And Again with the Goodies!

And another Blu-ray update this month! Seems to be all my blog does these days!

First cab off the rank is the awesome Japanese film Confessions from film-maker Tetsuya Nakashima (Kamikaze Girls).  This is the UK release that includes a DVD copy and a Japanese DTS-HD audio track, sadly though it lacks in any extras.

Next up is another Criterion and from one of my favourite director's no less. Claude Chabrol's Les Cousins is one of the pioneering films of the French New Wave movement and a welcome addition to the collection.

Heading to France now and I have finally picked up the Studio Canal release of Mulholland Drive, I always intended to get this from the UK, but Amazon has been out of stock for awhile now and the disc is identical (and cheaper) in France so I picked it up as I needed something else in the box with my next purchase.....

I think Silent Hill is possibly one of the most under-rated video game to movie adaptations and this release is awesome.  It features some great behind the scenes material including a full length documentary from concept to final product.  Even better is the fact that this disc is almost completely English friendly with only a few extras lacking English subs!  The transfer of the film is also approved by Christophe Gans himself and it does look and sound very pretty!

The Artist (2011)

 I have many friends who, for whatever reason, utterly dislike watching foreign films, or more specifically reading subtitles.  "If I wanted to read, I would read a book" is the most common excuse. When trying to encourage this crowd to see The Artist,  these same people pull a face and complain that it is silent and (god have mercy) in black and white as well!.  I honestly do not understand where this aversion to some of cinemas greatest accomplishments comes from. These same people are likely to shell out $16 to see Transformers 3, but won't sit down and watch the film that as of this week took out the best picture, director and actor awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Let us not forget the fact that it is an incredibly entertaining, stylish and impeccably well acted homage to one of the greatest era's in Hollywood history.

The year is 1927, Hollywood is on the brink of a major development in the creation of motion pictures: sound! This advent, however, is not welcomed by famed silent actor George Valentin (Jean Dujardin). At first, he like many others at the time thought it would be a passing fad, but he soon realizes talkies are here to stay. Through a chance meeting with an up-and-coming young actress named Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), George gets a first hand glimpse of how quickly his life is going to change and how easily he is replaced.

It is a rare occasion to see a silent (though not really) black and white film at a mainstream cinema, even rarer that the film is as entertaining as The Artist is.Certainly deserved its Best Picture Oscar!!  Check it out when you can!

New Additions

Here we are with the latest additions to the old collection... 2 replacements for DVD copies, a new title and a game!

First up we have the continuing growth of my Criterion Collection with the addition of the excellent Three Colors Trilogy. I am a big fan of Kieslowski's work and this was (and is) some of his finest.  It didn't have quite the same impact on me as The Decalouge, but it certainly heralded a new era for art house flicks in the mid to late 90's!

 Still with the Criterion Collection. The Japanese are a race that very few people seem to understand and Nobuhiko Obayashi's House certainly won't help matters much.  To say this film is a little off the show would be an understatement, but despite its many WTF moments, it is certainly very entertaining!

Next up we have Lost In Translation which replaces my old U.S Import from Focus Features, picked this up for around $15 so not too bad for a back catalog title.

And last, but by no means least, we are back to those oddballs from Japan with a computer game that is off the show crazy. Playing this game for me consists solely of 10 minutes game play (9 of which involve quite a lot of swearing) and around 1/2 an hour of simply watching cut scenes... it is interesting, but I am not sure how long I can keep it up for (pun kind of intended?)