Blu Ray reviews Vol.II

Sorority Row

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The Proposal is released on Buena Vista Home Entertainment Blu-ray Hi-Def Combi Pack and single disc DVD from the 30^th November.

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Terminator Salvation  

Terminator becomes the latest franchise to get itself a 'Re-Boot' not that it entirely needed it as jonathan Mostow's Rise of the Machines wasn't that bad and didn't kill the franchise off in the first place, anyway McG (Director of Charlies Angels) has taken on the mantle of kick starting a new triology off with the film set in 2018, 12 years after the events of Judgement Day when Skynet became aware and started the purge of humans everywhere.  John Connor (Christian Bale in full Dark Knight voice mode) is back and is yet to become the leader of the resistance and is currently leading a pocket of the Resistance in minor skermishes against the machine hoping to take them out / gather more useful information (Of which he already is aware of anyway) about what Skynet plans next.  We are also introduced  to Marcus Wright, a stranger who we only know was on death row before Judgement Day and signed over his body to medical science.  He is also wandering the barren wastelands that have been left after the years of wars with the machines with no real idea who he is or when he is...  A young Kyle Reese also comes into play and very quickly becomes the machines latest target for elimination (No they haven't given up on our John... He's number 2 on the list), who saves Marcus and then goes on a quest to join up with the resistance at their first opportunity.  This all leads to a culminative attack on Skynet, led by John Connor in attempt to slow down the machines from releasing the T-800's into the world and rescue Kyle, so that later on he can be sent back in time (Time travel has not yet been invented) meet his mother and set John's future in motion.  But when they get there, things don't go as smoothly as planned and John bumps into an all too familiar face along the way....

Terminator Salvation becomes the fourth Terminator movie in the franchise and weirdly enough shares a lot of similarities with another behomth of a franchise... Aliens.  You look at them and you realise that there an awful lot of similarites between the two, James Cameron's involvement.  THe single killer in the first movie expanding to a wider world in the following sequels.  The fourth movies having christian connitations in the title (Alien Ressurection, Terminator Salvation), hybrids that may or may not be a part of the solution.  A lot of running around factory type settings, we could go on for a while.  But needless to say that the early fears for this movie when McG was announced as the director (He made good on the promise too, surrounding the internet rumours for the end of the movie... They were most definetly wrong) are alayed early on as this assault on your retinas and ears in huge hollywood blockbuster style.

The story works surprisingly well although if this is set for a trilogy, they have left themselves with a lot to do storywise as a lot of plot threads are tied up by the end of this movie.  The cast doa superb job considering that they are running around with explosions for most of the film as more than just John Connors charater are expanded on.  Anton Yelchin makes for a very good young Kyle Reese and matches a lot of mannerisms and ticks of Micheal Biehn in the first movie.  Sam Worthington, who is set to be the next big thing with James Cameron's Avatar later this year and GI Joe also this summer is a revelation, he carries himself amazingly well and conveys emotion, drama and raw aggression to put himself on more than a par with the always dependable Bale.  The female characters could have done with a bit more screentime as Bryce Howard as Kate Connor  (John's pregnant wife) simply wanders around in the background with nothing to do despite being one of the worlds only medics, rubbing her bump.

If war is indeed hell then it really shouldn't be this exciting.  Terminator Salvation takes on the Terminator pantheon and sprints off into the distance like Usain Bolt at the Olympics.  It's a rollercoaster ride that is an all out assault on your senses.  Much like the new Star Trek movie there's more than enough bow's to the previous films (I'll be back, come with me if you want to live, some of the locales used look more than vaguely familiar etc.) to keep the die hards happy as well.  Theve managed to keep the run time fairly tight, which by the time the end credits roll and that all too familiar Terminator theme hit, you'll be leaving happy but wanting more.

The Blu Ray Disc for Terminator weaves a path of destruction much like a T-1000.  The visuals are amazing (Although some of the grimy blacks leave a lot to be disired at times), but it's the sound track that really makes this count.  Beefed up to the max you will be glad of showing off to your friends when the booming soundtrack hits.  with every bullet ping and mechanical whine peeling out of your surrounds, you feel right in the thick of the action along with john Connor hoping to survive.  A great disc to add to your collection.

Extras:

• Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes: "Re-Forging the Future" - Go behind the scenes of Terminator Salvation with an exclusive set tour. / "The Moto-Terminator" - See how the Terminator Salvation visual effects crew and Ducati partnered to create the slick and deadly Moto-Terminator!
• 11 mini featurette focus points spotlighting how the ground-breaking special effects were created!
• Maximum Movie Mode featuring director McG deconstructing the film's key moments, mini featurette focus points, Picture (PiP) commentary with cast and crew interviews, storyboards, still galleries, timeline and more!
• BD Live Content: "Resist Or Be Terminated" Tech Com videos (nine viral videos from the theatrical campaign and four new videos from the Home Entertainment campaign) / "The Final Resistance" video - access the secret plans of Skynet / CINECHAT - BD-Live technology that lets viewers around the world chat live about this, or any other CINECHAT enabled BD disc, from Sony Pictures International Home Entertainment!

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Star Trek

  
It's Star Trek Jim, but not as we know it...  And so Star Trek becomes the latest franchise to get itself a 'Re-boot' or Re-imgining' with Cloverfield & Losts     J.J.Abrams in the directors chair.  With a great new cast, effects and story it's ready to boldly go etc. etc.  But how does it match up to it's predecessors?  Well let's take a look...
 
Star Trek XI takes us back to the very begining and charts the first 25 years of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and crew as they take to the stars on their first mission for Starfleet to take on the might of the Romulans.  We see the birth of Kirk, move 25 years on to his time at Starfleet including his famous cheating of the Kobayashi Maru, before meeting Spock and then onto their first mission aboard the Enterprise where they came face to face with a world destroying Romulan craft led by Nero (Eric Bana).
 
The cast who take over in the now legendary roles are all fantastic, none more so than Chris Pine as Kirk and Karl Urban as 'Bones' McCoy who strike an excellent chemistry on screen and the two characters are even better than the age old partnership of Kirk and Spock.  The other cast members more than acquit themselves well in the various roles including the UK's very own Simon Pegg as Scotty who in particular looks like he is having a blast.  Unfortunately though Eric Bana does suffer a bit from not having much to do other than snarl a lot to screen and invite various ships captains over for 'negotiations', while all the other characters pretty much get back story, he much like the Romulan crew is left out to space to just turn up when some intergalatic fighting and special effects are required.
 
As for the plot, it actually becomes the films downfall at times and stops this from becoming a five star classic.  Basically the first half plays like Top Gun in space with Kirk's Maverick locking horns with Spocks Iceman.  From there the film follows a traditional buddy movie root , but at times the plot becomes so convooluted and borderlinbe confusing thateven the most ardent of Star Trek followers will be scracting thier heads.  However it does come across that the sole purpose for this is a cheap way for the makers of the film to alter timelines and Trek history to fit into however they want. Also the film tends to sway too much toward the loving homage and this takes you away from the re-boot and places you back in old territory.  But that last point will surely delight the vast legions of Trekkies/Trekkers who will be sitting watching a glorified wet dream as all the tick boxes are duely checked... Enterprise money shot, check... Expendable member of away team ina red vest killed, check... Famous lines uttered by each of the characters, check.. check... check. 
 
But when all is said and done this still all adds up to a very sucessful Star Trek movie and it manages to break one of the other old Trek addages that all the good sequels are the even numbered ones (This is Star Trek XI).  This is the best Star Trek outside of The Wrath of Khan and with plenty of spaceship battles, hand to hand combat, romance and humour to go around it will also manage to keep the most casual of viewer entertained throughout.  It does lull at times (Mainly with the scenes between Spock and his mother on planet Vulcan), butr it doesn't linger long enough for you to worry about that as it's soon back on track with more lasers and explosions.  This Trek will most definetly live long and prosper.

Star Trek is one of the best Blu Ray releases of the year with a near perfect transfer, with amazing sound.  The Blu Ray disc that is this years Dark Knight.  An utterly flawless transfer with the outer space blacks even having depth and that near 3-D feel to them.  The sound is more than you would expect from a Sci Fi movie and that in itself on Blu ray is pretty high, so what you have here is an awesome disc, with an amazing (And mostly in HD too) range of extras.  get this disc now!

Extras:

• Commentary by director J.J. Abrams, writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Bryan Burk.
• A New Vision - A look at every aspect of production-from unique locations to the use of classic Hollywood camera tricks.
• Gag Reel-Bloopers featuring the entire principal cast.
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
• To Boldly Go - Director J.J. Abrams, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof, and executive producer Bryan Burk talk about the many challenges they faced and their strategy for success.
• Casting - The cast, for their part, talk about the experience of trying to capture the essence of these mythic characters.
• Aliens - Designers Neville Page and Joel Harlow talk about the hurdles they faced creating new alien species, recreating the Romulans and Vulcans, and designing the terrifying creatures on Delta Vega for the new Star Trek.
• Score - Composer Michael Giacchino embraced the challenge of creating new music for Star Trek while preserving the spirit of Alexander Courage's celebrated theme.
• Starships - This chapter focuses on the unique stories behind the creation of the film's starships.
• Planets - The art department had a number of radically different planets to create. Abrams' desire to shoot on real locations whenever possible led the production team to a number of strange and surprising locations.
• Props and Costumes - Russell Bobbitt had the unique challenge of designing props that were both true to the original series and pertinent to today. Likewise, costume designer Michael Kaplan talks about how he designed costumes that paid homage to a classic
• Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek - When famed sound designer Ben Burtt was hired to create sounds for the first Star Wars film, he took his inspiration from the original "Star Trek" series.
• Gene Roddenberry's Vision - J.J. Abrams, Leonard Nimoy, previous Star Trek writers and producers, and scientific consultant Carolyn Porco describe and commend the optimistic and enduring vision of Gene Roddenberry.
• Starfleet Vessel Simulator - Explore extensive data on the U.S.S. Enterprise and the Romulan ship, the Narada. Submerse yourself in breathtaking 360° views and close-ups and review detailed tech information.

 

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre
 
The original 1974 film that redefined film horror. It tells the story of a group of friends who take a road trip and find themselves at the mercy of a depraved Texas clan, among them one of the icons of horror, the chain saw wielding 'Leatherface'. To this day The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains one of the most terrifying and disturbing films ever made.
 
The second version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre to be released on Blu Ray this really is the Ultimate edition.  The transfer is magnificent although you do feel at times that what made this sucha chilling film , is the grimy gfrisliness of it in it's original form, mnone more so than the soundtrack with the Mono track of the original film with the relentless screaming unerved even the the most harderened of cinema goer so with the brand new spakly multi speaker format it's not quite as bad now.  This film also shows up the recnt remakes, to be a waste of time as nothing beats the original and one of the best ever horro films ever made.
 
Where this Ultimate edition really jumpos out at you though is the extras, there are simply loads and loads of them on hand to keep even the most ardent of film fans going for days.  Pretty much everything you wanted to know about the Texas Chainsaw massacre is here.  While saying enjoy is probably not one of the things you would associate to this film, with this disc it certainly is, so enjoy.

Extras:
 

• Commentary with director Tobe Hooper, cinematographer Daniel Pearl and actor Gunnar Hansen
• Commentary with actors Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danziger and art director Robert A. Burns
• 'The Shocking Truth' documentary
• 'Flesh Wounds' documentary
• A tour of the TCSM house with Gunnar Hansen
• An interview with Tobe Hooper and writer Kim Henkel
• 'Off the Hook' with actor Teri McMinn
• 'The Business of Chainsaw' with production manager Ron Bozman
• Deleted Scenes, Outtakes

 

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Blood The Last Vampire
 
In 1970 a female vampire slayer Saya (Gianna Jun) arrives in Tokyo as apart of a covert organisation known as The Council designed to deal with the presence of demons in the human world. Saya is only working with The Council for one reason – in return for leading her to the whereabouts of the powerful demon Onegin (Koyuki). For her next mission, Saya is sent to a US military school in Japan to flesh out some demons, where general’s daughter Alice (Allison Miller) inadvertently gets herself involved in Saya’s war.

Some of you will already know that this is the live action adaptation of the seminal Anime OVA from Production IG. A truly international affair, the cast are Korean, Japanese, American and British, the choreography is by a Chinese legend and the director is French! However the Hollywood audience was the clear target here, which may have been its undoing, along with the problem in trying to turn a 40 minute OVA into a 85 minute film which meant lots of padding to the original story.

The basics are still the same but the addition of the all American girl Alice was there simply to placate the US audiences so they would have someone to relate to (because they can’t be sympathetic to foreigners even if they are the main protagonist) but her character is really just ballast, for both Saya and the weak subplot involving the US army and The council that is never fully explored or resolved. As alluded to earlier the story had to be eked out for a feature length film and, to be fair, was fairly well laid out and seemed to be building to something quite big. Unfortunately, with about ten minutes left, panic appears to have set in and we are immediately thrust into the climax with about half the build-up missing. The only part that was given some meat to its bones was Saya’s background, culminating in one of the better fight scenes involving her guardian Kato (Yasuaki Kurata) slicing and dicing with a bunch of masked assassins in a forest.

Gianna Jun deserves a ton of credit for doing her own stunts and fights, training for three months in martial arts for the fight sequences as laid out by the legendary Corey Yuen. Sadly, the quick editing, close-up camerawork and excessive use of CGI rendered a lot of the fights a blurry mess (aside from the aforementioned tumble in the forest and the climactic fight between Saya and Onegin). The CGI blood which resembles large bubbles of the stuff were stupid and quickly irritating, and the CGI demons were almost badly animated, at times resembling the old stop motion monsters of Ray Harryhausen (only not as good). The dialogue was fundamental and quite clunky at times, denying the characters any real chance to truly emote. And a quick mention for Larry “Archie Mitchell” Lamb as Alice’s father, doing a surprisingly adept US accent which I’m sure a real US actor could have done at half the price. Then again, they did have a Korean playing the Japanese lead…

Blood – The Last Vampire is not a bad movie per se but it will never be mistaken for a great one. Any film that is set in 1970 yet plays Deep Purple’s Space Truckin which wasn’t released until 1972 deserves derision. The whole thing is quite earnest and seems genuine in its intentions but there is just something maladroit about the handling of it. Ultimately, fans of the Anime have arguably been given something to moan about. Watch out of curiosity but don’t set yours expectations too high.
 

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MiB
 

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Rome
 
The epic drama set in the days of Julius Caesar, his brutal henchman Mark Antony, his cunning heir apparent Otavian, his conflicted friend Brutus, his ruthless niece Atia and his wrathful lover Sevilia. It is a tale for ages seen through the eyes of Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, two soldiers whose lives become inexorably tied to the fate of Rome itself. Love and lust, brotherhood and betrayal entangle the infamous Romans in a cruel match of power and principle, revenge and redemption, chronicling the death of the ancient republic...and the birth of an Empire.
 
This BBC/HBO drama finally gets the trewatment it deserves with an amazing HD package on Blu Ray.  The visuals are second to none and sound is great.  The discs themselves will take you a while to get through all 10 with both seasons on here.  While season 1 is edge of your seat gripping stuff, it kind of loses it's way a little in the second season, but rallys with an excellent finale.  Shame this only made two seasons as this could have run for a few more.  Essential viewing.
 

Extras:

• 13 revealing audio commentaries with cast and crew
• 4 featurettes examining the history of Rome and several of its more famous inhabitants
• 3 behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring the elaborate production
• 2 featurettes detailing the creation of pivotal scenes
• "Bloodlines" - an interactive on-screen guide highlighting the connections between the soldiers, Senate and families of Rome
• Enhanced "All Roads Lead To Rome"

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 Night At The Museum 2
 
Ben Stiller returns as Larry in the sequel to the very sucessful Night At The Museum and the story picks up a couple of years after the events of the first one with Larry now a sucessful businessman who sells gadgets which have obviously had some inspiration from his time as a night watchman.  Aftre the opening informercial we get down to the brass tacks that New Yorks Museum of Natural History is being modernised and that all the museums artefacts are being shipped off to the Smithsonian musuem in Washington DC for storage.

After the monkey steals the magiacal Egyptian artefact, the cats of characters in the Smithsonian come to life and Larry has work cut out for him if he is to rescue his friends, save his new ones and stop an army from the Netherworld escaping and taking over the world!  All in a nights work for Larry, who quickly gets himself to Washington and in a very amusing sequence with a cameo from Jonah Hill gets an entry pass and leads teh charge to stop things from getting out of control.

With a whole new set of exhibits to choose from (Darth Vader, Oscar the Grouch, Ivan the Terrible, Al Capone and a rather angry Octopuss for starters) the director Shaun Levy has made a clever choice to stop Night at the Museum from dropping into the sequel cash in and has managed to produce a witty, charming and and at times a downright hilarious affair.  The casting is spot on, with all the favorite charcters from the first film returning and additions of new ones such as Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah, the brother of Ahkmenrah from the first one, Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible, Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart and Bill Hader as General Custer. 

Hank Azaria especially is wonderful in a scene stealing turn as the films central villian and man with all the best scenes.  Amy Adams shows off what a great actress she is with more than a pssing resembelance to Katherine Hepburn.  Even the usually annoying Owen Wilson manages to underplay his role to fine effect.  It is the cast that really brings this to life and aldo we musn't forget to mention Steve Coogan and Robin Williams who reprise their roles...  There is just so many great actors in this that it's a wonder theat they managed to get them altogether for another film at the same time.

Ben Stiller also comes back to the proceedings with a ban as much wiser and more savvy Larry.  The film packs in an awful lot in it's slim 1hr 40 minute run time and you can't help but feel that ther could be a lot more if they wanted, but it's better to go away wanting more than making the whole thing a tired affair.  But this is the former and ends up being a fantastical family adventure, that will appeal to children of all ages and manages to be even better than the first movie!  Ben Stiller is like an Erroyl Flynn updated for todays audience as he tussles with the creatures, characters and villian's as he tries to save the day and not be late for his meeting with Wall Mart.  fortunately they even manage to play down the first films biggest weakness in Ricky Gervais and although he too returns, he's not on screen for more than 5 minutes.
 
So for a feast of fun, thrills and high adventure this summer and you don't fancy watching a boy wizard or a returning crew in outer space then night at the Museum is the perfect place to visit!

Night at the Museum comes to Blu Ray with a fine transfer looking nice and crisp sound is of a high standard too.  A worth while purchase and a decent disc with the triple play makes it more worth while for anyone thinking of future proofing.

Extras:

'Triple Play Edition' includes the movie on 3 formats: Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Copy 

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12 Rounds  

When New Orleans Police Detective Danny Baxter John Cena stops a brilliant thief from getting away with a multi-million-dollar heist, the thief’s girlfriend is accidentally killed. After escaping from prison, the criminal mastermind enacts his revenge, taunting the cop with a series of near-impossible puzzles and tasks …12 rounds…that Baxter must somehow complete to save the life of his fiancée.

12 Rounds is directed by Renny Harlin of Die Hard 2 fame and how the mighty have fallen.  Where Die Hard was an excellent sequel with brilliant action, this is a pedistrian movie with a bunch of explosions stuck together to try and make this movie interesting.  However it is saddled with the acting talents of WWE wrestler John Cena who can't even sell his moves properly in a wrestling ring so anyone expected him to carry off this is beyond anyone's guess.  Surely if they had viewed The Marine, they would know that a piece of wood could act Cena off the screen would have been warning enough, but alas no, so we are saddled with an overlong 100 minutes of 'action' that is basciallyu a very bad rehash of Die Hard With A Vengance.

You just have no sympathy for any of the cahracters and by the time the twelth round comes along you will have most likely have swithced off anyway.  The Blu Ray itself looks OK the explosions give your system a rough going over, but much like the movie this is just not going to do much for you.

Extras:

Bonus digital copy 

Directors commentary

Bloopers

Featurettes

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Fighting

Small-town boy Shawn MacArthur has come to New York City with nothing. Barely earning a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets, his luck changes when scam artist Harvey Boarden sees that he has a natural talent for streetfighting. When Harvey offers Shawn help at making the real cash, the two form an uneasy partnership. As Shawn's manager, Harvey introduces him to the corrupt bare-knuckle circuit, where rich men bet on disposable pawns. Almost overnight, he becomes a star brawler, taking down professional boxers, mixed martial arts champs and ultimate fighters in a series of staggeringly intense bouts. But if Shawn ever hopes to escape the dark world in which he's found himself, he must now face the toughest fight of his life.

Designed as a vehicle for star on the rise Channing Tatum, this is a fairly deceptive film, as fomr the title you would expect a generic knock em down, Jean Claude Van Damme style movie, but what you actually get is very little of the bare knuckle brawling (Yes there are a few fights in here the Chung Le scrap a particular standout), but this is more the thinking mans fight movie.  Mainly due to the prescence of Terrence Howard the film elevates itself abover the usual fare and is actually a pretty decent movie.  The supporting cast are solid and a a dodgy final fight aside where you are fairly sure of the outcome this is a better than average movie. 

This will surely do Mr. Tatum's ever groing fanbase no harm and should see him carry onto bigger and better things.  The Blu Ray itself manages to make grimy look crystal clear, the only time this movie slips a little from a HD perspective is during some of the fights (Especially the back alley one) as the blurry speed of the slugfest gets lost a little here.  THe soundtrack has nothing amazing to define however you can pick out all the various noises on the streets, this is a solid but just not spectacular package.

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Angels And Demons

 Dan Brown's Roberrt Langdon returns in the book that came first but in the movie world of Langdon comes second?!  Langdon this time has to take on the might of the suposed Illuminati in a race against time to stop the Vatican losing it's latest candidates for the position of the Pope after the death of the current one.  The four Preferiti are kidnapped and are threatened to be killed one by one, hour by hour until a antimatter bomb also stolen by the group will go off destroying the Vatican City and part of Rome.  Langdon uses his skills as  a symbologist to work out the 'Path of the Illumanti' by tracking the clues and leading himself to the lair of the Illumnati.  The film rumbles along as nothing more than a glorified chase movie until the twist ending and ends are tied up in a neat little package.

However Ron Howard has done some tinkering with Dan brown's original source novel, presumably to make things run a bit quicker, but these divergences gut the film of it's plot and making the film into sub-National Treasure fare.  For instance one of the key elemnts of the book is a wheelchair bound character and director of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) Maximillian Kholler, who is completely removed from the film thus removing a whole section of the book.  Likewise with CERN itself, it figures as a major venue in the book yet we have just a 10 minute glimpse at the beginning of the film.  There are many more of instances like this where they change elkements from the book which actually make this a weaker film.  However this is only likel;y to upset those who have read the book and for the unintiated they won't know what is missing anyway.  However they will have to deal with the films other weak point... The relentless signposting of the obvious that is going on.  Much like Dan Brown's writing it is full of 'There is the pyramid.  We know this because it is pyramid shaped.' I kid you not.  This becomes incresingly irritating as the film wears on to its overlong 2 hours plus run time.

Still the cast are terrific with Tom Hanks leading the charge and doing the best he can do with th material he is served up.  The setting is also glorious and despite being rufused permission to film in the Vatican Ron Howard has recreated a very authentic look for the key scenes in the film.  Some of the action gets a bit gory for those of you who are a bit squeamish so watch out for that. 

Overall this a better film than the awful Da Vinci Code, but that is not sayiong too much as it is only just better than that.  How Ron Howard can produce a near masterpiece in Frost/Nixon and then push out bile like this is beyond the greatest of mysteries.  Some will inevitably enjoy it, but overall this is a very poor effort.

The Blu ray does a good job and Sony have once again made a good fist of not so great a movie, the various chases and searches look good and the various deaths look in particular grisly detail in HD, the sound especially Hans Zimmers excellent score sound great in this film and your speaker system pwill pick out every little nuance that there is to have.

Extras:

Original US Theatrical Cut

Extended Cut

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Hannah Montanna The Movie

Miley Cyrus brings her alter ego to the big screen for the second time after the 3-D concert The Best of Both Worlds with Hannah Montana the Movie, which follows her having to go back to her roots to rediscover the things that are most important in life after her father (Real life dad Billy 'Achy Breaky' Ray Cyrus) tricks her into going back home.

Looks like it's time to cash in on the Hannah Montana story before Miley Cyrus herself moves on and they bring a story which while is great fun (If youre a 12 year old female) is nothing more than a stretched out episode of the TV series.  That's not say that this a poor film, because fans of the series are bound to really enjoy this as it's light and fluffy enough, with enough songs and silly moments for them to not worry.  however you do come out of the movie with a sense of this is the beginning of the end for Miss Montana.

Miley Cyrus is clearly comfortable in the role of Montana and that comes across in the film, Billy Ray Cyrus as her dad also works due to the natural chemistry between them, plus for those of us who will be slightly older in the audience the addition of Billy Ray brings back those exciting images of the mullet which are sure to bring a wry smile to many faces.

Hannah Montana is a global phenomenon and this film will certainly do no damge to that, the new tunes are fairly catchy (Hip Hop Hoe Down has been described as 09's answer to the Macarana by Miss Cyrus herself, although if it is the tunes needs to be far more excruciating that this...) with the stand out father and daughter duet Butterfly (Fly Away) will surely melt even the hardest of Daddies hearts.  The movies message is fairly harmless but encouraging enough for young people.  Much in the same as High School Musical 3 was, it's refreshing to see a light fluffy film that causes no harm i.e. no death, drug addiction, teenage preganancy etc.

The Blu Ray is upto the usual Disney standards and is bright and colourful as Hannah is, the sound is great and espeically ramped up on the songs in HD which I'm sure will be a delight for all the Montanna fans watching in and getting Montannarized in Blu Ray.

Extras:

Audio Commentary

Music Video: Miley Cyrus 'The Climb'

Music Video: Billy Ray Cyrus 'Back to Tennessee'

Music Video: Hannah Montana 'Let's Go Crazy' and 'You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home'

Music Video: Taylor Swift 'Crazier'

The Hoedown Throwdown': Dance-Along Feature

I Should Have Gone To Film School': Behind The Scenes Featurette

Bloopers

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Dead Snow

 

When a group of friends take a break up the Austrian Alps the last thing they expect is to be set upon by Zombies never mind Nazi Zombies! A very tongue in cheek splatter fest featuring the inspired idea of Zombie Nazis to freshen up the Zombie genre this is a curiously and immensely enjoyable effort.

 

The film has he usual set up, friends off up to a desolate cabin in the mountains where the phones don’t work, and they can have a bunch of fun sledding and snowballs etc. the group consists of the usual faces the geek, a doctor, the good time girl etc. which is done very deliberately of course and then sitting around on the first night in the cabin a creepy stranger bursts in on them and tells them of the legend of the Nazis in these woods who were never discovered after they made off with the gold. Although they were terrible worse than the usual brand of Nazi of course torturing the locals etc. Well off the old guy toddles into the night only to be one of the first to be set upon the disturbed Nazis. After that the rest of the group soon discover the predicament they are in choose between fight or flight and end up in a battle to the end with rather hungry Zombie Nazis…

 

The film obviously draws a lot from the Peter Jackson early horrors such as Braindead and Bad Taste. With the dark humour thrown in this really shouldn’t work, but gleefully it does. Maybe due to the inclusion of Zombie Nazis (Who came up with that idea? Whatever next), but it does and its rollicking good fun to boot, gory, messy and tremendously violent, this not one for the feint heated but any fan of the zombie genre should have this in their collection…

 

The Blu Ray version of this film is pin sharp.  The visuals are great to the point you can seach each individual hair on a bearded face.  The sound is of a high standard too adding to the general atmosphere of the whole proceedings too. 

 

• Ein! Zwei! Die! – The Making of Dead Snow  

• Cast & Crew at Sundance  

• Make-up featurette  

• Special effects featurette  

• Theatrical trailer  

• Teaser trailer  

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CineChat (Use logo)

Deleted Scenes

Action Sport Junkies

Stunts

On Set With Mike "Rooftop" Escamilla

Fun On Set

Mike V. vs Mall Cop

Mall Cop Response

Free Running vs. Parkour

Thoughts With Kevin James

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Ghostbusters

 

For those of you not aware the greatest film of the 80’s was Ghostbusters. Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis combined with Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis and director Ivan Reitman to create what was quite simply a groundbreaking and downright hilarious film about three goofball scientists who loose their jobs from the local university and go on to become the world’s foremost paranormal investigators, the Ghostbusters.

 

Well now Ghostbusters has been brought back to life with a fantastic conversion onto Blu Ray and with it packaged a great transfer fantastic sound and as well as the extras from the special edition DVD, a few new ones including Slimer vision PiP track to heighten an already fantastic experience.

 

Ghostbusters is already a CPC Movies Hall of Famer and from what’s on display here for your Hi Def player that’s not going to change anytime soon. The transfer is maybe not the standard of WALL*E or The Dark Knight but it no less enhances the film rather than being just another solid transfer. With the release of the new game and the news that Ghostbusters 3 is now in pre-production with the entire original cast on board, Ghostbusters has never looked or sounded better…. Who Ya Gonna Call?

 

Slimer Mode: Picture-in-Picture and Pop-Up Trivia Track (BD Exclusive)

Cinechat

Ecto-1: Resurrecting the Classic Car

Making of Ghostbusters - The Video Game

Ghostbusters Garage: Ecto-1 Gallery

Ghostbusters: The Video Game - Preview

Commentary w/ Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis & Joe Medjuck

Deleted Scenes

1984 Making-Of Featurette

Cast and Crew Featurette

SFX Team Documentary

SFX Before & After (Multi Angles)

Storyboard, Split-Screen Compare

 

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Rachel Getting Married 

 

 

When Kym returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel, she brings a long history of personal crisis, family conflict and tragedy along with her. The wedding couple's abundant party of friends and relations has gathered for a joyful weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym--with her biting one-liners and flair for bombshell drama--is a catalyst for long-simmering tensions in the family dynamic.

 

Long ago Jonathan Demme was lauded as one of the finest directors in the world after scaring everybody witless with Silence of the Lambs.  Then after a while he disappeared with a couple of releases that didn't set the world alight, but now he has come back to blow us away with Rachel Getting Married a low budget hand held docudrama style film Rachel Getting Married.  The film is magnificent with a real dark charm about it.  The reason why this is so good is the central perfomance of Anne Hathaway who is simply brilliant as the troubled Kym and much like Heath Ledgers Joker in The Dark Knight last year, traverses through the movie causes chaos and destruction in her wake as she tries simply just to fit in.  There's a finer subtelty to her performance with frailty that makes you no matter how bad Kym is that you want to just grip her in your arms and either shake her or cuddle her and tell her it'll be alright.  The real power in Hathaway's performance though comes when the family's big secret is revealed and her portrayl of Kym dealing with the pain is absolutely mesmerising to watch.  Oscar nomination for sure and a very strong contender for the award it's the dark horse for many awards this year.

For the other actors in the film they all deliver fine performances with all their liitle nuances and ticks all there for us (Sometimes uncomfortably) to see.  Debra Winger appears in what is nothing more than a elongated cameo in one of the films more preposterous moments, but otherwise adds a bit of gravitas to the proceedings.  Other standouts include Bill Irwin and Rosmarie Dewitt who enter fabulous performances as well but are simply overshadowed by the whirlwind of Kym.

 

The film's documentary style adds the the all around simmering family tensions which build up to breaking point at the height of the film.  When we finally get to the titular wedding the film becomes like a voyueristic home movie, which to be quite honest ten minutes in you realise how strange the whole thing is if it's not yours or a close friends or relative's wedding.  It actually removes from the film after it's spent the last hour and a half trying to reel you in.  Much like a 3-D film when it throws something outside of the screen, it removes from the whole process and you have to try and re engaeg with the characters.  However Demmes point and shoot style allowing the film to happen around the camera, makes that a whole lot easier.

 

While Rachel Getting Married doesn't feature any wonderful effects, sweeping love story or CGI, this is a charming, emotional character driven piece that will stay with you for a long, long time after the final credits have rolled.  A four star movie witha five star performance from Anne Hathaway.

 

 

Commentary with Actress Rosemarie DeWitt

Commentary with Producer Neda Armian, Screenwriter Jenny Lumet and Editor Tim Squyres

A Look Behind the Scenes of Rachel Getting Married

The Wedding Band

Cast and Crew Q&A at the Jacob Burns Center

Deleted Scenes

 

 

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Bedtime Stories

 

The story follows Skeeter Bronson (Sandler), a hapless bachelor who is forced to do odd jobs in the hotel his father used to own. When his sister Wendy (Courtney Cox) asks him to look after her children so she can job hunt in Arizona, Skeeter realises he hardly knows his niece and nephew.

 

In a bid to entertain the kids, Skeeter concocts far-fetched bedtime stories set in far away lands, always casting himself as the hero. Then the trio’s tall-tales start to have bizarre parallels in the real world. Gum balls fall out of the sky in Medieval England, giant bogie monsters escape in outer space, and dwarves thwart Skeeter’s attempts to kiss a fair lady in the Wild West. Aware of the power of his storytelling Skeeter tries to manipulate his real life with disastrous and hilarious consequences.

 

Bedtime stories is a great famil;y movie without being brilliant, Adam Sandler goes through the motions somewhat however he still manages to tick all the boxes to lift this above the mundane.  Russell Brand is in the rent-a-friend role, which could have been played by pretty much anyone as he has little  impact on the story.  So, if your looking for something to while away a couple of hours on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon you could do a lot worse than this.

 

The Blu Ray itself as usual is upto Disney's high standards on this format and much like th film is good but not grea, the sound is OK without anything spectacular which is strange consiering the story sequences really could have boomed out of your system however they don't.  Still a very comprehensive Blu Ray with a decent amount of extras.

 

Extras: 

• Bugsy Eyes – an exclusive bedtime story starring Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and Bugsy the guinea pig
• • It’s Bugsy – a comedic look at the scene-stealing guinea pig
  • Until Gravity Do Us Part – a behind the scenes look at how the zero gravity fight scene was created
  • To All the Little People – a backstage look at Adam Sandler alongside his child co-stars
   
  • The Cutting Room floor – a selection of deleted images with an optional commentary by Adam Sandler
  • Laughing is Contagious – outtakes and bloopers
  • Dylan & Cole: Blu-ray is Suite (DVD Only)
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    The Blu-ray Disc also includes Bedtime Stories on DVD, allowing those without Blu-ray Disc players to future-proof their collections. It also means those who already have a Blu-ray player at home – be it a standalone player or as part of the Sony PS3 system - will get an additional disc for other standard players around the house or portable DVD systems for when they are on the move.

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• BD-Live Features:
  • cinechat– In-movie chat feature allows you to create “virtual” viewing parties and chat with your friends through your internet-connected Blu-ray player.
  • More to be announced
• Exclusive First Look at Angels & Demons, introduced by Ron Howard, featuring five minutes of footage from the film that can only be seen on The Da Vinci Code: Extended Cut Blu-ray Disc.
• Unlocking the Code: This interactive picture-in-picture (I-PIP) feature will let you discover even more about The Da Vinci Code as you are enjoying the film. Once inside Unlocking the Code, keep an eye on the symbols that appear across the top of the screen. Each gives you direct access to trivia and behind the scenes footage that you can unlock with a click of your remote.  When a symbol illuminates, just select it and hit enter to play.  The footage, facts or images you've selected will appear on screen as you continue to watch the film. I-PiP streams include:
  • Interviews: Hear from filmmakers and the cast.
  • B-roll: Observe the action behind the scenes.
  • Prop Talk: Learn how props were made.
  • Storyboards:  See the shots before the cameras rolled.
  • Photos:  Behind the scenes snapshots.
  • Location Trivia: Fun facts about the different locations in the film.
  • Langdon’s Journey: Keep track of Langdon’s every move.
  • Symbols & Codes: discover hidden symbols put in place by filmmakers, including the enlightening Alchemic Journeys of our two heroes.
• New Commentary on Selected Scenes with Ron Howard
• Featurettes:
  • First Day on the Set with Ron Howard  
  • The Filmmakers’ Journey Part 1               
  • The Filmmakers’ Journey Part 2
  • A Discussion With Dan Brown                  
  • A Portrait of Langdon                                  
  • The Codes of The Da Vinci Code                                              
  • Who is Sophie Neveu?                                 
  • The Music of The Da Vinci Code                                              
  • Unusual Suspects                                          
  • Book To Screen
  • Magical Places                                                
  • The Da Vinci Props
  • Close-up on Mona Lisa                                
  • The Da Vinci Sets
  • Re-creating Works of Art                           
  • Scoring The Da Vinci Code                                          
  • The Visual Effects World of The Da Vinci Code

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