Blu Ray

Fans of Hong Kong movies expect great fights, beautiful cinematography and charismatic performers, but Peter Ho-sun Chan's "Dragon" is one of the first HK movies in years to experiment with a touch of nonstandard narrative storytelling. Donnie Yen - who replaced Jet Li as the preeminent HK martial arts actor after the latter slowed down - plays Jin-xi, a simple small-town papermaker circa 1917. When two thugs attack a neighbor, the timid Jin-xi bravely joins the fray and manages to kill the bad guys, seemingly through good luck.

There are literally dozens of movies about the Titanic; this 1953 Hollywood version is one of the three best-known (the other two being Roy Ward Baker's “A Night to Remember” and James Cameron's modest little 1997 chamber drama). Like Cameron, director Jean Negulesco (Fox's go-to guy for melodrama at the time), writer/producer Charles Brackett (after the severing of his amazing 12-year collaboration with Billy Wilder), and co-writers Walter Reisch and Richard Breen focused primarily on the romantic lives of fictional characters.

Back in 1999 (31 years after its 1968 debut), a restored version of this animated Beatles film was shown in theaters and issued on DVD, with a stereo remix and the “Hey, Bulldog!” scene (deleted in the original American version) reinstated. Outside of the musical numbers and a brief appearance at the end, the four jolly lads themselves didn't have much to do with the film, which was designed to fulfill their contractual obligation to United Artists for a third film; their speaking voices are provided by John Clive, Geoffrey Hughes, Peter Batten, and Paul Angelis.

David Lean's 1962 “Lawrence of Arabia” is one of the most universally praised films ever made, and deservedly so. Nominated for 10 Oscars, winner of seven (including Best Picture), it has only grown better with time. The few aspects that might signal its age are its lack of fancy special effects, its non-surround audio, and Peter O'Toole's boyish face. But its presentation of the roots of modern conflicts in the Mideast seems more relevant and important as time goes on. It is a prerequisite to understanding many of the headlines of this year (and last year ... and the one before that ... etc.)

It's not just that Akira Kurosawa's 1950 “Rashomon” brought Japanese film to the west; or that it introduced to us the young, rising Toshiro Mifune; or that its title has become the universal shorthand for the uncertainty of the truth, as seen through different eyes. It's also that it's a great movie that suggests new possibilities each time you watch it. Ergo, it's a film that is more worthy to own on disc than most movies, which are only good for a few viewings. I return to it every few years; even with simply one set of eyes, I've managed to see it in many different ways, sometimes incompatible with each other.

Local entertainment giants DreamWorks Animation and the Walt Disney Co. stoked growing buzz about the future of video entertainment Thursday after each announced it would begin preparing films for in-home 3-D viewing on Blu-ray discs. The announcements came as 3-D video technology took center stage during morning sessions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where several firms announced new products geared toward in-home three-dimensional entertainment. Glendale-based DreamWorks Animation announced late Wednesday that it planned to capitalize on the popularity of 3-D movies at theaters worldwide by forming a “3-D Alliance” with Samsung Electronics America and Technicolor to deliver a “complete 3-D home entertainment solution in 2010.

For some of us, classic Warner Bros. cartoons handily trump the Disney animation from that era (roughly 1933 to 1960). Basically, if you want beautiful pictures and emotional involvement, you go Disney; if you want laughs, more laughs, and milk-out-your-nose laughs, you go Warner Bros. (This is not always true; there are exceptions on either side.) Warner put out six “Golden” DVD collections, which were a mixed bag. (And the first two volumes exhausted a huge percentage of the most beloved shorts.)

Fox is releasing this sort-of-comedy from Alexander Payne (“Citizen Ruth,” “About Schmidt”) - which won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and was nominated in several other categories - on both DVD and Blu-ray. If you're into watching supplements, the Blu-ray is a much better deal. The DVD includes “Everybody Loves George,” seven minutes of fulsome praise for star George Clooney. Sure, he's always seemed like a great guy. But do I have to listen to everyone else in the production testifying to that effect?

In the mid-80s, David Cronenberg went from low-budget indie horror director to acceptance in Hollywood with "The Dead Zone," "The Fly" and "Dead Ringers. " Rather than using his new access to steer yet more Hollywood, he made "Naked Lunch" - drawn loosely from William S. Burroughs' notorious novel, as well as other works and his eventful life - a film sure to alienate, enrage and even nauseate a large portion of the public. Peter Weller plays the "hero," Burroughs surrogate Bill Lee, a writer/junkie drifting - for real or in his head?

A couple of months ago, this column ran a mildly unenthusiastic review of Shout! Factory's double-feature disc of Jackie Chan's “Crime Story” and “The Protector” ; really the best that could be said was that it was priced to move. The company's second such release is priced likewise and is much more satisfying on every level. To start with, while the earlier two features were both uncharacteristic, minor Chan entries, “Police Story” and “Police Story 2” are widely regarded as two of his best.

Fans of Hong Kong movies expect great fights, beautiful cinematography and charismatic performers, but Peter Ho-sun Chan's "Dragon" is one of the first HK movies in years to experiment with a touch of nonstandard narrative storytelling. Donnie Yen - who replaced Jet Li as the preeminent HK martial arts actor after the latter slowed down - plays Jin-xi, a simple small-town papermaker circa 1917. When two thugs attack a neighbor, the timid Jin-xi bravely joins the fray and manages to kill the bad guys, seemingly through good luck.

"Django Unchained," Quentin Tarantino's double-Oscar-winning Southern Western - about a former slave (Jamie Foxx) trying to free his wife (Kerry Washington) from a vile plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio) with the aid of a witty German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) - was one of last year's most memorable films. Like most Tarantino movies, it improves with multiple viewings. For an action film, the sound mix on the new home video release (from Anchor Bay Entertainment and the Weinstein Company)

In the mid-80s, David Cronenberg went from low-budget indie horror director to acceptance in Hollywood with "The Dead Zone," "The Fly" and "Dead Ringers. " Rather than using his new access to steer yet more Hollywood, he made "Naked Lunch" - drawn loosely from William S. Burroughs' notorious novel, as well as other works and his eventful life - a film sure to alienate, enrage and even nauseate a large portion of the public. Peter Weller plays the "hero," Burroughs surrogate Bill Lee, a writer/junkie drifting - for real or in his head?

A couple of months ago, this column ran a mildly unenthusiastic review of Shout! Factory's double-feature disc of Jackie Chan's “Crime Story” and “The Protector” ; really the best that could be said was that it was priced to move. The company's second such release is priced likewise and is much more satisfying on every level. To start with, while the earlier two features were both uncharacteristic, minor Chan entries, “Police Story” and “Police Story 2” are widely regarded as two of his best.

First the good news: Robert Zemeckis' "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is finally available on Blu-ray in a combo pack that also includes a DVD version. Now the bad news (part one): Some early runs of the release include the full screen DVD (i.e., cropped) rather than the widescreen (original aspect ratio); to its credit, Disney belatedly added a sticker on the cover, explaining the problem and how to get a replacement. Now more bad news (part two): While there are some good extras, fans who already have an earlier DVD copy will be disappointed to see that all of them - except perhaps the optional “Toontown Confidential” trivia pop-ups - are simply repeated from the 15th Anniversary edition (released 10 years ago, almost to the day)

You don't have to approve of Elia Kazan's testimony before HUAC to recognize his 1954 “On the Waterfront” as a brilliant film, whose influence changed the face of American movies. Somehow both lyrical and hard-edged at the same time, this tale of mobsters on the docks of Hoboken won in almost all of the most important Oscar categories. It's a little early to be considering the best Blu-ray/DVD release of 2013, but it will take a great year indeed to overshadow Criterion's new edition.

There are literally dozens of movies about the Titanic; this 1953 Hollywood version is one of the three best-known (the other two being Roy Ward Baker's “A Night to Remember” and James Cameron's modest little 1997 chamber drama). Like Cameron, director Jean Negulesco (Fox's go-to guy for melodrama at the time), writer/producer Charles Brackett (after the severing of his amazing 12-year collaboration with Billy Wilder), and co-writers Walter Reisch and Richard Breen focused primarily on the romantic lives of fictional characters.

"Dredd," also known under certain circumstances as "Dredd 3D," is one of several films last year that seemed "better than they had any right to be. " This semi-compliment most frequently applies to movies - particularly remakes, gratuitous sequels, adaptations of beloved or barely remembered TV shows - that are really not that bad. "Dredd 3D" resurrected the character that Sylvester Stallone had buried in 1995; the less-well-known Karl Urban takes...

Christopher Nolan ascended from the low-budget “Memento” (under $10 million) to the mega-budget “Batman Begins” (over $150 million) in a mere five years. But his biggest budget leap was during the two years between “Memento” and its predecessor, his $5,000 first feature, “Following.” “Following” was a remarkable debut, even ignoring the fact that it was shot on weekends over several months. Not merely was it technically professional, but Nolan had crafted a script cleverer and more complex than most “blockbusters.” The new Blu-ray has been restored and remastered; the audio and the black-and-white 16mm footage are essentially pristine.

If you're offended by naughty language, you don't want to watch “Ted.” Seth MacFarlane's first feature is off-color throughout; it also made me laugh as much as any other film this year. MacFarlane (“Family Guy,” “American Dad!”) not only wrote and directed; he also provides the voice of the title character, a teddy bear who comes to life to answer a little boy's wish. Twenty-seven years pass: the little boy turns into Mark Wahlberg; Ted grows up to be foul-mouthed, drug- and alcohol-abusing, and hooker-carousing - all in his original teddy bear form.