Looking Forward
December is upon us, can you believe it? Welcome back to Looking Forward, my monthly column in which I give you a quick overview of the important titles coming out. This will not replace my New Release Tuesday articles as those will be more in-depth.
As with any month, studios are primed to release some of their biggest hits, and with Christmas coming up, competing for your holiday dollar is their goal. There’s perhaps no bigger release this month, actually in the last five years (easily) than The Dark Knight. Warner is shipping over one million copies of the Blu Ray, priming the film to be the biggest Blu Ray release ever. I suspect they’ll hit that goal with incredible ease as this was the most anticipated summer film in years so why not the DVD/Blu Ray? It’s a must own just based on the quality of the film alone, but I’m sure WB will make the extras worth it too.
The other big releases are Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Mamma Mia! The Movie and Horton Hears a Who! Some of the release dates are screwy so keep with me on the New Release Tuesday lists to plan your buying accordingly. For DVD, the two I’m most interested in are Criterion Collection’s White Dog, the rarely seen, so-called “lost” film of Sam Fuller. Long time readers should know of about my excitement level for this release. The other film is Man on Wire, a fabulous documentary about the art crime of the century. A haunting tribute to the man who wire-walked from one World Trade Center building to the next. It’ll most likely be Oscar nominated, but documentaries aren’t known on DVD to be filled with extras, so I hope for something worthwhile.
One the Blu Ray side, last month’s Criterion titles were delayed for some reason and now are finally released this month. Expect The Third Man, Bottle Rocket, and a few more titles. Of course like I mentioned The Dark Knight is the title to own, but I’m interested in The Day the Earth Stood Still, X-Files: Fight for the Future, and the aforementioned Criterion titles. Some key catalogue films are being released in high def like the immortal classic Casablanca, which should be one heck of a Blu Ray to own. The Grindhouse films from Tarantino and Rodriguez, Deathproof and Planet Terror, make a long awaited Blu Ray release, unfortunately the extras are the same as the DVDs.
Well, as you can see December looks stacked. There are plenty more big releases this month, so visit us here at Killer Film every Tuesday to see what’s coming out and possible reviews for these titles too. Until then Press Play…
