Film  

De-Lovely tells the story of the adult life of the greatest composer of popular song in American history, Cole Porter. It does so in a very creative manner using the songs themselves to tell the story as Cole is shown his life by the Archangel Gabriel a moment before his death, Broadway show style in a small theater.

Gabriel, played beautifully by Jonathan Pryce, arrives at Cole Porter’s apartment near the moment of his death. He then takes him to the small theater in Indiana where Cole started his career and shows him his life, warts and all. Cole Porter is played beautifully by Kevin Kline, who is quite a showman himself and who sings and plays the piano himself quite well during the entire film.

It picks up his life in Paris as a young man. Cole Porter was already quite well off as a young man due to the wealth of his family and quite a playboy and party animal in addition to being a little known amateur songwriter outside his social circle in Paris. He also had his own little secret not known outside his small circle of friends, namely that he was gay. It was in Paris that he met the only real love of his life, Linda Thomas, who is portrayed in quite a moving performance by Ashley Judd. She knew Cole was Gay but loved him nonetheless as he was able to complete her.

In a way, she completed him as well, as it was she who guided his career, introducing him to her friend, Irving Berlin who recommended him to write and stage his first Broadway play. While he always didn’t realize it at the time until her death, Cole truly loved Linda. He turned bitter after her death and never wrote much after her death. For a man who wrote such beautiful songs about love, Cole Porter was never truly able to understand the concept until he lost the one thing that he truly did love.

As good as the acting and storytelling is here, the real star of the film is the music. Over 30 Cole Porter songs are presented here, from Let’s Misbehave, to Be A Clown, to Night and Day to Every Time WE Say Goodbye to Love for Sale. The arrangements of the tunes is varied from more traditional arrangements to some very original and modern ones.

The film features several a musical performances, from the likes of Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Robbie Williams, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. The choices for the artiest to perform these songs is quite interesting. While DIana Krall wold be a no brainer for this type of music, the use of Alanis Morissette was and out of the box and very effective choice and she nails Let’s Do It.

The film even features John Barrowman aka Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood singing Night and Day in a duet with Kevin Kline. For me, the highlights of the film musically are Sheryl Crow’s stark and sultry performance of Begin the Beguine as well as a jazzy and bluesy and quite naughty rendition Love for Sale depicting Cole Porter’s exploits in a gay club in Los Angeles, as Cole Porter risks the exposure of his lifestyle at the height of his career.

Cole Porter was a brilliant songwriter and a very complicated man who lead a very complicated life. The use of his own songs to tell his story, warts and all, is simply sensational. I know there will be some that will be put off by some of the subject matter in the film, but it is a brilliantly conceived and executed film nonetheless, presented with some of the finest popular music ever written, if not the finest. If you haven’t seen the film or are unfamiliar with the music of Cole Porter, by all means see this film. De-Lovely is highly recommended.

Video  

As enthusiastic as I am about the film, I cant say that I was all that pleased with the video. With certain exceptions that were few and far between, I found the film to be rather soft, flat and lacking in detail. Black levels as well were inconsistent. In particular, I found facial details to be lacking, as though the detail was scrubbed away. While I wouldn’t say that the actors had a clayfaced appearance, it would not surprise me to learn that digital noise reduction was applied to this encode.

While the film features a very natural looking color palette, the overall picture can best be described as soft, flat and fuzzy, lacking the clarity, depth and detail that we have come to expect with Blu-ray releases. While not quite of DVD quality, the video on this release has more of that DVD look that I had expected and is far from reference material. IN fact, it would not surprise me to learn that the video here was taken from the transfer made for the prior DVD release of the film. It would have been nice, although probably too expensive for this type of film, to go back and do a new transfer for a Blu-ray release.

Audio  

While I was disappointed with the video presentation here, the audio presentation is a good bit better, although still not as good as I had expected. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The film is rather front heavy with the surrounds used quite effectively, to create room ambiance. While room ambiance is present throughout, I would not exactly call this an immersive sound mix. The real focus here is the music, which has very nice bass, transparency and imaging. If I would have one complaint with the music, it would be that it can at times sound a bit bright, especially in comparison with the rest of the audio.

Special Features  

The extras here are all ported over from the prior DVD release of the film. The extras include:

• Two audio commentaries, one with Director Irwin Winkler and Kevin Kline and a second with Irwin Winkler and screenwriter Jay Cocks.
• Featurettes about the making of the film. The longest is the behind the scenes “Making of De-Lovely” featuring interviews with Irwin Winkler, Jay Cocks, Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Price, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Alanis Morisette and Sheryl Crow among a quite a few others.
• A look at the musical performances in the film entitled “The Music of De-Lovely” which features some of the same interviews featured in the making of featurette.
• Two making of featurettes showing how the Love For Sale and Be A Clown scenes were constructed and filmed.
• Deleted scenes
• Trailers

All in all, the extras included here are rather standard fair and include nothing that was not already included on the prior DVD release of the film. All are presented in standard definition.

Final Thoughts 

De-Lovely is a very original and compelling look into the complicated life of America’s greatest tunesmith, Cole Porter, and some truly wonderful music. While I was disappointed with the video presentation included here, I can still highly recommend this film. Check it out, I am sure you will be glad you did.

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 

Showgirls was directed by Basic Instinct’s Paul Verhoeven, a man who is no stranger to creating controversial films.  As I mentioned before, the film stars former teen actress Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan and Gina Gershon.  Significant controversy sprang up before the film’s theatrical release over the amount of sex and nudity within the feature.  In the United States, the movie got slapped with an NC-17 rating and interestingly enough, it became the first NC-17 rated film to be given a wide release in mainstream theaters.  How’s that for a breakout role for Elizabeth Berkley?  If nothing else, then at least she will always be part of that record.  As you can expect, the film wasn’t met with that much success theatrically, but later on it took on a life of its own as it dominated the home video rental market and quickly became one of MGM’s top 20 all-time bestsellers.  There have been a few different cuts of the film including a 128-minute Rated-R cut and a VH1 safe for television rendition that’s nothing short of ridiculous, but today we are going to talk about the good old 131-minute NC-17 theatrical cut making its Blu-ray debut on June 15^th.

When the Blu-ray press release from MGM came across my desk months ago I could not be more excited to learn about Showgirl’s imminent High-Definition debut.  It was dubbed the 15^th Anniversary Sinsational Edition.  My God, has it been 15 years already?  Its amazing how fast time flies.  Anyway, so I immediately requested a Blu-ray review copy and began checking off the days on my calendar.  To say I wasn’t interested in revisiting this cult gem on Blu-ray would be like saying there’s no problem down in the Gulf of Mexico right now (my heart goes out to those poor animals covered in oil… find out how you can help by clicking here).

For those of you who do not know the premise of the movie it’s quite simple really.  Showgirls tells the story of a drifter (Berkley) who ventures into Sin City (Vegas) and goes from rags (stripper) to riches (showgirl).  Anyone who thinks their name belongs in bright lights and desperately seeks fame any chance they get ought to give this film a watch first.  As Peter Parker always alluded to in the Spider-Man films, “with great power comes great responsibilities.”  Some people are not cut out for life in the spot light and for some, the lucky few, they recognize the corruption and get out before the big lights and produces take their soul and everything else they believe in.  This is the story of Showgirls with a little bit of sex and gratuitous nudity thrown in, but I never heard any guy complain about that.

Before I move and talk about the Blu-ray disc’s vitals and whatnots I wanted to take a quick moment and talk about my trip down memory lane here.  There were two things that jumped out at me while watching Showgirls on Blu-ray this weekend.  But before I go there, this just jumped in my cranium now, could you imagine a 3-D release of Showgirls done right?  Wow!  That would be pure bliss.  Okay, well anyway, like I was saying.  I chuckled hard when I saw a Magnavox recordable cassette tape.  I remember those fondly.  They fueled my weekly mix tape soundtracks back in the 90’s before recordable CD’s came along.  And second, I forgot how big the original cell phones were.  I remember my Audiovox set back in the late 90’s, but wow were they ever big in the mid 90’s.  It looked like they were calling in for military support when they whipped one out on the movie set.  Okay, I’m done.  That’s enough humor for one day.

Video 

Much to my surprise, the video presentation here is spectacular and every bit as bright and eccentric as the movie itself is.  The 1080p AVC MPEG-4 video encode is presented in a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio.  The first thing that jumped out to me were the colors.  They were so vibrant that they effectively captured the heart, soul and bright lights of Las Vegas.  I felt like I was really there.  It was simply remarkable.  Even the brown eye/green eye oddity of Elizabeth Berkley was dominantly displayed throughout.  Every single sensual moment of the film was breathtakingly captured on this Blu-ray release.  The print was clean and free of debris.  The only thing hampering this 15-year old feature was the constant presence of cinematical grain, but it never once distracted me from my viewing pleasure.  It was simply enough grain that prevented a few scenes here and there from jumping out at you in the Blu-ray sharpness that we are all used to from most modern day releases.  But for a 15-year old film, this looked impeccable and gorgeous.  I couldn’t be happier.  This one is going in a sealed vault within my Blu-ray collection.

Audio 

The audio was another department on this Blu-ray disc that simply caught me off guard.  I was expecting a soundtrack more on par with the Basic Instinct soft drama-like track that we got a few years back on Blu-ray.  Never did I expect to hear something this good.  The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers here with a rocking experience.  Dialog is never low or inaudible.  It’s not the greatest of dialog tracks of all-time, but it’s definitely doable.  What rocks here is the film’s incredible soundtrack.  The musical song and dance numbers are both impressive and strong.  They immerse you in the 5.1 surround environment.  I was ecstatic to hear my rear speakers nearly jumping off their respective stands.  Also, want to talk about some thunderous bass moments?  Well look no further than here.  Showgirls has that going for it too!

Special Features 

And here’s yet another surprise on this MGM Blu-ray release… the Special Features.  For a 15-year old film you would expect all the disc’s Special Features to be presented in Standard Definition, right?  Well not Showgirls!  The bulk of the material I’m showcasing below graces your screen in beautiful HD resolution.  You can’t ask for anything more, can you?

Here’s why I love the Playstation 3 as a Blu-ray player… I just get a kick out of seeing if the movie studio took the time to create a quick title art piece that’s viewable when the Blu-ray disc is inserted into your player and rest assured, MGM did here (see below).

On the disc’s main menu (see below), if you let it play twice all the way through, then you get a very quick changing Easter Egg video sequence.  This changes every time too.

Pole Dancing: Finding Your Inner Stripper (11:54 AVC HD) Teacher of S Factor talks about how she got involved in the sensual art of stripping, her students and displays basic dance and pole moves.  I never knew this one move was called the Firefly.  You’re interested huh?  Oh yeah, and there’s also the Swing Walk, the Climb, the Corkscrew, the Snake, the Pole Cat, the Helicopter and the Descending Angel.  I learned a lot today!

Lap Dance Tutorial Featuring the World-Famous Girls of Scores (4:56 MPEG-2 HD) Here’s another interesting special feature.  This Blu-ray is great, isn’t it?  The girls of Score teach women how to give a man a lap dance.  Just follow their simple 10-step process I documented for you all below.

• Step 1.  Warm up and stretch yourself
• Step 2.  Wear something that feels sexy
• Step 3.  Create a relaxing atmosphere
• Step 4.  Get aural with sexy music
• Step 5.  Tempt his other senses
• Step 6.  Tease, Pose and Spank
• Step 7.  You can touch
• Step 8.  Move in and show off
• Step 9.  Find and remember his zones
• Step 10. Leave him wanting more

The Greatest Movie Ever Made: Audio Commentary by David Schmader

Showgirls Fact-Up Trivia

A Showgirls Diary (MPEG-2 HD)

Theatrical Trailer (AVC HD) How’s this for a 15-year old film?  The film’s theatrical trailer is presented in glorious HD here!  Wow!  I’m in love with this MGM catalog release.

Disc 2 – DVD

The NC-17 presentation of Showgirls is also presented in Standard Definition on a second included DVD disc or a drink coaster to some.  There’s also a special behind-the-scenes featurette here, but I never visited it.  This is a Blu-ray review after all, is it not?

Final Thoughts 

Well there you have it folks.  I really can’t say enough good things about this MGM catalog Blu-ray release.  For a cult-favorite of mine and many others, it was a breath of fresh air to see that MGM delivered a Blu-ray release that we all can be proud of with exceptionally vivid video, a bombastic audio track and a special features package fans of the film and many men around the world can enjoy.  Fans of the film, don’t hesitate here at all.  Pull the trigger and pre-order Showgirls today!  All others, you owe it to yourself to at least partake in a rental of this historic movie many critics refer to as a must-see guilty pleasure of theirs.  I’m not sure if it will stay on my Top 10 list throughout the remainder of the calendar year, but for right now, this catalog release has earned a coveted spot in my ‘Top 10 Blu-ray Releases of 2010’ list.  And that says a lot!

Pre-order Showgirls on Blu-ray today!

Film 

It does not occur all that often that a sequel improves on the original. Most seem to be take the money and run affairs. Fortunately, Toy Story 2 is one of the exceptions to that rule and is a better film, both in terms of story line and in terms of technical prowess, than the original. I am sure that most if not all of you are familiar with the film, so I will be brief here.

Toy Story 2 opens at an undetermined period of time after the first film ends. Andy is still a young boy but appears maybe to be a year or two older. He is on his way to Cowboy camp with Woody when he tears Woody’s right arm at the shoulder while playing with him and leaves him at home, on the shelf. This throws Woody into a funk which he only comes out of when he tries to rescue another toy from the families’ yard sale. While he is able to rescue the toy, Squeeker, he falls off the family’s dog, and is picked up by a young girl who asks her mother to buy him. It is at this point that Woody is discovered by an older man who is obviously a toy collector, who sees Woody for what he is, a prized antique from the 1950′s and quickly tries to purchase him. When his efforts are rebuffed, he resorts to stealing him.

The rest of the toys observe all of this and they quickly discover the thief to be Al from Al’s Toy Barn they see advertised on TV. They develop a plan to rescue Woody and Buzz, Mr., Potato Head, Ham, Rex and the Slinky Dog set out to rescue Woody. In the meantime, Al takes Woody home where he is reunited with the rest of the characters from his 1950′s TV show, Jessie, Stinky Pete and Bullseye.

In a very touching scene set to the wonderful song When Somebody Loved Me by penned Randy Newman and sung by Sarah McLachllin, Woody learns of Jessie’s sorrowful past as a toy and decides that, rather than try to escape, he will accompany the group to a toy museum in Japan. It is at this moment that the gang comes to rescue Woody. Woody, valuing his longstanding friendships, invites Jessie, Bullseye and Stinky Pete to join them. However, Stinky Pete has other ideas and interferes and the gang must travel to the Tri-County Airport to rescue Woody, Jessie and Bullseye, from the flight to Japan.

Toy Story 2 expounds on the themes that were first put forward in Toy Story and adds some very interesting characters as well. The story, while a continuation of the first, provides us a further glimpse into each of the characters, fleshing them out a bit more, if you will. It is hard to improve on seeming perfection but that is just what Pixar did with Toy Story 2. In short, Toy Story 2 is another must own.

Video 

As good as the video was on Toy Story, the video on Toy Story 2 may even be better. Both offer incredible picture quality. Both share the same bright and bold color palette, deep and inky blacks, exceptional and stunning clarity and detail, having an image that has exceptional clarity and depth and three dimensionality. One can clearly see how the characters are laid over the backgrounds on both releases.

While the Pixar animators left the main toy characters alone, one can clearly see how they have advanced the ball forward in terms of their animation skills. This is seen in the more lifelike human characters of Andy, his Mom and Al as well as well as their improved use of light, especially their rendition of sunlight. There are some amazing visuals here with incredible levels of detail. The tile floors in Al’s Toy Barn look very real. The level of detail on the opening sequence of Buzz entering Zurg’s lair are amazing, especially the scene where the ground opens up. Each grain of soil and pebbles are rendered so well that you feel that you can count each and every one.

Blacks are also sensational, with the screen turning a deep and totally inky shade of black during Woody’s dream sequence early in the film. It was though my set had been turned off the blacks are so deep during this sequence. If you want to see what your screen’s black level capability is, this is the scene to test it out. In short, the picture quality on Toy Story 2 is reference in every way imaginable and was a real thrill to experience on Blu-ray. As was the case with Toy Story, it is truly like seeing the film again for the first time. Amazing stuff.

Audio 

While I had two small issues with the audio on the Toy Story release, I have none at all with Toy Story 2, which is reference is all respects. The issue of some excessive brightness to the sound is totally gone in this release. The sound design here is amazing and totally immersive, with an aggressive use of the surrounds and fantastic dynamics. There are really several demo sequences in this film. One of my favorites is the scene where the gang is crossing the street to get to Al’s Toy Barn under a set of road cones. Naturally, they cause a near calamity with cars and a tractor trailer trying to swerve out of the way. Listen in particular as the tractor trailer fish tales completely around the room.

Another is the sequence at the end where Woody and Jessie are exiting the plane via the well well. The sense of a jet taking off and landing right over your head is almost palpable. One can almost feel the wind rushing over your head. The other issue I had with the original was the fidelity of the music which is exceptional on this release. When Somebody Loves you sounds sweet and intimate with the final big band sendoff of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” featuring vocals by the late Robert Goulet almost jumping out of the speakers. Nit pick as I might, the audio on this release is darn near perfect in all respects, as is the video.

Special Features 

The extras on this release mirror those on Toy Story in a away. As was the case with Toy Story, the release of Toy Story 2 is a combo pack, with disc one containing the film in HD and the extras and disc 2 a DVD and digital copy of the film. As was the case with the first film, all of the extras that were featured on the original DVD release of the film are included here along with several new extras.

Included is a look at some of the new characters featured in the upcoming Toy Story 3 as well as a director’s commentary. The Buzz Lightyear Mission log featured in the extras on Toy Story is continued here, with a further look at Buzz in space on the International Space Station. The Path to Pixar: Technical Artists interviews are repeated here but with new personnel.

Also included are three new Studio Stories presented consisting of some anecdotal animated shorts about life at Pixar, including the “Toy Story 2 Sleep Deprivation Labs”, which gives the viewer a peek into the time pressure that went in to making the film, “Pinocchio”, showing an impromptu competition where Pixar animators threw toys into their soft ceiling and “The Movie Vanishes” which details how a technical glitch erased the film from the main Pixar computer and how the film was saved only due the fact that one of the animators had a copy of the film on her computer at home as she was caring for her infant child.

We also get a brief featurette entitled “Oixar’s Zoetrope” which provides a look at the creation of the live-action zoetrope that Pixar created the capture the principles of animation in a live sculpture. The final feature is a tribute the late Pixar animator Joe Ranft and is entitled “Celebrating our Friend Joe Ranft”. All of the new extras with the exception of the Joe Ranft tribute are presented in HD.

Final Thoughts 

As was the case with Toy Story, the addition of Toy Story 2 to one’s film collection on Blu-ray is a no-brainer. It is a wonderful film that features reference audio and video presentations. Toy Story 2 is yet another must buy from the folks at Pixar.

Film 

What more can you really say about Toy Story? I am sure that you are all well aware of the film which introduced us to characters such as Woody and Buss Lightyear and added the phrase, “To Infinity and Beyond” into the American Lexicon. Toy Story is the film that really started Pixar’s string of incredibly successfully full length animated films and ushered in the amazing potential of computer animated films to the big screen. Toy Story looked incredible in 1995 and the folks at Pixar seem to raise the bar as far as what is possible with computer animation with each successive release. The sky, it seems, is truly limitless, at least insofar as computer animation is concerned.

In Toy Story, we are introduced to Andy’s toys, which come to life in the absence of the presence of humans. Woody is Andy’s favorites and rules the roost, until the introduction of Buzz Lightyear as a gift at Andy’s birthday party. When Buzz is introduced to the gang, Woody is a bit jealous. Woody knocks Buzz out of Andy’s window and the rest of the toys turn on Woody. Both Buzz and Woody come into the possession of Andy’s demented neighbor Sid, a particularly vicious child, and Woody and Buzz set out to rescue each other and bring both of them back to Andy’s room before he and his family move to a new house across town. In doing so, they both come to learn the value of friendship.

Toy Story features the voices of Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear. Toy Story was an instant classic upon its release and remains so today 15 years after its initial release. It is truly a film for all ages and is very highly recommended and for me, another must buy.

Video 

I must have seen Toy Story on DVD a hundred times. However, seeing the film on Blu-ray was like seeing the film for the first time, the improvement in picture quality was that substantial. The folks at Disney/Pixar have really pulled out all the stops on this release which looks phenomenal. Given the impressive video quality on the prior Pixar releases, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Toy Story features a bright and bold color palette and just about every color you can imagine. Blacks are as inky as they come and the level of detail is simply off the charts. The level of detail in the texture of each character is amazing. Just take a look at the wood grain on the floors, the nicks on the doors and door jams, the texture of the paint on the doors and woodwork, where the texture of the paint bristles is clearly visible. The sheen on the various toys is amazing as well and in particular, the bright white glaze on Little Boo Peep.

The overall clarity of the image on this release is sensational, with an amazing sense of depth and three dimensionality that is very, very impressive. Given that the images were created without film, there is no film grain present. What you are left with is a picture of exceptional clarity, depth and detail. Hopefully, Toy Story 2 will be just as sensational.

Audio 

The improvement in the DTS HD Master Audio track on this release over the lossy track on the DVD release is just as impressive as the improvement in the video. I have never heard Toy Story sound this good before. Not even close. This is a very immersive sound design with an aggressive use of the surrounds during the entire film. In addition to the overall sense of immersion, the overall dynamics of the sound design are excellent as well, with deep and tight bass. The sound design places you right in the middle of the action, with balls bouncing around you and rockets blasting off to cars speeding across the room and over your head.

The dialogue track is well recorded and front and center in the mix. If I had to quibble with one aspect of the sound, it is that it does get a tad on the bright side at real high volume. However, at more normal listening levels, this brightness is not as noticeable. In addition to the overall brightness, I was a bit disappointed with the fidelity of the music, which lacked the smoothness and transparency of prior Pixar releases and on the spectacular new release of The Princess and the Frog. Other than these two rather minor quibbles, this is a great sounding release and is one that should thrill fans of the film.

Special Features 

Not surprisingly, the Blu-ray release of Toy Story comes loaded with extras. I was provided with a copy of the combo pack which included a DVD copy of the film as well as a digital copy. Disc one is the Blu-ray copy of the film which includes the extras. All of the extras that were included with the prior DVD release of the film are presented here as well in standard definition. However, there were several new extras prepared for this release, all of which are presented in HD.

These new extras include a sneak peek at the upcoming Toy Story 3 due for theatrical release in June as well as Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs Episode One in which Buzz Lightyear reports back on his trip to the International Space Station via the Space Shuttle. Yes, a Buzz Lightyear toy did make its way the the Space Station. Also included is a featurette “Paths to Pixar” Artists” which features interviews with several of the Pixar animators, where they discuss their career paths, offering advice to aspiring filmmakers and animators.

We also get several animated shorts about life at Pixar, including John’s Car where the old beat up jalopy that John Lassiter once owned and drove to work every day is discussed. It was so bad that Steve Jobs bought him a black Volvo after the success of Toy Story. Another of the shorts is “Baby AJ” where one of the animators discusses how he dressed up like the oversized baby from the short Tin Toy to win the prize at a Pixar Halloween party as well as “Scooter Races” which describes the scooter races which were a regular occurrence at Pixar’s old locale.

Also included is the featurette “Buzz Takes Manhattan” which documents Buzz’ first appearance as a balloon at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, with John Lassiter holding one of the many tether wires during the parade. BY far, the most interesting of the the extras is “Black Friday: The Toy Story You Never Saw” in which John Lassiter and others discuss how bad the first rough cut of the film was and how it was nixed by Disney. A short clip of the film, which featured an totally unlikable Woody is included. After the rough cut was nixed by Disney, the folks at Pixar went back to the drawing board for 2 weeks, making the film they wanted to make without studio interference. The rest, as they say, is history.

Final Thoughts 

If you are a fan of Toy Story, you owe it to yourself to check it out again on Blu-ray. It is like seeing the film again for the first time. Very highly recommended and a must own for sure.

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!

Regardless, when watching a teen horror movie, I expect to laugh out loud, remark on the stupidity of at least one of the lead characters, be disgusted by at least one “gut explosion”, and enjoy the requisite topless scene.  On all counts, “The Final Destination” did not disappoint.

Film 

For those unfamiliar with the “Final Destination” franchise, the premise is pretty simple.  At the beginning of each movie, a group of young people (and expendable side/minor characters) escape Death due to a premonition of one of the characters.   Then, for the rest of the movie, Death hunts them down relentlessly.

What has made this franchise a cut above (pun intended) some of the other teen horror franchises is the non-specificity of death.  Virtually any character can die in any scene from virtually anything located in their environment.  For example, “The Final Destination” starts at a stock car race, an environment where an excellent assortment of flying debris and explosives are available.  Construction sites (indoors no less), can link together innocuous items such as a pair of glasses, sawdust, a nail gun, and the ever-present barrels of “flammable” material.  Even car washes and swimming pools are not safe.

However, “The Final Destination” also shows a smirking self-awareness.  When one of the minor characters is being teed up for their eventual demise, we see slippery material on the floor, a can of hairspray ready to explode, a loose ceiling fan, a faulty barber’s chair, plus many pairs of scissors.  Although the movie overtly teases us into imagining multiple gory resolutions to this scene, we still are surprised at the way the scene resolves itself.  The scene where a tow truck-driving racist skinhead meets his fate will have you laughing out loud.

The 3-D presentation of this movie is surprisingly good for an anaglyph (red/cyan) 3-D transfer.  As anyone who has experienced good 3-D (polarization) knows, anaglyph 3-D presents a substandard 3-D image, and struggles with resolving red/cyan images on screen.  In “The Final Destination”, the 3-D effect was the best I’ve ever seen at home using anaglyph, though the color had its understandable issues.

If you are familiar with the “Teen Horror” genre, and you enjoy these types of movies, “The Final Destination” is a solid middle-of-the-pack movie.  Not the most creative, funny, or gory of movies, but entertaining.  Fortunately, this movie also never pretends to be anything other than what it is making it enjoyable for what it is.

Video

The video in this move was quite mixed.  On the good side, outdoor scenes were shot beautifully, with great color saturation, nice depth of field (especially obvious on the 3-D version), and a natural looking amount of grain.

On the bad side, the low light scenes did suffer from excessive grain, and could have used some clean-up during the transfer process.  Although grain should have a softening effect in low light and indoor shots, at 1080p this excess grain almost makes the shots appear out of focus.

One other observation is that the Blu-Ray format does highlight any weaknesses in the source material.  In the case of “The Final Destination”, some of the effects are not very well done, and these flaws in both the CGI and the filmed effects are quite obvious.

Audio 

It is difficult to find any flaws in the audio presentation of this Blu-ray, though it does not have enough dynamics to be considered a reference disk.

The use of music in the movie was good, and it was mixed in clearly and appropriately.  Dynamic levels were extremely well-balanced, with dialog (and screaming) always present and clear through the centre channel.  All channels had very good separation, with the rear channels being fed appropriate amounts of sound during the right times in the movie.  Bass was good, with the subwoofer adding impact without booming.

Overall, this was a very-well mixed move that made proper use of the 5.1 channels.

Special Features 

Interestingly enough, “The Final Destination” did not include a commentary track, likely due to the space constraints of including both a 2-D and 3-D movie on the disc.  Instead, it included a behind the scenes look at a number of the death scenes in the movie, and how they were created.  However, I was surprised to see that with the effort put into filming the scenes (versus CGI) that they didn’t look more realistic.

The main disc also included two alternative endings (one of which wasn’t really an ending), some storyboarding, and the valuable deleted scenes.  In the case of “The Final Destination” the director did a pretty good job, with only two of the deleted scenes being a better fit for the movie.  On one, they clearly picked a “gross out” death over a more realistic one.

The second disc contains a digital copy of the movie.

To the movie fan in me, the bonus features in this set were slightly better than average.  Although there was not a great quantity of them, they were all in HD, and they all provided a very-good glimpse into the world of the filmmakers.

Final Thoughts 

“The Final Destination” is a reasonably typical movie for the Teen Horror genre, though its use of quality 3-D makes it more rental-worthy than most.  Unfortunately, it suffers from the affliction most sequels have; there is simply not enough creativity or originality. Although the movie would have difficulty holding up under repeated watches, it is really not that bad, considering it never attempts to be anything other than what it is.

Film

The Invention of Lying is based on a very simple premise, namely that the human race has not yet evolved to be able to tell a lie. In fact, there wasn’t even a word invented yet to describe untruthfulness. Yes the word lie hadn’t even been coined yet. Into this world stumbles, Mark (Ricky Gervais), a down on his luck screenwriter, who is fired from his job and is unable to pay his rent. He enters his bank to withdraw the last of his funds which are well short of what he needs for his rent. He is advised by the bank teller that the system is down and that he will have to wait.

It is then that he has an epiphany, and decides to inform the teller that he has more money in his account than he really does so he will have enough to pay the rent. He does and she believes him without even checking and gives him the money he requested. Mark now sees endless possibilities before him and is shocked that no one has thought of this ideas before. He then decides to lie his way through life, to make money, become rich and snag the girl of his dreams. However things begin to take a turn for the worst for him when he lies to his mother on her deathbed about what happens to you when you die.

Apparently, the accepted idea was that there was nothing after death. Mark went and created not only the concept of heaven as well as God, described as the man in the sky who controlled all of our lives. Yes, Mark lied and invented the concept of religion. This anti-religion sentiment is really at the core of the film. While this sounds like a great idea for a film on paper, the execution here is lacking.

The film is more like short SNL skit rather than a full length film as the initial creative spark behind the film is exhausted rather quickly, leaving a rather unfunny and ponderous mess in its wake. This is surprising given that the film was co-written by Ricky Gervais and has quite a cast featuring Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey. Rob Lowe and Jonah Hill as well as shorter cameos by a few other well known actors such and Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jason Bateman just to name two. Despite the cast and my intrigue over the concept, I just can’t recommend this film. If you must, check it out but on the basis of a rental only.

Video

When I think of the look of this film, the word average keeps coming to mind. All aspects that I consider to rate the look of a film, black level, detail, shadow detail, imagine depth and clarity, color rendition and the like are all about average in comparison to most of the past years’ Blu-ray releases.

The film has a rather natural although a bit cool at times color palette with nice looking skin tones. However, the image throughout the film is characterized by a general softness and lack of fine facial and background details. As a result, the film lacks the sharpness and clarity of the best looking films on Blu-ray, looking a bit flat and two dimensional in comparison. The lack of detail and overall softness is consistent throughout the film and is likely the artistic intent of the director and not the fault of the encoding process. I can’t say that I detected any serious use of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. I just would have preferred a sharper and more detailed image.

Audio

The audio was even more disappointing that the video. While the audio on this release is presented with Dolby True HD, I am not sure why they even bothered given the rather primitive sound design, which is basically a stereo mix. The sound field here is very front heavy, to the point that I had to get out of my seat to put my ear up to the surround speakers to make sure they were working. Every now and then one gets a faint hint of sound coming from the surrounds with almost all of the sound coming strictly from the front three speakers.

The overall fidelity of the sound is nice enough I guess as it is basically nothing more than a dialogue track. Dynamics are basically non existent. I would have preferred a bit more sophisticated sound design than that which was presented here, even considering the fact that the film is a comedy.

Special Features

I can’t really say that I enjoyed the extras on this release, which seemed to me to be nothing more than a tribute to the “genius” of Ricky Gervais. I know the guy is talented but geez….. The extras include several featurettes including an outtake and gag reel entitled “More Laughter: Corpsing and Outtakes” as well as a prequel to the film entitled “Prequel: The Dawn of Lying”.

Also featured is “A Truly ‘Honest’ Making of Featurette with Ricky Gervais” where the cast describe just how much of a genius Ricky Gervais really is. The extras also include the featurette Meet Karl Pilkington featuring Ricky Gervais’ friend and co-host of The Rickey Gervais Show as he travels to the US for the first time to do publicity for a film. Also included are Ricky and Matt’s Video Podcasts during the making of and publicity tour for the film as well as deleted scenes. The release is not BD-Live enabled but does include a digital copy of the film compatible with Macs and PCs.

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, while there is a gem of idea behind this film, the execution is just not up to snuff. My ultimate recommendation would be for you to skip this baby in its entirely. If you must see it, do so on the basis of a rental only.

Film

Four Christmases has a very good cast with accomplished award winning actors such as Robert Duvall, Reese Witherspoon, Jon Voight, Sissay Spacek and Mary Steenburgen along with Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Tim McGraw and Kristen Chenoweth. A film with that cast can’t be that bad, right? Well, yes it can. This is just a really bad film. The words, dumb, crass, idiotic and stupid leap to mind when I think of this film.

The film stars Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as Brad and Kate, a successful totally self absorbed unmarried thirties something couple in San Francisco that hit the tropics every Christmas to avoid spending time with their respective families during the Christmas holidays. They tell their parents that they are traveling on the holidays on various charitable endeavors, all the while they are enjoying themselves at some tropical paradise.

This Christmas, their flight to the tropics was fogged in and cancelled and they were interviewed on TV at the airport, an interview that was seen by their families. Predictably, they had to spend part of Christmas day at the homes of their respective parents, all of which are now divorced, hence the title of the film. All of their parents and siblings are simply crazy, with one exception, and their encounters with them on Christmas send their lives together in a direction they couldn’t have imagined before their flight was fogged in.

Sounds like a good idea for a plot. However, the writing is so bad, the depiction of their families so ridiculous that I couldn’t wait for this film to end. If you want to watch a train wreck, give this film a rent. I would recommend that the rest of you skip it entirely.

Video

The word that leaps to mind when I think of the picture quality on this release is mediocre. The only positive comment I can make about the film is that is has a natural color palette. That’s it. Black level, clarity, detail and three dimensionality are all mediocre with a resulting image that is flat and lifeless. Detail, in particular facial and background details, are well below the better looking films on Blu-ray. The film has a smoothed over hazy look that I didn’t find appealing at all. Is it the worst looking film I have seen? No, it is not that bad. However, the picture quality on this release is almost as disappointing as the film itself.

Audio

Unfortunately, the audio on this release is just as disappointing as the video. While I was not exactly expecting a bombastic sound design given the nature of the film, I was expecting an audio track with some semblance of dynamics and pop. What we are provided with is a track that is as flat and drab as the video, devoid of any sense of dynamics. This might as well have been a stereo mix, as the surrounds are hardly engaged at all during the film. There is little if any real deep bass to speak of and no real sense of space or depth to the sound field. The dialogue track is just OK and always intelligible, which in the case of this film, is not necessarily a good thing. A drab, flat and boring sound track is not what I was expecting and is what is provided on this release.

Special Features

I can’t really say that I was impressed with any of the extras here. The release does include a digital copy compatible with Macs and PCs. Included is a gag reel that is presented in high definition. Also presented in HD is a featurette Four Christmases-Holiday Moments where the cast and crew discuss the film as well as their own real life family Christmas experiences.

The extras also include 7 additional scenes not included in the film (for good reason) as well as an utterly forgettable featurette Seven-Layer Holiday Meals in a Flash, with celebrity cook Paula Deen and cast member Katy Mixon whipping up a Christmas meal. Seven-Layer Holiday Meals is also presented in HD. Also included is the HBO First Look segment entitled Four CHristmases-Behind the Madness. The release is also BD-Live enabled allowing you to access personal and candid cast member memories and outtakes with Paula Deen and Katy Mixon.

Final Thoughts

To say that I was disappointed in this release would be a bit of an understatement. From the film itself to the audio and video presentations, this release is a real disappointment. If I were you, I would skip this one entirely.

Film

Aliens in the Attic looked like a good idea for a film when I first saw the trailer. However, I found it to be really disappointing once I had the chance to see the full film. It is very formulaic and utterly predictable.

The film is filled with just about every character stereotype one could imaging in a teen based film. Of course, all the adults in the film are dopes with the kids the only one with brains. Looking for the dumb teenage male love interest. Check. The oversexed attractive older sister? Check. The crazy granny. Check. Yes they are all there, all woven into a film that I can best describe as being boring.

The plot is really simple. The family travels out into the countryside for an extended fishing vacation, that none of the kids are interested in. While there, the Earth is attacked by an advanced team of 4 aliens, one of which has a soft spot for humans. They crash land into the attic at the vacation house where they are discovered by the kids on the trip, who battle the aliens to prevent them from taking over the Earth, all the while trying to hide the existence of the aliens from their parents. The only really humorous part of the film involves the mind control device the aliens have where they are able to take control of the bodies of an adult human using what looks like a video game controller. The device is used to control the older boyfriend as well as Granny (Doris Roberts) with some slow motion battle sequences right out of the Matrix.

Other than these rather brief scenes, the rest of the film is a real borefest. I am sure that kids under 12 will love this film but that is about it. If you must, check out Aliens in the Attic but do so on the basis of a rental only.

Video

At first glance, I was initially impressed with the video quality on this release. However, as the film progressed, I became less and less impressed. The film features a well saturated color palette that is a bit skewed to the color brown. This is most noticeable with the skin tones of the various actors which all have a brownish tint to them, unnaturally so. I would have preferred a much more natural color palette without all the post production color timing changes. However, I am not the director so what I think really doesn’t matter.

Blacks are deep and inky and shadow detail is quite good. However, overall detail is not at the level of the very best looking films I have seen on Blu-ray, the with the film having a bit of a softness to it that resulted in me having to knock down the overall score a bit. The degree of softness that I have described is rather subtle on closeups but is more noticeable on more distant shots. While I really would have liked to give the film a higher overall score based upon my initial impressions ( namely a 4.5), upon further inspection and a closer examination of the film, I feel that a score of 4.0 is more appropriate, given the softness and lack of overall clarity that became more and more obvious the longer I viewed the film.

Audio

I was just as disappointed with the audio as I was with the video. My main complaint with the audio involves the overall dynamics. Simply put, the audio on Aliens in the Attic sounds timid, subdued, lame, soft and weak. If you are looking for loud bangs during the film, all you will find are whimpers. The lack of overall dynamics was rather surprising for such a new film. The overall sound is OK, sounding fine with a smooth and open sound without any evidence of harshness.

The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The rest of the mix just didn’t grab me. The bass was weak and just didn’t rattle the room where it should have. The surrounds were not used as aggressively as I would have preferred either, with a much more front heavy mix than I had anticipated and without the level of total immersion that I felt would have been appropriate given the subject matter of the film. All in all, the audio on Aliens in the Attic was a big disappointment.

Special Features

While the Blu-ray release of the film is packed with extras, I can’t really say that I found any of them to be the least bit interesting. Aliens in the Attic on Blu-ray is a two disc set, with disc 1 containing the film and extras and disc 2 a digital copy of the film compatible with Macs and PCs. The extras include a very brief introduction to the film by Ashley Tinsdale. Also included is a not quite finished alternate ending to the film that was best left on the cutting room floor.

We also get three deleted scenes and a gag reel that I really didn’t find to be all that amusing. Also included is a animated short Behind the Zirkonians which takes you to their planet as well as an interactive featurette Meet the Zirkonians, where you are able to access facts and details about each of the four aliens featured in the film. Also included are two behind the scenes feaurettes Lights, Camera, Aliens and The Ashley Encounters which is better described as a featurette on how marvelous Ashley Tinsdale is.

Lastly there is a Kung Fu Grandma featurette which is a mock up of a fictitious commercial for a video game based on the film, a Brian Anthony Electricity music video and a Fox Movie Channel Life After Film School interview with producer Barry Josephson. As you can see, while there are plenty of extras included with the release, I wouldn’t describe any as being must sees.

Final Thoughts

While Aliens in the Attic may have sounded appealing on paper, I found the film to be a bit of a disappointment and the audio and video on this release a disappointment as well. Recommended as a rental only.