Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The old man in The Princess Bride famously said, “When I was your age, television was called books.” And while I might not have any cherubic grandkids of my own to pontificate at, I would instead posit that not only can TV (and MOVIES) peacefully coexist with the printed word, books can even elevate our understanding and enjoyment of filmed entertainment. In fact, titles like those below are the real reason that coffee tables were invented.

---

Doug Chiang: The Cinematic Legacy (Volume I) & The Star Wars Legacy (Volume II) by Alexandre Poncet and Gilles Penso (Abrams)

With the retirement of the legendary artist Ralph McQuarrie, Lucasfilm was faced with the daunting task of finding a replacement to spearhead the very different yet organic visual style of the Prequel Trilogy. Personally selected for the gig by George Lucas, Doug Chiang wound up sticking around to guide the design of almost every Star Wars movie and TV show since, climbing the ranks at LFL while still finding plenty of time for other projects. Book II gives us an exhaustive study his contributions to that galaxy far, far away, and even if you’re in the crowd that has certain reservations about the modern saga, no one can deny the true genius evident in the look of the ships, droids and creatures. A career this lengthy and impressive cannot be contained between two covers, and so Book I covers everything from student films to commercial work to his years at Industrial Light & Magic, toiling as visual effects art director on heavy hitters including T2 and Jurassic Park. Even at a total 800 giant horizontal pages with some 2,000 images, it’s a tight squeeze for a lifetime of such creativity.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This set is the heaviest item on this list, and that’s saying something

---

The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Jay Glennie, Quentin Tarantino (Insight Editions)

Keen-eyed readers will spot a large “9” on the spine of this here tome, tipping the hand of author Jay Glennie that this is but the first in a series of planned coffee-tablers, each dedicated to a different film in Mr. Tarantino’s oeuvre. Q’s ninth and most recent feature film was a logical starting point, still fresh in the minds of audiences as well as the people who made it, and Glennie worked closely with the writer/director in addition to conducting exclusive new interviews with some 65 cast and crew. At 488 pages, it’s longer than you might expect but worth every turn, with seemingly no anecdote left untold, no wart left unexposed in the enthusiastic creation of this beloved period piece.

---

The Euphoria Books: S1 Boxed Set (A24)

The groundbreaking first season of HBO’s ultra-edgy teen drama Euphoria is feted here like no other show before it, in a massive eight-volume set totaling well over 1,000 pages. Each book is dedicated to a single episode, starting with the complete shooting script and followed by in-depth conversations with star/executive producer Zendaya and many of the key creatives behind the scenes. There’s also pages and pages of sheet music and complete, episode-specific credits. Visually, the set is absolutely stunning, featuring photos by actors Jacob Elordi and Maude Apatow, in addition to sketches by Hunter Schafer and excerpts from Sydney Sweeney's personal scrapbook, imparting the sense of pride everyone clearly took in this undertaking. The print quality is off the charts, the rigid case holding the individual softcover books, each enrobed in prismatic foil with interiors in full color with silver spot treatment.

---

Frankenstein Portfolio Edition by Sheila O'Malley with Guillermo del Toro and Oscar Isaac (Insight Editions)

How could a subject so gruesome yield something so beautiful? Stop what you’re doing and watch Guillermo del Toro’s exquisitely conceived passion project Frankenstein on Netflix (subscribe if you have to) and then lose yourself in this deluxe collector’s edition that takes us behind the scenes in startling detail. The exclusive edition of the companion book is slipcased and bound in embossed leatherette, further adorned by a die-cut tip-on cover and a sculpted Medusa-head medallion on the spine. This premium package is also accompanied by an oversized portfolio inspired by the screen-used props, holding reproductions of nine of Victor’s annotated sketches (some rather chilling) plus an exclusive print by concept artist Mike Hill. Now, stream the movie again with a newfound appreciation.

---

The Official Rocky Horror Late Night Double Feature The 50th Anniversary Two-Volume Collector's Edition by Linus O'Brien, Richard O'Brien and Malcolm Croft (Insight Editions/Weldon Owen)

The story of Rocky Horror has two distinct chapters, stage and screen, so it makes sense that the tale be told in twin volumes. And what volumes they are, huge and embossed and slipcased and packed with extensive first-person writing, previously unshared photos, sketches and assorted ephemera. It all begins with the stage play, The Rocky Horror Show, and Book One contains the original 1973 theatrical script, heavily annotated. It also features a “Virgin’s Guide” so the audience is never at a loss for what to do. Book Two is a detailed and extensively illustrated oral history of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which marked its 50th anniversary this year, built around new interviews with cast, crew and beyond. The boundary-pushing play and movie surely shocked many, and today I’m flabbergasted by the magnitude of this two-volume chronicle piloted by playwright/composer/lyricist/”Riff Raff” Richard O’Brien and has son Linus.

---

Godzilla The Official Pop-Up Book by Matthew Reinhart with Chip Carter and Yuko Shimizu (Insight Editions)

Capping off a year-long celebration, this irresistibly fun volume offers Gojira facts and lore compiled by noted expert Chip Carter. The four interactive spreads showcase Matthew Reinhart’s brilliant, impressively scaled paper engineering (he’s The Man in pop-up books) with expanding flaps and pull-tab “attacks,” mixed with Yuko Shimizu’s lush illustrations that take us on a brisk survey of The Big G’s 70+ years terrorizing and defending Tokyo. But more, the book holds lots of removable surprises to explore, some made to look like official in-world documents, plus a set of nine kaiju trading cards.

---

Jim Aparo’s DC Classics Artist’s Edition (Skybound/Image Comics/Act 4 Publishing)

?

So-called artist’s edition books like these have gained popularity in recent years, taking the bold step of reproducing the full art pages at the size they were originally drawn, instead of shrunk down to comic-size for mass consumption. They also tend to use heavy paper and high-quality printing that captures the editorial notations and minutiae that readers were never meant to see. This new volume commemorates penciller Jim Aparo, the heir apparent to the revered comic book artist Neal Adams’ throne, renowned for his dynamic, detailed renditions of heroes, villains and their stylized environs. Like Adams, he leaned heavily into Batman in the ‘70s and ‘80s, going on to work on some of the most celebrated tales of the Dark Knight (A Death in the Family, Knightfall). This hefty tome collects ten entire stories in their raw, uncolored form, mining heavily from Aparo’s work on The Spectre, in addition to an extensive cover and splash page gallery.