blu rays dvd News | What's new (again) on Blu-ray: January 24, 2012

New on Blu this week: MGM goes to Manhattan, Criterion faces the moment of truth and Sony earns its stripes!

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From MGM Home Entertainment comes two Woody Allen classics: Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979). In Annie Hall, Allen plays a neurotic writer (hmm…) who begins a relationship with a free-spirit singer played by then-muse Diane Keaton. Often cited as both one of the best romances and one of the funniest comedies, Annie Hall won four Oscars.

In Manhattan, Allen is a neurotic writer (hmm…) who falls in love with a much younger woman (hmm…), played by Mariel Hemingway. Set to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and featuring some of the finest black and white cinematography ever put on film, Manhattan is an essential.

Transfers are strong and definitely improvements over the DVDs, breathing new life into the cinematic New York City. These are both worth upgrading.

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MGM also offers a trio of Alfred Hitchcock classics this week. In Notorious, Cary Grant is an agent infiltrating Claude Rain’s Nazi. In Hitch’s first American production and only Best Picture winner Rebecca, Joan Fontaine is haunted by the dead ex-wife of her husband (Laurence Olivier). And in Spellbound, Gregory Peck is a psychiatrist who may need some help himself.

For suspense fans, all of these films were worth owning on DVD. Now with the high-definition transfers, these are must-haves and looking very good on Blu-ray--especially the surreal Dali sequences in Spellbound.

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The Criterion Collection has two titles out this week, both making their debuts on the label. First is the mother of all monster movies, Godzilla. Classic Media first gave Gojira the Blu-ray treatment in 2009, but Criterion’s version is the one to own, as it has significantly better video and audio, as well as the feature-length Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, a new commentary and more. (Note: don’t get too close to the packaging when opening!)

Next is Francesco Rosi’s The Moment of Truth, about a farmer’s son who becomes a champion bullfighter. Real-life torero Miguel Mateo does a fine job at showing the passion and spectacle of the sport, but Rosi does little to make his film stand out from other rise-and-fall sports stories. The disc features a faithfully grainy transfer, but only one interview.

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Image Entertainment has three Richard Pryor comedies, just over one year after what would have been his 71st birthday. The movies are See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), Pryor’s third pairing with Gene Wilder; Stir Crazy (1980), their second; and The Toy (1982), in which Pryor plays an out-of-work man who is paid to be the friend/toy of a wealthy businessman’s son.

None of these titles called for Blu-ray releases, but Pryor fans will be satisfied with the presentations, which Image did a solid job on. Unfortunately, there are no special features on any of the discs.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s notable Blu-ray release today is Stripes (1981), the second collaboration between director Ivan Reitman and Bill Murray. In it, Murray and Harold Ramis ditch their boring lives and enlist in the U.S. Army. Though it’s no Caddyshack or Ghostbusters, Stripes is a solid Murray comedy from the ‘80s with plenty of good one-liners. The video is soft in many places, so fans should be hesitant to trade in their DVD.

One of the more impressive releases of this year so far is Paramount’s Blu-ray of the first Best Picture winner, Wings (1927), out just in time for the Oscar nominations. This is a gorgeous high-definition transfer of a film that is now 85 years old. Grain and detail are strong throughout, so this is an absolutely faithful presentation that silent film aficionados will go wild for.

Click here to check out our complete list of DVD/Blu-ray releases

Source: The Digital Dorm