ON DVD TODAY: July 29, 2008

The first one was Top Gun of which I reviewed on HD DVD (review here) and was not very kind to considering the HD DVD edition contained none of the features from the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. Well, I am happy to say the Blu-ray comes with all the goodies (documentaries, music videos, commentaries, etc.) that I loved from the DVD. On top of that… included is a DTS soundtrack, a HUGE step up from the HD DVD Dolby DigitalPlus. This is a Blu-ray version you can feel safe upgrading to because it is an actual upgrade. I love this movie and think it is a defining film of the '80s and I love giving it a watch every now and again. If you are a fan I would recommend doing the same.

Next up is the Beowulf Unrated Director's Cut, another edition that was once on HD DVD and has now been made available on Blu-ray. And guess what… Yup, it's once again an improvement, and this one is an improvement in proving how much better the BD technology is over HD DVD. This one comes with all the same features as the HD edition (commentaries, in-movie specials, featurettes, etc.) and just like the HD edition, several of them are in HD. However, with all the same features, instead of two discs, the BD edition is capable of putting everything on one disc and it also has an upgrade in audio with an included TrueHD track. If you are a fan then I once again recommend an upgrade. Personally, I am not a huge fan and probably would have never bought any of the editions, but that is just me.

Finally, we have all four Jack Ryan films (The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears) on Blu-ray. This is actually the first time these four films have been made available in high-definition, but I actually own the HD DVD editions as well. Way back when, Paramount was all set to release an HD DVD Jack Ryan box set. I received it and began the process of reviewing them. Since they were catalog titles I was going to review them in some sort of an ordered list of "Best to Worst Jack Ryan Films". However, due to a technical difficulty the special features listed on the boxes weren't available on the discs and they never saw the light of day. Suffice to say, I never did the needless review. Well, all four are here now and the special features, which are actually just transferred over from the DVDs and quite generic are all intact. Of the bunch The Hunt for Red October is clearly the one to buy, and I personally have a small infatuation with Clear and Present Danger. The other two aren't bad either, but we all have our favorites. I actually wouldn't be surprised if folks snatched up all four, even Sum of All Fears is tolerable if you are in the right mood, but it isn't one I would generally recommend.

I have included links to buy any of the six titles featured in this bunch just below. Have at it and I hope I was able to help if only a little bit with this Paramount onslaught.

• Top Gun
• Beowulf
• Clear and Present Danger
• The Hunt for Red October
• Patriot Games
• The Sum of All Fears

From what I have heard from several people is that the first film is great and the second film sucks. Is that true? I have no idea. Is it Harold and Kumar fatigue due to redundancy? Based on what I know and have seen of the trailers I can only assume that is the case. I think I will actually watch the second film first and see which one I like better to help in my judgment. Who knows, I have to try the same for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants this week. I know it is a risk, but I am a risk taker… Mu hu ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa.

This film feels like a rip-off of a rip-off. All originality is out the window and a director I had gained immense respect for after only one film (The Descent) made me feel sorry for him with one outing. Sure, the guts gore and violence he does so well is here, but the story is absent despite attempts to make it a coherent and thought-provoking future tale.

• Uncut DVD Edition
• Uncut Blu-ray Edition
• R-Rated DVD Edition