Spider-Man: Far from Home

Blu-ray Highlights: Week of September 29th, 2019 – Take Me Home Tonight

Hot on the heels of news that Spider-Man will remain part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after all, the character’s latest solo adventure arrives on Blu-ray and Ultra HD to collect all your spare dollars. How fortuitous! If I were a more suspicious man, I might wonder if these things were deliberately timed to coincide with each other.

Which Blu-rays Interest You This Week (10/1/19)?

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New Releases (Blu-ray)

Spider-Man: Far from Home – The amazing web-slinger remains an extremely valuable property for Sony. The second outing with new star Tom Holland was even bigger than the first, eclipsing Skyfall as the studio’s highest-grossing movie to date. The film also officially marked the end of Phase 3 for the MCU. One can understand why both Sony and Marvel would be eager to continue their collaboration, but can also understand why each would fight for a larger slice of the pie. In this entry, Peter Parker takes a European vacation hoping for a break from his superheroics, but ultimately has to team up with a new ally named Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to save the world again. But could Mysterio’s name suggest that he might be a little… mysterious? Sony brings the movie to disc in a bevy of options, including a Target exclusive with a copy of Peter Parker’s notebook, or a hideous 4k SteeBook at Best Buy. For 3D, you’ll have to order from overseas and wait until November 11th.

Framing John DeLorean – The rise and spectacular fall of the automaker behind the iconic Back to the Future car is told in an unusual movie that’s part documentary and part bio-pic. Alec Baldwin plays the man in re-enacted vignettes interspersed between archival footage and talking-head interviews. Critics were a little perplexed by the endeavor but mostly supportive.

Driven – Lee Pace also stars as John DeLorean in a competing bio-pic project. This one is framed as a comedy and features supporting roles for Jason Sudeikis and Judy Greer. Reviews were mixed and the movie stalled out after weak performance at festivals. It’s effectively going direct-to-video.

UHD

Spider-Man: Far from Home swings onto the Ultra HD format, along with new 4k upgrades for his Marvel companions Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. All of these have SteelBooks at Best Buy. As mentioned, the Spider-Man SteelBook artwork is a horrible eyesore.

Not to be left completely behind, DC edits the animated The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen into a single consolidated feature called The Death and Return of Superman. Meanwhile, the DC 7-Film Collection box set bundles together the studio’s live-action movies from Man of Steel through Shazam!.

The biggest catalog upgrade of the week is Disney’s mega-blockbuster Frozen, which also gets a Best Buy SteelBook. Other titles to revisit in 4k include The Shining, Gremlins, Pan’s Labyrinth, Zombieland, and the IMAX documentary Wonders of the Sea.

Catalog Titles

That DC 7-Film Collection box set also has a corresponding release on regular Blu-ray.

Bradley Cooper’s 2018 remake of A Star Is Born already had a SteelBook exclusive at Best Buy when it was released on disc back in February of this year. Amazon now has a very confusing listing labeled as “Star Is Born, A (2 Disc StlBk) (BD)” with artwork showing a 4k Ultra HD release from the UK. I’m not sure what this really is, or if it even exists at all. Until this gets cleared up, I’ll assume it’s the previous SteelBook expanded to general retail.

Universal’s 15-film The House of Hitchcock box set would seem more impressive if it amounted to anything more than another repackage of a collection previously issued a couple times already, at least one of which is still available for less money. To justify the triple-dip and price hike, this one has an elaborate package designed to look like the famed Psycho house.

With an animated reboot coming soon, Paramount reissues Barry Sonnenfeld’s 1991 live-action adaptation of The Addams Family, and brings its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values to Blu-ray for what I believe is the first time. You can buy them either individually or in a double feature.

Kino remembers the late Rutger Hauer with a remastered edition of his 1986 action flick Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Also on Kino’s docket is the strangely-titled 1980 naval adventure drama ffolkes (sometimes known as North Sea Hijack or Assault Force). The film was a commercial disappointment despite starring Roger Moore right at the height of his James Bond fame, but found fans through TV airings over the years.

The 1984 slasher The Prey is the latest piece of schlock to get a prestige Limited Edition from Arrow Video.

Television

Fresh off its ten Emmy award wins, HBO brings the harrowing Chernobyl miniseries to disc.

DC Comics fans who don’t (or won’t) subscribe to the DC Universe streaming service now get a chance to check out the first season of Doom Patrol.

The first two seasons of the Netflix docuseries The Toys That Made Us also make their way onto physical media.

Finally, the Peanuts: 70th Anniversary Holiday Collection bundles nine classic TV specials into a box that looks like Snoopy’s dog house.

My $.02

I’d normally be inclined to purchase the Spider-Man: Far from Home UHD SteelBook, but I’m so put off by the ugly art that I canceled my preorder. I really don’t want that abomination on my shelf. Marvel movies all inevitably get reissued in different SteelBooks over time, and I’m willing to sit this one out until something more attractive comes along.

I’m also not especially fond of the SteelBook for The Shining. However, I may buy the standard Ultra HD copy for that movie.

Framing John DeLorean seems like it’ll make a fine watch on Netflix someday. I also have a passive interest in ffolkes.

What discs will you bring home this week?

24 comments

  1. Deaditelord

    Some good catalog titles on UHD this week. Gremlins and The Shining are day one purchases. Dr. Strange is a definite purchase too, although I may hold off until Black Friday to see if I can get it (and some of the other Marvel movies I don’t have in 4K) for less. I’ll rent Spiderman at some point.

  2. Chris B

    It’s a bit tricky being a 4k collector in Canada.

    For the longest time, certain titles were only available (or so I thought), in the United States or on Amazon .com. Amazon Canada wasn’t stocking a lot of them so I’ve had to import a bunch (Apocalypse Now, The Witch), which is pretty damn expensive after the exchange rate and shipping.

    Last week , I saw a FB post on a collector’s group from another Canadian stating that Sunrise Records (a retailer that took over a bunch of HMV locations after they folded), is stocking many 4k titles that aren’t available anywhere else in Canada. I called my local store and sure enough it turned out to be true.

    Long story short, I’m having them set aside 4k copies of The Shining (which I’ll be picking up tomorrow), Casino and Red Heat for later in October.

    I’ve since canceled my pre-orders on US Amazon as Sunrise will now be my go-to retailer for this stuff at a significantly lower cost. I only hope they can survive on the current retail climate that is exceptionally tough for brick n mortar stores these days. Otherwise, I’ll be back to square one on importing this stuff….

    • Pedram

      My biggest gripe with getting 4k discs in Canada is the French translations on the covers throwing off the aesthetic of the artwork. That’s my main reason for getting discs from the US.
      Some discs have reversible covers with French on one side and English on the other, which I think is the ideal solution, but that seems to be rare.
      Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an good way to order just the English disc covers.

      • Chris B

        I’ve heard a few people mention that but I’ve not really noticed it on that many discs I own. I don’t think it’s on every single release, or maybe I’m just de-sensitized to it lol.

        Tbh, it doesn’t really bother me all that much when it does show up. My biggest issue has just been me getting my hands on certain titles. Like when I was in Texas in the summer there was a bunch of stuff at BestBuy which I had no idea was even on the format. I wish the distribution of 4k discs was just standardized across the U.S. and Canada, sure would make it a lot easier.

        I’ve been told that UHD discs don’t sell all that well though and remain a niche of a niche. As a result, the studios don’t manufacture nearly as many copies of standard Blu Rays or DVDs and which puts a limit on what titles are sold in most stores….especially up North.

        • Julian

          I remember being really bummed by my Belgian DVD-copy of ‘The Phantom Menace’, which had ‘La Menace fantôme’ in smaller font and between brackets on the cover, and even on the spine. And, for whatever reasons, the disc menu automatically opted for French, even though I had installed my DVD player with English menu options.

          • EM

            Donʼt blame French for the disappointment of The Phantom Menace. If any language bears guilt, itʼs Gungan—but the filmʼs weak foundations lie far deeper than even Otoh Gunga.

      • Chris B

        They do stock some titles yeah. Like, all the big mainstream blockbuster titles are usually pretty easy to come by, it’s the catalog stuff where things get dicier.

        Like they’re selling the 4k disc of Aladdin (1992) for example, but not The Shining. Maybe as a rule they bring in all the Disney stuff? They sold Stand By Me 4k at my local store, but no Apocalypse Now. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to it tbh.

        I basically have system now where Sunrise is my go-to for older movies, Walmart for big studio new release titles and I’ll resort to Amazon (from whatever country necessary) when I have to. Like I said…..it’s tricky lol.

        • My local Walmart in the U.S. has Apocalypse Now 4K, but it’s not in the 4K section per se, it’s mixed in in a random spot on the new release wall, maybe the 4th section in?

  3. Josh Zyber
    Author

    Dammit, Zavvi updated the artwork for its Spider-Man SteelBook and it looks much better than the domestic copy, but of course it’s sold out.

    https://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/spider-man-far-from-home-4k-ultra-hd-includes-2d-blu-ray-zavvi-exclusive-steelbook/12203577.html

    I’m really kicking myself for canceling my Zavvi preorder before the artwork was confirmed. I can only hope that additional copies become available closer to the UK release date.

    • Well Josh, you always had an option to keep the order open til about a week before street date. I’ve kicked myself in the past for canceling orders in the past too. Now you just have to set up reminders to cancel orders or else you get unwanted (potential) trash. I wish Sony would have a clue that the Zavvi art is more what we wanted.

      • Josh Zyber
        Author

        I placed the order with Zavvi first. Because there was no 3D SteelBook available, I chose the UHD SteelBook. Later, Best Buy opened up its own listing for a UHD SteelBook. Neither one displayed any finalized cover art at the time. Assuming that they’d be the same as each other (which often happens with Marvel SteelBooks), I canceled the Zavvi order and placed with Best Buy. Then Best Buy revealed its abomination and I immediately regretted that decision.

        Lesson learned. Won’t make that mistake again.

  4. Csm101

    I’m eagerly awaiting my Wanted Dead or Alive blu. I may have a Rutger-thon as he was a household favorite. Although I already own the amazing 88 films version for Nightmare Beach which is B locked and looks gorgeous, I’m also picking up Kino’s version which seems to be a little different according to another review site. I highly recommend this movie if you love cheesy slashers with inventive kills. It also has John Saxon, Michael Parks, and is directed by Umberto Lenzi. My mom told me not too long ago that she wants to revisit The Shining and I’ve been holding out to get this version and watch it at her house in the near future. I’ll probably give her my old blu. I’m also wanting the new Gremlins uhd. As far as the Disney and Marvel titles on uhd go, I’m going to try and hold out until Black Friday and hope they go on sale. I’m on the fence about immediately picking up Spider-Man Far From Home. I feel like it can be cheap on Black Friday as well, plus I didn’t love it all that much and the site review didn’t do it too much favors for the audio part. I’ll probably double dip on Zombieland sometime in the future. I wish I was rich.

  5. photogdave

    I watched ffolkes recently on Netflix. It’s a horrible movie but has to be seen to be believed.
    I’m 100% convinced it was the inspiration for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

  6. Lord Bowler

    I’ll be picking up the great Rutger Hauer film Wanted: Dead or Alive and Spider-Man: Far from Home (Target Exclusive).

    I’ll be renting Doom: Annihilation, Driven (2018) and Framing John DeLorean. I enjoyed the first Doom movie with The Rock. And, I’m an interested in the story of John DeLorean…

    I was hoping this was the other Frozen, the one about three skiers left on a ski-lift all weekend.

    I would consider The House of Hitchcock: Limited Edition Collection, but I have the earlier version of this set and this doesn’t include other Hitchcock films like To Catch a Thief, Strangers on a Train, Lifeboat, The Wrong Man, and others…

  7. Purchased: All 4 Disney/Disney-Marvel SteelBooks (Frozen, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, GOTG) from Best Buy this week. Also god Pan’s Labyrinth 4K as well as the Addams Family double-feature. I might pick up Doom: Annihilation as it is available at the local Walmart at a decent price. Wishlist, in this order of buying likelihood: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slim Pt.1, Far From Home 4K, Itsy Bitsy, Doom Patrol SSN1 and, DVDs of He-Man original series, She-Ra original series, Beyblade Burst SSN1 & SSN2.

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