The Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise remake of the HG Wells classic tale War Of The Worlds will be released on June 1st to Blu-ray via Paramount Home Video.  Pricing for this edition has been set at $39.99 SRP, wow pricey for a catalog release. Anyways, there is no box art but here are the details of whats included.

The WAR OF THE WORLDS Blu-ray is presented in 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital along with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. Special features are presented in standard definition except where noted HD:
·      Revisiting the Invasion
·      The H.G. Wells Legacy
·      Steven Spielberg and the Original War of the Worlds
·      Characters: The Family Unit
·      Previsualization
·      Production Diaries
East Coast—Beginning
East Coast—Exile
West Coast—Destruction
West Coast—War
·      Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens
·      Scoring War Of The Worlds
·      We Are Not Alone
·      Galleries
Sketches by Costume Designer Joanna Johnston
Production Stills
Behind the Scenes
Production Sketches
·      Theatrical Teaser Trailer (HD)

Someone once famously said “There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter. Which luckily I am!” Or you could just win yourself one of these fancy Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland hats which coincidentally is now in theaters from Walt Disney Pictures! Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. Who wants to win some fine movie swag?

Enter this random drawing by submitting a comment below, you know say something witty or whatever to get my attention using the login service of your choice. Maybe you can sway me in the direction of which hat you like more. From there I will pick random people and contact the winners after the close, make sure I can contact you with a valid email or else I will move to the next person! Also don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook to stay in the loop.  Please make sure you read the RULES listed below before entering.

The Nicholas Cage vehicle, directed by Werner Herzog Bad Lieutenant Port Of Call New Orleans will be coming to DVD and Blu-ray on April 6th from First Look Studios.  There isn’t much info out yet on this release but it will be priced at $28.98 SRP for the DVD and $29.98 SRP on Blu-ray. An interesting price range, you don’t see that too often.  The special features listed aren’t too exciting, looks like very typical fare for this package and both formats will have the same features.

Special Features:

Aspect ratio: 16 X 9 2.35 Anamorphic Widescreen

Sound: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround

Photography Book

Photos by Lena Herzog

Theatrical Trailer

The Making of “BAD LIEUTENANT:PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS”

English and Spanish Subtitles and Previews

By: The Dweeb

DVD Features Video: 2.40:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1,French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Series Of Where The Wild Things Are Shorts By Lance Bangs Theatrical release: 10/16/2009 DVD released on 3/2/2010 by Warner Bros Running time of 101 minutes Starring: Forest Whitaker, Catherine O’Hara, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Dano, Michael Berry Jr., Max Records Director: Spike Jonze Plot: “Let the wild rumpus start!” Nine-year-old Max runs away from home and sails across the sea to become king of the land Where the Wild Things Are. King Max rules a wondrous realm of gigantic fuzzy monsters – but being king may not be as carefree as it looks!

How does one take a short children’s book and turn it into a feature length film? Its been done before with various Dr. Seuss titles with mixed results, but never for one of my favorite childhood memories. I always loved the book, with its fantastical drawings of  a boy in a wolf suit running around with giant monsters who got sent to bed without dinner. Taking on a project as revered as Maurice Sendak’s classic book can be a tricky proposition, and director Spike Jonze seems like the right guy for the job who successfully navigates the waters of Where The Wild Things Are and gives it a new extended look. Surprisingly the result is not a children’s film at all, instead it is a story that goes over to the dark side of childhood. What starts off as an innocent tale of a young boy who goes a bit overboard in his exuberance turns into an examination of loneliness, isolation, fear and the desire to belong with the group. Something I was not completely prepared for, I was expecting something a little more, fun. But in retrospect the book is about a kid who does run away from home because he did some bad things.

I’m glad I prescreened this film before my six year old could see it. The marketing didn’t do a good job of telling us this is not really a kids film, it definitely focused on the adult and teen crowds. Spike Jonze’s adaptation would probably scare the pants off my kid, and he would probably spend the rest of the film asking me questions and getting bored requesting to see Cars for the billionth time instead. It dives in way too deep for the kids.  If I have to boil down my feelings on this film to one simple question, did I like it? Yes I would have to say I do, even with my reservations on the whole dark themes part. Visually its a rich and vibrant film, from stunning landscapes to great monster effects it really captures the vibe of the book. It is any 9 year olds child fantasy come to life in the real world.  If I could characterize it with a simple word, earthy. There’s a lot of wood and dirt present in the film, I suppose kids love dirt so its only fitting. Who wouldn’t like to have a dirt clod fight, minus the painful hits to the face of course. It is childish escapism at its finest.

At the center of the film of course is our main character Max, who for the film has been moved up in age a bit but it works for this instance. Max is portrayed by newcomer Max Records, and if my instincts are correct, he will probably have a long and fruitful career acting on film. He’s pretty good for someone his age, although I suppose its not hard to play a rough and tumble kid when you are one. Being the only human character for most of the film, his interactions with the monsters is quite convincing and he does well trolling in the emotional depths when the scene calls for it.  Speaking of the monsters, you’ll spend quite a bit of time identifying who is behind the voice of the character, some are easier than others.  One prominent feature of quite a few of them is that they are very nasal sounding. Its kind of annoying listening to James Gandolfini breathe heavily into the microphone while Carol, his character, is going on some long winded rant. But I would guess this is all part of the sound of these big headed fur balls. The facial animation is pretty cool, matching the sound a emotional tone quite nicely, in other words very expressive monsters.

For a film like this I would be predisposed to say a Blu-ray would be a better option. In this case, without having seen the Blu-ray, I would say that because the film was shot in a traditional indie film style that there won’t be much of a difference in picture quality. Still, based on feature set the Blu-ray is a better option there. At least for this DVD they managed to throw on a majority of the extra materials found on the Blu-ray, there are only 3 extra items not included here.  This series of short documentaries of on set life is quite good and shows why making movies can be hard, and yet fun at the same time. Spike Jonze and his crew are quite the pranksters, and having the crews kids on set at all times is a brilliant move.

If you can get a hold of the Blu-ray I say go for it, but this DVD should be satisfactory. I’m not sure this film is everyone’s cup of tea so go take it out for a test run first.

Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!

Fox and MGM are releasing a couple of older titles to the Blu-ray format on April 6th, The Thomas Crown Affair and the 80’s classic Cocoon for its 25th anniversary.  Looks like the Cocoon disc will have better bang for the buck ($24.99 SRP) but Thomas Crown Affair will be a combo disc set with an included DVD (also $24.99 SRP). The specs and artwork are below:

Cocoon 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Special Features:

Screen Format:
Widescreen – 2.35:1

Audio:
English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish and French Dolby Surround

Subtitles:
English/Spanish/French

Audio Commentary by Director Ron Howard

Behind the Scenes Featurette

Ron Howard Profile

Underwater Training

Actors

Creating Antareans

Theatrical Teaser

Theatrical Trailer
TV Spot #1
TV Spot #3
TV Spot #4
Cocoon: The Return Teaser

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) Blu-ray:

Screen Format:
Widescreen – 2.35:1

Audio:
English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish and French Dolby Surround

Subtitles:
English/Spanish/French

Feature Film

Director Jason Reitman’s followup to Juno, Up In The Air starring George Clooney has been slated for release to DVD and Blu-ray on March 9th.  The Oscar nominated film is being released by Paramount and is tentatively priced $19.99 SRP and $29.99 SRP for the Blu-ray. Check out the features and artwork below:

The UP IN THE AIR DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles.  The DVD includes the following special features:

• Commentary by writer/director Jason Reitman, director of photography Eric Steelberg and first assistant director
• Jason Blumenfeld
• Shadowplay: Before The Story
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Jason Reitman
  • To Know Me Is To Fly With Me
  • Real People Firing and Irate Employee
  • Thumper and Extended Boat Scene
  • Omaha Montage
  • Spacesuit
• Trailers

The Blu-ray includes all of the above in high definition, plus:

• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Jason Reitman (HD)
  • Do You Live At The Hilton?
  • Nosey Neighbor
  • Natalie In Restroom
  • Natalie Vid-Chats
  • Angry Ryan Checks In
  • Goalquest Invite
  • Maynard Finch Commercial/Kara Calls Ryan
  • Barely Squeaking By/Natalie Calls
• “Help Yourself” music video by Sad Brad (HD)
• Storyboards (HD)
• American Airlines Prank (HD)

By: The Dweeb

DVD Features Video: 1.85:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Additional Scenes Theatrical release: 9/18/2009 DVD released on 2/23/2010 by Warner Bros. Running time of 108 minutes Starring: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale Director: Steven Soderbergh Plot: Mark Whitacre is secretly rolling tape during a meeting of corporate honchos who are illegally fixing the price of food additives. Meeting after meeting, Mark rolls tape after tape. He’s sure the tapes will make him a U.S. hero. What went wrong?

There is a saying that sometimes life imitates art, or art imitates life or something like that. There are stories out there that sound so crazy, so unbelievable that there is no way this could be true.  With such a rich and detailed plot, filled with great complex characters how could one not make a story, and subsequently a film about the man behind the ADM price fixing scandal that ran in the headlines during the nineties. The Informant! is the tale of Mark Whitacre, who blew lid for ADM and essentially ruined his life as well in the process of becoming a mole for the FBI.

Steven Soderbergh loves a good caper film, paired again with Matt Damon he creates another compelling tale of betrayal and lots and lots of money on the line. Check out his earlier works like the Oceans 11 remake to get a similar vibe, although that’s a fictional tale. The amazing part about this whole thing, this story actually happened, dramatized for your enjoyment of course but still. Wow.  I would have to say this is some of Matt Damon’s finest work in years. Well, when you have so much to work with its almost too easy to inhabit this persona. Not sure I dig the pornstache though, but it fits.

I don’t know what to think of Mark Whitacre, is he a good guy trying to do the right thing? Is he some sort of idiot savant, a modern day Rain Man from Decatur? The constant stream of nonsensical thoughts from his brain in voiceover seems to ram that part home. A bumbler and a habitual liar who just digs himself deeper and yet can’t keep any sort of secret from anyone?  Is he just as greedy as the rest of ADM management? Mark Whitacre is an enigma, who slowly unravels over the course of the story and by the end even he is probably not even sure what the hell happened. How naive is this guy, thinking he can bring down the company from the inside and yet still have a job there once its over?  He has no friggin clue, and the feds have no idea what to do with this guy. What starts as a small lie to cover up some production issues turns into this huge mess and more lies are created to cover the smaller ones. It can only end badly for Mr. Whitacre.

Now ordinarily I can understand the lack of extra materials on a new release, especially from a film that doesn’t have much stuff in the attic. But for this one, its almost a crime in itself. The only included extra is the deleted scene, and the Blu-ray version isn’t that much better. How about a followup with the actual people? A documentary? News clips? Something about the actual events would be appropriate and nice wouldn’t it? What if I wanted to know more? This material should have been on here, its what the DVD format was created for was it not?

So this films only downfall is the medium its presented on. Otherwise, its an excellent film that everyone should see, its entertaining and aggravating at the same time. The events that transpired, the corporate crimes that were committed so long ago, is still relevant today because you and I are still paying for it.

Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!

That’s right, the war film that redefined an entire genre with its gritting realistic portrayal of war is finally coming to Blu-ray. Paramount plans to release this under the ‘Sapphire Series’ brand and it is slated to come out on May 4th.  This film has made a couple of rounds on DVD already, so hopefully this is not just a rehash of the same. I don’t see any info if this film was remastered or not for 1080p, let’s hope it is.  Pricing is not yet available, but check out the artwork and specs below.

“The film is presented in 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital along with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.”

Oh I just can’t wait for this one! OK, my kids probably, me not so much. The ever popular Chipmunks followup will be debuting on March 30th in various forms from Fox Home Video. This film will be available in a Blu-ray Combo pack ($39.99 SRP), double disc DVD ($34.98 SRP) and single disc DVD ($29.98 SRP).  Looks like this package is filled to the brim with extra stuff. Check out the details below with the DVD box art (can’t seem to find the Blu-ray version):

Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Special Features:

Disc One
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Blu-ray
Munking History: 50 Years of Chipmunk Mischief, Mayhem & Music
Munk Music Machine
Meet the Chipettes
Rockin’ Rising Stars
Music Mania
Meet the Stuffies
Shake Your Groove Thing! with Rosero
Music Videos & Sing-Alongs “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” “We Are Family,” “Shake Your Groove Thing”
Music Videos: (“You Really Got Me” featuring Honor Society & “The Song” featuring Queensberry)
A-l-v-i-n-n-n-n!!! Album Maker
Live Lookup

Music In A Nutshell: Song Trivia
The Chipmunks: Behind the Squeaking
A-NUT-omy of a Scene

Disc Two
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel feature film

Disc Three
Digital Copy

“Squeak-Along” Double DVD

Disc One

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Blu-ray
Munk Music Machine
Music Mania

Disc Two
Munking History : 50 Years of Chipmunk Mischief, Mayhem & Music
Meet the Chipettes
Rockin’ Rising Stars
Chipmunks: Behind the Squeaking
A-NUT-omy of a Scene
Meet the Stuffies
Shake Your Groove Thing! With Rosero
Music Videos & Sing-Along (“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, “We Are Family,” “Shake Your Groove Thing”

Single-Disc DVD Special Features
Munk Music Machine
Music Mania Featurette

Paramount has just announced the catalog title K-19 The Widowmaker (previously reviewed here) will be arriving on Blu-ray on May 4th. The film that stars Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and Director Katherine Bigelow (Hmmm the timing suggests something to do with an updated Hurt Locker post Oscars? Maybe.) will be available for $29.99 SRP. Cover art and technical details below:

Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. Bonus features are presented in standard definition except where noted HD:
·     Commentary by director Kathryn Bigelow and cinematographer
Jeff Cronenweth
·     The Making of K-19: The Widowmaker
·     Exploring the Craft: Make-Up Techniques
·     Breaching the Hull
·     It’s in the Details
·     Theatrical Trailer (HD)