Blu-ray Highlights for 9/28/10. What Are You Buying?

This week sees the Blu-ray release of a micro-budget indie film about a man who dresses in a suit made of iron. I believe it’s called ‘Aluminum Dude’. Or is it ‘Tin Guy’? Something like that, anyway. If that doesn’t strike your fancy, let’s see what else the release slate has to offer.

Here’s the list of what’s coming out this week.

Obviously, ‘Iron Man 2‘ is poised to dominate the sales charts just as it dominated the box office this past summer. If you enjoyed the first ‘Iron Man‘ and wanted to see something pretty much exactly the same as it all over again, this should fit the bill. Collectors, take note that Target offers an exclusive Metalpak case version (similar to a Steelbook) of the packaging.

Get Him to the Greek‘, the quasi-sequel to ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘, wasn’t quite as successful this summer. It basically fizzled at the box office. This may be the sort of thing better suited to home video, however.

Casey Affleck plays a misogynistic serial murdering sheriff in ‘The Killer Inside Me‘, which stirred up all sorts of controversy at Sundance and then basically disappeared entirely from public view. Drew thought it was pretty good when he reviewed it here in the blog.

Warner offers up another meticulously restored classic with the 1933 ‘King Kong‘. If you’ve only ever seen the remakes, you owe it to yourself to check out the original. The Blu-ray comes in a swanky Digibook and has hours of quality supplements. This is the must own title of the week.

The Criterion Collection also comes on strong with a double-bill of WWII dramas: ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence‘ – which stars David Bowie as a British soldier in a Japanese P.O.W. camp – and Terrence Malick’s ‘The Thin Red Line‘.

Finally, I first saw ‘Suck‘ – the Canadian rock & roll vampire musical – a last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The movie is an absolute blast, but I feared that it would never see distribution here in the States, much less a Blu-ray release. Don’t be scared off by the disc’s ugly cover art. ‘Suck’ is hilarious and features cameos by the likes of Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, and Henry Rollins. Give it a shot.

7 comments

  1. BostonMA

    i may buy Get Him to the Greek and The Killer Inside Me after i see them and if i think they’re great (which i doubt).

    will most definitely buy Criterion’s release of The Thin Red Line, which seems to be one of CC’s very best efforts, and the same above goes for the David Bowie starrer in that i’ll see it before i decided whether or not i’ll buy.

    i disagree Josh, on saying that 1933’s King Kong is a “Must Own”. i agree that it’s a must see for everyone that considers themselves true fans of film but i can’t see myself revisiting it all too often for the price of the DB to be justified.

    Ken Brown reviewed it at the evil, evil site that i will not name and i agree with it fully, which includes overall rating it as a 4/5.

    still though, a very good and interesting week for Blu-ray discs arriving to home video.

  2. EM

    It’s fitting that my pick for today is not on Josh’s list, for even I didn’t know it was slated for Blu-ray until today. “Hero”, the 2002 wuxia epic starring Jet Li, has long been on my Blu-ray wish list; yet somehow this release slipped below my radar. Nevertheless, due to budget constraints, I’m delaying my purchase. Maybe I’ll put it on my Christmas list. 🙂

    I don’t believe I’d ever heard of “Suck” before reading this article, but I’ve now put it (DVD version) at the top of my Netflix queue.

      • EM

        Perhaps it’s not so much that the release has been under my radar as that I’ve been under a rock.

        I see you even posted a review for the edition you referenced. Apparently there is a new release that came out yesterday. The 2009 has various special features and a second disc for a “Digital Copy” (I hate that nomenclature; normal Blu-ray and DVD movies are already digital copies, n’est-ce pas?). I’m finding contradictory information about whether the 2010 has the Digital Copy (which I don’t care about) or a standard DVD (which I doubt I would want) or no second disc at all, and I’ve no idea whether the BR is identical to the 2009 BR or not. It looks like the 2010’s asking price is a few bucks cheaper, and so I‘m guessing that the 2010 has just a single Blu-ray disc which is identical to the 2009 version. Looks like I should do a tad more research before I pick an edition to purchase or put on my wish list. Thanks for pointing out the previous release—and for the helpful review!

        • Josh Zyber
          Author

          I’d say that there is a 100% certainty that this is the same Blu-ray as released previously, just reissued without the Digital Copy. Whether it comes with a DVD now or just the BD disc, I’m not sure either.

          • EM

            This afternoon I happened to stop in a store and find both the 2009 and 2010 editions side-by-side and was able to make a point-by-point comparison of the features listed on the packaging for both. The 2010 release has no additional disc, just the Blu-ray, and its described features are identical to those of the 2009 release—so, I would say the new disc is almost certainly identical to the original (I lack your confidence 🙂 ).

  3. EM

    Another release on Josh’s list which interests me is “Rock & Rule”, the early-’80s cel-animated postapocalyptic rock-and-roll fantasy. I’ve never seen the film, and I’m not buying it sight unseen. However, a few weeks ago I did put in a purchase request for it with my local public library (on DVD—the library hasn’t jumped on the Blu-ray bandwagon just yet). If and when the library gets it in, I’ll definitely take a look.