- The Incredibles
- The Exorcist
- The Minority Report
- Dr. Strangelove
- Braveheart
- Aliens
- True Lies
- Star Wars
- South Park
- Escape from New York
So how has the past Quarter treated me?
- The Incredibles (No word on a release Date)
- The Exorcist (No word on a release Date)
- The Minority Report (No word on a release Date)
- Dr. Strangelove (Just released yesterday)
- Braveheart (No word on a release Date)
- Aliens (No word on a release Date)
- True Lies (No word on a release Date)
- Star Wars (No word on a release Date)
- South Park (No word on a release Date)
- Escape from New York (There is such a thing in Australia)
So, some of the most entertaining movies of all time continue to languish on the shelf whilst abosolute shit like Anaconda, Dark Blue, Fletch, Baby on Board, Norbit, Rockers, and Friday the 13th get a Blu-Ray release this very month of June 2009.
Sometimes you just gotta wonder. Just what the hell is the prioritization system like in Hollywood. How the hell do you make up your mind about what to release? Is it just the crap that the studios own? Are we lacking The Minority Report and The Incredibles because the respective authors of the works have too many points of residual income?
I think that is how it works. Absolute stink-o, stenchy, wet, running, fly-swarmed doggy caca like the 4th sequel to The Planet of the Apes can already be found on Blu-Ray on the shelf at Frys. The reason is that Fox owns all the points on that product. Every last penny is pure profit for the corp. Big or small, they get it all. I just want you corporate suits to know this: You suck. I hate you, and not because your beautiful.
Just why is George Lucas lollygaging about an HD release anyhow? His stuff has been in HD release on the cable channels for more than 2 years now. I have seen the high-def implementation of The Minority Report on TNT and it looks terrific. Just pop in on a Blu-Ray, why won't you? I would have traded Star Trek 1 and Star Trek 5 for Braveheart and True Lies, wouldn't you?
Dr. Strangelove arrives
With some joy and some trepedation, I read that Dr. Strangelove was released just yesterday. Don't ask me how they managed to ambush me with this one. I must have been busy. I am glad to see this movie released. The early reviews are mixed. Some love the transfer and audio quality. Some don't. The original had a mono soundtrack, just like Dirty Harry. Now the Blu-Ray has been give a lush 5.1 surround mix. Some love it. Others are acting as if the tribal gods have been offended.
One reviewer praised the graininess of the black and white transfer. He said it is very film-like. Others express disapointment that the studio did not do a better job cleaning the 4K transfer. The good news is that there was a 4K transfer. I promised to deal with 4K, and I haven't forgotten that promise.
A blanced reading of these reviews would suggest the following:
- This is the best release of Dr. Strangelove ever
- It completely avoids the ghastly & dastardly errors of past DVD and VHS editions.
- There are deep-nasty visual blems in the old print. Those have not been entirely scrubbed out by our fully-modern visual effects firms. Expect blems.
- The audio is good. Better than ever. It is not what Kubrick intended, but he would not be offended.
Anyhow, Hollywood needs to go to work. Spare us some of the recently released rubbish. Spare us the Woodstock rubbish. Spare us some of those dastardly 4th and 5th rancid sequels. Release some of the great stuff from the past.
