For me, it's all about keeping my fingers crossed that five long-neglected catalog films will finally find new life in the 21st century. You gotta have your priorities, right?
2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the home-video revolution known as DVD. Yes, two decades ago we finally shed those cumbersome plastic videocassettes and began enjoying movies in our living rooms via crystal-clear, digitally enhanced compact discs. No more rewinding or fast-forwarding. No more fuzzy pictures. Now we could experience our favorite flicks in beautiful widescreen splendor, savor loads of extras and get to know a fun little feature called a commentary track. How on earth did we ever survive the Beta/VHS era?
Unfortunately, there are still several films that have yet to receive that deluxe treatment. Oh sure, some have actually been released on DVD, but you'd never know it with their distorted full-screen or non-anamorphic pictures and crackling sound.
You'd think after 20 years, 10 of those in the high-definition Blu-ray era, that one of the studios or specialty labels (Criterion, Kino Lorber, Twilight Time or Shout! Factory) could have rendered a halfway decent copy of all the lost little gems out there by now. Below you'll find five worthwhile titles that still need some love in 2017.
1. Matewan: I'm still waiting for a "watchable" copy of this 1987 coal-mining classic from indie maverick John Sayles. I seriously have not seen this film since I tried watching the current full-screen Artisan DVD back when Bill Clinton was president. C'mon, Criterion or Twilight Time, get this on the schedule for the film's 30th anniversary. I'm begging you.
2. Streets of Fire: Walter Hill's enjoyable 1984 rock-n-roll fable was released on disc by Universal back in 1998. Unfortunately, it wasn't enhanced for widescreen TVs. There was an anamorphic version struck back in 2007, but it was for the ill-fated HD DVD format that lasted about 10 minutes before being discontinued. This one would be perfect for Kino Lorber of Shout! Factory to finally release on Blu-ray.
3. Iceman: Fred Schepisi's moving 1984 tale of a recently thawed caveman and the Artic scientist who befriends him got a full-screen DVD release from Universal back in 2004. Not a big hit when released, but it does feature nice performances from Timothy Hutton and John Lone and deserves a widescreen edition. Another good one for Kino or Twilight Time.
4. The Hindenburg: A product of the 1970s disaster craze, Robert Wise's 1975 speculative dramatization of the infamous 1937 zeppelin crash received a non-anamorphic DVD release from Universal back in 1998. Sure it's dated and a bit heavy-handed, but it's also entertaining as hell and deserves to be seen in all its widescreen glory. This one's a perfect match for Kino.
5. The Star Wars Trilogy: Sure, the films look and sound great on Blu-ray, but I want the original, unaltered movies I grew up with in that format, not the silly special editions. We know they still exist, Disney, what better time than the franchise's 40th anniversary to finally give fans the versions that actually built the Empire.
