Blu Ray Releases for 12/02 Previewed Briefly by Blue

* Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) (Image) - Good old fashion Carpenter awesomeness. The blu ray seems to be an Amazon exclusive for the first couple of months.

* Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition, Loaded with Extra Mojo (New Line) - I enjoyed these movies when they were released but for some reason they grate upon me now. Maybe it's the "too popular for it's own good" syndrome.

* Bam Margera Presents: Where the #$&% is Santa? (Warner) - Bam Margera still has a career and Johnny Knoxville doesn't. Wow.

* Casablanca (Ultimate Collector's Edition) (Warner) - Supposedly the blu ray of this film looks spectacular, unfortunately I've seen this movie until my eyes bled, so I don't need to see it for ten more years or so.

* The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (DisneyFile Edition) (Walt Disney) - Disappointing sequel to lackluster first film. This was always the weakest of the book series though, relying upon the character of Caspian who is largely passive, except at the wrong times. The actor in this was pretty awful to boot. And the english kids did NOT age well.

* The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Walt Disney) - See above.

* The Contract (2006) (First Look) - A movie with John Cusack and Morgan Freeman neither you nor I have ever heard of. Not good signs.

* Day of the Dead (2008) (First Look) - If this doesn't have a lenticular image of a vomiting zombie, it's not the real Day of the Dead 2008. Haven't seen it but every single bit sounds horrible.

* The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) (Fox) - One of my all time favorite movies, can't wait to see how this looks on blu ray.

* Home Alone (Fox) - I liked this a lot as a kid but looking back I just see how insanely rich Culkin's family in this was, and how obnoxious they were to have such a large and overbearing number of kids.

* Jingle All the Way (Fox) - Arnold in a comedy never worked. Sorry Twins.

* La Femme Nikita (Sony) - Luc Besson classic, bit low budget for a really good blu ray(but then again so is Assault on Precinct 13, probably).

* The Longshots (Weinstein) - Sports comedies. Yuck.

* The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Sony) - More Luc Besson. I walked out of this movie in the theater because it was just unbearably obnoxious in every possible way. This is where Besson jumped the shark.

* The Shawshank Redemption (Warner) - A classic, even though it does lift large pieces off of Escape From Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood.

* Step Brothers (Sony) - This looked funny, heard it was awful. Cable.

* Stranger Than Fiction (Special Edition) (Sony) - Loved this movie. This is a double dip on blu ray though.

* Three Days Grace: Live at the Palace (Sony Music) - Fuck music blu rays.

* Wanted (Universal) - Surprisingly I really enjoyed Wanted. I can't say it's a defensible opinion but oh well, I just enjoyed every silly violent moment of it.

* Wanted (Collector's Edition) (Universal) - See above.

* X-Files: Fight the Future (Fox) - Unfortunately these X-Files movies are likely to be the only X-Files releases on blu ray, because while it was shot on film from the beginning, the early seasons were all cut on video tape. What this means is there's no actual film negatives that are cut together and ready to go for an HD transfer. They'd have to entirely recut something like 5 seasons to make them hd-ready. Anyway this film was okay, though considering it was mildly disappointing at the time of release I don't imagine it's aged well.

* X-Files: I Want to Believe (Fox) - I soooo wanted to see this but it did not get a single good review that I've read anywhere, whether from a critic or a fan. Sigh. I DID want to believe X-Files could come back, but it was not to be.