Blu-ray releases for the week of February 8

by James Ransom-Wiley { Feb 9th 2009 at 1:05PM }

Does high definition make everything better? That question will be tested -- to the max -- this week. Here's the complete list of Blu-ray video releases scheduled for Tuesday:

Amadeus: Director's Cut
Boondock Saints
Chocolate
Donnie Darko
~~Doom~~, er, "DOOM"
Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13 / Bojack Returns
Frozen River
A History of Violence
IMAX: Grand Canyon Adventure - River at Risk
IMAX: Super Speedway
Miracle at St. Anna
My Name is Bruce
Nights in Rodanthe
The Pelican Brief
Pretty Woman
Raging Bull
The Rundown
Soul Men (2008)
Street Fighter
A Time to Kill
W.
The Way of War
When Weather Changed History

Tags: blu-ray, blu-ray-releases

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Heavytoka @ Feb 9th 2009 1:14PM

Pre-ordered Raging Bull, The Boondock Saints and Donnie Darko

TLoganK @ Feb 9th 2009 1:39PM

Boondock Saints and Donnie Darko, 2 movies in my All-time Top 10 List!

slycooper_rocker (The Agent of Orange) @ Feb 9th 2009 5:29PM

yup that sums it up for me.

ryuk @ Feb 9th 2009 1:18PM

boondock saints is an amazing movie

what is that street fighter? please tell me it's not the jean claude one, why would they even bring that to blu-ray?

justinslot @ Feb 9th 2009 2:22PM

That is it! Not the Sonny Chiba classic, it's the JCVD/Raul Julia camp classic.

Chunky @ Feb 9th 2009 1:32PM

OMG DOOM!!! Im getting that ASAP (No sarcasm I fucking LOVE that movie)

Andrew Ryan @ Feb 9th 2009 1:45PM

Haha it's the Rock's week The Rundown & DOOM. I might buy DOOM by the way!!!

Please don't give money to those bastards. I'll never forgive them for making a movie called DOOM that has neither demons nor hell. I don't care if "it's an OK movie if you forget that they completely ignored the source material". It's a matter of principle.

Andrew Ryan @ Feb 9th 2009 4:40PM

I think i'd know that better than anyone else.. But does it really matter what movie/game that got turned into a game/movie turned out good? Tomb Raider & RE at BEST but Silent Hill anyone!!? I loved that movie(DOOM), but it's like saying you still didn't play Halo 2 because they decided to change everything, or like saying you didn't play Far Cry 2 because it shifted away from the original, it's fanbase will still enjoy it.. If you get the point. + I like The Rock. Gears or Bioshock most likely wont turn into the movies you'd want them to be anyways & we pretty much know it'll still satisfy most them knowingly acknowledge games have never turned into good movies nor movies into good games.

Maroof Hossain @ Feb 9th 2009 1:48PM

Do the imax films still have the same effect at home or are they like any regular blu-ray movie? i.e. is there any significance to the imax name in the title?

Eric E @ Feb 9th 2009 2:28PM

I just got Dark Knight, and i knew they filmed some scenes in IMAX and i noticed it on bluRay!
They are FullScreen and much more vibrant but it might depend on your setup.

Watch DarkKnight and you pay attention to scenes w/ no letterboxing (black bars) See if you can tell. The sky shots of China are amazing.

split.second @ Feb 9th 2009 2:38PM

Having watched The Dark Knight in Blu-Ray, I can tell you that the IMAX scenes stand out significantly.

Alphathon @ Feb 9th 2009 4:01PM

Definitelly. Far more vibrant and a lot clearer than 35mm, and without a lot of the grain. The Dark Knight as said is a perfect example as it uses both (both look stunning but IMAX completelly blows away the 35mm)

Matt @ Feb 9th 2009 11:33PM

If the IMAX image were presented in its entirety on BD, it would have black bars on the left and right of an HDTV. It would look similar to watching SD TV or an old film on HDTV, only with higher resolution.

IMAX is shot on 1.43:1, which is very close to the 4:3 of a standard-def TV. They cropped the top and bottom of The Dark Knight IMAX scenes to fit into your 16:9 HDTVs on Blu-Ray, so, technically, there is information missing from the theatrical IMAX release. The 35mm scenes on Dark Knight had a wider aspect ratio (2.40:1), and are presented in their entirety on the BD disc (with slight letterboxing on the top and bottom).

As for the "IMAX" movies above, I'm not sure how they do the transfer. Anybody know?

Either way, IMAX will look better on BD than DVD, due to the increase in resolution and color information, and is probably your best bet if you want to watch it at home.

omatic810 @ Feb 9th 2009 2:03PM

I don't feel a pressing need to watch super-high-quality movies on my 16-year-old analog TV, so I'll pass on all these. Maybe the U.S. government should stimulate the economy by giving college students 32-inch HDTVs.

Andrew Ryan @ Feb 9th 2009 6:08PM

LOL, a great present that would be. After all us students are tomorrow's great future. I'm not being cocky it's just true.

lasersanchez @ Feb 10th 2009 2:12AM

I have a 47 in widescreen and still can't get myself interested enough to drop 20-30 bucks on a movie.

umm....hello??? @ Feb 10th 2009 11:32AM

yeah, I have the same problem. much cheaper to rent from Netflix/Blockbuster for $8-20/month and rent Bluray movies. although I hate that they're releasing older movies that weren't even really shot in HD--I just skip those. do I really need TopGun in HD?

James @ Feb 9th 2009 2:17PM

I'm so pissed that Taxi Driver was canceled last week, I was pumped up for it. Although the newest DVD looks great (one of the better looking DVDS imo) I really want to get all my favorite Scorsese movies on BR.

Well I guess it's good news Raging Bull comes out but I'm not sure how much it will benefit from HD, will probably get it when it's a bit cheaper.

Second BR title that was canceled I was greatly looking up to (Glory is the first, and both dvds suck so it's even more crushing)

John @ Feb 9th 2009 2:20PM

I'm wondering how Amadeus' laugh sounds in HD.... I work with someone who burst out laughing like that every afternoon, and I can never get enough... very contagious.

doc j @ Feb 9th 2009 2:44PM

Sweet, I can buy my third copy of Donnie Darko.

*shakes head*

I am such a sucker.

Steffan Griffiths @ Feb 9th 2009 3:03PM

'You're weird.'

'Sorry...'

shaitien @ Feb 9th 2009 3:13PM

Chocolate is getting added to my HD collection!

anthonyjh @ Feb 9th 2009 4:11PM

Decent week. I'll definitely get Raging Bull, and I might pick up Donnie Darko.

Nineteen88 @ Feb 9th 2009 4:13PM

My God, Amadeus & Donnie Darko! I'm in for a treat!

Rick @ Feb 9th 2009 4:44PM

i'm really missing the links that used to be on every blu-ray title. it made my life so much easier. please bring the links back!! =]

sonicspike41 @ Feb 9th 2009 5:28PM

Looks like I've got a few new things to download. I'll probably get around to buying them eventually however, so don't feel too bad.

It's nice to get them free, but it's so much more satisfying to actually "own" them... or, well, at least own the rights to watch them "for personal in-home use only".