Everything Is Awesome With The Lego Movie Blu-ray Announcement!
April 17th, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
Is it sad that The Lego Movie is still my favorite movie of 2014? No way! Everything is awesome about that status! And everything gets a bit more awesome today with the following announcement from Warner Bros. The Lego Movie arrives on on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD 2-Disc Special Edition, and Digital HD on JUNE 17. Now tell me. After this announcement, how much more awesome can your day really get today? That was a rhetorical question, of course. Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty by examining everything you’re going to get here in addition to the film’s trailer and of course the inevitable pre-order link. Make sure you click that! Continue reading ‘Everything Is Awesome With The Lego Movie Blu-ray Announcement!’
My pick today is a movie that was one of those glorious films that get dumped in Januarys. Yep, I’m about to ask for a movie that got an 11% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes (68% audience score though). A film so bold, it scored a 14 on Metacritic.
Just before he directed The Italian Job, Peter Collinson helmed Up The Junction. This tale of a rich woman deciding to leave that life behind and try and slide into the ranks of the working class was based upon true events. Nell Dunn wrote a book of the same name that chronicled herself sliding in and observing the culture and life of the people in the slums of Battersea and Clapham Junction. Before coming to the big screen, the story was adapted into a BBC miniseries 3 years prior as a part of an anthology series called The Wednesday Play. That version had a big audience and apparently plenty of complaints about its content. While the film didn’t do too well in the US, its soundtrack did. And this movie’s title may indeed be more known as a song than it is a film, but I think the film deserves a second look. 
Grand Piano, the Fantastic Fest darling and hit Video OnDemand horror film starring Elijah Wood and John Cusack is on its way to Blu-ray next month courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment. Horror (though this is listed as “Thriller”) and VOD have started becoming really good friends and turning out some great product, be it a VOD debut or a festival film’s avenue to a wider release. I was actually planning on finally getting to this one this weekend, but it looks like I’ll just put it on hold a little longer until it comes for review. It arrives on May 20th and you can start pre-ordering it by clicking the Amazon link below (help your fellow Why So Blu reviewers!). Also, below are some of the details regarding the release from Magnolia. 
Legendary director Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker is a landmark in American filmmaking. This was the first Holocaust/World War II film to tell it from the perspective of a Holocaust survivor. And its an unrelenting and ruthless film for the times in terms of the suggestive events in the flashbacks. Its also the first mainstream film to have nudity approved by the Production Code. The Production Code was something that was in place before we had a ratings system. A pair of breasts is what is on display, but due to the manner in which its used it was given the OK. The film also features the role that landed actor Rod Steiger on the A-list and launched him into stardom. Olive Films has taken this landmark film and restored it and will be releasing it to the lovely Blu-ray format. 
Let’s be honest here. Who with a smartphone, tablet, gaming console and even a computer has never enjoyed, partakes in or even still enjoys the many incarnations of the smash hit mobile game Angry Birds? I think if I asked this question in front of a live studio audience, I would be hard pressed to see anyone not raise their hands unless Christopher Nolan was there or something. But I digress. The Angry Birds are coming back to your living room with Angry Birds Toons: Season One, Volume Two! And thanks to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment we have some exciting prizes to give away to 6 lucky readers here at Why So Blu! Sound good to you? Read on below to learn more about Angry Birds Toons: Season One, Volume Two and how you can win the ultimate grand prize we have to give away! 
Olive Film’s will release another title from the classic film noir era on April 15. This time its 1948’s Sleep My Love, starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Don Ameche and Raymond Burr. It’s helmed by German director Douglas Sirk, later known for his Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s. The film received a lukewarm response upon its release, with some complaints and criticisms that still hold up on it today. Douglas Sirk even acknowledged the film as a failure. Looking back, its not a perfect film, but its definitely not the catastrophe its director made it out to be. Most of the pleasantries come from a great hook and some wonderfully nightmarish photography from the film’s DP Joseph Valentine. So, now, let’s take a look at this 66 year old film. 
Cry Freedom was the film directorial debut of child star Robert Parrish. He shot the movie over just twenty two days back in 1950-51. As anyone can tell you, that’s an incredibly short amount of time. However, when you see how concise and focused the film is, you can tell Parrish set out and knew exactly what he was doing and precisely what he was wanting. In 2011, the film received a newly restored print from two 35 mm negatives courtesy of the Film Noir Foundation (in cooperation with Paramount and Warner Brothers. The film then premiered on March 14, 2011 at the UCLA Festival Of Preservation. This well reviewed piece of classic film noir is coming to Blu-ray courtesy of our friends over at Olive Films. 
Olive Films has brought 1968’s sci fi cult classic, The Bamboo Saucer to Blu-ray. I tried to do some research on this film for this review because I’d never seen it. But, to no avail, there’s not a whole lot of information regarding this film’s production on the usual legitimate movie researching tools found on the web. And after seeing the film, it became even more of a bummer that there weren’t and supplemental materials (even if it were just film historians and fans discussing it) provided on the disc. But, as I always say, at least its on Blu-ray. Just getting a film to this glorious format is triumph enough! 
Get your head out of the gutter, pervert! This is a kids movie! The Nut Job was a little animated feature that came out in the behemoth of “soon to be classics” release month of January. It hopped over its budget but didn’t really make a massive intake like a lot of animated gems do nowadays. Whatever your thoughts, its apparently getting a sequel aimed for the year 2016 in its stronghold month of January. Universal brings this family friendly affair to Blu-ray on April 15 making for a quick quick turnaround. I’ll be reviewing the regular Blu-ray combo release of the film, but there is a 3D version coming out the same day if that’s your cup of tea.
