Saturday, August 17, 2013

Weekend Weigh-in: What Movie Do You Want Released on DVD and Blu-ray?

It's ok. You can tell us.

Even though almost everything has been released on DVD, there are still a few notable omissions. What movie will your collection never be complete without?


31 comments:

  1. Ok, not counting movies that were on disc and have gone out of print, here are a few:

    The original ITV version of The Woman in Black, which is still one of the scariest damn things I've ever seen. Author Susan Hill's dissatisfaction with the changes to her book is supposedly one factor that's kept it from being released.

    Along those same lines, there's Ghostwatch, a BBC pseudo-documentary about a haunted house that scared the hell out of viewers back in 1992 who thought it was real. It's been released on DVD in the UK but never in America.

    Finally, there's It Came From Hollywood, which was on the verge of being released on disc but got held up by rights issues. The whole movie is comprised of clips from old sci-fi, horror, and exploitation movies with John Candy, Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd, and Cheech and Chong providing commentary on them, making it feel like an early version of MST3K.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG It Came From Hollywood. I can't tell you how many times I watched that movie as a kid. I was excited when it was going to come out on DVD and heartbroken when it didn't.

      Delete
  2. "The Right Stuff" (1983), when I bought my Blu-ray player this was one of the first movies I wanted to buy for it. Alas, it has still not been published in the format. I would also like to see region 'A' releases of "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964) and "El Cid" (1961). Those epics, filmed in Ultra Panovision 70mm, deserve a Blu-ray.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Right-Stuff-Blu-ray/27499/

      Your welcome...

      Delete
    2. Cool.
      A Right Stuff Blu-ray has been announced then retracted several times before, I hope this time it is for real.

      Delete
  3. Oh man It Came From Hollywood! Can we get a petition going? A Kickstarter or something? Loved that one when I was a kid!

    Peter Weir's Fearless. It has been out on DVD before (now out of print) but only ever in a full-screen version, to which I say a hearty FUCK THAT. If you had asked this a week or two ago, my answer would have been the Cabal cut of Nightbreed, but your State Of Horror podcast informed me that it's on Scream Factory's slate and when I heard that I almost lost control of my vehicle letting out a yelp of joy. VERY excited, is what I'm saying.

    ReplyDelete
  4. In keeping with Tom Smail's pick, I nominate Philip Kaufman's The Wanderers. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and I HOPE, since Criterion HAS put out a Phil Kaufman film before (Unbearable Lightness of Being), Criterion can put it out (or Shout Factory). A DVD exists but I hear it looks mediocre and there's little-to-no special features. Ugh...

    ReplyDelete
  5. There's this one little film from 1997 that starred Charlie Sheen, Linda Hamilton and Donald Sutherland called "Shadow Conspiracy" and that was never out on DVD or Blu-ray. It was the last movie directed by George P. Cosmatos ("Rambo: First Blood Part II", "Cobra", "Tombstone") and I heard it was pretty terrible (it even has the coveted 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes!), though it was released on DVD overseas. I only added it there based on its huge obscurity the film has since reached (it made just $2 million on a budget of $45 million) and I thought this may get some attention.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw Shadow Conspiracy back in the era (er, ah) of VHS and it was a garbage movie. It was even back when Charlie Sheen was (somewhat) likable but oof. When Donald Sutherland starts raking in those late-career lifetime achievement awards I wouldn't hold my breath for clips from this one to show up in his career retrospective reels.

      Delete
  6. Song of the South, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I would love to see the Howard Hawks film Only Angels Have Wings (1939 - again confirming that was the best year for movies) released in Blu Ray. I believe this was one of the last films Jean Arthur made before she retired, and she's a delight. This is one great movie - you might say I have a Passion and Obsession for it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Besides PotP?

    Mom w/ Byron James. It Came From Hollywood. (although both can be watched complete on YouTube.

    The chronological Godfather edit they made for TV with all the extra footage.

    Anamorphic copies of the theatrical realises of the Star Wars trilogy (not holding my breath).

    Page Miss Glory w/ Marion Davies. Boy Meets Girl w/ Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Blu-ray:

    Midnight Run (strangely enough available on HD DVD)

    The Last Detail

    Escape From Alcatraz

    Penn & Teller Get Killed (currently available from Warner Archives as a DVD-R)

    ReplyDelete
  10. On DVD:
    - The second two seasons of Early Edition. (Though really, I'd be just as happy with ep-by-ep downloads.)
    - PBS' Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (Though a best-of sampler would be fine.)

    On Blu (though I don't actually own a blu-ray player, so mostly on principle):
    - Carnivàle.
    - Raiders of the Lost Ark (as a standalone, dammit!)
    - Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful. Also, The Sure Thing.
    - Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart video, OBVIOUSLY. It's on a dvd or two, but that is nowhere near enough for that kind of greatness.
    - The Lady from Shanghai, because Sausalito.


    Aaaand: the SF-set rom-com Just Like Heaven. Mainly because I was a paid extra sharing a shot with the Hulk and Reese, and want to see how much detail a blu would show. This is me, no joke:

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/28_510709941038_7970_n.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  11. That Lady from Shanghai suggestion reminded me of another film that absolutely needs a Blu Ray release - Touch of Evil.

    And for pure pie-in-the-sky: the rumored original 3-hour cut of The Black Dahlia. James Ellroy reportedly saw this version and said it was a masterpiece.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'll be glad to know they're working on it!

      I've been wanting to see this (for the first time) so I think I'll wait for this release!

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the tip! I sure hope they use the edit Walter Murch worked on.

      Delete
  12. The Arcane Sorcerer. A surprisingly decent version is available on Youtube but it's not exactly perfect. It's a great little Italian horror film that takes the occult very seriously. It's not an Italian horror film with bad dubbing and sleaze though, it's really damn well made. Edgar Wright called it the "Barry Lyndon of horror films" and I'd say that explains it well. It'd look great on bd.

    My second choice would probably be Letters From a Dead Man. It's one of those films that you see and you're amazed how ahead of its time it is. Set in post-Nuclear War Russia it creates a very vivid image of that world. It still has some of the most staggeringly realistic city-destroyed-by-explosion shots I've ever seen.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fresno, a soap opera parody from 1986 starring Dabney Coleman and Carol Burnett that was very broad but very funny.

    A complete series set of Hill Street Blues.

    Back to the Future by itself on BluRay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Back to the Future alone on blu-ray is available through amazon.co.uk for $13.56 (as of today). If you have the right player....

      Delete
  14. Edgar Wright's "A Fistful of Fingers"

    ReplyDelete
  15. For nostalgia purposes I'm still waiting for Ducktales Treasure of the Lost Lamp and (it's TV) but I need the rest of my seasons of NYPD Blue!

    ReplyDelete
  16. The Secret World of Alex Mack, Seasons 2-4: S1 was released on DVD and that was it. Shame, because that was the worst season (too much like every other Nickelodeon show) and from S2 'till the end is when the show truly became the 'growing up different' young adulthood dramedy I fell in love with. Seasons 2 and 3 are available for download/purchase on Amazon, but I want it on physical media to preserve for posterity.

    Possession (1981): it's actually coming to Blu-ray and DVD soon, and it's always had a DVD presence here and foreign markets that keeps going OOP. The Mondo Vision release coming soon will be brand-new and epic though, Criterion-caliber treatment for avant garde fucked-up cinema. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's good to know about Possession, which I've never seen.

      Delete
  17. One more - the 1936 film version of Show Boat, directed by James Whale. It has yet to even be given a proper DVD release, much less Blu Ray. The highlight is Paul Robeson singing "Ol Man River" live.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stick the 1929 version on there as well like the old laserdisc that had all three. (Though my preference is 1951.(

      Delete
  18. Definitely the original 1963 version of The Haunting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happily you don't have too long to wait since it's due to be released October 15.

      Delete
  19. I think I'm mostly satisfied with the catalog titles that are out and that I own - I've told myself I'm only buying new movies from now on (though I am a liar), but if King Kong Lives (1986) was ever released on blu-ray I'd snap it up in a heartbeat! I haven't seen it in quite awhile so I'm not sure how well it holds up, but c'mon, any movie with King Kong getting a blood transfusion from a sexy giant lady ape whilst having an artificial giant ape heart transplant has got to be good, right?! And SPOILER: They fall in love.

    So yeah, that and Jaws: The Revenge of course!

    ReplyDelete
  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I meant, THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED.

    ReplyDelete