When I was sent Bad Boys to review I went back and did a little digging to refresh my memory, and came back with the unwanted statistic that the film is now fifteen years old.  Was it really fifteen years ago I went to see this action film from a director I hadn’t really heard of starring The Fresh Prince?  I went along with friends for the ride, and initially ended up slightly disliking the experience.

It was loud, brash, bold, stupid and contained a lot of yelling and swearing.  Not that I have any problem with the latter whatsoever, but some movies just drop constant f’bombs for the sake of it and revel in their edge adultness.  Bad Boys is a big offender in this category.

The movie centres around Miami detectives Lowry (Will Smith) and Burnett (Martin Lawrence) working Homicide.  When the departments career drug bust gets stolen from under their noses by a drugs kingpin named Fuchet (after inside assistance from cop Eddie Dominguez) our heroes have five days to crack the case before the unit is shut down and they are all reassigned.

I’m sure you don’t need me to go any further with the plot.  This is the movie that effectively launched Will Smith’s career with a budget that is now roughly his salary alone.
Bad Boys is a great action movie of its time, still slightly in the Die Hard/Lethal Weapon mould before everything got high tech and CG driven.
As thin as it may be, Bad Boys relies on its story, the action, characters and the chemistry between the two leads which is pitch perfect.
Yes they shout, they scream and yell at each other at regular intervals, but Lawrence plays the slightly comedic sidekick to Smith’s straight as a die action cop movie protagonist perfectly.

As with all Bay directed movies, Bad Boys is stylishly shot showcasing Miami and the surrounding areas.
Bad Boys may be two hours of macho cop action movie, but it’s an incredibly entertaining ride primarily thanks to the already mentioned chemistry between the leads.  Many of the movies most memorable lines are improvised (such as the convenience store FREEZE MOTHER BITCHES sequence) which gives the dialogue a believability we often don’t see in Hollywood screen writing.

Bad Boys contains considerably less action that its sequel, but it serves to prove what director Michael Bay can do when money doesn’t grow on trees and CGI robots aren’t destroying the planet.

Audio Visual
Bad Boys comes to Blu-ray as a catalogue title from SPHE with the standard 1080p MPEG4 encode we always seem from their titles.
Many movies from around the time of Bad Boys tend to have a slightly soft look about them, and Bad Boys reminded me of A Few Good Men, a very bold and colourful movie but a little soft in the visual department.

There is no doubt that this is the best that Bad Boys has ever looked, and although the source isn’t pristine (there are some dirt specks here and there) this Blu-ray is a considerable step up from the already high quality DVD version.

That’s not to say its perfect, and many could argue that if the movie received the full on remaster treatment that it deserves it could look better.  But Bad Boys looks above average for a catalogue title reissue, and fans should seek this new version out.

On the audio front we have a DTS HD Master Audio track that is indicative of the time of the movie as the picture quality.  Bad Boys is a very solid soundtrack, explosions are suitably boomy and dialogue is clear through the centre channel.

But anyone expecting a miracle and for BB to sound like a modern action film that really excels as a DTS HD MA soundtrack such as Die Hard 4.0 will be sadly disappointed.  That’s not a slight against this track, just the more stereo-bound soundtracks from that particular era.  As with the picture it is a considerable step up from its DVD counterpart, but is nowhere close to being a reference disc.

Bonus Features
Nothing new here, in fact this Blu-ray release contains less bonus features than the special edition DVD of Bad Boys.

Michael Bay Commentary – This commentary is a good listen for anyone interested in the filmmaking process primarily because it’s his first movie (although this track was after he had made a could more movies) and has a very low budget so there’s no “this was all handed off to ILM” chat here.  This is a lengthy information dump about the moviemaking process and contains a lot of technical and personal information.

Putting The Boom & Bang In The Bad Boys – Not a talking head feature in sight on this Blu-ray, just a standard def documentary feature the effects crew.  Michael Bay likes to blow stuff up, and these are the guys who make it happen.

Save for a couple of music videos that’s it!

Summing Up
I have a lot of love for Bad Boys.  Although my initial impressions of the movie weren’t exactly stellar back in 1995, repeated viewings on DVD have made it one of my favourite action movies with a wealth of quotable lines.

This Blu-ray release does as much justice as the movie could possibly have without a fully extensive remaster, leaving a visually impressive and sonically middle of the road affair.
My only major gripe is with the lack of any new or enhanced special features.  If there was a Bad Boys 3 on the horizon I’m sure we would have had special editions of both movies with new interviews, documentaries and commentary tracks.

For now, this BD release of Bad Boys will semi-please fans with what is a reasonably essential catalogue title purchase.

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John pondered holding up a boombox to save the world

Hollywood has a large number of easy targets for vitriol such as Jerry Bruckheimer or Michael Bay who produce loud, visually stunning movies that are devoid of any quality story or character development.  As many people sagely state “Michael Bay likes blowing sh*t up!”, and let us be frank unless we sit watching art house cinema and complaining about the fall of society, we all like to see stuff blowing up.

Another of these soft targets is Roland Emmerich, an unashamed creator of retina burning movies such as Independence Day and Godzilla.  And for each of their hackneyed, cliché laden plot devices I have to say I do rather enjoy an Emmerich movie.

Conveniently sidestepping the mess that was 10,000 BC we now have 2012 which is billed as the disaster movie to end all others.  It stars John Cusack in a somewhat blatant studio paycheck role as Jackson Curtis, a published novelist and divorced father of two.  Sadly his book only sold a handful of copies, and insistence at sticking with the vocation cost him his marriage to the always charming Amanda Peet (Kate).
Jackson is driving a limo for a Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric) while Kate is living with plastic surgeon Gordon (Tom McCarthy).

This group makes up the human interest part of the movie, as the Mayan forecasted end of the world date of 2012 rapidly approaches, and the proverbial hits the domestic appliance.
Scientists in India and a US adviser named Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) were aware of the upcoming crisis, and in secret the US has been using labour from around the globe to construct a series of arks that will ferry the “great and good” of the world’s elite who can afford the one billion dollar (per person) price tag to be part of the new world order.  All this coming under order from the US president (Danny Glover) and slimy self-centered naer do well Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt).

Before moving on to discuss just how well the CG team destroy much of the entire planet I have to take a very slight stand for the story here.  Yes the down on his luck, heart of gold Dad routine has been done a million times before.  Yes, you root that he will get back together with his estranged wife, and hope the new plastic surgeon will meet an untimely demise.  The kids are cute and we want everyone to survive (pretty much).
But as trite as some of this stuff is, the movie actually has a few subtle nods to themes such as making peace while you still can, and it doesn’t shy away from bumping off characters at regular intervals.  So while this isn’t, and was never meant to be Shakespeare 2012 has genuine heart underneath the multimillion dollar effects.

And finally to those effects and for the most part they are spectacularly impressive.  There is some very ropey CG at times (witness the family escaping in the limo as the streets fall apart around them) but on the whole the action is pretty spectacular.

Hollywood seems to be welcoming anything flying into buildings these days, and mass destruction on a global scale is served up for our entertainment.  But don’t worry folks, the little people are only CG!
My own personal feelings about “we got a plane, you’re all dead, sorry” moments aside, the two and a half hour runtime whips by relatively quickly.  Action sequences are fairly close together and the story never really gets too sluggish to the point you would be looking at your watch and waiting for the next tidal wave or earthquake.

2012 is big dumb fun with a surprising amount of heart, and as a reference disc it will give any system a serious workout.  Just don’t expect high art and you won’t walk away disappointed.

Audio Visual
Lets get down to business right from the off here.  2012 is a reference disc, pure and simple.  Visuals are gorgeous, and this 1080p MPEG4 encode is nearly almost rock solid.  Save for a couple of contrast issues in darker scenes it is spot on.
As with a lot of CG laden movies the clarity of the Blu-ray transfer shows up a few slightly wonky effects shots, but scenes such as the image above of the cast escaping as the city collapses around them is mesmerising.  Just watching the buildings collapse, glass shatter, etc is simply stunning.

While watching the movie I Tweeted to say it had possibly the best audio I’ve ever heard in a home disc release, and bar a couple of minor niggles I did notice later on during the film I stand by that knee jerk 140 character reaction.  The DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack is a powerhouse that gives each and every speaker in your surround setup a serious workout.  Even during quiet conversation scenes such as on the aeroplane full of Yuri’s cars the rear speakers are constantly chattering with clanks and clangs.
The minor gripe is the bass could be a little more bombastic during some of the serious destruction scenes.  Watch a movie such as Die Hard 4.0 and enjoy the shoot out scene where Bruce Willis first meets Justin Long.  Gunshots rain down, heavy deep and thumbing bass abounds.  I would have expected something similar here, but considering the whole world is going to hell in a very large handbasket, things can be a little weedy at times.

Those minor items on the snagging list aside, this is a great looking and sounding disc.

Bonus Features
This UK presentation of 2012 is interesting.  In the US there were two releases, a standard single disc with just the movie and a few extras as well as a two disc Special Edition with a load of HD exclusive items.

We get a single disc version containing all the extras from the Special Edition.  Good for us, but I wonder whether bitrates were dropped anywhere to keep everything down to a single BD50?

Anyway, the following features are included:

Audio Commentary – Roland Emmerich and his co-writer/composer Harald Kloser given a very functional and information heavy commentary on the movie which is technical but not particularly awe inspiring.  There’s a lot of tidbits here but I wouldn’t say it’s a must listen.

Picture-in-Picture Commentary – Same goes for this one, not particularly great but you do get the added bonus of the cast and crew giving talking heads and some behind the scenes production stuff.

Alternate Ending – I’m very glad that this isn’t the ending that they used, as it cranks up the shmalz to eleven and negates some of the tough choices the filmmakers made in sending a small message through letting people go.  Visual effects aren’t finished and there is no soundtrack.  It’s nice to have here to show what could have been the ending, but a good reminder of why it wasn’t.

Deleted Scenes – One for the check box on the back of the packaging, five very short and unmemorable scenes that were right to be cut.

Roland Emmerich: The Master of the Modern Epic – Bring your sick bag, it’s ten minutes of people showering praise on how amazing Mr Emmerich is.  Really Sony, you can do way better than this.

Interactive Mayan Calendar – Nice bit of fun this one. You have four options beginning with some video telling about the Mysteries of the Mayan Calendar and some extras for reading the glyphs themselves.  The Mayan Horoscope is good for a bit of fun.

An Actor’s Perspective – A chat with the principal cast about making such a physical movie.

Science Behind the Destruction – This featurette is making a link between the Mayan calendar and the science that the movie is based on.

Designing the End of the World & Countdown to the Future – I’ve lumped these two features together because they go hand in hand to deliver just over three quarters of an hour that makes up the bulk of the features here.

As you might expect the former is going deep into the CGI of the movie.  I’m a sucker for these kind of features showing the computer tech behind the final image and this one is very heavy on behind the scenes material.  The highlight of the features for me (no prizes for guessing what the low point was).  The second part is focussing more on the Mayan beliefs that we’ll all be getting our comeuppance before the next round of videogame consoles are released.  It’s a well paced scientific feature.

Summing Up
This is a Marmite movie for many folks, you either like Mr Emmerich’s brand of visual insanity or you view him as a hack to be vilified.

Personally I enjoyed 2012, despite it being two tons full of cliché for most of its considerable runtime.  The CG effects are spectacular, the disc looks and sounds amazing and the features are decent enough to keep fans entertained.

If for nothing else, 2012 is a must have reference disc to keep in your collection.

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Movies still rely on opening weekend figures to grab headlines, then go for the “long tail” with home release on DVD and Blu-ray, often followed by a special edition version a few months down the line.
In gaming terms the big opening weekend is just as important, and preorder bonuses are a great way of securing our money before you are able to get the shiny disc in your hopefully not too grubby palms.

Just recently I have embarked on another colossal bit of life laundry, the target in question this time was the loft (or attic for my friends outside of these shores).  Sally and I have now been together for almost fourteen years, and out loft contains a lot of years of…stuff.  I was going to say crap there, but most of it isn’t.
During that sort out the local charity shops did extremely well, especially with Xbox 360 games that rather than sell I donated to the Haiti fund and MIND (if you can have a favourite charity then MIND would be mine).
I was actually rather ashamed sorting through a lot of the stuff up there because I found scores and scores of DVDs that I didn’t even know I owned.
I regulary go through my disc inventory I keep downstairs and get rid of unwanted items, but in the loft I found boxed DVDs I had forgotten I had bought.  Yes some of them were even still sealed.  I’m positive that I’m not alone with this particular confession, but safety in numbers doesn’t even make up for the fact that I have spent hundreds (possibly even thousands) of pounds on stuff I don’t even remember buying.

Due to the fact that my shelves are heaving a sigh of relief actually having space on them again, and the ceiling isn’t in danger of collapsing under the weight of my twentysomething shopping binges, I have been extremely careful about what I’ve been buying lately.
Given that I will be out of regular contracted employment at the end of next week (as mentioned in my previous post) I have done something I should have done a long time ago, and cancelled preorders and reined in my spending.  Which brings me to the point of this post.

As I mentioned at the top of the screen, a new game comes out and I buy it so it is here for day one (usually the day before).  But then along came Bioshock 2 and things got interesting.
Just like thousands of other gamers I adored the original Bioshock, and I won’t bother droning on with a laundry list of things that made the game so enjoyable as far more talented writers have done so many times before me.  Nor will I mention the obligatory “didn’t need a sequel” argument.

The reviews came out and pretty much unanimously said that the game was a solid action titled, lacked the originality of the first but for a game that didn’t need a sequel it is well worth playing.  I knew that I wanted to play the game, but didn’t have to do so right at the second it was released.  After all, I still had other unfinished games to play.

But as soon as the game was released and friends were playing it online I was gripped with an overwhelming desire to play the game.  Did I really want to play it, or did I just want to conform and play it because my friends were doing so, and saying they enjoyed it?
A week passed, I didn’t buy it but kept an eye on Amazon where the price has now dropped to around £32.  By now I was starting to feel like some kind of immediacy junkie.  All throughout this weekend I have teetered on the verge of jumping in the car and driving to Tesco to buy it.  Even though it is £40 there, and I could have it on Tuesday for less.

This brings another of those “NOW!!!” points.  As someone who doesn’t particularly want disc based media any more (that is an article for another time) getting a copy of Bioshock 2 in my hands involves driving somewhere to buy it, or ordering it online.  But that’s so dull, isn’t it?  Having to actually (heaven forbid!) leave the house OR suffer the indignity of WAITING for it to be delivered the next day.  Probably by the same time tomorrow I wouldn’t want it anyway.

Which brings me to digital distribution.  Steam is a wonderful thing, and thanks to the ridiculous recent holiday sale bargains, a recipient of a large chunk of my money.  I love Steam, even though is does somewhat dangerously scratch the itch of “I want to play this right now”.  A couple of clicks, a download and then you are away.
And I would have been playing Bioshock 2 at launch if it wasn’t for one thing; the lack of support for the Xbox 360 controller for Windows.

Bioshock 2 is a Games For Windows Live game, but (like Fallout 3) is available on Steam.  Laughingly it is ten pounds cheaper than the GFW Live digital version too.  As my games PC is connected to a big screen TV it feels like a higher resolutioned version of the Xbox 360, and I could still get Achievements.  Except the controller isn’t supported, which seems like a major omission to me, but it makes my bank account a little healthier.  When I’m sat in a comfy chair in front of a big screen I want to game with a controller, not a keyboard rested on my lap and mouse to one side.

I have resisted the urge to buy Bioshock 2 this weekend by finally completing games that have been sitting around for a while.  I don’t want to start to play anything new until I have cleared the decks and can therefore say “Yes, I need to play this game now, as I have no others”.  That argument is inherently flawed anyway, but it makes me feel better.
I played Blue Toad Murder Files on the PlayStation 3 that I purchased at the end of 2009 (surprisingly good Whodunnit fun from the makers of Buzz, although the Announcer takes a lot of getting used to) and Shadow Complex on the Xbox 360.  I tried to get into Halo 3 ODST again but once again just couldn’t be bothered with it.
I have cleared out my Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games now.  But there are still a good ten or more unplayed games on Steam, and the Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles for the Wii that Sally bought me for Christmas hasn’t even been looked at yet.

At some point I will play Bioshock 2.  And Mass Effect 2 for that matter.  But for now I almost feel like an addict fresh out of rehab who is starting to see the error of their ways.  I’ll get to it, but not at full price and certainly not in the next couple of weeks.
Now if you could buy brand new releases digitally from the Xbox 360 dashboard then this could be a wholly different story…

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It is taken as a given that Pixar are the rightful rulers of CG Animated Movieland(TM) and despite numerous imitations none of the other studios can replicate their magical formula.  Dreamworks continue to cram as many pop culture references as is humanly possible into their outings, and previous Sony titles have been a trifle insipid such as Open Season.

But now we have Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, based on a childrens book I have never heard of (because I am neither a child or a parent), it follows the story of Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) a well meaning inventor who just can’t quite get things right.  Still living with his stoic father (James Caan) on the tiny island of Swallow Falls, Flint is trying to realise his lifelong dream of being a great inventor in a custom made laboratory in the back yard.

Here he is ably assisted by monkey Steve, and Flint is working on a machine that can turn water into food if only he can find enough power to do so.
The once prosperous town is now a veritable ghost town and the nefarious mayor (Bruce Campbell) is trying anything he can to bring tourists into the area.

So when Flints invention finally works and starts raining cheeseburgers down on the town, this greasy manna from heaven is just what the town needs to really be put on the map (and is located under the A of the Atlantic Sea on the map, a nice touch).
Rookie weather anchor Sam Sparks (the always dependable Anna Faris) is on hand to report the incredible story, but when the town starts requesting anything and everything falls from the sky the inevitable DANGER zone is soon entered.

When the steak hits the flan, Flint and Sam (and STEVE!) have to save the day before the entire world is covered in a food mountain.

I will happily admit I was proven wrong by Cloudy With A Chance.. I was half expecting another slightly uninspiring Pixar wannabe but ended up with an animated movie that finally holds a candle to Pixar.
Unlike a movie such as Shrek which has numerous references that go over the heads of children but strike a chord with parents and adults that are a little more…risque, Cloudy amuses adults but in a cheeky manner.

It is its cleverness that makes Cloudy such a joy to watch, and while the “stick legs, large body” animation style won’t be to everyones taste the technical brilliance of the animation is the closest thing I’ve seen yet that comes close to that other studio (especially the water).  Oh and Mr T is in it.  I could have saved myself 500 words and just said that.

Audio Visual
Digital perfection.  That is all I can say, we have a 1080p MPEG 4 encode and a DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack that are pure reference quality.  It goes without saying that a digital movie from a digital source going direct to a digital format is going to be as close to perfect as you can get and that is what you get here.

The picture is stunning and the audio packs a real punch to all of the speakers (especially in the action packed final fifteen minutes).

Bonus Features
Commentary – Co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller join up with Flint voice actor Bill Hader for an extremely lively commentary!  There’s no staid and dull chat here, just a whole lot of friendly banter.  Anyone looking for a technical commentary will be left out in the cold this time around, but having listened to plenty of these over the years this light hearted muck about was a welcome break.

Making Of – Again its a light hearted featurette than runs for 11 minutes which is a little EPK-ish.  Director and voice actor interviews pad out the runtime but its a bit of throwaway fun.

Music Video – Speaking of throwaway.  Yes it’s a music video, which also gets a 2 minute making of.

The Voices – This is more like it.  A featurette that features on voice actors Bill Hader, Anna Faris and of course Mr T.  The theme of lark about fun continues here.  Again.  Mr T.  Say no more.

Extended Scenes – A couple of scenes  are slightly extended, one with unfinished animation and they total three minutes.

Progression Reels – This is a feature for viewers who have been crying out for a little bit of technical info.  Visual FX supervisor Rob Bredow introduces some animations that show the process a fully animated movie goes through.  Sadly, its only for ten minutes.

Early Development Scenes – Some storyboard sequences that are hand animated from early in the movies development process.

BD Exclusives – Interactive “Splat” Feature.  One for the younger viewers and perhaps the young at heart (I did find it rather amusing).  You can select to throw various food items (including meatballs, of course) at the screen while watching the movie and then clean them off with a “virtual squeegee”.

Flint’s Food Fight Game – A Java based Space Invaders clone where you (yes, YOU!) must fight against Flint’s food machine.

Summing Up
With the exception of Disney’s Bolt, few animated movies have come even close to replicating the Pixar magic, and Bolt even had overseeing from Andrew Stanton.  Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs is a delightfully fun animated romp that will entertain both parents and children.

I can’t praise this movie enough, from the superb animation, picture quality, sound and vocal performances right down to a decent set of bonus features this is a top notch Blu-ray disc.  Oh and it comes with a DVD copy as well.  A must purchase.

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Thanks to the excessively cold temperatures this past week we went without any post until yesterday when this bumper crop arrived.  To be honest I’m amazed it all came at once

Planet Terror and Crank 2 were from the Play.com sale (£9.99 each, the only non-digital sale items I bought this..no wait..last year) and Bayonetta was released yesterday.  I need to reiterate what all of the gaming sites are saying which is that the PS3 version is incredibly broken.  360 version for anyone who wants to play it (and has both consoles, of course).

It is something of a rarity to actually have physical media these days.  As I mentioned in my Life Laundry post at the end of 2009, the idea of having a physical disc containing anything be it a movie, game or bit of computer software is starting to seem somewhat alien to me.

This was further enhanced by the incredible Steam sale that took place over the Christmas and new year period.  I have just recently started to get back into PC gaming mainly through the addition of an Xbox 360 wireless controller kit.  Buying action titles such as Silent Hill: Homecoming that can be played with a controller was a no brainer especially as the entertainment PC I use in my office is still relatively beefy despite being behind the times a little with graphics power.  Plus it is still quieter than the Xbox 360.

Like many others I’m sure, I did get a little bit click-happy with my Steam purchases with the £1.50 “gateway” bargains leading to some slightly pricier impulse purchases.  But as I have already struck Dark Void and Army of Two: The Fortieth Day from my console purchase list after underwhelming demos, I have plenty to keep me entertained for a good long while.

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This re-imagining (which is Hollywood’s latest word for remake) comes from director Tony Scott and stars Denzel Washington (a Scott favourite) and John Travolta.
The plot centres around Washington playing a New York MTA employee named Walter Garber, a high flyer in the transit system who has been busted down to Dispatcher after some alleged improprieties over an order for new trains.

Travolta plays the villain of the piece, the leader of a group of train hijackers named Ryder who along with a bunch of thugs take control of train Pelham 1 2 3.  They hold the passengers hostage for ten million dollars which has to be delivered within one hour, otherwise Ryder is going to start getting trigger happy with the passengers.  Naturally our man Denzel starts the conversation with Ryder until chief hostage negotiator Camonetti (John Turturro) comes on the scene and starts to try and broker a deal.  With unhappy consequences, naturally.

What follows is a lot of back and forth between Washington and Travolta on the trains’ radio, interspersed with some light action before setting the movie up for a more action packed finale.

As I alluded to at the start of the review, my biggest problem with Pelham is that it doesn’t quite know what sort of a movie it wants to be.
Given that the movie is in semi real time ala 24, the imposed hour that Ryder gives to the City of New York (and grease ball mayor James Gandolfini) is supposed to make things fast paced and exciting it felt like one of the longest hours I’ve experienced.
When you strip everything off the movie itself it actually isn’t really that exciting.  This theory seems to pay off for me given that Scott unleashes almost every camera trick in the book to try and spice up the tension level and ends up coming off as extremely annoying.
We have the circular sweep shot when a discussion is going on (those who suffer from motion sickness look away for several scenes), we cut to a helicopter flying through the sky which has frames chopped out so it looks edgy and exciting (or you think “is this Blu-ray disc skipping or something?”).  There’s the Google Maps/Live overlay sweeps around the city we have seen before in Scotts movies like Enemy of the State (my personal favourite).

So the movie is so achingly desperate to make you think things are exciting it is at times extremely offputting.
So we can safely say this isn’t an action movie, although there is some semi-decent action right towards the very end of the movie on the crowded NYC streets).

In actual fact, Pelham is more of a character piece (with annoying camera sweeps) than anything.  Many of the movies high points for me were the conversations between Ryder and Garber with Washington turning in a typically studied and acted performance.
But for me extra credit must go to Travolta for adding several little nuances to the character of Ryder who is constantly on the edge of losing it (and frequently does), all the time looking twitchy and edgy.

However, for every quality character moment there are some real clunkers elsewhere, particularly with the teenager talking to his girlfriend on his laptop via WiFi.  This emo bint is more concerned that her soon to be shot by terrorists boyfriend won’t say “I love you” to her while she’s pouring out her heart, making a noise and probably watching Twilight on another screen.
These two also provide the lowest point of the movie whereby apparently in New York you can’t just say “I love you” you have to add “fucking” into almost every sentence.  So don’t you worry readers, the really fucking love each other!

I realise that much of my review of this movie may come off sounding rather negative, but Pelham isn’t a bad movie.  It’s just a slightly odd one.  It has been marketed as an action movie (which it isn’t) whereas it is closer to a thriller (without too many thrills).  Both Sally and I enjoyed the experience of watching Pelham which has many high points, just don’t expect it to be a blown the barn doors off action thriller ride experience extravaganza(TM).

Audio Visual
As per usual we have an MPEG 4 1080p encoding on a dual layer BD50 disc from Sony, and as we should expect from a brand new movie it looks superb.
For his last few films Scott has gone for a very specific look to his movies starting off with Enemy of the State but really coming to the fore with his other recent Washington starring movies Deja Vu and Man on Fire.  Intentionally grainy image, slightly muted but still bold colours and high contrast.

This may sound like a recipe for visual disaster but the encoding on this disc is spot on.  Dark scenes (of which there are a lot given that the train is stuck in a tunnel for an hour) never lead to any problems with black levels or colour bleeding.  Facial definition is good, this is a typically solid transfer from SPHE.

On the audio front I’m pleased to report that Sony are continuing to use DTS HD Master Audio as the sonic codec of choice (or at least they have since Angels & Demons which was the last movie I reviewed several months ago).
This is a pretty punchy track, which really comes alive towards the end of the movie as the action ramps up, but there is plenty on offer throughout the rest of the dialogue heavy movie with environmental audio all helping to create a fully encompassing soundscape.

Given that there is a lot of dialogue here, it is always at the forefront of the mix so there are never any “what did he say?” moments.  This is a very solid soundtrack to go with the equally impressive visuals.

Bonus Features
We start off with two commentary tracks, one from Tony Scott and the other from writer Brian Helgeland and producer Todd Black.
Really you can pick one track here and skip the other, as a lot of the information given is repeated but either track is a fairly engaging listen, particularly Scott’s.  Both tracks cover the film making process, the original movie, MTA, etc but if you aren’t a fan of commentaries then you just need to check out…

The Making of Pelham 1 2 3 – This 30 minute HD documentary pretty much sums up all you need to know about making the movie itself.  Much of the runtime is taken up dealing with the logistical aspects of filming in NYC itself and the MTA involvement, with cast interviews surprisingly light the spotlight focuses more on the actual MTA workers themselves which makes a nice change.  Definitely a big step up from the usual EPK fayre.

The Third Rail: New York City Underground – Running at 16 minutes in HD this feature focuses more strongly on the MTA themselves (who already get a large amount of screen time in the preceding feature) and showing how the producers, cast and crew dealt with filming in the tunnels.

From the Top Down – WHAT?  A feature on maybe some action or special effects?  Or a character study perhaps?  No, five minutes of talking about hairdressing which is effectively “the lead characters have their hair done with clippers”.  Can you hear the bottom of the barrel being scraped yet?

Marketing Pelham – Or it should be given its proper name “all the trailers stitched together”.   Barrel scrape confirmed!

Summing Up
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an enjoyable movie provided you know what it is.  A character drama with light action overtones that features excellent performances from its lead and supporting cast (mostly).  Tony Scott’s frenetic camera work may not be to everyone’s taste (particularly mine) but this disc is definitely worth a rental or a purchase if you are a fan of the actors or just well put together Blu-ray discs.

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The truth is, I haven’t really got anything to write about at the moment.  Or rather, nothing particularly that I would write on here.
Since the business blog launched a couple of weeks ago I have written a few posts on there, and have what could be a lengthy one in my mind right now.  There may be some form of crossover between the two sites as well.  Even though all of the IT related stuff goes on there, the influx of Apple kit into the house could be of interest to folks on here.

But here is a quick info-dump of a few things to appease the blogging Gods:

Watchmen is incredible on Blu-ray.  Buy the US import though, as the UK version is the theatrical version ONLY of the movie.  The US release is the full Director’s Cut with 24 minutes of extra footage.  Or hold off as Warner Brothers gouge even more cash with an “ULTIMATE!!!1111!!!!1″ version coming in December.  They may as well have included a flyer reading “Bend over and brace yourselves” in the box.

Also on a Blu-ray tip, the first season of Joss Whedon’s sublimely superb Dollhouse is now available on DVD and Blu-ray in the US.  For once all of the BD discs are region free, so you can import the set and play it on any UK player.  I received mine yesterday from Movietyme (at a rather wallet troubling £40), the picture quality is gorgeous.  A very noticable step up from the HD transmissions, and comes complete with a very punchy DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack.  I have only watched the first episode so far, but remember this set includes the unaired Epitaph One, as well as the original pilot Whedon shot and Fox rejected.  Good job too, as while the original is very entertaining, it lacks the pacing of the finished article.

I shall never leave the sofa, having just bought the complete five season box set of Angel.  We reached the end of season 3 of Buffy a week ago, which is where Angel clears off to LA (and fortunately says farewell to all the whiney, emo moodiness) and his show starts.  It’s a darker, more “blokey” series that we are enjoying watching in parallel with Buffy season 4.  aka Buffy Goes To College (and needs a damn good meal).

That’s about it for now.  Oh except the Ghostbusters videogame on PS3 isn’t very good, IMHO.  I was bored after halfway through the first level.  “Bustin makes me feel good”.  Not in this game it doesn’t.

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This sequel gives us a reboot to the franchise.  After many years in development hell that finally saw Jane get tired of waiting for his second shot at the character, and brings the relatively unknown Irish actor Ray Stevenson to the role.
Warzone is a far more over the top outing for the character, creating a decidedly more comic book style world of daft named villains and one dimensional supporting characters as opposed to the slightly grittier real world of the first movie.

In actual fact, right from the start I was very impressed with how director Lexi Alexander managed to create a very well styled comic book look for the movie through the use of colour and lighting.
But back to the plot of the movie itself.  The vigilante Frank Castle has been on the loose for quite some time, and the movie begins with him taking out the Cesare crime family after the big boss has just avoided some serious prison time.

The families’ top enforcer Billy Russoti (The Wire’s Dominic West) escapes with his goons to their nearby hideout only to find his way into the bottle crusher that leaves him for dead.  During the ensuing fire fight, Castle kills an undercover FBI agent named Nicky Donatelli.

Donatelli’s partner (played by Colin Salmon, yet another British actor forced to fake an American accent) joins up with the NYPD Punisher task force (actually two blokes in a basement with a lot of files) in an attempt to avenge his partner, and his family.

In a scene that appears to be an utter rip from the Joker reveal in Tim Burton’s first Batman movie, Rusotti becomes known as Jigsaw and embarks on at attempt to complete a deal he started before his extreme makeover went awry, busting out his criminally insane brother “Loony Bin Jim” from the asylum to assist.

Castle tries his best to make amends with Donatelli’s late wife and daughter, sparking a connection with the little girl, but unsurprisingly not making any headway with the widow (played by Julie Benz).
What follows is a series of ridiculously over the top, bloody encounters that will turn off the more casual action movie observer.  This is an extremely violent, no holds barred action movie, not quite up to the levels of Crank insanity, but certainly not for the faint hearted.

Personally I’m not particularly squeamish, so the action didn’t bother me and am actually surprised at just how well it is executed given the movies relatively paltry $35 million budget.  The fight scenes are well choreographed, and it is directed in a slick, but classic style.  There is no over the top MTV style editing or shaky camera work here.

As I mentioned previously, the film itself actually looks very good, it is certainly a well put together and stylised comic book world.  There is a bold use of colour in many of the scenes, particularly as much of the movies action takes place at night.  Daytime scenes are also good, tweaking the colour palette to give the whole movie a limited colour palette the works extremely well.

Unfortunately for me, the movie itself just doesn’t hang together.  For the man who will always be the incredible Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, West mugs up his performance that just doesn’t hit the notes properly for a stumbling villain.

Likewise, Doug Hitchison is flat out irritating as Loony Bin Jim, and the couples sociopathic rampages aren’t well timed enough to be funny, and the attempt at humour doesn’t even make them remotely scary.
Stevenson himself actually does a pretty decent turn as Frank Castle, able to handle the action with emotional detachment but can show little flashes of humanity well when interacting with young Grace.

The rest of the supporting cast are merely cyphers that have come straight out of the comic book supplemental characters basement with Salmon being the exception to the rule, representing what could be Castle’s “light” side.  They are decent enough, but let’s face it, we aren’t re-enacting Shakespeare here are we?  My only real bugbear is with Julie Benz who is a very competent actress, but seems to have had some work done to her face that leaves it smooth and emotionless.

Punisher: War Zone is a fairly decent action movie that is one of the better attempts at bringing a comic book to the big screen.  Sadly it is let down by a pantomime villain and a lack of particularly likeable characters, but that is nearly outweighed by the over the top action that is enough to keep most viewers chomping through the popcorn.

Audio Visual
While the movie itself is a little hit and miss, this 1080p MPEG4 transfer is a surefire winner.  I gave a critical pasting to the visual quality of the first movie, but have no complaints about this second instalment.

Comic book worlds always contain plenty of bold colours, usually set in very dark environment with a sprinkling of rain thrown in for good measure.  War Zone is no exception, and all throughout the movie the transfer is rock solid.  You will hear no complaints from me regarding the black levels that could so easily have been a real problem given the amount of night footage up against primary colours you find here.

After having reviewed a number of rather lacklustre catalogue makeovers in the past, its a joy to be reminded at just how good a well encoded HD transfer can look.  Top stuff.

Sonically this disc is very interesting.  War Zone is a Lionsgate Pictures release, who are part of Sony Pictures.  In the US the disc was previously released under the Lionsgate name, with a 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack.  Here in the UK it is a SPHE title, and has been changed to a Dolby TrueHD track as it is their format of choice.

I have long made it known that I rate DTS over Dolby Digital, and would be interested to see if there is a big difference between the two discs but this True HD track is a boneshaker.

During the many action scenes all of the speakers are going bananas, the subwoofer is in constant growl mode, and bullets ricochet around with even more veracity than in the recently reviewed The International.
Loud, chaotic and definite demo material.

Bonus Features
Commentary – First up we have a commentary from director Lexi Alexander and cinematographer Steve Gainer.  Alexander is quite outspoken with her thoughts and views on the movie, and this is quite an informative track from a technical standpoint, but is unlikely to appeal to Punisher fans in general.  I found it quite interesting and helps to flesh out the making of the movie a little better than the rest of the bonus material.

Making Of – This is quite a bog standard EPK type affair running at just under ten minutes.  The main cast and crew talk about their characters and that’s pretty much it.

There are also three featurettes called Training to Become The Punisher, Meet Jigsaw, The Weapons of The Punisher and Creating the Look of The Punisher.  Most are around five minutes in length and give bite sized chunks of information.

My favourites are the Training which shows just how much effort Stevenson put into becoming Frank Castle, and the Look in which the decision to allow only three colours into each scene is described to create a more authentic comic book feel.

Summing Up
The Punisher: War Zone has quite a European active movie feel about it, the director is German, and many of the cast are either British or Irish, all adopting American accents.  While the story itself is hardly genre defining, the action more than makes up for its other shortcomings.  This Blu-ray disc looks and sounds fantastic, and while the supplemental features are a little thin on the ground, they receive bonus points for all being in HD.

It won’t be to everyones taste, but The Punisher: War Zone is well worth a look for action and comic book fans alike.

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One of Owen’s colleagues is murdered at the start of the movie after a particularly mysterious car park rendezvous with an executive from the bank (who himself later ends up sleeping with the fishes).  The bank seems to have eyes and ears everywhere, including a number of hit men who are sent out on contract killings to neutralise anyone who opposes the family…sorry, the bank.  But a Mafioso style family is little scarier than the prospect of the manager of your local HSBC waiting in the bushes to take you out with a stapler and some sharpened Post-It notes.
Salinger is working in conjunction with assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (the always delightful Naomi Watts) trying to build the case against the IBBC.  Following the murder of

Salinger’s colleague, the pair begin a globetrotting (hence the movie’s title) jaunt trying to track down executives, work in conjunction with politicians, New York cops and enjoy a particularly breath-taking shoot out at the Guggenheim museum, all the while trying to bring down the bank.

This description of The International probably makes it sound far more exciting and popcorn munching than it actually is.  Don’t get me wrong, I think The International is an extremely well-acted, directed and edited movie, but if you are expecting Bourne levels of action then you’ll have to look elsewhere.

I use Bourne as a jumping off point, as from the look and feel of the movie it is the closest comparison to The International.  It occupies a place in the real world; this is no hyper real Hollywood spy drama.  This is a proper gritty drama, more akin to dialogue heavy 70s movies such as The French Connection.

What I particularly liked about The International was the way that it is shot, with use of various architectural landmarks from around the world as silent characters (of which there is plenty of information about in the bonus features).  Cinematography is beautiful here, and each of the cities that Owen and sometimes Watts visit has their own look and feel.

Continuing with the movies positives, while the movie is sometimes rather slow moving, its key action sequence at the Guggenheim museum is a fantastic orgy of guns and destruction.  It’s worth the wait, as the bank undertakes some rather excessive measures to silence its pesky critic.  Director David Tykwer isn’t afraid to splash around the claret either, with some particularly nasty deaths for the supporting cast.  It’s a shocking wake up call for a movie that is relatively sedate at times.

It’s not a whitewash of gushing praise though for The International though.  While I enjoyed the movie, the use of a main character who has burnt out from a previous job and is now hell bent on taking down the enemy at any cost is more than a little old hat.  Clive Owen is great in that kind of a role, and he is certainly very good here but I’m more than a little burnt out on burnouts.

While she is billed as a main character, Naomi Watts plays far more of a supporting role than an equal lead.  By her own admission in the making of documentary, she tends to play the damsel in distress role a little too often.  So it is good to see her playing such a strong character juggling her duties as a career woman and mother.
I also applaud the decision to not have any kind of romantic interest between the two leads whatsoever.  These two are working together towards a common goal, and an unwanted romantic subplot is mercifully jettisoned (but hinted at during the extended scene on this Blu-ray).

As I have already mentioned, I enjoyed The International a great deal.  The European crew have crafted an action thriller that moves along at a pace that is quick enough to just about satisfy the fans of more gritty movies such as Bourne and even the rebooted Bond, but may well leave them wanting more action and less intrigue.

If you are looking for an enjoyable couple of hours that will make you think rather than just switch your brain off, you could do far worse than The International.

Audio Visual
It’s business as usual on the encoding side from Sony here; 1080p MPEG4 has long been their codec of choice, and no doubt will continue to be so.  It’s a belter of a transfer as well.

The movie has a very intentional down tempo look about it.  Colours are muted, and many locations are suitably grimy and overcast.  The exception to the rule is the movies climax in Istanbul, which is a welcoming contrast to the rainy and overcast Berlin of its inception.

Contrast is slightly tweaked but isn’t too hot to make anything look unnatural, whether it be the stunning architecture or the actors faces.  The quality of the transfer certainly does justice to the beautiful photography of its various locations.  There is a little grain in evidence, but this is intentional on the part of the filmmakers.  As The International isn’t a special effects laden blockbuster I can’t really describe it as reference material, but there are elements that can be picked out as being particularly notable.
The shootout in the Guggenheim is without a doubt the movies trump card, and contains the most use of bright light and colour.  You will hear no complaints from me regarding the visual quality of The International, it is a very solid transfer that cannot really be faulted.

The visuals are equally matched by the superb Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that accompanies them.  As you would expect, the movies key action set piece at the Guggenheim is also a showcase for the sound design and is sure to have the neighbours asking you to politely turn it down.
This sequence really is something special, with bullets ricocheting across all speakers, bass booms and glass breaks with suitable ferocity.
That is not to say that the rest of the movie is a letdown, far from it.  Director David Tykwer is also responsible for the bustling, yet minimalistic score which is a pleasure to listen to.  Add on the subtle use of ambience and you have a truly superb Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that reminds me just how far we have come with these new releases when compared to the large number of catalogue titles I review.

Bonus Features
Plenty to go around here and almost all of it is in HD.

Commentary – Director David Tykwer and screenwriter Eric Warren Singer provide a very entertaining commentary that is surprisingly open and honest and reflects a more Euro-skew than the more traditional Hollywood back slapping.

I have never been a particularly big fan of commentary tracks either on DVD or Blu-ray, and these days I far prefer the Picture-in-Picture tracks.  But this is one of the better non-actor commentaries that is well worth a listen; you can spot a mile off whether a director is really invested in their movie, and Tykwer is definitely a very enthusiastic participant.

Picture-in-Picture Track – I’m really starting to enjoy watching these, as with Ghostbusters and Terminator 3, The International contains an informative PiP track.  There is some overlap with the other featurettes on the disc, so there is repetition but not so much that it becomes annoying.
As you would expect, there is plenty of chat from the producers, the director, actors and assorted others detailing all aspects of the production.  There is also plenty of behind the scenes footage to keep things interesting.  If you are interested in that sort of thing, of course.

Making Of – I am always appreciative of a “Making Of…” which isn’t just an extended EPK fluff piece.  This half hour HD documentary features all the usual suspects talking about the movie, its themes and locations.
It’s hardly genre defining, ground breaking stuff of course, but the feature focuses more on the locations and visual styling’s of the movie than just the “we went here, this person was great to work with” puff pieces we are used to.  As with the PiP track, there is some overspill of material here that also encroaches on the other features.

Extended Scene – There is a scene relatively early on in The International when Naomi Watts’ character is introduced in Berlin.  She bundles Salinger into a taxi and instructs the driver to take them to the Concorde Hotel.  My ears perked up at this, as I stayed in this gorgeous hotel when I was in Berlin a couple of years ago.
Sadly, we didn’t see anything of the hotel (wait for it)…until now!  This ten minute scene which was no doubt cut for time to stop meandering fills in a few gaps in the film from that moment.  It also introduces a hint of sexual tension between the two leads which is nowhere to be seen in the finished cut.  It adds some more dialogue between the pair at the hotel (the walls weren’t painted blue when I was there, that may be more down to the production designer who used specific colours for each location) and even gives Clive Owen a teenage daughter.

This extra material is good, but I think it was the right decision to remove it.  Salinger’s complete character change to chummy Dad in the sequence with his daughter is very much at odds with his demeanour for the rest of the movie.  Some might say it adds a much needed few moments of light.  Either way, it’s worth a watch.

Guggenheim Featurette – Rather oddly, this is the only feature here that is in SD even though many of the interview pieces were shot at the same time as those that are featured elsewhere.  Even so, this is a brief six minute feature chronicling how the filmmakers recreated the beautiful Guggenheim museum in a disused train yard in ten weeks.

Architecture Featurette – I enjoyed this one, another six minute featurette in which the director and primarily the production designer talk about their use of architecture around the world in the movie.  From the enormous Autostadt in Wolfsburg which doubles as the banks HQ to the Guggenheim and others, the crew discuss their use of classic and modern architecture.

Autostadt Featurette – As I have already mentioned, part of Volkswagen’s HQ in Wolfsburg, the Autostadt is used as the headquarters of the IBBC.  It is the first time the incredible location has been used in a movie, and this all too brief featurette focuses on the companies “theme park” for customers and tourists.
Being a German car and modern aesthetic fan, this is pure bliss for me.  It also helps to explain the prominence of Volkswagen and Audi vehicles throughout the movie.  I’m no fan of excessive product placement, but at least it is handled with care and isn’t forced down your throat.  You won’t see Clive Owen crouched down next to the radiator grille of an A6 and pause to admire it at least.

Summing Up
Every now and again I get to review a movie that really appeals to me, and The International is definitely ticks the boxes that make it a little bit special.  It is perhaps a little slow paced and meandering at times, but its emphasis on story, aesthetics, minimalism and architecture elevate it above other action thrillers.
The movie certainly isn’t perfect, the underuse of Naomi Watts and cookie cutter burnout character of Salinger are the most glaring issues I have with it.  But these aren’t enough to stop me from whole heartedly recommending The International.
SPHE have served up a fantastic looking and sounding Blu-ray presentation, that contains just the right amount of extras to justify spending the extra cash on this HD disc.  This is also my longest Blu-ray review to date, which pretty much says it all.  A must buy.

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Disturbingly the 25 years since its theatrical release have passed by in the blink of an eye (I can still remember the first time the old lady ghost in the library scaring me out of my seat), and we finally have the long awaited Blu-ray release. More than just a catalogue reissue, Ghostbusters has a lot to live up to.

Usually with a review I detail the finer points of the plot before giving my own critique, pretty much review 101 material. But Ghostbusters is such a well known movie that such an exercise would be pointless. Everyone knows the plot of this film; three friends go into business busting ghosts. Another one joins, ghosts get busted and a few years later a not so well received sequel appears.

Ghostbusters is a pure 80s movie, filled with wit, charm and a spin off cartoon series. I love this movie, everyone my age loves this movie and it keeps getting better with age. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, but all too often when we return to things that we hold so dearly from our childhood they aren’t quite as incredible as they were back then. Fortunately, Ghostbusters is part of the rare breed that can truly stand the test of time. A pure classic.

Audio Visual
So here we have it. A remastered version of Ghostbusters on Blu-ray, presented in 1080p encoded in MPEG4. Is it really what we want? Yes and no.
You have to approach the picture quality of Ghostbusters with a little perspective. The movie is 25 years old, and no amount of technical restoration wizardry is going to make it look like a blockbuster movie from 2009.

So with that in mind, Ghostbusters looks as good as it possibly could do on Blu-ray. The source print suffers incredibly from grain. From the opening shot to the final climax the movie is plagued with film grain, but this is pretty much all you can say that is negative about this transfer. The level of fidelity in the image is extremely high, and colours pop without being overkill.

There is no doubt about it, Sony have done a great job with this remaster. The special effects blend extremely well considering that many modern Hollywood movies show up shoddy effects work with a high def transfer. Ghostbusters looks great, provided you rein in your expectations.

Sonically we have a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack which is also very competent considering the source. The movie is very front speaker heavy, which does lead to a slightly imbalanced mix overall. But during key action scenes everything seems to spring into life, especially the Slimer sequence.
The track is definitely a great enhancement over the DVD release; you can certainly hear far more environmental audio than in previous home releases.
Explosions are suitably boomy, dialogue while sometimes slightly muffled at times is all perfectly balanced in the mix. As with the picture, the audio for Ghostbusters is extremely competent.

Bonus Features
25 year anniversary: check. Videogame to tie in with the release featuring the original cast: check.
Remaster of the movie with a load of new features? Check once again. And there really are a load of special features here.

Audio Commentary – Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman and Joe Medjuck provide a lively and entertaining commentary to start off the special features. There is a lot of information divulged on this track covering all aspects of the filmmaking process. An extremely comprehensive commentary. Disappointed there’s nobody else on the commentary? Don’t be.

Slimer Mode – This is the finest feature on the entire disc. Slimer Mode is a picture in picture commentary track that features nonstop information from pretty much everyone involved with the movie (except the notoriously reclusive Bill Murray and now retired Rick Moranis).
You name the person, they are on here from the actors, the director, producer and a cavalcade of effects and production people. Even Blade Runner uber expert Paul M. Sammon puts in an appearance.

When the video isn’t playing (and that is a very rare event) pop up facts take up the slack. This is one of the finest features on any Blu-ray disc I have seen to date. Fans of the movie should check this track out right away.

Blu Wizard – Blu Wizard allows you to choose which of the discs comprehensive special features you want to watch while the movie is playing. When you reach the appropriate trigger point, seamless branching kicks in and displays the feature before putting you right back into the action again.
Just by looking at the list of features is daunting in itself. There is a lot here, choose wisely! Or just watch all of the features at the end of the movie like I did.

There featurettes are a mixture of old and new. The new stuff is all shot in HD, and begins with Ecto-1: Resurrecting the Classic Car. This is a showcase for taking the original Ghostbusters car and completely revamping it for the modern day. It’s very much a fluff PR piece but is enjoyable. It’s also backed up with a companion piece about the car choc full of stills and video.
Next up is a making of piece for the new Ghostbusters videogame, it maybe a promotional piece but it’s great to watch the original cast back together talking about this new addition to the franchise. The game looks pretty good too.
There is also a brief trailer for the game.

Scene Cemetary – Ten deleted scenes in terrible 480i quality which are mainly small extensions to existing scenes. They are great to watch but are very much cut for time features.

1984 Featurette – What you would these days call an EPK featurette, you forget how bad the voice overs for 80s featurettes are! This is a talking head piece, featuring some behind the scenes stuff with the cast but it’s just an extended commercial.

Cast & Crew Featurette – We spin forward to post Ghostbusters 2 where the cast and director talk about the making of the film. The comprehensive information overload continues, without repeating information.

SFX Team Featurette – Just as the name suggests, the visual effects team talk about various aspects of the movies special features. You also get some multi-angle shots and storyboard comparisons.

Summing Up
Ghostbusters is a classic movie that is still just as enjoyable on Blu-ray as it was 25 years ago in the Bournemouth ABC cinema. This new remaster is absolutely fantastic, it looks and sounds great and is crammed with bonus features that will keep the legions of Ghostbusters fans happy.

This is an essential purchase.

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The best way to describe Marley & Me is to lift a quote from Peter Bracke’s review from HD Digest.

It’s really a romantic dramedy, which uses the conceit of one really cute puppy as a narrative device to string a series of love and life lessons upon.

Based on the non-fiction book “Marley & Me: Love and Life with the World’s Worst Dog”, the movie follows the real life story of John and Jennifer Grogan which begins with their wedding. Both are reporters, with Jennifer being the most respected journalist and John being the put upon wannabe. They move to South Florida, and to begin with they start ticking items off Jennifer’s pre-written list of things she has planned out for their time together.

Concerned that Jennifer’s biological clock is ticking, John consults his serial womanizer best friend Sebastian (Eric Dane) who suggests that the newlyweds get a puppy to stave off the urge to hear the patter of tiny feet.
The puppy in question is Marley, an almost too cute for words Labrador who is suspiciously cheaper than his brothers and sisters.

Marley turns out to be a bit of a handful, chewing through dry wall and pretty much everything else in the couple’s small house.
In the meantime, John is asked by his boss (Alan Arkin) to temporarily write a column in the paper rather than report the news that nobody cares about. The movie really begins to take off when John starts incorporating stories about Marley, and time begins passing extremely rapidly.

In the blink of an eye Marley is four years old, John is doing well with his column and it’s time for the patter to finally make themselves heard. After a miscarriage (which is very sensitively handled) Jennifer soon falls pregnant and it is from hereon that things become more strained as the years go by.

By the time the movie concludes and the years have passed by, you can guess what happens as happens to all family pets.
I am happy to admit that I really enjoyed Marley & Me. The pacing is rather slow, and the movies two hour runtime did feel like a lot longer, but I never felt myself wishing it would come to a close.

Aniston and particularly Wilson do a great job of bringing these two real life characters to life. Some of the stuff with Marley acting out does feel a little forced so that people who think they are watching some funny dog hijinks don’t feel cheated. But the movies dramatic moments are handled very well and have a realness that is usually missing from a tinseltown flick.

It’s never overly exciting, but Marley & Me is a good, well acted and thought provoking movie that is well worth taking a look at.

Audio Visual
Marley & Me comes to us from Fox with a 1080p MPEG4 transfer that looks beautiful. As with movies such as Catch & Release, Marley has a very natural, light, bright airy look about it. Being set in Southern Florida for a large part helps, but the later scenes when the couple move to Philadelphia are particularly beautiful.

Lots of autumn sun shots abound, and much of the movie is set during the daytime. Night sequences look just fine as well, with everything looking just as it should. Hardly reference quality, but then this isn’t an effects laden spectacular. Spot on.

As per usual Fox bring out my favourite HD audio format, DTS HD Master Audio for the soundtrack but as with Bride Wars it doesn’t matter a jot anyway because the movie is dialogue focussed anyway.

But the track itself is perfectly fine, the few times the rear speakers light up everything sounds just fine, dialogue is crisp and clear and the music never tries to drown out anything it shouldn’t. A perfectly passable track.

Bonus Features
There are a few lightweight special features on the disc, and the quality is split between HD and SD.
There are four featurettes entitled Breaking the Golden Rule (fluff interviews with the stars and the real John and Jennifer), Finding Marley (choosing the dogs – very cute), On Set With Marley (a 3 minute jokey mock feature) and an animal adoption spot.

There are also a few gag reel outtakes and the most substantial feature is a collection of 19 deleted scenes which is mainly stuff that was cut due to time restrictions.

There is also a Dog Training trivia track which is a picture in picture track which pops up various training tips throughout the movie.

Summing Up
Not at all what I was expecting, Marley & Me is a rather heartwarming but never schmaltzy movie telling the story of a family through the life of its treasured pet.
This Blu-ray looks beautiful, sounds just fine and contains enough fluff extras to keep dog lovers (and even cat ones like myself) happy.

After a series of movies which I have been slightly underwhelmed with, Marley & Me is a pleasant surprise and a definite recommendation from me.

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The last time we went to the cinema was last year for Quantum of Solace.  It looked and sounded terrible, and I have mentioned in the past here that while the Empire cinema at Tower Park in Poole has been going through a multi million pound refit, all of that money has gone on seats and making the foyer look slightly less shabby.

The projection equipment and sound systems are still the original stock that were first installed when the complex was originally opened in 1989.  Naturally back then it was state of the art, and after an appalling showing of the remastered Star Wars in Bournemouth we switched to UCI (as it was then) as the parking was free and it looked and sounded several times better than the ageing Odeon in Bournemouth.

Each and every year we would go to the cinema practically each and every week during the peak release season.  Both of us love movies, and it is true that the only way to really experience a great movie is on a giant screen with a kicking sound system.
But then the ticket prices started to rise sharply, and given that I have to drive at least a 40 mile round trip to go and watch a film it became apparent that it would actually be cheaper to wait for movie until its DVD release and purchase it, rather than go and see it.

But at that time we didn’t have high definition TVs, Blu-ray, HD DVD or even upscaling DVD players.  So watching a DVD on a SCART connected widescreen CRT TV with the audio coming through its in-built speakers really wasn’t much of a comparison for sitting in the dark with a screen that fills your peripheral vision.

But then those things came.  I bought into the HD home cinema market extremely early, purchasing Panasonic’s first HD plasma that was released here in the UK (at the time the Pioneer set was slightly superior, but also came with a superior price tag of around £500 more).  I bought Pioneer’s flagship upscaling DVD player and set the rest of the ensemble off with a Denon amp and Kef speakers.  The only change to that core setup now is moving to the Onkyo amplifier and the addition of HD DVD and Blu-ray players.

Very quickly it became apparent that the quality of a decent home cinema setup was easily outshining the cinema experience.  This wasn’t just limited to Tower Park either.  The Vue cinema at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth is a great venue, the sound systems are superb, the seats are large and the picture is…well, it’s better than at Tower Park that’s for sure but everything looks a little..muddy.  The downside with Gunwharf as well is to go there it is an 80 mile round trip!

I will happily admit that I am a little bit anal about this type of stuff.  Having now reviewed an awful lot of HD movies you look at things in far greater detail than the average person who doesn’t care about colour bleeding or bad surround audio mixing.  My acceptability barometer is always Sally.  “It looks alright to me” is a phrase I have heard so many times over the years I’m sure she says it just to wind me up a little.  But even when we saw Quantum of Solace afterwards Sally said to me “The picture was terrible, and the sound quality is much better at home”.

If we fast forward to a few weeks ago and QoS was released on DVD and Blu-ray.  Remembering the wishy-washy picture that we saw at the theatrical presentation I was blown away with just how crisp and clear everything was at home.  The earthy colours popped and shone, the DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack is absolutely thundering (just watch the first sequence where Bond is chased in the Aston).  While my TV is nowhere near the size of a cinema screen (yet) I was far happier sprawled out on the sofa with a soft drink and popcorn that didn’t make me wonder why I barely got any change from a £10 note.

Upon a couple more viewings I actually rather like Quantum of Solace now as well.  It’s not as good as Casino Royale by a long chalk but it was certainly more enjoyable the second and third time round being shown in the way it was designed to be.  Just as an aside at this point I will point out that the reason I didn’t review the Blu-ray is that it is distributed by Fox rather than Sony Pictures, so I didn’t receive a review copy.

So watching a movie in my own home is now by far a more enjoyable prospect than hauling myself out to the cinema, but the ultimate nail in the coffin for my moviegoing pleasure came today.  This weekend sees the release of Fast and Furious in cinemas.  I love trashy movies, and the Fast and Furious series is the ultimate in ridiculous, over the top beefcake/car porn action.  It’s pure dumb fun and I really want to see it, so I thought let’s throw caution to the wind and go and watch it.  But after visiting the Empire Cinemas web site it informed me that it would cost £17 for two tickets I realised that the old premise of it would be cheaper to buy the movie when it comes out on disc is now just as timely, and it is in HD.

So for now I’m done with cinema viewing.  Why go out and spend more for something you can enjoy for less, and better at home?
But on the plus side, there is always Orange Wednesdays.

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I will tiptoe around the story a little bit, because although it’s hardly going to win a Pulitzer for originality, it would be very easy to spoil later plot developments. Earth is a simple alien invasion/destroy all humans/anti-Close Encounters type affair. Keanu Reeves plays a being known as Klaatu (whose human form is taken from a climber the aliens came in contact with in 1928, seen at the very beginning of the film), who is sent to Earth to assess whether the human race is capable of changing its ways and reversing the damage it has done to the planet (one of my favourite lines in the movie is when Klaatu looks slightly quizzically at the US Secretary of Defence and says “It is not YOUR planet”).

Klaatu arrives on Earth with a protector robot that looks decidedly like the Iron Giant. Their transportation method of choice is a massive sphere of light and energy that lands in Central Park. Naturally the first response tactic of the military is to shoot Klaatu which enrages the protector who swiftly disables all weaponry and creates a couple of explosions for popcorn munching effect.
Klaatu is then taken away for interrogation under the watchful eye of the aforementioned Secretary of Defence (played by Kathy Bates).

The primary characters in the movie besides Klaatu are Dr. Helen Benson (played by Jennifer Connelly) and her stepson Jacob (the excruciatingly irritating Jaden Smith). Helen is a professor at Princeton University, and due to her field of expertise is dragged away from her home by the military and placed with a group of scientists who are assembled to assist when the alien craft first appears on radar, and is on a collision course with New York.

Helen soon helps break Klaatu out of the government detention facility and aids him in his quest to meet up with a fellow alien and assess whether the human race is worthy of saving.

I’m torn about my opinions of this movie because at times it shows glimmers of being a great movie, but ultimately the message it is trying to convey is delivered in a far too heavy handed and somewhat clichéd way.
Take a movie like Wall-E, which has a very strong anti-consumerist “we ruined the planet” feel that is conveyed in a slightly light-hearted way, whereas Earth wants to bash you over the head with its preachiness.

There are also a lot of obvious knocks at the US government and the military and a “shoot first, ask questions later, if at all” agenda. It’s all very familiar, and at times downright boring.
The cliché contest continues with Helen and Jacob, the step-son who wants to say “you’re not my Mom” or “you’re not my Dad” followed by “I’m going to do my own thing, stuff you step-mom” sulkiness. Will Smith Jnr doesn’t really do himself any favours here but he’s only playing the part that’s written for him. Anyone who has seen The Pursuit of Happyness will know that Jaden Smith is capable of better things.
Keanu Reeves is the perfect go-to guy if you want someone to play an alien devoid of any emotions, and here he manages to portray Klaatu as cold and detached, but with moments of genuine warmth.

Aside from the overly simplistic story, the movie itself looks very nice indeed. The visual effects are decidedly stunning but again the movie suffers from Trailer-itus. Seen the trailer for the movie? Then you have pretty much seen all of the key special effects sequences.

Ultimately, Earth is too slow to be classed as a genuine popcorn muncher, can’t really be classed as an action movie, and sort of fails as a drama because the characters are just so one-dimensional and unlikeable.

If I may inject a cliché of my own into this review, it felt more like The Evening That Time Stood Still when I watched it. Sorry, I’ll get my coat…

Audio Visual
While I didn’t particularly enjoy the movie itself, this Blu-ray is a typical Fox powerhouse of a disc. The 1080p MPEG4 encode stands up very well. The movie has a very muted colour palette, lots of black and grey, interspersed with blotches of colour. On a lesser transfer that would mean some contrast issues, muddy backgrounds and probably colour bleed.

Fortunately this disc doesn’t suffer from any of those problems and while the image is intentionally desaturated, it looks way better than a standard DVD ever could.
As with Max Payne, the DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack here is an absolute belter. During early scenes where the sphere first lands in Central Park the bass is absolutely stunning. Even a glass wind chime that hangs in our conservatory was vibrating as the deep bass hits kept on coming.

During the scenes where the action ramps up the track is pure demo material, surrounds are alive with bullets and other environmental effects whipping back and forth. This is a truly great track that should be enjoyed the way all decent movies should; LOUD!
During the slower parts of the movie the soundtrack still makes good use of all sound channels, and there are no dialogue volume level issues.

Bonus Features
A nicely packed set of features from Fox on this one, with much of the content being presented in HD.

Audio Commentary with Screenwriter David Scarpa – Scarpa goes solo on this one and it’s a shame really that they couldn’t rope in the director or at least one of the stars (no real chance of Reeves, but Connelly would have been a nice addition).  That said, Scarpa keeps his information relatively quick and to the point and doesn’t ramble on.

There are plenty of gaps in his chat, but this is more of a quality rather than quantity commentary.  Probably maybe one for people who are interested in the screenwriting process, but a lack of a name star of director on here means its nice to have a commentary, but perhaps Scarpa would have been better chipping in his thoughts with a larger group of people.

Re-Imagining “The Day” – A Making Of documentary that is more than the usual EPK stuff. There are interviews with the key players that amount to more than the usual “I loved working with X” fare. The documentary looks at the original movie and how the story was evolved from its key elements, and singles out some of the differences between the old and the new Klaatu.  Movie nerds will be pleased to see the appearance of Paul M. Salmon who is quoted as a Movie Historian.  Sci-fi fans will know him as the writer of THE book about the making of Blade Runner.

There is plenty of on set footage, as well as chats with each of the various departments on creating the visual effects, set design, etc. What’s most impressive to me is that the marshland and woods sequences were all filmed in the studio. Most movies that try to do this usually scream of backlot footage, so it was a nice surprise for me. Well above the usual standards.

Klaatu’s Unseen Artifacts - This is a picture-in-picture track that contains various storyboards and other nuggetts of information in the bottom-right corner of the screen while the movie is playing.

The Day the Earth Was “Green” – Fox is obviously very keen on promoting it’s carbon neutral stance, as one of these features appeared on the X-Files : I Want to Believe Blu-ray last year.  Several people talk about how green the production of the movie was.  That’s about it, hat’s off to them for doing it but did we really need 15 minutes telling us?

Watching the Skies: In Search of Extraterrestrial Life – Scientists talk about the possible real world scenarios for first contact with aliens.  That description is lifted direct from the press release – as that is exactly what this is!  But I don’t mean to demean the feature at all, because it’s actually very interesting and informative, without being too highbrow.

Unleashing Gort – Another effects feature, this time detailing the creation process for Gort (the Iron Giant style robot that is watching over and protecting Klaatu).

Deleted Scenes – Three deleted scenes that run for less than two minutes.  The first two are pretty pointless, just some extra dialogue that was no doubt cut to help move along a little faster.  The final is an extended version of the scene where Klaatu is wheeled down a hallway to his first “interview”.  These are pretty pointless but they add another tick in a box for “Yes, we have some deleted scenes”.

Build Your Own Gort – Select different body pieces from various concept art to make your own Gort.

There’s also a theatrical trailer and still galleries of concept art, storyboards and production photos.

Just with Max Payne that I reviewed previously, The Day The Earth Stood Still is another extremely well presented Blu-ray from Fox.  Video is pristine, and the DTS audio track is formidable.  Bonus features are presented in HD and are well put together.  There’s a couple of rather pointless additions but at least you’re getting value for money!

The movie itself didn’t really engage me in the way I was hoping, it’s a little ham fisted but the message the movie is trying to put across is one that everyone should pay attention to.

You can buy The Day the Earth Stood Still from Amazon or Play.com

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The story opens with a sting operation involving Castle working undercover on an arms deal which turns nasty and leads to the death of Bobby Saint, who just happens to be one of the sons of crime lord, money launderer and late library book fee non-payer Howard Saint (John Travolta).

As this is Castle’s last case, he walks off into the sunset to spend time with his neglected wife and son. Unfortunately for them, Saint isn’t happy and his wife isn’t exactly the forgiving kind either, ordering that Castle’s entire family be killed. Sadly for Frank, her wish is granted at a family meet in Puerto Rico in a particularly shocking (though not gruesome) action scene that leaves the family dead and Frank presumed dead.

Of course Frank isn’t dead, otherwise it would have been an extremely short movie. Frank Castle is now dead, you can call him Punisher.  And he’s pissed.
What follows is Frank taking his revenge on Saint, determined to take down his entire business empire and family in true “an eye for an eye” style.

Despite being a bit of a box office tanker, I really enjoyed The Punisher. Considering that director Jonathan Hensleigh had a mere budget of $15,000,000 he has managed to turn out a movie that despite its two hour running time never feels particularly stodgy. The fights are good, even if the characters are wafer thin and Travolta mugs it up particularly badly. A great movie? No, but a decent one.

I’m afraid I can’t be charitable with the visuals here, because the 1080p MPEG4 transfer is absolutely appalling! I could barely believe my eyes when I looked at the sky during a Puerto Rico beach scene which was awash with digital noise which is truly shocking. A text message conflab with my go to movie guy Anto revealed that the DVD suffered from the exact same problem, so clearly this Blu-ray has come from the same source.

This transfer really is truly shocking, there is no benefit whatsoever with this Blu-ray over the regular DVD edition and I would even go so far as to say that I have seen regular DVDs look better when upscaled. This is a truly shocking mess that displays no benefits from an HD makeover whatsoever. I’m sure the disc is just being shovelled out due to the release of the Punisher Warzone movie shortly. Truly, truly appalling.
What is even stranger here is that The Punisher was release on Blu-ray in the US back in 2006 with a very nice looking transfer indeed (that was MPEG2 rather than MPEG4).  HD Digest even gave it a 4 star rating for its visuals.  It’s a mystery to me!

As you would expect the disc contains a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that is very similar to that on the Ghosts of Mars disc. The surround sound is very decent and the speakers are given plenty of work, but there is no real bassy kick to any of it, leaving it lacking somewhat.

Director Hensleigh provides a commentary which is surprisingly frank and information. He talks to how restrained the budget was and what he did to cut corners and provide the movie that we see on our screens. He even addresses many of the movies criticisms, which is refreshing in these days of traditionally towing the studio line.

The remainder of the supplements are ported straight over from the regular DVD release (this is the theatrical release of the movie, not the extended directors cut) including a couple of featurettes that are pretty substantial and contain plenty of behind the scenes information. There are a few deleted scenes and an alternate intro which is like an animated comic.  A music video rounds out the package.

Please do yourself a favour and don’t touch this disc with a bargepole. If you are a fan and already have the DVD release then stick to that. This is truly, truly shocking.

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The site is designed for UK owners to be a sort of one stop shop for BD information, containing information all about the format, a complete catalogue of all the releases as well as a comprehensive news and upcoming releases section.  Hardware from all of the various manufacturers is also listed to compare and contrast.

The site is targeted more towards the more casual home consumer than the more hardcore, early adopter enthusiast set but there’s a little something for everyone.  Register and you can also win some free movies.  And that can’t be bad.

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Game of the Year
Grand Theft Auto IV

Last year I don’t think I could pick a game that stood head and shoulders of the rest as a game of the year.  I remember saying the closest any one game came to it was Crackdown, and this year the clear winner for me is GTA IV.  I spent well over seventy hours playing Rockstar’s masterpiece, twice through the regular campaign to see what the results of Nico’s various choices were.  Then there were the side missions and general mayhem that can be wreaped upon Liberty City.

There have been a great number of games this year that have really grabbed my attention and would not let go for hours and days at a time.  This was the first game to do that for me in a long time, to just keep on playing day after day, and not rush through the main story either.  While some people may bemoan the fact that the sheer insanity of San Andreas has been removed for realism, I for one welcomed the change of pace to a more gritty and realistic storyline.  Nico Bellic does not become the ruler of Liberty City, he becomes a tortured soul who is even more tortured, albeit with a healthy bank balance.  An incredible achievement that while was not to everyones liking (I will heartily agree with critics who say the missions are still too samey) it stands head and shoulders above all other games I have played and enjoyed this year.  Roll on the DLC.

Surprises of the Year
Metal Gear Solid 4
Too Human
Fable II

As I have said many a time, I do not like RPGs.  That is to say an RPG in the traditional sense of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest or Persona.  Perhaps I should say I dislike JRPGs.  Sorry, they just aren’t my thing.  But I promised to broaden my horizons with videogames this year and it paid off with some incredible gaming experiences that I would never have known had I not stepped a little outside of my comfort zone.

MGS 4 then, PlayStation 3 game of the year for me.  I never liked the previous Metal Gear Solid games but the Westernisation of the game kept me gripped for over eighteen hours of the story mode.  I fully intend to return to the game during the quiet release period of 2009 to enjoy it all over again.  Yes the cut scenes are ridiculously long, and Kojima does like his pomp and ceremony but MGS looks beautiful, plays like a dream and is probably second only to Dead Space for the award for audio of 2008.  The Dolby Digital soundtrack to MGS 4 comes alive during even the quiest of scenes.  Love it, and if you have a PS3 and haven’t tried it, seek it out at once.

Too Human has an awful lot of things wrong with it, and I would be surprised if we ever see either of the planned sequels.  But this was my gateway drug for getting into levelling up, loot and RPG overtones.  Level grinding is not much fun though, especially when you are getting towards the level 50 cap for your character (I believe I am around the mid-forties).
It looks outdated, the controls are clunky and its story is laughable.  But there’s something I love about Too Human that I just can’t explain.

So turning finally to Fable II.  I did not like the first Fable in the slightest, but after such glowing reviews, incredible sales figures in the US, and recommendations from friends I am incredibly glad I picked up this game.  At the time of writing I am absolutely obsessed with this game, having sunk in pretty much three days of solid play.  I watched an old episode of the Totally Rad Show yesterday where they reviewed the game, and Dan Trachtenberg described it as “Grand Theft Albion”, which is precisely how I would sum it up.  I’m not a big fan of the whole swords and sorcery mythology stuff, but Fable II plays like GTA in a fantasy setting.  What I love so much about the game is the side quests are incredibly meaty and worthwhile.  I could probably have finished up with the main quest quite some time ago, but I am sinking more and more of my time into helping out the villagers and trying to do everything “good”.  Another playthough will see me go the evil route, but my moral compass just isn’t set far enough South to hurt anyone at present!

My initial impressions weren’t that great though, I really disliked the whole Mockney chat in the tutorial.  But when the game opens up proper, I’m finding myself laughing a lot at the dialogue (everyone seems to be from the West Country) and just can’t get enough of the game.  It is very buggy in places though, which hopefully the forthcoming patch will rectify.  And it has DLC coming in January which will feed my Fable II obsession nicely.  Simply stunning.

Honorable Mentions
Army of Two
Battlefield: Bad Company
Dead Space
Left 4 Dead
Prince of Persia
Pure
Burnout Paradise

Looking at my shelves I just think “I spent a lot of money on games this year”.  One thing I have had in 2008 more than any other year is something you cannot buy, not get back: Time.  Working until two in the afternoon has meant a lot more time to play and enjoy games, taking over from movies quite considerably in the last few months.  That list sums up just how much fun I have had this year, and Left 4 Dead gets a massive shout out for being the game that has seen me spend the most time on Xbox Live this year.  If only Army of Two had worked with US players!

Movie of the Year
Wall-E

Wall-E is a masterpeice.  Pure and simple, I can’t put it any better than that.  Pixar have managed to deliver a movie that will appeal to children for the cuteness of the characters and ensure the sales of plenty of merchandise, and something that will talk to adults while delivering a message that is subtle and never strays too far to be classed as heavy handed.  And come on, seriously, who else could tell a love story between two robots and make it one of the most sensitive and touching movies of the year?

It is also notable that Wall-E is also my Blu-ray releases this year, gorgeous visuals, a stonking DTS-HD Master Audio and a whole host of special features that are all in HD.  This is how you do high definition well, other studios take note!

Blu-ray Movies
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Indiana Jones 4
The Dark Knight
Dark City
I, Robot

These are the movies that have impressed me the most this year with both incredible visuals and audio.  Hulk sits atop that list because it is an absolutely stunning transfer that looks gorgeous, and it’s DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack will do its hardest to annihilate your subwoofer with growling bass like no other movie I have watched this year.  The movie was pretty decent as well, which always helps.

Iron Man was the surprise of the year for a lot of people, and I would go so far as to say it is the superhero flick that I enjoyed the most (Dark Knight is not really the sort of movie to watch if you’re feeling a bit fed up now is it?) this year.  The Blu-ray release contains a ton of special features (again in HD) and the movie itself looks resplendant.  Cracking stuff.

Every critic seemed to give Indy 4 a mauling, but I still enjoy it for what it is.  Regardless of whether you liked the movie or not, this is another great release from Paramount with HD extras and stunning sound and vision.

Alright so The Dark Knight.  The movie is great, stunning even.  Probably the best comic book movie ever made, unbelievable performances from all involved.  The Dark Knight is an incredible achievement as a movie, and how it looks here on Blu-ray.  The only thing that niggles ever so slightly is the way the aspect ratio of the movie changes during the sequences that were filmed specifically for the iMax version.  They also look considerably better than the rest of the movie.  But for a movie that has the harshest black level requirements of anything I have seen, it looks gorgeous.  Sounds great too without ever looking muddy (unlike the Godawful cinema presentation I watched).  But, and it is a fat but too.  The movie is devoid of any really good special features, and you just know that Warner Brothers will be putting out another special bonus edition with everything bar the kitchen sink thrown in at a later date.  I abhore this, we’ve seen it countless times with DVD and now with Blu-ray.  Stick out a blockbuster movie, get everyones money and then shake the fans for more at a later date.  Not that I would be buying any subsequent version though.

Dark City is a movie that I had never seen before and saw it here for the first time in its Director’s Cut form, and for once it is a DC that actually improves considerably on the theatrical version.  An overlook sci-fi masterpiece?  Well perhaps not masterpiece, but it is a very solid sci-fi noire movie with a very individual visual style.  And co-incidentally it was also directed by Alex Proyas who helmed I, Robot.  I, Robot was probably my biggest Blu-ray surprise of the year but it looks and sounds absolutely incredible.  For what is essentially now a catalogue release, the love and attention lavished on this BD is staggering.  The only downside is it looks so crisp and clear that some of the green screen/CG work stands out and detracts a little from the overall experience.  Although it doesn’t spoil it by any stretch of the imagination.

So those are my picks for 2008, thanks for reading the site and I look forward to 2009!

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The word from Join Freesat is that the HUMAX Freesat PVR will be officially released, THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22nd.

That is all.

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Channel 5, or Five, or 5ive or whatever you want to call it will be coming to Freesat on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18th.

That is all.

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After months of waiting it is finally official!  Join Freesat has today announced that Freesat+ (aka the Humax PVR Freesat box) will launch in mid-November, and here it is!

Those all important specs:

320Gb Hard Disk (200 hours of SD, 80 hours of HD recording)
Dual Freesat tuners (watch one channel, record another, or record two simultaneously)
8 day EPG

As well as (taken directly from Join Freesat):
• Series recording – to automatically record all the episodes of your favourite shows
• Radio recording – never miss your favourite radio shows by recording individual shows, or even series record
• Live pause and instant rewind – in case you need to answer the phone or replay that crucial scene
• Schedule tracking – so recordings start and finish on time, even when broadcasters change their schedule
• Split recordings – to record two-part programmes that may have a break in the middle for a news bulletin, such as films

The cost? RRP is £299, expect that to be discounted slightly by online retailers.  An official release date is still awaited, but it’s just a few short weeks away now.

In other news, if anyone wants to buy my regular Humax HD decoder after I’ve secured my PVR, give me a shout

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So when Casino Royale was originally released on DVD and Blu-ray, timed to perfection with the launch of the PlayStation 3 in Europe, it was obvious that the decidedly bare-bones release pointed to the inevitable “Special Edition” release that has been such a staple of the movie studios continued revenue stream.
Which brings us to the present, eighteen months after the discs original release and on the eve of the new movie Quantum of Solace we have this Deluxe Edition. So does this double disc Blu-ray and triple DVD live up to expectations? Most definitely.

Casino Royale was the first Blu-ray I reviewed, and there have been thirty since then. The format has expanded first adding Bonus View (profile 1.1) and then BD Live (profile 2.0), both of which are supported in this new release.

You can read my review of the original Blu-ray release here, which also contains a link to my thoughts on the film. You don’t need me to talk about that here, and I want to spend most of my time talking about the exhaustive amount of new content available here.
Suffice to say, my opinion of Casino Royale hasn’t changed one iota over the course of several viewings. It’s still a fantastic reboot for the Bond franchise and one of the finest of the twenty one movies. Quantum of Solace has a lot to live up to.

Audio Visual
As far as I can tell this is the same encode of Casino Royale that was presented on the original release. On jythe whole it’s an extremely solid transfer, let down by a few scenes that contain what I can only assume is unintentional picture noise. These won’t detract from the overall experience as the movie zips along at such a breakneck speed the offending scenes are soon forgotten in a hail of beautiful locations, people and action sequences.

What is notably different is the sound. As with many early Sony Pictures BD releases Casino Royale contained an uncompressed PCM soundtrack. This time around we have a Dolby TrueHD track that is every bit as punchy as its predecessor, and to my ears it is a notable improvement over it. The numerous explosions rock the subwoofer and environmental surround is crisp and clear throughout. Could Casino Royale look or sound any better? Perhaps a tiny bit on the visual side but that’s just being needlessly nitpicky. I can’t deliver a blanket whitewash of positivity now can I?

Bonus Features (Disc One)
Bonus View Commentary – Director Martin Campbell and producer Michael G. Wilson provide the lead commentary on disc one which is a picture-in-picture window in the bottom right corner of the screen. It’s nice to have the video here but it’s not really necessary as the pair are filmed side-on and spend most of their time staring at the monitor they are watching the movie on.

These two are great to listen to, the very first DVD commentary I heard was for Goldneye when Campbell successfully brought the franchise back last time around with Pierce Brosnan. Campbell is particularly energetic with his delivery that offsets Wilsons somewhat laboured recollections. If you just can’t get enough information about the film from the many documentaries on disc two, you’ll lap this commentary up.

Crew Commentary – This is an all hands to the pump type track that takes various crew members who talk about specific scenes in the movie. I’ll be perfectly honest, I didn’t make it all the way through this track as technical discussions really aren’t my forte. But it’s bound to be right up the ally of any Bond completist.

Know Your Double O – Rounding out disc one is an interactive trivia game similar to the one found on the Men in Black Blu-ray. Multiple players can join in answering a number of text and video based multiple choice questions. Answer them quickly enough and correctly and you can obtain Double-O status (which I fortunately did). This is best played on a PS3 as I found playing the game on the stand alone Panasonic BD50 player was a little clunky.

Bonus Features (Disc Two)
The second disc contains a veritable encyclopaedia of Casino Royale and Bond in general information. We start off with the superb John Cork documentaries. These are broken down into multiple parts of around 25 minutes each. ALL of these documentaries are presented in full 1080p HD (MPEG2 codec) and look beautiful. This really is the complete Bond HD package.

The Road To Casino Royale – This documentary charts the incredibly long and convoluted story of bringing Casino Royale back to the big screen with insights from numerous behind the scenes people who were involved in the various incarnations (or perhaps bastardisations) of Flemings novel. It’s a gripping yarn and really shows off Cork’s attention to detail and obvious love of the subject matter.

Ian Fleming’s Incredible Creation & The Secret Road to Paradise – These two documentaries go together well. They chart Fleming’s creation of the character, its influences and his love of the Bahamas. Cork interviews everyone who was either involved or is now related to the found father families of the island and their recollections of Fleming and his influencers. Comprehensive just isn’t the word.

James Bond In The Bahamas – This documentary looks at the history the Bond movies have with the magnificent islands. Numerous underwater Bond crew members talk in great depth about their involvement with Casino Royale, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, For Your Eyes Only and The World Is Not Enough.

Becoming Bond & James Bond: For Real – These two documentaries were first shown on TV around the time of Casino Royale’s theatrical release. Narrated by Rob Brydon, they lack the flair of the Cork pieces but these are far more focussed on the present as opposed to the past. The first tells the tale of why the producers decided on the franchise reboot and Daniel Craig’s rather wonky public reveal. It almost seems impossible that the weedy looking Craig shown at the press conference could become the pumped up beefcake we eventually see on our screens. Becoming Bond was also on the original Blu-ray disc release.

The second documentary is all about the extensive stunt work on the film which is a great watch. If you want to get really upset watching Aston Martin’s get trashed then this is the one for you.

Death In Venice – This covers every possible aspect of the movies final action sequence – the collapsing Venetian house. From concept to the enormous set on the 007 sound stage at Pinewood Studios, this is a true work of art. The one third scale model that is ultimately destroyed must have been a real labour of love for its creators who must have felt heartbroken watching it destroyed in a matter of seconds. As you would expect there is plenty of behind the scenes action here with words from various cast and crew members.

The Art of the Freerun – I never tire of watching the first action sequence in Madagascar (or rather the Bahamas doubling as Madagascar) as Bond chases the creator of Freerunning Sebastian Foucan across a construction site. The incredible display of what I can only describe as art that Foucan shows is never anything short of breathtaking. In this documentary he talks about how he came to create the sport and his involvement in the film. This incredibly talented and very peaceful man steals the show here.

Catching A Plane – This documentary details the creation of the Miami airport chase sequence with interviews with the usual suspects that shows how the storyboards translate to the finished product. Does it really warrant its own documentary? Well not really but these things become extremely addictive after a while.

Storyboards – Freerun – Just to complete the storyboard to screen portion of the disc, this one centers around the Freerunning section that can be viewed as animatics or along with the actual sequence itself.

The disc also contains some content that was on the original Casino Royale release. The most notable is the 2006 documentary Bond Girls Are Forever, where Living Daylights star Maryam D’Abo talks to a number of key Bond girls from the various movies (this was also on the World Is Not Enough DVD). This is a strange inclusion here. Yes it was on the original disc but even then it felt like an old extra chucked in there to provide some extra padding. It’s quite entertaining though.

You also get the Chris Cornell music video for the title track. This now looks like the greatest song ever recorded when put up against the Jack White/Alicia Keys effort for the new movie.

Deleted Scenes – There are four deleted scenes which are actually more extended versions of existing ones. Unlike some movies deleted scenes, these look great and are presented in the standard extra format of 1080p MPEG2 video but with Dolby Digital sound.

The most notable of the four is entitled Cricket Pavilion, and it expands on a scene at the start of the movie where Bonds first kill is shown in a flashback while he is talking to Dryden (who shortly becomes target number two). This scene shows Bond trailing his target at a cricket match, chasing him through the pavilion before ultimately having his battle to the death.

Filmmaker Profiles – Rounding out these exhaustive extras are six interviews with key members of the Casino Royale crew. These run for ten minutes each and they show a wealth of behind the scenes information that you don’t find elsewhere in the documentary material here. The people involved are Director Martin Campbell, Effects man Chris Corbould, DP Phil Meheux, stunt head Gary Powell, second unit Director Alexander Witt and composer David Arnold.

BD-Live Note: Both discs have a BD-Live section, neither of which currently workd and won’t do until the disc is officially released.

Summing Up
As much as I dislike the whole business of Special Editions, this one really does merit the title. Casino Royale was always a fantastic movie, and the sheer wealth of additional material that is available in this new release of the movie justifies dipping your hand into your pocket even if you already own the original disc.

Despite having hours of documentaries and behind the scenes information, nothing is ever repeated so you won’t think “I saw that in doc X”, which is a great credit considering how much stuff there is here.

The Deluxe Edition of Casino Royale is an easy recommend, a great looking and sounding movie that is now backed up with all the extra materials that anyone could possibly want.

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