The Maltese Falcon, Infinity Pool, and the Star Trek: The Next Generation films lead April’s best Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases
Plus new versions of classics like Cool Hand Luke and Rebel Without A Cause are coming for fans who still love physical media (we know you're out there)
Aux Features Blu-ray
Clockwise from top left: Triangle of Sadness (Neon Pictures), Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection (Paramount Home Video), Infinity Pool (Elevation Pictures) Image: The A.V. Club
Physical media may be devalued by some in our streaming-dominated world, but you’d be surprised how many great titles are only available on disc. Maybe you’ve forgotten how rewarding some DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD offerings can be, especially when they’re loaded with special packaging and bonus features. With that in mind, here’s a look at all the best films and shows you can spin starting in April, including the physical debuts of Infinity Pool, Triangle Of Sadness and Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Also on tap are the 4K UHD debuts of four Star Trek: The Next Generation films, 12 Angry Men, The Maltese Falcon, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Cool Hand Luke, Serpico, and many more.
13 Comments
It’s too bad all the TNG films kinda suck.
Even Star Trek: First Contact? Some of the choices made for that movie rubbed me the wrong way, but overall I thought it was a fine Trek action film.
Generations: Just a hot mess. Some nice character work from Malcolm McDowell and some nice cinematography from legend John A. Alonzo. But suffers from the presumed need to be a movie with the TOS and TNG cast when it was already past the time for that. Hot take: I’m kinda neutral about how they bumped off Kirk, but the destruction of the Enterprise-D was infuriatingly lame.
First Contact: I get sick of how much Star Trek keeps returning to the Wrath of Khan well, but it was clever to make the Enterprise’s captain into the Ahab figure this time around. Though by this point the TNG movies really do start to turn into “The Adventures of Picard, Data, and Friends.”
Insurrection: I find the concept of this movie the most infuriating. Basically, the crew of the Enterpise-E risk their lives to protect a bunch of snobby NIMBY’s and their private fountain of youth. The fact that the secret planet and its inhabitants look like something straight out of an exclusive southern California gated community doesn’t help much.Nemesis: Not much good to say here. Again, we’re just returning to the Wrath of Khan well and mostly coming up empty. Not sure why there’s so much rage about this one – it’s more underwhelming than anything else.
Man… yeah no you basically nailed it.
I have a somewhat higher opinion of Star Trek: First Contact and (confession time) skipped Star Trek: Nemesis because the reviews and the previous movie were so underwhelming, but overall… yeah, that’s pretty much the ST:TNG films in a nutshell.
First Contact doesn’t suck
A strong refutation. I propose… a compromise (as a goods starship captain would). It did not SUCK… BUT… it also wasn’t GREAT. It was…. FINE.
Referencing one of Casablanca’s classic lines for this The Maltese Falcon writeup? That’s certainly a choice.
What we have here is failure to communicate.
Let’s see if Paramount pulls similar nonsense to what they did with the TOS UHD releases.They released a 4-movie UHD set in 2021 that included the director’s cut of TWoK. Okay, fine, weird choice, but at the time I figured they’d release 5, 6, and Generations and then the four full-TNG films.NOPE! Less than a year later, they released another UHD set, this time with all six TOS films and the director’s cuts of TMP, TWoK, and TUC. The first four films were the same remasters they’d released in 2021. That 2021 set was nothing but a blatant cash grab so they could double-dip when the 6-film set (which they clearly knew they were releasing given that it came out less than a year later) came out.Now, obviously, this set has all four TNG films so they’re not holding any movies back, but I’m still going to wait to see if they come out with something bigger and shinier (maybe with significant new special features) by this time next year.Plus, of those four films First Contact is the only one I actually might want to sit down and watch again at some point so it’s not like there’s some major pressing need to get it right now.
At this point physical media is such a niche market that companies know they can double dip by pulling shit like this. Even Criterion is getting a little bit dodgy with releasing a new movie on Blu ray only and then announcing the 4k after a few months – they did it with Night of the Living Dead and I suspect they’re going to do it with Inland Empire. At the same time, mastering and releasing 4k movies seems like a gigantic pain, so I can see where the companies need to sell something while they’re getting the deluxe release in order.
At this point physical media is such a niche market that companies know they can double dip by pulling shit like this.Indeed, and that’s why I don’t think that the fact that they can’t add any additional movies to a set they’d release in early 2024 is a blocker; among friends who buy physical media, they mostly do it for two reasons (in addition to knowing they’ll always own it) – they want the best possible picture and sound, since physical media will provide that over streaming, and special features. Paramount could be working on a boatload of awesome special features right now for a 2024 release and they know full well that people like me will buy it even if they bought the initial cash-grab.
Still no Prey?