
Soda Pictures
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You know what, let's just stay in and watch a movie...
Every week, the home video market is swamped with new titles released to DVD, Blu-ray and various digital platforms. Only a handful of these, typically wide-release Hollywood pictures, make it into rotation on Redbox or retail rental shelves.
If you dig around, though, you can find—in any given week—literally dozens of new movies, old reissues, TV series collections, independent films, documentaries and foreign films.
The technology of home video distribution is changing, too. Various digital release platforms (online, on cable, on demand, on and on … ) are threatening to send DVD into that vast graveyard of outdated physical media.
It's a strange time. If there's a new movie you want to see, you might have a dozen different options for getting it to your living room TV. Or maybe you want to watch on your laptop. Or your iPad. Or—if you've given up on image fidelity entirely—your smart phone.
With the weekly DVD + Digital column, I hope to cut through some of the noise and recommend the best titles on home video for the discerning movie night enthusiast. On any week, the best movie on home video is seldom the wide-release blockbuster—although sometimes it is.
I'll also be keeping tabs on format. Indie movies and foreign films are often released just to DVD, or just to digital. New reissues of old classics are often Blu-ray only. If you're looking to add to your video library, some titles are bundled in combo packs with Blu-ray, DVD, digital and hours of excruciating minutia.
The day will surely come when all of our entertainment is narrowcast directly to our frontal lobes by our cybernetic overlords. But until then, we should take advantage of our unprecedented home entertainment options and enjoy this golden age of sitting on the couch.