Kuffs. But there are still so many titles that remain unavailable -- many of them even on DVD. What gives?
JB made his own lists last year; you can find those here and here.
While there are obviously many more than 10 movies I want released on Blu-ray, here are just some of the titles I wish I could add to our collection:
1. Extreme Prejudice (1987, dir. Walter Hill)
JB made his own lists last year; you can find those here and here.
While there are obviously many more than 10 movies I want released on Blu-ray, here are just some of the titles I wish I could add to our collection:
1. Extreme Prejudice (1987, dir. Walter Hill)
Streets of Fire, this would be my favorite Walter Hill movie.
2. Martin (1978, dir. George A. Romero)
2. Martin (1978, dir. George A. Romero)
Four of the Apocalypse (1975, dir. Lucio Fulci)
Conquest or Contraband or The Silver Saddle or, most importantly, Four of the Apocalypse, his 1975 western and one of my favorites of his films, horror or otherwise. Violent, mean, and nasty, this one needs an upgrade just so it can find its long-overdue reappraisal and celebration.
5. Wuthering Heights (1939, dir. William Wyler)
5. Wuthering Heights (1939, dir. William Wyler)
The Abyss (1989, dir. James Cameron)
This is a no-brainer, and probably among the most requested of all titles for a Blu-ray release. It's incomprehensible that a filmmaker as technically accomplished and demanding as James Cameron would have such massive holes in filmography when it comes to Blu-ray; both this and True Lies have never even made it past the non-anamorphic DVD stage. The movie turns 30 this year, so there's no better time for an HD debut than its 30th anniversary. Also, we are old.
8. Femme Fatale (2002, dir. Brian De Palma)
I'm realizing that a lot of this list is made up of movies from my favorite directors: Walter Hill, Lucio Fulci, George Romero, Albert Pyun. Well, add Brian De Palma to that list. My favorite De Palma film since the heyday of his early '80s thrillers, Femme Fatale is everything anyone could want out of a movie: thrilling, suspenseful, confident, funny, sexy, violent, brilliantly constructed. It's De Palma's victory lap. It's a Warner title, so maybe Warner Archive can step up and make it happen.
9. Trouble in Paradise (1932, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
To my great shame, I only just saw this Ernst Lubitsch classic for the first time about a month ago. Erika and I have been watching a ton of older films on Blu-ray and recorded off Turner Classic Movies in the hopes of filling in a bunch of gaps, and this one quickly rose to the tops of both of our lists. It's so smart and sophisticated and light and funny. Criterion put this out on DVD back in 2003; where is the Blu-ray already?
10. Dead Presidents (1995, dir. Allan & Albert Hughes)
My non-anamorphic Disney DVD of this Hughes brothers blaxploitation crime film needs to be retired. Though they have subsequently revealed themselves to be great lovers of genre film (with titles like From Hell and The Book of Eli to their credit), Dead Presidents was kind of swerve for the Hughes brothers when it was first released, having broken out and caught attention with their debut film Menace II Society. Like so many young black filmmakers in the '90s, they were pegged as important documentarians of the "urban" experience; instead, they just wanted to make cool action and horror movies. Dead Presidents remains my favorite of all their films, smuggling some '70s-era (era) social commentary into a cool heist movie. It's another one I feel would have a larger audience if it were treated better on home video.
8. Femme Fatale (2002, dir. Brian De Palma)
9. Trouble in Paradise (1932, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
10. Dead Presidents (1995, dir. Allan & Albert Hughes)
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