Kirk’s Movie Blogspot 16th April

OK, so here we go with the second half of my top ten wishlist of films yet to be released on Blu Ray. I didn’t realise how difficult this was giong to be, when you look at the Blu Ray catalogue, it’s actually pretty good already! Since the death of the HD war studios have really ramped up their release rate and have obviously gone for their big, money making, releases up front. There may have been a couple you might not have agreed with in my first five (remember these aren’t in any particular order), but it may well get a bit more contentious here.

No.6 – I’ll start with the big guns, Lord of the Rings. You all knew it was coming so lets get it out of the way. There are various rumours floating around the web for when this is going to be released but in my opinion it won’t be this year. From what I can tell they’re going to do the same as they did with the DVDs as well and release the theatrical versions first, followed several months later by the extended cut. With the size of Blu Ray discs I was hoping that they’d release both on the same disc with seasmless branching (they’ve managed it on other films, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan etc.). This is one of the nice things about Blu Ray, you insert a disc and on some films, get to choose between the theatrical or extended cut. With LOTR it seems they’re really going to try and wring all the cash out of us that they can. I for one will bypass the theatrical versions and wait for the extended editions!

No.7 – I just checked the online retailers to see if this is already out and was surpised to find that it isn’t. The film is Aliens. I’m probably going to stir up a hornets nest here but I’m going to come out with it, I’m not a huge fan of the first film. There, I said it. As already discussed I’m a 6ft pansy when it comes to horror and suspense and as a kid this film scared the bejesus out of me (think I was 9 or 10 at the time and round a mates house). As a teenager however I discovered the second film and things had moved on a bit from the suspense and it was closer to an action film, now that suited me down to the ground, lots of Aliens and big guns! I’m also going to put in a request for the directors cut (or extended edition, whatever it was called) with the turret guns in. The rest of the added footage I wasn’t that bothered about but those turret guns kicked ass!

No.8 – The next is one of those films that I can watch time and time again (with a bit of a gap inbetween). I usually come back to it at least once every year at some point. The fim is Dune. I’ve owned the damn thing on pretty much every other format (I skipped laserdisc though, never had a player) so might as well get it on Blu Ray. I dont know why I love this film so much, it’s pace is a tad slow, it’s weird in places (I always thought that was down to David Lynch, but on reading the books it was already weird due to Frank Herbert) and the SFX are nothing to write home about. Funky body shields, knife fights and sound weapons were pretty cool though (infinite ammo with the sound weapons, unless you get a sore throat, maybe the gun should come with some lozengers!), add to that some rather large garden worms and some mumbo jumbo about a super-being and somehow you end up with a classic sci-fi masterpiece that i just keep coming back to.

No.9 – I am tending to go with the big action/sci-fi blcokbusters here as they’re the ones that, in my opinion, will benefit most from the better picture and sound afforded by Blu Ray. So along those lines I’ll offer up Jurassic Park. Again, not really that bothered by the sequels, just the original would be fine. The first time I saw this at the cinema it was a revelation of SFX. It was one of those films, along with Terminator 2, that redefined what was possible in filmaking imagery. It isn’t always a good thing, some films concentrate too much on the imagery and forget the plot, but Steven Spielberg was on top form here and had us spellbound from start to finish. Lets see those dinasaurs in 1080p goodness!

No.10 – And here we are at the end. There were several contenders for the last spot, Princess Bride, Conan the Barbarian, Beastmaster, Desperado, but in the end there could be only one (damn, already used Highlander, should’ve saved it for the last and could’ve gotten a good pun out of that!). I already have Monty Python’s Life of Brian on Blu Ray, but the one that I really want is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. For me this is one of the best comedies of all time. Packed with sheer zanyness (is that a word?) this has more quoteable sequences in than any other film (it’s a close run thing between this and Airplane, but Monty wins out!). It may be considered geeky to go around saying ‘we are the knights who say neee’ but I just don’t care (and the less said about shrubberies the better!). Life of Brian came out ages ago so I’ve no idea who’s dragging their arse bringing this out but hurry up!

OK, so it’s mostly action fims and sci-fi. I did manage to get a couple of comedies in there though. As already mentioned there were some other close contenders, Princess Bride is coming out on Blu shortly in America so hopefully it’ll make an appearance over here as well, Gladiator was also a close finisher, it’s not one that I rewatch time and time again, but it’s an epic that would look and sound great in HD. I wouldn’t mind a couple of the Kevin Smith films in HD as well, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Mallrats particularly. I think this highlights the fact that although they’ve already released some cracking movies on Blu Ray, there’s still plenty more that we want to see in full HD goodness!