Steelbook Bonanza

As promised last week, here are a few of my steel and metal packaged discs from my collection. I have only recently really started an interest in this packaging style and I am still unsure if I like it enough to consider replacing any existing titles I may have already, but these titles were all new releases at the time I purchased them. I did however have some tins from my DVD collecting days so I figured I would start with them!

V For Vendetta (Australian DVD Limited Edition Tin) 

 

Edward Scissorhands (U.S 10th Anniversary DVD Tin) 

Firefly & Serenity (EzyDVD Tins Australia)

And now onto the Blu-ray steelbooks which I shall present as an outside shot (Front, Back and Spine) and an inside shot with disc art (where applicable).

The Avengers (Australian JBHIFI Exclusive)

I have yet to open any of these and as such I am simply presenting front (above) and back (below) shots. They are: The Hunger Games (District 12 Futureshop Exclusive), Apollo 13 (JB HIFI Exclusive), The Fast & The Furious (JB HIFI Exclusive), Back to the Future (JB HIFI Exclusive), Jurassic Park (JB HIFI Exclusive) and Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (JB HIFI Exclusive). 

Event Horizon (German Exclusive)

The Hunger Games (Futureshop Canada Exclusive)

Hanna (UK)

Knowing (Australia)

Metropolis (UK Unopened)

The Muppets (Futureshop Canada Metal Pack)

Resident Evil: Afterlife (JB HIFI Australia)

Sucker Punch (JB HIFI Australia)

Terminator Salvation (Greece)

So there you have it, my steelbook and metal packaging collection thus far!

Trailer Alert - Silent Hill Revelation (2012)

 One of my all-time guilty pleasure films has to be Silent Hill.  Whilst it doesn't make a lot of sense and clearly a tonne of studio intervention occurred before its release, I still find it highly entertaining and it looks and sounds fantastic on blu-ray.  With that said, I am not sure how I feel about this trailer.  For one thing I hate 3D so I seriously hope a 2D version will do the rounds locally upon release. It is nice to see most of the cast returned (even funnier to see Stark and his Bastard in a film together), but I guess we shall have to wait and see what the film is like before passing judgement!

Snakes...Why did it have to be snakes?

That's right folks Indiana Jones has finally come to the Blu-ray disc format.  Whilst I had intended to pick up the super duper limited edition, it turns out that it will not be released for another month yet, so whilst I normally would wait, I was actually quite happy with the local standard release.  This is the JBHIFI limited edition set that comes with a film cell (as seen above) And here is the rest of the set:

 

I sat down and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and I must say the first 1/2 hour had me a little perplexed in terms of picture quality (something about it seemed a little off, but I can't quite put my finger on it) and I am not too sure how I feel about having the score mixed into the surround channels the way they have, but after that first 1/2 hour thing were vastly improved in the picture department. Suffice to say Paramount have come out in defense of the opening scenes stating that it is the first time they have been restored to their original colour palette, which makes sense given that I couldn't actually tell what felt wrong about it and the transfer quality itself was fantastic.

Having come from VHS, then Laserdisc and then DVD, I can certainly say that this release is definitely the best Raiders has looked on a home media format that I have seen. It is also the first time I can recall the opening credits not being a cesspool of moire effect!  Now I just have to make the time to watch the rest!

Shiny New Things....

September is upon us and what a massive month for Blu-ray August was!  Of course September shows no sign of slowing down with the releases of Indiana Jones and Titanic this week alone! With that said though, here are a few releases I have picked up over the last few weeks:

First up we have the Lethal Weapon series. This release was only $20, although I am a bit miffed that it was advertised incorrectly. (The discs for 1 & 2 are the previous release, not the newly remastered versions)

Next up we have a few imports... From Criterion we have Fanny & Alexander, Shock Corridor and Kiss Me Deadly. From Fox I did end up getting Margaret, but this release pisses me off immensely as it is a DVD/Blu-ray combo that includes the Theatrical and Extended Cut, however the latter is only on DVD. I mean seriously, an over 3 hour version compressed to within an inch of its life on DVD whilst a perfectly good Blu-ray sits in the same set.  Why is it that Sony can fit three versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind on one disc (using seamless branching), yet we can't get the extended version of Margaret in HD.  Moving on, I was also happy to finally pick up the steelbook edition of Metropolis, but I will be doing a special post on steelbooks next week so more on that one later ;)

After a few weeks delay after a replication error, the Aussie horror flick The Tunnel has finally made its high definition disc debut and what a doozy.  It is worth it for the DTS-HD Master Audio track alone!!  Turn off the lights, crank up the sound and make sure you have a clean pair of underwear handy!

And last, but by no means least I grabbed Lollipop Chainsaw and whilst it was fun, the game play only lasted around 4-5 hours and there was a lot of key thrashing frustration, still a cool concept and the only game I have actually seen through to the end since Red Dead Redemption!

Well as I stated above, I am working on a post regarding steelbooks so whilst I did buy The Avengers and The Hunger Games (because I know you were all wondering), I will save my pics until that post as I did manage to pick up both Futureship CA steelbook editions! So until next week, happy watching!

Just when you thought it was safe to watch a blu-ray...

Last week saw the release of quite possibly my favourite Steven Spielberg movie, Jaws. Hopes were very high that this release would get the treatment it deserved and boy did it ever!  This is the best Jaws has and probably ever will ever look  The transfer is mind blowing in how much it adds to the movie going experience and the soundtrack make-over is just as good as the picture!

The release in Australia is a wonderful digibook with some interesting pictures and info included in the book. Here is a preview of a few pages:

Of course Jaws has been released to home video in many variations over the course of the years.... I personally have owned at least 4 copies on VHS, the Signature Collection Laserdisc and 3 separate DVD releases.  I also have the UK steelbook blu-ray on order so that will make 2 blu-ray copies as well! As well as owning the actual film, I have on occasion spent up on Jaws Memorabilia... some of which I will share below for you!

 Signature Collection Front & Back (Above)

 Signature Collection Contents (Above)

 Region 1 DTS Release & 30th Anniversary DVD Release (Above 1st Line)

Jaws paperback, Jaws BFI Classics & The Jaws Log paperback (Above 2nd Line)

Jaws Pressbook - features cast & crew information, plot synopsis and advertising supplements. (Above)

 Jaws Video Game (Above)

 Neon Magazine (Jaws is No 1 on the list of 100 films!)

And what Jaws collection would be complete without an all-singing all-dancing shark on a mount!

Singing Jaws (Above)

I was going to upload a video of the above, but if you search Youtube for singing Jaws you will find one easily enough! (Of course!)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

Whilst not an unoriginal idea, this film fails purely in application.  The acting is rubbish, the dialog should have been shot at birth and the over abundant use of "bullet time" slow motion just makes the length of the film all the more painful. It only goes for one hundred and five minutes.

We are set up to believe that Abe's Mother was killed by vampire and plantation owner Jack Barts, A number of years after her death Abe seeks Barts out and during a momentary lapse of  revenge he himself is saved from an untimely fate by vampire killer Henry Sturges.  Sturges takes Abe under his wing and teaches him how to fight and kill those nasty creatures of the night, that incidentally somehow now walk in the day and can only be killed by silver... (thought that was werewolves, but anyways).  he is told that he should not make friends or family and yet he meets Mary Todd who creates his exception to the rule.  He is also told about Adam, the creator of all vampires and the one he must seek out to destroy if he wishes to rid the United States of its vampire scourge.

I went into Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter with some hope for entertainment, instead I actually wish I had chosen to see The Sapphires instead...  which is a shame as I think director Timur Bekmambetov has an amazing visual talent, and this film is very visual, it is just everything else that doesn't work and basically hasn't worked for him since he has been Hollywoodized.

Goodies Galore!

Well this has been a busy time for collecting and it isn't going to slow down either.... we have some massive releases here in Australia over the next month with numerous metal slips, steelbooks and digibooks announced... not sure my bank balance will be able to cope!!

Here though, we have some new additions to my Blu-ray collection.  First up, the next wave of Studio Ghibli titles including my all time favourite My Neighbor Totoro!  Grave of the Fireflies was also released and whilst I was looking at getting the limited edition, in the end I went with the separate releases. They both also came with a picnic/play mat!

 

I also picked up The Aristocats from Amazon UK, as I have mentioned on here previously this is one of my favourite Disney films and I am so glad to finally have it on Blu-ray!

Whilst I know a fancy limited edition of Blade Runner is on its way, and I would usually jump at the option of having an LE to add to the collection, this set was simply to good to pass on at the princely sum of $20

One of the better sci-fi films of the last few years, Cargo, whilst a little predictable is still quite a ride and this German release has a pretty decent transfer and a great DTS-HD audio track!

And last, but by no means least, the 60th Anniversary Edition of Singin in the Rain arrived yesterday! Housed in a box not dissimilar to Casablanca and Gone With the Wind the set features 3 Discs, a Book, an Umbrella and a set of lobby poster reproductions:

 

 So there you go... the latest movies in the collection... sadly my extended edition of Margaret still hasn't materialized yet (despite being sent 2 weeks before Singin in the Rain), but hopefully that will get here this week!