ScreenScribe

The movie that won Sandra Bullock her first Academy Award, The Blind Side, also boasts an Oscar-worthy Blu-ray transfer. Hi-Def Digest said the football drama was “distinguished by excellent clarity and contrast, but the image maintains a film-like feel, thanks to a delicate, unobtrusive grain structure that supplies marvellous texture”; Blu-ray.com called it “an able-bodied [...]

Whoa, this is heavy — next month the Back to the Future trilogy will bow on Blu-ray. The three-disc set with a lenticular cover goes on sale on October 27 for under $60. Also being dusted off for HD that month are the first two Shrek movies, Beauty & the Beast, Elvis on Tour, Dead Man and [...]

The only new movie due on Blu-ray this week is one that bypassed cinemas, Repo Men. High-Def Digest praised the quality of the HD video and audio but, in line with other critics, said the Jude Law-Forest Whitaker vehicle devolves “from a thinking man’s action thriller to your basic futuristic sci-fi trash romp, so overloaded [...]

The 2009 relaunch of Star Trek has gone where none in the sci-fi franchise has gone before on Blu-ray: to win three major prizes in Home Media Magazine’s Third Annual High-Def Awards. It won Best Theatrical Blu-ray, Best Single Extra for its “Starfleet Vessel Simulator,” and the Consumers’ Choice Award for best overall Blu-ray Disc [...]

Universal Pictures NZ is soon to release on Blu-ray 50th anniversary editions of two of the studio’s genre greats: Psycho and Spartacus. Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking serial killer classic initially will be sold through only JB Hi-Fi stores, from September 1, but will widen to other retailers from December 1. The Gladiator of its era, Stanley [...]

Last century’s action heroes abound on Blu-ray this week, with iconic franchises and back-catalogue classics out-numbering new theatrical releases. Western fans particularly will be pleased to be able to buy two of the ‘60s biggest box office draws: The Magnificent Seven (and its sequels) and The Man With No Name trilogy. The Magnificent Seven can [...]

This month’s “combo pack” release of the Ancient Greek gods dust-up, Clash of the Titans, represents the future of Blu-ray from Warner Home Video. Nearly a year after the initiative to boost sales was launched in the US, it’s being rolled out in NZ and Australia, with Titans being the first title. As well as [...]

The final season of Heroes at last will go to air here a month after the Blu-ray went on sale in the US. It’s being double-billed with another long-overdue premiere, Joss (Firefly) Whedon’s Dollhouse, from August 30, at 8.30pm Mondays on C4. Like Heroes, Dollhouse is another HD series that won’t screen here in 1080i [...]

D’oh! Season 13 of The Simpsons has had its NZ Blu-ray and DVD release delayed until possibly December. It was due next month, only a few weeks after its August 24 release in the US (where the next season starts on September 26). Although the 13th season wasn’t telecast in HD, it apparently marked the [...]

Deadwood fans will want to unleash a torrent of profanity that would do Al Swearengen proud when they learn Paramount Pictures won’t be rounding up the complete series on Blu-ray in this neck of the woods. The news is also bad for those anticipating seeing the 1973 milestone documentary series, The World at War, in [...]