This has been a great year for Blu-rays. For every Sex and the City 2, we seemed to have at least three Toy Story releases. Yes -- all three did come out on Blu-ray this year. Because of this banner year for the format, I added quite a few discs to my collection in 2010. However, I only get five slots for favorites, so let's have at it.
It seems like an obvious pick, but let's give credit where credit is due. Pixar is unmatched in animation, so to have them release all three Toy Story movies on Blu-ray and not get a nod is just blasphemous. The colors were gorgeous on all three, and in some cases, the sound was even better. So why did I choose this release over its two predecessors? It made me cry like a big baby.
Again, I could claim how weepy this movie made me when I first saw it in theaters in 1991. It has the romance and the songs that make you both cry and sing. On Blu-ray, however, I was just too in awe at how wonderful everything looks. This film does not appear to have aged a day. It takes a lot for me to give the full four stars, but this film was well worth the extra bling. This Diamond Edition is a feast for both the eyes and ears, and includes a treasure chest full of extras.
Video games and Edgar Wright are a geeky and wonderful combination. As a fan of Wright's Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, I was frothing at the mouth for this movie. I am very happy to say that my froth was not in vain. Despite being deemed as a movie for the whippersnappers, I found this flick to be a breath of fresh are and highly entertaining. I am what some of you would call old (please don't), but this one definitely scores a spot on my list. It also looks stunning on Blu-ray. All of those super-cool effects are exactly what this medium is made for.
Yes, it's another superhero, videogame-type movie. I like those. Besides, this one looked pretty darn good on Blu-ray. Fists of fury and a nice package of extras round this out as a must-have set. Also, any movie that redeems Nicolas Cage is not only a modern marvel, but well worth a slot in my top five.
Jason Bourne has seen more high-def releases than actual adventures. Early in 2010, Universal did a bit of experimenting, releasing all three Bourne movies on flipper disc. These releases had the Blu-ray on one side and the standard-def DVD on the other. While it was nothing all that new, it was also nothing short of spectacular. The last in the franchise (so far) is one of my favorites, thanks to a slew of shaky cam and a heart-pounding soundtrack. If you like Bourne's earlier adventures, you also can't go wrong with The Bourne Supremacy. That's the one where Bourne kills a baddie with a rolled up magazine! What could be better than that?
