Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel was a film that was produced for money and there’s no denying that. I loved the first one but the sequel, or… annoying… squeakuel, just didn’t have the same fun and enjoyment as the previous one did.

>> READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW <<

Written and Directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles is one of Pixar’s jewels. It’s one fun film for the entire family with pitch perfect voice casting and a thrilling adventure story that rivals any live action film. The Blu-ray itself has some time-consuming special features and top of the line video and excellent audio that is great to show off your home theater system.

The Incredibles (2004)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

Genre(s): Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Disney | PG – 115 min. – $45.99 | April 12, 2011

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Brad Bird
Writer(s): Brad Bird (written by)
Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee

Theatrical Release Date: November 5, 2004

DISC INFO:
Features: Commentaries, Featurettes, Short Films, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 4

Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.39
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Codec: AVC
Region(s): A, B, C

THE MOVIE – 4.5/5

Disney/Pixar has been the king of animation over the past 15 years or so beginning with Toy Story and continued successes with Toy Story 3, but not just with the box office but with quality filmmaking. By most standards, The Incredibles is the cream of the crop. Released in 2004, The Incredibles pleased superhero fanboys and general audiences alike with amazing action, humor that works on every level and characters that you can’t but love. Now, I don’t begrudge Pixar for making Cars 2 as I found the first one to be passable entertainment, sure it’s not up to the quality of other Pixar releases, but it’s still on par with Fox’s Ice Age movies…

The story centers on Bob Parr (CRAIG T. NELSON), a middle aged man who in his prime used to fight crime as Mr. Incredible until the public turned on him and other superheroes for the amount of damage caused with in turn forced the government to doll out major money to keep things calm and quiet. Now living in suburbia, Bob lives a meager life with wife Helen (HOLLY HUNTER) who is also endowed with powers hers being elasticity, hence Elastigirl. The couple of three kids together: Dashiell aka “Dash” for his inconceivable speed, Violet who has the ability to turn invisible and baby Jack Jack who apparently doesn’t seem to have any powers… or does he?

Anyway, years earlier Mr. Incredible dissed his greatest fan who now years later grows up to be wealthy, smart and powerful creating his persona of Syndrome (JASON LEE) or his Christian name, Buddy Pine. He has created a massive and deadly robot which, after luring other superheroes to their deaths, he wants to unleash onto the world before swooping in to save the day and becoming the city’s savior. But before he can, Syndrome needs to have one last test getting Mr. Incredible to his secret island and, once perfecting the machine and revealing his identity to the superhero, he captures Mr. Incredible.

During this time Helen becomes suspicious that Bob may be cheating on her but when she discovers he may be in trouble she charters a plane to this island unbeknownst that her two eldest kids secretly climbed aboard as well. Now the three use their skills and talents to rescue Mr. Incredible and try to foil his evil scheme.

To be honest, when I first watched The Incredibles nearly 6 years ago, I wasn’t overly impressed and afterwards wondered what all the hoopla was all about. Sure, the animation was great and there were some fun aspects to it, but in the end it just didn’t pull me in unlike the Toy Story movies. However, watching it again the other day and my opinion of it is almost a complete reversal. It’s not succumbing to peer pressure as there have been plenty of films I disliked and others loved (Avatar) and vice versa (Vanilla Sky) but perhaps frame of reference, the passage of time or just being in the right mood or right company. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed the heck out of this film from the humor that is fit for both the kids and adults, the thrilling action that keeps you glued every moment and the story that, while a bit on the lame side thematically speaking, still works really well.

Speaking of working well, the voice casting is also top notch and proves that you don’t need A-list actors to fill the parts (see: Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and company in Shark Tale) but instead the right actor who can fill the part with the right verbose and attitude. Here we get Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter in the lead roles and they were absolutely perfect not to mention Samuel L. Jackson in a supporting role (I would like to see a short film centered on his Frozone character) and many unknowns filling in the other parts. And Jason Lee, with the limits of that character, is also well cast as a fun if not forgettable villain.

Overall, The Incredibles is a hit for Disney/Pixar not only money-wise but amongst audiences and fans alike. And it is one… well, incredible film from the visuals to voice casting to the action and story. I can’t quite place this above the gold standard that are the Toy Story movies (all three of them), but it’s in a cushy fourth place amongst some great animated films.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.5/5

The Blu-ray comes inside an HD Keep Case with a glossy slip cover similar to other recent Pixar releases like Toy Story 3. Inside is a slip with instructions on how to get a free ticket to see Cars 2.

DISC 1 (BLU-RAY):
Director Commentary – Producer John Walker and Writer/Director Brad Bird give their insights into the film. It’s an interesting track with plenty of information about the story, animation and such. The pair have a good time on the track making it for a lively track but still be informative.

Animator Commentary takes a different spin focusing almost solely on the animation and features 4 Supervising Animators and several Animators. This technical track isn’t as fascinating as the first one but still those interested in the field might get something out of it. Just to note, it does get crowded as all of them seem to be in the same room together but they share the love. Luckily they provide a pop-up denoting who is talking at that time.

Boundin’ Short Film (4:42; HD) – This animated short that was shown before the film and is now available to watch and much like the other Pixar shorts, it’s cute but nothing overly special.

Boundin’ Commentary features Director Bud Luckey and is a low key affair, slow and plodding even, but he gives his views on how he approached it. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **

Jack-Jack Attack (4:44; HD) is a short animated film made for the original DVD release. The story centers on the baby and focuses on what happened to the babysitter while the rest of the family was saving the city.

Jack-Jack Attack Exploded (4:44; HD) is a visual commentary with Director Brad Bird, Story Supervisor Mark Andrews, Character Designer Teddy Newton and Animator Bret Parker. The menu says it’s visual but it’s just pictures of the commentators or others of topics they are talking about or some visual gags. Anyway, it’s a good commentary as they expand on this short film. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **

The Incredibles Revisited (22:09; HD) is an amusing roundtable discussion with Writer/Director Brad Bird, Producer John Walker, Story Supervisor Mark Andrews, Supervising Technical Director Rick Sayre, Production Designer Lou Romano, Character Designer Teddy Newton, & Animation Supervisor Tony Fucile. It was recently filmed for this Blu-ray release as the guys talk about their experiences on making The Incredibles. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **

There’s also a trailer for Cars 2.

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
Paths to Pixar: Story Artists (5:55; HD) is a staple on Pixar releases where somebody on the crew talks about his or her job or their career. It provides good insight into what the story artist does in a short amount of time.

Studio Stories: Gary’s Birthday (1:25) is another featurette that I remember seeing on other Pixar releases. This one is an animation of a story being told by somebody on the crew, this time Brad Bird and John Walker. This one is a funny story about a misspelling on a cake and what came from it.

Ending with a Bang: Making the End Credits (1:35; HD) – You know a set is complete when they even go into the animation that went into the end credits.

The New Nomanisan: A Top Secret Redevelopment Plan – This feature shows how the once evil island created by Syndrome will be changed into a vacation destination and now you can explore it. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **

Deleted Scenes (21:31; HD) – Here we get six scenes, mostly in storyboard form, that were cut out of the movie. They’re nothing particularly special but nice to see what was in consideration. This includes intros for each by Brad Bird and Mark Andrews.

Incredibles Teaser (1:54; HD) – We get the fun and effective teaser trailer for the film.

Under “Classic Content”:
Making of The Incredibles (27:25; SD) is a good featurette detailing on how the movie came together providing behind-the-scenes elements on creating the story, animating the various characters or objects, etc.

There’s also some smaller featurettes (all in SD) with more interview footage from the various departments:
Story (6:39) which covers more depth on writing the screenplay; Character Design (5:28) about how the characters were… designed; E Volution (2:51) on the voice and character of Edna; Building Humans (6:16) on making the clothing and hair look just right in animation.; Building Extras (2:07) centers on the background characters; Set Design (3:18) on creating the different sets from the jungles to the house plus what era they were going for; Sound (3:27) on the sound design and its importance; Music (5:14) expands on the movie’s score; Lighting (2:50) is self explanatory expanding on how scenes or characters are lit; Tools (2:45) are a group of people that create the software to simulate the animation; Mr. Incredible and Pals (4:03) is an intentionally cheesy short plus an Optional Commentary by Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson); NSA Files which are compilation of audio and photos of the superheroes around the world; Who is Bud Luckey? (3:57) is a profile on the character designer and long-time Pixar employee; Vowellett – An Essay by Sarah Vowell (9:23) has the voice actress, in character… I think, of Violet showing off her intelligence and essay on history; and finally an Art Gallery.

We also get several (11) short featurettes under Easter Eggs (TRT 14:07; SD) including a sock puppet version of the film and bloopers. And there’s also Character Interviews (6:36; SD) and Trailers.

DISC 3 (DVD):
Boundin’ Short Film (4:42) – This animated short that was shown before the film and is now available to watch and much like the other Pixar shorts, it’s cute but nothing overly special.

Jack-Jack Attack (4:44) is a short animated film made for the original DVD release. The story centers on the baby and focuses on what happened to the babysitter while the rest of the family was saving the city.

DISC 4 (DIGITAL COPY):
Here you get the DC compatible with iTunes and WMP.

VIDEO – 5/5

The Incredibles punches its way onto Blu-ray in its original 2.39 aspect ratio presentation and 1080p high-def. Animated films, with rare exception (Megamind), look fantastic in HD with vibrant colors and incredibly well detailed visuals and this one is no different; it’s right up there with the 3 Toy Story movies, Monsters Inc and Wall-E just to name a few of Pixar films that have gone Blu.

AUDIO – 4.75/5

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track meanwhile is also very well done but that shouldn’t surprise anyone who owns the DVD version since that had a Dolby Digital Surround EX (matrixed 6.1 channels) which was in of itself a great track only amplified with the lossless audio on Blu-ray.

OVERALL – 4.5/5

Written and Directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles is one of Pixar’s jewels. It’s one fun film for the entire family with pitch perfect voice casting and a thrilling adventure story that rivals any live action film. The Blu-ray itself has some time-consuming special features and top of the line video and excellent audio that is great to show off your home theater system.

Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 04/07/2011

Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.

A Guy Thing has some funny moments and even though the lead is a bit of a douchebag, I still was able to enjoy the film and situations the characters are put in, no matter how inane it tends to be including coincidence upon coincidence. As far as the Blu-ray goes, the video is OK but it is a bit saturated at times and doesn’t look the best while the audio is serviceable though nothing special either.

A Guy Thing (2003)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance
MGM | PG13 – 101 min. – $19.99 | July 5, 2011

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Chris Koch
Writer(s): Greg Glienna (story), Greg Glienna & Pete Schwara and Matt Tarses & Bill Wrubel (screenplay)
Cast: Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, James Brolin

Theatrical Release Date: January 17, 2003

DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, 3 Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, Theatrical Trailer
Number of Discs: 1

Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Surround)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Codec: AVC
Region(s): A

THE MOVIE – 3.0/5

Plot Synopsis: Paul (JASON LEE) is engaged to Karen (SELMA BLAIR) when he meets the perfect girl, Beck (JULIA STILES)…at his bachelor party. And to make matters worse, he’s just discovered that the two are cousins! So in a situation like this, what’s the “guy thing” to do? Tell white lies and cover things up. But as the wedding date fast approaches, Paul finds himself falling for Becky and is faced with an impossible decision: do the right thing or lose the real thing forever!

A Guy Thing isn’t the best comedy I’ve seen in fact the entire plotline is more than outlandish with the situations the plot put the characters in. This means the story isn’t very fluid and the characters themselves are one-dimensional. That said, some of the jokes are funny and despite playing the dude who cheats on his fiancée, Jason Lee manages to be charming enough for us to follow him for the entire film and at least somewhat care what happens, although even then it marks every single checkbox in the romantic comedy list of clichés. Julia Stiles meanwhile is as beautiful and charming as ever. After appearing in such films as Down to You, O and Save the Last Dance, she broke out on a more widespread exposure with The Bourne Identity which came out a year before this film.

The rest of the cast fulfill their parts well enough. You’ve got the goofy best friend who so far out there to the point that he’s unbelievable and then there’s the thankless role of the ‘other woman’ played by Selma Blair. Despite her being a perfectly reasonable woman, we all know that it won’t end well for her as the guy always chooses the other girl who is not as safe and the type where the man throws away his career. Speaking of career, Lee’s character works for his fiancée’s father’s business (played by JAMES BROLIN), but I’m sure nothing will go wrong there…

Overall, A Guy Thing isn’t a great comedy since the plot is nonsensical and outlandish even by romantic comedy standards but at the same time, some of the jokes do land and the pairing of Lee and Stiles are both charming enough to make this a worthwhile rental (if you haven’t already seen it in the past 8 years).

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5

All the features from the DVD have been ported over:

Feature Commentary – Director Chris Koch & Actors Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, Selma Blair and Thomas Lennon provide a lively – or drunk-sounding in the case of Blair – commentary which cover aspects of on-set antics and some elements of the story.

Inside A Guy Thing (18:38; SD) – This is a standard making-of featurette where we are introduced to the actors and the characters they play before laying out what the movie is about. This was made just to advertise the movie not insight into the movie, even one like this.

Bachelor Party Confidential (9:14; SD) is another EPK feature but a little funnier where the cast (inc. Lee, Blair, Brolin) and crew talk about their own bachelor party experiences.

Groovy Gravy: Making the Scene in A Guy Thing (5:25; SD) is a dumb featurette covering the dinner scene where the cook put pot in the gravy and how it was originally intended.

Deleted Scenes (17:02; SD) – Seven scenes are available peruse but each include an intro by the director to explain why they were excised.

Alternate Endings (8:14; SD) – There’s not one, not two but three alternate endings (although two of them are similar). None of them are great but interesting to check out at least. Each carries a short intro from the director.

Gag Reel (11:49; SD) – Line flubs and laughter breakdowns aplenty and of course it was necessary to include an intro. I love gag reels and this one, while not the best, has some good moments.

Theatrical Trailer (2:21; HD)

VIDEO – 3.0/5

A Guy Thing sleeps its way onto Blu-ray with a 1080p HD transfer and I guess for an 8 year old romantic comedy, and a box office dud at that, it doesn’t look bad but it should come to no surprise that little work was done for the transfer. I noticed the occasional dirty marks and the picture itself looks a bit blotchy at times yet still the detail level isn’t bad and a moderate upgrade over the DVD version.

AUDIO – 3.5/5

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is acceptable enough though nothing special since this is a dialogue driven movie with a song or score thrown in. The center channel gets the most use and the chatter coming through is clear enough while the other channels are used for ambient noises.

OVERALL – 3.0/5

Overall, A Guy Thing has some funny moments and even though the lead is a bit of a douchebag, I still was able to enjoy the film and situations the characters are put in, no matter how inane it tends to be including coincidence upon coincidence. As far as the Blu-ray goes, the video is OK but it is a bit saturated at times and doesn’t look the best while the audio is serviceable though nothing special either.

Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 07/22/2011

Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced the date and released artwork for the mystery thriller, Columbus Circle starring Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Kevin Pollak, Giovanni Ribisi, Beau Bridges and Jason Lee. Click on the link below or image to the left to check out the features and artwork.

COLUMBUS CIRCLE

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced a March 6, 2012 release date for the mystery thriller, Columbus Circle. The Blu-ray will come with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track while the DVD will have the usual Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix. The film will also be available for digital download and On Demand. Features have not been announced as of yet.

Overview:
In order to escape the hounding public and press, Abigail, the famous daughter of a wealthy industrialist, secluded herself in her Manhattan loft on the day she received her enormous inheritance – her eighteenth birthday.  Sequestered at the top of the Columbus Circle luxury apartment high-rise, Abigail remained seemingly secure for nearly 20 years until the day her elderly neighbor was suddenly slain.   Abigail’s world is now disrupted by strange new neighbors and a police investigation that brings the inquisitive and intrusive NYPD Homicide Detective Frank Giardello (Giovanni Ribisi – Contraband, Saving Private Ryan) to her door.  Peering anxiously through her peephole each day, Abigail soon learns that the dangerous new tenants, Lillian Hart (Amy Smart – The Butterfly Effect, Varsity Blues) and Charles Stratford (Jason Lee – Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked, “My Name is Earl”), may threaten more than just her privacy.

Columbus Circle is rated PG-13 for violence, some language and thematic material.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpW7f-T3h94

It’s a shame Columbus Circle wasn’t better as it has a good cast and, at its core, at least an interesting premise. Although the script does them no favors, I give a pass to the cast as they seem to struggle through stilted dialogue and contrived situations, especially a finale that flies in the face of what we watched before. Even so, I found this to be passable entertainment and enough for a quick watch on a weekend where there’s nothing else on.

Columbus Circle (2012)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

Genre(s): Suspense, Thriller
Universal | PG13 – 86 min. – $26.98 | March 6, 2012

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: George Gallo
Writer(s): George Gallo and Kevin Pollak
Cast: Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Kevin Pollak, Giovanni Ribisi, Beau Bridges, Jason Lee

DISC INFO:
Features: None
Number of Discs: 1

Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.40
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Disc Size: NA
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A, B, C (unconfirmed)

THE MOVIE – 2.75/5

Note: This review does contain spoilers, although a good number of them are revealed half way through so there’s nothing major except for one which I will give an extra warning for…

Columbus Circle is the latest in the line of Hitchock-lite suspense-thrillers that have been released over the years and save for a few plot holes or, at the very least, leaps in logic; it’s not a bad little film. There were a couple things I learned from the movie: 1. upscale apartments have some of the weirdest tenants and 2. Selma Blair is still gorgeous and needs to do more films.

The movie centers on a young woman named Abigail Clayton (SELMA BLAIR), an agoraphobic who has not been outside of her apartment in over a decade. Her childhood was hell with an alcoholic and abusive, but rich, father (he had passed away a few years back). After her parents die, she inherits hundreds of millions of dollars and decides to disappear from society completely, changing her name with the tabloid media still speculating on her whereabouts today. There’s only one person who she trusts (danger Will Robinson, danger!), Ray Fontaine (BEAU BRIDGES), a former partner of her father’s and somebody she counts on for support.

Abigail’s safe little world begins to crumble when her elderly neighbor across the street is murdered and although it’s made to look like an accidental fall down the stairs, Detective Frank Giardello (GIOVANNI RIBISI) believes otherwise. Per standard protocol, he interviews Abigail to find out if she saw or heard anything but the conversation is, at best, one sided as she’s quite uncomfortable with him being in her home.

Meanwhile, even before her neighbor’s body is cold, she inquires about possibly renting that apartment as well so she can have even more comfort without having to deal with new neighbors (note: marrying a sheik, she’s worth into the hundreds of millions). Her letter apparently does nothing to persuade whoever was in charge because two weeks after the incident, a real estate agent is showing young couple Charles Stanford (JASON LEE) and Lillian Hart (AMY SMART) the apartment.

The couple seems nice enough but one night Charles is drunk and starts beating on Lillian. This triggers painful memories for Abigail as she too was abused as a child and finds a connection with Lillian. So, she gets out of her comfort zone and as Lillian is battered and bruised in the hallway, Abigail brings Lillian into her apartment before Charlie can come back to do more abuse.

Not everything is at it seems and about half-way through, the first twist is revealed: the whole abuse situation was just a ruse to get Lillian to befriend Abby. See, they know who she is and are after her vast fortune knowing they can get away with it since Abby doesn’t even really exist and nobody really knows who she is. Their first task is, while Lillian tries to get Abby to overcome her Agoraphobia by taking her into the hallway, Charlie, acting drunk, gets into Abby’s apartment and installs a virus onto her computer that will grab any passwords she enters which would allow them access into her bank account.

Charlie succeeds and Abby is none the wiser, though the incident pushes her back into her emotional turmoil and she kicks Lillian out of her life completely. Now all the couple has to do is be patient and Abby’s fortunes will be theirs. Unfortunately, the building manager named Joseph Klandermann (KEVIN POLLAK) who takes care of any of the tenants needs including getting any supplies for Abby she requests via notes slid under the door. Well, old Klandermann just so happens to know Charlie… from jail and know something’s up. Chaos ensues but will Charlie and Lillian get the money or will Abigail find out just in the nick of time?

Major Spoiler Territory!
Alright, enough with the plot, it’s actually even more simple than I outlined, though there is one more obvious twist not too long after the first twist is revealed. First, the bad for Columbus Circle: there are not so much plot holes bogging down the script but leaps in logic and coincidence. For one, you have the happenstance meeting of Klandermann and Charlie; you have character outright pissing off somebody they know has committed murder by either shutting down the scam or blackmailing them for a piece of the pie never believing he (or she) would kill them; and last, and the most egregious, despite her extreme agoraphobia, within an hour or so, Abigail seems cured enough to not only leave her apartment — remember, she could barely even stand up to get halfway down a hallway — she manages to go on the streets of NYC with no problems whatsoever. What happened? Did she take some strong medication or something? This made no sense and really took an otherwise decent movie down a large notch.
End Spoilers

Plot/character inconsistencies aside, I actually quite enjoyed Columbus Circle, albeit with an 80-minute running time (without credits), it does come across as an episode of “CSI: NY”, just with more perspective on the victim/suspect than the detective work. In any case, it’s a brisk thriller to get through and on that front, I found it at the very least watchable if not in the end a tad forgettable.

With regards to the cast, I’ll give some kudos to Selma Blair who has been mostly MIA tackling smaller projects (like this) and while I can’t say her performance here is anything exceptional it’s hard for me to see her do any better with an overwrought script that I can’t imagine an Oscar-winning actress being able to pull off.

The supporting cast also does well enough (all things considered). Jason Lee and Giovanni Ribisi are sadly underused but I would assume they did this for scale (the pair also served as executive producers) so for their limited parts, Ribisi especially, they were at least effective. Similarly, Kevin Pollak, who co-wrote the screenplay and was a co-producer, gives a good enough performance. For her part, Amy Smart shows off a bit more darker side and I guess well enough for what she was given. She’s set up as a good adversary to Blair and although this is hardly her best performance, she provides the right amount of presence to pull off the limited role.

Co-written and directed by George Gallo (Middle Men), Columbus Circle should’ve and could’ve been so much better and while the screenplay does fail big time in terms of logic and wasting the talents of an otherwise talented cast, I have to admit that it’s at least an enjoyable film to watch on a slow Saturday afternoon. Despite its flaws, I’d give this a soft rental recommendation, but even then keep your expectations in check).

SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5

Unfortunately, other than some previews (Rosewood Lane, Cat Run, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Killer Elite), no features were included…

VIDEO – 3.75/5

Universal Studios Home Entertainment releases Columbus Circle on Blu-ray with a good looking 1080p high-def transfer. The movie is presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and although I’d hardly call it eye-popping brilliant, it’s still well detailed with good black levels throughout. The color array is also well balanced without looking oversaturated.

AUDIO – 4.0/5

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is OK with some heavy bass through the generic thriller opening credits otherwise the rest of the movie is mainly dialogue driven which makes more use of the center channel than any of the others. There is some ambient noise, including yelling and screaming, that occurs off-screen that comes through the front and rear speakers, however.

OVERALL – 2.25/5

Overall, it’s a shame Columbus Circle wasn’t better as it has a good cast and, at its core, at least an interesting premise. Although the script does them no favors, I give a pass to the cast as they seem to struggle through stilted dialogue and contrived situations, especially a finale that flies in the face of what we watched before. Even so, I found this to be passable entertainment and enough for a quick watch on a weekend where there’s nothing else on.

Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 02/28/2012

Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is the kind of film that adults will only want to view once while their kids will want to listen to those high-pitched songs over and over. I don’t have any kids but God bless all who do and put up with dreck like this. That said, while it is bad, it’s also mostly harmless; I would suggest having kids watch some other family film, however.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

Genre(s): Comedy, Adventure
Fox | G – 87 min. – $39.99 | March 27, 2012

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Writer(s): Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman (characters); Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger (written by)
Cast: Jason Lee, David Cross, Jenny Slate
Voice Cast: Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate

Theatrical Release Date: December 16, 2011

DISC INFO:
Features: Featurettes, Sing-Along Music Videos, Extended Scenes, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 2
Slip Cover? Yes

Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Disc Size: 37.5 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A

THE MOVIE – 1.25/5

How have we come to this point in cinema and society where averagely animated, poorly written, talking rodents would not only be made but become a fairly successful franchise? Together, the three movies have grossed over $1.7 BILLION worldwide and while the latest, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked was the weakest, it still made a sizeable $338 million on a $75 million budget, meaning a fourth one no doubt will be greenlit… Just awesome.

The “plot” this go around opens with Dave (JASON LEE obviously needing to buy a new car) taking the Chipmunks and the Chipettes — Alvin (JUSTIN LONG), Simon (MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER), Theodore (JESSE MCCARTNEY), Eleanor (AMY POEHLER), Jeanette (ANNA FARIS), Brittany (CHRISTINA APPLEGATE) — on a cruise for a well deserved and quiet vacation.

On their voyage, of course, nothing goes right after Alvin continues to get into trouble thus irritating Dave and just about everybody on board. It doesn’t help matters, for the viewer of the movie anyway, that the six of them also enjoy breaking out into cover songs of your favorite contemporary rhythms from the likes of Lady Gaga, Pink and Rihanna. Nope, you didn’t suffer a bloody nose; the blood is coming from your ears… On the ship with them is Ian (DAVID CROSS), now working as the Cruise Liner’s safety monitor. You might remember Ian as he transformed from being the villain in the original Alvin and the Chipmunks to being a somewhat good guy in the sequel and once again, is back as a good guy, albeit torn in his loyalties.

During their voyage, the Chipmunks and Chipettes accidentally fly away while parasailing and eventually come upon a deserted island that might not be that deserted, especially after meeting a young woman named Zoe (JENNY SLATE) who got stranded there as well. While visiting her tree house, Simon gets bit by a spider, changing his personality and voice into Simone (ALAN TUDYK), a suave debonair wooing Jeannette and taking chances that would previous scare the crap out of his meeker alter-ego.

Alright, you get the idea. Jokes are exchanged, songs are sung and one twist is revealed as a way to create family suspense for the climax. In the end, it’s all excruciating to sit through with unfunny jokes, horribly high-pitched cover songs and an ending that is so dumb that you only want to curse that you invested 80-minutes (sans end credits). It’s been a while since I saw the original Alvin and the Chipmunks but I remember it being at least semi-tolerable while its sequel, albeit not great, had its moments but Chipwrecked is a horribly written movie that surely kids will love but adults may find a tough time to get through.

With regards to the cast, I still wonder why the studio bothers paying somebody like Justin Long or Christina Applegate or Amy Poehler to do these voices, when we can’t even recognize who it is. Certainly an unknown actor could do just as good of a job, cheaper and I doubt anyone will notice or really care. Now, as far as Jason Lee and David Cross are concerned, I assume they began this franchise with the best intentions with each installment, the material keeps getting dumber (heck in the sequel, Lee is a mere cameo with Zachary Levi taking the lead (no, he’s not in this addition). Oh, and then there’s Jenny Slater who’s best known for her f-bomb moment on “Saturday Night Live” in her debut episode… Who knew that’d be the highlight of her career.

Directed by Mike Mitchell, who helmed the well-received Shrek Forever After, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is a terrible movie through and through. The jokes go further than just falling flat, instead they’re just annoying. Now, despite my hatred for this movie, I must admit that for kids, it’s mostly harmless but there are better animated movies out there.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.25/5

The Blu-ray release comes housed in a semi-glossy slip cover.

Scrat’s Continental Break-Up (5:46; HD) is an all-new mini-movie starring the dialogue-free side character from the Ice Age movies. Not great, but certainly better than the actual movie on the disc…

Munk Music & Dance Machine allows you to sing and dance to your favorite songs from the movie. Yay! Oh, and for a select few songs, you can learn some “moves and grooves”!

Going Overboard with the Chipmunks (7:50; HD) – This short featurette focuses on the chaos that ensues when Dave takes the Chipmunks out. This primarily features clips from the cartoons along with some footage from the movie itself.

Munking Movies in Paradise (6:46; HD) shows why exactly some of these actors signed on: to shoot in Hawaii. They try to make fun of the shoot as if the Chipmunks are real and cause havoc for the cast and crew. Nice try, folks but we get why this was made…

Everybody Munk Now! (7:39; HD) takes a look at the nightclub scene with the Chipettes and their dance-off with a group of girls, doing the choreography and the visual effects. It’s not a bad featurette as we do get to see some of how the scene was filmed much of it in advanced given it’s against animated characters.

Alan Tudyk, Chipmunk Apprentice (6:39; HD) centers on the newest voice cast member with Alan Tudyk playing Simon’s alter ego, Simone. Much of is, like the others, have footage from the movie mixed in with filming at the recording studio. It’s also done tongue-in-cheek as Matthew Gray Gubler offers up advice to play a chipmunk.

Music Videos (TRT: 11:46; HD) – There are videos for “Vacation”, “Survivor” and “Bad Romance”.

Fox Movie Channel Presents “Growing Up Alvin” (10:12; SD) is probably the only straight-forward featurette that focuses on the creation of “Alvin and the Chipmunks” with interviews by the son of the creator of the series along with his wife, both of whom served as producers of the movies.

Fox Movie Channel Presents “In Character with Jason Lee” (5:12; SD) is a much shorter featurette that’s basically an interview with Jason Lee (who seemed to have a sour throat) with scenes from the movie interspersed throughout.

Extended Scenes (5:11; HD) – There are eight scenes that, for one reason or another (probably for pacing), didn’t make it into the final cut.

Promotional Fun (TRT: 7:43; HD) includes Survival Tips, Rules, Jingle Bells Music Video, Teaser Trailer and 2 Theatrical Trailers.

Live Extras – BD-Live portal for an extra feature, “Hand and Pawprint Ceremony” where the Chipmunks get pawprints outside the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.

Preview – We Bought a Zoo

Also included is a standard DVD Copy and Digital Copy compatible with iTunes and WMV.

VIDEO – 4.25/5

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked glides and swims onto Blu-ray with a sharp looking 1080p high-definition transfer. Presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio, it’s obvious many shots were made for 3D and while they’re fine in 2D form, some kind seem odd or out of place. Even so, the transfer looks well detailed everything from characters or objects close to the camera and even shots from further distances.

AUDIO – 4.25/5

The disc comes with an all-too-good 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track where you can discern each and every annoying pitch from your favorite rodent fiends… I mean friends. The dialogue is unfortunately crisp and clear throughout while ambient noises like idle chatter and such is pretty good coming from the front and rear channels.

OVERALL – 2.5/5

Overall, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is the kind of film that adults will only want to view once while their kids will want to listen to those high-pitched songs over and over. I don’t have any kids but God bless all who do and put up with dreck like this. That said, while it is bad, it’s also mostly harmless; I would suggest having kids watch some other family film, however.

Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 04/07/2012

Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.

Heartbreakers is an entertaining and all around fun crime-comedy featuring good performances all around but especially Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt who are wonderful together and the sole reasons this movie still works today going on 14 years.

Heartbreakers
(2001)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

Genre(s): Comedy, Crime, Romance
Olive Films | PG13 – 123 min. – $29.95 | November 17, 2015

MOVIE INFO: Directed by: David Mirkin Writer(s): Robert Dunn and Paul Guay & Stephen Mazur (written by) Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Jason Lee, Jeffrey Jones, Gene Hackman, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis DISC INFO: Features: Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailer Digital Copy: No Number of Discs: 1 Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35 Subtitles: None Disc Size: NA Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A

** Click Here to Purchase Heartbreakers on Blu-ray from BestBuy.com **

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip is just the latest horrid entry into a series that could’ve stopped after the first, which was the only tolerable one. That said, as bad as it is for adults to watch, and certainly there are far better options out there, young kids will probably me mesmerized by the colors and low key humor.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip
(2015)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

Genre(s): Family, Comedy
Fox | PG – 92 min. – $39.99 | March 15, 2016

Date Published: 04/08/2016 | Author: The Movieman

MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Walt Becker Writer(s): Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman (characters); Randi Mayem Singer and Adam Sztykiel (screenplay) Cast: Jason Lee, Tony Hale, Kimberly Williams-Pasley, Josh Green, Bella Thorne Voice Cast: Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Kaley Cuoco, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate DISC INFO: Features: Featurettes, Theatrical Trailer Digital Copy: Yes Formats Included: Blu-ray, DVD Number of Discs: 2 Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 7.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish Disc Size: NA Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A

Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.

Mallrats has found a new audience over the past 20+ years with home video media, and myself enjoyed it a bit more) and now 2.5 decades later, manages to get a complete Blu-ray release with a few new features and an upgraded video transfer.

Mallrats
(1995)

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance
Arrow Video | R/Unrated – 95/122/85 min. – $39.95 | October 13, 2020

Date Published: 11/08/2020 | Author: The Movieman

MOVIE INFO: Director: Kevin Smith Writer(s): Kevin Smith (written by) Cast: Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Renée Humphrey, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Ethan Suplee, Stan Lee, Michael Rooker DISC INFO: Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Interviews, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes, Music Video, Gallery, Trailer, Extended Cut, TV Cut Slip Cover: Yes Digital Copy: No Formats Included: Blu-ray Number of Discs: 2 Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), English (DTS-HD MA 2.0) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85 Subtitles: English SDH Disc Size: 44.73 GB (Disc 1), 48.04 GB (Disc 2) Total Bitrate: 42.92 Mbps (Disc 1), 10.77 Mbps (Disc 2) Codecs: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A

Arrow Video provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.

Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.

The post Mallrats (Arrow Video) Blu-ray Review appeared first on Movieman's Guide to the Movies.

Almost Famous is a superbly made music-drama from Cameron Crowe, digging back to his days as a teenager writing for Rolling Stone. The movie features a fantastic cast with Kate Hudson and Billy Crudup being the highlights.

Almost Famous
— Paramount Presents #21 —
(2000)

Genre(s): Drama, Music
Paramount | R/Unrated – 123 min. / 161 min. – $24.99 | July 13, 2021

Date Published: 07/10/2021 | Author: The Movieman

MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Cameron Crowe Writer(s): Cameron Crowe (written by) Cast: Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Noah Taylor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jimmy Fallon, Bijou Phillips, Rainn Wilson DISC INFO: Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, Theatrical Trailer Slip Cover: Yes Digital Copy: Yes Formats Included: Blu-ray Number of Discs: 2 Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish Codecs: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A, B, C

Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.

Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.

The post Almost Famous: Paramount Presents Blu-ray Review appeared first on Movieman's Guide to the Movies.

Almost Famous is a superbly made music-drama from Cameron Crowe, digging back to his days as a teenager writing for Rolling Stone. The movie features a fantastic cast with Kate Hudson and Billy Crudup being the highlights.

Almost Famous
(2000)

Genre(s): Drama, Music
Paramount | R/Unrated – 123 min. / 161 min. – $30.99 | July 13, 2021

Date Published: 07/10/2021 | Author: The Movieman

MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Cameron Crowe Writer(s): Cameron Crowe (written by) Cast: Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Noah Taylor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jimmy Fallon, Bijou Phillips, Rainn Wilson DISC INFO: Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, Theatrical Trailer Slip Cover: Yes Digital Copy: Yes Formats Included: 4K Ultra HD Number of Discs: 2 Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish Codecs:HEVC / H.265 Region(s): A, B, C

Paramount provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.

Note: The screen captures here came from the “Paramount Presents”
Blu-ray which features a remastered from the 4K film transfer.

Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.

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Vanilla Sky is probably my favorite movie from Cameron Crowe, or at least one that hit more of an emotional core, although I also loved Almost Famous. The performance by Tom Cruise might not be his best but he’s in his element as is Penelope Cruz.

Vanilla Sky
(2001)

Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Suspense
Paramount| R – 136 min. – $24.99 | November 16, 2021

Date Published: 11/13/2021 | Author: The Movieman

MOVIE INFO: Director: Cameron Crowe Writer(s): Alejandro Amenabar and Mateo Gil (film “Abre Los Ojos”); Cameron Crowe (written for the screen) Cast: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Noah Taylor, Timothy Spall, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon DISC INFO: Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, Trailers Slip Cover: Yes Digital Copy: Yes Formats Included: Blu-ray Number of Discs: 1 Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), German (Dolby Digital 5.1) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78 Subtitles: English SDH, English, German Disc Size: 49.41 GB Total Bitrate: 36.38 Mbps Codecs: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A, B, C

Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.

Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.

The post Vanilla Sky: Paramount Presents Blu-ray Review appeared first on Movieman's Guide to the Movies.