Enough with the hyperbole! The greatest Blu-ray does not street every week!

[Ernest Rister]

Not pointing any fingers at the good folks at Blu-Ray.com, but I've been noticing an alarming uptick in critical hyperbole the last few months, where every new title from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to Speed Racer is suddenly designated THE reference disc of the year, or a new Blu-Ray release of a 70's classic is THE greatest thing ever released on home video...up until the next week, when a new film comes along and becomes the new reference disc, or a new classic streets that boggles the eyes and becomes the "greatest thing ever released on home video", etc etc etc.

Guys, enough.

If a Blu-Ray hits with stellar video, that's great. Just say that. Why say every week that the latest release is the new reference disc? It's getting tired and pedantic.

If a new Blu-Ray collection comes along and it rivals the Criterion Collection editions of Brazil or The Fantasia Anthology or the 5-disc editions of Blade Runner...just say its a great set with great bonus features. Don't say its the "greatest thing ever released on home video". I mean, seriously. Dial it back a bit.

Every single week, on all the sites that review Blu-Ray discs, I'm reading about how the latest this or that is sure to be the next reference disc, or how the latest mega disc edition is setting a new benchmark that will be hard to surpass, blah blah blah. That stuff is easy to write, and it makes sensational copy, and it may even land you a blurb on the back of some promotional ad, but it is also getting tired and cliched. I think critics should hold back on the whole "this is the greatest reference disc of the year" spooge until the year is actually over, or maybe crack open some ether and take a good strong whiff before they chrsiten anything the Greatest Home Video Release Of All Time. Maybe after their head has cleared, they'll have a chance to put things in perspective...like the original home video release of Star Wars or the debut of all the Criterion Collection titles on laseridisc, or the first direct-from-digital release with Disney's Tarzan and A Bug's Life, or all the creative DVDs that followed, not to mention the new Blu-Ray titles...out of all that has come before, some new box set that recycles the majority of its bonus features is the Greatest Home Video Release of All Time?

Come on. I know you guys get excited to receive stuff early and you want to share with people how great the new stuff is, but you only make yourself out to be flavor of the month cheerleaders - not critics - when you resort to such easy cliched praise. Enough is enough. At this point, I don' t know who to or what to believe anymore, because every month, some new high profile title is called the new reference disc. Can't we just say things look great? Why does evey new disc or new disc set have to be THE GREATEST THEING EVER AND SURE TO BE VIEWED IN EVERY SHOWROOM FROM BANGOR TO BORNEO. Can't we just give something 5 stars and move on?