My Favorite Blu-rays of 2012

My Favorite Blu-rays of 2012

The Avengers
This fun flick translates very well to home theater. Super picture and sound plus, plenty of extras.  An excellent release.

The Muppets
Missed it in theaters because I did not think if could re-capture the old magic.  I was wrong.  A true love letter to The Muppets and the fans.

The Cabin In The Woods
A movie that rewards multiple viewings. great picture and sound, nice extras.

John Carter 3D
An interesting tale that does justice to the source material. Excellent video and surround, lots of extras.

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol
A breathless action movie with a razor sharp transfer.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter 3D
Another book adaptation that stuck close to the source novel. A guilty pleasure, extremely well done. The few extras are interesting.

Prometheus 3D Collectors Edition
With a few large lapses in logic, this mostly intelligent sci-fi epic gets better with multiple viewings. This edition has a 3.5 hour, slickly produced, documentary plus the usual assortment of extras.  If the movie had been better, this would be the Blu-ray of the year.

Looper
Great movie, accurate transfer, immersive sound and cool extras. Worthy all the way around.

Ted
My favorite comedy of the year gets a very solid Blu-ray release.

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas 3D
Better than the second one with great 3D effects. Extras are a little light.

21 Jump Street
The surprise comedy of the year, who knew it would be this funny?





The Classics

Bond 50
All 22 movies in one box for a decent price...with room for Skyfall.  Tons of extras.  A perfect set.

Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures
One of the most sought-after film collections hit Blu-ray with impressive results.

Titanic 3D
The crowd pleaser finally comes to high def in perfect form. The 3D version is spread over two discs.

Jaws
The restoration does wonders; aside from the clothes, hair and cars, the movie looks brand new.

Lawrence Of Arabia
One of the greatest films of all time was released in an epic boxset full of extras.

Battle Royale - The Complete Collection
The controversial classic makes Hunger Games look like a Disney flick.

Monty Python And The Holy Grail
It will never be the prettiest picture due to it's low budget nature, but it sure looks better than ever. Plus, a digital copy to take the laughs anywhere!





Music

 

Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day
The 2007 concert in HD glory and thundering sound. Essential.

Steven Wilson - Get All You Deserve
The Porcupine Tree frontman's solo debut live release perfectly captures the elements of his solo tour.

Alter Bridge - Live At Wembley
A big step up fromtheir first Blu-ray release. A must own.

Metallica - Quebec Magnetic
On par with their previous Blu-ray releases with even better audio.

Iron Maiden - En Vivo!
Another solid HD release from Maiden. Up The Irons.

Gojira - The Flesh Alive
French metal band Gojira put together a nice HD gift for fans with video from three different shows.



TV

 

Game Of Thrones - The Complete First Season
Breaking Bad - The Complete Fourth Season
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Seasons One and Two
Justified - The Complete Second Season
Fringe - The Complete Fourth Season
Person Of Interest - The Complete First Season
Wilfred - The Complete First Season




Guilty Pleasures nice to have in HD

 

 Little Shop Of Horrors (Director's Cut with Restored Alternate Ending)
One of my favorite musicals finally gets restored to it's original vision.

Blade Trilogy
All three movies look and sound great. True guilty pleasures.

The Raid: Redemption
You want action, look no further.

Frequency
This thriller across time holds up remarkably well.

Outland
Underrated "High Noon" in space, a solid sci-fi thriller.

Goon
More heart than most comedies.

They Live
A John Carpenter classic gets a nice release.

Fallen
A haunting gem with Denzel Washington and a great cast.

Altered States
The trippy visuals hold up in HD.

Lockout
Dumb sci-fi action fun and a razor sharp Blu-ray.

(-']

My Favorite Movies of 2012

For the first time in my life, I saw only 10 films in a theater last year.  Sounds kind of sad, but as selective as we are, we liked every one we saw. Aside from a few, expensive, high-end theatrical experiences, a good blu-ray on our Samsung plasma HDTV makes movies look better at home than your average cinema.  And these days, it's cheaper to rent or buy.

This year, I witnessed High Frame Rate 3D at 48 frames per second during The Hobbit, the best use of 3D ever in Life Of Pi and the luxurious iPic Theaters large screen presentation of The Avengers. All were worthy but, although Prometheus looked amazing in the 3D theater, the Blu-ray blows it away.
  

Still, I really enjoy the experience of an exceptional movie theater and I continue to get excited when the lights dim before the feature. We will still venture out to the movies that "deserve" the full cinema experience and save the rest for Blu-ray, streams and downloads. (legal downloads, of course.)

Since the cinema and home theater experiences are different, I will be posting a separate blog for Blu-rays. I saw all of these films in the theater except for Looper.  I realize there are few serious dramas or biopics and although I will see the good ones eventually, they do not always make the best reason to head out for a night at the movies.

My Favorite Movies of 2012

 

The Avengers - The comic book movie done right.  As much as I love the Dark Knight Trilogy, sometimes we just want a "popcorn" experience.  The Avengers was the most fun I had in the theater last year but I am also a fan of Marvel comics and got most of the lore and references. Congrats to Joss Whedon for having the hit he has always deserved.



The Cabin In The Woods - A close runner-up for most fun I had in a theater last year. Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon created an homage/send-up of horror's biggest clichés.

 

Looper - Intelligent and full of action, a gritty sci-fi thriller. Loved it.



The Hobbit - Not as "dark" as LOTR, expanding on the simple story is working. I am very much looking forward to parts two and three.  The High Frame Rate was impressive and immersive.



Ted - The best R-rated comedy of the year. If you hate Family Guy, don't bother.



 

Sinister - The best straight-up scary flick of the year. Scott Derrickson crafted a film that made me jump more than once...and I loved every minute.

Life Of Pi - The best use of 3D technology that I have seen helped illustrate a truly classic story.

Prometheus - A flawed but impressive sci-fi adventure that whets the appetite for further adventures with interesting questions still to be answered.

John Carter - as a fan of the novels, I really enjoyed the movie. Great spectacle and fun.

Chronicle - a "realistic" take on the superhero/supervillan origin story, well done. 




Haven't seen yet and could make the list. 
(I would still like to see Skyfall in the theater and I already have The Dark Knight Rises on Blu-ray.)

Skyfall
The Dark Knight Rises (available)
Argo
Django Unchained
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits (available)
Wreck-It Ralph
Dredd 3D (out next week)
Cloud Atlas
Beasts Of The Southern Wild (available)

(-']

Happy Birthday J.R.R. TOLKIEN R.I.P. (links)

 

 

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

 

One of the most influential writers ever, I still have my complete Lord Of The Rings/Hobbit book set from 35+ years ago.  Do yourself a favor and read about this fascinating man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien

source: wikipedia

(-']

DRAGONFORCE in a spot for Capital One (video)

I interviewed Sam in 2008, I will try to dig up the video for you.

It is comical to see him in this new commercial for Capital One
that I ran across while working on my year end blogs.  Enjoy.

source: capital one

(-']

PROGRESS #016: Top 10 of 2012 (part 1)

Next week, I will be posting my favorite albums of the year. 

(along with movie, Blu-ray & video game lists.) 

As a preview, I am featuring two tracks each from my Top 10 Albums over the next two episodes of PROGRESS on Rockfile Radio ICE.
This week's show (#016 - 12/31 & 1/2) will feature albums #10 - #6.
Show #017 with #5 - #1 will air 1/7 & 1/9/13.

On this week's show:

#6 - HEMINA - Synthetic

#7 - UNDER THE PSYCAMORE - I

#8 - FLYING COLORS - Flying Colors

#9 - KAIPA - Vittjar

#10 - STORM CORROSION - Storm Corrosion

(-']