February was such a great month for Blu-rays, I had to expand my normal Top 10 list. Between Oscar winners and nominees hitting home video just in time for the ceremony and the usual slate of catalog and new releases, the movies I left off could make their own great shopping list. I didn’t even include Predestination, and I’m quoted on that one! So here are the 12 Best Blu-rays released this month, ranked mainly in order of visual quality, but with a few wild card factors thrown in too.
The Top 12 Must Own Blu-rays of February 2015:
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
The Top 12 Blu-rays of February 2015
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12. Love and Death
In January, Twilight Time released a Blu-ray of Woody Allen’s great meta film comedy The Purple Rose of Cairo. I didn’t receive it until after my January deadline, so this month’s release of Allen’s Love and Death gives me a second chance to give Purple Rose its props too. The juxtaposition of real world and black and white film was exquisite and the split screen of two Jeff Danielses was seamless. But Love and Death benefits from being a period piece so you get the added bonus of seeing Napoleonic era costumes and castles in HD. Love and Death boasts perhaps a clearer picture, but both preserve the film grain. In both cases, I’ve never seen the Woody Allen font look sharper.
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11. Big Hero 6
Computer animated films always look great on Blu-ray because they were already constructed with digital materials, so it’s a direct transfer. For the Best Animated Film Oscar winner Big Hero 6, the spotlight is on San Fransokyo, the film’s fictional city with its blend of Japanese architecture and the hills of San Fran. The animators have added detailed texture to every background material, from doors and walls to bricks of debris exploding around the frame. Be sure to watch the Oscar winning short Feast as well, also included on the disc. It’s in a simpler animation style that’s even more adorable on Blu-ray.
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10. Dying of the Light
Nicolas Cage won’t like me recommending this movie because he supports writer/director Paul Schrader, from whom it was taken away. I thought it was still a good movie and he’s great in it. The Blu-ray looks good, with scenes in Romania and Queensland (doubling for Kenya) providing exotic visuals. Despite 23 minutes of deleted scenes, they don’t really suggest a vasty different film, except for some more outrageous political talk. There are some nice additional scenes though. They got Cage and Schrader for interviews on the set before everything went downhill. They’re generic EPK interviews, but then nothing Cage says is ever truly generic. The lighting setup for the interviews on set is fantastic as well and makes the talent look awesome on Blu-ray.
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9. Nightcrawler
As a movie set almost entirely at night, you can imagine Nightcrawler has a distinct look on Blu-ray. Most of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal)’s exploits are tinted green, which contributes to his lizard-like personality. The bright neon lights of Los Angeles pepper the energetic frames, probably the way Bloom himself would analyze his own shot compositions. Since it is at night, the picture occasionally grains up, but it actually happens more during the rare daylight scenes. Bloom is such a nightcrawler, the day doesn’t even look right in his world.
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8. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
Blu-ray can show us unimaginable worlds in high definition detail and color that make them look real. But The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby shows us how Blu-ray can make realistic dramas look beautifully realistic. This human drama presents stark frames with crisp clarity and wonderful detail. That means every freckle on Jessica Chastain’s face, every brick of city facades, every droplet of rain. It enhances the drama’s cold grief and lets us experience the characters’ world with a seemingly unaltered vision, although it is probably carefully crafted to appear this natural. This Blu-ray’s bonus feature is the original two part version of the film, Her/Him, which is really the right way to watch the it/them.
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7. Eat Drink Man Woman
This Ang Lee classic comes to Blu-ray from Olive Films who did a great job with the art house title. For a 1994 film going to 2015 HD, the detail and clarity is stellar. Occasional glimpses of dirt on the lens remind you that this is real. This was before they could digitally clean up shots, and it’s all the better for it. But the real highlight is the food porn. All of those gourmet Chinese dishes look delicious in this much detail, putting anything in Chef to shame. But then I was always more of an exotic diner.
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6. The Theory of Everything
The Oscar-winning biography of Stephen and Jane Hawking has a Blu-ray presentation that’s worthy of the cosmos itself. Filmed with definitive color schemes, its colors pop in HD. Director James Marsh and cinematographer Benoit Delhomme gave each scene, and each phase in the Hawkings’ life, a distinct colored lighting (and a distinct set design as well, now that I think of it). In addition to the crisply clear HD frame of each scene, you can also get a distinct sense of the colored light as the filmmakers intended.
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5. Vampire's Kiss
The most important Nicolas Cage movie you could ever see is finally on Blu-ray, but it shares a double feature disc with the paranormal comedy High Spirits, which I’ve never seen and still didn’t really watch this month. Be sure to read up on the full importance of Vampire’s Kiss in my Essential Nicolas Cage article. This Blu-ray looks good, preserving some of the film grain but appearing with ultimate clarity for the key scenes in the therapist office (the alphabet), and some stark shots of New York back when it was still dangerous. If you are watching High Spirits, it also looks great. That castle set is perfectly clear with textured detail. Scream Factory released another vampire double feature of Once Bitten and Love at First Bite. Love seems to come from a slightly more damaged source material, and what an odd choice to cast George Hamilton of all people as a pale Dracula. Once Bitten retains its 1980s glory though.
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4. Birdman
The pseudo-single take of Best Picture winner Birdman now unfolds in Blu-ray clarity. You can even see the dust particles in the frame. While the illusion of the single take got a lot of attention, what may be equally impressive is how they maintained consistent lighting in all the different locations they traversed. Now you can appreciate this article on the color timing. It may also be fun to play “Spot the Cut” with Birdman, but I have to say I’d lose that game. They’re so seamless, I really can’t tell most of the time. They’re also digitally cleaned up and smoothed over, so I am proud of myself for spotting even one digital Edward Norton morph into the real one.
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3. John Wick
The latest Keanu Reeves action vehicle looks stunning on Blu-ray. Second unit stuntmen turned directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch crafted beautiful frames through which John Wick (Reeves) could wreak havoc. From the silhouettes of Wick’s own house to the flashing lights of a nightclub full of assassins, John Wick presents gorgeous frames of action. The aesthetic shattering of windows and the overhead shots of New York make John Wick a distinct vision of action.
Read an exclusive interview with John Wick star Keanu Reeves.
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2. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
The latest from Studio Ghibli had a unique animation style, and its simplicity makes it stand out even more in HD. With characters comprised of simple brush strokes and background that suggests watercolor, there are noticeable blank spaces and minimal shapes comprising the subjects. Those simple shapes and colors are exquisite as the focus of your 54” HDTV set. In this case, a lack of detail means all focus can be on the minimalist animation, bringing it to the forefront.
Watch an exclusive clip from The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
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1. Whiplash
The real best movie of last year finally comes home in a beautiful Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Classics, using the same high standards with which big Sony films like Spider-Man and 22 Jump Street are presented. Man, Damien Chazelle and cinematographer Sharone Meir can light a jazz rehearsal room. The whole room looks like brass, with sinister lighting throughout the entire film. It only enhances the drama, and this goes for concert stages too. The original Sundance winning short Whiplash is also included. You can’t help comparing the short’s star, Johnny Simmons, to Miles Teller, but J.K. Simmons’ Oscar winning performance was already there.
Watch our original Sundance interview with Whiplash writer/director Damien Chazelle.
