Last week brought a massive blockbuster hit to Blu-ray, the type of movie that scares away any serious competition. Apparently, this week is still feeling the aftershocks of that. If you’re a fan of classic films, however, I have a suspicion you might find something of interest.
New Releases
‘The Forest‘ – Natalie Dormer from ‘Game of Thrones’ headlines a cheapie horror flick about an American woman who travels to Japan’s notorious “Suicide Forest” to search for her twin sister, only to be tormented by ghosts trying to drive her mad. Don’t you hate it when that happens? The only positive thing I’ve heard about this movie is that it’s supposedly not quite as terrible as Gun Van Sant’s mopey drama ‘The Sea of Trees’, which is set in the same location.
Catalog Titles
The Warner Archive continues to dig up some stellar movie classics. This week, Joan Fontaine suspects that her husband Cary Grant is trying to kill her in Alfred Hitchcock’s marvelous comedic thriller ‘Suspicion‘, while Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton tear their marriage to shreds in Mike Nichols’ blistering ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?‘.
Cary Grant also makes an appearance in the Criterion Collection this week, alongside Jean Arthur in Howard Hawks’ South American mail-pilot drama ‘Only Angels Have Wings‘.
The latest round of limited editions from Twilight Time include: Jeff Bridges and John Heard in the murder thriller ‘Cutter’s Way‘; Bob Hoskins and Mickey Rourke in the Irish domestic terror drama ‘A Prayer for the Dying‘; Charles Bronson playing a Native American in the Western ‘Chato’s Land‘; Jean Seberg in the Parisian-set romance ‘In the French Style‘; Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave in the WWII drama ‘Julia‘; and finally Jeff Bridges again with Clint Eastwood in a reissue of Michael Cimino’s comic heist thriller ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot‘.
I spent a lot of time last week trying to sort out where the latest reboot fits in the ‘Ghost in the Shell‘ franchise. Right on the heels of that, Anchor Bay is putting out the original 1995 Mamoru Oshii film. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time the movie will appear on Blu-ray in this country as its original theatrical version. (A revisionist version called ‘Ghost in the Shell 2.0‘, which had much of the hand-drawn animation replaced with CGI, was released on Blu-ray back in 2009.) I imported a copy of the theatrical cut from Japan in 2008, but it looked pretty mediocre. I can hope that this new release might offer some improvement, but I’m honestly not holding out a lot of hope for that.
Horror fans will enjoy Arrow Video’s new restoration of the goofy splatter sequel ‘Bride of Re-Animator‘ and Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition (was there ever a regular edition?) of John Carpenter’s ‘Village of the Damned‘ remake.
Television
I gave up on ‘Heroes’ early in its second season, but decided to give the pilot episode of the reboot/relaunch/retooling/whatever-you-want-to-call-it ‘Heroes Reborn‘ a shot for the hell of it. Sadly, it just reminded me why I quit watching the show in the first place.
My $.02
I wound up spending a little too much money at the Twilight Time sale over the weekend, so I probably won’t run out to buy anything else right away. However, ‘Suspicion’, ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, ‘Only Angels Have Wings’, and ‘Cutter’s Way’ will go on my wish list for later. I’m also curious about the new edition of ‘Ghost in the Shell’ but will wait for some quality reviews of that one.
What’s your fancy this week?
Chris B
Buying Village of the Damned this week, and OH SHIT! TT sale?! I’ll be blowing at least a hundred bucks over there to…..
Chris B
So I just took a look at the TT page over at screen archives and there’s nothing about the sale that’s going on. How do you see the sale prices? do they apply the 10 dollars off when you checkout? what gives?
Lord Bowler
It looks like you have to buy them directly from http://www.twilighttimemovies.com. I didn’t even know they sold them directly, as I normally pick them up via Screenarchives.com.
Chris B
hmmmm me neither. Although I must say the TT website is far more appealing to look at and browse on. I’ll probably just buy em direct from now on….Thanks for the heads up.
Lord Bowler
I already got ‘Village of the Damned: Collector’s Edition’ (Scream Factory) via a pre-order for the poster. I thoroughly love this movie! Just as good as the first time with each viewing.
Also, I’ll be adding to my DCAU collection with ‘Justice League vs. Teen Titans’.
And, I’ll probably pick up a few titles from the Twilight Time Sale. I’ve got a few sitting in my wishlist I’ve been considering.
Picked up John Carpenter’s Vampires, and Support Your Local Gunfighter/Sheriff recently.
Bolo
I think that ‘Ghost in the Shell’ release has been out awhile. I’ve had it for over a year and it’s the North American bluray. The packaging on mine says ’25th Anniversary Edition’ across the top, but other than that, it’s that same cover art that doesn’t really make me think of the movie. The audio-video quality are nothing special. So if you already have an imported bluray, this release will likely not represent an upgrade.
I hope Anchor Bay put the complete ‘Stand Alone Complex’ series out on blurary. Maybe when the live action ScarJo adaptation comes out they’ll want to capitalize on it.
Josh Zyber
AuthorI wasn’t aware of that. Does the disc have 5.1 Japanese audio? The import is only 2.0.
Bolo
Here’s the disc I have:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ghost-in-the-Shell-Blu-ray/106744/
I’ve only ever watched the English dub, the Japanese audio is listed as stereo 2.0
Josh Zyber
AuthorThat’s a shame. The old DVD had both languages in 5.1.
TJ Kats
I know a recent poll was DC movies universe vs DC tv universe but I think the Animated Universe may be the strongest of all of them right now so I will be picking up Teen Titans vs. Justice League for sure.
Julian
‘Cutter’s Way’. This one has been announced quite a few times in the past, and now it’s finally here. I’ve never seen it. I want to see it, because Chris Columbus says the following in the ‘Home Alone’ audio commentary: ‘John Heard was kind of a leading man back in the day. His performance in ‘Cutter & Bone’, now it’s called ‘Cutter’s Way’, is amazing. He should have gotten an Academy Award for that.’
That’s how you sell a movie, folks.
William Henley
Ugh, I hate it when it looses my comments!
So the only one I had preordered this week is Justice League v Teen Titans. It will be my first DCAU movie I have ever seen.
I am a classic Hollywood fan, so Suspician, Only Angels Have Wings, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf all interest me, but I am not sure if I will ever pick them up. My issue with a lot of Classic Hollywood is i have never seen them, Netflix and Redbox rarely pick them up, and they will come out at $25,$30 and $35 and 5 years later still be sitting at the same price, which makes me reluctant to blind-buy movies. Anyone know of a Blu-ray renting service that has classic Hollywood available for rental?
Josh Zyber
AuthorAll three of those movies are available for streaming on VUDU.
William Henley
That’s a thought. I usually pass on RENTING from Vudu at $5 a pop, but that is better than plopping down $30 on a blind buy and finding out that you don’t like it. I’ll look into that.
T.J. Kats
On the DCAU front you may try seeing if Batman vs. Robin and Batman: Bad Blood are on Netflix to kind of see this version of Robins character development.
William Henley
Good point. I am just a fan of Teen Titans (actually, more Teen Titans Go than Teen Titans, although I do like both), and so it sounded interesting. I didn’t even think about not understanding the characters as i hadn’t watched other shows in the series.
T.J. Kats
Teen titans Go is excellent but this is very different. You don’t have to have seen the previous movies to be able to follow its just that the Damian Wayne version of Robin is much different than any other.
Csm101
Surprisingly, my local Moviestop/Hastings has a few copies of Bride of Re-Animator and I got one reserved. I’m really hoping someone gets their hands on the original Re-animator just like the German Capelight version as I missed out on that and the release we have looks like ass. I also very much want Village of the Damned, but funds are low and I won’t be able to afford it this week. It sucks that funds are low because there’s some Twilight Time stuff that I really want. Maybe I shouldn’t even look.
itjustWoRX
Pre-ordered the Jörg Buttgereit collection, but we’ll see if Cult Epics can release a title on time for once.
Deaditelord
After preordering The Iron Giant: Signature Edition last week, I’m glad that there’s nothing to tempt me this week. Well, technically I would be tempted by Bride of Reanimator but I preordered that weeks ago. 🙂
Trond Michelsen
Whoa! I’d totally missed that The iron Giant gets a BD release. Preordering right away!
EM
And don’t forget the “Signature Edition” Blu-ray includes both the original theatrical cut and the 2015 “Signature Edition” cut.
Deaditelord
Indeed, although really I’m just happy that Warner Bros. is finally giving The Iron Giant the deluxe treatment it deserves. Now if only they could do the same thing for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm…
Jason Radcliff
Cutters Way for me. Already have the UK version of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and it looks and sounds just fine.
Chris B
Hey Josh, how about a “What Will You Buy at the Twilight Time Sale?” post similar to the B&N CC sale posts you always do.
Josh Zyber
AuthorI thought about it, but the sale covers all Twilight Time titles released before 1/1/16, and there were just too many to add to a poll.
Krawk
Am wondering Village of the Damned on Amazon UK (at half the price) is as good a transfer or if I should go with Scream Factory’s? Come on caps a holic, show me!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UTT6F1U/
Krawk
Answered my own question. Found it on caps-a-holic. They look IDENTICAL.
http://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=2751