Year: 2010
Running Time: Legacy 125 minutes / Tron 96 Minutes
Rated: PG
SRP: $79.99
Studio(s): Disney
Release Date: April 5, 2011

Film/Feature: Tron Legacy: C+ / Tron: C

Who would have thought that a film filled with computer-generated effects would influence and inspire so many people? Who would have thought that a sequel was possible nearly 30 years later? This was my second time viewing Legacy as I saw it in a 3D IMAX theater and this had to be probably my fifth time seeing Tron (in full) and one film set out what it wanted to do but for me fell way short of its potential. The other is a classic film for many, and justifiably a landmark in technical achievement but honestly has not aged particularly well.

The original Tron featured Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) as a computer programmer who claims video games he designed were stolen by his old company rival Ed Dillinger (David Warner) of ENCOM. With the assistance of his friends Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan), Flynn gets access to ENCOM’s mainframe computers and hacks into the system and in the process gets zapped into the server where he’s thrown into a virtual world of where he’s the guest “user” trying to survive alongside other programs as Master Control the ultimate program, which has grown to ultimate power throws Flynn into these wild games of survival. Writer/Director Steven Lisberger was a visionary when he put this film together. Long before the internet and smart phones, Lisberger dreamed of a world that we’ve only begun to catch up to today.

As imaginative and creative as the film is, and how the young actors at the time, and now long-time veterans in the “game” put in a “go for it” effort, Tron is filled with dry and forgettable moments and deplorable bad fashion. But you can’t help but give it up for Lisberger and the foresight to come up with language and speak that rings true today as well as concepts and our own personal usage of computers and games, and the internet. Tron unfortunately is a struggle to watch as something other than those inspirational moments and visual highlights. What people remember most is dazzling and colorful visuals, crazy virtual games, and a bunch of cheese oozing in between. Ironically the sequel is much in the same.

Tron Legacy had the knowledge of where we have gone since 1982 and fell flat when there were infinite possibilities as far as where to take the story, but sadly they chose to mirror much of Tron’s structure. First it was essential one see Tron before seeing Legacy but it does help greatly. Secondly the film mirrors much of the original instead of taking it to new places and that’s where my problem comes with Legacy. The story begins as Flynn knowing he could go to this virtual world and create a vast new world in the basement of his arcade. He enlists two “programs” to help him build while he would go back to spend time with his family. CLU, A computer in the visage of a computer generated “younger” Bridges, and Tron (Boxleitner) the security program that helped him destroy Master Control in the original movie. Unfortunately with all of his trips back and forth to The Grid, Flynn got stuck and his son grew up without his father in 1989.

Since then Sam (Garrettt Hedlund) is a thorn in ENCOM’s side and breaks into the company only to cause havoc on their servers on the days they expect their stock to raise in value. But Alan, now an executive at ENCOM gets word from Flynn inside The Grid to send in Sam. The message was an elaborate trick by CLU to get Sam into the virtual Grid, while opening a portal for anyone to go through back to the real world, including CLU. Sam is thrown into a barrage of death-match games much like his father but the world is a dizzying and dazzling update. Gone are the body suits with Sharpie marker designs drawn on them and in return is a beautiful, sleek and chic new imagining of The Grid. Sam survives the tests and is rescued by Quorra (Olivia Wilde) who takes him off the Grid.

Sam is reunited with his father who has become a stark contrast to the wild and reckless programmer he once was. CLU has grown in power and by staying off the grid, Kevin Flynn remains in the virtual world to keep the real world safe from his creation gone bad. Also, as if discovering a native flower, Quorra represents the last of a native race of beings in the Grid that could be the answer to multiple problems in the real world. Sam being on the Grid brings Flynn out in the open for the first time in a long time and with Flynn’s identity disc, CLU could escape out to the real world to create more perfection.

As I stated earlier Legacy seems to be more of the original Tron amplified, and much of that upping the visual ante can be attributed to first time director Joseph Kosinski who hailed from the architecture world. His prior career shines through the style and art design of the film. It’s a stunning redesign of silhouettes and neon light. It’s chock full of contemporary flair, but there’s also artificial lens flairs galore and atmospheric smoke for the sake of having atmospheric smoke. Legacy lacks the warmth of the original but also lacks the substance to let those spectacular scenes resonate into more than just being eye candy. Hedlund is stiff and rigid, and Bridges has been weathered down to playing The Dude persona instead of what we remembered to be Kevin Flynn. Bridges as CLU is even more rigid, and his disturbing brow doesn’t move even when it’s wrinkled.

Something often found in films like Star Wars: A New Hope and Tron are these character-building scenes that are nowhere to be found in modern sequels. For instance, in Tron, the scene upstairs in Flynn’s arcade where Flynn’s is playing handheld videogames while Allan and Lora try to figure out if he’s embezzling money shows us exactly who these characters are before we see the virtual world. In Legacy we never ever get to really know Sam, instead as we get reacquainted with the archetype of a young adult, who feels abandoned by his father who grows up to be a troublemaker. Then he later realizes the great sacrifice and then tries to live up to his namesake. Outside of riding motorcycles, being brave, and looking like a hard-ass, and talking in monosyllabic phrases, what else is there to know about Sam?

I was hoping for something to the scope of a Blade Runner some kind of new world to explore and to be awed by with a more complex story. Haven’t we seen saving the sole survivor of a race story before? The exceptional Daft Punk gave Legacy a pulse, a beat, even rhythm, but it couldn’t give it soul. Tron Legacy could have had all of the games, but is the only purpose for these games just a gladiator event? I guess I was mislead by the original trailer for Legacy when it showed the Light Cycles going outside of the arena, outside of the grid, but sadly again, this felt more like an update than a sequel. After the light show, the air battle, the story’s conflict seemed to circle itself into a dead end, repeating the clunky, awkward seizure-inducing light-blinding finale that Tron had (minus the obligatory helicopter). When Tron Legacy–and Tron for that matter–electrify they’re stimulating, but when each had they’re stretches where you’re wanting something more to connect to. Tron Legacy satisfied minimal expectations (looks cool, sounds cool, somewhat plausible and logical continuation) but is it too much to hope for more? Apparently.

Tron Legacy Video:A+/ Tron Video: A+

Tron Legacy is to die for on a visual level. It has a flawless1080p AVC-encoded transfer split in two aspect ratios. 2.35:1 was used on all Tron Grid world scenes where the wide action occurred. Scenes in the real world were shot in 1.78:1. Detail is amazing, even with the darkly-lit scenes, one could still see the freckles and age spots on Jeff Bridges’ face (the old one, not CLU), and every puff of smoke or cloud while translucent was clearly distinguishable. You could also see if it was on the outside of a ship or the inside. Colors shot in the real world are warmed by the fading sunlight of San Francisco. It was such a relief after being in the Grid for two hours. Shadows, even in this dark setting could be seen without getting lost. The high contrast of backlit neon colors against the silhouetting blacks was again deserved of the praise. The glow of the colors stops you in your tracks, and there’s no distortion of the colors, nor do they bleed out. I do wish they cut back on all of those artificial lens flares that are littered throughout the feature. They were blurry in the theater on 3D and now that they can be clearly seen and I sort of wish I hadn’t, still it was the sign of a beautiful transfer.

And for a 29-year old film, the Tron Blu-Ray makes the film look like it was shot yesterday. All of those wild psychedelic colors burst onto the screen. The image is cleaned up but there’s not a terrible overhaul of the image, but it’s not a perfect as there are a few scenes where you can see the image or the negative wobble. Grain is still present and that’s a good thing. As for details, this is the clearest I’ve ever seen the film. My last experience of Tron was on VHS and so much of it was lost. Every flicker of light, every polygon is crystal clear and sparkling clean. Not a damn thing to complain about.

Tron Legacy Audio: A+/Tron Audio: B+

Prepare to be blown away by this bombastic 7.1 English DTS-HD audio track that thrives in the home theater set up. Daft Punk’s electric wonderland bursts through the speakers while the sub kicks out a pulsating beat. Sound has been carefully designed to move all around viewers, with plenty of action for the surround speakers. Whether it’s the zipping of Light Cycles, the rush of the air or vapor whooshing behind, and then there’s the crowd in the arena or that incredible score. The weight of the vehicles can actually be felt through the amount of drive in the lower frequencies. There’s a difference in the roar of the Light Cycles to that of the Light Jets. When Clu addresses his legion of programs, you’d swear you were in a cavernous church when you hear his echo travel far past your head. Reference material? You bet. Other audio selections include: English French, Spanish in 2.0 Stereo and subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish.

For Tron, the 5.1 English DTS-HD audio track is going to be Zen garden as compared to Legacy however for its time there a immersive sound effects, dialogue though a bit low at times is properly placed up front, and there’s a surprisingly fair amount of atmospherics that are other worldly. There isn’t a hard-driving score filled with bass, there wasn’t storm clouds in the backgrounds but there was a fair share of directional movement in the mix, trembling bass whenever appropriate and the dialogue was clear once you drive the volume up.

Extras: B
On the surface as far as everything that’s thrown in, the five-disc package is an incredible value. But as far as produced extra material, I found most of what’s found on the blu-ray to be too heavy on the EPK material and not long or deep enough for something that’s as technically wonderful as Tron Legacy. Here’s what was in the bundle:

Disc One is the 3D Blu-Ray
Without a 3D TV, I sadly cannot share my views on the experience of the home theater 3D experience. I hope it’s better than the theater experience as I found that there was too much blurring going on and my eyes felt fatigued two-thirds of the way through. I found the regular blu-ray feature presentation to be much more pleasurable experience and wished I had just seen in the theater on an IMAX big screen, but not necessarily in 3D. Still for people who have invested in the 3D capable televisions here’s another film to try that technology out.

Disc Two is the Tron Legacy Blu-Ray:
The Next Day; Flynn Lives Revealed HD (10:25) is an odd extra that bridges the gap in between the Tron movies from the point at which Flynn disappears. ENCOM employees, programmers and the “Flynn Lives” Hacker about what At the end is a High Score list where viewers can enter in initials to access additional clips. (Type “All” to access all of them) These clips are filled with Flynn Lives propaganda from commercials, Tron video games, to protests and rallies, even clips of the unveiling of Flynn’s Arcade at Comic-Con, it’s a hodge-podge of odds and ends that will make Tron diehards grin with delight.

Launching the Legacy HD (10:20) is a solid look at how a sequel for Tron came to fruition, the real scientists who created a plausible world with which to make the film relevant to today. Also the test footage was shown from Comic-Con 2009 where the wonderful test footage was shown to see if there’d be interest in a Tron sequel.

First Look at Tron Uprising HD (1:15) Talk about your teases, this is a teaser for the upcoming animated Tron Uprising series that will air on Disney XD. It featured a star-studded cast and looks like it’s animated in way that will honor the look of the film, and hopefully will reach much deeper into the characters and story than either film.

Visualizing TRON HD (11:46) I wish this featurette was longer since this department is the one that hit it out of the park. From Kosinski using his architecture background to micro manage (just being honest, but the end result was stunning) the production design to using light as the central design element this was one movie where I could have seen a good 45 minute to an hour of extra footage to see how everything was done.

Installing the Cast HD (12:04) Shows all of the cast members patting each other on the back and telling how much they loved working with each other and how nice it was for the cast from the original Tron movie to come back for Tron Legacy.

Disc Roars HD (3:00) shows how Kosinski used the crowd at Comic-Con International Tron Panel to record the crowd noises for the movie.

Derezzed HD (2:58) A Daft Punk music video

Second Screen is an option to use with your laptop or iPad and it syncs up with the movie through Disney’s website, so as the film is playing exclusive supplemental material is accessible.

And that’s it. No commentary, no deeper look at any one aspect of the production or more revealing produced pieces that offer up a sense of what being on the set was like. There is not even a piece about Daft Punk doing the score. The problem in home entertainment releases is the turnaround speed does not offer much time to reflect or allow the audience to dictate what an essential home release should have.

Disc Three is Tron on Blu-Ray
New and Exclusive to Blu-Ray
The Tron Phenomenon HD (9:45) A modern day retrospective on the influence of Tron, by the cast and crew of Legacy. Older actors reflect back while actors who weren’t even born talk about being involved with a film that’s achieved such high cult status.

Photo Tronology (8:05) An excellent feature with Steven and his son Carl Lisberger who make a visit to the Disney archives to go over production and set photos taken for the Tron. Carl has become a devotee to the film and you can really see the love he has that goes beyond being attached to it through his father. Exploring the new extras on both discs, this was one of my favorites.

The rest are a full offering that have been transported over from the DVD and Laserdisc editions

Audio Commentary by Director Steven Lisberger, Producer Donald Kushner, Assoc. Producer and Visual Effects Supervisor Harrison Ellenshow and Visual Effects Supervisor Richard Taylor give an exceptional informative and detailed track filled with anecdotes about the production and principal photography, technical challenges, and understanding the history of how Tron came to be.

Making of Tron SD (88:20) A extremely thorough back to front documentary on every imaginable aspect of the film, a backstage pass if you will to the making of the film and interviews with the filmmakers on the potential of a sequel.

Development SD (8:05) Animatics are shown along with a television report called “Computers are People Too”

Digital Imagery SD (12:10) Testing out the concepts and early CGI for the film.

Rounding out the disc are Two deleted Scenes of Yori and Tron, Galleries full of design, concept and publicity art, a reel of trailers, deleted score pieces, Storyboarding the Light Cycle sequence, and an interview with Syd Mead about the Design of the Light Cycles and other aspects of the movie.

Disc Four is Tron Legacy on DVD

Disc Five is a Digital Copy of Tron Legacy for portable devices or desktop computers.

Tron Legacy on Blu-Ray–Overall Shock Value B–
Who knows what Tron Legacy will go on to inspire but it was one of the few tent pole films of 2010 that made a visual impression on me and I foresee films to cherry pick this and that from this film as well. I still found the story to be lacking substance department, especially with what could have been. There were opportunities left on the floor here. The core audience looking for a Tron sequel will likely be satisfied, if anything it shoots to echo the voice of the original Tron and I believe it does so, flaws and all. Technically, Tron Legacy is flawless in both the audio and video departments and is sure to be bumping through home theaters across the globe in glorious high definition. They’ve included every imaginable legal way to view the film and that goes a long way to satisfy every viewer, die hard or casual, young or old. A much deeper and more intricate plot and a more robust offering of extras would have raised the overall value higher but this giant bundle still comes with Buy It recommendation based on the film’s intangibles.

Tron on Blu-Ray–Overall Shock Value B–
Being honest seeing Tron again didn’t hold up to the film that I remembered, like its sequel, the story seemed to slow down and putter out the momentum built up from the action sequences. Still, it’s a unique visual experience and paved the way for countless other films that relied on CGI heavily. The high def transfer really does make the movie look futuristic, and the extras are complete with mandatory viewing and hearing material. It’s a shame that Legacy didn’t go as far to satisfy that in-depth curiosity. Kudos to Disney for including it in the deluxe package.

Year: 2010
Running Time: 103 minutes
Rated: G
SRP: $39.99
Studio(s): Disney / Pixar
Release Date: November 2, 2010

Film/Feature: A+
If the announcement of a third Toy Story didn’t warm your heart then maybe you’ve grown too old for your own good. Now 17 years old, Andy is ready to move out to college and it’s assumed that he won’t take his box of favorite toys with him.

Woody (Tom Hanks) was chosen by Andy to go to college with him but the rest of the crew including Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusak), and the others are convinced they were meant to be thrown out when Woody witnessed that they were intended to be placed in the attic.

Neither. The Toy Story gang find themselves donated to Sunnyside Day Care where they are welcomed to a place where hundreds of toys live and get played.

Lots-o-Huggin Bear (Ned Beatty) seems nice enough upon introduction but he runs a prison-like environment leaving all the newcomers in the Caterpillar room where the younger children play much rougher with the toys. Knowing he should be with Andy, Woody escapes only to be caught in the house of a little four-year old girl named Bonnie. Woody has to escape and rescue his friends and get back to Andy before he leaves.

What does Andy eventually do at the end?

There are those who thought that a third Toy Story would ruin Pixar, or at least their product. Water it down, make it feel forced or corporate but I didn’t believe it. Everything about Pixar and they way they do business, make films, and tell stories adds to the mystique and charm that’s seen through their films.

Buzz, Woody, The Potato Heads and the rest, had insecurities older audiences could relate to and the fear of mortality is a story that bears repeating in a brilliant and fresh progression, 10 years after the last time we heard Buzz Lightyear said, “To Infinity and Beyond!” Toy Story 3 has no shortage of adventure, laughs, and visuals that will have you shaking your head, amazed and in awe.

Our characters’ fate, their desire to be played, and not forgotten is not only a metaphor for aging and the working environment, but the simplicity and straight forward story of the appreciation of toys and the joy that they can bring to those who can get lost in their imagination is the magic of Toy Story. We all had something to take us back when we were young, when we obsessed, not on their limitations but their endless potential.

Video:A+/Audio A+
Toy Story 3 has another amazing 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It’s a sparkling Disney presentation that showcases every bit of detail laid down by the animators. Every frame is full of stylized delight, tip-toeing the line of near realistic but not so far you forget you’re watching an animated film. It’s cliche to say that Pixar outdid themselves, but seeing is believing. They really did and the high definition transfer in its entirety is reference material. That includes the 7.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. Make sure you try not to blink in the film’s climax at the landfill. You’ll swear you were in the middle of the piles of garbage. The sound is accurate, and full of activity. The rumbling machinery keeps your subwoofers bumping while the zipping action of the toys keeps your surround channels active.

Other audio selections include: 5.1 DTS-HD ES Master Audio, 2.0 English Descriptive Audio, Dolby Digital 5.1 EX French and Spanish tracks and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Extras:A+
A staple of all Pixar Blu-rays is a toy chest full of extra material that’s geared towards every kind of Pixar fan. The second disc in particular is split into four sections: Family, Film Fans, Publicity and Games and Activities. Fans of the animation process will find the Film Fans section to have everything they are looking for including two fine commentary tracks and looks into the technical challenges addressed in this latest film.

Disc 1
Day and Night Theatrical Short HD (6:02) The short film that aired prior to Toy Story 3 in the theaters. Day and Night is a mixture of classic cel animation and live action video.

Toys! HD (6:39) a featurette about updating the models for the returning Toy Story cast and the gang Stretch, Big Baby, Chunk, Twitch, Ken, and Lots-O-Huggin Bear.

Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs – The Science of Adventure HD (4:25) Continuing the blu-ray series of looks into the various NASA space missions done by real astronauts.

Learn How to Take Your Favorite Movies on the Go HD (1:04) a quick tutorial on using the Digital Copy Disc

Sneak Peeks HD (3:54) Mater’s Tall Tales – Nine short films featuring Cars’ Mater; Incredibles on Blu-ray; and Disney Parks.

Screen Saver in the settings menu, you can choose to have a screen saver should you want to prevent any risk of burn in on your flat screen TV or monitor.

Disc 2

FILM FANS
Cine-Explore HD Commentary with Director Lee Unkrich and Producer Darla Anderson is an entertaining that’s balanced with good conversation about the story elements, working with the voice actors and pointing out the animators’ dazzling achievements.

Beyond The Toybox Audio Commentary by Leads from Story, Tech, Art and Animation is a brainier and more focused discussion with the Pixar crew commiserating about the minutia of Toy Story 3 and why no one wants to see a garbage bag again.

Roudnin Up a Western Opening HD (5:42) The opening scene of the movie is discussed.

Bonnie’s Playtime: A Story Roundtable HD (6:26) Unkrich talk about creating Bonnie, Bonnies toys and how she plays with them and the connection that would need to be made with this new family and the Toy Story cast. This was a pivotal scene, one which the filmmakers had a lot of problems with.

Beginnings: Seeting a Story in Motion HD (8:13) Michael Arndt wrote the screenplay for Toy Story 3 and talks about the challenges of starting the script. He breaks down the story basics and how he looked at Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and The Incredibles to see how the stories are set up from the beginning. As always, the entire sequence is told in an animated form.

Life of a Shot HD (6:57) shows the evolution of a scene, in particular the opening action sequence.

Making of Day & Night HD (2:00) shows the thoughts behind the aforementioned short film.

Paths to Pixar Editorial HD (4:38) is a collection of the editorial group of Pixar talking about how they came to work there and what they do.

Studio Stories Where’s Gordon HD (2:16) Andrew Gordon and the secret room of Pixar

Studio Stories Cereal Bar HD (1:36) The legendary Pixar Cereal room is revealed.

Studio Stories Clean Start HD (3:05) The animators bond over beginning a new production by shaving heads and beards.

FAMILY
The Gang’s All Here HD (10:24) A look into the voice actors, returning and new.

Goodbye Andy HD (8:02) Toy Story 3 deals with change, and embracing it and getting the aged Andy correct and stylizing him correctly so he doesn’t look creepy. John Morris was also brought back who voiced Andy in Toy Story 1 and 2. It was also important to tell Andy’s story and complete it the right way in this farewell and dealing with mortality.

Accidental Toymakers HD (3:59) How creating characters took small toy company Thinkway Toys into a global player with one movie franchise.

Creating a Whole New Land HD (5:29)Getting Toy Story into the Disney Theme Parks

Epilogue HD (4:22)See the film’s closing sequence without the rolling credits.

PUBLICITY
In the Publicity section of the DVD are tons of shorts, and promo trailers that continue the fun tradition of Pixar and Toy Story. They include:

Grab Bag HD (4:00)
Ken’s Dating TipsHD (1:30)
Lots-o-Huggin Bear Commercial HD (0:30)
Lots-o-Huggin Bear Commercial Japan HD (0:30)
Making of Lots-o-Huggin Bear Commercials HD (1:28)
Internet Chat HD (1:00)
Security Cam HD (1:12)
Gadgets HD (0:58)
Dancing With the Stars on Toy Story HD (2:21) DWTS choreographers Tony Dovolani and Cheryl Burke
TS3 Silence Trailer HD (0:40) Movie Theater Cellphone trailer to asking you to turn off your cell phone.
TS3 Antipiracy HD (1:08) Movie Theater Anti-piracy trailer.
Five Trailers HD
Poster Gallery

GAMES and ACTIVITIES
Toy Story Trivia Dash There’s two thing you need to do well in this game. Know your Toy Story films front to back, even the details. And the second thing you need is, lightning quick reflexes because you’re not given much time to think about the questions.

Disc 3
DVD of Feature Film + Bonus
The DVD of the feature plus a large portion of the extras are included for those who still use portable DVD players in cars, travel or laptops.

Disc 4
And if you you want even more mobility with Toy Story 3, you can use this disc for uploads to your portable media player whether it be iPhone, iPod, Android phone, or laptop. It is compatible with iTunes and Windows Media Player.

Overall Shock Value: A+
There was no doubt what this score would be. With the inclusion of the DVD and digital copy of the disc, there is an abundance of value and great potential for several different experiences and repeat viewings. Toy Story 3 is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year, and one of the best family experiences that movies can provide. Even though the themes remain the same, the third installment does not water down the original Toy Story concept, it provides a just close to it and reminder of the joy and memories toys can bring someone.

Film/Feature: C+

With Disney’s big push to get most if not all of its animated films on blu-ray, James and the Giant Peach was next to get the digital treatment, a hybrid film that was part animation, and part live-action. It’s also the second collaboration between directors Henry Selick and Tim Burton, the first being Nightmare Before Christmas. Burton acts as a producer on this 1996 film that used similar stop-motion animation techniques that was used on Nightmare. It’s a beautiful technique that immediately casts an antique, nostalgic feel to the film. The style has this haunting, almost hollow eeriness, resembling something that would come out of the crooked minds of Selick and Burton.

The story is based on a Roald Dahl novel, VERY loosely I might add, and swirls around an orphan boy named James (Paul Terry) who has been forced to live with his evil aunts, Spiker and Sponge (Joanna Lumley and Miriam Margolyes). He is approached by an old man who offers him a way out, gives him a sack of crocodile tongues that have been brewed all sorts of nasty ways to become the key to his escape. On his way home, James spills the tongues onto the ground by an old peach tree, which suddenly bears one fruit, one large, and continuously growing peach.

It’s as if Jack and the Beanstalk grew through the ears and mind of Dahl and Burton alike. You can see the similar arc though in Dahl’s stories, a sense of wonder overcoming a poor boy, down on his luck. And in this wonderland askew, the boy realizes lessons in life.

Here, the Peach stops swelling, and James’ aunts pounce on the peach for a money-scam but James visits the Peach at night and takes a bite of it, while one of the magical tongues enter the piece he’s eating. The enchanted piece transforms the large peach through which James crawls into where he meets a handful of insects: Grasshopper (Simon Callow), Centipede (Richard Dreyfuss), Earthworm (David Thewlis), Miss Spider (Susan Darandon), and Ladybug (Jame Leeves) and they are set forth to an adventure over the Atlantic Ocean from London to New York, the place his parents told him they’d visit one day. Tying some of Miss Spider’s webbing to seagulls, they lift off above the ocean on what they hope is a one-way flight to the Big Apple, but it doesn’t work out that way.

It’s a tale of dreaming, and believing, but never limiting yourself to your surroundings. If someone made this film today, perhaps it would have been named King James and his Giant Ego. Burton and Selick unfortunately can’t work the magic they created in Nightmare Before Christmas. Two things hold the film from pushing the boundaries of what could have been.

First, Randy Newman’s music, which is appropriate most of the time, really grates in this film. It just takes you out of the creepy and dark mood the production design worked so hard to establish. Instead when the film breaks into musical numbers, it gets this “gee golly, aww shucks” piano bar feel to it. Secondly, the live action beginning and end to the film were just unnecessary. The aunts looked scary but could have been scarier had they been animated. The film went far, but not far enough and the ending felt like every clichéd Disney movie almost derailing the wickedly fun middle section of the film.

James and the Giant Peach has this strange mixture of animation and live action that places it alongside other older films that haven’t aged particularly well. It could have been better had the live segments worked, but they were too over-the-top, and too corny. It doesn’t know what it wants to be. Selick wanted there to be this separation of the “magic” world and the real world, which is noted, but when the two come together at the end, it’s to put it lightly, rough. The aunts catch up to the James in New York, setting up for a finale that tries too hard to remind you the magic’s gone.

What the film does manage to do is recharge the curiosity in Dahl’s children’s novel, and his work in particular which has gone on to other mediums such as film and TV, like Gremlins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Where those succeeded and this falls short lies in the dark, insidious fun that can be read in Dahl’s work can be felt in those other adaptations. The Giant Peach is almost like wax fruit; looks right, feels right, but you know the difference once you bite into it.

Video: C+

James and the Giant Peach is an imperfect 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.66:1 aspect ratio. As a fan of film grain, I’m glad Disney didn’t scrub it clean of all of its original integrity since there’s plenty of grain, a comfortable level to my eye, but consumers who think everything in high definition needs to look like a 2010 film, is misguided as to what blu-ray is supposed to provide. To those who want to generalize what blu-rays are supposed to look like, the colors will probably leave those uneducated disappointed at the films intended subtle color palette. It’s supposed to be on the de-saturated side.

Now what isn’t acceptable is the inconsistency in the picture like the wavering contrast throughout. Black crush is also rampant too; sometimes the picture is way too dark to see any of the intricate detail of the set designs. It’s a real shame. Details are much more noticeable in the live action sequences from the glittery costumes of the aunts, to the pores on actors’ faces can all be seen, however the pink-orange skintones in nearly everyone’s faces shows that this is not Disney’s best effort. In the live action ending, on the streets of New York, again, too much information is lost in darkness.

Audio: B

Even though the video needed a lot more work, the 5.1 English DTS-HD audio track is remarkable when it needs to be. Dialogue is stable and clear in every scene, while the large action scenes like when things get rough on the water in Chapter 16, burst through your living room with plenty of thunder and crashes for your subwoofer. Sound in the front, left to right is fabulous, though rear channels don’t get much I’m afraid. Don’t get too down on the blu-ray, for its visual shortcomings; it’s not all bad. Other audio selections include: French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby TrueHD DTS Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Extras:D
The only new and exclusive extras to the blu-ray are the Games and Activities

Spike the Aunts Game is a lame interactive game that I think even kids would get bored of quickly.

Production Featurette SD (4:34) is a very basic ‘making of’ that fares in comparison to the behind the scene extras we see in today’s films.

Good News Music Video by Randy Newman HD (2:29) I’m a fan of Randy Newman but his music just seems like a mismatch with this film. The music video here is a blend of standard definition footage of Newman but all of the film clips are now in high def.

Still Frame Gallery SD a gallery of the concept art, puppets, behind the scenes and live action stills.

Original Theatrical Trailer SD (1:27) SD I’m really let down the lack of effort to give us a high definition trailer. It’s doubtful anyone will revisit this after one viewing.

James and the Giant Peach DVD the film and its original extras are on this DVD which is a great win for parents with players in their vehicles or who have portable players for traveling.

Overall Shock Value: C–

In its time James and the Giant Peach was a great trip back to when there were more stop-motion animated films. Since then we’ve seen Coraline, the Fantastic Mr. Fox, and all of the great Wallace and Gromitt shorts which have raised the bar and have since made James and the Giant Peach look somewhat outdated. The blu-ray release could have shown some more consistency in the video transfer/mastering, but the new audio soundtrack makes the film come alive. Subpar extras and a lack of effort to provide anything new or imaginative makes this Peach lacking in lasting flavor.

Year: 2010
Running Time: 91 minutes
Rated: PG-13
SRP: $ 29.95
Studio(s): Touchstone Pictures
Release Date: Jun 15, 2010

Film/Feature: C–
I’ll admit it, I reviewed this movie because I’m still hung up on Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars, and yes, I’ve known to dabble in the occasional “rom-com” every now and then; listen, it’s not bad to tune into a film where your expectations are low every now and then. Since her cult-favorite television show ended, I think many had hoped Bell would land somewhere she could let loose her sarcastic, witty, and at times adorably cute charm loose. Unfortunately she joined the Heroes cast when that began to suck, she’s voiced Lucy Stillman on the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise, which led to her lead voice role in the latest Astro Boy movie and video game. She’s been mining us fanboys for years now, and even starred in a film that went straight to DVD, Fanboys (2008) where she toyed with our fantasies (Slave Leia) Other than that, she’s played minor roles in this latest tidal wave of rated-R comedies in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Get Him to the Greek (2010) and Couples Retreat (2009). So who can blame Bell for trying to branch out to a new audience?

Bell plays Beth, a curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York who travels to Rome, Italy to see her sister’s sudden wedding. Beth is a career woman who has always put her job in front of her personal life and has not held men for a long time. So she takes a risk when she meets the best man, Nick (Josh Duhamel) but sees him kissing face with another woman and so we have our hapless, attractive and romantic gal who can’t find a good guy who steps into the Fountain of Love (a lower fi version of the Trevi Fountain) and steals a handful of coins sitting in the bottom meant for wishes of love and instantly becomes the woman of desire of four men: Antonio (Will Arnett) a starving artist, Lance (Jon Heder) a street magician, an over-zealous widower Al (Danny Devito) and Nick. And this is the hook; lots of these romantic comedies have them. A fantasy gimmick that takes you out of reality and into what’s supposed to be the fun part of the movie and the comedy ensues. Beth spends the rest of the film trying to find a way to reverse the curse and get the men to realize they’ve been tricked into liking her and wrestles with her conscience to let Nick off the hook.

When in Rome has a few spots where you might bust out louder than you really should or smile where you’re supposed to be guffawing, but you hang in there, for Bell. Well, that’s why I hung in there. I hope someone gives Bell another chance to star in her own film, because she has the talent to shine in a feature role; it’s just not When in Rome. I’m crossing my fingers that Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) is available to do another love story after Spider-Man.

I’d like to blame director Mark Steven Johnson whose gone on to destroy Daredevil, Ghost Rider and Elektra on the big screen. (Thank goodness the Preacher project died.) It seems his magic of mediocrity has spread here, too. It’s not the hook or the actors per se. Devito, Arnett, Heder, Anjelica Huston and Don Johnson along with Bell try their best, but too many parts have been borrowed from other movies of this ilk. 13 Going on 30 surprisingly works, Devil Wears Prada is flawless, but both of those have parts chopped and blended into When in Rome, along with every other successful romantic comedy. It’s complete with the awful pop music, the canned supporting cast and recycled jokes that make this Kristen Bell vehicle an average paint-by-numbers rom-com instead of its own original film.

Oh Kristen, the fanboys will always take you back.

Video:B
Seeing Rome and New York in high definition never gets old and every ornate piece of architecture or piece of art can be seen clearly in this1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but it’s a romantic comedy, not a cinephile’s dream, so there’s not too many spots to gush over great photography here. Flesh tones are generally warm, rolling a bit too much in the oranges and yellow colors. Things look a bit drab and flat as far as textures and depth. There’s not a lot to anchor your eyes and that’s a bit sad for blu-ray.

Audio: B+
Hear Will Arnett speak terrible Italian in this 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track, a chatty, dialogue-driven film. The center channel will do most of the mild lifting in When in Rome, but the music does get amped a bit. Levels are balanced, and there’s a fair amount of atmospheric surround that helps place the viewer in the middle of crowd scenes or outdoors. The most lively your theater will get is when the storm clouds begin to collect with the impending thunder and lightning crackle across the screen. Anything else would be overkill to be honest. Other audio selections include: English 2.0, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Even Napoleon Dynamite can save this film

Extras: C–
What’s here is a collection of various cut scenes, alternative cuts, and light promotional affair. None of it really enhances the film any, nor makes it any worse but one viewing is more than enough on most of the selections.

Crazy Casanovas: Mischief From the Set HD (12:28) an EPK running down the comedic cast members as they make light of being on the set. This is exclusive to the blu-ray release.

Alternative Opening and Ending HD (7:17) let’s just say the editors made the right decision when it came to using these scenes. This is exclusive to the blu-ray release.

Extended Pain with the Suitors HD (2:39) Three cut scenes with the suitors making their last attempt at Beth at the Guggenheim. I thought these scenes could have been kept in because the appeared to cross the line that the film at times tries way too hard to avoid. And this is the last exclusive extra to the blu-ray release.

Kerplunk! Bloopers from Rome HD (3:07) cast members flub lines and act goofy.

Deleted Scenes HD (7:00) eight more scenes that didn’t make the cut and are a mixed bag of parts that dragged the pace, and bits that told too much.

Music Videos SD (6:47) “Starstruck” by 3Oh!3 featuring Katy Perry and “Stupid Love Letter” by Friday Night Boys. These are two fairly annoying overproduced pop songs with both of them playing on the movie’s gimmick. I will say though, if you are a Katy Perry fan, and who isn’t, you’ll like that first one.

Overall Shock Value:C–
I knew what I was getting into with this film and it didn’t surprise me one bit and that’s when a film disappoints. When in Rome gives your mind a vacation, with a simple but sweet romantic spin, but be prepared for the cheese and corn. It’s a technically fine disc, that leaves much to be desired on the extras, but this probably isn’t a film that you expect to be immersed long after the 90-minute feature. It’s nice to see Kristen Bell branch out and appeal more to the ladies instead of the fanboys for a change, but I think even the most arduous of romantic comedy fans would recommend When in Rome with a Rent It at the very best.

First up is Colleen Atwood who has a mile long list of films to her credit including many of Burton’s films and won two Oscars for Memoirs of a Geisha (2006) and Chicago (2002) and has been nominated for several others. She just finished The Rum Diary (2010) based on Hunter S. Thompson’s novel and Johnny Depp’s latest film, The Tourist (2011). She will be teaming up with Depp and Burton again for Dark Shadows (2011).

You’ve worked with Tim Burton multiple times. What has it been like to work with him, and how are his films different to work for than say your next film, The Rum Diary?
Colleen Atwood: Tim is one of a kind, he is really an artist and visually gifted.
The choice of material really determines a lot of design, so in that way, his sensibility would be quite different from that of Bruce Robinson who did The Rum Diary, which is a very gritty journalistic story.

What is the look that you are going for The Rum Diary? What was the inspiration?
CA: The look for The Rum Diary is based on journalistic photos of the time, the budding sixties, contrasting the oil and sugar rich, with the abject poverty of the island.

What is so attractive Burton’s films?
CA: The collaborative process with Tim is a rare gift in the world of film.

How close did you make the costume designs to Tim’s original sketches?
CA: Usually I see the sketches later, as Tim does not just stick a drawing in front of me.

How close do you work with the director?
CA: The director is my first collaborator, even before the actor. For me it is a very close working relationship.

With working with Burton as many times as you have, are there any sort of things that you automatically know to do or to come up with style wise? Or is each film sort of a different beast?
CA: Every film Tim makes is a new experience, there are no givens. I’d say a graphic sense would be the strongest continuum.

Why are (the right) costumes important for a movie?
CA: The right costume determines the character, helps the actor feel who he is, and serves the story.

How much power does the clothing have over the character?
CA: Clothing serves to help create character, along with the writing and acting.

I read somewhere that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp both do sketches of Depp’s characters before filming. I was wondering how their creative process plays into yours?
CA: So far it has been great. With the Hatter, we pretty much all came up with the same vibe.

For these Burton films, but also for movies like Public Enemies, you designed a lot of costumes for Johnny Depp. Does the process get easier if you know an actor?
CA: The level of trust is an important part of collaboration, so I would say that makes it more relaxed, but it also makes it more of a challenge since you always want change it up and come up with new ideas.

When do you know, when a character is finished?
CA: Never.

When you took on the “Alice” project, did you aim to separate the costumes from the Disney animated classic, or did you try to play off the animated movie? Was there a balance that you felt had to be met?
CA: I really didn’t look to the animated version as much as I did to the Tenniel and Carroll illustrations-then I moved on.

How much inspiration did you draw from the original book?
CA: I gave a sort of nod to the young Alice, then departure…oh and the hat…

Which character’s costumes did you find the most challenging to design, and which came most easily?
CA: In Alice, the technical side of Alice’s shrinking and growing were very challenging. Stayne (Crispin Glover) was originally not a real costume, but we couldn’t quite get it right, so we ended up actually making it in order for it to work.

How many dresses did you make for Alice and what have inspired you to create them?
CA: Alice had around 8 looks, and multiples of most of them, so there were around 20 hand-made costumes. The script and idea of Alice as an exploring spirit really inspired me.

What was the inspiration for the red and white world of Alice in Wonderland?
CA: The Red Queen and White Queen were named in the script, so for the Red Kingdom it was the playing card motif and for the White Kingdom the inspiration was more Nordic meets Louis 14

What were the challenges of making costumes for such oddly-shaped characters and CGI?
CA: I love an odd shape, so all the bodies in Alice were wonderful fun for me. The CGI element was interesting because so much of my process is in the actual draping on a body. I swatched all the virtual fabrics, trims and buttons to help in the visual process and give continuity to the world.

What stories would you like to tell with the clothes?
CA: So many. I love the story “Daughter of Fortune”, spanning the 1800s in North and South America. I love anything that is a great tale.

You have also done films like Public Enemies. How is the experience of working on a film with historical references different than that of something that allows more creativity, like Alice?
CA: I love the experience of examining history that my work gives me.
The gritty reality of John Dillinger’s world is as fascinating to me as the fantastical world of Alice. The human factor of the story is what attracts me.

What movie are you most proud of?
CA: I really don’t have that emotion with my work on a one by one basis. I think that I am very lucky to be able to do the work I have done, and am happy to be creating what I create.

What has been your hardest movie to design for?
CA: Planet of the Apes was physically the most difficult movie of my
career. The challenges were vast, and the day to day running of that sort of film is daunting

Designers are often dressed minimalistic and in black, because they’re ‘full’ of clothing. How are you dressing yourself?
CA: I am fond of black, but try to add a little white around my face.
I wear jeans a lot for work because they are good for a 14-hour day, which is my norm.

Any final thoughts on ALICE IN WONDERLAND?
CA: Alice in Wonderland was a dream project. The collaboration between Tim and Johnny, along with the amazing cast, made bringing such a historic piece to the world of 3D animation, one of my favorite projects for life.

Next we have Dermot Power, a conceptual artist who has worked on films such as V for Vendetta, Batman Begins, and the Bioshock videogame. He worked with Tim Burton to help establish the eerie and wickedly fun atmosphere of Alice in Wonderland. This is a virtual presentation of Dermot’s artwork with moderation by Mindy Johnson of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Dermot Power, David Jessen, VP of DVD Productions at WDHE, and Jim Davy, producer of the Alice in Wonderland Blu-Ray/DVD. I am in the conference via phone and ask a few questions at the end of the conference.

Mindy Johnson: Dermot, talk a little bit about, when you first got the call for this film. And we’re going to shift to a couple of your – one of your first images of Alice. But if you’d like to give us some insight into certainly your work with Tim.

Dermot Power: Yes, I got a call from Tim’s assistant, (Derrick). And I’ve worked with Tim in the past on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and – but there was a big team of concept artists on that, and I never actually met Tim himself, but he knew my work. So he sort of asked his assistant to track the guy who did that type of stuff on the other film down, and he wanted to have a chat. He was quite (led) into the production of “Alice in Wonderland,” and was trying to get the design and look of the film you know to match his vision. It was a dream come true for me, because I’m a big fan of Tim Burton, and to sit there and have a chat with him, and I’m obviously a big fan of “Alice in Wonderland.” In fact, I’ve worked on another “Alice in Wonderland” production about 10 years before. It was a great opportunity.

The bonus was that, while I was having a chat with Tim, he said, “Well, where do you want to work?” And he said, you can work here in the editing, where he was, or from home or – and then he said, “But you know – you know Arthur Rackham?” I’m like, “Yeah, of course.” Arthur Rackham is the 19th century illustrator of “Alice in Wonderland,” and I’m a huge fan of his work. Tim was like well, ‘I bought his studio. So do you want to work in the studio?’ So that was where I ended up working for almost a year. Tim bought (Arthur Racken)’s studio which just happens to be very near where he lives in London and he set up an office there himself. And then I was up in the literally in the attic like the artists in the garrot. Yes, it was great. It was great opportunity.

MJ: Brilliant. I can imagine the inspiration you got from that.

DP: Yes.

MJ: We’re looking at one of the early pieces, (Dermot) if you could explain sort of the construct of this – of Alice, as she is first approaching Wonderland.

DP: So that shot I actually one of the very first shots I did. What I did was I did a very quick sketch for Tim of what I felt the woods should look like. Have that feel, the feel for them which he really liked. And then I took distance from an edited sequence so I knew exactly where – I mean Alice is just a figure in a green environment. And there was nothing in it. What was important to me was to have – with all the things that I designed is contrasting forms. So you know Alice is running straight into the woods on a straight path and crossing her path is this straight tree and then off that you have these very curved shapes that the trees, twisting trees and twisting ferns. Of course when you work for Tim Burton you attempt to find spires you know and excuses for drawing them everyplace so that was the thinking there. And very dark and lines…menacing out in the field I wanted to go for. In fact I did a much more detailed visual of the same shot and when Tim saw it he was like ‘yes, that’s cool’ but you know we don’t – he didn’t need me to do that. He wanted me to do the quite sort of very impressionistic – I don’t want to say simple, but minimalist illustrations that go to the point and didn’t hide the point of the design and the detail. I think before I had arrived on the firm there was a lot of beautiful t-frames illustrated by some of the guys like (Dillion Cole) and people like that at Sony. And I think the problem with that is their’s is so finished and beautiful it’s a little distracting so Tim asked me to come in and just do these quite minimalist, but strong concepts for the shapes and the things that she’d see in Underland.

MJ: Great. Let’s move to the next image of Alice as she is miniaturized. And can you talk a bit about the combination of incorporating the live action imagery into at artwork.

DP: Yes, sure because the sequences were already edited. So I had kind of the luxury of working on what was going to be the final edited sequences in the film, which is very unusual. Usually that’s because I came in quite late and into the production I had that luxury. So, again it’s quite simply done. The painting of the various elements around her but their very, very carefully placed if you know what I mean. So those dandelion clocks and all these kind of little elements, I tried to place them so that it’s a very kind of pleasing composition. But again very simply done, not, I think what it is when I design I like to leave a lot of creative input to the person next along the line. So I prefer to work to that level and then people can put their details and colors and everything in afterwards. I think next is maybe the Hatter.

MJ: Is the Hatter in the concept piece?

DP: Yes that’s purely a concept, in that it doesn’t, it’s not taken from any other edit or anything. It’s just a moment that Tim was trying to think about that hat which was on top of the may pole, in the scene where the Mad Hatter is trying to…it’s like a symbol of what has happened. I mean that didn’t end up in the film actually. But it was sort of trying to think about scale of the hat to the Hatter and that’s quite a conversational piece. I love drawing it to engage in a dialog, conversation with Tim about what he’s thinking about the scene. Rather than the previous image, which was very directly drawn to guide the animators and people afterwards as to where things should be in the sequence. This is more kind of a discussion piece. I remember Tim had in mind what he wanted for that sequence where the village is being, Mad Hatters village is being burned out, it was very, very tricky to get what he needed because it needed to be quite minimal. And I was trying to, I was looking for symbols to put across what had happened. And the top hat, the Hatter looking under the hat. I don’t know if you see that little skull under there. That would have never had made it in a Disney Alice in Wonderland. Maybe a Tim Burton one but yes, I don’t know what I was thinking there.

MJ: Definitely, let’s move to the next piece. Now you also did some design work on props as well.

DP: Yes very little. I did a couple of different of pieces of props. My role kind of became whatever Tim would throw at me I would solve it. So if he needed me to do a prop I would do the prop. In fact the dodo, what was quite funny was I did another, maybe I should have sent you that. I did another exact visual of the dodo carrying the flamingos in the caddy, croquet caddy, and I completely got it wrong. In that I had it that the pelicans were trying to burst out of the caddy and they were full of energy and they were, and the dodo was like being crushed by the weight of this and he was sweating and it was completely a different take on it. Tim came in and he looked at it and just was, because he doesn’t say an awful lot. And he just went, ohh ahh, like that. I mean it was completely wrong. He just went, no like this, he drew that essentially, I mean I drew that what you’re looking at but he very quickly did a sketch. What’s wonderful about working for a director who can draw is that he can explain himself, he doesn’t need to say anything he can just do a quick sketch.

MJ: Absolutely. We’re now looking of course at the image with the red queen and the flamingo and the croquet match.

DP: It’s more to the left of the flamingo, but the background, it’s just to design all the shapes that would be behind her head. That’s sort of how I like to design. I don’t think there’s any confusion in about what that background is, even if it isn’t full of photographic detail.

MJ: And moving on to the chambers.

DP: Yes, I think Tim wanted the inside of the palace to reflect the crazy kind of shapes and crazy world that you see from outside. And for inspiration I actually had a researcher dig out as many strange and extraordinary buildings as I could, that I tried to do it myself, I love working with researchers because that way when I’m drawing something else they start digging things out. That’s actually very inspired, now I can’t remember the name but we might have to dig that out, it’s a hotel that (Gaudi) did. It has very similar kind of…it’s got that swirling kind of cast ceiling, it’s based on a real thing. I think Tim wanted everything to look really kind of bonkers and it was really nice to find some actual architecture that was almost as bonkers. I mean it’s not exactly it, but its inspired by it. Yes.

MJ: Well speaking of architecture that’s inspiring, looking at the next slide, if you talk a bit about this.

DP: Yes, again this is part of the sequence where she arrives at the palace and then goes on to the moat of heads. The real sort of doing this is to put across some of that sort of Tim Burton gothiness. I didn’t design the palace though. It had already been done, it was more a case of saying, you know if you guys can find an angle, to give you a flavor of these gothic arches and spiral, that would suit what Tim’s looking for. You’ve moved on to the red queen looking down at the floating heads?

MJ: Yes.

DP: Yes. That’s quite an interesting one because I wasn’t familiar with all of the script and everything that was happening. I mean I read the script and forgot some of it but when Alice was jumping across the heads I got it wrong. I thought it was, that she was jumping across giant heads and not that she was tiny. Which was kind of stupid of me to think that. So I kept, this sequence, I kept drawing the heads quite big and then Tim would come in and go, yes they need to be a little smaller. And then I’d keep making them smaller and smaller and smaller and eventually I was like are these supposed to be human sized heads?

MJ: Yes.

DP: Yes, yes, yes, but because he doesn’t say an awful lot it took me redrawing it, and redrawing it, and redrawing it, but that sequence of her looking in the, down on the moat is, I was really pleased because it’s a lock shot it was almost exactly like that in the film. That’s what Ken Ralston’s team did, which was amazing there, it’s really beautiful. The shot where she’s jumping across again that’s a more finished illustration because Tim was going to the San Diego Comic Con and they wanted some artwork to show from the film and so that was a more simple illustration but I kind of tightened up a little bit. That’s why you’re seeing a rare color one. So I think the other one was as well where the queen was looking down on the head. It’s quite important to Tim as well when I’m doing these visuals that I don’t bring it up to a level of detail that’s trying to mimic the film. Because the film, you don’t want to, I mean for my own personal way of designing I don’t see the point in that, I think designers are trying to inspire and help get to the final vision. But I’m not so sure you need ever to pretend that the frame is the final shot, film sequence, a shot from the film. And I think Tim appreciated the fact that I paid a lot of attention to the kind of light and the mist and everything. You don’t look at that and think oh this is a frame from the film. It’s still quite painterly, which I think he really likes.

MJ: Nice. Moving on to a couple of Jabberwocky images.

DP: They’re actually very late Jabberwocky images, because they already had it done. I think Tim gets notions and ideas and he just wants to explore them and he said oh have a go, because I think what happened is at one point the Jabberwocky that ends up in the film is mostly, it’s very similar to a dragon, traditional dragon but it doesn’t fly in the film. There was decision made at some point by Tim that it wouldn’t fly that it would walk through the woods. He was wondering if he needed to change the design completely. So, again, to help him think about it, I’ll just do a couple of drawings. The one on the left is very much based on the Jabberwocky from John Tenniel’s 18th century illustration, from the original book. When I looked at that illustration, I looked at it as if it was a puppet on strings, if you know what I mean? So when you look at that, if you imagine what my thinking with this, it should be hanging there as if the loose head and limbs have been held by strings. That’s the kind of look I was going for. Also, because every dragon has been done, it’s so difficult to come up with a new one. I just thought I wouldn’t do a dragon. I’d just do something completely different. And the one on the right, again, it’s more like a demon or something. I think Tim liked them, but then they went with the original design anyway. So, fun to do, though, great fun to do.

MJ: Last one for your concept pieces, we do have a few slides of some of the final artwork that, as you mentioned, appeared in the film. Can you talk a bit to these?

DP: During the designing of some of the inside of the palace, I’ve put in a lot of picture frames and then of course they needed to be filled with something. And Tim was like, ‘well, what are you going to do?’ So I was, ‘oh, I’ll just build scenes and sequences from the original Alice in Wonderland book. So that’s the lion and the unicorn and I think represent – I’m trying to get my history right here, but represents the two sides of the British Empire in the 18th century – 19th century. So it was a great excuse for me to just paint some crazy stuff from the originals books. At that point – I’ve been on the film about eight or nine months and I think Tim trusted me to – you know, he knew I got into his mindset. I knew what he liked, and I think he trusted me to just kind of risk on these things. So because they were just going to be a theme in passing in the frames, they didn’t need a lot of art direction from him. The mural, and the red-green on the Jabberwocky, that was because when I revised the throne room and the sequence where the Mad Hatter walks in through the doors and is being presented to the queen, the walls looked a little bit grey and dark and dank, and I thought, you know. So I suggested to Tim, like, I’m going to get the name wrong, but what’s the castle, that palace in Germany?

MJ: Neuschwanstein?

DP: Yes. That’s the one. There are beautiful murals on the walls in that palace, so I said why don’t we do something like that but have it really, really faded, like it’s been up there for years? And so I did. The way the tone and colors are laid out, (embossed) on those little corners and all these things, don’t really mean anything, except that when they were in the sequence, it balanced all the little colors out. So in the red rooms and the blue rooms, it just adds in the shot where you are. Because they were so faded and scrubbed out, you’re just going to get an impression of something being there, these guys are ancestors – very obviously. They had the heart motif, wherever we could put it in. Because it’s something you’re going to see so quickly in the film, of course you can pause the DVD now, but there’s not a huge amount of detail there, but I think it’s just the right amount for a quick little shot. Towards the end of the film, I just thought I’m going to go mad here. I’ll just draw some really crazy shapes and – you know, in the style that I really love to work in and not try to be imitating (inaudible) painter (that kind of thing), just to see what would happen. And Tim really loved that, so he was like, yes, yes. The crazier the better, which is probably not surprising as well.

MJ: Well, beautiful work. And I want to move on to your extraordinary work in the Oraculum. That was a pretty important prop; an important (McGuffin) in this story. Talk a little bit Dermot, about how this was approached. And not only from a design standpoint but in terms of story.

DP: From the design point theory, I think that a placeholder for the Oraculum with some of the Tenniel illustrations. And a couple of other bits and pieces, again it was one of those things where I was chatting to Tim about it and I just said well if you want me to I’ll bash it and illustrating it I’d love to do it, (I’ll have a go).

I think originally we talked about doing it in a kind of John Tenniel style and part of the problem is doing that as illustrations from a book work in the context of the book and it’s weird when you try to ape that style for another thing like the Oraculum. It didn’t quite work as well. That’s my excuse for very quickly just doing it the way I like to draw. So what I did was I said OK this thing is going to end up being a foot and a half or two feet tall by I don’t know maybe 8-10 feet. It’s going to be huge so. I’m not sure how much time we have. So what I did was I started on the sequences that I knew the camera was definitely going to be on. Obviously where Alice is looking at the Oraculum and the sequence where she’s fighting the Jabberwocky, and the idea was that it should look like an illustrator’s version of events and not an exact copy of it. Because I could have taken the actual green screen sequences and traced the Oraculum illustrations over it but I think Tim wanted it to look like it was an artist impression. And so what I did was I did very detailed illustrations of the main part and then for the left and right, because they would end up in the camera, possibly in the camera I then just illustrated whatever.

And again like the, I just randomly picked scenes from the film or characters from the film and just kind of illustrated them in there in a way that, because the viewer in the cinema, in the theater just wants to get an impression that the Oraculum doesn’t stop at that point that you’re looking at. So it was really enjoyable to do. And then I think late in the process it was decided that maybe we should have a 3D element that you can separate out the different layers of the scene. Which meant that the Oraculum took, I don’t know, 3 times longer to do because I then have to cut out Alice and the Dodo and the mushrooms and then put them on a separate layer and illustrate everything behind her. So there’s layered versions of the Oraculum where you can switch each character off and there’s details in behind. Which was it was great fun to do that. Again this film, project gave me a chance to do every kind of art style that an artist is apt to do. From very chunky paintings and murals to these, I end up doing these very tight line drawings. It was great fun.

MJ: A lot of great variety. It is the Oraculum that’s being utilized as part of the living menus on the upcoming blue ray release of Alice in Wonderland and so we’re going to kind of stroll through these particular images that are broken down, not only of your drawings Dermot but also the screen imagery of the menus and, David perhaps if you could talk just a bit about how these were integrated and utilized in the set up of the Blu-ray.

David Jessen: Well when you enter the Blu-ray this is our other menu system and in the U. S., Mexico and Canada currently we call it our living menu system. So if you’re BD Live connected what happens is, the very first thing that occurs is that whatever your weather is in your particular climate Dermot was very generous and gracious to design new Oraculum art for us that features whatever that is, either it’s a sunny day, a cloudy day, a rainy day, a snowy day, a clear night, a cloudy night, a rainy night, a snowy night, and the cool thing is that this is new Blue Ray exclusive material that you can get nowhere else. So it’s pretty cool. Also if you not on BD Live connected the fact that you get to see the Oraculum in its entirety. It’s the first opportunity also a person would have to actually see it laid out for them in the menus and have it and own it.

MJ: We’re running edited sequences of these various illustrations, Dermot if you could talk a bit about these

DP: Oh it’s fantastic, I’m just bowled over by what you guys have done, and it’s beautiful. Seeing my drawings come to life like that, it’s just fantastic.

MJ: (David) if you can just talk a little bit about as to how this works. When you turn on your disk.

DJ: So when if you’re BD Live connected and you put your disk in, it’s automatically going to pin your local weather through the BD Live system in the States and in Canada and the U. S. and Mexico and it will load these pieces of art and these little animations that we have done. Like its right here it’s showing that if it’s raining in your climate it’s going to be raining on screen in the Oraculum magically. And it will depend on whatever it is, if it’s sunny you’ll have a beautiful sunny image, if it’s snowing you’ll have some snow. It’s just a magical way to bring your blu-ray disk to life.

MJ: Two more sequence of these and then Dermot in terms of creating this type of art work, did you have to do anything above and beyond just the standard illustrations?

DP: I think what you guys have done its fantastic to see it now real, it’s the first time I’m seeing it. It’s beautifully realized. The rays of the sun coming out, that’s absolutely perfect. It was difficult because you didn’t have a defined boarder and for ink drawings, you know if you do cloudy night for example it can be a little difficult just knowing where to border what you’re doing and things like that. Really it’s just an excuse for me to feel like a traditional book illustrator for a week or so, or a few days. I really enjoyed doing it. But yes it’s great to see it being used so, so beautiful.

MJ: There’s a sequence of the additional art, Oraculum artwork that is also on the DVD menus.

DJ: What’s wonderful is, we at Disney are always trying to find a way to extend the film experience organically and work with the film talent to do that, and I think this is the perfect example of that.

Jim Davy: When we first saw Dermot’s Oraculum art we just thought what a perfect way to have that be the theme for the menus for the whole disk experience.

DP: Yes that’s great, and to have something made drawn for the film which can be the end of its existence and have another life outside of it is kind of a rare opportunity for me. To tell you the truth it’s fantastic.

Ernie Estrella: Concerning the living menus and these seem to be more the norm back when DVDs were being pumped out and they seemingly been scraped recently–sadly I think, (especially with Blu-Ray). What made the decision to go with the more intricate menus and kind of utilize some of the Blu-Ray technology where it seems like it hasn’t been utilized properly I think enough?

DJ: It’s funny that you say that I mean, because at Disney, and I head up creative productions for DVD and Blu-Ray we’ve been, menus have always been integral to the experience. We always try to make menus organic to the entertainment experience so it’s a holistic experience and with living menus we did use them on “Sleeping Beauty.” We then followed up with “Earth” and we had them on “Snow White” so the magic mirror had artificial intelligence so whenever you put your disk in he would say something new to you and he knew what the weather was and were now continuing it with Alice in a different way. So be sure to check out those other disks.

MJ: As (Jim) mentioned Dermot artwork is so compelling that, and such a key part of the story, that.

JD: One thing I should add actually on these menus we forgot to say is that if your BD Live connected not only does it show your current weather in that very first panel with the White Night, but there’s a little banner there and an icon that Dermot created and it shows you tomorrows forecast. And it has a little temperature, Fahrenheit and Celsius and a little icon of what tomorrow’s weather would be. That wasn’t shown there but on the example that will be there on the actual product.

DP: It won’t work in the UK.

JD: We’re slowly rolling BD Live out.

DP: Yes, yes, I know, it’s always raining here.

EE: Dermot you were talking about the variety that you’re able to do on this film as far as the different styles your able to do. Maybe you can talk about, was this kind of the biggest draw for you or was it more working with Tim Burton or the ability to work with this kind of range?

DP: To me it’s working with Tim Burton really. The thing is when I started, as often happens in film, it was quite late in the production and Tim asked me to help out visualize, come up with the environments behind the green screen edits. I was meant to be in it for, actually I was due to start another production and I had to cancel it because Tim said oh I just need you for 6 weeks maybe and then it just expanded. So I had no idea when I was starting, the range of work I would end up doing and I think what happens is because I was around Tim, he was downstairs or literally in the attic of the (Rackem) Building, whenever it would occur to him, he had an idea or something to do and we talked about it, I would go ‘OK I’ll just draw it.’ Whatever he would throw at me I would just go ‘oh lets, I’ll have a go, I’ll have a go,’ and it was very casual. So from doing the Oraculum I was like ‘I’ll have a go if you like.’ Because I’ve been working as an illustrator for I don’t know 20 years or something, working in the film industry 15 years, I’ve kind of developed a wide range of styles for different things.

So I’m not intimidated by trying anything and because Tim is an artist he’s not fearful about asking for anything. He can read very quickly whether a design or drawing is working. So it’s not as if a director who is not sure is asking you to do things and then is not sure, he’s sure immediately. Not everything worked but most of the things I was doing he was like, ‘Yes-yes! Just keep going!’ It was really, really enjoyable. But the draw in the first place was just to work with him because I know he’s great fun to be around and to work for and he’s a real visionary. He drags the best out of people. We talked about this before we started that a lot of the kind of motion captured, live action crossovers have been done up in them. But I think Tim used the tools that have been developed, including the skills that have been developed over the last few years at Sony for other productions. He just knows how to get the best out of people and I kind of knew that if I was working around that environment was going to be really creative and really energetic and a bit crazy and hard to predict what was going to happen. And it doesn’t get more fun in life than asked to do what you do and then not being absolutely sure what tomorrows going to bring. It was wonderful.

EE: Because of the range that your able to play with what would you say of all the pieces you did for Alice was the most maybe challenging or time consuming piece that you did.

DP: Well the Oraculum was the most challenging but it needed to work on the screen; it needed to work when you saw it very quickly and if you saw it very closely. We didn’t want it to look modern so it was a bit of a challenge. I work completely digitally–and I have for the last 15 years–but I’ve like 8 or ten years before that when I worked traditionally with paint and ink and everything. So I had to go out and buy nibs and ink and draw a little bit in the real world on real paper to make sure it looked and then scanned it in and make sure it looked correct. Doesn’t have that line wave and everything. So that was technically kind of difficult. I think when you work a long time in the film industry you get used to; it’s all about puzzle solving, about doing what’s appropriate. So I never really thought all this was too difficult. Not really.

EE: On the Oraculum, in the blu-ray menus, did you have input as far as what would be animated?

DP: No, no, (Ken Ralston) was and his team at Sony sort of said can you do some layers, well actually they asked me to, can I send over some layers, but I don’t really work in layers digitally. So no not really, and then of course when it came to the Blu-Ray menu, all the ideas were Jim and his team. I’m right about that, not crediting the wrong people?

JD: Yes we took Dermot’s art for the menus and we saw that in the movie the team there animated certain sections and we thought that would be fun to do the same thing for the menus and animate certain things, clock hands moving, leaves blowing through, some subtle details of animation throughout the menus.

DJ: And of course we had Tim’s input along the way.

DP: Yes it’s great, it’s like here’s a crazy idea, go for it. It’s great. Yes.

You can visit Dermot’s website to see more of his powerful conceptual art. And be sure to check out the Alice in Wonderland blu-ray and my review to see both Colleen’s and Dermot’s work on the film. If you haven’t already, make sure you visit the big Q/A session with AIW’s special effects crew, Ken Ralston and David Schaub. Click Here for that article.

Year: 2010
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Rated: PG
SRP: $ 39.99
Studio(s): Disney
Release Date: June 1, 2010

Film/Feature: C+
This Alice in Wonderland is a reaches a bit to be a “sequel” of sorts, but doesn’t do much to deviate from the conventional structure of what alice is about, except this time she’s older, more independent, sharper and has a nasty wit about her. Alice (Mia Wasikoawska) is free thinker in her day and she’d be cast as an outsider trying to fight the system of arranged marriages and all that is Jane Austen. Spurred by a marriage proposal, Alice has visions of another world, but are they dreams or memories? She follows a rabbit from her dreams down a fifty-story drop in the forest only to be confronted by the “Eat Me” and “Drink Me” concoctions that will make her fit into the spastic world of Lewis Carroll.

Pale as a frequent blood donor, Alice believes “Underland” is a dream, while the everyone she meets is skeptical that she is their savior. There’s the Tweedle twins (Matt Lucas), the March Hare (Paul Whitehouse), the Absolem (Alan Rickman) and the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry). Her reluctance and failure to remember this world goes against the Oraculum a prophecy scroll that shows what’s to come, and Alice is depicted killing the menacing Jaberwocky with the Vorpal Sword; thus resolving the land of the war between the kingdom’s patriarchal sisters: The hot-headed (and bulbous) Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) who has stolen the crown from her younger sibling, the aloof pacifist, White Queen (Anne Hathaway). The creatures of Underland need Alice to remember who she is and grow some courage quick. Once she does, she can steal the sword from the Bandersnatch, find the White Queen and lead an all out attack of the Red Army. That’s not too much to ask from someone who appears to be suffering from amnesia, is it?

While many waited to see Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, it’s been too soon since Sweeney Todd and even Depp played a deranged and spaced out Hatter isn’t as special as it could be. Depp played up the mad angle since many hatters back in the day went crazy from the glue used in the industry. Wasikowska is a surprise treat, portraying such naïvety and sweetness and is contrasted by the vitriolic Carter as the Red Queen stealing every scene she’s in. Hathaway is too bohemian, but Crispin Glover as the Red Queen’s Knave is just right.

The problem with Alice, well actually Wonderland, is that it’s not bizarre enough. Gothic, yes, but such dark and twisted re-imaginings have become run-of-the-mill for Burton, and truth be told, it’s almost mainstream these days. It’s a byproduct of Burton’s success and long tenure as a filmmaker. With Emily the Strange and Twilight gone mainstream, Burton’s goth have become like a passé. It’s odd, I know. Burton walks the fine line of what I consider style over substance. One film he’s just off, the other he’s just on. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney it was just enough Burton, too much in Planet of the Apes and Sleepy Hollow; but it’s so perfect in Ed Wood, Big Fish, and Nightmare Before Christmas so he’s earned the benefit of the doubt.

On a visual and technical level, I have no problems with Alice, I only wish Underland and the darker concepts were taken further and deeper story-wise. Some of the visuals will be permanently etched in such insidious ways, like the Red Queen’s moat. But I should catch myself, since this is a Disney, PG film, so we’re not going to see them go crazy. If only the story had a much more luxurious travel to the end perhaps I wouldn’t have been so content with Alice ‘s decision at the end. It all just felt a bit rushed, like they were trying not to be late to the tea party. If Alice’s adventure was supposed to be like a dream then it worked, just like the dreams where you wake up way too early.

Video: A+
I’ve seen my fair share of blu-rays this year and few can boast a better transfer than Alice in Wonderland’s 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Close ups reveal detail of the white, caked makeup on Johnny Depp’s face. Every strand of the Cheshire cat can be plucked if only you could reach into your screen. One impressive scene of note is the tea party when Alice reunites with the Mad Hatter. There’s layers upon layers of fog billowing in and out each frame and the depth perception is phenomenal. There is a wide scope of colors of eye-bursting hues like the orange in Mad Hatter’s hair, the blood crimson of the Red Army, and there’s a wide spectrum within the range of grays and browns too. In between are clothes with a pastel color palette. It’s stunning that there’s this level of detail, texture, shadow delineation and atmosphere considering most of the film was shot in front of a green screen. It should be interesting to see just how well this picture holds up when the eventual 3D version comes out for the new televisions.

Audio:A+
Not to be overshadowed is the blissful 6.1 English DTS-HD audio track, an active and at times knockout soundtrack that is full of swirling sound effects, a Danny Elfman score and just the right amount of bass during the action scenes to help make you feel as if you were standing next to Alice fighting dragons. Dialogue holds true in each scene, is clear and is never too faint to hear. Disney knows how to Other audio selections include: 2.0 English Descriptive Video, and 5.1 French and Spanish Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Extras: C
Blu-Ray Exclusive: Living Menus This is no extraordinary extra but it is a cool detail piece. I’ve always felt that blu-ray menus have taken a step back compared to DVD menus in the early 2000′s. The menus here connect to BD Live: and upon loading up, you’ll see your local weather as well as be greeted by a part of the Oraculum that mirrors your local weather. I was able to sample this on a cloudy day and sunny day and confirm these do change with the weather. Readers out there with snowy or rainy weather feel free to post comments if you see different images. I won’t get too many chances in California.

Wonderland Characters HD (27:56) features a selection of characters and their quirks Finding Alice, The Mad Hatter, The Futterwacken, The Red Queen, Time Lapse: Sculpting the Red Queen, The White Queen.

Making Wonderland HD (19:29) is a general making-of extra that focuses on primarily the post-production part of Alice in Wonderland including Scoring Wonderland, Effecting Wonderland, Stunts of Wonderland, Making the Proper Size, Cakes of Wonderland, and Tea Party Props. I’m a sucker for anything that involves scoring films, but the bits about the effects and Alice’s changing proportions could have been longer. The cakes and props featurettes are fun too.

DVD Copy a great option for those with DVD players in their cars or portable players for the vacation trips.

Digital Copy another option for those who can stomach watching full-length feature films on tiny mobile devices or on their computer and is compatible with iTunes and Windows Media Player.

Overall Shock Value:B–
Alice in Wonderland pushed the edges of Lewis Carroll’s story but it could have been shoved much further. It’s not to take away from the film’s success, but it’s just knowing there was potential for meatier story that keeps it from being a landmark film. What one has to remember is that it set out to be a family film first, and I think it achieved that well enough. The extras department was underwhelming considering the artistry and craft in Alice; it’s certainly one of the most visually memorable films of 2010 so far and a cargo full of supplemental material would have supported that. Despite those shortcomings, this is a visual show-stopper, and the sound is splendid. I’m going to recommend Alice in Wonderland with a Rent It stamp of approval, but it might be a keeper for film students and parents of gothic children who want to see a fairy tale they can stand behind.

And please check out Ernie’s other Alice in Wonderland articles including a lengthy Q/A interview with Ken Ralston and David Schaub, two of the wizards behind the visual effects of Alice in Wonderland, and a two roundtable interviews with costume designer Colleen Atwood and conceptual artist Dermot Power.

Year: 2010
Running Time: 137 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $39.99
Studio(s): Paramount
Release Date: June 8, 2010

Film/Feature: B–
Shutter Island explores 1954 when the world of psychology and psychiatry came at a crossroads. Three methods of treatment to those deemed insane were being widely debated. Psycho-surgery (AKA lobotomy), talk therapy and the advent of pharma-therapy, a method some say is being abused today. This psychological thriller is based on the book written by Dennis Lehane novel of the same name is set in this time period.

Set on an isolated island in Boston Harbor, Ashecliff Hospital is known to hold the worst of the worst criminally insane patients with only one way in and one way out. It’s a prison and hospital at the same time. Dr. Cawley (Sir Ben Kingsley) is trying to pioneer new methods in treating his patients with more talk therapy instead of methods of lobotomy, which even in its time, was just beginning to be considered barbaric. He hopes that through alternative methods, he can reach patients easier and leave drugs and psycho-surgery as last resorts. Dr. Naehring (Max von Sydow) represents the other side of psychiatry who would rather lobotomize all of the patients and save the time and effort that feels is being wasted on cases so far gone who can’t be reached, when the mind has completely taken over the body.

Our story begins when two U.S. marshals, Edward “Teddy” Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), arrive to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), a patient who is thought to have vanished from her locked quarters. She allegedly killed her three young children and is a widow thanks to World War II. Teddy leads an all-out interrogation of staff and patients while feeling very close to Solando’s case and is haunted by his own history. Just as he is about to break the case open, he is blocked by the hospital to pursue his intuitions and that’s when he becomes suspicious of those in charge at Ashecliff. But this story is just a front for a much larger story; an emotionally-cleansing journey for the U.S. marshall. To find out the truth, Teddy must look within, and confront his secrets and lies before it’s too late.

Lehane’s novels have inspired two other heavily talked-about films, Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, and as in those stories, Shutter Island presents odd folk, trapped in a precarious situation. There is something sinister and ominous here, helped by stark, atmospheric settings, peculiar characters and good old-fashioned camera work. It won’t take long to begin suspecting what’s at play, but it’s how the film evolves from this inauspicious point is what ignites conversation between viewers, not the twist. Only when Shutter Island is fully revealed, does one see the complexity of Shutter Island. It’s a successful translation with the direction of Scorsese, and screenwriter, Laeta Kalogridis whose task was to adapt this narrative for the big screen.

An inevitable second viewing allows the viewer redemption to properly soak in Scorsese’s tapestry. Once again, DiCaprio is dominant in every scene he is in, but Michelle Williams who plays Teddy’s wife Dolores, is equally moving (and tragic); while character contributions by Kinglsey, Ruffalo, Jackie Earle Haley, and von Sydow hit the mark.

If you’re expecting a classic, violent Scorsese film, Shutter Island won’t meet those expectations. Nor will it satisfy those looking for a large supernatural element that could be expected from what I feel were misleading trailers. It’s instead a search and rescue film, of a character disparately needing help. In the backdrop, is the world of psychiatry, during its questionable infancy and is the apt villain as Teddy’s traverse into his lower depths while trying to solve his case.

Shutter Island is a wolf in sheep’s clothing; masquerading as one thing but being something different. Its slow spots restrain the film from being something magnificent, and its secret is thinly shrouded, but the eventual resolution will undoubtedly challenge the audience, but most notably, the rest of the film that precedes it.

Video: A
Paramount put out a fine 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 2.35:1 aspect ratio reflecting the film’s classicism and noir roots. In period pieces, art direction and set production are what makes a story of this kind believable, and shortcuts and shoddy work can be detected in high definition, but this is a Scorsese film, and this film looks near flawless. Whether it was rain-drenched wool or the tweed of a two piece suit, textures look highly accurate and colors are full-bodied, rich, and warm. With such a level of detail, depth perception is tremendous in crane and aerial shots. Also, DiCaprio on a closer look, is no longer the smooth-skinned young man in Titanic. Wrinkles, freckles, and stubble on his face, Ruffalo’s, and other cast members cannot hide from the picture clarity. The drab, real world colors stabilize each scene with the exception of an occasional sunny, outdoor shot that display the lush greens and gardens of the Ashecliff compound. Blacks are extremely solid and stable, with no glaring signs of crush, and are especially impressive when Teddy enters Ward C, that’s full of darkness and prison bars that create artful, shadowed stills with each frame. It’s so nice to see a classic director shoot wide, and capture so much information and spotlight the set designs.

Audio: A
Shutter Island doesn’t resort to predictable music and effects cues to get you out of your seat, but it does have a strong, 5.1 English DTS-HD audio track that serves as the driving force of the audio of the film. Music, sound effects like thunder, are sent to the rear channels, while flashbacks to concentration camps are full of bullets spraying all around you. The movement of sound is accurate and flawless no matter the direction, and the dialogue is balanced at a comfortable level with the rest of the audio. Nothing too booming or bombastic from the LFE .1 channel, it’s just right where it needs to be but the sound design had room to be more dynamic. The score, not originally composed, was rather selected parts of composed pieces, and is heard throughout all five channels. Other audio selections include: 5.1 French, Spanish, Portuguese Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Extras: C
There are only two featurettes to explore after the film, so I can’t give Shutter Island a high grade for an abundant amount of supplement material. The film is in of itself, an extra because you will want to see the film on repeat viewings. But what extras are on the disc, do explain enough about the film that doesn’t take away from the experience, and avoid redundant information that can come with repeating similar EPK interview pieces. Both featurettes are in high definition and stereo sound.

Behind the Shutters HD (17:10)
Author and Executive Producer of Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane
Kingsley waxes poetic about the cast and their qualities
Scorsese shares how he and Robbie Robertson used composed musical pieces and strategically place parts of them in the film.

Into the Lighthouse HD (21:11) is the best extra of the two and talks about being both violent and mentally ill. Dr. James Gilligan served as a psychiatric consultant to the film and was the director of psychiatry at the former Bridgewater prison mental hospital which the model for the film. Gilligan talks about his efforts to transition Bridgewater into more humanistic and humane methods over the primitive and horrifying practices of old school psychiatry. Lehane also explains further why he picked 1954 as the setting and the pivotal time in psychiatry.

Overall Shock Value: B–
Shutter Island is slow to get to where it’s really interesting, but the film finds its direction about 45 minutes in. This is a film that should inspire some debate or discussion amongst friends and for that alone, it’s worth the overall gloomy experience. Technically, Paramount put out a strong blu-ray disc with a near spotless transfer that preserves the Scorsese’s artful eye and a sound stage that should take a bow. Shutter Island should easily get two or three viewings, and with just two extras on the entire blu-ray, that’s just enough to get a solid Rent It recommendation while Scorsese fans may just want to add it to their expanding library.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 162 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
SRP: $39.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: April 23, 2010

Film/Feature: C+
In case you haven’t heard, there’s this film called Avatar, and it’s kind of a big deal because it made more money than Hollywood could ever imagine and now we have 100 3-D films in the pipeline as a result. I’m kidding of course, sort of, and in the same way the Matrix sold DVD players, Avatar will do the same for blu-ray. Both successful and controversial, Avatar quickly comes to consumers in this stripped down movie-only release and is sure add to director James Cameron’s legacy of money-making blockbusters.

Avatar is about a paraplegic Marine veteran named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who enlists in the Avatar Program and infiltrates the Na’vi a sentient race of giant blue-skinned warriors who are connected with everything that lives on the moon Pandora in the Alpha Centauri star system. Pandora is full of hostile creatures but also beautiful things humans can only dream of. It is also full of rich resources like unobtanium that can be mined out and be worth millions back on Earth. Jake is serving two purposes, one for the science exploration and understanding of the Na’vi and the military strategic angle because underneath their home base, Hometree, is the largest known mineral deposit of unobtanium.

Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) leads the Avatar Program and has been trying to bridge a peaceful truce with the Na’vi to learn of their culture and Pandora’s ecosystem. It is under her command that Jake is taken in by the Na’vi, and is the first human to truly be accepted into the Omaticaya clan of the Na’vi. What she doesn’t know is that Jake is gathering information for Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and Administrator Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) in exchange for treatment that will restore mobility in his legs. Selfridge is leading the mining expedition, is unsympathetic to the lives they’re trampling on with their mining machines. Jake gets in with the Na’vi under the tutelage of Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and is of course suspected by others in the tribe to be trouble as all outsiders are and Jake must prove to them that he is indeed true of his word. Once it is discovered that there is no way the Omaticaya clan will work with the humans or desire anything they can offer, Quaritch and Selfridge decide to take the area by force.

To get it out of the way, let me just say that Avatar is not an original story. I’ve heard all the comparisons to Dances with Wolves. Personally, it reminds me of the wonderful but sad 1986 Rolad Joffé film, The Mission starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons, about peaceful Jesuit missionaries trying to save South American tribes from being enslaved and forced out of their lands by of Portuguese and Spanish plantation owners. That film was based on the events revolving around the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, Avatar is undeniably influenced by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s invasion of Iraq as well as humans’ assault on mother Earth with industrialization and pollution.

Avatar’s pop culture significance stems from our current environmentally consciousness (hence its release on Earth Day), paying respect to few remaining indigenous tribes still left on this planet (and those that have been wiped out completely), and showing the crime of razing native civilizations from their land for the extraction of natural resources for capital gain. The fact that this story remains relevant, shows that no one has learned the lessons of it being told before, again and again. We have gotten to a point where we have forgotten the past sins. It’s no more “white guilt” as some have called it, than it is human history. One group of people trying to impose their will on the other for no other reason than personal gain and to exercise power.

Does that make it a good film, or more importantly an enjoyable film? That’s debatable and left to be discussed by film buffs, James Cameron-ites, and those who come out to see a film three times a year. I’d have loved to have seen Cameron not rest so much Avatar on what he’s done in the past; echoes of Aliens ring throughout from Sigourney Weaver’s Dr. Augustine character resembling Ripley, Michelle Rodgriguez’s Trudy Chácon to Jeanette Goldstein’s Vasquez, and Ribisi’s slimy Selfridge to Paul Reiser’s equally despicable Burke. If not for the awesome and creative world that was put before us by the countless animators and artists, the story of Avatar would leave you wanting much more. A special nod goes to Zoe Saldana for giving one of the most convincing and emotional performances as an animated character in recent years. By the end of the film, I cared about what was happening to these overgrown smurfs.

It’s not what you tell, but how you tell it, as they say, and Cameron keeps finding new ways to get us into theaters. Based on the box offices, and the recent numbers on Blu-Ray and DVD sales, Avatar appeals to the masses and I’m not here to convert anyone into liking the film; you either do or you don’t. (I did, but recognize it’s trite shortcomings.) I am here to tell you that it looks fantastic on blu-ray, which brings me to the analysis of the disc.

Video: A+
This will be the most high scrutinized part of the blu-ray because everyone who saw this in the theater will attach their 3-D experience to the film. There’s no possible way this looks good on 2-D, right? Wrong. The 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.78:1 aspect ratio looks damn impressive with brilliant colors and loads of high-detailed depth. That high definition in conjunction with the depth in many scenes makes it appear almost three dimensional. There’s not that polarized or stereoscopic three-dimensional feel, but all I can say is that it is a completely different experience and I mean that in a good way. Look, I enjoyed the 3-D moments as much as the next person and when this gets its eventual 3-D release I will understand the need to recreate that original experience but this blu-ray release shows how magnificent a high definition 2-D image can benefit a film that was intended to be seen in 3-D. I could truly ramble on about this at great lengths, but just know that the depth on this film is as good as I’ve seen on any film and is in now way a lesser experience. The size and quality of your television, however, may lessen the visual impact, but everything else is golden. Blacks are immensely deep, primary and neon colors explode on the screen. There are no moments of digital artifacts, halos, or moments when the picture breaks down despite the high speed action. Textures remain true and stable and the gradual swirl of colors in the skin of the Na’vi are reproduced wonderfully. The detail in reflections, strands of hair, the vines of the Tree of Souls, and any scenes where the living plants show their neon colors/energy make for dazzling light show that will light a fire in your senses. I had a feeling it would look good, but not this good.

Audio: A
I can see Avatar being many folks’ first experience into blu-ray. Who knows, maybe it will inspire people to step up to a surround sound set up and for the first time in their lives, experience high definition audio as well. If so, they’ll be greeted to a 5.1 English DTS-HD master audio track. This soundtrack is aggressive and full of home theater audio moments where front-to-rear and side-to-side sound effects will turn heads all around. It has a punchy bass but I’ve heard films that go to the extremely far end of trying to blast your family room apart. Avatar won’t do that. In some instances I think it holds back. I was expecting a resounding thud when Hometree topples to the ground. There was another scene early when machine guns are spraying bullets and instead of being a directional sound moment, it got pushed to the center channel. Dialogue is distinctive, clear, and easy to understand. It sounds good where it needs to sound good, but I’d be lying if I said it was perfect. Other audio selections include: 5.1 English Dolby Digital, 2.0 English Descriptive Audio, and French, Spanish, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks; subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Extras: D

Avatar DVD Avatar in standard definition. Yeah that about sums up the extras. But this does allow you to easily take Avatar on the go, in your van, and on your portable DVD player. I must point out the differences in the two formats because it’s hard to explain unless people have both formats available to compare with.

So here’s a quick run down of the DVD experience. It’s like night and day. With the added clarity of the blu-ray there’s not much that separates the foreground and the background. That’s why even on a 2D level, the blu-ray at times gives the perception that a 3D image is still there.

All of that is absent in the DVD. You still get the story, and some of the technical wonder, but it’s a noticeable step down. And you can live with that with a movie shot on traditional film stock and then transferred, where there’s that acceptable level of grain we’ve all come to love. Avatar though, is rich with technical and visual wonder, extreme color and levels of detail that you want as clean an image as you can get. Should you bring this home, you’ll be able to see the difference.

Now, this is not a shot at DVD, because that technology is great. For this instance though, the experience between DVD and blu-ray is incredible. This disparity is magnified by the type of film visually, that Avatar sets out to be. That gap may be much closer with a film that’s not designed to be as clean, and as detailed, one with much more intended grain. That variance in film to film, transfer to transfer is why I tell people that blu-ray maintains the intended look of the film, preserving how the film was meant to be seen.

There’s also a $25 coupon for Panasonic Blu-Ray disc players or entertainment systems to be used in conjunction with the purchase of the Avatar Blu-Ray or DVD.

Overall Shock Value: B
Avatar is one of those films that achieves such delight on a technical level that it overcomes the been-there-done-that story. There’s going to be a lot of speculation at how the Avatar experience is going to translate at home. I’m here to say that it translates beautifully. I can’t endorse how the film looks on DVD, because this is one of those films where the high definition experience needs to be preserved as close to the original as possible. If it the capacity of one entire blu-ray was needed for the film alone, then that effort was not wasted.

With only the movie and no extras, I’d say it’s hard to be completely immersed into Pandora outside of the nearly two and half hour running time. If you want to wait for extras, then you’ll have to wait this November. They are pricing this release as an affordable purchase for those who want to take the Avatar experience home ASAP, and for those who have been missing out, with a new blu-ray player and see what all the buzz is about.

So whether it’s an impulse buy or just to hold you over until the fall, Avatar on blu-ray is worth a Buy It recommendation if you can score a great sale, or if all you want is the film. Otherwise, plan for the collector’s release this Thanksgiving.

Year: 1994
Running Time: 81 Minutes
Rated: G
SRP: $ 39.99
Studio(s): Disney / Pixar Studios
Release Date: March 23, 2010

Film/Feature: A+
It’s hard to imagine that its first feature film, Toy Story has just been released in high definition this past March. For many people, Pixar’s films inspired many to go out and buy a DVD player or soon after a DVD Player was accepted as a gift, a Pixar film brought home was a common ritual, soon to follow. And now the same thing could be said about blu-ray since Pixar films easily show a night and day comparison, ensuring that jump to high definition is well worth it. But Toy Story isn’t all about cutting technology in animation, there’s a great story about a young boy named Andy and the toys he loves to play with, or make that, loved to play with. If the toys could speak, what would they say? What would they think about? What would they fear most?

Toy Story believes that toys fear being forgotten. It sounds logical when you think about it. Every birthday and holiday when children are given a newly wrapped box, their old toys shake in fear that what’s inside is a toy so cool that all of their insecurities come out. Andy and his baby sister have a Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), a Slinky Dog (Jim Varney), Bo Peep (Annie Potts), a Tyrannosaurus Rex (Wallace Shawn), Hamm the Piggy Bank (John Ratzenberger), and an army of Little Green Men (R. Lee Ermey) amongst dozens of other toys stuck in a chest. Word has it that the family they belong to is moving, so like any concerned toy, they are worried about being left behind. But before they can worry about that, Andy’s favorite toy is was Woody (Tom Hanks) but for his birthday this year, he opens up the hottest toy amongst boys, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). Buzz is so new that he doesn’t realize that he’s a toy. Nothing more and nothing less. While the rest of Andy’s toys are enamored by him, Woody is unimpressed and does not hid his jealousy well. While Andy is stuck on going to “Infinity and Beyond” Woody does whatever he can to stay in the picture, even if it means compromising his good name among the rest of the toys. Woody’s plans begin to backfire on him while Buzz comes to grips that he’s nothing more than a pre-programmed toy with gimmicky bells and whistles.

The two of them get separated from the rest of the pack and eventually they find themselves trapped by the neighbor’s kid, Sid, who does has very destructive tendencies. This is what I love about Pixar, they have this great hook of a main story and then bring in this interesting character study. Sid reminds you of all of those kids who would do awful things to pets, pull the wings off of insects and do unspoken things to his toys. Buzz and Woody have to escape his grips before they’re blown to smithereens and at the same time get to the moving truck before Andy, his family, and the rest of their toy friends are gone forever.

What Toy Story accomplished with their first film and established from that point on is create adventures; ones that opened the mind of creativity and amazement in the inner child in us all. These qualities that often escape most films, regardless of who they’re aimed at. There’s nothing forced or contrived, this is just unfiltered fun. But Toy Story understood that it’s the details that count, the concepts that have to easily communicable, and the story needs to be flawless and that sums up what Toy Story and ultimately Pixar have since become.

Video:A+
What would the jump to blu-ray be, if there wasn’t a leap in picture quality and boy is there ever one here. Toy Story comes equipped with a 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Two things jump out on this blu-ray, first the color looks ravishing. Blistering hues will scream off of your LCD screen or plasma television. I could list off a grocery list of scenes that looks better than the standard definition transfer but I’ll save time by saying that it all looks better. The other thing I want to note is the details in the texture. Plastic looks like shiny plastic, metal looks like metal (Slinky Dog), and fabric is well, you get the picture. Denim (on Woody), shine (on Buzz), lace (on Bo Peep); all look as if they existed in real life instead of being fabricated on a computer. I know there are some skeptics out there who think that the Toy Story DVDs are not chopped liver, but I’m sorry, but those of you who adore this film, need to see it in high definition because in this case, the DVD is a severely inferior product.

Audio: A+
Just because you can blow the roof off your building with an amazing audio mix, doesn’t mean you have to. Toy story picks its spots to show off its 5.1 English DTS-HD master audio track. When the film opens with all of the toys scrambling to organize a townhall meeting, there’s lots of surround sound chaos. Sound just whizzes by your head, and closing your eyes you can imagine what scene is happening where. And then Toy Story just lulls you with dialogue while the story sets in with front-heavy activity, until Buzz and Woody end up outside the house. The last half hour of the story plays out superbly in 5.1. Dialogue and Randy Newman’s score are also expertly mixed so as not to drown out or overpower any other sound or audio. Other audio selections include: French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital EX tracks, English DTS-HD 2.0, English DVS 2.0 and subtitles are available in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Extras: A+

When the 10th Anniversary DVD came out a few years back, it was chock full of extras, and the fine folks at Pixar packaged that and much more exclusive stuff for the blu-ray to make it worth buying again.

BLU RAY EXTRAS

Audio Commentary by Director John Lasseter, Co-Writer Andrew Stanton, Supervising Animator Pete Doctor, Art Director Ralph Eggleston, Supervising Technical Director Bill Reeves, and producers Ralph Guggenheim and Bonnie Arnold. A brand new commentary track by many of the main cogs of the Pixar machine. Even though the room is jammed with speakers, Pixar commentary tracks are always informative, light in tone and full of insight into the animating and storytelling processes.

Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek HD (2:02) A little of the story is leaked out about what the third installment is about.

Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: Blast Off HD (3:27) A look into Buzz’s latest adventure into NASA’s space station up in orbit.

Path to Pixar – Artists HD (4:49) a few introductions of some of the cool people who work at Pixar and what they do now and when the started their careers at the famed animation studio.

Studio Stories: John’s Car HD (1:27) a story about John Lasseter’s humble beginnings and his method of transportation.

Studio Stories: Baby AJ HD (1:38) another story from the animators about a Halloween costume contest at Pixar.

Studio Stories: Scooter Races HD (2:16) one last story from the old Pixar studio vault.

Buzz takes Manhattan HD (2:13) Buzz Lightyear finally gets to fly, in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Black Friday: The Toy Story You Never Saw HD (7:34) Lasseter tells the story about the first reel shown to the Disney execs who wanted Toy Story to have a hard edge to it and why it didn’t work. In fact it nearly ended the film.

CLASSIC DVD EXTRAS
For those who never got the 10th Anniversary DVDs, those extras have been ported over in their entirety. They are in standard definition, with may of them in 4:3 full frame and 1.85:1 widescreen.

Filmmakers Reflect (16:56) The four main heads of Pixar (Joe Ranft, John Lasseter, gather around and reflect back over the past ten years and Toy Story and creating an environment to create fun films that everyone would enjoy. They paint a picture of what it was like making Toy Story and beginning what would be the studio that couldn’t do wrong.

Making Toy Story (20:17) Is a step-by-step telling how Toy Story came together from concept to finished film and using the computer as a tool along with the creative human process in making a great story.

The Legacy of Toy Story (11:41) is a series of interview clips from animators, actors, filmmakers, and those associated with films discussing the impact of Toy Story on the film and animation industries.

Designing Toy Story (6:12) detailing the textured world of Toy Story.

Deleted Scenes (18:50) Nine deleted scenes

Design are 11 Galleries of the different set designs (14:03), seven galleries on 3-D Visualizations (5:41), three galleries on the storytelling device of Color (7:54).

Story (13:56) Pixar’s unique and organic storyboarding and script review process is shown in three different scenes and has since been followed in each of the studio’s subsequent films.

Production (13:41) explains the animation process from the storyboards, layouts, animation, to the finished product. And as a bonus is a short reel of Toy Story in the various languages it was translated.

Music and Sound: Randy Newman Demos (17:30) is a collection of songs Newman created for the film. They can be heard one-by-one, or altogether. They are as follows: Plastic Spaceman 1 (3:18) and 2 (3:16), Strange Things (2:58), The Fool (2:09), I Will Go Sailing No More (3:32), You’ve Got a Friend in Me (2:17).

Publicity SD (10:14) a series of promotional Trailers, TV Spots, Posters, and much more.

Sneak Peeks for Disney Movie Rewards, Toy Story 1 and 2, The Princess and the Frog, James and the Giant Peach Special Edition, and Beauty and the Beast.

Toy Story 3 Coupon included is a $8.50 off a single admission ticket for Toy Story 3 which adds a little incentive for anyone who thinks they’ve bought this film enough. Gotta make sure to use it, though!

Overall Shock Value: A+
Chances are you already have the DVD of Toy Story, but as it was an early reference title for DVD technology, it has the same value for Blu-Ray. Looking even better in high definition, Toy Story is a justifiable double dip worth every single penny and you can give your old DVD to someone who doesn’t already have it and won’t make the leap to high def anytime soon. While it is already beginning to look outdated as far as computer-animated films is concerned, Toy Story holds up extremely well because of how good the story still is and there’s plenty of new bonus features and incentives to Buy It again!

Year: 2009
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Rated: PG
SRP: $ 39.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: March 23, 2010

Film/Feature: A –
If there a were ever an animated film that would be best seen with a glass of beer, Fantastic Mr. Fox would be it. Anthropomorphic animals are always fun, as long as it’s not live action, and especially if they are set in a world created by Wes Anderson (Royal Tennenbaums) and Noah Baumbach (Squid and the Whale). Actually, the story stems from a story by the late Roald Dahl, who authored James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But both Anderson and Baumbach are like two peas in pods, who love making films soaked in dry wit and memorable chatter, odd character idiosyncrasies and set designs as memorable as a timeless photograph. They took Dahl’s short story and put their fallen-aristocrat spin on it.

In their adaptation, the hierarchy of animals and humans exist, but this gathering of wild animals can talk and be understood by humans. Even though they live underground and in the fields and forests, they’ve evolved to to running law firms, schools, newspapers, real estate firms, and more, yest still adhering to their “natural” tendencies every once in a while.

George Clooney voices Mr. Fox, a compulsive chicken thief who makes a deal with his partner-in-crime and wife, Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) that he will find a new line of work if they are able to escape the clutches of an enraged squab farmer who has just caught them in the act of a heist. She reveals her pregnancy and convinces a safer line of work should be on order.

The Foxes did escape and Mr. is no longer fantastic, he is just a bored family fox, working as a community reporter for the local rag, putting those tendencies behind him and earn an honest wage. He seeks a better life for himself, his wife and son and longs to live above ground in a high rise pine, but settles for whatever local variety tree is in his price range. His son Ash (Jason Schwartzman), now a teenager, is a short and uncoordinated cub and is everything Mr. Fox is not. Ash looks up to his tall and agile father despite being ignored, but is going through the awkward stages of fpuberty and accepting his short-comings. After moving to higher ground, the family takes in Mrs. Fox’s nephew, Kristofferson (Eric Anderson) and is everything his son is not. Mr. Fox bonds instantly with Kristofferson, admiring his natural abilities and unknowingly creates a rift between he and Ash.

Prior to purchasing his new home, Mr. Fox’s attorney, Badger (Bill Murray), of Beaver, Beaver and Badger advises him not to move into the area because the tree resides near three farmers, the meanest of which is a hard Cider tycoon, Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon). Mr. Fox is tempted by his primal predilections and plans to break into each farm for one last heist. He convinces his possum superintendent Kylie (Wally Wolodarsky) to help him, but when the stakes get higher and the farmers come after him and his family, he puts everyone in danger.

Fox tries to rally those in his community, to accept their nature and do what animals do, be faithful to their Latin names, and not be afraid to embrace those gifts. It’s a cute and valid notion, if living in the wild. Yet the three pieced suits, landscape paintings, and patterned wallpaper tends to contradict all of that. The farmers and their workers, act more like animals than the animals, and therein lies the conundrum. Call it the evolution of the tale of the Tortoise and Scorpion. (Look it up.)

But back to that glass of beer, while I don’t believe it’s a film that’s aimed at youths, the script makes sure that they can safely view it too replacing every swear word with the word, “cuss” adding another whimsical detail in a fully-accessorized world that would put Barbie to shame, down to every piece of miniature china. Not all films that are animated should be aimed at kids or as seen in Where the Wild Things Are, some material is best suited for those who have lived a bit. Animation though, is just another way to tell a story, simple as that.

Aesthetically, by using the stop-motion technique of animation and puppeteering, Fantastic Mr. Fox achieves a hybrid, nostalgic look of the original King Kong and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Every now and then there’s a wave of movement in the fur of the animals, a blustery flap of the collar, or coy shrug of the shoulder that signals Fantastic Mr. Fox is an Anderson film first even though it features the work of endless hours of work done by fabulous countless animators. Clooney is extraordinarily good as the lead (when isn’t he?), Anderson gets the most out of Murray and Schwartzman yet again, and even surprise voices like Willem Dafoe as Fox’s adversary The Rat, and Owen Willson as Coach Skip will tug at the corner of your upper lip. Anderson and Baumbach always makes the droll and cynical perspective so interesting and well, for the lack of a better word, fantastic, wait, scratch that, fun, and that’s why we hang on every single word and take in every single scene like pieces of baroque bark so that packrats like myself can add them to my internal movie scrapbook.

Video: A+
This film is all about texture! Every single texture was captured on this 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.85:1 aspect ratio so well that you could see the type of knit in the floor mats, wool looked like wool, and every strand of animal fur could be counted by pausing the screen. The Nikon D3 was used to make this film and it’s a great advertisement for that camera. As heard on the extras, green and blue were, for the most part, taken out of the color palette leaving just the warm reds, oranges, violets and golden amber hues along with lots of brown to convey an autumn feel. For instance, Farmer Bean’s Cider storage is completely lit by passing light through the cider-filled bottles. There’s a lot of detail in the 150 different sets full of miniatures and neatly organized clutters and not a single piece or strand is missed.

Audio: B+
Fantastic Mr. Fox owns a 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. I was a bit underwhelmed by the amount of surround movement initially as a lot of what I would think would comes from the front, but as the film continued into the later stages, there was much more activity than in the first half. Bass has a balanced thrust in a handful of scenes, more than you’d expect, less than what you desire. Dialogue is clear to understand, even at low levels and as expected, a Wes Anderson film wouldn’t be complete without a moody, eclectic score composed by Alexadre Desplat and a soundtrack that includes the Beach Boys, Art Tatum, Burl Ives. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, and Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Chinese-Mandarin.

Extras:C+
Lots of potential is wasted here but the best we get here is a lengthy and fairly comprehensive Making of and lots of empty room on the disc that could have held some more substantial extras. I know that there has been less emphasis on menu design, but this is about as dull as it gets, folks. One still shot that shows a bit spoiler, no music, or animation. Also I have to take them down a point or two for not having any subtitles for the extras. Hey, deaf people want to be able to enjoy the extras too.

Disc One
Making Mr. Fox Fantastic HD (44:48) is broken into six parts but can be viewed all together as well. They are:

The Look of Fantastic Mr. Fox (8:12) – See how Roald Dahl’s books and Donald Chaffin’s concept art influenced the set designers and puppeteers, in addition to Wes Anderson’s meticulous aesthetics.

From Script to Screen (7:00) – taking Dahl’s one act story into a three-act film.

The Puppet Makers (8:21) – See the step-by-step process of how the puppets are made and how they move.

Still Life (Puppet Animation) (7:23) – the difference in feel of a stop motion film as opposed to a traditionally animated film is explained such as communicating through body language with characters that are covered in fur. The look they were trying to achieve was a bit of the original King Kong look where there was real-looking fur that would ripple in the wind so it’s not as smooth as say how Coraline looked. Also these animators rely on storyboards so much more because there’s a “one take” attitude.

The Cast (6:34) – Not just your typical rundown of the cast, this bit sees how the actors filmed scenes out for the recording of the audio with all of the actors in one shot acting with each other as opposed to recording different audio tracks. In a sense the full movie was shot like a film just to capture that audio for a different sound quality and feel.

Bill and His Badger (7:37)Bill Murray gets to know his character, Badger better and learns a thing or two about stop motion animation.

A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat HD (1:12) In case you missed it in the film, here’s another quick rundown on Whack-Bat.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World of Roald Dahl HD (3:00) Wes Anderson takes you on the tour of Roald Dahl’s life with his Dahl’s wife, Felicity and his estate where Anderson visited to write the screenplay. Dahl’s other books include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Mathilda. His quirks and personality made their way into the film after Anderson took a deeper look into the man he was. Sadly, this feature seems like it’s been pulled from the Making of instead of a separate, more substantial biography would have been more desirable here honestly.

Theatrical Trailer HD (2:27)

Disc Two
Included in this combo package is the DVD of the film and I can’t praise this option enough as a consumer who uses a variety of electronics at home and on the road.

Disc Three
As stated above, included is yet another way to view the film and that’s by digitally downloading the film onto your iPod or media player and you’re given a sheet with a code that’s valid for the file transfer.

Overall Shock Value: A–
Here’s the most important question: Do you like Wes Anderson films? If you answered “yes,” then you will enjoy this film. It has all of the charm of his past films, from the title cards in the Futura font to the obligatory Rolling Stones song. It’s hard not to crack a wide grin from the opening credits to the close, because every single minute is likable and so much amusing that I wanted to watch it over and over, and I can, now that it’s on blu-ray. I just wished there was more extras than what we were given. The featurette on Dahl was practically borrowed from the bigger feature, and missing was a Wes Anderson commentary which I’ve grown accustomed to. My recommendation? Cuss Yes Buy It!

Year: 2009
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $ 39.95
Studio(s): Magnolia Pictures / Magnet
Release Date: February 2, 2010

Film/Feature: A-
I don’t know if I’m ready to believe that Tony Jaa is the “baddest mofo” martial arts actor on the planet but in his age bracket, he doesn’t have many peers. After breaking onto the scene with Ong Bak, he starred in Tom-Yum-Goong (AKA The Protector), a cookie-cutter chop-saki films that instead felt like a continuation of Ong Bak, switching out Buddha statues for pet elephants as the driving motivation. I love watching Muay Thai or “Elephant Boxing” as much as the next guy, but I feared Jaa would be a one-trick pony. So when Tony Jaa decided to go back to the Ong Bak franchise to do two sequels, I didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t this.

No connection can be made between Ong Bak 1 and 2 other than they star Tony Jaa, elephants and buddha statues. I know what you’re thinking, Jungle Book is in this kid’s future. The story is set in ancient Thailand and Jaa’s character, Tien, is the son of nobleman Lord Sihadecho (Santisuk Promsiri). Lord Rajasena (Sarunyoo Wongkrachang), an unruly tyrant is trying to take control of Asia and plans to take over Sihadecho’s provinces. Rajasena orders for Sihadecho, his family, and army to be wiped out. Young Tien (Natdanai Kongthong) escapes and is captured by slave traders. For entertainment they then throw the young Tien into a crocodile pit and is saved by the Pha Beek Krut, a gang of guerillas who are well-versed in all forms of martial arts. Pha Beek Krut’s leader, Cher Nung (Sorapong Chatree) takes Tien under his wing to tap his destiny and make him the greatest warrior Thailand has ever seen. Vengeance motivates a now adult Tien (Jaa) to eventually confront Rajasena and his army in an all-out barefoot brawl.

The climax takes place at the Raiders’ Village, and is an awesome sequence that features several more fighting styles than Muay Thai boxing (Ninjitsu, Indonesian Harimau Silat, Wing Chun, Hung Ga to name a few) and that’s a nice change. Credit must be given to Jaa (who serves as co-director and producer) and company to provide a fresh experience that celebrates a variety of different fighting style and more jaw-dropping moments where you have to take an extra breath–as if throwing a young boy into a muddy pool with a live crocodile isn’t thrilling enough.

One fight scene involves Jaa jumping on and all around a stationary elephant that left my mouth open the entire time. There’s also an earlier scene where Jaa is running on the backs on a moving pack of elephants with no safety. This film is all about the variety of weapons in each style from the three-segment staff, staff fighting, kaili, swords, Thai boxing, Chinese boxing, samurai swords and that’s a bit of a deviation away from contemporary kung fu films with are hand-to-hand battles or some sword play. The story, while a bit too convoluted, even for a martial arts film, does require Jaa to find his emotional side which really only a slight change from the man-of-action Jaa. But if you can keep it all straight, it’s a much stronger attempt at a real story than in any of Jaa’s previous films. Not previously-knowing there would be sequel, I was stunned by the abrupt ending which offers no closure except that Tien is not successful in his attack and is sent to endure a torturous ending. Don’t let that scare you away, Ong Bak 2 is easily Jaa’s most exciting film to this date and it’s only halfway done.

Video: A
After watching Ong Bak on blu-ray and its disappointing video transfer, Ong Bak 2 leaps far beyond with a fine looking1080p VC-1 encoded transfer in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Colors are flushed with more than adequate saturation, blacks are nice and heavy, deep and ink black. I do however think some of the night scenes offer not enough contrast or are lit sufficiently because it’s hard to distinguish what’s going on, but that’s the only complaint in an otherwise sharp looking film. Each frame of action is full of depth and detail and clarity. This shows the improvement in equipment and high definition transfer that Sahamongkol Film International Co. Ltd. has done with their films.

Audio: A
From the very beginning Ong Bak 2 proudly shows off its highly active and perhaps a little over-aggressive 5.1 Thai DTS-HD Master Audio track. Thankfully the main effort is the original Thai track, dialogue is clear and surround sound effects are plentiful. Action scenes and music are given a lot of attention, and I admire the effort to give the film a real dynamic push, even if it’s not always accurate. I don’t ever recommend English dub tracks but it’s there for those who refuse to hear it in its original format. Other audio selections include: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, and Spanish.

Extras: C+
The extras that accompany the film are in high def, but have that promotional, EPK feel to them which usually means that they’re lazy, uncreative, repetitive or are too short. In this batch, there’s a little of all of the above.

Alternate Cut HD (88 Minutes) is ten minutes less than the theatrical cut. It’s been edited more, some scenes taken out. One is particularly stronger than the other but I think I like the pacing and flow of the shorter cut, personally.

The Making of Ong Bak 2 Featurettes HD (21:07) has three chapters, The Story and Character of an Epic, Revealing the Majesty and The Art of War, go into the films themes, characters and influences of who and what Ong Bak is striving for. It’s solid “Making of” affair but nothing to really write home about.

Behind the Scenes Featurettes HD (17:50) There are three featurettes Capturing a Warrior, The Kingdom, and The Community each showing that everyone is in fact doing their own stunts and a lot of cameras behind cameras type of footage.

Interviews with Cast and Crew HD (25:21) Eight interviews with different members of the cast and production teams including Jaa, Prachya Pinkaew (Producer), Panna Rittikrai (Co-Director/Producer), Sorapong Chatree (Chernang), Santisuk Phromsiri (Lord Shadecho), Sarunyu Wongkrajang (Lord Rajasena), Niruth Sirijunya (Master Bua), Primrata Det-Udom (Pim). These are a bit more meatier but also very dry. One camera on the subjects doing typical question and answers. If you watch the Making of, then you’ve also seen some of this material, so a bit too much repetition for my taste.

HD Net a Look at Ong Bak 2 HD (2:53) Village Voice’s Robert Wilonsky gives an introduction for the film for On Demand, and is a nice intro for an American audience.

Ong Bak 3 Exclusive Footage HD (1:34) is an unofficial trailer of sorts showing the next installment in the Ong Bak trilogy which picks up right where that ambiguous ending left off which is scheduled to be released later this year.

International Trailer SD (3:50) seems to be a bit more clearer on what the story is about than the US trailer and breaks down some of the various styles of martial arts that are showcased in the film. It’s a long trailer, but unfortunately, this is in standard definition.

US Trailer HD (1:39) is a much more ambiguous trailer that just shows all of the highlights of the action sequences and doesn’t offer much else. I’ve always cried out to trailer makers to keep them shorter

Trailers HD Included are previews for John Woo’s Red Cliff, District 13 Ultimatum, Bronson, Warlords, and HD Net.

No this is not the Jungle Book, just another Tony Jaa film.

Overall Shock Value: B+
Ong Bak was a novelty, a great showcase of Tony Jaa as a newcomer in the martial arts movie genre, but outside of the action it was pretty putrid. By embracing that, and having that room for comedy, Ong Bak’s appeal still outweighed the negatives. In the sequel, which begins a new two-film epic, Tony Jaa and his fellow filmmakers do elevate the action to a new level with a variety of fighting styles and broke the trend of predictable Muay Thai action scripts. I can’t say that this is the cup of tea for every movie viewer, but if you appreciate the martial arts genre and all of its warts, you can’t walk past this film. The choreography and action is a buffet of thrills, with hair-raising stunts, non-stop weapon-fu and noticeable nods to the greats that will leave that grin on your face, ear-to-ear. Even though the plot is a tad convoluted, its an ambitious attempt by Tony Jaa to do something that requires more thought and emotion. The extras aren’t necessary and at times repetitive, but they are in high definition and validates that Tony Jaa can run on top a stampede of elephants. Add that with a lovely video transfer, Ong Bak 2 on blu-ray is a definite Buy It recommendation for Jaa and martial arts fans alike.

Year: 2003
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $24.99
Studio(s): Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: February 2, 2010

Film/Feature: A–
When Ong Bak opens, around two dozen villagers run up a gigantic tree, maybe three or four stories high. All of them caked with mud, shirtless or wearing very thin clothing. It’s a race to the top where the fastest up the tree to retrieve a flag and down is crowned the village prideful champion warrior. Using martial arts and acrobatics, each man tries his best to leaping limbs, fending off other aggressors, and kicking and clawing their way to the top. Most didn’t make it falling anywhere from 10-20 feet to the ground, clipping a giant branch on the way down. No safety nets, no padded clothes, and no wires. These poor bastards experienced real pain. Stuntmen can’t act that good. From the opening scene, I knew this was going to be a film I’d talk about for years.

Ong Bak is the story of a Nong Pradu village hero/warrior, Ting (introducing Tony Jaa) who is sent to Bangkok to locate and return the head of their stolen sacred Ong Bak statue which is believed by the tribe to keep balance. Rain, food, and livestock were all plentiful until their statue was defaced. A city crime lord in a wheelchair, sporting a talk box, is stealing ancient Buddah statues for gobs of money and selling drugs in exchange for the country’s sacred culture. No this is not starring Roger Troutman. Ting sets his relentless pursuit to the city and seeks out the help of a former Nong Pradu villager and cousin, Humlae (Petchai Wongkamlao) who now goes by the name of George and has since renounced his country life. He along with his lady friend, Muay Lek (Pumwaree Yodkamol) have been running street scams and have piled up a large debt by the time Ting runs into them. George refuses to help his countryman at first, looking out for only himself, until he realizes that Ting is an amazing Muay Thai fighter. Trying to exploit his cousin and half-heartedly helping him find his beloved Ong Bak, George forces Ting to fight against his will to make money, knowing the fighting will lead Ting to his man.

I’m not going to sugar coat Ong Bak for anyone. It’s a terribly weak story with one goal in mind: get Jaa in action. The melodrama with Ting in his home village could have been wiped out altogether and saved us all at least 15 to 20 minutes of time, and it would have been a much tighter film (see Jaa’s second film, Tom -Yum-Goong AKA The Protector). Everything else though, is pure jubilation. One fantastic fight scene follows another and stunt scenes will have you high-fiving with your boys. Jaa is so amazing that each acrobatic sequence is shot at multiple angles and repeated in slow motion to show that it is indeed Jaa, not a stuntman, and that no wires were used. When bodies go limp, it’s because they were really hit. The action is lightning fast, full of brutal blows, splitting skull caps, and jaw-dropping moments that will make you rise out of your seat. And credit must be given to Petchai Wongkamlao, who is equally good in the comedy department.

I’ve probably watched Ong Bak at least a dozen times and every time I do, it’s with a different set of friends who have never seen it before. They all experienced that same rush of excitement I got when I first saw it. It’s all about Jaa and there’s no shame here for loving it for that reason, but a fulfilling story, it’s not. I only hoped subsequent Jaa films would aim higher (which has… sort of happened in Ong Bak 2). Seriously? Who the hell watches martial arts films for story. Still, Ong Bak remains a classic that shines a spotlight on the fighting style of Muay Thai with dizzying display of fight choreography and introduces us all to Tony Jaa. A necessary film for any martial arts fan.

Video: D+
The disc has a special note to say that this “new, digital transfer was created from an original 35MM internegative of the film. Color correction, image stabilization and digital cleaning were facilitated at Deluxe Postproduction Toronto to restore the film and present it in high definition.” I can say though that the 1080p encoded transfer in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio really went to waste here. One would wonder what the buzz is all about high definition if this is the first blu-ray someone decides to purchase. Picture quality is just terrible, fuzzy, colors are dull and muddy. Speaking of mud, I expected that opening scene to be brilliantly clear and see the levels of dirt clay packed onto the stuntmen’s skin, but nope; all of that detail is lost somewhere in a blurry, non-distinct mess. There’s black crush, and some pixelation of the image in spots. If you’re eyes are used to seeing high def films, seeing this is an embarrassing step back into the dark ages. It’s a lazy transfer for sure, and not worth the upgrade if you already have the DVD.

Audio: C
Thankfully, the original dialogue can be heard through the 5.1 Thai DTS-HD audio track. I had hoped the taxi chase scene would be a more exciting since it had one of the only explosions in the film but it’s another disappointing effort that doesn’t really improve on the sound any more than what the DVD showed. I think the one stand out scene for me in terms of directional sound is when Ting defeats an onslaught of brawlers in an underground fight bar and patrons pay respect to him by raining down money at him. There’s not much of an immersive sound field that’s created and the sound suddenly wakes up whenever the soundtrack kicks in with hip-hop beats and tracks. Aside from the hip-hop, the music is real cheesy, almost laughable (see taxi chase) but is also the most consistent thing that’s sent to the surrounding channels. Other audio selections include a English 5.1 DTS-HD track (shudder) for those of you who can’t read and watch at the same time, and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, and Spanish.

Extras: D+

All of the extras from the original DVD release have been ported over, but there are no blu-ray exclusives. All of it’s fluff and continues the odd marriage of hip hop and modern martial arts. None of the extras have been transferred to high definition, so that’s another big disappointment.

Live Tony Jaa and Stuntmen Performance before French Auditorium Audience HD (2:34) See Jaa strut his stuff in front of a live audience.

The Movements of Muay Thai SD (1:43) is a demonstration of some of the basic attack and defense moves of the Thai martial art style

French Rap Music Video with Tony Jaa SD (4:03) It’s a rap video that starts out in English with Reed the Weed but shifts to the French rap duo of Tragedie. All of it happens in a boxing ring with footage of Jaa as if he was battling the french rap duo.

Making of Music Video HD (7:14) goes behind the scenes of the Tragedie music video to see the filming process and interviews the director.

Selected B-Roll HD (2:33) audiences get to go behind the scenes and see some additional three scenes Taxi Stunts, Legs Ablaze Fight Sequence, Arena Fight Sequence (Missing Audio at end)

Promo Video Featuring the RZA SD (1:00)

Trailers SD (:) Teaser (0:52), Thai Teaser French Teaser (0:58), French Trailer (2:07), Thai Teaser (1:31) Thai Trailer (1:31), Trailer featuring the RZA (1:44).

Overall Shock Value: C–
I have to say that this is one of the more disappointing high definition transfer of a catalog film. Ong Bak continues to have its special place in my large martial arts library, and so I was excited to really see what would be done to bring this film to blu-ray. Sadly, I was let down in every category, most importantly the technical aspects because it’s being presented as a blu-ray but is feels like an expensive DVD. If you don’t have this film already in your library, then I cannot recommend this release at all. But if you have never seen Tony Jaa in action and missed out on this Muay Thai classic, then it is a mandatory purchase, but wait for it to be on sale.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Rated: G
SRP: $44.95
Studio(s): Disney Studios
Release Date: March 16, 2010

Film/Feature: A–

You’re never too old to enjoy a Disney film, and if you find yourself at that place, then you may have lost your ability to have fun. Luckily for Disney animation, they haven’t lost their touch in making family films to lose yourself for an hour or two and let your inner-kid enjoy itself. In a brave move, Disney went against the grain and made a new hand-drawn animated feature going back to its roots to put their spin on another fairy tale. This time it was the Brothers Grimm tale of The Princess and the Frog.

Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) is a young and independent woman raised by a hard-working parents (Oprah Winfrey and Terrence Howard) and is saving up to open her own restaurant. She has been childhood friends with Charlotte, who was raised in a well-to-do aristocrat family and has taken the “wishing upon a star” literally. Tiana on the other hand, thinks good will only come to those who work for it.

Fifteen minutes in, and you might look at the cover of the box and wonder if you bought the right film. Disney’s twist of the Princess and the Frog fairy tale finally takes form when Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) and his servant, Lawrence arrive to look for a rich suitor because they are broke. Charlotte’s father gets wind that a prince is in town and gets whatever his little girl wants and throws a big ball for his daughter to meet the prince. However, New Orleans is a town of opportunists like Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a voodoo magician who promises to fulfill their wishes before showing up to the ball. But the servant has taken the form of Prince Naveen, and Naveen has been turned into a frog. Naveen is able to convince Tiana that he is a prince, and all she needs to do is give him a kiss and he’ll revert back to his human form.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out that smoothly and Tiana is instead turned into a frog and the leap into the swamps and bayou with the help of Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), a trumpet-tooting alligator and Ray (Jim Cummings), a romantic ragin’ Cajun lightning bug to find Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), a good witch who they hope to have some answers for them. If they remain in frog form too long, they could stay that way forever. The story is light road tale of perseverance, but has enough plot elements that keep pulling along your interest throughout.

It’s impossible to avoid the attempt Disney is making to fill a lacking hole in their library of films that would appease the African-American audiences. Tiana becomes the first African-American princess that Disney has ever revolved a story around and they did it successfully with a talented cast headed by Anika Noni Rose whose strong voice and cheerful spirit fit her character’s design of a strong-minded and head strong woman. Keith David plays Dr. Facilier, a conniving conjurer, and toned-down version of the popular folklore occult Shadow Man. His voice has prominence, a chilling ring, and David’s singing chops aren’t bad either.

There’s still a gap in how much this story can touch you as opposed to what comes out of Disney Pixar Studios but that’s the difference in working off a fairy tale and doing something completely original. The Princess and the Frog’s message of ‘not just wishing and a star and waiting, but also doing something about it’ is clear enough to not feel like it’s a one-note story, and so is its other lesson of ‘not working so much you forget to have fun.’ There are themes of class, work ethic, small business, and much more. Fun characters and music by Randy Newman solidify this release as a must-see for young, old, girls and boys; and there should not be any questions one whether or not everyone will enjoy this.

Video: A+
Disney’s triumphant return to drawn animation is supported by this terrific high definition 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Backgrounds have layers of painted detail, characters have loads of vibrant hues and color that are as visually stunning as some of the very best Disney films. Nice touches like opaque reflections in water, the amber glow of an oil lamp and smoke from a shotgun have no banding or signs of artificial enhancement. I want to call to attention three chapters which make for good visual tests of this blu-ray (as well as audio). Chapter 4 is Tiara’s first big musical number and the animation goes from the “Disney” style to 1940′s deco art full of bright oranges and yellows only seen on gerber daisies. Chapter 5 is Dr. Facilier’s introduction and his lair is full of the occult and voodoo magic. Rich purple hues and psychedelic imagery that are reminiscent of a Victor Moscoso painting. Every scene has something much deeper to look at and other good stuff like deep blacks and smooth gradient color will impress. And shadow delineation, accentuated by the shadow monsters have clear definition.

Audio: A+
Accompanying the strong visuals is the equally impressive 5.1 English DTS-HD master audio track. The music reflects each of the delicious flavors of the southern creole cooking pots. From the dixie jazz, to the gospel chorals, and the rhythm and blues will have you snapping your fingers, clapping your hands and shaking your thang down Bourbon Street. Your ear will be able to place where the instruments were from the drums to the sharp brass section. Dialogue is flawless as distinct accents don’t make the words any less difficult to hear but instead make them that much more memorable. Mama Odie and Louis for example, have subtle but very different accents that help distinguish not only who they are, but what region of New Orleans they’d be from. The shadow monsters have an eerie and haunting sound that swirls all around. Ray’s buzzing moves around the room as he moves on the screen and every musical performance is over-the-top with highly active sound movement, native surround effects heard in the swamps and a well-balanced mix of it all. Again, pay attention to Chapters 4, 5, and 11 offer up some of the very best this blu-ray has to offer. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and a English 2.0 DVS track; subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Extras: B
I’ve got to knock Disney a few on their extras department which left lots to desire. First of all what’s on the disc is very short. We’re talking about a family film which should have a wealth of material, that will not only consume time, but shed a lot of light on the film. For being one of the first hand-drawn films in a long time, most of the featurettes could have been grouped together for one sitting or allow the option of playing them individually instead of forcing to view it in two-to-five minute segments. Another thing I have to take down on is for a Disney musical film, where are the Sing-a-long extras? A big-big-big misstep there. When I compare these to say, a Disney Pixar film and the hours of material there, I wonder why so little was given to The Princess and the Frog.

Disc One
Audio Commentary by Co-Directors John Musker and Ron Clements and Producer Peter Del Vecho is a scene-specific, on point track that covers a variety of subjects from Randy Newman’s musical contribution, the setting of New Orleans, and creating a brand new story, with new characters with the Disney twist of a classic fairy tale. All three men contribute equally, do not talk over each other and give a fine diversion for budding animators or Disney loyalists.

Work in Progress Track HD Here’s a neat blu-ray exclusive track which allows you to view the film alongside in-progress storyboards, pencil layouts, and rough animations as a Picture-in-Picture feature. I think what would have made this even better though would have been the ability to view this during the commentary. In fact, they should have fused the two tracks as a CineExplore commentary, often seen on other family films.

Deleted Scenes HD (11:43) There are five deleted / alternate scenes in storyboard form with different voices that were cut before animation and voices were recorded. The reasons they didn’t make the cut were mainly due to time constraints.

Music and More HD (4:04) Here’s where I really took issue with the extras. In this section there is only one option, so I’m not sure where the “and More” comes into play, but this is just the music video for “Never Knew I Needed” by Ne-Yo, which is only used on the closing credits. Where are the extras on the songs, the musical elements of the film? This is where a sing-a-long extra needed to be placed, a usual staple of classic Disney releases.

Bringing Life to Animation HD (8:08) Two scenes, “Dig a Little Deeper” and “The Proposal” are broken down with live action sequences used as visual references for the animators, a technique that was used throughout the golden age of Disney. They show different angles and choreography, along with commentary by Musker and Clements.

Magic in the Bayou: The Making of a Princess HD (22:11) John Lasster joins the production party to discuss the creative energy behind The Princess and the Frog and the universal buzz among the cast and crew that a new hand-drawn animated feature was pumping through the veins of the Disney offices, as well as the all of the major themes and elements of the film.

The Return to Hand Drawn Animation HD (2:43) The excitement of the return to a 2D film lit a fire under the animators because it’s what brought so many people to work at Disney in the first place. The animators of the film talk about wanting to continue the art of Disney filmmaking.

The Disney Legacy HD (2:31) A look at the great animators of Disney and their impact on the current animators who were able to work with people who worked alongside Walt Disney.

Disney’s Newest Princess HD (2:51) The attention swings to actress Anika Noni Rose and the 1920′s inspired character, who is a strong and independent woman who little girls can aspire to.

The Princess and the Animator HD (2:26) The supervising animator for Princess Tiana, Mark Henn talks about creating another strong princess character for Disney having worked on Ariel, Belle, Mulan and Jasmine.

Conjuring the Villain HD (1:50) Animators and Keith David talk about the story’s villain, Dr. Facilier.

A Return to the Animated Musical HD (3:13) a short featurette about the musical score for The Princess and the Frog involving Randy Newman’s composition of jazz, gospel and the blues.

Art Galleries Peruse a number of the developmental, conceptual, and design art for the film including Character Design, Visual Development, Layouts and Backgrounds and Storyboards.

What do you See: Princess Portraits is a guessing game where images are created by fireflies and you have to guess which Disney princess it is. Hosted by Mama Odie, after ten tries

Disc Two: DVD
The DVD includes the full film, deleted scenes, audio commentary, the Princess Portraits game, and the music video by Ne-Yo. If you have a family and you have outfitted your fan or travel packs with the ability to watch DVDs on the go, you will love this added option. However, to those thinking that the DVD version will suffice, the digital sound and vision of the blu-ray is unmatched.

Disc Three: Digital Copy Disc
Take The Princess and the Frog with you on the go to watch it on your laptop, desktop computer, or portable media player.

Overall Shock Value: A–
As a fan of all types of animation, Disney’s hit it our of the park with another musical twist on a classic fairy tale and presenting an enjoyable film that should connect with plenty of families on family night. There some real delightful performances especially by Keith David and Anika Noni Rose both in their acting and singing. The visuals are splendidly classic but also has that jolt of high definition pop. The Princess and the Frog offers a diverse option for families who want to expand from the classic Disney canon with a great message and a infectious blend of music ranging from jazz, gospel and blues. A definite Buy it! especially with every format imaginable is available in one package.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
SRP: $ 39.95
Studio(s): Disney Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 25, 2009

Film/Feature: C
If you haven’t had enough science fiction films about human-like cyborgs, then you may room for Surrogates, a Jonathan Mostow-directed film that’s based on the 2005 Top Shelf comic by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele. In a not-too-distant future, humans have the ability to live life through a surrogate robot/cyborg model of themselves. The surrogates are idealized versions of humans, and by living life through a remote control life-sized action figure there is less crime, no racism, and life is seemingly lived better. That is until the story begins and FBI Agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) arrive on the scene of a murder scene. A surrogate turns up terminated and when it’s found out that it is a college boy named Jerod Canter was in control they discover his human body was terminated simultaneously. Canter is the son of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the man who originally created surrogate technology.

The investigation turns to Greer and his partner Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) who follow a lead to the Prophet (Ving Rhames) leading a cult known as the Dreads, who choose to live a surrogate-free lifestyle and clue them in on a weapon that was used to carry out the murders. When Greer gets too close to the truth, he is nearly zapped by the weapon. He is temporarily discharged by his superiors and to take some time off and spends the rest of the film up out of his surrogate chair to reconnect with his wife, Maggie (Rosamund Pike), who is all too comfortable in her virtual world to go back to what she had with Tom. When it seems like he’s lost her to her virtual life, he pursues his investigation and discovers a plot to rid the world of all surrogates but also those humans connected to them.

I realize that Surrogates is about a robot world replacing live flesh, but that does not mean humans should act like robots as well. Willis shows no charisma or everyman charm he normally brings with him. He plays the tormented soul just fine, but not much else. The idea behind Surrogates are that they allow people to play idealized versions of themselves, how they want to be known, and frankly, there’s not much difference between Surrogate Tom Greer and his human counterpart. Willis’ role is the focal point and he doesn’t give much reason or hope for a non-surrogate world. In turn, this road block helps make The Surrogates a run-of-the-mill science fiction thriller that borrows from films like A.I., The Matrix, iRobot, but falls short of giving us something truly unique.

With its short run time (which is counter productive in this genre), there’s not enough here to connect to or be sold that this world could exist, never-mind being asked w In fact, I’d sooner warm up to the idea of a Surrogates TV show instead of a film so that the ideas in this story could be given some proper pacing and seasoning. Surrogates and the idealistic visions of their original purpose were not without good intentions but somewhere along the way their execution fell flat, and that’s exactly the way I’d describe the film as well.

Video: A–
The Surrogates blu-ray gets a strong1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. and it’s a fine representation of what the film was intending to do. There’s a subtle difference in skintones between humans and surrogates. Give credit to the extras playing surrogates like over-botoxed models, but the makeup crews must be given their props as well as those slight differences help distinguish most of who are surrogates and who are humans. It’s that fine attention to detail that’s on display here as well as the full range of colors whether it’s the gritty and gray industrial wasteland where the anti-surrogates live. Their barracks area looks like a concrete jungle that’s been bombed repeatedly. Then in the nightlife which is all lit in neon colors and backlit sign, the screen is filled with savory hues. Mostow and company shot some scenes in a soft glow purposely and do not reflect any visual defects or digital artifacts that would mar the overall visual experience.

Audio: A
There are enough shootouts and chase scenes to make the 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track show its strength. Lots of directional movement and subwoofer activity will please the audiophiles, and the dialogue sounds superb even during the story’s most quiet moments. The balance can sound and at times a bit too much oomph, but technically, Surrogates has nothing to be ashamed of. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, French and Spanish.

Extras: C+
Audio Commentary by Director Jonathan Mostow features a calm and almost soothing dialogue, that is a scene specific track delving into the subtext of the film. I believe that Mostow does a fine job filling in what the audience was asked to fill in for themselves if they were paying attention. He calls attention to small details in the art production and points out where additional shooting was needed because the original cut left much for the audience to piece together. Even though he’s by himself, Mostow is concise, knowledgeable and is not dry, nor is he boring. He’s definitely proud of the effort that was put forth and he expresses the enthusiasm for the material well, but don’t expect a lesson in film school. There are subtitles available for the commentary.

There are four Deleted Scenes HD (5:15) which can be viewed separately or all at once.

A More Perfect You: The Science of Surrogates HD (15:08) The technology behind Surrogate robots and how that tech is thriving in our modern-day world. This is probably the star featurette in the picnic basket. It tickles that curiosity bone and ties into the technology used in the film to the point where at least the science was plausible.

Breaking the Frame: A Graphic Novel Come to Life HD (6:39) Robert Venditti and Brett Wedele are briefly interviewed in the middle of a motion version the comic playing out. It starts to really take a good look at the comic but halfway through turns into your typical Hollywood EPK.

To finish off the extras is a standard definition version of the ”I Will Not Bow” Music Video SD (3:49) by Breaking Benjamin which is the usual mash-up of sexy band clips sandwiched in between scenes from Surrogates.

Overall Shock Value: C+
The origins of Surrogates lie in a good graphic novel, that plays with the story-telling devices on a sequential, visual medium, so there will be plenty of curiosity to see how it was adapted to the big screen. The concept lays a good endoskeleton for a solid science fiction film but there’s not enough meat to flesh out a memorable fictional world. I don’t know many memorable science fiction films that run under 90 minutes because there’s so much that normally needs to be established and while plenty has been done to create the world of surrogacy, we are only given bits and pieces of the antagonist, and never truly make a connection with his cause. The disc itself has no real deficiencies, this blu-ray just suffers from the story not going for it all. I wanted to like it more, but I am likely to let my Surrogates recommendation stay with just the comic. However, I do respect the curious, and caution those cats to Rent It first and go from there.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 482 Minutes
Rated: Not Rated
SRP: $ 59.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 12, 2010

Film/Feature: C+

The first 12 seasons of the Simpsons crawled out on DVD with phenomenal extras and are great archive editions of probably the best years of the show, but they’ve always been behind in getting them out as compared to what the current season is on television. For the 20th season, Fox oddly rushed out this set on DVD and for the first time, blu-ray bypassing those in between. The episodes are as follows.

Disc 1
Sex, Pies and Idiot Scraps
Lost Verizon
Double, Double, Boy in Trouble
Treehouse of Horror XIX
Dangerous Curves
Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
Mypods and Boomsticks
The Burns and the Bees
Lisa the Drama Queen

Disc 2
Take My Life, Please
How the Test Was Won
No Loan Again, Naturally
Gone Maggie Gone
In the Name of the Grandfather
Wedding for Disaster
Eeny Teeny Mata, Moe
The Good, the Sad and the Drugly
Father Knows Worst
Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’oh
Four Great Women and a Manicure
Coming to Homerica

After twenty years, I have to admit that the well hasn’t run dry, but the water doesn’t taste as fresh as it used to be. There are some episodes where I found myself going an entire segment without laughing or even forcing a laugh out because I still enjoy this world. I’ve always attributed the golden years of the Simpsons as seasons 4-10, and the quality slowly grades down from there. It’s the episodes with a strong central focus that’s carried throughout the entire show that leaves the best impression. But after that golden era of the Simpsons, the show seemed to take on a formula of putting the three most unrelated stories and find a way to string them together, oh and let’s see just how dumb Homer can be, what cause will Lisa take on or what threat does Marge and Homer have in their marriage. It’s gotten to the point where the only must-see show is the annual Treehouse of Horror episode.

Every now and then they do hit a nerve or two that are timely like taking on all of the DaVinci Code-like puzzle films in “Gone Maggie Gone,” satirizing Apple nation “Mypods and Boomsticks,” and taking the kids out of Springfield elementary and placing them in “Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’oh.” “How the Test Was Won” is another stand out episode that reminds longtime viewers that this show can still put it all together. For a show where the characters never age, never develop or barely remember what happened to them prior, The Simpsons require no cliff notes and after 20 seasons, that’s a good thing; but like a long running game show, you still find ways to enjoy it despite a change in host, some modification of the games and change of the set, and most times forget it’s still on.

I agree, Bart, but this blu-ray set could use some more work.

Video: C+
For the first time, the Simpsons television series was put on blu-ray and I figured that it would be a something to make note of, but I didn’t expect this at all. The episodes are split into two discs featuring a 1080p AVC-encoded transfer. The first disc shows the episodes in 1.33:1, while the second disc of episodes are in 1.78:1 widescreen. The split signifies the change in broadcast when the original broadcast went high definition in the middle of the season. The result is two entirely different viewing experiences. The full frame episodes have noticeable banding and aliasing, wonky contrast, and lacks the crispness seen with other cel-animated features on blu-ray. The episodes in widescreen appear to be closer to what you’d expect when you watch the Simpsons on HD TV when it airs on Fox. Colors stand out more and the subtle changes in tints of color for shading is more prevalent. I have no idea why this season was put together the way it was, but it comes off as lazy in my opinion. I’d expect something like this on the first season, but the 20th?

Audio: B
The Simpsons have always been designed as a standard television show in stereo 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. There is rarely a peep that will come out of your surround channels as almost everything comes from your center and front channels. There’s nothing really to complain about, but those are the facts. The dialogue comes in clear and that’s the biggest hurdle for this show. The rear activity, and sound movement is so unspectacular, keeping it at a 2.0 Stereo mix would have been better. Maybe then there would be more room for some extras (see below). Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH and Spanish.

Extras: D-
Audio Commentary by _____ Wait, what? No audio commentaries? You can’t put audio commentaries on every season box set, rush this one out on blu-ray and DVD, skip over eight other seasons and give a poor effort on the extras department. Seriously, this a bad move that I don’t think will make any Simpsons diehard thrilled.

The one lone (snicker) extra is a Teaser for Morgan Spurlock 20th Anniversary Simpsons Documentary Special HD (4:00) which aired prior to the release of this box set. The teaser is great, it’s wonderful, it makes you want to see this special, which Spurlock looks to be an intense fan, but I’ll be reserved to hunt for this online. Would it have burdened Fox to put the darn special on this box set? There’s not much else to take its space.

If there’s one thing you can expect out of a Simpsons box set, it’s the extras, and this has all the signs of rushing out a product, (especially with the inconsistent aspect ratios) and not making it as good as it can possibly be before sending it out.

Overall Shock Value: C
I never thought I’d ever give a Simpsons season set such a low grade but as much of a fan as I was of the first 15 years of the show, my interest has waned, and if I catch episodes at their original air date, it’s by pure luck. It doesn’t nearly have the magic and fun it once had, but it’s still better than 75% of what’s on television. I was curious to see if the format change to blu-ray would make any difference but unlike Family Guy’s Something Something Something Dark Side, the Simpsons looked quite ordinary on high definition. Add the lazy effort on the extras and you have a Rental at best.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Rated: PG
SRP: $ 39.95
Studio(s): Sony Pictures
Release Date: January 5, 2010

Film/Feature: A-

Even though a lot of emphasis has been put on Pixar’s Up, one of this past year’s most memorable animated features was Sony’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Kids, parents and those on Weight Watchers have their dreams realized when Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) invents a contraption that is designed to save the town of Swallow Falls, a city where it’s ’round the clock, nonstop sardines. The machine is called the FLDSMDFR (an acronym too long to list out) that turns water into food and sends it into the sky where it can rain down whatever the starving desires, bringing new life and public interest to Sallow Falls. Flint gains newfound fame and credit for making life worth living in Swallow Falls. Flint was picked on as a kid for his scientific breakthroughs but for the first time, something he created brought happiness to the world.

If not for the sudden scientific and culinary phenomena, barely anyone would know about this fishing town located under the “A” in Atlantic Ocean on the world map. A weather girl named Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) catches the bizarre and delectable events on camera and the Mayor Shelbourne (Bruce Campbell) thinks he can exploit this in a facelift of the town and drive world tourism to his front door. Greed and gluttony wreak havoc on the city as the FLDSMDFR is put under a great deal of stress and misuse and it’s up to Flint to save the day, and repair his estranged relationship with his father (James Caan). Enlisting the help of Sam and her Guatemalan cameraman Manny (Benjamin Bratt), Flint and his pet monkey Steve (Neil Patrick Harris) who can talk through a Flint-modified Speak and Spell, this motley crew tries to fix the unstable FLDSMDFR, which threatens to destroy and bury the world in tons of food.

Cloudy had two solid nondescript performances by leads, Hader and Faris, but Campbell and Mr. T deliver two performances that remind the audience that this is a film where you can have fun. Campbell is just creepy as the mayor and the more gluttonous he gets, the more frightening he becomes but you can imagine him relishing in the villainy motives. Mr. T on the other hand is a scene stealer and really is the heart of the film, playing Officer Earl Deveraux as the over-the-top, authoritative figure balanced with his devotion to his “keyd” tugs at the heartstrings.

This is the second children’s’ book to be expanded successfully into a feature-length film. Spike Jonze’s “live” + CG-animated adaptation of Where the Wild Things had a much darker and grim abstraction that takes time to digest and ponder, where Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs took the opposite approach and aimed straight for the all-ages group and this film will score a hit with that audience. Seeing all of that food bury and destroy the city captures the imagination with memorable visuals and top-notch animation. Cloudy’s funny, it’s intelligent and is a timeless story especially for those whose eyes are bigger than their tummies.

Video: A
This is one of the most satisfying visual experiences of the year. Cloudy has a high definition, 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in the original 2.39:1 aspect ratio on blu-ray. The colors will parade and dance on your display and need not pull to hard on the corners of your smile because it’s awesome. The city of Swallow Falls has this muted color palette but when the food falls from the sky—wow! I want to draw attention to two scenes of note which caused my eyes to lock open: when the the sky was raining with ice cream and when Flint and Samantha went into the orange Jello palace. One of the most impressive visual effects though is the storm clouds which roll and plunder in the sky with this billowing purple, pinks, and yellow and anyone with a proper display will see that this has as much visual pop to it that Pixar films have. Also, give credit to the animators for putting in the detail on the food, like lighting, reflection, and proper texture to makes it look appetizing, and mouth watering. I do think that in the lower lit scenes (in the meatball) there could have been more light to show some of the detail (and there’s lots of it) gets lost, but overall blacks are stable and deep, shadows are clearly defined. The set of Swallow Falls is one of the largest mapped environments in an animated film and the hard work is showcased in this transfer.

Audio: A+
You cannot knock this film for being technically deficient. The audio is heard through a lovely 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track with a beefy and robust showing in the lower range of sound. Rear channels are continually being sent plenty of active sound effects to give a pleasurable and memorable audio experience. The storms are the high point as the food that comes flying down to the ground all of the surround channels get active and help recreate those scenes in your screening room. It all culminates to the climax where the spaghetti tornado is hurtling objects all around, you’ll see why this is reference material audio. The music has a triumphant, overachieving feel to it that pulls the emotions at just the right moments and climbs up from behind. Other audio selections include: 5.1 DTS-HD French, 5.1 Spanish tracks and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, with English and Spanish subtitles for the commentary.

Extras: B+
Audio Commentary by Writers/Directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord and Actor Bill Hader is a fun, light-hearted chatty commentary track that easily accessible, full of stories about the pre/post production and animation, and facts pointed out during specific scenes and moves along at a brisk pace. It won’t go down as an all-time must listen track, but it goes along with the enjoyable spirit of the film its filmmakers.

A Recipe for Success: The Making of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs HD (10:51) is your classic EPK that discusses how the project started as a children’s book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett.

Key Ingredients: The Voices HD (12:39) Each principal cast member is interviewed on how they were drawn to the project and their experience voice acting. Hader, Faris, Caan, Campbell, Samberg and Mr. T are gathered to shed some light on their characters. You get the sense that each member genuinely had a good time working on this film.

Extended Scenes HD Elevator Joke (0:38) and Early Cut with Awesome Food Fight (1:59) are two scenes that are referenced in the commentary and can be seen. They aren’t look but even in animated films, sometimes even more so, edits are quite hard to do given how much work is put into them.

Early Development Scenes HD (5:47) Two scenes can be seen in their early storyboard / animatic stage. Flint’s Letter to Super Scientist Vanca LeFleur and the Twister action sequence.

Progression Reels with Introductions by Visual FX Supervisor Rob Bredow HD (9:08) is a tour of the some of the visual effects challenges presented to Sony Imageworks’ animators such as the color palette, making food look delicious to the viewer, and making a tornado out of spaghetti. This to me, was the most interesting and enjoyable extras on the disc.

Miranda Cosgrove’s Raining “Sunshine” SD (3:45) is a music video of the movie’s song which viewers are able to sing-a-long with it.

Make it Rain Food HD (0:32) is an brief PSA.

Flint’s Food Fight Game is a hybrid of Space Invaders and Asteroids in a Cloudy theme. It’s not sophisticated by any stretch and the only person playing it after five cycles is just stubborn.

Splat Vision The producers of this blu-ray really understand their audience because this is a fun way to watch the film again. You can fling food with cross hairs during any part of the film. Is your screen covered in goop? Then just take the squeegee to wipe the screen clean and do it all over again. Again, there’s not a lot of levels to this feature but it’s fun, and I can see a family having a scream over this.

The second disc is a DVD+Digital Copy Disc combination which is great for those long travel trips or if you just want to sneak it in on your wok computer during lunchtime. While it is in standard definition, you have admire what many of these studios are doing in ensuring families need to only buy one version of the films so that they can enjoy it in every way possible.

Trailers for Planet 51, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, Monster House, Surf’s Up, Open Season, Open Season 2, Hachi: A Dog’s Take.

Overall Shock Value: A
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is another example of how much room is still left to make a great, animated films despite the market being dominated by the two big animation houses. This film looks and sounds unreal, and I urge you not to see the film on an empty stomach because the food looks that good, and the story will make your belly hurt even more from having a good time. Something tells me that this will get a re-release once 3D capable televisions become more common, since this was initially released in that form. Until then, this is a great release and whether you’ve got kids, or your just a big kid at heart, this Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs blu-ray+DVD combo gets one easy Buy It recommendation.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $39.95
Studio(s): Sony Pictures
Release Date: December 22, 2009

Film/Feature: B +

This past summer, science fiction movie fans got introduced to one of the more interesting characters that have come in a long time. Wikus Van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) works for Multinational United AKA MNU, a large corporation who tries to come up with a way to move a race of aliens from a shanty are of Johannesburg, South Africa to a secluded camp where they can be closer monitored and be kept away from the human race. Wikus plays the villain, the victim, and then the hero of District 9, a film that uses a gritty sci-fi environment to remind us of the history and xenophobia of South Africa.

District 9 begins as a documentary, interviewing citizens of Joburg who express their opinion of the co-habitation. Through their words, we are led to believe that the aliens in the film are hostile, are an aggressive threat and a despicable nuisance. Then it turns into a handheld trailing of the story’s main character, Wikus. Expanding on short film called Alive in Joburg, District 9 is co-written and directed by Neill Blomkamp. An alien aircraft is shipwrecked on Earth, right over Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982. Most of the more intellectually advanced beings on the ship died off from either a sickness or injuries, leaving just mostly workers. Humans eventually infiltrate the ship and force its survivors into exile in a cramped shanty town called District 9. The aliens look like insects or “prawns,” which is a possible reference to a cricket species that are considered a plague in South Africa. There is no friendly integration with the human race as we are genuinely afraid of them. After years of inhabiting District 9, humans want to move them further away from society asking them to vacate so that they may be put into tighter quarters where they can be better monitored.

And this is where Wikus comes into the story. A corporate lackey, Wikus is sent into District 9 to give the aliens a choice. Either move to a new cramped “camp” or be extracted out the area by military force headed up by Koobus Venter (David James). Not only are they issuing this notice, but MNU is also destroying any signs of eggs and technology the refugees may be developing. Wikus does his job with little grace and in the sweeping of one house finds a capsule which releases a mist of liquid on his skin beginning a chain reaction in his body. That capsule was the key to an escape attempt by one of the remaining intelligent aliens, renamed Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope) and Wikus goes from being the company man to the most wanted commodity on the planet. His body undergoes the start of a transformation, and to MNU, that’s valuable to them because he becomes the first person to be able to use the alien weapons which were confiscated from the ship. The weapons only work with prawn biology so MNU wants to use him and his body to work the alien weapon technology and ultimately use his DNA to create a new army. In another conflict, Nigerian gangs has scrapped up enough alien technology by swindling the prawns trading cat food for weapons. The gangs are astonished by Wikus because they believed that they could work the weapons if they ate the carcasses of dead prawns. Wanting to restore his true body, Wikus seeks out Christopher to help him, but only for selfish reasons.

Was his efforts enough to sway your opinion of him? Would any of you try to make those same compromises to make things as they were? We’re not supposed to know much of the Prawns. Their elite beings on the ship were stricken with an illness that put caused them to float to Earth’s atmosphere in a “life raft” as Blomkamp succinctly puts it in his commentary. They have no culture, no means to defend themselves and fight to survive in a very real scenario where the humans invasive nature, gets its comeuppance.

Now there’s no possible way to avoid the significance of staging a science fiction story about alien genocide set in Johannesburg, where the racial and political climate is always a hot topic as is the crimes of apartheid. District 9 is about two races that square off with each other. One is definitely trying to wipe the other out, one is definitely trying to take all of the others’ weapons away, and even though there are these wonderful metaphors to what we as humans have done to each other in history, this film is able to entertains enough that it’s not weighed down by the underlying themes of the film.

The segregation of two races has always been a problem in the country of South Africa, practically in every country, but racism and xenophobia are so ingrained there that it makes Johannesburg the perfect setting for District 9. The spaceship is a constant backdrop hovering above, a reminder, like a big cloud or burden over the city. It is obviously inspired by when South Africa was under apartheid (1948-1994) and District Six, the inner-city area in Cape Town, South Africa whose 60,000+ citizens were forced to leave in that regime.

While it’s simple and easy to get stuck on that hurdle, District 9 is about Wikus. I believe we’re not supposed to like him and as he realizes that MNU just wants him for his biology he takes great leaps at trying to bridge that gap. Sure he helps Christopher Johnson and his child, but only because of selfish reasons. He’s a bit of a despicable character who shows no care or concern for the aliens until he finds out that only they can help restore his body.

District 9 challenges the audience to take a love/hate approach to a polarizing protagonist, torn by the inhumane treatment of his employer and his numerous selfish acts. Does Wikus really make a change in character, or does he remain true to himself, or at least his human self all the way to the end? Can a person really change who they are just because their biology changes? These questions and others that stem further are the reasons I like the film. This is not the mother of all science fiction films, far from it as the third act degrades to familiar shoot-out conventions. But it does satisfy that exploitative urge to see things blow up in such gross beauty. District 9 has an ending but a lack of real closure leaves the door wide open to an eventual sequel; but Neill Blomkamp gives us a beautifully designed world, a fascinating character, and through a fresh take on alien/human co-habitation, he also presents a commentary of contemporary South African culture.

Video:A+
The world of District 9 is filled with a gritty, filthy garbage-ridden world captured on a 1080p AVC-encoded high definition transfer in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Colors are mostly real world-based, ranging in the muted browns and other dusty colors, sun starched landscapes as piles of trash, salvage, and destitute go endlessly as far as the eyes can see. Blacks are inky and are bottomless. The detail of those heaps of scrap, in the machinery, the scenery, paint a vivid picture of the world of District 9. On rare occasions, like the alien prawns themselves feature bright colors in their bodies, much like the insects their patterned after. These colors are juiced and provide great contrast to the rest of the prawns’ moving body parts. The intricacies of textured material like the dirt-filled scraps of detritus that make up the shanty town, the dust in the air, sweat on the skin or hair, or the polyester in MNU’s workers’ suits are all well-defined. There are two styles of filmmaking going on, the documentary style and the cinematic action. Both are seamlessly woven into a coherent and visually harmonious display of chaos unfolding.

Audio: A+
District 9 is heard on blu-ray via a 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. Wow, was this an enjoyable audio experience! Not in the sense that the audio made it feel like your home theater was being destroyed; there was just a lot of activity sent to the rears to add to the atmosphere of scenes like in the chopper, you’d hear the conversations between the helicopter pilots, gunfire bounces all around you, and when the mothership fires up its engines, you’ll feel that ignition and the wind that’s blows through Joburg. Dialogue is crystal clear and the LFE output is generous. Other audio selections include: a French DTS-HD Master Audio and an English Audio Descriptive track; subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, and Hindi.

Extras: A–
Cinechat allows users to watch the movie simultaneously with a friend over the net (who also has the blu-ray) and enables a chat screen with which to have an on-screen chat as a BD-Live feature.

God of War III Playable Playstation 3 Game Demo Obviously for people who have a PS3 but for those who have never played God of War are in for a treat. This is the first of the trilogy designed for the PS3 and there are noticeable improvements in game play and speed which utilizes the strengths of Sony’s dream machine. Kratos has new weapons including the ability to turn his fists into stone gauntlets and shoot them out and swing them like a mace as they are still attached to his arms by chains. To see the game played at that speed and that high definition was an awesome sight and there’s enough game to whet your appetite when it eventually comes out later this year. And yes, it’s as bloody violent and victoriously fun for those itching for the sequel.

If you finish the demo, (and GoW vets will) a Making of featurette is unlocked that talks to the game designers about the abilities in jumping to the PS3 by making weapons that rely on more dramatic lighting, the increased grappling abilities and just the speed of the game play to make more complex animation and battle sequences.

Audio Commentary by Director Neill Blomkamp is talkative track filled with Blomkamp’s breakdown of the film, regrets as a first time filmmaker. There’s a slight bit of repetition from when you start digging into the extras but I’m impressed to see Blomkamp’s enthusiasm to make sure the track has no dead spots.

Innovation: The Acting and Improvisation of District 9 HD (12:05) Copley acting without being able to see the aliens.

Conception and Design: Creating the world of District 9 HD (13:18) is a feature in coming up with the look basing it off of the landscape of Joburg and the shanty housing.

Alien Generation: The Visual Effects of District 9 HD (10:18) shows the way the film was shot with a documentary style and the utilization of motion capture.

Joburg From Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9 Interactive Map: is a series of interactive Maps and technical illustrations and schematics of the alien mothership, MNU Headquarters, and District 9 with live information feeds, and MNU HD Updates.

Deleted Scenes HD (23:38) there are 22 cut scenes that can be viewed individually or in one sitting.

Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus HD (9:52) Wikus’ physical change is all practical effects so Copley talks about getting into that mode mentally as an actor while his body undergoes prosthetics, body casts and makeup.

The Alien Agenda: The Filmmaker’s Log SD (34:19) that dissects the a much more satisfying, making-of special split into three parts: Envisioning District 9, Shooting District 9 and Redefining Distict 9. The film was born out of the failed Halo film and working with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens and how it developed into a much bigger, but budget-constrained project. In the second part, Blomkamp talks about the more technical side of shooting the film, the types of cameras that were used that gave different parts of the film different looks. Blomkamp also talks about filming on location in a nuclear house for weapons. His choice of an unconventional film made for an even more difficult filmmaking process and the third section of this diary goes over what Blomkamp would have done different, sound editing, and post-production.

Overall Shock Value: A–
District 9 is solid film that’s packaged nicely on blu-ray, with near flawless video and audio treatment, and bountiful extras. There’s plenty here to keep fans busy long after viewing the feature and the inclusion of the God of War 3 Playable Demo is smart marketing by Sony. I imagine that there are going to be sequels in line for District 9, and the appreciation of this film may grow in time, especially with how it fits in with future chapters that may or may not see fruition. In the truest sci-fi nature though, it stands on its own just fine as a film that is certainly influenced by real events but also gives our world a harsh image of how we easily turn on our own and how cyclical the sins of the human race are and how short-sighted our civilization can be for the sake of profit and greed. District 9 isn’t the best science fiction film this year, (that distinction goes to Moon) but it is one of the many that has shown how strong the genre has been supported this year. Buy it!

Year: 2009
Running Time: 54 Minutes
Rated: Not Rated
SRP: $ 29.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 5, 2009

Film/Feature: B+
After Family Guy’s successful spoof of Star Wars: A New Hope called Blue Harvest (2007), a follow up poking fun at Empire Strikes Back was as much a sure thing as a sunny day in California. In Family Guy Something Something Something Dark Side, we get to see Stewie as the venomous little Darth Vader again and see Peter Griffin as Han Solo, Lois as Leia, Cleveland as R2D2, Chris as Luke Skywalker, and Quagmire as C3PO, Brian as Chewie, and Meg… well, she has a minor role. And Mort, well Mort has an incredibly funny role that I won’t spoil.

In fact, I will try not to spoil any of SSSDS, because it is best seen with as little knowledge as possible. Just brush up on your familiarity with Empire Strikes Back, and the usual barrage of 80′s and 90′s pop culture references which drive the comedy of Family Guy. As someone who also enjoys Seth Green’s Robot Chicken Star Wars spoofs because they are little stories that fit perfectly in the told story, I was pleased to see Family Guy do something different by doing a direct parody of the Original Trilogy. It’s a boon for anyone who enjoys that inappropriate (but hilariously funny), crass edgy material that Family Guy dips into and wants to see this beloved animated family in the classic Star Wars parts. I couldn’t stop laughing and in an hour’s time, you can relive all that’s great about Empire Strikes Back. It’s true that this watches like three straight episodes of Family Guy, but it is uncensored, it is in glorious high definition, and the animation is so good that some scenes look almost identical to scenes in the live-action movie.

I know Star Wars parodies can be found as common as a penny lying on the street, but Something Something Something Dark Side hits all the right notes and stays within its own little universe thankfully Far Far Away. When the inevitable follow-up We Got A Bad Feeling About This comes out, I’ll be the first one in line to complete the Griffin remix of Star Wars.

Video: A-
This is the first time Family Guy has been seen in high definition and SSSDS gets a1080p AVC-encoded transfer in its original full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio.If there’s any doubt at how good an animated series can look, then just compare this blu-ray with one of the early season DVDs. The separation of animated objects is crystal clear, black outlines are stable and straight. With the scenes set on the planet Hoth in the winter landscapes, there’s a thin sheer veil of white snow mist throughout and just adds enough to the image to make for an impressive image. Colors are quite brilliant especially in the infamous light saber fight with the grated floor and fiery lights below. The swampy and muddy Dagobah scenes with Yoda show a lot of intricate work as well–not to mention the handful of live action scenes that are inserted (that will not be spoiled here) look incredibly crisp. And since many of the scenes are done in outer space, the blacks are Vader-dark and are lovely in this transfer. In all of its seasons and specials, Family Guy has never looked so good.

Audio: A-
Done equally well is the audio mix for SSSDS. It has a surprisingly active 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track, that has plenty of bells and whistles you’d normally expect out of a Star Wars film. Action sequences like the At-At battle the front and rear channels come alive with lots of activity. Especially when there are ships that zoom by in Cloud City or whenever the Millennium Falcon takes flight all of the classic Star Wars sound effects can be heard in HD-audio glory. John Williams majestic score also gets its spotlight on center stage as this is the first time it’s being heard on blu-ray and for those waiting for Lucas’ Original SW Trilogy, this will help the agonizing wait for its eventual arrival. There are no other audio selections and subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Suomi, Dannish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish.

Extras: B
For an episode that runs just shy of an hour, there’s a good amount of extras to dig into. All of the extras are in high definition, AVC-encoded and are in 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.

Audio Commentary by Executive Producers Seth MacFarlane, Mark Hentemann, David A. Goodman, Writer Kirker Butler, Director Dominic Polcino and Actor Seth GreenThere is also subtitles available for the commentary which helps distinguish who among the six guys is talking because outside of Green and MacFarlane it’s difficult to know who’s who. The commentary is full of extra laughs and uncensored hilarities that are at times screen specific but full of side conversations and Hollywood stories. And there might be the slight influence of Patron. It’s also revealed in the commentary that a Clue spoof is in the works and will probably see the light of day later in 2010.

Family Guy Fact-Ups is a trivia track done in VH1 Pop-up that’s full of outrageous and hilarious minutiae about Family Guy and Star Wars.

The Dark Side of Poster Art HD (9:18) is a brief featurette about how Joe Vaux painted the blu-ray/DVD covers as a beautiful homage to Roger Kastel’s original iconic posters. Character designer Mick Cassidy also joins in on the discussion and eventually beers are drunk and shirts are being taken off. I will say that there is enough chest hair in this extra to last a lifetime.

Animatic Scene-to-Scene with Commentary by Director Dominic Polcino HD(6:36) Polcino compares side-by-side animated penciled storyboards before color is put in to the finished product.

Family Guy-Something Something Something Dark Side Table Read Act 1 and 2 HD (49:27) In a conference room, are at least 50 people packed with cast and crew in practice run of the script. I love animation table reads, because you can partially see the actors really get into character; you can see how well the script is based on the genuine laughter in the room and to actually see all of the interactions of the actors. Many times actors record their parts separately so this is a great prelude to what the finished product will sound like. There are also plenty of scenes and lines that got cut out too, some of which were very funny, so make sure you check all these out too.

Sneak Peek of Family Guy Episode VI: We Have a Bad Feeling About This Table Read HD (2:26) is a very short taste of what’s to come in the eventual third installment of Family Guy Star Wars specials. The camera is tight into Seth MacFarlane so you can really see him play Peter Griffin as Han Solo who is being defrosted from his carbonite tomb.

Disc Two is a Digital Movie Disc that makes portability easy. Normally on the sheet that holds the confirmation code also lists the expiration date and there was not one listed, but if these Digital Movie Discs are your thing, make sure to see when that is (it may show on the download).

Overall Shock Value: A-
While it’s hard to justify a separate purchase for a Family Guy movie, (especially when it will eventually be packaged together with the other Star Wars spoofs once they’re all completed, or in a complete series set), but this is a lovely first foray into high definition for Family Guy and if you’re a fan of the show AND a fan of Star Wars, then I don’t see how you can pass this up. If you’re a casual fan, then perhaps you give it at least a rental; but for my money, I’m going to recommend the curious to Buy It.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $ 39.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 3, 2010

Film/Feature: C
Jennifer’s Body doesn’t aim much higher than a B-movie throwback, but unfortunately doesn’t get out of the C-class of mediocre shlock. It is written by Diablo Cody who arrived on the scene and won an Oscar for the sharp-witted indie drama, Juno (2007) and is directed by Karyn Kusama who earned her own accolades with Girlfight (2000). So Jennifer’s Body gets the unique opportunity of being a horror film that’s driven creatively by two women. What was the most terrifying thing they could come up with? High school girl-on-girl hate–something that can be truly terrifying, and can reach incredulous levels of cattiness, but doesn’t pay off as one would hope.

The setting is Devil’s Kettle High School and Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) and Anita “Needy” Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) are childhood friends who grow up to be BFFs (Best Friends Forever) but realize that they may have outgrown their bond. Jennifer keeps her around because her good looks allow her to stand out even more against Needy’s frumpy Ugly Betty syndrome. Needy has a stable and faithful boyfriend, Chip (Johnnie Simmons) who struggles with her timeshare away from Jennifer. One night, Needy is dragged out by Jennifer to see a band called Low Shoulder at the nearby Melody Lane tavern. The girls are separated after a fire brings down the bar. Jennifer goes with the band, led by front man Nikolai (Adam Brody) leaving Needy to drive home alone. The band mates intentions are not good, and it’s not what you think. Trying to ensure they hit it big, Low Shoulder wants to sacrifice Jennifer because they think she’s a virgin. And this is where the wheels come off the tricycle.

It takes a great suspension of disbelief to think that Megan Fox can play the role of a girl in high school–no one walks around with that kind of confidence, even when they look like Fox. But to convince me, that this band thinks that Jennifer is a virgin when she’s built like that, and chooses to sacrifice her, is one of the several far reaches this story makes. The town “goes to shit,” so to speak, when she survives, and surprise-surprise, Jennifer’s not a virgin. Instead of performing a proper sacrifice, Low Shoulder unleashes the succubus onto the boys of Devil’s Kettle. Jennifer seduces those willing boys into her various lairs around town and makes them look like like a pile of pizza vomit.

After Jennifer explains what happened to her, Needy gets the inkling to search the “Occult” section of their library–because every school library has one of those–and realizes that she’s the only one who can stop her. From there the film kind of falls apart and doesn’t know when to end. It suffers from Cody’s all-too-cute dialogue with dated references that will make future viewings groan-worthy. I liked that boys were the prey, and the sexual tension between Needy and Jennifer made for both an interesting complication and teasing motive, but Jennifer’s Body needed to go either more on the shlock, or more on the serious horror. There’s too much of a juggling act that’s being performed here with attempts at witty high school comedy, gothic stylings, and absurd situations and it’s really unclear what kind of film Kusama and Cody were trying to make.

The one saving grace of the film for me came at the end when Needy hunts down Low Shoulder and gives the film a proper ending. Sincerely, it’s one of the slickest closing credits I’ve seen all year, shot mostly in high contrast and super-saturated still images of the revenge scene in its aftermath. Had a majority of Jennifer’s Body was shot like that, I’d be raving about this film. Contrary to Fox-haters, she isn’t bad in the film, and neither is the more talented Seyfried (Mamma Mia), but this script is pretty bad. I stood on the side of the fence with those who enjoyed Cody’s script in Juno, and still do, The United States of Tara is clever, but Jennifer’s Body is a real letdown.

Video: B+
Megan Fox fans will have plenty to droll over seeing her in this high definition 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Viewers will also find a color-rich picture that’s flips between high-detail images and stylistically soft shots. Primary and secondary colors jump out nicely on the screen, skin tones and the varying complexion quality in the high schoolers are clearly visible. In certain scenes, there is some filtering and de-saturation going on, my favorite scene is when we see Needy in the correction facility where everyone is wearing orange jumpsuits in this dank and dirty jail. Lighting is well-balanced whether the scene is outside during the middle of the afternoon or under moonlight. Night scenes are very good but admittedly could go a tad darker. Contrast is especially strong at daytime and naturally lit scenes and shadow delineation is spot on where it needs to be.

Audio: B+
Stomping into your home theater, Jennifer’s Body gets a 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. It starts out subtle with a front and center channel-heavy, dialogue-driven but bursts into style when the fire at the Melody Lane tavern eventually builds to a first-class explosion. After that there lots of activity in all five channels to add atmosphere in each scene. I liked how there wasn’t too many horror score cues to tell you when something scary was coming. That can be really overused, but the songs in the soundtrack are pumped up and aggressive whenever they make their way into the film. While the film is hit or miss, this blu-ray is technically on solid ground. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Thai.

Extras:C+
If you really love this film, there are two commentary tracks to sift through, but what made this category suffer in the rating was the quality of the remaining supplements as well as the lack of replay value.

Audio Commentary by Director, Karyn Kusama and Screenwriter, Diablo Cody Kusama pushes the commentary and Cody adds to her comments. These two truly believe in this film, and that’s a good thing, but they tend to have a very high opinion of every detail of the theatrical cut of Jennifer’s Body. One of the more refreshing things, however, is getting the perspective of the genre through the eyes of two women.

Audio Commentary by Karyn Kusama is found on the Unrated extended version of the film and her comments are preceded by a small red clapper icon at the bottom right in scene specific moments. Kusama discusses mostly the differences between the two versions of the film and I found this to be a tighter, more concise and more enjoyable.

There are six Deleted Scenes HD (13:55) reveal a handful of scenes that don’t add a great deal but the inclusion of them shows how they slowed down the pacing even though they added information that helped to connect a few scenes in a more coherent manner.

Video Diaries HD (12:51) These aren’t as cool as they sound or as inclusive as one would hope. It’s mostly clips done by a hand-held camcorder with poor quality shooting behind-the-scenes stuff following cast members and Diablo Cody around the set. There’s not much worth a second viewing here honestly.

Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool HD (14:00) Is a breakdown of the climax of the film, the pool scene. Interviews are done with Kusama and Cody but there’s an in-depth look at how the Fox’s special effects “jaw” was created.

Megan Fox is Hot HD (0:56) An absolutely pointless montage of Megan Fox scenes.

Megan Fox “Peer Pressure” PSA SD (0:40) Okay, while the last extra was lame, this though, was funny.

Gag Reel SD (4:55) Again, not usually an extra that’s going to get a lot of viewings past the initial screening, the gag reel shows the cast and crew clowning around but too much of the “gags” are drowned out by the “Low Shoulder” song used in the film.

Fox Movie Channel–Life After Film School With Diablo Cody SD (26:26) is one of the more substantial extras. I’ve never been a fan of these Life After specials as the questions are usually softball questions served up by three film students and in this episode, they interview Cody about her career path, her creative writing process and the inspiration behind Jennifer’s Body.

Trailers for Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead, (500) Days of Summer, and Something, Something, Something Darkside.

Disc 2 is a Digital Copy Disc for downloading Jennifer’s Body into laptops, iPhones, and other portable media devices. The expiration date is 12/28/11.

Overall Shock Value: C+
Jennifer’s Body tries to toe that line of 80′s shlock and modern-day trips down horror lane but misses the mark on both fronts. While Cody’s pop culture-filled script and voice worked in Juno, that same kind of poetic flair didn’t match the tone of Jennifer’s Body, which tries very hard to create brooding fright through style and atmosphere. Technically, the film shines, but the extras are best explored by devoted fans of Jennifer’s Body. This isn’t a total loss, but I’m reserved to recommend this blu-ray (or DVD) as a Rental.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
SRP: $39.99
Studio(s): Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: December 22, 2009

Film/Feature: B+
Ladies, excuse me for a second while I ask the men out there a question. Hey guys, have you ever been in love or thought you’ve been in love with someone who just crushes your heart? Then you just can’t seem to get over them? Ever have these great expectations of what that relationship was and then come to grips with the very different reality of the situation? (500) Days of Summer is that remedy you need to help get that girl out of your system.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a cynical writer at a greeting card company who happened to stuck there for the past three years on his way to becoming an architect. Then one day the sky turned blue when quirky and arrestingly cute girl named Summer (Zooey Deschanel) walks into his workplace. Summer is his boss’ (Clark Gregg) new assistant and Tom becomes that guy, who’s got to get that girl. Sounds like the basic romantic comedy, right? Wrong. The film’s narrator, (Richard McGonagle) warns you that what you are about to see, is not a love story. He’s right, it’s the exact opposite of that.

The story jumps back and forth from different days in Tom and Summer’s timeline from the first half when things are great, to the dark days in the end. Through these jumps in time we slowly get a full picture as to what went wrong, where it all went bad and also the great things that made this break up so hard on Tom. One look at Deschanel and it’s easy to see how Tom fell for Summer, a girl who’s comfortable in her own skin, and has her reservations of relationships and how abstract love can be. Tom takes it upon himself to challenge her and says that love is everything we see in movies and sappy love songs. Summer is attracted to that resistance and as our main characters slowly open up to each other, we realize that Summer’s point of view is based in reality, whereas Tom’s is rooted in destiny.

The film surfaces love’s ambiguities and challenges certainly, but it also reminds us that love has its moments where you wake up feeling great because of who you’re with. Basking in the afterglow of their first night together, Tom leads us to one of the more memorable scenes of the year, set to Hall & Oats song, “You Make My Dreams,” Tom is as high as can be, only to be taken down the ladder as the next scene flashes forward, hundreds of days later when that emotion has worn off. Gordon-Levitt portrays both that misery and elation with such honesty and bravery, while Deschanel can do so much with a flip of her eyes or tip of her head. You’ll find yourself rooting for both sides because each sells their side so well.

Music is a big part of this story, and the lies and goods it sells to us. We are almost conditioned for disappointment. We are brought together by a common interests, but often let those things do the speaking for us instead of really bearing down and saying what we really feel. On display in the film is another silent character, the city of Los Angeles. Director Marc Webb chose to shoot the downtown city of LA to give it this great metropolitan feel. It’s an LA that’s absent of anything related to Hollywood and propels LA as this living city. It’s a refreshing snapshot, and adds to the romance and architectural themes in the story, but I remind you, this is not a love story. It’s the story of growing up and discovering Tom’s own idea of love that’s formed by experience and not just the lyrics of a song or the inside of a greeting card. The only bothersome angle I didn’t like was Tom’s junior high sister, Rachel who happens to be full of sage advice when it comes to relationships and when his life long friends McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) and Paul (Matthew Gray Gubler) are of no help.

Yes it has clichés of romance stories, but it’s all easily forgivable because what’s being said in the film is very real, and very heart-felt. I love-love-love what Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel bring to this film; their style of acting transports you back a few decades to when you can get lost in the sincerity of the acting and not get so distracted by who they are in real life. The smallness of the film makes it read that much bigger and has that much more impact, and that’s why it did so well at Sundance this past winter. Webb really understood how to take a very intimate story and have it play much bigger.

(500) Days of Summer is the type of comedy that will click with those who love Francois Truffaut films, karaoke bars, indie music mopers who like the Smiths, and Ikea hipsters for sure, but it should also be familiar with those trying to wade out of that funk that’s so easy to get stuck in when coming out of a relationship. (500) Days is a witty, little sardonic look at love; it’s cuteness is contagious, and it’s just that dinner mint of a film you need sometimes to refresh your outlook on life.

Video:A
If you’re a fan of the way films used to look, then you’ll love the way (500) Days looks in this 1080p encoded transfer in a very wide 2.40:1 aspect ratio. There’s this wonderful diffusion going on that gives everything a soft glowing look and that’s the way the film was intended to look, so don’t look for the hyper-level of detail seen in some of the more modern films on blu-ray. There’s still a juicy bouquet of earth tone colors, amidst deep dark blacks, and the screen is almost always full of warm-colored hues reminiscent of the autumn harvest. There is a fine display of natural skin tones throughout, fine grain, and a great balance of contrast keeps frames full of depth and dimension. (500) Days of Summer is just a beautiful looking film.

Audio:B+
(500) Days of Summer’s main audio option is a 5.1 English DTS-HD audio track and in typical romantic comedy fashion, it’s chiefly driven by the dialogue through the center channel. Music is a key part to the film and the entire film opens up whenever a song or melodic score piece flows in. Everything is nicely balanced, there’s no distortion or dialogue that’s too difficult to hear. There’s a minimal amount of panning and surround effects, but this really isn’t the movie that’s designed to do so. Other audio selections include: English for the Visually Impaired, and three 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks in French, Spanish, Portuguese; subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Thai.

Extras: A
There’s a mixture of standard and high def featurettes, but I wouldn’t ask for any more or any less. It just hits that perfect amount of extras and original content for those who want to delve into the story a bit deeper. Try to leave the commentary for last because that’s the most satisfying supplement. The menus are well-designed, echoing the film’s unique presentation.

Disc 1
Audio Commentary by director Marc Webb, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and writers Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter. is a lively track full of good discussion and revelations that much of this story comes from the real events in Neustadter’s misfortunes with a former obsession.

Not a Love Story: Making (500) Days of Summer HD (29:21) Is a solid making of featurette that looks to the Webb, the producers, writers, and actors to share their thoughts on the film, production design, the finer parts of downtown Los Angeles, the inspiration of Saul Leiter and representing characters through color.

Deleted and Extended Scenes HD (14:42) there are 10 scenes to zip through with a few of them being real bummers that they didn’t make the final cut. There’s optional commentary with Webb, Gordon-Levitt, and writers Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter.

Filmmaking Specials SD included are a bunch of snippets of what looks like a show on Filmmakers where Webb fielded topical questions about (500) Days. They are Director Marc Webb on Casting Joe and Zooey (2:07) on The Summer Effect (1:35) on French Film References (0:58) and on the Color Palette (1:11). Finally there’s two Fox Movie Channel Presents in Character, with Zooey Deschanel (2:38) and with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3:08).

Audition Tapes SD (7:00) for Geoffrey Arent (McKenzie), Matthew Gray Gubler (Paul), with optional commentary with Webb.

Summer at Sundance HD (13:46) Watch as the days build towards the premiere at Sundance through the eyes of Director, Marc Webb.

Summer Storyboards SD: Summer Effect(1:36) Reality/Expectations (1:55) Both sets of storyboards come with two angles (storyboards and side-by-side comparisons) to view them with optional commentary with Webb. For The Summer Effect Webb provides two different commentaries about Character and the Look.

Conversations with Zooey and Joseph SD (12:26) The two lead actors share a cup of coffee and have six short conversations discussing acting, Los Angeles, and music.

Mean’s Cinemash: Sid and Nancy/ (500) Days of Summer HD (3:28) playing off of a moment in the film where Summer compares their relationship to cinema’s famous Sid and Nancy where Summer is Sid and Tom is Nancy. Yes, this is as funny as it sounds.

Bank Dance SD (4:18) is a music video starring Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt and is directed by Marc Webb who made a name for himself in this trade. If you find both actors as irresistibly charming as much as me, then you’ll love this adorable musical number.

Music Video SD (4:01) Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap

Trailers HD (6:29) for Amelia, Fame, and Adam

Disc 2
Digital Copy Disc for downloading onto your computer or portable media device.

Overall Shock Value: A–
I can’t recommend (500) Days of Summer enough. This is one of my favorite films of the year and it hits that need of charming-and-profound-indie-film that hits the sweet spot. Anchored by two terrific performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, there’s an honest idea about love and trying to deal with the reality of love existing in real life as compared to what we’re led to believe through popular culture. Along with a rich and faithful transfer, and solid audio, the blu-ray is everything any fan could hope for. Buy it!