The Best New Blu-Ray Releases: West Side Story, The Godfather Trilogy 4K, And More
Hey, we’re back! It’s time yet again for one of my always-popular, highly-revered, award-winning Blu-ray round-ups! This week features some heavy hitters. We’re talking Spielberg, Coppola, del Toro, Scorsese, and Welles! you may’t beat a line-up like that, especially if you’re one of the few people out there still clinging to physical media the way Kate Winslet clung to that damn door after the Titanic sank.
West Side Story
Since it dropped on both Disney+ and HBO Max, more and more people have discovered that Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” does, in fact, rule. While I’m thrilled that the movie continues to find an audience, I will always be a little salty that Spielberg’s first big-screen musical was virtually ignored on the big screen. Sure, you could argue that the pandemic played a part. But if folks can flock to the umpteenth “Spider-Man” movie, they should be able to see a new Steven Freakin' Spielberg movie on the big screen. And while I’mstillseeing absolute boneheads say things like, “Why would I see that? It’s just a shot-for-shot remake of the original movie!”, I’m here to proclaim that’s not even close to true. Spielberg takes his “West Side Story” in a completely different direction, and that includes re-arranging when certain songs appear and recontextualizing a lot of the story elements. In short, it’s a whole new movie, and while I have no illusions that it will end up winning Best Picture at the Oscars this year, it absolutely should.
Special Features:
The Stories of West Side Story
The Godfather Trilogy 4K
Everything you’ve heard about “The Godfather” trilogy is, of course, true. The first two films are bonafide masterpieces, and the third film, while not as great as the previous duo, still has its moments. And now the trilogy is, at long-last, on 4K. And this isn’t some slapdash job either, oh no. As press notes tell us, “Over 300 cartons of film were scrutinized to find the best possible resolution for every frame of all three films,” and “Over 4,000 hours were spent repairing film stains, tears, and other anomalies in the negatives.” Ah, but wait! There’s more: “Over 1,000 hours were spent on rigorous color correction to ensure the high dynamic range tools were respectful of the original vision of Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis.” In other words, you’re getting your money’s worth. Francis Ford Coppola’s epic saga of the rise and fall of Michael Corleone is, as Pauline Kael famouswrote, “a great example of how the best popular movies come out of a merger of commerce and art.” “The Godfather” is a big studio project, adapted from a trashy best-selling novel. In other words, it could very easily have turned into something soulless; a slick, quick product. But through a series of events, Coppola and company were able to work magic, creating work that has stood the test of time, and will remain relevant and powerful long after we’ve all gone to that great big orange grove in the sky.
Previous Release Special Features Included Here:
The Last Waltz
Some people — clowns, let’s call them — are fond of proclaiming that Martin Scorsese “only” makes mob movies. That’s not true at all, of course. There are multiple examples of Scorsese’s eclectic body of work, including his documentary “The Last Waltz,” which is now on 4K thanks to the folks at the Criterion Collection. Shot at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving, 1976, “The Last Waltz” is a documentary about the farewell performance of the Band, featuring a murderer’s row of performers including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, and more. Scorsese intercuts rousing, killer musical performances with cheeky, low-key interview segments, creating an experience that operates like a time machine. We’re not just watching “The Last Waltz,” we’re transported back to that ballroom. We can smell the cigarettes and spilled beer. We can feel the vibrations. Even if you’re not overly familiar with the Band’s music, you’re in for a treat here.
Nightmare Alley
Another 2021 film that sadly did not find an audience is Guillermo del Toro’s wonderful, twisted noir “Nightmare Alley.” Working with co-writer Kim Morgan, del Toro crafts a bleak, nasty little thriller featuring a career-best Bradley Cooper performance. Cooper plays a carny who becomes a high-class mesmerist, only to get embroiled in cons and schemes, and a fetching femme fatale played to purring perfection by Cate Blanchett. Some have argued del Toro’s take on this material is overlong, especially since a previous film adaptation from 1947 is much, much shorter. However, I like the slow build-up del Toro creates here. It hammers home the overall atmosphere of the film and makes the gut-punch payoff all the more rewarding (and disturbing).
Touch of Evil 4K
By the time Orson Welles made “Touch of Evil” in 1958, he was considered washed-up. An artist who refused to play by anyone else’s rules, Welles was eternally hindered by studio heads who didn’t adhere to his artistic vision. But when “Touch of Evil” came along, star Charlton Heston requested Welles direct. But, as was par for the course with much of Welles' work, the studio didn’t see eye to eye with the filmmaker and recut the finished film. Welles famously outlined his actual vision for the film in a 58-page memo, and decades later — in 1998 — “Touch of Evil” was restored to something closer to what Welles' wanted. Now hailed as a great movie, “Touch of Evil” wasn’t as well-regarded when it first opened, and one can’t help but wonder if that would’ve been different if the studio had just stuck with what Welles wanted. Here, Heston (in regrettable brown face) plays a Mexican drug enforcement agent investigating a bombing on the U.S./Mexico border. Welles plays the slovenly American cop trying to frame an innocent man for the crime, putting him at odds with Heston’s character.
Special Features:
