Sleeping Beauty – Diamond Edition (Blu-ray Review)
Disney is bringing back Sleeping Beauty with a new Diamond Edition. You’ll remember it was previously released in a 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition back in 2008. That version was also the first of their animated fairy tale films of any era to be released on Blu-ray. That was back during my last year of doing Quality Control for Blu-ray and DVD, and that release was a big deal as Disney was trying their best to squeeze everything possible out of the format even back then. There were many a sleepless nights over Sleeping Beauty. But, in the end, they released a pretty fantastic product. This new edition isn’t quite as elaborate as the previous one, but does provide most of the essentials and brings some new bonus features to the table as well as foreign audio tracks that weren’t available before. To get it out of the way, and make a long story short before we start the review; if you own the Platinum Edition of Sleeping Beauty, hang on to it. Continue reading ‘Sleeping Beauty – Diamond Edition (Blu-ray Review)’
The fourth season of Cartoon Network’s hit show Adventure Time comes to Blu-ray this Tuesday from Warner Bros Home Entertainment. This show has proven to be a ratings champion for the network and is currently in this sixth season. Adventure Time will go longer than that, though, as its been renewed for a seventh season next year. By that time the show, still early in its life (premiered in 2010) will impressively have collected over two hundred episodes. The show produces its episodes in eleven minute increments which allows it to climb to such a eye poppingly large number. However high that number is currently (172 to be exact), this show has shown no real signs of losing and steam and continues to keep its audience invested as shown by its solid and increasing ratings. 
Lukas Moodysson directs We Are The Best!, a film adapted from the graphic novel Never Goodnight authored by Coco Moodysson. Coco just so happens to be the wife of Lukas, so I’m sure this was an easy deal to make. The film screen as a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. It was released in limited capacity in the United States at the end of May this year, following releases in its homeland of Sweden and one in Denmark. We Are The Best! has received high marks from critics as well as scoring very well on popular films sites like Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic.
Robert Rodriguez’s episodic version of he and Quentin Tarantino’s classic From Dusk Till Dawn seems like it fulfills many trends going on in television at the moment. Easily, it covers the fascination with vampires. That’s a given. And with that it also is another horror television show which is all the rage. Thirdly, its taking a feature film and elongating it into a television series, attempting to enrich a familiar story with more patience, plot and character development. It was the flagship program for Robert Rodriguez El Rey network that launched this year. El Rey is a sort of network devoted to many things Grindhouse. Or, the type of obscure or exploitation films that inspired and continue to fuel he and Quentin Tarantino’s film careers. Seriously, watching commercials for some of the movies they air on the network just makes me want to sit and watch a lazy Saturday marathon of the cult classics they’re showing. From Dusk Till Dawn the series definitely wants to fit into that mold. 
Edge of Tomorrow, not to be confused title-wise with the Blu-ray’s cover art tagline “Live, Die, Repeat,” is the movie we’re here to discuss in length today and I’m not sure who it was, either Aaron or Gerard here, but I remember it like it was only yesterday (no pun to the subject matter of this film), when one of them recommended to the Why So Blu clan members that they needed to check out the trailer for Edge of Tomorrow. Come to think of it, Aaron probably had a leg up on us all last year with his coverage of three Warner Bros. titles 
Religious films having been making their presence felt at the box office lately with the likes of films like God’s Not Dead. There seems to be a stronger audience than ever that’s willing to bust out their wallet for films with that kind of theme at the box office. Persecuted comes in the form of a religious political thriller. The film was shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico and then premiered at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tennessee in February of this very year. It was also shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC. The film impressively sports actors James Remar, Bruce Davison and Dean Stockwell. 
Third Person is the latest film from Paul Haggis, director of the on the nose Academy Award winner for Best Picture; Crash. The film was a entrant in the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival where it wasn’t met with the greatest of buzz or accolades. Despite boasting a rather impressive compilation of noteworthy stars and actors in its cast, the film received a minimal release this past summer in June. To date, the film has made over just one million dollars worldwide on an unknown budget. Haggis’ film is making its way to Blu-ray, courtesy of Sony, this Tuesday (September 30).
Farewell, Revolution! You may be missed by some, but I for one am thankful for your departure. Creator Erik Kripke and his writers had nowhere to go with the story, a common fate amongst many television series. Revolution would have been a fine film, or an effective miniseries, but stretching it out as they did makes for an unmemorable and frustrating viewing experience. Instead of actually spending the money with this pile of dreck, the writers could have just placed the actors in front of the television screen and scream things like, “your wife is fat,” or “your children are stupid,” or “you have no friends,” or (most appropriately) “you are stupid.” The outcome would have been just as insulting as the series, which revels in insulting its audience at every turn. 
Based on a long-running hit play by Del Shores, SORDID LIVES became a hit movie where it had a record-setting 96-week run at the Camelot Theater in Palm Springs. On the festival circuit, it garnered numerous awards, including Best Feature awards at the Austin and Philadelphia LGBT Film Festivals, and Best Feature and Best Actor: Leslie Jordan awards at the New York Independent Film Festival. The story didn’t end there either. In 2008, the Logo network produced a season of Sordid Lives: The Series that sort of started before the events of the play but went past them as well. However, it was canceled after just that one season on the network. 
The opening scene of The Dead 2 depicts a man lumbering through a town. That’s basically how the movie works: clumsy, plodding, and with no sense as to where it’s going. I did not see The Dead 1, and after this follow-up, it’s not likely I ever will. At least there are some pretty landscape shots and a handful of effective bursts of gore to tease the viewer, making them believe the film will improve. Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got. 
Jack And The Cuckoo-Clock Heart is a pretty high profile animated film being imported to us via Shout! Factory from France. This film has some pretty cool roots. Apparently this was based on a concept album by a French rock band (you can see some of the performances at their concerts on the bonus material videos). The singer of the band and songwriter didn’t just stop there, he took to a novel. Following that it became a hit movie that is finally making its way to theaters in the United States on September 4th followed by the Blu-ray we’re about to review on October 7th. And while the Blu-ray features an English track, you do have the option to listen to the French with the original singers performing the parts. 
Bubba Sawyer (or you may refer to him as Leatherface) has turned 40 years old ladies and gents. It was that long ago that Tobe Hooper’s grimy, dark horror film about a group of unlucky youths traveling through Texas shocked and mortified audiences forever. For the 40th anniversary of course we have to get another home video release. But, rest easy folks, this new edition of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is just a nice Warner Bros-type “same disc with new packaging art” release. Nope, they’ve gone and done a 4K restoration job on it and it looks and sounds better than ever. They’ve also been so kind as to port over all your favorite old extras from the previous DVD and Blu-ray iterations. Unfortunately those won’t be a part of this review as we’ve only been sent the single disc edition. Let’s not boo hoo, though, this is the freakin’ Texas Chain Saw Massacre we’re talking about here. One of the greats! So, let’s do this! 
Transformers Age of Extinction, the fourth film in the Michael Bay Transformers franchise, is both a theatrical movie and a Blu-ray that I wanted nothing to do with. The last two, minus seeing Megan Fox and her sexy thumbs in the second film, were absolute bowel movements in motion. How many times can we see the same story repeated over and over again? Decepticons come down and want to destroy the Earth. Yada yada yada. I’m bored just typing this. I have seen it all before. Should we the movie going public have expected anything less than just more of the same simply because there’s a different looking cast? Initially, the curator of toys in me really couldn’t pass my initial theatrical press screening opportunity up just to see if Michael Bay got any better in the storytelling department or not. And now, the only saving grace for me, is to find out whether or not I was too harsh when I ripped apart Transformers Age of Extinction on my theatrical review. That sole reason, ladies and gentlemen, is why I bothered to show up here. I hope you enjoy the ride. It will probably get bumpy. 
