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  

The best way I can think to describe Battle: Los Angeles is that is a cross between Independence Day and Black Hawk Down, albeit without the humor of Independence Day. In fact, there are scenes lifted right out of both films in this film. The comparisons are obvious. Aliens invade the Earth. They position their attack ships outside of major cities all over the planet The aliens are tall with big heads and spindly legs. They have advanced weaponry that we can hardly deal with. We have a parent with a young child, wounded in the attack who dies. We have an alien with an achilles heel and a brave soldier who figures out how to breach their defenses and bring down each of the mother ships around the world which are controlling each of the attacks. Sound familiar?

On top of this is the gritty look and unrelenting action of a film like Black Hawk Down, presented in a documentary type fashion with hand held jerking cameras. In fact, it is the unrelenting action which is the saving grace of the film as it keeps you are least mildly interested in the film and helps you to overlook the plot and even the lifted dialogue and scenes from other films. It is because of this and the reference video and audio presentations as noted below, that I can give this film a recommendation.

Video  

The video presentation here is darn near perfect and is reference material all the way. The film does not exactly have a bright color palette as it is filled with browns and grays but has exquisite levels of clarity, depth and detail. Blacks are deep and inky. Shadow detail is fantastic.  Each skin pore and blemish, each hair on a soldier’s face is clearly visible as are the fine textures of the uniforms and clothing as well as the metal skin of the military equipment. If you are looking for demo reference material to show off your system and show just what the Blu-ray format is capable of delivering, Battle: Los Angeles is the release for you. The video presentation here is simple sensational. Need I say more?

Audio  

The audio here is a perfect match for the video presentation and is just as reference as the video. The sound mix is superb, with the surrounds engaged aggressively throughout the entire film, placing you smack dab in the center of the action. When the soldiers are holed up in a home in Santa Monica hiding from the advancing alines and trying to regroup, it sounds like you are in the room with them as the room ambiance is captured beautifully. You can hear things falling in the alleys around you, with gun blasts in the distance. The dialogue is beautifully recorded and well placed in the sound field and never ever gets lost in the mix. Dynamics are superb with deep and room shaking bass. The overall fidelity is simply superb, sounding smooth, rich and lifelike with transparency and imaging which is simply off the charts. The sound is just effortless, never straining  and sounds superb, regardless of the volume levels. Listen to this baby cranked up! It really doesn’t get better than this. Superb.

Special Features   

Battle: Los Angeles comes with several extras which while standard fare, are at least mildly interesting. The film comes equipment with what is described as “Command Control” which enables you, via picture-in-picture, to watch storyboard comparisons, battle points and items of interest while watching the film. Quite frankly, watching the film is enough for me. This is a feature that you will only want to access once you have watched the film one time through.

The bulk of the extras consist of featurettes about the making of the film and include “Behind the Battle”, “Aliens in LA”, “Preparing for Battle”, “Creating LA in LA”, “DIrecting the Battle”, “Boot Camp” and “The Freeway Battle”. These featurettes are rather self explanatory as they take you behind the scenes to show how the film was made and show how particular scenes were staged and filmed and feature interviews with the cast and crew.

Final Thoughts  

I found Battle: Los Angeles to be mildly entertaining due mostly to the non stop nature of the action in the film. In addition, this film features reference audio and video presentations that were simply superb. Whether that alone is enough of a reason to purchase a particular title, I will leave up to you.

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 editing style of the opening has shots and scenes crashing against each other with non-diegetic sound f/x of metal and explosions, attempting to make the proceeding life story all the more intense to witness. What follows that is not so much an explosive tale, but more a cavalcade of weak pop songs that do not have the strength to carry the film alone so they are separated by Bieber being smug as a young celebrity, him being a brat in his pre-fame days, and far too many shirtless shots for my comfort.

There are two stories being told in this film. The first being the biography of Bieber, the other a day by day countdown to his sold out show at Madison Square Garden. I can forgive much of Bieber’s aforementioned smugness and brattiness to him being an adolescent who has been launched into super stardom. I even managed to alter my opinion of him slightly when I saw that he is actually capable behind a drum kit. Beyond that, this is a film solely for one of his squealing fans and I am not a part of that flock.

Video

Widescreen 1.78:1. Despite having to fight against aged home videos and a fleet of stage lights, the picture quality comes off very well. The only traces of fuzziness are backgrounds during the concert scenes or the expected haze of showing a cheaply shot youtube video on an HD screen. Beyond that, Justin’s heavily tailored image is clear.

Audio

English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio as well as 5.1 Dolby Surround in French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Oh my, how I am forcibly immersed into the constant screams of his fans. Being a concert film, the sound is always crucial and all of Bieber’s mediocre pop tunes come through with plenty of clarity, as well as the similar mediocrity of guests Usher, Miley Cyrus and the like.

Subtitles available in English,French, Spanish and Portuguese

Special Features

Concert Sance off: Essentially an extended scene. A full look at Beiber’s dance crew getting a chance to demonstrate their dance moves. Entertaining enough, and it is one of the few tings on this disc that doesn’t not incessantly praise Bieber.

Favorite Girl: The complete ballad where Bieber starts off suspending over the crowd in a giant metal heart.

R.I.P Hair Flip: Bieber’s haircut was just about as famous as himself. This documents said haircut being removed, filmed on what might have been a phone camera.

Giving Back: Another extended scene from when two of his handlers hand out tickets to random fans. A very nice gesture and great way to get screaming/crying girls on camera, and from the point of view of the filmmakers, it pays for itself as far as that is concerned since they want to display as much Bieber hysteria as possible.

DVD copy of the film.

Digital Copy of the film.

BD-Live

Final Thoughts

Young people have been pre-sold on this formula for a long time. This film is more polished than his image, and said image is manufactrued to the point that it is hardly decipherable from the previous pop sensation, nor the one that will follow in the next two years or less.

Film  

I guess the best way to describe Gnomeo & Juliet is to think of it as Romeo & Juliet meets Toy Story meets the Hatfields and McCoy’s. The film is set in the fenced in back yard gardens of two adjoining rowhomes in England. The homes are owned by a man and a woman who do not get along. One house is painted blue, the other red. One address is 2B the other Not 2B. get it?

Not only do the two owners not get along, neither do the garden gnomes that inhabit each garden. The red home has red colored gnomes and the blue house, what else, blue colored gnomes. When humans are not watching, the gnomes and all other garden trinkets such as frog fountain ornaments come to life. When humans are watching, they freeze in place, wherever they may be. Sound familiar?

While the film is produced by Elton John’s Rocket Films, it did so in partnership with Disney, so I guess this little bit of “borrowing” was OK. In any event, the gnomes each hate the other group with a passion, with the hatred at times bubbling over into violence and often clouding their collective judgment.

One day, Juliet, a red gnome and daughter of the leader of the red gnomes, sees an orchid growing out of the roof of a nearby greenhouse, that has a flower on it that bears the mark of Cupid’s arrow. She decided that she must have it and slips into a black sock and heads out to get it. As she reaches for it, a blue gnome, Gnomeo, reaches for it too. Their eyes lock onto each other and they fall quickly in love, not realizing that they are both from another clan. They quickly come to realize that but nonetheless try to continue a clandestine love affair.

Along the way, they meet a lonely plastic pink flamingo, Featherstone, who is integral in fostering their love for each other. Needless to say, their family and friends were not accepting of their relationship and in the end, a mass war breaks out between the two clans that threatens their entire existences. Gnomeo & Juliet is filled with many of the characters of Shakespeare albeit in different forms, including Shakespeare himself, although just as a statute.

The story is fairly clever and at times a bit too clever as well as predictable. The film features the voices of the likes of Emily Blunt, James McElvoy, Michel Caine, Jason Statham, Ashley Jensen, Patrick Stewart, Ozzie Osbourne and even Hulk Hogan. Quite a diverse group!

The film is filled with the songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, orchestrations based on their music by Elton John’s one time band mate James Newton Howard and a very pedestrian song written and sung by Elton John and the current flavor of the day, Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga. Gnomeo & Juliet is certainly a cute and at times charming film that does have its moments. While I did enjoy the film a tad, I didn’t like it enough to give a rating any better than a rental. Still, it is worth a look and a film that the entire family can enjoy. Rated as a rental only.

Video  

When it comes to CGI films and those produced by the folks at Disney, the bar is pretty high in terms of video quality. Some of the best demo material out there is Disney product, namely the Pixar stuff, which looks stunning. You can now add Gnomeo & Juliet to that list. The video presentation here met all of my expectations. The image is crystal clear with deep blacks, bright and bold color that is beautifully saturated and detail that is just off the charts. The clarity, depth, detail and resolution on this release is simply stunning and of reference quality all the way. When it comes to Blu-ray computer animated films from the folks at Disney, they sure know how to deliver and deliver they do again with Gnomeo & Juliet.

Audio  

I was just slightly less impressed with the audio than I was with the video. Not that it is bad in any way, it is excellent. The audio has a full, smooth, warm and round sound that is very easy on the ears. Transparency and imaging are excellent. The surrounds are used fairly aggressively throughout the entire film to create a nice immersive sound filed. Perhaps it is because I watched this film shortly after I Am Number Four, but I found that the bass just didn’t mine the very deepest bass regions to warrant a full 5 star rating. Overall, the sound is excellent but falls just a tad, and I mean a tad, short in the areas of deep bass and overall dynamics, enough that I can’t quite give it a 5 star rating. I have no doubt however that fans of the film wont mind.

Special Features  

Gnomeo & Juliet is available in 3D as well as 2D. I was provided with a copy of the 2D combo pack which include the film on Blu-ray as well as DVD. The extras such as they are are rather pedestrian. They include 2 alternate endings, one alternate opening sequence for the film, one alternate scenes and 6 deleted scenes. All come with introductions from director Kelly Asbury of Shrek 2 fame and are all presented in storyboard style with no CGI at all.

The main featurette is a look at the making of the film with Elton John entitled Elton Builds a Garden which discusses the brief history of Rocket Pictures and the making of the film, including interviews with Elton, James Newton Howard and Kelly Asbury.

Also included is the brief Frog Talk with Ashley Jensen as she voices the character of Nanette the frog. Also included is an even shorter featurette “The Fawn of Darkness” that takes a look at Ozzie Osbourne as he voices the character Fawn.

We also get a rather brief “Crocodile Rock” music video featuring Elton John and Nelly Furtado.

Final Thoughts  

While Gnomeo & Juliet is certainly an interesting idea and a novel take on the classic Romeo and Juliet, I really can’t give it a recommendation higher than that of a rental. If you have kids, by all means, give it a look. I am sure they will enjoy it.

Film  

I Am Number Four is produced by the aforementioned Michael Bay and is directed by D.J. Caruso. It is based on the young adult novel of the same name by Pittacus Lore. The crux of the story is interstellar in nature. It seems that race of bad guys, The Mogadorians, hop from planet to planet, taking them over, exploiting their resources and in the process, wiping out the inhabitants (wasn’t that the plot of Independence Day?). In this case, they have already ravaged the planet Lorien. We don’t really know much about that planet other than the nine special ones who were helped to flee the plant along with their individual protectors, who have all made their way to Earth.

It seems that these nine special ones have incredible supernatural powers, even if they have yet to discover them. Bad news for the Earth though, as the Mogadorians have discovered that they are hiding out on the Earth. However, given the Lorien’s special powers, the Mogodorians have to eliminate all of the Loriens on Earth before colonizing the planet as the Loriens have the power to not only protect the Earth but destroy the Mogadorians. The Mogadorians need to strike quickly before the Loriens discover and develop their special powers, and band together to challenge them. This is where we find things when the film begins.

The Mogadorians have killed the first three of the Loriens and are stalking number 4. His protector, Henri (Timothy Oliphant), moves Number 4, John (Alex Pettyfer), who the Mogadorians have tracked to Florida. They move to Paradise, Ohio, where John enrolls in high school, and meets the alluring Sarah (Dianna Agron). However, the Mogadorians, discover his location and move in for the kill, endangering not only John’s life, but that of Henri, Sarah and the residents of Paradise. Will he survive? Will they all survive? Will someone come in at the end to help rescue them all? Will there be a sequel? I will let you watch the film for yourself to decide.

While D.J. Caruso of Disturbia fame is at the helm here, the film has all of the typical earmarks of a Michael Bay production, all action , little plot or meaningful dialogue and plenty of explosions and destruction. It would be nice to know more about the planet Lorien, why its residents look fully human and just how they made their way to the Earth, rather than take the easy way out with nothing but action with some puppy love thrown in. While there is plenty of potential here in this material, it was not explored very well here at all. Perhaps it will be in the sequel, although I am not holding my breath. If you are looking for a rather simple, fast paced, no brainer action film, give I Am Number Four a look. If you are looking for something with a great script and incredible, check out The King’s Speech instead. You will be glad you did. Rated as a rental only.

Video  

There is certainly a lot to love about the video quality on this release. The film certainly features a bright, bold and well saturated color palette although the skin tones are a bit too orange or gold for my tastes. For the most part black levels are outstanding. The level of detail here is exceptional and is about as good as it gets on Blu-ray. Clarity and depth are outstanding as well.

The only real issues I have with the video here is a bit of black crush and some lighter blacks near the very end of the film during, especially during the battle sequence in the interior of the high school. During most of the film, there is little in the way of shadow detail, which is most notable during the dimly lit interior sequences during the basement sequence where Henri is held captiveheld and during the haunted house sequence at the Paradise Halloween Scare festival.

While there is some video noise present during the most dimly lit scenes, it is kept to a minimum and is not much of a distraction. Other than this noise and the issue of black crush and some minor black level issues at the end of the film, this is a fine looking film and is an encode that should more than please fans of the film.

Audio  

Even without much in the way of subtly, this is one fine sounding film. It features a shall we say “robust” audio presentation with balls to the wall bass and dynamics that is of reference quality. While it can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially during the final battle sequence, the audio here is superb and will given your home theater rig, regardless of its cost or complexity, quite a workout. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. Despite the cacophony, the dialogue track never gets lost in the mix. The surrounds are engaged very aggressively during the entire film, providing a totally immersive sound experience. All of the various sound and panning effects were placed perfectly in the sound field and they move seamlessly from speaker to speaker, from side to side and from front to back.

The overall fidelity of the sound is superb, sounding smooth and warm, even at rather high volume levels. If you want to listen at high volumes levels, be forewarned that your sub may be blown into the next room during the fight sequence at the high school football field. The audio track is certainly more than up to the task of providing a robust and dynamic home theater experience that will simply thrill fans of the film and of home theater in general, even if the plot. lacks the same degree of robustness, if you get my drift.

Special Features  

I Am Number Four is available in a three disc combo pack, which includes, in addition to the Blu-ray copy of the film, separate DVD and digital copies of the film. I will say that the extras included here are rather sparse, consisting of a blooper reel, 6 deleted scenes with introductions by D.J. Caruso as well as a featurette focusing on the character of Number Six, played in the film by Teresa Palmer. While the film focus on Teresa Palmer, her training for the role and how her scenes were filmed, the featurette does also feature interviews with D.J. Caruso and members of the cast. The blooper reel is rather pedestrian and nothing more than a bit of filler, given how sparse the extras are here. There is one other deleted scene entitled “Power Prank” that is included with the digital download of the film.

Final Thoughts  

While long on quality audio and video presentations, I Am Number Four is short on just about everything else and most importantly plot, dialogue and character development. In short, a typical Michael Bay film. Rated as a rental only, if just for the sensational audio presentation.

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.

Film  

The Green Hornet is probably the worst of the most recent comic book based films and by a wide margin. As a fan of the old comic book and the very short lived TV series (canceled after one season), I was expecting a lot more than what this film delivers. In hindsight, I should have known better given that the film was written by Seth Rogan. What the film has in abundance, and what most Seth Rogan films seem to always have in great abundance, is stupidity and at times gross stupidity. Cross a super hero film with crap such as Observe and Report and you have The Green Hornet.

This film totally misses the point of what makes The Green Hornet such an interesting character. Rather than the urbane Britt Reid of the old radio series, the comics and the TV series, we get Britt Reid the a-hole, the non stop partier, without any social consciousness at all and one who has total disregard for his sidekick Kato, who here, unlike the prior incarnations of this character, is the only brains behind the duo.

The film picks up showing an early interaction between Britt and his father, played by Tom Wilkinson, the publisher of The Daily Sentinel, one of LA’s great papers. Britt’s father is to be kind, disappointed, with how Britt was running his life. However, Britt is in for a rude awakening when his father dies suddenly and mysteriously as a result of a bee sting. Britt is then placed at the helm of the paper and suddenly and out of the blue, decide to become a superhero. There is no foundation laid for this change and even so, it is played purely for comedic effect. There is a ton of wasted talent here, from the director, Michel Gondray of the Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless MInd, to Tom Wilkinson and to Christoph Waltz as the lead villain.

Sure the film looks good and has some nifty although totally unoriginal special effects and some great gadgets. The problem, the film has no plot and is totally stupid. The real cool version of The Black Beauty featured in the film is not enough to save this film. There is a great story to be told here. However, Seth Rogan is not the man to tell it or star in it for that matter. At best, I can give this film nothing more than a tepid rating as a rental. What a shame and what a wasted opportunity. Hopefully, the next one (isn’t there always a next one these days) will be better, much better, and hopefully, sans Mr. Rogan.

Video  

While I didn’t like the film, I loved the transfer, which looks fantastic. The film features a bright and bold color palette with natural looking flesh tones. Blacks are deep and inky giving the overall image a very nice sense of depth. I found the overall clarity, detail and depth to be excellent. The only thing that keeps me for giving the film a 5 star rating is the level of detail, which although excellent in its own right, falls just a tad short of the very best I have seen and hence, just a bit short of reference quality and I mean just a tad short. On a different scale, the video here would rate a 4.75 out of 5, it is that good.

The transfer is remarkably noise free, even in the very dark sequences and as one would expect given the age of the film, is in pristine condition. Fans of this film should be more than pleased with the video presentation here. It should be noted that I only screened the 2D version of the film as I do not have a 3D display (a Kuro will just have to do!) However, with the exception of a couple of obvious sight gags, I can’t really see 3D adding much here given that the film was not shot in 3D. I will, however, leave that judgment up to you.

Audio  

As impressed I was with the video presentation, I was even more pleased with the audio, where is excellent and of reference quality in every way. The film features excellent dynamics and deep and powerful bass. The bass response is top notch and lacks some of the overly exaggerated bass that we see in some action films which tends to be over the top and bloated. The bass here is rock solid, tight and impactful, without overtly calling attention to itself. I wish that all action films sounded this good. If I had to pick a word to describe the audio here, it would be effortless.

The overall fidelity is smooth and open with excellent transparency and imaging. Depth both from side to side and front to back is exceptional, creating a huge sound field. The surrounds are used aggressively to create an excellent sense of immersion. Sound effects such as explosions and gun shots, and there are many in this film, have an excellent sense of heft and authenticity. The various panning effects are done beautifully as well. All in all, this is a great sounding film that is reference in all respects.

Special Features  

The version of the film that I was provided with is a 3-disc combo pack, containing a 3D version of the film, a 2D version of the film as well as a DVD copy. As I do not have a 3D display, I only watched the 2D version of the film. I believe that in addition to the 3D combo pack, a 2D combo pack of the film is also available. For those of you with 3D capabilities, the 3D disc contains a 3D Animated Storyboard Comparison.

The 2D disc contains many extras including the usual commentaries, a gag reel and deleted scenes. The extras also include The Green Hornet Cutting Room which allows you to edit car cash scenes yourself.

Also included are several featurettes about the making of the film and the film makers including “Trust Me” with director Michel Gondry, a Writing the Green Hornet featurette, The Black beauty: Rebirth of The Cool, The Stunt Family Armstrong,, FInding Kato and The Art of Destruction.

We also get 2 Easter Eggs Jay Chou’s Audition and Double Barrel. While there are a ton of extras here, I can’t say that I found any that were really compelling, with the rating noted above based more on volume rather than content.

Final Thoughts  

The Green Hornet was a huge disappointment for me as a film. There is great potential here with these characters and this is a story that really deserves a much better effort, with people who really understand the characters and what makes action films so compelling. I would just love to see what someone like Christopher Nolan could do with this story. I have seen enough of Seth Rogan. Rated as a rental only.

Film

Jimmy Fallon took a break from smirking his way through SNL sketches to play an overeager cop who has zero skills behind the wheel of a car. Several expensive props destroyed later, he literally runs into a cab operated by an aspiring Nascar racer, played by a nauseatingly sassy Queen Latifah. The two become hap-hazard partners in a scheme to stop a band of (sigh) Brazilian models who have decided to rob banks.

The films kicks off with an immediate overdose of trying-to-be-cool scenarios, such as Queen Latifah performing completely improbable stunts on a messenger bike through the streets of New York. This is followed by her car transforming like the Gadget Mobile so she can place lives in danger on the road and shatter any and all traffic safety laws, all for the sake of lookin’ cool. Throughout the film, this “cool” attitude remains and makes for a complete disconnection with not only the audience, but with the city of New York. This film acts like it has an intimate understanding and love of NYC but does nothing to serve that feeling by having caricature heroes chasing cartoonishly absurd villains.

Yes, Gisele and the other models as the bank robbers, how could I get through this review without addressing their talents? Gisele’s acting skills are confined to her making the odd kissy face. Beyond that, she has to rip off her clothes and/or molest another woman in order to grab your attention and remind you that she is more than just a gun-toting mannequin in this film.

Taxi is simply a gigantic waste of stunt people and a sizable budget. All the gags fall flat (I mean, they even rip off a laughing gas gag from Lethal Weapon 4…the fourth Lethal Weapon sequel for crying out loud! And even then LW4 stole it from several others, up to and including the Simpsons), and the cast is devoid of charm.

Video

Widescreen 2.35:1. There are a lot of cars in this film, and they all looked freshly washed under the HD treatment. As good as the HD is for this release, it causes some problems as some dated CG and green screen graphics become more apparent when placed amongst ultra-clean footage of real people and places. A hazard of clarity.

AVC runs at an acceptable 22 MBPS.

Audio

This disc is absolutely loaded with audio options. Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French (both Quebec and Parisian), Spanish (Stereo only, Castellano is 5.1)), German, Italian, Czech and Turkish. Subtitles are also offered for the same languages just mentioned, plus additional texts for Korea, Netherlands and possibly others, I was losing track of them all after a while. Also included are dubbed director commentary tracks in Spanish, French and German. Never mind the huge budget depressing me, now I’m imaging how many countries are being distributed this schlock.

My subjective criticisms of the film’s quality aside, this is a well treated soundtrack. The music is booming when it wants to be obvious and the dialogue is clear enough so that not a single failed joke is missed (sorry, obviously I cannot just let it go).

Special Features

Director Commentary: Tim Story uses the word “fun” to describe his reasoning (or his excuse) for everything, be it the irrational stunts, the casting of models whose acting talents resemble Oak, the overblown set pieces and all the other junk that he tries to justify. On top of this, he his bland speaking voice has no presence. I cannot fathom him having any sort of authority on a major movie set. I am baffled.

The Meter’s Runnin’ Making Of Featurette: This mostly consists of Jimmy Fallon mugging for the camera. Another waste of time.

Lights, Camera, Blue Screen: A remedial explanation of how Blue Screen effects work that would be better left as a feature on a Star Wars DVD, or at least hosted by someone with more than one facial expression.

Tour Guide: Jimmy Fallon: Fallon’s mugging of the camera obviously worked as he leads a boring tour through the studio set. If you watch it in fast forward, it hurts less.

Comedy Central’s Reel Comedy: Taxi: Two of the stars of Reno 911 do a profile/sketch about the film in what is the ONLY funny thing on this disc. These two know how to improvise and manage to spark a little something from Latifah too. But even this gets old fast when you realize what film they are talking about.

Beautiful Criminals: A musical montage compiling nothing but footage of the models. As boring as it is, it could easily replace the film in my books…and I don’t mean that in a misogynist, hound dog sort of way…I just think it has a better plot.

Deleted Scenes: I could not sit through this even though it lasts less than 5 minutes (I think). Each is worse than anything left in the film…and that is a VERY harsh insult.

Final Thoughts

There must be some sort of irony in how the main character is trying so desperately to win back his credibility on the police force while Jimmy Fallon explodes any remaining credibility he had while portraying him. Bleh. Steer clear of this one (see that embarassing pun I just made? THAT was wittering than anything this film provided).

Film  

To say that I loved The Incredibles when I first saw it in the theater would be an understatement. This is one great film and as far as I was concerned, should have won the Oscar for Best Motion Picture, not just best animated feature. The movie s that good. I had heard of the writer/director Brad Bird due to his fine work in the film The Iron Giant and was curious to see if he could top himself with The Incredibles. Top himself, indeed he did!

The film tells the tale of Bob Parr and his family. It seems that some 15 years prior, a group of superheroes, Supers if you will, became sort of passe. After a few mishaps that occurred during their daring rescues, there were just too many lawsuits for property damage and personal injury for the general public and the Supers went into a forced retirement into the witness protection program if you will. They were given new identities and told to never use their super powers again. One of those Supers was Mr. Incredible who is now known exclusively as Bob Parr. Bob now works in the unglamorous world of insurance claims deciding which claims to par or deny (Mostly deny as per company policy. After all, why would an insurance company want to pay a claim, cuts into the profits you know!)

Bob is married to another Super, Elastigirl aka Helen and they have three kids together Violet, Dash and the baby, Jack-Jack. Bob quite understandably misses the limelight and the thrill of being a super and falls easy prey to a sinister villain who, taking full advantage of his insecurities and unhappy lot in life, brings him to a mysterious island for the purpose of killing him. It seems that this villain has been killing off the Supers once by one.

As far as anyone knows, they are simply disappearing. Now it is time for Mr. Incredible to meet a similar fate. When Helen finds out that Bob has been moonlighting as a Super again, she travels to confront him as she thinks he is having an affair. Unbeknownst to her, her two oldest kids stow away on her plane which comes under attack as she approaches the island where they set of to rescue Bob and save the world from the sinister villain.

The film deals with many interesting issues that are geared to the adult audience. Despite this, the film works beautifully for children, which is Brad Bird’s greatest skill. He is able to craft fine films dealing with very adult topics which yet appeal to all age groups. Intelligent films that appeal to a mass audience. What a concept!. The Incredibles is a must own film. if you have not yet experienced it, get this release. You will be glad you did.

Video  

May I dare say that the video presentation of The Incredibles on Blu-ray is perfect? Yes, I said it, perfect!. While the DVD looks spectacular, the Blu-ray is even better, and by a wide margin. The film features bright and bold colors and deep inky blacks. Detail, clarity and depth are all astonishing, mind blowing in fact. The bigger the screen, the better this release looks. Take a gander at the lush colors from the orange red of the uniforms, to the lush green island and the silky blue water of the ocean. This is a spectacular looking film and I think, Pixar’s best.

The detail on the uniforms is superb as well as the hair, the texture of the water and just about every other element of the video presentation, which pushes the limits of Blu-ray to its maximum. The video here is just superb. The Incredibles on DVD was of reference video quality. Now it is just that on Blu-ray as well. If you are looking for a disc to show off your system or see what it is truly capable of producing, this is the release for you. It is a must have for film and home theater fans alike.

Audio  

As good as the video presentation is, the audio matches it in every way possible. The film features incredible fidelity with transparency to die for. The surrounds are used aggressively to create the sense of total immersion. The panning sound effects are superb. Bass is deep and solid without even the hint of bloat and dynamics are off the charts. Need I say more? The film is just repleat with demo sequences. The audio presentation of The Incredibles is what home theater is all about. As good as the audio was on the DVD, the lossless audio track on Blu-ray takes that quality up a few notches and is truly of reference quality.

Special Features 

The Incredibles is available on Blu-ray in a 4-disc combo pack. The combo pack includes the film and some extras on Blu-ray disc 1, Blu-ray disc 2 contains additional extras in both high definition and standard definition, a DVD copy of the film on disc 3 and disc 4 containing a digital copy of the film.

The extras on disc 1 include a new roundtable made for the Blu-ray release where Brad Bird and his chief production people sit down and discuss their recollections of the issues involved in making the film. Disc 1 also contains a couple of audio commentaries as well two short films, Boundin’ as well as the Jack-Jack Attacks from the prior DVD release, both of which presented in HD.

Disc 2 includes the extras ported over from the prior DVD release including the easter eggs found on that release as well as a series of deleted scenes that are presented in HD for the first time via storyboards with introductions by Brad Bird and producer John Walker. Also included is an interactive game “The New Nomanisan Island Redevelopment game, where Nomanisan Island is turned from the headquarters of an evil villain into a vacation island. After a brief introduction, you can access each of the island’s new vacation locales just in case you were planning a trip.

The extras also include interviews with animators entitled Path to Pixar: Story Artist as well as a story from one of the animators entitled “Studio Stories: Gary’s Birthday”. If you have the prior DVD release of the film, you have seen the most interesting of the extras already. Of the new material, the only one I would recommend as a must see is the new retrospective piece. As far as the rest are concerned, you can always get to them later. The real gem here is the film.

Final Thoughts  

Perfect film, perfect video and perfect audio. Perfect in all respects. The Incredibles on Blu-ray has it all and is a MUST OWN.