Toshiba pulls plug on HD DVD

Yesterday's announcement that Wal-Mart was going Blu-ray exclusive by summer appears to have been the deciding blow in the high-definition format war. According to this report, Toshiba Corp. is conceding defeat and ceasing production of all HD DVD players and software.

A story that appeared yesterday on The Hollywood Reporter's website hinted that the decision was looming. The electronics manufacturer had lowered prices of players so much that they were losing money on every unit sold. Plus, if you can't sell it at Wal-Mart, you can't sell it at all. RIP, HD DVD. You were loved. But not by enough people.

 

"I'm Michael Bay, and I'm awesome"

  First he pitched a fit when he learned Transformers would be released exclusively on HD DVD and not on Blu-ray. Then he recanted and said he had spoken too rashly.

Now Michael Bay is gloating and saying I-told-you-so about the insurmountable edge Blu-ray has built over the rival HD DVD format. Home Media Magazine reports the director said "I knew HD DVD was not going to make it" during a recent appearance at an awards show. No word on how, exactly, he knew this or when he mentioned this to anyone.

Bay also claims that Blu-ray is "sharper" than HD DVD and is "closer to what it should look like." I'm not a professional filmmaker, so I'm not going to say Bay is wrong and he doesn't know what he's talking about. But I have watched tons of movies on both formats and I cannot detect the slightest bit of difference between an HD DVD and Blu-ray image on properly mastered discs.

It's a moot point, since the bad news for the HD DVD camp are piling up at such a fast rate, I don't expect the format to be around by the end of the summer. At least those who bought a player can build up their libraries on the cheap right now. And for the time being, you still can't watch Transformers on Blu-ray - and the HD DVD looks and sounds fantastic. Although Bay would probably say it's not sharp enough. 

Whatever happened to John Landis, anyway?

The director of such gigantic hits as The Blues Brothers, Coming to America and Trading Places used to be one of Hollywood's highest-profile commercial filmmakers. But it's been a while since the words "A John Landis Film" graced movie screens, so no one would blame you if you assumed Landis had retired.

But Landis is alive and well and still working steadily, mostly on television now, recently having directed episodes of Showtime's Masters of Horror (a show that hasn't lived up to its potential, but is still a guilty pleasure of mine) and the USA Network's Psych, as well as the HBO documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.

Landis, who also happens to be a great raconteur, will be at the Bill Cosford Cinema on the University of Miami campus at 7 p.m. Friday for a Q&A session with the audience in between screenings of two of his best-known films: An American Werewolf in London, which was one of the first movies to successfully mix horror and comedy (and which I saw at least three times at the old Westchester Twin Cinema, successfully sneaking past ushers each time, since I wasn't old enough to see R-rated films on my own); and Animal House, arguably the granddaddy of all R-rated raunchy comedies.

The event, which is part of the UM School of Communication's Communication Week, is free and open to the public. For more information, including directions to the theater, go here.