The first film on the list this week is the special 20th anniversary Blu-ray edition of Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece Goodfellas.  Aside from the fact that it’s a little disconcerting that films from the 90s are getting 20th anniversary editions, this is a genuinely exciting release and one I’m going to snatch up as soon as possible.

The second film on the list today is the Blu-ray re-release of Akira Kurosawa’s Ran.  This is a disc I’m both keen and wary to check out.  Criterion, who always does an incredible job with film transfers, announced this title last year, but were unable to get all the proper rights in order and had to back out.  Lions Gate stepped up to do it and word around the campfire is such that I’m wary.  It seems as though it’s a better transfer of this film than has been released, but it is more akin to an upconversion than the sort of frame-by-frame restoration that Criterion would have done.  I don’t know how it looks, but if I get my hands on a copy, I’ll certainly pass the word along to you.

Next we have Criterion’s release of Lola Montes.  Expect a full review tomorrow.

From the unnecessary nostalgia department: Small Wonder season 1.  For those of you whipper-snappers who don’t remember, this is a show about an inventor who creates a mind-bogglingly creepy robot girl who lives at the house with them.  It was on every day after school at some point in my youth and I watched it on alo occasion along with Mr. Belvedere.  Since it’s robot oriented, expect a full review soon.

For you Halo fans out there, the Halo Legends disc is coming out on Blu-ray and regular DVD.  I know next to nothing about Halo, but talking to Halo fans, this seems like something you must own if you care at all about the mythos.  I’d like to hear some more opinions about this one since it does look pretty cool, but I have no context for it.

The last release I’ll mention today is something I haven’t seen but it has been recommended to me so many times, I imagine there must be something to it.  The satirical blacksploitation film Black Dynamite.

See you next week!