The big Blu-ray news this week was the announcement of The Hobbit extended edition, which we covered separately. But there is another movie with extended content that I’m personally thrilled about, and this week’s Shelf Space column begins with that. You may also want to know about some of the new releases, catalog reissues and surprise announcements in the works so you can clear some shelf space for them.
One of my favorite movies of last year, the documentary about video game developers touched my heart and soul, and thrilled me dramatically, even though I’ve been out of gaming for over a decade. Now I find out there’s more!
The Special Edition of Indie Game: The Movie is actually a brand new anthology of short films and epilogues about the subjects in the film. A brand new 100-minute Indie Game companion? I am so downloading this as soon as I’m done with TCA so I can literally watch a favorite movie again for the first time.
Download or stream the Special Edition at www.indiegamethemovie.com or as a Steam app, which won’t require any shelf space at all. A hard copy Blu-ray/DVD edition is expected in the next month, and I am totally clearing some shelf space for it. I may even make it a centerpiece along with my beloved Detention from the same year. God damn, 2012 was a great year.
Rob Zombie’s latest film is coming to Blu-ray after playing film festivals from Toronto to Austin and coming out earlier this year. One thing’s for sure, Zombie has a strong sense of his visual style, so a Blu-ray will exemplify the surreal, and show all the detail in the grimy, ugly parts.
No bonus features mentioned on the press release.
When Jess Franco died earlier this year, it made me realize how few of his movies I had actually seen. Also, my mom was in one but it’s not what you think. She was an extra in Kiss Me Monster when she was living in Germany, where there was a big movie studio, but you can’t even see her and the movie makes no sense. That’s not important right now.
The Hot Nights of Linda is coming to Blu-ray and it’s not even one of his famous ones like Vampyros Lesbos or Venus in Furs, but it does star his wife and longtime leading lady Lina Romay. What better way to discover Jess Franco than with a fabulous Blu-ray transfer, though based on the few Franco movies I have seen I wonder how good it could possibly look in HD. Bonus features include Franco and Romay completed before they passed, and the first 2500 copies of Linda come with the alternate French cut of the film too.
The summer movie hit is coming to Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D in September, and check out that new box art featuring Brad Pitt prominently. The theatrical poster was just about the zombies, but I guess on home video they want people to see Brad’s badass action pose if they’re browsing the shelves at Best Buy, or clicking on Amazon.com more likely.
The global scale of the zombie outbreak adventure should provide a lot of stunning sights on Blu-ray. Bonus features will address the making of, practical vs. digital effects, the science behind the zombie outbreak, “and more.” I really hope they include the alternate ending. It was a lengthy third act that was completely rewritten and reshot. There’s no reason to be embarrassed about it now. The movie was a hit. Show us what it takes to get there.
Blu-ray.com found out Fox and MGM are putting this Steve Martin/Michael Caine comedy out on Blu-ray. No extras but this is a classic comedy.
It inspired a Broadway musical that actually cut out the funniest joke in the movie in favor of a new song, but that should be noteworthy enough to get a blast announcement. Plus it’s set in the Riviera so the Blu-ray will look gorgeous.
The latest in Warner Home Video’s anniversary reissues of movies that already exist on Blu-rays is a really good one. All the President’s Men means a lot to me as a journalist, though I still can’t believe how much Woodward and Bernstein relied on handwritten notes without recording anything. I guess it all worked out for them.
The big new bonus feature is a documentary by Robert Redford, All the President’s Men Revisited. The rest are pre-existing extras bonus features, but Redford is quite a director himself. A new Redford film seems pretty worthwhile, and he’ll be reflecting on one of his seminal roles as an actor.
The latest Disney Diamond Edition Blu-rays will be the animated classics Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book. We know these will be phenomenal transfers showing off the brush stroke detail and vibrant colors of the classic hand drawn animation. They’ll put a slew of extras on each collection too.
Jungle is slated for winter which hopefully means early in the year. Beauty won’t be out until October which is well over a year away. These films join Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Beauty and the Beast, Bambi, The Lion King, Lady and the Tramp, Cinderella, Peter Pan and the upcoming Little Mermaid as Diamond Edition releases.
James Dean Ultimate Collector’s Edition – TBD
The Digital Bits pointed out that Amazon is taking pre-orders for a James Dean Blu-ray collection, complete with box art available. No specific date listed but a host of bonus features including a new Dennis Hopper doc on Warner Bros. memories and existing bonus features from the 2005 DVD release. Seeing Rebel Without a Cause, Giant and East of Eden on Blu-ray will be legendary, but Warner Home Video hasn’t announced officially yet. I guess Amazon gets first dibs on this one.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Shelf Space Weekly. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
