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Media | A2Q Archives | A2Q on Twitter | A2Q #82 | March 31, 2009

Right before I sat down to write this, I Netflix sent me an email notifying me that I’ll have to cough up an extra $4 a month to continue watching Blu-ray movies. But with everything I want to see on BD always out of stock, what exactly am I paying extra for? Supposedly, Netflix will be going deeper on their BD orders to justify the rate hike. I guess if all the “Short Wait” and “Long Wait” titles suddenly become available I’ll reconsider my outrage, although I won’t really know if the better availability is due to better inventory or just a bunch of BD customers canceling their subscriptions.

Speaking of outrage, I recently covered the fantastic Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In. Turns out the version released on BD and DVD has subtitles that are dumbed down from the theatrical version. The studio claims that future pressings of the title will have the theatrical subtitles and will specifically call that out on the package. I returned my BD copy of the movie unwatched after learning about the two translations, and I’ll be keeping my eyes out for the revised disc. Obviously, I strongly recommend not buying the movie in its current state.

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Lots of titles are hitting Blu-ray this week, but honestly I’m not too excited about this lineup. I’m sure I’ll see Marley & Me simply because it’s a movie about a dog and I end up seeing all of those kinds of movies sooner or later — my wife and I are big friends to the animal kingdom. However, the real pick of the week for me is Pitch Black, which shouldn’t be judged by its terrible sequel or the mostly-awful output of its star, Vin Diesel. Pitch Black is an exciting sci-fi action movie with a simple premise. Flying, ravenous aliens attack wherever and whenever it is dark (these aliens seem the obvious “inspiration” for the Krill in Gears of War). A group of survivors crash land on the alien planet these creatures make their home, must rely on the help of Riddick, a dangerous convict who can see in the dark, to escape from the planet before it enters a month-long eclipse and there will be nowhere to hide from becoming a xeno-snack.

Slumdog Millionaire arrives on home video this week, carrying with it the baggage of an Oscar win for Best Picture. I”m happy that director Danny Boyle is getting a lot more recognition and opportunities. He’s certainly earned it with a resume that includes Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Millions, and Sunshine. I haven’t seen Slumdog yet, though, and I’m in no hurry, as it doesn’t really look like my kind of movie.

Exploitation and horror fans have probably heard of Takashi Miike. Miike is almost as famous for his prodigious output as the obscene images he puts on film. With over 70 directorial credits, a lot of what Miike puts out is awful. Miike is probably best known in the States for Audition, an incredibly disturbing horror movie. Ichi The Killer is also disturbing, as well as being deranged, offensive, vile, gory, and surreal. I don’t recommend anyone watch it who isn’t already laughing through movies like Hostel.

Has it really been ten years since The Matrix debuted? At the time, I thought it was cool-looking and had a decent story, but wasn’t as good as eXistenz — a movie superficially similar in story and theme which was released in the same year. Not being a big fan of The Matrix turned out to be a blessing in disguise when the next two movies were released.

Thanks for reading Add to Queue, GameSpite’s weekly round-up of US Blu-ray release highlights. Sorry, rest of the world; region locks are the industry’s way of saying they still don’t understand the Internet. Whoa. Cover art courtesy of Amazon. Follow Levi Tinney on Twitter, or add him to your PSN or XBL friends list: VsRobot. You can also contact him via e-mail via levivsrobot [at] gmail [dot] com.