ST:TNG Gets HD Makeover

Topless Robot reports that ST:TNG is getting a high definition remastering for its next release. Later this year ST:TNG will be available in outrageous color and HD. Before all you Trekkers'start foaming at the mouth with the prospect of waiting months for the release, CBS Home Entertainment plans on whetting you appetites, on Jan. 31 they plan releasing three episodes — "Encounter at Farpoint," season 3's "Sins of the Father," and season 5's "The Inner Light" — in Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Next Level on Blu-ray.

You got to see the difference, so here is a side by side example of just how stunning the re-edit really is. Check this video out.

click this link for a demo on youtube of the difference!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyzc8d3c7_8

Review: Transformers - Dark of the Moon

Transformers - Dark of the Moon

Directed by Michael Bay

Starring
Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand

Would someone please explain the meaning of self restraint to Michael Bay please! Oh and excuse me for saying this but how much did Leonard settle for to proselytize himself in this farce? The needs of the many my ass!

Ok, you know the game already....Transformers Autobots Decepticons....Autobots saving the Earth, Deceticons want to destroy Autobots oh and what the hell, Earth and all it’s inhabitants for good measure.

The setup? In the 60s an impact is registered on the moon. Apollo is rushed into existence to ostensibly beat the Soviets to the Moon when in fact it was a secret mission to explore the crash site. Armstrong in fact discovers a ship with a metal man in the wreckage.

Forward to present time and an Autobot mission is put in place to recover the ancient Autobot pilot and his precious cargo.

In truth this all is one big trap - way over though and full of holes but basically entails setting up a wormhole to transport the Autobot’s home “planet” to Earth and various other machinations to destroy Earth and enslave Humans.

This movie is plainly one big mess. Bay telegraphs the plot worse than you best friend sitting beside you that has seen the movie before and is constantly elbowing you with “here is comes!” and “Oh this next part is awesome!” The plot is schizophrenic not knowing if its a straight action movie or a comedy and winds up a campy knock off of itself. I am not saying the movie isn’t fun to watch at times (some of the visual effects are stunning) but there are times when I found myself screaming at the screen! Mostly with Nemoy proselytizing his Star Trek lines.....other times you will laugh but for the most part this episode is a clear “show me the money” effort.

The Blu-ray follows suit as well. There is NOTHING extra for the disk fan. Movie period Which proves my point. And for me that means...rent the movie if you are bored but don’t expect greatness or even extras... The movie is a seven in my book. ehhhhhh

Review: Thor the Movie

Thor
Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Based on Thor by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby

Starring
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Natalie Portman as Jane Foster
Tom Hiddleston as Loki
Anthony Hopkins as Odin
Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig
Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis
Idris Elba as Heimdall

Now here is a bit of a mixed bag of a movie. Lots of the same ingredients that drives any movie, that of the family dynamic - Strong patriarchal presence, rebellious son both envious of his Father's influence and driven to prove himself an equal. A younger son driven to power mixed with either envy or hatred of either or both, is bent to play one against the other.

No matter if the tale is ancient or contemporary, the story wends its way to the son either cast out or proving his merit on quest. During this venture he invariably meets someone or the very quest itself forces him to rethink his values. Invariably the treachery is discovered, the older son must choose between duty / family and that of love /comfort - and so on. I am sure you have seen a plethora of this type of film and Thor is an excellent example of this ancient of all moral plays. Of course if this was all the film had to offer, the audience cross section would be very narrow indeed. But if you are Kenneth Branagh, every plot device is punctuated with large colorful fight scenes. Ice Giants, fire breathing robots, S.H.I.E.L.D. commandos.

Thor is nothing if not action packed, but it seems those packages are served up in easily comestible portions. Which is a bit annoying when the film takes off into a sub-plot that looks interesting, it’s all for naught when a few moments later the main plot reasserts itself. So not only is Thor based on a comic book, but is paced very much the same way. All is the pity because the film is richly appointed when it comes to graphics. the action is well choreographed, but if you were hoping to gain some insight into Norse Mythology or as a fan of the Marvel comic line hoping for a fan fix, I think you would be equally disappointed. But if you are not a big Thor fan or the mythology behind the characters, you will find the blu-ray / dvd version of Thor diverting. I think an 8 is fair. Some off just for really not going anywhere, and taking very little chances going that!

As for disk extra? Excellent comment track by the director that really gives you an idea on what Branagh had in mind and I was floored by the inclusion of so many out takes. Some very striking and beautiful scenes and action sequences that if we don’t see a directors cut for this film I would be shocked! 9.5 just because I get the impression that something is missing...but just can not remember what! so that gives us 8.75 which is a bit low, so take that with a grain.

Review: Paul

Paul
Running time 104 minutes
Budget $40 million Box office $97,591,665
directed by Greg Mottola,
written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
starring Pegg and Frost, and the voice of Seth Rogen doing the voice of Paul.

The best way to describe Paul is to call it a sci-fi geek road movie. Pegg and Frost play Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings - two English comic book nerds and best friends who have traveled to America to attend the annual San Diego Comic-Con. They decide on a road trip and rent an rv to see some of the more famous UFO and sci-fi sights.

The misadventures start soon after when they accidentally hit a couple of comic rednecks truck.

The pair feel they are being chased by the redneck pair, but when they come upon a wreck they just witnessed they find a car instead...empty.

While calling for help, Paul appears and the road trip ensues.

During the trip (to someplace that Paul needs to get to so he can be rescued after years) Lorenzo Zoil is played by Jason Bateman who seems to have a separate agenda but for the most part he is part of the organization that need Paul captured. He is also aided by two FBI agents that are ineptness personified. They add to the troupe with Ruth Buggs, played by Kristen Wiig. Ruth is a Christian fundamentalist who’s world view is challenged by the appearance of Paul. Rounding out the group is Tara Walton played masterfully by Blythe Danner. Tara saved his life 1947 when his ship crashed. As an old woman, in present time, Tara has been driven a bit loopy by all the ridicule and treatment she has undergone over he ages and who subsequently, is more than a bit pleased to know that she did not imagine Paul.

At this point it is off to the rescue point with more than a few misdirections.

The film contains numerous references to other science fiction films, especially those of Steven Spielberg, as well as to general science fiction fan-dom. The final fight scene is dealt out by “the Big Guy” who I can’t give away now as it is a surprise that will have you laughing out loud at the “gotcha!”

The use of CGI is of course all over the place, but so well done that you buy right into the effect.
Paul is one of the most lifelike cgi actors that I have ever seen. Why, because for the most part he is your standard Gray. But the eye are alive. The skin has multiple reflectivity points. The skeleton and muscles are very believable. CGI done right!

As for a review.... How often have I said that you can often see how much faith producers of a disk are by how the extras are handled. Most of the time there are a goodly smattering. A good film that everyone is behind will often have many extra, sometimes, no matter how good the film may look, often have none. This tell you quite a bit about the studio, producers etc. So when you look at the extras of Paul that include everything by the kitchen sink included, you really do get the idea that there was plenty of love going around for this movie. A theatrical cut and a no hold barred movie release. bloopers, director voice commentary, featurettes , making of, You name it. The movie is a 9....a 10 in my book, but if you are not into the movies that the references are pulled from it could be aggravating. And extras? If you can’t think what should be included that isn’t already there then it is a 10 so that gets us a 9.5. A bit off for just maybe being to much of a nerd or too geeky, but this is a curious problem, because for me it is one of these movies that is going to set the bar again and in my mind on of the best of its’ type so far. So for me it’s a ten and will be for you too...unless you don’t get what the lizard mask and the fight scene means, or if Paul’s finger wriggling inside a couple of doughnuts does not elicit gales of laughter, then it is somewhat less than great! lol Most will just plain love the film is my guess.

BMU # 282 Online Mr. Bronze by Phil Voyd & Kit St. Germain

Once again we get into the scaring season in Episode 282.

This week’s story is a true horror piece produced for radio by Kit St. Germain as well as a very talented acting troupe performing- Mr. Bronze from a short story written by Phil Voyd. Heather Brown engineers. And the narrator in the story is Mark Oliver. Ben, the “star” of tonight’s outing is a consummate body builder, working all the way from a literal 90 lb weakling to wining the Mr. Bronze trophy. Everything was going right in his world, that was until he found this weird photo album, then things got decidedly worse.

From the Blog I review Rio the Movie. Unfortunately this Plot-line for this film is something you have seen over and over again, especially in animal based animation. How did I rate it? Well animation is good but the plot is soulless and the studio flips you off with no extras. 6…I suspect everyone was in for a payday on this one. Next I found something interesting in Dvice…..a Princeton Grad Student has created a device that is wired with a complex system of electrical sensors to make the plastic sheet fly?!

Is SpaceX up to picking up space missions of resupply and service in effect privatizing many of the low Earth orbit projects… Antipodean issue 160 is out…. and have you see where Mars Curiosity Rover is going to land? Yeah, inside the Gale crater, this bad boy has a central mountain over 3 miles high and the crater itself is 90 miles across, but still…it is quite a feat of programming.

Of course I could not resist starting the program with news of the October sky and a new song from Anealio called I want a Stormtrooper for Halloween….

Review: Source Code

Source Code

Directed by Duncan Jones

Starring

Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter Stevens
Michelle Monaghan as Christina Warren
Vera Farmiga as Colleen Goodwin
Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Rutledge
Cas Anvar as Hazmi
Russell Peters as Max Denoff
Michael Arden as Derek Frost
Scott Bakula as Donald Stevens, Colter's father (Voice cameo)



One moment Army helicopter pilot Colter Stevens is on a mission in Afghanistan and the next he is on a train with a young woman facing him from the seat across from his telling him she took his advice.

After asking several questions to help him figure out what is going on, only to get more confused, Stevens sequesters himself in the rest-room of the car to get his bearings only to find a stranger peering out of the mirror (aka Quantum Leap). His identification says that he is Sean Fentress, a school teacher.

When he exits the rest room, he is confronted by the woman in the facing seat, Christina Warren. As he slowly gains info concerning his new identity, the train explodes and Colter
finds himself now inside a tight, dim capsule with an insistent woman’s voice asking him inane yet unsettling questions.

1. Stevens, it would seem, has been recruited by a mysterious government project called, Beleaguered Castle and Colter himself is in a device called “Source Code” which allows the user to experience the last 8 minutes of someone else’s life. All of this explained to him by Air Force Captain Colleen Goodwin, whom it would seem is Colter’s only connection with the outside world.

From here on out, Stevens relives Fentress’ last eight minutes of life over and over as he tries to identifying who blew up the train even though Goodwin insists that it can not be done, because it is in the past and can not there for be altered.

Source code has a very Quantum Leap feel, or maybe even ground hog day, but being a big budget big screen movie you have very little of the personal human touches that Dean and Scott brought to the project. Source Code, maybe because of it’s eight minute window, is frenetic and often violent, and at times often ill timed preachy and opinionated. The camera angles and movement are often mimicking the movements of the actors head and eyes from their point of view. On a home screen this trick isn’t as noticeable but on the big screen, I bet it was unsettling.

I won’t give away any important ah ha! moments or the ending, but they are not quite what you would imagine.

Now the extras are fairly run of the mill, but at least we have some. For the director track, the director is joined by Jake Gyllenhaal who played Colter Stevens and they do a good job of getting their ideas across. It’s the rest of the extras I have a bit of an issue with. You see the interviews and scientific comments as well as history and classical (and not so classical) volumes are laid out in such a way that you must play the movie with some or all turned on or off. If you are clever enough you can have one or two playing with your first viewing. (I really hate that! I want my first view to be as close to theater as I can get it) and the balance with the second viewing which would say be the director’s comments. This of course would sully one view and have way to much interference on the second. So if you are like me, you have to watch the movie 3 times. First time clean, second time director’s comments and finally the science info, book and movie info and Chicago history. So you can imagine that third viewing becomes a bit tedious (I almost passed on it and I wait for the blu-ray FOR the info!) So I can only give the extras a 7 because they are VERY informative and a great director’s comments, overall it is even more tedious than the Adjustment Bureau .

So score....because it isn’t QUITE the run of the mill ending and the fact that someone had the cajoles not to make a chase me, chase me some more - movie and not pound us over the head with special effects and cgi 8.5. Extras that were difficult to use and read but really informative
7.5 gives the movie blu-ray an overall 16 and a final movie review of 8.

Review: Tangled

Tangled

Starring
Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murph

Runtime 100 minutes

Tangled is a CGI masterpeice from Disney Studios. It is also their 50th animated feature length movie. Tangled is for all intents a loosely based retelling ot the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" by the Brothers Grimm.

The plot really doesn’t take any chances. The king’s wife is ill. It is known that there is a flower in the kingdom that has great curative properties. So the king sends out to his subjects that the flower must be found. The flower however is jealously hoarded by Gothel who uses it to keep herself young for years. However the flower is found and it is used to cure the queen. It comes to pass that the sovereigns are gifted with a baby girl with shockingly golden hair. Gothel not to be robbed of what she feels is hers alone comes to the child’s bedside to steal the hair from the child, knowing that it must have the same properties as the flower because they were both bright and gold as the sun. Upon cutting a lock the hair changes from golden to brown and loses all magical properties. Seeing this Gothel kidnaps the baby Rapunzel and sequesters her in a tall tower where she never leaves. Gothel never allows her to cut her hair and uses it as she used the flower to stay young.

From here the plot progresses to her meeting a young thief who she bribes into escorting her to the city to see the lights that appear only on her birthday. The thief is pretty much standard Disney fair. A bit of mild bad boy with a good heart. And of course he is being chased and of course he is betrayed and of course she is lead to believe that he cares not for her. Which of course does a 180 in the movie as needed. Of course there are no loose ends, everybody get what they secretly want and the evil people are eliminated in the most bloodless way possible. Happy happy happy.

As much as I would love to trash this movie I can’t. Disney shows that it can still compete and do it strikingly well against the other large animation houses. This feature set a new standard and holds some records in CGI. Rapunzel’s hair has 10,000 separate pieces of animation. The movie holds a record for the largest cgi crowd scene at 3000 different cgi actors. The much talked about Chinese lantern scene contains a stunning 45,000 animated floating lanterns! The lighting as well as the texture mapping are a feast for the eyes.

So all in all the movie may not take any chances, it is endearing in its own right. Plus the added benefit of high quality animation only adds to the enjoyment. Over all I would give the movie an 8 losing only to a plain vanilla plot. The extras are pretty much non existent. Mandy Moore, and Zachary Levi, spend a few moments giving you a run down on what makes the movie special, there are some out takes and that is about it so extras are a 5, which pulls the movie down lower that it deserves so I will give it an overall 7. Remember I am rating a dvd/blu-ray which is supposed to be better for graphics and the amount of data they can cram. That being said the movie is good simplistic fare, but don't waste your time on the extras.

Review: Megamind animated feature

Megamind
Directed by Tom McGrath
Starring
Will Ferrell - Megamind
Tina Fey - Roxanne Ritchie
Jonah Hill - Hal
David Cross - Minion
Brad Pitt - Metro Man
and a cameo by Ben Stiller as Bernard

Sooooooo after my disaster with live action at the hands of the atrocious Green Hornet, I decided to fall back on the tried and true.....Animation! well I like it.....lol

Here is a question for you.... What would happen if Clark Kent got tired of being Superman? Who would step up and fill the void?

Megamind is up to a certain point the Superman mythos. But instead of one being from a doomed far away planet we have two. Megamind a hyper intelligent blue alien and Metroman invulnerable do gooder. Oh and of course Megamind has his alien sidekick, a somewhat mutated fish called Minion.

They have battled each other over the years since they both arrived on Earth. Megamind never quite catches a break, where as Metroman is Metrocity’s hero.

All this changes when it seems by some twist of fate, Megamind succeeds in dispatching Metroman and goes on an orgy of excess.

Megamind soon discovers that without his long time foe, life in Metrocity becomes mundane, and hatches a plan to recreate Metroman to have someone to battle. Things are mostly going as planned when bumbling Hal accidentally gains Metroman’s abilities.

Hal instead of becoming the city’s protector discovers that he still doesn’t get the girl of his dreams (Roxanne Ritchie) and instead to be even more evil than Megamind and sets out to destroy him. Megamind finds himself on the opposite side of the good guy bad guy fence. For the first time, he might be the good guy!

I don’t want to give away some of the twists and mild surprises that might make the movie a bit more fun for you.

Overall the animation is great fun. I didn’t see the 3D version as I rented the BR-DVD but I really don’t think I missed much. The dialogue is fast and funny with just the proper amount of camp thrown in with a wink and a nod. The sound track uses the music quite well and often you like me will find your toes tapping. As for the extras, One large lack I noticed is that my copy did not contain the cartoon short that was mentioned, however the commentary track was a lot of fun to listen to. Not as sophisticated as some, but entertaining none the less. There is a missing scene and not much else, but it was a worthy add on for the dvd. The movie I would give an 8 and the extras good but lacking a 6 for an overall of 7 which I feel is a bit low so I would say its an easy 7 and probably an 8. Worth the watch.

Review: Superman Batman Public Enemies blu-ray

Superman / Batman Public Enemies
Direct to video animation
Staring
Clancy Brown as Lex Lutor’s
Kevin Conroy as Superman
Tim Daly as Batman
LeVar Burton as Black Lightning

Lex Luthor has been elected president and begins a campaign against super beings. To that end he issues an ultimatum to the supers to join the government or be branded an outlaw. Batman and Superman refuse as do many of the Justice League.

Public sentiment turns on the Justice League when it appears that the super cannon on their space station fired on a secret lab. Forcing the leaders of the Justice League to turn themselves into the authorities.

At this time an asteroid of Kriptonium is on a collision with Earth. Luthor’s plan to blow it up fails and saving the Earth falls to the superheros again.

It soon becomes apparent that Luthor has an ulterior motive and the survival of the human race may be in the balance.

This film came out before Crisis of two Earths and set the stage for what happens in many cases in Public Enemy. They should be watched in sequence, but Public Enemy stands well enough on it own. The animation and story line hold up well enough for fans of the comic book genre though anyone familiar with basic science and physics is going to groan in many places.

The blu-ray as usual is loaded up with extras from a sit in on a dinner, to extra half hour short Batman episodes.

So if you prefer high end American animation to that of anime and are a DC Universe fan this is tailor made for you. Otherwise the animation is adequate and the plot line is ummm unencumbered. I would give the movie a 6 and a 9 for extras.

Review: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (special edition blu-ray)

Directed by Lauren Montgomery & Sam Liu
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Starring
William Baldwin - Bruce Wayne / Batman
Mark Harmon - Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman
Chris Noth - Lex Luthor
Gina Torres - Superwoman
James Woods - Owlman
Bruce Davison - President Slade Wilson
Josh Keaton - Wally West / The Flash, Aquaman (uncredited)
Vanessa Marshall - Princess Diana / Wonder Woman
Nolan North as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern, Power Ring (uncredited)

Anyone a fan of the Justice League animated series? I can’t say that I am a big fan (as far as the characters are concerned, I was somewhat a fan in the 60s & 70s) but I did want to see what all the smoke and noise was all about on the Cartoon Network. I never did get around to taking a look, so when I saw this movie being promoted on Batman: Under the Red Hood, I put it on my “to watch later” list. Well the picking became slim so I took a chance and watched the blu-ray of Crisis on Two Earths. As with Under the Red Hood, it is a fan movie. Ostensibly a bridge between the Justice League animated television series and a series that was supposed to be called Justice League Unlimited, which I never heard of. According to the Wiki the story line was based somewhat on much earlier Justice League called Crisis on Earth Three and a story from Grant Morrison called Justice League America: Earth 2 but was not directly taken from either.

The premise is a bit convoluted: a heroic Lex Luthor from an alternate universe coming to the Justice League's universe for help against the Crime Syndicate which in fact is an evil or better a negative or reversed version of the Justice League. It seems everyone in the Crime Syndicate is double dealing in some fashion. the Syndicate is supposedly constructing a weapon to counteract the nuclear threat by the parallel Earth’s government. However Batman’s analogue Owlman is in truth building a device to wipe out all reality. The climax is of course Batman on Owlman with the Universe at stake.

The additional features on the blu-ray are quite numerous. The disk includes an animated short called “The Specter” and a couple of two-episode tales from the Justice League television series which featured the Justice Lords. There are some behind the scene extras and some live action sneak peeks.

This is not anime and shouldn’t be held to that comparison. For the most part it’s standard American animation, though the film itself is a bit better rendered than usual, but not so much that it would look much different from the fare already present on the Cartoon network. If you’re not a fan you won’t get much out of the disk. The rendering is marginally better and the plot is little more than comic book grade. But it’s not terrible, maybe just monochromatic.

Movie (plot & rendering) 6 Extra 8 (plenty of them, lots to choose from) for a movie rating of 7.

Review: Green Lantern First Flight (animation)

Green Lantern First Flight

Directed by Lauren Montgomery

Written by Alan Burnett & Michael Allen

Starring Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen

Running time 75 minutes

To bring us (and by us I mean those of us that do not move in the comic book universe. Honestly, not to belittle the format, but I stopped reading them in the late 60s. Not saying good bad or indifferent, books lasted longer and at that time I had a LOT of time on my hands) up to speed - from the Wikipedia: Green Lantern: First Flight is a 2009 direct-to-video animated film adaptation of the DC Comics Green Lantern mythology. Centering on the first mission of Hal Jordan (Christopher Meloni), the first human inducted into the Green Lantern Corps.

There that wasn’t so bad was it? I rented the blu-ray to see what might be going on in the GL universe. I wasn’t sure if I had seen the film before, so I wanted to see how DC treated fans. Come to find out, Cartoon Network showed a large portion if not the complete movie late last year. So that was a bit of a let down. However the blu-ray graphics were much much better that what I got off cable and without commercials, it was a pretty fair trade. The movie plot-line is straight up DC JLA larger than life kind of thing. There is something about American animation that often seems to cater to a less sophisticated audience. That is a bit of an over simplification but you have to admit you take any character from an anime feature and it will almost always be a richer character. It’s not the “style” of the animation either. Each has its own look and feel. Nothing wrong with that. But where Anime seems to point at the young adult audience more often than not, American animation often aims at the pre-pubescent male. I know this isn’t always the case. The larger publishing houses seem to reward formalistic treatment of the subject matter. Where as you look at in house animation produced for Cartoon Network say and even though they are still clearly aiming at the same audience, many seem to relish making the characters more complex, maybe as a nod to older audience members who are often watching with their children.

So that’s my rant. The movie isn’t horrible, but if anything played safe and aimed low at the JLA/GL and the younger portion of that group.

What is nice about the blu-ray however is the extras! Extra JLA episodes, plenty of making of material. movie ideas, writers, directors, producers comments and so forth. There seems to be easily twice as much extra material than movie! That’s a nice extra.

So rating? Well the extras are pretty much and more of what I like if I am looking for additional material so that is a clear 10 the movie...ehhhh 5 or overall 7.5. If you are into GL go for it. But more than likely even though its straight to DVD, it has played on CN. My suggestion would be rent it for the extras.

Review: The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender
Directed, Produced and Screenplay by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Dev Patel, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis

Running time 103 minutes

Based on Avatar: The Last Airbender by Michael Dante DiMartino Bryan Konietzko

The plotline follows that of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender that ran on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. For those that might not have caught the series, Avatar: The Last Airbender drew heavily from elements of traditional Asian culture. The world of the Last Airbender was an Asian-influenced world of Chinese martial arts and elemental manipulation. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Furthermore, people known as Benders have the power and ability to control and manipulate the element of their nation using the physical motions of martial arts. At any given time, there is one person in the world who is can bend all four elements. This person is the Avatar, also the spiritual entity of the planet in human form, constantly reincarnated through-out the ages.

Of course we only find that out as the series / movie time line advances. Because the world clearly isn't anywhere near as idyllic. The world is steeped in violence and battered by a 100 year war brought about by the disappearance of the Avatar those 100 years ago. The main antagonist in the war is the Fire nation bent on total world control.

The Movie like the animated series starts at that 100 year anniversary. Two young people from a tribe at the south pole discover a glacier with a form inside. Breaking into the ice they discover a young boy with a six legged bison. The boy of course is Aang the last airbender and the long lost Avatar.
The rest of the movie revolves around Aang trying to find masters that will finish his training (so far he can only airbend) while trying to avoid the Firenation who want nothing more than to control the Avatar.

The movie comes to an end where the animated first season ended, so if you were hoping that the movie would tie up some loose ends, not happening.

My initial interest was to see how well Shyamalan would take the Nickelodeon animated series into the realm of the live action. My first reaction was that the live characters really didn't match those that had become familiar with the animated series. At every turn it's put a face with name. Shyamalan's choice to use non asian actors was not well received by critics and I can see why now. Otherwise though, the plot timeline follows that of the animated series reasonably well. Special effects from the "benders" are much like what you would expect. Appa the multi-limbed flying bison is a great piece of cga as are some of the other fauna.

The blu-ray offering is a 50 50 mix. The video is excellent quality. So renting just for the movie is certainly an option. The extras are a bit slim but unlike many movies there is some extra entertainment value. Deleted scenes are a treat as are some making of shorts that certainly entertain. There isn't any director comments or anything of that ilk, but I am not sure another 103 minutes of M. Night explaining his thought process would be a great disk extra anyway.

So overall? Well It's no Batman or Superman, but The Last Airbender's progenitor is a whole magnitudes less intense. I think the best thing that the director could have done was to stick as closely to the original material as possible, and this was accomplished.

Overall, movie rates a 7.5 and the extras a 7 so overall 7.25 I think is fair.

Review: Inception on blu-ray

Inception
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
Running time 148 minutes


Christopher Nolan director of such films as The Dark Knight, Batman Begins and so on, brings us his second highest grossing film, Inception (Dark Knight did about a quarter million more) which gives us lucid dreaming on 'roids. The movie also borrows heavily from concepts like dream incubation, plus psychological phenomena like false memories and the introspection illusion. Inception's core idea is that through cued lucid dreaming a person could literally steal a dream or more specifically the information garnered from the dream/dreamer. The kicker is that highly trained operatives or theives, depending on your point of view, can dream themselves into another person's dream thus stearing the dream to have the dreamer disclose information that the "team" has been paid to obtain. This action in the movie is called "extraction" The leader of the team is Dominic Cobb (DiCaprio) who it seems was adept at dream control and as a researcher had studied the process with his x wife. It was this research and the loss of his wife that seems to be Cobb's deamons and pivotal to the final outcome of the film.

If I am being a bit vague, its because many of the movie high points rely heavily on some of these bits of information and they are metered out to us as the movie proceeds. Needless to say there are some major reversals and even more core reveals that are not fully explained until the last few moments in the film so you get the aha! moment at the same time some of the characters do, so I don't want to be too much of a spoiler. I can almost bet that at the end of the movie you will be doing the same thing I was...saying fall damn you FALL!


For as high an action movie as it is, the beginning is dangerously slow. Almost introspective after the first reversal. They could have been planing a bank heist. Right up until the first WTF moment I was thinking...well this is a bit slow...but after that it is non stop on several levels, like combining a Bond film with any end of the world movie with a sprinkling of any war movie, it really is like three movies all at the same time - so the rather long run time picks up speed and gives a wild ride.

I would have to say that as entertaining the movie was, it suffered from some of the same things that turned a lot of people away from Trek. The constant stream of techno babel that sounds wonderfully plausible but you find yourself bogged down at times trying to figure out if what they just said was bs, real or a combo of both....

The movie itself isn't too bad. You know with a Nolan film he is going to entertain so the disk is worth a watching or renting maybe, but I was seriously disappointed in the lack of extras. NOTHING just play and languages so in my mind your getting the blu-ray for the improved picture and not for all the neat stuff - making of, out takes, director voice overs....zippo so I am going to say the disk blows, stream it, the rental is a waste if you like the extras as much as anything else. Movie is a good 8 though.

Review: Batman Under the Red Hood

Batman Under the Red Hood

Directed by Brandon Vietti
Starring
Bruce Greenwood as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Neil Patrick Harris as Dick Grayson / Nightwing
Jensen Ackles as Jason Todd / Red Hood (adult)
John DiMaggio as The Joker
Jason Isaacs as Ra's al Ghul
Wade Williams Roman Sionis / Black Mask

First and foremost a fan movie. Even more so if you are a Batman animation fan. The animation is not "How to train your dragon" level, but it's whole magnitudes above standard animation fare to date. The plot line is well thought out and integrates perfectly into the Batman universe. No surprises, just solid entertainment.

As far as cast goes, they all are competent and up to the task. Bruce Greenwood (who was Christopher Pike in Star Trek) does Batman's voice. He will also reprise the part in the Cartoon Network's Young Justice series. Neil Patrick Harris does Nightwing and Jensen Ackles does Red Hood. Ackles now appears as Dean Winchester on the CW television series Supernatural.

Not sure why they did a blu-ray for this offering. The animation certainly doesn't warrant it. There are absolutely NO extras, so the space is not the issue.

My suggestion here is, if you're a Batman animation or comic fan, then this is for you. People who don't follow the Batman franchise may pick up some pointers, but that's about it. If the Blu-ray cost more to rent or buy, I can't say that I would opt in that direction.

Disk value 0
Movie value 6
Overall it's a 6

Review: How to Train Your Dragon Blu-ray

How to Train Your Dragon

Directed by Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois

Produced by Bonnie Arnold, Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Michael Connolly, Tim Johnson

Story by Cressida Cowell

Narrated by & Starring Jay Baruchel
Also Starring Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson

98 minutes rated pg released March 26, 2010

So why am I talking about, for all intents, a children's fantasy movie on a science fiction program? Well mainly I was fascinated by the early trailers showing the high level of sophisticated animation. And I mean that with all sincerity. Lighting, textures and the flight sequences are a treat for any aficionado. The milieu and the environment are so well done that you have no problem suspending belief in the world you are seeing on screen.

The premise of the film. Hiccup son of the Viking chief Stoick the Vast wants nothing more than to be a dragon killer like his father. However Hiccup is small and slight and no one takes his seriously. During a dragon attack, Hiccup manages to bring down a Night Fury, but no one is witness to the feat. Tracking down the beast to prove that he did indeed manage to down a dragon, Hiccup finds the animal alive and injured. What's more he can not bring himself to kill the dragon. Instead he heals and befriends it. Because of the dragon's injuries it can no longer fly and during an attempt to repair the damage, Hiccup learns by accident that he can fly the dragon and eventually help control the flight. Hiccup names the dragon Toothless. Hiccup is eventually found out by his father who takes Toothless to track down the dragon's lair. But the ending is a complete turnaround. Some is expected as it IS a pg children's movie, but the film creators hold back so fairly crucial information which finally leads Hiccup's father to reassess his relationship with his son.

And here is even more good news about How to Train Your Dragon

On April 27, 2010, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told The Hollywood Reporter that they were planning a How to Train Your Dragon 2; DreamWorks is targeting a release date of the sequel sometime in the summer of 2013.

On October 11, 2010, it was announced the voice cast—Baruchel, Ferguson, Ferrera, Hill, Mintz-Plasse, Miller, and Wiig—would return for the sequel

So what did I think? Well if you are looking for hard hitting adult level entertainment, you are not going to get your wish here. But that is hardly the point. The kids will certainly love this film. If you are into top notch animation then you can't help but feel the same. The extras on disk go even further in describing how the film was made and the film commentary section is a true treat. It's clear that the extras were added as a nod to the adults watching. Everyone involved with the film obviously had a great time and it certainly comes through on the extras.

the movie itself is a good solid 9.5 I have seen better animated films as far as plot goes, but this is head and shoulders above anything to date in the quality of animation. As for extras? BRAVO This disk is one of the kid in me enjoys the animation but the adult in me appreciates all the extras! 10 all the way for a 9.75 out of 10 overall. Am I being generous? yes, but this IS an animated feature and one of the best out there. Good entertainment for the children or young at heart and a wealth of info for the enthusiast.

Review: Repomen

Repomen

Directed by Miguel Sapochnik

Produced by Scott Stuber

Screenplay by Eric Garcia, Garrett Lerner

Starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Liev Schreiber, Alice Braga, Carice van Houten, Chandler Canterbury, RZA

Yep, since I saw the trailers, I thought, well, interesting subject, so I added it to my rental queue and it arrived in due course.

The premise? Well the first few lines of the movie encapsulate the plot more than any drawn out review. The lead character played by Jude Law in a voice over says....If you can't make payments on your house, the bank repossess es it. If you can't make the payments on your car, the finance company will reposes it. If you can't make payments on your liver, well that's where I come in.

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker play war buddies who find themselves in the body parts repossession business. It is soon apparent that both enjoy their work to the point of being psychopaths. Where Law's character might finesse his repossessions a bit, Whitaker's character has a fascination with big knives which he uses to brutal efficiency.

All is going along swimmingly until Remey (Law's character) has a repossession go very wrong and finds himself in the exact same place as the people he has been repossessing. His life begins to fall apart when his wife leaves, he can no longer do his job and soon will be the victim of the very people he recently worked alongside of.

There are some twists and turns and reversals that even M. Night would be proud of. So I will not "ruin" the ending for you just in case there is some wild chance you might want to watch Repo.

But The first real observation on this film is that you must be able to suspend disbelief to believe that the movie at least on some level is real and could happen. I can say with great honesty that I spent the whole movie thinking "this could never happen. In a society where a hangnail will be enough for a mal-practice case, you're trying to convince me that in a few years the very same people will turn a blind eye to wholesale slaughter to maintain the corporate status-quo?

Ok, - I can not bring myself to think that an abandoned tenement full of corpses sans a few artificial organs will garner no reaction what so ever? Our society has become litigious to a point that even friends and near relatives will instigate some sort of suit just on general principal!

That is about as far as I can take this review. I can't give you an overall on the movie /blu-ray because once this piece of filth left my player it will not return. Too strong? Then let me warn you.... watch the theatrical release in hopes that the gore is moderated some what. Because what I saw was certainly one of the most disgusting examples of science fiction movie making. Believe me when I say that this movie is nothing more that a slasher film with a few science fiction trappings. Oh and some of them are quite clever (I thought the wall paper was very inventive.)

I have seen Law make some mind twisting movies with some characters that are very unsavory to say the least. And Whitaker as well, has played people you love to hate. But this gore filled hack and slash makes me wonder if it was just a payday.

Review: Dead Like Me: Life After Death

Dead Like Me: Life After Death
tv show credits

Created by Bryan Fuller

Starring Ellen Muth - Laura Harris - Callum Blue - Jasmine Guy - Cynthia Stevenson - Mandy Patinkin

Narrated by Ellen Muth

movie show credits

Directed by Stephen Herek

Written by John Masius & Stephen Godchaux

Starring Ellen Muth - Callum Blue - Sarah Wynter - Jasmine Guy - Britt McKillip - Christine Willes - Cynthia Stevenson - Henry Ian Cusick

Release date(s) February 17, 2009 Running time 87 minutes

In keeping with the season I thought I would step outside the genre a bit and review a macabre comedy tv series and it's follow on movie Dead Like Me

I really didn't take a great deal of interest in the TV run of Dead Like Me. It originally showed on Showtime and since I did not have reliable access I didn't really get into Dead Like Me until it hit Hulu. by then I caught both seasons.

If you are not familiar with DLM, you should let me give you a 2 cent tour. It seems that death is handled by two classes of beings. Reapers which once were living people but now they are tasked with collecting the soul of the about to be departed. The actual death however is arranged by strange almost reptilian beings called gravelings. The main character is Georgia Lass (Ellen Muth) who in life was killed by a toilet seat falling from a defunct orbiting habitat. Her soul is collected by Rube (played by Mandy Patinkin) to join a group of other "Reapers" ( Callum Blue, Jasmine Guy and late comer Laura Harris) who are dispatched daily by Rube to "Reap" the newly departed's souls.

Even though the subject matter is somewhat macabre it is often handled in an offhand comedic fashion that soon grows on you. Patinkin is always good in whatever project he is involved with and you soon find that for the most part the rest of the odd characters become familiar and endearing.

Ellen Muth also does the narration which often added insight into no only what Georgia was all about but often encapsulated the show in a short closing monologue.

After watching two seasons worth of episodes, I was excited to see that a movie had been made of the show, but better yet it picks up where the show left off because you are at this point more than slightly disappointed that the show, even though they did their best to leave the show at the end of season two without too many loose ends, it was still great to be able to step back into the world of the Reapers.

And that is all you can really say about the straight to DVD - if you liked the show and want more....get the movie. Patinkin is no longer at the helm and that is left hanging (maybe hoping for another movie mayhaps?) and the crew is joined by Cusick who seems to be dealing from the bottom of the deck and all points in between. One big surprise is returning cast member Britt McKillip. Britt played Reggie in the tv series but in the intervening time she has grown from a petulant preteen into a beautiful young woman and honed her acting to a fine point. The change was so dramatic that had trouble at first believing that it was the same person. But she falls back into her "Reggie" persona quite easily and you never doubt for a second after that. The character Daisy was retained by was filled by Sarah Wynter which in my mind never really carried it off no matter what people say about how good an actress she is. That's all good and fine, she just didn't "Get" Daisy Adair.

But that wobble aside, the DVD was very enjoyable. I really liked the directors comments on the film. (I will often go right back and watch the same movie with the director's comments on so I can to get a feel for what the director intended) Director Stephen Herek was joined by Ellen Muth and their off the cuff repartee was funny and informative. There is another short extra on how the returning actors feel about rejoining the show. But other than that, the extras really are non existent.

The DVD is just a long tv episode, but if you liked the tv show (watch it on HULU first if you haven't yet) you will love the dvd. For just hitting the mark and enjoyment and discounting that there really isn't anything in special effects that wasn't in the show originally...I would say this is an 8 if you liked the show and don't bother because you will get lost if you didn't see Dead Like Me on tv or HULU first)

Review: INK

INK Review

Directed, Produced and Written by Jamin Winans music score and editing was also done by Jamin Winans
Executive Producer Kiowa K. Winans
Staring Starring Chris Kelly, Quinn Hunchar, Jessica Duffy Jeremy Make

Ink starts with the premise that there is in fact many worlds running side by side with only a different "beat" separating them. The worlds of INK, beside our "waking world" are the world or the warrior/story tellers who bring good dreams at night. Then there is the world of the Incubi, "borg-like" spirits who veil their faces with screens who bring horrible nightmares and traveling through these worlds is a horribly scarred and malformed loner called INK.

The movie starts with the story tellers and Incubi bringing their own versions of people's dream, when INK suddenly appears "abducting" a young girl. The story tellers try to rescue the girl but Ink escapes through a portal which the warriors can not follow him through.

The movie, proper, opens with a very successful stock broker who through a series of life reversals, is watching his whole world collapse. This collapse is shown to us in flash backs as he grows into adult hood but the success has cost him greatly. The flashbacks shows us what it took for him to get where he is and the cost. At the same time the worlds of the story Tellers and Incubi are showing the struggle that is building and through out it all travels INK with his "captive" bent on completing a task while the story tellers try to stop him and inexplicably aide broker while the Incubi fight to stop them.

All the action in all three worlds comes to a head in the final moments of the film.

And I have tried valiantly to explain a very complex movie plot-line without giving too much away. And at the same time try not to emphasize what for the most part comes across as absolute chaos. Are the flashbacks truly "flashbacks"? Which way is time running?! And I could go on. That really may put some of you off. There are two or three realities at play and time may play different.

I loved the concurrent time sequences neither aware of each other and some were aware of both. Yes it can truly play with your head. But in the end the motivations are the most fundamental but it may blow you away as to who finally learns this lesson and you will be just as amazed.

Ink is certainly an interesting independent movie. Technology has come so far that even with a limited budget, the end product still looks and feels professional. Don't be put off by the labels, quite frankly they don't tell you anything.

I have to say that the extras were middle of the road. The format allows for so much more, but then we are still treated to excellent behind the scenes comments and clips. I really think the movie is well made and keeps your interest throughout. You certainly won't feel ripped off by renting or buying the disk. If your interests are sci fi or sci fi / fantasy, this movie will deliver. Good solid 8 for the film. The special effects are a bit chintzy but then, damn clever for what they had to work with. Extras could be an overall 8 so that gives a 16 total or an 8 overall. Your opinion will certainly fall either side of that. Recommendation? Its worth the rent or the buy.

Review: Kick Ass blu-ray

Kick Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Written by Matthew Vaughn Jane Goldman
Starring Aaron Johnson Christopher Mintz-Plasse Chloë Grace Moretz Nicolas Cage
Mark Strong


Let’s talk about this schizophrenic little movie for a moment.

The main theme of the movie is that of a masked vigilante. Now you’re thinking, this is hardly science fiction, but if I will review a Batman movie, this one is fair game as well. Plus there is some tech, ending mostly, that is clearly above and beyond what we have at present. Anyway, a nerdy high school student is tired of bullying, beating and muggings that seem to happen to him and others on a regular basis. He finally tries to do something about it ala Batman and winds up knifed and run over by a car for his troubles. Not to be deterred, after healing, he dons his outfit again and once again finds himself in a situation well over his head, only to be rescued by a duo that seems to be the real deal in the form of a tiny girl called Hit Girl and a Batman clone called Big Daddy. The pair are bloody violence on PCP, slicing and dicing in over the top mayhem. Kick Ass, though wildly popular, finds himself wildly outclassed, but is mistaken by the local crime boss, as the perpetrator of the deaths in his organization, vowing to put Kick ass’ head on a platter.

The schizophrenic portion of the movie comes from the director that anguished that if he made it too attractive to don a suit and fight crime, to some youngster, they might indeed do just that, So he made a point of showing the main character pummeled, knifed and run over, etc. Also the director in his commentary said that Big Daddy had brainwashed his daughter Hit Girl to think that she was just playing comic book characters, which until I heard his say it, had never seen that indication. I did get that daddy is a bit around the end because of betrayal and false imprisonment and the loss of his wife, but from Hit Girl I got the clear impression that she idolized her farther and wanted nothing more than his affection and to be acknowledged by him. That for fun they test out how effective their bullet proof armor in a rather unusual way was in my mind a manifestation of daddy’s mania. At this there is no one better than Nick Cage.

But in the end the opposing forces of the director’s reluctance to give the movie it’s head and the moments when the movie slips it’s leash and becomes wildly violent, instead of being entertaining, manage to cancel each other out. The wire work that Hit Girl does is probably the highest moments in the movie. But its not enough to make the movie even remotely memorable. Though I think the first few moments when we see Big Daddy and Hit Girl (in fact just daddy and Mindy in civies) training together with Nick Cage delivering the line “You’ll be fine Baby Doll!” in his own maniacal manner is wildly inappropriate and probably the only time you will EVER see anything close to this scene in another move, will stay with you for some time. The one thing that bothered me was the throw away role by Yancy Butler. (Witchblade & Mann & Machine) basically onscreen for less than a minutes and has what...1 line?! What a shame.

The extras on the blu ray are something to talk about though. commentaries, deleted scenes, artwork and blu ray specific extras, tells me that a LOT of effort went in to using the blu ray format and giving the renter or purchaser some excellent value added material. So I would give the extras on this disk a solid 10. If you liked the movie, then you are going to REALLY like the blu-ray. Though the movie in my mind is just not that good. Yes it was well cast and acted. The special effects were good without stealing the show. So that makes it a much better film that say Hot Tub Time Machine. However I really just didn’t have any solid reaction to Kick Ass. Nerdy guys is tired for being the brunt of all that is wrong in his world, decides to do something about it and fails in spectacular fashion, but manages to grow a pair in the last 15 minutes......you know the drill. I would be hard pressed to give it any more than 6....maybe 7 so that makes the movie an overall 8 or 8.5...... yeah that works for me. If you liked the movie in the theater, the blu-ray is for you. If you gave it a pass in the theater, do the same here.

Review: Jumpers blu-ray

Directed by Doug Liman, Produced by Simon Kinberg, Written by screenplay David S. Goyer Novel Steven Gould

Starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell,Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Bilson, Michael Rooker, Diane Lane


Jumpers the movie is pretty much a one trick pony. Through a misadventure on a frozen river, a teenage boy discovers that he can teleport. For the balance of the movie we are treated to a large dose of self indulgent behavior, fueled by teleporting bank robberies. Then we are treated to Sam Jackson in dyed white hair and a big ugly knife slicing and dicing other jumpers with great zeal. (oh and the director wants us to believe that this whack job is the hero?! whaaaaaaaaaaaaa?)

Ok, maybe I am being harsh. I like Samuel Jackson, and his evil anti-heroes are always fun and this outing is no different. Maybe the just sheer lack of a "good guy" made the movie difficult for me. Maybe the director is right, if suddenly you found out you could go anywhere you wanted and have anything you wanted, and as far as you know with out any consequences, what would YOU do? Exactly - especially if your a young male.


So we have a young boy who can teleport who instantly moves out, gets a seedy room and robs a bank. Flash forward, he is older, lives better, doing pretty much the same thing. No saving people, fighting crime, nope, thats fiction, this guy travels the world, stealing what he wants and screwing anything that moves.

Then Sam Jackson shows up with white hair and a cattle prod and proceeds to make the next few minutes very unpleasant (oh and the setup scene before this is pretty self explanatory.) until said jumper manages to escape. Does he run? Does he hide? Not really no, he goes to an old girl friend and goes to Rome? HUH? Where life again gets difficult. Some plot expansion here but if you havent seen the movie, I am not going to give it away. But we do find out that Jumpers are not all that unusual... So we get the obligatory "you screwed up and this is how you screwed up and I don't want to be part of your screw up. And old girl friend is now a prisoner trap by Sam Jackson who manages to almost end jumper #1 (for a movie that was trying not to be predictable it sure gets there fast)

So, jumpers fight, jump around the world, fight some more by throwing the most awesome crap at each other. Some things work out, some things don't and boy and girl go off together.

Maybe I am being a bit tough on the movie. It IS pretty frenetic and certainly is a large dose of wish fulfillment. But is is very difficult to identify with a cast of unpleasant characters. And this is no Pulp Fiction. But it does have it's high moments....I can guarantee the world's most outrageous driving sequence to date!

So, how are we set for special features? Well I have to fess up and tell you that I took a friends suggestion and got the blu-ray version and was pleasantly surprised! There are I would hazard a guess, several hours of additional material (that's if you take the director's comments into account) There is a deleted scene real, many many deleted scenes, a graphic novel section, the making of shorts based on areas on the globe. Plus some stuff that pertains to motion control furnature of all things! Oh yes, this is a cornucopia of additional material!

So how would I rate the movie? Well it's a bit too experimental for me. They tried too hard to keep everything as normal as they could except for the power of teleportation....Not sure I am sold on this idea. I really don't buy into it. Remember the Will Smith movie about the reluctant superman? I see it more in that vein. It's not a bad movie, just didnt do much for me. So, 6 for the movie, but a flat out 10 for the extras so what does that give us an average of 8? meeeeeeeh......bit high but I can live with it. It will make a fair addition to your library.