Why So Blu?

Gregg’s Top 10 Blu-rays of 2019

Happy Holiday, folks! This time of year means the WSB staff opens the floodgates on their top 10’s. While I didn’t experience the treasure trove of films in the theater this year I had hoped for (by quality, not amount), the list of quality Blu-rays was lengthy, but alas, narrow it to ten we must. I did finally experience what WSB-founder Blu-ray Brian has been stating for some time now about Disney Blu-rays. While I absolutely loved Captain Marvel as a film, the audio on its Blu-ray release was incredibly mundane and severely disappointing. Shame on you, Disney. Off the list it went. Rest assured, however, there were plenty of titles clamoring to make our lists and while Captain Marvel on disc was left in the dust, there is more than enough entertainment to fill out ten impressive releases.

As always, I feel compelled to enter my disclaimer that no one reads.  This list isn’t ranking Blu-rays solely on the film.  Major aspects such as video quality, audio and amount of extras play a big role in the rankings of these titles.  Every year I have at least a few people reach out to me and say something to the effect of, “You ranked Killer Cyborgs from Uranus above Gone with the Wind?!  How could you?!”  While a film may be a more artistically done, that doesn’t mean it’s presented better visually or audibly on Blu-ray.  So there, take that and like it.  Now onto the list!

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Honorable Mention – Chernobyl

Easily one of the best HBO-original productions to date, this five-part mini-series dramatically recaptures the Soviet nuclear disaster from April 26, 1986 as well as the recovery and legal proceedings that followed.  Jared Harris expertly leads an impressive cast of actors, which also features Stellan Skarsgard.  An occasionally grainy video seems so fitting of the topic and time while the audio does its job and then some.  Unfortunately, the featurettes are brief and few which kept this one from cracking the list.

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Honorable Mention – Doom Patrol: Season 1

‘Quirky’ is the best way to describe this DC property that sported a familiar character like Cyborg, but also an array of much less common characters such as Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Crazy Jane and Robotman (great to see Brendan Fraser back!).  Both the audio and video is impressively displayed here, but for a comic book-based entity, the amount of extras here could have been much greater.  Still, this blind buy was worth every penny as I eagerly await a sophomore season in 2020.

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#10  Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

“What?!  They’re actually going to make this happen?!” That was my reply of elation when I first heard this was coming to fruition in Blu-ray form earlier this year. The ending was a little wonky, but believe me, I was not disappointed in this film in the slightest.  The colors pop, even amidst the dark confines of Gotham. The audio adds to the excitement and tension and the featurettes are decent enough and offer proficient run length.

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#9  The Big Bang Theory: Season 12

All good things must come to an end.  As the twelfth season was the last for TBBT, it will also be the final time I add this perennial winner to my top 10 list.  But, as John Elway and Peyton Manning did, TBBT also goes out on top. The final season started off a little slowly but quickly found its humorous path we have all come to know and love.  The visual and audio quality here are consistent to past efforts with the series while the standard fair of extras are included (cast interviews, gag reel, etc.).

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#8  Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Take three of the biggest action stars around right now (though Idris Alba can hold his own in several other genres) and combine them for this raucous romp of broken glass and twisted metal.  The video is eye-popping and the audio is right up there with it.  The extras found here offer more substance than the preceding titles on this list as well.

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#7  John Wick 3

Zip, Bang, Pow!  No, that’s not Adam West.  John Wick is back in all of his gun-toting, bone-crunching manner for a fun ride in this third installment.  The audio is an example of perfection and the video isn’t too far behind.  Featurettes are enjoyable here and there are certainly more than a few to be had.  Here’s looking forward to the fourth piece in the franchise in 2021.

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#6  Creed II

With rock star quality audio and visual presentation, this sequel attached to the Rocky franchise equaled, if not surpassed, the first Creed.  Michael B. Jordan returns as the son of the late Apollo Creed with coach Rocky in tow.  The re-gathering of castmates from the Rocky IV was done exceptionally well and the mix of real life issues just propelled this film up the list.  The amount of featurettes here are slim, but still interesting if nothing else.  If this is indeed the closure of the Rocky/Creed franchise, some more meat on the extras bones would have been appreciated.

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#5  Bumblebee

Welcome to the second best Transformers film.  Nevermind for a moment that the soundtrack was my favorite of any 2018 film, the film itself was just absolutely fun from the moment it launched us to Cybertron.  Personally, I cannot figure out why this underperformed at the box office, but I still love the heck out of Bumblebee, yes the film and the character. The high def home version of the film carries that same spectacular delivery I had hoped for.

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#4  A Star is Born

This was my #2 cinema film for 2018 and I really wanted this Blu-ray to be higher here.  Nevertheless, it’s not all about the film.  With an enjoyable video quality and exceptional sound, it’s those pesky extras that keep this one a little lower on the list.  They just weren’t strong enough to propel this one close to the top spot.  Still, the film is so damn good that I just have to rank this higher than some of its competitors here.

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#3  Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

With Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film comes an absolutely brilliant tale that not only looks amazing, but sounds amazing too.  You’ll find this film somewhere lurking on my top 10 movies of the year list later this month, but for now, let me indulge you in this must-buy disc.  Whether your format is 1080p or 4k, just get your wallet out and buy this.  I was hoping for more extras than provided as I was hungry for much more production content, but what’s listed is still solid.

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#2  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Remember earlier on the list when I said the colors in the Batman vs. TMNT disc really pop?  Eat your heart out, TMNT.  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is without question a reference-quality disc in both audio and video.  Because of the art and animation style, the visuals here get an exceptional edge on all other Blu-rays on this list.  The palette is so emphatically lush, though not to the point of being obnoxious.  I was quite satisfied with all of the featurettes on this disc, including the farewells to comic book greats Steve Ditko and Stan Lee.  Did I mention the film’s story is expertly done as well?

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#1  Aquaman

I’m going to borrow a line from Brian’s 4k review here, “The masterful James Wan pulled off the what was almost deemed the impossible.  He defied the odds and marvelously brought to the big screen an absurd superhero project…”  That is unequivocally true.  The TV series Entourage even played a little tongue-in-cheek with this years back as this often made-fun-of superhero certainly couldn’t hold his own in a standalone film in real life…could he?  Enter James Wan and Jason Momoa.  It was a perfect storm as the action-savvy director joined forces with the unlikely actor to play the Atlantean king.  While no one is going to win any acting awards in this movie, its transition to Blu-ray is nothing short of awesome.

Just like Into the Spider-Verse, this also brings viewers reference quality video and sound that will attract the senses from start to finish.   Aquaman delivers optimum performance on Blu-ray players, both on the 1080p format and even more so on 4k.  As for the film, it is an action-filled soak fest with impressive visuals, including the underwater animation that should have been nominated for an Oscar, but wasn’t.  Finally we tackle the extras, or featurettes if you will.  While not the biggest part of a Blu-ray, it can certainly make or break a title’s position on this list.  Worry not, as the extras on Aquaman are numerous, all in high def and all substantial in content.

It was a tough decision between the #1 and #2 spots on this list, but featurette content and my undying appreciation of the Aquaman character done exceptionally well sealed the deal.

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