Into the Blu

The past several weeks have seen some very significant Blu-ray releases, with some long awaited films such as the Alien films and the Back to the Future trilogy making their ways into the hands of some very happy collectors. We have also seen some great films restored to their original glory and brought to Blu-ray for the first time, with The Sound of Music and Bridge On The River Kwai coming immediately to mind. However, truly great films are hard to come by. Pure dreck is much more prevalent at the cineplex and is well represented in some of the newer releases on Blu. Most films, however, lie in between the dreck and the great. Most of these are just fun films. Not great but often times filled with plenty of action and stellar special effects and just enough of a plot to keep you mildly interested. One such film is the subject of this review. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

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With apologies in advance to William Shakespeare, to 3D or not to 3D, that is the question. As I do not have a 3D set, the answer is no to 3D. It is 2D all the way and will continue to be until there is 3D without glasses, a flat panel display that can best a Kuro and some studies on the long terms effects on 3D shutter glass technology. Until then, I will pass. So why should I bring up that issue now? Well the whole 3D debate came to mind while watching Disney’s A Christmas Carol. The film was created for 3D and is a wholly computer generated project. The film, in 2D, has such depth and clarity that the 2D presentation was more than adequate and at times, much as in the case with Avatar, simply stunning. Now, time to get off the soapbox and on to the review. Continue Reading

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

There is no question that animated films have universally looked great on Blu-ray, whether they be computer based animation such as the Pixar films, hand drawn films or stop action animation. Unfortunately, the subject of this review, James and the Giant Peach is an exception to this general rule. Continue Reading

As I am constantly bombarded with trailers, posters and ads for Cats & Dogs: The Return of Kitty Galore, I found it interesting to go back and review the original film in order to make an educated guess on whether or not I should spend some money to see the sequel. I love animals and if the Pixar films have taught me anything, don’t judge a film just because it looks like a kid’s flick, so I figure there may be a chance I will enjoy this. Let’s see how the experience went.

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I always find family movies a bit of a challenge to watch.  As a grown-up, I don’t find certain things as interesting as kids do.  Conversely, I’m sure my kids wouldn’t find the societal subtext in A Clockwork Orange all that compelling.  They’d likely run screaming from the room, or sit bug-eyed with jaws agape.

This being said, I can at least watch a movie and determine if it is safe for parents to let their kids watch, and if it’s something the parents can stomach for the 90 minutes they’d maybe want to spend watching it with their kids.

At first blush, this film doesn’t look too promising.  It has an anthromorphized animal, Bindi Irwin (yes, Bindi the Jungle Girl, daughter of the late Steve Irwin), and a surprisingly slim Beau Bridges.  It is also the fourth film in a series that should have only been one movie long, and was direct-to-video.  So, can this movie rise above this dubious pedigree?  Continue Reading

The first Alvin & the Chipmunks film was a surprise blockbuster, especially to me. I remembered watching the cartoon as a child and then when they announced a live action film, I immediately thought that it was way too late. Who would want to watch these archaic characters? Flash forward to today, where I received copy of the blockbuster ‘s ‘squeakquel’… I decided to give it a shot, was I wrong to immediately put down the chipmunk trio?

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For those who have never seen a Hayao Miyazaki movie, you do not know what you are missing.  Period.  His films have a magical ability to entertain people of all ages, warming your heart while touching your soul.  Characters in his movies (regardless of their appearance) are all inherently good, and talk to each other like real people talk to each other.  Parents do not condescend to their children, children are independent and brave, and although things may be dramatic, they are never overtly scary.

So it was with this “lowered” set of expectations that I viewed Ponyo.    Continue Reading

Toy Story 2 was an eagerly awaited sequel prior to its first theatrical run in 1999, in part because of the success of Toy Story and in part, by the incredible success of Pixar’s second full length feature, A Bug’s Life. After A Bug’s Life, it was apparent that Pixar, in addition to being technical wizards, were master story tellers as well in the tradition of the old Disney masters. There were clear advances made in the Pixar CGI effects in A Bug’s Life, and it would be interesting to see how those improved techniques would be employed in Toy Story 2, to improve on what were already considered to be stellar images in the original. It would also be interesting to see how they could possibly improve on the original in terms of the actual story. Needless to say, Pixar outdid themselves in both areas on Toy Story 2, which has now finally made its way to Blu-ray, and it the subject of today’s review. Continue Reading

For most of the us, the movie that ushered in the world of computer animation is Toy Story, originally released in theaters in 1995. Has it really been 15 years? My kids were a bit too young at the time to see it in theaters and they didn’t get to see the original until its release on DVD. For me, the Pixar films I couldn’t wait to see on Blu-ray, were the two Toy Story films along with The Incredibles. Well, at least as far as the Toy Story films are concerned, the wait is over, as both are being released on Blu-ray. Was it worth the wait? Yes, as all I can say is WOW! Continue Reading

Ever since Toy Story burst on the scene with its incredible computer generated images, hand drawn animation began to fade away. After the release of Toy Story, each new CGI feature seemed to outdo the others, advancing the state of art even further, with more realistic and lifelike animation and movement. When it comes to CGI, the sky really seems to be the limit. However, lost in all this technical advancement was the sheer beauty of hand drawn animation, the kind that the folks at Disney Studios made so famous. I guess it was fitting that Disney, under the helm of John Lassiter of Pixar fame, would be the ones to bring hand drawn animation back to the screen with 2009′s The Princess and the Frog, which has finally made its way to Blu-ray. Continue Reading

Making a movie out of a popular book is hard enough. Having the condense several hundred pages of text into a coherent two hour film can be quite a daunting task. The list of great books being made into mediocre films is long indeed. Even more difficult I would imagine is taking a very popular short illustrated children’s book and fleshing it out into a full length motion picture, while keeping true to the spirit of the book. Well that is just what director Spike Jonze has accomplished with the subject of today’s review. Where the Wild Things Are. Continue Reading