What you can find on this set:

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Over 30 minutes of footage incorporated into the theatrical release of the film
Commentary by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens
Commentary by the design team
Commentary by the production/post-production team
Commentary by 10 actors, including Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen
Easter egg: MTV Movie Award Spoof (The Council of Elrod)
Costa Botes Documentary: The Fellowship of the Ring: Behind the Scenes (DVD)

The Appendices, Part 1: From Book to Vision (DVD)

• • Peter Jackson introduction
  • J.R.R. Tolkein: Creator of Middle Earth
  • From Book to Script
  • Visualizing the Story
  • Designing and Building Middle Earth
  • Middle Earth atlas interactive

The Appendices, Part 2: From Vision to Reality (DVD)

• • Elijah Wood introduction
  • Filming The Fellowship of the Ring
  • Visual effects
  • Post-production: Putting it all together
  • Digital Grading
  • Sound and music
  • The Road Goes Ever On…

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Extended edition of the film, incorporating 43 minutes of footage incorporated into the film
Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Commentary track by the design team
Commentary track by the production/post-production team
Commentary track by 16 cast members, including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, and Miranda Otto
Easter Egg: MTV Movie Awards clip (Gollum accepting award)
Costas Botes documentary: The Two Towers–Behind the Scenes (DVD)

The Appendices, Part 3: The Journey Continues (DVD)

• • Peter Jackson introduction
  • J.R.R. Tolkein: Origin of Middle Earth
  • From Book to Script: Finding a Story
  • Designing and Building Middle-Earth
  • Gollum
  • Middle-Earth Atlas interactive
  • New Zealand as Middle Earth (map with video location)

The Appendices, Part 4: The Battle for Middle Earth (DVD)

• • Elijah Wood introduction
  • Filming The Two Towers
  • Visual effects
  • Editorial: Refining the Story
  • Music and Sound
  • The Battle for Helm’s Deep is Over

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Extended edition of the film, with 50 extra minutes incorporated into the film
Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Commentary track by the design team
Commentary track by the production/post-production team
Costas Botes documentary: The Return of the King: Behind the Scenes (DVD)

The Appendices, Part 5: The War of the Ring (DVD)

• • Peter Jackson Intro
  • J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth
  • From Book to Script
  • Designing and Building Middle-earth
  • Home of the Horse Lords
  • Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship: interactive map
  • New Zealand as Middle-earth: interactive map with on-location footage

The Appendices, Part 6: The Passing of an Age (DVD)

• • Elijah Wood/Sean Astin/Billy Boyd/Dominic Monaghan intro
  • Filming The Return of the King
  • Visual Effects
  • Post Production: Journey’s End
  • The Passing of an Age
  • Cameron Duncan

Order yours today!

20th Century Fox outdid themselves with this release which is fitting since The Sound of Music is the movie that saved the studio from the financial ruin caused by Cleopatra.  There are so many extras it took me the good part of a day to watch all of them but each one of them was interesting and enjoyable.  Every one of them is in HD except for the vintage ones which is understandable and expected.  I will also mention that although it appears that you must click on a ton of items to start each featurette, at the bottom right of the screen there is an index icon that will allow to select play all which will save you a lot of time.

Limited Edition Extras:

• 45th Anniversary soundtrack
• 100-Page “My Favorite Things” scrapbook
• Snapshots from Salzburg
• Reproduction of the original 1965 Souvenir program
• Exclusive “My Favorite Things” Music Box with letter of authenticity

Blu-ray Disc 1:

Your Favorite Things: An Interactive Celebration — All-New Immersive Viewing Experience with Behind-the-Scenes Images, On-Screen Lyrics, Trivia Track and Location Quiz - This is very cool addition to the set.  It allows you to select as many of these options are you are interested in to be viewed in a picture in picture mode.  I can see this adding a lot of re-playability since most people won’t want all of the options turned on at the same time due to picture space.

Music Machine Sing-Along – Allows you to sync up whatever playlist of songs you want to hear.

Audio Commentaries – Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charmian Carr, Choreographer Dee Dee Wood, and Johannes von Trapp (the youngest son of Maria and Georg) share one commentary and Director Robert Wise has a solo one. It’s very cool that they managed to record so many people involved in the movie but unfortunately they weren’t all recorded together.  I’m just glad they were able to include Robert Wise’s commentary before his untimely passing.

BD-LIVE**: Live Lookup™ Powered by IMDb^{® –} Basically a link to the movie’s IMDb page if you are connected to the internet.

Blu-ray Disc 2:

Musical Stages  - An “interactive backlot tour,” Musical Stages offers you the chance to select items within the Von Trapp home which will allow you to watch one of the following featurettes below.  Every song gets an overview of it’s background and details about how it worked within the film.  For instance, I discovered that although Christopher Plummer was recorded singing the songs (and doing it well in my opinion), he was dubbed by Bill Carter.  The Mother Superior played by Peggy Wood was also dubbed but that was at the actress’s request as she felt unable to pull off Climb Ev’ry Mountain.

• Maria in the 21st Century
• Restoring a Classic: Bloom and Grow Forever
• Edelweiss
• I Have Confidence
• My Favorite Things
• Sixteen Going on Seventeen
• After the Escape
• R&H: Partnership at its Peak
• Shaping the Story
• The Von Trapps Today
• Climb Ev’ry Mountain
• Stage Vs. Screen
• Maria
• The Sound of Music
• Maria and the Musical
• Cutting Room Floor
• Something Good
• The Lonely Goatherd
• Do-Re-Mi
• So Long, Farewell
• A Generous Heart
• Final Dream: Oscar Hammerstein Remembered
• Stories from Broadway
• Restoring a Classic: A Glorious Sound

A City of Song – Much like the interactive selection process of the Van Trapp home, except here you select locations based on a map of Salzburg.

• Mellweg: Maria’s Mountain
• Nonnberg: Maria’s Abbey
• Residenzplatz: Scenes of Joy and Sorrow
• Siegmundplatz: The Horse Pond
• von Trapp Villa: A Place of Harmony
• Frohnburg: A Facade Fit for Hollywood
• Gazebo: A New Home at Hellbrunn
• Mozartsteg – A Bridge to the Past
• Werfen: Planning a Picnic
• Winkler Terrace: The Ultimate View
• Mirabell Gardens: Do-Re-Mi-rabell
• Leopoldskron: Story of a Lake
• Salzburg Marionette Theatre: Pulling Strings
• Mondsee Cathedral: A Marriage of Fact and Fiction
• Rock Riding School: Staging a Festival
• St. Peter’s Cemetery: Safe Haven
• Rossfeld: A Dangerous Escape
• The Sound of Music Tour: A Living Story

Vintage Programs – The studio was nice enough to include special features from past releases, including some period and behind the scenes featurettes.  There are also some audio only interviews but I will take anything I can get!

• The Sound of Music: From Fact to Phenomenon
• My Favorite Things: Julie Andrews Remembers
• Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer: A Reminiscence
• From Liesl to Gretl
• Salzburg Sight and Sound
• On Location with The Sound of Music
• When You Know the Notes to Sing: A Sing-along Phenomenon
• Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of American Music, 1985
• Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies, 1996
• Location Interviews (audio only, 11:49)
• Reissue Interview with Julie Andrews and Robert Wise, 1973
• A Telegram from Daniel Truhitte
• Ernest Lehman: Master Storyteller

Rare Treasures

• Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall: The Pratt Family Singers
• The Julie Andrews Hour: Julie Andrews and Maria von Trapp
• Screen Tests
• 40th Anniversary DVD Introduction by Julie Andrews
• Pre-production, Production, and Publicity Galleries

Publicity

• Fox Movietone News Academy Awards
• Trailers and Teasers
• TV Spots
• Radio Spots

DVD Disc:

• Feature Film In Standard Definition
  • Newly Remastered Picture and Sound
  • Optional Sing-Along Track
• Music Machine Sing-Along
• The Sound of Music Tour – A Living Story

Order your copy today!

In addition to getting all three Spiderman movies, there’s also the following special features:

Spiderman Special Features:

• movieIQ: connects you to access real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie!
• Blu-ray Exclusive Spider Sense Trivia Challenge: Test your SPIDER-MAN movie knowledge in this over feature trivia game.
• The Spider-man Cutting Room: Create your own video using clips and music from the movie and share it via BD-Live!
• Commentary with Filmmakers & Cast
• Commentary with Visual Effects Designer and Crew
• Commentary with Tobey Maguire & JK Simmons
• Historical Documentary – Spider-Man: The Mythology of the 21st Century
• HBO Making of Spider-Man
• “Spider-Mania” an E! Entertainment Special
• Director Profile: Sam Raimi
• Composer Profile: Danny Elfman
• Behind the Scenes of Spider-Man: Documentaries, Featurettes, Filmmaker Profiles & More
• Screen Tests
• Gag/Outtake Reel
• Webisodes
• Music Videos: Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott “Hero” & Sum 41 “What We’re All About”

Spiderman 2 Special Features:

• Commentary by director Sam Raimi, actor Tobey Maguire, producer Avi Arad, and coproducer Grant Curtis
• Technical commentary
• “Spidey Sense 2″ pop-up trivia track
• Blooper reel
• Four Web-isodes: original online featurettes
• Train music video: “Ordinary”"Making the Amazing”: 12-part documentary
• “Hero in Crisis”: a deeper look into Peter Parker and his personal battles
• “Ock-umentary: Eight Arms to Hold You”
• “Interwoven: The Women of Spider-Man”
• “Enter the Web”: groundbreaking multi-angle look behind the scenes
• Art gallery
• Behind-the-scenes look at the Activision game

Disc One Special Features:

Disc Two Special Features:

Order yours today!

Here is what you will find the Ultimate Toy Box Set!

All three Toy Story movies and the following special features:

Toy Story:

• Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek: The Story
• Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs Blast off
• Paths to Pixar Artists
• Studio Stories: John’s Car, Baby AJ, Scooter Races
• Buzz Takes Manhattan
• Black Friday The Toy Story You Never Saw

Toy Story 2:

• Director commentary
• BD Live-portal (BD only)
• Toy Story 3 sneak peek: “The Characters”
• Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: International Space Station
• Paths to Pixar: Technical Artists
• Studio Stories: Toy Story 2 Sleep Deprivation Lab
• Studio Stories: Pinocchio
• Studio Storyies: The Movie Vanishes
• Pixar’s Zoetrop
• Celebrating our friend Joe Ranft

Toy Story 3:

• Day And Night Theatrical Short Filmmakers Commentary – With Commentary By Director Lee Unkrich and Producer Darla Anderson
• Bonus: The Gang’s All Here – A look at the returning voice talent for Toy Story 3.
• Toys! – A look at all the toys from updating classic characters to developing the Sunnyside Daycare and Bonnie’s Room toys.
• Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: The Science of Adventure (conj with NASA)
• Paths to Pixar: Pixar Editors, past and future, share anecdotes about their career path.
• Studio Stories: Where’s Gordon? There’s a hidden room at Pixar that we call the Where’s Gordon?, and this is its story.
• Studio Stories: Cereal Bar The majestic and expansive Pixar cereal bar is explored.
• Studio Stories: Clean Start The Pixar animation team shaves their heads to mark the start of TS3 animation.
• A Toy’s Eye View: Creating a Whole New Land
• Interactive Game: Toy Story Trivia Dash
• Cine-Explore by Dir. Lee Unkrich and Prod. Darla Anderson
• Beyond the Toybox -commentary track
• Beginnings with Michael Arndt – Screenwriter Michael Arndt analyzes successful opening scenes from Toy Story, Nemo and the Incredibles.
• Bonnie’s Playtime – A roundtable discussion with the Lee Unkrich and the story artists who brought the “Bonnie’s Playtime” scene to life.
• Roundin’ Up a Western Opening – Development process and scene analysis of “Western Opening” in its various iterations through the story process.
• Goodbye Andy – An exploration of character design, acting and animation in the scene “Andy’s Goodbye”.
• The Accidental Toymakers of Pixar – Meet the makers of the original Buzz Lightyear and watch how the newest version of Buzz – the Ultimate Buzz is constructed.
• Life of a Shot – Overview of artist contribution to each step of the production pipeline on a select group of shots from the Western Opening of Toy Story 3.
• Making of Day and Night
• Epilogue – Stand-alone 1.33 version of the Epilogue.
• Ken’s Dating Tips, Lotso Commercials, “Dancing with the Stars” at Pixar
• Trailers and More

Order your today while this deal lasts!

THIS COLLECTION INCLUDES THE SIX THEATRICAL FILMS PLUS A 7TH BONUS DISC
·          Star Trek: The Motion Picture
·          Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
·          Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
·          Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
·          Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
·          Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
·          The Captains’ Summit Bonus Disc

STAR TREK: THE CAPTAINS’ SUMMIT
For the first time in Star Trek history, five of the final frontier’s greatest names have been brought together for a 70-minute rare and unprecedented round table event. Filmed exclusively for Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes and host Whoopi Goldberg share candid insights, humorous moments, and intimate details about life on the set, working with each other and how Star Trek has affected their lives. Presented in HD.

OVER 2 1/2 HOURS OF ALL-NEW SPECIAL FEATURES PLUS OVER
12 HOURS OF PREVIOUSLY RELEASED CONTENT

PLUS INTERACTIVE CONTENT EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY
LIBRARY COMPUTER: Interactive playback mode displays information on the characters, ships and planets that appear on-screen.
STAR TREK IQ (BD-LIVE): Test your Star Trek I.Q. with custom trivia games.

Take advantage of this deal while you can! It’s available today only!

Gold Box Sale: http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox?tag=wsb0b7-20

Get yours at this incredible price while you can!

Every once in awhile, the James Bond Blu-ray sets go on sale at Amazon and this is one of those times! Instead of being $70 each they are now $24.99 each so if you haven’t picked these up yet, now is a good time!  These are great sets that mix movies from different Bonds – from the original one Sean Connery, to Roger Moore, and on to Pierce Brosnan.  No matter who’s playing Bond, you can count on there being a lot of beautiful women, a lot of action, and a suave British superspy around to stop anyone thinking about world domination!

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Starting today, through TV on DVD2BLU, consumers can now experience their favorite television series again for the very first time in stunning 1080p picture quality and crisp, superior sound that only comes from a Blu-ray Disc.  Titles such as “Smallville”, “The Sopranos”, “Fringe”, “Supernatural” and more can be upgraded for as low as $14.95 plus shipping.  Consumers who place orders of over $35 will receive free shipping.

The process to upgrade is simple.  Consumers select the titles they want to upgrade on DVD2BLU.com, mail in their standard DVDs with pre-paid postage and a short time later receive copies of the same title and complete season on Blu-ray.  See below for a complete list of TV titles available for upgrade with DVD2BLU.com:

$19.95

Smallville Season 8

Supernatural Season 1

Supernatural Season 4

Chuck Season 2

Fringe S1

The Sopranos S1

$14.95

Smallville Season 6

Smallville Season 7

Supernatural Season 3

Chuck Season 1

Pushing Daisies S1

Pushing Daisies S2

Terminator SCC S1

Terminator SCC S2

Nip/Tuck S4

Vote choices include:

• Back to the Future
• Backdraft
• The Big Lebowski
• The Blues Brothers
• The Breakfast Club
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Lost in Translation
• Meet the Parents
• National Lampoon’s Animal House
• Psycho

Click here to vote today!

And don’t forget to become our fan too!

Make sure to order The Hangover on Blu-ray today as I have no idea how long this pre-order price will be good for.

Pre-order your Blu-ray of The Hangover today with Amazon’s pre-order price guarantee and know that 1% of your purchase will go directly to making a difference in the life of a child at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The Hangover, 2-disc Blu-ray set features both the theatrical (R-Rated) and the Unrated versions of the film.  The second disc will be a digital copy playable on most portable media players and computers.  I have included what I know thus far about the technical specs of the 2-disc set.

DISC 1
Theatrical Version of the Film
Unrated Version of the Film

PIP Commentary
“Map of Destruction”
“The Madness of Ken Jeong”
“Action Mash-Up”
“Three Best Friends Song”
“The Dan Band!”

Gag Reel

More Pictures from the Missing Camera

BD-LIVE
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: “Iron Mike Online Teaser”
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: “Cursing Mash-Up”

DISC 2
Digital Copy (Theatrical)

Shop at BestBuy.com, via the link below, and know that 1% of your purchase will go directly to making a difference in the life of a child at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Free Standard Shipping on All Orders Totaling $25 & Up. Valid 9/17-9/19

So anyway, I open it and to my surprise as I slipped it out of its slipcover I noticed a small rectangle missing from what appears to be the sealed plastic around the Blu-ray case.  It appeared as if someone took a razor blade and cut out a small rectangle around where the wrapper was imprinted saying it was made in Mexico.  I found this very odd.  Everything seemed new and sealed except this small rectangle from the plastic missing.  So then came the kicker.  Anyone who knows me knows how anal I am with my products and how they must be pristine or else I am passing.  I noticed razor blade cuts into the plastic case where the rectangle of plastic was removed.  I did not even check to see if the artwork was damaged as I immediately proceeded to email the seller.  Below are the responses I received.

“Hi, thanks for contacting me. I get my blu-rays from rackers. Rackers are third party companies that are hired by grocers and supermarkets like Wal-Mart and Kroger to stock, add, remove, and keep inventory as they deem necessary. Its popular with items such as greeting cards, sodas, and DVDs/blu-rays. When these companies pull items off the shelf that they don’t think will sell in a certain region, they wholesale them to people like me. If a certain store has a promotional sticker or security sticker, or any sticker otherwise placed on the blu-ray by the store and not the manufacturer, the rackers will often cut the stickers off the blu-rays before wholesaling them out. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about this. The items are still new and unopened as stated. I’m sorry for this, it just comes with the territory of buying discounted movies. I can take a look at my inventory tomorrow and see if I have any that are without cuts if you’d like, but I can’t make a guarantee. Because it is store and region specific, the same title will often have the slices on all the plastic, and some cuts unfortunately go deep enough to cut the case. If you haven’t opened the factory seal on your blu-ray, I will gladly exchange it for you if I have one that isn’t cut or is not cut into the case. For the future, I’d recommend that you ask the seller if there are any of these types of cuts on the case, and request that they make sure they send you one free of cuts. Though its not common, most sellers will have a couple shipments with particular titles with these cuts, as most sellers on here get their blu-rays from rackers. I hope this information helps you. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! “

I immediately responded back to the seller and told him never in the past 3 years have I ever experienced anything like this after buying 30+ new and sealed Blu-rays off of ebay.  I told him it was the seller’s responsibility and liability to disclose the item’s conditions in the actual listing.  The seller responded back to me by saying the following.

“Again, I do apologize. Most buyers that are concerned with the aesthetics of a case are familiar with this and will email me ahead of time to make sure one way or the other, but I can understand why you would have no idea. The item is still technically sealed, as the seal that protects the item being sold and of value, the actual disc, from being touched is still sealed. Ill check my inventory tomorrow when I get to my office for an Unborn without cuts. Also, if the case from my personal collection is cut-free, I would be fine with exchanging it for you. I don’t care much for the case itself so it wouldn’t bother me.”

Now while this is nice of the seller to try and work out my concerns please tell me…what kind of buyer, even as anal as myself, ever contacts the seller to tell them to make sure they send a new and sealed copy that does not have any razor cuts in the case and/or artwork?  The answer to that, at least for me, is not anyone that I know of.

For what it is worth, I have also seen practices where people will sell the Blu-ray disc with no case and/or artwork.  This happened to my brother-in-law before on ebay.  Please make sure to read the auction closely to see the words “still factory sealed.”  If it does not say that, then move on, or contact the seller to get concrete evidence and proof of what you want.

I have not heard back from the seller today and/or gotten to make any alternate arrangements as of yet.  I applaud the seller for trying to work things out, but as I stated before I felt this was my civic duty to warn all Blu-ray fans of this practice going on out there.  Please feel free to leave your comments and thoughts below on this matter.  Thanks for reading!

Remember that 1% of all your purchases through the links above will make the difference in a child’s life at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 

Buy any 2 seasons and save $20.

Buy any 3 seasons and save $30.

Buy any 4 seasons and save $40.

Order your Blu-ray seasons of Lost today with Amazon’s Pre-order Price Guarantee and know that 1% of your purchase will go directly to making a difference in the life of a child at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  To order a Lost  season of your choice, click on one of the links below. 

Amazon Buy 2 Get 1 Free Sale

By clicking on the above link, 1% of the sales from all your purchases will be donated to making a difference in the life of a child at St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital.  Thanks for your support and generosity!

To view all of the titles included in the Amazon sale click on the link below.  Just remember that 1% of all your purchases will go directly to making a difference in the life of a child at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Buy Two Blu-ray Discs, Get One Free

To view all of the titles included in the Amazon sale click on the link below.  Just remember that 1% of all your purchases will go directly to making a difference in the life of a child at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Amazon Up to 50% Off Blu-ray Sale

Amazon.com is once again having a buy 2 Blu-rays get 1 free sale.  There are 112 Warner Bros. titles to choose from.  The promotion lasts until December 31, 2008.  Hurry up and get yours now while supply lasts.  Click on the link below to be instantly transported to the Amazon sales page and start and feeding your Blu-ray collection now!

Amazon B2G1 Sale

DVDTALK
GREEN
SUPERSALE
USATODAY
NYTIMES
LATIMES
SOUTHSIDE
PRICEGRABBER
SAVE
DD1109
PRICESEARCH
SUMMERSALE
ESPN
YAHOO
JIM
WGN
DEALNEWS

There are a total of 147 Blu-ray titles to choose from.  Click on the link below to gain huge savings and start feeding your Blu-ray collection today (I really mean addiction):

Amazon B2G1 Sale