Then there are film such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy with extended editions that go on and on with seemingly endless battle sequences which were too long as it was in the theatrical cut and obnoxiously too long in the extended cut. Sitting there, I have to guess that they figured that since we went to the lengths to create this footage in the first place, we might as well let the world see it. Again that college essay mind set at work. You know, since I had to learn this stuff for the exam, I will at least show you that I did. I wish I could guess at what they were thinking when they put the extended cut of Hall Pass together, but I don’t think that anyone can figure that out, not even the filmmakers themselves. Not even the college essay theory can explain this mess.

Film  

Hall Pass, whether the theatrical cut or the Enlarged Edition (I can hear Bevis and Butthead laughing now in the background at that one) is an awful film. Hall Pass is a stupid and crass film, with the enlarged edition even more so.

The film stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis as two 30ish husbands who can seem to get sex off their minds. Their lovely wives who frankly deserve better ( played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) decide to give their husbands hall passes. The halls pass is a week off from their marriage, where they can seek out sex with other women to get it out of their systems so they can return and focus their attentions on their wives. The wives leave for Cape Cod for a week of relaxation while their men go crazy. However, while on Cape Cod, the wives turn out to have better luck than the husbands in the extra curricular department.

The film is like a bad Saturday Night Live sketch extended from 5 minutes to two hours. It is devoid of anything really funny and instead is a crass and crude as you can get. Hall Pass is a bad film, embarrassingly bad, and one that you are better off skipping in its entirety.

Video  

The best thing that I can say about the video presentation here is that it is better than the film. It is a solid is unspectacular looking film with a nice natural looking color palette with nice levels of detail and decent blacks. Film grain is heavy however so if you don’t like film grain and prefer you films as clean as computer animation, Hall Pass will not be your cup of tea and really shouldn’t be anyway, grain or no grain. The film has good depth and clarity but far from reference quality. The film itself is in pristine quality and I was not able to detect any obvious errors with the encoding of the film.

Audio  

I was not expecting a reference audio presentation when I sat down to watch the film. However, even so, I was disappointed with the audio here. The film is a bit front heavy as one would expect with a comedy. While the surrounds do kick on occasion, most of the action remains centered in the front of the room. The real issues I had with the audio here is with the overall fidelity. I found the sound to be too thin and bright for my tastes, a bit on the shrill side, more like bad lossy audio rather that a DTS HD Master Audio track. The audio is just another reason to pass on this release.

Special Features  

There are two extras included with this release, consisting of an “outrageously funny” additional scene as well as a “hilarious” gag reel. I found neither to be either outrageously funny or hilarious. When you have to say you are outrageously funny or hilarious, this is usually a sure sign that you aren’t. Hall Pass is a combo pack release which contains a DVD copy of the film along with a digital copy, so you can take this mess of a film with you.

Final Thoughts  

Simply put, Hall Pass is a terrible film, one that I found to be crude and crass and at times relentlessly so. The audio is weak and the video just good with meager extras to boot. In short, there is really nothing here to recommend about this release. I suggest that you skip this one entirely.

Film  

For the most part, I enjoyed Unknown, at least up until the end, where the film really revealed itself for what it was, the film Total Recall, set in Berlin rather than on Mars, with Liam Neeson in the lead role rather than the former Governor of California.

Liam Neeson is Dr. Martin Harris, who travels to Berlin for a conference with his wife (January Jones). When checking into the hotel, Dr. Harris realizes that he left his briefcase at the airport and he hails a cab to take him back to the airport. On the way back, his cab is involved in an accident and flies off a bridge into the river. He is knocked unconscious in the accident and is rescued from drowning by the cab driver, played by Diane Kruger.

Dr. Harris awakens in the hospital a few days later and realizes his is missing the conference. Against the advice of his doctor, he returns to the hotel only to discover that his wife does not recognize him and that there is another man in the role of Dr. Martin Harris. He spends the rest of the film trying to prove that he is who he claims to be during which there are several attempts on his life. In the later part of the film, his true identity is revealed to him and the real purpose for his visit to Berlin.

If you haven’t already seen Total Recall, you will no doubt really enjoy this film as it does really draw you in and has some real suspense. If you have already seen Total Recall, you will really be disturbed by the last section of the film when you realize just what a remake of Total Recall Unknown really is. Are there no really new original ideas left in Hollywood? Rated as a rental only.

Video  

All in all, this is a fine encode . The film features a rather cool blueish appearance which is becoming all too common in films these days and is a trend that I can really do without. Most of the film takes place either at night or in dimly lit interiors. Nevertheless, the film maintains a excellent level of clarity, detail and depth throughout the film. Black are deep and inky with excellent shadow detail. The film features well saturated colors and is free of digital noise that can plaque dark looking films. While I could do without the overly stylized color scheme, the encode boasts excellent levels of detail and clarity and is free any obvious technical errors, including digital noise reduction or edge enhancement.

Audio  

I found the DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track to be every bit as good as the video presentation. The film features active and at times very aggressive use of the surround speakers to create a nice immersive sound field during the entire film. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. Overall fidelity is quite good as is the placement of the various sound effects within the sound field. Bass is deep and tight and dynamics are excellent as well. In short, this is a fine sounding film, whose sound design is every bit as good as the visuals, perhaps even a tad better.

Special Features  

The extras are about as sparse as they come and consist of two brief featurettes, both of which are presented in HD. The first is Liam Neeson: Known Action Hero and the second Unknown: What is Known? The first is rather self-explanatory and takes a look at Liam Neeson’s role in the film. The latter is a brief behind the scenes look at the laming of the film and both feature interviews with the cast and crew. Most of the material in both featurettes is rather duplicative, which much of the latter appearing in the former. The release also includes a second disc containing a DVD and digital copies of the film.

Final Thoughts  

While there is a lot to like about Unknown, the problem is that the film is essentially a remake of Total Recall with the same basic plot line in a very different setting. I guess there is little new original material left to make out there in Hollywood or so it would seem by the releases in the past few years. It seems that most of the new faire consist of nothing more than remakes, sequels and more comic book super heroes. Rated as a rental only.

Film

The Jackass boys are back and I had a chance to see this film with some friends in theatres in 3D. To prevent burying the lead, if you’re interested in purchasing this film… do it now, the film was converted to 3D after the fact and it simply didn’t need to be… The only thing that popped out was the staged gimmicky opening scene that consists of a series of airbags and confetti going off, but to really justify paying a premium price for a 3D Blu-ray we deserve a bit more.

As for the film itself, it’s hard to critique. It’s essentially a series of clips that either consist of practical jokes, hidden camera style pranks, and footage of self-mutilation. It’s definitely catering to a specific market and it’s definitely not a film that’s fun for the whole family.

The funniest moments for me were the uses of super slow-mo camera as they pulled pranks on people by throwing water in their faces. Honestly though this sort of thing can be seen for free by watching Time Warp on the Discovery Channel. However the film quickly begins to go too far with a barrage of disgusting gag reflex testing stunts that I can’t mention here. Honestly you know if you’re going to like this film, just don’t expect the same quality compared to the first two films. Things feel a bit stale and “bottom of the barrel” and even with a few funny parts, I really just found myself checking my watch for most of it.

Video

Jackass 3’s video is displayed using the mpeg-4 AVC codec. The vide o quality is hit and miss due to the fact that we’re seeing the events from a bunch of cameras of varying qualities. The main cameras used are really high quality high definition cameras that do a great job providing sharp and clean footage.

The colors are bright and skin tones come through nicely, however there is some blown out highlights once in a while which aren’t rare for footage that comes from a video source. The nice thing about the video cams used is the fact that they produce details very nicely and the details are sharp, most notably skin texture.

Audio

Jackass 3’s audio comes at using the DTS-HD Master 5.1 audio. The score and foley is pumped up to help make up for the lack of true surround sound and although we’re given some nice centered dialogue there’s some surprisingly pieces that have been mixed to make use of all of your speakers. However these scenes are few and far between and are most noticeable in the opening and closing credit scenes which are usually the most elaborate.

For most of the film we’re given a clean and front heavy mix but it’s spiced with some nice uses of LFE and surrounds that help out the fairly plain mix.

Special Features

Jackass 3 has a small amount of extras, but they’re honestly the best possible extras for the subject matter. Deleted scenes and outtakes are pretty much just more of the movie to watch, so that’s always good. There’s also an “MTV: Making of” featurette which is as in depth as I would ever be interested in the film. Although it is only 3 extras, would you really want a commentary track?

Final Thoughts

Albeit the film doesn’t really stand out as a Blu-ray essential, the film does provide some decent content when good quality high definition cameras are used. However with hit and mix audio and video presentation, the film isn’t anything special but if you’re a fan then it may be worthwhile to await the inevitable 3D release of the film if that is something you’re into.

While not caught up in the hype of the release of the final book, The Deathly Hallows, I did pick up a copy and read it over a few weeks. While I liked the book, I can’t exactly say that I couldn’t put it down because I did, many times. However, I was interested in seeing the book brought to life on film, in this case, in two films and was anxious to see how the films would look on Blu-ray. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 making its debut in theaters in April, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is making its Blu-ray debut as well. How does it look and sound? Quite nice indeed.

Film  

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was quite rightly broken up into two separate films. While this is a first for the series, the book is so dense in terms of content and detail that I can’t really imagine the film being condensed into one film. Just too much content, content that the fans expect, would have been dropped had that been the case.

The film picks up where The Half Blood Prince ends, with “he who must not be named” Voldemort and his deatheaters, having killed Dumbledore and taken over Hogwarts. Voldemort and his crew have taken to not only terrorizing their fellow wizards but the non wizard population as well (the muggles) even killing them. However, Voldemort’s main focus is in trying to capture Harry Potter so he and he alone can kill him, as Harry Potter is the only threat to his continued existence. It is only Harry who can kill Voldemort once and for all, or so he thinks, and rid the world of his evil influence.

The Deathly Hallows picks up with a theme from the Half Blood Prince, namely the Horcruxes, which each contain a bit of Voldemort’s soul. Until all of the Horcruxes are found and destroyed, Voldemort can never be completely killed as he can always be brought back to life, made flesh if you will, if a piece of his soul can be retrieved from one of the Horcruxes. Needless to say, Voldemort has those well hidden, although Harry and Dumbledore have already been able to destroy two of them.

That is the central theme of this film, with Harry, Ron and Hermione hiding out and searching for the horcruxes and destroying them, all before Harry’s ultimate confrontation with Voldemort, which will take place at the end of Part 2. Fans of the book will no doubt love this film which is very true to the book as I recall it. You see a real maturity, not only in the roles of the various characters as written, but in the acting of the entire cast, who are really coming into their own in these roles, especially Emma Watson who is the real gem here and who has a real future as an actress outside these films.

The only real problem with breaking a book into two films is that when the film ends, with Voldemort obtaining the most powerful wand in history, you are unsatisfied, as would will have to wait quite a while for Part Two, to see how this whole tail finally unfolds. Much like all of the other films, with the exception maybe of the first two, unless you are familiar with the Harry Potter world, you will be totally lost in this film, as it assumes that you have all of the requisite knowledge to follow the action.

If you are not a fan, you may want to check out the other films before giving this one a look. If you are a fan, by all means check out this release, to get you in the mood for the ultimate finale in Part 2. This release is highly recommended for fans of the books and movies.

Video  

This is a very dark and stark looking film which I am sure was very difficult to encode. If you are anticipating a bright looking film, The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is not for you. The film is very dark with the settings and characters having this stark looking appearance with the film having a de-saturated color palette. The film is bathed in various shades of browns, tans and grays, all of which was done in port production as evidenced from the look of the film in the extras, including skin tones. Blacks are deep and stable throughout the film. Detail and clarity are excellent as well as is the overall depth of the image.

Many films that are this dark have a tendency to look rather soft. That is fortunately not the case with The Deathly Hallows Part 1 which maintains fine levels of detail, clarity and sharpness despite the overall darkness and drab and de-saturated color palette chosen for the film. Shadow detail is excellent as well. The print used for the film looks pristine as one would expect. It is also important to note that while the film has a very dark appearance, the encode is remarkably free of the type of digital noise that once far too often sees in films with this type of overall appearance. Fans of the film will no doubt be thrilled with the look of the film on this Blu-ray release which is totally consistent with how the film looked at the theater.

Audio 

The audio presentation on this release is every bit as good as the video. The film features fine ovealll fidelity, with a smooth and open sound with rock solid bass. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix, right dead center in the sound mix and is always intelligible, regardless of the volume of the overall sound. The surrounds are used fairly aggressively, providing a nice sense of room ambiance whether in the various tend sequences in the film as well as the scene where Harry, Ron and Hermione are imprisoned in the dungeon beneath the Malfoy home. Panning sound effects are very well done and seamlessly spread out over the entire sound field.

I was particularly impressed with the sound of the score which is sumptuous. If I have one quibble with the sound, it is that the surrounds, which while active throughout the film, are not used as aggressively as the very best sounding films, lacking that sense of total immersion that is the hallmark, at least for me, of a film that is deserving of a full 5 star rating. However, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, is not all that far behind.

Special Features  

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is available as a Blu-ray DVD combo pack. The combo pack contains three discs, the first being the feature as well as the interactive Maximum Movie Mode where you join Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) and other members of the cast and crew on an interactive journey through the film.

Disc two is the extras and disc three, a DVD version of the film. I did not screen the DVD copy. The extras include the opening scene of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2, which was omitted from the review copy that I received for ‘security” reasons. The review copy contained a second disc, which unlike the other two discs, was completely clear and prepared just for the review copies with all of the extras, sans the scene from the upcoming film.

The rest of the extras are rather pedestrian. There is the Dan, Rupert and Emma Running Competition where they discuss which one is the fastest runner, The Seven Harrys which looks at how that scene of Harry’s escape from Privet Drive was filmed and On the Green with Rupert. Tom, Oliver and James which follows that fearsome foursome on a round of golf.

Also included is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter promotional film for the opening of the Harry Potter theme park at the Universal theme park in Orlando, Florida, featuring members of the cast and crew as well as J.K. Rowling herself. We also get the featurette Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One: Behind the Soundtrack” which features and interview with the composer behind the film’s score, Alexandre Desplat. Also included are several deleted scenes, dubbed here as “additional scenes”.

Of all the extras, the only one which I would characterize as a must see, at least for me, was The Seven Harrys, which was a really interesting look, on a technical level, as to how that scene was filmed and assembled. The rest, I could really do without.

Final Thoughts  

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a fine film that features excellent audio and video presentations that will surely thrill fans of the film. It is highly recommended for fans of the Harry Potter franchise. I am sure that there are more than just a few of you out there, somewhere.

As for films, if a film about a particular comic book super hero is a hit, you soon see a slew of films adapting just about every comic book super hero one can find. Then there are the films based upon old TV shows or even cartoons. While some are good, i.e. Star Trek for example, most are just awful, like for example the Scooby Doo films. When I see such stuff, I can’t help but think that they were better off leaving that material alone, as the old stuff was so much better. I thought of this when I saw the trailer for the film Yogi Bear. Sure I love the cartoon as a kid, but a full length live action animated film based on the cartoon. It sounded like a dreadful idea. Just having viewed the film on Blu-ray, I have to say that I was right.

Film  

One of the best things that I can say about the film Yogi Bear is that it is amazing how close Justin Timberlake’s voicing of Boo Boo is to the original. Dan Aykroyd’s Yogi is pretty good too. Also, the film isn’t all that long, clocking in at 80 minutes. That is about it. The rest of the film is utterly forgettable and no where near as charming as the original Hanna-Barbara cartoons were. This is probably due to the length of a full length film vs. the very short cartoons. I mean, just how long can you make a film about a talking bear that loves to steal pic-a-nic baskets? That is the real issue with the film, stretching a simple 5 minute cartoon into a 80 minute film. That results in a ton of filler, which is basically what this film is. Although 80 minutes long, this film could have been done in 15.

The plot is simple. It is set in Jellystone Park where Yogi with the assistance of Boo Boo continues in his quest to steal the pic-a nic baskets from the patrons of the park and uses various devices lifted right out of the various old cartoons. Of course, Ranger Smith is there to stop him. The film’s villain is Mayor Brown, a political opportunist if I ever saw one (aren’t they all?) who decides to sell off the park to a logging concern in an effort to balance the budget and kick off his candidacy for governor. Mayor Brown figures the populace will be happy as each citizen will get a thousand bucks out of the deal and he will get his kickback and a new powerful political position. In the meantime, a beautiful stretch of wilderness will be destroyed.

Needless to say, with the help of a long though extinct frog faced turtle, Ranger Smith, Yogi and Boo Boo work together to save the park from sale and its eventual ruin. Yogi Bear is very predictable. If you are my age and recall the old cartoons so fondly, you will find the film, at best, to be only mildly amusing. If you have never seen the cartoons, I guess Yogi Bear is worth a look but for the rest of us, I would recommend that you skip this one.

Video  

There is nothing wrong with the video presentation here. It is good but not exactly an earth shattering encode. Everything here is good. The color palette is natural looking and the park scenery, filmed in New Zealand, looks great. Detail, clarity, depth and black levels are all good but far from reference. I could not detect any obvious evidence of edge enhancement or digital noise reduction. The overall image is bright, clear and detailed but lacks the color saturation, detail and deep blacks of a reference visual presentation.

Audio  

I was not expecting a reference audio experience with this film as as such, was not disappointed with the DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 track included here. The audio track has nice overall fidelity with solid if unspectacular bass. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The overall sound design is certainly competent. Most of the film is rather front heavy with the surrounds used for the sound effects and only really kick in during those sequences, such as the fireworks sequence at the lake and the scene on the raging rapids near the end of the film. Other than those sequences, the surrounds don’t attract that much attention during the film. Much like the video, the audio here is solid if unspectacular.

Special Features  

The main extra on this Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, is the Spending a Day at Jellystone Park which is a pain to navigate to watch some short interviews with the cast and crew about the making of the film. The interactive feature takes you to different sections of the part where you are prompted to click on icons to access the featurettes about the making of the film. Also included is a Yogi Bear mash-up featuring scenes from the old cartoon series and a “Are You Smarter than the Average Bear” game which is a interactive identify the food on the picnic table game suitable for the very young only. Also included is a new computer generated Looney Tunes featurette entitled Rabid Rider, featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. That one is worth a gander. The rest, not so much.

Final Thoughts  

Yogi Bear is a rather lame full feature length live animation action film based on the old Hanna Barbera Yogi Bear TV cartoon. While it features solid if unspectacular audio and video presentations, the film itself should really only appeal to the very young. The rest may be better off skipping this one entirely.

Before I begin (no pun intended), I need a quick moment to reflect upon a disclaimer I need to make. If it were not for on-screen onslaught of The Dark Knight, I don’t think I would have given Batman Begins the much needed respect and appreciation it deserves. I think I need to be brutally honest here for a moment. Batman Begins is an origin story so if you have not seen it, do not go in with the expectations that it is going to be one of the greatest high-adrenaline action movies you have ever seen because you will be greatly disappointed. Instead, you need to appreciate the movie for what it really is. What is that, you might ask? It is a slick vehicle to introduce to the world who the Batman really is.

Batman is not just a man in a masked costume going around fighting loud and ludicrous villains. Batman is a human being just like any of us and suffers from some of the same fears and desperations that plague the lives of all ordinary people. When you strip the Batman character down to bare bones you realize that he is simply a man driven by a fear that severely haunts him and his only way of escaping that binding fear, to fight crime and injustice, is by sharing it with his enemies. How does one do that? You do that by becoming a symbol…by becoming more than just a man. This is the psychological journey we are treated to and undertake in Batman Begins.

Don’t think of this as simply another comic book movie, but instead treat it like you would any good psychological thriller. There is always an underlying reason for a man’s actions, which ultimately defines who he is. In hindsight, we finally get to walk on the red carpet by seeing what exactly makes Bruce Wayne tick. We get to witness what drives him into becoming the only hope that Gotham City has. Gotham City needs to be saved from the underworld clutches of the world’s most dangerous villains and criminals. This ladies and gentleman, is the story of Batman Begins.

Film  

The film opens with eight-year old Bruce Wayne having accidentally just fallen into a cave while playing with his best friend, Rachel Dawes. Helpless and injured young Bruce Wayne has a frightful yet fateful encounter with bats. He grows more fearful of bats every passing day as his nightmares haunt him and extinguish his sleep. Then came the dark night (again no pun intended) that changed young Bruce’s life forever. While attending an opera with his parents, Bruce becomes frightened at the actors portraying bats. Cognitive of Bruce’s frightened state, his parents agree to take him home. Outside the opera house, Bruce’s parents are robbed and shot down in cold blood by a thug named Joe Chill. Having witnessed this seditious and tragic act of violence, Bruce blames himself for his parents’ untimely demise.

Many years go by as a more mature Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) returns home to Wayne Manor from Princeton University, with intent to kill Joe Chill who is being arraigned for a possible early release. His childhood friend, Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), who is now an attorney herself, accompanies him to the trial. Before Bruce can act on his plan of revenge, an unidentified woman kills Joe Chill for the crime lord Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). Angered and feeling cheated that he did not get to complete his act of selfish vengeance, Bruce Wayne decides to confront Carmine Falcone. This is where one of my favorite lines of the movie comes to fruition. Carmine Falcone lectures Bruce that he does not understand the nature of crime and that he should be thankful that he killed his parent’s murderer. The most memeorable line comes when Carmine starts pointing out all the lawyers, cops and politicians in the restaurant they are in and how he could fire his gun upon Bruce Wayne without hesitation or anyone questioning the act of him doing so. He tells Bruce that this is power you just cannot buy. I may have mixed some words around but I think you get the point. This is serious stuff here people!

Bruce, at this point, is just disgusted at the injustice and current state of Gotham City ruled by corrupt politicians, police officers and criminal organizations. He decides to travel the world to understand the criminal mind. He learns what its like to live without money and to steal just to feed and clothe himself over a seven-year length of time. Ultimately, he ends up imprisoned and meets Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson). Ducard invites Bruce to train and eventually join the extremist vigilante group, the League of Shadows led by Ra’s al Ghul, dedicated to ridding the world of criminal activity and declining civilizations. During his rigorous martial arts and mental training sessions with Ducard and the members of the League of Shadows, Bruce learns to embrace his fear of bats by utilizing it to fight crime and putting fear into the wrongdoers he intends to stop. The final test comes when Bruce is ordered to execute a criminal and he must decide between what he feels is the right and what is the wrong kind of justice. Upon being ordered to carry out the execution of this prisoner, Bruce finally realizes that the League’s conflicting extremist views do not align with what he feels justice truly should be. As a result, he ends up burning down the temple and defeating Ra’s al Ghul…so he thinks. I told you this film was deep, didn’t I?

Back in Gotham City, things are worse than ever. Gotham City is now pretty much under the corruption and control of Falcone. Bruce Wayne declares war against the corruption that infiltrates Gotham City. Bruce returns back to the loving care and guidance of his family’s trusted butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), who has taking care and presiding over all of Bruce’s affairs while he has been gone. Bruce manages to re-establish his connections to his father’s company, Wayne Enterprises, which is about to go public. It is there that he is introduced to a former board member, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who now heads the research and development department. Secretly, Bruce uses Lucius’ knowledge and gadgets to acquire not only suit armor and weaponry, but also the Tumbler, a prototype armored car, which will replace what legacy Batman fans always refer to as the Batmobile. Back at Wayne Manor, with the help of Alfred, Bruce constructs the Batcave and ultimately his alter ego…the Batman. When asked why bats, Bruce responds because he is afraid of them and wants his opponents to share in that fear. The rest ladies and gentlemen…is what they call history. I hope I have given you enough to whet your appetite for what will eventually become a baptism by fire for the Batman as he ventures out to rid Gotham City of corruption and spread his own kind of justice. Of course you can expect a few major villains to go bump in the night and try to foil the Dark Knight’s crusade to save Gotham City. Who will ultimately prevail? I guess you will need to watch and find out because the path through Batman Begins only leads to bigger and better things…The Dark Knight.

Batman Begins ultimately became a critical and commercial success. The film eventually grossed more than $370 million worldwide. While not really being a big fan of Chris Nolan’s prior films, I was somewhat judgmental when I heard he was helming the reboot of the Batman franchise. I personally felt it was way too soon after the failure of the last Batman movie in 1997. I now hang my head in embarrassment and admit how truly wrong I was. Chris Nolan not only resurrected the Batman franchise but has also paved a trend for many more superhero movies to follow. If you keep up with entertainment and movie news like I do, then you will know what I am talking about. Just about every news article I read about future superhero movies talk about how the producers and writers are taking cues from Christopher Nolan’s darker version of Batman. Let’s face it…there has to be a serious issue or deep underlying reason why a person wants to become a superhero and Christopher Nolan explores and dissects this theory by making the audience not only care for the Batman but also for his alter identity, Bruce Wayne. Now if that is not deeply psychologically rooted, then I don’t know what is. This is not a film for the kiddies. They just won’t understand the psychosis of everything involved. Like I said before, the journey that Christopher Nolan has created only gets better as you going along.

Video  

Warner Bros. brings us a video transfer with a 1080P VC-1 video encode and a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Unfortunately, here is where I start to digress and take the journey down the road of complaints. While the Blu-ray video transfer is leaps and bounds above the DVD release, it is nowhere close to the reference quality video many current Blu-ray discs portray. There are no problems with the resolution but throughout the entire feature, the colors seem somewhat muted and the image never has that three-dimensional pop that many of today’s Blu-rays exhibit. Some of the shots do look good but the majority of the film is very soft and almost feels as if it has a filter overlaid on top of the image because it almost never seems sharp. The flesh tones all seemed a bit pale to me as well. The good news is that grain is at an absolute minimum for a movie that is mostly dark and filmed in the shadows. While this Blu-ray release may not be of reference quality video, this is definitely the finest High-Definition presentation of Batman Begins that is available and is truly a delicacy for die-hard fans.

Audio  

Like the video, it appears that Warner Bros. has also ported over the audio from the HD DVD release. The audio track of choice here is a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround mix. I have read and heard many conflicting reviews regarding the audio track of the Batman Begins Blu-ray disc. Some people say it is status quo and some same it is reference quality throughout. I fall somewhere in between those two points of view. While I feel the audio definitely has its moments, I would not be inclined to showcase this as a reference audio track. The dialogue is always clear and intelligible throughout the feature. The famous Hans Zimmer also treats us to another fine musical score. The low-end bass is superb during all the action scenes but I just can’t shake the feeling that the rest of the movie just sounds flat during non-action sequences to me. The Dolby TrueHD surround track sounds exactly like the audio track on the HD DVD release of Batman Begins. While the audio track here is nothing to sneer at, I just feel certain dynamics could have been fleshed out a bit more and improved upon.

Special Features  

If there was ever a reason for me to own the Blu-ray release of Batman Begins when I already own it on HD DVD, it was for the six heavenly minutes of The Dark Knight IMAX prologue footage. This is the “Holy Grail” of the Blu-ray release and makes the price of admission and owning the Batman Begins Blu-ray well worth it, even if you own it on two other different formats like myself. The Blu-ray release of Batman Begins was purposely released a week before the theatrical release of The Dark Knight and for many fans it was their first glimpse of the Oscar-worthy performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. This is the first time in a long time in which I am excited about the extras. As a side note, just about every extra from the past HD DVD and DVD releases are included here. The only disappointing thing is that every special feature is in Standard Definition with the exception of the IMAX prologue and theatrical trailer.

The following are the full technical specs as published on the back of the Blu-ray cover art:

In-Movie Experience – (HD) This is the Picture-in-Picture track that delayed the Blu-ray release until the Profile 1.1 was finalized. This is basically a visual commentary with director Christopher Nolan and is joined by the main cast and production crewmembers through a variety of behind-the-scenes footage.

The Dark Knight IMAX Prologue – (HD) This is the entire first 6-minutes of the opening sequence. It is presented in pristine 1080P with a 1.80:1 aspect ratio. This sequence is reference quality and worth every penny.

Tankman Begins – (SD) This is a funny short skit created for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards.

Batman – The Journey Begins – (SD) This is a short 14-minute documentary on the casting process.

Shaping Mind and Body – (SD) This is a 13-minute documentary that shows the training that Christian Bale undertook for the role.

Gotham City Rises – (SD) This is a 13-minute look at the production team tasked with building the various Gotham City locations.

Cape and Cowl – (SD) This is an 8-minute look at the creation of the new Batsuit.

Batman – The Tumbler – (SD) Here is a 14-minute documentary about the creation and concepts of the new Batmobile.

Path to Discovery – (SD) This is a 14-minute look at the challenges the production crew faced in cold climate of Iceland.

Saving Gotham City – (SD) This is a 13-minute tribute to the filming of the action scenes and how they tried to use as little CGI as possible.

Genesis of the Bat – (SD) We get a 15-minute explanation from director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer on how the film was conceived.

Still Gallery (SD) – The still gallery contains a collection of various advertising concepts for the film’s marketing around the world.

Theatrical Trailer – (HD) Don’t let this title fool you. This is only the teaser trailer and not the full theatrical trailer.

Reflections on Writing Batman Begins – (SD) David S. Goyer speaks to his experience in writing the screenplay and how he got inspired.  This 2-minute feature is not overly valuable, but worth a quick watch.

Digital Batman – (SD) This 1-minute feature shows how digital images of batman were more believable then the live batman.  Side-by-side comparisons are used.  Rather a dull extra, but somewhat interesting none-the-less.

Batman Begins Stunts – (SD) This 2.5-minute poor quality extra features shots of how a number of stunts were pulled off during the filming of the movie.  No need to waste your time here.

Final Thoughts  

I guess one of the reasons I initially dismissed Batman Begins upon my first viewing in the theatre, was mainly for a lack of action that I was expecting rather than the psychological story I got. I can only figure that I must have got so numb from the previous Batman franchise that I was not expecting to have to do so much thinking. I was so use to the flashy and flamboyant villains that I did not know what to make of Batman Begins. I don’t want to be misunderstood. In no way did I think that Batman Begins was a bad movie. I just thought it was really different than what I was expecting to see and was amazed at how many fan boys came out of nowhere as a result of the darker Batman story. Then the month of July 2008 came around and my life changed forever. My initial viewing of The Dark Knight made Batman Begins mean so much more to me. I finally saw what I was missing all along in Batman Begins. The audience gets to dive head-first into the psychosis thinking of what is going through Bruce Wayne’s mind as we experience first hand his motivation, training and drive that culminated him into our favorite crime fighter…the Batman. What makes Batman unique is that under the mask and costume, Bruce Wayne is just an ordinary man with no superhuman powers except the ability to free his mind of any fear and devote himself to a higher mission in life…saving the lives of others. Batman is more than a man. He is a symbol. He is a symbol that criminals should fear. He uses this fear to clean up the streets of Gotham City. How brilliant is that?

If you are a Batman fan, then this is a no-brainer. I highly recommend the purchase of Batman Begins Steelbook on Blu-ray. But get it before it is gone… this is a Limited Edition release!

Film 

There is little question that Thelma & Louise is a classic. There were certainly no films like it before and I can’t really think of one since its release. In this regard, it pretty much stands as unique in the history of cinema. Sure there were plenty of road movies before and since and plenty of Buddy films. However, this is the only “Buddy” or “Road” film that I can recall where the two leads were women and not men. The movie world was male dominated 20 years ago and still is. When Thelma & Louise was released, it caused quite a stir in the media, including a cover piece in Time.

How you viewed the film often times depended on your gender, with women loving it, viewing it as a film about the empowerment of women and men hating it anti male given the way Thelma & Louise treated most men in the film. I guess men were not used to seeing men shot and humiliated in films by women. Looking back on it with 20 years’ perspective, all the bluster about the film seems to be just that, bluster. It is simply a great film about two interesting and complex women and one that I am grateful to see make its debut on Blu-ray.

I am sure that most of you already know the plot line of the film. Thelma & Louise are played brilliantly by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. Thelma is a housewife trapped in a loveless marriage to a real boob and leading a life totally devoid of even a hint of excitement or passion. Louise is a long time friend who works as a waitress in a diner who has some hidden demons that manifest themselves early enough in the film.

They decide to have a little fun and meet to go fishing in the mountains. Along the way they stop at a truck stop for some drinks where Thelma is hit on by Harlan Puckett (Timothy Carhart), a married man who is well known at the restaurant/bar as a pick-up artist. Thelma has too much to drink and feels sick while dancing. She goes outside for some fresh air where Harlan tries to rape her after she rejects his affections. Louise comes upon the scene while trying to locate Thelma as Harlan is just starting ito manhandle Thelma over the hood of a car and breaks it up with a gun from Thelma’s handbag to the back of Harlan’s head.

While leaving, Harlan says something derogatory to Louise who turns around and shoots and kills him. Rather than call the police, the two flee the scene. When the murder is discovered, the police, led by Detective Hal Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) quickly zero in on Thelma & Louise as suspects and begin to pursue them as they attempt to escape to Mexico. As they cross several states as part of their escape, they engage in criminal activity to finance their efforts to avoid capture at the hands of just about every law enforcement agency in the Southwest United States.

*Spoiler Alert*

Along the way, they truly discover themselves and even enrich their friendships, to the point that they commit suicide together rather than get caught, as they drive their car over the edge of the Grand Canyon as the film ends with that unforgettable sight of their car suspended in the air over the canyon before they can begin the plunge to their deaths.

Despite the subject matter, the film is filled with humor and is a very entertaining 129 minutes. Thelma & Louise is an unforgettable film that is as good today as when it was released way back in 1991 and is highly recommended.

Video 

I have no recollection as to how this film looked in the theaters 20 years ago. I am not sure that anyone would have having only seen the film once 20 years before. That said, this is a fine looking encode. The film has a pleasing looking color palette which is a bit skewed to the color cyan, with colors having a light blue tinge to them. Black levels are good and stable and consistent throughout the film but far from reference. Color saturation, detail, shadow detail and clarity are all good, although the overall look of the film is a tad on the soft side.

I found film grain to be well preserved with the overall video presentation maintaining that film like appearance. Other than during the opening sequence of the film where slight banding was present, I noticed no significant encoding issues. The print used for the release looked clean and in excellent shape. Fans of the film should be more than pleased with the look of the film on its initial Blu-ray release.

Audio 

All in all I was quite pleased with the audio here. While the sound design is a bit front heavy, the overall fidelity of the recorded sound was excellent, sounding smooth, rich and open with not even the hint of hardness evident. Bass response was particularly strong and most noticeable during the film score and sound effects. The dialogue track was well recorded and always intelligible. All in all, the sound reproduction here is of top notch quality.

Special Features 

I found the extras presented here to be rather mundane. The extras include an audio commentary with director Ridley Scott as well as one featuring Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and screenwriter Callie Khouri. We also get a featurette on the making of the film and the reaction to it entitled “Thelma & Louise: The Last Journey” which is presented in standard definition and appears to have been ported over from the prior DVD release of the film.

Also included is an extended ending to the film with commentary by Ridley Scott, where he explains why the extended ending was deleted from the film. The extras also include several extended and deleted screens, a mutli-angles storyboard of the final chase scene as well as the original trailer for the film and a “Part of You, Part of Me” music video by Glenn Frey.

Final Thoughts 

It was great to see Thelma & Louise again after 20 years. its initial release on Blu-ray looks and sounds about as good as this film can and should please the many fans of this film and is highly recommended.

The aforementioned Adam Sandler came to mind immediately. Has he ever made a decent film other than perhaps Anger Management. Just how many insipid and downright insulting films we he continue to be able to make? Another person to add to that list is Katherine Heigl. While she is certainly attractive enough and has a much more pleasant personality than either Ms. Anniston or Mr. Sandler, just how many boring, predictable and sugary films will she make before even the chick fleck crowd has had a enough? It just so happens that the latest Katherine Heigl vehicle to fall into this category, Life As We Know it, is the subject of this review.

Film 

I guess you can gather from my introduction that I am not a big fan of this film. In that regard you are correct. Katherine Heigl is certainly a beautiful woman and the camera sure likes her as they say. However, for the life of me, I can’t imagine why an actress like her makes such bland and boring films. Perhaps it is due to the fact that she has a terribly limited range as an actress, that keeps her going to the same well over and over and in that regard, she is probably better suited for the small screen. In any event, given that she is listed as one of the producers of this film, this one is all on her.

The film opens with Katherine Heigl as Holly, in the far too familiar role as a beautiful, talented and yet unattached woman longing for the right guy. Sound familiar? She is fixed up on a blind date by her good friends with one of their other best friends, Messer (Josh Duhamel), a sports TV producer for the Atlanta Hawks telecasts, who it turns out is for want of a better term, a boob and not a good fit for a date with the accomplished, serious and sensitive Holly. The date is, drum roll please, a disaster. However, shortly thereafter, the couple that set them up were killed in a car crash.

In one of those “What were they thinking moments”, the couple designated both Holly and Messer as the guardian of their goddaughter Sophia in their will. Against their better instincts, well, at least Messers, both Holly and Messer moved into their friends’ house to raise Sophie together, sharing all the the parenting duties equally, while trying to live their separate lives as well.

I bet you can write the rest of the script yourself as well as the happy ending for all involved. Yes, the film is totally predictable. Yes, Katherine Heigl reprises the same role yet again. The film does have its moments, most of them involving the goofy neighbors, who for me are the only high points of the film. Unfortunately, those high points are few and far between. If you are looking for a harmless and syrupy chick flick. Life As We Know it may be just the thing for you. The rest of you may want to skip this baby entirely.

Video 

I must say that I was expecting a better looking picture than the one we are provided with here. It is hard for me to find fault with the encode as I could not find any obvious encoding issues. The fault lies with the look of the film itself. While the film features a well saturated color palette, the colors are skewed to the colors orange and brown. As a result, everyone looks as though they have a deep tan. Blacks are fairly deep and stable but nothing to write home about.

The main issue I have with the look of the film is that is is soft, too soft and lacking much in the way of detail and depth. The word flat comes to mind in describing the look of the film. FIne skin textures and background details just aren’t there. Everything has this smoothed over soft appearance and was a bigger disappointment than the film itself.

Audio 

Given the nature of the film, I was not expecting a very dynamic sound design and in that regard, I was not disappointed. There is certainly nothing wrong with the quality of the sound, as the film’s overall fidelity is quite good, sounding smooth and detailed with good albeit far from reference levels of transparency. The musical score in fact sounds quite good throughout the film. Where the sound falls short is in the design of the sound field which is very front heavy, so much so, that the film might as well have been in stereo. However, this rather elemental sound design seems to be par for the course for this type of film and hence was just what I expected.

Special Features 

Life As We Know It comes as a combo pack, with a Blu-ray copy of the film as well as a second disc which contains a DVD copy of the film together with a digital copy. The extras are as lackluster as the film itself.

The extras include 16:38 minutes worth of deleted scenes as well as three very short featurettes, the longest clocking in at 7 minutes 5 seconds.

The featurettes include:

• “A Survival Guide To Instant Parenting” finds the cast of the film giving their own parenting advice while trying to be funny

• “Katherine Heigl: Becoming the Best Mom Ever” involves Katherine Heigl discussing the fact that she became a new mom herself just before the film began shooting and the effect that that had on her role

• “Josh Duhamel: The Triple Tamer” finds Josh Duhamel describing what it was like working with the Tamer triplets, who each played Sophia during the course of the film

The best I can say about the extras is that at least they are presented in HD.

Final Thoughts 

Life As We Know It is yet another in a series of predictable chick flicks starring Katherine Heigl. If you are looking for that type of film, by all means check it out The rest of you, well….. Rated as a rental at best.

Film 

The film opens at a top secret base in Germany where a worker finds a small dog outside his office. He brings the puppy inside and introduced her to his own dog, Rex. He instantly detects something is wrong and begins barking at the dog, which leads to the worker bringing him outside. When Rex looks in through the window he sees the puppy taking pictures of top secret documents who then takes off her disguise and reveals to be Kitty Galore (Bette Midler), a villainous cat. Rex reports the crime to HQ.

The remainder of the film tells the story of a group of humans, dogs, and cats all playing a role in bringing down Kitty Galore and her sinister plans.

Well a movie like this obviously isn’t very appealing for adults, I found that it was bearable for myself; and probably would be rather entertaining for children. The voice acting was pretty impressive as there were a lot of recognizable voices and cool effects.  There weren’t a whole lot of recognizable faces as far as the actual actors were concerned, but I did really like Katt Williams and Chris O’Donnell who you don’t get to see too often. Obviously their performances aren’t Oscar worthy but I think they fit in perfectly with this movie.

Ultimately Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore was a pretty decent movie; there were aspects of it for the whole family. While I wouldn’t recommend an adult go and rent it for themselves, I can easily recommend this one for a family. The story is actually kind of cool, and the effects are pretty spot on. There are some good laughs, for both children and adults; so at the end of the day I’m going to give this one a nod for its genre.

Video 

Presented in 1080p 1.85:1 aspect ratio and encoded in MPEG-4, Cats and Dogs 2 looks great on this Blu-ray presentation.

The CGI itself might not be the most technically sound, but it still managed to look good and not soft or artefact ridden. The only problem I found was the occasional CG shot looking extremely soft, clearly a restriction of the technology and not the transfer. Otherwise detail looks extremely sharp with everything clearly in view.

Minor problems aside, the video presentation is simply great looking and will please fans of the film.

Audio 

Warner has included a 5.1 DTS-HD track with the release of Cats & Dogs 2 and wow does it sound good.  The “action” sequences use the rear channels and bass to create some impressive sounding atmosphere.  I was actually finding myself much more involved in the movie than I probably should have because of the quality of the track.

The weakest point of the track would be the presentation of the dialogue.  This is by no means bad, but from time to time dialogue did sound a bit flat. Overall this small blemish does not take away from an otherwise great sounding track.

Special Features 

While this disc is not packed with extras… there are  a few fun special features included:

• Meow-Takes: Outtakes and Gag Reel
• The Best of the Best Cat vs Dog Animated Showdowns
• Dogs Dishing: Tails from the Bark Side of Hollywood
• Looney Tunes – Coyote Falls

Final Thoughts 

Cats & Dog: The Revenge of Pussy Galore is a good film for the whole family, and while I haven’t seen the first one I can’t compare the two, I can tell you it didn’t leave me confused in any aspects of the plot. I chuckled pretty often but the laugh out loud moments aren’t too frequent. Nonetheless I recommend this one to for families. As far as the disc itself is concerned I was a little disappointed with the video; there were some opportune moments in which they could have showcased as nice crisp transfer but didn’t end up rising to the occasion. The audio was definitely a step up though, and was very well utilized. But where they really dropped the ball was with the supplements which were pretty well nonexistent, a true disappointment.  Overall I’d probably take a pass on this disc, unless you really liked the film otherwise I’d just stick with a rental.

Film 

Garrett (Justin Long) lives in New York and works in the music industry, Erin is doing a summer internship in New York but lives in San Francisco. The two meet up at a bar over an arcade game in which Erin holds the high score. The two have a few drinks together and Erin ends up spending the night at Garrett’s. The two decide to get together again and start a summer fling knowing that she has to leave in 6 weeks. But in typical romantic comedy fashion the two fall for each other and begin a long distance relationship. But the strain is too much and the two have to decide if they are worth turning their lives upside down for.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with this movie overall. I didn’t expect it to be overly funny and it wasn’t but there were enough laughs there to keep me engaged. The story itself wasn’t the worst; the whole long distance thing hasn’t really been played out like that. The cast and supporting cast were great but there was one thing I couldn’t fully get past; the lack of chemistry between Barrymore and Long. I just couldn’t buy the two as a couple; I got more of a friend vibe from them. So I didn’t feel completely invested in their relationship. So this kind of ruined the romantic aspect of the genre, but the comedy was decent enough to save the film.

In conclusion I would recommend watching this movie if you just want to kick back and have a few laughs without having to think too much. But if you’re looking for a laugh out loud funny kind of movie this isn’t for you either. So give it a rent as it really doesn’t have that much replay value.

Video 

Presented in 1080p 2.35:1 and encoded in MPEG-4 Going The Distance looks extremely lackluster for this high-def release.

The most disappointing aspect of the entire transfer was definitely the lack of detail. At times the movie looked little better than an up-converted DVD.  For a movie this new to look like this, is simply inexcusable. Fortunately the entire movie does not look like this.  The films color presentation is the transfer saving grace.  Flesh tones look realistic and other colors (although dull at times), look great.

Color aside the transfer is simply weak and will be disappointing for fans of the film.

Audio  

Warner has included a 5.1 DTS-HD audio track, one that does a very good job presenting the films given material.

Bass and rear channel support was surprisingly active, much more than the average comedy.  Although the soundtrack wasn’t my cup of tea (save for Journey) it did a good job of accompanying the films material.  The music track also meshed well with the films dialogue track, with no balancing issues.

The audio presentation in my opinion is the films strongest point and will please those who listen to it.

Special Features  

Like so many comedies released recently, the special features here are simply filler.  None are interesting and should probably be avoided by even the hardcore fans of the movie.

• How to Have a Perfect Date
• A Guide to Long Distance Dating
• The Cast of Going the Distance: Off The Cuff
• Music Video
• Behind the Scenes of the Soundtrack

Final Thoughts 

The movie itself was better than I thought it would be, there were a few memorable parts and the cast was all around decent. My main issue was of course the chemistry between the two protagonists which was kind of nonexistent. So the movie kind of failed as a romantic comedy but did pretty well as a comedy, so I will recommend it for a rental. Those of you who know and love the movie will be happy to hear that the audio and video transfers were pretty good, although the movie doesn’t do much to test either. The special features are kind of lackluster in terms of volume and content. But nonetheless it’s a decent buy for fans, but otherwise stick to a rental.

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