Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition Blu-Ray

I want to do a really quick review on the Blu-ray that recently came out for Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Normally I don't review the special features and specs on a movie but this one is pretty stand out. First of all if you are a lover of Disney films you HAVE to get this. It's 2 blu-ray discs and 1 DVD version of the film. Disney has decided to include the DVD for people who have yet to upgrade, meaning buy this package now and when you do eventually upgrade to bd you will already have it (instead of having to repurchase). Its kind of cool. Now, the movie itself has been completely restored, each frame has been meticulously cleaned. It was originally shot on 70mm which is bigger than theater screens, meaning that this is the very FIRST time audiences have been able to see the entire frame. The original audio tracks were discovered and since those were originally recorded in 6 channel stereo, audio techs were able to clean out all the clicks and hisses and put the audio on this release in 7.1 DTS HD. The colors are amazingly beautiful. This film took almost a decade to create and almost bankrupted the studio, but it was all in an effort to create the most stunning animated film to date. Each cell is hand painted. Blu-ray finally gives audiences the chance to fully appreciate the spectacular art that is this film. The picture in picture commentary with Leonard Maltin and John Lassiter is one of the best movie commentaries I've ever listened to, its nice when people are passionate about what they are talking about. Plus the picture in picture makes it really enjoyable and allows for supplemental images to be shown. There are several other great special features, one is a clip from the Disneyland TV show where 4 of the films artists paint the same tree in 4 distinct manners. Another is the original short that played before Sleeping Beauty in Theaters back in the 50's called the Grand Canyon, it is essentially documentary style footage of the Grand Canyon, but reminds viewers that the theater used to be a spectacle. Those along with several making of and other reference material make this setup really exciting for fans of the film as well as fans of animation in general. This movie is truly a striking piece of art that has been restored to its original brilliance. Disney has set the bar high, we'll have to see if the future's releases like the upcoming Pinocchio can live up to the standard set.

Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Oh lord. This movie totally crushed me. It is absolutely heartbreaking. The ending will blow you away. Good pace, incredible story, the main kid in this movie is Asa Butterfield and he is basically tremendous. If this movie doesn't sweep the Academy Awards this year, I don't know what will. It's based on the novel by John Boyne. Let me wrap it up for ya, its set in Hitler's Germany and tells the tale of the son of a high ranking Nazi soldier. The family moves to a country house near a work camp and the boy loses all his friends, that is until one day he meets a boy over the fence in the work camp and the two become best friends. I left the theater with so much overwhelming emotion that I could barely speak. Then I saw this 40 something hulking man and his wife, and the guy was wiping tears from his eyes, all I could do was laugh... so that kind of pulled me out of it. Point is, the film is overwhelmingly powerful. I'm not a fan of drama, but there are rare occasions that a drama film is meaningful enough to even compel me. So if thats the kind of thing you like then I highly recommend this film. If you like "Schindler's List" or "The Kite Runner" then it is a must see.

Extended Star Trek Trailer

Cool Little Bonus Clip at the end. CANT WAIT!

Live Long + Prosper ;P

Dolph Lundgren Appreciation Day

Here I am watching 1986's "The Punisher", starring Dolph Lundgren. I'm completely oogling this 6'6" Swedish man-god and thinking to myself, ok he's notoriously Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV", but what else has he been in? Everyone knows him as the Russian badass who infamously wanted to "break" Sylvester Stallone and I'm watching some serious acting chops in "The Punisher" (not to mention, perfect genetics), so how come Lundgren hasn't left his mark like other 80's action hunks like Schwarzenegger or Van Damme? IMDB tells me he was He-Man in the "Masters of the Universe" movie, regardless of how boring I find that version to be, how cool would it be to say you played He-Man? There are other shimmers of light in that resume, but lately a lot of direct to video fodder. If you've ever taken a moment to think about him, I'm sure you too have thought "Dolph Lundgren, that guy really didn't do anything"... or, you know, something along those lines. So, I take my curiosity to "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_Lundgren", Check this shit out, turns out there is a lot more to Ivan Drago then a couple of acting gigs. His accomplishments are actually really impressive. He can speak 5 languages and turned down a scholarship to M.I.T. to play actor. He's involved in the Olympics and has a 3rd degree blackbelt in some wacky form of karate. Just take a look and you're sure to be amazed by the accomplishments of Dolph Lundgren. It just showed me not to ever underestimate people. Seriously, dude is impressive. On top of this, I just read that he is gonna be in the new Stallone movie "The Expendables" with Jason Statham and Jet Li. This could be the step up script he's needed all these years. So, I officially want to propose Dolph Lundgren appreciation day. I don't want to simply promote his accomplishments, but moreover remind others that we should all strive to be well rounded. If motherfucking Dolph Lundgren can be a badass at everything, we should all hope to be at least moderately good at a few things. Let's do this.

Trailer Park

Here's the preview for "Coraline" it's based off a book by Neil Gaiman and is directed by the dude who actually directed "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (not Tim Burton. gah) and is all stop motion animation. Looks cute.


"Astro Boy" first trailer. Not much shown, but the music is epic and the animation looks good. I really really like the music actually. If you don't know Astro Boy, its the story of a Robot Boy who basically can kick your ass. It started out as a Japanese Manga in 1952 and a Japanese tv series in 1963. It was such a smash that it spread the globe not just once, but was remade as a series in 1980 and again in 2003. Although movie versions have been kicked around for some time now (including attachments to Walt Disney in the 60s and Jim Henson in the 90s) this is the first feature length animated "Astro Boy" film.

Grabbag

• Two Studios announced asian remakes; "Oldboy" and "The Host"... The Host is one of my favorite movies, its this cool monster movie from South Korea. The American version will be directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) so fingers crossed that it will be awesome.

• Some Images from the upcoming "Where The Wild Things Are"

• New Poster for "The Spirit"

Trailer Park

Race To Witch Mountain


Watchmen


Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince


Star Trek


HOLY SHIT!!

First Look at Mad Hatter

Here's the first image of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter for Tim Burton's upcoming re imagining of Alice and Wonderland, this movie will probably suck but make tons of money...

Grabbag

• The Trailer for J.J. Abrams ' "Star Trek" comes out November 17th with Quantum of Solace
• Jaden Smith (Will Smith's son) will be the new "Karate Kid" in a remake of the 1984 classic
• The Wayans Bros. just finished up their final draft on a film script for "The Munsters"
• Here's a cool poster for "Astro Boy"... comes out October 2009
  

Role Models

God, this movie was hilarious. I mean, just SO funny. A lot of WTF moments, but I think that was maybe the funniest comedy tactic they used. It's dirty, it's rough around the edges, but ends up having some heart. Plus, most importantly, its got McLovin!! Cast is hilarious, writing is amazing, everything worked for me. If you like "Superbad" you'll enjoy this one. Ok, now get up and go watch it...

Hellboy 2

OK this is gonna cut to the chase. I liked it. I like Hellboy 1 slightly more. It didnt suck, but it wasn't mind bogglingly good either. Not to say if you like the first don't see this one, on the contrary, GO RENT IT. The thing with this franchise is that... although I've seen Hellboy more times than Fantastic 4, Superman Returns, Batman Begins, Spiderman 3, and Xmen 3 combined... I never really saw it as Great. The second installment is a perfect sequel because it too isn't great. On top of that, as beautiful as some of Guillermo Del Toro's visions are, he used a few too many in this film (What I'm trying to say is that too many characters look more "Pan's Labrynth" than "Hellboy"). Look, if you are smart enough to have seen the first one already then kick back, throw on part 2, have a brewskie. Cheers and crossed fingers to a third film. (Hellboy 2 hits DVD Tuesday Nov 11th)

Get Smart

Waited til this hit DVD to give it a chance. I dug it. It's a really pleasant classic comedy. "Get Smart" is based on the 1965 Mel Brooks TV show starring Don Adams that parodied secret agents. Its a typical good (CONTROL) vs evil (KAOS) superagent story. Maxwell Smart is the bumbling yet lovable secret agent who, with his partner Agent 99, must stop KAOS from destroying humanity. Hilarious antics ensue along the way. The movie does a great job of paying homage to the original show while being modern enough and individual enough to appeal to today's audiences. The cast is absolutely great; Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne "the rock" Johnson, and Alan Arkin all fulfill their characters perfectly. If you've never seen the show, the film is comparable to any other Mel Brooks comedy (although the film was made without any involvement by Brooks). Its just a simple, enjoyable comedy. Nothing out of the ordinary. I'm a nerd so I give it alot of extra points for all the nuance to plot points from the old show, and even incorporating old cast members into this new version. They even throw in some old gadgets and cars from the original production. Wikipedia's got a nice compilation of all the References made, if you are at all interested. I think in today's Hollywood its really important to respect source material, and this movie does a perfect job of that. The charm and appeal of the original was that they didn't take the story too seriously and you could tell it was something fun to make. That's reflected in the film. It's successful because it doesn't try to be too serious or go too far. It is what it is. Respek.

UP

yay Here's the first long trailer for Pixar's next film "UP"

South Park: About Last Night

Here's the episode of South Park that aired on November 5th. Funny how they were able to put this together just the night after the election, its all about what had just occurred the night before

Obama's Eleven :D

Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a Continent...

Monsters Vs Aliens

FINALLY The trailer to Monsters Vs Aliens. This looks HILARIOUS. Im so excited for it!

Genesis: Apes

Chud.com is reporting that there is a script making the rounds that is a reboot of "Conquest of the Apes". That would be AMAZING. Here's the article:

"Tim Burton killed Planet of the Apes. His film, while technically profitable, left moviegoers with such a bad taste in their mouths that Fox never bothered revisiting it in a sequel. The franchise, which had seemed poised for rebirth, lay dead for years.

But right now, in the halls of Fox, there is another new version of Planet of the Apes that has been kicking around for the last year. It's not a sequel to the Burton film, and it's not another remake of the original. To the general audience it's a prequel to Planet of the Apes, but for the initiated it's something totally different.

It's a remake of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

Yup. It's the story of Caesar, the ape who said no, the first ape with speech who started the events that led to a world where monkeys were on top and humans were dumb beasts.

Things are different in this script, written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, which is called Genesis: Apes. Fans will know that Caesar in Conquest is the result of a massive temporal paradox - his parents escaped to 1973 from a far future Earth. Further, Conquest takes place in a dystopian 'future' - 1991 - while Genesis: Apes is set in the modern day.

In this version Caesar is the result of a genetic scientist fooling around with the nature of things. When the baby monkey exhibits intelligence and the ability to talk, he takes the cuddly thing home to his wife, who is unable to bear children. Things go surprisingly well for a number of years until Caesar grows up and sees mommy getting attacked. The dutiful son steps in and accidentally kills the attacker.

Here's where it takes off. In a scene paralleling Charlton Heston in the cage in the original Planet of the Apes, Caesar ends up in custody at an Ape Conservatory where he and the other apes are abused mercilessly. Caesar finds himself a primate without a world - he's as smart as humans but will never be one of them (and is in fact tortured by them) and he's initially rejected by his monkey brethren.

You're on Caesar's side, understanding where this poor outcast is coming from. But then the script gets really ballsy and, just like in Conquest, Caesar begins a campaign to unite the apes and overthrow human society. And his plan isn't a Martin Luther King Jr series of marches, speeches and sit ins - Caesar and his apes take to the streets violently.

Again, it's like Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which brilliantly modeled its ape riot scenes on the Watts Riots that had happened just a few years before. But Conquest was set in a future where America was ruled by a fascist society. Genesis: Apes is set today, in this world. The regime that Caesar overthew in Conquest was made up of bad guys. The Caesar of Genesis: Apes is coming after you.

Maybe this is why the script has been languishing all this time. You just can't have your hero working to tear down our modern society. It's too radical! Plus, Fox remains notoriously unfriendly to good genre ideas.

Still, imagine if the film had come out this year. It's the 40th anniversary of Planet of the Apes and The Dark Knight proved that mainstream audiences are ready for something edgy and challenging. The country is polarized politically in a way that would almost guarantee this film major media coverage and controversy, which would sell tickets. You could probably have liberals and conservatives, whites and minorities completely outraged by this movie.

And it's the perfect way to get the franchise back up and running. Everybody knows that the Planet of the Apes used to be Earth. Everybody knows that the mute humans are our distant descendants. Everybody knows the Statue of Liberty is buried in the sand. So just skip all that - get to something new. That was one of the major problems with the Burton version, that it tried to recapture the shock of the original, the most spoiled movie of all time. But Genesis: Apes lets us get back into this world of apes and do what the four sequels to the original did - craft great science fiction parables that had gut puncher endings. Only Planet of the Apes had a 'twist' ending; all of the others just had 'Holy shit!' finales.

It's likely that Genesis: Apes will sit on a shelf forever and ever, but here's hoping that somebody at Fox is paying attention and realizes that even Mark Wahlberg can't keep this franchise down forever."

More Sarah Palin Silliness

aw, I don't feel bad for her at all...

Vote Palin in 2012!!

Chantix

I would rather have a hole in my throat than take Chantix. WTF?
"Vivid, Unusual, or Strange Dreams" "Suicidal Thoughts" ?????