#blu ray collector

[marxonculture]

A Quick Note on 'Jewface', Maestro and Oppenheimer

Given that my presence on this platform is filtered specifically through the lens of Jewishness in film, and that I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on the Jewish identity of Leonard Bernstein – the subject of Bradley Cooper’s controversial upcoming film, Maestro – I thought I’d weigh in on the current discourse.

For those who are unaware, one of the biggest films due to premier as part of this year’s autumn film festival season is Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. The film is said to be a non-traditional biopic of 20th century American composer Leonard Bernstein, focusing largely on his complex relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre. Controversy has arisen around the Netflix production due to images from the trailer featuring Bradley Cooper as Bernstein wearing an enlarged prosthetic nose. Voices within and outside Jewish communities have loudly criticised Cooper for caricaturing Jewishness, using the term ‘Jewface’ which describes the act of a goyische (non-Jewish) actor using prosthetics to make themselves look more like a cartoonish, imagined Jew.

While it is true that Bernstein did own a decent sized schnoz, the prosthetic utilised by Cooper is significantly bigger, and more defined than the nose was in reality. From a personal standpoint, I do find the use of this prosthetic to be pretty discomforting, but I think it speaks more to Cooper’s insecurity about the size of his own nose, which is a lot bigger than perhaps he would like to admit (and not too dissimilar to Bernstein’s actual nose!), than it does about his perception of Jews. That being said whether it was his intention to cartoonify Jewishness or not, Cooper has ruffled feathers in a way that is crass rather than substantive. Bernstein’s living relatives have come out in support of Cooper and his decision to use the prosthetic, saying that Bernstein would not have minded, but I think their statement rather misses the point. The nose is not about Bernstein himself, but about highly visible representations of a tiny minority that are stereotypical and incredibly reductive.

Funnily enough, however, Cooper’s use of ‘Jewface’ is the element of Maestro that bothers me the least. I have been fairly vocal since the film’s announcement about how I believe the production as a whole to be a pretty catastrophically bad idea. Leonard Bernstein is my number one creative hero – as a composer, public intellectual and educator, I don’t think there has been a single Jewish figure in American history who has had more of a positive impact on culture.

As I mentioned, I have written extensively about Bernstein in an academic context, and in researching him, it became clear to me just how vitally important his Jewish identity was to him throughout his life. It informed his music (even West Side Story, which was initially conceived as a story about Jews and Catholics on the Lower East Side of Manhattan), and his role as an educator (he often described his pedagogy as rabbinic in nature), and he was deeply, foundationally affected upon learning about the realities of the Holocaust which caused what he described as ‘aporia’, a state of being where he was too overwhelmed to write a single word for years. Bernstein’s complicated relationship to sexuality was also hugely significant in his life. There is still debate to this day about whether, given an open, accepting environment, he would have identified as a gay man or as bisexual. He had significant, passionate relationships with both men and women, and was an early major advocate for HIV/AIDS research.

My problem with Maestro is that I don’t have faith in Bradley Cooper as a writer/director, to sensitively depict these two massive aspects of Bernstein’s identity. Focusing on his most significant straight-passing relationship as the centre of a film called Maestro does not inspire confidence that the film won’t totally whitewash Bernstein’s Jewishness, or reduce his sexuality to the pain it caused his wife (in a similar way to other reductive music biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman). Cooper’s own identity is significant in that he is starting from a place of remove from the identity of his subject, which isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but when there are other filmmakers out there who are far better suited to a project like this, both from an identity perspective and a thematic one, it’s hard to justify why this project exists at all in its current form.

Some have pointed to the involvement of Steven Spielberg as a producer on the project as hope for better representation, but given that Cooper and Martin Scorsese – a filmmaker who I have criticised in the past for the didactic, Christian morality of his movies – are also credited producers, I don’t think it’ll make much difference. I’m more comforted by the involvement of Josh Singer (Spotlight, The Post) and his contribution to the screenplay, given his Jewishness and his work on thematically sensitive historical films.

I’m not writing off the film entirely just yet. I had similar worries about Oppenheimer, given the significance of the scientist’s Jewishness in his decision to start work on the bomb in the first place. Nolan and Cillian Murphy, thankfully, proved me wrong in the director’s decision to focus on the differing Jewish identities of Oppenheimer, Lewis Strauss, and I.I. Rabi, and the nuanced ways in which their characters were informed by Jewishness, as well as Murphy’s attention to detail in his performance. It’s certainly possible for non-Jewish filmmakers to consider Jewishness in a valuable way (see Todd Field’s Tar or Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza for a couple of recent examples), but the set-up of this project makes it hard for me to believe that Cooper is one such filmmaker.

To end with a little self-gratifying what-if, I thought I’d lay out what would be my ideal Bernstein biopic: a film centred around the relationship between Bernstein and his fellow queer, Jewish composer and mentor, Aaron Copland, the letters they wrote to one another, and the fallout of their brushes with McCarthyism which had vastly different outcomes. I would keep Cooper as Bernstein (without the prosthetics!) because he can convincingly play the man’s charm, I’d cast Michael Stuhlbarg as Copland, and get Todd Haynes to write and direct. Haynes is Jewish, gay, and has a great deal of experience directing sweeping, romantic, dark, and political films. He knows how to portray music on screen and has several masterful period-pieces under his belt, with Carol in particular as a shining example of complex, historical queer romance in America. Honestly, this would be my dream film project.

[blackaltarapparel]

Can you believe the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre film is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year? Mental, right? 🤯

What is your favourite film from the TCM franchise? And don’t forget, there is also the TMC Netflix film that came out in 2022!

Drop your comments below! ⬇️

[stuckasmain]

No one is prepared for how annoying I’m going to be, there’s a ridiculous amount of content in this thing and I’m excited.

Also losing it that apparently there’s a commentary in character for Billy ??? Hello???

[batvilletv]

Zach is the mvp in sky high. 😂

[talesfromthecrypts]

you have near dark on dvd/bluray?!

I have the dvd it must be 20 years old at least

[tamara-kama]

Galaxy Quest is finally coming to 4K Blu-Ray and it's getting a Dolby Atmos track upgrade! YES!!

NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER!!!

[marshmallowgoop]

DCMK Blu-rays

A list of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito content with physical HD releases.

This won't be comprehensive by any means; I'm going to be focusing on Japanese, German, and United States releases because these are the ones that I own and am most familiar with. I believe that many of the films are also available on Blu-ray in several countries, dubbed in several languages, but I don't have much concrete knowledge about that at this moment. Please feel free to add any information!

That said, the main thing to know about Detective Conan Blu-rays is that... they kind of don't really exist. The television series is (mainly, more on this later) released on DVD only in Japan, usually with the equivalent of four episodes per disc, sold at 4,620 yen each. They're grouped in "Parts," with up to 10 Volumes per Part, and the next release, on June 23rd, will be Part 31, Volume 3, containing episodes 1007, 1008, 1010, and 1013.

A handful of episodes are released on Blu-ray via collections in Japan; there are the Treasured Selections and Akai Family TV Selections. But with a series running over 1,000 episodes, it really is just a handful of episodes available in these collections.

Treasured Selections

With the Treasured Selections, you can get 67 episodes on Blu-ray:

1: "The Roller Coaster Murder Case"

2: "The Kidnapping of the Company President's Daughter"

54: "The Game Company Murder Case"

128: "The Black Organization: One Billion Yen Robbery Case"

129: "The Mysterious New Student"

176-178: "Re-Encounter with the Black Organization"

226-227: "Battle Game Trap"

230-231: "Mysterious Passenger"

258-259: "The Man From Chicago"

271-272: "Hide, Hurry Up, and Abbreviate It"

277-278: "English Teacher vs. Great Western Detective"

286-288: "Shinichi in New York"

307-308: "The Remains of Voiceless Testimony"

309-311: "Contact with the Black Organization"

338-339: "Four Porsches"

340-341: "The Hidden Secret in the Toilet"

343-344: "Convenience Store Trap"

345: "The Confrontation with the Black Organization: The Coincidence of the Two Enemies on a Night with a Full Moon"

346-347: "Look for the Mark on the Buttocks"

361-362: "Teitan High School Ghost Story"

425: "Black Impact! The Moment the Black Organization Reaches Out."

427-428: "Super Secret School Zone"

429-430: "The Point of No Return"

462-465: "The Shadow of the Black Organization"

484-485: "The Whereabouts of the Black Picture"

491-504: "Red and Black Crash"

507-508: "Blind Spot of the Karaoke Shop"

509-511: "Conan VS Double Code Mystery"

However, anything before 286 is not in HD; these are all traditionally animated episodes that were not especially remastered for these releases:

Episodes 286 and beyond (from Treasured Selection 6 to 18) are digitally animated, and these Blu-rays are more properly HD:

Akai Family TV Selections

With the Akai Family TV Selections, you can get 33 episodes on Blu-ray:

563-564: "The Detective Squad vs. The Band of Robbers"

578-581: "A Red Omen That Summons Danger"

675-676: "Not Even a Millimeter of Forgiveness"

699-700: "Shadow Closes in on Ai's Secret"

701-704: "Pitch Black Mystery Express Train"

724-725: "Thief Kid and the Blushed Mermaid"

779-783: "The Scarlet Return"

785-786: "Taiko Meijin's Match of Love"

836-837: "The Unfriendly Girls Band"

861-862: "Just Like a 17 Year Old Crime Scene"

863-864: "The Spirit Detective's Murder"

866-867: "The Traitor's Stage"

881-882: "The Magician of the Waves"

Other Japanese Blu-rays

Beyond these, the TV-original specials Episodes 804-805 ("Conan and Ebizo's Kabuki Juhachiban Mystery") and Episodes 965-968 ("Kaiju Gomera VS Kamen Yaiba"), plus the canon Episodes 927-928 ("The Scarlet School Trip"), are also available on Blu-ray.

Finally, special edition Blu-rays for Movies 17-25 include a second disc containing the movie's tie-in anime episode... but that second disc is likely a DVD, speaking as someone who doesn't own any of these but does own the Japanese special edition Blu-rays for Movies 14 through 16, where the second discs are, indeed, DVDs.

German Blu-rays

Outside of Japan, Germany is currently releasing boxed sets of the Detective Conan series starting from Episode 1. At this time, these are the only physical releases of the remastered footage (which make a big difference), and they include Japanese and German audio (but any German-dubbed songs are omitted). Three boxes are available now, covering Episodes 1 to 96 (or 102 with the international numbering); a fourth box is set to be released on May 19th, covering up until Episode 122 (or 129 with the international numbering).

Do note that these releases edit the name boxes in a way that can't be turned off, however.

Films, Specials, and Magic Kaito

In Japan, there are Blu-ray releases for:

Films 1-25

Both Lupin crossovers

The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa: The Two Worst Days in History

Episode One: The Great Detective Turned Small

Magic Kaito and Magic Kaito 1412

In Germany, all of the same content is available on Blu-ray. There's also a Blu-ray release for The Scarlet Alibi, and I believe that they're the only ones with a physical HD release of Gosho Aoyama's Collection of Short Stories as well.

In the United States, there are Blu-ray releases for:

Films 19-23

Both Lupin crossovers

Episode One: The Great Detective Turned Small

As far as I'm aware, there are no HD releases anywhere of the OVAs. They're available on DVD in Japan, either separately or via four "Secret File" compilations (though these only cover OVAs 1-9).

There also aren't any HD releases of the Magic/Bonus files, but DVDs are included with the Japanese special edition versions of Movies 12-16. They're also available for individual purchase in Japan as well.

TV Specials 1, 2, and 4 (with 3 being the Lupin special, 5 being The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa, and 6 being Episode One) seem to be DVD only, too. Actually, I'm not sure if TV Special 1,"Time Travel of the Silver Sky," is available on disc at all? But TV Special 2, "Black History," is said to be included with the Japanese special edition DVD of the second live-action drama special, and TV Special 4, "Fugitive: Kogoro Mori," is included on the Part 24, Volume 7 DVD.

TV Special 7, "Love Story at Police Headquarters ~Wedding Eve~," might be included on Blu-ray in Japan with the special edition of Movie 25, but I can't confirm if that disc is a Blu-ray or DVD right now (and the same goes for The Scarlet Alibi, included with the special edition of Movie 24 in Japan).

The eight VHS-only Shogakukan Illustrated Encyclopedia Series tapes are obviously not available in HD, either.

Tl;dr?

So, in short, combining releases and eliminating the not-remastered Treasured Selections, you can find 186 episodes on Blu-ray right now (with more on the way with the fourth Detektiv Conan box). You can also get all of the films and Magic Kaito series, plus a few specials, in HD.

And I think that's all I've got! Feel free to add more information if you know any! I am desperate to physically own more HD DCMK content.

EDIT: I've done some more digging, and from what I can tell, starting with Movie 24, the Japanese special edition Blu-rays for the films changed the bonus second disc from a DVD to a Blu-ray instead. This means that Episode 1,002, "The Beika City Shopping Center Garbage Bin Mystery," included with the special edition of Movie 24, as well as Episode 1,039, "The Flying Jack-o'-lantern," included with the special edition of Movie 25, are available on Blu-ray, too. So, a more accurate number of episodes that have been released on Blu-ray (in HD) at this time is actually 188. Further, this confirms that The Scarlet Alibi and TV Special 7 are also available on Blu-ray in Japan.

Additionally, though I have provided a couple of links throughout this post, the Detective Conan World wiki deserves a bigger shout out than I initially gave; their "Collectibles" page, and particularly their "Japanese Blu-ray" article, were a huge help in compiling the information laid out here. Many, many thanks to the contributors.

And while I'm here, for those interested in English-language releases specifically, Magic's Detective Agency is a fantastically detailed resource for every DVD released by FUNimation (Volumes, Season Sets, and Films). They're not HD releases, true, but at the time, they're the only physical releases of any episodes and the first six films in English.

Finally, I also discovered that a fifth Detektiv Conan box is set to be released on July 21st! This should mean that remastered episodes up until 145 (or 155 with the international numbering) will be available on Blu-ray, and it bodes well for these releases to continue. Hopefully, there will be physical releases of the remastered footage in other countries, too!

[thanatasia]

Last Tumblr post of 2022! I drew these 2 days ago but still lol

Her name is A’aliyah (named after my first favorite singer the late Aaliyah) of course she likes to sing lol. She’s a soft spoken young lady who enjoys stargazing Pandora’s beautiful sky.

Her stripes are kinda changed to look similar to my fur baby.

After getting the hang of 5 head tall four fingered long eared aliens, I have to learn how to draw the 9-10 head tall four fingered blue cat aliens lol

I loved Avatar 2, many MANY tears were shed.

Happy New Year to everyone and hope this new year is kind and gracious to you all!

[retrotariotr]

I will collect physical media as long as I can 📀

[purrtyhatemachine]

i’m about to be so broke ❤️

[marxonculture]

Spotlight: My Weirdest Comfort Film

As of a few days ago, Tom McCarthy's best picture winning film, Spotlight (2015), became my most-watched film on Letterboxd. On its surface, the investigative journalism drama is a dour story based on the real investigation which exposed the horrific, systemic paedophilia within the Catholic church. This shouldn't be such a comforting watch, given its subject matter, so here I intend to determine what it is about this movie that keeps reeling me back in... or maybe there's just something wrong with me.

Let's start with the elephant in the room: am I just really odd? Honestly, probably, but I don't think that's why I keep coming back to Spotlight. While the film is mindful of the crimes being investigated, and particularly sensitive and alert to the pain and extreme trauma experienced by the victims, it's primary focus isn't on the scandal itself - it's very necessarily not torture porn. If I wanted to torture myself via repeated exposure to the pain of others, this wouldn't be the film to achieve that.

Instead, the focus of Spotlight is on the process of uncovering the Chruch's crimes, and the systemic issues that kept such an open secret covered up for so long. In other words, this is a film about people who are really good at their jobs, deconstructing all the ways the church in environments like Boston has its claws in every major institution, including the press.

For a long time, I wanted to be an investigative journalist. The idealism that drives exposing difficult truths in order to ensure that the electorate be informed, is an incredibly compelling reason for pursuing a career. Now that I'm older and I know that the demands of such a profession are not for me, my love of proper, idealistic journalism is channelled into films about the people who can hack it. Think Broadcast News, The Post, The Insider, Goodnight and Good Luck, and Zodiac; I'm even one of those sickos who loved The Newsroom.

I really do believe in the power and responsibility of the so-called Fourth Estate. So, one of the most compelling things about Spotlight is that it is a true story - a period piece even - about a time when the press served their intended function properly and really made a difference. A story about that kind of thing set today would almost feel like science fiction.

Tom McCarthy's filmmaking, which some have dismissed as bland or overly procedural, is genuinely inspired because of the reality it is showing. The aesthetic and tone of Spotlight is intentionally mundane and perfunctory, portraying a job that needs to be done well, but not one that needs glorifying or mythologising. The one member of the Spotlight team (Mark Ruffalo's Mike Rezendes) who is more theatrical and performative is chastised by his colleagues for his over-the-topness - it's very telling that he is the one who ends up writing the article.

I am especially drawn to the ostensible B-plot of the film: Liev Schreiber's Marty Baron stepping in as the new editor of the Boston Globe and having to contend with the extent of the Catholic church's influence on Boston life. Baron is Jewish, and immediately identified as an outsider in the majority Catholic city. His performance is, in my view, miraculous in the way it so accurately communicates the ways in which Jews in majority Christian environments have to restrain our frustration with a cultural majority that so consistently dehumanises and others us.

One scene in particular is often reason enough for me to revisit Spotlight. It involves Baron being called in for a meeting with Cardinal Law (the most senior figure at the time in the Boston archdiocese). Schreiber deftly communicates Baron's skillfully maintained composure and professionalism despite his clear discomfort at Law's blatant attempts to both bring him under the church's sketchy umbrella of influence and prostelytise at him. It is a frightening reminder of how deeply embedded Christianity is in Western institutions, and of how difficult it is to exist as a non-christian in those environments. Spotlight does not exonerate lapsed, cultural or non-practicing Catholics, but exposes how every day people will look the other way when their own community and institutions are implicated in something horrible. Like I said, science fiction.

Despite being based on a true story, Spotlight is a brilliantly crafted wish-fulfillment fantasy about a time when the press served its function and held vile, corrupt institutions to account. It's tempting to look back on its Best Picture win at the Oscars as a mistake, especially given how totemic Mad Max: Fury Road is as the last bastion of visually inventive, gonzo blockbuster filmmaking, but I really do believe that Spotlight's win was both deserved and has stood the test of time as a reminder of how we should act in the face of the systemic nightmares of our society. Every time I'm in a place of extreme pessimism about the state of the world, this film is a warm, if strange, comfort blanket.

[yunoteru4ever]

The new Spanish Collector's Edition release of Mirai Nikki is chock-full of goodies

It was just last August that the first Spanish dub of Mirai Nikki was first announced by SelectaVision (alongside the first Spanish dub of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and its follow-up film). And now those Spanish dubs are available on blu-ray and DVD in Europe... along with a really impressive Collector's Edition for Mirai Nikki!

BEHOLD! It's crazy how fast SelectaVision went from announcing this set to fully releasing it. I actually missed the entire announcement window and then BOOM, it was already out when I learned about it.

Items #1 and #2 in the above image are just the box and the actual disks, which actually include the test OVA that predates the series. And while that's a neat inclusion, I think the most compelling content is the rest of the items included in the set.

#3 is a soundtrack CD with 20 tracks from the series.

#4 is a "mini-container box" for the disks (for some reason).

#5 is a series of 9 "Maxicards" — Sakae Esuno illustrations printed in a large size.

#6 is is a 68x48 poster with different artwork on each side.

#7 is a set of die-cut character stickers.

#8 consists of 19 trading cards (made from 9 'card models,' whatever that is).

#9 is a replica of Yuki's signature beanie, of course.

#10 is a 40-page booklet containing character sheets, background information, soundtrack details, and an image gallery.

At a price of 120 Euros, this doesn't come cheap... but I still feel tempted to get one for myself. That asking price actually feels justified (IMO) in light of all that's included! I'm not sure if I'll take the plunge, but either way? I hope we ALL get to see the contents of that 40-page booklet one day.

By the way, the standard edition has different cover art than the collector's set. It looks like this:

I admit I don't care for SelectaVision's cover choices. I think Japan, the U.S., and the UK have all produced better cover art for the series. But hey, what does that really matter? It's the content that's the meat of the package — not the box.

[twisty-twisties]

Movie haul for today. Only problem is that the godzilla movies are region locked to america and I still haven't figured out how to change the region for my blu ray player but I have seen both of them already so it's more just to complete my collection. Really excited to watch the gamera movies :}

[sortanonymous]

I know expecting Congress to get anything right these days is like expecting to see a triple rainbow in the Arctic, but if we could just get sticky, scratchy, awful cardboard sleeves for physical media discs illegalized, that would just be lovely!

[infinatenoise]

Reservoir Dogs - Collectors edition

[milliondollarbaby87]

Casablanca - 80th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition (4K)

Casablanca – 80th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (4K)