DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS
Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes I, II and III (20th Century Fox Home Ent.): All six Star Wars films are being released today on Blu-ray with both trilogies are being made available as individual box sets (around £33 each) as well as the Complete Saga (around £60). Despite the controversy over some alterations which George Lucas has made to the films, I would recommend getting the first trilogy, which is still a landmark in sci-fi filmmaking. [Buy it on Blu-ray] [More details here]
Sunrise (Eureka Entertainment): A re-release of tis F.W. Murnau’s landmark 1927 silent classic, features contains two versions of the film. The previously released Movietone version and an alternate version of the film, mastered from a high quality print found in the Czech Republic. The tale of tale of a married peasant couple (George O Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) was an important milestone of film expressionism and quickly became a classic. [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Renoir Collection (Studio Canal): A DVD set featuring six of the French director’s greatest films which includes: La Grande Illusion (1937), La Bete Humaine (1938), La Marsellaise (1938), Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier (1959), Dejeuner Sur Herbe (1959) and Le Caporal Epingle (1962). One of the pioneering directors in world cinema, his intricate mastery of the form led to him influencing a generation of directors including Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Orson Welles, Luchino Visconti and Satyajit Ray. [Buy the DVD]
Point Break (Warner Home Video): Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 action-thriller still holds up well, with the adrenaline-fuelled old school action seeming fresh in the current era of CGI overkill. When an FBI agent (Keanu Reeves) tries to infiltrate a group of surfers in order to solve a string of bank robberies, he’s drawn deep into the world of their charismatic leader (Patrick Swayze). [Buy it on Blu-ray / Buy the DVD]
Bobby Fischer Against the World (Dogwoof): Documentary about the rise and fall of the legendary American chess player and his 1972 match with Boris Spassky. Directed by Liz Garbus it explores Fischer’s rapid rise to national fame and the political significance of his clash with the Russian which attracted global media coverage as a proxy battle in the Cold War era. [Buy the DVD] [Interview with Liz Garbus]
N.B. Studio Canal are re-releasing a stream of Miramax titles but I’ll get into them in a separate post soon.
ALSO OUT
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Paramount Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray]
City of God (Miramax) [Blu-ray]
Emma (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Entourage: Season 7 (Warner Home Video/HBO) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Gone Baby Gone (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Heavenly Creatures (Peccadillo Pictures) [Blu-ray / Remastered]
How I Ended This Summer (New Wave Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Incendies (Trinity) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Insidious (Momentum Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Julia’s Eyes (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Mr. Nobody (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Shaolin (Cine-Asia) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Star Wars: The Complete Saga (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Box Set]
Take Me Home Tonight (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Aviator (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The English Patient (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Others (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Quiet American (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Roommate (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Talented Mr Ripley (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
True Grit (Paramount Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Vidal Sassoon – The Movie (Verve Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
> UK Cinema Releases for Friday 9th September 2011
> The Best DVD & Blu-ray releases of 2010
