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'WWII in HD: Collector's Edition' Announced for Blu-ray[teaser]The History Channel's acclaimed war miniseries will be getting a Blu-ray double dip in November. [/teaser] In an early announcement to retailers, A&E will be releasing 'WWII in HD: Collector's Edition' on Blu-ray on November 15. The only people to see the war like this were the ones who lived it. Until now... Seventy years in the making. Three thousand hours of color footage few knew existed. The first documentary to show original color footage of World War II in immersive HD, the world premiere History series 'WWII in HD' uses the journals and accounts of those who served in the war s biggest battles to create a personal, introspective and detailed look at life on and off the front lines. Follow 12 unforgettable Americans, and experience the war through their eyes, in their own words, as it really looked and sounded. 'WWII in HD' transforms their stirring journey into a tangible piece of history. Culled from rare color film found in a two-year worldwide search and converted to HD with meticulous technique, WWII in HD provides a picture of World War II as it has never been seen before. Also included is 'The Battle for Iwo Jima,' an immersive look at the momentous battle using gloriously restored, full-color footage, some of which has never seen before. HISTORY details the entire action of the battle, from the first landing of a crippled B-29 to the conflict s bloody conclusion in a jungle of lava rocks. This collection also features 'WWII in HD: The Air War, the untold story of the American 8th Air Force's bloody battle to defeat the German Luftwaffe in the months leading up to D-Day. Told through the gripping, first person accounts of three American airmen and Stars & Stripes reporter Andy Rooney, this special showcases breathtaking aerial combat--original, color footage, never before seen by most Americans--of the B-17s Flying Fortresses, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs on missions such as Regensburg, Schweinfurt and Berlin. The 8th Air Force suffered more than 26,000 combat deaths--more than the US Marines lost in all of World War II. The Blu-rays will feature 1080i video, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, and along with 'The Battle for Iwo Jima' and 'The Air War' Feature-Length Specials supplements include Character Profiles, Finding the Footage, and Preserving the Footage. Suggested list price for the 4-disc set is $69.95. You can find the latest specs for 'WWII in HD: Collector's Edition' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under November 15.Posted Thu Sep 8, 2011 at 08:00 AM PDT by: -
Exclusive First Look at 'X-Men: First Class' Blu-ray Special Featuresby Michael S. Palmer Get ready, Mutant Readers. September 9th is officially 'X-Men: First Class' Friday as 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment launches a full blown media blitz in support of their latest entry in the 'X-Men' franchise, which has grossed $3 billion for the studio ($1.9 billion at the global box office, and 60 million DVD and Blu-ray units sold). In fact, 'X-Men: First Class' will be seemingly everywhere for the next week. Football fans will get themed, exclusive content in partnership with Thursday's NFL season opener between New Orleans and Green Bay as well as for Monday Night Football (you know, when New England uses its mutant powers to lay waste to Miami). Also, for our Los Angeles area readers, 'X-Men: First Class' will be projected in 3D across an entire side of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Thursday and Friday night (9/8 and 9/9). On to our topic at hand, [teaser]High-Def Digest was among a group of esteemed journalists power nerds fortunate enough to sit down with series Producer Lauren Shuler Donner, actor Lucas Till (Havoc), and Visual Effects Supervisor John Dykstra for an early first look at what this Blu-ray has to offer.[/teaser] First, every Blu-ray will come with codes to unlock 10 Marvel 'X-Men' Digital Comics. One, an 'X-Men: First Class' backstory comic about the Hellfire Club, is exclusive to the Blu-ray. We then sampled the Cerebro Mutant Tracker, a BD-Live enabled interactive database for every character in the 'X-Men' movie universe. There are over 40 mutant profiles (which include team affiliation, abilities, and connections to other characters) and videos, and this database will expand as more films join the franchise. We got to check out Raven Darkholme / Mystique, which featured clips of both Jennifer Lawrence and Rebecca Romijn. The 'X-Men: First Class' Blu-ray also includes a feature called X Marks the Spot, which plays during the feature film and allows viewers to branch off into special features about the specific scene they are watching. We sampled a featurette about the film's opening scenes, which is an extended version of the original X-Men's first scene. Bryan Singer (director of the first two films, and here a producer and co-writer of the story) talks about how much detail went in to recreating the first film's location in a completely different country ten years later. Next, we saw three clips from the eight-part documentary, Children of the Atom. The entire behind-the-scenes featurette covers everything from pre-production through post. The first clip was about the costumes. Since the first 'X-Men' did not have the classic yellow suits, the filmmakers wanted to go back to the original look, but in a functional and realistic way. Turns out yellow is actually the original color of Kevlar, so the idea was that the X-Men are actually wearing bullet proof suits. Each mutant has specific alterations to help his or her mutant abilities. It was fascinating to see the craft going into the various hand-stitched suit panels. Really impressive. The makeup documentary is a must see for our male readers crushing on Jennifer Lawrence. To use her own words, "It's like a sleepover, except I'm naked and being painted." Well, as close to naked as a family film will allow. Kidding aside, the makeup work is impressive. No CG is used in a process, which includes prosthetics and five (or more) paint layers. A decade ago, when the Mystique makeup was developed for Rebecca Romijn, it took 8 hours for her to get into full body makeup…and then she would shoot for 8-12 hours a day. For Jennifer, they knocked it down to about 5 or so. Then it was onto highlight the film's composer, Henry Jackman (not related to Hugh). Mr. Jackman's Isolated Score not only plays over the entire film (note: I'm not sure what the audio encoding is for this) when selected, but he also has his own documentary, entitled "Sound and Fury". We got to see a clip where he explains his collaboration with director Matthew Vaughn in creating "Erik/Magneto's Theme". Mr. Jackson is a wildly entertaining and energetic personality. It seems Mr. Vaughn wanted to pay homage to the '60s scores of John Barry who, among his vast credits, composed 'Goldfinger'. Lastly, effects legend John Dykstra took us through three of the film's clips, and spoke about the challenges of making the film's effects work with what has been established in the franchise universe, as well as realistic and original. There wasn't much new information here, I'm sad to report. I was actually surprised to hear how much they stressed for realism, as when I saw 'X-Men: First Class' theatrically the final effects, while very good, seemed a tad plastic or cartoonish. While we didn't see any behind the scenes footage in the construction of the visual effects work (some of which was done by fan favorite, WETA), one of the eight parts in "Children of the Atom" is about he visual effects. The 'X-Men: First Class Blu-ray lands in retail locations Friday (9/9), with the choice of two collectible slip covers (one with James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, and the other with Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr). In addition to what's mentioned above, there will also be Extended and Deleted Scenes and a Theatrical Trailer. The whole package adds up to more than two hours of special features.Posted Thu Sep 8, 2011 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
HDD Spotlight Bargain: 'Deadwood: The Complete Series' Blu-ray $83.99 at Amazon[teaser] Pick up HBO's entire acclaimed western on Blu-ray today-only for sixty percent off at Amazon! [/teaser] The online retailer is now selling 'Deadwood: The Complete Series' for $83.99 (60% off suggested retail price). The release includes all three seasons of this amazing HBO series. The Gold Box offer can be viewed here and will only last until midnight PST.Posted Thu Sep 8, 2011 at 06:41 AM PDT by: -
'The Caine Mutiny' Blu-ray Available NOW![teaser]The 1954 classic war film starring Humphrey Bogart seems to have snuck under the radar and is now available on Blu-ray! [/teaser] We're used to this with Best Buy exclusives, but according to Amazon, Sony has released 'The Caine Mutiny' on Blu-ray as of September 6! When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes the ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny. Specs and supplements have yet to be confirmed, but suggested list price for what may very well be an Amazon exclusive is $19.99. You can find the latest specs for 'The Caine Mutiny' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under September 6.Posted Thu Sep 8, 2011 at 06:00 AM PDT by: -
10 Fall Catalog Releases That Aren't Named 'Star Wars'by Aaron Peck Yes, we all know that ' Star Wars' finally hits Blu-ray later this month. That's not really news. We've heard endless amounts of information about the release. Many of us have been anticipating it since the inception of the high definition video format. It's finally here, and the world knows. But along with 'Star Wars,' some other huge catalog releases are expected this fall, like 'Jurassic Park,' and 'Citizen Kane.' Most movie buffs have been waiting years to get their hands on these movies in high-def. [teaser]It's important to remember that other than George Lucas' dual film trilogies, this season is also packed with a few lesser-known catalog titles that are finding their way to the format for the very first time, or getting released in special editions that just may warrant a double dip.[/teaser] '12 Angry Men' (Criterion) Blu-ray Release Date: November 22nd Not only are we getting the cinematic classic '12 Angry Men' on Blu-ray this fall, but Criterion is releasing it. This means we can almost certainly expect a spot-on treatment of the source material giving us the best looking transfer possible. We can rely on Criterion to reproduce the original sound with clarity. And finally, we can only hope that they pack that release full of new and old (DVD release) extras. 'Ben-Hur: Ultimate Collector's Edition' Blu-ray Release Date: September 27th If the gargantuan Ultimate Collector's Edition of 'The Ten Commandments' is any kind of barometer, we can expect 'Ben-Hur's giant box set will be well worth owning even if it takes up an entire shelf by itself. 'Ben-Hur' is definitely one of the greatest film achievements in the history of cinema, but it's release has sort of been overshadowed by the release of another classic in 'Citizen Kane.' When the AFI-appointed number one film of all time comes to Blu-ray, it's kind of easy to forget about number 100 . 'Birth of a Nation' Blu-ray Release Date: November 22nd D.W. Griffith's controversial silent film will be getting the high-def treatment this fall in a two-disc special edition. 'Birth of a Nation' is film history in and of itself. It will be interesting to see how this always controversial film, now nearly 100 years old, transfers to Blu-ray. Film aficionados will no doubt want to add this one to their Blu-ray collections. 'Blue Velvet' Blu-ray Release Date: November 8th For better or worse, David Lynch is in a league of his own. Fans of the director have most likely been looking forward to a release of 'Blue Velvet' on Blu-ray. The time has arrived. Lynch's film is definitely one that you must watch, even if by the end you don't understand what you just saw. I know I'm still trying to piece together the pieces of 'Muholland Drive' in my mind, and 'Blue Velvet' is no different. The movie has that dtsinctly Lynchian feel to it, and will likely be a sneaky must have on the format considering everything turns out all right in the authoring process. 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' Blu-ray Release Date: September 20th The classic Audrey Hepburn film is getting a 50th anniversary treatment in high definition. It's always nice to see classic films such as this find their way to Blu-ray. The format really brings older movies like this brand new life. This is one of those movies that may get lost in all the hubbub about 'Jurassic Park' and 'Star Wars,' but it's probably just as important in the grand scheme of things. 'Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Editions' Blu-ray Release Date: November 22nd Normally, I wouldn't list a double-dip like this, but these new extended editions promise to add "over 2 hours of additional, never-before-seen feature content," according to the Amazon.com pre-order page. That's enough for me to bite. I'm a huge fan of the books and the movies, and the promise of that much more Noomi Rapace has me excited already. If you've read the books and seen the films, you've noticed that while they have been fairly faithful adaptations, they've had to leave stuff out due to time constraints. Here's hoping that these extra hours flesh out some of the stories that were left on the the cutting room floor. This, to me, is the most intriguing double-dip opportunity of the fall. 'Hook' Blu-ray Release Date: November 1st I know 'Hook' has its detractors, but I can't figure out why someone would dislike such a loveable movie. I'm excited for 'Hook' to get the Blu-ray treatment, and with Sony releasing it, it's sure to get a well done audio and visual presentation. For my money, one of the better Peter Pan adaptations out there. 'Jackie Brown' Blu-ray Release Date: October 4th One of the big releases this fall is 'Pulp Fiction.' So, it's kind of easy to forget that another famous Tarantino movie comes out the same week. 'Jackie Brown' is perhaps the best adaption of an Elmore Leonard novel other than 'Get Shorty' (screw you 'Be Cool'). 'Brown' has that decided Tarantino feel, and is still considered one of his best movies, but it seems to be constantly overshadowed by 'Pulp Ficition.' Either way, October 4th is going to be a busy Blu-ray release day for Tarantino fans. 'Looney Tunes - Platinum Collection: Vol. 1' Blu-ray Release Date: November 15th Isn't it about time we had some volumes of classic TV animation on Blu-ray? 'Looney Tunes' is finally getting the treatment it deserves. Since the DVDs came out not too long ago I thought that the Blu-rays were going to be quite far down the road. Fortunately, I was wrong. I'm very excited to see how Bugs and the rest of the gang look in HD. 'Scrooged' Blu-ray Release Date: November 1st Every year I celebrate part of my Christmas holiday with stingy old Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a maniacal, impersonal television executive who hates everyone and everything. 'Scrooged' brought Dickens tale into modern times, but now that a few decades have passed since it was made it hardly seems modern anymore. I still laugh at the fact that Frank uses the gift of VCRs for the people he wants to impress. Even after all these years though, 'Scrooged' is still a must-see movie over the holiday season. It's funny, clever, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a funnier portrayal of Scrooge than from Bill Murray. Yes this fall seems to be packed with the summer's blockbusters, and has seemingly been taken over by talk of the 'Star Wars' Blu-rays and how much tweaking has been done to the films. With all that commotion it's easy to forget some of cinema's most important and memorable movies are coming to Blu-ray. What catalog titles are you excited for this fall? Let us know in the forums.Posted Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 02:10 PM PDT by: -
Netflix Glitches Cause Loss of Simultaneous Streaming and 'Star Trek'[teaser]Customers are up in arms, but Netflix says the offending changes are a glitch in the system. [/teaser] Folks are getting pissed. Netflix has made some very unwelcome changes in the last few months and now some members aren't able to stream to multiple devices at once. Even worse, depending on your love of sci-fi, the entire first season of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' has just up and disappeared. Netflix says that these aren't new policies or issues with contracts, but glitches in the system caused by the recent Latin America expansion. According to communications VP Steve Swasey, "No Netflix member is limited to less than two concurrent streams. A few Netflix members have heard differently from us, which is an error that we are correcting." On the 'Star Trek' front, Netflix is a bit more jovial. "The Starship Enterprise has veered off course temporarily because of a blip in the system with the start of streaming in Brazil," says a spokesman. "We will welcome the Enterprise and her crew back shortly." Source: Hacking NetflixPosted Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 01:00 PM PDT by: -
Blu-ray Will 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' this Winter[teaser]Another Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor crime comedy is planned for Blu-ray this December. [/teaser] In an early announcement to retailers, Image Entertainment has slated the 1989 film 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' for Blu-ray on December 6. The movie centers around a blind man and his deaf friend who witness a murder and set out to solve the mystery after becoming suspects for the crime. Specs and supplements have yet to be revealed, but suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $17.97. You can find the latest specs for 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's now indexed under December 6.Posted Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 12:00 PM PDT by: -
Panasonic Announces a New Home Theater Projector[teaser]The company boasts a 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 2,800 lumens brightness. [/teaser] Panasonic's new PT-AR100U isn't going to blow your mind with fancy high-end features. There's plenty to it of course, but it's not one of those $50,000 projectors we've been seeing announced pre CEDIA. The PT-AR100U, which comes in at an MSRP of $1,999, offers a Red Rich lamp that adds color and is bright enough to work well with different levels of ambient light. Dynamic Iris Pro and Pure Color Filter Pro make sure that you're getting the most accurate picture possible and the Detail Clarity Processor 3 that's built in will help to add detail. You could have guessed that last bit. Panasonic says that their new projector is nice and energy efficient, reducing power consumption when possible and cutting it to less than a tenth of a watt in standby mode. You'll be able to pick up a PT-AR100U of your own when it launches next month. Source: eCousticsPosted Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
'Adaptation' Blu-ray Announced[teaser]Charlie Kaufman's acclaimed comedy will be available on Blu-ray in early December. [/teaser] In an early announcement to retailers, Image Entertainment is preparing ' Adaptation' for Blu-ray on December 6. Spike Jonze directs Nicolas Cage as a lovelorn screenwriter who turns to his less talented twin brother for help when his efforts to adapt a non-fiction book go nowhere. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Actor (Nicolas Cage), Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Chris Cooper won for Best Supporting Actor. The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, and the only supplement announced so far is the theatrical trailer. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $17.97. You can find the latest specs for ' Adaptation' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's now indexed under December 6.Posted Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 10:00 AM PDT by: -
Netflix Goes Live in 43 New Countries[teaser]Latin America gets its fill of streaming movies this week. [/teaser] Netflix has been having a weird month or two. They've introduced new pricing, expanded to new areas, changed up their corporate hierarchy and lost Starz content. This week should be very good for them though, as the company will be launching in 43 new countries. Starting today, Netflix streaming will be available in Brazil and the Guays: Uru and Para. It's also hitting Argentina, though they've politely asked that no one in the country shed tears over the arrival. Over the next week or so the service will be coming to the rest of the countries targeted for release. Pricing looks to be around the same for each country - the rough equivalent of $7.99 a month. "It is an amazing privilege for us to travel through the region, introducing Netflix to consumers in Latin America and the Caribbean," says CEO Reed Hastings. "We are committed to offering the same great service, value and choice throughout the Americas and we can't wait to get started." Source: EngadgetPosted Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 09:15 AM PDT by:
