There needs to be a big S spray painted on my forehead. That S would stand for SUCKER. I don’t even like the Watchman comic book or movie, yet I purchased every Watchman related item – except the Black Freighter. I mean I bought the horrible Watchman motion comic – which got corrupted on my AppleTV, then I bought the Watchman Complete Blu-ray set which included the Watchman game. I promised myself I wouldn’t bite on the super dooper Ultimate Blu-ray version, but I couldn’t help myself – my curiosity got the better of me and I couldn’t get it through Netflix. So I dropped another $30 on a movie I admire the heck out of but ultimately don’t like.
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Blu-ray Review,
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The Wizard of Oz finally comes to Blu-ray in a beautiful 3 Disk Emerald and Ultimate Edition packages. I’m not going to waste time reviewing one of the all time great movies and probably the film that I’ve seen the most (over 42 times). It’s the definition of “classic,” and will always hold up to repeat viewings. I wasn’t sure if the 70th Edition version was the restored, remastered print from 1998 ago or a brand new one. So I went back and put in the DVD of the last Ultimate Edition and the difference is stark. After watching the Blu-ray version I couldn’t even bare to look at the old DVD. The opening black and white moments actually weren’t shot in “black and white,” there was a sepia tone (?) tint to it so it’s a little odd when you are used to the old stark/grainy black and white from the past. There’s not a spec of dirt or grain on this, all the costumes and sets look fresh and alive. This is just the opening portion. When they get to Oz, wow, just wow, it’s beautiful. The new blu-ray version is so much sharper, clearer, and cleaner the old 1998 Restored print.
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Blu-Ray,
Blu-ray Review,
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Available on DVD as of September 22, 2009
The Mentalist Season One was one of CBS Networks most successful series of the 2008-2009 television season with the pilot episode garnering a 15.6 million rating on its premiere and and 7.8 million for its encore airing three days later. It is also one of CBS’s more quirky and intelligent crime dramas. The Mentalist, created by Bruno Heller, is an adaptation of a premise as old as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes: a man with the uncanny mental abilities to notice seemingly insignificant details or the smallest of clues and draw information from them that helps in the process of profiling and capturing criminals.
In this incarnation viewers were presented with Patrick Jane (played by Simon Baker), a man who, up until five years ago, spent his life in the celebrity spotlight as a world-renowned “psychic”. It was then that Jane’s showboating need for the spotlight drew the attention of a cunning and enigmatic serial killer known only as Red John. After being mocked by the “psychic” on a national talk show, Red John retaliated by killing Jane’s wife and daughter. With his world shattered by this ruthless act of revenge, Patrick Jane admitted he feigned being psychic and began using his real abilities as a Mentalist to join the California Bureau of Investigation as a police consultant. While he works on solving other crimes as well in a manner that is found by those around him to be a bit eccentric but highly perceptive, his main drive is his relentless need to capture Red John: something that Jane is willing to sacrifice anything including his own life to do.
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Patrick Jane,
Red John,
Robin Tunney,
Simon Baker,
The Mentalist,
Warner Home Video
Going through Watchmen: The End is Nigh Complete Experience is odd, weird, strange, but in a good way; I don’t know how to approach this review, do I review it as a PS3 Game with a Bonus Blu-ray thrown in, or do I review it as a Blu-ray set with a full PS3 game experience?
Game
On the one hand the original Watchmen: The End is Nigh Game is lazy game making, the environments are all the same and the graphics are about on the level of a Playstation One. In some cases it’s very pixilated, dark and literally black – gave me headaches at certain points. The environments are the same throughout the entire game – with only slight variations between the chapters. But what’s amazing is the level of pure, unadulterated violence. I mean playing as Rorschach is just a visceral experience. You see blood splattering, hear the sound of bones breaking and the quick time events are appropriately brutal. This game isn’t for the faint of heart – unless you play as Nite Owl whose moves are quite pedestrian – he doesn’t even pick up fallen weapons. No, if you want to experience the awe inducing violence you have to play the game as Rorschach.
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Movie Games,
Video Games,
Warner Home Video,
Warner Interactive
Smallville Season Eight is coming to Blu-ray and DVD, August 25th. But Warner’s sent over a Press Release that don’t actually tell you what’s going to be on the disk beyond saying 2 episodes of the eighth season, plus “amazing bonus features,” including unaired scenes, cast & crew commentaries, and several never-before-seen featurettes including “Smallville’s Doomsday: The Making of a Monster.” The six-disc DVD set is priced at $59.98 SRP, and the four-disc Blu-ray set is priced at $79.98 SRP. The DVD Features are:
In the Director’s Chair: Behind the Lens and Calling the Shots with Allison Mack Featurette – We speak with the veteran Smallville star about taking the directorial reins after 17 years in front of the camera, and how she made the transition from actor to director.
· Smallville’s Doomsday: The Making of a Monster Featurette - Fans go behind-the-scenes for the creation of Superman’s most notorious foe as Doomsday comes to Smallville.
· Cast & Creator Commentaries.
· Unaired Scenes.
Nothing on the Blu-ray, sounds like this is going to be a pretty lame release for a pretty good season.
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Blu-Ray,
Smallville,
Warner Home Video
When I heard that Warner Home Video was putting Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on the big Blu-ray I was excited. I’m a sucker for the Swashbuckling genre and love every version of Robin Hood there is, including this much maligned version. Everyone seems to focus on Costner’s accent when they complain about the movie, but it didn’t bother me. I don’t go into a film like this expecting proper English Accents, actually that’s half the fun of a movie like this, trying to pick out Extras who are wearing sneakers or watches on people. I’m not saying this movie has that, but it’s not a historical document. The cast for the most part is great, Alan Rickman as an over the top Sheriff Nottingham makes me laugh, I still love the Arrow Cam (it’s amazing the effect hasn’t been properly duplicated, even after all this time) and the theme song “Everything I Do, I Do It For You,” by Brian Adams is still pretty amazing – when you hear it in the movie. It sucks on the radio.
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Blu-Ray,
Kevin Costner,
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves,
Warner Home Video
I finally sat down, played and beat the Watchmen: The End Is Nigh, video game this weekend. So it was pretty cool to see that they are making a sequel to the game, not only that but the full game Part 1 and 2 will be included in the upcoming Director’s Cut version of The Watchmen Blu-ray release and playable on the PS3. How sweet a package is this shaping up to be? You get the Director’s Cut of the film which includes 25 extra minutes, the full Watchmen Game Experience and Digital Copy! All they need to do is somehow squeeze in the Black Freighter and the bad Motion Comic and that would be quite a Blu-ray package. The game will also be included on the DVD version as well, so I’m assuming that version will be playable on the 360. Other than being way too dark (fixed once I increased the brightness level) and repetitive, the game is good mindless fun with some really neat beat downs. The Blu-ray and DVD Director’s Cut will hit the streets in July.
Tags:
Blu-Ray,
Blu-ray News,
Movie Games,
Warner Home Video,
Watchmen
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