic American films.
Now of course I’m biased, but I’d rather have some great movies rather than another watch (how many do you think Brown already has?).
The set was created by the American Film Institute as a special request from the White House. The 25 films were the top 25 movies on AFI’s top 100 American movies list from last year. Brown received:
1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin’ in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18. The General
19. On the Waterfront
20. It’s a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown
22. Some Like It Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
25. To Kill a Mockingbird
It’s a pretty indisputably great list of films (even if there’s a couple I don’t personally care for), and a good overview of about 65 years of American film. By my count, the earliest is Buster Keaton’s The General (1927), and the most recent would be Schindler’s List (1993).
HUGE week for DVD/Blu-Ray releases
March 10, 2009 at 9:11 pm | Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Movies | Leave a commentTags: Brokeback, Happy-Go-Lucky, Let the Right One In, Milk, Pinocchio, Rachel Getting Married, Synecdoche
You can read my full article on The Brick but it’s a huge day for DVD and Blu-Ray releases.
Some of my personal favorites on the docket today:
Happy-Go-Lucky (DVD only)
Milk
Pinocchio Platinum Edition
Synecdoche, New York
Other important releases…
Brokeback Mountain (Blu-Ray)
Let the Right One in
Rachel Getting Married
Some great classics making their way to Blu-Ray
February 17, 2009 at 10:50 pm | Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Movies | Leave a commentThere’s a great interview on High-Def Digest with George Feltenstein of Warner Home Videos.
Here are some movies that we shall see making their way to Blu-Ray within the next few years. They’re all pretty much must-own films for me.
Gone with the Wind – 2009
The Wizard of Oz – 2009
North by Northwest – 2009
Top Hat – 2010
A Star is Born – 2010
Citizen Kane – 2011
2-3 years down the road…
Singin’ in the Rain
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Music Man
Doctor Zhivago
The article itself is a great read. For instance, you learn that Feltenstein was actually shocked by how dirty the floors were that Astaire and Rogers danced on in Top Hat, and you’ll fully be able to see the dirt on the Blu-Ray release. Now that is good image quality!
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