Feature: A+

First it was the penguin, and now the panda has become the new star on the animal parade in a big way. In Kung Fu Panda, Jack Black breathes big life into Po, noodle-hustling, chop saki flick dreaming giant panda bear. Po’s father, Mr. Ping (played by the great James Hong) has cemented a future for Po selling noodles for a living but the Eastern baloo has a bigger destiny. Like many Asian cultures where parents have set before their children a path of employment, Po has difficulty in telling his father he wants to take up kung fu and train to become a freedom fighter in the Valley of Peace. No child wants to think about what a stable and a good life the family trade can provide, they want to live out their dreams and shoot for the moon.

So, Po ditches his noodle stand on the way to the Dragon Warrior coronation, assumed to be one of the Furious Five warriors. Grand Master Oogway, an ancient tortoise (Randall Duk Kim) believes it best to appoint the next Dragon Warrior after having a vision that the dangerous Tai Lung, a rebellious former student of his and Master Shifu’s will break out of his prison and destroy the village. When Po crashes the ceremony he finds Oogway’s finger pointed at him. Po’s stature, weight, and nature as a hungry and rotund bear who doesn’t know a thing about being a true warrior makes him the unlikeliest of heroes, but a prophecy is a prophecy and Oogway makes it certain that a mistake was not made. Doubters of the prophecy, Master Shifu and the Furious Five, must now train Po and intercept Tai Lung before he makes it to the village.

I’ve never been fond of Dreamworks’ animation style whether it was Shrek or Bee Movie, but they struck gold with big black-and-white. The true stars of these films are not the voices behind the curtains but the animators who work the long hours to make it look this good, and Dreamworks set a new bar for themselves with Kung Fu Panda. They did however go overboard on the voice talent, especially with the Furious Five. Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Seth Rogan (Mantis), David Cross (Crane), Lucy Liu (Viper) and even Jackie Chan (who I’m sure was picked apart by the animators a lot for Monkey) really didn’t add anything memorable. They managed to keep Rogan’s barreling laugh out of the film, and while Jolie bears some sort of regal quality as Tigress, I can’t remember anything quotable from anyone but Black’s Po. Dustin Hoffman (Master Shifu), Michael Clarke Duncan and Ian McShane (the evil Tai Lung) though, do bring their A-games and make sure that Black isn’t the only one noticeable in the film.

Whether they’re designed for kids or adults, good films are still good films and Kung Fu Panda is a blast from start-to-finish! It’s full of exciting, epic, animated fights that look and feel amplified in high definition grounded by a fast-paced story full of intense moments the deserve a cheer or two by the end. Most importantly you’ll have fun with Po who in his own way embraces the culture instead of mocking it. And with the help of his persistent teachers, Po finds a way of making his deficiencies major advantages in life’s biggest struggles.

PRESENTATION: A

Packaging is basic standard blu-ray affair, but there’s a tasteful animated menu with silhouettes of Po and the Secret Five. The initial disc load has trailers for Madagascar 2 and Monsters vs. Aliens which looks to be pretty good. Intermediate load screens feature a bowl of dancing dumplings, and the transition animations keep you in the Kung-Fu Panda theme at all times. One glitch in the disc is that if the menu stays idle too long, say, 5-10 minutes, the film starts up again, or if you stopped in the middle watching the film or the commentary to see something, it will start back where you left off. So don’t think your player is possessed, it’s the disc. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese and a Trivia Track.

AUDIO: A+

The stellar English 5.1 Dolby True-HD track is very lively and active. Sound is traveling around your head and through your chest but most importantly the dialogue is synched well, and is clear even at low levels. Action sequences especially create a whirlwind environment of spatial effects with plenty of resounding punches and kicks. 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks is also available in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

VIDEO: A+

This is Dreamworks Animation’s best looking film by far! In 2.35:1 ratio and 1080p, Po’s hair is amazing in all of his awesomeness, details in the backgrounds are clear, and this is one of the most refreshing and vivid color palettes that I’ve seen in some time. Lush reds and blues cast against a pure black background in Tai Lung’s escape, and when Po tries to enter the monk palace for the Dragon Warrior ceremony, the animators show off with the confetti. It’s a great looking film and I know this sounds like hyperbole, but Kung Fu Panda visually, can stand alongside some of the great Disney films.

EXTRAS: B+

All of the featurettes and vignettes are in 1080p, widescreen, and Dolby Digital 2.0 surround sound and are grouped into four sub-categories: Inside Kung Fu Panda, Po’s Power Play, Land of the Panda, and Sounds and Moves of Kung Fu Panda.

Inside Kung Fu Panda contains most of the behind the scene stuff but exclusive to the blu-ray is the Animator’s Corner. This is a variation of the excellent Filmmaker’s Commentary but the Corner utilizes a picture-in-picture box that shows video of the commentary, as well as animatics, storyboards, interviews, voice recording sessions with actors, and video of animators working on the film. Some of these are bits and pieces of the other extras found on the disc. Viewers can switch the commentary on or off, and the animator’s corner at any given time during the movie. There is a noticeable drop in volume from the audio commentary to the animator’s corner. Also a Trivia Track is accessible in the same menu with pop-up facts spread throughout the film. Meet the Cast (13:18) interviews all of the cast members and a peek into their recording sessions. Pushing the Boundaries (7:08) explores the technology of animating, fur, clothes, and other challenges. Jack Black does a PSA for Team Earth in Conservation International: Help Save Wild Pandas (2:00) a mission to save the planet and preserve the habitat of the Panda bears.

The Po’s Power Play submenu holds some fun and games which you can play. They probably won’t retain an adults attention too long, but kids will love the going through the 5 Dragon Warrior Training Academy games. Or if that’s not enough the Dumpling Shuffle is a modified version of the Shell game with a dumpling and 3 bowls. Learn to Draw (32:00) are step by step tutorials on how to draw each of the main characters in one pose. The tutorial for Po is performed by the actual animator.

In the Land of the Panda submenu are a handful of shorts on the Chinese culture. Alton Brown shows how a master noodle chef breaks dough in Mr. Ping’s Noodle House (4:43), Food Network’s Alton Brown shows how a master chef breaks dough into noodle. How to Use Chopsticks (2:55) is a video tutorial on how to use chopsticks and proper etiquette and Chinese table manners. Inside the Chinese Zodiac (11:33) is an on-screen Chinese restaurant place mat listing traits, suitable companions, rivals, and celebrities for each symbol. People can find out what symbol they are based on what year they were born but it could have been simplified. Animals of Kung Fu Panda (6:18) have kids demonstrating the different attack and fighting methods mimic the real world animals. Related to that is the What Fighting Style Are You? which is set up like those annoying facebook applications where you answer a bunch of questions which then calculates what type of fighting style suits your personality.

The Sounds and Moves of Kung Fu Panda is a mixed bag of nuts depending on who you are. If you’re a little kid or parent, these features are more for you. However if you’re just a film fan the only one extra of note is Sound Design (3:54) where Ethan Van Der Ryn (lord of the Rings, King Kong) explains how they designed the sound effects palette for the film. Cee-Lo covers Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting” in a music video (2:29) with Jack Black and bunch of kids doing karate. Learn the Panda Dance (4:32) is a short aerobics/hip-hop routine and Do You Kung Fu? (24:13) extensively looks at learning the different stances of each style of kung-fu represented in the film. The DreamWorks Animation Video JukeBox is a bunch of short music videos promoting Dreamworks animation films such as, Bee Movie (Here Comes the Sun), Madagascar (I Like to Move It, Move It), Flushed Away (Dancing With Myself), Shark Tale (Car Wash), Shrek (I’m a Believer) Shrek 2 (Living La Vida Loca) Shrek the Third (Losing Streak) Over the Hedge (Rocking the Suburbs). Finally are the two trailers that open the disc: Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa and Monsters vs. Aliens.

On the BD Live tip, there are two special features: Po Around the World, which runs under a half hour showing scenes in different languages and A Day in the Life: A Shaolin Monk in Training, available only for a limited time.

Black Belt Achieved – Overall Shock Value: A

I was hesitant to see Kung-Fu Panda in the theaters even though the premise looked funny. I’ve never been disappointed with Jack Black but honestly, one gets tired of seeing American-made films about martial arts with “Kung-Fu Fighting” in the soundtrack. It appeared so antiseptic and the corporate white vision of ancient Chinese culture, but I was proven wrong, there’s a lot to enjoy out of this family pic that will get bellies rolling and people saying, “Ska-doosh” at the most inappropriate of times. It got an infectious and honest appeal. With this blu-ray release, Dreamworks put together a lush and beautiful feature with all the high def fixins to please any home theater. The extras are touch and go if you’re a film buff, but the aimed target audience, parents and their kids, will get plenty of mileage out of them. Make sure Kung Fu Panda gets on your short-list of must-have blu-rays.

WALL-E 3-DISC BLU-RAY REVIEW
Feature Time: 98 minutes
Rated: G
Studio: Disney Pixar

Thanks to mass industrialization and consumption of everything natural, we have destroyed out planet, and all that’s left is a wasteland of junk. Our junk. This is in the distant future right, or is it? In some areas of the world, you’d think it was today. But luckily in a Pixar future near you, they invent Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), a robot designed to clean-up our planet by compacting into bite-sized cubes. Sadly the fleet of Wall-E’s have broken down except one to erect skyscrapers and cities of junk and rummaging through our remains. Dun-dun-Daaah!

In the ninth Pixar film, humans vacate the planet to live in outer space but deploy robots called EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) to come back to the Earth from time-to-time to see if vegetation can survive again prompting lazy, overgrown humans to shuttle back home to inhabit the once green and blue planet. Leave it to someone else to do the work, right? Many years have past, far too many to count, but a large corporation called Buy and Large, initiated all of this consumerism and consumption and eventually became the governing body feeding people more things to keep them locked in a seat, fat with information and virtual expferiences so that no one has to lift a finger ever again.

One day, our lone Wall-E finds a tiny plant living in a refrigerator and places it in his collection of human trinkets, unbeknownst to him that it is one thing everyone is after, everything with a heartbeat that is. After the latest deployment of EVEs, Wall-E befriends one of them as it’s the first companion he’s had on the planet besides his tiny friend, Roach, and takes a certain liking to her. She is everything he’s not: He roves around, she flies, he’s utterly defenseless, she has laser cannons, he has a nostalgic personality with one primary function, she is an aggressive Type-A robot thinking of only of completing her mission.

When Wall-E shares his latest find with EVE, it completes her mission and a spacecraft comes back to pick her up taking Wall-E into picturesque outer space to the human ship. The second act begins and we find out just how lazy humans are and how dependent they’ve become to robots and electronics. Wall-E meets other bots with other singular functions, all of which are adorable. Once the “head” robots discover that EVE was successful, their stranglehold over the humans will end. The final act and struggle to activate the return sequence back to Earth depends on Wall-E, EVE, and the Captain of the ship, a human, to save the day and send everyone home feeling good about being green and keep Al Gore singing “Zippity Do-Dah” and “Kumbayah ”

What is extraordinary about Wall-E is the way they tell the story through minimal verbal communication, almost child-like. They did the same thing on the cartoon Pokemon but at an incredibly annoying level where all the creatures could only say their name with different inflections. Thankfully the robots have a slightly larger vocabulary and do some imaginative things with the way they move, different postures, and the facial expressions which may just be a slight change in the eyes to a tiny mechanical part moving. At first it was frustrating because it was just Wall-E and Roach by themselves and you’re trying to take in the drastic scenery of Earth, and hardly a word was spoken. But once EVE dropped and everything raced to the spaceship, the strain of communication becomes a bit of a charming quality to Wall-E. It allows younger audiences into it at their level, but gives older audiences to figure out.

All Pixar films have a pretty wholesome little message in them even if we don’t want to really be aware of that when watching them. But it’s hard to look past how the metropolitan landscape of the Earth in act one came to be that way. The super-consumerism lifestyle promised and delivered by corporate gluttony leading to the downfall of mankind. How humans can reject the organic world around them and become mindless, overgrown babies is not a reality now, but there’s a plausible chance we are headed towards that–enough for Wall-E to make people pause and think.

Wall-E is full of contrasting things: natural vs. synthetic, the sleek, curvilinear, do everything Eve vs. the boxy, mono-purpose relic Wall-E, And even though they are robots, they are patterned off a male and female traits. Robots appear to have more emotion than humans and humans have become more robotic. Even though this is a Pixar film, and it’s aimed at the most general audience, Wall-E is an all-ages open love letter to the often misunderstood science fiction genre with nods to Star Trek, 2001: Space Odyssey, Alien, Short Circuit, Star Wars, and the list goes on. Wall-E’s collection in his trailer is filled with things geeks and nerds could only ramble on for hours about. I should know, I’m one of them; and both Wall-E and EVE (and M-O) have the warmth and glow of every other Pixar animated character because that’s just what they do best.

What would you do if you were the last living thing on the planet? What if there’s no other life on the universe but our own? Are we making ourselves obsolete with robotic technology? Will we be taken over by machines? What are we doing to our planet? What kind of life would it be to live in outer space? The answers to these questions are endless and is the very heart of the science fiction movie. We have to let ourselves go to imagine before we can discover, we have to think before we come to solutions, and sometimes we have to have an old fashioned romance to see the brilliance of a much-maligned genre and I’ll break it down even simpler, it’s Pixar, and there is little doubt you won’t like it.

OVERALL SHOCK VALUE — Blu-Ray: A+ / DVD: A-

If you were to buy one, and not be ale to compare it to the other, you wouldn’t know the differences, but I can tell you, there’s a big winner when you put them head to head.

First off, we know that the audio and video are going to be better in high definition, but the audio is on another level. The Dolby Digital soundtrack is enjoyable, but the DD True-HD audio track envelopes you, reproducing the theater experience, which is what we’re all after, no?The video has that extra pop, that luster and clarity that will make people drop their jaw, but let it be said that the DVD when up-converted, looks damn good too. In the extras department, the DVD will have plenty to entertain the family or yourself many times over, but the blu-ray will have you coming back to watch the film with different types of commentaries (not just audio) and the 8-Bit video games are simple, yet addicting.

When able to compare the two formats, I still like the creativity put into the presentation of the DVDs, the packaging, and the menus, but that’s the only edge the DVD has over the blu-ray. Studios are finding more ways to creatively put extra material to make it worth the extra bucks for the blu-ray. Regardless of format, Wall-E is a no brainer that shines in both home versions but know in purchasing the DVD, you may be double-dipping eventually because the blu-ray is a winning performer in the complete movie experience that maximizes your home theater and rewards you with exclusive, time-worthy extras.

DVD VS BLU-RAY

Choose your format and read on for extensive disc by disc analysis — presentation, audio, video, extras & exclusives!

• WALL-E — BLU-RAY REVIEW
• WALL-E — 3 DISC DVD REVIEW

FEATURE: A+
I first saw Tropic Thunder in San Diego during Comic-con International with my PCS compatriot Howard Brown. Roughly fifteen seconds into the movie, we were already reduced to laughing so hard there were tears streaming down our face. When I had to recommend the movie to skeptical friends, I told them that the first ten minutes was funnier than any comedy they’d seen in the past two years, and it was all uphill from there. Every single person I recommended it to came back to me and said “You were right.”

Tropic Thunder’s high concept is an easy and familiar one: a director wants to make the greatest war movie ever and runs into problems. What makes it special is that director’s cast. Ben Stiller’s Tugg Speedman is an action movie star who needs to reignite his career, or else. Jack Black’s Jeff Portnoy needs a role lacking in fart jokes in order to earn some respect. Robert Downey Jr’s Kirk Lazarus is an Academy Award-winner looking for another statue. Brandon Jackson’s Alpa Chino is a rapper turned actor, with all the drama and swagger that entails. Jay Baruchel plays the ostensible straight man of the crew as Kevin Sandusky, a new actor eager for a good role.

The director drags his cast out to the deep jungle of Vietnam in order to both teach them a lesson in not being amazing crybabies and to get some excellent guerilla footage. Things go wrong pretty much immediately, and the actors have to band together in order get back to safety.

Where Tropic Thunder shines isn’t in its plot, which works, but is fairly predictable. It’s in the character exchanges. Four-fifths of the main cast are completely self-absorbed and caught up in their own problems or hang-ups. The other fifth is just desperate to be liked.

The comedy comes from the interactions between all of them. Jay Baruchel’s endless monologues about movie history minutia punctuate a couple of scenes, and seal him as the guy who is trying really, really hard to be a friend to everyone and anyone. Jack Black’s dope addiction provides a lot of fun pratfalls and screwed-up scenes for our enjoyment. Ben Stiller’s desperate action moviestar is so fraught with insecurity and lonelines that just looking at him is funny.

One thing I loved that Tropic Thunder isn’t afraid to do is to let a scene sit for a moment. There are reaction shots to funny scenes that just add to the comedy. Characters pull faces, especially Jay Baruchel, that tell you exactly what they’re thinking, but also remind you exactly how ridiculous the cast is.

I was hard pressed to find just one thing I loved the most out of the movie. The leader of the bad guys of the film is well-acted, funny, and gets a few amazing shots, particularly when he pulls out an RPG. Jay Baruchel’s rookie actor was excellent. Alpa Chino was fun and appropriately over the top. Ben Stiller was great.

One of my favorite things, but not my most favorite, is the interaction between Robert Downey Jr and Brandon Jackson. Their relationship is obviously going to be racially tinged, and no holds are barred. What sells it is Downey’s completely earnest performance. He isn’t insulting or pandering. He’s playing his role, which is a pompous award-winning Australian actor’s idea of what a ’60s era black sergeant was like. It burns Alpa Chino, and they have it out more than once.

Basically, the movie is hilarious. It’s hard to pin down one exact reason why, because the entire feature is so solid. I’ve seen it three times at this point, and I still laughed at jokes I knew were coming.

PRESENTATION: A
What’s great about the Blu-ray menus is that they are, at first glance, just like the menus you’d see on a real war movie. You see flashes of the film on a dark background, sparse menus, and very pared down design. Once you’ve seen the movie, you will understand the absurdity of the situation, but the menus are extremely fun. They aren’t layered with a lot of excess animation or anything to slow down hopping into the movie. The video that plays during the menus is surprisingly lengthy, as well, which just shows the care that went into the planning.

The Blu-ray case is right out of the past, too. Other than a note that it’s a Director’s Cut, the case looks like a legit war movie. There’s a grinning skull as part of a military-ish patch design, and it all looks very proper and blockbuster-y. There’s just the barest hint of the comedy that lies within.

The submenus are fast to activate and easy to navigate, which is always a plus. I never ran into that annoying situation where my cursor is at one point on the screen and I can’t figure out how to get it where it needs to be.

Tropic Thunder is just an attractive package from the box art down to the menus.

EXTRAS: A+
Tropic Thunder’s director’s cut has some 20-odd extra minutes, so I kept an eye out for them. Other than one added scene, which runs about five minutes long, early in the film, the rest of the edits come in the form of extending already existing scenes. You get more lines, more room to breathe, and more jokes.

Tropic Thunder is a fast-moving movie, so I didn’t really notice the extended time. While the Director’s Cut is certainly watchable, I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s a better movie than the theatrical cut, but they do provide slightly different experiences. If you’ve seen Tropic Thunder at all, the Director’s Cut is well worth it, if only for the second Jay Baruchel rant.

There are an obscene amount of extras that round out the Blu-ray disc. There are two separate commentaries, one for the cast and one for the crew, and that’s just the beginning. From there, you can choose to watch vignettes on each major character, or perhaps a make-up test for Tom Cruise.

There’s a bit called 8 Minutes of Hell, which are Robert Downey Jr and Ben Stiller acting out a scene from late in the movie. The majority of the scene was improvised and the final cut was perhaps a minute long. They do the scene over and over, with changes each time. Downey regularly cracks up Stiller, forcing them to do it all over from the top.

There’s a long mockumentary called Rain of Madness included on the disc, as well. It’s all filmed in-character and as if the movie were real. It isn’t as laugh out loud funny as the main feature, but it’s a different kind of comedy. It’s more subdued and irony based than Tropic Thunder itself.

There’s enough extra content here to keep you busy for a couple of days at least, and that’s not even counting the commentary. As far as being worthy of a Blu-ray disc goes, Tropic Thunder is top notch. Some of the extras are worth the price of admission alone, and getting all of them along with the film is a steal.

OVERALL: A+
Tropic Thunder is my pick for comedy of the year. Nothing else even came close to making me laugh as long or hard as Tropic Thunder did. I’d even go so far as to place it in the top three films of the year, after only Dark Knight and Iron Man.

It simply hits on all cylinders. The straightforward slapstick comedy is played completely straight, the grossout comedy delightlfully revels in itself, the offensive comedy is played so amazingly straight that you have to laugh, and the more subtle comedy will keep a grin on your face for those brief moments when you aren’t laughing outright. In a word, Tropic Thunder is excellent.

Studio: Universal Studios
Running time: 120 Minutes

Lost in the 2008 comic book movie shuffle is one of the best comic book films, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Hellboy might not be as widely known, but he is just as noticeable. Director, Guillermo del Toro once again directs the sequel to the mildly successful Hellboy with all of the principle characters back with him. The first film was about big red thinking he’s human, hating creatures and wanting to fit in with humans but in The Golden Army, he’s not accepted by the humans with open arms and becomes more comfortable being a outsider.

Our story opens up with a Young Hellboy learning the story of the Golden Army through a bedtime story told by his father, Professor Broom (John Hurt). Seen through the imagination of a young Hellboy, the tale is told through puppets of how a goblin blacksmith created an indestructible Golden Army for the Elves as a weapon against the humans. King Balor slaughtered the humans with them and called a truce, never to activate the army again. He breaks his crown that controls the army, in three pieces and separates one piece so no one can find it. He keeps one for himself and gives the other to his daughter, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton). Her twin brother Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), doesn’t trust the humans and runs away vowing to return to exact revenge in the distant future.

The bedtime story remains as such, until the lost piece is tracked down at an auction by Nuada who then wages war against the human race by unleashing a horde of ravenous Tooth Fairies, then by killing his father for the second piece of the crown. Meanwhile Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair) work out commitment problems while investigating the auction house, but Hellboy is outed to the general public and the secret BPRD, is no longer a secret. Now, with only one piece missing, Nuada hunts his sister down who is in care of the BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) and more specifically, Abe Sapien (Doug Jones). Hellboy steps up to the task to battle a Forest Elemental, the last of its kind set free by Nuada, and in wounding it he discovers that he may have a bigger destiny than just trying to fit in with the humans who reject him. Even the BPRD has turned on him trying to reign him in under the control of Agent Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) and Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor). In an act of heroism, Hellboy saves Nuala and Abe when Prince Nuada infiltrates the BPRD Headquarters but gets mortally wounded in the process. To save Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Johann take him to Northern Ireland, the resting place of the Golden Army with the final piece of the crown in hand setting up one helluva finale.

This is the second collaboration between Guillermo del Toro and Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola. Del Toro understands Mignola’s product and gives him the latitude to expand on it even more, going bigger, and executing better. The story is tight and the pacing is right, never repeating the conventions of the first film. The action is non-stop and feels realistic and the grand epic looms behind every dark shadow. Still, Hellboy never loses its sense of humor cracking jokes, coddling cats and getting Abe drunk, leading to the film’s funniest moment, but (unlike Spider-Man 3) staying in its context.

Luckily for Mignola, his world is also the same one del Toro loves play in. Rush out to see Pan’s Labyrinth if you haven’t already. The style and techniques born in that Oscar-winning film flourished in this sequel. What del Toro does better than anyone is show both the beauty and the horror of these worlds leaving viewers conflicted. So beautiful–and so haunting at the same time. This is why this is del Toro’s film; his mind exploded on the screen. Locations and action sequences of his wildest imagination will be forever be etched in our minds like the Tooth Fairy sequence or the Troll Market–the Cantina Bar of this generation. Go through all of the extras to see just how involved del Toro was in every single aspect but remember that without Mignola, there is no Hellboy. Celebrate this original film they’ve created together and if we’re lucky, may we continue to reap the benefits of their friendship in the near future.

A GOLDEN BUY – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: A

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army takes you to several new worlds and lets us step into the imagination of Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola, whose collective effort brings us a fun and fantasy-rich film proving that sequels can be better if the right people are involved. It’s paced better, looks slicker, and is more ambitious and fun than its predecessor. Being able to compare the two formats I couldn’t help but be drawn more to the blu-ray. The vivid color palette and textured world was magnified in the 1080p transfer. And despite the lack of HD extras, it’s got plenty of supplements that will keep you in del Toro and Mignola’s fantasy world for hours long after and is sure to get multiple spins in your player.

DVD VS BLU-RAY

Choose your format and read on for extensive disc by disc analysis — presentation, audio, video, extras & exclusives!

• HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY — 2 DISC BLU-RAY REVIEW
• HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY — 3 DISC DVD REVIEW

To coincide with the release of the 22nd 007 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace on November 14th, MGM Fox has released the first six blu-ray editions of the spy library: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only and Die Another Day.

Available now as single blu-ray releases at a Suggested Retail Price of $34.98 or in two three-packs priced at $89.98. Volume 1 has Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, and Dr. No. Volume 2 collects From Russia With Love, For Your Eyes Only, and Thunderball.

All six films have sparkling 1080p transfers and new DTS-HD audio. They all maintain the extras from the 2006 DVD releases full of archival and promotional footage. PCS reviews each blu-ray below:

• Dr. No (1962) A+
• From Russia With Love (1963) A+
• Thunderball (1965) A
• Live and Let Die (1973) B+
• For Your Eyes Only (1981) B+
• Die Another Day (2002) C-

FEATURE: A+

Nearly 50 years later, the character of James Bond is stronger than ever. The 22nd film, Quantum of Solace will surely pack theaters the weekend of November 14th because 007 is a part of our life. The ultimate male fantasy, the culture of Bond lives on: living the high life, drinking dry martinis, traveling to distant places, sitting down at a casino table, playing Goldeneye, driving an Aston Martin, or just uttering the line, “Bond, James Bond.” But every mantra has a beginning, and everyone’s favorite secret agent began as a character in Ian Fleming’s 007 pulp fiction series in 1953. Another eight years would pass until he made the jump from the tattered paperbacks to the silver screen in Dr. No, a production put forth with Fleming’s approval, and the production team of Harry Saltzman and Alfred “Cubbie” Broccoli.

In his film debut, Agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to Jamaica with the disappearance of a fellow British agent. He assembles a team with a CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and island local, Quarrel (John Kitzmiller) and a local Crab Key goddess, Honey Ryder (Usula Andress) who literally emerges from the sea. They stumble on the island of an eccentric Dr. No and his plan to attack America and their space program in Cape Canaveral with nuclear assault. I’m leaving out details but this was the making of an epic spy adventure and at the time, such a script was ambitious and grand.

It is said that we create heroes when we need them most. Movie-goers got some kind of satisfaction through Bond movies, at least with European and American audiences. He was a spy who was reluctant to follow orders, he killed when necessary, at times when not. He portrayed the playboy code, driving fast cars and sleeping with women he barely knows whether it helps his mission or not. That recklessness, the disregard for his body made him mysterious and attractive. And so our hero took center stage lit with slick title sequences to introduce him, a hip brass band as his soundtrack, the smell of sex in the air and danger around the corner–we were hooked.

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A–

There’s a new, 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and it sounds amazing. All of the action scenes are active and appropriately you’ll feel it when things go boom. The original English and Spanish Mono tracks are included for the nostalgic, and so is a French 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

VIDEO: A+

We get a shiny new 1080p transfer that’s AVC MPEG-4 encoded which thanks to the Lowry Restoration Process looks amazing! The original ratio is 1.66:1 has been brought over and the thing that will catch your eye immediately is the Murice Binder title sequence. The details of the church interior make you feel like you’re not that far away. The different colored lamps show up in the shine of cast members’ hair. As said in the restoration documentary, this film may look like it was shot in the 1960’s but it doesn’t look 45 years old. Dr. No has never looked so good.

EXTRAS: A+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and sport a 2.0 Dolby Stereo mix. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault of archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Dr. No sports a great Audio Commentary hosted by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation and interviews with director, Terence Young and cast members that weave in and out of scenes they contributed to. The biggest reason why all of these Bond films shine on blu-ray is explored in 007 Licensed to Restore (11:56). It’s a fascinating process and the tedious work of Lowry’s staff is a marvelous achievement.

A BBC special, Guns of James Bond (5:06) interviews Jeffrey Boothroyd who become a gun enthusiast after reading the Fleming novels. Touring through his gun cabinet Boothroyd puts on a show-and-tell of the actual abilities of Bond’s guns in various situations and what kind of gun he would have liked to have seen Bond use. There’s no such thing as a small Bond red carpet event. Premiere Bond: Opening Nights (13:09) is a tell-all of the spectacles and who’s who in the crowd of dashing entrances. From the Royal Premieres at the Odeon Lester Square to Hollywood Boulevard, the featurette is entertaining until the last two minutes where every charity that saw donations from the premieres is mentioned.

Inside Dr. No (42:10) spotlights the important people responsible for the Bond films. Naturally, Harry Saltzman and Alfred “Cubbie” Broccoli were spoken about well. The choice of Sean Connery was the first and most important decision. Next, his villains, the sturdy supporting cast and then… Ursula Andress recalls her memorable entrance scene. Dr. No 1963 (8:40) is a black and white style guide to James Bond showing likes and dislikes, his favorite gun for example. Terence Young: Bond Vivant (17:57) gives credit to the director who is just as responsible as Connery for creating an icon. Young did more with less to establish the franchise, and his films in particular have remained amongst the fan-favorites throughout the decades. It was his style and attitude that Connery pulled from and placed in his performance. He is remembered by past cast and crew members as a man who could have easily been James Bond himself because he shared the same swagger. It’stoo bad he couldn’t direct more.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Binder opening credits. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” four theatrical trailers (10:57), one TV spots (1:24) and six radio commercials (6:38). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

DR. YES –- OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: A+

On that movie lot 1961, the world famous recipe for the next action hero was drawn up. Like a treasured recipe for chocolate chip cookies, follow is and it will always taste as great as that first batch. Change the process or the ingredients and the experience changes. This blu-ray preserves the original recipe like no other previous edition of Dr. No, and I guarantee you it will taste better than what you remembered.

FEATURE: A+

In the second film of the long-running franchise, SPECTRE sets out to exact revenge on James Bond (Sean Connery) for killing Dr. No. They’ve trained a new assassin, Red Grant (Robert Shaw) a towering brute and armed with a garrote in his watch. Trained and approved by SPECTRE Number Three, the vile Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), Grant’s only mission is to wipe out 007.

MI6 sends Bond to Istanbul to retrieve a Russian Lektor cryptograph and a cypher clerk by the name of Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) at the consulate. She has made a deal to defect with the Lektor as long as Bond is the agent to pick her up. Unknown to Bond is that Romanova is acting undercover against her will (by SPECTRE) and is leading Bond to his death. British Intelligence Chief Ali Kerim Bey assists Bond in stealing the Lektor and flee on the Orient Express with Romanova, where Grant is waiting for them. Plenty more action ensues and Bond suspects Romanova is working as a spy for Russia, (not SPECTRE) and a deadly climax awaits them all in Venice.

While Dr. No had a plot with a much larger scope, director, Terence Young came back with a stealthy reconnaissance mission showing the wide array of missions in 007’s world. The importance of an enemy cypher was a very real thing. Any edge could be the difference in a global war and a mission like this was a plausible story viewers could buy. The gypsy theme and Venice channels gave it a warm Mediterranean flavor–a great contrast to the bigger threat, the cold, Eastern Bloc looming in the back. The Bond family was established with the return of Bernard Lee as M, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny and Desmond Llewelyn as Q and Rosa Klebb and Red Grant became legendary adversaries in the 007 lore. If blondes are your thing, Bianchi doesn’t disappoint as the resident Bond girl and balanced by his womanizing and flirting, Connery steps up the physical action in memorable fist fights and explosive chase scenes. Everybody goes home happy. Track down From Russia with Love, it’s one of the very best Bond films ever made, and lives on in high-end form on blu-ray.

PRESENTATION: B+

Packaging is a standard case in a shiny, cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A–

A new, 5.1 DTS-HD lossless Master Audio track is one of the major upgrades for the blu-ray. The rear channels get a decent spin with music, explosions, and train effects traveling back to them. The scene where Bond goes at it with a helicopter is one of the better immersive scenes in the film. Dialogue is clear from conversations to the grunts of hand-to-hand combat. Also present is original English and Spanish Mono tracks and a French 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

VIDEO: A+

From Russia gets a new 1080p transfer that’s AVC MPEG-4 encoded and with the Lowry Restoration Process it looks like it’s ready to hit theaters tomorrow! The original ratio is 1.66:1 has preserved and details like the frescos are completely visible now. The title sequences are sexy and alluring using the gypsy dancers and projecting the names onto their bodies. I can’t rave about these title sequences enough as their rich hues in high definition are like ripe fruit. These transfers show no sign of age or artificial enhancement, just a very clean image.

EXTRAS: A+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and sport a 2.0 Dolby Stereo mix. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault of archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. From Russia with Love has a great Audio Commentary hosted by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation and interviews with director, Terence Young and cast members that weave in and out of scenes they contributed to.

Two excellent featurettes in the Mission Dossier menu are the Inside From Russia With Love (33:46) and Harry Saltzman: Showman (26:42). The former talks about Harry Saltzman and Cubbie Broccoli knows the formula. Release James Bond every year and produce another in between but knowing it and implementing it were two different things. The feature on Saltzman revealed him to be a big showman, and always tried to think big, and tried to take Bond to that big level. His daughter Hilary, and son Steven recollect fondly personal stories of their father, and his peers and friends on his storied career.

Open up the MI6 vault to get to know Ian Fleming in The CBC Interview (7:42) in which he answers questions on his approach to writing the novels and denies that they are corrupting the young boys in school. Two BBC Audio Clips are heard with black and white photo montages. One is with Raymond Chandler (5:11) where the two popular writers converse on their differences, and the other, DESERT Island Discs (5:12) explains how intelligence organizations really work. And if that’s not enough, there’s an Animated  Storyboard (1:28) of the boat chase sequence.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Binder opening credits. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” four theatrical trailers (7:41), three TV spots (1:35) and three radio commercials (1:38). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

FROM ERNIE WITH LOVE –- OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: A+

As much as I enjoy all of the Sean Connery Bond films, From Russia with Love sticks out as a big favorite of mine. Sometimes the spy missions that lean on the espionage and reconnaissance intrigue me more than the threat of yet another nuclear weapon. The casting was filled with inspiring choices. Like Thunderball, this film balances out the playful banter with up-close violence. Bond continues to carry a mean streak in his character but is strong enough to take the foot off the throat at any moment. And as the body count in Bond’s wake rises, so do the number of reasons to add this blu-ray to your shelf.

FEATURE: A

The villain group, SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) takes down a plane carrying nuclear warheads with an undercover agent posing as a pilot. Intelligence suspects the plane is submerged underwater after it goes off the radar somewhere in the Bahama waters. Agent 007 (Sean Connery) leads a team in Nassau to find the weapons before they can be used against the allies. He meets not one, but two curvaceous redheads, Domino (Claudine Auger) who is linked to mysterious Largo (Adolfo Celi), a shark aficionado with a mansion off coast. Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) enters the arena who turns out to be a SPECTRE agent with a nasty bedside manner. Can he and his allies find the plane, the nukes, and save the day in time to tag both Bond girls? Of course, we are talking about James Bond here.

Terence Young directs, sadly his final Bond film arguably the best of the lot. A raw energy flowed through his three films, unseen in many of the later films. He created spy epics without unwarranted excess. Mystery, suspense, and seduction were always present in nearly every frame under Young’s and Thunderball, achieved the perfect blend of those qualities with an imaginative spy script. Fortunately as directors come and go, and different men get fitted for the tuxedo, the constant force behind the films remains constant with producers, Alfred Broccoli and Harry Saltzman who with Thunderball managed to salvage the production from legal troubles when former Ian Fleming collaborators, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham tried to sue back in 1961, when it was thought to be the first Bond film. Thankfully, the much-storied past off-camera did nothing to tarnish what happened on-camera.

It’s the fantasy world of espionage that we’re drawn to, men–dark and mysterious, women–exotic and deadly, situations–we’ve played out as children. But it’s the most capable agent, James Bond, was born a movie icon because he was unpredictable. He got the job done but he was never a boy scout, these were stories based off pulp fiction. 007 killed who he needed using his body as a weapon and then seduced the weak for the good of gaining information–but he always used his smarts and thought on the fly. Connery conveyed all of these qualities better than anyone else and is a big reason Thunderball remains as one of the best 007 films ever. Released for the first time on blu-ray, Thunderball remains a timeless gem that now has the benefits of high definition to match the quality of the film for years to come.

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A–

With each film, the sound mix gets better and better. In this, the fourth 007 film, more sound effects pan around and behind you like gunfire and helicopters. The subwoofer gets much more constant work than in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. The rumble from jets is robust and plumes of the explosion are accompanied with the rattling of your floorboards. Everything sounds great on this new, 5.1 DTS-HD lossless audio track and it’s exciting to hear a film this old sound so good. The original English and Spanish Mono tracks are included for the nostalgic, and so is a French 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

VIDEO: A+

The 1080p transfer is AVC MPEG-4 encoded and is in 2.35:1 and the Lowry Restoration process works wonders on Bond–the Connery films especially. The set designs have so much more depth to them with frescos on the walls and ornate decor throughout and in general seem like more color-rich films than the 1970’s era of 007. Maurice Binder’s title sequences dazzle in the high def. Crisp details of those voluptuous silhouettes have defined edges and the primary hues illuminate the room you’re watching it in. Blacks are deep, dark, and truly black. The range of blues and greens in the Nassau coral reefs can be picked up at a glance and underwater sequences look like a freshly-cleaned aquarium. Note the dramatic contrast in outfits in the climactic scuba brawl especially when the camera pans out to fit over twenty stuntmen in one shot. In older versions of the film both sides look they’re all wearing dark suits when the allies are actually wearing bright red-orange scuba gear.

EXTRAS: A+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and sport a 2.0 Dolby Stereo mix. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault of archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Thunderball though is a strong all-around disc complete with two phenomenal Audio Commentaries and some great finds in the MI6 Vault.

John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation returns to moderate the first commentary to teach us yet more lessons in Bond 101. His comments allow you to study particular points of scenes while the folding in the excerpt interviews with the cast and crew members such as director, Terence Young, composer John Barry, Luciana Paluzzi, and Ricou Browning who coordinated the underwater scenes that add new dimensions to the viewing experience. Cork hosts the second commentary with screenwriter, John Hopkins and editor, Peter Hunt. They even have a little fun here mixing in the Spanish audio for a change and playing the original title song “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” sung by Dionne Warwick. Whether you’re a casual fan or a diehard double agent, these two extras are invaluable pieces of cinematic history–DO NOT pass them up.

In the MI6 Vault is an NBC TV Special from 1965 called, The Incredible World of James Bond (50:54) which is an encyclopedia of sorts of the first four Bond films. Lots of it is redundant material if you’ve watched all of the early films, and is a comprehensive overview if this is your only Bond purchase. A Child’s Guide to Blowing Up a Car–1965 Ford Promotional Film (17:09) make believes that you’re a bored young boy with an over-zealous and cinephile father who’s been invited on the set during the shoot of the car chase. It’s an ingenious way to do a behind-the-scenes spot, but it runs a bit long for my taste and…frankly gets annoying, but it does have cool title sequence. On Location(13:06) is a cool trip down memory lane with set designer, Ken Adam and the pre-production footage of him, Harry Saltzman, and Albert Broccoli scouting where and what to shoot. The Rocket Man Movies (3:54) interviews Bill Suitor, the man strapped to the infamous rocket pack Bond uses to getaway in the opening scene. He discuses what it feels like to go up in the air with the suit and the revelation of why Bond suddenly though, “safety first.” Thunderball Boat Show Reel (2:51) is a publicity clip of a much shorter alternative cut of scuba brawl scene, where amusing 1965 TV commercials advertise the official 007 raincoat, pants, and secret agent spy pen and paper in Selling Bonds (2:05).

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Maurice Binder credits. Three 1995 featurettes make up the “Mission Dossier”, Making of Thunderball (27:34) takes you on a basic overview of the big moments of the film, casting and Connery, Claudine Auger, and Luciana Paluzzi reflect on memorable scenes. The Thunderball Phenomenon (31:04) gives background to the James Bond “novel” beginnings, memorabilia and Ian Fleming facts, and the insane popularity of the series. The Secret History of Thunderball (3:56) shows that there were varying versions of a handful of scenes where different dialogue was used, or it was dubbed differently or the scene was taken out completely. No real explanations are given though. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” are three theatrical trailers (8:26), six TV spots (3:31) and ten radio commercials (5:03). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

BOND. THUNDER BOND – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: A

As stated above, Thunderball encapsulated the right mix of spy games and sexual tension. Its fresh screenplay aimed big, but succeeded with the basics. The action was never over the top, nor did the gadgets seem out of this world. The Bond girls electrified the screen and Connery’s leading man mojo is as fierce as ever. The only thing it lacked was a legendary villain. Trumping the recent DVD with better sound and even better video, another classic film benefits from the blu-ray treatment.

Feature: D+

The nail that could have been driven into the 007 franchise could have been hammered down at the end of Die Another Day and no one would have even cared. Thankfully someone did care as we anticipate the latest James Bond which has evolved to a darker, more faithful adaption to Ian Fleming’s pulp novels. In light of Quantum of Solace, all of the excellent DVD releases are getting upgraded to blu-ray, even Die Another Day. Pierce Brosnan would suit up in the bow tie one last time, a 007 stint that lasted seven years and four films. In that run, there was good and there was Die Another Day.

On a mission to kill a rogue colonel selling weapons for blood diamonds, Bond is exposed as a spy in North Korea . Bond is captured, abandoned and tortured for a year and then exchanged for another prisoner and has his 00 title suspended. At multiple corners of the Earth, including Cuba, London, and Reykjavik meets an curvy American spy, Jinx (Halle Berry) a fellow agent with a cold shoulder, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) and a rich British mogul, Gustav Graves (Toby Stevens) who is in the business of, you guessed it, diamonds. Oh but wait, he has more surprises, believe me. All of that is secondary to a much deadlier plot to unleash the ultimate weapon in space that can beam down destruction to our planet below. Bond plants to exact revenge (huh?), save the day, and of course, get the babe.

In the advent of the Matrix trilogy and XXX, action films of the late 90’s to early 2000’s had too much CGI without any purpose. It seemed as if no one wanted to spend money on a good script just on action scenes on top of more action scenes. Even the title sequences have too many computerized graphics. Madonna’s electronic turn may have been a rebirth for her sound but it’s a big mismatch with James Bond and the font choice looked more appropriate for a home video. And I have to say it, the composed score is just as bad.

Lee Tamahori was chosen to direct based on his decorated films (Once Were Warriors and The Edge) and hopes were set very high. It raked in a ridiculous bank–that can’t be denied–but if you know a good Bond film, ten minutes in, you’ll know this is not one of them. I think the filmmakers set out to make an epic film–got caught up in what computer graphics could do–and the result was an epic mess. All verisimilitude is thrown out the window and the thought of Bond single-handedly stopping a giant satellite laser beaming down is far-fetched, even for 007. This was a James Bond film, right? Not Star Wars? Actually it feels more like Spaceballs because you’re left laughing at the end when two fights break out on a cargo plane, while a huge gaping hole sucks everyone down to their death. Oh and there’s that huge 50 mile wide laser to avoid too. A film’s bad when you’re left with more questions than answers and all I could say at the end was, “Huh-What?” “How?” and “Why?”

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A+

There are three audio tracks, the lossless 5.1 DTS-HD and compared to the older films, this film is a treat. This lossless audio track offers a wide range of big barrel boom and aggressive, active effects that will have your head spinning in your couch. Music roars loudly and anytime there’s a laser on screen (and there’s a lot of them in this film) the buzzing is particularly loud. If there’s anything bad to say about the audio I’d say that it goes so low that the soft spoken dialogue is difficult to pick up without having to increase the volume. A French 5.1 Dolby Digital track and Spanish 2.0 Stereo track are also available.

VIDEO: B+

Once a sore point, the transfer is now a strength. MGM delivers a 2.40:1 1080p transfer with AVC MPEG-4 encoded. The great thing about blu-ray is that the poor effort put forth in the DVDs can be erased. Marred with edge enhancement and pixelation, the DVD drove home theater nuts crazy.Tha absence of artificial “extras” allows us to see what is, actually, a good looking film. Blacks look good, as do the different array of textures seen throughout the film. All of the swirling colors and icy glaciers in Reykjavik come through clearly. In the fencing scene, the leather in Madonna’s outfit and the sculptures that decorate show more colors than just black. The paintings leading to Q’s lair are visibly clear. There’s still a teeny bit of edge enhancement that exists throughout the film, as seen in the opening action sequence but this isn’t as big a problem as the DVD.

EXTRAS: C+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull.

The first of two commentaries is with actors Pierce Bronsnan and Rosamund Pike who recorded two separate tracks. Brosnan picks his spots and can’t help but yuck it up laughing by himself. Pike comes in for the first time when the setting changes to London. She helps fill in some of the dead spots when it was just Brosnan. It’s cute to hear her humbled sitting across from Madame Judi Dench. From this point their combined commentary is split, Pike’s dialogue comes out of the right channel, Brosnan’s on the left and both parties aren’t afraid to say where the film could have been improved. In the second commentary director, Lee Tamahori and producer, Michael G. Wilson have a more natural conversation and play off of each other’s comments, though they seem convinced this was a great flick. One final way to squeeze another viewing is the MI6 Datastream which is a fact-laden track where notes pops up throughout the film. In some instances the picture shrinks down and a mini-featurette explains the scene further. There is no toggling between this track and other audio selections or subtitles once this extra is selected. I missed contributions from John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation who moderated commentaries for the older films. The fact he’s not on the disc at all is saying something.

The other extra of major significance is From Script to Screen (51:40) which is a large overview of the production for example, writing the script, doing damage control on rumors, set design, stunt coordination, bringing on champion surfer Laird Hamilton to casting the Bond girls. Narrated by Robert Carlyle, one interesting theme in this extra is this concern by the crew to not make a bad Bond film, including producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. No one wanted to ruin the franchise, but ironically, the changes in tone and execution in the second Casino Royale proves that Die Another Day will not be one long-remembered. The featurette is very revealing though as problem after problem arose in making the film, perhaps this should have been a sign to the filmmakers.

Shooting action scenes and establishing scenery in a winter wonderland presented lots of challenges. Shaken and Stirred on Ice (23:35) takes you behind the different range of issues in trying to film a car chase in Reykjavik, Iceland like finding ice thick enough and filming quick enough before the ice weakens and becomes a safety hazard. Just Another Day (22:39) films one day of seven months of principle photography. This day happens to day 69, earmarked for the parachute scene in front of Buckingham Palace. It’s not a particularly thrilling featurette because most of it is spent watching stunt coordinators talking in walkie talkies and Lee Tamahori speaking through his megaphone. The remaining minutes show the crew racing before noon to finish the dialogue scenes before the changing of the guard. British Airways makes its way into the film and briefly in the extras in The British Touch: Bond Arrives in London (3:32). Production Designer Peter Lamont revisits all the of the exotic shoots in the film and the hotels from those spots in On Location (13:51) From the brief revisit to the Ice Hotel Sweden to an extended look back at Havana Cuba to have been able to see each of these locales in high definition is a bit of a letdown. I know now my eye’s become spoiled by blu-ray.

007 Mission Control is also carried over from the recent Bond DVDs accessing the various themes of James Bond directly. The title sequences, the villains, the babes, exotic locations, Q’s debriefing on the latest gadgets. It’s a useless, special really. Absent are the trailers and TV spots that are available in the earlier films and so is the Madonna video. I’m not sure if that there wasn’t enough room to fit it or it was just MGM giving us mercy. Thrown in for good measure are the extensive promotional and behind the camera gallery.

SOMETHING DIED ALRIGHT – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: C–

The Bond franchise almost died, but thankfully it was Pierce Brosnan’s run as 007. Rosamund Pike was a nice choice as a Bond girl but I couldn’t stand Halle Berry, no matter how well she fills out an orange bikini. The late 90’s were a lost era for action films; the box office success of Mission Impossible explains a lot. All the trademark Bond swagger and purpose regressed into an over-stylized video game where there’s action just to have action. I think this is another film (given its time period) filled with CG effects without cause. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Recommended as a rental at the very best, or for those Bond completists who have to have everything with 007 attached to it.

Feature: B+

In the final decade of the Cold War, For Your Eyes Only fed off the global threat of the Russians. Sent to retrieve a communication device that went down in a sunken ship, Bond teams up with Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) and comes face to face with Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) and Milos Columbo (Topol) both of whom claim to be Bond’s ally but are not all what they seem to be. Faintly familiar to From Russia With Love, the twelfth Bond film is a cross between a who’s who and a race to an important piece of the nuclear arms race.

Yet another transition in the Bond franchise, this time the film tones the story down from it’s predecessor, Moonraker which was an exercise in excess filmmaking (an ongoing recurring cycle). The basic 007 plot is simple: Put Bond on a mission on an exotic locale, throw some women, an eccentric villain or two, and lots of action. How productions continue to try something different I’ll never know. If it ain’t broke, don’t make Moonraker. Wisely, director John Glen, and writers, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson followed the formula giving us a grittier, more dangerous James Bond instead of letting it become an out of control spectacle. (See Die Another Day)

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A

The action comes alive in this 5.1 DTS-HD lossless audio track. Compared to this first wave of Bond blu-rays it’s only bested by Die Another Day which was made twenty years later. Lots of spraying gunfire to travel through the room, Sheena Easton belting out the theme song, and an accurate dialogue track make this a job well-done. Also available are the 2.0 Dolby Stereo and Spanish Mono tracks and a 5.1 Dolby Digital French track.

VIDEO: A

A big part of the Bond mystique is the distant locations that could only be accessed by 007 himself. In 1080p, these desirable destinations look even better. Texture and the fine granules of sand and snow can be picked up by the eye easily. The Swiss alps glisten and the Bahamas look lush with paradise. The transfer is AVC MPEG-4 encoded and is in 2.35:1 and even though there was was probably less done by Lowry restoration as the Connery Bond films, the picture is clean of artificial noise and wear-and-tear defects.

EXTRAS: A

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Others have short but insightful featurettes that add a deeper appreciation to the film. Similar to the Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only’s strength is in the commentaries.

Also boasting three commentaries, John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation returns yet again with all of his 007 wisdom in the best of the bunch with excerpts from director, John Glen and members of the cast. Roger Moore does another one of his shooting from the hip solo tracks, and the co-screenwriter, Michael Wilson and the production crew team up for the third track with lots to say about the logistics of putting together a Bond film.

Director John Glen introduces Two Deleted Scenes where there’s a much longer hockey fight scene (2:05) a conversation between Bond and Melina that took away from her personality. The underused angle button gets some action by being able to see the Death of Loque scene from two different camera angles. Michael Wilson narrates a handful of small featurettes about filming at the exotic locations. Bond in Greece (5:58) and Bond in Cortina (4:17) showed how the 1980 Winter Olympics influenced the film’s snowy setting shooting in the Alps. Neptune’s Journey (1:39) talks about how the great set designer, Peter Lamont put the underwater scenes together in the Bahamas and what happened to that Neptune sub after filming. Looking Inside for Your Own Eyes Only (29:48), you’ll take deeper looks into casting choices, the rock climbing scene, the helicopter stunt, filming underwater and action on the slopes with figure skater, Lynn Holly-Johnson. Two Animated Storyboard Sequences show montage compare the drawings for the snowmobile chase (1:14) and underwater sequences (1:46) with their film counterparts.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Maurice Binder credits.

Sheena Easton’s Video (2:46) for For Your Eyes Only, In the “Ministry of Propaganda” one theatrical trailer (3:49), three TV spots (11:46) and two radio commercials (1:11). One observation worth noting is that nudity is seen in the theatrical trailer, all the TV spots, and music video. An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

FOR BOND FANS ONLY – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: B+

A welcomed return to Earth, For Your Eyes Only went back to the fundamentals in both tone and story. Moore has another solid turn as Bond, and the supporting cast was reassembled to please 007 fans. With aggressive Bond girls, wild action sequences and all of the solid extras brought over from DVD, this is one of the twenty plus Bond films you can bring home confidently. With the power boost in the DTS-HD track and visual delight of HD, this is the best way you can watch this film.