Well, let’s skip the pleasantries (besides, I’ve got a whole big introduction lined up and can save for a week anyway) and let’s get down to business.
The last couple of weeks have seen a decided uptick in HD and Blu-Ray news and notes, perhaps most significant among them is that Warner Brothers has decided to release some of the same already available HD-DVD titles on Blu-Ray, so come August 1, there will be a lot of people frantically getting their screenshot comparisons up and ready to go. Of course, tho…e titles are Rumor Has It, Training Day and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (and the Blu exclusive Good Night and Good Luck), but Warner media advertising appears to also note that 16 Blocks, The Perfect Storm and Million Dollar Baby may be on the way as well.
Perhaps complicating (or making things more interesting) is that come August 1, Paramount will be in the midst of releasing their first wave of HD-DVDs. Expect Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Sahara, Tomb Raider and Sleepy Hollow on July 25, and We Were Soldiers, the remake of The Manchurian Candidate and Four Brothers on the 1st. What I love about this new platform is the inclusion of so many attractive title releases…
The other news of note is that Warner seems to be ready to jump a little deeper into the HD-DVD pool, indicating that Batman Begins and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will drop sometime later this year, with the Matrix and Lord of the Rings trilogies following and appearing sometime around Christmas.
As it stands now with what’s out there, I’m hoping that October, November and December can’t get here soon enough, and that Warner and New Line really bring the technology when it comes to the new stuff, because what’s out now really isn’t doing it for me. Of the over 40 HD-DVD titles available now, I have 10, some really more for the film than for the 1080 interlaced resolution lines (or whatever the terminology is), and if there was a film to show things off with, I’d have to say either Apollo 13 or Constantine (I can’t believe I’m typing that) would probably be the guilty culprit. But more on those rants for other times. I’ll be back next week to let you know what is this crazy person doing here writing this column…
