Wow, I can’t believe that July is pretty much done, and summer is practically over already. Since the year is already half way done I thought this would be a good time to stop and take stock in what DVD’s make the cut that I have reviewed over the last seven months or so. Mind you, its not based on the entire catalog of every single DVD that was made this year, just the ones I got a chance to take. Remember as well these are DVD’s, not Blu-ray movies, I’m hoping to rectify that soon too. Yes I know, another list but I like em so too bad! So with out delay, my picks of the best DVD’s.
Ok so normally I try not to write anything about current films playing at the local cinema, but I will have to make an exception here. Being the comic book geek/ movie dweeb that I am I finally checked out the latest Batman flick. Its funny too, as I have seen more movies this summer in the theater than I have in the past three years combined. Hey, I like being at home what can I say. I loved the first installment of this reinvigorated franchise and the hype surrounding this movie made me want to see it even more. I’m happy to report the hype and expectations were not overblown. Finally! An anticipated film delivers what’s promised and takes it even further. I’ve had my share of blown expectations (That Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Indy flick needs to be recalled) Its dark, gritty, its the Batman we’ve always wanted and more.
Blu-ray stomped HD DVD to become the standard format for high-definition movie discs, but years may pass before it can claim victory over the good old DVD. Its been only roughly 4 months into a pure Blu-ray world, but nobody is jumping on this format. I think its a combination of factors creating the perfect storm, from an immature technology standard, still high player and software prices, consumer apathy and confusion, to a poor economy giving people pause in their spending habits. Hopefully by the 2008 holiday season we will see a sub $200 Blu-ray player, if not then I think this format will likely be ignored and sent off to the technology dustbin of has beens. Heck even I have been really hesitant to get one, I cannot justify the expense for a marginal leap in quality, although the list of new titles coming soon is certainly appealing to me.
Just saw this via Twitter referencing this story, Paramount is finally releasing some Blu-Ray titles on May 20th. First out of the gate are,’ ‘Face/Off,’ ‘Next,’ ‘Bee Movie,’ and ‘There Will Be Blood.’ followed up by The Spiderwick Chronicles on June 24th. Now we can all sigh collectively as the format war is officially over, as Universal also recently released its own list of titles to come to Blu as well.
I know this may be a bit off topic for this web site, but I found it to be a nice chuckle. I have never seen a film made by this man nor do I ever intend to. The boys over at Fearnet asked master schlock film maker Uwe Boll what it would take for him to leave the room permanently. You know, the guy behind such cinematic masterpieces like Alone In The Dark, House Of The Dead, Bloodrayne and others. The relevant quote from the interview:
Well, I suppose this isn’t a huge surprise, but according to /Film, Warner Bros. is going to absorb the studio into its operations and make it just a business unit. They were always tied at the hip, but I guess after a string of failures (The Golden Compass anyone?) at the box office something had to give. Co-CEo’s Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne will be stepping down as studio chiefs and the back office will be consolidated with Warners. Well, at least now they can concentrate on making better products like *cough* The Hobbit *cough* perhaps? It actually kind of saddens me, they did take some huge gambles in the past with films like Lord Of The Rings and the like. I suppose their luck ran out.
Posted on Engadget today, and various other internet sources..Japan’s NHK has followed up The Hollywood Reporter’s earlier indications Toshiba was ready to dump its money-losing HD DVD business, with news that the company is prepared to cease manufacturing software and hardware, at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. This caps the worst week ever for red, when HD DVD was dumped by Netflix and Wal-mart. Well now, this was surprisingly quick. Finally!
Fresh from getting its arse kicked by Blu-ray last month, the hits still keep on coming. DVD rental service Netflix has just announced that it will no longer stock HD-DVD’s in its lineup. “Netflix said that with such a clear signal from the industry, it will only buy Blu-ray discs going forward and will phase out stock of HD DVD by about the end of the year.” Ouch. That’s one way to close the gates on some one, limit the choices at the store level! Hmmm, this thing may be over sooner rather than later. Look at all those cheap HD-DVD players out there. Sorry guys, ain’t gonna happen.
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