Ten... best Blu-ray movies of 2011

Star Wars Original Trilogy


Best Blu-ray reissue

The doors to the vault of popular cinema have finally been blown open for BD. From West Side Story to Scarface, catalogue titles have never been more welcome. My pick-of the reissues though is one people actually wanted to buy. Indeed, it’s the biggest selling Blu-ray reissue in the galaxy: Star Wars: The Original trilogy.

This three disc set features the sharpest versions of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi seen to date, plus new and archival audio interviews for each. Lucasfilm’s archivists have done a marvellous job re-minting both sound and vision, particularly given the budgetary constraints on the original film. The Force is still strong with this set.

Resident Evil: Afterlife


Best Blu-ray 3D


This is certain to be a contentious category, particularly given how vocal 3D naysayers tend to be, but it’s also one that’s difficult to ignore. My winner transpired to be an easy pick though, given that the vast majority of 3D released on disc has been ‘toons or post-produced tosh.

Paul W.S. Anderson’s RE: Afterlife is neither. Shot with Cameron’s 3D Fusion Camera system, I’m happy to argue that it uses its 3D remarkably well. From the opening contagion title sequence, to the water-lashed slo-mo battle featuring Ali Larter, Milla Jovovich and the Axeman, this title rewards you for putting up with cumbersome spex.