As a film critic based in Ohio, it’s not very often that I get to see movies earlier than the week of release, but when I do, I’m usually not allowed to say anything about it. Case in point: Paramount Pictures’ “I Love You, Man.” Though I’m pretty sure there’s no review embargo preventing me from talking about the film, I’m going to play it safe and just say that I really liked it. This is one of the best buddy comedies I’ve seen in awhile (think “Swingers,” only a little rauncher), and though my review won’t officially go live until the night before release, Paramount has provided me with an exclusive clip to share with our readers. Check it out below and don’t forget to see “I Love You, Man” when it hits theaters on March 20th.
Category: Movies (Page 356 of 498)
Welcome to the latest column on Premium Hollywood, Blu Tuesday, where I’ll be covering some of the best and biggest high-def titles of the week. For those hoping this was a post about a New Order/Rolling Stones tribute band, I apologize, but you’ll have to keep holding your breath for that one, whoever you may be.
You see, when Blu-ray first hit the market, there weren’t very many titles to talk about other than the new releases that were already coming out on DVD. Now that the format is more popular with studios, however, my office has become overrun with high-def titles, and well, I just don’t have the time to cover every one in as much detail as I’d like. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be covered at all, however, and so I’ve created this column to help cleanse my conscience (and some office space) and keep you all in the know on some Blu-rays you might be looking forward to, as well as a few others you should add to your shopping list.
One of my least favorite Disney classics after “Dumbo” and “Bambi,” “Pinocchio” is still a no-brainer when it comes to diehard collectors and fans of animated films. It’s been years since Disney last released this from their ominous vault and so they’ve not only put out a new DVD edition to celebrate the occassion, but a high-def version as well. As expected, the new digital restoration is incredible. The colors pop off the screen like they were freshly painted, and were it not for the fact that hand-drawn animation is virtually extinct, you’d swear this was made yesterday. The best part about the three-disc set, though, isn’t the new transfer or the fact that you get three different versions of the movie (Blu-ray, DVD and a digital copy), but the hours of bonus material that have been lovingly crammed onto the disc. You get all the usual stuff that you’d expect from a typical new release (audio commentary, making-of, deleted scenes), but somehow they just feel more special on a movie this old.
Right about this time last year, Bullz-Eye pulled together a feature entitled “Animated and Forgotten,” where we shined the spotlight on some of our favorite animated films that hadn’t gotten nearly as much love as we thought they deserved. The piece opened with a look at Max and Dave Fleischer’s 1939 take on Jonathan Swift’s “Gullliver’s Travels,” about which our man Bob Westal wrote…
After Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” became the top grossing picture of 1938, Paramount Pictures turned to Disney’s best known competitor, Max Fleischer (animator of the hugely popular Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons) for an animated feature of its own. That was the good news for Fleischer. The bad news was the studio wanted it in less than a year, and “Snow White” had taken three years to complete. Turning to Irish satirist Jonathan Swift’s fantasy classic — which, strangely enough, had already been transformed into a pro-Communist parable by stop-motion animators in the Soviet Union — Max and brother Dave Fleischer discarded their original concept of using Popeye as their Gulliver. Instead, they went with a conventionally heroic characterization, relying on timesaving rotoscopes of actor Sam Parker. (If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, rotoscoping was an animation process invented by Max Fleischer that involved tracing over filmed images.) The rushed production was marked by innumerable problems, including a bitter feud between west coast and east coast animators. While no gunplay resulted from the cartoony clash, it didn’t help the final result. When the film was released at Christmas, critics were unimpressed, but the Fleischer shop’s visual invention and broad comedy was enough to make the film a hit; animated features were still very much a novelty and Paramount’s gamble actually paid off. A follow-up film, the fanciful musical bug fable, “Hoppity Goes to Town” might have done as well. But it was released on Dec. 9, 1941 — two days after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Ouch.
Fortunately for you, however, E1 Entertainment has released “Gulliver’s Travels” on DVD and Blu-ray…and unlike the cheap-ass versions that are regularly popping up in Only-A-Dollar stores, this time it’s been digitally restored and re-mastered. Investigate it a bit more with the widget below:
Robert Benton has seen more than one cinematic revolution in his time. He and his late screenwriting partner, David Newman, were major players in two films that forever changed movies: 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” which brought European New Wave aesthetics into mainstream American cinema and permanently altered the portrayal of violence in American pop-culture, and 1978’s “Superman,” which created the big-budget superhero flick and convinced the world Christopher Reeve could fly. But as the writer and director of a little movie without violence, groundbreaking special effects, or even a whole lot of controversy, Robert Benton actually helped change real life with 1979’s “Kramer vs. Kramer,” about a careerist father (Dustin Hoffman) raising his son alone after being left suddenly by his wife.
Drawn from a novel by Avery Corman, the film was an immediate critical and box-office success, ultimately making over $100 million. It proved to be a star-making role for the twenty-something Meryl Streep, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Hoffman’s ex-wife, who endures a change of heart and sparks a painful custody battle. Moreover, it racked up a historic Oscar nomination for seven-year-old Justin Henry in the crucial role of Billy Kramer, and garnered both a Best Picture award and a Best Directing Oscar for Benton against an exceptionally strong group of nominated films that included “All That Jazz” and “Apocalypse Now.” Still, lots of movies have received acclaim, Oscars, and a tidy profit. “Kramer vs. Kramer” is a different story.
Fans of the “L-Word” at AfterEllen.com are not happy with the stupid ending in the series finale. The writers left everything unresolved. I guess they’re hoping for a “Sex in the City”-style movie.
Mickey Rourke might be back with “Iron Man 2.” he still seems crazy, so it’s a risk casting him in a huge film like that, but I hope he gets more chances. [Filmdrunk]
FilmBender revisits the “Ice Storm” key party.
Nick Nolte has been cast as the lead in a new MMA centered film, “Warrior.” Nolte will play “an ex-Vietnam vet boxer-turned-steel mill worker whose family was torn apart by his alcoholism.” Maybe we can get Nick Nolte and Mickey Rourke on screen together. Throw in Gary Busey and you’ll have one scary crew. [ScreenCrave]
FOLLOW US!
CATEGORIES
© 2026 Premium Hollywood
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑