The name Steven Soderbergh immediately provokes images of intense, thought-provoking dramas akin to his previous efforts (which include
Erin Brockovich,
Traffic, and
Che). Say the name Matt Damon, and the mind is drawn to the image of an intense actor who starred in
Good Will Hunting,
The Departed, and
The Bourne Trilogy. Bring these two intense individuals together, and no one could ever expected that a comedy would unfold, but that is exactly what happened with
The Informant!which is out today on Blu-ray.
For the
Blu-ray review of The Informant, staff reviewer Ken Brown concluded, "As is the case with most comedies, The Informant! will entertain some far more than others. For me, Damon, Soderbergh, and Burns have created an unforgettable farce; one inspired by a truly bizarre true story." He continued, "For those who know what to expect, Warner's Blu-ray edition can be as rewarding as the film itself. Though its video transfer and TrueHD surround track can be underwhelming, it's all by design, make the disc's thin supplemental package the low point of the release."
Despite the fact that costs for producing Blu-ray have drastically reduced over the years, there is still a nominal cost to produce Blu-rays. As I mentioned some weeks ago, one way to mitigate the cost is to release the films in more expensive box sets. But for films where a box set might (and probably don't) make sense, the double feature allows studios to release two catalog films on a single disc for much less than releasing them individually.
The double feature Blu-ray is not a new idea (Sony released
Capote / In Cold Blood as a double feature in 2008), but it's still great to see a catalog heavy studio like Warner take the idea and run with it. Today they are releasing a number of Blu-ray double features, including
Presumed Innocent / Frantic,
Grumpy Old Men / Grumpier Old Men,
Analyze This / Analyze That,
Miss Congeniality / Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous, and
Dirty Harry / Magnum Force.
And it looks like after numerous months and a countless number of delays,
Ichi the Killer is finally being released today for Blu-ray. Hooray!
For a complete listing of all the Blu-ray titles released today,
click here.