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Criterion's first wave of Blu-ray arrives with high-def editions
of a few choice greatest hits and favorite films. Carol Reed's continental noir
"The Third Man" is one of Criterion's best DVDs and it makes a magnificent
Blu-ray. Joseph Cotten stars as a cynical American pulp novelist who searches
through the rubble-strewn underworld of postwar Vienna to uncover the truth
about the death of his best friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), and discovers
that his pal is a ruthless black marketeer with blood on his hands. Reed
(directing from a witty script by Graham Greene) stirs up a rogue's gallery of
profiteers and petty crooks that scurry through the cinematic landscape of cant
angles and long shadows, while Welles steals the show with barely 10 minutes of
screen time.
The Blu-ray master comes from the same high-definition
master as the 2007 DVD release but delivers greater clarity and resolution. It
includes most of the supplements from their two-disc DVD: two commentary tracks,
the documentary "Shadowing the Third Man," a portrait of Greene from the British
series "Omnibus," and more. But it comes with an abbreviated version of the
original booklet; I can only assume that's to accommodate Criterion's brand of
Blu-ray packaging. While Criterion sticks with the basic dimensions that have
become industry standard (between the CD and DVD case sizes), it opts for a
simple, paperboard digipak in a slip-sleeve. It's a simple design but not as
durable as the plastic case, and Criterion uses it for all of the Blu-ray discs
in this first wave.
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| The Man Who Fell to Earth |
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Nicolas Roeg's trippy take on science fiction turns an
allegorical Walter Tevis novel into a surreal meditation on an alien and
alienating culture. David Bowie is used as much for his androgynous pop-star
reputation as his spindly frame and striking, angular face, a true stranger in a
strange land as a space traveler on a mission to Earth in which he's seduced by
sex, alcohol and the media. Features all the video supplements of Criterion's
original two-disc DVD (including commentary by director Roeg and actors Bowie
and Buck Henry, and video and audio interviews with the cast and crew) and a
smaller version of the booklet.
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| Chungking Express |
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Wong Kar-wai burst onto the international scene with this jazzy
little 1994 cinematic improvisation on themes of love, loss, connection, and the
craziness of emotion, a celebration of the urban flavor of one working-class
suburb in the crowded island nation of Hong Kong that sways to its own beat.
Criterion remastered the film for a DVD released in November. The Blu-ray
features all the supplements along with a gorgeous transfer that preserves the
slurred, skip-frame imagery of cinematographer Christopher Doyle in all its
color-smeared glory.
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| Into the Wild (Release date: Dec. 23) |
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Sean Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book is a
bracing cinematic plunge into the odyssey of Christopher McCandless, a
middle-class kid who rechristened himself Alexander Supertramp and hit the road
to an Alaskan adventure. Emile Hirsch plays McCandless with compassion and
generosity and the self-involved immaturity of the young man who is convinced
that he knows it all. It was an early release in the defunct HD format and
debuts on Blu-ray this week, supplemented by the same short featurettes from the
DVD release.
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| Death Proof / Planet Terror |
" Death Proof," an offbeat mix of '70s car chase movie,
slasher film, and female buddy movie, is Quentin Tarantino's tribute to
low-budget drive-in movies. " Planet Terror" is Robert Rodriguez's idea of a
fantasy drive-in movie: a scruffy, over-the-top zombie action film starring Rose
McGowan as a go-go dancer with a machine gun leg. Originally made as short films
in the self-contained double feature "Grindhouse," the directors expanded these
B-movie larks for home video and filled the discs with supplements, all of them
preserved in these Blu-ray releases. Tarantino's film is better, but Rodriguez
has the best extras. |
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Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a DVD
columnist for MSN Entertainment and a contributing writer for GreenCine.com,
Turner Classic Movies Online, Parallax View and Asian Cult Cinema, among other
publications. Find links to all of this and more on his shamelessly self-promoting blog.
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Black KnightsHas pop culture paved the way for
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