Brandon’s Blu-ray Wishlist – August 14, 2014
We’re finally here! The Expendables 3 comes out tomorrow. This is the end of our ‘Countdown To Expendables 3’ series. And if we started with Sly we’re ending on Schwarzenegger! Today’s pick is the biggest glaring hole, not only of Arnold’s catalog, but the director, the studio and Blu-ray as a whole. We have one that seems to be one of the biggest crimes against Blu-ray humanity for not being a part of the format. And its a huge head scratcher that this title wasn’t put out in the initial years of Blu-ray.
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True Lies (1994)
Yes, I know back when I did the original Wishlist piece I mentioned I didn’t put True Lies on it. Back around then there was a buzz and word that True Lies and The Abyss were coming to Blu-ray in 2014, so I didn’t want to play captain obvious with titles on there. I try to use the Wishlist article for shots in the dark (Trojan War) or places where I see the perfect opportunity/situation to make one possible (Leprechaun box set). To me, its cheap if I get word on something many moons before it is officially announced but know that its legitimately coming. Feels like cheating. Anyway, since that True Lies/Abyss bit of news happened there’s been absolutely nothing. So, I decided its a legitimate time to put this one on the Wishlist.
Does James Cameron have to be completely free to analyze and perfect every detail of this movie before it can be released? Does someone know? I find it crazy that we have a incredible remasters and special editions for things like Death Spa, Death Bed…The Bed That Eats, Street Trash, Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter…of which, I do love some of those, but you get get my point…and all we can’t even get a generic bare bones release of one of Schwarzenegger and Cameron’s best. Baffling.
This is the first time I don’t think I have to do much in the way of pleading my case as to why I love the film or want it to be on Blu-ray as I think a majority…a GOOD majority is already on my side. True Lies is a fantastic mix of both action, comedy and parody. Aside from Arnold, you also get a great performance from Jamie Lee Curtis in one of her last big movies. Hell, for a long time Jamie Lee’s striptease dance was pretty iconic and a big deal in the mid-90s when the film came out. To add an Arnold, this is also Tom Arnold’s unquestionably best film.
For Schwarzenegger, this was the top of the mountain. He wouldn’t a big star in a film as praised and successful as this one again. Notable for being the first film to cross $100 million in budget, it managed to be a raving success. Arnold’s next film would be the solid and enjoyable Eraser, but the double whammy of Jingle All The Way and Batman & Robin followed. After that he had the back to back of “eh” films The Sixth Day and End Of Days. Sure, he’d have Terminator 3 to recoup some of that box office prowess, but it wasn’t some huge comeback as he didn’t do anymore than cameo in anything until Expendables 2 in 2012 due to Governator duties. So looking back, True Lies was really it for Schwarzenegger being on top of the world. The long walk down the other side of the mountain came next.
True Lies may have been the end of James Cameron for fanboys, too. He legendarily followed this film up with Titanic and took a 12 year sabbatical until Avatar in 2009. Titanic has had that Oscar backlash to it, but aside from that, its not really a film for fanboys of stuff like Aliens, Terminator and True Lies. And his return in Avatar was relatively mixed among fans. True Lies then marks the end of an era for Cameron too (in a fanboy sense, the guy is still doing what he’s always done they just have a hard time with the 2 follow ups).
20th Century Fox, James Cameron, whoever…please just release True Lies on Blu-ray. All I want is a great transfer and lossless audio. If you want to do bonus material, that’s fine, but you don’t have to, I’ll pick it up whatever the price. It’s been sort of tiresome and really shouldn’t be one of Blu-ray’s holy grails. I want to see Arnold punch Bill Paxton in the convertible on Blu-ray, I wanna see Jamie Lee’s dance on Blu-ray, I wanna see Arnold and Tia (2 wishlist weeks in a row) do the tango in Blu-ray, I wanna see Eliza Dushku hanging off the nose of a jet on Blu-ray…just please finally do it! Thank you!
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