Category: Movie DVDs (Page 30 of 100)

Blu Tuesday: Up, Monsters Inc., and Watchmen

November 10, 2009 / Jason Zingale

It’s been awhile since my last proper Blu-ray column (a little longer than I’d like to admit, in fact), but it’s been really busy around here at the Bullz-Eye office, and when it comes to priorities, well, Blu Tuesday ranks pretty low on the list. Still, with the holiday season just around the corner, the studios are beginning to make an early push with plenty of great new Blu-ray titles that simply can’t be ignored any longer.

“Up” (Walt Disney)

Many people will tell you that “Up” is one of the best films of the year, but I’m not one of those people. In fact, though I did like Pixar’s latest film about a cantankerous old widower named Harry Caray – er, I mean, Carl – who goes on an adventure through the jungles of South America, it just barely cracks my Top 5 favorite films from the Disney-owned animation studio. Still, there’s plenty to love about the four-disc Blu-ray release, including three copies of the movie, the “Partly Cloudy” short that ran in front of the film, and an all-new short that details what Dug the dog was up to before meeting Carl and Russell. There are also some cool production featurettes on things like character design and the different endings devised for Muntz, as well as an alternate version of the opening montage, but the best of the bunch is a documentary about the Pixar crew’s trip to Venezuela and how it inspired the look and feel of the film.

“Monsters, Inc.” (Walt Disney)

“Monsters, Inc.” was probably the best film that Pixar had put out at the time, and though it might not seem quite as good when compared to more recent films like “Ratatouille” and “WALL*E,” it’s just as charming as you remember it. Even though its story is pretty straightforward (based on the original treatment included on the Blu-ray, it’s amazing they were even able to stretch it into a full-length feature), the movie shows hints of the raw emotion that director Pete Docter would later inject into his sophomore effort, “Up.” Because the original DVD release was already jam-packed with bonus material, however, the new Blu-ray edition is more about owning the film in high definition than the extras that come with it. As you can probably imagine, “Monsters, Inc.” looks incredible in 1080p, and even with the changes in technology, you could still hold it up to any Pixar film released in the last three years. The few new special features that have been included also serve as a nice complement – particularly a filmmakers’ roundtable that looks back at the making of the film and a sneak peek at the “Monsters, Inc.” attraction at Tokyo Disneyland.

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Natural Born Killers: Unrated Director’s Cut

November 7, 2009 / Jason Zingale

I have to admit I was a little surprised when Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” was released on Blu-ray before some of his other films, but for Warner Bros. to release another version one year later is just plain unnecessary, not to mention a pretty shitty way to treat your fans. You’d think that if Warner Bros. was going to release an unrated director’s cut, they would have done so the first time around. Instead, those that purchased the R-rated Digibook version last year are going to have an awfully tough decision to make.

Personally, I’ve always found “Natural Born Killers” to be extremely overrated. It’s not that Stone’s satirical message about the media is beyond my understanding, but rather that I think he goes about it in the wrong manner. There’s just nothing to like about the movie (except maybe Robert Downey Jr.’s performance as Australian journalist Wayne Gale), and it really makes me wonder how much better it could have been if the film’s original scripter, Quentin Tarantino, had made it his way instead.

That doesn’t change the fact that “Natural Born Killers” has its share of admirers, but even if you are a fan of the film, it’s difficult to recommend this latest release. Though some people will be insistent about owning Stone’s original vision, the added violence doesn’t really add anything new to the experience. Additionally, with the exception of a new introduction by the director, the only other new extra is a 22-minute documentary on how the media would react to Mickey and Mallory’s killing spree today. Some predict they would be using social media sites like YouTube and Twitter, but I find that hard to believe. After all, wouldn’t it be pretty easy to track them down if they were posting videos and images for everyone to see?

All of the other extras from the previously released Blu-ray also appear, including an audio commentary by Stone, a retrospective documentary about the making of the film, and a handful of deleted scenes that don’t amount to much. The scene featuring Denis Leary going off on one of his trademark rants is definitely worth checking out, but unfortunately, it really has no place in the film. Then again, neither does a lot of the stuff that’s in “Natural Born Killers,” but for those that want to pretend it’s some kind of masterpiece, you’d still be better off sticking with the original Blu-ray.

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Friday night news dump (updated)

November 7, 2009 / Bob Westal

Time for our usual week-ending grab bag of left over and end-of-week movie stories…

* Two executive deaths today. First was 76 year-old nearly lifelong Paramount executive Gino Campagnola. That was followed by Nick Counter of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. As Nikki Finke recounts, he was the guy whose job it was to negotiate with unions in the recent negotiations and strikes with the guilds. Not surprisingly, there are some hard feelings, as evidenced by some of her commenters who really crossed the line in terms of simply being mean about the man’s death.

As a liberal, I’m always going to tend to side with unions, but the man is dead and making the best deal for the bosses was kind of his job. You don’t have to like him, but calling him a “scum bag” or talking about karma on the day of his death is not cool. I wonder if Finke, who is known for zealously controlling her comments and once removed an entirely innocuous, on topic, comment about “Mad Men” by me after an unrelated exchange with me here, will leave those comments up. She has also posted official reactions from SAG which are, of course, much nicer.

* As “This Is It” passed the $100 million mark domestically and is at $144 million worldwide, the Jacksons as a whole make a mark at AFM (American Film Market) with some intriguing sounding seventies footage. [Update: I obviously got confused a bit by the headlines on this piece. As of Sunday 11/8/09, the music doc is estimated to have made “only” $57, 855 in the U.S. market.]

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Blu Tuesday: North by Northwest: 50th Anniversary Edition

November 4, 2009 / Jason Zingale

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen “North by Northwest,” so when it was announced that Warner Bros. would be releasing it on Blu-ray in conjunction with the film’s 50th anniversary, I couldn’t wait to check it out again. As expected, it’s like watching the film for the first time, because the movie looks brand new thanks to the brilliant restoration it’s undergone. Warner Bros. has really been on top of their game in regards to re-releasing classic movies in high definition, and though last month’s “The Wizard of Oz” was undoubtedly a much bigger deal than Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 genre mash-up, it’s still hard to deny the effect the film had on the industry.

Even those that haven’t seen the movie seem to know something about it – whether it’s the infamous crop-dusting plane chase sequence or the big finale on top of Mount Rushmore – and it’s been spoofed enough times throughout the years to know that it obviously had a big effect on several filmmakers. If there’s one complaint to be made about the new release, however, it’s that while the picture itself looks pretty darn flawless, the use of rear projection effects (of which there are many) are even more noticeable than they were before. Hitchcock may not have put too much stock in making his movies look realistic, but when your film looks like it was made yesterday but the effects are still dated, it’s a little disruptive.

Additionally, there isn’t quite as much going on in terms of bonus material. Owners of the previously released 2004 DVD will recognize the commentary by writer Ernest Lehman, as well as the Cary Grant biography, “A Class Apart,” and the Eva Marie Saint-hosted making-of special, “Destination Hitchcock.” Still, the latter two featurettes are definitely worth watching if you’re an avid fan of Grant or the film, and Warner Bros. has also included two new featurettes that are just as good. “The Master’s Touch” focuses on Hitchcock’s famous filmmaking techniques, while “North by Northwest: One for the Ages,” features an in-depth analysis of the film by directors like Curtis Hanson, William Friedkin and Guillermo del Toro that will almost certainly give you a new appreciation of what many believe to be Hitchcock’s best film. It’s no surprise that “North by Northwest” was the first to be given the Blu-ray treatment, but it really makes me wonder, how long are we going to have to wait before the others are released as well?

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A Chat with Dolph Lundgren (“Command Performance,” “The Expendables”)

November 2, 2009 / Will Harris

When we last chatted with Dolph Lundgren, the topic at hand was “Missionary Man,” a film where he served up a triple threat writer, director, and leading man. One can only presume that he didn’t find the experience too overwhelming, since he’s performing the same duties on his latest picture, “Command Performance.” This time, though, he’s playing a rock and roll drummer from L.A. named Joe…just Joe…who’s sitting behind the kit for a Moscow-based band that’s opening for an American pop star named Venus. You may not be surprised to learn that things go horrible wrong, leading Joe – who’s surprisingly good with firearms for a percussionist – to save the day. Last time around, we quizzed Dolph left and right about his body of work, so this time we decided to stick mostly to current topics like his new flick, his upcoming reunion with Sylvester Stallone in “The Expendables,” and…wow, another “Universal Soldier” movie? Really?

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