All three Austin Powers films are coming to Blu-ray in a beautiful looking collector’s edition package.  Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Name: Austin Danger Powers. Sex: Yes, please! Combine the swinging ’60s, spy movies, talented Mike Myers in dual roles and one hilariously well- placed champagne bottle and you get Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Say “Yeah, baby!” for laughs as Flower Power-era superspy Austin (Myers) is thawed from a 30-year cryogenic freeze to stop the world-dominating scheme of bald baddie Dr. Evil (also Myers). Elizabeth Hurley, shagadelic style and Austin’s randy attempts to find ’60s-style free love in a very different, uptight time add to the groovy fun of this mad, mod, Myers world.  

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Back and to the left. Back and to the left. Back….and to the left. Remember when Kevin Costner was awesome? When he was doing one amazing movie after another?  JKF is one of my favorite movies and damn WB for the double and triple dipping of this set. I already own the other two DVD releases, that I paid for out of my own pocket. But this fall, ever the opportunist, WHV is coming out with JFK: The Ultimate Collection on Blu-ray and DVD. Of course I want the Blu-ray version of the movie. Every time I watch this movie, it gives me nightmares. This set looks like it’s going to be sweet. Check out the official press release after the break.

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Oh for HD-DVD… We hardly knew ya.  The Ultimate Matrix Collection was one of the signature collections on HD-DVD. Now that collection comes to the Blu-ray machine at a retail price of $130 clammies.  The definitive ten-disc DVD set, The Ultimate Matrix Collection features all three films in the trilogy together for the first time ever with a newly remastered picture and sound for The Matrix. Also included is the companion piece The Matrix Revisited and the best-selling The Animatrix, plus five entirely new DVDs packed solid with brand-new supplemental materials that encompass every aspect of the Matrix universe, including two new audio commentaries on each film, Enter the Matrix video game footage, 106 deep-delving featurettes/ documentaries and much more!
Director:  Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Actors:  Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving

One of my favorite movies of the year, the much and unfairly maligned Speed Racer is coming to Blu-ray September 19. Start your engines and fasten your seatbelts for the high-octane adventure Speed Racer, combining heartfelt family humor and groundbreaking visual effects. Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a natural behind the wheel of his thunderous Mach 5. With support from Pops and Mom Racer (John Goodman and Susan Sarandon), girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox), Speed takes on fierce competitors to save his family’s business and protect the sport he loves. When Speed steps onto the track, it’s not just a race. It’s an adrenaline-fueled, high-speed charge to the finish. Go, Speed Racer, go!!  The press release doesn’t tell you anything about special features but the MSRP will be about $29. I was one of the few critics who loved this movie. The reason it failed was a horrible marketing campaign and hope audiences discover it on the Blu machine.

One of my favorite Johnny Depp movies, the little seen Blow is coming to Blu-ray. There’s no money in a “real job.” So George Jung deals pot. Lots of it. The blue-collar kid dubbed Boston George spirals up from there, into the riches and excesses of the huge cocaine cartels. And crashes hard. Johnny Depp portrays George, the ambitious outlaw who, perhaps more than any American, transformed powder cocaine from relative obscurity in the U.S. into a 1970s/80s feeding frenzy. Penelope Cruz costars in this riveting, fact-inspired tale of glitz and glamour, fast times and hard time, betrayal and Blow. Director: Ted Demme Actors: Penelope Cruz, Ray Liotta, Bobcat Goldthwait, Cliff Curtis, Emma Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Franka Potente, James King, Jennifer Gimenez, Jesse James, Johnny Depp, Jordi Molla, Lola Glaudini, Max Perlich, Miguel Sandoval, Monet Mazur, Noah Emmerich, Paul Reubens, Rachel Griffiths, Kevin Gage

One of my favorite films of all time the Errol Flynn Robin Hood gets the Blu-ray treatment on August 26, 2008.  A classic tale of Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood robs the rich to aid the poor, tries to rid England of Prince John’s tyranny and gain the hand of the lovely Maid Marian. Errol Flynn is eternally charming as Robin in this rousing family adventure that co-stars Olivia de Havilland and Claude Rains. Starring Errol Flynn, the premiere swashbuckler of the sound era. Includes ALL special features of previous release! Winner of 3 Academy Awards® and nominated for Best Picture.  Has resonated over the decades. Selected in 1995 for preservation in United States Film Registry.  One of the few major 1930’s motion pictures filmed in color.

John Woo’s (Mission: Impossible II, Face/Off) first Anime production, Appleseed: Ex Machina, directed by Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed, Bubblegum Crisis) on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc. Based on the popular science fiction manga from renowned creator Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), Appleseed: Ex Machina follows partners and lovers, Deunan and Briareos.

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After spending this weekend fighting with my new Macbook (contrary to what the commercials say, it doesn’t “just work.” But I’ll save my tales of Apple woe until later in the week. I decided to download and watch Warner Home Video’s latest direct to video animated fair Justice League: New Frontier. I downloaded it on my X-Box 360. The download took less than an 1/2 hour so I had instant gratification. When the movie first started, it was weird. The animation was literally just some weird drawings, then the camera pulls back and you see it’s an children’s book author telling a story about the end of the world. But what’s more shocking is, the guy puts a gun in his mouth and blows his brains out. So three minutes into this you know this film isn’t for kids.

But in case you missed the point, a few minutes later Air Force pilot Hal Jordan (voiced by David Boreanaz) is shot down over Russia at the end of the war. He puts a gun to some kid’s face and pulls the trigger. We get to see it in it’s gory detail. I would say this definitely isn’t your father’s Superhero film, but it actually is. The conceit of this piece is that everything takes place in the fifties. At the height of the cold war, McCarthyism, the red scare and more. And our Superheroes are stuck in the middle trying to stick to their convictions when the world around them has turned to chaos and against them. Watching all of this as an outsider, trying to do good in his small way is a Martian - J’onn J’onzz / Martian Manhunter (voiced by Miguel Ferrer).The movie packs a lot of oomph into it’s short 77 minute running time. We really get a sense of the time period and all of it’s turmoil.

Director Dave Bullock and the writers Stan Berkowitz and Darwyn Cooke don’t shy away from talking about some of the racial and political problems of the time period. Mentioning the KKK lynching a black hero, or Superman (Kyle MacLachlan) trying to lecture Diana (Lucy Lawless) about letting enslaved Chinese women murder their former captures after she freed them. The movie pretty relentlessly dark, but there was a great line from Batman (Jeremy Sisto) to the Manhunter “I have a $70,000 sliver of rock that will take care of the one in Metropolis, all I need for you is a Penny and a book of matches.”

The film falls apart at the end when the Heroes finally come together to stop the big bad. It’s some lame living Island thing. It felt a little anti-climatic. But this movie isn’t about big Super Hero battles, it truly is a character piece and manages to juggle it’s large cast really well.

I haven’t watched the DVD, but it looks like a packed affair. The animated adventure is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen format. The picture quality is excellent. Its 5.1 Dolby Digital sound is clear with good surround effects. The DVD includes the revealing “Super Heroes United”, “The Legion of Doom” and “Comic Book Commentary” documentaries, two in-depth audio commentaries with filmmakers and comic book writer Darwyn Cooke, three bonus “Justice League Unlimited” episodes (The Dark Heart, Task Force X & To Another Shore), trailers and an exclusive sneak peek of the upcoming “Batman - Gotham Knight”.

Final Grade A

EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria

Warner Home Video (WHV) announced today that the provocative, black-comedy OTIS, the fourth feature under the Raw Feed production banner, will have its world premiere on opening day of the 15^th edition of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin, Texas.  The film, along with Columbia Pictures’ 21 (starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth), was selected from a record number of entries to kick off the prestigious nine day festival March 7 with a special midnight showing.  The release plan for OTIS, the fourth feature under the Raw Feed production banner, may include a limited theatrical or midnight show run prior to being released in an uncut version on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD this summer. The first three Raw Feed films have sold more than one million DVD units to date.

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