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Friday, January 1, 2010

Top 20 BD Transfers of 2009

11:25 AM / Blu-ray / 2 Comments

2009. Films have been available on Blu-ray Disc for around for three and a half years and the format is now well established. It's no longer a question of whether the format will succeed - it's already done so, with a significantly faster rate of uptake than DVD a decade earlier. Rather, the question is when it will knock its standard definition predecessor off the face of the earth. You can now pick up a BD player for around £100, and every major title (and a lot of the lower key ones too) is being released simultaneously on both DVD and BD. Far from being a format only for enthusiasts, BD is well on its way to becoming the home video format of choice for the masses.

Of course, it will likely always be the enthusiasts who truly appreciate the value of what BD has to offer - and no, I'm not talking about CineChat or the ability to bookmark your favourite scenes. I'm referring primarily to its unmatched (in the home video arena) AV quality, most importantly the fact that you can now justifiably expect a presentation that is subjectively transparent to the original master. In my opinion, video quality trumps fancy packaging or extras. As such, rather than doing a more all-encompassing "Best BDs of 2009" feature, as most sites are doing, taking into account everything from the quality of the film itself to the the number of talking heads EPKs crammed on to the disc, I thought I'd concentrate exclusively on video and draw up a list of the best transfers released in the last year.

It was hard, make no mistake. For 2009, I had an embarrassment of riches from which to draw. I initially intended to go with a Top 10 as I normally do, but then I realised that, in doing so, I would have to discard a number of highly impressive titles that were deserving of recognition. Therefore, I decided to extend my list to cover the Top 20 transfers, and even then I had to leave out a large number of discs worthy of praise and attention. You can't win 'em all, though, and so, without further ado, I present my Top 20 BD Transfers of 2009. Where available, I've included a link to my BD Impressions entry on the title in question, which includes a more detailed write-up as well as full resolution screen captures.

1. The International (Sony Pictures)
2. The Descent (Pathé)
3. Transsiberian (Icon)
4. District 13: Ultimatum (Momentum)
5. Jennifer's Body (20th Century Fox)
6. Twilight (E1 Entertainment)
7. The Edge of Love (Lions Gate)
8. Bolt (Buena Vista)
9. Up (Buena Vista)
10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Criterion)
11. Inglourious Basterds (Universal)
12. Monsters, Inc. (Buena Vista)
13. Waltz with Bashir (Artificial Eye)
14. Star Trek (2009) (Paramount)
15. Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection (2 Entertain)*
16. (500) Days of Summer (20th Century Fox)
17. Quantum of Solace (20th Century Fox/MGM)
18. Braveheart (Paramount)
19. Australia (20th Century Fox)
20. Revolutionary Road (Paramount)

* Weighted average of all four films.

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