The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Films

Posts Tagged ‘Disney’

The Good

Blu-Ray.com has posted some leaked packaging for the upcoming Alien Anthology coming to Blu-Ray later this year. The images include possible packaging for a kick ass special collector’s edition…

as well as the regular box sets…

To know me is to know how excited I am about this box set coming out!  While I don’t believe it is possible to out-do the amazing Alien Quadrilogy box set, this is a must-have none-the-less! These packaging pictures are not official, or clarified as to which region they will come out in, but damn! I wants me that Egg!!!

At last a Splice trailer is out. I have been eager to see this movie since seeing some early pictures last year, and the casting of Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody is quite a coupe for a horror flick! While i can think of several films off the top of my head that is a distant cousin to (Frankenstein, Embryo, Deep Blue Sea <LOL>) this is still looks great!

Splice is a Canadian/French co-production from the writer and director of Cube, purchased at Sundance by Dark Castle and coming to theatres June 4th.

The Bad

I have little doubt that Tron: Legacy is going to do tremendous box office, but Disney seems to have less doubt.

Disney’s risky return to Tron hasn’t even really hit the mainstream radar yet, let alone movie theaters, but they’re already ramping up for a sequel. According to THR’s Heat Vision, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis have begun writing a sequel to Tron: Legacy, and it’s believed to "round the story into a trilogy."

-Cinematical

I have expressed this sentiment before, but it really irks me when studios start sequel development before the first chapter is even released – it brands us, the consumers, as predictable, and no one wants to be predictable! Or branded!

The Ugly

In addition to the deal signed with Warner Brothers, Blockbuster now has inked deals with Fox and Sony for Day and Date DVD rentals.

Troubled Blockbuster has struck a deal giving Warner Bros., Sony and Fox a first lien on its Canadian assets in exchange for day-and-date delivery of DVD rentals for movies from those studios, as well as payment terms that are tweaked to favor Blockbuster up front.

-The Hollywood Reporter

The studios continue to put their muscle behind the dead horse that is Blockbuster while trying to put Netflix and Red Box in their place. It will be interesting to see if Blockbuster takes this 28 day leg-up over the competition to milk their customers out of inflated rental rates, or use this opportunity to lure them back with good deals and good service… Wait a minute – I’m talking about Blockbuster here… Got Milk?

The Good

I don’t watch a lot of commercial television, and  especially that crap they have on MTV (whatever happened to the MUSIC in Music Television?), but they’ve featured 3 new spots for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake that are reminiscent of the Gremlins 2 joke of the film/VCR being broken.

These new TV spots were made by Click 3x, the same people who did the interruption ads for Star Trek before it came out.

Taking some of the lessons learned from Trek, we were able to build out modular pieces, each focusing on different elements of the film that would be seamlessly integrated into an existing promo, shocking the viewer and drawing their attention to a trailer for the upcoming film.

Click 3x Blog

The first of the new ads

The second…

The third…

Now, I don’t know about you, but these kind of make me a little more excited about this remake. I know there are going to be some detractors out there, but I still think it’s GOOD, especially if it makes people revisit the Wes Craven original.

The Bad

When I first read about the movie Gladiators v Werewolves, I thought it was some kind of joke. Then I found out that it wasn’t, and that it was a real movie being filmed. I immediately relegated it to the UGLY pile and moved along. Something kept on bugging me though, so I took a second look. What caught my eye and was the impetus for shifting this up into BAD territory was the blurb at the top of the poster that says it’s from the Producer of Dog Soldiers and The Tournament. I really, really liked the Neil Marshall directed, Dog Soldiers.

AV Pictures, the group behind Gladiators v Werewolves, puts out lower budget, indie-type movies that seem to appeal to me.

Next up, AV will produce Gladiators Vs Werewolves, an explosive battle between the deadliest trained fighters of ancient Rome and a ferocious tribe of savage werewolves. The first part of the trilogy, entitled Edge of Empire, is due to commence shooting in the second half of 2010 with Rob Green directing, supported by the Special Effects talents of Shaune Harrison ( Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince; Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix; Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire ) and Second Unit Director Peter Field ( Quantum of Solace; Troy; Lara Croft:Tomb Raider ).

AV Pictures

I get the feeling that this is going to be a guilty pleasure of mine when it finally hits the DVD market. I mean, what’s not to like? Classic movie monsters and sweaty, muscular men with weapons. Uhhh… wait a sec.

The Ugly

When I read that Disney/ABC had cancelled  At the Movies, the long-running movie review show, a little piece of my childhood died. Granted, I haven’t watched it for a few years since Roger Ebert started his battle with cancer, but I have Siskel and Ebert and “Sneak Previews” to thank for informing me about movies back when I didn’t have a lot of other options open to me.

The show began in 1975, sort of, as the PBS series “Sneak Previews,” starring Chicago newspaper critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Siskel and Ebert were hired away by Tribune Entertainment in 1982 to create a very similar show titled “At The Movies.”* In 1986, they were hired away by Disney to create yet another very similar show titled “Siskel & Ebert & The Movies,” which was eventually retitled “Siskel & Ebert,” which became “Roger Ebert & The Movies” following the 1999 demise of Siskel.

Hercules from Ain’t it Cool News

I understand that there’s many, many, MANY more venues for movie news and reviews now in this, the internet age, and with two new critics on it (that apparently are doing a good job), but it’s still sad to see one of the originals end its run.

When it was proposed that we choose an animated character worthy of an Oscar, I quietly panicked. I admit that I do not invest much into animated film; it’s not that I don’t like them, quite the contrary. I just don’t take them too seriously.

As kids we take them very seriously. We learned lessons of morality from classic Disney films like “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” (note to self: recommend Bambi to Ross) and we took it to heart. But as  adults we bitch about Wall-E being too preachy.

One has to wonder how seriously Oscar takes them as well, as they segregate animated films into their own category. Since it’s inception only two have broken out of the cartoon ghetto and made it to the Best picture category, and it could be debated whether Up would be there were there not 10 nominees. But that debate is for another time.

For now I am to choose my animated character – and the choice that came immediately to mind was Jessica Rabbit, in all her femme fatale glory, from 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

When Eddie Valiant wandered into the The Ink and Paint Club to spy on Jessica, he had no idea the wife of the whacky rabbit would be the hourglass bombshell he discovers. Tall, busty and 3/4 legs, Jessica is voiced with smokey seductiveness by Kathleen Turner. Turner brings Jessica the sex appeal borrowed from films like Body Heat and Crimes of Passion, as well as the sense of humour and vulnerability of Joan Wilder from the Romancing the Stone films. Eddie soon has damning evidence against Jessica who appears to be having an affair with R. K. Maroon, which in turn provides a possible motive for Maroons murder, and the framing of Roger Rabbit.

Jessica soon becomes a suspect in Valliant’s case, but she protests, and maintains that she loves her husband. Eddie, exasperated and annoyed by the lunatic rabbit implores her as to how she could love him, she deadpans back, “what can I say? He makes me laugh.”

in spite of the relative limited time on screen, the character of Jessica Rabbit develops fully. She is neither simply a bimbo, or a seductress, but as smart and aware as the lead detective – perhaps even more so. She is played seriously, and for laughs. At points she seems like a villain, and at others is sympathetic, but never seems to be pushed simply by the plot. And the greatest feat she accomplishes is being an R-rated character in a PG Rated movie… And the kids will never know!

If Cuba Gooding Jr. can win an Oscar for shouting “Show me the money,” then surely Jessica Rabbit deserves one for cooing “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way”

The Good

Perhaps not movie related, but heads above the vampire lore we are offered theatrically, Allan Ball’s Third Season of True Blood has been given a date to start on HBO – June 13th. With two very strong seasons under its belt, we can only hope the quality of writing and acting is maintained, as well as its level of adult orientated themes – please, don’t go Twilight on us!

Great news for Tim Burton and Disney… Alice in Wonderland will break $250 million on Saturday, it’s 16th day of release, according to predictions. This is faster than Iron Man, Star Wars Episodes 1 & 2, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 or Indiana Jones 4 reached this milestone.

The Bad

Submitted by Mark

Bad News for movie pirates in Canada, as a Montreal man was sentenced to 2½ months in jail after getting busted making and distributing camera recoded copies of theatrical films. He was also sentenced to 100 hours of community service and two years probation. The films he was caught pirating were Invincible, How to Eat Fried Worms and Street Kings. Studio are putting a lot of the blame for their dwindling box office on piracy, but c’mon – these movies failed on their own merit! ¦¬)

The Ugly

It’s official – Avatar arrives on home video April 22, 2010.

No, I am not taking another shot at Avatar here, but I am taking a shot at the release schedule. Remember a few days ago we told you about an expanded version of Avatar coming to theatres in the summer, which means there will be yet another home video release of that version coming out later in the year. If you are one of the many who have been stung by similar releasing of other big titles, like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where a relatively bare-bones edition was released months before the grand expanded editions, you know where I’m going. It’s time for consumers to revolt – Avatards, keep your money in your pocket until the film is given a proper release to video and send the message to studios that we only want to buy their products once!

I admit it. I stumped myself thinking of animated performances that were worthy of an Oscar. My first thought was scouring over Disney canon; there are some large performances there, but were any truly Oscar worthy? The best were the villains. Scar from the Lion King was just an effeminate Brit, really, though Jeremy Irons did have fun with the role. Gaston from Beauty and the Beast was really only fleshed out through one song. My enjoyment of Wizards wasn’t exactly due to the disconnected, airy performances within it. A close second to my choice would be the late Elizabeth Hartman for her role as Mrs. Brisby in Don Bluth’s Secret of NIMH, a touching and quiet performance in one of the most adult, poignant, and disturbing animated children films ever made.

Although not technically animated, in the end I went with the Spielberg-Kubrick coproduction of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and the computer animated and practical robotics rendered Teddy, voiced by a then 69 year old Jack Angel. Teddy acts both as a guide and conscience for the Haley Joel Osmont role of David, a robotic boy created to replace the injured son of a wealthy family. As with much of the film, his role echoes that of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. This is one of many textual and sub textual references to the Italian story and its later Disney adaptation, but the tone and delivery of the role could not be any different. Jiminy was hopeful and encouraging, while Teddy, already a damaged and discarded toy, speaks with a sad pessimism towards David’s eventual fate.

The path for Teddy is what he was programmed to do, guide and educate a child. He knows that David is not a real child, and this robotic kinship makes him seemingly more protective. He knows what’s going to happen, seemingly from the start. The Swinton’s real child, Martin, miraculously awakes from his coma and returns home, rendering David’s role as a surrogate pointless. After the sibling rivalry between them turns twisted and very nearly deadly, David is sent to die, but is instead abandoned by his human mother – with whom he is programmed to forever love. The film itself is on the schizophrenic side: the touching story of a robotic child created to love crashes head first into the second half of the film, where the boy is on his own, caught up in the destructive underground of discarded robotics. It fluctuates between Spielberg and Kubrick repeatedly, especially in the extended finale which is at once tortuous, tragic, and sentimental. Teddy is there for all of this, and is the one who can articulate the thoughts that David can’t.

Both characters, David and Teddy, are cursed with thoughtless gifts of intellect. While the movement of the film unravels the ramifications of creating a being who is only built to love, Teddy has his own burden: he was built to be intelligent. While Angel’s Teddy doesn’t love, he does care for David, and you can tell with his comments that he is trying, quietly, to shield the boy from the truth. His performance is the most memorable in a film packed with much more vivid and larger characters pushed forth by more famous actors. It was a role that could have been played with insufferable cuteness and optimism, but the muted voice of Angel rarely chides, and only serves as a quiet confidant and advisor.

Now that I think about it, the two animated performances that I admire most on film both come from perspectives not usually seen in films. They are neither histrionic or overly farcical. Hartman’s Mrs. Brisby and Angel’s Teddy both quietly observe the world, and are both characters eager to get away from a life of danger and adventure. They aren’t chariacatures, and their voices aren’t hammy or exaggerated. Both are fragile and timid; Mrs. Brisby could easily be killed by any of the creatures she encounters, and is very much aware of it. Teddy is self-aware of his own uselessness and abandonment, but cannot help but follow his programming to be a guide for the lost David.

Both great roles, but my official nod does have to go to Teddy.

Also: Angel did a voice in Killer7. That game is incredible.

For those of you that were craving it, here it is: Movie News! The four of us sit down and chew over the items that caught our eye over the past couple of weeks. Some of the stuff we talk about includes:

• Box Office news
• Kathryn Bigelow picks up the Director’s Guild Award
• Battle of the Exes in the media
• Lionsgate drops Descent 2 down the STV hole
• Kevin Smith’s Red State
• Director’s cut of Nightbreed
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith reboot
• Harry Potter, Spider Man 4, and Clash of the Titans getting the 3D treatment
• Superman reboot news
• Disney plays around with release windows
• Best Little Whorehouse in Texas on the remake trail
• Three Musketeers gets yet another remake

Our movie we reviewed this week was Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair. It covers the lengths black women go to in order to achieve what society at large considers “good hair”. It follows the chemistry behind relaxing hair and how weaves are made. There’s also a section on a massive hair product show in Atlanta Georgia, where stylists compete against each other in what could easily be made into a reality TV show. See where each of us very white guys fall when it comes to the final verdict on what we thought of this film. Have you already seen it? If you’d like to comment, please feel send us an email to podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com or leave us a voicemail via Skype.

*If you listen closely, you’ll see that John doesn’t actually say the title of the film. He did in the pre-show discussion though, so we’ll give him a pass here.

A couple of mistakes creep in to the podcast, but hopefully some of the smaller ones will go without notice. One of the ones I made, I’d like to correct. Paul Hogan put the movie Lightning Jack on the Australian Stock Market, not Crocodile Dundee III. – Mark.

Download This Episode Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This week we review three new home video releases, but before we do, we talk about the end of Miramax films (which saddens Allen more that it should).

Next we discuss the remake of “The Stepfather” – a remake none of find much good in.  “Couples Retreat” managed to amuse us, but no one was terribly overwhelmed by it. And while we did find some things about “The Time Traveler’s Wife” intriguing, overall it just kinda fell into the middle as well. Check out everything we said about these movies, and leave your comments about them here, or by email at podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com – and remember, you can leave us a voice message via Skype through the “Contact Us” tab at the top of the page.

WARNING!!! After the close of the podcast are some major spoilers for The Time Traveler’s Wife!!! 

Next Tuesday we will be back with discussion about movie news, and a review of the Chris Rock documentary “Good Hair,” And this Friday will be our Spotlight Special on Flops.

Download This Episode Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Whoo Hoo! It’s a brand new year and we start things off with a bang! Well, it was more me hitting my mic stand, but don’t worry, I edited that out so it wouldn’t assault your ears. No, I saved our voices for that task. Johnny is in LA, hanging out with all the famous people down there, so it’s just Los Tres Amigos at the mics, telling it like it is.

The big news at the Box Office is again Avatar stealing everyone else’s lunch money. Listen in to all the other movers and shakers on the Box Office top ten.

A rather slow news week thanks to the holidays, but we still come up with a few gems…

• Zelda Rubinstein is NOT dead
• Star Trek Sequel starts production next December
• Mel Gibson is attached to Mad Max 4 – producing? cameo?
• Paramount’s micro-budget movie idea
• Disney and Stan Lee say, “POW!”

The movie we reviewed this week was Adam. This one kind of snuck under the radar for the most part. Is it a retelling of the whole Adam and Eve story? How does it compare to Rain Man? How would you classify it? What do we think of it? All these questions and more are answered in our review. Listen in and give us your thoughts. Comment right here on the page, or send us an email with your thoughts and opinions to: podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

GBU List: FOREIGN FILMS (White Ribbon)

There’s a nice crop of new movies coming out next week that we could have based our next GBU List on, but we decided to go with Youth In Revolt. It stars Michael Cera as both an introverted shy kid that doesn’t know how to talk to girls, and his suave, dangerous alter-ego, Francois. Our list will be on movies with Teen Rebellion. Get out your thinking caps, boys and girls, and send us in your choices. You can comment right here on the page, send an email to podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com, or leave us a voicemail via Skype. Any way you get it to us, make sure it’s in before Monday afternoon so we can read them on the podcast.

- Mark

Download This Episode Here

The urge to jump onto a new video format is pretty easy to resist, especially when the standard is not only serviceable, but ubiquitous. DVD is everywhere – in our living rooms, bedrooms, computers and cars. The picture quality is solid, especially when compared to VHS, which DVD stomped to a painful death. It’s reign as undisputed king of video was hardly the dynasty of its predecessor before HD was being touted as the next big thing. The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray was at best uninteresting due to most homes being completely unprepared for it, and consumers oblivious to the revolution.

Even when the dust settled and Blu-Ray was crowned HD Champ, I was still not interested. I had an HD TV, but I also had an up-scaling DVD player, and a shit-ton of disks. What did Blu-Ray have to offer that what I had wasn’t already comparable to? Eventually studios wised up and floated the bait I could not resist… Exclusive Content.

They got me once before like this… Laserdisc! I won’t admit here what the tipping-title to that format was, but suffice is to say I owned a Laserdisc Player for one title, and ended up with a handful more before DVD came along and signed the death warrant for that format as well. DVD was an easy sell to me, and on the first week of the hardware release, I owned a $1000 DVD player! DVDs delivered on their promise of exclusive content right out of the gate, and finally Blu-Ray has caught on that content is king as well.

It was on the News Askew site that my interest for the format was piqued. News was breaking that Smith’s early catalogue titles were being tricked out for their Blu-Ray release and that the new content would be exclusive to the format.

Cut to me at Electronics Boutique buying a PS3.

So at last the disks that made me surrender to the Blu Side have arrived in stores. Now begs the question, was it worth it? Lets take a look at what I had VS what I got…

Clerks

Original DVD Release

Released in 1999, this first release of the film was a decent package with very good extras. The fact that it was a widescreen version didn’t matter very much as everyone had a standard 4×3 TV, but playback on some equipment now with a 16×9 set will result in black bars all around the picture – most of the Disney releases at this time are formatted like this; who knew then what a pain in the ass it would become.

Special features on the Disc:

• Audio Commentary with Kevin Smith and members of the cast and crew
• Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Kevin Smith
• Alternate Ending
• Soul Asylum Music Video
• Theatrical Trailer

Clerks X

This 3 Disk collection of the film, released in September, 2004, included the original theatrical version of the film as well as “Clerks: The First Cut”, the version of the film before it was sold to Miramax and ran theatrically. This cut includes its own newly recorded commentary track with Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes. The deleted scenes and alternate ending are restored in “The First Cut” and are thus are not separated as they were in the original release, but otherwise all of the special features were brought back for this 16×9 anamorphic release. Oh, but that is not all… The release also includes the feature length documentary “Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks,” about the making of “Clerks”. Other Special Features Include:

• An "enhanced playback track" featuring trivia subtitles and title card descriptions.
• "Clerks: The Lost Scene" animated short. This scene was originally written in the screenplay for the film but was never shot. For the DVD, the scene was animated in the same style as Clerks: The Animated Series. The scene can be presented in two different ways.
• The DVD also presents the owner with the ability to play the theatrical cut of the film with the animated scene as if it were part of the feature.
• ”The Flying Car”, a short film featuring Dante and Randal with an introduction from Kevin Smith.
• A series of short television ads that MTV commissioned from Kevin Smith featuring Jay and Silent Bob.
• An original film trailer for the film edited by Matthew Cohen with a brief introduction from Kevin Smith.
• Three short featurettes about the restoration process used to recreate the feature film for the Clerks X DVD.
• Original auditions for the film featuring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, and Ernest O’Donnell. The auditions are introduced by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier.
• DVD-ROM features.
• “Mae Day: The Crumbling of a Documentary”, a short student film that Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier made during their time at film school. It comes with an introduction by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier.
• 10th Anniversary Q&A session with Kevin Smith, David Klein, Scott Mosier, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson and Brian O’Halloran.
• 13 deleted scenes and outtakes from "Snowball Effect"
• A still photo gallery of over 50 photographs and production images from Clerks as well as early photos of crew and cast members.
• Two collections of journal entries written by Smith. The first entries were written before finishing Clerks and the second were written while Kevin took the film to Sundance Film Festival.
• Eight articles and reviews about the film.

This is am amazing, comprehensive set that exemplifies how DVD can be done right, giving fans everything they could possibly want!

Clerks 15th Anniversary Edition (Blu-Ray)

This is, by Smith’s own admission, essentially just a format upgrade of “Clerks X” (and more money in his pocket). However, as a concession, Smith offers a 90 minute cut of “Oh! What a Lovely Tea Party,” a documentary about the making of “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back,” directed by his wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith. There is a three hour version of this out there somewhere, so i feel another dip coming… but likely for “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back”

Chasing Amy

Criterion Collection

Disney/Miramax never gave “Chasing Amy” a Region One digital release before Criterion released their ported-from-laserdisc edition in 2000. Smith was initially a major laserdisc supporter, resisting the new DVD format and even saying in the commentary “Fuck DVD!” – a statement he humorously addresses in the introduction to the DVD. He is joined by Scott Mosier, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes, Robert Hawk, Jon Gordon and Vincent Pereira on the commentary. Other features include:

• Ten Deleted Scenes
• Out-takes
• Trailer
• Special video introductions from the cast and crew
• The Askewniverse Legend – a guide to the characters in the (at the time) “New Jersey Trilogy”

Chasing Amy (Blu-Ray)

Since all the original special features of the Criterion release are owned by Criterion, this Disney/Miramax release had to go to the well to find all new features… and they took a BIG bucket! The 81 minute documentary “Tracing Amy” is a great addition to the disc and really nice retrospective on the making of the film. If you are a follower of Smith, you will know much of this information already, but it’s nice to have the variety of perspectives cooberate the story. “Was it Something I Said?” is a really nice 18 minute conversation between Kevin Smith and Joey Lauren Adams about how they tried to balance their personal relationship  with their working relationship, and the effects and aftermath of the films success and conclusion of their relationship. There is also a 28 minute Q&A with Kevin and the cast. The obligatory trailer and deleted scenes and outtakes are all included here as well, Sadly, the disks weakest point is the new commentary; recorded as a SModcast, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier revisit the film in the tangential manner they do on their podcast, which is amusing, but ultimately not what I am looking for in a commentary.

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

Collector’s Series DVD

Following it’s 2001 Theatrical Run, Disney/Miramax (Dimension) released this super-packed Collector’s Series edition in Early 2002. Jay & Silent Bob headline this hilarious comedy that was made directly for fans of Smith’s Askewniverse as characters from “Clerks”, “Mallrats”, “Dogma” and “Chasing Amy” all appear throughout the film. The DVD release continues to cater to fans with the following features:

• Commentary with Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes and Scott Mosier
• An hour and a half of deleted scenes with introductions from Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach, Harley Smith, Scott Mosier & Walt Flannigan
• Gag Reel
• Still Galleries
• 2 Internet Trailers
• 6 TV Spots
• 13 minute Behind the Scenes Featurette
• Morris Day and the Time: Learnin’ the Moves
• A Guide to Morris Day & the Time
• 2 music videos: Afro Man “I Got High” & Stroke 9 “Kick Some Ass”
• Comedy Central’s Reel Comedy: Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (22 minutes)
• Cast & Crew Filmographies
• Storyboards
• DVD-ROM materials, Open Mic Commentary, Screenplay Viewer, Cast and Crew Filmographies, Guide to Morris Day and the Time and Web Links

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (Blu-Ray)

What-the-huh?!? Bucking the trend of adding some new original content to the Blu-Ray releases, Disney/Miramax instead here drop the ball, stumble, chase after it, kick it, follow it out into the street, and get hit by a bus. Seriously, all that is here for special features is the DVD commentary ported over from the feature rich DVD. Seriously! That’s IT!

SO, in the end, is the upgrade from DVD to Blu-Ray worth it (or in my case, purchasing a Blu-Ray player in preparation for it’s release)? Well, let’s first go title-by-title…

While Smith inclusion of the “Oh! What a Lovely Tea Party” documentary as new content to the “Clerks” Blu-Ray as it’s sole new content is appreciated, it feels out of place on this disk. Furthermore, knowing there is a cut of it that is double the running time makes this seem more like a teaser for a future release. The advents of Blu-Ray can really do nothing but draw attention to the technical flaws of the film, so that is not a big booster for this release either. Really, if you already own the “Clerks X” DVD, you are pretty much good, making this particular upgrade BAD. However, having the the 3 disk collection on a single disk is a sweet perk (no having to swap out disks to enjoy all the supplement material! Yay!)

“Chasing Amy” fairs better in the supplements department, especially the “Tracing Amy” and “Was It Something I Said” features. The SModcast commentary though, is lacking, and it would have been great to have Joey Lauren Adams participate in it since she was glaringly absent in the Criterion commentary. The film looks great though, and I would want this as a supplement to the Criterion DVD anyhow, so I would still call this a GOOD upgrade even thought I feel the DVD is still an essential disk in it’s own right.

To be fair, the “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” Blu-Ray was not released for this collection, but in fact was released in September of 2006. This does not however excuse that hours of features were stripped away to make the release just a tit-hair above a bare-bones release. This is just UGLY, and if you own the Collector’s Series DVD, hang onto it!

Overall, “The Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection” is a disappointment for owners of previous DVD releases. I understand that having a complete Askewniverse collection is a near impossibility, what with Universal owning “Mallrats”, and Sony having rights to “Dogma” (Lionsgate in Canada), but, c’mon! Where is “Clerks II”? Or if you really wanted to trick this bitch out, “Clerks: The Animated Series”? This is box set built around one solid release, a format release, and a rip-off, which averages out to BAD.

After missing a week because some of us were (are) sick, We’re back! And arguing about Jennifer’s Body and gushing about the Brothers Bloom.

Discussed This Week:

• Jennifer’s Body
• David Cronenberg to Remake His Own ‘The Fly’ Remake?
• Warner Bros. Developing ‘The Hunger’ Remake
• Box Office

GBU List: Femme Fatal

• Paul Verhoeven
• Blockbuster may close 960 stores
• ‘Highlander’ Remake Gets a ‘Fast & Furious’ Director
• “Front Bum”
• News: Watchmen: The Utlimate Cut (US – DVD R1 | BD RA)
• Star Trek Blu-Ray
• Quantum Leap Movie
• The Disney/Marvel deal: Did Disney Get Screwed?

Download This Episode Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.