Category: Movie Comedies (Page 158 of 195)

Blu Tuesday: A Bug’s Life, Batman and Terminator 2

May 19, 2009 /

The wealth of Blu-ray titles being released this week is actually pretty incredible (in fact, most of the month has yielded a nice selection for HD enthusiasts), but you’d be wise to get in on the fun now, because the future is looking pretty dim – at least in the short term. Nevertheless, there are plenty A-list titles to last you through the upcoming drought, and most of them are good enough to warrant headlining their own column.

“A Bug’s Life” (Walt Disney)

It may not be one of Pixar’s most popular films (in fact, it’s curiously missing from just about every marketing campaign of the last decade), but “A Bug’s Life” is still a solid entry in the studio’s 14-year history. A clever reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai,” the film features all of the usual Pixar trappings (humor, heart and charm), not to mention an awesome voice cast including the scene-stealing Kevin Spacey and Richard Kind as the villainous grasshopper and his dim-witted brother, respectively. Oh, and that cute little girl providing the voice of Dot? It’s none other than “Heroes” hottie Hayden Panettiere in one of her very first film roles. What’s ultimately so great about the new 10th anniversary Blu-ray release, however, is that it not only includes the previously released bonus material, but two brand new special features as well. The first is a 21-minute roundtable discussion with co-directors John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton and producers Darla K. Anderson and Kevin Reher where they reflect on the making of “A Bug’s Life” with stories about pitching the idea to Disney and screening the film for President Clinton at Camp David, while “A Bug’s Life: The First Draft” offers a never-before-seen look at the film’s original concept starring a completely different main character. It’s exactly the kind of fan service moviegoers don’t see enough of these days, but when it comes to a company like Pixar, you shouldn’t expect any less.

“Batman” (Warner Bros.)

It’s hard to imagine anyone that wanted a copy of “Batman” on Blu-ray didn’t pick up the anthology box set collecting the first four films when it was released a few months ago, but those holding out strictly for the Tim Burton original will be pleased with Warner’s new digibook release. Though the 1989 film doesn’t quite hold up when compared to Christopher Nolan’s reboot of the franchise, it’s still a solid entry in the history of comic book films that, if nothing else, offers a great performance from Jack Nicholson as a more classic version of the Joker. The set is also jam-packed with all of the special features from the 2005 DVD reissues including a director commentary, an in-depth look at the history of Batman, and hours of production featurettes about the making of the film. The digibook release also features slick packaging with a 48-page booklet filled with essays and a script excerpt, as well as a digital copy for those on the go.

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24, Action Movies, External Movie DVDs, External TV, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV DVDs

Blu Tuesday: Taken, Star Trek and Underworld

May 12, 2009 /

It’s been awhile since my last Blu-ray column (two weeks ago, I attended a brand retreat in Walt Disney World with Hanes and returned with a non-swine flu), but luckily, I didn’t miss too much. In fact, with the exception of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (which you should definitely pick up, by the way), there were no other major releases last week. This week is a different story, however, with a few A-list titles, a slew of movies from the Paramount and MGM vaults, and an awesome collection that sci-fi fans are going to want to check out.

“Taken” (20th Century Fox)

By far the biggest surprise of the year, Pierre Morel’s “Taken” is a good old fashioned action thriller that doesn’t waste a single minute on pointless exposition or silly subplots. Liam Neeson is excellent as the Jack Bauer-type who jets off to Paris when his teenage daughter is kidnapped by human traffickers, and then proceeds to kick the ass of each and every person involved until there’s no one else left to punish. Though I’ve yet to actually check out the extras on the Blu-ray release, the U.K. edition sported some pretty cool bonus material including a picture-in-picture geographical locator, a making-of featurette, and side-by-side comparisons for six of the film’s key sequences. I’d expect the U.S. version to feature the same, but here’s hoping we get a few exclusives as well.

“Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection” (Paramount)

With J.J. Abrams’ big screen reboot of the sci-fi classic tearing up the box office in its first week in theaters, it’s really no surprise that Paramount would want to take advantage of the hype train by releasing all six of the original “Star Trek” films on Blu-ray for the first time. As we’ve already seen from the Season One release, however, Paramount’s HD reissues are more than quick cash grabs, but rather serious undertakings meant to please the most loyal of fans. The same appears to be true of the “Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection,” a seven-disc box set that includes remastered editions of all six movies (sorry, no director cuts this time around) and an additional disc of bonus material entitled The Captain’s Summit. Suffice it to say, this is a no-brainer Day One purchase for any real “Trek” fan, but at such a great price ($79.99 on Amazon), I’d even say it’s worth it for the casual fan as well.

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Action Movies, External Movie DVDs, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, TV Dramas, TV DVDs

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer Hope You’ll Enjoy Their New Direction

April 24, 2009 /

When “This is Spinal Tap” premiered twenty-five years ago, the now classic mock-documentary…or “mockumentary,” if you will…about lightly-brained, heavily sedated British metal stars on the skids received good reviews but unexciting box office. Considering that most people who saw it – and understood that it wasn’t a real documentary — thought it was one of the funniest movies they’d ever seen, it wasn’t too big a surprise that it soon became a very significant cult hit via home video. What was a bit harder to predict was that a film featuring three only moderately well known comedian/satirists and directed by then first-timer Rob Reiner would become one of the most influential comedies of its era. It certainly wasn’t clear that lines such as “this goes to eleven” or “it’s such a fine line between stupid and clever” would enter the general musical and cultural lexicon, and that, decades on, “mock docs” would remain among the most popular of low-budget movie subgenres — and not only for comedy.

Still the biggest surprise of all was that, as musicians, improv geniuses Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, turned out to be better at music as a sideline than most of those who do it fulltime. Not only could the trio play rockers like “Big Bottom” and “Sex Farm” live with brio and dexterity, “unplugged” versions of such vintage Tap classics as “Listen to the Flower People” and “Give Me Some Money” were among the highlights of their early live shows. Of course, the shows were funny, but the big surprise was how well played the music actually was, wowing both metalheads and metal-haters (that would be me) alike.

It didn’t end there. With Christopher Guest emerging as the most reliable comedy-mockumentary director of his time with such irony fests as “Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show,” Guest, McKean, and Shearer became the Limelighters/Kingston Trio-like Folksmen. The group figured prominently in Guest’s affectionate 2003 poke at the folk music scene, “A Mighty Wind,” leading to the inevitable gigs where the geeky but oddly talented folk music threesome would open for the bombastic boy-men of Spinal Tap.

Six years later, however, Guest, McKean and Shearer would, in preparation for an upcoming Spinal Tap reunion, take the ultimate step of acoustically performing a collection of Tap and Folksmen classics as well as new material not as any of their off-kilter comedy personas, but as themselves for this spring’s 30-city “Unwigged and Unplugged” tour, which is now officially underway.

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External Movies, Humor, Interviews, Movie Comedies, Movies

A Chat with Chris O’Dowd (“The IT Crowd”)

April 16, 2009 /

You lot over the UK may have been well familiar with “The IT Crowd” for quite some time now, but here the States, we’ve only just recently gotten the opportunity to be introduced to it. First, we had the Independent Film Channel (IFC) to thank, and now MPI Home Video has released Season 1 of the series onto DVD. Actually, there had been talk that the set would be released quite some time ago, but, then, that was back when NBC was still threatening to give us an Americanized version of the show. After those plans were canceled, so was the release of the set…’til now. We had a chance to chat with Chris O’Dowd, who plays Roy on “The IT Crowd,” about his experiences on the show, and we took the opportunity to quiz him a bit about a couple of upcoming film roles, including the re-telling of “Gulliver’s Travels,” starring Jack Black and Jason Segel.

Stay tuned for…

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Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Interviews, Movie Comedies, Movies, Sci-Fi Movies, TV, TV Comedies

Blu Tuesday: The Spirit, Pride & Prejudice and Mean Girls

April 14, 2009 /

Not every week can offer the kind of choice titles that we’ve been seeing lately, but while today’s sole major release is a bit of a dud, there are still plenty of decent catalog titles to check out as well. Okay, so maybe it’s not the best week for my Blu-ray collection, but that doesn’t mean everyone else will feel the same way.

“The Spirit” (Lionsgate)

Frank Miller’s “The Spirit” might just go down as one of the biggest disappointments of 2008. When the project was first announced, fanboys were ecstatic at the possibility of another comic book movie in the same vein as “Sin City” (especially when they had already waited so damn long for a sequel), but as soon as the first clips of the movie hit the net, any excitement was quickly deflated. If memory serves correct, there wasn’t a soul on the planet that was begging for a live-action Spy vs. Spy movie, but that’s exactly what Miller has delivered with “The Spirit.” The performances are terrible, the dialogue is even worse, and though Scarlett Johansson looks hotter than ever, there’s not a single redeeming element to be found. The few fans the movie does have will be pleased to discover that the Blu-ray release includes a nice selection of extras (including a director commentary, a making-of featurette, and an interview with Miller) but that’s about the only positive thing I could possibly say.

“Pride and Prejudice” (A&E)

If there’s one novel I hate more than any other, it’s Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Then again, I’m a guy, so that’s hardly a surprise, but that doesn’t mean I abhor everything to do with the book. Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation was certainly more enjoyable than expected, while the recently released mash-up novel, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” is an absolute riot. Unfortunately, I just don’t feel the same way about the BBC’s six-part miniseries, which has long been considered the ultimate film version thanks to Colin Firth’s star-making role as every female’s nightmare/dream man, Mr. Darcy. My personal biases aside, “Pride and Prejudice” has long been considered a classic, so it’s nice to see that A&E has taken the time to restore the film in HD using the film’s original 16mm negatives. The end result is nothing short of amazing (in place of what looked like a storm cloud hovering overhead in every scene, there’s actually a burst of color) and should be considered a must-own by any fan.

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External Movie DVDs, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, Reviews

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