DISC JUST IN for 10/6/09

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Here’s a look at the hottest new DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases for the week of October 6, 2009:

BLU-RAY MOVIES
Audition (Shout! Factory)
The Children (Lionsgate)
Contact (Warner)
Dinosaurs Alive! (Image)
Ghost Ship (Warner)
Horton Hears a Who! (Warner)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1965) (Warner)
Imagine That (Paramount)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Sony)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) (Fox)
Miracle on 34th Street (1994) (Fox)
My Life in Ruins (Fox)
Not Forgotten (Anchor Bay)
The Number 23 (New Line/Warner)
Offspring (Lionsgate)
Seventh Moon (Lionsgate)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney)
The Thaw (Lionsgate)
Trick r’ Treat (Warner)
Wolf (Sony)
Wolf/Dracula/Frankenstein Collection (Sony)
Year One (Sony)

DVD MOVIES
Anvil: The Story of Anvil (VH1 Films)
Assassination of a High School President (Sony)
Audition: Special Edition (Shout! Factory)
The Children (Lionsgate)
Children of the Corn (2009) (Anchor Bay)
Chinatown: Centennial Collection (Paramount)
Dinosaurs Alive! (Image)
The Gate (Lionsgate)
High Noon (Sony)
Imagine That (Paramount)
Midnight Bayou (Sony)
My Life in Ruins (Fox)
Northern Lights (Sony)
Not Forgotten (Anchor Bay)
Not Quite Hollywood (Magnolia)
The Number 23 (New Line/Warner)
Offspring (Lionsgate)
Seventh Moon (Lionsgate)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney)
Staunton Hill (Anchor Bay)
The Thaw (Lionsgate)
Tribute (Sony)
Trick r’ Treat (Warner)
Year One (Sony)

TV-on-DISC
Ally McBeal: Complete Series (Fox)
Ally McBeal: Season 1 (Fox)
Blood Ties: Season 2 (Vivendi)
Bones: Season 4 (Fox) (BD)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Warner)
Get Smart: Season 4 (Warner)
The Hills: Season 5, Part 1 (MTV/Paramount)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Season 5 (Fox)
Medium: Season 5 (Paramount)
Mister Ed: Season 1 (Shout! Factory)
Nip/Tuck: Season 5, Part 2 (Warner)
Paranormal State: Season 3 (A&E)
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (Paramount) (BD)
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (BBC/Warner)
Stargate Atlantis: Complete Series (MGM)

HIGHLIGHTS

Anvil - When you think of 1980′s heavy metal, which bands spring to mind? Whitesnake? Metallica? The Scorpions? However you answered that question, chances are good that "Anvil" was not your first response. To be perfectly honest, when I first saw the theatrical trailer for this new, critically-acclaimed Anvil documentary, I thought these Canadian rockers were a fictional band in the vein of Spinal Tap. This is not Spinal Tap (pardon the pun) and this is no "mockumentary." Robb Reiner (no relation) and Steve "Lipps" Kudlow are the real deal and their story is as compelling a tale as any documentary I’ve seen in recent memory. Do check it out.

Assassination of a High School President – If you enjoyed Brick or Charlie Bartlett or even television’s criminally underrated "Veronica Mars," chances are you’ll find something to savor in this teen mystery involving  missing SATs and Catholic high school conspiracies. The film may be uneven but it’s worth watching if only for Bruce Willis’ over-the-top performance as Principal Kirkpatrick. Sony’s DVD includes a pair of entertaining alternate openings which are well worth a look.

Audition - I’ll have more to say about Miike’s nightmareish classic in my High-Def Halloween round-up, coming early next week!

Dinosaurs Alive – What do you get when you combine dinosaurs and an IMAX screen?  Really big dinosaurs, of course. For Dinosaurs Alive, Image brings the 40-minute IMAX film to Blu-ray Disc and the results are generally very good. My five-year-old son was a little peeved by the film’s frustrating (for him) determination to keep the focus on a team of modern-day paleontologists, but all that was forgotten every time a few CGI dinosaurs started mixing it up. Some of the high def video looks startlingly good here, in much the same way the IMAX-filmed scenes in The Dark Knight tended to shine brightest. This one’s definitely worth a rent for the dinosaur lovers in your household.

Miracle on 34th St – Along with White Christmas and A Christmas Story, the original Miracle on 34th Street gets watched every Christmas in my house and I can’t wait to see what it looks like in high definition. It should also be noted that the 1994 remake also comes to Blu-ray this week, but for me there’s no substitute for the old black and white version. Great stuff.

My Life in Ruins – I haven’t gotten my hands on this one yet, but the only reason I’m remotely curious about Ruins is that it provides us the increasingly rare chance to watch Richard Dreyfuss stretch his funny bone. Beyond that, this broad comedy from Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) looks like a rental at best, but I’ll report back if I find it to be otherwise.

Not Quite Hollywood – Ozploitation. Is that even a word? Does it have something to do with labor practices in the Emerald City? It most certainly does not. Actually it’s the loving nickname given to the insane action, horror and comedy B-movies that came out of Australia during the late 1960′s through the early 80′s. Think Mad Max. Think buckets of blood, ridiculous explosions and more than a few scantily-clad women (assuming they’re clad at all, that is). Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez’s recent Grindhouse double feature is probably the closest modern approximation of what we’re dealing with here. And speaking of Grindhouse, it’s no surprise that Tarantino is one of the filmmakers interviewed here in this in-depth look at Australian cinema gone wild. B-movie lovers do not want to miss this.

The Thaw – Val Kilmer stars in this straight-to-video riff on John Carpenter’s The Thing. I’ll have more to say about it in my High-Def Halloween round-up, coming early next week!

Trick R’ Treat – The crically-acclaimed, star-studded and long-in-limbo Trick R’ Treat finally hits the screen, albeit the small screen only. I’ll have more to say about this gem in my High-Def Halloween round-up, coming early next week!

Wolf - Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer heat up the screen in Mike Nichols’ underrated werewolf tale. I’ll have more to say about this one in my High-Def Halloween round-up, coming early next week!

Year One – I didn’t receive a copy of this one, so I’m not sure if Year One is truly the disappointment many critics declared it to be. The only thing I do know is that Michael Cera has yet to fail in his attempts to make me laugh. Sony’s movieIQ-enabled Blu-ray edition sports a  few unique extras, such as giving viewers the ability to edit together their own clips and music and then share them via BD-LIVE.

GREG’S PICK OF THE WEEK

*TIE*

Contact (Blu-ray)
Warner Home Video | Rated PG-13 | 1997 | 153 mins | $28.99

Although it’s hard for me to put my finger on exactly why, Contact is one of those rare films I will watch through the end whenever I happen upon it while channel surfing. From its brilliant and nerve-tingling set-up to John Hurt’s inspired scenery chewing to Jodie Foster’s passionate portrayal of Ellie Arroway, Contact is just a great, great movie. It’s also the type of film I wish we got more of from Hollywood these days – and from Robert Zemeckis for that matter. Any way you slice it, this "message from outer space" tale is just as entertaining today as it was when it first made contact in 1997.

Unlike many catalog titles that have been unceremoniously dumped onto the Blu-ray format, Warner has done a fine job with Contact. The 1080p video looks significantly improved over its 480p DVD counterpart, but the real story here is the soundtrack.  I’ve always loved the sound design in Contact and this new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is absolutely superb. The initial signal sound, "the machine" ride, all of it sounds clearer and more spacious than ever with suprisingly strong low-end grunt when needed.

Although you won’t find any next-generation extras on Contact, the disc’s bonus materials are plentiful and fans of the film’s score will surely appreciate the 5.1 music-only track. FX featurettes and a trio of audio commentaries round out this excellent and affordable high-def package.

*AND*

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Blu-ray)
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment| Rated G | 1937 | 83 mins | $39.99

As they’ve done with other classics such as Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio, Disney now gives the deluxe restoration treatment to its premiere, full-length, animation masterwork. And like those other Blu-ray efforts, the results are nothing short of extraordinary. Scratches and blemishes have been carefully removed and the resulting 1080p video makes this 1937 pioneering film look like a brand new production – if they still made films like this anymore, which sadly, they don’t. The DTS-HD soundtrack does an exsquisite job of rounding out the music and sound effects while maintaining the front and center focus of the original audio.

Snow White marks the debut of Disney’s new "Diamond Series" and the House of Mouse appears to be experimenting with a new release strategy. You get the film on both Blu-ray and DVD – which is great news, but hardly a novel concept – but Disney has created two different retail packages for the release: one in DVD packaging and one in Blu-ray, each with different cover art. The contents of both packages are identical. The DVD-focused version will only be in the DVD section of the store and the idea is to drive home the fact that you’re buying a disc that’s guaranteed to work on your existing (DVD) hardware – and you also get the next generation Blu-ray as a bonus. Interesting.

From its Magic Mirror menu assistant to the elegantly-constructed scene selector, every aspect of this new Blu-ray edition befits the pride and craftsmanship that obviously went into making the film itself more than 70 years ago. And despite the glorious extras on Disc Two – especially the fantastic "Hyperion Studios" segment – my favorite special touch is the DisneyView option when watching the film. As they did with Pinocchio, Disney gives you the opportunity to watch the 4:3 film with custom artwork covering the black side bars, in turn creating a full 16:9 image. The paintings change throughout the film and beautifully extend the on-screen action without ever being a distraction.

Once again, Disney has outdone themselves. Snow White belongs on every cinephile’s shelf – whether you have kids at home or not – and this new Diamond Edition Blu-ray gives it the royal treatment it deserves. 

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
Noble Fidelity L-55 LCRS speakers
Datacolor SpyderTV PRO 2007 video calibration
Monster Power HTS5100 power center
BetterCables HDMI interconnects
UltraLink speaker wire