More and more of us, myself included, know someone with Autism or one of the Autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger’s Syndrome. For me, this topic hits home as I have a son with just such a condition. I thought it would be very interesting to see if my views of Rain Man and its treatment of the topic of Autism would change in light of my personal experiences with the subject. I can report that is has only increased my respect and appreciation for the film as well as all those involved in its production.

Film  

Needless to say, I guess you can say that I am a bit biased in how I view Rain Man given my personal experience with Autism. I will say that I loved the film even before I had any personal experience with the condition or even knew anyone who had been diagnosed with it. Looking back on the film all these years later, my appreciation has only increased. I can relate to the character of Charlie Babbitt (played brilliantly by Tom Cruise) as he grows exasperated by his brother Raymond’s (Dustin Hoffman in an Oscar winning performance) preoccupation with his underwear. In fact, there are numerous instances in the film just like that which I can relate to, having experienced similar things myself, although not quite as extreme.

Rain Man is a brilliant film, brilliantly written, acted and directed. The fact that it won 4 Oscars for Best Picture, Actor, Director and Screenplay is no surprise looking back all these years later. That is not always the case with the Oscars, which sometimes leave you scratching your head with the selections in hindsight, much like the Grammy’s. The film itself is rather interesting in how it evolves.

The film opens with Charlie in a bit of a business bind, when the cars he is importing from Europe won’t clear customs in Los Angeles due to not being equipped with the proper emissions equipment. Not being able to deliver the cars and collect the fees will ruin his business. While dealing with this issue, he is advised that his father has died. While Charlie has not seen his father in years and had an estranged relationship with him, he returns to Cincinnati for the funeral, ostensibly to collect his inheritance, as money seems to be the only thing that Charlie can appreciate.

Much to his surprise, his father left the bulk of his estate in trust for someone else, leaving him with just an old car, a valuable one at that, but far from the $3 million he was expecting. He quickly finds out that the money was left in trust for the lifetime care of an autistic brother he didn’t even know that he had when he visits the institution where he resides. Charlie decides to essentially kidnap his brother Raymond and tale him back to Los Angeles as a way to break the trust and collect at least half of the inheritance that he feels is his. Along the way, in dealing with his brother, Charlie changes and becomes a much better man, learning to actually love his brother, even though he does use his brother’s unbelievable skills to make enough money in Las Vegas to rescue his business.

While Charlie takes quite an intellectual and personal journey during the film, Raymonds’ is just a physical one. Raymond remains utterly the same from the beginning of the film to the very end. It is just Charlie who has evolved and for the better. Rain Man is a great film that has withstood the test of time. While I may be a bit biased, if you haven’t seen this film, please do, if just to learn a little about the subject of autism. You will be glad you did. Rain Man is very highly recommended.

Video  

While I loved the film, I can’t say that I loved the visuals all that much. Rain Man is heavy on the grain which is fine by me. The issue I had with the visuals relates to the fact that the image is very soft with mediocre blacks at best. The color is also a bit undersaturated which along with the mediocre, leaves the picture looking a bit flat and very dated looking. If you are looking for an image that is sharp, vibrant and detailed, Rain Man is not the film for you, as is soft and flat. I do not know if this is how the film is supposed to look as I have not seen it in years in a theater. Whether the film is in the need of a major restoration I will leave to others. While Rain Man is not the best looking Blu-ray I have seen, it is such a great film that really deserves a look.

Audio  

For me, the real star on the audio front is the musical score which sounds fantastic. The music track is smooth and full with deep bass with excellent transparency and fidelity. The depth of the music is superb, as you are able to hear deep into the music, which is utterly three dimensional. Hans Zimmer’s original score sounds fantastic. The rest of the audio is good but not up to the level of the music.

The rest of the sound design is rather front heavy, with only occasional and subtle use of the surrounds. An immersive sound mix this is not. The overall fidelity is good although not quite up to that of the musical score, sounding a bit thinner and flatter than the music. The dialogue track is well recorded and well presented in the mix. Were it not for the quality of the music in this mix, it would rate no more than a 3.5 on a scale of 5. The fidelity of the music is so good to pull the overall score up to a solid 4.

Special Features 

The extras here are rather mundane in terms of originality. The extras include separate audio commentaries from director Barry Levinson, writer Barry Morrow and writer Ronald Bass. Also included is one deleted scene. There is the typical behind the scenes making of featurette entitled “The Journey of Rain Man”. For me, the best of the extras is the featurette “Lifting the Fog: A look at the Mysteries of Autism”, where experts in the field discuss autism, although not in the depth I would like. What is most interesting about this featurette is the interviews with two men with Autism, Joseph Sullivan and Peter Guthrie, who were the two men who formed the basis of Dustin Hoffman’s interpretation of Raymond. It is clear that Dustin Hoffman patterned his speech and mannerisms on Peter Guthrie. I also found the insights provided by Peter Guthrie’s brother into living with a brother with Autism. This is the one featurette which is well worth a look and is highly recommended.

Final Thoughts  

Rain Man is a great film featuring stellar performances by both Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. While not the best looking film on Blu-ray, the film is so good that it is a worthy addition to the collection of any film fan and is very highly recommended.

Film

The movie follows a same sex relationship between Julianne Moore and Annette Bening and their two children who were conceived through artificial insemination. Now that the kids are teenagers and have been dealing with pressure and confusion they look to seek out their biological father for guidance.

Their father played by Mark Ruffalo ends up not living up to their expectations with his very liberal values and laidback lifestyle and when the mothers find out about their children meeting the father, they decide to meet him as well… and the story goes from there.

The plot is edgy and deals with subject matter that isn’t mainstream yet so it’s great to give it respect for that and with the recent golden globe win for best comedy and best actress for Annette Bening the movie has critical praise. However I had a few issues with the story on a fundamental level, which may be considered picky, but it’s really just my opinion.

First of all Annette Benning is really great in her performance, whether or not she’s flat out making you mad at her character’s very unrealistic expectations to her character making you cringe when she does something embarrassing… the fact she can illicit an emotion from the audience that quickly is phenomenal, however Julianne Moore who I am usually a fan of, has some awkward moments where I felt her performance felt forced. She usually is able to play her roles very well and with a layer of subtlety that makes it that much more engaging but with her role of Jules, I felt I was just waiting for her character to stop speaking so I could appreciate the better actors in the movie.

Also the ending was a bit of a letdown with me, I’m usually one who comes down on length with movies and wishes that they took out minutes and minutes of useless scenes, however with The Kids are All Right I found that Mark Ruffalo character doesn’t get much closure, I still had questions that simply weren’t answered, I really wish they would’ve used some of the running time on elaborating on the actual meat of the story rather than wasting it on out-of-place sex scenes and some random slapstick humor that didn’t add anything to the story.

Albeit the film is a critical darling and has a lot going for it; some very fundamental issues with the story itself makes me think that the writers were more concerned with bring this kind of story to the screen and didn’t really spend the time to refine said story.

Video

The Kids are All Right’s video is displayed using the VC-1 codec and in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The video is a prime example of a Hollywood colour scheme, with very pleasing colour grading that makes use of complimentary tones between the highlights and shadows. The vibrant colours are a great basis for a good image… albeit a little stale in the realm of creative expression, the film isn’t exactly supposed to be groundbreaking on the technical level; it saves that for the content of the script which is perfectly fine.

The brightness and contrast levels area good level, the image pops and the contrast keeps the black levels in the deeper range. There’s no artefacting or distortion and the film is free of scratches or imperfections, which is to be expected for a new release and the transfer seems to keep up on all counts. The grain or noise isn’t an issue either, even during the night shots everything stays nice and clean.

Audio

The Kids are All Right’s audio comes at us using the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 codec. Obviously this is not the kind of movie that will take advantage of the low frequency or crazy surround panning, but great mixes don’t need to consist of those things in order to shine. The audio quality for The Kids are All Right is definitely a good example of a conservative mix done well.

Dialogue is clear and centered, there’s no hissing or noise and due to the fact the mix is front heavy the rest of the mix settles mostly amongst the front towers. The surrounds really get little to no use except to add emphasis to the score or some subtle reverberation within the mix.

The low frequencies aren’t roaring out of control… They get its use adding lower range to the score and other elements accordingly.

Special Features

The Kids are All Right doesn’t really have any worthwhile extras, with a commentary track and three featurettes all in HD, that doesn’t sound terrible, but considering the featurettes are barely ten minutes in running time combined the commentary track has to be pretty amazing if it’s the only extra with potential.

The featurettes are run of the mill and cover the casting and writing process all in the expected EPK format. However the commentary track isn’t as bland as I thought it’d be, it’s with director Lisa Cholodenko and is pretty in depth, which helps fill some of the gaps left from the lacking behind-the-scenes coverage. So although the track manages to be insightful, it doesn’t make up for the lack of extras especially when this could’ve been a platform to get some great information in relation to equality movements across to a wide audience of movie fans who want to see what the buzz is about.

Final Thoughts

The film is definitely a good watch and carries a message that is very important. With a very impressive audio and video presentation for a drama the Blu-ray would be a nice addition to those who want to a film that looks and sounds great but also has a strong story behind it. The general lack of extras makes the disc less valuable but it’s a great flick to rent and enjoy for a night in.

Film 

I am sure that all of you are well familiar with the film Alice in Wonderland. The film was released to theaters in 1951 and is based on the beloved children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll which is now well over a hundred years old. Alice in Wonderland was in production at Disney for 20 years as Walt Disney struggled with adapting the book to film, which turned out to be quite difficult. There were numerous renderings of the film performed and it was not until Disney artist Mary Blair’s renderings of the sections of the story in the second half of the 1940′s that Disney found the visual look that would make the film possible.

The film tells the story of Alice who is sitting in the English countryside while listening to her sister reading a history book to her. She dozes off and images that a white rabbit with a large pocket watch runs by. Alice follows him and falls down a rabbit hole, to a magical land below the Earth. While there, she encounters several fascinating characters, including the famous smiling Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, The Madhatter and the Queen of Hearts, who seemingly want to cut off everyone’s head. Alice finally awakens from her slumber and returns to reality but presumably, will always remember the adventures she experienced while dreaming.

Of all the early classic Disney films, Alice in Wonderland is probably the hardest to get one’s mind around due to the fact that it is really so surreal. However, it is one that I have always enjoyed since seeing in on TV as a child. Despite it’s age, the film holds up beautifully 60 years after its release and was a joy to experience in high def on the Blu-ray format, especially the unforgettable tea party scene with the Madhatter, voiced brilliantly by Ed Wynn. Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is highly recommended for film fans of all ages.

Video 

Alice in Wonderland is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:33:1 with black bars on the side filling out the 16:9 aspect ratio of the high definition format. These bars can also be replaced with artwork as part of Disney View for those so inclined The picture is simply beautiful, with a bright and bold and beautifully saturated colors and deep and inky blacks. The film is awash in greens, blues, reds and yellows that simply pop off the screen. The layering of one set of images over another to create a particular scene is very evident, given the excellent black levels which creates an excellent sense of depth.

The image is also razor sharp and crystal clear. It would appear that film grain was removed in the re-mastering process which may be an issue for some purists out there. However, while I am one of those who would prefer that film grain be presented to the best extent possible, I have no issue with the work done here, given the beautiful results and the fact the original art work itself from which the film was made was grain free. While it appears that film grain was removed, the rest of the film is untouched. Note for example the misspelling of Lewis Carroll’s name during the opening title sequence. There is no question that Alice in Wonderland has never looked anywhere close in the home to how it looks on Blu-ray, and is another in a string of fabulous restorations from the folks at Disney. Very well done.

Audio 

I was not exactly looking to be bowled over by the audio here given the age of the film and was therefore not disappointed with the audio. I did most of my listening to the 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio track but also did a comparison to the Dolby Digital mix as well. For me, the clear winner was the DTS HD master Audio track which had a richness and smoothness of sound that the Dolby Digital track just could not match.

In comparison the Dolby track sounded thin, shrill and shallow. The lossless DTS HD Master Audio track is the only way to go. While the original film elements were remixed to the 5.1 format, the sound field is rather front heavy with only very occasional aggressive use of the surrounds speakers. I was not expecting a dynamic sound experience and didn’t receive one. However, the dialogue, music and effects were all recorded very well and presented here about as well as they could have been.

I really can’t image the film sounding any better than it does on the lossless track featured on this release given the age of the film. I did not one anomaly with the audio and that is that the Dolby Digital track and not the DTS HD Master Audio track was the default audio track. Therefore, make sure that you select the lossless track at the start of the film. Switching back and forth between the lossless and lossy tracks during the opening title sequences of the film, the superiority of the former is readily apparent.

Special Features 

Alice In Wonderland is presented in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. The release therefore contains two discs, one containing the Blu-ray release and all the extras and a DVD release. Surprisingly, the release does not also contain a digital copy of the film.

The Blu-ray copy contains a few new extras that were not contained on the previous DVD release of the film. The first is entitled “Through the Keyhole: A Companion’s Guide to Wonderland” which runs concurrent with the film. The film itself appears in windows moved around the 16 x 9 frame with artwork, text as well as interviews with various film and Disney historians, discussing Lewis Carroll’s life and the book itself, as well as the 20 year effort on the part of Walt Disney to adapt the book into a film. This extra is presented in HD.

Also included is a Painting the Roses Red game which I didn’t find all that interesting. Also included is a short into, in color by the way, of Walt Disney’s introduction of the film when it was shown on TV for the first time in 1959 at Christmas. While I am old, I am not old enough to remember that showing as I was just a baby!

We also get two very short featurettes where the voice of Alice, Kathryn Beaumont, introduces a newly discovered pencil test of the Alice Shrinks sequence as well as the live footage of her talking to the doorknob in the beginning of the film, which the animators used as the basis of their animation.

The remaining extras are those ported over from the prior DVD release of the film and include the following:

• I’m Odd: A Newly Discovered Cheshire Cat song with an intro by Kathryn Beaumont
• Thru the Mirror Mickey Mouse Short (presented now in HD)
• Art gallery
• “Reflections of Alice” featurette where film and Disney historians discuss the making of the film
• “Operation Wonderland” which is a visit to the studio during the making of the filmOne hour Christmas TV special from the early 1950′s where ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his two “sidekicks”, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd are invited to a Christmas party at the studio where Walt Disney shows the quests the magic mirror featured in Sleeping Beauty which shows scenes from classic Disney films including Snow White and Song of the South to the quests and TV audience.
• 1930′s era silent short “An Alice Comedy: Alice’s Wonderland”, based loosely on Lewis Carroll’s work, where a young girl visits Walt Disney and the studio and falls into the world of cartoon animation, much like Alice falls down the rabbit hole in the film
• Original 1951 and 1974 theatrical trailers for the film
• Walt Disney TV introduction from 1954 and 1964
• An excerpt from The Fred Waring TV show
• Deleted materials including the deleted scene “Pig and Pepper”, “From Wonderland to Neverland: The Evolution of a Song” which recalls how a song originally intended for the film ended up in Peter Pan, a deleted storyboard concept: Alice Daydreams in the Park and original song demos “Beware The Jabberwock”, “Everything Has a Useness”, “So They Say”, “Beautiful Soup”, “Dream Caravan”and “If You Believe in Me”.

All in all, I found the history behind the making of the film quite interesting and well worth your time.

Final Thoughts 

In Alice in Wonderland, another Disney classic has made its way to Blu-ray and has never looked or sounded any better in the home and is highly recommended for film fans of all ages.

Films

Back to the Future  

Back to the Future Part II  

Back to the Future Part III  

I will be completely honest and upfront about the fact that I love Back to the Future, at least the original film, which is far and way the jewel in this release. It is a great film. The two sequels are more of a mixed bag and rather unsatisfying, especially Part III. They seem to be mere attempts to cash out on the success of the first film. While most of the same team responsible for the first film are back for Parts II and III, I am not sure that they had a clear vision of just where to take these characters, resulting in more of the same techniques used in the first film. If it were up to me and it sure wasn’t, I would have focused more on the future and would have skipped the trip into the old west entirely.

I am sure that most of you are well aware of the plots of the three films. In Part I, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) befriends an old eccentric scientist, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) who just happens to invent a time machine using a DeLorean car. When Doc Brown and Marty are testing the DeLorean at a local mall, they are attacked by a group of Libyan terrorists driving a VW van who are upset with Doc Brown for building them a bogus nuclear bomb. They shoot Doc Brown and Marty jumps into the DeLorean and tries to escape. However, in speeding away, he hits the magic 88 mph mark and is transported back to November 1955.

While there, he interferes with the meeting between his mother and father where they fell in love. In fact his mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) falls for Marty rather than his father. Marty seeks out the only man capable of helping him fix the time line and return to the future, the 1955 version of Doc Brown. This Doc Brown helps Marty fix the timeline thereby saving Marty from being erased from time and concocts a plan to produce the necessary energy to transport the DeLorean back to 1985. Along the way, Marty invents rock and roll and the skate board and puts his parents together.

When he returns to 1985, he finds it and his parents to be very different, in a good way, from the parents he left as a result of his interference in the time line. This film remans as fresh today as it was when I saw it back in 1985. It is beautifully written and cast and is very funny, with two very engaging performances by Michel J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. This is one comedy that has truly stands the test of time and is not to be missed.

As good as part I is, Parts II and III just are a few cuts below. Part II picks up where Part I ended up, although with a different actress playing Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer. It finds Doc Brown returning to 1985 from the future with bad news about Marty and Jennifer’s future children. They travel to 2015 and change the events that would have led to Marty’s son going to jail. However, Marty’s father’s old nemesis Biff, unbeknownst to them, steals the DeLorean and returns to 1955 with an almanac containing all of the results from sporting events from 1950 to 2000 which the young Biff uses to gamble and amass a great fortune.

When Doc Brown, Marty and Jennifer return to 1985 from 2015, they find a very different 1985 from the one they left, with Biff in total control of the town, Marty’s father dead and his mother married to Biff in what can only be described as an abusive relationship. Doc and Marty figure out what happened and they must return back to November 1955 and retrieve the almanac and destroy it, to return 1985 back to where is was at the end of the first film. In doing so, Marty is place back into the same territory covered in the first film, namely the night at the school dance where his parents fell in love and we are given glimpses of the events of the first film from a totally different angle. I found this to be too clever by a half and is the film’s biggest failing. I would have preferred a fresh slate and fresh adventures for Doc and Marty rather than rehash the same old gags.

The film ends as Marty and Doc are attempting to return to 1985. However, while Doc tries to land the time machine, the vehicle is struck by lightning and Doc is transported back to 1885. In Part III, Marty re-enlists the 1955 Doc to help him get back to 1885 and return him and Doc to 1985. However, his efforts are complicated by the fact that Doc has fallen in love with an new school teacher Clara (Mary Steenburgen), at the fact that the DeLorean’s fuel line has been broken so that the car lacks the gas necessary to get up to the 88 mph speed necessary to initiate time travel.

All-in-all, the first film in this set is so good that I have no trouble recommending the purchase of the entire set as it is the only way, at least for now, to get a Blu-ray copy of the film at this time. While Ihave some reservations about the video quality of all three fims, it is not enough of a concern for me not to recommend the set for all film buffs. Recommended.

Video  

I will deal with the video presentations of all three films together as they are basically the same, which is not surprising given that most of the same crew was used to make all three films and that Parts II and III were shot together and released 6 months apart. I must say that I have agonized a bit about what score to give the video quality of these releases because I can state without equivocation that these films have never looked better in the home environment than they do here.

The problem is that they could have and should have looked even better. Why? Because of the excessive application of digital noise reduction and edge enhancement. As a result, the films’ fine grain structure has been stripped away and along with it, fine detail, such as fine facial details. Edge enhancements and halos are visible throughout the film, around the actors’ faces and around the edge of their bodies. Unless your screen is larger than 58 inches, you may not even notice these issues and if so, you will be thrilled with the video quality of all three films.

I was also disappointed to learn that all three films were mastered from 2k rather than 4k masters. While Aliens also had digital noise reduction applied to remove film grain, it was also used more judiciously, preserving all of the fine facial detail that was lost here. Perhaps that is due to the fact that Aliens was mastered form a 4k master which preserved more fine detail that made its way all the way to the final Blu-ray image. In any event, those of you with truly large screens and those of you who are more picky about these things, will more than likely be upset about the presence of DNR and EE on this release. I thought you should be forewarned.

Other that that, all three of the films have a nice natural color palette which does vary just a tad depending on which time period is involved. The 1985 and 2015 sequences have a very natural color palette while those in the past tend a bit to the warm side. This was intentional on the part of the filmmakers and is caused by the use of a yellow membrane applied over the set lighting. It is a subtle effect but one that is there nonetheless. The film also have deep blacks that at times, can be a bit crushed but not all that noticeably especially if your screen is not calibrated.

All-in-all, without the application of DNR and EE, these films would fully merit 4.5 star rankings. However, in light of the application of both, I can rate the films no better than 3.5.

Audio  

While I have some issues with the video, I have none with the audio which is better than I expected. The overall fidelity of the recorded sound is very good, with an openness and transparency that is quite impressive. I found the overall dynamics to be quite good although not exactly reference quality. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix.

The sound effects are excellent as well, especially when the time machine moves forward and backwards in time. The train sound effect are also quite nice as well and very realistic sounding. When the time machine train at the end of Part III booms off into whatever time it is entering, it feels and sounds just like it it going over your head. Panning effects are well done and the surrounds, while not used aggressively throughout the film, are used rather effectively when they are so employed. All in all , all three films sound very nice, especially when you consider the time period in which the films were made.

Special Features  

As one would expect, there are a ton of extras included here which are contained on each of the three films are tied to each of the three films individually. The main extra on each disc are newly created featurettes entitled Tales From the Future, which consist of interviews with the films writers Bob Gale and Bob Zemeckis, the latter of which also directed each film, along with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, producers Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

Deleted scenes are also included, some of which are in pretty bad shape. Disc II features a featurette with Dr. Micho Kaku, a theoretical physicist who is often on the Science Channel, who discusses the scientific validity of time travel as it is portrayed in the three films. Also featured is a Michel J. Fox Q & A, archival featurettes from the prior home video releases of the films, behind the scenes looks at the making of the films, music videos by Huey Lewis and the News and ZZ Top, Q & A Commentaries about the most frequently asked questions about the film and feature commentaries with Bob Gale and Neil Canton.

The trilogy is presented in a 6 disc set, with the three films on Blu-ray discs and digital copies on the other three discs. I would be remiss if I also didn’t comment on the packaging of this release which is by far the worst I have ever encountered. Rather than having the discs snap in place with the traditional center spiral, the digital copy and Blu-ray discs side over each other in a way that makes it nearly impossible to get the discs out of the trays. I was afraid that I would crack the discs in doing so, they are wedged in so tightly. Whoever designed this packaging should be fired. I hope to never see the likes of it again.

Final Thoughts  

Even without the issues I had with the video presentations here, these films have never looked better at home than they do here. Back to the Future is such a great film and belongs in the collection any any film fan. As I doubt that there will be any new editions of these films any time soon, I can recommend this set to any fans of the films, despite my reservations.

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

Film

Although many of the other films in the Mel Brooks Collection had me laughing out loud, none did so with the frequency and consistency of Spaceballs.  From front to back, this film was funny, charming, smart, and avoided much of the juvenile pee-pee poo-poo humor that afflicted Mr. Brooks’ later works.  Yes, there are phallus jokes and innuendo.  Yes, there are bits that may be considered a bit juvenile.  However, this film delivered consistently funny material, and was a pitch-perfect send-up of sci-fi movies.

The plot is fairly straightforward.  The planet Spaceball used up its air, and wants the air of the planet Druidia.  Princess Vespa of Druidia (played by the lovely Daphne Zuniga), flees a loveless wedding to the narcoleptic Prince Valium (Jim Bullock in a poor cameo), and becomes a kidnap target of the evil Spaceball, Dark Helmet (played fantastically by the underrated Rick Moranis).  Meanwhile, Captain Lone Starr (played straight yet funny by the also underrated Bill Pullman) and his sidekick Barf (an underused John Candy) is hired by King Roland (the always enjoyable Dick Van Patten) to bring his daughter back.  As Lone Starr owes Pizza the Hutt (Dom DeLuise in a great role) lots of spacebucks, he has no choice but to accept the offer.  Even Mr. Brooks himself plays two characters in the film – President Skroob of Spaceball, and Yogurt, who teaches Lone Starr about “The Schwartz”.     

If you like science fiction, you will like this movie.  References abound to Star Wars, Plant of the Apes, Alien (one of the funniest in the film, including a nod to Looney Tunes), Star Trek, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Furthermore, the enjoyment of sci-fi entails a certain suspension of disbelief – Mr. Brooks recognizes this, and plays it to full effect. 

The cast is also excellent, with the aforementioned Rick Moranis playing his best role, one that is at a level equivalent to his work in Ghostbusters and Little Shop of Horrors.  Bill Pullman is superb, and even John Candy does well with his usual mugging as Barf.  And believe it or not, by using Joan Rivers as the voice of Dot Matrix, Mr. Brooks has managed to find a voice more annoying than that of C3P0 in Star Wars.

On the down side, there was a little too much Jewish humor, be it “The Schwartz” or the jokes made at the expense of the “Druidish Princess”.  These types of jokes propagate stereotypes, will appeal only to certain segments of the viewing audience, and are the only weakness in the film’s humor.

However, these are small niggles, and overall the film avoids much of the cornball that marred both Robin Hood: Men in Tights and History of the World: Part 1.  Generally the jokes are quick, witty, and smart, and very enjoyable by all audiences (not just 10 year-old boys).

Video

Space scenes are always a challenge, and Spaceballs on blu-ray highlighted this.  Blue screens of space were very gray and washed, and any flaws in the effects were evident in 1080p.

This being stated, a very nice clean up was done on this transfer, and the overall picture was appropriately grainy, with little evidence of black crush or macroblocking.  Overall, this was a very good transfer, and should not be penalized due to the weakness of the source material.

Audio

As a newer film, Spaceballs had a much better soundtrack than other films in the collection.  Dialog through the centre channel was clear.  LFE and surround channels were also used appropriately and judiciously. 

It is a bit much to expect a film from 1987 to have a superb audio presentation.  This being stated, the restore and conversion of the master to DTS-HD was obviously done with care, and is a standout audio performer in this boxed set.

Special Features

Lots of goodies, though a disappointing few are in HD.  Besides the commentary (mildly amusing, but nothing more), we get just over one hour of SD documentaries, including a conversation between the two writers (Mr. Brooks and Thomas Meehan), a tribute to the late John Candy, and a documentary on the film itself.

We’re also treated to the film at “Ludicrous Speed” (a 30 second brain-bender), a trailer for the film, and a short feature showing film “flubs” (a few of which I was pleased to have spotted in my original viewing).  There was also a storyboard to film comparison, as well as a still gallery.

Overall, there is a bit of meat on the bone, and the three SD documentaries are enjoyable for fans of the film.  This being said, overall this is not an exceptional set of features.

Final Thoughts

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this film.  In fact, it reminded me much more of Mr. Brooks’ earlier work in movies such as High Anxiety, where his jokes tended more towards the witty, and less towards juvenilia.

In fact, this has been one of the most enjoyable films in the collection so far, and fully deserves a “Buy It” rating.  Although not perfect, I am comfortable in stating this is the last great Mel Brooks movie.

Film 

James and the Giant Preach is the adaptation of the wildly successful childrens’ book by Ronald Dahl from the 1960′s. The film is a combination of stop action animation and live action. Parts of the film are wholly live action and other wholly stop action except for the very end of the film where both are combined together.

The film tells the tail of James, a young boy who loses is parents and comes under the care of two evil aunts, who treat him like Cinderella, making his life rather miserable and lonely. After rescuing a spider, James meets up with a strange man who gives his a bag of magical crocodile tongues and warns him to be careful how he handles them as they were truly magical. However, as luck would have it, he trips and falls in the garden and spills them.

The magical tongues enter the ground and a giant peach grows from a long thought dead tree. The aunts find the peach and turn it into a money making attraction. They send James out to pick up the trash and he decides to take a bit out of the each and enters the peach. It is then that he is transformed into a animated character and meets up with a group of insects living in the peach. The peach is knocked off the tree by one of the insects and rolls down the hill and into the ocean where they all make there way across the ocean to New York City where James’ parents had promised to take him before they died.

While out on the high seas, they have adventures with a shark, pirates and a trip to the Arctic all before making there way to New York. James and the Giant Peach is a wonderful book and an even better film. There is no doubt that the stop action animation looks dated today given the incredible advancements in CGI but the film is no less engaging as a result. James and the Giant Peach is surely a film that the whole family will enjoy but on the basis of a rental due to the issues with the video quality noted below.

Video 

I must say that I was very, very disappointed with the video quality on this release. I was expecting so much more, especially from Disney. The picture here can best be described as soft, soft and soft, with muted and at times rather unsaturated colors. Detail is well below par and what we have come to expect from Blu-ray. The whole image is soft, flat and rather lifeless with little or no depth at all. For long sections of the film, it appears as though you are viewing the film through a thin haze. I did not see this film in the theater so I don’t know if this was how the film is supposed to look. I basically looks like a DVD and not a terribly good one at that. Need I say more?

Audio 

I must say that the audio on this release is far superior to the audio, far, far superior. This is one great sounding film, with a smooth and open sound that is easy on the ears and deep, tight bass and top notch fidelity. The surrounds are used aggressively and to great effect, providing an excellent sense of immersion. Listen to the scene for example where the peach rolls down the hill, it sounds as though the peach is rolling through the room and comes to a thunderous halt.

Another example of the excellent sonics here its the scene with the mechanical shark which has an incredible sense of realism. This release is filled with some great demo material. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The soundtrack, with some great tunes penned and sung by Randy Newman sound superb. James and the Giant Peach is a great sounding disc. I only wish that the video was a match for the audio.

Special Features 

To say that the extras were lackluster would be an understatement. The only significant extra is the inclusion of the DVD copy of the film. The only other extras include a old short featurette on the film that plays more like a commercial, a video of Randy Newman performing the song Good News, a still frame gallery as well as the original trailer for the film. The only really new extra is the Spike the Aunts Interactive game where you try to spike the evil aunts featured in the film as they spin around on a wheel with the horn of a rhino. Can’t say that that one interested me at all.

Final Thoughts 

While James and the Giant Peach is a fine film and features a wonderful audio track, the video is of such poor quality that I can’t give this film a buy recommendation. If you are unfamiliar with the film, please give it a look, but on the basis of a rental only.

Film 

As already noted, The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, is a remake of a 1968 film of the same name starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway (who makes several appearances in this film as well as Mr. Crown’s psychologist). The film is directed by John McTiernen who is probably better known for a few of his other action films such as Die Hard, Predator, The Hunt for Red October and Die Hard With A Vengeance.

Pierce Brosnan stars as Thomas Crown, a thrill seeking New York billionaire who has quite a love for art as well as adventure. He concocts a rather intricate plan to steal a major work of art from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. After the heist, in addition to the NYPD, the crime is also investigated by the stunning Catherine Banning (Rene Russo), an insurance investigator based in London, whose sole goal, at least at the outset, is to recover the painting. She immediately pegs Crown for the heist and begins her investigation.

Crown is fascinated by her and they begin a cat and mouse battle to see if she can outwit him and catch him with the goods. One problem arises for her though, namely the fact that she falls in love with Mr. Crown. Will she betray her new found lover and crack the case, or join him? You will have to see the film to find out.

The story is well written and paced and keeps your attention throughout, with all the twists and turns in the plot, a few of which are unexpected and others quite predictable. All in all, I have always found it to be an interesting film and am very happy to see that it has finally made its way to Blu-ray. Recommended.

Video 

I was more than pleased with the video quality of this release which appears to these eyes at least, to be completely true to the look of the film as it appeared in theaters back in 1999. The film features a nice natural looking color palette which is a bit subdued at times and at times very colorful. Blacks are deep and solid throughout. I was not able to detect any video noise in the many darkened interior shots that make up quite a bit of the film. I was also not able to discern any appreciable use of digital noise reduction.

Film grain is present throughout the film. The level of facial detail and background detail is very good as is the overall sense of three dimensionality and clarity. Background details throughout the film, from the texture of walls, to the texture of clothing to the brush strokes on various pieces of art are all well delineated. In short, this is a fine looking encode that should please fans of the film. It appears to be a faithful and accurate reproduction of the film as it appeared in theaters, which is really all that we can expect.

Audio 

I was just as impressed with the audio on this release as I was with the video. The audio features excellent fidelity, with a smooth and open sound with excellent transparency and imaging. The sound track for the film sounds beautiful, especially Stings rendition of Windmills of Your Mind that accompanies the closing credits. I also enjoyed the big bang tinged music featured at one of the galas early in the film which sounded smooth and dynamic. Excellent stuff. I found dynamics to be excellent throughout the entire film with deep and rich bass where appropriate.

If I had one quibble, and it is a very minor one, it is with the use of the surrounds, which were not as active as I would have liked. While the surrounds are active throughout the entire film, I would have preferred to see them used just a tad more aggressively, to create the sense of total immersion that I find most appealing. The dialogue track is also well recorded and well placed in the mix and always clear and intelligible which is critical, given how important the dialogue is to following and anticipating the various twist and turns in the plot. Other than the one quibble with the prominence of the surrounds in the sound design, this is a wonderful sounding film and is one that will surely please fans of the film.

Special features 

I must say that I was quite surprised by the lack of extras included with the film. There are none at all included on the Blu-ray disc. edition of the film. The release is also a combo pack and includes a DVD copy of the film. However, the only extra included on the DVD copy of the film is an audio commentary by director John McTiernan. That’s it folks. I can’t say that I recall whether the old DVD release of the film had any extras on it, other than the director’s commentary. If there were, they have not been included here. It is rather rare in my experience for a release to be so devoid of extras as is the case here.

Final Thoughts 

If you missed The Thomas Crown Affair during it original theatrical run in 1999 or its prior DVD release, do yourself a favor and check it out on this Blu-ray release. I am confident that you will be glad you did.

Did it live up to the hype?

Film 

Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France.

The film opens with something that is peculiar in a World War II film, an extensive conversation that takes up the first chapter of the film. What some may find unusual in a war film is actually far from being anything but amazing. The dialogue is realistic, emotional and best of all delivered well (thanks especially to Christoph Waltz), it sets the movie off on a foot that you don’t expect. The film may have been described as a spaghetti western, but the dialogue alone proves this will be anything but a mindless action film.

As the movie progresses we begin to see parallel storylines emerge and begin to take shape. We meet the Basterds and their lieutenant, Aldo Rain (Brad Pitt), which proves that even though the beginning of the film may have been dialogue-driven, we begin to see this is much more than just that.

The film weds two different approaches to storytelling within its five chapters; at times the pacing is quick and heart pounding, for example the finale within the final chapter gets your adrenaline flowing, and on the other hand there are scenes like the opening conversation between Hans Landa and farmer Perrier LaPadite or the scene in the bar with Bridget Von Hammersmark where the scene has a slower pace, but is no less heart pounding, however the bar scene in particular lasts upwards of thirty minutes… So you can see the comparison pacing within the movie, sometimes thirty minutes of film can take us through four years of timeline, or thirty minutes can get us through half a conversation. It definitely proves Tarantino is a great director, where he can switch up the pacing so drastically in the movie and have you on the edge of your seat regardless.

I found that even after multiple viewings, I was still as appreciative of the movie, even with its long running time I never grew tired of seeing a scene stretch on… in fact I was at times wishing I could see more cleverly crafted dialogue between the characters that I found interesting (especially Christoph Waltz’s character, Landa).

The movie is definitely currently ranked as my favourite Tarantino film and, in my opinion; I do believe he created his masterpiece.

Video 

Inglourious Basterds is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and uses the 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 codec. The film looks great, from the details being clear to the colors being vibrant. I was impressed when things like wood grain and blades of grass were so crisp when watching the opening and as the movie went on the film just kept looking better. Everything was sharp and beautiful, even on my projector, and the camera movements weren’t nauseating and artefact filled, they were smooth and graceful as well. Even the colors of the film, albeit neutral, really looked great especially when contrasted against the fire at the end of the film that brightens up the palette a bit.

The cinematography adds to the look of the film and from those great master shots, at the farm house, from chapter one to the ending shots in the theatre, the camerawork is so well done. There’s some slow tracking shots that simply don’t end (the establishing shot in the theatre comes to mind) and there’s those great quick shots throughout (such as the back-story on nitrate film) that really make the film fun to watch.

Audio 

The audio is just as good as the video quality in my mind, I don’t feel comfortable giving the film a “perfect” rating all around, but even when I decided to be pickier to try and see if the film could stand up, it ended up doing so. Inglourious Basterds’ audio comes at us in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround codec in English, French and Spanish with subtitles in each.

The film has great dynamic range in the audio, there’s loud booming lows when the explosions and gunshots rip through the scene and there’s those perfect whisper quiet deliveries of dialogue that come through very clearly.

The surround overall is well mixed and the dialogue is perfect and natural. Which, considering the amount of it, is very important.

The music chosen for the film, obviously by Quentin, fit perfectly and comes at us with just as much tenacity as the dialogue. The foley is perfect and the sound effects are accurate and true.

It definitely went is one of those movies you watch with the volume cranked up. At times I turned up the volume and got used to the dialogue scenes, but when I heard an explosion or gunshot, I just imagined frames being blasted off the walls in my other rooms.

Special Features 

Inglourious Basterds has a great collection of special features, all of which are unique and uncommon. I’ll list and describe them in order to give a clear picture of how a great list of features should look.

• Extended and Alternate Scenes – There are three extended scenes to watch, including the scene where Zoller and Shosanna meet Goebbels to discuss the new location for the premiere of Nation’s Pride, it’s mostly same, except for a bit extra about film critics and Goebbels position on them. Then there’s an extended intro to the card game with Bridget Von Hammsermark at the bar… which is literally exactly the same except for a couple minutes taken from the beginning. Lastly is the opening to Nation’s Pride, which is the movie starting in the theatre…Which is literally the theatre lights dimming and the curtain raising, you can see why it was cut. However even though there isn’t much difference from the theatrical cuts of most of the scenes, seeing more of this great film is never bad.

• Nation’s Pride – Full Feature and The Making of ‘Nation’s Pride’ – Before I watched these special features, I wasn’t aware that Eli Roth actually directed “Nation’s Pride” (the film within a film starring Frederik Zoller). I found the full movie itself to be incredibly hilarious for two reasons, the cameo by Bo Svenson and the long shot of Zoller’s expression as he listens to the explosions and ponders.

• The Roundtable Discussion with Brad Pitt & Quentin Tarantino – This was one of my favourite special features. That had Pitt and Tarantino going over aspects of the film such as how language was a huge factor in the second world war, the German’s reaction to the film and how important casting is to a script and that even when a character is great on the page, it takes the perfect actor to come in and recreate it just as well.

• Conversation with Rod Taylor – To those who aren’t aware of who Rod Taylor is then you may not appreciate this as much. If you have seen the original ‘The Time Machine’ or Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ then you’ll like this. It’s basically Taylor discussing Tarantino’s directing style and how he asked Taylor to be in the film and Taylor’s reaction.

• Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitter – More from Rod Taylor about Tarantino and beer… Great mix.

• Poster Gallery Tour – This is another one of my favourite features, that goes through the posters within the movie such as for Nation’s Pride and others that were seen within the movie theatre at the end of the film. It’s interesting to see both real posters that were used and also ones created for the film.

• Poster Gallery – A gallery of posters of Inglourious Basterds, not to be confused with posters within the movie from the previous feature.

• The Original ‘Inglorious Bastards’ – I originally thought this was actually the movie itself, but it is a quick featurette about Bo Svenson’s cameo in Nation’s Pride and then some sort of homage to the original movie which mostly consists of random clips that mainly just made me want to watch the original movie.

• Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel – this one focuses on the slate operator at the beginning of each shot and her angelic qualities… watch it to find out what I mean.

• Hi Sallys – This feature focuses on the editor Sally Menke and everyone saying “hi” to her, that’s about it. Not a necessary extra, but still funny to get a glimpse of the tone on a Tarantino set.

• Trailers – All of the trailers from Inglourious Basterds including the Aldo Raine speech teaser trailer, which is my personal favourite.

• Killin’ Nazi Trivia Challenge – To challenge all of your killin’ Nazi ways…

The only thing keeping the special features from getting a perfect score is the lack of a commentary track, I’ve enjoyed Tarantino’s commentary before (notably the ‘From Dusk till Dawn’ commentary with Robert Rodriguez) and I feel this would’ve made this disc perfect, however it could’ve been much worse.

Final Thoughts 

To say the least, this film is definitely a must own for those looking for a great film, also considering how long it takes for worthwhile special editions to come out for one of Tarantino’s films (10 years for Reservoir Dogs, the 10th anniversary edition was the re-release with worthwhile features added) this is a must for Tarantino fans. It really does live up to the hype!

Film

While Bruno certainly has a couple of funny moments, it has far too few of them to be a worthwhile film. While there is no denying that Sacha Baron Cohen can really become the characters in his film to the point that he is not recognizable to those he attempts to mock, Bruno has absolutely nothing going for it other than sheer outrageousness.

In Bruno, Sasha Baron Cohen takes on the role of Bruno, a gay Austrian man that immigrates to Los Angeles seeking fame and fortune after he loses his job as a TV fashionista in Austria after he goes crazy disrupting fashion runway shows in Milan. When he arrives in Los Angeles, he is able to obtain a pilot with CBS where he interviews celebrities like Paula Abdul, while they sit on Mexican laborers acting as chairs, and even as a serving table when a naked man is wheeled out covered with finger food that is Paula’ s cue to bolt and run away as fast as she can. He ends his show with him swinging his (?) genitals to and fro which unquestionably shocks the test audience for the pilot.

Bruno keeps on going, trying to seduce former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul during an interview in a hotel suite, to seeking to assistance of a preacher to turn straight as well as a group of swingers to so he can learn how to have sex with a woman. The problem with the film is that there is nothing here other than shock value, with outrageous sex acts by the boat load.

While I would guess that Mr. Cohen is attempting to ridicule homophobia in the film, it just seems to me that he is doing just the opposite in ridiculing the gay community with non stop examples of the most outrageous people and practices he can find or imagine. Rather than being funny and thought provoking, Bruno is just crude and thoughtless and really not worth your time. I would recommend that you skip this one entirety. Hopefully, Mr. Cohen’s next film will be a lot better than Bruno or he may not get many more chances as Bruno is that bad.

Video

I was just about as disappointed in the video quality of this release as I was with the film. The image quality varies throughout the film. The color palette is natural if a bit subdued and undersaturated. Black levels are very mediocre as well. Detail and overall clarity are well below what I have come to expect from Blu-ray titles in general and Universal titles in particular. I addition, the low light scenes are plagued with video noise which is clearly visible from normal viewing distances. There is really little that I liked about the look of this film, which is just as disappointing as the subject matter of the film.

Audio

Surprisingly, the audio quality on Bruno is much better than the video quality and is another fine example of the quality which I have come to expect from DTS HD Master Audio encodes. The quality here is not the sound design per se as it is a rather front heavy mix. What really surprised me about the audio presentation was the overall fidelity which is simply outstanding, with a smooth, open and detailed sound with excellent transparency and imaging and knock your socks off bass response and dynamics which are especially noticeable during the musical tracks in the film. Don’t go expecting an immersive feel and aggressive use of the surrounds as you will be disappointed. However, if you are like me and appreciate excellent overall audio fidelity in our films, I have no doubt that you will be quite pleased with the audio on Bruno.

Special Features

The extras included with the Blu-ray release consist of an hour of alternative, deleted and extended scenes not shown in theaters which are of the same dubious quality as the rest of the film. All are presented in HD however. Also included is an enhanced video commentary with Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles on select scenes in the film. Also included is an interview with Larry Robinson, the Hollywood agent hired to represent Bruno in the film. The release is BD-Live enabled and copies with a digital copy compatible with Macs and PCs.

Final Thoughts

On the heels of Borat, I was really expecting a lot more from this film. However, all that the film delivers is mindless and senseless rudeness and crudeness that is neither funny nor interesting. Check this film out if you are into crude and base humor.  If you aren’t, like me, you should skip this release entirety.

Film

In my review of State of Play, I noted that I had the chance to view some shall I say lackluster films on a recent international plane flight. One of those films was Wolverine. I was hoping that I would enjoy the film more on Blu-ray, chalking up my impressions on the plane to the fatigue and an overall bad mood brought on by being stuck on a plane for over 8 hours. However, after viewing the film again, this time with a clear head and in the comfort of my own home, I can state that my initial negative impressions of the film were correct.

Wolverine details the origins of, you guessed it, Wolverine, probably the most mysterious of the X-Men characters, at least in the first three films. Some of the material in this film is hinted out in the other films, with Wolverine having flashbacks to a prior life that he can no longer recall. This film fills in the rest of the back story, detailing his life as a child, his relationship with his half brother Victor Creed a/k/a Sabretooth and their lives together, leading up to the point in time that his memory is erased.

The film stars Hugh Jackman as James Logan/Wolverine and co-stars Liev Schrieber as Victor Creed. It turns out that both are recruited into a secret unit in the US Army that works outside normal military channels and is involved in a secret plot involving mutants, working to create a super weapon for use by the military. Wolverine gets tired of the fighting and violence and wants something of a normal life, fighting against the animal instincts within him. However, the Army has other ideas, which forms the basis for the story arc in the last half of the film.

While I had no issue at all with the performances of the two leads or the rest of the cast for that matter, I found the film to be a disjointed mess, lacking much in the way of pace or an involving plot line. Frankly, I fell asleep on the plane watching the film and almost dozed off at home again. There was really little joining on in the film to keep my interest as my mind kept wandering off to other things. While there are some nice action scenes and explosions and fight scenes that help keep you interested to some degree, the rest of the film just left me cold.

The film seemed very formulaic and by the book and is basically an attempt to keep the X-Men film franchise moving forward. Given the box office gross of this film, I am sure that there will be others. However, they will have to be much better than this to get me even mildly interested. Unless you are a real fan, you may want to skip this one entirely or check it out on the basis of a rental only.

Video

While I didn’t care for the film, the video quality is another issue altogether. This is a very fine looking transfer and will really please fans of the film. The film features a bright and bold color palette with richly saturated colors. However, I found the skin tones to be a bit too brown, although this is certainly not the fault of the encode. Detail was excellent as well throughout most of the film, faltering only in some of the more dimly lit scenes in the film. Other than the opening few sequences in the film, black levels are deep and solid resulting in an image of excellent depth and three dimensionality.

Clarity and overall sharpness are excellent as well, with the exception of a couple of the more dimly lit scenes which were just a tad softer and less detailed than the remainder of the film. I was not able to detect any evidence of noise reduction or edge enhancement from normal viewing distances on my 60 inch screen. The only other quibble I had is a small amount of video noise in the darker areas in one scene of the film which was certainly not visible from more normal viewing distance. While X-Men Origins: Wolverine is certainly not the best looking film I have experienced on Blu-ray, it is a very fine looking film and is one that will no doubt please fans of the film.

Audio

While I had a couple of very minor quibbles with the video on this release, I had no issues whatsoever with the audio. A few of the words that come to mind when I think about the audio presentation on this release are lush, smooth, dynamic, detailed, aggressive and engaging. The overall sound is very smooth and lush, without even the hint of hardness or shrillness. The overall fidelity is just about as good as it gets. Dynamics are off the charts with deep and tight bass that really rock the room.

The surrounds are actively engaged through the entire film and are used very aggressively, creating a very immersive sound field. The dialogue track is also beautifully recorded and is well placed in the mix. No matter how loud the rest of the sound elements may be in a given scene, the dialogue is always clear and up front, never getting buried in the rest of the mix. Simply put, this is a great sounding film and a fine example of the type of incredible audio experience the lossless audio codecs can now bring into the home environment.

Special Features

As one would expect, this release is chock full of many extras. Unfortunately, as far as I am concerned, most just aren’t that interesting and are rather routine. This is a two disc set, with the second disc consisting of a digital copy of the film compatible with Macs and PCs.

The extras are included on disc one with the rest of the film and consist of audio commentaries with director Gavin Hood as ell as one with producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter.

Also included is a featurette The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with Stan Lee and Len Wein of Marvel comics where they discuss the Wolverine character. Another featurette is a standard making-of piece entitled Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins, where the cast and crew discuss the making of the film. We also get another shorter featurette entitled, The Thrill of the Chase: The Helicopter Sequence which details how the scene where Wolverine battles an army helicopter was filmed. The last featurette included is entitled Weapon X Mutant Files, where the various characters introduce their characters and where each character is discussed in great depth, including Wolverine, Sabretooth, William Stryker, John Wraith, Kayla Silverfox, Fred Dukes (The Blob), Bradley Bolt, Remy LeBeau (Gambit), Agent Zero, Wade Wilson and Emma.

Also included are deleted and alternate scenes with commentary by director Gavin Hood. All of these extras are presented in high definition. Also included is what is described as Ultimate X-Mode Bonusview where you can select one of four different options (X Connect, The Director’s Chair, Pre-Visualizing Wolverine and X-Facts trivia track), where a PIP will pop up on screen during the film providing access to content tied to that given scene. The release is also BD-Live enabled and is entitled Live Lookup, which allows the viewer to access up-to-date actor, filmographies and information related to the film via IMDb, the internet movie database.

Final Thoughts

While X-Men Origins: Wolverine contains excellent audio and video presentations, I didn’t find the film to warrant a buy recommendation for other than the most die hard X-Men devotees. The best I can do is give the film a rental recommendation. The rest of you may want to skip it entirely.