Archives for Blu-Ray
Directed by: James Tucker
Starring: Matt Bomer, Stana Katic, John Noble, Molly C. Quinn
DC/Warner Brothers has a group of collaborators to craft these direct to DVD/blu-ray/VOD films that previously crafted some of the best animated super hero television shows of all time. As great as Marvel’s films are their animated movies have been failures. DC on the other hand has released a string of great animated feature films based on their classic super hero characters. Superman Unbound is the latest release featuring this familiar craftsman.
The Movie
Superman has a shortlist of classic villains including Doomsday, Lex Luthor, and Brainiac. These three baddies in particular are the only ones that have found ways to take out the Man of Steel in spite of him being nearly unbeatable. So, it’s inevitable that DC would eventually bring us a Brainiac film considering there has already been a Doomsday film and Luthor has permeated Superman’s animated life from the beginning. Brainiac is similar to a Borg from Star Trek; he’s mostly made of machine but there’s just enough bio matter to piece him together. He travels the universe taking the knowledge bio life forms and then destroying them in an attempt to better the universe. Along the way he takes samples of the most interesting life forms and stores them in bottles. Most notably, and a classic story in the DC comics, he took a single city from Superman’s home world of Krypton Via a probe Brainiac discovers the existence of Earth and of course the existence of Superman, so the battle begins.
On top of Superman vs. Brainiac there are a few subplots happening; Supergirl’s struggle to find her place on a world where she only has one other of her species and Lois and Clark finding their way in their relationship. Brainiac should be a truly scary character and for the first time in a Superman animated film the villain is horrifying. He’s cold, uncaring, and unstoppable. As powerful as Supergirl is she is frozen in fear at just the thought of Brainiac because she was on Krypton when he came, when she and no one else on her planet had any power to stop him. The film is edgy featuring a good bit of murder and bloodletting and that sense of fear is buffered by a much more adult atmosphere featuring strong language and even some hand gestures not common in animated films.
Superman faces off against Brainiac with no previous knowledge of the villain and of course he underestimates Brainiac leading to even bigger and more dangerous battles. The sad thing about the film is the story does such a good job of building the atmosphere of feat that the failings of the artwork are painfully apparent. It’s not that the art is completely horrible but it just doesn’t always match the adult vibe of the story. Brainiac definitely has a much better design in this film than the character originally had in comics when he was first introduced but in later years he actually comes off scarier than he does in this film. Overall though this film is a solid success, the directing, acting, and story execution is outstanding. This is an adult story and the characters are complex and multilayered, Supergirl in particular. The action does devolve at a few points to Superman’s basic punch punch heat vision and punch again but the final act action works well. DC comics are much more sci-fi than Marvel’s more grounded stories and that trend continues here with some on the nose science fiction themes wrapping up the story. While this thematic choice does soften the horror elements of the film it does fit with the overall DC universe. The biggest failing of this film is the name. Superman Unbound is just a dumb name and it doesn’t really have any impact on the story.
8/10
The Video
The film is presented in widescreen in 1080p HD and colors and lines look great with no major aliasing issues, something that often plagues animated films. The artwork is just bizarre though. DC’s animated films have always gone for a retro sort of 50’s art deco approach and while that does continue here it’s augmented with some bad choices. Some scenes with Clark Kent in particular feature him having and enormous body and a tiny little pin head, it just looks dumb. There are also a couple of human characters that are just Daily Planet employees that are built identical to Superman. That just doesn’t make any sense. When in full on Superman mode the character looks a little like an old character from videogames called Vector Man. The important thing to know about the character is that he’s just sort of a stack of balls that make up his shape, Superman is the same.
7/10
The Audio
The Surround sound audio is fairly basic in design. The overall dynamics of the audio are almost flat lined, no explosive bass or ringing score here. On the upside dialogue is crisp and clean and special FX are distortion free and they sound exactly as they are meant to sound, not a spectacular presentation but it gets the job done.
1/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The Blu-ray is presented in a standard amaray case along with a digital copy and DVD of the film. The holographic slipcover featuring some action from the movie is quite eye catching and it feels much more special than the case itself actually is. There are a few good supplements on the blu-ray that actually enhance the movie watching experience. The best featurette is one that covers who Brainiac is and what impact he has had on the DC universe. The featurette has interviews with some of DC’s pros as well as those involved in the film. It’s a simple talking head affair but it features some great archival images from the comics. Speaking of archive there’s another featurette called “From the DC Archives” which sort of follows Brainiac’s timeline. On top of all that there’s actually an audio commentary that also features some great behind the scenes information. What we have here isn’t very deep but it’s so much better than we’d expect from a direct to home video animated film.
8/10
Superman Unbound is another solid entry in DC Entertainment’s stable of well executed super hero animated films. If you’re a fan then this one is a must see. It’s not as good as Superman/Batman Public Enemies but it’s better than Superman/Doomsday. Also thank you DC for avoiding the celebrity name dropping and just bringing back the voice actors that originally made these characters great.
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
The Review
The Movie 8/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
Directed By: David M. Evans
Starring: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Denis Leary, Karen Allen, James Earl Jones
“They’re more than a team. They’re the best buddies in the entire history of the world.” Great tagline.
The Movie
It’s the summer of 1962 and Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) has just moved to a new town with his mother (Karen Allen) and step-father Bill (Denis Leary) He hasn’t made any new friends but after Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) stops by his house and asks if he would like to play baseball he is introduced to a new group of friends. Even though Smalls doesn’t know much about baseball but he goes to the sandlot every day to play ball and Benny takes him under his wing, teaching him the game. As the summer progresses the group of young friends find many adventures but none as perilous as facing Mr. Mertle’s (James Earl Jones) dog The Beast to retrieve Bill’s baseball that is signed by Babe Ruth.
The Sandlot can be compared to other movies such as Little Giants or The Mighty Ducks simply because it is a kid’s sports movie. And this is a movie that features sports but isn’t a “sports movie.” I think the best comparison may be Stand By Me. And there are many similarities. Both have voice over storytelling from an older version of one of the characters, a quest to find a missing object and a confrontation with a epically vicious dog. But where Stand By Me highlights the agony and uncertainty of growing up The Sandlot plays with comedic cues to pull at the heartstrings and tell a story about childhood and the friends that you’ll never forget.
I love this movie. I have since the first time I saw it back in 1993. It reminds me of a time in my life when there was nothing more important in life than playing with your friends and having fun. Baseball is used as a placeholder for whatever it is that you love and the friendships that spring from finding like minded people that share your passion. I know I did spend many summer days playing baseball with my friends and The Sandlot is a pretty good representation of that time in life before mortgages, bills and deadlines.
9/10
The Video
1080p, aspect ratio: 2.35:1. This transfer is really spectacular, especially the night game under the fireworks. God I love blu-ray!!
9/10
The Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Very crisp and clear dialogue clips as well as ancillary and ambient sound.
9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
I’m a little disappointed with the bonus features on this disc. All that is available is a featurette about the making of and a theatrical trailer. Maybe I’ve come to expect too much from blu-ray releases but you’d think that being a 20th Anniversary Edition would merit more.
The packaging itself is a typical release with a blue clamshell and an embossed slip cover but what was unexpected is a set of trading cards featuring each of the kids. That was a nice touch.
5/10
As I’ve said before I really love this movie. It speaks to the little leaguer inside me and the friendships that bond through sports.
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10
The Review
The Movie 9/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10
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This week we got it all, new Man of Steel trailer, new Star Trek trailer, Star Wars news and more! We also have an extensive list of the most important television shows of all time and Doctor Who, Lost, and 24 are nowhere to be found on it! Scroll on down to download or stream the episode or better yet stream it from the Stitcher Radio app on your mobile device or from the widget on the left of this page. To see the trailers that we are talking about then just look down!
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Directed By: Ron Howard
Starring: Val Kilmer, Warwick Davis, Joanne Whalley
Did you ever wonder how good a live action version of The Hobbit would look if it were produced by George Lucas and directed by Ron Howard? Well look no further.
The Movie
Willow (Warwick Davis) is an unlikely hero who must rescue an infant destined to overthrow the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) before she can sacrifice the child. Assisting him in his quest is Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), the opossum turned sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes) and two comical creatures known as Brownies (Rick Overton, Kevin Pollak). Also along for the ride is Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) who is the daughter of Bavmorda and burgeoning love interest for Madmartigan. Much adventure is had.
Willow started as a story idea by George Lucas who brought the project to Ron Howard during his post-production of Coccoon. Bob Dolman wrote the script. I had fond memories of this film but it has been many years since I last watched it. Sadly it doesn’t hold up as well as I had hoped. I have come to expect this from most of the television and movies from my youth but I always hold out hope. But the epic feel of Willow does remain. There is grandeur and Biblical imagery (Moses in the bull rushes anyone?) that is augmented by the practical effects and actual sets instead of CGI and green screens that proliferate today’s films. Peter Jackson could learn a thing or two from this film.
I remember Willow being considered a bit of a flop back in 1988 and its legacy has been one of silence for the last decade. While other lesser films from the era (I have a list that I’m not going to share) have gone into the pop culture pantheon this charming little film has faded into the background. Maybe this blu-ray release will help to raise Willow’s profile a bit and let it take its rightful place among other great movies from the 80’s.
7/10
The Video
Presented in Widescreen 2:39:1 and I must say that I am still amazed at how good a lot of these older movies look on blu-ray.
9/10
The Audio
Presented in DTS-HD Surround Dolby Digital. I really need to invest in a surround sound system for my living room. The standard speakers on my television just do not cut it. But everything did sound crisp and clear.
9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
This release does have a moderate amount of bonus features but the packaging is a bit disappointing. Granted most blu-ray/dvd releases these days simply come in a standard blue clamshell case but the lack of a digital copy is surprising. It can’t be that expensive or difficult to package along with the blu-ray and dvd.
As far as the bonus features nothing really jumps out. Sure we get a making of, a video diary, deleted scenes and some special effects behind the scenes but this is all standard stuff nowadays. Strangely there is not a feature commentary. I was hoping for more from Lucas Film and Disney.
6/10
As I stated before I hadn’t watched Willow in a very long time and it was fun to revisit a this family-friendly fantasy film from the 80’s (say that ten times fast). In so many ways I enjoyed this more than any of Peter Jackson’s takes on Tolkien even if some of the effects were a bit dated. Maybe now that Disney has acquired LucasFilm we’ll see some more tales from this world. Or more preferably a themed ride.
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
That’s right we did one too. Editor Stephen Lackey and contributing writer Nicholas Qualls unbox Marvel’s epic Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 1 briefcase. The box set was delayed for 5 months due to a lawsuit involving the original design of the case. Well now it’s redesigned and finally here! Check out our first look at all the goodies inside!
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This week we have a film ball showdown, Niko says cock, JJ Abrams talks trash about Trek, HBO Goes, and much more!
Want the video? Here ya go! We stream on Stitcher Radio also if that’s your thing. Get it in the app or check the sidebar of this very website!
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Created by: Jonas Pate
Starring: Luke Pasqualino, Lili Bordán, Ty Olsson
The Battlestar Galactica redo for Syfy Channel was one of the most innovative and entertaining science fiction television shows since Firefly and one of the top 3 or 4 of all time. The series finale was fairly divisive and as much as I liked it I admit it was flawed but the overall experience was just outstanding. The series ended and the network was looking at ways to make a buck off the franchise. The shows’ creator Ron Moore had a prequel series in mind and that’s the direction the network decided to go. While Caprica had some interesting elements it was too far from what made the original series great and it just had a lot of trouble finding an anchor for a somewhat convoluted story. The epic failure of Caprica crushed the potential for any other major television endeavors for the foreseeable future.
The Movie
Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome was a story that was originally crafted to be a part of a videogame but Syfy Channel appreciated the story enough to option it for a television project. For a while the rumor was that it would be another spin off, then a TV movie, and finally what it became was a limited run web series. The series was released one brief episode a week until the equivalent of a feature length film was on the web. Now the short webisodes have been cut together into a movie and dropped on blu-ray. The movie will also be airing on Syfy Channel.
The film tells the story of a young Adama just entering the military and ready to join the fight against the “toasters” or Cylons. He gets assigned to a Battlestar and right away is given the covert assignment of delivering a woman into the heart of Cylon controlled space. The story that follows is riddled with some predictable but entertaining twists and turns that set the stage for the man that Adama will become when we meet him again as the admiral of the Galactica in the original, or remake, television series. On the show the Galactica was about to be turned into a museum piece but in the film it’s bright and new and ready for action. Since all of the ship was broken down and auctioned off for charity after BSG ended the filmmakers had to recreate locations on the ship with CGI. In fact this web series went the route of Sanctuary and was completely created on green screen with CGI crafted environments.
The film feels like webisodes cut together unfortunately because at the end of each chapter is a dump to black and then the next begins. It’s easy to see this is where the individual episodes were broken up for the web. The result is a film that doesn’t feel cohesive. It just feels like a bunch of webisodes stuck together. For second tier writing and acting though the execution of the story is good. As I said it’s often predictable, which the original series was not, but it remains entertaining. This is a film for fans of the series and newcomers too. There’s not much development of the story here of why the Cylons and humans are fighting so if you don’t already know what the deal is from watching the original series then you won’t learn it here. This has to be one of the first times I’ve ever recommended watching the film/television series before watching its prequel. If you’re already a fan you’ll find entertainment here.
7/10
The Video
The overall transfer here is good, if good means it comes through looking like the original source material. The film was shot digitally so it lost nothing in the move to blu-ray. Colors are as they were meant to be, black levels are deep, and contrast is consistent. Now none of that means that this film is nice to look at; it just means the transfer of an ugly presentation didn’t get worse with compression. As I mentioned earlier the entirety of this film was crafted with cgi. There are no real sets. This same approach was utilized by the show Sanctuary to great effect. Often Sanctuary came of a little fake looking but it wasn’t distracting or almost painful to look at. The constant lens flare, slightly to terribly out of focus backgrounds, and lack of depth in this presentation are truly painful. I assume the lens flare was used to hide some errors or other issues. At least I hope that’s what it was for. If the true reason for the lens flare use is that “JJ Abrams said it was cool in Star Trek” then I’d be truly pissed off.
Most of the issues I mention are their worst in interior scenes, either in ships or inside buildings. Space battles look pretty good considering the nature of the films’ creation and some scenes in a snowy external climate actually look pretty solid. Overall though, this presentation is just downright ugly.
4/10
The Audio
The DTS HD master track fairs much better than the video. Surround usage is solid throughout the film and dialogue is crisp and clean. The score is well mixed and the LFE is present in explosions. It’s not at all an epic presentation but it works for the film and is actually considerably better than I had expected.
8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The blu-ray is housed in a standard amaray case along with a DVD version of the film and codes for digital copies. The case art is kind of all over the place but the familiar logo is in plain sight for fans to be able to spot it from across a crowded Best Buy.
There are 13 deleted scenes that are mostly just extended versions of scenes already in the film. If you doubt what I said about he entire film being crafted with cgi take a look at these scenes. Most of them are not complete and you can see just how much green screen is present. Some of these scenes are blu-ray exclusives. There’s nothing that will keep you revisiting these scenes, just filler that was rightfully cut.
Blood and Chrome Visual Effects is a featurette running just under 25 minutes that focuses mostly on the visual fx of the film but it does offer just a little background on how the whole concept came to be. There’s not a lot of depth here but it’s worth a watch.
5/10
Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is a by fans for fans situation. If you haven’t watched any of the series or miniseries from Syfy Channel then this is definitely not the place to start. If you’re a fan looking for just a little more from this universe then this is worth a buy.
Overall (Not an average) 6.5/10
The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 4/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10
It’s time to get right to the goods this week with a gallery of early stills from the upcoming Ender’s Game film adaptation. Well there’s really only one image of note and that’s a shot from the set of the film. For those of us who love the book it’s still exciting to see the team patches brought to life, which makes up the remainder of the images. We are also featuring the first early image that was released from the film too.
Ender’s Game stars Asa Butterfield from Hugo as our hero along with Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, and Ben Kingsley and it’s based on the book series by Orson Scott Card. The film is being directed by Gavin Hood who previously brought us X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film is currently in post production and set to be released later this year.
We aren’t done though! One of last year’s best films and arguably last year’s best animated film Wreck-It-Ralph is hitting DVD and Blu-Ray shortly and to celebrate we’ve got some behind the scenes clips! The movie follows a videogame bad guy desperate to become more than just a pixelated villain. He wants to be a hero and more importantly he wants some friends. The film follows his adventure as he seeks his goal. Check out these clips!
Bonus Clip: Sugar Rush – The animators share the original inspiration for Sugar Rush- the architecture of Antoni Gaudi and how concept models of the game’s landscape were made out of actual candy and cookies!
Bonus Clip: Creating the 8 Bit World – The animators discuss creating the different worlds within Wreck-It Ralph and what it was like asking some of the best animators in the business to ignore years of training to go back to linear worlds and pixelated characters.
Bonus! Check out this trailer for an upcoming Batman documentary!
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Directed by: Sam Mendes
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judy Dench, Javier Bardem
If you’re a regular reader of this site or even more so a listener of our weekly podcast/webcast there’s no mystery as far as what I thought of Skyfall when it was in theaters last year. The film was in my top five picks for 2012. After reviewing it on blu-ray it’s just as good now as it was the first time I saw it.
The Movie
This film, like most other Bond films starts in the middle of a story. Bond is chasing a bad guy who really knows how to run in an epic way. The chase is huge and it not only leads into the opening credits but it also sets the stage for the rest of the film in big and small ways. The villain in the film feels almost completely faceless in the first act of the film and throughout that portion of the film the lack of depth for the villain was frustrating for me. I learned later that his faceless nature was purposeful though. When Javier Bardem does appear in the film, and his character is properly introduced the scene is not only one of the most memorable in the film it’s one of the most memorable in the franchise as a whole. I believe that Silva will go down in history as one of the most memorable and unique villains of the 007 franchise. Bardem always finds a way to put his stamp on whatever character he plays and he executes that stamp brilliantly in this one scene. From this point on no other actor could have played the role and as a viewer I had to know his plan and what he was going to do next.
Bond has had many personal stories in the past but Skyfall is easily the best executed and most perfectly personal film of the franchise. We learn things in this film that we never knew about the character before and things that we did know are expanded upon which make Bond even more of a person and less of a caricature. The relationship between M and Bond is explored and the true level of connection between the two of them is revealed as well. Yes there’s big action as always but the heart of this movie is in relationships and drama, not campy drama but real grounded drama, at least as much so as you can expect from a Bond film. Happily the moments of levity don’t take away from the reality of the character development by being campy as was common with previous installments. Often the comedy comes at the expense of previous films. One thing that Skyfall does brilliantly is that it celebrates the previous films, even homages them a little, without making the element integral or necessary to the film. In fact if you aren’t at least a moderate Bond fan you might not notice it happening.
The action and the characterizations are all smaller and more personal in this Bond film. No, the villain isn’t out to destroy the world this time around. He’s much more focused than that. Does he want to do a Hell of a lot of damage? Well yes he does, but the point is personal. Things happen in Skyfall that will forever affect the franchise and that’s something that hasn’t happened in the film series in a very long time. Skyfall isn’t perfect. There is about 15 minutes in the middle of this two and a half hour film that drags and feels a bit bloated but overall this film is easily in the top five best of the Bond franchise. The ending two minutes of the film left me really hungry for more! The franchise needed new blood behind the camera and finally the owners of the franchise let someone in that is outside of their box of directors. Sam Mendes, the man behind such films as American Beauty and Road to Perdition brought a new shade to the franchise and it’s a great fresh feel to a series of films that can get a little stuffy. Roger Deakins, the man who shot The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, and The Shawshank Redemption, made Skyfall one of the best, if not the best looking Bond film of all time.
9/10
The Video
This 1080p AVC encoded rendition of Skyfall is drop dead gorgeous. Skyfall is easily one of, if not the most beautiful, films of the Bond franchise and it shows with this stellar blu-ray. When I see a transfer like that yes, at least for now, we do still need physical media because this is the best looking way to see this film outside of a theater. Detail and contrast are two of the most important elements of the look of Skyfall and they come off perfect here. Did you get that? Yup I said perfect! The black levels are deep and inky while retaining the previously mentioned detail as well. The color pallet is subtle but very specific in this film and it also makes the move to home video perfectly. This is the best looking blu-ray release of 2013 so far and I think it’s going to be very tough to beat.
10/10
The Audio
The star here is the DTS HD 5.1 lossless track although there are several other great lossless choices available on the disc. The score for this film is a nice mix of modern decisions and classic themes and it gets loving care in this presentation. Dialogue is sparkly and punchy and action scenes are bass rumbling and offer up whiz bang in an immersive impactful way. Subtle scenes feel true with ambient sounds coming from the entire soundstage while still keeping our attention on the dialogue or other audio that’s important to the scene at hand. Just like the video this is a truly perfect presentation. I will say that I’m surprised that there’s not a 7.1 mix.
10/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The slim standard case features a single blu-ray on one side and a digital disc on the other. The cover art and slip cover feature the same simple Bond imagery that was used to sell the movie theatrically and overall it’s affective without being abrasive.
First things first, there are two audio commentaries on this disc which is such a great thing. It seems like lately filmmakers have been skipping the commentaries. These are essential for both hardvore fans of the film and students of film in general. Director Sam Mendes give us just the sort of commentary both students and Bond fans are looking for. There are a few instances of him describing what’s happening in a scene as it plays out but these instances are few and in a couple of cases they actually lead to discussion of the filmmaking process. He shares information on everything from his choices for how many cameras to shoot with to styles of shooting. There are even a few bits of shooting trivia and anecdotes too. This commentary while laid back enhances the overall experience of watching the film and truly tells us how the final product came to be.
Sometimes there are commentaries though that give the whole idea of the existence of the supplement a bad name and the one here from the producers is just such a “bonus feature”. The comments go from ho-hum marketing speak to nothing at all with them simply watching the film in silence. One of the film’s producers is the daughter of the franchises’ original producers. You’d think she could have at least brought some sense of history to the proceedings. Nope. Skip this commentary.
Shooting Bond is a group of short featurette that can be watched together as one making of documentary. There’s some good stuff in these featurettes but overall each of them feels to short to offer any deep insight into the creation of the film and what the film means to the franchise as a whole. There are some good moments here and there though including a short interview with one of the musicians who has literally performed on every Bond film. Good stuff there. This isn’t a bad documentary by any means it just feels incomplete.
There’s a short bit from the theatrical premiere of the film made up mostly of red carpet interviews which are of course just sound bites. Meh…
Finally there’s a theatrical trailer (Only one?) and a clip of the orchestra performing that was used to promote the soundtrack. Overall the bonus materials here are a bit lacking. The commentary from Sam Mendes is the best of the bunch and almost makes up for a lackluster documentary.
7/10
Skyfall comes home looking and sounding gorgeous and that’s really what’s most important here but the movie is just so good and so epically important to a franchise that was withering on the vine for so many years that it should have come home in a more special way with special edition packaging and bonus features. With that said though this film is just so good, and it looks and sounds so damn good here that it ends up being a reference disc for home video and a reference disc for the highest quality of filmmaking. Buy it,
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10
The Review
The Movie 9/10
The Video 10/10
The Audio 10/10
The Packaing and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams
Editor Note: Portions of this review appeared in our original coverage of the film’s theatrical release
The Master is going to be a challenging film for most people. It’ll either be loved or hated, and either way it’ll be a conversation piece. That’s probably the greatest compliment that can be offered to this film. Rather than be mundane and safe and forgettable like most films from Hollywood it takes chances, it requires viewers to think and to actually have an opinion on what’s happening rather than having the story give you the proper opinion. In a typical Michael Bay film for, example you don’t have to decide who’s good and who’s bad. The scenario is blatantly drawn and the protagonists and antagonists are without mystery. In this film very little is that cut and dry and for that reason alone The Master deserves our attention.
The Movie
The film is set in post war 1950’s and it first settles on Freddy, and ex-Navy man who appears to have no direction and no civility for that matter. He’s dangerous in fact even if it’s unintentional. He finds that he has talent with photography but his short temper and lack of self-control destroy any opportunities he might have at making a life for himself in that endeavor. Prior to Freddy exiting the military therapists tried to help him deal with his mental issues with no success. He may have been made the man he is by the war but the character, the personality, and his way of dealing with his existence probably stems from his childhood. In this simple observation alone it feels like we are trying to psychoanalyze Freddy, and that’s probably what he needs. The funny thing is that Freddy may know deep down that he needs this sort of help too because the one man he finally connects with as a friend and mentor is a man that offers him a mix of pseudo-science and religion as an answer.
Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd a man who appears to be riffing on L. Ron Hubbard with his scientific processing, time travel hypnotic-regression, and simple moralistic view of religion. He’s charismatic and has developed a group of followers that believe in him “religiously”. Freddy doesn’t necessarily fit in, not even close, but Lancaster sees Freddy as a project and in some odd way a companion. Freddy never speaks the words but it appears that he’s hopeful that he can find himself and settle with these people and their religion. Joaquin Phoenix gives the best performance of his career here as Freddy. This is a truly complex character played by Phoenix as a man in pain, a man plagued by loneliness, and a man so distraught and lacking in direction that he truly can’t see the problems he has and why he’s as sad as he is even when it’s laid out right before him. Hoffman brings us a man that at first seems all powerful but through subtle character moments and even facial expressions and body language the fact that there are cracks in his existence is apparent before the story ever chooses to reveal those cracks to us.
The Master is multi-layered and offers the opportunity for many questions. The film isn’t about the connect the dots existence of cultism but the cult or “the cause” or even Scientology is the engine that propels these characters and defines the path for them. This leads to the question of faith. How important is it and what impact does it have on our lives? The movie is also about power, power over one’s self and our path in life and power over others. There are two characters in this film both seeking that power in both regards and by the end of the film you’ll be asking yourself and others around you just how successful the two men were. The Master is the perfect partner piece to Anderson’s previous film There Will Be Blood. Both films found the enormity of the world crushing down on complex and ultimately human characters and the decisions they make to try and survive. This is not a cotton candy movie that will send you out of the theater smiling and confident you know everything. This is a steak of a movie with many seasonings and spices that takes savoring to fully digest. It’s challenging, complex, moving, and expertly executed on virtually every level. Even Laura Dern’s small role is a joy in this film. Amy Adams has truly shown herself as someone with true acting chops in her role as Lancaster’s wife and biggest follower. The only real complaint I have about the film is that it might be a little long. I say might because in reality the plotting and emotional build requires the length. It may seem long to some because the film is so mentally and emotionally trying.
The Master is real filmmaking, it’s not crowd pandering or selling to the lowest common denominator for a quick buck. Everyone involved in the film gave everything they had to render a story with more depth and meaning and impact than any other film made domestically this year. Also this film is like no other film out there, save for There Will Be Blood which is kind of OK since it’s a Paul Thomas Anderson movie too.
9.5/10
The Video
This film was shot on 65 mm film, a format that hasn’t been used for a fiction film since Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet back in 1996. Unless you were lucky enough to be in one of the few locations able to project the format you haven’t seen the film at full resolution and now on home video you still won’t be seeing the film at the level it was actually filmed. It would take an 8K TV and player to get close to the resolution of 65 mm. With that said what you do see is nothing short of stunning. Colors are deep and rich and just over saturated in certain scenes, as they were meant to be. Black levels are super inky while still retaining incredible detail. Paul Thomas Anderson and his team worked extremely hard to get the look they achieved with this film and the blu-ray does a fantastic job of bringing that look home. There are no compression artifacts or edge enhancement blimmishes. This is as near a perfect transfer as I’ve seen.
10/10
The Audio
The thing that stands out in this DTS “Master” track is the score. The noisy quirky “music” is a wordless expression of Freddie’s emotional balance throughout the film. When he’s frantic so is the score and so on. It does a solid job of helping craft the overall atmosphere of the film. The score is immersive and when it’s necessary it blows through the entire soundscape. Other than that everything else here is subtle ambient sounds. The full sound stage could have been used a little more effectively to draw us into Freddie’s world but that’s really a minor quibble. It’s just that while this film sounds great there just wasn’t as much work put into making the audio experience as unique as the visual.
8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The packaging has a neat retro vibe with art that feels of the era in which the film is set. The packaging however doesn’t give the feeling of a special edition but that may help temper your expectations in the “special edition” department.
First thing’s first; where is the director commentary? Seriously there’s no director commentary on film like this one? For bonus features there’s a brief, very brief making of featurette, some outtakes, and a documentary about WWII veterans. This is truly weak in the bonus features department. A film as groundbreaking as this one deserves more attention to the creative process and deeper analysis by film academics and those involved with its creation. A commentary is a must and deep making of features are a close second. We got none of that.
3/10
The Master is one of the best films of 2012 and it’s easily the most unique story of the year. This blu-ray does a standout job at bring the film home it just suffers in the behind the scenes department.
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
The Review
The Movie 9.5/10
The Video 10/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law
Steven Soderbergh has a very definitive style that works for some people and not for others. This movie didn’t do particularly well in theaters but that’s not necessarily a statement on the quality of the movie. It is a statement on how divisive the director’s approach to storytelling can be.
The Movie
This film tells the story of what would happen if an epidemic took hold of the entire planet and rapidly began killing off people. The film follows several characters as they deal with different aspects of the epidemic from Laurence Fishburne at the top of the food chain making global decisions via the CDC to Matt Damon’s character left to by the death of his wife to try and protect his daughter both from the disease and from looters in their crime riddled community. In between there’s Jude Law playing a journalist convinced there’s a government conspiracy and Kate Winslet playing a field rep for the CDC. Soderbergh tends to do very indie looking talkie films and this is one of those. If you cross Full Frontal with Traffic you get close to the style of this film. I’ve always thought the Ocean’s movies were an anomaly in Soderbergh’s filmography (even though the first one is pretty great). So in the first act of this film there’s a lot of talking and exposition from each of the individual storylines that do eventually intersect. Initially the sheer number of characters might seem overwhelming story wise but the stories are so well rendered that it all does make sense and the stories begin to all come together to tell a single larger story.
Contagion is a lengthy film but it’s extremely well-acted and the story becomes more and more taught as it progresses. There’s a truly unique atmosphere throughout this film that’s just not common to this sort of story. In a way it almost feels documentary like which makes the proceedings even more impactful. When people die it truly feels like a loss. Damon, Paltrow, Winslet, and the rest of the cast all get great moments to shine. This film is an ensemble cast without a doubt. They craft a story that’s dramatic, slow but precisely paced, and it washes over you leading up to a shocking ending that literally takes your breath away. Along with the obvious overall story of the disease there’s another story being told in the film. What would humanity become if the entire planet were plunged into tragedy? Contagion doesn’t just ask the question it also answers it.
It’s a shame this film was so heavily overlooked in theaters because it’s easily one of the best of its kind. Yes it’s probably too long but there’s so much story here and so many characters I can easily see the first cut being substantially longer. For Soderbergh fans this film is one of the best in his filmography right behind Traffic, Out of Sight, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
8.5/10
The Video
The 1080p presentation here does a great job of representing the source material. The film was shot digitally and it features a lot different color pallets throughout the film that all look great. Even with yellow tinting skin tones still come off fairly natural in the film. Black levels still look deep and dark and whites don’t bloom too much. The film is compressed to a 25 GB blu-ray which makes the film feature the digital grain that’s common with digitally shot features but said grain actually makes the film feel even more like a documentary. It’s a little more crushed that it should be but overall it comes off pretty good.
7.5/10
The Audio
The DTS HD audio is solid throughout the film with ambient audio in the rear speakers, the techno soundtrack igniting the base, and dialogue clean and clear in the center channel. Now this is a talkie film so there’s not a lot of whiz bang but the audio does feel immersive which should be the end goal of the whole presentation.
8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The packaging is basic stuff and it features that ugly yellow tint that plays heavily in the movie. So yeah it is run of the mill but at least someone was paying attention to the color pallet. As far as bonus features there’s a PSA about spreading viruses, a brief factual discussion on the possibilities of a global epidemic, and another extremely short EPK presentation of the actors talking about their investigations into what a real contagion would be like. Wow these are poor bonus features for such a great film. There’s really not much more to be said than that.
1/10
Contagion is a groundbreaking and frightening film that’s flawlessly directed and acted. It’s a little long but other than that this film is outstanding. It’s too bad the blu-ray presentation feels so bargain basement.
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10
The Review
The Movie 8.5/10
The Video 7.5/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 1/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10
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Directed by: Pete Travis
Starring: Carl Urban, Lena Headey
No Dredd 3D did not make it into my top 10 of 2012 list. Does that mean it’s a bad movie? Not by a long shot. There are those movies that are just plain fun.
The Movie
Dredd 3D tells the story of a post-apocalyptic United States with only one giant city remaining surrounded by massive walls. The name of the city: Mega City. The only thing standing between the crime threatening to overtake the city and the good people are the Judges, cops that have complete control of how criminals are handled. They are literally judge, jury, and if necessary executioner. Judge Dredd has been given the menial task of testing a rookie to determine if she is eligible to become a full-fledged judge. She failed her written tests but Dredd’s bosses want to give her another chance because she is special. I won’t reveal what’s special about her as it was not revealed in the ads either. Suffice it to say that she completely changes Dredd’s job.
He and his new partner take a call to a giant 200 hundred story all inclusive building where two people have been gruesomely murdered. The ads made the set up feel a lot like another film Called The Raid Redemption ( a fantastic film by the way). The truth is that some elements are similar but the movies are thematically completely different. Within this building are drug addicts hooked on a drug called slo-mo. The drug makes the brain see things moving at 1% normal speed. The drugged out scenes are the true sweet spot for the 3-D. At one point a character is relaxing in the tub at the beginning of the film and enjoying the effects of the drug as she splashes in the water. We in turn enjoy it because the look and effect is completely beautiful.
One might expect Urban to do his best Stallone but he’s actually channeling more Dirty Harry in this version of Dredd. There’s really nothing goofy about this film at all unless you happen to find the uniforms somewhat comical. Dredd 3-D is unapologetically brutal and bloody and gratuitous. This is grindhouse scifi in 3-D and we love it. Lena Headey is wonderfully drugged out, violent, and insane; almost unrecognizable compared to her other genre roles in The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Game of Thrones.
Dredd 3D is exhilarating, shocking and shockingly beautiful. The film absolutely pulls no punches and there will be a scene or two that may truly knock you out of your comfy theater seat. There are a few flaws, mostly in the lack of character development. Well, there almost is no character development. Headey’s character gets a rap sheet sort of development but it too is pretty damn shocking in the way it’s shot. Dredd gets a little purposeful mystery added to his character. Was this done in hopes of developing him more in a future film? This flaw is so outweighed by the roller coaster feel of the film and the unabashed story that it just doesn’t matter. This may be one of the most truly unadulterated stories to hit theaters this year and for that reason alone it deserves recognition. The film is low budget, but every dollar is on screen and used with precision. I joked with a friend that there must have been six production company names listed at the beginning of the film. There is one interesting section at the end of the film that’s riddled with digital noise, not film grain, actual digital noise. It looks like camcorder footage shot in too low of light. As a low budget filmmaker myself I loved seeing it but in the end I wonder why it was kept in the film. A director commentary on the eventual blu-ray should be interesting.
8.5/10
The video
The 3D experience of this movie was the best of 2012 without a doubt and overall the home version does as good a job as possible at representing that experience. It’ll never be the same or as good until we can all have theater sized screens in our homes. With that said the general viewing of the movie will feel a bit different than you’d normally expect from a 3D film. The slo-mo shots are stunning and of course are the 3D show pieces but there are some more subtle shots too that offer great depth by using the #D cameras and CGI. This film feels midling in budget so some instances of CGI don’t work but overall the movie looks jsut as it did in the theater which all you can really hope for.
9/10
The Audio
This film features a 7.1 master audio track that sounds fantastic. The film feels alive from begining to end with great ambient sounds and booming base. Action scenes and slo-mo scenes again are the audio show stoppers but its great to see an action film get solid surround treatment even in quieter scenes. Dialogue is clean throughout the film which is saying a lot when you consider Urban’s gravely low line delivery.
9.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The multidisc set comes packaged in a standard blu-ray amaray case with a slipcover featuring typical somewhat uninspired character art that we’ve seen over and over again with these sorts of films. Army of Darkness should have been the last time we saw this kind of artwork.
There are a handful of featurettes that are completely lackluster. They all feel like marketing pieces rather than in depth behind the scenes presentations. This film deserved more attention to the film-making process and what we have here is just a huge let down.
Perhaps the coolest bonus feature is the motion comic which gives background on the drug and villian featured in this film. It’s a fun one time watch.
4/10
The Review
The Movie 8.5/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 9.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 4/10
Overall (Not an average) 8/10
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Charlie Tahan, Martin Short
Artists may be the most determined when it comes to unfinished situations. Tim Burton made a short film back in 1984 called Frankenweenie that starred Shelly Duvall and Daniel Stern about a young boy that brings his dead pet back to life. Disney fired Burton for crafting something way too scary for kids back in 84’ and now in a bit of irony that same studio fronted this stop motion feature length retelling of the original story. Burton has obviously kept this story close to his heart and he finally answered his need to properly tell the tale in this film.
The Movie
The story is pretty simple actually; a young boy named Victor Frankenstein finds a way to bring his dead dog back to life. Things go haywire when he starts helping other neighborhood kids reanimate their own pets. This herein lays the core problem with the film, there just isn’t enough story to make the film interesting. There is a heartwarming story of a boy and his dog at the center of the proceedings that’s successful but much of the plot around that story is poorly paced and honestly a lot flat. The whole thing is particularly uninteresting if you’ve been watching Burton’s films throughout his career because this one seems to be stagnant as far as evolution goes. What we get here is more style over substance, the same thing we’ve been getting with few exceptions since his last great film Big Fish.
That’s not to say that some of what’s on screen isn’t pretty because it most assuredly is. The problem is it’s somewhat predictable. At some points the film almost feels like a stop motion version of Edward Scissorhands. I guess if that were purposeful and I were more taken with the story that the world building would have been cool. On the plus side all of the nods to classic horror films are fun with my favorite being a scene with Victor’s parents watching an old Dracula Hammer film on TV. Martin Short does an admirable job carrying multiple characters throughout the film and crafting some fairly humorous albeit brief moments.
The film could have been good. There is potential there. The oddly cute and creepy scenes are a fun combo, sort of like chilies and chocolate. You don’t think it will work but it does. The problem is that Burton focused so much time on these moments and the overall art direction of the film he forgot to make the story as engaging as it needed to be. Also, I think his decision to do the film in black and white really hurt it as far as getting mainstream audiences to see it. Now, if Frankenweenie were a small “pet” project I’d respect the decision to do it the way you want but this is a big budget film. The black and white of course does play perfectly with his riffs on old school horror but with that said Hammer films of the 60’s features some beautiful hyper vivid color too.
Frankenweenie’s biggest tragedy is that it could have been good and some parts make it worth a rent for Burton fans but it’s just not as good as it should have been.
5/10
The Video
This film gets solid treatment from the mouse house with a spectacular transfer in both 2D and 3D. The stop motion animation is crisp with great contrast even in 3D. Black levels are solid throughout the film and the 3D is a great deal of fun that actually works well in the home theater environment. There are really only a few scenes where Burton plays with the pop out sort of 3D of old instead going for more depth of environment throughout most of the film. I’m going against my normal reaction to 3D and saying that this film would have been perfect for tons of those pop out moments because it would have been great to reference the old school original 3D horror movies that had those same riffs. It worked great lately with My Bloody Valentine and Fright Night.
This is truly a perfect presentation and one of the best theater to home 3D transfers yet.
10/10
The Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio track here is also pretty great with a really clean mix and deep surround. The sub-woofer rocks too with the high energy scenes leaving quitter moments to light ambient sounds. If there’s one complaint it would be that the more atmospheric moments are almost a little too subtle compared to the rest of the film. The score does fill the room too making the excitning scenes have even more punch. Again, the presentation here is near perfect.
9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The combo pack features a 3D blu-ray, a 2D blu-ray, a DVD, and a digital copy. You may be thrown when you first open the package because you’ll only see two discs. The reason is that the two spindles are slightly tall er on each side of the slim case so that two discs can be stacked on each side. As long as they don’t damage each other in the long run this may be a smarer packaging option than the often breakable hinged option that’s commonplace. The artwork is taken from the poster and doesn’t really feel as special as it probably should.
There are several featurettes here including footage from a tour executed that featured the props and puppets from the film, there’s a music video, a 3D short film made by Victor and his dog, a short making of the film documentary, and of course the original live action short film. Honestly the extras feel pretty light here. A feature length documentary might have been more interesting than the actual film. Also, where is the director commentary?
6/10
Frankenweenie may resonate with some that love the burton eye for art but the overall film just feels incomplete. The 3D offers some fun at home as it probably did in the theater too and some of the voice acting is pretty great. It’s far from burton’s best work but hardcore fans may find enough to love.
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10
The Review
The Movie 5/10
The Video 10/10
The Audio 9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10
It’s been a while since we’ve done a box art blowout here for the weekly tease. Well it just so happens we have a ton of new releases coming our way and we now have the box art to tease us! We’ve got releases from Disney and Lucasfilm, which I suppose are now one and the same huh? At any rate these are all first time on blu-ray releases so there should be some fun stuff to add to your collection below!
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![Band Of Brothers [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Wb5TwvL1L._SL75_.jpg "Band Of Brothers [Blu-ray]")
Directed by John Hillcoat
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pierce, Gary Oldman
Gangsters and bootleggers are all the rage in Hollywood right now. But even a cool subject matter can’t make some people better actors.
The Movie
Lawless is the story of the Bondurant family and their moonshining operation. Jack (Shia LaBeouf), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Forrest (Tom Hardy) live in Franklin County, Virginia and business is good. But once special deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pierce) comes to town and tries to horn in on the Bondurant’s business things quickly go to hell. All of this culminates in a bloody shootout on a bridge that is a matter of the historical record.
Where to begin with this one? First off, Tom Hardy and Guy Pierce are magnificent in this movie, as is Gary Oldman (who is grossly under used). The problem comes in with Shai LaBeouf. Maybe it is being from the south that I have a tendency to judge other people’s interpretations for our speech patterns more harshly. Or it could be that LaBeouf is just not a very good actor and his hackneyed southern accent is cringe worthy. If he had a lesser role in this movie it might not be so bad but his character of Jack is the focus of this film and the longer he is on screen the more holes appear in his performance; which brings me to the next problem.
This movie is based on the novel The Wettest County in the World which is written from historical fact but for this movie the story follows the wrong brother. Forrest is the most compelling and interesting character on screen at any given time and Tom Hardy delivers yet another memorable performance. As does Jason Clarke in the role of Howard and he gets the least amount of screen time. If this movie had been written from either of these character’s perspective there might not have been as many wasted scenes or pacing issues. And Lawless has a lot of both. Anything that is lighthearted or slightly whimsical just falls flat. A good editor was needed as this movie is one hundred and sixteen minutes long but I swear I sat here for three hours waiting for it to end.
Also seemly wedged in are a couple of love stories. The outlaw with the heart of gold is a highly over used movie trope and one I would personally like to see die in a hail of gunfire. The best parts of this movie have nothing to do with showing a sensitive side to Forrest. When he is all business everything clicks. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska. At times I felt sorry for both ladies because they were doing the best they could with absolutely nothing given to them. Chastain is especially misused as she deserved more than to just be shoved into the background as “love interest number one.” And as if Shia LaBeouf wasn’t outshined enough, the scenes with him and Mia Wasikowska highlight just how bad he is when paired with a real actor. He really should stick to Michael Bay movies.
5/10
The Video
Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1
The video is pretty good for the most part but there are several scenes that are exceptionally dark and it is hard to see what is happening.
7/10
The Audio
Blu-Ray: 5.1 DTSHD-MA
DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1
I have to say that I was disappointed with the audio. There are several scenes where the audio mix is really low and it is hard to understand what is being said. I expect more from a blu-ray presentation.
5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
This is a blu-ray+dvd+digital copy combo pack in a standard clamshell case. But the special features are plentiful if not unwarranted at times. Of course there is an audio commentary and deleted scenes as is usual with the vast majority of releases these days as well as behind the scenes featurettes. The True Story of the Wettest County in the World, Franklin County, VA: Then and Now and The Story of the Bondurant Family could have easily been combined into one feature and the Willie Nelson music video for “Midnight Run” could have been left off completely. For having so much these special features deliver very little.
5/10
I was hoping for more from this movie but despite great actors giving great performances the bad pacing and miscast lead drag Lawless down into a bottomless quagmire of mediocrity.
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10
The Review
The Movie 5/10
The Video 5/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10
![The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story by Bondurant, Matt Reprint Edition [Paperback(2009)]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51W%2BkI%2Bx0NL._SL75_.jpg "The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story by Bondurant, Matt Reprint Edition [Paperback(2009)]")
