Film

Love it or hate it, but there’s no denying how popular and pervasive reality television has become.  There’s a plethora of talent show dedicated to singing or discovering some other talent or possible spouse, boot camps, and even trips to an island full of temptation that’s intentionally set up to encourage infidelity.  All of those shows owe their existence to the the very first reality show called “An American Family” which aired on PBS in 1973.  The show focused on the Loud family and chronicled their daily lives, success, and tribulations.

The man responsible for the birth of reality TV is Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini) who realized that audiences would be interested in something new and unpredictable.  To achieve that, he sells the idea of a family show to Pat Loud (Diane Lane) by appealing to her ego and pride.  Pat sees herself as a pioneering feminist and Craig easily convinces to do the show her by telling her how much of a role model she will be for other progressive women.  The rest of her family is also receptive to the idea even though they are experiencing family issues that will only get worse with the spotlight on the family.

Pat’s relationship with her husband Bill (Tim Robbins) which already had issues, grows even tenser and things like Bill’s absences and philandering bothers Pat more and more.  For Bill, he is a product of an earlier time where he believes that there’s nothing wrong with having a woman or two on the side as long as he is there and provides for his family.  And provide he does, as the Loud family is living pretty well compared to a lot of others.  They have a beautiful house with a pool as well as enough disposable income that allowed them a comfortable life.  With the cameras watching the family non-stop, Bill tries to take advantage of the free publicity to help his business and his standing with his mistress by getting them an showbiz introduction to Craig.

The Loud children have their own issues, especially Lance (Thomas Dekker) who traveled to New York to learn about himself and in a sense accept the fact that he is gay.  When Pat goes to visit him she is surprised and taken aback at her son’s interest in drag shows and transvestite men.  Back home, the film crew (Patrick Fugit and Shanna Collins) have moved in with the Louds and have grown close to them over time.  Their empathy for the family ends up causing problems between them and Craig when he demands that they film raw and private moments for the sake of the show.  Craig, in his obsession to create a new and engrossing kind of show, has no problem with instigating or manufacturing issues to trigger dramatic outbursts that can be filmed (some early foreshadowing of today’s reality shows).  The family starts breaking apart before the show airs but when it does finally hit the airwaves and the family is widely criticized by the public and groups, it ironically brings the Louds back together to fight their critics and tell their side of the story.

While I dislike reality shows, I did enjoy this movie and especially the fine performances from Diane Lane, Tim Robbins, James Gandolfini, and Thomas Dekker.  This is primarily Diane Lane’s movie and she does her usual excellent job portraying Pat with all of her human flaws and qualities.  Robbins plays a likable yet sleazy man well, but it’s very similar to other roles he’s done.  It was interesting to see James Gandolfini in this kind of a role, as it’s a far cry from Tony Soprano.  His character of Craig is a charming yet manipulative man who doesn’t mean to hurt others, but if he does in the pursuit of his show, so be it.  Thomas Dekker does a great job bringing Lance to life and if you watch some of the actual footage of the real Lance, you will appreciate Dekker’s performance even more as he really captured Lance’s essence.  Cinema Verite is both a snapshot in time and prophetic in it’s depiction of reality TV and its mixture of real and manufactured drama.  While our culture has changed a lot since the 70s, sadly the reality shows have not.

Video  

The movie’s 1080p (1.78:1) transfer is sharp and high quality as befits an HBO release.  Colors are well defined and captures the 70s palette accurately.  Detail is also excellent and textures are realistic and sharp.  Flesh tones are natural (most of the family sports a deep California tan) throughout the movie.  Black levels are also appropriately dark and solid.  I didn’t notice any kind of blemish or digital artifact that detracts from the transfer’s quality.  This is another quality effort from HBO!

Audio  

Cinema Verite’s DTS-HD 5.1 mix is also perfectly adequate for this kind of movie.   As a dialogue driven movie, there isn’t a whole lot for all of the channels to do as the front channels handle the dialogue.  The rear channels do come to life on ocassion when some period music is included but it’s not a very aggressive mix.  The dialogue is clear and intelligible and well balanced with the rest of the mix.

Extras  

The biggest disappointment on this disc is the lack of meaningful extras.  We get a commentary track and a featurette that’s hardly worth watching and I think there should have been a lot more.  It’s even more surprising when you recall that this disc was released by HBO which usually offers a bunch of quality extras.

• Audio Commentary – with directors Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini and Diane Lane.
• The Making of Cinema Verite – A three and half minute featurette of the cast and crew talking about the movie.

Summary  

This is an interesting movie that handles the real tribulations of a family with grace and class by intercutting the movie’s footage with actual footage of the Louds both from the “An American Family” show and their other appearances on other shows such as Dick Cavett’s show.  This movie is well acted and directed and it’s an easy one to recommend.

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Film  

Having already seen Phil Collins live in concert twice, I was happy to review this new release of two of his past concerts that were held at the Montreux Jazz Festival back in 1996 and more recently in 2004.  I was struck by how similar the 2004 concert was to the one that I had seen, but at the same time I was pleasantly pleased as I had really enjoyed it.  Collins show started like it had before, with Collins doing an amazing drum solo which reminds the audience of his roots, but it also supercharges the show from the start.  This sequence listed on this disc as “Drums, Drums, & More Drums,” also includes the regular drummer Chester Thompson joining in and then percussionist Luis Conte follows suit which is pretty cool to see all three perform a high energy synchronized performance.

For this stop along his “First, Final Farewell Tour,” Collins is in fine form and this set-list showcases the majority of his many hits, both as a member of his off and on band Genesis and his own successful solo career.  The majority of songs in this concert like “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” and “Another Day in Paradise” among others, are from his “But Seriously” album which was a massive hit as just about every song dominated the airwaves. The rest of the songs are handpicked ones from his later albums such as songs like “Dance Into the Light” and “Can’t Stop Lovin’ You.”  Every one of these songs are very close to their original arrangements from the albums although of course the duets are sung by different partners than the originals.  For example, Amy Keys replaces Marilyn Martin on “Separate Lives” and Arnold McCuller fills in for Philip Bailey on “Easy Lover”  and both of them are excellent as is the backing band.

The 1996 concert is a lot different than the 2004 concert as it’s mostly instrumental due to being arranged as a big band performance.  There’s a few songs that include vocals such as “Always” and “Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me” and guest star Tony Bennet’s “There’ll Be Changes Made.”  The majority of songs however are big band versions of Collins’ past hits and the band is conducted by the legendary Quincy Jones.  Another guest star is saxophonist David Sanborn who lends his talents to “In the Air Tonight.”  While I prefer the 2004 concert, I did really enjoy the 1996 concert too as it was interesting to hear the songs reworked with a jazzy big band sound.

Here is the set-list for both concerts:

2004

1. Drums, Drums and More Drums
2. Something Happened On the Way to Heaven
3. Against All Odds
4. Don’t Lose My Number
5. You’ll Be in My Heart
6. One More Night
7. Can’t Stop Lovin’ You
8. Hang in Long Enough
9. True Colors
10. Come With Me
11. Groovy Kind of Love
12. I Missed Again
13. Another Day in Paradise
14. No Way Out
15. Separate Lives
16. In the Air Tonight
17. Dance Into the Light
18. You Can’t Hurry Love
19. Two Hearts
20. Wear My Hat
21. Easy Lover
22. Sussudio
23. It’s Not Too Late
24. Take Me Home

1996

1. Two Hearts
2. That’s All
3. In the Air Tonight
4. Invisible Touch
5. West Side
6. Against All Odds
7. Hand in Hand
8. There’ll Be Some Changes Made (featuring Tony Bennett)
9. Milestones
10. The Los Endos Suite
11. Always
12. Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me
13. Sussudio

Video  

Eagle Rock Entertainment’s 1080i (1.78:1) transfer of Phil Collins Live at Montreux is for the most part excellent.  The transfer is sharp and full of nice detail that shows every bead of sweat on Collins’ head.  Colors are nicely reproduced but the show’s lighting does cause some minor issues from time to time.  Flesh tones are natural and consistent even with the varied lighting on display.  Black levels are solid and dark and the contrast is fairly good as well.  Overall, this is a very nice transfer with only the smallest of issues from lighting that plague many of the live concert shows.

Audio  

In a fairly generous movie, Eagle Rock Entertainment has three different audio options available on this disc including lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes, as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix.  All of these tracks sound good with the songs all sounding clear and intelligible.  The aforementioned drum sequence in particular sounds impressive in all of its percussive glory, but every instrument comes through clearly and is well balanced with the rest. These are excellent tracks and they do a nice job of making it feel like a live experience.

Extras  

In a rare and very cool example, there is an additional full length concert included from the earlier 1996 show.  It’s in standard definition which is a shame, but it’s still great to have and the big band format provides an alternative way to appreciate Collins’ songs.

• Phil Collins Big Band Live at Montreux in 1996 – See above for the set-list and details about this bonus concert.

Summary  

For fans of Phil Collins, this Blu-ray set provides two great concerts to watch that shows off his songs in different styles in an affordable single set.  The concerts look and sound great and having an extra concert included as a special feature is pretty cool too.  While these concerts may not be the same as Collins’ usual arena concerts with all of their extra production, but they do offer a more intimate kind of show that’s equally good in a different way.

Order your copy today!

]]> http://whysoblu.com/phil-collins-live-at-montreux-2004-blu-ray-review/feed/ 2 http://whysoblu.com/dark-shadows-a-comedy-with-bite/ http://whysoblu.com/dark-shadows-a-comedy-with-bite/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 07:19:42 +0000 Sean Ferguson http://whysoblu.com/?p=44948 Director Tim Burton brings the cult classic series “Dark Shadows” to the big screen in a film featuring an all-star cast, led by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter.  In the year 1750, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from England to start a new life in America, where they build a fishing empire in the coastal Maine town that comes to carry their name: Collinsport. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of falling in love with a beauty named Josette DuPres (Bella Heathcote) and breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death—turning him into a vampire, and then burying him…alive.

Dark Shadows, on the surface seemed to be a great vehicle for director Tim Burton’s unique talents.  In his hands, Dark Shadows could have been a straight up dark thriller, a comedy, or a hybrid of both which is his usual modus operandi.  Once again, Burton has crafted a darkly humorous tale about a bunch of misfits that don’t easily fall into society’s stereotypes.  If you wonder what the final result of this movie is, imagine if you combined the atmosphere from Sleepy Hollow, the fish out of water antics from Edward Scissorhands, and the pitch black humor of Death Becomes Her, the end result would be very close to Dark Shadows.

After being buried for two centuries, Barnabas (Johnny Depp) is accidentally discovered and freed by a construction crew.  He’s quite thirsty after all of this time and he quickly kills all of the men after apologizing in advance.   Now that it’s 1972, Barnabas has a lot to catch up on and that’s the best part of the movie and the main source of the movie’s many humorous scenes.  Simple things like roads and the sight of a McDonald’s sign throw him into a tizzy and Depp is at his best conveying his horror or fascination at each of these new changes.  When Barnabas returns to his ancestral home Collinwood Manor, his bewilderment only increases when he sees that the estate has fallen into disrepair and that the once-booming family business has been mostly crushed by his old nemesis Angelique (Eva Green) who is still very much alive and running the town.

The remaining Collins are a mixed bunch with secrets of their own, including family matriarch Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer), her loser brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller) and his children Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz) and David (Gully McGrath) as well as the family pyschiatrist Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter).  Barnabas confides his true nature to Elizabeth in order to convince her that he is the original Barnabas who belongs in the manor and once he also shows her his hidden treasures, she agrees to keep his secret and allow him to stay with the family.  The rest of the family warms up to him once he reverses the family fortunes and rebuilds their business.  That success doesn’t go unnoticed by Angelique (now known as Angie) who isn’t happy to see the Collins family make a comeback.  Having cursed Barnabas because he loved Josette instead of her, Angie’s fury is reawakened when Barnabas falls in love with Victoria (Bella Heathcote) who happens to be a splitting image of Josette.

The rest of the movie is basically the battle between Barnabas and Angie with little more involved.  There isn’t a deep plot in this movie and there’s many plot-lines that go nowhere like the ghost Josette who not only grows up with Victoria and the unexplained fact that Victoria is a doppelganger of Josette.  There must be a lot of deleted footage that contained other paths that were left unexplored.  Dark Shadows is fun to watch but it’s also somewhat aimless and simple, which is a shame since this could have been even better.  This movie also serves as Burton and Depp’s eighth collaboration and the movie is a who’s who of other past Burton favorites including Danny Elfman.  While I like seeing Burton and Depp work together, it’s starting to blend together.  It’s almost as if there’s a checklist between them that they follow for each film including having Depp wear white face-paint fo every role (at least this time it’s for a good reason).   Despite the film’s shortcomings, Depp and the rest of the cast are a lot of fun to watch but fans of the original TV series may not be as pleased to see this more comedy-centric remake.

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Film  

The best documentaries are the ones that capture a moment in time that captures the mood and culture of the events recorded.  Sometimes they can be planned, other times it can be caught purely by chance, and every once in a while both can happen and you’ve caught lightning in a bottle.  The War Room is such an example.  When the filmmakers failed to get permission to film Bill Clinton up close during his 1992 presidential campaign, they requested access to film his campaign staff instead which was approved.

So instead of Bill Clinton, the filmmakers took the risky chance in following a pair of largely unknown at the time James Carville and George Stephanopoulos along with their staff.  General wisdom said that if Clinton failed to win the presidency, there really wouldn’t be much to show for it, but fate and some deft coverage made sure that didn’t happen.  Luckily for directors D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, Clinton did win the presidency and Carville and Stephanopoulos were naturals before the camera, a talent that served them both well after this film came out and still does today.

By the time the film started filming, a lot of the campaign’s problems like Clinton’s affair with Gennifer Flowers and the issue of his draft letter had already passed, but even so they do pop up on occasion during the film especially footage of Flowers’ press conferences.  That footage was included to show how the Clinton political machine would address it and get ahead of the story.  With Carville handling the overall campaign strategy and Stephanopoulos handling the press and public relations, they proved to be a formidable team as well as friends, despite appearing to be polar opposites.  Carville (also known as the Ragin’ Cajun) was a fast talking unattractive political genius who guided what initially appeared to be a questionable campaign and took it too the White House with pointed attacks like “It’s the economy stupid.”  Stephanopoulos was  the good looking polished media pro who changed the way campaigns were run.

Together, they created a new media model that is now the standard that was enabled by today’s voracious 24 hour news cycle, Super PACS, attack ads, and the endless spin from campaigns and partisan news channels.  Part of the fascination with the documentary is seeing the old paradigm that had always existed (and still continued in George H.W. Bush’s re-election campaign), start to crumble before this new leaner and meaner model that characterizes American politics today.  Another fun aspect of the film is seeing the personal lives of the people involved (as much as we are allowed to), especially the wildly improbable romance between Carville and Mary Matalin who just happened to be the Deputy Campaign Manager for President Bush and Carville’s competition.  How these two political savvy operatives found love in the middle of a campaign on opposite sides of the conflict is as interesting as it is incredible.

Seeing this campaign like a fly on the wall was very illuminating to see the real work being done in the political trenches and it also nicely serves as a an eye opening primer for anyone interested in politics.  The filmmakers have done an excellent job of capturing the moment when politics changed forever and thanks to this film we can witness each step of the way that it occurred for better or worse.  It would be interesting to see someone film a current campaign to see how much things have changed or have remained the same.  It would be easy to blame Carville and Stephanopoulos for a lot of what followed afterwards but as they say, “Don’t hate the player; hate the game.”

Video  

The War Room is presented in it’s original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 from a new 1080p high definition digital transfer which was created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from the original 16mm camera negative.  For a low budget documentary, this transfer looks incredibly good with vibrant colors, sharp details, and excellent black levels.  This is an excellent transfer but there’s only so much that can be done with all of the archival footage that is incorporated into the film. According to the booklet that was include by Criterion asserts that the new transfer was ”approved by filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker and producer Frazer Pennebaker, this new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from the original 16mm camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI’s DRS, while Image Systems’ Phoenix was used for grain, noise reduction, jitter, and flicker.”

Audio  

The War Room only has audio track on this disc and it’s a really good DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix.  This isn’t the most robust mix however, as it is a documentary that captured sound on the fly.  The good news is that the dialogue captured in the film has excellent clarity throughout which is extremely important for a documentary.  According to Criterion’s booklet, ”the soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 35mm magnetic audio tracks.  Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD.  Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.”

Extras  

The Criterion Collection has provided some interesting extras and even a complete feature length sequel! All are in high definition so this is a win-win for everyone.

• William J. Clinton Foundation Panel – The William J. Clinton Foundation hosted a panel discussion that included many of his former campaign staff including James Carville, Vernon Jordon,  and others talk about the difficult campaign.  They don’t get much time to talk however since President Clinton can’t resist the spotlight and takes over the discussion.  This isn’t the full panel but just excerpts and it runs almost thirty minutes.

• Return of The War Room – The Return of the War Room is a sequel that delves more into the personal lives of the original participants of The War Room. We learn more about James Carville and his wife Mary Matalin, George Stephanopoulos, former deputy communications director Bob Boorstin, former press secretary Dee Dee Myers, Newsweek journalist Mark Miller, and more.  We also learn about how influential the 1992 campaign was on modern day politics from Mark McKinnon and Frank Luntz.  This was my favorite extra on this set and I liked it even better than the original War Room.  This follow up focuses mostly on Carville and Matalin’s unique relationship and we finally learn what happened between them after Clinton’s win fueled Matalin’s anger and frustration when her campaign for Bush failed.

• Making The War Room – We hear from the people that made the film including: directors Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker; producers R.J. Cutler, Wendy Ettinger, and Frazer Pennebaker; and camera operator Nick Doob.  The group discusses how they came about filming the campaign staff instead of Clinton when their original request was denied and the process of filming the documentary and the overall campaign.

• Stanley Greenberg – A short talk with the Clinton ’92 campaign pollster Stanley Greenberg about his profession and his past experiences doing polls for Clinton.

• Booklet – This booklet includes an essay by Harvard professor Louis Menand called “Being There”.
• Trailer

Summary  

The War Room is a perfect snapshot in time that shows just how far we’ve come and conversely just how much some things haven’t changed.  The film was the perfect springboard for Carville and Stephanopoulos who went on to big things in the media world.  This is a uniquely American movie that shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of our political system.  The Criterion Collection has done an excellent job putting this release together and this is by far the best version of the film that’s been issued.

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Film  

Like most guys my age, I grew up watching admittedly crappy animated shows like the “Super Friends” or “Spiderman and his Amazing Friends” just to see superheroes team up.  It didn’t matter if it was Marvel or DC, I just wanted to see the all-star superheroes join forces to defeat evil enough to put up with bad writing and terrible characters (remember the wonder twins and their stupid monkey?) just to see it.  For most part, if you wanted to see something like the Avengers or the Justice League to fight alongside each other, you needed to buy the crossover comics which were always better than any of the animated shows.  There’s been countless crossovers between the superheroes and even between Marvel and DC characters (which are my favorite), but there’s never been a high quality live action film to do so.  DC Comics came close once, when George Miller almost made a Justice League movie, but that movie fell apart at the last minute.  So at long last, Joss Whedon had the honor and the challenge of coming up with a movie that would not only meet the sky high expectations from fans, but also one that would be true to the characters and their prior individual journeys that occurred earlier.  I am ecstatic to report that Whedon has done just that.

With The Avengers, Whedon not only skillfully handled the directing duties, but he also wrote the script as well. Whoever made the decision to hire Whedon should be commended since he was the perfect choice for this movie. Not only does he have a lot of experience in writing and directing fun, humorous, and action-packed story-lines for his previous shows like “Firefly”, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, and “Angel”, but he’s also a well-regarded comic book writer who had a fantastic run on The Astonishing X-Men among others.  Whedon specializes in writing for a large cast of differing personalities and viewpoints, which was essential for The Avengers to be successful.  Whedon not only had to reintroduce the characters to an audience that may not have seen their origin movies beforehand, but he also had to continue their personal story-lines in addition to moving their combined experiences forward for this movie.  I don’t know how he pulled it off, but he did with admirable results.

The movie opens with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) being called into one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. bases because the Tesseract (or the Cosmic Cube) which had been discovered in the ocean near where Captain America was recovered is seemingly acting on its own free will.  Fury had tasked Eric Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) with trying to harness the potential limitless energy to provide both a new source of energy and also to develop some new “Phase Two” weapons that could be used against non-human foes.  With the Tesseract emitting low level gamma radiation and getting worse, Fury orders that the base be evacuated but before that can happen, the Tesseract opens a portal to allow Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) evil brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to arrive on Earth.  Loki wastes no time and he begins killing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents left and right and even uses magic to covert Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Selvig to join him as he steals the Tesseract.  Knowing full well the consequences that would result from allowing a being as powerful and angry as Loki to have something as powerful as the Tesseract in his hands, Fury has no choice but to activate the dormant Avengers Initiative.

To make that happen, he instructs Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) to bring in Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) respectively.  While Stark is still unhappy with being previously rejected by Fury as a candidate for the Avengers, he still is willing to listen and offer his expertise.  Banner on the other hand, has spent years avoiding the authorities and is currently hiding in Calcutta and trying to do some good by providing his medical skills to those that need it.  Banner has come a long way since the events in The Incredible Hulk (when he was played by Edward Norton) and he’s learned to cope with his alter ego better and has even learned to control him better.  It’s been a year since he last turned into the Hulk and in that time S.H.I.E.L.D. has kept an eye on him and helped keep others away from him.

Fury goes to talk with Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) himself and tries to convince him that his country, indeed the entire world needs him back.  Rogers is still adjusting to his new reality after being frozen for sixty years and he isn’t too happy with how things have changed.  Being the dutiful soldier he is though, he agrees to return and he’s sent to confront Loki once the villain is spotted in Germany.  Loki ends up being a lot tougher than he expected but Iron Man arrives to help out and Loki is captured and then transported by plane to be placed into custody.  Thor arrives and removes his brother from the plane since he believes that Loki needs to face Asgardian justice instead of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s and Iron Man and Captain America follow in pursuit.

In one of his many genius ideas, by setting up this conflict between the heroes, Whedon gets to have his cake and eat it too.  Fans love seeing superheroes duke it out with each other and we get to see Iron Man take on Thor with spectacular results as well as seeing just what would happen if Thor’s hammer Mjolnir hit Captain America’s shield.  We also later get to see the Hulk vs. Black Widow, and the Black Widow against Hawkeye, but the real treat is seeing the Avengers fight as a team against Loki’s army of space aliens known as the Chitauri.  The cast does an amazing job bringing their characters to life (especially my favorite Robert Downey Jr.) and showing off their differences and flaws which makes them relatable and believable, especially when it affects their attempts to form a new group.

This film has so many iconic images and moments that I don’t want to spoil but I have to mention.  Finally seeing all of these superheroes not only in the same frame but fighting alongside each other is a wonder to behold for those of us that have always dreamed of this happening.  Whedon has captured the characters’ voices perfectly and has made an epic action packed movie, that is so full of humor and emotion that it will turn even non comic fans like my wife into true believers.  Marvel gambled big and is poised to win big and they have definitely thrown down the gauntlet to DC Comics which other than Christopher Nolan’s amazing Batman movies and the recent Green Lantern movie (which should have been better), they can’t seem to get their act together.  They have to be at least a decade behind Marvel at this point movie-wise since there can’t be a Justice League movie until they too establish their characters in stand alone movies first which is really depressing.  It has to be doubly depressing for DC since at one point Whedon was going to make a Wonder Woman film for them until that fell apart.  Seeing how well he executed The Avengers has to have some WB executives feeling pretty low at this point.

I can only hope that Marvel is wise enough to hire Joss Whedon to write and direct the next installments in this new series.  What would be even better is if the success of this movie gives Whedon the clout to bring back Firefly/Serenity in some fashion.  Hint.  Hint.  Another hope I have is that after audiences see how the Hulk is portrayed in this, that he will get another shot at a solo movie with Mark Ruffalo.  But then again, I would like to see more solo movies of all these characters. The Avengers will be the movie to beat this year and the only other movie that I think has a chance is The Dark Knight Rises which will mark the end of the Nolan trilogy.  The fact that The Avengers started off this strong with their first movie will only make future sequels have almost impossibly high expectations and excitement which isn’t a terrible way to start a new franchise.  The Avengers is without a doubt, the best movie I have seen in a long, long time and one that not only met my impossible expectations, but actually exceeded them.  Run don’t walk to the theater and see this on the big screen right now!  Excelsior!
 

Film  

Having already reviewed the first season of Treme, I was curious to see where the second season would go since the first season was largely depressing.  The first season ended with the suicide of a major character (and a fan favorite too) and with the city of New Orleans struggling to return to normalcy after Hurricane Katrina.  I was glad to see that this season was a happier one albeit not without its share of tragedies and deaths too.  Despite those challenges, overall this was a much happier and entertaining season to watch.

Much like the first season, the show is focused on a group of current and former New Orleans residents as they continue to navigate the bureaucratic maze of government and insurance agencies to recoup after their losses from Hurricane Katrina.  For some like Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters), the never-ending experience of fighting the insurance companies has taken a toll and left him much more bitter and sullen since the last season.  His musician son Delmond (Rob Brown) spends the season trying to cheer him up and get him involved in his latest musical project with Dr. John, but Albert’s heart just isn’t into it.

Life is going much better for my favorite character on the show, Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce) whose personal fortunes have improved much in the intervening time.  No longer taking cab rides that he can’t pay for, Antoine is getting regular gigs and gains enough confidence to start his own band.  Part of the joy of this season was watching the loose and carefree Antoine deal with band-members who share his attitude, which makes him complain about behavior that essentially matches his own.  Watching him bitch and moan about his musicians was the highlight of the season for me and reaffirmed my love for his character.  Antoine’s ex-wife Ladonna however, doesn’t fare as well this season.  She is beaten and raped in her own bar one night and spends the rest of the season trying to come to grips with it.

Attorney Toni Bernette (Melissa Leo) and her teenage daughter Sofia (India Ennenga) are still in shock over the loss of Creighton’s passing.  While Toni is aware that her husband committed suicide, Sofia believes that it was a drowning accident which will cause problems for her when she discovers the truth.  Toni is still friendly with Lt. Terry Colson (David Morse) and their relationship teeters on the edge of friendship to the possibility of something more. That future is jeopardized this season by Toni’s unrelenting quest for the truth for her clients.  Her investigations keep getting Colson in tough predicaments every time he tries to help her.  He quickly learns that her clients mean more to her than he does.

D.J. Davis (Steven Zahn) is now in a happy relationship with fellow musician Annie (Lucia Micarelli) and he too has started a band.  Davis dreams of being the highly politicized front man of the group but when he invites a local rapper to join him, he discovers that he is no longer the main draw.  Davis’ ex-girlfriend Janette (Kim Dickens) has moved to New York to ply her culinary trade as one of the line chefs in a big restaurant.  While she misses New Orleans, she also loves being exposed to new dishes and ideas, but she hasn’t lost any of her protectiveness towards her home turf.  When a critic who had panned New Orleans cooking arrives at her restaurant, Janette can’t resist throwing a drink in his face which starts a chain reaction which may lead back to home for her.  There’s also outsiders arriving in town like Nelson Hidalgo (Jon Seda) who is there to make some money off of the reconstruction efforts by greasing a lot of palms in the process.

There’s a myriad of other characters on the show, including some real life musicians who appear as themselves and they all keep Treme real and grounded.  The show’s focus on food and music is still very much in effect and there’s no way you can not keep from tapping your toes during the many musical interludes.  The only drawback is that there’s so much music in the show that the show-runners keep cutting away from it which can be frustrating since you rarely ever get to see a complete performance.  I guess with this many characters to cover there’s only so much time you can devote to New Orleans lifestyle.   All of the actors mesh perfectly with their roles that it all feels unscripted which is the highest form of flattery I can bestow on a show that is in actuality a tightly woven and intricate story-line. Watching Treme is like taking a trip to the French Quarter and hanging out with old friends.

Video  

This 1080p (1.78:1) transfer is another example of HBO’s exemplary efforts to offer the best picture possible.  For a show that is at times deliberately made to look rougher than it should for creative reasons, Treme’s transfer is still amazing.  Colors are rich and vibrant and they really jump off the screen during the Mardi Gras celebration that showcases a explosion of colors.  Detail is magnificent, with every feather, wrinkle, whisker, and more visible clearly and completely life-like.  Black levels are deep and rich and flesh tones are natural and consistent.  There’s no blemishes to speak of as this is a beautiful transfer that looks better than the original high definition broadcast.

Audio  

Treme’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is just as impressive as its picture quality.  This mix is so good that it completes the illusion of feeling like you are there.  This stunning mix utilizes every channel to its maximum potential which all combine to provide a completely immersive experience.  Dialogue is crystal clear and intelligible no matter what else is going on, directionality is dead accurate, environmental effects are realistic and well placed, and the fantastic music sounds incredible.  I think the music this season is even better than the last one so I was especially happy that this mix sounds so good.  It doesn’t get any better than this!

Extras  

This set offers a decent amount of extras although I would have liked more. Not every episode has a commentary track but the ones that do are fun to listen to.  These extras are very similar to the first season’s offerings and most fans will enjoy them.

Summary  

Treme has only gotten better over time and I enjoyed this season a lot more than the last one.  The show offers great writing, excellent acting, and some great music as well so if you aren’t watching it yet you should.  This set has the best audio and picture quality you will find and I highly recommend it!

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THE SWEEPING LOVE STORY THAT BEWITCHED GENERATIONS IN

“THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA” LIVES ON IN ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’S

Available on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Download and On Demand May 29, 2012
From Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Overview: The ultimate love story continues in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s spectacular musical Love Never Dies, a sequel to the legendary “Phantom of the Opera.” From musical theater’s most captivating composer and featuring the new highly-acclaimed Australian production filmed in Melbourne, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies arrives on Blu-ray with perfect hi-def picture and perfect hi-def sound and DVD on May 29, 2012.  With lush visuals and a mesmerizing score that rivals the original in power and beauty, this live production of Love Never Dies is a romantic necessity for every Broadway fan’s collection.

The year is 1907 and ten years have passed since the Phantom’s disappearance from the Paris Opera House.  He has escaped to a new life in New York where he lives amongst the screaming joy rides and freak-shows of Coney Island. In this new electrically-charged world, he has finally found a place for his music to soar. All that is missing is his love – Christine Daaé.  Now one of the world’s finest sopranos, Christine is struggling in an ailing marriage to Raoul.  So, it is with excitement she accepts an invitation to travel to New York and perform at a renowned opera house. In a final bid to win back her love, the Phantom lures Christine, her husband, and their young son Gustave from Manhattan, to the glittering and glorious world of Coney Island… not knowing what is in store for them.

BLU-RAY and DVD BONUS FEATURES:

·         “Making Of” Featurette: Take a look behind the scenes at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s breathtaking sequel

Order your copy today!

To satisfy consumer demand and serve the growing base of Blu-ray

THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS TO RELEASE MORE THAN 30 ICONIC FILMS

FOR THE FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY IN 2012

BURBANK, Calif. – March 16, 2012 – To satisfy consumer demand and serve the growing base of Blu-ray households, The Walt Disney Studios today announced plans to add more than 30 popular and iconic films to its ever-expanding Blu-ray library.  Each film selected for release has been fully digitally remastered, with dirt and anomalies cleaned to a pristine level, offering viewers optimum high definition picture and sound quality of some of their favorite films.

The films selected for release appeal to families, film-lovers and collectors with a wide-breadth of Live-Action, Animated, Romance titles that range from Beaches to While You Were Sleeping and Pocahontas to The Santa Clause. Many are celebrating special 10^th, 15^th and 20^th Anniversary Edition releases, many are ACADEMY AWARD-Winning Films like Dead Poets Society, Evita, Dick Tracy, and many are back by popular demand including Hocus Pocus, Adventures in Babysitting, and The Color of Money.

“We receive many requests and comments from consumers seeking specific titles they’d like to own on Blu-ray and, as such, we carefully selected a number of popular films that will satisfy demand from fans worldwide,” said Lori MacPherson, Executive Vice President, Product Management, The Walt Disney Studios. “As we grow our Blu-ray catalog we will continue to utilize the best technologies to provide the most pristine and immersive in-home experience of our films.”

In 2011, consumers’ high-definition packaged media purchases continued to rise with Blu-ray disc sales in the U.S. tallying more than $2 billion.  The Studio’s titles were among the most popular of the year with ACADEMY AWARD nominee The Help, Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Disney’s The Lion King, Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 and Disney’s Tangled all ranking in the industry’s Top 10 Blu-ray releases, according to the DEG.

The year-long campaign launched in January 2012 with the release of Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society for the first time on Blu-ray. Both films earned Robin Williams an OSCAR nomination for Best Actor and are the perfect addition to any in-home movie collection.

Beginning in May, the Studio will start to celebrate a number of film anniversaries, introducing multiple great films to Blu-ray including Father of the Brideand Bringing Down the House releasing on May 15^th; The Color of Money, Cocktail and Ransom releasing on June 5^th; Sister Act and Evita releasing on June 19^th; and The Horse Whisperer, Under the Tuscan Sun, Phenomenon, Step Up, Home On The Range and Treasure Planet releasing July 3^rd.

In the Fall, a perfect mix of feel-good films, anniversary releases and nostalgic favorites will debut, including Adventures in Babysitting, Grosse Pointe Blank, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, The Rescuers, High Fidelity, Ed Wood, Judge Dredd, Ghost of the Abyss 3D, Lady And The Tramp 2: Scamp’s Adventure, Pocahontas, The Tigger Movie, The Aristocats and Pete’s Dragon.

And just in time for Halloween and the holidays, a wide array of titles that make perfect stocking stuffers for film fans will include titles such as Hocus Pocus, Arachnophobia, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Son of Flubber, Cold Creek Manor, The Santa Clause Trilogy, The Absent-Minded Professor, Flubber, While You Were Sleeping, Sweet Home Alabama, Beaches, Babes in Toyland, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Brother Bear and Dick Tracy.

Film  

I reviewed Marvel Knights Animation’s  Thor and Loki: Blood Brothers (review) awhile ago and I wasn’t that impressed with it so I was a little concerned that this movie would be more of the same.  I’m happy to report that this story written by Joss Whedon is a lot better and that the animation is a lot more fluid and it doesn’t seem like a paper cutouts being animated like Thor and Loki did.  Somehow I missed the first part of Whedon’s story arc as Astonishing X-Men: Gifted was released and slipped by my attention which is too bad because this movie is the continuation of that story.

From what I can gather, the Gifted storyline revolved around the idea of a “mutant cure” which would remove the special abilities (or afflictions depending on how the character viewed it).  It sounds like that series must have been the basis for the live action X-Men: The Last Stand film which I am familiar with so it wasn’t too bad to jump into this midstream.  One of the things that’s different from the film is that the character of Colossus died in the comic book world and was brought back while he never died in the film series.  His return is explored by Whedon as well as his burgeoning romance with Kitty Pryde.

In Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous, life has returned to normal for most of the instructors and students but there’s still one young man still struggling with the the concept of a mutant cure. Without Professor Xavier around who could have sensed and helped the boy, the young man is goaded into jumping to his death by what appears to be a fellow student.  Then a long forgotten and heavily damaged Sentinel comes back to life and crawls its way towards the Xavier institute only to be challenged by the X-Men.  When Kitty escorts the school’s children into the Danger Room (a holographic training room) they see the lifeless body of the young boy lying in a pool of his own blood.  Before she can do anything, they are all locked into the Danger Room with no escape.

Soon enough, the X-Men realize that hidden the threat to them is the newly sentient Danger Room who tricks them into removing her core programming which was designed by Xavier to prevent her from actually killing people in the training room.  That separate string of coding that counteracted her other design of trying to kill the X-Men to provide realistic training is the very reason she became sentient.  That conflict between her two directives has made and their inherent illogic has made her self-aware and very angry.  Now calling herself Danger, she informs the X-Men that not only does she know all of their strengths and strategies from their training sessions, but she also knows every one of their vulnerabilities.  That point is driven home when the X-Men attack her and she easily dispatches them in record time.

With them out of the way but still alive, Danger journeys to Genosha where Xavier is hanging out for some unexplained reason.  Xavier is full aware of Danger’s approach and indeed he knew that someday this might happen when he created the Danger Room.  Despite that possibility, he believed that the pros outweighed the cons and he decided that the training his X-Men would receive would be worth the risk.  When Danger does confront her “father” she quickly learns that he is the biggest threat to her because he never used the Danger Room and she knows nothing about what he can do or what kind of strategy he might employ.  That unpredictability almost gets her killed when Xavier catches her by surprise, but she manages to save herself.  Only the last minute appearance of the X-Men can save the Professor from her wrath.

I really liked the clever storyline that Whedon came up with as not only did the threat to the X-Men come from within, but it came from an entity that knew everything about them.  That alone raises the stakes far more than if Rhino or another random villain attacked them.  The Danger Room had the goods on each one of them and in a great sequence we watch her systematically beat the crap out of all of them now that she was no longer shackled by conditions to stop her.  This movie (and the comic it was based on) proves why Joss Whedon was the perfect man to write and direct The Avengers.  He has a firm grasp on who the characters are and their relationship is to one another as well as his ability to write interesting arcs for multiple characters.  We also see an interesting take on Xavier which nicely shows his intelligence and the lengths he will go to help his X-Men.  There’s also a fun cameo by the Fantastic Four to add some extra  goodness to the movie.

I’m still not crazy about the motion comic concept, but it was pulled off a lot better in this than it was in Thor and Loki. I really wish that Marvel would just make an actual animated movie like DC is doing with movies like Batman: Year One which is the perfect example of how to transfer the story and artwork into a fully animated movie.  Motion comics seem to be a cost cutting half-ass way to make a movie to me.  It doesn’t help that each segment is around ten minutes long and in between each segment you have to go through the same opening and closing title sequence.  If you are going to break it up like this and not just edit it all together as one film (like you should), then at least don’t make us watch the title sequence over and over.  That’s fine when you are rolling it out piece by piece on the internet, but it repetitive and annoying when you are trying to watch it as a movie.  In any case, this is the best motion comic I’ve seen as the animation flows better and the story is excellent.

Video  

This motion comic is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic wide-screen and initially it looks terrible during the opening credits that look as id they’ve been transferred off of a VHS tape.  Once you get past the credit sequence (which appears on every episode), it improves quite a bit but not to the level of quality that I would have expected from Marvel.  Dangerous is true to artist John Cassady’s original artwork which means that there’s a ton of red and blue hues which includes some minor artifacting throughout.  Detail is average and the colors are bright but on the warm side.  Black levels are decent but not as strong as I would have liked.

Audio   

Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous’ 2.0 stereo mix is even more disappointing than the picture quality.  The dialogue is intelligible but flat and the rest of the mix is uninspired.  This sounds like a quickie effort with all of the sound effects and the score just thrown together and they called it a day.  When the entire film already seems like a quick way to make some money without much effort, the decision not to go with a real 5.1 mix just reinforces that suspicion.  The only good thing that I can say is that the voice actors are well cast and deliver the dialogue well.

Extras  

There are no extras on this disc which will drop the final score even lower.

Summary  

While I really liked the story that Joss Whedon created for this series, I’m not a fan of the artwork or the process used to make this.  This could have been much better if it had been traditionally animated instead of this lazy cash grab.  Every single aspect of this disc’s presentation is lackluster to the point of being insulting.  Taking some of their best stories and converting them into motion comics is one thing, but if they don’t even bother to give it some decent production values, then all I can do is tell people to support the original work by buying the trade paperback of these stories.  I love the Marvel universe and it’s very disappointing that they can’t seem to get their act together to to do these right.

This title is available to purchase by clicking the link below.

War Horse

Film  

Last year was a very good year for Steven Spielberg who came out with two very different movies that not only showed off his legendary talent, but also marked a return to two of his main themes of his career – a story about a boy that must overcome obstacles and a thrilling adventure story.  While the excellent The Adventures of Tintin:  The Secret of the Unicorn was a welcome return to his action-adventure roots, War Horse was a throwback to his earlier films like E.T. : The Extra Terrestial and Empire of the Sun that focused on a young man who achieves great things despite adversity.  When Spielberg isn’t telling a story about a brave young man, he’s usually showing us the daring exploits of a brave man like Indiana Jones.  In the case of War Horse, it’s focused on the bravery of both young and old as well as the courage of a single horse named Joey.

The journey begins in Devon, England when a young boy named Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) watches the birth of a young foal and falls in love with the horse right away.  When that same thoroughbred is sold at an auction, Albert is thrilled to learn that his father bought the horse even though it will likely bankrupt them.  His father Ted (Peter Mullen), who bought the horse while slightly drunk did so partly because he could spot a quality horse, but also because he wanted to spite his landlord, Lyon (David Thewlis) who kept raising the bid in a effort to shame Ted.  As happy as Albert is to see the horse, his mother Rose (Emily Watson) is far from thrilled because she knows that there’s no way that they can afford the horse and by buying it, Ted has put the entire family at risk.

Sure enough, Lyons comes calling for the rent and Ted doesn’t have the money.  Lucky for Ted, Lyons has a thing for Rose and she convinces him to give them more time.  Lyons reluctantly agrees to give them until Autumn but he’s convinced that there’s no way Ted will be able to plough the rough field with Joey in time.  The only person that believes Joey can be trained in time is Albert, who starts teaching Joey right away.  First, he starts off teaching Joey to find him when he whistles, but the real difficulty lies in training Joey to pull the plough through the rough rocky ground.  It doesn’t help that when he does start to plough for the first time, a crowd including Lyons who are there to watch his progress.  Despite the odds against it, Joey and Albert are able to plough the field once it starts raining which softens the ground.  Later however, a massive rainstorm ruins the turnip field and Ted sells Joey to a British cavalry officer named Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) to save the farm.  Before losing Joey, Albert tells him that he will find him again one day and he ties his father’s old regimental pennant to Joey’s bridle.

With the selling of Joey, the movie shifts the first of several times as we witness Joey go from one side of the war to another.  Nicholls along with his superior Maj. Stewart (Benedict Cumberbatch) plan to led a cavalry charge against the Germans in a surprise attack.  What they don’t realize is that their style and training of warfare is completely outdated and they fall under the annihilating machine gun fire that is so effective, all we see is riderless horses continue past the German position.  Joey and Stewart’s horse Topthorn are captured alone with the rest of the horses  by the Germans.  Some are used to pull ambulance wagons while others will later be used to tow the insanely heavy artillery guns.  Joey’s friendship with Topthorn continues as Joey tries to help his friend tow the guns when Topthorn starts to falter.  Joey and Topthorn are first cared for by two young German boys but they (along with Joey’s pennant) are obtained by other parties when tragedy continually follows the horses and those who care for them.

War Horse is a fantastic film that’s filled with heart and moving imagery and it’s a nice throwback to just about every facet of Spielberg’s oeuvre.   What’s impressive about this film is the varying style and techniques used at different points of the film which gives the movie a varied tone.   The opening of the film is very reminiscent of a John Ford film with its wide open vistas but once the trench-fighting starts it shifts into a darker and more realistic feel.  The movie is touching and it’s easy to empathize with both Joey and everyone who encounters him and the movie strikes a neutral stance on the war.  What’s interesting is seeing how Joey brings out the humanity in everyone he meets, no matter if it’s a farmer, a soldier, or a young French girl.  Both sides of the war have those that care about Joey and neither side is vilified or blamed for the war.

Much like Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg simply shows us the horrors of war and let’s us draw our own conclusions on the futility of war.  Even though it’s not really fair, after watching the World War I section and how incredibly it was filmed, I selfishly wanted to see that film.  In fact, I would love to see Spielberg make a movie about every major conflict and even important ones like the battle at the Alamo.  Many people felt this movie is old-fashioned and overly sentimental and it is, but that’s not a bad thing.  In fact, it’s a breath of fresh air since we hardly see these kind of movies anymore.

Video  

This 1080p (2.40:1) transfer is simply stunning with it’s high level of detail and rich imagery that shows off Janusz Kaminski’s wonderful cinematography.  From the lush countryside of England to the grayed out horrific wasteland that makes up no man’s land, the colors pop off the screen with startling realism.  Detail is also superb and you can easily see the textures of the uniforms and every speck of dirt on each haunted soldier’s face.  Black levels are suitably dark and solid with spot on contrast as well.  There’s no digital defects to mention or any other complaints to mention as this is a beautiful looking transfer.

Audio  

Having Disney take care of this Blu-ray release is a great bonus since they always do an incredible job with the picture and audio quality.  War Horse’s DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround mix is no exception as it sounds as good as any other one of Disney’s celebrated Blu-ray efforts.  Spielberg wisely brought in Gary Rydstrom to handle the sound design and it was a brilliant decision as Rydstrom is a giant in his field and he went all out to capture authentic sounds to make the movie sound realistic.  The dialogue is clear and clean and the rear channels offer a sonic experience that you won’t forget.  From artillery cannons, machine guns, tanks, galloping horses, and more all swirl about the room with dead accurate directionality.  The LFE channel had a field day with this mix and offers quite a bit of power behind the events on screen.  The score by musical genius John Williams also sounds incredible and it’s well mixed in with the rest of the dialogue and action.  I can’t say enough good things about this mix, but rest assured, it’s reason enough to buy this Blu-ray.

Extras  

With every release of one of Steven Spielberg’s movies, I always hope that there will be a director’s commentary track even though I know it won’t be there.  This time is no different but there are some really cool extras on this that make up for that loss.  All of them are in high definition too!

• War Horse: The Journey Home – This extras was the most surprising one on the disc since it features two round-tables hosted by Steven Spielberg that’s a salute to his frequent long-time collaborators and some of the key cast-members from the movie.  While it’s nice to hear the actors talk about their experience on the film, I was even more interested in hearing from the people who have worked with Spielberg for decades like editor Michael Kahn and producer Kathleen Kennedy and seeing them exchange stories with Spielberg.  I wish more movies had this kind of extra that shines the spotlight on the talented people we rarely hear from.
• An Extra’s Point of View – A short look at the life of an extra named Martin D. Dew who got a lot of work on this movie as he portrayed an English farmer, a British soldier, and a German soldier.
• A Filmmaking Journey – This is the highlight of the extras as we get over an hour of time devoted to the history, genesis, and making of the film.  We get a lot of time with Spielberg, the cast, and the writers of the film too.  They all talk about the themes of the movie and how all of the effects and stunts were pulled off.
• Editing & Scoring – This is something of a continuation of The Journey Home but this time it’s focused on Spielberg’s two main collaborators – Editor Michael Kahn and composer John Williams.  They each talk about how they approach each movie and what it meant to them and Spielberg graciously lavishes praise on the two men and makes it clear how much he values them.
• The Sounds of War Horse – A talk with sound designer Gary Rydstrom who shares how he went about creating an authentic sound design by capturing the real life sounds for the movie.
• Through the Producer’s Lens – Producer Kathleen Kennedy shares her cool collection of  photos that she took on location.

Summary  

War Horse is expertly directed, well acted, and just beautiful to look at and when combined with the Adventures of Tintin, it represents one of Spielberg’s best years and shows his amazing range as a director.  This is a stellar Blu-ray with pristine picture and sound quality and some excellent extras that make this release a very easy one to recommend!

Order your copy today!

Film  

If you’ve seen and enjoyed the previous two Chipmunk movies, then chances are good that you will like this one too although my enjoyment for this franchise has dropped with each installment.  Each Chipmunk movie is essentially the same with the exception of some kind of twist, whether it’s the appearance of some female chipmunks or in this case being marooned on a tropical island.  These movie are geared for younger children and my four year old son enjoyed it enough but even he liked the earlier movies.

This movie opens with Dave (Jason Lee) taking the chipmunks on a family vacation on a cruise ship.  As usual, Alvin (Justin Long)  leads the others into mischief and trouble.  Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) convinces Dave not to punish Alvin and instead to give him a chance to prove that he’s growing up and can be responsible.  Dave relents but despite the trust given, Alvin and the others end up in trouble again.  Unfortunately for them, the cruise ship’s safety officer is their old nemesis/manager Ian Hawke(David Cross) who has lost his position in the music industry due to his callous treatment of the chipmunks in the past.  When Ian sees Dave and the chipmunks on the ship he warns Dave that he will be looking for any opportunity to bust the chipmunks when they step out of line.  It doesn’t take long, since Alvin decides to go para-sailing with a kite and he ends up getting all of the chipmunks carried off by the wind and off the ship.  When Dave tries to save them he is thwarted by Ian and the two of them fall into the ocean.

They all end up on a tropical island with the chipmunks on one side of the island and Dave and Ian on the other. While Dave and a reluctant Ian search for the chipmunks, Alvin and the others suddenly find that they are now on their own and must come up with a plan for survival.  Now forced by circumstances by fate to be responsible, Alvin takes charge and uncharacteristically begins acting mature and planning for the future.  He assigns the others to collect food, wood, and prepare a shelter so they will be ready for the night.  During their collection effort, the six chipmunks run to a human castaway named Zoe (Jenny Slate) who has been stuck on the island for years.  Following Zoe back to her treehouse, Simon is bit by a spider whose venom causes personality changes, including a loss of inhibition.  Because of that, Simon adopts a french accent (provided by Alan Tudyk) and begins hitting on Jeanette (Anna Faris).  When he later discovers a cave filled with treasure, things get a lot more complicated especially when they discover that not everyone can be trusted and that there is an active volcano on the island that’s about to erupt.

There really isn’t much to recommend about this movie unless you or your children really liked the earlier movies as this is pretty much more of the same thing.  The song choices aren’t as good this time around and the whole thing is feeling less and less fun and original.  This franchise reminds me a lot of the Shrek series which also had diminishing returns the longer it continued.  The animation is still pretty good and the actors chosen for the roles are good ones but the script just isn’t’ good enough.  Jason Lee and David Cross do their best with what they’ve been given, but there’s not much they can do to save it.  As you may have heard, for David Cross, this movie represents “the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had.”  Cross was contractually obligated to appear in this movie and he wasn’t pleased about it, which is understandable especially when you’ve seen the movie and his role.  Unlike Cross, you have a choice whether or not you want to expose yourself to this movie.  Despite the fact that this movie somehow made over $338 million world-wide, I would recommend that adults think long and hard before watching this one unless they have children.  If you or your kids are hankering for some chipmunks then watch the first movie instead.

Video  

This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is pretty good as it offers bright colors and some decent detail.  The blend between the live action scenes and the animation isn’t perfect but it’s a pretty good mix.  The detail in this transfer is also above average and you can see the lines on the actor’s faces as well as the textures on their clothing.  The CGI chipmunks also look pretty good but because they are being blended in with the live action, they aren’t as sharp as they could be.  Once they are all on the island, the natural foliage and colors really pop off the screen.  Black levels are decent but are occasionally washed out somewhat but contrast is pretty good as a whole.  I didn’t notice any digital blemishes to detract from the image quality.  For a largely animated movie that’s filmed on actual film and not digitally, this turned out pretty good.

Audio  

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is also better than you’d imagine for a kid’s movie but it never reaches the greatness of Disney and Pixar’s latest efforts.  The dialogue is clean and intelligible as delivered by the front channels and the rear speakers are also utilized well and they deliver some strong environmental ambiance of whatever is nearby (waves, jungle sounds, etc.).  There’s also some nice directional effects employed that add some extra fun to the movie.  The LFE channel also comes off well, especially towards the end when the volcano starts erupting.  The chipmunk’s music also sounds good (audio-wise) but unless you know the source song well, you may not understand the lyrics since it’s harder to understand what they’re singing now that the songs have a faster tempo.  Then again, maybe I’m just an old man and out of touch.  Overall, this is a solid mix but it could have been better.

Extras  

These extras are kid-centric so don’t expect anything in depth here.  I did enjoy seeing Alan Tudyk acting silly though while my son liked the music and game extras.  All are in high definition.

• Munk Music & Dance Machine – If there is a desire to hear the songs again, this feature makes it easy to do.
• Going Overboard with the Chipmunks - Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karmen talk about past stories that influenced the plotline for this movie.
• Munking Movies in Paradise – A brief look at filming on location in Hawaii.
• Everybody Munk Now – A look at the dance scene on the cruise ship with the Chipettes.
• Alan Tudyk, Chipmunk Apprentice – A silly but enjoyable short where we see the voice actor for Simon learn that Alan Tudyk would be voicing Simon when he thinks he’s French.  He plots his revenge and convinces Tudyk to do many silly things to get into character to become a chipmunk.  As a fan of Tudyk’s I liked seeing this more than anything else.
• Music Videos – There’s three music videos included (Vacation, Survivor, and Bad Romance) with optional sing-a-long mode.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents: Growing Up Alvin - A ten minute talk with Ross Bagdasarian who talks about his dad, who was the creator of The Chipmunks.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with Jason Lee - A talk with Jason Lee about playing Dave Seville.
• Extended Scenes - There’s eight extended scenes added including: “Walk the Plank”, “Brittany’s What If…”, “Ian’s Hungry”, “Stop Being Paranoid”, “I Don’t Spank Them”, “No, No, No…”, “Zoe’s Map”, and “Nowhere Else to Go”.

• Promotional Fun – Here’s a collection of goodies that include: Survival Tips, Rules, Jingle Bells Music Video, and three trailers.
• BD-Live Exclusive: Hand and Pawprint Ceremony – Hand and Pawprint Ceremony at LA’s Chinese Theater.

Summary  

While I didn’t care much for the movie, my son liked it but not as much as he liked the earlier films.  The Blu-ray itself is put together fairly well, with above average picture and sound quality and some extras that kids will enjoy.  Just like the film itself, the extras could have been better, but fans of the franchise probably won’t have much to complain about when it comes to this Blu-ray.

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Film  

There have been any many attempts to recreate the tragedy of Titanic’s sinking including a certain eight hundred pound gorilla directed to Oscar glory by James “King of the World” Cameron who took advantage of the latest technology at the time (and again with its recent 3D release) to bring the drama to life.  As spectacular as Cameron’s version was, it was full of melodrama and was just as much about a doomed relationship than it was about the actual disaster.  However back in 1958, this docudrama titled A Night to Remember was released that was adapted from Walter Lord’s superb book of the same name.  This film was focused on being as historically accurate as possible at the time even to the point of building the sets based off of the actual blueprints of the ship and hiring Titanic’s fourth officer Joseph Boxhall as a technical advisor on the film.

A Night to Remember starts off much like the other films as we watch the journey begin and the passengers settle into their respective place on the ship.  The first class passengers enjoy the opulent dining rooms while the the others experience different surroundings depending on what kind of ticket they bought.  As this was Titanic’s maiden voyage, her builder Thomas Andrews (Michael Goodliffe) and White Star Line Chairman J. Bruce Ismay were aboard as were many other well to do people from both the American and British upper-class.  Out on the open sea, we see Titanic receive many warning about the icebergs in the area but they are either missed or completely ignored. Captain Smith (Laurence Naismith) decides to continue on at high speed despite the ice, possibly at Ismay’s urging so they could set a new speed record.

Late on April 14, 1912, lookout Frederick Fleet (Bernard Fox) sees a huge iceberg directly in front of the ship and calls out a warning, but the ship is so large that it can move to port fast enough and the first five starboard compartments along the side of the ship are ripped open below the waterline.  Andrews, Smith, and second officer Charles Lightoller (Kenneth More) are brought to the bridge to determine how bad the damage is and they are horrified to learn that despite its reputation as being unsinkable, the Titanic is doomed because too many compartments are flooded.  To make matters even more dire, they know that the ship doesn’t have enough lifeboats to save everyone on board.

From that point on it’s just a matter of time before the ship sinks and we witness Captain Smith and the rest of his officers do what they can to save lives.  They try signaling nearby ships for assistance but none respond even though they can see one off in the distance.  Unfortunately for them, the radio operator is off duty and even when Titanic starts firing rockets into the night sky, those are dismissed by the same ship whose officers refuses to believe that Titanic could be in trouble.  Eventually, the ship Carpathia receives the distress call and heads toward Titanic, but they are hours away and by the time they arrive it will be too late.

Smith orders the lifeboats to be lowered with the women and children to be saved first.  At first, not many people want to get in the lifeboats because they are either convinced that the ship can’t sink or because they don’t want to part with family members.  As the situation grows more dire and there’s no denying that the ship is sinking, there’s a rush to fill the boat with many men trying to sneak aboard.  Lightoller and Murdoch each work opposite sides of the ship lowering the lifeboats and keeping the masses at bay.  By this point, the only passengers to have been saved are the first or second class passengers, while the third class passengers (“steerage”) have been locked in place by gates keeping them in the bowels of the ship.  As the ship starts to slide under the water, a funnel breaks loose and kills many of the people treading water nearby before disappearing under the surface.  The survivors must endure the freezing water and frigid temperature for hours before the Carpathia arrives to save them.

By most accounts, A Night to Remember is the most historically accurate out of all of the films made about the accident.  That’s not to say that it’s 100% accurate since we’ve learned a lot more about what happened since this movie came out such as the fact that the Titanic broke in two parts at the end, which isn’t reflected in this movie. Other that that, this feels completely authentic and matches the many accounts that I’ve read.  The performances are all excellent and this feels more like a trip back in time than a movie.  It’s absolutely amazing how well this film holds up today especially considering just how much of a shadow Cameron’s movie made.  The effects are still very impressive today and the ingenuity and model work displayed here is astounding.  While later movies may have captured the marked as far as sheer spectacle is concerned, if you are looking for a no frills experience that feels absolutely authentic and free of manufactured melodrama, then this is the movie for you.

Video  

This 1080p (1.66:1) transfer is beautiful to look at and a vast improvement over previous DVD releases, including even Criterion’s previous release of this film.  A Night to Remember has been completely restored and it’s never looked better.  According to Criterion, ”This new high-definition digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRI Laser Scanner from the original 35mm camera negative, which was restored by the Private Archive for ITV Studios Global Entertainment. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image System’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.”  All that work paid off as this transfer offers excellent detail and clarity that really makes a difference towards the end of the film that takes place at night.  The restoration has also successfully removed all signs of age from the movie including scratches, dirt, debris, and more.  If you want to see how it looked before this restoration, take a look at the “En Hatt Att Minnas” extra and you will be shocked at the difference.  The black and white picture simply looks sharp and amazing!

Audio  

A Night to Remember only offers a monoaural LPCM 1.o track which you would think wouldn’t be that great, but it’s actually very impressive.  This new track was remastered from “the original monaural soundtrack [and] remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm optical soundtrack. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.”  The dialogue is clean and crisp and doesn’t suffer from age related defects such as background hiss or audio dropouts.  The score by William Alwyn is well balanced with the rest of the track and also sounds fantastic.

Extras  

Being a Criterion release, it should come as no surprise that there’s some excellent extras on this disc which is especially nice considering how old the film is.  All of the extras are in high definition as well!

• The Making of A Night to Remember – This hour long documentary was directed by Ray Johnson and it focuses on producer William MacQuitty and his recollections, pictures,  and home movies that he took during the making of the film.  We also get to hear from the novelist Walter Lord, whose book of the same name was the basis for the movie.  They talk about getting the movie made and how they tried to make it as authentic as possible.  What was especially fascinating to me was to see how they did a lot of the special effects which are still impressive to this day.

• Eva Hart: Survivor – Another highlight of these extras was hearing from Eva Hart who was one of the survivors of the Titanic and still remembers every detail.  For a history buff like me, it’s just amazing to hear a first-hand account of the disaster who is still around.  Hart shares how her family ended up on the Titanic after their original plans were canceled and how her mother was sure that something bad would happen.  We also hear about the Titanic’s final hours which coming from an actual witness only makes the tragedy even more real and moving.  I am so glad that Ray Johnson filmed this interview with Ms. Hart in 1990 when he did,  since she died on February 14th, 1996.

• En Hatt Att Minnas – This is a thirty minute documentary that was broadcast in 1962 in Sweden as part of the the fiftieth anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking.  They use some terrible looking clips from A Night to Remember and they also have some interviews with three of the survivors that reside in Sweden too.  While the documentary is in Swedish, there are English subtitles and it was interesting to hear another first-hand account.  If the filmmakers and novelist of  A Night to Remember had talked to her earlier, they would have known that the ship broke into two parts before sinking and didn’t go down in one piece as they erroneously believed.

• The Iceberg That Sank the Titanic – This is an episode from the BBC’s Natural World series that delves into where the iceberg came from, how it was formed, and what path it took before its historic encounter with the Titanic.  We also see a picture of the actual iceberg that Titanic hit and we observe some experiments that show what happens to ice when its subjected to water.  While this may no interest the majority of the movie going public, I thought it was interesting.

• Commentary –  This audio commentary has been ported over from the previous Criterion DVD release of the movie.  It features Don Lynch and Ken Marschall who wrote and illustrated ”Titanic: An Illustrated History” and who are well informed about the ship and the accident.

• Booklet – This is a fairly think illustrated booklet that contains film critic’s Michael Sragow’s essay “Nearer, My Titanic, to Thee”.   It offers some interesting information as well as some cool pictures and it’s a nice extra to include.
• Trailer – The film’s original trailer.

Summary  

A Night to Remember represents a perfect example of the kind of release that Criterion is famous for – it’s a historically relevant film that’s not only been brought back to the public, but it’s also been restored to such an extent that this Blu-ray is probably better than the original release print.  The picture and audio quality have been lovingly restored and the extras are excellent and not the usual EPK fluff we usually get from other releases.  For all Criterion and movie fans in general, this is a must own release so pick it up before it goes out of print!

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Thomas Andrews:  I’m sorry that I didn’t build you a stronger ship, young Rose.

Let’s just skip past the plot, shall we?  We all know it; first class passenger Rose (Kate Winslet) and steerage passenger Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) fall in love, while aboard the maiden voyage of the “Ship of Dreams”, Titanic.  Emotional and disaster drama ensues.  Getting past that, I have to say that I still genuinely find Titanic to be a pretty fantastic film.  I admire the film as a whole, not just due to the final hour, which is filled with tension and excitement, but the entire body of this film, which adequately handles what is essentially a romantic sidestory occurring, while we witness the doomed voyage of Titanic.  Regardless of the backlash that this film has since received, which I will address, Titanic is a film that still holds up pretty spectacularly as an epic drama.  Regardless of the melodramatic romantic plotting and occasionally wonky screenplay (one of the few awards it wasn’t nominated for), there is so much to admire from a technical standpoint, along with the way it delves into class relations, and in several of the film’s performances.

Addressing the most notable aspect of this release, the 3D is about as good as you can expect for a film of this nature and of this age to be, as far as conversions go.  James Cameron, who knows a thing or two about 3D, has already stated that he is aware that Titanic is not capable of being presented in true, 100% 3D, but merely “99.9%”.  With that said, it is very apparent that this is not the kind of engrossing 3D that made Avatar such a unique experience in theaters.  This is due to a very simple reason – Titanic was never meant to be presented in 3D to begin with.  Given that many months were spent on producing this version of the film, it is certainly not a rush job (I should note that the film has been re-mastered as 4K resolution, which makes the film look better than ever anyway, especially if one were to see it in 2D), but the film can only perform so well in this format.

The lack of truly astounding 3D is the most notable early on and in shots focused on the characters.  While it is an epic, there is a lot of character-based drama going on throughout the film and as good as the cinematography of the film as a whole may be, the 3D does little to bring out the environments of close-up shots.  It is also quite noticeable at how lacking some of the 3D is when portraying many of the on-deck daylight scenes, which mix various amounts of CG with reality.  A lot of this comes off as flatter than one would see in a regular version of the film.  Some scenes that involve the interiors of the ship, dining halls, lobby areas, etc. do work well in providing depth, however.  The best examples of the 3D effect are obviously related to the disaster portion of the film.  Seeing people helpless tumble off of Titanic looks decent enough, but watching corridors as they flood with water and seeing the various characters in the foreground, with more and more water filling the background is where the added format truly shines.

One final note regarding my viewing experience, having seen the film in a Regal theater, which has served me fairly well when dealing with 3D features, I can say that I was very pleased with the lighting throughout.  James Cameron was known for making sure all prints of Avatar were handled just right in regards to the brightness and I have a feeling he was quite involved with this for Titanic as well.  Given that a lot of the big moments come during nighttime and indoor scenes, I was pleased that the film did not look nearly as dim as it could easily have.

As many no doubt know, I am a movie fan, as in I like the theatrical experience.  It’s my preferred way of watching films.  Some can pick or choose whether or not seeing a film on the big screen is really worth it, but I don’t function that way.  I also really admire Titanic as a film.  It was always strange to me that the film almost feels underrated as of now; given that it was a success in its time in every possible way.  Regardless of the unnecessary (but adequate) 3D conversion, getting the chance to view the biggest blockbuster of the 90s on the big screen again was an experience I easily wanted to take part in.  It is hard for me to say that the extra surcharge for 3D is definitely worth it (Hugo and I guess Avatar are still the only films that I could say that for), but I would say that experiencing this film (which is in 2D in some locations) on the big screen again or for the first time certainly is.

Rose:  Jack, this is where we first met.

Note: I wanted to mainly focus on the 3D, but I will happily entertain more discussion about the film in the comments section.

The Easter Bunny’s heir apparent leaves his ancestral home on Easter Island to pursue pop superstardom in the animated comedy

Film

With just about every holiday now the subject of a film, there can’t be too many other holidays left that don’t have a themed movie for its basis.  Unless I start working on Columbus Day: New World Driveby , there can’t be too many more holidays left to cover and movie studios will have to find somewhere else to find their inspiration like board games…oh wait…never mind.  This time the focus is on Easter and the bunnies and chicks that make it happen along with a young man who can’t get his act together and move on with his life.

Over on Easter Island, (where else would the Easter Bunny’s headquarters be?), Mr. Bunny (Hugh Laurie) gives his young son E.B. (Russell Brand) a tour of the Easter factory where all of the Easter candy is made and distributed.  The tour is intended as the first step into the indoctrination of E.B. as the new Easter Bunny as his father wants to retire, but the tour has the opposite effect on E.B. who is overwhelmed by the massive responsibilities.  All E.B. wants to do is to become a drummer, a vocation that his father scoffs at.  Upset at his father’s apparent indifference to his dream job, E.B. runs away and ends up in Van Nuys, California.

As he wanders the streets, E.B. is stuck by a car driven by a fellow responsibility averse young man named Fred O’Hare (get it?) who is played by James Marsden.  Fred was on his way to house-sit a mansion for his sister when he hit E.B, who feigns being injured in order to get Fred to take him in.  The plan works, and soon enough E.B. is messing up what little Fred has going for him.  Fred can’t keep a job and has no interest in really looking for a new one.  He’s gotten so worthless that his family has taken to giving him an intervention of sorts with pre-planned written statements on how his laziness affects the family.  During an interview that his sister set up, Fred blows it thanks to E.B. who sees the Easter Bunny’s royal guard – The Pink Berets searching for him.  All is not lost however, as while ruining Fred’s interview, E.B. learns that David Hasselhoff will be judging a talent show that he can compete in.

Back on Easter Island, the disgruntled chick led by the Easter Bunny’s right hand chick Carlos and his dance crazed henchman Phil (both voiced by Hank Azaria) are planning to seize power for the chicks.  Things aren’t going well for E.B. and Fred since E.B.’s terror of the Pink Berets keeps getting Fred in trouble, especially when they crash Fred’s sister’s play which doesn’t please his father (Gary Cole).  The Easter themed play does offer Fred an epiphany though as he decides he wants to become the first human to be the Easter Bunny.  E.B. starts to train him and is surprised to learn that Fred actually has a talent for it.  Convinced that he is free and clear to become a drummer, E.B. fakes his own death with a decoy (a buttleball turkey with his shirt on it) and leaves Fred behind to face the wrath of the Pink Berets who take Fred back to Easter Island to face Mr. Bunny for his supposed crime.  Taking advantage of Mr. Bunny’s grief, Carlos and Phil seize control and it will be up to E.B. to save the day.

Hop is a lightweight bit of fun for younger audiences with a few chuckles included for adults.  James Marsden makes for an appealing doofus and he’s very much in Enchanted mode here.  I love listening to Hugh Laurie’s voice so he was a welcome addition to the movie for me.  Gary Cole does his usual great job in a limited role once again.  Why can’t he ever get a big role?  The man is hilarious and deserves a lot better than he’s been getting.  The animation is pretty good and all of the colors and silliness will keep most young children’s attention.  Unlike their previous effort Despicable Me, Hop doesn’t make as much effort to appeal to all ages, but it’s cute and my son enjoyed it.

Video

This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is pretty good but it’s not without some flaws.  There’s some nice detail on display but it’s not consistent, especially when the CG animation is blended with the live action scenes.  When it’s solely the CG animation the detail sharpens quite a bit.  Colors fare a lot better in this transfer, as they are varied and vibrant and some scenes such as the Easter Bunny factory pop off the screen.  The live action scenes offer natural looking flesh tones that remain consistent throughout the movie.  The film’s black levels are fairly solid but not the solid inkiness that I would preferred.  There’s some noise present during the live action scenes but it’s not bad enough to be a major distraction.

Audio

Hop’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix does the job with an above average track that falls short of the usual stellar record of recent animated films.  The dialogue is clear and intelligible throughout and is never drowned out by effects or the movie’s score.  The LFE channel delivers the action with a kick and the rear channels also get plenty of activity as well.  The film’s directional effects are decent and generally accurate but could have been a little sharper. The film’s score fares well and it’s nicely balanced with the rest of the mix.

Extras

The extras included could have been a lot better and more comprehensive, but what’s here is mainly for the kids and they aren’t as discriminating.

• U-Control Features – There’s  two U-Control features included with the first one being  ”Hop Tweets” in which E.B. tweets occasional messages  and the second one is the “Pink Beret Tracker” which tracks the many locations shown in the film.  Both of these features really aren’t that interesting – even for children.
• The World of Hop – These six short featurettes represent the only look at the making of the film.  The segments are focused on the characters and locations in the film including:  ”The Candy Factory,” “E.B.,” “Fred,” “The Easter Bunny,” “Carlos and Phil” and “Sam.”  All together the running time for them is under ten minutes so don’t expect an in depth look at the film.
• Phil’s Dance Party – A short featuring the dance crazed Phil and his fellow chicks.  Kids will like this one.
• All Access with Cody Simpson – A two minute look at the Cody Simpson’s song which is fairly pointless.
• Russell Brand: Being the Bunny – A one minute testimonial by Russell Brand on why he was perfect to play the role.
• Russell Brand’s Kid Crack Ups – Russell Brand talks to kids about he movie. Skip.
• Carlos on Carlos: The Premiere According to Carlos – We hear from Carlos from Hop’s red carpet premiere.
• Emotion in Motion: The Dance of Ken Daurio – The man who inspired Phil’s dancing talks about how he does it.
• Post Coup Commentary: Carlos & Phil Tell All – A three minute talk with Carlos and Phil as they talk about the events of the movie.  Fans of the characters might enjoy this.
• Games - There’s three games for kids here: “Drum Along,” “Pink Beret Skill Tester” and “E.B.’s Candy Challenge,” which is fun for young children.

Summary

This is a cute kids movie that has a game cast that helps it appeal to both children and adults alike.  The movie isn’t very ambitious but its a pleasant enough way to spend time with your kids without the usual pain some of these kid movies engender for adult.  The Blu-ray offers pretty good audio and picture quality but more time should have been spent on the extras.  Bottom line – kids will enjoy this colorful and active movie, especially when the see all the candy in the Easter Bunny factory!

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Film  

Tarsem Singh brings a feisty new Snow White for a new generation that focuses on female derring-do and an abundance of humor that skews young and old.  In this version of Snow White, Snow (Lily Collins, daughter of Phil Collins) grows up as a shut-in thanks to her evil stepmother the Queen (Julia Roberts) who doesn’t want the fair Snow to detract from her own charms.  Snow’s father, the King (Sean Bean), has been missing for years after venturing into the dark forest in search of an evil encroaching on the land.  With the King out of the way, the imperious Queen has taken over the kingdom and rules it with an iron fist.  When she isn’t having someone executed for displeasing her, she enjoys playing human chess (the chess pieces are her subjects) and throwing lavish balls.  Unfortunately, all of that is apparently expensive since she’s bankrupted the kingdom.

Young Snow is now eighteen and curious about the world and the opposite sex.  When a party is thrown at the palace, which happens to be Snow’s birthday, she sneaks down to check it out and is caught and threatened by the Queen.  The palace servants are much nicer to Snow and they throw her a surprise birthday party where she discovers just how bad off the villagers of the kingdom really are thanks to the taxes imposed on them by the greedy Queen.  Snow ventures out of the palace for the first time since her father’s disappearance to see just how much suffering actually exists and learns that the people are starving.  During her trip, Snow runs into two men hanging upside down from a tree who have been robbed of their belongings and most of their clothes by seven bandits.  One of the men is Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) although he doesn’t tell her that at first.

Film  

When a British agent named Ricki Tarr (Hywell Bennet) is sent to discover whether or not a Moscow Center intelligence officer could possibly become a defector, he finds out that the man’s wife is the one who is unhappy. After having an affair with her, he learns that there is a high ranking mole nicknamed Gerald within the British Secret Service or the “Circus,” as it’s informally known. When the woman is captured by Russian agents, Ricki knows he’s in danger and disappears which makes him look suspicious to his own people who believe that he’s gone rogue. He finally reappeares to talk with his boss Peter Guillam (Michael Jayston), who notifies Oliver Lacon (Anthony Bate), who then brings in retired former Deputy Head of the Service George Smiley (Alec Guinness).  Knowing that any one of the top men of the Circus could be the mole, they agree to run the investigation without the help or knowledge of the Circus.

The Circus is now being run by Percy Alleline (Michael Aldridge) after his predecessor “Control” (Alexander Knox) was forced to step down due to a disastrous  mission called “Operation: Testify.”  Control believed that there was  mole in the upper echelon of the Circus and created the mission to discover who it was.  He sent agent Jim Prideaux (Ian Bannen) to communist Czechoslovakia on a purported mission to retrieve a Czech Army General but it was a setup and Prideaux was caught in a ambush and shot in the back and was later repatriated and dismissed by the Circus. The failure of that mission and his poor health, was enough to have Control forced out the door by the opportunistic Alleline and his deputies, Bill Haydon (Ian Richardson), Roy Bland (Terence Rigby), and Toby Esterhase (Bernard Hepton).

After learning about Operation Testify, Smiley believes that the reason the mission failed was because of the mole Gerald who tipped off the Russians in advance.   Alleline is now in command largely thanks to his secret Soviet mole code-named “Merlin” who was a constant source of seemingly good material.  The more Smiley looks into Merlin, the more he is convinced that Moscow Center is actually playing the British and not the other way around as Alleline believed.  Alleline and his deputies are so enamored with Merlin that they automatically disregard anything that might jeopardize their feed from him which actually benefits the real mole.

With the cutthroat political games being played by the Circus’ deputies, the service has suffered because of these bitter internecine rivalries which has left them paralyzed.  It’s up to Smiley and his small group to determine who the mole is and just what damage he or she has done.  Knowing that they will have to draw the mole into the open, Smiley and Peter arrange for Tarr to send a message that they know will be intercepted by the mole Gerald, who will try to contact the Soviet mastermind Karla (Patrick Stewart)  since he’s the one pulling all of the strings.

I enjoyed reading the book by John le Carré and watching this series, although I know a lot of people nowadays will complain about the pace of the series.  Compared to what’s on TV today, this series pace seems positively glacial in comparison but that’s not always a bad thing when the time is used to deepen characters like this one does. Learning all of the ticks and motivations of all of the Secret Service deputies is invaluable in understanding the infighting between them and to having a better understanding of the mole’s motivations at the end.  Smiley himself remains a cypher throughout the series since he never volunteers anything about himself, nor does he generally answer questions as he prefers to ignore them and ask one of his own.

There is a real sense of history between these characters which adds a punch to the ending.  Not only do we see the infighting within the service, we also learn that Smiley’s wife Anne cheated on him with Bill Hayden.  Unfortunately for Smiley, that affair is public knowledge and he is constantly asked about Anne by his co-workers who surely are asking just to twist the knife in him.  All of the performances are very good but Alec Guinness is superb as the inscrutable George Smiley.  As someone who has Guinness’ performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi burned into his brain, it’s a little disconcerting to see him in this type of a role, but I will never tire of hearing Mr. Guinness’ voice or seeing his masterful performances.

Video  

This 1080p presentation is pretty much what you would expect from an old television mini-series but it does look better than the previous  DVD release but it’s still a far cry from what we are used to today.  Detail is acceptable but lacking, while colors and textures are muted and not defined well but are an improvement over the last release.  Black levels are fairly washed out and the picture can be downright murky at times.  Flesh tones are natural and consistent throughout the series.  If you are expecting an amazing restoration you will be disappointed but this is better than the DVD set so if you haven’t bought this set yet, I would recommend getting the Blu-ray.

Audio  

If you were hoping for a lossless track for the Blu-ray edition, prepare for some more disappointment.  This mix is better than the DVD but it could be better too.  Dialogue is clear for the most part, but there are some instances where the dialogue is muffled and hard to understand.  The music for the series is very clear and the theme song plays louder than the rest of the series so be prepared to adjust the volume.  All in all, this track is fine for what it is but it could have been improved.

Special Features  

There isn’t a lot on this set but the interview with John le Carré was very interesting. If you haven’t already bought this series on DVD, there’s some new goodies on the Blu-ray edition including a chat with the director and some deleted scenes.

• Exclusive interview with John le Carré – A twenty minute talk with the author of the book who shares his thoughts on the adaption, the cast, and why he wrote the book.  For fans of the author, this is a nice look into his world and his thoughts.
• Interview with Director John Irvin – An illuminating thirty minute chat with the director of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy who shares his thoughts on the series and the cast.  This is new to the Blu-ray set and is not included on the previous DVD release.
• Deleted Scenes – A set of deleted scenes that were a part of the original seven episode series that was cut down to six.  These scenes restore some of that lost footage and they are exclusive to this Blu-ray set.
• Production Notes – Some interesting information on the production of the movie given via text as an extra on the disc.
• Glossary of main characters and terms
• Cast filmographies
• John le Carré biography and booklist

Final Thoughts  

I really liked how the series captured all of the minute details from the book.  Whether it’s the seedy looking secret service headquarters that looks like it’s rotting from within (mirroring what is actually happening) to the methodology of spy-craft that Smiley and the others use.  This is a very literary adaption and true to the book which are both rare especially when it’s done this well.  The Blu-ray set is the version to buy since it has improved picture and sound quality as well as some new extras.  If you haven’t seen this series yet, you should correct that right now!

Order your copy today!

One of the year’s best-loved family comedies and among the best reviewed films of 2011, Disney’s The Muppets, starring Jason Segel, Academy Award-nominee Amy Adams, and favorite celebrity couple Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy is now available on Blu-ray!

Film  

It’s time to play the music…It’s time to light the lights…It’s time to meet the muppets…

After twelve long years without a theatrical Muppet movie, many fans were excited but anxious when it was announced that a new movie was coming from the screenwriting duo of actor Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller and it would be directed by “Flight of the Conchords” creator James Bobin.  Despite Segal’s love for puppets (displayed in Forgetting Sarah Marshall), it was a little worrying that the usual Jim Henson collaborators like Frank Oz were not going to be a part of the production.  I include myself among those that were worried since I knew that if this movie didn’t do well that it might well be the swan song of the franchise theatrically.  I’m happy to report that The Muppets not only defied the long odds against it, but it’s actually one of the best movies in the series!

The Muppets isn’t a remake or a quick cash grab designed to exploit the love and nostalgia that many people (including myself) have for the characters.  Instead, it uses that love and nostalgia to remind fans why they fell in love with the show in the first place and to pack an emotional punch much like Toy Story 3 did.  And just like Toy Story 3, the movie doesn’t shy away from the passage of time, which only makes The Muppets more poignant when the film acknowledges their current commercial popularity and their outdated optimism that seems out of place in this harder and more cynical time.  That self-awareness means that the movie isn’t afraid to tackle both of those concepts head on which raises the movie to another level and sets it apart from the earlier movies that were mainly concerned with just entertaining people.  The Muppets are still happy to offer fun and entertainment, but the movie also offers some pointed observations about the franchise that Jim Henson built and about society in general.

The movie opens with a look at two brothers growing up in a idealized small town called fittingly enough, Smalltown. The older brother Gary (Jason Segal) is a normal human but his brother Walter is inexplicably a muppet.  As they grow older, Walter wants to be more and more like his brother Gary, but because he is a muppet, he doesn’t share the same growth spurt or change in any way.  That fact brings the normally cheerful Walter down until he happens to see an episode of “The Muppet Show” on TV which changes his life.  Both Gary and Walter enjoy watching the show and as the years pass and the Muppets are seen to be less and less cool by other kids, Walter is made fun of for his love of them.  Despite that, his love for the felt little Muppets continues unabated while Gary’s interests eventually drift another direction when he gets a lovely girlfriend named Mary (Amy Adams).

Ten years pass and the ever patient Mary is starting to feel anxious about Gary never proposing to her to take their relationship to the next level because he doesn’t want to leave Walter alone.  Even when Gary plans a trip to take Mary to Los Angeles to celebrate their tenth anniversary, he invites Walter to join them so he can see the Muppet Studios during their trip.  While Mary understands why Gary worries about his brother, she also feels that she’s waited long enough for Gary to fully commit to her.  Once the trio reach Los Angeles, they immediately go to see the fabled Muppet Studios only to discover that’s it’s completely run down.

Undeterred, Walter still wants to take the pitiful tour (run by the funny Alan Arkin) and he later sneaks into Kermit the Frog’s old office to check it out.  While there, he hears people coming and hides only to hear the curmudgeonly Muppets Waldorf and Statler selling the Muppet theater to Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), an oil baron, and his henchmen Bobo the Bear and Uncle Deadly.  Richman is buying the theater due to the oil that has been discovered underneath the theater, but Waldorf explains that there is a loophole to the contract which would allow the Muppets to repurchase the theater if they could raise $10 million dollars.

Walter seeks out Kermit to warn him of Richman’s plans and discovers that the Muppets are no longer talking to each other.  Kermit misses his old friends but has just let time go by without doing anything about it.  Now with the realization that the theater is in trouble, Kermit springs into action and decides that they only way to raise the money is to gather the old gang back together and put on a show.  They find Fozzie Bear doing a Muppet impersonation show called the Moopets in Reno, Nevada and Gonzo is now a plumbing magnate (quite the leap up from his modest plumbing business from the first movie), and Miss Piggy is working in Paris as Vogues’ plus sized fashion editor.  The intervening years since they were last together have been hard on most of the Muppets and some like Animal have tried to make changes.  The wild and erratic drummer has been trying to calm himself through anger management along with his sponsor Jack Black who has told him to never drum again.

From that point on, the Muppets have to convince a television network to let them air their fundraising special as well as repair the theater  and rehearse their show.  With the network executive breathing down his neck to find a celebrity host that’s still relevant and Richman and his henchmen doing all they can to sabotage the show, and the Moopets trying to steal the Muppet trademark and their names,  Kermit and friends have their hands full.  Gary and Walter have their own share of trouble as Gary forgot about his anniversary with Mary who went back home to Smalltown and Walter is realizing more and more than he is more of a muppet than a man.  Both of them will have to decide which future they want to pursue which could mean in opposite directions from each other.

The Muppets have returned better than ever and this film is full of fun songs, clever banter, and enough touching scenes that were done so well that the movie has garnered some much deserved critical praise.  While I would have preferred the movie to be more muppet-centric like the previous outings, the human cast does a well enough job but I would have been happier with just the old muppet crew and some celebrity cameos.  Speaking of the traditional famous cameos, this movie follows the usual practice with a bunch of good people included and a lot that didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie.  The Muppets haven’t changed but the world has and it’s nice to see them return to remind us of happier days that weren’t as edgy or dark as recent times.  Their “lets put on a show” attitude is infectious and you will be tapping your feet right along with them.  One of the best things about the movie is its handling of the franchise’s history as it treats it with the respect and love it deserves.  This script isn’t overly reverential about their past, but at the same time, it acknowledges it and pays it respect by cleverly tying it into the movie through lines and songs.  If you don’t feel something when all of them join together to sing the The Muppet Movie’s “Rainbow Connection”, then you need a heart transplant.

Video 

As usual, Disney has pulled out all of the stops for this movie’s presentation and this 1080p (1.78:1) transfer is no exception.  This transfer is so full of sharp detail that you can see the felt textures of the Muppets and every outfit worn by the humans.  Colors are bountiful and vibrant which is really saying something when you consider the wide variety of colors throughout the movie with every Muppet a different hue.  Watching this movie is like witnessing a color explosion and it’s just amazing.  Flesh tones are natural and consistent and black levels are as dark as they should be.  There’s no flaws to speak of and fans of the movie will be very happy to see this movie look even better on Blu-ray than it did in the theaters.

Audio  

Disney’s DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround mix is just as stellar as it’s picture quality!  This is an all channel hands on deck kind of mix, one that brings the movie to life with an active and wonderful track.  Dialogue is crystal clear as is the orchestral score and and Oscar winning songs from Bret McKenzie.  The LFE channel packs a wallop and the rear speakers provide non-stop activity and dead on accurate directional effects that swirl around the viewer.  The cross channel mayhem sounds fantastic and it makes you feel as if you were there.  This is an amazing mix that showcases the Muppets in all of their sonic glory.

Extras  

This Wocka Wocka edition has a lot of good special features and some new extras like the free digital download of the soundtrack and a new innovative pause feature that I hope becomes standard for other releases.  The intermission that occurs when you hit pause is a lot of fun and was completely unexpected.   Watching the characters do comedic bits in this mini extra was really cool.  There seems to be five different bits that’s played and I really liked this imaginative extra.  The rest of the extras are also cool and in high definition.

• Filmmakers Audio Commentary – A commentary with executive producer/co-writer/actor Jason Segel, executive producer/co-writer Nicholas Stoller and director James Bobin.  This is an entertaining and laid back commentary that isn’t as focuses as some might have liked as the trio talk about other movies, their influences, their past work, and of course the Muppets too.  It’s obvious that they are huge fans of the Muppets and if you listen long enough, you will hear some interesting information about Muppet history and the techniques used to make the movie among the many other anecdotes.
• Scratching the Surface – Despite being over sixteen minutes long, this isn’t really a behind the scenes look at the making of the movie but rather a look at the Muppets and their trademarked humor instead.  We get some narration and cameo interviews and it’s a lot of fun and a nice break from the usual EPK stuff.
• Deleted Scenes – We get eight deleted scenes including: “Walter’s Nightmare,” “Life’s A Happy Song Missing Verse,” “A Hero in Hollywood,” “Credit Card Club,” “Muppets in Jail,” “Bowling for Beaker,” “The Strip Mall Awards” and “The Complete Muppet Telethon Opening & More” which also means that Rob Corddry, Danny Trejo, Sarah Hyland, Wanda Sykes, Ricky Gervais, Billy Crystal, and more were relegated to the deleted bin with these cuts.
• Explaining Evil: The Full Tex Richman Song – We get to see the full length rap song from Chris Cooper’s Tex Richman which explains why he hates the Muppets.
• The Longest Blooper Reel Ever – At Least In Muppet History… We Think – Here’s nine minutes 0f fun as we see the usual bloopers and hijinks, but this time with the Muppets too.  What’s amazing is seeing the puppeteers not only stay in character during these mistakes but also their ability to adlib with the actors too.  This one is highly recommended.
• A Little Screen Test on the Way to the Read-Through – An extra that shows Jason Segel, Kermit, The Great Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy and others as they get ready for the first day of production and a script reading.
• Theatrical Spoof Trailers – Here’s all nine of the popular spoof trailers that show off the Muppet humor to good effect.  Included in this set is: “Rise of the Muppets,” “Never” “Green with Envy,” “The Fuzzy Pack,” “Being Green,” “The Piggy with the Froggy Tattoo” and “Green with Envy, the Spoof Spoof Trailer.”  The only spoof trailer that didn’t make it on the Blu-ray is the recent one that spoofed The Hunger Games.
• Full-Length Original Soundtrack – We are given the download code for the film’s full soundtrack album which is really cool.  Now you can listen to the fun and Oscar winning soundtrack for free!
• Disney Intermission – Pause the movie to see one of five clips of fun Muppety goodness!

Summary  

This film marks the triumphant return of the Muppets and everything that they stand for!  The movie is full of humor, catchy songs, and some touching moments that will get to you.  Disney has put together a fantastic Blu-ray that has excellent picture and sound quality, some great extras including the free soundtrack, and I really can’t recommend this movie highly enough.  If you loved the Muppets before, then you will love this a lot.  If you never liked the Muppets, this movie might very well change that opinion.  With a sequel already in the works, the Muppets are back in a big way and I couldn’t be happier to welcome them back with open arms!

Order your copy today!

Order your copy today!

TRUE BLOOD: The Complete Fourth Season

HBO Home Entertainment Introduces “Blu-ray with HBO Select”

Three Ways to Watch in One Box Set – Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

The First TV Series Box Set to Feature All Three Formats

Seasons 1-3 of True Blood Also Available on “Blu-ray with HBO Select”

Available May 29, 2012, All Formats Are Loaded with Exclusive Bonus Content

As yet another supernatural force comes to light in Bon Temps, a fresh pot of trouble brews for Sookie and the town’s residents. Releasing May 29, 2012, True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season will be available on “Blu-ray with HBO Select,” DVD and Digital Download for the suggested retail price of $79.98 and $59.99 respectively. Both sets include the full 12-episode season, along with extensive bonus materials including exclusive interviews and never-before-seen content.  ”Blu-ray with HBO Select” offers consumers three different ways to watch — Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy – in one complete package, a first for a television series box set!  The release also features all the great in-depth, behind-the-scenes bonus features that fans have come to expect.

New from HBO Home Entertainment®, “Blu-ray with HBO Select” offers True Blood Blu-ray buyers the choice of three ways to watch – Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download. This marks the first time a television series box set has included all three formats in one complete package. Additionally,previous seasons of the hit series will also be available on “Blu-ray with HBO Select” day and date with season four. The digital copy is redeemable via a provider of your choice: iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon, or an UltraViolet copy through supporting providers.

Bonus Material

Full of captivating backstories, new character profiles and perspectives, and extensive audio commentaries, the fourth season’s bonus materials offer appetizing tidbits for diehard fans.

Blu-ray Features (along with all DVD extras):

• Includes “Blu-ray with HBO Select:” DVD + Digital Copy
• Enhanced Viewing:
  • Character Perspectives (picture-in-picture): find out the back story of what happened in Bon Temps while Sookie was missing in Faerieland and get the inside scoop from your favorite characters including Andy, Arlene, Crystal, Debbie, Don Bartolo, Godrick, Jason, Lafayette, Luna, Maxine, Melinda, Nan, Pam, and Tara.
  • Vampire Histories/Character Bios and Hints/FYIs: get even more background on favorite characters, trivia facts as well as show hints and clues.
  • Flashback/Flash Forward: move through time in the world of Bon Temps. Flashback to relive pivotal moments or Flash Forward to reveal the significance of a certain scene.
• True Blood Lines: uncover secrets from relationships past and present in this engaging, fully interactive guide and archive.

DVD Features:

• True Blood: The Final Touches: join show creator and executive producer Alan Ball as he reveals an exclusive, never-before-seen glimpse in the post production process of True Blood.
• Inside the Episodes: get the backstories on each episode with revealing interviews from the show writers.
• Audio Commentaries: six commentaries with cast and crew including Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgård, Deborah Ann Woll, Sam Trammell, Fiona Shaw, and more.

Order your copy today!

THE GREY

Available on Blu-ray^™ Combo Pack with UltraViolet^™, DVD and Digital Download

From Universal Studios Home Entertainment

May 22, 2012

Universal City, Calif. (March 20, 2012) – When a plane crashes in the remote Alaskan wilderness, the survivors must battle extreme weather conditions, devastating injuries and a pack of rogue wolves in order to stay alive in the riveting action adventure The Grey, coming to Blu-ray^™ Combo Pack with UltraViolet^™, as well as DVD, Digital Download and On Demand on May 22, 2012, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.  Starring Academy Award^®-nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List, Taken), The Grey pits man against nature in a non-stop, life-or-death battle that Jake Hamilton of FOX-TV calls “mesmerizing, electrifying and terrifying,” adding, “The Grey is a viciously unnerving epic adventure that will hunt you with excitement, bury you in panic and outright scare the hell out of you.”

Directed by Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, Smokin Aces) and starring Dermot Mulroney (J. Edgar, Big Miracle),

The Grey Blu-ray Combo Pack delivers the film in perfect hi-def picture and perfect hi-def sound and features bonus content including deleted scenes and feature commentary by co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and editors Roger Barton (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) and Jason Hellmann (G-Force). The Blu-ray Combo Pack also includes UltraViolet, a DVD, and a Digital Copy of the film – so consumers can truly enjoy the movie anytime, anywhere, on the device of their choice!  UltraViolet is the revolutionary new way for consumers to collect movies and TV shows and put them in the cloud.  From there, they can download and stream instantly to computers, tablets and smartphones.  In addition, consumers can redeem a Digital Copy of the film from a variety of retail partners, who offer many viewing options including iTunes, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch,Android, connected televisions, Blu-ray player apps, and more!

BONUS FEATURES ON BLU-RAY & DVD:

• Feature Commentary with Co-Writer/Director Joe Carnahan and Editors Roger Barton and Jason Hellmann
• Deleted Scenes

BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVELY ON BLU-RAY

• UltraViolet™: The revolutionary new way for consumers to collect movies and TV shows, store them in the cloud, and download and stream instantly to computers, tablets and smartphones.  Currently available in the United States only.
• Digital Copy: Viewers can redeem a digital version of the full-length movie from a choice of retail partners to watch on an array of electronic and portable devices.

• U-Control:
  • Picture-in-Picture: Featuring pre-visualization and storyboard comparisons of some the film’s most exciting scenes.
• pocket BLU^™ App: The popular free pocket BLU^™ app for smartphones is now even better with newly updated versions for iPad^®, Android^™ tablets, PC and Macintosh computers, with features made especially to take advantage of the devices’ larger screens and high resolution displays.
  • Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray^™ player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live^™ functions with ease.
  • Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the film.
  • Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray^™ discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there is a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy content on the go, anytime, anywhere.
  • Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU^™-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray^™. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.
  • Keyboard: Entering data is fast and easy with your device’s intuitive keyboard.

• BD-LIVE^™: Access the BD-Live Center through your Internet-connected player to access the latest trailers, exclusive content and more!

Order your copy today!

The Three Musketeers is a modern retelling of Alexander Dumas’ timeless swashbuckling classic – arrived on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on March 13 from Summit Entertainment.  This exciting adventure for the whole family stars Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson & the Olympians), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean films), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil films) and Academy Award-winner Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor, Inglourious Basterds).  The Three Musketeers comes to life onscreen as Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Porthos (Ray Stevenson) and Aramis (Luke Evans), along with aspiring warrior, D’Artagnan (Lerman), embark on a dangerous and legendary mission across Europe to save both their King and country – “all for one and one for all.”

Film  

It’s up to the Musketeers and D’Artagnan to stop Richelieu’s plans and prevent a war between England and France and they travel to England to recover the stolen diamond necklace.  Milady warns Buckingham that they are coming and informs him of their usual tactics but both are surprised by D’Artagnan acting as a decoy while the others steal Buckingham’s airship that he built based off of the plans Miladay betrayed them over in the first place.  What the Musketeers don’t realize, is that Milady also gave a copy of the plans to Richelieu who has built his own improved airship and given it to Captain Rochefort to command.  The future of France and England will be fought in the skies as the airships battle for superiority to determine whether or not the Musketeers can return the necklace in time.

Video

2D Video  

3D Video

Audio

Special Features

While the 3D version of the disc doesn’t offer any extras, the 2D version of The Three Musketeers contains everything that from the 2D only release. All of the extras are also in high definition!

Final Thoughts

]]> http://whysoblu.com/the-three-musketeers-2011-2d-3d-blu-ray-review/feed/ 1 http://whysoblu.com/happy-feet-two-blu-ray-review/ http://whysoblu.com/happy-feet-two-blu-ray-review/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:58:53 +0000 Sean Ferguson http://whysoblu.com/?p=43139 The sequel to Happy Feet, the Academy Award-winning animated smash hit, Happy Feet Two returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica.  Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son, Erik, is choreo-phobic.  Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven – a penguin who can fly! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model.  But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces.  Erik learns of his father’s “guts and grit” as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures – from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals – to put things right.

Film  

Despite boasting some excellent animation, Happy Feet Two can’t match it’s predecessor’s sense of fun, star power, or catchy songs.  In the first movie the young penguin Mumble (Elijah Wood) doesn’t fit in with the rest of the penguins because of his lack of ability to sing his “heartsong.”  His parents, Memphis (Hugh Jackman) and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) do their best to help their son as they also try not to be worried.  Of course, by the end of the movie, Mumble discovers that while he can’t sing, he can dance up a storm and he uses that to attract a mate named Gloria.  Now take that plot and reverse it and add in an even stronger environmental message and you have Happy Feet Two.

Now an adult, Mumble’s young son Erik has a similar issue.  Things have changed around the ice flow, and while Mumble once was laughed at for dancing, in the intervening time everyone now dances all the time.  For poor Erik, he’s been born in the wrong time since he can’t dance like his father.  When Erik is gently prodded by Mumble to try to dance, he ends up embarrassing himself in front of the other penguins.  Ashamed, Erik and two of his friends follow their family friend Ramon (Robin Williams) to Adelie-Land because he believes he can’t get a mate either. Once they arrive in Adelie-Land, they discover that Lovelace (Robin Williams) has passed on his his leadership role to an odd looking penguin named “The Mighty Sven” (Hank Azaria) who is worshiped by the other penguins who hang on his every word.  Sven is also able to fly which makes him seem even more special among the flightless penguins.

Under the water, two krills named Will (Brad Pitt) and Bill (Matt Damon) are separated by the rest of the swarm and discover that they are simply easy pickings for other creatures to eat.  After watching the swarm of krills get decimated by predators, Will decides that his days at the bottom of the food chain are over.  He decides to change his life and become a vicious predator himself and Bill reluctantly follows him.  Meanwhile, Mumble finds Erik and is troubled to see his son under the influence of Sven.  Erik no longer wants to listen to his father and only returns home because Sven tells him to.  Mumble tries to reach Erik to reassure him that eventually he will learn what his talent is if he’s patient, but Erik only wants to believe in “Sven Think.”

On their way back home, they encounter Bryan the Beach Master (Richard Carter) on a treacherous ice bridge and he refuses to back up to let them pass.  When the ice bridge suddenly breaks and Bryan falls into a deep crevasse, Mumble decides to help Bryan so he can return to take care of his two young sons who witnessed his fall.  When Mumble does save him, Bryan promises that he will return the favor one day.  Mumble is discouraged to hear that his act of heroism is dismissed by Erik who attributes the rescue to the power of Sven Think.  When they finally return home, they discover that a large iceberg has trapped their fellow Emperor penguins in an enclosed area which prevents them from getting fish.  With only Erik, Mumble, and their two friends left to gather fish for thousands of penguins, it seems like a hopeless situation, especially when some predatory birds arrive to try to take advantage of the hungry and weak penguins.  But things aren’t quite as hopeless as it seems, since a favor given might be returned, which will prove that if everyone helps each other, amazing things can happen.

Happy Feet Two is very similar with the first movie but we some additional characters.  Both movies offer positive messages about community and self-worth along with a healthy dose of environmentalism.  This second movie seems to be a little more heavy-handed with its lessons but it has its heart in the right place.  There’s also less catchy songs this time around and some of the cast has changed too.  With the early deaths of Brittany Murphy and Steve Irwin and the briefest appearance by Jackman and Kidman, the movie has lost a lot of its charm.  The animation is better than ever however and it’s absolutely beautiful to watch.  The integration of live action along with the digital animation is flawless and impressive to see.  The final ending, while predictable, is still well executed but it doesn’t quite make up for the rest of the somewhat aimless plot.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a third one but I hope they spend more time on the script and recapture the original’s sense of fun.

Video

Even though the movie should have been better, there’s no denying how good this Blu-ray transfer looks.  This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer is absolutely gorgeous to see.  Colors pop off the screen, vibrant and bold, and this transfer just reminds me how much I love watching digital animation on Blu-ray.  The detail level is simply pristine along with textures and contrast that are so good that it’s jaw-dropping.  The black levels are pitch black and suitably solid and consistenet throughout.  This is an incredible transfer that looks spectacular!

Audio  

Happy Feet Two’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix is just as amazing as the picture quality.  This is a mix that uses every channel to its full potential to provide a completely immersive experience.  The LFE channel is a welcome and constant presence, while the front channels provide clear and understandable dialogue, and the rear channels add so much atmosphere that it will seem like you are there.  The directional effects are accurate and lively and hearing the the sound effects dance around the room along with the action on the screen was extremely cool.  Every wave crash, sea lion roar, every dance step, and more is clearly heard and makes its presence known.  The songs also sound incredible and fans of the movie should be ecstatic with this full-throated mix.

Extras  

You’d think that there would be a lot of extras on a disc like this but alas it didn’t happen.  There’s some short featurettes, a welcome Warner Bros. cartoon, some songs, and the option to download the Happy Feet Two Movie App from iTunes.  At least these extras are in high definition.

• Happy Feet Two Movie App, Second Screen – You can download the Happy Feet Two Movie app from the iTunes App Store for your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to see an almost hour long prepared view of portions of the film.  There’s also  Second Screen extras that includes some additional  games, sing-a-longs, and more.
• Behind the Story – The disc offers four short featurettes that includes:
  • Helping Penguins and Pals – lets kids see the real Antarctica.
  • How to Draw a Penguin – A lesson from concept artist Tim McEwen on how to draw Erik the penguin.
  • Running with Boadicea – A look at Boadicea’s exercise efforts.
  • The Amazing Voices of Happy Feet Two – A look at the actors doing their thing in the recording booth.
• Music – If you liked the music of the movie, then you should check this section out as we get a  look at “P!nk’s New Song” and there’s also an additional three sing-a-longs songs including:
  • The Mighty Sven
  • Bridge of Light
  • Papa Oom Mow Mow
• I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat – My favorite extra on the disc is this  CGI Looney Tunes cartoon with  Tweety and Sylvester.  Not only is this cool cartoon in high definition and sports a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, but even better it features the one and only Mel Blanc’s performance.
• BD-Live

Summary  

I didn’t enjoy Happy Feet Two as much as I liked the first one, but it does have its moments and I can’t say a bad thing about this Blu-ray’s audio and visual presentation.  This movie couldn’t look or sound any better than this but the extras on the disc could have been better.  By the way, don’t be fooled by the appearance of the words “Digital Copy” on the front because it isn’t referencing the usual iTunes Digital Copy, but instead the much despised and less user friendly Ultraviolet version.  I keep hoping that Warner Bros. and the other studios will abandon their Ultraviolet efforts and return to the traditional iTunes Digital Copy but so far no dice.  In any case, if you enjoyed the first movie or this sequel, then you should definitely pick this Blu-ray up!

Order your copy today!

]]> http://whysoblu.com/happy-feet-two-blu-ray-review/feed/ 4 http://whysoblu.com/agatha-christie%e2%80%99s-poirot-series-3-blu-ray-review/ http://whysoblu.com/agatha-christie%e2%80%99s-poirot-series-3-blu-ray-review/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:04:46 +0000 Sean Ferguson http://whysoblu.com/?p=42943 As seen on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery!, the impeccable Hercule Poirot is back on the case in these eleven mysteries from the hit series.  David Suchet returns to reprise his role as the definitive Poirot, portraying Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgian with intelligence and bone-dry wit.  Brimming with beguiling 1930s period details, these lavish adaptations look better than ever in this remastered edition.  Also starring Hugh Fraser (Sharpe) as the affable Captain Hastings, Philip Jackson (Little Voice) as Chief Inspector Japp, and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

 

 

Film  

I’m a big fan of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot character and I’ve enjoyed the books, the movies, and especially the television show starring David Suchet as the incomparable Poirot.  No other actor has played Poirot more than Suchet, and it’s been recently announced that he will finally be able to achieve his dream of filming every story written for Poirot when the series finishes filming in 2013.  While Albert Finney was good in Murder on the Orient Express as was Peter Ustinov in the further theatrical movies, but Suchet has captured the character like no other.  Before taking on the role, Suchet read all of the stories and took notes about every description and characteristic of the character.  As he described his process later, “What I did was, I had my file on one side of me and a pile of stories on the other side and day after day, week after week, I ploughed through most of Agatha Christie’s novels about Hercule Poirot and wrote down characteristics until I had a file full of documentation of the character. And then it was my business not only to know what he was like, but to gradually become him. I had to become him before we started shooting.”

That attention to detail paid off as he has now become the de facto Poirot for the public and has achieved the rare feat of playing a single character over a span of twenty-three years.  Over that period of time, the cast has changed over the years, with some characters coming and going depending on the the novels the show was based on.  Popular characters like Captain Hastings, Chief Inspector Japp, and Miss Lemon all disappeared when the series returned for the 2003 season, which was consistent with the plot-lines the shows were based on but it was unpopular with viewers.  It’s been difficult for fans of the show to watch it in any kind of semblance of order since it’s been released by a variety of studios but in a confusing hodgepodge of editions.  For the U.S. market, both Acorn Media and A&E Home Video have split the rights to the show with Acorn Media owning the rights for the 36 standard-length episodes, including the first nine double-length episodes, and the episodes broadcast since 2008.  The other movie-length episodes are distributed by A&E, who co-produced several of them.  (You can read my review of the Agatha Christie Poirot – Movie Collection Set 6 here). In a much appreciated move, Acorn Media has now released the first two sets of the series in it’s original UK broadcast order (review here) with more to follow.

Here is the list of episodes to be found on the Series 3 set:

• The Mysterious Affair at Styles – Recovering from the horrors of World War I, British Army officer Arthur Hastings hopes to find peace and quiet at a country manor in the English countryside. But when the matriarch dies during the night from strychnine poisoning, Hastings enlists the help of an old friend staying nearby with other war refugees to help solve the murder: former Belgian police detective Hercule Poirot.
• How Does Your Garden Grow - Suggestions of a Communist conspiracy cast suspicion on a murdered woman’s Russian servant. Meanwhile, Poirot has a rose named after him, and a ceremony at the Chelsea Flower Show makes him the centre of attention. Hastings receives a packet of seeds and develops hay fever.
• The Million Dollar Bond Robbery – The London and Scottish Bank is sending a huge shipment of Liberty Bonds to New York on the liner Queen Mary. Poirot, who suffers terribly from sea-sickness, is asked to see the bonds safely across the Atlantic.
• The Plymouth Express – An Australian shipping tycoon wants Poirot to check out his daughter’s suitors. Then the young lady takes a trip on the Plymouth Express, and Poirot finds himself investigating a jewel theft on the train.
• The Affair at the Victory Ball - Poirot attends the Victory Ball, a costume party where you are expected to dress as someone famous, as himself. However, when two members of a party of six dressed as characters from classical Italian comedy are subsequently found dead, Poirot finds himself working with Chief Inspector Japp to solve the case. The solution to the deaths of Viscount Cronshaw and Coco Courtney is to be found in determining the correct time of death and identifying an impostor at the ball. Poirot takes to the airwaves and reveals the identity of the killer on a live BBC radio broadcast.
• Wasps’ Nest – Poirot visits a garden fete, where a wasps’ nest adds to the tension. He meets the son of an old friend who has his girl-friend, a fashion model, with him, and Poirot soon suspects that they are both in danger. He has to solve a mystery which includes cyanide, failing brakes and mixed-up love lives.  Meanwhile, Hastings has a new hobby which Poirot finds helpful in cracking the case.
• The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - Poirot is summoned to Marsdon by the owner of a country inn there to solve a murder. But the inn-keeper is a would-be thriller writer, and to Poirot’s dismay the murder turns out to be fictional. Thankfully, though, there is soon a real (if seemingly supernatural) murder at the big house. Things get even more interesting when a young wife claims that a tree in her garden is haunted by a laughing ghost, and there are also signs of black magic from East Africa. Poirot lays a clever ambush to smoke out the killer,confident that he or she will turn out to be human.
• The Double Clue - Japp (who is really worried that failure could cost him his job) seeks Poirot’s help in investigating a series of jewel thefts, and two remarkable things happen. Poirot falls in love (with the beautiful and clever Countess Vera Rossakoff) and he also meets a criminal intellect which he finds worthy of him. As the countess is his main suspect, Poirot spends most of his time with her – which for once leaves Hastings and Miss Lemon to do most of the actual detective work.  In the end, this case may have to be put down as the one that got away.
• The Mystery of the Spanish Chest - Poirot is called in to help a woman who lives in fear of her husband, and he is invited to a dinner party which goes horribly wrong. Then Colonel Curtiss, the scar-faced prime murder suspect, even unwisely calls Poirot “a detective.” The detective finds that the murder mystery hinges on a duel fought ten years before.
• The Theft of the Royal Ruby – Poirot prepares to spend a quiet Christmas on his own with a box of chocolates, but he has to give up his plans when the British government asks for his urgent help. Prince Farouk, a young member of the Egyptian royal family visiting London, has lost a famous ruby, and this is deemed to be a matter of national security.  The Prince unwisely lent his jewel to a strange young lady who promptly vanished with it, and Poirot forms a complicated plan to catch the thieves, harnessing misdirected romantic urges.
• The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge – Hercule Poirot accompanies his friend Captain Hastings on a weekend shooting party at the home of Harrington Pace, but he isn’t having a very good time. He comes down with the flu and takes to his bed but when Pace is shot dead in his study, he rises to the occasion to assist Inspector Japp in solving the case. Pace was not very likable and treated those around him badly. He refused to acknowledge his illegitimate half brother, who worked on the family estate as the gamekeeper, refusing him even a small loan that would allow him to marry. His two nephews did not benefit from the family wealth having been told they may inherit something on this death.

By this point in the series, each of the actors have their roles down cold.  David Suchet, in particular, proves once again that he is the best man suited for the role.  In this series, we even see him as a young man in the movie based on Agatha Christie’s first novel with “The Mysterious Affair at Styles.”  It’s funny to see Suchet have such a grasp on the character that he play the detective as a younger man who is more carefree and less world-weary than he would become after seeing so many human failings.  It’s still unquestionably Poirot but it’s also a more fun version who doesn’t hide his emotions as well.  I’m not sure why Christie’s first novel with Poirot is in the third series set (you’d think it would have been the very first), but I’m glad it’s included nonetheless.  One thing I noticed watching this series is that case after case the cause of death was strychnine, which could become a drinking game every time that happens.  Christie sure liked killing off characters with it, but it’s funny that it’s become similar to the constant discussion of lupus on “House.”

This set stands apart from the earlier sets since it humanizes the character of Hercule Poirot while keeping his intelligence intact.  In the past, we’ve seen Poirot attempt to be a thief with humorous results, but this time we see him fall for the wrong woman.  Like Irene Adler for Sherlock Holmes, the jewel thief Countess Vera Rossakoff (Kika Markham) causes him nothing but trouble.  Rossakoff’s appearance in “The Double Clue” (the first of three over time) showcases a rare side to the detective and we see why he studiously avoids intimate relationships as they affect his job performance.  It’s times like that when Poirot is even more dependent on his companions Hastings and his personal secretary Miss Lemon who continue to share great chemistry together.  The mysteries are interesting, the cast is in fine form, and fans of the series will be all too happy to see Poirot’s first case in this next set continuing the broadcast order of the show’s episodes.

Video  

These episodes are framed in their original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 and presented in 1080p resolution.  When compared to the earlier DVD release, these remastered episodes look considerably better.  This set even looks better than the earlier Blu-ray sets as it has a much sharper picture.  There’s still some soft shots every now and then, but overall this is much better.  Colors are better defined and contrast is also improved.  Flesh tones look natural but occasionally veer to the pinkish side and black levels are fairly decent but not as dark as they should be.  These episodes don’t suffer from scratches or blemishes and for a show over twenty-five years old, this set look really good.

Audio  

Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 3 set’s uncompressed PCM 2.0 stereo mix also is a far cry better than the earlier home video release.  The dialogue is clear and crisp, and the scores by Christopher Gunning also sound wonderful (albeit the music is much louder than the rest of the show).  This is a mostly front channel delivery but the sound effects sound good and there’s no hiss or other audio issues to speak of.  Fans of the show should be plenty happy with this new uncompressed mix.

Extras  

There are no special features for either series set which is a shame for the fans and it will unfortunately bring down the final score.

Summary  

This is another great continuation of the Hercule Poirot series and it’s even better seeing them in broadcast order.  David Suchet is the ideal Hercule Poirot and the supporting cast is also fantastic.  This Blu-ray set offers excellent audio and visual quality but it’s a shame that there’s still no extras to be found.  If you are a fan of the series then you should pick this up with no hesitation!

Order your copy today!

]]> http://whysoblu.com/agatha-christie%e2%80%99s-poirot-series-3-blu-ray-review/feed/ 0 http://whysoblu.com/the-hoosiers-25th-anniversary-edition-comes-to-blu-ray-june-5/ http://whysoblu.com/the-hoosiers-25th-anniversary-edition-comes-to-blu-ray-june-5/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:53:33 +0000 Sean Ferguson http://whysoblu.com/?p=43027 Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is a volatile basketball coach with a dark past who arrives in a small, rural Indiana town to attempt to lead the high school team to victory. This group of underdogs needs all the help they can get, and no one would have ever suspected that it would come from the unlikely duo of Dale and his newly hired assistant coach, the town’s recovering alcoholic, Shooter (Dennis Hopper). Under Dale and Shooter’s guidance, the Hickory team surprises their town – and themselves – by not only becoming an unstoppable team during the basketball season, but also taking home the 1952 State Championship.

Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is a volatile basketball coach with a dark past who arrives in a small, rural Indiana town to attempt to lead the high school team to victory. This group of underdogs needs all the help they can get, and no one would have ever suspected that it would come from the unlikely duo of Dale and his newly hired assistant coach, the town’s recovering alcoholic, Shooter (Dennis Hopper). Under Dale and Shooter’s guidance, the Hickory team surprises their town – and themselves – by not only becoming an unstoppable team during the basketball season, but also taking home the 1952 State Championship.

• Hoosier History: The Truth Behind the Legend
• Deleted Scenes
• Original 1954 Indiana High School Championship Game
• Commentary by Director David Anspaugh

Order your copy today!

Hoosiers [Blu-ray]

Game of Thrones

Film  

A Game of Thrones is based on the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire which is a fantasy series written by George R. R. Martin and the series is just as dense as the book it’s based on.  Martin wanted the material to be treated with respect and be given the time to tell the whole story so when HBO showed interest in it a deal was struck and David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were brought on to be the show-runners and writers.  HBO wanted the events of each book to be the basis of a single  season and they impressively pulled that off.  The first season has been estimated to costing around $50-60 million and I think every penny of it is on the screen.  Filled with castles, tons of extras, and a lot of location work in Ireland and Malta, this is a gorgeous looking show that deserves all of the accolades its received.

Sean Bean leads the cast as Neddard “Ned” Stark, an honorable man who has made mistakes in the past but continues to try to do the right thing.  He is the patriarch of House Stark, and his family and their northern stronghold of Winterfell represents the first line of defense of Westeros against any attackers that can get through the massive wall of ice that separates the kingdom and the undead creatures that live on the other side.  The Wall is also manned by the Night’s Watch, a group mostly made up of miscreants and outcasts conscripted into service as an alternative to a harsher sentence.  With undead creatures that can only be killed by fire, the Night’s Watch and Winterfell take the threat seriously since they know once the long winter arrives (which can last decades), the creatures will make their move.  In fact House Stark’s motto is “Winter is coming,” but their focus on preparing for future challenges is out of step with the other royal houses who care more for having fun now.

Even Stark’s old friend and liege King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) negects his duty as the King and instead spends his time getting drunk and enjoying women.  Robert asks Stark to be the Hand of the King and essentially run the kingdom for him, knowing full well that it would be safe hands under Stark’s supervision.  Stark reluctantly agrees against his better judgement, but before he leaves for King’s Landing, his wife Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) requests that he investigate the death of the previous Hand of the King, Lord Jon Arryn who may have been killed as part of a plot by House Lannister and Robert’s wife, Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and the rest of House Lannister.  Stark leaves control of Winterfell to his oldest son Robb (Richard Madden) while his bastard son John Snow (Kit Harington) journeys to The Wall to join the ranks of the Night’s Watch.

Catelyn is suspicious of the Lannisters especially since her son Bran’s (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) climbing “accident” which wasn’t really an accident at all, as he was pushed out of a window for witnessing incest between Cersei and her twin brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).  Realizing that her husband is in danger, Catelyn starts her own journey to King’s Landing to warn him about the Lannisters.  There’s good reason for distrusting House Lannister as their deceit and Machiavellian ways have already ended the life of  Aerys II, “the Mad King” and they will stop at nothing until they have capture the Iron Throne for themselves.   They don’t realize that across the narrow sea, Aerys’ exiled son Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and daughter Daenerys “Dany” Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) have their own plans for the throne since Visery’s is assembling an army to retake the kingdom that he believes belongs to him.  In exchange for enlisting an army of barbarians known as the Dothraki to aid him in his quest, Viserys sells his sister in marriage to the Dothraki leader Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) which will backfire later when she falls in love with Drogo.

Upon arriving at King’s Land, Stark discovers that it’s a nest of political intrigue and machinations.  Everyone has their own agenda and Robert is oblivious to just about all of it. The more Stark tries to investigate what happened to his predecessor, the more danger he finds himself in especially when he discovers the truth about who should be the true heir to the throne.  After warning her husband about the Lannisters, Catelyn heads for home but accidentally bumps into Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) in a tavern and takes him captive in retaliation for what happened to her son.  Tyrion tries to reason with her that he’s innocent, but it falls on deaf ears and he is taken to the stronghold of Eyrie, where her sister Lady Lysa Arryn will decide his fate.  With Robert away on a hunting trip, Stark is already making people unhappy with the way he’s running the kingdom, but things come to a head when he tips his hand on what he knows to the wrong people in an attempt to do the right thing.   A chain of events is started that will change everything and everyone will make their final moves in this game of thrones that will have few winners but a lot of losers.

Video  

I’m happy to report that HBO has put out another reference quality release as this 1080p (1.78:1) transfer is perfection personified.  The razor sharp picture captures every single detail and texture so well that you can see every wrinkle, whisker, and drop of blood.  Speaking of blood, there’s a lot of it and its bright red droplets pop off the screen like every other color.  Every color is distinct and vibrant and flesh tones are natural and consistent.  Black levels are solidly dark and offer some very nice shadowing.  Contrast is also excellent and there’s no real digital artifacts to complain about.  If you thought the show looked good during its HD broadcast, just wait until you see this!

Audio  

Game of Thrones’ DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is just as incredible as the picture quality.  Dialogue is crystal clear even during battle scenes and crowd scenes.  It all sounds real which is the greatest compliment I can give.  Whether it’s a discussion inside a throne room, or a camp near the coast, or even in the midst of a fight, it all sounds realistic and true to the environment.  The LFE channel delivers the action in all of its thunder and clamor, and the rear channels offer superb directional effects that are as accurate as they are realistic.  This is truly an immersive mix that will transport viewers to the action.  This is a reference quality sound mix that is reason enough to buy this set!

Extras  

HBO has pulled out all the stops on these extras and this set offers a wealth of goodies for fans of the show.  These are fantastic extras but I do have one complaint and that is that all of the extras as listed on each disc even if they aren’t actually on the disc you are watching.  Since I don’t watch the extras until I finish the show, I usually expect them on the final disc so you can watch them all at once.  Instead, when you watch the final disc and try to select the extras you discover that you have to keep switching discs which is really annoying.  I don’t want to have to go back and put every disc back on to see the extras.  It makes sense that the commentaries are tied to the episodes, but it makes no sense to spread extras across the set, especially when it’s on the Blu-ray format with a lot of space.  The good news is that all of these extras are in high definition which is really nice. By the way, there’s also some hidden dragon eggs that offers some extra goodies.

• Audio Commentaries – There’s seven commentaries with the cast, writers, and producers taking turns on the episodes with the sad exception of Sean Bean who is nowhere to be found on these commentary tracks.  Making up for his absence is the book’s writer George R.R. Martin’s track who not only wrote one of the episodes but who is the definitive source to go to as the man who created it all.  Here are the commentaries:
  • Winter is Coming – Executive producers and writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
  • The Kingsroad – Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Mark Addy (Robert Baratheon) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister).
  • Lord Snow –  Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark).
  • Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things – Writer Bryan Cogman and Kit Harington (Jon Snow).
  • A Golden Crown – Director Daniel Minahan, Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Harry Lloyd (Viserys Targaryen).
  • The Pointy End – Co-executive producer and series author George R.R. Martin.
  • Fire and Blood - Executive producers and writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and director Alan Taylor.
• In-Episode Guides – Every episode offers an interactive pop up info track that gives facts about the pertaining history about the locations, characters, etc. to help viewers get a better understanding of what’s happening.  If you select the Complete Guide it will take you to an even more comprehensive resource called The Complete Guide to Westeros (see below).
• The Complete Guide to Westeros – Whether you got to this from the in-episode guides or if you selected the stand alone option, this extra is full of interesting facts that should cover any question you may have.  Using interactive maps, a guide to family histories, and best of all, twenty-four HD mini-featurettes that totals over an hour, that supplies the rest of the background information as relayed by the cast in character.  This is a genius idea and I hope other series start providing this kind of extra.  For a complicated show like this, this extra is an invaluable resource to gain a complete understanding of the character motivations and histories.



• Character Profiles – We get the profiles of the fifteen main characters (again spoken by the actors themselves) including:
  • Ned Stark
  • Robb Stark
  • Arya Stark
  • Bran Stark
  • Sansa Stark
  • Catelyn Stark
  • Cersei Lannister
  • Jaime Lannister
  • Tyrion Lannister
  • Daenerys Targaryen
  • Viserys Targaryen
  • Jon Snow
  • Khal Drago
  • Petyr Baelish
  • Robert Baratheon
• Anatomy of an Episode: A Golden Crown – Getting down to the nitty-gritty, this episode long picture-in-picture track goes into great detail about the making of the episode through the use of interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, and more.  For as cool as this extra is, I wish they had done it for the rest of the episodes.
• Making Game of Thrones – This thirty minute look at the making of the show is more of the traditional kind of featurette we are used to getting.  That’s not a slight against it as this was enjoyable to watch, but compared to the rest of these innovative extras, it seems dated.  This featurette has interviews with the cast and crew along with Martin and it provides a nice overview of the making of the show.
• From the Book to the Screen – Many of the clips in this were recycled from other extras which is never good but they are all relevant to this topic.  George R.R. Martin, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss talk about adapting the novel for the first season.
• The Night’s Watch – A look into at the soldiers of the Night’s Watch including the Wall that they protect with comments from George R.R. Martin and the cast and crew.
• Creating the Show Open - If you love the opening sequence of the show like I do, then you will enjoy this look at the how it was created and its development process.  The people involved also share their thoughts about this Emmy-winning title sequence.
• Creating the Dothraki Language – Learn how these language was created for the show.

Summary  

This is an incredible show that’s been packaged in a stellar Blu-ray set.  The audio and visual qualities are reference quality and there’s so many excellent extras that this is a must own release.  The show’s writing is smart and complex, the actors are incredible in their roles, and the production of the show is first rate.  This is a show that you will have to pay attention to or you will miss important information. It’s not needlessly complex, it’s just intelligent writing that demands more of you than the usual show does and I have no problem with that. For fans of this genre, this level of quality is a godsend but if you are shying away from the show in fear of the fantasy aspect you should give it a chance because this is a character driven show first and a fantasy show second.  One final word about the show…this is a very adult show with a lot of graphic violence and nudity so if that makes you uncomfortable, then this probably isn’t the show for you but it’s a lot more than just that. Buy this show and you won’t regret it!

Order your copy today!

LAAF Event Description:

The all-time classic THE IRON GIANT comes to the big screen for one very big, very special celebration.  All ticket sales go to charity. Cast & crew reunion – featuring director/writer Brad Bird and a panel hosted by well-known Animation Director Tom Sito including, Brad Booker – animator, Steve Markowski – storyboard, Mark Whiting – production designer, Eddie Rosas – animator, Alan Bodner – art director, and Tad Gielow – computer engineer.  With actors Christopher McDonald (voice of Kent Mansley) and Eli Marienthal (voice of Hogarth Hughes).

For those not as familiar, The Iron Giant is a film about a boy in 1957, during the period of the space race between the U.S. and Russia, who discovers a giant robot in the woods.  The boy, Hogarth Hughes, befriends the robot, who is apparently capable of learning and feeling emotion.  Due to the arrival of a paranoid government agent, Hogarth must do his best to hide the giant robot, in order to stop the army from trying to destroy it.

There are many things that are special about the film, but what makes it stand out, I believe, is the amount of sentiment that comes from the relationship that develops between Hogarth and the giant robot.  For literally being from opposite worlds, seeing how this plays out is especially fascinating and affecting as the story goes on.  The Iron Giant is also notable for being a traditionally hand-drawn animated film that incorporates a lot of 3D animation as well.  Set in the 1950s, it has a wonderful retro vibe, but looks great regardless (and unfortunately, I did not learn whether or not the film would be coming to Blu-ray anytime soon).

Below I have embedded a recording of the full Q&A that took place.  It was quite entertaining and insightful to listen to, especially for anyone that wanted to know more about some what took place in regards to the production of the film.  I have tried to adjust the sound a bit to make it clear enough, though some of the panel’s microphones were lower than the others.  Regardless, please enjoy.

Here is a link, if the embed doesn’t work in your browser: Q&A

I would like to also add how pleasant and humble everyone who participated in the panel was.  The cast and crew, particularly Brad Bird, were all willing to autograph pictures and memorabilia, along with pose for photos for the many fans in attendance.  Eli Marienthal has certainly grown up as well.  13 years after the film’s initial release, he is now 26-years old and studying to get his Ph.D in Geography at Berkley.  Of course, Brad Bird has also managed to find continued success with The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and his recent live-action film debut of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.  What seemed most apparent is how happy they all were to talk about The Iron Giant, which is a film that they seem to clearly all love and appreciate.  And why shouldn’t they?  The Iron Giant is a great film that was able to continue on, even after mixed success theatrically.

The Los Angeles Animation Festival was founded in 2007 by John Andrews and Miles Flanagan.  Frustrated by the lack of a cohesive animation festival in Los Angeles, the founders sought to create a festival experience that allowed unknown animators to meet and mingle with industry professionals.  LAAF is now the largest International Animation Festival in Los Angeles and offers a unique social and business experience to those attending, celebrating both mainstream and independent animation with special screenings, events, panels, awards and contests.  The Festival will take place from March 7-11, 2012, at the Regent Showcase Theater.  Learn more about it here:  http://blog.laafest.com/

Film

John Carter has finally arrived in theaters after many previous attempts to hit the big-screen which never came to fruition.  Legendary animation director Bob Clampett wanted to make a feature length animated version, Disney tried to make it in the 80s with Tom Cruise in the starring role and John McTiernan directing, and years later Robert Rodriguez, Kerry Konran, and lastly even Jon Favreau all tried as well.  John Carter of Mars seemed be doomed to never become a live action movie because of the extensive special effects needed for the aliens and for the Mars landscape.  After Favreau’s attempt failed, Stanton let Disney know that they should buy the rights again so that he or someone else could take it on.  After his earlier success as the director of Finding Nemo and Wall-E to name just a few, Stanton got his wish and he was hired to make his first live action film.

The film’s many challenges would have daunted many directors as there’s the effects, the locations, and the fact that John Carter of Mars has influenced so many movies, that despite being the trailblazer before them, it now seems like it’s the follower.  In this new era of  science fiction movies from Star Wars to Avatar (both of whom borrowed elements from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books), Stanton had to plot a way to remain true to the books yet freshen it up for modern audiences.  As he said, “The view of science, future technology, and fantasy is very reflective of how people understood the world when the books were written (the first was published in 1912).  I think that part of the appeal and charm of these books – and of these characters – is that they are not of our time; they’re of the post-Civil War era.  I wanted Mars, as well as Earth, to have a bit of that flavor, to place it in its own category and not make it possible to even accidentally compare it to other, more current science-fiction or fantasy films.”

Does he succeed?  For the most part the answer is yes, but not without some bumps along the way.  The movie opens with a ton of exposition, names, and descriptions which might be a little too much for audiences unfamiliar with the book.  There’s a lot of setting up to do since Disney is hoping that this will be the first movie of a new franchise.  We meet John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) twice, first as a dead man in a clever framing device that bookends the film, then as an ex-Confederate soldier who lost a lot more personally than just the war and as a result he has no interest in supporting any other cause or fight.  Now out west in Arizona, Carter is searching for gold when he is captured by Union soldiers and taken to meet Colonel Powell (Bryan Cranston) who wants Carter to work for him.

In a fun sequence, Carter continually to tries to escape and we start to see what kind of man Carter is.  His independent and stubborn streak may not make him a model prisoner but it does make for an excellent future leader of Mars.  When a firefight breaks out between the union soldiers holding Carter and some Indians, Carter gets caught in the cross-fire along with Powell who’s is shot off his horse.  Risking his own life, Carter returns to save his one time captor and they make their way to a nearby cave to hide.  Inside, Carter realizes that the cave is full of the gold he’s been searching for, but his joy is short-lived when a man appears out of nowhere and tries to kill him. Carter is too quick for the man and manages to shoot the man first.  Hearing the dying man whispering words to a medallion, Carter takes the medallion and is instantly transported to Mars and the movie finally kicks into gear.

Once on Mars (although its inhabitants call it Barsoom), Carter discovers that the difference in gravity has made him stronger, faster, and able to jump huge distances with a single bound.  He is quicky found by a Tharks scouting party led by a four armed alien Tars Tarkus (Willem Dafoe) who witnesses Carter’s giant leap to escape and orders his men to back off.  While Tars takes Carter back to his people to show off his abilities, elsewhere a beautiful princess name Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) is informed by her grandfather Tardos Mors (Ciarán Hinds) that in order to save thier people, she will have to marry the tyrant Sab Than (Dominic West).  Than is the Prince of Zodanga, and his goal of worldwide domination has been helped along by the appearance of Matai Shang (Mark Strong), leader of the mystical Holy Therns who has given him some powerful technology known as the “ninth ray” which obliterates anything in its path.

It doesn’t take long before Carter sees the princess falling to her death and he jumps to save her and ends up fighting Sab Than and his men who are dumbfounded by the appearance of the superhuman stranger.  After rescuing the princess, Tars forces Carter to join the Tharks’ side after making him choose between freedom and Dejah who is still in their control.  Now caught in another world’s civil war against his wishes, Carter learns of an ancient power source that can end the conflict and restore peace.  Of course there’s complications along the way including gladiatorial games, an unwelcome wedding, and a clash between three armies, but nothing comes easy. Carter has enough trouble as it is, but it doesn’t help that Matai Shang has the ability to shape shift into any person he wants which makes it a lot trickier to beat him.  With the fate of Barsoom on his shoulders, Carter will have to find a way to save Dejah and end the civil war once and for all.

I enjoyed John Carter but it takes too long to get into the thick of things and yet, it also feels like Stanton tried to cram too much into it.  If this does end up being a franchise, it would have been better to spread out a lot of this plot across several movies.  Instead, there’s so much exposition that it all flies by so fast that most people probably won’t have a clue what the difference is between a Thern and a Thark unless they’ve read the books.  In fact, the whole subplot of the Holy Therns is under-cooked since they are introduced without hardly any explanation and seem to have more power than anyone yet have others like Sab Than wield it on their behalf.  And speaking of technology, for as advanced as these Martian races seem to be with their flying airships and mobile cities, why are they still using swords?  Other than the the whole “ninth ray” energy tech (which also is under-developed) these advanced people should be doing a lot better than swords and spears.

But then maybe that’s part of the charm of John Carter.  This hybrid of westerns, science fiction, and creature features works despite all of the reservations I’ve stated.  Part of that is because of the fantastic special effects, but mainly due to the actors involved.  Taylor Kitsch is a great choice for John Carter and he handles both the action and the dramatic beats well.  Willem Dafoe is great as Tars Tarkas as he infuses the character with gravitas, emotion, and utter ruthlessness at times.  In his capable hands, Tars is a fully realized character who’s worthy enough to join the pantheon of other great digital characters like Gollum and Caesar.  Dominic West does another nice turn as a villain who is very similar to the one he played in 300, but he does do them well.  James Purefoy doesn’t have a large part but he does a great job with what he’s got.  As good as all of them are in the movie, the film’s secret weapon is Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris.  Collins brings not only her stunning beauty to the part, but she also makes sure that she is more than a damsel in distress.  In fact one of the film’s humorous callbacks was from a scene where Carter tries to protect her only to discover that he should be behind her once she gets her hand on a sword.  The romance between Carter and her seems to move pretty fast, but honestly, who could blame him?

For those of you wondering about how the 3D looked, I can say that this is the best post-conversion that I’ve seen.  I really wish that it had been filmed in 3D because this would have looked incredible in native 3D.  I saw the movie in RealD 3D and I thought it looked really good.  This isn’t the kind of 3D movie that has stuff flying out of the screen at you but it does add a welcome sense of depth which works great for the vistas of Mars and for horse chases in Monument Valley.  Should you spend the extra money on the 3D version?  That’s depends on what you are looking for in a 3D film.  If you want all of the crazy stuff coming at you and expect that for your hard earned money then don’t spend the extra money.  If you want to enjoy the sprawling vistas of Mars with some extra depth, then I would recommend a 3D screening.  If you do go to a 3D screening you might as well also splurge and see in in IMAX 3D if you can!

Disney has sunk a lot of money into this movie and I hope despite the unfortunate marketing of the movie and the mystifying and undeserved negativity directed towards it by some before it was even released, that it will overcome those challenges and succeed at the box office. I hope I’ll get to see more of them where they can continue to improve on what worked and fix what didn’t. One part that definitely worked was Michael Giacchino’s score which is one of his best and I can’t wait to see the movie again, partly just to hear the score again. His work never disappoints but this time he’s really outdone himself and it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a nomination for it later. We don’t get to see too many movies with this kind of an epic feel to them so I really hope audiences will give it a chance despite it’s flaws.  The movie starts slowly but keeps building momentum until it’s moving like a freight train at the end.  The final reveal at the end of the movie finally explains the dual story-lines and it’s extremely well done and provides a nice satisfying climax to the movie along with its rightful title at the end of the movie - John Carter of Mars because at this point he’s earned it.

John Carter tickets on sale now!

 

 

Film  

Transformers Prime is the best series to follow the original G1 series and this series is a blend of that original series and Michael Bay’s movies.  We get the deeper characterization and plots from the series and Bay’s kinetic action which fuse together to make an excellent new series.  Some of the previous complaints from earlier incarnations has been resolved, while others still remain notably the lack of any worthwhile humans counterparts.  One of the best aspects to carryover to this new series is having the original voices of Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and Megatron (Frank Welker) return to reprise their legenday roles.  Their voices are so indelible in those roles, that I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing them justice (although Hugo Weaver did a nice job as Megatron in the movies).

The show begins with Optimus Prime and his five remaining Autobots protecting the Earth since they have nowhere else to go since their homeworld of Cybertron is lifeless after centuries of war.  The Decepticons are also stuck on Earth but their intentions a lot less benevolent as they are seeking the Earth’s Energon deposits.  Megatron has been absent for awhile having left to search the cosmos to acheive his hidden plans, which leaves the ruthless and megamaniacal Starscream in charge which is how he likes it.  When Megatron returns, he brings with him the blood of Unicron known as Dark Energon, which is said to give the power to control other transformers.  Never one for caution, Megatron mixes the Dark Energon with his own body and is given the ability to resurrect dead autobots and decepticons.

It’s up to Optimus Prime, his autobots, and the lameass humans to stop Megatron’s mechanical zombie army from taking over the universe.  While having a tacit agreement with the humans to work as a team, it’s easy to see that the Autobots got the short end of the stick with that agreeement since pretty much every human in this show is extrememly annoying and generally not worth the trouble to keep around.  For their liaison with the military, they deal with the overweight Agent Fowler (Ernie Hudson) whose main skill is resisting interrogation once he’s been captured.  I don’t know if it’s a budget issue or a creative decision to have Fowler being the sole point of contact between the humans and the Autobots, but I wish they would bring in someone like the G.I. Joe team for a crossover teamup.

He’s still a lot better than the three kids(!) who get to hang out at the autobot base whose sole purpose is to annoy the hell out of the Autobots and the viewers.  There’s Jack, a rebellious teenager who reluctantly joins the war after walking away scared several times, then there’s Raf the requistite twelve year old computer genius, who’s smarter than everyone else, and finally there’s the absolute personification of annoyance – a teenage girl named Miko who is eitehr talking nonstop or putting herself or others into danger, or doing something else equally stupid.  She is so vacuous and annoying that I’m constantly cheering for the Decepticons to step on her.

I’ve never understood why the humans always have to suck in anything Transformers related.  All the way back to the G1 series, the humans have been portrayed as nothing but whiny meatbags of trouble, and I honestly don’t know why Optimus keeps protecting us.  This series also offers a new human terrorist group called M.E.C.H. and even they are lame.  The Decepticons have no need for humans but their backstabbing ways with each other achieves the same result.  Starscream still dreams of being the leader and he has no hesitation in sacrificing Megatron to achieve that goal if he can get away with it.  One of the scenes that made me laugh out loud was watching Soundwave send laserbeak to spy on Starscream after the latter’s less than convinving show of concern for Megatron.  It was something straight out of G1 and it was brilliant continuation of the character’s true personalities.

The animation is very good and I especially like the kinetic flow of the action which always remains understandable, which is something I’ve never liked about Bay’s films since you never know who is fighting unless it’s someone easy to spot like Optimus or Bumblebee.  The show also gives a real sense of scale between the giant robots and their human counterparts.  The scripts for the shows are also a lot better than earlier editions and they’ve raised the stakes higher too.  There’s a lot more violence in this series too which surprised me and made me wonder if I should be letting my almost four year old son watch it.   The zombie Decepticons seemed to unnerve him the most but he was happy to see Optimus kick their butt.  My last complaint is the fact that they’ve added mouths to the robots which looks terrible and detracts from their coolness.  Seeing Optimus without his faceplate just so we can see his tiny little mouth talk is ridiculous.  I have two big requests on my wishlist for the show’s future: one, lose the humans and two, get rid of the robot mouths that make them look like fish.  Other than those gripes this is a great show and a worthy addition to the Transformers canon.

Video  

This 1080p (1.78:1) transfer looks pretty good but it’s not without some flaws.  While the colors are vivid and look amazing in many shots, there’s also some mild aliasing and jagged edges here and there through the series.  It’s not bad enough that it will greatly detract from the show, but it is noticeable and worth mentioning.  Detail is very strong and the robots generally look better than the humans who look far too cartoony for my tastes.  The kind of look like Wii or Xbox 360 avatars and it’s just another reason why I hate seening humans in the show.  The black levels are incredibly dark and I was very happy to see how black and inky they are which makes for excellent shadow effects.  This is a very nice transfer for the most part and fans will be happy.

Audio  

Transformers Prime offers both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and a LPCM 2.0 mix and they both sound very good. The front channels offer clear and understandble dialogue for both the humans and the robots, while the rear channels deliver some excellent surround effects with accurate directionality.  The music also is well presented along with the rest of the mix and it never overwhelms the dialogue.  There’s no sound defects to mention as both of these are excellent sound mixes that won’t disappoint the show’s fans.

Extras  

This set is packed with extras with a huge amount of commentaries and there’s some behind the scenes featurettes too.  What’s also nice is that all of the extras are in high definition. There’s also a nice comic book included that’s pretty good sized as well!

• Audio Commentaries – There’s a ton of commentaries on here full of interesting information from the writers, producers, executives, actors, and more.  Each of these commentaries offer a good mix of people from different professions that combined give you a good idea of what it takes to make the show.  From the viewpoint of the toy makers all the way to the actors performing their parts, these commentaries offer a wealth of information for fans of the show.  These episodes offer a commentary with the following people:
  • Darkness Rising Part 1 – Executive Producer Jeff Kline, Hasbro Studios Developer Mike Vogel, Animation Producer Therese Trujillo, and Art Director David Hartman
  • Darkness Rising Part 2 – Jeff Kline, Mike Vogel, Therese Trujillo, and David Hartman
  • Darkness Rising Part 3 –  Hasbro Studios Executive Director Brian Lenard, Tania Gunadi and Ernie Hudson, and Art Director José Lopez
  • Darkness Rising Part 4 – Brian Lenard, Tania Gunadi, Ernie Hudson, and José Lopez
  • Darkness Rising Part 5 – Composer Brian Tyler
  • Masters and Students – Production Manager Mathias Dougherty, Animatic Artist Meghan Burleson, and Production Assistants Nathan Johnson and Jacob Rivera
  • Scrapheap – Production Manager Sonya Park, Production Coordinator Meredith Rogers, Production Assistant Kathy Cavanaugh, and Post Supervisor Austin Block.
  • Convoy – Actor Peter Cullen, President of Hasbro Studios Steve Davis, and Producer Rafi Ruthchild
  • Predatory – Director Todd Waterman and Actors Sumalee Montano and Josh Keaton.
  • Shadowzone – Supervising Director David Hartman, Andy Pessoa, and Editor Mike Miles.
  • Stronger, Faster – Actor Jeffrey Combs, Writer Mairghread Scott, and Director Shaunt Nigoghossian
  • One Shall Fall – Writers Joseph Kuhr and Nicole Dubuc, Director Vinton Heuck, and Character Designer/Prop Designer/Colorist Augusto Barranco
  • One Shall Rise Part 1 – Nicole Dubuc, Jospeh Kuhr, Vinton Heuck, and Augusto Barranco
  • One Shall Rise Part 2 – Supervising Producer/Head Writer Duane Capizzi, Staff Writer Marsha Griffin, Supervising Color Designer Christophe Vacher, and Background Design Supervisor Vince Toyama
  • One Shall Rise Part 3 – Duane Capizi, Staff Writer Steven Melching, Christophe Vacher, and Vince Toyama.

• Making-Of Transformers: Prime – A short look a the history of the franchise and how they are gearing it for modern audiences.  This featurette briefly covers the gamut of behind the scenes efforts to create the show.
• Toy Featurette – This featurette runs over sixteen minutes and covers the toy angle of the show as we hear about the evolving toy line and the reason behind why some characters were included and others that weren’t, including characters that they wished were in the show.
• Season 2 Teaser

Summary  

I’m going to pretend that the other Transformers shows that followed G1 never happened and that this show picked up from there.  I can only take so much of Waspinator and the other less than iconic robots.  This show is probably the best one overall but it suffers from the same flaw as the previous ones when it comes to the plucky humans.  I seriously hope that the kids are removed from the show even though I know that is highly unlikely to happen.  The good news is that this set has fairly good audio/visual quality and a lot of extras than fans will enjoy.  As long as Peter Cullen and Frank Welker continue to voice their roles (even if Optimus has gotten a little preachy), I’ll be happy to watch them battle it out.

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In order to escape the hounding public and press, Abigail, the famous daughter of a wealthy industrialist, secluded herself in her Manhattan loft on the day she received her enormous inheritance – her eighteenth birthday.  Sequestered at the top of the Columbus Circle luxury apartment high-rise, Abigail remained seemingly secure for nearly 20 years until the day her elderly neighbor was suddenly slain.  Abigail’s world is now disrupted by strange new neighbors and a police investigation that brings the inquisitive and intrusive NYPD Homicide Detective Frank Giardello (Giovanni Ribisi – Contraband, Saving Private Ryan) to her door.  Peering anxiously through her peephole each day, Abigail soon learns that the dangerous new tenants, Lillian Hart (Amy Smart – The Butterfly Effect, Varsity Blues) and Charles Stratford (Jason Lee ”My Name is Earl”), may threaten more than just her privacy.

To win one of these two Blu-rays generously given by Universal Home Entertainment, just leave a comment below and a winner will be selected at random.  It’s that easy!  This contest will end March 9 so enter now!  If you don’t win you can always order it by clicking on the image below!

Puss in Boots

Film  

Out of all of the characters to be found in the Shrek universe, Puss in Boots has always been my favorite and I’m very happy that he’s finally gotten his own movie that will hopefully launch a new franchise.  The first two Shrek movies were pretty good with the second one being the best, but they went downhill quick after that.  In fact, Puss in Boots has more humor (that’s actually funny) and action in it than the last two Shrek movies combined.  That’s not to say that Puss in Boots has no flaws, because it does, but it doesn’t feel like a tired retread like the Shrek movies have become.  For his first solo outing, we learn how he became the suave swashbuckler we all know and love.  Along the way we also learn about his past and about his adoption and adoptive brother and their complicated relationship as well.

Puss (Antonio Banderas) meets his adoptive brother Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) when they were both young in an orphanage.  The two hit it off and work well together since Humpty is cunning and is very good at inventing things and making plans while Puss is good at action and has excellent people skills.  They balance each other out so well that Humpty divulges his obsession about some magic beans to Puss which should lead them to a castle in the clouds where a goose that lays golden eggs resides.  Fairly soon, that obsession is shared by Puss and the two collect every bean they can find in the hopes that it may turn into one of the magic beans they are searching for.

Much later and after a falling out with Humpty, Puss learns that two criminals known as Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris) have magic beans in their possession.  Unable to resist the chance to finally obtain the beans, Puss breaks into their room to steal the beans but instead discovers that he has competition in the form of another cat.  Their battle over who should get the beans alerts Jack and Jill which ruins the opportunity.  Chasing the mysterious cat across the rooftops in an attempt to get revenge for foiling his plan, Puss finally corners the cat and after a dance battle learns that the cat is a female known as Kitty Soft Paws (Salma Hayek).  He is further shocked to learn that Kitty is an associate of his estranged adoptive brother Humpty who wants Puss to join him once again on his quest for the golden eggs.  To get to the castle in the clouds, it means that they will not only have to get the magic beans from Jack and Jill, but also they will all have to work as a team which means that they will need to trust each other for it to work.

Puss in Boots is full of excellent animation that is just lovely to look at and Puss has never looked better.  My only real issue with the film is Humpty’s character whose presence just kills the film’s momentum.  Humpty’s character arc is also half baked and it’s doubtful that the good-natured Puss would have hung around the sullen Humpty as much as he did growing up.  In fact, my complaints about this movie mirror many of the same complaints I had with the Shrek movies.  I want the focus to be on Puss and the surrounding characters packaged around him detract from my enjoyment.  I really disliked Humpty as a character much like I dislike many of Shrek’s entourage.  Funnily enough, I don’t have the same problem with Kitty since she is a fantastic character that plays well off of Puss and the natural chemistry between Hayek and Banderas comes through clearly here.  After all of their years of working together, the two actors have a wonderful rapport together and their playful banter here is a lot of fun to watch.  Once again, Banderas is amazing as the thief with a heart of gold and his delivery of his lines is always funny and touching when needed.  Puss is such a well realized character that he can be thrown into any situation and it will still work.  Filled with homages to many previous films including Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns and even Banderas’ own Zorro films, Puss in Boots is a great adventure movie that both families and film aficionados will love.

Video  

As expected,the 1080p (2.35:1) transfer for Puss in Boots looks amazing like most animated films do in high definition. It’s almost a forgone conclusion that Disney/Pixar’s releases will look spectacular, so I’m glad to see that Dreamworks releases are equally good.  This transfer offers some extremely fine detail that’s so good that you an see every whisker on Puss’ face.  Colors are vibrant and pop off the screen and the black levels are pitch black and solid.  For a movie that spends a good portion of time in candle-lit locations that are full of atmosphere, the action on the screen is never lost in the darkness or obscured either.   Even in these low light scenes, the clarity is never lost and it just looks fantastic.  There are blemishes to speak of either, as there’s no sign of scratches, wear, or other defect in this all digital transfer.  This movie simply looks stunning and scenes like the beanstalk growing up to the clouds show off this demo worthy transfer.

Audio  

The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless mix for Puss in Boots is also demo worthy with an immersive soundtrack that will transport the viewers into the action of the movie.  Dialogue is clear and crisp throughout and the rear channels offer a lively surround field that has accurate directional effects and an atmosphere that feels true and immersive.  No matter where the action is taking place, it feels real and the viewer is surrounded by on and off screen sounds of the world around them.  The music also sounds great, especially the dance sequences between Puss and Kitty.  Fans of the movie will be very happy with this superb 7.1 lossless mix!

Extras  

There’s a ton of extras on here and they are all excellent and in high definition!  I especially liked the bonus cartoon “The Three Diablos” and the Animator’s Corner feature.

• Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos – A bonus Puss in Boots adventure that takes place after the events of the movie where Puss must contend with three kittens that have many of the same skills as him (including the devastating sad kitty face ploy).
• A DreamWorks Fairy Tale – This is an interactive feature that allows kids to create their own rhymes.  Kids will enjoy it but adults will most likely skip it.
• Puss’ Paw Pouncing Challenge – A fun little game where you help Puss catch the light with his paws.
• The Animators’ Corner – This picture in picture feature is hosted by director Chris Miller and the producers of the film, Joe Aguilar and Latifa Ouaou along with a variety of guests including consultant Guillermo del Toro.  This feature is very comprehensive and the talk about the making of the film through commentary, storyboards, concept art, rough animation, and more.  It was interesting to hear their reasons on why they shrunk Puss back to the size of a normal cat now that Shrek isn’t around, and the difficulty they had with the Humpty Dumpty character and his motivations.  There’s a ton of information here and it’s very well done.
• Trivia Track – A banner appears at the bottom of the screen to give you some trivia information and it also track the total amount of meow’s heard.  This is an okay extra but I preferred the Animator’s Corner feature.
• Purr-Fect Pairing: The Voices Behind the Legend – We hear from the cast involved in the movie including: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, and Billy Bob Thornton.
• Deleted Scenes – Three deleted sequences including: “Humpty Plots with Jack & Jill,” “Humpty Repays His Accomplices,” and “Puss in Boots Fights the Giant.”  Since two of these feature Humpty I didn’t mind them being cut but really none of these needed to be included in the movie.
• Kitten to Cat – If you haven’t watched the Animator’s Corner and heard about how Puss changed from the Shrek movies to this one, then this is a nice summary for you.
• Glitter Box Dance Off! - A short look at the choreography in the film as performed by human dancers.
• Klepto Kitty – A cute look at “Dusty” who happens to be an actual “cat burglar.”
• Kitty Keyboard – For those that are interested, this extra offers feline renditions of “3 Blind Mice,” “Humpty Dumpty,” “Jack and Jill,” and “Little Boy Blue.”
• Fairytale Pop-Up Book - This extra lets you watch “Memorable Moments” from the movie or to hear some of their “Favorite Lines.”  There’s also a “Gallery” that features characters from the movie.
• Kitty Strikes Again – This another game for kids where you have to match identical pictures.
• Digital Copy
• DVD version of the film.

Summary  

Puss in Boots is a fun adventure  movie that fares a lot better than the lost two Shrek movies and it’s always fun to watch Banderas bring the feline Zorro to life.  While I didn’t really like the addition of Humpty to the movie, I did enjoy the flirting and banter between Banderas and Hayek’s characters.  This Blu-ray is first-rate with demo worthy audio/visual quality and a bunch of great extras so it’s an easy one to recommend to our readers to purchase.

Order your copy today!

Film  

When I reviewed Robin of Sherwood: Set 1 (read my review here), I said, “to sum up what Robin of Sherwood is like, I would say that it’s a mix of Excalibur, Flash Gordon, and The Legend of the Seeker.  Notice how I didn’t mention Robin Hood?  In an apparent attempt to distance themselves from other versions, the creator of this show Richard Carpenter incorporated black magic and pagan worship into the Robin Hood mythos with disastrous results in my opinion.”  Not only does this final season of the show continue that trend, but it actually amps up the magic and mystical trappings which once again takes the show in an unfortunate direction.

It’s not that I am against the mixing in magic with the Robin Hood legend, but I really dislike the over the top way it’s portrayed in this series.  There is still a mystic man hanging out the forest with antlers on his head but this time he apparently has a son which is convenient since someone has to take over for the fallen Robin of Loxley when Michael Praed decided to leave the show for Broadway and then Dynasty.  I do have to hand it to series creator Richard Carpenter since he came up with a clever way to continue the show after killing off his main character.  Since the legend of Robin Hood has many different facets to it, Carpenter just focused on another one – the story of a nobleman who forsakes his heritage to help out the oppressed.

This time, the focus is on the young nobleman Robert of Huntingdon (Jason Connery) who it turns out happens to be the “hooded man” from the final episode from the second season.  At the end of that episode, the hooded man freed Robin’s compatriots from jail but remained anonymous until Connery could be cast in the role.  As the show resumes, we learn that the mystic of the forest Herne, has instructed Robert to take over the duties of leading Robin’s men against the corrupt powers that be.  Robert doesn’t want to get involved but when Maid Marian (Judi Trott) gets herself kidnapped by a madman who seems to favor Braveheart’s look, he springs into action to rescue her.  But before he can do that, he will need to get some backup before taking on the stronghold.

Rounding up Robin’s former comrades ends up being a lot more work than Robert anticipated and he ends up having to fight each of them in one fashion or another before they will join him.  Since it’s been a year since Robin’s death, each of the men of Sherwood have moved on with their lives except for the homicidal Will Scarlet (Ray Winstone) who spends his days drunk.  Little John (Clive Mantle) is now a goat herder, Nasir the Saracen (Mark Ryan) has ended up fighting in a gladiatorial fight club, with the others not faring well either.  Instead of rushing the introduction of a new main character, Carpenter wisely spreads it out over three episodes which gives the story time to develop more naturally and in a more believable fashion.

Jason Connery proved to be a good choice to take over the lead role and the differences between Praed and him reinvigorate the show.  Whereas Praed’s Robin was moody and was given to brooding, Connery’s Robert is a lot more playful and fun.  Connery brings a light touch to the role and it really helps offset his character from his predecessor and the rest of the so-called “merry men.”  Connery is less believable as a seasoned fighter since he looks like he weights about ninety pounds but he’s also nimble and fast so that balances it out.  The enemies are still the same since the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Nikolas Grace), his right hand man Guy of Gisburne (Robert Addie), and the corrupt Abbott Hugo (Philip Jackson) still are robbing the poor and generally just being unpleasant.  That’s not to say that there aren’t any new villains for the heroes to fight, since there are plenty of new bad guys including the sorcerer Gulnar (Richard O”Brien).  The show’s still benefits from filming on location which adds a lot of beauty and realism to an otherwise serious to the point of being silly series.  If you are a fan of movies like John Boorman’s Excalibur and Flash Gordon, then you should enjoy the series, but just don’t expect a traditional re-telling of the Robin Hood legend.

This final season includes the following episodes:

Disc 1

• Herne’s Son, Part One & Two
• The Power of Albion
• The Inheritance

Disc 2

• The Sheriff of Nottingham
• The Cross of St. Ciricus
• Cromm Cruac

Disc 3

• The Betrayal
• Adam Bell
• The Pretender

Disc 4

• Rutterkin
• The Time of the Wolf, Part One & Two

Disc 5

• Special Features

Video  

This 1080p (1.33:1) transfer is much like the first set since it looks good overall but it’s age is reflected throughout the show.  Taken from the original 16mm film, the scenes that take place outside look sharp and lush for the most part, but the indoor shots look murky and noise prevalent during dark scenes.  Colors are decent but somewhat muted and flesh tones are natural but also muted as well.  There’s also a lot of grain present which isn’t as distracting as usual as it seems to fit in with the look of the show.  This is most likely the best this show will ever look based on it’s age and because of the film and practices used at the time of filming.

Audio  

Robin of Sherwood offers either the original mono track or a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track which is decent but not very immersive.  Oddly enough, only the first three episodes are in lossless PCM 2.0.  This is very similar as the first set as the dialogue is clear for the most part but for some reason the sound effects are louder than everything else and also sound exaggerated almost to the point of possibly being a parody.  I’m sure that wasn’t their intention, but that’s how it comes across now.  I’d also like to once again voice my opinion that the show’s music by Irish band Clannad wasn’t very good (despite the awards they won for it) and it wasn’t suitable for when the show’s time-frame was set.  The cheesy music really undermines the show and really dates it.

Extras  

One thing this show does right is the special features.  Much like set one, this set is jam packed with extras that should satisfy every fan of the show.  There’s over nine hours of extras here that cover every aspect of the show’s production.

• Commentaries – There’s nine commentary tracks with actors Jason Connery, Mark Ryan, Clive Mantle, Nickolas Grace, Anthony Horowitz, producer Esta Charkham, and writer Sid Roberson sharing the duties. The participants share an easy camaraderie that’s still strong and these commentaries are fun to listen to.
• Isolated Score Tracks – Three episodes (“Herne’s Son, Part 1″, “The Power of Albion”, and “The Sheriff of Nottingham”) offer isolated scores for fans of the show’s music.
• Nothing’s Forgotten: The Making of Robin of Sherwood Series Three – This is the highlight of the extras thanks to the in depth feature length retrospective that includes the principal cast and production crew.  They talk about the changes from season two to season three, the making of the show, and share their recollections and more.
• Robin Hood 1-2-3: A Screen Swordplay Demonstration – Mark Ryan and Bob Chapin give a swordfighting demonstration of some sword moves that Ryan used when he played Nasir.
• It’s Showtime – This is a promotional piece starring Happy Days’  Tom Bosley who publicizes the third season’s premiere on Showtime.  I’m not sure how Bosley got mixed up in this show, but it’s always good to see him.
• Series 3 Outtakes –  Over thirteen minutes of bloopers and outtakes that are fun to watch.
• US Opening Titles – In the U.S. market the show was known as Robin Hood which makes sense as that makes a lot more commercial sense.  This is the alternate U.S. title sequence.
• Esta Charkham’s Photographic Retrospective –  A scrapbook of past locations, the cast, and some behind the scenes shots from the filming of the show.
• Promotional Still Gallery – Almost ten minutes of photos of the cast and behind the scenes pictures that has to include hundreds of pictures.
• The Hooded Man, Clannad and Robin of Sherwood – A talk with Maire Brenna of Clannad talking about creating the music for the show.
• TV-AM Location Report – A vintage report from the set.
• DVD-ROM – PDFs of a collection of scripts

Summary  

I have to admit that I never really got into this show.  Between the music, the poorly rehearsed fights, and the super cheesy mysticism, the cast never had a chance to balance it all out.  I had hoped that the presence of Jason Connery and a new direction for the show might improve it, but instead it delved even further into the pagan mumbo-jumbo that hurt the previous seasons.  Some people might like the addition of sorcery to the Robin Hood mythos, but I don’t count myself as one of them, at least not this incarnation of it.  If you are a fan of the show then you will be happy with this set especially once you see the abundance of extras here.

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Film  

One of the reasons that I love history is seeing how closely life as we know it could have changed by the slightest effect. For example, what would have happened if Japan hadn’t attacked Pearl Harbor?  If they hadn’t, would the United States have continued its isolationist stance and thereby allowed the Nazis to assimilate England?  Imagine how the world would be today if the Nazis had won World War II.  Other example would include the ones on this disc which include nine looks at how history was decided by a variety of forces which frequently challenges the established history and conventional wisdom that’s been accepted for years.  Why did Napoleon, who was a tactical genius lose the battle at Waterloo?   Why did the British and Australian troops get massacred at Gallipoli?  These battles and more make up this excellent series that explores what happened long ago through 3-D computer models, maps, artifacts, original footage, and dramatic reenactments, and investigating the scene of the battles, all to learn the truth of what happened.

I had assumed that these episodes would solely be made up of some armchair historians sharing their thoughts but it was much more than that.  Of course historians participate but I didn’t expect to hear from geologists, climatologists, psychologists, meteorologists, firearms experts, forensic investigators, engineers, and a lot of other experts that investigate each battlefield and offer their combined talents to discover the full picture of what happened.  That inclusive approach really makes this series stand out from a lot of other historical shows since the episodes go into a lot further detail than usual as they cover ever aspect of the battle including the reasons why it happened and how the end result affected history.  Another interesting feature of this series to note is the fact that it doesn’t just cover battles from the 1800s since it also devotes the final episode to the war between the United States and Vietnam and offers reasons why it ended the way it did.

This 3 disc set offers the following nine episodes as originally described:

1. Who Got Lucky at Hastings? - An academic uses modern management theory to determine whether William was a better leader than Harold at Hastings in 1066. Meanwhile, an equestrian historian assesses the behavior of horses in battle, and computer experts create 3-D maps of the Hastings area to reveal the secret of William’s success.
2. Agincourt’s Dark Secrets - Medieval warfare specialists investigate how terrain affected the way the 15th-century Battle of Agincourt was waged, what the rare battlefield artifacts tell us, and just what happens when an English bodkin point meets French armor. A remarkable document written just before the battle may answer the key question-not how did the English win, but how did the French lose?
3. What Sank the Armada? - The sinking of the Spanish Armada in the summer of 1588 has been attributed to English heroism, Spanish incompetence, and bad weather. Now archaeologists are working with oceanographers, meteorologists, and ship design experts to uncover the real reasons for the Armada’s disaster.
4. Trafalgar’s Fatal Flaw – New research shows that Britain’s most famous naval triumph, the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, was anything but inevitable. Far from executing a carefully developed plan, Nelson sailed straight at the enemy broadsides based on little more planning than a recently discovered “back of the envelope” tactical sketch.
5. Massacre at Waterloo – What went wrong for the French at Waterloo on June 18, 1815? Experts re-create the defensive ridge where Wellington stationed the allied troops, assess the impact of the weather conditions on Napoleon’s artillery, and consider the psychological state of his commander on the ground, Marshal Ney.
6. The Charge of the Light Brigade – Researchers use satellite technology and archaeological finds to unearth the truth about what happened at Balaklava during the most celebrated battle of the Crimean War. How disastrous was the British cavalry charge-and who were the actual heroes in the defense of Balaklava?
7. Custer’s Last Stand - Native American eyewitness accounts tell a new story of events during the Battle of the Little Bighorn: of chaos and panic, with no gallant last stand by Custer and his men. Using the methods of crime scene investigation, forensic scientists are uncovering evidence of what really happened.
8. The Gallipoli Disaster - Historians show how bad maps and worse intelligence produced the catastrophe of Gallipoli in 1915, and geologists reveal how terrain won the battle for the Turks and lost it for the Allies. Modern experts conclude that no amount of leadership, planning, or luck could have saved this doomed military venture.
9. Vietnam’s Bloody Secret - Veterans from both sides explain how state-of-the-art weaponry and a huge budget failed to overcome the morale and inventiveness of the communist forces. Experts show how America never really understood who it was fighting, what motivated its enemies, or what methods they used.

Video  

Battlefield Detectives is presented in anamorphic wide-screen transfer (1.78:1) that’s decent but nowhere as good as it could be.  This is a DVD set so that’s somewhat understandable, but the series had a soft look which really hurt the overall clarity and detail of the episodes.  Colors are varied but somewhat muddled but the flesh tones are natural looking for the most part.  Black levels aren’t as solid as I would have liked either.  This is your basic DVD transfer that reminds me why I love Blu-rays so much.

Audio  

Battlefield Detectives offers a Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo mix that does the job fairly well.  This is a front channel-centric mix with an emphasis on the dialogue which isn’t that surprising for a historical show.  The dialogue is clear and intelligible and the occasional sound effects used to emphasis the historical recreations also sound pretty good and sharp.  For this kind of show, this mix is really all it needs to tell its story.

Extras  

While there aren’t too many extras on the discs themselves, this set does come with an interesting booklet that contains a lot of relevant information for those who want to learn more.

• Booklet- A 16-page viewer’s guide with articles on the Anglo-Saxons and Normans, the treasure ship Girona, the Crimean War, the history of Kemal Atatürk, and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and a map of Bonaparte’s battles; as well as biographies of major military leaders; plus Nelson’s notable quotes, the story of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” poem, and discussion questions at athenalearning.com.

Summary  

There’s no disguising that this is a low budget show, but that doesn’t detract from the content itself which I found fascinating.  The episodes really make you think and if you’ve learned about them in the past, be prepared to have the accepted history that many of us have to come accept be challenged by these new facts.  Episodes like “Custer’s Last Stand” are especially illuminating since they not only show an alternate look at the battle, but it also proves that not only was Custer outnumbered, but he was also outgunned by Indians who had a lot more firepower than just the bows and arrows attributed to them.  By cataloging the spent shell cases of the different guns and rifles used at the battle, the researchers were even able to trace the course of the battle from the start to the desperate end, when Custer’s men huddled together before trying to escape the Indians’ wrath.  There’s such a wealth of new information that any history buff will love this series.

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The Moment of Truth

Film  

There are some films that are not only difficult to watch but also difficult to review.  The Moment of Truth is one of those movies for me due to its brutal and absolutely real bullfighting sequences.  This isn’t a film with CGI bulls or staged executions, it’s the real deal.  These bulls are basically tortured and then viciously killed for public entertainment.  I understand that different cultures place different values on animals and their customs can seem strange to others, but after watching this movie, any romantic notion I had about the glory and excitement of bullfighting has been completely scrubbed away by images of seeing bulls bleeding from the collection of swords stabbed into their bodies.   Seeing a gusher of blood explode from a bull’s mouth as it slowly chokes to death on its own blood is a terrible thing to watch.

The Moment of Truth exemplifies the best and worst of reality entertainment.  On the plus side, it exposes viewers to another culture, another place and customs that we may not be familiar with.  The drawback to that exposure is being exposed to ideas, events, or customs that we may not agree with.  This movie balances its real bullfighting sequences with a loose plot that tells the story of a poor young man named Miguel, played by real life bullfighter Miguel Romero who is also known as ‘Miguelín’.  Miguel has left his hometown of Andalucía to seek a better life in Barcelona but he quickly discovers that things are hard there too.  Jobs are so scarce that it boils down to only the people that know someone can get a job.  Eventually Miguel does get a job thanks to a family friend, but it barely pays him anything and the work is very difficult.

For Miguel, who had been convinced that he would be successful and respected, his lowly station in life grates on him and he gets more and more desperate.   While hanging out with other poverty stricken people and prostitutes in a bar, he learns that there is an old man that teaches men how to bullfight in the basement.  The idea that he could become a bullfighter with the opportunity to make some good money is too much for Miguel to resist now that he has a direction.  He quickly joins the school and proves his natural talent as a matador which impresses the teacher enough to agree to set up his first real bullfight in a small village outside of town.  Miguel’s performance there impresses a local manager and they sign a contract after the manager promises to make him a huge star and to take him to the biggest markets available.

All of that comes to pass as Miguel starts to compete in many fights and becomes very popular with the audiences. Miguel is less successful in dealing with reporters and he’s lectured by his manager to be more friendly to the press, but Miguel has too much on his mind to worry about saying the right things to the reporters.  The constant fights and the late night parties have started to affect his clarity and performance in the arenas.  For the first time, Miguel starts to feel fear and the loss of his former belief in his invincibility brings about the possibility of some dire consequences for him unless he conquers those fears or quits bullfighting.

The Moment of Truth is loosely based on a story by Pedro Beltran, but the focus of the film is more on the fight sequences than Miguel’s story.  It’s interesting that this movie is considered one of the finest movies about bullfighting (if not the best), despite the fact that it was directed by an Italian director named Francesco Rosi who had no prior knowledge of the subject matter before making the movie.  The Moment of Truth was shot in Spain with non-professional actors and in real locations which adds a lot of authenticity to the movie.  The film’s main showcase are the bullfighting segments and one breathless sequence showing the men trying to survive the ‘running of the bulls ‘ which looks incredibly dangerous.  In fact, several of the men were obviously hurt as they tried to escape, as the bulls either tossed them or trampled them.  It’s these scenes that give the movie its power since we know that it’s all real.  While we may or may not condone what’s being done to the bulls, there’s no denying the tension of the movie as we wait to see what may happen next.

Video  

As you would expect, this 1080p (2.35:1) transfer varies in quality since so much of it was shot outside in a variety of locations and conditions.  It doesn’t help that the action being filmed is also far away since Rosi and his cinematographers Gianni Di Venanzo and later Pasqualino De Santis wanted to capture the action from the viewpoint of the crowd.  In an interesting departure from previous movies, they used a special wide angle 300mm lens that was normally used to film sporting events to film the bullfights.  Thanks to that lens, they were able to zoom in from long distances as well as maintain excellent depth and clarity.  The film was originally shot by Di Venanzo but he dropped out because of the intense bullfights and De Santis took over.  Colors are generally good but the contrast varies thanks tot the filming conditions.  There’s also a lot of grain present and it’s heavier than I would have expected from a Criterion release but it’s not enough to detract from the experience.  This is still probably the best this movie will ever look because of its age and how it was filmed.

Audio  

The Moment of Truth offers only one audio track for this release – an Italian LPCM 1.0 track.  For non-Italian viewers, Criterion has included English subtitles which appear inside the image frame.  The dialogue is clear and crisp and intelligible even if I can’t understand it.  Don’t expect a sonic powerhouse for this release as it’s basically just the dialogue and some light sound effects.  Other than some minor hiss that pops up every once in awhile, there really aren’t any other defects or other issues with this mix.  A new remastered mix would have been appreciated but this one does the job adequately.

Extras  

• Francesco Rosi – An almost fifteen minute talk with the director of the movie Francesco Rosi who talks about how the movie came about and filming in Spain.  He’s open about the challenges the film faced but also pays tribute to the cast and crew of the movie.  Rosi even touches on the bullfights themselves and the polarized opinions about the fights.  He also points out certain sequences where Romero was in serious danger that they were all unprepared for.  This interview was filmed in Italy in 2004 exclusively for Criterion.

• Booklet – A booklet that contains an essay by critic Peter Matthews along with some illustrations.

Summary  

Personally, watching these bulls get senselessly butchered solely for a crowd’s enjoyment just made me alternatively angry and sick to my stomach.  I’m well aware that many will disagree with me and can find enjoyment watching bullfights.  Many people are against hunting as well, but at least those animals are killed generally quickly unlike these poor bulls who are stabbed time and time again, until they either collapse from blood loss or succumb to their injuries and get killed.  Putting all of that aside however, I can still appreciate the technical skill and personal bravery of both the crew and Miguel Romero who had quite a few close calls in the movie.  This is most likely the best bullfighting movie ever made and hopefully the last one.  The Moment of Truth covers every aspect of bullfighting in all of it’s brutal detail so there really isn’t a need for another one, especially since Criterion has done such a great job in bringing this movie back to the public in the best way possible.

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Film  

On the surface, Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve) seems to have it all – she’s beautiful, married to a wealthy doctor who dotes on her, and she doesn’t even have to work for a living.  If she did have to work then perhaps she would have been too busy and might have avoided what befalls her in this movie.  To an outside observer, Séverine has the perfect life but the reality is quite different as Séverine has hidden desires that she can barely control which threaten the good life she currently enjoys.  Because she doesn’t have to work for a living or even around the house (since they have servants) she has the time to take it easy at home enjoying life while daydreaming of being manhandled, beaten, whipped, and raped by men beneath her station, all with the full permission of her husband Pierre (Jean Sorel) who directs the assault.

These daydream fantasies interweave with reality throughout the movie and the movie even opens with one of her fantasies.  We witness Séverine and Pierre taking a carriage ride complete with ringing bells (which come to symbolize her fantasizing) through the woods all the while exchanging loving sentiments to one another.  Suddenly Pierre tells her that he wishes that she wasn’t so cold to him and orders the carriage to be stopped and instructs his coachment to drag her from the carriage.  Séverine is then tied up to a tree and has her clothes torn only to be whipped and raped by one of the coachmen with Pierre’s approval.  It’s at that point that we realize that it was a fantasy once Pierre wakes Séverine from her dark reverie by asking her what she’s thinking of.   She replies that she was thinking of him which is partly true and she tells him of her thoughts of the carriage but leaves out the rest of the details.  It’s obvious that Pierre has heard about the carriage before and he tries to comfort her and attempts to initiate some intimacy that she refuses.  Her constant refusual to have sex with him is also something Pierre is well aware of but he accepts her decision with a kindly but melancholy acceptance that has the resigned air of frequent repitition.

When Pierre and Séverine meet up with some friends, she confides to Pierre that his friend Hussan (Michel Piccoli) repulses her since he acts inappropriately towards her.  The genial Pierre dismisses her concerns since he thinks she is overreacting but we soon see Hussan propositioning her when Pierre is away.  When the group’s discussion leads to talk of a former friends’ descent into prostitution, Séverine is instantly transfixed and wants to know everything about it.  Hussan tells her the address of a brothel that he used to frequent and the next day Séverine is on the doorstep.  She meets the brothel’s proprietor Madame Anais (Genevieve Page) and almost changes her mind as she is torn between her forbidden desires and her upbringing.  Séverine goes back and forth on whether or not she wants to become a prostitute but once she is given a firm hand by one of the customers thus making her the submissive masochist that she’s always fantasized being, she gives herself over to him and revels in her new occupation.  Whether it’s a duke with a necrophilia fetish or a man with a mysterious buzzing box, it’s all enticing to her as long as the customer will dominate her.  The more domineering the customer is, the better she enjoys it which eventually leads to her sleeping with a thug named Marcel (Pierre Clementi) who is only too happy to fulfill her hidden fantasies of being dominated. It’s only when Marcel’s obsession with controlling and having her all day long, does Séverine finally understand the possible ramifications of what can happen if her secret life and her normal life collided.

Belle de jour is an interesting look at at a repressed woman’s journey into depravity that functions as much as a character study as it does as a cautionary tale.  The movie’s longevity and popularity is due not only to the great performance of Catherine Deneuve, but also because of the film’s persistent ambiguity.  Whether it’s trying to discern what’s in a buzzing box that intrigues Séverine, or where her fantasies end and reality begins, it’s all deliberately ambigous and left up to the viewer to fill in the gaps.  In some cases that works well, but the multiple endings of the movie – each with it’s own meaning and resolution – will leave many viewers unhappy as there’s no clear cut comeuppance or redemption for Séverine.  The ending is just as undefined as Séverine herself as portrayed by Deneuve who hides her feelings and emotions behind a blank expressionless face which gives her an unsympathetic and icy demeanor.  The decision to keep the character’s motivations hidden only adds to the mystique and debate about the movie.  This wasn’t an easy movie for Deneuve to make as she felt that “there were moments when I felt totally used.  I was very unhappy.”  Despite not enjoying the process of making the movie, Deneuve later called Belle de jour “a wonderful film,” a sentiment that was somewhat shared by the director Luis Bunuel, who sardonically described the movie as his “biggest commerical success, which I attribute more to the marvelous whores than to my direction.”

Video  

Belle de jour is presented in it’s original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 from a new high definition digital transfer which was created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a 35mm interpositive.  For a movie from 1967, this transfer looks incredible with vibrant colors, sharp details, and excellent black levels.  Criterion asserts that “thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS, while Image Systems’ DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction,” and I believe them.  I had seen the video quality on an earlier release which looked every bit of its age, a problem that doesn’t affect this release.  I can only imagine how good the new Blu-ray edition of this movie must look since the DVD version is excellent.

Audio  

Belle de jour sports a new soundtrack that was remastered  at 24-bit from a 35mm print, which is a large improvement over the original monaural soundtrack.  Much like the video print, this audio mix’s defects were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, so there’s no clicks, hiss, or other defects which usually accompany films from this period.  This is a dialogue heavy film and each line spoken (in French) is clear and intelligible and the subtitles are easy to read for non-French viewers.  One of my complaints with subtitled movies is that the font size and type is usually hard to read or too small, but that wasn’t an issue with Belle de jour for which I was grateful.

Extras  

Criterion is well known for their incredible special features and this one is no different.  While this set may not have as many extras as some of their other releases, what is here is excellent and contributes to our understanding and appreciation of the movie which is exactly what they’re supposed to do.

• Audio Commentary – A movie that’s as ambiguous as Belle de jour just begs for an illuminating commentary and fortunately we get one with Michael Wood (who wrote the BFI Film Classics entry on the film).  Wood clearly appreciates the film and offers a comprehensive non stop commentary that covers Bunuel’s career, the symbolism found in the film, his interpretation of  Séverine’s fantasies and reality, and more.  It’s a very interesting commentary that’s both smart and informative and one that fans will appreciate.
• That Obscure Source of Desire – This is a twenty minute look into Séverine as a character and her desires.  With interviews with feminist writer Susie Bright and film scholar Linda Williams, this featurette offers a welcome female point of view.
• Interview with Screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière – We hear from the screenwriter of the movie himself who discusses the backgroud of the movie and the details of his working with Bunuel.  This is a brief featurette but it’s nice to hear from one of the integral people involved in the making of the film.
• 1966 segment from the French television show Cinema – We also get a short clip from the French show Cinema where Carriere and Catherine Deneuve talk about the movie.  This is a cool addition since it’s really the only chance we get to hear from Deneuve directly.
• Booklet – This booklet includes an essay by critic Melissa Anderson and a 1970s interview with director Luis Bunuel, all of which are very well done.  Anderson does a great job critiquing the movie and the interview with Bunuel is also interesting and very candid.
• Trailers – Three trailers are included: the original French trailer, the original U.S. trailer, and the 1995 U.S. reissue.

Summary  

Belle de jour is an interesting exploration into one woman’s forbidden desires and how it affects her once she succumbs to it.  This is without a doubt Catherine Deneuve’s iconic role that she will always be famous for and one that is perfectly suited to her.  In fact, the role almost seems to be written expressly for her beauty and talents as well as her ability to appear to remain aloof and remote onscreen.  While the subject matter appears to be fairly racy on the surface, it’s actually fairly tame as Bunuel (and Deneuve) keep the sexuality more suggestive than explicit.  The movie is ambiguous and daring for its time and it’s great that the Criterion Collection has done such a great job bringing this movie back to the public with such a beautiful release.

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Cobb:  Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

To reiterate some plot key plot points as a brief refresher, in Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Cobb, is leading a team of corporate spies, with a particular skill in entering unconscious minds and extracting information.  It is theft via the use of dreams.  The main thrust of the film involves Cobb pulling off the ultimate dream heist by planting an idea into a target’s mind, referred to as “inception”.  Cobb’s ultimate reward for this is to no longer work within dream realities and to return home.  In Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson’s character, Gil, is a hack screenwriter spending time with his fiancée in Paris, wishing his nostalgic desires could help him to write his own original novel.  Things take a turn as a magical experience leads to Gil actually entering 1920s Paris, night after night, after the clock strikes midnight.  This leads to Gil getting a chance to explore his dream time period, meeting many of his idols, and dealing with his nostalgic desires head on, eventually facing a choice of which reality he should stay within.

Both of these films share some key plot elements.  In Midnight in Paris and Inception, both films have characters that move through various layers of reality in a sense.  In Inception, the characters move through the layers of another’s subconscious.  In ‘Midnight’, characters move through different time periods.  Both films have their characters moving through multiple layers, as people either go deeper and deeper into another’s subconscious or further and further back in time.  Characters also manage to become lost in both, over the course of the film.  In Inception, the term “Limbo” is used to describe a very deep subconscious level, where a few characters eventually become stuck as a result.  With ‘Midnight’, there is a character who goes too far back in time (which is more of a sight gag), but there is also the notion of Gil and Adriana (Marion Cotillard) getting lost in the love of the idea of staying in their preferred time periods.  The goals in both films are similar as well.  Inception revolves around planting an idea and hoping it grows and ‘Midnight’ revolves around Gil hoping to find his ideas and advice, in order to grow as a writer.

It is fun to think about these two films on a similar level, especially given how different they would appear to be on the outside.  This comparison even extends to the basic “gimmick” that gives these films their hook.  Each film has an inconsequential narrative device to bring the characters into new realities.  Inception requires an unexplained science fiction gadget to bring individuals into the world of their own and other’s subconsciouses.  Midnight in Paris uses an unexplained fantastical twist to allow Gil to go back in time and explore his dream paradise.  These two films are seemingly divided by genre and appeal (fantasy vs. technology; a summer blockbuster vs. a low budget romantic comedy), yet they share an interesting and similar core concept.

Regarding the characters, Gil relates to two characters from Inception quite well.  Gil and Cobb are both our protagonists for their respective films.  The two of them, in the broadest of terms, are smart, well-groomed, and good at what they do.  They also find themselves at odds with others, due to their own issues.  Cobb is on the run, while Gil disappears at night, causing the suspicions of others.  The two also face decisions that need to be made during their tenure within either another subconscious layer or within the past, which will lead to further intriguing plot developments, along with ultimate decisions that will effect the fate of other characters.  The two are thematically connected as well.  Cobb has had difficulties separating his perception of reality, given that he literally has the ability to manipulate it or have it manipulated around him by others.  Similarly, Gil has difficulties in which reality he would prefer to be in, having been given the ability to travel back and forth through time.  Both are men who could be lost in a dreamscape of sorts, were they to become too careless in finding out what they are after.

The other character that Gil relates to in Inception is Ellen Page’s character, Ariadne.  In both films, these characters serve as the “in character”, which the audience can best relate to.  Following an intro that sets up some of the plot and tone of the film, we are introduced properly to the world of subconscious dream levels via Ariadne, who is learning about the whole concept first-hand for the first time.  Gil is simply taken in by a group of strangers, thinking he is going for a random drive, only to discover that he has entered an entirely different time period.  It can also be said that both characters, who can be considered “newbies” to all of this, are able to adjust fairly quickly to these new experiences.  Ariadne quickly learns how to alter the realities of the subconscious, while Gil finds himself learning, relating, and giving his own forms of advice to various writers and artists.  While Inception has more of a task in delivering all of the exposition up front to keep from losing its audience, ‘Midnight’ is more succinct, given that it lets Gil (and us) discover more about his situation as he goes; yet both have these solid starting points in the form of characters to relate with.

Ariadne:  An elegant solution for keeping track of reality.

It is also interesting to note how both Gil and Cobb relate to the filmmakers.  Owen Wilson and Leonardo DiCaprio are playing people who are very much ciphers, for directors Woody Allen and Christopher Nolan.  Wilson is very much in the role of a classic “Woody Allen character”, which Allen surely would have played back in his earlier days.  There is most likely some personal elements associated with this film as well, given that Allen likes to put himself and his perspectives into his own scripts.  Gil is an intellectual persona, with aspirations for a greater and more respected living, while also dealing with his own romantic entanglements.  There are of course neurotic elements that can be attributed to who this man is as well, but watching Gil get by on his wits and his genuine curiosity keeps him pushing the story forward and the audience entertained.

DiCaprio’s role as Cobb seems to fit in quite well with the tone of what Nolan has explored in the past.  While Cobb’s backstory is shown, his basic demeanor has a notion of outwardly expressed confidence and cool, backed by a level of guilt, but also cold distance, which has been a side effect of many of Nolan’s films (not necessarily in a bad way).  Cobb has also shown that he is capable of working in a very large sandbox of ideas within new realities, when need be, just as Nolan has proven his ability to explore his own various sandboxes, when it comes to large scale filmmaking.  DiCaprio and Nolan even have similar physical appearances and given that Nolan developed the story and screenplay for Inception himself, it seems apparent that this personal project may have purposefully, or perhaps subconsciously, effected his choice in casting.  Almost too bizarrely appropriate, but the fact remains that these ciphers for the filmmakers are clearly being expressed in some capacity on screen.

A key element for me, which was the element in both films that gave me enough inspiration to pursue this idea for an article, is the lovely Marion Cotillard.  She is the constant in both films, as her characters (Mal and Adriana) end up performing many of the same actions.  Mal and Adriana are both attractive women who have and form a romantic connection with the lead characters.  They are also both incredibly intrigued by the notion of exploring the multi-layered subject matter of the film’s broadest description.  Mal spends decades with Cobb exploring the manipulation of the subconscious dream environments.  Adriana is immediately taken with her visit with Gil to the Golden Age, which she very much admires.  Both women end up so intrigued by these realities that they decide to stay, giving up the idea of what true reality is, in favor of pursuing a dream.  Given that Inception is the darker of the two films, we also see a consequence for being so enamored by the concept of pursuing a new reality, while only being able to speculate whether Adriana ends up concluding which reality truly is right for her.

These women also prove to be a distraction to both lead characters as well.  For Cobb, this is very much an issue, given that Mal is literally a malicious force that effects his ability to function properly.  For Gil, Adriana is a challenge for him, as he deals with his true thoughts in regards to his own fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams).  Adriana also proves to be one who clouds his mind from what remaining back in time would ultimately mean.  Despite the allure of Cotillard in both of these roles, Cobb and Gil ultimately make a decision to resolve their situations.

Gil: Adriana, if you stay here though, and this becomes your present then pretty soon you’ll start imagining another time was really your… You know, was really the golden time. Yeah, that’s what the present is. It’s a little unsatisfying because life’s a little unsatisfying.
Adriana: That’s the problem with writers. You are so full of words.

The effects of involving themselves in deeper levels of realities lead Gil and Cobb to similar conclusions.  Both characters eventually come to the realization that it is best for them to reject the idea of staying within their dream environments.  There is a mixed level of disaster for Gil and Cobb because of this.  Gil loses his fiancée, who cheats on him during the whole experience, in favor of remaining in Paris.  Cobb loses his wife, who commits suicide, and is forced to go on the run.  Both men, however, also manage to achieve a certainty they wanted all along.  Gil allows himself to appreciate nostalgia and modernism, but ultimately stays in Paris, within his own time and relates to others with a shared interest, picking up a new love interest in the process.  Cobb manages to achieve the goal of seeing the faces of his children, after accomplishing the mission with his team, and safely retrieving his employer in the process (there is ambiguity in regards to the actual reality Cobb is within, in the film’s finale, but that’s another story).

Both films managed to be incredibly successfully, even with some odds against them.  Inception was a $200 million passion project, which could have fallen flat with audiences.  Midnight in Paris was another low-key release from Woody Allen, who releases a film every year, with some arguing that his best years are behind him.  Despite possible setbacks, both films were embraced by critics and audiences, proving to be strong successes where it counted, including high box office grosses (‘Midnight’ is currently Allen’s highest grossing film, while Inception was a blockbuster success worldwide) and the recipients of many award accolades, such as Oscar nominations and awards.

The idea of matching these two films to each other has been something I have had the desire to do since June of 2011.  Watching Midnight in Paris and having various realizations about its similarities to Inception was very intriguing to say the least.  Being that both of these are films I admire very much, it was something I had the desire to pursue further.  Even if one were to have their share of issues with either of these films, I would find it hard to believe that they could not at least acknowledge that these films do share a lot more in common than they would expect at first glance.  Regardless, I would not expect this to go down as a great cinematic find or even one that begs further comparison years down the road.  However, I can only hope the level of joy I had in further exploring these two films, is reflected in my prose.  I may not have trained in subconscious manipulation or received input from Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, but I did at least strive for something that did not result in me getting too lost in an idea; instead keeping my own reality interesting with a fun diversion.

“War Horse,” the Academy Award-nominated Best Picture, is a story of incredible friendship, loyalty, courage, hope and tenacity. Based on the Tony Award-winning play, and set against the sweeping canvas of World War I, this deeply heartfelt tale begins with the remarkable friendship between a feisty colt named Joey and his young trainer Albert (Jeremy Irvine). When they’re forced apart by war, the film follows Joey’s extraordinary journey as he changes and inspires the lives of everyone he meets. No matter where they go or what they experience both boy and horse keep forging ahead, driven by devotion and the hope of returning home. Filled with spectacularly rich visuals, “War Horse” is one of the most powerful and moving stories of friendship and love ever filmed.

On Blu-Ray™, DVD, Digital and On-Demand, April 3, 2012

Film  

When I was offered the chance to review The Sunset Limited I jumped at the chance since it had two of my favorite actors in it –  Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones with Jones directing it which was another bonus.  I admired Jones’ last directorial effort The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada so I was pretty sure this would be the same kind of mature no nonsense film.  I was right about that but I wasn’t prepared for how deadly serious and challenging this movie is and just how demanding it would be.  This movie grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until the very end.

The Sunset Limited takes place in the small tenement apartment of a character named Black (Samuel L. Jackson) who has just saved a man named White (Tommy Lee Jones) from killing himself by throwing himself in front of a subway known as The Sunset Limited.  After the rescue, the two men go to Black’s apartment where Black discovers that saving White’s life is nothing compared to saving his soul.  White is determined to kill himself and Black is just as intent on convincing him that life is worth living.  And so begins their philosophical battle that will either result in White’s suicide or his salvation.

For White, his entire life has been a disappointment even with his upper class life and education that most people would have appreciated.  Instead, his opinion of mankind has deteriorated so much that he wants nothing to do with people and he yearns for the solitude of death.  He believes that in death he will finally be free of everything he hates about others and himself.  “I yearn for the darkness,” he says. “I pray for death. Real Death. If I thought that in death I would meet the people I’ve known in life I don’t know what I’d do. That would be the ultimate horror.”  That attitude shocks Black, who happens to be an ex-con who spent time in prison for murdering someone, found God after being attacked in prison and almost killed.

Black emerged from prison a kinder and wiser man who believes that he’s heard God’s word and he’s determined to help his brothers and sisters of the world.  Because of that faith, Black keeps White as a virtual prisoner in his apartment while he tries to convince White that allowing God into his life would result in his salvation.  To White, there is no sign of God in a world that allows people to die in concentration camps like Dachau and has endless conflict that has resulted in millions of deaths.  Between the two, Black has the harder argument to win because it’s easy to point out what’s wrong with the world while it’s harder to prove that life is still worth living while acknowledging that White has a point.

For most of the movie’s running time, Black is extremely persuasive and his decency and good humor seem to give him an edge over Black’s intransigence.  When Black convinces White to eat some dinner with him and sees that White enjoys it, he believes that it might be the start of not only the salvation of White but also the possibility of a friendship as well.  What Black doesn’t realize is that although White has allowed Black to questions his motives and reasons for desiring to kill himself, he hasn’t fired back until he finally tires of hearing Black praise God one too many times.

Going on the attack, White verbally destroys Black who isn’t prepared for White’s considerable intellect and fury. White’s total conviction in his misanthropic beliefs shakes Black to his core.  As Jackson said in an interview later, “White spends a lot of time trying not to hurt Black’s feelings. He spends the majority of the time saying, ‘You don’t want me to tell you all this.’  But Black’s pushing buttons, until finally, White lowers the boom. He’s so intellectually superior, he knows how to make what he’s saying as scathing and as hurtful as it could possibly be. And Black has no idea of the depths of his despair.”

The acting in this movie is phenomenal and I can’t believe that it hasn’t garnered any awards for Jones or Jackson. Both men offer such powerful performances that really bring the characters to life.  Jones spends much of the movie listening to Black’s rhetoric and answering his questions with as few words as possible, until the end when he finally unleashes the rage and despair that he’s kept bottled up.  It’s not until that point that Black and the viewers realize just how dark White’s soul really is and how futile it is to convince him of the error of his ways.  Jones makes it all believable and the fact that he manages to add some dark humor to the part just proves what a master class actor he is.  As Black, Jackson is as engaging and just as mesmerizing to watch.  He also has a tricky part because his character runs the gamut from a folksy jovial man of God to a murderer when we get a glimpse of the man he used to be before he found the light when he talks about prison.  Neither man is completely right or wrong, but in the end both men will be forced to take a hard look at their beliefs and reaffirm them or admit defeat.

Video  

The movie’s 1080p (1.78:1) transfer looks fantastic as it was shot digitally in high definition with Sony’s F35 Digital Camera that really challenges the oft mentioned statement that digital film can never look like film.  The clarity is extremely impressive with a ton of details discernible in every shot.  You can see every line and wrinkle in Jones’ haggard face as well as each individual whisker on both of their faces.  Colors a muted but deliberately so, as there instances where we see a flash or color that pops.  One thing that always used to bother me with movies filmed with digital cameras was the excessive noise during dark scenes, but that’s not an issue on this film.  Black levels are solid and never crushed and the contrast is impressive.  This is a movie filled with shadows and it looks amazing with no details lost or hidden.

Audio  

The Sunset Limited’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix is also excellent but not without a few flaws.  As this is a movie filled with nothing but an hour and half of talking, it’s no surprise that this is a front channel prioritized mix.  Dialogue is thankfully clear and understandable, which is important because you don’t want to miss any of acclaimed author Cormac McCarthy’s intelligent and thought-provoking lines.  This mix is unusual in the fact that much of what passes for the movie’s “score” is nothing but ambient noises which are intended to emphasize the claustrophobia that White feels.  There’s a cacophony of sounds ranging from subways rattling by to clocks ticking and people yelling and arguing outside the apartment.   These sounds are directed across the rear channels but lack the power that could have made it an even more immersive experience.  The rest of the score by Marco Beltrami blends in well with the man made wall of sound and the rest of the movie.  Overall this is a nice atmospheric mix that supports the movie in all of it’s subdued glory.

Extras  

For a movie this good, I was really hoping for some real in depth extras but unfortunately that didn’t happen.  We get a very dry commentary and a very brief look behind the scenes.

• Audio Commentary with Executive Producer/Director Tommy Lee Jones, Writer Cormac McCarthy and Samuel L. Jackson – I believe this is the most subdued commentary track that I’ve heard.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to discover that Jones is as taciturn in real life as he seems on screen, but I was surprised that even the gregarious Jackson couldn’t liven up the proceedings although he does his best.  After a bunch of long empty patches, Jackson becomes an interviewer just to get some words captured so we hear from Jones and McCarthy more than we probably would have otherwise.  There’s some good information here, but there’s way too many long pauses with no commentary which made me wish at least they would cheat and talk about what was happening on screen.  No dice.
  
• The Making of the Sunset Limited – A five minute look into the making of the movie that includes comments from Jones, Jackson, and McCarthy.  The trio talk about the movie, the script itself, their rehearsal of the movie, and how the set was constructed.  This was nice to have but it as way to short and didn’t offer the substance that I wanted.

Summary  

If there ever was a movie that proved that words can be weapons, it would be this devastating film with it’s philosophical ideas presented with great eloquence for both sides of the debate.  This movie should be shown in every acting class as it showcases two actors in their prime.  This Blu-ray nicely captures those performances with an amazing picture quality that brings the movie to life along with a strong audio mix too.  It’s a shame that there’s not more extras than this, but I will still recommend that you purchase this movie anyway just because it’s just that good.  I wish that there was more films this adult and challenging around.  Make sure you support it and buy a copy so we can see more of them!

Order your copy today!

Film  

After looking for ideas for a new animated movie, Diseny story-man Joe Grant eventually decided to base a story on his springer spaniel named Lady.  While Walt Disney liked the idea for the movie, he felt that the movie needed something more to counter the inherent sweetness of Lday’s story and hit upon combining Grant’s idea with a short story written by Ward Greene called, “Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog,” which featured a happy-go-lucky dog that he felt would fit the bill perfectly.  Walt bought the rights to the story and merged the two which resulted in the beloved  Lady and the Tramp.

The movie opens on Christmas morning and a young man named Jim Dear his wife a cocker spaniel  puppy that they end up calling Lady.  We watch the young puppy grow up and be spoiled in her plush surroundings that make up the Dear family household.  One special morning, Lady is finally given a dog license, which to dogs is a badge of honor, and Lady is quick to find her friends in the neighborhood to share the news.  Two of her closest friends that live nearby include a Scottish terrier named Jock and an old bloodhound who may or may not have lost his sense of smell named Trusty.

Not everyone is as fortunate as Lady, as a mutt named Tramp has no license or a home, but that doesn’t bother him in the slightest.  He loves the freedom of his life with no rules, no house, and no responsibilities to tie him down.  He doesn’t even have to go hungry since there’s plenty of local restaurants nearby including his favorite – Tony’s that is always happy to give the friendly dog a meal.  The Tramp is also the main target of the neighborhood dogcatcher but he’s too smart to get caught.  Unfortunately, some other dogs including a Lhasa Apso named Peg and an English bulldog named appropriately Bull, aren’t as clever as the Tramp and they are captured.  They know that the Tramp will save them and sure enough he does, which only raises the ire of the already furious dogcatcher.

Life is good for Lady until the Dear family welcomes a new baby into the house.  No longer the focus of their attention, Lady is saddened at her change of fortune and is consoled by her friends.  The Tramp however doesn’t share their optimistic appraisal of the situation and tells her that it’s the beginning of the end for her and that she might as well prepare for a life outside in a doghouse.  The Tramp is so different from Lady that she can’t help but be interested in him much like a certain princess who fell in love with a smuggler in a galaxy far far away.

When the Dears go on a trip, they have Aunt Sarah come to watch over the baby and Lady.  They don’t realize that Aunt Sarah doesn’t like dogs and to make matters worse, her two Siamese cats cause trouble and make Lady look like the guily one.  When Sarah puts a muzzle on Lady that’s the last straw and Lady runs away only to be chased by some dogs.  The Tramp comes to her rescue and helps her get free of the muzzle and shows Lady what his life is like “footloose and collar free.”  Their day ends with a romantic candle-lit spaghetti dinner at Tony’s complete with music and singing.

The next day the Tramp chases some chickens and during their escape Lady is captured by the dogcatcher and taken to the pound.  While there, the other dogs let her know that her license will allow her to leave and proceed to tell her stories about the Tramp’s background which only causes him trouble when she later confronts him about his past girlfriends and his failure to rescue her.  Now chained in the back yard by Aunt Sarah, Lady spot a rat making its way into the baby’s room and barks for help.  The Tramp hears her barking and returns to try to save the baby from the malicious rat and to try to win back Lady’s love.  From there, there’s some more misunderstandings, acts of bravery, and of course a happy ending but I won’t say more than that.

Lady and the Tramp is a great Disney movie, but it’s also a great movie period.  The movie is filled with fun and interesting characters, a lot of great songs by Peggy Lee, and some very nice atmosphere.  I may be somewhat biased since I’ve owned two cocker spaniels that looked a lot like Lady, but I would still consider the movie to be a classic all on its own.  The story of two lovers from opposing sides of the tracks has been told many times and when done right can always be entertaining and this is one of those times.  Another bonus to the movie is that it was filmed in CinemaScope which looks great today on our wide-screen tvs.  This is the kind of movie that Walt Disney excelled at making and even though the movie was interrupted by World War II and shelved for awhile, you couldn’t tell by looking at the film.  This is another Disney classic that should be in every-one’s home!

Video  

Like their other Diamond Editions, Disney has done another stellar job restoring this movie that I will wager looks better here than it did when it was first released.  This 1080p (2.55:1) transfer looks so good that you will think that the movie is a brand new Disney film rather than being a fifty-seven year old film!   Colors pop off the screen, there’s an abundance of detail present, and the black levels are incredibly dark and solid.  This transfer is simply perfection, with no blemishes, scratches, or artifacts of any kind marring its exquisite beauty.  This is the best this movie has ever looked hands down.

Audio  

Lady and the Tramp offers two choices for your listening pleasure: a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track and a DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 mix that’s meant to hew as closely as possible to the original mix.  Both sound great but for me personally, I liked the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix best because it felt the most immersive.  Dialogue (and barks) are clear and intelligible with none of the hissing or other age-related issues that can pop up in these older films.   This is primarily a front channel mix with the rear channels handling the musical score and some ambient noises.  The many wonderful musical numbers sound fantastic and will have you tapping your foot immediately.  Fans of the movie’s soundtrack will be very pleased with this fine mix.

Extras  

This is another jam-packed Blu-ray that deserves its Diamond Edition moniker! There’s hours of extras for you to wade through and all of them are in high definition with the exception of the Classic DVD extras that have also been provided.

• Disney Second Screen Featuring “Inside Walt’s Story Meetings” - Download this app from the Apple App Store and sync  it with The Lion King to get access to extra content such as interactive games, storyboards and concept art from the film, animation tests, trivia, and more.  You can see a video showing off this feature below.
  
• Inside Walt’s Story Meetings: Audio Commentary – If you ‘d like to hear Walt talk about the movie thanks to a collection of recordings combined together (and who wouldn’t?), then you should make sure that you listen to this commentary.  You can’t find this in the bonus features section like you’d think, but instead after selecting “play movie” where you can turn on the excellent commentary.
  
• Introduction with Diane Disney Miller – In what is becoming a tradition on these new Disney Blu-rays, we hear from Walt’s daughter Diane Disney Miller.  In the past, she primarily spends her time pitching the Walt Disney Museum in San Francisco, but this time she also talks a bit about her father and the movie too.
  
• Backstage Disney: Diamond Edition – This collection of extras lasts almost 30 minutes and offers quite a bit of interesting information.  They include:
• Diane Disney Miller: Remembering Dad – A nice but brief look at Walt Disney as remembered by his daughter.  A lot of this information is already widely known, but it was still nice to hear it again.
• Deleted Scenes – We are given three deleted scenes in storyboard format.   They’re ‘Introduction of Boris’, ‘Waiting for Baby’, and ‘Dog Show’.
  
• Music & More – We get a bonus song that wasn’t recorded titled ”I’m Free as the Breeze,” by Ray Gilbert and Eliot Daniel.
• Classic DVD Bonus Features - At a whopping 160 minutes, these classic extras from the previous release cover just about everything a Lady and the Tramp fan would want.  There’s the almost hour long ‘Lady’s Pedigree: The Making of “Lady and the Tramp’, the featurette ‘Finding Lady: The Art of The Storyboard’, the ‘Original 1943 Storyboard Version of the Film’,’ a look at “The Siamese Cat Song”: Finding A Voice For the Cats’, as well as the ‘Puppy Pedia: Going To The Dogs’, ‘”Bella Notte Music Video’, ‘Theatrical Trailers’, some ‘Excerpts From “Disneyland” TV Shows, and finally some more ‘Deleted Scenes’.

Summary  

Lady and the Tramp is one of Walt Disney’s enduring classics that has never looked or sounded better than this Blu-ray.  The movie is wonderful and Disney has pulled out all of the stops to deliver one of the best looking Blu-rays I’ve seen in awhile, as well as a much improved soundtrack.  As if that wasn’t enough, it’s has hours of extras that are interesting and informative which makes this a must buy for fans!

Order your copy today!

Film  

When I first heard about this release I thought it was WWII In HD (which I reviewed here) converted into 3D but surprisingly enough this is an all new documentary.  Which upon reflection makes sense since this documentary is made up of stereoscopic footage that was filmed by Nazis as well as 3D footage filmed during Allied reconnaissance missions.  There’s also 3D photographs taken during the occupation of France and during the rise and fall of the Third Reich.  It’s truly amazing that all of this material has survived the war only because they were inadvertently protected by how they were stored such as in attics or in an underground archive and more.

I was happy enough to see World War II footage in color in the earlier releases but this is even better.  Watching the Nazi training film that was shot in 1942 of  soldiers shooting their anti-aircraft guns really brings history to life.  It was also very interesting to see all of the 3D pictures that have been included, which is really surprising that that many 3D pictures were taken that long ago and have survived to today.  The German stereoscopic pictures were taken by Heinrich Hoffmann who was Hitler’s official photographer and the man who was smart enough to suggest that Hitler and him share royalties from every image used of Hitler that was taken from his photos which made them rich.

The main drawback to this release is that it’s only 44 minutes long which doesn’t give much time to examine all of the historical ground I would have liked.  Of course, there are plenty of other releases that do that but it would have been nice to have a longer documentary.  There’s also some modern footage mixed in that adds nicely to the proceedings and show the advance of time.  WWII In 3D is narrated by Tom Wilkinson who does a nice job keeping the history moving with a dignified and reserved style that works well with this documentary.  WWII In 3D does a nice job using the stereoscopic materials to tell the rise and fall of Hitler’s Third Reich in a unique way that really benefits from the 3D process.  Seeing these 3D images come to life (including an unsettling one of Hitler himself), is really cool and for history buffs like me, a whole new way to examine these snapshots into the past which provide a lot more impact in 3D.

2D Video  

3D Video  

This 1080p (1.78:1) transfer looks really good for both the 2D and the 3D elements.  The highlight of the set is the 3D footage shot in 1943 of the soldiers using their anti-aircraft gun and it’s very impressive considering its age.  The modern day 3D footage also looks good but I wish more time was spent on the pictures and footage and less time watching experts  looking at 3D pictures themselves.   The 3D photographs look sharp and have nice detailed textures and don’t be surprised to find yourself pausing the movie to get a longer look at these pictures.  Ghosting isn’t really an issue here and there weren’t any blemishes that detracted from the picture.  While this may not be the finest 3D effort out there, it is pretty much the only one that involves actual footage and pictures from WWII and I thought it was fascinating to see it.

Audio  

WWII In 3D’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix does the job nicely but without any real flair.  It’s a by the numbers soundtrack that one would normally find on these kind of releases, with the narration coming from the center channels and the sound effects and music delivered through the rear channels.  The narration by Tom Wilkinson is clear and understandable, as are the other experts who add their two cents to the proceedings.  The music remains somewhat subdued in the background and the effects have been layered in nicely.   This is an above average soundtrack for a documentary and it serves the material well.

Extras  

There are no extras on this disc and unfortunately that will drop the final score lower than it should be.

Summary  

For WWII buffs who have a 3D setup, this should be an automatic buy since it offers a new way to see history and the world’s biggest conflict.  The 3D adds a surprisingly amount of freshness to a historical documentary and I hope more releases are done in 3D in the future.  This disc’s audio and visual presentations are solid but it’s a shame that there’s no extras considering that this is a pretty expensive release that’s only 44 minutes long.  I would still recommend it however because seeing the past in 3D is irresistible!

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Film   

Series 1 

Series 2 

I’m a big fan of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot character and I’ve enjoyed the books, the movies, and especially the television show starring David Suchet as the imcomparable Poirot.  No other actor has played Poirot more than Suchet, and it’s been recently announced that he will finally be able to achieve his dream of filming every story written for Poirot when the series finishes filming in 2013.  While Albert Finney was good in Murder on the Orient Express as was Peter Ustinov in the the further theatrical movies, but Suchet has captured the character like no other.  Before taking on the role, Suchet read all of the stories and took notes about every description and characteristic of the character.  As he described his process later, “What I did was, I had my file on one side of me and a pile of stories on the other side and day after day, week after week, I ploughed through most of Agatha Christie’s novels about Hercule Poirot and wrote down characteristics until I had a file full of documentation of the character. And then it was my business not only to know what he was like, but to gradually become him. I had to become him before we started shooting.”

That attention to detail paid off as he has now become the de facto Poirot for the public and has achieved the rare feat of playing a single character over a span of twenty-three years.  Over that period of time, the cast has changed over the years, with some characters coming and going depending on the the novels the show was based on.  Popular characters like Captain Hastings, Chief Inspector Japp, and Miss Lemon all disappeared when the series returned for the 2003 season, which was consistent with the plotlines the shows were based on but it was unpopular with viewers.  It’s been difficult for fans of the show to watch it in any kind of semblance of order since it’s been released by a variety of studios but in a confusing hodgepodge of editions.  For the U.S. market, both Acorn Media and A&E Home Video have split the rights to the show with Acorn Media owning the rights for the 36 standard-length episodes, including the first nine double-length episodes, and the episodes broadcast since 2008.  The other movie-length episodes are distributed by A&E, who co-produced several of them.  (You can read my review of the Agatha Christie Poirot – Movie Collection Set 6 here).  In a much appreciated move, Acorn Media is now releasing the series in it’s original UK broadcast order starting with these two editions with more to follow.

Here is the list of episodes to be found on the Series 1 and Series 2 sets:

Series 1:

Disc 1

1. The Adventure of the Clapham Cook – Finding a missing cook proves a challenge for Poirot.
2. Murder in the Mews – Poirot investigates a suspicious death on Guy Fawkes Day.
3. The Adventure of Johnnie Waverley – Poirot probes kidnapping threats against a rich man’s son.
4. Four and Twenty Blackbirds – The detective uses his culinary knowledge to solve a case.
5. The Third Floor Flat – Poirot looks into a murder that occurred close to home.

 Disc 2

1. Triangle at Rhodes – A new case interrupts the sleuth’s Greek holiday.
2. Problem at Sea – Poirot unravels the mystery of a woman killed aboard a cruise ship.
3. The Incredible Theft – Poirot is called in when top-secret government documents get stolen.
4. The King of Clubs – A playing card is the only clue in a complicated case.
5. The Dream – A wealthy man asks Poirot to investigate his recurring nightmare.

Series 2:

Disc 1

1. Peril at End House – Poirot fears for the safety of a young female friend.
2. The Veiled Lady – The detective takes a risk by helping a mysterious woman.
3. The Lost Mine – Poirot looks into the disappearance of a valuable map.
4. The Cornish Mystery – An apprehensive wife asks Poirot to investigate her husband.

 Disc 2

1. The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim – A wealthy banker suddenly goes missing.
2. Double Sin – Poirot makes a shocking announcement about his career.
3. The Adventure of the Cheap Flat – Poirot harbors suspicions about a bargain piece of real estate.
4. The Kidnapped Prime Minister – Poirot is charged with solving a high-profile case.
5. The Adventure of the Western Star – A jewel thief is no match for Poirot’s sleight of hand.

I hadn’t seen these early seasons before so this was a double treat to not only get new episodes to watch and to be able to see them on Blu-ray too.  These earlier seasons differ quite a bit from the later ones since there’s more of an emphasis on humor and an entirely different look as well.  The series started off with a fantastic Art Deco look that must have been phased out over time.  From the show’s opening title sequence throughout the show, fans of Art Deco will enjoy seeing these episodes.  Of course all of the mysteries are interesting (these are Agatha Christie stories after all), but I really enjoyed the comedic interplay between Poirot, Hastings (Hugh Fraser), and Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson).  The humor is all character based which makes it even funnier since it could be Poirot getting frustrated by his friends’ lack of culture or their amusement at his finicky and pompous nature.  As I’ve observed before, Poirot is a fantastic character who just as brilliant and eccentric as his literary counterpart Sherlock Holmes.  His formidable intellect is nicely counter-balanced with human flaws such as his ego which humanizes that character.  In one of the best episodes of the series (and can be found on the Series 2 set), is “The Veiled Lady,” where Poirot’s belief that he could have been a master criminal is put to the test to hilarious results when he resorts to breaking into a residence to recover some letters and discovers that he is a much better detective than a thief.  This is a great show and now that you can watch it in the original broadcast order just makes it even more enjoyable to see. 

Video 

Series 1 

Series 2   

These episodes have retained their broadcast 1.33:1 aspect ratio for this 1080p transfer and they look quite a bit better than the previous DVD releases.  For both series, the colors are a lot brighter, there’s a greater degree of clarity and sharpness, and by the second series, the flesh tones are a lot more natural and consistent.  Both series look very good but I would have to say that Series 2 is the better of the two.  While some minor DNR appears to have been used for Series 1, Series 2 appears to have not needed it.  Black levels on both sets could have been better but other than that, both of them look much better than the previous home video releases. 

Audio 

Series 1    

Series 2    

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono mix for both sets is adequate but could  have been improved with a lossless mix.  This is a front channel focused release which is fine since it’s basically an all dialogue driven show.  The dialogue is clear and clean, and the sound effects (which aren’t that involved) also sound fine.  Christopher Gunning’s main theme and score for the show also sounds pretty good but could have benefited from a better mix.

Extras   

Series 1    

Series 2    

There are no special features for either series set which is a shame for the fans and it will unfortunately bring down the final score.

Summary   

This is a fantastic show and now there’s even more of a reason for you to start watching it now that it’s in the original broadcast order and in high definition.  These sets offer much better picture and audio quality than the earlier releases and even without  extras, they are worth the extra cost to upgrade to.  David Suchet is wonderful as the one and only Poirot and any fan of mysteries will love this show. 

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Film  

The Apartment is considered one of Billy Wilder’s finest movies and it’s been on my list to see for a long time.  I’m glad I waited because this Blu-ray is first rate.  The idea of the movie was based on several real life stories from which I.A.L. Diamond wove together different aspects to create the movie.  After the great success of his previous collaboration with Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot, Billy Wilder wanted to work with the actor again.  He then enlisted Shirley MacLaine, but he had to replace Paul Douglas with Fred MacMurray when Douglas died days before filming.

The Apartment tells the tale of a low level accountant named C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) who is so desperate to be promoted within his insurance company, he allows his superiors use his apartment for their extramarital liaisons. What started off as a kind gesture for one boss to use his apartment to change his clothes in, has turned into a daily routine with reservations on his place every day of the week.  Baxter hates the situation as none of his superiors mind in the least that they are impacting his life, but he is scared to stop it in fear that he won’t get his promotion.

Since Baxter now has so much free time on his hands, he spends a lot of it watching and talking to one of the elevator operators in his office building called Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) who he’s been attracted to for a long time.  Fran seems completely out of his league since most of his bosses have already tried to woo her and failed. Baxter has issues at home too since his neighbor’s are tired of hearing what’s going on in his apartment and they assume he is the sole cause of it all, a criticism that he accepts rather than tell them the truth.  In fact, one of the running gags of the movie is his neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss (Jack Kruschen) seeing the countless women go in and out of the apartment in constant bewilderment.

All of his long hours at work and sitting outside in the freezing cold while waiting to be allowed back into his apartment finally pay off for Baxter when four of his mid-management “clients” write a glowing recommendation about Baxter that’s so positive that it catches the eye of Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) who is the Director of Personnel.  He calls Baxter into his office and let’s him know that he’s aware that something’s going on and turns the screws on Baxter until Baxter  agrees to give him a key to the apartment in exchange for the promotion.  To sweeten the deal, Sheldrake gives Baxter two tickets to see “The Music Man” in exchange for the use of the apartment that night.  An astonished and happy Baxter agrees, and he invites Fran to join him that night to see the play which she agrees to but after she meets with her former paramour for a drink.

What Baxter doesn’t realize is that the man Fran is meeting is Sheldrake himself who convinces Fran that he’s going to leave his wife and children and marry her.  Despite knowing better, Fran believes him and they go to Baxter’s apartment even though Fran isn’t aware that it’s Baxter’s whom she just stood up.  Baxter is disappointed by her not showing up but the promotion he has long dreamed about cheers him up a lot and he forgives her.  Later, when Baxter discovers a broken mirror  left in his apartment, he returns it to Sheldrake who says that the owner of it had thrown it at him.  It’s not until the office Christmas party where Baxter thinks he might be winning Fran over that he discovers that she is the woman Sheldrake is seeing when she offers him her broken mirror to see how his new hat looks.  Crushed at the discovery, his promotion doesn’t seem as important as it once did compared to his feelings for Fran.

Things take a darker turn when Sheldrake’s secretary (Edie Adams) tells Fran that she is the latest in a long line of women to be Sheldrake’s mistress and that he’s told each one of them that he would divorce his wife for them too. After hearing what she had long suspected, Fran angrily questions Sheldrake while they are at Baxter’s apartment, but he tries to placate her until it’s time for him to go home to his family.  Fran is so distraught at the realization that she will never be loved by Sheldrake like she loves him, that she takes an overdoes of sleeping pills and goes to sleep in Baxter’s bed.  For poor Baxter, who was also depressed at the apparent loss of Fran to Sheldrake has spent hours in a bar getting drunk waiting for Sheldrake’s time to be up before returning home.  He comes home with a drunk woman he picked up at the bar only to discover Fran on the brink of death.  That brush with death clarifies every-one’s situation and feelings as Baxter must decide what’s most important to him – Fran or his promotion, while Fran must choose between men and restore her self-esteem.

I have to say, that The Apartment is not the movie that I thought it would be.  I was expecting an out and out comedy film, but this was more of a dramedy especially with the darker elements in the last act of the movie.  To everyone in the film’s credit, both the comedy and the dramatic elements are excellent.  Jack Lemmon was perfect for this movie as he’s such a great actor that he makes it all believable.  His nervous energy and ticks make the character a lot of fun to watch and his ease balancing both drama and comedy shows why he was one of our best actors.  Shirley MacLaine is also good as Fran who knows what the reality of her situation is but refuses to believe it until it’s almost too late.  It’s not a big role but she does a lot with it and she makes us sympathize with the downtrodden young woman.

It was something of a shock to me to see Fred MacMurray in this kind of a role, since I grew up watching him in Disney movies like The Absent Minded Professor, in which he always played kind and paternal roles.  Seeing him as the amoral Sheldrake who bullied anyone that got in his way was a far cry from the roles I was used to seeing him in. MacMurray was brilliant as Sheldrake, especially the scene where he blackmails Baxter.  While he may not have been the first choice for the role, I think he was perfect for it with his natural presence and demeanor being used to play a selfish man.  The movie sports a great script from Diamond and once again Wilder proves that his reputation as a director was well-deserved.  While I think the movie could have been trimmed more (it runs a little over two hours), there’s no denying the talent involved in this movie and it’s place in movie history.

Video  

This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer is very impressive for a movie this old.  The black and white cinematography looks stunning and could almost be called noirish with all of it’s shadowy scenes.  Detail and textures look great and have a clarity that will allow you to see the designs in the suits.  The black levels are gloriously dark and the contrast is spot on.  For a movie this old, you’d expect to see a lot of defects and blemishes, but only other that a few specks here and there, this transfer looks fantastic.  This is a very clean presentation that looks cinematic and without heavy scrubbing from DNR.  Fans of the film will be very happy!

Audio  

The Apartment’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is also impressive despite it’s age with a clean sounding sound mix that clearly delivers the film’s many witty one-liners.  Most of the dialogue is primarily delivered by the front channels, with only minor instances of the rear speakers offering some directional effects.  Adolph Deutsch’s score for the movie also sounds good and balanced in well with the rest of the movie.  To make it even better, there’s no age related defects on the sound mix like hissing or scratches either.

Extras  

There’s not a lot of extras on the disc, but the ones that are here are good ones.  The bad news is that they are in standard definition with the exception of the trailer.

• Commentary with Film Historian Bruce Block – This is an informative commentary that’s filled with some good information about the movie and Block also offers some great stories as well.  He does occasionally drop into just watching the movie and describing the action onscreen. but it’s hard not to on a movie this good.
• Inside The Apartment – My favorite extra on this disc is this thirty minute look at the making of the movie and it’s director.   We hear from a bunch of critics and historians including: Molly Haskell, Robert Osborne, Ed Shov, and Drew Casper  and even better, with cast members Shirley MacLaine, Edie Adams, Johnny Seven, Hope Holiday.  In a nice touch, we also hear from Jack Lemmon’s son Chris Lemmon and I.A.L. Diamond’s son Paul as well.  Combined, they all take us behind the scenes of the movie and why it’s so respected.
• Magic Time – The Art of Jack Lemmon – Jack’s son Chris (among others) talks about the life and career of his inimitable father.
• Theatrical Trailer

Summary  

There’s a reason this dramedy won five Oscars including Best Picture and it’s a refreshingly mature film filled with adult content that surprisingly escaped the censors of the time.  While there’s nothing overt, there’s plenty that’s hinted at and sometimes directly shown.  The cast is fabulous and this is one of Wilder’s best movies.  This Blu-ray is easy to recommend since both the audio and the picture quality are excellent and the extras are nice too.  You should have this movie in your collection!

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Film  

Rebecca became Alfred Hitchcock’s first American produced movie when he teamed up with David O. Selznick to make five movies together over a period of seven years.  Hitchcock had wanted access to more money and bigger stars and all that came together for him starting with Rebecca.  Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier, this Gothic tale of obsession and secrets was a perfect vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock’s talents.  His movie is full of dark and oppressive atmosphere that steadily builds suspense over the course of the movie.

When the movie opens, we see a man named Maximilian (Maxim) de Winter (Laurence Olivier) who may or may not be contemplating a suicidal jump from a cliff.  To a young woman (Joan Fontaine) who see him at the edge of the cliff, he looks like he’s ready to jump and she tries to intervene, much to his annoyance.  He runs her off only to later see  the young woman (who is never named) again in the lobby of the hotel.  He learns that she is the paid companion to the haughty Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates) who forces him to drink coffee with them.

It doesn’t take long before Maxim and the young woman start to see each other once Mrs. Van Hopper develops a cold and is bedridden.  For the young woman, Maxim is a handsome and dashing figure who belongs to a world that she can only dream of.  For Maxim, the young woman’s innocence and modesty is a welcome relief from his own personal demons that have haunted him since the death of his wife Rebecca de Winter.  By the time Mrs. Van Hopper is ready to return to New York with her companion, Maxim intervenes with a marriage proposal for the young woman which she readily accepts.

Now married, the couple returns to Maxim’s huge family mansion that’s known as Manderley.  Just seeing the house overwhelms the young woman and from that point forward she will continually feel out of place.  Upon entering the mansion she is met by an army of staff that are there to cater to her every whim.  On the surface, all of the staff are kind to the young woman, but they constantly make cutting remarks comparing her to the previous Mrs. de Winter. None of the servants are more bitter about Maxim’s new wife than the head housekeeper the creepy Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson).  Mrs. Danvers has an extremely unhealthy obsession about Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter and she barely is able to mask her disdain and fury from the young woman whom she considers to be common and unworthy.  Rebecca’s room is now kept as a shrine to her memory and maintained jealously by Mrs. Danvers .

Since all she has heard and seen since she arrived at Manderley is either Rebecca’s name or her possessions, the young woman becomes determined to discover the truth about Maxim’s late wife and to learn the details of her death.  That task isn’t easy since no one wants to talk about her other than Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca’s “cousin” Jack (George Sanders) who doesn’t seem all that trustworthy.  In fact, the obsequious Jack may now a lot more than he is letting on but she avoids him because Maxim has warned him to stay away.  Try as she might, the young woman is continually set up to fail by Mrs. Danvers whose acts of sabotage  keep getting her in trouble with Maxim.  At one point, Mrs. Danvers tries to convince the young woman to commit suicide and does everything she can to make it happen.  As you’d expect, eventually all of the secrets are made known, with every player trying to achieve their goals one last time.

Rebecca is a moody atmospheric mystery movie that many feel should be a thriller.  It has all of the makings of a thriller but that’s not the direction Hitchcock took it.  Instead, he focused on developing a forbidding, oppressive atmosphere once the couple arrives at Manderley.  This is a strange hybrid of a movie however, with the first part of the movie being presented as something of a romantic comedy (minus the whole possible suicide jump) but shifts gears once they reach Manderley.  Hitchcock slowly builds the suspense (a little too slowly for some) and the final reveal is effective but not as much as it should have been considering the talent behind and in front of the camera.

The cast is good in their roles but I wasn’t that crazy about Olivier’s portrayal of Maxim which I found to be uneven and overwrought.  His Maxim seemed to have two modes – imperious or bitchy and they could swing wildly back and forth in a moment’s notice.  On the other hand, the beautiful Joan Fontaine was excellent in her role as the young woman who is treated carelessly by her husband and has to endure the many comments that compare her to Rebecca.  I wasn’t too aware of Ms. Fontaine’s work, but I shouldn’t be surprised at her talent and beauty since she is Olivia de Havilland’s sister.  The real menace to the film belongs to Judith Anderson’s evil Mrs. Danvers who is a perfect Victorian era villain.  Determined to destroy the young woman any way possible, she resorts to insults, intimidation, threats, and subtle manipulation to do it.  By the end of the movie, you know the young woman is in danger just being near Mrs. Danvers which adds a lot of momentum towards the end.  While this may not be one of Hitchcock’s finest movies, it does have a great atmosphere and some excellent performances and I recommend it.

Video  

This 1080p (1.37:1) transfer looks pretty good, especially when compared to Spellbound which is another one of Hitchcock’s movies that has just come out on Blu-ray.  The film has impressive sharpness and clarity but still suffers from scratches and other age related issues.  I think they put more effort into restoring this film over the others, or perhaps this film just had a better source element, but in either case it looks pretty good notwithstanding.  Black levels are solid and the contrast is excellent.  The black and white cinematography looks great and this is an improvement over previous home releases.

Audio  

I’m happy to report that Rebecca’s DTS-HD Master 2.0 mix doesn’t suffer from the same hissing that plagued Spellbound.  This track is quite an improvement in fact, with crisp clear dialogue and sound effects.  The score by Franz Waxman is also well balanced with the rest of the movie.  Unlike Spellbound, Rebecca doesn’t really suffer from the defects that occur on older movies.  The range may not be as impressive as today’s movies but it works pretty well for this movie.

Special Features  

Once again, another good collection of extras for a Hitchcock movie but this time there’s three radio plays and screen tests of other famous actresses who vied for the part made famous by Joan Fontaine.

• Commentary by Richard Schickel – Time Magazine’s film critic Richard Schickel offers a knowledgeable and sometimes critical commentary of the movie.  He isn’t afraid to voice what he doesn’t like which is a refreshing change of pace from the usual practice.  He also tells some great stories and delivers a great commentary.
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• The Making of Rebecca – A look at the making of the film and the struggles between Hitchcock and Selznick, the process of adapting Daphne DuMaurier’s novel, and more.  Fans of the movie will find this very interesting.
• The Gothic World of Daphne DuMaurier- This is an almost twenty minute profile of Rebecca‘s author.
• Screen Tests- A peek at what could have been since we see the screen tests of  Margaret Sullavan and Vivien Leigh (with her then boyfriend Laurence Olivier) if the part didn’t go to Joan Fontaine.
• Radio Plays – In the other Hitchcock release, they’ve included a radio play for each movie, but this time they generously give you three choices:  the original 1938 version starring Orson Welles ; a 1941 Cecil B. DeMille production starring Ronald Colman, Ida Lupino and Judith Anderson; and finally a 1950 version with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh finally getting to perform it together.  Each of them last about an hour!
• Hitchcock Audio Interviews – Another one of my favorite Hitchcock extras continues with another conversation between him and Peter Bogdanovich and François Truffaut.
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Thoughts  

The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson for their performances.  It ended up winning Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Cinematography and remains the only film to win Best Picture without being awarded anything for the acting, writing, or directing of the movie.  I can understand about the cinematography since it’s lush, moody, and captures the dark atmosphere of Manderley.  I also loved any scene that took place within Manderley as it was gorgeous to see.  If you are looking for a good movie to watch on a rainy day, then I recommend you give this one a chance.

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Film  

Every Hitchcock film has a focus, whether or not it’s greed, fear, anger, or in this case psychoanalysis.  The movie’s produced David O. Selznick wanted to make a film that showcased the positive aspects of psychoanalysis because it had helped him.  There’s even a message at the start of the film advocating psychoanalysis and its benefits and Selznick even hired his own therapist to serve as the film’s technical adviser.

Ingrid Bergman stars as Dr. Constance Petersen, a psychoanalyst at the Green Manors mental hospital whose icy demeanor is a subject of humor for the rest of the staff there.  Constance is perceived to be passionless which her co-workers believe hinders her work as a psychoanalyst since she doesn’t understand love or how strong emotions can affect people.  Constance disagrees and thinks the whole concept of love is silly.  Her boss, the director of the hospital Dr. Murchison (Leo G. Carroll) is about to be forcibly retired due to a past mistakes that occurred because of nervous exhaustion.  Once he returns from his vacation, he is to train his replacement, a younger doctor by the name of Anthony Edwardes.

When Dr. Edwardes (Gregory Peck) shows up he seems more interested in the lovely Dr. Petersen than his job and he convinces her to to go on a long walk with him where they get to know each other, much to the amusement of the rest of the staff.  When they all join together to eat dinner and when Constance tries to explain how she thought the shape of a future pool should look like by drawing outlines on the tablecloth, she notices Edwardes react strongly to the lines on the linen.  He even smooths them out with his knife which only Constance notices.  Her observations of him make her more worried and suspicious when she learns that the Edwardes that showed up is an impostor because his handwriting doesn’t match an inscription left in one of the original’s books.  When she confronts him he quickly acknowledges that he killed the real Edwardes, but Constance doesn’t believe him because she believes he is suffering from amnesia and a  guilt complex and that he isn’t capable of murder.

When Edwardes sneaks out in the middle of the night, he leaves a note for Constance telling her that he’s traveling to the Empire State Hotel in New York City.  Once it becomes public knowledge that Edwardes is a fake, Murchison calls in the police to investigate.  Constance follows Edwardes to New York where she convinces him that she can help cure him with her training.  Now on the run from the police, the two journey to to Rochester to meet Constance’s former mentor, Dr. Brulov (Michael Checkhov) to see if he can help them cure the amnesia.

From there on, the movie delves into Edwardes surreal dreams (designed by Salvador Dali) where he sees images that he can’t connect to real life including eyes on curtains, blank playing cards, a man with no face, a man falling off a building, a man hiding behind a chimney who drops a wheel, and a pair of wings chasing after him.  When Constance sees Edwardes react to sled tracks in the snow, she deduces that it is actually a pair of ski tracks that’s triggering his reactions.  By putting all of the pieces together from Edwardes dream, they figure out that that he was at a ski lodge with the real Dr. Edwardes and they travel there to to finish unraveling the mystery by re-enacting what happened.  The danger of that is if the fake Edwardes is the real killer, it would mean that Constance might be killed.

For me, this film has good and bad elements.  First off the positive aspects would include the cast and some very nice shots (including one with an open razor) that remind you that Hitchcock is the film’s director.  The negatives for me include some laughably bad shots including one with Constance and Edwardes kissing with a series of superimposed doors opening to symbolize her guard finally dropping, and a bunch of rear projection shots that look terrible.  The worst offender is the scene of Constance and Edwardes skiing in front of a rear projection screen that had to look bad even back in 1945.  You can’t fake skiing like that with only a fan to move your hair about and expect audiences to buy it.  What makes the sequence even worse, is that it occurs during the film’s climax since we know he will either kill Constance or remember what really happened.

My other issue is with the film’s psychoanalysis plot device which not only seems dated (it may have been fresh to 1945 audiences) but it’s so literal that anyone without the proper training could probably figure it out.  In fact, every part of Edwardes dream is a separate clue which when added up together, tell the story of what happened which really wouldn’t have happened.  Putting those complaints aside, the movie will be remembered for the surreal dream sequence which was really odd and for the wonderful cast.  Ingrid Bergman does a nice job with a somewhat silly role.  As a woman who doesn’t believe in love who falls in love on sight, it’s a tough role to bring off.  The film’s sexist script also has one of her colleagues kiss her to see if it gets a reaction with no repercussions from her or his boss.  Try that today and you will discover a different experience.  The fact that she just brushes it off as proof that she is immune to passion and therefore superior, just makes it worse.  I’m a big fan of Gregory Peck and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so young, as this is one of his earliest movies.  He has a difficult role too as the amnesiac man who may or may not be a killer.  Leo G. Carroll is also good as Dr. Murchison while Michael Checkov brings a lot of humor to the movie as the feisty Dr. Brulov.  Spellbound is a decent movie but it’s dated approach and attitudes towards women will limit its appeal to a wide a modern audience.

Video  

Spellbound’s 1080p (1.37:1) transfer isn’t one of the better ones as it struggles against looking overly soft and diffused.  I think Hitchcock deliberately made it look this way to make the movie appear more dream-like, but whatever the reason, the film’s transfer doesn’t fare too well compared to the other recent Hitchcock Blu-ray releases.  There’s some sharpness to be found intermittently, but overall this transfer looks soft.  The black levels aren’t that strong and the contrast could have been better.  Overuse of DNR isn’t an issue here, as there is quite a bit of grain present throughout the movie.  There aren’t too many scratches or evidence of print damage visible, so it looks like it was cleaned up but not to the level that fans of the film desire, but it is better than the previous DVD release.

Audio  

So far, out of the three recent Hitchcock movies that I’ve watched to review (Notorious, Rebecca, and this one), this movie has the worst sound mix.  Like the others, this Blu-ray comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix, but where the others didn’t have the hiss that older films tend to have, this one does and it’s very noticeable.  Musical cues sound slightly distorted (especially during the opening Overture) which is a shame since this score won Miklos Rozsa an Academy Award for Best Score.  The film’s dialogue isn’t crisp but it is easy to hear and understand.  Overall, this is an okay mix but I think it could have been a lot better, especially after seeing the other Hitchcock movies from that era on Blu-ray.

Special Features  

There’s some pretty good extras on here but they are in standard definition.

• Commentary with Film Historians Thomas Schatz and Charles Ramirez Berg – This is a uncoordinated but informative discussion about the movie.  The two seem to be trying to top each other so be prepared for them talking over one another but they do have some interesting info about the making of the film.
• Running With Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism and Salvador Dali- A look at how Salvador Dali came to be a part of the film.  With both Selznick and Hitchcock looking to bring in a marquee name to help sell the movie, Dali added the surreal dream sequence that was eventually deemed too long and poorly shot by Selznick who cut twenty minutes from it and hired someone else to re-shoot it.  The original footage that was cut is now lost but there are still pictures still available to see what was done.
• Guilt By Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound – A look at how the film was the first movie to really address psychoanalysis and how World War II affected its returning soldiers who suffered from post traumatic stress.
• A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming – Ms. Fleming talks about getting discovered and shooting her first movie and how nice Ingrid Bergman was to her and her husband as well as her charitable causes she supports.
• 1948 Radio Version of Spellbound Directed by Alfred Hitchcock – An hour long radio program of the movie starring Joseph Cotten and Valli.
• Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Alfred Hitchcock – I always love this part of the extras because you get to hear from the master himself.
• Original Theatrical Trailer

Final Thoughts  

This isn’t Hitchcock’s finest work, but it does have some great sequences including the razor scene I mentioned earlier and the final shot of a closeup of a gun following a target that ends with something I’ve never seen on film before.  It’s shots like that that make Hitchcock still relevant today it provides enough of a reason that I  recommend it.

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Film  

Alfred Hitchcock is known as “the master of suspense,” which is a title he rightly deserves, but not a lot of people realize that his work was just as good in other genres too.  Notorious doesn’t really fall into his usual comfort zone since it’s more of a love story than anything else.  Sure, there’s a off-screen death and an attempted poisoning, but the core of this movie is a love story between two people that are ill-equipped to deal with it.

The movie opens with a scene in a courtroom where we witness a verdict and the defendant’s daughter leaving the courtroom before we learn that the woman’s father was just convicted of being a Nazi spy and sentenced for treason.  The young woman named Alicia (Ingred Bergman) promptly goes to a gathering and gets drunk, all the while being watched by a tall man who has his back to the camera.  When the camera finally reveals the man named Devlin to be Cary Grant, the movie kicks into gear since he is obviously looking after Alicia for some reason.  When she decides to take a drive, he accompanies her which is fairly risky since she is drunk and determined to make him nervous with her driving.  When her speeding catches the eye of a police officer and they are pulled over, Alicia isn’t hauled to jail or even given a ticket once the officer sees Devlin’s badge.

Finally understanding that her passenger is in some kind of law enforcement, Alicia freaks out and Devlin is forced to subdue her and drive her back home.  When she recovers the next morning he explains that he is with the F.B.I. and that they want Alicia to perform a job for her country.  When Alicia scoffs at the idea of doing something out of patriotism, Devlin plays a secret recording of a conversation she had with her traitorous father once she discovered what he was up to and told him how disgusted she was for what he was doing against their country.  Chastened by hearing her own words about how much she loves America, Alicia tells Devlin she will help him.

They travel to Rio de Janeiro and Devlin is updated by his superiors on exactly what the job will be which infuriates him once he learns that the F.B.I. wants to pimp out Alicia to one of her father’s Nazi cronies named Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains).  Devlin learns that Alex fell in love with Alicia long ago but that love was never reciprocated back by Alicia and his boss wants her to make it happen now.  They are hoping that by baiting Alex with Alicia, that she might worm her way into his life and possibly learn what Alex and his German friends are doing in South America.

Devlin is conflicted since he wants to do his duty, but he’s also started to fall in love with Alicia which makes it difficult for him to finally tell her the plan.  Strangely enough, Alicia is less concerned about prostituting herself with a Nazi than the fact that Devlin doesn’t try to stop her from doing it.  When she doesn’t get the response she wants from Devlin, she tells him she will do it which only makes Devlin even more bitter and caustic to her.  In trying to provoke each other, both start down a path neither wants to walk, but there’s no turning back especially once she has to marry Alex.

The rest of the movie ratchets up the tension between the three of them as Alex is aware that Devlin frequently contacts Alicia which only makes him more and more jealous.  There’s a great sequence where Alicia must steal a key, smuggle it to Devlin, and then both of them have to discover what Alex and his compatriots are hiding down in a wine cellar during a party.  Not only do they have to avoid detection, but they are also in a race against time as the champagne is going quickly and sooner or later someone will come down the cellar for more.  Of course, things go wrong and in a bravura scene that shows of the talents of Rains and Hitchcock, we see Alex work out exactly what happened and put it all together without a single line of dialogue.

While many of the movie’s plot points pop up just to keep the movie moving (including a uranium plot-line that’s never resolved), the cast is so good that it really doesn’t matter.  Cary Grant was able to break free of his usual glib and smooth kind of characters with Devlin and his performance is excellent.  Devlin spends the movie conflicted about his feelings and his duty and it’s only at the end that he makes his choice which comes off beautifully.  Ingrid Bergman is also very good in her difficult role.  Alicia is portrayed to be very unlikable at the start of the movie but Bergman is talented enough to generate sympathy for her character even if we don’t really understand her motivations other than to make up for her father’s treason and possibly to provoke Devlin to declare his feelings for her.

And last but not least, is the wonderful Claude Rains who is good in every movie he’s in.  For awhile, despite being a Nazi, Alex engenders some sympathy from the audience because he truly does love Alicia and even treats her better than Devlin does.  Of course by the end, he shows his true colors (poisoning people kind of does that), but he’s great in the role and adds a lot to the movie.  While this isn’t the genre he is the most famous for perfecting, Notorious bears the unmistakable fingerprints of Alfred Hitchcock.  His use of tension and some incredible camera shots guarantee that the master was fully engaged on this movie.  This is one of my favorite Hitchcock movies just because it is so different and because of this incredible cast.

Video  

The film’s 1080p (1.37:1) transfer is the best I’ve seen released so far but it’s not perfect.  The black and white footage has some nice detail which in some scenes is excellent, but in others it can look soft.  There’s also a lot of rear projection footage in the movie which stands out even more in high definition.  As for print damage, there’s still some specks and some minor scratches along with some flicker issues but none of them are obtrusive enough to really complain about. Film grain is present but it’s not too heavy and it simply gives it a film-like look that hasn’t been scrubbed away by DNR. We all have to keep in mind that this is an old film after all and for it’s age, it looks pretty good in high definition.

Audio  

Notorious‘ lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix is appropriate for a film it’s age but it’s a shame that it couldn’t be more improved.  Dialogue is the most important focus for this film and I’m happy to report that it’s clear and easily understood.  There’s no hiss or other sound defects which frequently plague older films.  Roy Webb’s score isn’t overshadowed by the rest of the movie but it is fairly subdued.  For a film this old, just like with the video quality, I can overlook a lot since this is probably as good as it’s ever going to get and I’m just glad to get it in high definition.

Special Features  

There’s a nice mix of extras on here that are balanced well and I especially liked hearing from Hitchcock directly.  The bad part is that they are all in standard definition.

• Commentary with Film Professor Rick Jewell - This is a pretty comprehensive commentary but Jewell seems more interested in talking about the history of RKO and Selznick than the movie.  When  he finally does start talking about the movie, he does have a lot of good info but fans of the movie may not like the film history detours.  Of course, if you are into film history, then you will really like this one.
• Commentary with Film Professor Drew Casper – Another commentary that’s more on point but it isn’t as effective as Jewell’s since it seems that Casper is reminiscing more than commentating.
• Isolated Music and Effects Track - The score for Notorious‘ may not be up to the usual Bernard Herrmann standards, but it is effective and this isolated track shows just how well it supported the film.
• The Ultimate Romance: The Making of Notorious - They either could have focuses on the thriller aspect of the film or the romantic side and they went with romance which makes sense since it’s the core of the movie.  With that as it’s focus, this featurette covers how the romance played into the film.
• Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Spymaster – A short but nice look at how Hitchcock contributed and influenced the spy genre through his films.
• The American Film Institute Award: The Key to Hitchcock – A very short but touching look at clips of Hitchcock receiving an AFI award that’s hosted by his granddaughter.  We also see Ingrid Bergman present the infamous key to the wine cellar from Notorious to him as well which is pretty cool.
• 1948 Radio Play starring Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman
• Hitchcock Audio Interviews – I’ve listened to hours of Bogdanovich talking to Orson Welles and was always fascinated by the conversation so I was happy to see a collection of chats on here with Hitchcock.  The bad news is that the one with Bogdanovich is only a little over two minutes long but the good news is that Truffaut one is a lot longer.  I really liked this extra!
• Restoration Comparison – A before and after look at the restoration efforts for this release.
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Thoughts  

This is a very mature film that is still surprising to audiences today with its unusual storyline that was really ahead of it’s time.  The cast is wonderful in this and Hitchcock’s many touches including that incredible shot with the key, keep audiences and film students happy.  This Blu-ray looks great and sounds pretty good but combined with a bunch of fantastic extras, makes this one easy to recommend as a blind buy purchase.

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Film  

After the huge success of Annie Hall (read my review here), Woody Allen went a new dramatic direction with Interiors which wasn’t received as well but it’s pretty hard to top Annie Hall.  Allen’s next movie would bridge both movies as it would have the comedic one-lines like Annie Hall but it would be grounded as well much like Interiors.  Manhattan is another one of Allen’s relationship movies, a concept that seems to have fascinated him throughout his long prolific career.  Instead of focusing on just one relationship like in Annie Hall, Allen and co-writer Marshall Brickman expanded it to two couples, each with their own issues.

The movie opens sans titles to black and white images of New York City accompanied by “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin.  By the time the song is over, Allen has already set the mood for the movie and did it without a single bit of dialogue.  Even the title of the movie is only given to us through a neon sign outside a building that flashes “Manhattan.”  In this movie, Allen is still playing the same character he usually plays but this time he’s called Isaac Davis and he’s an unhappy writer for television.  Isaac is currently dating a seventeen year old girl named Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) which is somewhat unsettling to see for many reasons but the two seem happy.  Isaac’s best friend Yale (Michael Murphy) is happily married to a woman named Emily (Anne Byrne) but later confides to Isaac that he’s not only a serial cheater, but that he’s currently cheating on her with a journalist named Mary (Diane Keaton).

Ironically, while Isaac has no problem having sex with seventeen year old girls at his age, he does draw the line on cheating on your wife and he tells Yale he should break it off.  Yale doesn’t listen and even introduces Mary to Isaac and Tracy at an art exhibition.  Right away the opinionated Mary drives Isaac crazy as she insults the art he likes, but when she badmouths Ingmar Bergman, it’s the last straw for Isaac who wants nothing to do with her.  After his divorce from Jill (Meryl Streep), Isaac unconsciously avoids strong experienced women (which is partly why he’s comfortable with Tracy) because Jill crushed him when she decided she was a lesbian and got involved with another woman named Connie (Karen Ludwig).  It doesn’t help that Jill is writing a tell-all book about her relationship with Isaac which he knows will reveal every personal thing that happened between him which makes him angry and anxious.

Issac accidentally runs back into Mary at a fund-raising event and this time they hit it off better.  He accompanies her back to her place and goes on a walk with her that culminates in a sublime shot of the two of them on a bench near the Queensboro Bridge as night shifts to early morning.  Despite his growing attraction and interest in Mary, he doesn’t act on it because he want to be a loyal friend to Yale.  So he continues to see Tracy but keeps telling her not to get too serious about him since she is too young to worry about that at this point in her life.  He advises her to go to London to study acting.  When Yale finally decides the risk isn’t worth his marriage, he breaks up with Mary and then later tells Isaac to ask her out.  Now that he can see Mary without feeling like he was betraying Yale, Isaac breaks up with a heartbroken Tracy and starts up a relationship with Mary.

Time passes and Yale tries to get Mary back even though she’s dating Isaac and Mary confesses to Isaac that she still loves Yale.  When Yale separates with Emily to be free for Mary, Mary decides to join him which leaves Isaac feeling betrayed by both of them.  At this point, the film abandons any effort at comedy and becomes a pure drama as Isaac confronts Yale for his treachery and later realizes that he misses Tracy who is about to take his advice and fly to London to study acting.  I won’t go into any further details about the ending other than to say that it’s a lot more ambiguous than Annie Halls and leaves many plot threads dangling with no resolution at all.

I have mixed feelings about the film as I love the comedic moments but I’m not so thrilled with the melodrama that takes over the last half of the film.  I think it’s fairly sad that the most stable and grounded character in this movie is the seventeen year old Tracy.  She knows exactly what she wants, who she loves, and is completely unselfish and more giving than any other character in the movie.  It’s a quiet and understated role and Mariel Hemingway was so good in it that she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.  Diane Keaton as Mary is a polar opposite of Annie Hall.  Mary is focused, opinionated, pushy, and thinks she’s smarter than she really is.

I didn’t care much for the character of Yale as played by Michael Murphy since he seemed like a scumbag due to how he treated his wife but at least he seemed like a good friend to Isaac until the end revealed the sum total of all of his douchebaggery.  Allen is always good playing Allen and he seems even more assured as an actor and as a director for this movie.   It’s interesting to note that Allen was initially unhappy with it and asked United Artists not to release it.  He even offered to make another movie for free in exchange since as he said later, “I just thought to myself, ‘At this point in my life, if this is the best I can do, they shouldn’t give me money to make movies.”  Fortunately for movie audiences everywhere, United Artists declined his offer and Allen’s tale of troubled love in New York City was shared with the world to much acclaim.

Video  

This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer is beautiful to watch as you can see Allen’s love for New York captured in every frame. This transfer is a lot better than the previous home video releases and it’s even better than the recent Blu-ray release of Annie Hall.  The black and white cinematography shot by cinematographer Gordon Willis is gorgeous to look at and Allen really let him do his thing since a good portion of the movie takes place in shadows.  Thankfully, the black levels are suitably inky which is a good thing since several scenes are pitch black in this new transfer.  It’s hard to say if MGM went overboard or if this is how the film was supposed to look but it is a big difference over past releases.

Audio  

Manhattan’s DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix isn’t as good as the high definition transfer but it is faithful to the original intentions of Woody Allen.  At this point, most fans should be aware that Allen isn’t that worried about adding a powerful 7.1 mix to his movies which to be honest isn’t as bad as it sounds.  All of his movies are notoriously dialogue driven and this 2.0 mix does a nice job delivering it clearly and without any hissing or other defects.  Even with this being a 2.0 mono mix, the multiple George Gershwin songs sound very good and it’s rare to hear this much music in a Woody Allen movie and it adds a lot to the experience.

Special Features  

While I can live with the 2.0 mono mix, I am not happy at this trend of Woody Allen movies not having any special features other than the trailer for the movie.  There’s been a ton of interviews with the man so how hard would it be to add a couple of those?  It’s also unfortunate because it keeps lowering my final score too.

Final Thoughts  

While I don’t have the same love for Manhattan that I do for Annie Hall and the ”earlier, funnier movies” that he referenced later in a line in Stardust Memories.  People seem to be split on Allen’s catalog of films with half usually preferring his early ones, while others like his more somber darker later films.  Yes I am one of those early film supporters but that’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed his later films too.  Woody Allen has such a unique comic voice that I love his early work the most because his sole goal at that point was to make you laugh as much as possible. Manhattan represents the point where he still had one foot in the comedy world as he moved towards more dramatic work.  Fans of all phases of Woody’s career should find something to enjoy in this dramedy!

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Alvy Singer: Don’t you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here.

Film  

Annie Hall is just about every-one’s favorite Woody Allen movie and there’s a good reason for it.  It’s hilarious, deep, ground-breaking, and has enough unrequited angst to balance out the non-stop witty one-liners.  There’s also a ring of truth to the movie which may not be as far-fetched as it sounds since Allen and Keaton were in a relationship and Keaton’s real last name is Hall and her nickname was “Annie.”  And of course, Allen is basically playing Allen no matter what role it is, since he’s always the same funny, neurotic, kvetching character who has a constant running commentary on his own life.  In Allen’s earlier films, they were light and focused on the comedy, but with Annie Hall Woody Allen decided to go a new direction and take some more chances.  As he said, “…’I think I will try and make some deeper film and not be as funny in the same way.  And maybe there will be other values that will emerge, that will be interesting or nourishing for the audience.  And it worked out very, very well.”

In Annie Hall, Woody Allen plays Alvy Singer who happens to be a gag writer and occasional stand up comedian. The movie starts with Alvy talking to the audience and relating to us the story of his doomed relationship with a woman named Annie Hall (Diane Keaton).  Through flashbacks and return visits we not only see his relationship with Annie, but also scenes from his childhood as well.  Allen’s use of flashbacks and jumping around in his own timeline which includes imaginary group trips into each of their history’s makes Annie Hall much more unpredictable and fun than the usual romantic comedy.  It struck while watching it again that Annie Hall is almost a comedic precursor to Pulp Fiction in a lot of ways because of the somewhat similar approaches.

We witness Alvy and Annie’s relationship from start to finish inter-cut with scenes of them with other people as well. For Alvy, it’s easy to see his consistent pattern with women where he wins them over and then drives them away with his constant questioning of them or in the case of Allison (Carol Kane), because she didn’t believe in his theory about the Kennedy assassination.  Alvy’s friend Rob (Tony Roberts) tries to keep things simple and inadvertently introduces Alvy to Annie during a tennis match where the two hit it off quickly.  Annie is from a well to do family and seems kind of scatterbrained and uninhibited while Alvy over-analyzes everything and disapproves of flighty ways especially when he later complains about her needing to smoke marijuana every time before they have sex.

Despite the constant fluctuations in their relationship, Alvy supports Annie’s desire to sing which backfires when a laid back record producer named Tony Lacey (Paul Simon) hears her sing and wants to get to know her better.  Alvy does his best to keep her away from Tony by feigning that they had a previous “thing” to do, but when he is supposed to give out an award in California later on, they see Tony again at a party.  By now, Annie has fallen in love with California and its atmosphere and she decides she would rather live there.  Alvy will never leave New York and hates California with a passion (“I don’t want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to make a right turn on a red light.”) and between that and their other issues, they break up and Annie moves into Tony’s mansion.  It doesn’t take long before Alvy realizes how much he wants Annie in his life and he even returns to California to try to bring her back to New York, but discovers that sometimes things don’t always work out the way we hope.

This is probably my favorite Woody Allen movie because it all came together so beautifully.  The comedy is first rate with an extremely funny script by Allen and Marshall Brickman, it has a great cast, the cinematography from Gordon Willis is amazing, and all of the stylistic choices Allen made as a director make this a classic.  I loved seeing Woody “break the fourth wall” to address the audience after having to listen to a pompous know-it-all in line behind him expound incorrectly about Marshall McLuhan’s work.  We’ve seen that device done before, but Allen raises it to a new level when the man Woody is complaining about also addresses the audience to defend himself.  Allen then takes the gag to an even higher level when he brings out Marshall McLuhan himself to tell the pompous man that he doesn’t understand his work at all.  Then there’s other creative touches like using humorous subtitles that convey not what the characters are actually saying, but rather what they are really thinking which makes it even funnier.  Allen even includes an animated segment with Annie as the evil Queen from Snow White.  Combine all that with the flashbacks and the imaginary visits back into the past and you have a very unique romantic comedy that was way ahead of its time.

Alvy Singer: They did not take me in the Army. I was, um, interestingly enough, I was, I was 4-P. Yes. In the, in the event of war, I’m a hostage.

Video  

This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer looks a lot better than I expected it would although that’s not to say that it’s perfect.  This is a soft looking movie and it’s filled with grain but it doesn’t bother me for this release since that’s how I imagine it should look.  The grain hasn’t been scrubbed away with DNR so it still retains the cinematic feel of the movie which I believe reflects that aesthetic of Woody Allen.  I believe this is how he would want the film to look – it’s like looking at an original print but with the benefit of seeing it in high definition.  I think MGM could have done a better job but I would worry that to achieve that, it might change the look and feel of the movie.  Colors are decent but aren’t overly vivid since the movie has a mute palette, but the black levels are deep, dark, and very satisfying which is great since cinematographer Gordon Willis loves to shoot everything in darkness.  This is a pretty good transfer and one that fits in well with the movie.

Alvy Singer: I was thrown out of N.Y.U. my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final, you know. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

Audio  

My reaction to Annie Hall’s DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix is exactly the same as my feelings about the high definition transfer.  It could have been better but what’s there is perfectly suitable for the film.  Since this film is filled with non-stop dialogue, it doesn’t really need a 7.1 mix.  As it is, the dialogue sounds crisp and clear with no distortions of any kind.  There’s also Dolby Digital mono mixes in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Catalan, and Portuguese as well since Woody Allen has a lot of international fans.  This is a simple mix but it works for the movie and I’m pretty happy with it.

Annie Hall: You never want to try anything new, Alvy.
Alvy Singer: How can you say that? Whose idea was it? I said that you, I, and that girl from your acting class should sleep together in a threesome.
Annie Hall: Well, that’s sick.
Alvy Singer: Yeah, I know it’s sick, but it’s new. You didn’t say it couldn’t be sick.

Special Features  

Sadly, there is only the theatrical trailer in high definition which is a travesty for fans of the film and it will bring down the final score too.

Alvy Singer: Don’t knock masturbation, it’s sex with someone I love.

Final Thoughts  

This is one of the best comedies ever made and it’s not afraid to end on a non-traditional note.  The movie cemented Allen’s reputation as an actor, writer, and director and also gave a bunch of unknown actors their first big break too.  Part of the fun watching the movie is spotting well known actors in the tiniest of roles.  You will see Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Sigourney Weaver, Colleen Dewhurst, Shelley Duvall, John Glover, Mark Lenard, Beverly D’Angelo, Tracey Walter, and more in roles that might not even have a line! Annie Hall ended up winning four Academy Awards including Best Picture (over Star Wars! grumble grumble) and its influence is still being felt today. This is without a doubt, Woody Allen’s masterpiece and I highly recommend it!

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Film  

In director Shawn Levy’s Real Steel, the year is 2020 and in this not so distant time the sport of boxing has been taken over by robots.  Humans were phased out since bloodthirsty audiences wanted more spectacle and more punishing fights that would have endangered humans so robots are now the big draw.  For a former boxer like Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), that change brought nothing but trouble to him.  He’s in debt to loan sharks, he doesn’t have a viable robot boxer, his on again off again girlfriend Bailey (Evangeline Lilly) isn’t happy with him, and then he find out that the girlfriend he left long ago has died and that he has a son named Max (Dakota Goya) that wants to reconnect with him.

Charlie’s life is already spinning out of control before Max re-enters his life since he bet everything he had (and a lot more that he didn’t have) on his last robot named Ambush in the hopes that Ambush could defeat a bull.  The owner of the Bull is a ruthless promoter named Rickey (Kevin Durand) who warns Charlie that he better pay his debt if he loses or he will regret it.  Unfortunately for Charlie, he does lose because in the brief instant Charlie starts trying to impress some girls, the bull starts destroying Ambush.  Knowing that there’s no way that he can pay his $20,000 loss, Charlie hightails it out of the fair before Ricky and his men can catch him.

Now on the run from Ricky and others, it’s at that point Charlie learns about the death of his ex-girlfriend and the fact that he is required to attend a court hearing to determine the fate of his son Max.  When he arrives at the hearing he meets his ex-girlfriend’s sister Debra and her wealthy husband Marvin.  Debra wants custody of Max since she doesn’t think very highly of Charlie and Marvin is intent on making his wife happy but at the same time doesn’t want Max to accompany them on their second honeymoon.  When he tries to talk to Charlie about making a deal, Charlie tells him that he will waive his parental rights for $100,000 and offers to take Max off their hands so Marvin can get his second honeymoon kid free.  Marvin agrees and pays Charlie half up front which Max witnesses and grows angry about.

Charlie never really had any intention on taking care of Max for the duration as he was counting on his ex Bailey (who inherited the gym that Charlie grew up in) to watch Max for him.  All Charlie wants to do is buy a new robot so he can try to win some money quickly to pay off the loan sharks before it gets even more serious than it already is.   Bailey is just as disappointed as every one else is of Charlie but she becomes friends with Max.  With his new-found money, Charlie is able to buy a once famous robot named Noisy Boy that he takes to an illegal robot fight club to fight the current champ known as Midas.  Thanks to Charlie’s inexperience with the robot’s control scheme and his overconfidence, Noisy Boy loses and is completely destroyed by Midas along with Charlie’s dreams of paying off his debts.

Left with little choice but to break into a junkyard to salvage parts to build a new robot, Charlie and Max surreptitiously steal parts until Max accidentally falls down a slippery slope only to be caught from going over a chasm by a half buried robot’s arm.  Max demands that they take the robot with them but Charlie makes him do all of the work.  After returning to the gym, they discover that the robot, named Adam, is an obsolete Generation-2 sparring bot that was designed to take a lot of punishment.  Atom also has another feature that sets him apart from other robots – he can shadow movements and remember the sequences and use them in fights later.  Max convinces Charlie to let Atom fight in an underground fight and amazingly enough, Atom wins the fight and Charlie recoups some of his money.

Mazx turns out to be a little mechanical genius and he upgrades Atom to accept vocal commands, the two start to train Atom in their respective ways.  Charlie drills in some boxing routines while Max teaches the robot how to dance with him which raises their popularity with audiences.  Before long, they are offered the chance to an official sanctioned fight with the WRB against a robot named Twin Cities.  Atom wins again thanks to Charlie’s boxing advice and Max takes the opportunity to challenge the world champion Zeus which is owned by Farra Lemkova who had tried to buy Atom before the match before being rebuffed by Max.  The Kentons’ good fortune is short-lived since Ricky and his men ambush them and beat Charlie up and steal their winnings.  Finally realizing how much danger he’s putting Max in, Charlie takes Max back to Debra and Marvin and leaves him behind along with the other half of the money that he no longer wants.

The rest of the movie is completely formulaic but at the same time it still works thanks in large part to Hugh Jackman’s performance.  Not many actors could still engender goodwill after selling their son for $100,000, enlists a child to steal parts, and takes him to underground fights, but somehow Jackman pulls it off effortlessly.  Charlie Kenton may be a scumbag overall, but underneath all of his selfish actions there is still a good man within.  The appearance of Max is the catalyst that saves Charlie’s soul and he starts to realize how low he’s allowed himself to sink and his mistreatment of those that cared about him.  Of course, he’s going to go back for his son and obviously he’s going to try to redeem himself, but despite being able to recognize every emotional signpost along this well-traveled road, it still worked for me.

Seeing Charlie reconnect with Bailey and even more importantly Max and then witnessing their mistrust and antagonism give way to love for each other was touching.  Especially when the unlikely duo take on the massive Zeus at the end of the movie in a fight that for all intents and purposes, should be a suicide mission.   The robot fights are all impressive (Sugar Ray Leonard was an adviser) but it’s the final fight that is the most emotionally involving, especially when for the final round, Charlie employs the shadow-boxing mode and essentially fights the last round himself.  Being able to see his father boxing in all his glory the way he used to, makes Max incredibly proud and we see the full redemption of Charlie as he we see him at his best once again.

Video  

Disney triumphs again with an impeccable 1080p (2.35:1) transfer that is simply amazing to see.  The clarity and detail on display is very impressive and I especially liked seeing all of the many details on each robot along with the realistic sheen on their frames.  This transfer is beautiful to see as it shows off every strand of hair, every spot of rust, and every piece of textured clothing in a pristine fashion.  Colors are vibrant and plentiful and black levels are suitably inky and dark.  Flesh tones are natural and realistic and the robots’ metallic gleam shimmers in fine detail.

Audio  

Real Steel‘s DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless mix is just as impressive as the high definition transfer!  I really liked how the film felt real no matter what scene was on the screen.  Whether it was at a local rodeo or in a gym, an underground robot fight club with raucous beats, or an over-sized arena filled with thousands of fans, this mix captured the atmosphere and replicated it so well that you might as well have been there.  Directionality is also handled extremely well with all of the channels joining in on the action and following the action accurately.  Hearing the metal grinding punishment of robot on robot fighting was awesome to listen to and my inner child rejoiced at the robotic destruction.  Dialogue is crystal clear and understandable throughout the movie even during fight scenes or when there’s music playing.  Fans of the movie will be very happy with this 7.1 mix!

Special Features  

These are pretty good special features but I don’t understand why the audio commentary with Director Shawn Levy isn’t included on the Blu-ray but shows up on the DVD instead.  If you ask me that’s crazy.

• Real Steel Second Screen: Ringside with Director Shawn Levy - This features is supposed to help you “interact with the movie on your iPad or computer while you watch the movie on your Blu-ray player,” but I didn’t get a chance to try it as it wasn’t ready for me to check out.
• Countdown to the Fight: The Charlie Kenton Story – Some footage filmed in a mockumentary style with footage from the movie’s cast talking in character about themselves and the upcoming fight between Atom and Zeus.
• Making of Metal Valley – This is an almost fifteen minute look behind the scenes of the filming of the scrapyard scene where Charlie and Max eventually find Atom.  I wish more of the movie was covered like this and filmed.
• Building the Bots – A look at the building of the robots both practically and through CGI.  This was really interesting and I wish it had been longer because fighting robots are cool.
• Sugar Ray Leonard: Cornerman’s Champ - Boxing Hall of Fame star Sugar Ray Leonard served as the film’s adviser in both the fight sequences and he also helped train Hugh Jackman so he would look like a real fighter.
• Deleted & Extended Scenes – A look at some footage that was cut including: “Extended Meet Ambush” and “Deleted Butterfly Storyline”.
• Bloopers
• DVD Copy (includes the commentary track that should be on the Blu-ray).
• Digital Copy

Final Thoughts  

Maybe I’m a sucker for these kind of movies because of my own wonderful son and because I love comeback movies, but I really enjoyed Real Steel even if it was predictable.  The animatronics by Legacy Effects are amazing, the special effects from ILM are up to their usual impeccable standard, and the cast is also excellent especially the multi-talented Hugh Jackman who makes every movie he’s in better than it should be.

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Film  

The Ides of March is a movie about the modern day political age where the candidates may not live up to the packaged image they present to the public and their morals may not be as untainted as they would like us to believe. With the title of the movie referring to the March Presidential Primary that’s held in Ohio and of course referencing the elimination of Julius Ceasar by his underling, co-writer, actor, and director George Clooney sets the tone of the movie right away.  Watching the movie, it struck me that the movie seemed like an update to Michael Ritchie’s The Candidate that starred Robert Redford as the well-intentioned candidate who sacrificed his ideals to win.  For The Ides of March, it’s focused more on an adviser than the candidate, but both movies cover similar thematic territory.

George Clooney plays Pennsylvania Governor Mike Morris, a Democrat who’s trying to become the President of the United States.  Morris is ably supported by a crack political team that includes the veteran Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his razor sharp protege Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling).  With Paul supplying the tactical strategies and Stephen maintaining image control, they are a tough team to beat.  That’s not to say that the other side is lacking since Morris’ Democratic opponent in the primary, Arkansas Governor Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell) has the equally good Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) as his Campaign Manager.

Both campaign managers are wooing North Carolina Democratic Senator Franklin Thompson (Jeffrey Wright) since he alone can sway his 356 pledged Democratic convention delegates to either side, which depending on which way it went, would either guarantee a complete win for Morris or a much needed boost for Pullman.  While Pullman’s campaign is willing to bribe Thompson by offering him the position of Secretary of State for his delegates, Morris refuses to do that since it would compromise his beliefs too much since he knows that Thompson hates the United Nations and wouldn’t be a good fit there.

Stephen truly believes in what Morris stands for and he’s mocked by New York Times reporter Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei) who warns him “He’s a nice guy.  He will let you down sooner or later.”  Stephen soon finds himself being propositioned by a young campaign intern named Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) and he willingly allows himself to be seduced.  Molly isn’t the only one to try to seduce Stephen, since Duffy calls him directly to meet and once they do, he offers Stephen a job working for the Pullman campaign.  Stephen rejects the offer but doesn’t realize that he’s already walked into Duffy’s Machiavellian trap which will ensnare him later.  It won’t be too long before the Morris camp’s collective bad decisions and indiscretions not only threaten to derail the campaign but each of their jobs. Backed against the wall, every person will shed their public persona and reveal their true character which will end in a loss of idealism for some and compromised ideals for others.

After watching The Ides of March, you get the sense of George Clooney’s disappointment with politics as they are being practiced today.  He deftly gives us the surface level look at politics we are accustomed to seeing on our TV and then takes us behind the scenes of the process where we see the anything goes dirty war that we’ve always suspected but only occasionally seen.  These political operatives will do just about anything to win and he shows that even candidates with principles will throw them away if that’s what it takes to win.  It’s a cynical but sadly accurate look at our modern day politics, which continues with every election by both political parties.  Clooney does an excellent job as a director and especially as an actor whose role requires many different layers to be revealed.  He makes his character entirely believable as a candidate who in private may or may not be all that he seems, while maintaining a public profile of a charismatic politician that the media and audiences can’t resist.

The rest of the cast is also very good with Ryan Gosling showing a great deal of charm during his scenes with the equally talented Evan Rachel Wood as they flirt with each other.  Over the course of the movie, we watch Stephen’s beliefs and values slowly disappear and Gosling makes that descent apparent as Stephen retreats into himself and becomes little more than a political machine.  Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are fantastic as they cynical political warriors who harbor no illusions on what it takes to win nor any hesitation cross any line to do so.  While this basic movie has been seen many different times in various ways, Clooney and his incredible cast make this better than it should be.  Clooney also wisely uses real talking heads from a variety of political shows that add another layer of authenticity to the movie.  The Ides of March is a slow burn movie that will depress you on the state of politics if you aren’t already.  This movie offers a clear eyed view of the entire political process and the people and candidates that wade through it and how each sells their soul in different ways in the end to achieve their goals.

Video  

The Ides of March’s 1080p (2.40:1) transfer is stunning with a cinematic and moody look that offers some impressive clarity and colors.  Fine detail is present in every shot and textures also look realistic and natural.  The film’s colors are also varied and the hues are vivid and pop off the screen.  There’s many low light scenes and Clooney uses light and darkness to emphasize the drama and it’s fortunate that the black levels are deep and solid which makes those scenes look fantastic.  Flesh tones are natural looking and consistent throughout the movie and I didn’t notice any kind of print damage or defects on this transfer at all.  Sony has delivered a superlative transfer for this movie!

Audio  

The Ides of March’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is also very good but being a dialogue driven movie, it doesn’t get the chance to really call attention to itself.  Dialogue is clear and razor sharp from the front channels while the rear channels offer atmosphere and ambiance.  This mix’s strength is achieved with it’s subtle effects that add a lot of immersion for the viewer.  Whether it’s doing a sound-check in an empty auditorium or a public debate with a crowd, it all sounds dead on accurate and makes it seem as if you are there.  This is an excellent mix that transcends the usual effort that’s done for this kind of a movie.

Special Features  

This Blu-ray offers a decent amount of extras the cover the basics of the making of the movie.  I would have liked to have had more in depth extras but I’ll take what I can get especially when they are in high definition.

• Audio Commentary - A talk with co-writer/actor/director/producer George Clooney and co-writer/producer Grant Heslov where they talk about making the film, the locations they shot in, the casting of the actors, how they converted the play “Farragut North” into the movie, and more.  The track never gets too deep or serious, but it’s a fun listen since the two men are good friends and have a good time making fun of each other and themselves.  If you are a fan of Clooney or the movie, you will most likely enjoy listening to this track.
• Developing the Campaign: The Origin of The Ides of March – A seven minute look at how the play inspired the movie and the background genesis of the movie.
• Believe: George Clooney – A short look at how the cast viewed Clooney as an actor and as a director.  Of course they praised him but it seems genuine and it’s easy to believe after seeing the movie.  We also hear from Clooney himself talk about the challenges of working on both sides of the camera and why he chose to do it anyway.
• On the Campaign: The Cast of The Ides of March – Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling, Max Minghella, George Clooney, Paul Giamatti, and Evan Rachel Wood discuss why they wanted to be in the movie and talk about their characters that they play.
• What Does a Political Consultant Do? – We hear from Political Consultant Stuart Stevens (who used be a consultant on Clooney’s K Street show) who talks about being a political junkie and how he can’t get enough of elections.
• Ultraviolet Copy – For the record, I hate ultraviolet copies and wish that the studios would go back to just offering an iTunes or Windows Media Player copy which are a lot easier to obtain and you don’t have to use an additional App to view them.  It’s better than nothing but I really wish every studio would stop trying to do their own thing and just use iTunes.
• BD-Live

Final Thoughts  

This movie was marketed as being a taut thriller which it really isn’t since this kind of narrative has been done many times before, but it is a smart look at politics – both in front of the camera and behind it.  The movie’s cynical and fairly bleak ending may turn off some viewers but it’s true to this day and age’s political world where ideals, people, and morals are tossed aside for any chance of victory.  The movie is well directed by Clooney and the superb cast offers some very strong performances and this Blu-ray continues that excellence with its stunning audio and video quality.

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