Kirk’s Movie Blogspot 7th March

This is the part 1 to my Top10 wishlist of films to be brought out on Blu Ray that aren’t already available (hopefully the Blu Ray gods will read this and make my wishes come true!). I’ll run through the first 5 here, don’t think I’m going to do them in any particular order, just off the top of my head as I think of them. Some will be pretty obvious (I’m a scifi and fantasy fan afterall and there’re a couple of well known franchises that are yet to make an appearance in HD) but some not so.

No. 1 – I’ll kick off the list with one of my favorite sci-fi action films, Blade. I’ll include the other films here as well, but predominantly I want the first in the franchise. The nightclub scene at the start will be amazing in HD sound and the film overall will be brilliant in full HD. I’ve no idea why it hasn’t been released yet, from some of the obscure titles they’re releasing now you’d think a well received franchise like this would’ve been out ages ago. It’s just been given the HD treatment in America so hopefully a Blu Ray release is on the cards for us in the UK.

No.2 – Here I’ll put one of my more obscure, and guilty pleasure titles, the 1995 film Hackers. This highly stylised look at the hacking community can’t be taken too seriously, it’s a fun film with a very young Angelina Jolie and a great soundtrack. It reminds me of University days (and nights spent in the Hacienda) and of the computer game Wipeout for some reason. The soundtrack will definitely benefit from the HD treatment and the vivid colours used in the film style will pop nicely in HD. For the film’s fans like me out there I can find no plans to bring this to Blu Ray for the time being. Lets hope they get round to it soon!

No.3 – I’ll be a bit more predictable and go with Star Wars here (I held out as long as I could!). Again, I’ll go with the whole franchise in one choice, otherwise the top 10 list would be dominated with the sequels. I’ll even include the prequel films here as well, although my love will always be with the original trilogy. If they’ve got a decent source to get an HD transfer from then these will just be amazing on Blu Ray. Knowing George Lucas, he won’t want to bring them out until they’re near perfect as well (lets hope he doesn’t start tinkering with them again though!) but that means that, although their appearance on Blu Ray is inevitable, they might not appear for a while.

No. 4 – This one could be for region 2 DVD never mind Blu Ray. As far as I know it’s never been released over here (or if it was it went out of print very quickly and was never brought back). The film is Major League, a baseball comedy starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Wesley Snipes. I can’t say that I’m a huge sports film fan and have never really watched that much baseball (except when I’m in America and am bored in a hotel room) but for some strange reason I love this film. It brings together a great bunch of characters, has some great comedy and the usual feel good sports movie plot where a bunch of underachievers pull off the impossible and win. It’s not a big action film that’ll benefit from a great HD soundtrack, but the picture could be good. I’d just love to be able to add it to my collection!

No.5 – And before you know it here we are at the end of the first installment. I’ll end on another sci-fi/fantasy flick, Highlander. I’m can’t say I’m that bothered about the sequels for this one, just the original will do. This is a film that gets better after a few watches. The jumping through the timeline can be a bit confusing the first time through, but after you’ve got that straight it’s one of the all time classics. It’s not got that big a soundtrack, but the visuals could benefit greatly from the HD treatment. A lot of the scenes are in dark, murky conditions so the extra detail possible on a Blu Ray would be very welcome.

That’s the first installment over with (and not a single mention of a Hobit!). Check back for the other five, there might be a couple of surprises in there (for me as well, I’ve only just managed to scrape five together for this, need to go away and have a wander through my DVD collection!).