Archives December 2023

James Cameron and his films are known for their eyepopping scenes and massive stories. Five of them just released with updated versions in 4k!

James Cameron has been one of the biggest names in the film industry for as long as I can remember and one of my favorites. He has been responsible for some of the greatest films. For the month of December five of his best films have updated releases. The Abyss, Aliens and True Lies will be available in 4K Ultra UHD for the first time ever on December 12 at digital retailers and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc March 12, 2024. Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water Collector’s Editions will also be available at digital retailers December 12 and on Blu-ray December 19.

True Lies

This was one of my first R rated films I saw and became a staple in our household for a solid decade at least. Still holds and just as fun but now it looks exponentially better on my tv.

Avatar Collector’s Edition

Avatar remains Cameron’s greatest achievement. The story, message, visuals, everything. Just absolutely perfect but now with two more versions of the film and nearly a dozen hours of bonus content. Let’s just say, it’s a massive amount of content that may rival the Lord of the Rings trilogy one day.

Avatar The Way of Water Collector’s Edition

Seems too soon to release a Collector’s Edition but the film remains a fantastic cinematic experience with 8 additional hours of material.

Aliens

One of the best Alien films to date, expanding more on the lore and probably any other film did aside from the original. Fantastic film made even better with the improved graphics.

The Abyss

The first time I saw this film it already looked a bit dated or the quality of our VHS tape was not great. This was the first film that really showed us how alien our own world could be and seeing it again in 4k really improved the experience.

Originally released in the 80’s, The Color Purple is one of the latest films to be re-released by Warner Brothers in 4k!

Warner Brothers have released another classic film to 4k, this time with the acclaimed The Color Purple. Following the life of Celie Johnson, later played by Whoopie Goldberg, as she deals with dealing with assault, racism, being a woman in a man’s world and more. It is based on the book by Alice Walker and is the same film that was released in 1985. The film was well received when it originally released but nearly forty years after release it’s clear that it falls short in a few areas, mostly glossing over aspects of the book that were important to the actual story. The main topics of the film make it obvious why there were so many award nominations but difficult topics are not the only important thing to remember when watching a film.

The cast were fantastic, namely Whoopie herself. It’s obvious why she was nominated for her role. The director choice begs the question, would he be “allowed” to make this film in today’s environment or would the studio choose a diversity hire? Or would this bring about some of the same derisive comments you see when Tarantino writes certain language for his cast? Regardless of how it would fare if filmed today, it was a decent enough film but the book itself surpasses it in terms of story. It does leave me curious if the remake that is on the horizon will be any better. Only time will tell.

Originally released in the 90’s, The Fugitive is one of the latest films to be re-released by Warner Brothers in 4k!

The Fugitive has been rereleased by Warner Brothers for home viewing on 4K compatible devices and ironically was a movie I had been thinking about looking up again to view. The timing is crazy! The film follows Doctor Richard Kimball from the fateful night where he discovers his murdered wife to trial where he is convicted of the murder, to his escape and then leading the US Marshalls to the real killer. This movie is full of mystery, suspense and a great cast. I originally saw this film when I was still in grade school, almost Junior High age. The film always stayed with me despite seeing it only a couple times since then.

Seeing it again in 4k was a treat, revisiting familiar scenes and faces and having the action clear to see (as opposed to trying to watch it on the ancient VHS my family still has somewhere), made for a great experience. I even got to share it with the wife and kids, pretty sure the wife at least had seen it before though. Surprisingly, the film held up in most regards except the trial and conviction. I don’t believe a judge or jury would have convicted the doctor based on the lack of evidence and any defender that he could afford would have already started the process of getting him acquitted, let alone allowing him to receive the death penalty. As I type it out it seems more and more ridiculous. Despite this flaw, the film DOES hold up and is still worth the watch.