Hopefully, you've been stockpiling a few bucks. This is the week to blow your entire AV budget on new Blu-rays. There are Oscar winners, nominees, blockbusters, and well... Badlands. It's a great week for Blu-ray.
The amount of awesome new releases made it really difficult to pick a spotlight title for the week. Are you a musical lover? Do you love controversy? Comedy? There's something for each of you. However, when pressured Zero Dark Thirty-style, we'd have to choose The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as this week's pick.
Maybe it's because it's available in 2D and 3D, because it reteams director Peter Jackson with the material of J. R. R. Tolkien, or because it made over $1 billion. Then again, it could be that it's just an incredible adventure with a cool cast and even better audio and video.
As mentioned, this week has plenty of other options -- although not many for the kiddies. Hopefully, they are still catching up on all of the animated releases from last week, because this week's titles are for adults only. (Whee!)
Did we miss one of your favorites for the week? Have something to say about one of this week's new releases? Sound off in the comments below. Otherwise, all of these titles are out as of March 19, 2013, except where noted. Enjoy!
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
After three rounds of Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson seemed hungry for another trilogy. Apparentlty, so were the fans. This offshoot of LOTR went on to rake in over $1 billion. The first of a new trilogy finds Bilbo Baggins off in search of the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. During the journey, he encounters Wizard Gandalf the Grey, 13 Dwarves, and mighty warrior Thorin Oakenshield -- and that's not even the half of this grand adventure.
Warner Bros. is giving this blockbuster release a worthy Blu-ray. Well, two of them, actually. The 3D version has a whopping four Blu-rays, which includes the film across two Blu-ray 3D discs, a 2D Blu-ray, a Blu-ray filled with extras, a standard-def DVD, the Digital Copy and an UltraViolet Digital Copy. The 2D version drops the number of Blu-rays down to two, for a total of three discs. Both versions offer up a stunning 2.40:1 image and an immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track. Considering the extras get an entire disc, fans should be pretty pleased. That collection includes trailers, a short on the location, over two hours of video blogs, and a promo code for a peek at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. [Warner Bros.]
Les Misérables
Because of this film, Anne Hathaway stole our hearts and this year's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. However, she's almost like a blip in this grand adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel. The cast includes Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne, who all sing their hearts out for Tom Hooper's lavish, entertaining musical drama.
Les Mis is a dark film, but it has a rather impressive 2.40:1 image and a beautiful DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track. The special features section is short, but pretty decent, with a one-hour doc that dissects the production, a piece on Hugo, and director commentary. It would have been nice if there was something a little meatier on the music, but the 2-disc set also has a standard-def DVD, a Digital Copy and the UltraViolet Digital Copy. [Universal]
Editor's Note: This title will be released on Friday, March 22, 2013.
Zero Dark Thirty
Another Oscar contender comes to Blu-ray this week. This controversial drama from Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride from the events of 9/11 up until the day when America declared that Osama bin Laden had been shot and killed. It's also important to mention that the entire film is from the point of the CIA -- mainly a young officer named Maya (played by Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain).
Zero Dark Thirty is a dark film, both in tone and actual image. However, the 1.85:1 transfer conveys all of that quite nicely, with an equally effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. That said, Sony certainly won't create any buzz for the collection of extras that's included here. Instead, there are just four incredibly short featurettes, a standard-def DVD and the UltraViolet Digital Copy. [Sony]
This Is 40
Judd Apatow made a sequel to his 2007 hit Knocked Up -- except without Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. Instead, it's more of a spin-off, with the director focusing on secondary characters Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) and the "joys" of turning the big 4-0. Jason Segel, Megan Fox, Charlene Yi, Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Chris O'Dowd, Lena Dunham and Robert Smigel also appear in the star-packed film.
Universal has given this release a 2.40:1 image, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, a standard-def DVD, a Digital Copy and an UltraViolet Digital Copy. The 2-disc set also has theatrical and unrated versions of the film, Apatow audio commentary, deleted scenes, a 50-minute making-of featurette, and a slew of other shorts -- most notably highlighting Brooks, Smigel and Apatow's own daughters (who also star in the film). [Universal]
Editor's Note: This title will be released on Friday, March 22, 2013.
Badlands
Long before Natural Born Killers, there was Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate -- and boy, were they creepy. They were also in love. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek play star-crossed lovers that embark on a killing spree across the badlands of South Dakota. Inspired by a true story, this film is director Terrence Malick's (The Thin Red Line) feature film debut.
Criterion brings this classic to Blu-ray, pairing a LPCM mono track with the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, wich has been restored in 4K. Otherwise, expect a piece on Starkweather, interviews with producer Edward Pressman and associate editor Billy Weber, and the film's trailer. There's also a whole new 42-minute documentary, with Sheen and Spacek. Criterion is also packing the single-disc release with a booklet that has photos and info about the movie. [Criterion]
Love for Levon
Last year, Levon Helm passed at the age of 71. While he wasn't necessarily a household name, he was the leader of The Band and a legend. In October, bassist Don Was put together this final farewell concert at the Meadowlands Arena -- and filmed the whole thing. Artists include Greg Allman, Marc Cohn, Mavis Staples, Bruce Hornsby, John Hiatt, John Mayer, and many more.
At press time, there wasn't a whole lot of info on what we could expect from this release -- mainly the audio track, which seems sort of important, no? Otherwise, there's a 1.78:1 image, as well as additional footage and interviews across two Blu-ray discs and two CDs. [Time Life]
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