Ok, I’m getting a little annoyed with Fox. For some reason they have stopped sending out Blu-rays for review. It’s an alarming, but not surprising trend that studios are cutting critics out; I think this summer is the summer where there have been more Cold Openings than any in recent memory – especially for most of the garbage released in August. I can certainly understand their reasoning. Why should they screen their crappy films for critics when they know most likely we won’t like it and it still goes on to make hundreds of millions before the word gets out how horrible it is. Terminator, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine all prove that with enough marketing studios can shovel junk and the masses will lap up. Now they are doing the same thing with providing DVD/Blu-ray screeners and I guarantee you the Blu-ray will probably do gangbuster business. So I actually went out and paid my own money to get X-Men Origins: Wolverine, ok, I Netflixed it.
Here’s the thing, I kind of liked Wolverine in the theaters, I forgave a lot of the more idiotic moments in the movie because I thought the strength of the first two acts outweighed the horrible 3rd act. Sitting through this movie a third time (I watched it on a international flight a few weeks ago) in the comfort of my own home was a real struggle because I knew what’s coming and it’s like this dark cloud that prevents me from enjoying the first 2 acts a third time around. There’s just too much in the movie that makes no sense, it’s frustrating to watch. Like Gambit’s fight with Logan, there’s absolutely no reason for this fight to happen other than the director thought it was cool.
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I’m one of the only critics who liked X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I’m not saying I loved it and it didn’t have numerous problems but as a generic action film I thought it was, Ok. Just not one you run out and see in a theater. The movie made over $175 million so just like all the other summer movies this year, while all of them failed creatively and no one apparently liked them, all of them (Transformers, G.I. Joe, Terminator, etc) still made plenty of bank at the box office. I think in the comfort of my own home on the Blu-ray I’ll probably like it a bit more. The Blu-ray is coming out September 15 in basically a single disk version with some deleted scenes, blu-ray live, and a couple of alternate takes and a 2nd disk for Digital Copy. Here’s the full press release.
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After all the lip Michael Bay had against HD-DVD a few years ago, I expect every one of his Blu-ray releases to blow my eye-balls out of their sockets. The first Transformers Blu-ray effort was a beautiful picture but a pretty lame Blu-ray package. So I’m real curious to see what they come up with for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which despite a near universal critical pan (I kind of liked it, except for the screaming baby in my theater – no I won’t let that go!) became the biggest hit of the year. How does that happen when everyone claims they despised the movie. There’s a disconnect there. And you know the Blu-ray/DVD will also most likely smash records. The TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray and DVD debut will be supported by one of the largest marketing and promotional campaigns in Paramount Home Entertainment’s history. In addition to a multi-million dollar advertising blitz spanning television, print, radio and online, a stellar array of partners has joined forces with the studio to ensure that the AUTOBOTS’ message is transmitted to all of the Earth’s inhabitants.
Enough of my musings, the full press release is after the break.
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This summer’s Star Trek Movie is coming to Blu-ray and DVD, November 17, 2009. The STAR TREK DVD and Blu-ray will boast out-of-this-world special features to take viewers even further into the new universe of the rousing space adventure. The two-disc DVD and three-disc Blu-ray include in-depth explorations of the reimagining of the franchise, the phenomenal cast, the spectacularly real action sequences, the powerful score and the captivating aliens, commentary by J.J. Abrams, the writers and producers, a gag reel and a digital copy of the film. Additionally, the discs feature compelling deleted scenes that reveal a side story involving Nero with a first-ever look at Abrams’ version of the infamous warrior Klingons.
The STAR TREK Blu-ray boldly ventures beyond the final frontier with over three hours of sensational bonus footage including branching pods that allow for enhanced exploration, more fascinating features on the starships, planets, props, costumes and sound of STAR TREK, as well as a Starfleet Vessel Simulator and access to the latest NASA news about real-life space exploration via BD-Live.
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I’m assuming people reading this review have read the books – so there will be SPOILERS!
I don’t know what to say about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as a movie it’s a competent, highly watchable and pretty good movie. The problem is the film doesn’t exist in a vacuum – even if you ignore the books, within the context of the film Universe, I think HP-HBP fails. This movie is 2 ½ hours of nothing-substantial happening. But as a fan of the book series, a lot of the choices made here were maddening. The problem with watching the direction the films have gone is the knowledge that I have read all the books, so while watching the movies I’m enjoying them waiting for certain events to unfold then when the movie ends I’m left wondering what the heck just happened. This is why I hated Order of the Phoenix, I think that movie and this movie relies more on you having read the books than any of the other Harry Potter films.
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How good is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? When the movie ended, I still had a third of my drink [the large one] left. That’s happened maybe half-a-dozen times over the last decade, so it’s a pretty good indicator of how engrossed I was in the film.
Steve Kloves has once again divined the essence of the novel and taken the key events and played to them, while adding and subtracting as he saw fit. The result is a film that is nowhere near being a slavish adaptation, yet remains completely faithful to the spirit of the source material.
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It’s so hard to believe that it was only eight years ago that we were introduced to the world of Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling produce a series of books about a young boy who realizes that his destiny was to become a wizard. So, we followed Harry Potter to a school of magic known as Hogwarts. He has finally found a place to find it and expand his horizons. With the help of his best friends, Hermione Granger & Ronald Weasley, Harry has battled Draco Malfoy, dragons, basilisks, and adolescent through five movies to date. Now, Harry and his gang must battle his latest enemy to date.
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Rupert Grint
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