Into the Blu

It’s no surprise that the Matrix sequels took so long to get individually released on Blu-ray, with the box set selling well on the strength of the first film and the Animatrix and those who felt the sequels were under-performers who refuse to own the sequels taking advantage of the first Matrix’s individual release, we are now given the option to own the second of the trilogy. Is it worth it?

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I may be an old softie, but I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the Toy Story franchise. Perhaps it is because my kids were very young when the original Toy Story arrived in theaters. I know we wore out a VHS copy of the film before the DVD came out, the kids loved the film so much. Despite the more recent incredibly good films from Pixar, I still like the 2 Toy Story films the best. It was amazing, but I guess not surprising, that the folks at Pixar could top themselves with Toy Story 2 but they did. I was therefore very curious to see if they could again top themselves or at least match their prior efforts with Toy Story 3. To see if, all these years later they would be able to keep true to the spirit of the first two films. As it turns out, I should have never worried. Continue Reading

October 26th, 2010 Releases…

• Back to the Future Trilogy
• Alien Anthology
• Sex and the City 2
• The Girl Who Played with Fire
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – The Complete Season Two
• Paths of Glory (Criterion Collection)
• House (Criterion Collection)
• Maniac
• Elf (Ultimate Collector’s Edition)

In the sci-fi movie world, outside of Star Wars, I can’t think of any more eagerly anticipated Blu-ray releases that Alien and Aliens. I saw both of these in the theater during their initial runs and loved them both. While they have the alien creature and the character Ripley in common, they are two very different films with Alien, under the direction on Ripley Scott, being a suspense film and one of the scariest films I have seen and Aliens, under James Cameron, an action film. While both very different, both are truly excellent. Unfortunately, the folks at 20th Century Fox have chosen to release all four films as a set so you have to buy all 4 just to get the first two. How do they look and sound? Well, read on. Continue Reading

October 19th, 2010 Releases…

• Predators
• Apocalypse Now
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Psycho
• Moulin Rouge!
• Romeo + Juliet
• Seven Samurai (Criterion Collection)
• Disneynature: Oceans
• Disneynature: Crimson Wing – The Mystery of the Flamingo

Well, it is October so it must be time for the release of new Christmas Music. After all, why wait until after Thanksgiving when you can get all the Christmas stuff into the stores now. The first of the new Christmas music releases is in and it is Michael McDonald This Christmas Live in Chicago. I missed this show when it ran on PBS’ Soundstage last year and as a fan of his music, I thought I would give it a spin. I am glad I did. Continue Reading

I can’t say that I am fan of the HBO series Sex and the City. Perhaps it is a chick thing but I just don’t get it. The women, for the most part, are attractive enough, especially the scintillating Kim Cattrall, but I find their characters on the whole, uninteresting. While my wife is a fan of the series, she was less than thrilled with the first film, which was a just a a longer and more expensive version of one of the HBO episodes and didn’t exactly meet with much critical success. However, given that the film was a commercial success and further that Hollywood being Hollywood, can’t leave well enough alone, a sequel was inevitable and has now arrived on Blu-ray. Continue Reading

October 12th, 2010 Releases…

• How to Train Your Dragon
• Jonah Hex
• The Darjeeling Limited (Criterion Collection)
• Dollhouse: Season Two
• The Magician (Criterion Collection)
• Three Kings
• The Hangover (Extreme Edition)
• Sex and Lucia
• Lost Boys: The Thirst

October 5th, 2010 Releases…

• Beauty and the Beast (Diamond Edition)
• The Karate Kid
• Grindhouse (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
• Splice
• Mad Max
• RoboCop Trilogy
• Bones: The Complete Fifth Season
• Sgu Stargate Universe: Complete First Season
• The Exorcist
• 30 Days of Night: Dark Days
• The Last of the Mohicans

Most of my exposure to Janeane Garofalo has been to her appearances on politically tinged TV talk/news programs along with her appearance on the final season of 24. While I was aware of her short lived career as a radio talker on the now defunct Air America network.When I had the opportunity to request a Blu-ray review copy of one of her concert performances, I decided to give it a look to see what all the fuss is about. Was it worth it? Only if you are a fan. Continue Reading

Tim Burton’s the mind behind some of the most visually interesting films of our time and is synonymous with eccentric abstract designs. His take on the popular Martian trading card game to pay homage to the cheesy B-Sci-fi films that he grew up on. Does his satire stand the test of time?

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I guess I am dating myself a bit here by admitting that the Rolling Stones were the hottest thing when I was in high school. It was back in the early to mid 70′s when the band was at its best live, earning the moniker, “The Best Rock n’ roll band in the world”. I guess it was fitting to take a look at this release which features the Stones right in the midst of their heyday, 1972, during their tour of the US to promote their recent LP release, Exile On Main Street? Were they as good as many remember? Continue Reading