Twin Peaks: The Return

Blu-ray Highlights: Week of December 3rd, 2017 – I’ll See You in the Trees

The beginning of December brings us a very crowded Blu-ray release slate as all the studios move to get as much content as possible in front of consumers during the holiday shopping season. A few titles stand out from the many repackages and reissues.

Which Blu-rays Interest You This Week (12/5/17)?

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New Releases (Blu-ray)

Despicable Me 3‘ – After his Minions went on to their own $1 billion spinoff success, Gru returns for another adventure with his lovable brood of kids and new wife. This time, he meets a twin brother he didn’t know he had and must contend with a new villain who’s obsessed with the 1980s. The trailers for this looked cute, in much the same way the previous entries did, but the critical reaction was very tepid. That didn’t stop parents from trekking their kids out to the theater, of course. Now the movie’s available on disc in a host of options, including a SteelBook, a UHD, or a three-movie collection with its predecessors. The studio initially announced a 3D edition, but the Amazon listing for that currently says “Unavailable” and I can’t find it anywhere else, so I have to assume it was canceled. 3D fans will probably need to import from overseas.

American Assassin‘ – Oscar nominee Michael Keaton goes slumming as the mentor figure in a B-grade spy thriller designed to promote ‘Maze Runner’ star Dylan O’Brien as a badass action hero. After looking at the terrible trailers, audiences weren’t having any of it.

UHD

Despicable Me 3‘ and ‘American Assassin‘ both get Ultra HD editions side-by-side with standard Blu-ray.

In preparation for the impending sequel, Sony upgrades the 1995 ‘Jumanji‘ to 4k. Lacking a tie-in, the studio does the same for the ‘Men in Black‘ trilogy. (Sadly, you need to buy all three together. There’s no standalone copy of just the first film.)

A couple months late to piggyback off promotion for ‘The Last Knight’, Paramount finally gets around to putting the first four ‘Transformers‘ movies on UHD.

Best Buy has a new SteelBook bundling both ‘John Wick‘ movies together in 4k.

Catalog Titles

The International Olympic Committee has partnered with the Criterion Collection to put out a massive 53-film box set called ‘100 Years of Olympic Films‘. Spanning 41 iterations of the Olympic Games, notable titles include Kon Ichikawa’s ‘Tokyo Olympiad’ and Leni Riefenstahl’s ‘Olympia’, among many others. (Some have been remastered in 4k, but I suspect that many of those from the 1970s to the 1990s were probably shot on standard-definition video.) This is essentially the video equivalent of a coffee table book, and it would take a really hardcore Olympics fan to watch all 53 movies in succession, but the historical value of this seems very high. Considering the volume of content included, Amazon’s current $221 asking price doesn’t seem unreasonable if you’re an Olympics junkie.

In addition to the UHD, Sony offers a corresponding remastered Blu-ray of ‘Jumanji‘.

To go with the new sequel, Universal is reissuing the first two ‘Despicable Me‘ movies in SteelBooks. As mentioned above, you can also get all of them together in a 3-Movie Collection box set.

More SteelBooks (of the Pop Art variety, unfortunately) are on tap for Universal’s ‘Split‘, Sony’s ‘Fury‘, and the six-film ‘Resident Evil Collection‘.

Olive Films brings back Elaine May’s delightful ‘A New Leaf‘ and Max Ophuls’ classic melodrama ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman‘ as part of its premium Olive Signature line. Unfortunately, as shown by the crummy recent edition of ‘Operation Petticoat‘, the Olive Signature branding is not necessary a guarantee of good video quality. I’d wait to see some reviews of these before buying.

The Warner Archive digs up Rosalind Russell’s Oscar-nominated performance as the free-spirited ‘Auntie Mame‘.

Scream Factory gets ready for the Christmas season with a Collector’s Edition of the 1984 holiday slasher ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night‘.

The 1976 horror drama ‘The Witch Who Came from the Sea‘ washes ashore onto Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video.

Television

Twenty-six years following its cancelation from the ABC network, David Lynch brought his legendary cult drama series ‘Twin Peaks‘ back for a third season on Showtime. Those of you who read my episode recaps know that I had very mixed feelings about the revival. Although it has moments of brilliance, it’s also painfully meandering and padded with pointless storylines that go nowhere. The season really needed to be honed down to about 1/3 as many episodes. As a ‘Peaks’ obsessive, I’m curious to see if it plays better on a second viewing.

Since 2008, Paramount has released season box sets for ‘South Park‘ in seemingly random order, sometimes with gaps of a few years between each. This week, the studio drops the first five seasons all at once.

My $.02

Even for as many problems as I had with it, I need to own and rewatch the new ‘Twin Peaks’.

I would normally be excited for ‘A New Leaf’ and ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (both are great movies), but my recent experience with ‘Operation Petticoat’ has left me skeptical of the Olive Signature line. I’ll hold off on those until I hear something about their quality from a reputable source.

Does anything look good to you this week?

31 comments

  1. Bolo

    The last time Lynch revisited ‘Twin Peaks’, we got ‘Fire Walk With Me’, which I didn’t care for. So, I didn’t really have much enthusiasm for the prospect of a revival series. Some mates of mine liked it and I supposed I’ll give it a go when it’s cheap. Although, I mostly expect it to just be a dumping ground for ideas Lynch couldn’t work into other movies/shows.

    • Chris B

      I love FWWM and I like the original TP…but I hated The Return. Like Josh said in his reviews, it’s not really Twin Peaks. I lasted 4 episodes and pulled the pin. The got a pass because of whose name was attatched to it.

  2. Chris B

    I’m renting Better Watch Out on Saturday as part of a holiday horror project I’m taking part in with a few online friends. It looks like a really fun movie.

    American Assasain looks like goofy fun I’ll check oit on Netflix one day.

    I really need to see Silent Night, Deadly Night but I’m going to hold off for a SF sale.

    I want to pick up those Arrow titles that happenn to be standalone release of the films in their American Horror box set…hell I might just cave and pick up the box instead.

  3. Csm101

    I didn’t see it on the list, but there is an Amicus box set for Severin that includes Asylum, which is a really cool anthology movie. I just received Despicable Me 3 3d from UK a couple of days ago. I’ve also ordered Silent Night, Deadly Night from Best Buy. I’m curious as to how the first and third Transformers uhd sound with Atmos. American Assassin looks pretty cool. I’ve never like how fake the animals in Jumanji look, but it could be a fun one to watch with my daughter.

  4. Lord Bowler

    I’ll be buying ‘American Assassin’ (Steelbook). I’m a fan of the author of this character and the movie wasn’t that bad. I’m hoping for more better entries in this franchise.

    I may consider picking up the complete Resident Evil in Steelbook…

    I’ll be renting ‘Split’ to view first. Heard good things about it.

  5. Deaditelord

    Despite not liking Men In Black 2 and 3 all that much, I’ll probably break down and buy the UHD trilogy when it goes on sale just for the first film. Silent Night, Deadly Night could also be a potential purchase, but having not seen the movie before I want to give it a watch first. Hopefully, it’s available to stream somewhere. American Assassin is a definite rental.

  6. William Henley

    Well, Men In Black 4k and Jumanji are things I might end up picking up eventually. Sailor Moon Crystal i am watching on Hulu. and the 100 Years of Olympic Films sounds interesting, but I have not seen any of them, and that is a hefty price tag for a blind buy (although with the amount of content you get, if I knew I would like it, I would consider it a good price).

    I chose other, because the UK has shipped my Terminator 2 3D and Terminator 2 4k discs on Saturday, so should get them most likely next week.So for anyone wondering what the release dates were, as they have been a bit wishy-washy on it, they have shipped!

      • William Henley

        I am, yes. I order a considerable amount of movies from the UK and Germany, and on occasion France and Italy and Sweden. I would have to say probably 30% of my entire collection is imports.

          • William Henley

            Mine is an Orei BDP-M2

            It hasn’t been available on Amazon in a couple of years, but you can still find it on ebay, and I found it on Sears Website

            http://www.sears.com/orei-bdp-m2-multi-region-zone-code/p-SPM9025965913

            Couple of drawbacks is that it LOOKS cheap (like a $50 player instead of a $250 player) and after 3 years, my remote has stopped working (although I have a Harmony now, so no harm). And like any Blu-Ray player, you change the region code through a code you punch in (I think on the BDP-M2 with the newest firmware, I think you hit 8520 from the setup menu).

            The player is a great value if you don’t want to drop the $600-$700 for an Oppo, and it plays JUST ABOUT anything I throw at it (doesn’t like AVCHD at 1080p50/60, but I have no issues with 1080p30, and will play 3d framepacked files on an AVCHD disc that I have taken with my 3D camcorder).

          • William Henley

            It says on the description on the Sears website that it features perfect NTSC to PAL and PAL to NTSC conversions, but I have always had it just export at the default framerate and resolution, as pretty much every modern television and projector will support anything you throw at it.

          • I just bought a $65 Sony player when I was in NYC in April, and now I’m region free too. I suggest you guys do the same the other way around, if you don’t want to spend too much money. Just let me send you a cheap Sony in region B, and you’re good to go.

          • William Henley

            I do want to point out that the Orei is a 3D Region Free Player, you can get a non-3D region free player for around $100 if you look around

          • Hi Csm, yes indeed, I need a voltage converter for my American Blu-ray player, because European households have a different socket (and different voltage). Small investment ($10/15-ish), so, in all, my American Blu-ray player cost me $80. A great price to be region-free.

          • William Henley

            Most modern electronics support 110-240 50/60 and you just need a plug adaptor, which are usually less than $10. However, check the sticker on the back of the device and make sure – if you need a voltage converter, those tend to run about $20-$40 in the US, depending on quality and how much load you are trying to handle. Don’t make the mistake of using a plug adaptor if you need a voltage converter – the sticker should be clear. However, the majority of electronics nowadays do NOT need a voltage converter, as they are made to run world wide, and they just change the plug and firmware based on the region they are shipping to.

            Julian did say though that his was a Sony, and Sony is notorious for producing electronics that will only work in a specific country, so he may very well have needed a voltage converter. I have found in the past that you have MUCH better luck with world wide compatability if you stay AWAY from the premium brands (especially Sony) and go with other brands (Chinese brands are brilliant for this). Or you can pay a premium price and have some third party hack a premium brand player for you.

            If you are in the US, I suggest looking around Bombay Electronics website

            https://www.bombayelectronics.com/

      • William Henley

        If I get the discs before Blu-Ray.com reviews them, I will let you guys know if they are indeed region free. Well, of course the UHD is region free, but I am not sure about the 3D – I am assuming its region locked as its a different distributor.

          • Csm101

            I’m pretty sure the 3d is region locked , but there is a guy on eBay who might have a region free 3d for t2. I’m waiting for someone to get it and I’ll order accordingly. I’m thinking next year I will be going region free myself.

        • William Henley

          The initial reports are that there is a region B sticker on the back of the package, but no one has verified if its on both the 2D and the 3D, or if anyone has actually tested it.

          They are also confirming that the 2D and 3D are both remastered with heavy DNR and sharpening and changes to the color timing, so that would be consistant with the recent theatrical release, which is pretty much what we were expecting.

          I would be shocked if my copies arrived before next week

  7. Judas Cradle

    I have been waiting forever to finally be able to own the Bud Greenspan Olympic films that are contained in the Criterion boxed set. I think this is true for many people. A VERY long time coming. Thank god.

    • William Henley

      Is there anywhere that I can see any of these? I have never heard of any of them until Criterion announced the box set. If it was a single movie, I would blind buy it, but I don’t want to drop that much on a blind buy

  8. JERP

    Nothing for me this week. I had Twin Peaks pre-ordered and then cancelled. I like the original series and David Lynch’s movies but I watched a few episodes of the new series and just couldn’t take it. Watching paint dry would be more entertaining. I’ll pick it up if it drops to some unbelievable rock bottom price,

  9. EM

    Better Watch Out looks amusing and may be worth a spin—“better watch it”? (It seems to be Home Alone turned psychotic.) I’d also like to turn A New Leaf.

  10. Josh Zyber
    Author

    Robert Harris has given a thumbs-up to the Olive Signature editions of A New Leaf and Letter from an Unknown Woman. They both have new masters that are improvements over the prior Blu-rays.

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