Into the Blu

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

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

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

For the penultimate movie in my review of the Mel Brooks Collection, I selected the classic Spaceballs, Mr. Brooks’ send up of science fiction movies.  Although I thought I had watched this movie previously, I was surprised to discover that I had only watched it in parts and not as a whole.

When viewing the film previously, I had been struck by its obvious wink to Star Wars, emphasized through characters such as Barf, Dot, Yogurt, Pizza the Hutt, and Dark Helmet.  As a long-term lover of science fiction films, Spaceballs was treading dangerous ground.  My question was, was this film sublime satire, or pure farce. Continue Reading

Of the top three baseball based films of all time, only 2 have made their way to Blu-ray, Field of Dreams and The Natural, at least until now. While I love both of these films, the very best baseball themed film is Bull Durham, which fortunately, was finally released on Blu-ray this week. While I was more than pleased with the look and sound of The Natural, Field of Dreams was another matter altogether and was a disappointment in the video department. Would Bull Durham prove to be more like The Natural or more like Field of Dreams. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray release of Bull Durham is as disappointing as Field of Dreams. Continue Reading

For my fourth movie in my review of the Mel Brooks Collection, I selected High Anxiety, Mr. Brooks’ loving spoof of Alfred Hitchcock movies.  Although I admire Mr. Hitchcock’s work, I can honestly admit it has been a few decades since I last saw one of his films (The Birds).

One challenge I anticipated with High Anxiety is that certain subjects like murder and suspense do not work well in comedy (like in Have you Heard About the Morgans).  Truly, the only way to make a thriller work with humour is to go way, way, way over the top, much like in the Police Squad series of movies.

However, my pleasant surprise at the quality of To Be Or Not To Be left me with some anticipation that this movie may also surprise me with its wit and charm. Continue Reading

Opportunities lost. I kept coming back to that concept in my head as I watched the subject of this review, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. The film certainly features and interesting and compelling lead character and some excellent acting performances but in the end falls die to the film;s script and direction. it is too bad as there is a kernel of a find film here. Continue Reading

Avatar is probably the most eagerly awaited Blu-ray release to date. After all, the film did $2.6 billion in worldwide box office receipts and features some stunning CGI and at the present time, represents the state of the art as what can be done with CGI, albeit it at an incredible cost. Well, Avatar has finally arrived on Blu-ray and I couldn’t wait to pop it in to see whether it has the reference audio and video presentations that we all expected. Continue Reading

As a film reviewer, it is almost embarrassing to admit that I have viewed none of the films created by directors in the French New Wave.  In my defense, I can offer that this “new wave” took place before I was born, and that by the time I was able to cultivate a taste for movies, many of the “new wave’s” inventiveness had already been co-opted by others.

This led me to two important questions I hope to answer in my review.  Firstly, if subsequent movies have taken advantage of a once-new filmmaking technique, does this make the originating movies any less relevant?  And secondly, can entertainment value survive in what is considered “experimental” cinema?  Although films can have artistic merits on their own, they must still be accessible to the common movie viewer.  Continue Reading

The pairing of Jack Lemon and Walther Matthau was a staple of 70’s and after the two had basically been declared retired from acting; they headlined Grumpy Old Men together. Surprisingly it became a financial success and was received fairly well among critics. The film gave new life to their careers and the pair went on to make a series of films together, including a sequel to ‘Grumpy’; Grumpier Old Men. How do the two films hold up on Blu-ray and is this double-feature release a worthy representation of the milestone in these actors’ classic filmography?

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Confession time.  Yes, I am old enough that I saw National Lampoon’s Vacation at a real life movie theatre.  If memory serves correct, it was at the Garrick Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and I had orange soda shoot out of my nose when laughing at the hilarious adventures of the Griswolds and their Travel Queen Family Truckster.  Vacation is one of those rare movies that still appeals as much to me today as it did when I was younger. Continue Reading

Over time, there have been several upon several World War II and Vietnam films; some good, some not so good.  As the war on two fronts in the Middle East continues, we have seen a scattering of films here and there highlighting these new conflicts.  As time goes on, we will likely see more.  One such film that fills the current void and made it’s Blu-ray debut this week is The Hurt Locker.  In short, this picture follows an EOD team in Iraq.  What is an EOD team?  What do they do?  How dangerous is their occupation?  Read on to learn the answers to these questions and more. Continue Reading