DISC JUST IN for 3/10/09

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Here’s a look at the latest DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases:

BLU-RAY DISC:
Batman Anthology 1989-1997 (Warner)
Battle in Seattle (Universal)
Brokeback Mountain (Universal)
Cadillac Records (Sony)
Let the Right One In (Magnolia)
Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels (E1)
Milk (Universal)
Pinocchio (Disney)
Primal Fear (Paramount)
Rachel Getting Married (Sony)
Role Models (Universal)
South Park: Season 12 (Paramount)
Synecdoche New York (Sony)
Transporter 3 (Lionsgate)

DVD:
Battle in Seattle (Universal)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Miramax)
Cadillac Records (Sony)
Escape to Witch Mountain (Disney)
Happy-Go-Lucky (Miramax)
Howard the Duck (Universal)
Let the Right One In (Magnolia)
Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels (E1)
Milk (Universal)
Pinocchio (Disney)
Rachel Getting Married (Sony)
Return from Witch Mountain (Disney)
Role Models (Universal)
South Park: Season 12 (Paramount)
Synecdoche New York (Sony)
Transporter 3 (Lionsgate)

TV-on-DVD:
Caroline in the City: Season 2 (Paramount)
Family Ties: Season 5 (Paramount)
Get Smart: Season 2 (HBO)
The Starter Wife: Season 1 (Universal)
Woody Woodpecker Favorites (Universal)

HIGHLIGHTS:

Talk about an embarassment of riches! This week saw an eclectic mix of new and old greats arrive on everyone’s favorite high definition format. So let’s get to it:

Batman – Warner Bros. brings the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Batman films to Blu-ray and Batfans will be pleased. Unfortunately, film quality and technical quality are inversely proportional with this foursome. Tim Burton’s aging Batman is the best of the bunch, but it also sees the least improvement in the transition to Blu-ray. Conversely, the abysmal Batman & Robin sports eye-popping 1080p  video and a dynamic Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. Warner packs a plethora of standard defintition bonus material into this box set but the $129 price tag seems steep considering two of the four films are utter codswallop. (Not to be confused with "codpiece" which, sadly, is also relevant.)

Cadillac Records – Records tells the story of Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) and Chess Records – home to some of the biggest recording artists of the 1950′s and 60′s including Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer) and Etta James (Beyonce Knowles.) Sony brings Records to Blu-ray with Dolby TrueHD audio and exclusive features such as "The Chess Record Player," which lets you create and share a custom playlist of music from the film.

Let the Right One In – It looks like I need to add a third item to my list of "Reasons To Love Sweden" – after Volvos and Swedish Fish. (Sorry, I’m not a fan of IKEA.) Based on the novel of the same name, this slow and atmospheric picture is a surprisingly original and innovative twist on the now long-in-the-tooth vampire genre. (Pardon the pun.) Chilling and creepy without ever being "scary," appropriately bloody without ever resorting to gratuitous gore, LTROI should be seen by all Hollywood producers. ("Wait, are you saying our audience will know when to feel scared WITHOUT music cues?") A dubbed english soundtrack is available on this Magnolia Blu-ray, but purists will want to stick with the native Swedish 5.1 and flip on the English subtitles.

Gulliver’s Travels – The 1939 Max Fleischer cartoon classic comes to high definition. In widescreen!  Huh?  You read that right – the film is presented in a screen-filling 1.78:1 aspect ratio. According to the liner notes inside the package, the remastering process "was done frame by frame without stretching characters or losing any image beyond standard safe areas." How this was possible with a 1.37:1 original image is something of a mystery to yours truly, but the image does not appear to be distorted, at least not to my eyes. I was rather wee the last time I saw the film so I don’t have a good frame of reference for comparisons. That said, the original aspect ratio purist in me DOES have a problem with reshaping old movies simply because we can. And if you’re going to do it, don’t just replace the original – offer it as a second viewing option. Rent first and see what you think.

Milk - Witness the latest transformation of Oscar winner Sean Penn. Universal brings the story of Harvey Milk to Blu-ray in fine fashion with strong 1080p video, lossless DTS-HD audio and a trio of HD featurettes. Highly recommended.

Primal Fear – Although I’m not crazy about the new cover art, Paramount has put together a great package for the film that introduced us to Edward Norton. In addition to an impressive 1080p presentation, we get a director/writer commentary plus three featurettes on the film, all presented in high definition. Now thirteen years old, Primal Fear continues to hold up well.

Rachel Getting Married – If you can get past the angsty melodrama, you’ll be treated to a superb performance from Anne Hathaway. Sony brings the Oscar-nominated film to Blu-ray under their Sony Pictures Classics banner, supplementing a solid technical presentation with deleted scenes, making-of featurettes and a pair of audio commentaries.

Role Models – I wrestled between this and Pinocchio as my Pick of the Week. In the end, I had to give it to the little wooden boy on account of Disney’s laudable ‘Blu-ray and DVD together in one box’ release – but Role Models is definitely going to get more play in my house. Funny, sweet and now with more Paul Rudd in every bite, Role Models is a surprisingly entertaining comedy with a high degree of rewatchability. Universal’s unrated Blu-ray edition contains the theatrical version as well and sports bonus features aplenty. The 1080p image looks great and the lossless DTS-HD soundtrack rocks harder than a KISS concert. Highly recommended.

Transporter 3 – Jason Statham’s Transporter series continues to entertain, but I still don’t understand why he ditched his Bimmer for an Audi. Transporter 3 is a step up from Transporter 2, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the fun of the original. Maybe it’s the car. Transport nitpicks aside, Lionsgate’s Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic.

Greg’s Pick of the Week:

Pinocchio (Blu-ray)
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment| Rated G | 88 minutes | $35.99

He’s not a puppet, he’s a real boy! It’s hard to believe but Pinocchio and Geppetto are celebrating their 70th anniversary with this glorious Platinum Edition Blu-ray Disc from the folks at Disney. The results of the restoration work that clearly went into this release are nothing short of astonishing. However, the flip side of that coin is that by making it look as-good-as-new, Disney has in some ways reduced the nostalgic appeal of watching a 70-year-old film. There’s no way this filck looks that old! Still, don’t get me wrong – Pinocchio has never looked better and this disc is the perfect opportunity to introduce a brand new generation to the wonders of old school animation.

Unlike Gulliver (above), Disney has maintained the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio for Pinocchio. And one really slick feature on the Blu-ray is a mode called "DisneyView" which allows you to watch the film inside a hand-painted, 1.78:1 picture frame. The framing changes depending on the scene and it’s really a unique and innovative touch. Thankfully, it can also be disabled.

Extras abound on this Platinum Editon release, but the best feature here is actually quite simple – the inclusion of a standard DVD of the film. Like Disney did with their Sleeping Beauty release last year, the Pinnochio Blu-ray edition gives you a bonus copy of the film on standard DVD. This means you won’t be tethered to your Blu-ray player if you feel like watching the movie. I blogged about this just recently and I once again applaud Disney for starting this long-overdue trend.

EVALUATION SYSTEM:
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 projector
Carada Masquerade screen system (92")
Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-ray Disc player
Oppo DV-983H DVD player
Onkyo TX-SR805 A/V receiver
Definitive Technology ProCinema 1000 speakers
Datacolor SpyderTV PRO 2007 video calibration
Monster Power HTS5100 power center
BetterCables interconnects
UltraLink speaker wire