#the only special feature is the five minute gag reel

[dennisboobs]

so apparently the official release of the sunny season 10 dvd is in fucking 480p. which explains why the bloopers on FX's YouTube channel look like this.

they literally uploaded a dvd rip

[fearsmagazine]

MORTAL KOMBAT LEGENDS: BATTLE OF THE REALMS Arrives August 31st, 2021

The fate of the universe once again hangs in the balance as warriors come together for one final clash in Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, an all-new, feature-length film produced by Warner Bros. Animation in coordination with NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The film arrives from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Digital, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack on August 31, 2021.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms will be available on Blu-ray (US $29.98 SRP; Canada $39.99 SRP) and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack (USA $39.99 SRP; Canada $44.98 SRP) and Digital. The Blu-ray features a Blu-ray disc with the film in hi-definition and a digital version of the movie. The 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack features an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc in 4K with HDR, a Blu-ray disc featuring the film in hi-definition, and a digital version of the movie. Pre-order will be available for the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack beginning on June 28, 2021, and for Digital starting on July 8, 2021.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms picks up shortly after the explosive finale of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, the 2020 blockbuster hit that initiated these animated films – which are based on one of the most popular videogame franchises in history. In Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, our team of heroes are besieged by the enemy forces of Shao Kahn – forcing Raiden and his group of warriors into a deal to compete in a final Mortal Kombat that will determine the fate of the realms. Now our heroes must travel to Outworld in order to defend Earthrealm and, simultaneously, Scorpion must find the ancient Kamidogu before it's used to resurrect the One Being – which would mean certain destruction of all things in the universe. Time is short and the stakes are high in this action-packed continuation of the Mortal Kombat journey.

Joel McHale (Community, Stargirl) and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight) return to their lead roles as Hollywood star-turned-fighter Johnny Cage and all-business warrior Sonya Blade, respectively. Also returning for the sequel are Jordan Rodrigues (Lady Bird, The Fosters) as Liu Kang; Patrick Seitz (Mortal Kombat X, Aggretsuko, Naruto: Shippuden) as Scorpion & Hanzo Hasashi; Artt Butler (Her, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as Shang Tsung & Cyrax; Robin Atkin Downes (The Strain, Batman: The Killing Joke) as Shinnok & Reiko; Dave B. Mitchell (Mortal Kombat 11, Call of Duty franchise) as Raiden, Kintaro & Sektor; Ikè Amadi (Mass Effect 3, Mortal Kombat 11) as Jax Briggs & One Being; Grey Griffin (The Loud House, Young Justice, Scooby-Doo franchise) as Kitana, Satoshi Hasashi & Mileena; and Fred Tatasciore (Robot Chicken, Family Guy) as Shao Kahn.

New to the Mortal Kombat Legends voice cast are Matthew Mercer (Critical Role, Justice Society: World War II) as Stryker & Smoke; Bayardo De Murguia (Tiny Pretty Things) as Sub-Zero/Kuai Liang; Matt Yang King (Mortal Kombat 11 video game, Justice League vs. The Fatal Five) as Kung Lao; Paul Nakauchi (Carmen Sandiego, Overwatch) as Lin Kuei Grandmaster; Emily O’Brien (Days of Our Lives, Constantine: City of Demons) as Jade; Debra Wilson (World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, MADtv) as D’Vorah.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is directed by Ethan Spaulding (Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, Batman: Assault on Arkham) from a script by Jeremy Adams (Supernatural, Justice Society: World War II) and based on the videogame created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. Rick Morales (Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, Batman vs. Two-Face) is Producer. Jim Krieg (Batman: Gotham by Gaslight) is Producer. Executive Producer is Sam Register. Ed Boon (NetherRealm Studios) is Creative Consultant.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Special Features Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital

• The God and the Dragon: Battling for Earthrealm (Featurette) - Go behind the scenes and inside the creative process of bringing Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms to action-packed life on screen.

• Voices of Kombat (Featurette) - Join Joel McHale, Jennifer Carpenter, and the cast as they detail the process of creating unique and compelling voices for the larger than life characters in the film.

• Kombat Gags: Gag Reel (Featurette) - Step inside the VO booth with the cast of the film for all of the flubbed lines and outrageously improvised lines from the cutting room floor.

• Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Audio Commentary (Audio Only) - Producer Rick Morales and Screenwriter Jeremy Adams take the audience inside the art of writing and animating the film in this feature length audio commentary.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms will also be available on Movies Anywhere. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can access all their eligible movies by connecting their Movies Anywhere account with their participating digital retailer accounts.

ABOUT MOVIES ANYWHERE

Movies Anywhere is a digital movie platform that enables movie fans to discover, access, and watch their favorite digital movies in one place. Movies Anywhere brings together a library of nearly 7,500 digital movies from Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film, The Walt Disney Studios (including Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm), Universal Pictures (including DreamWorks and Illumination Entertainment) and Warner Bros., and will continue to expand the consumer experience as more content providers, digital retailers and platforms are added. By connecting participating digital retailers that include Amazon Prime Video,  the Apple TV app, FandangoNOW, Google Play, and Vudu, movie fans can now bring together their digital movie collections (whether purchased or redeemed) in one place and enjoy them from the comfort of their living rooms, and across multiple devices and platforms, including Amazon Fire devices; Android devices and Android TV; Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch; Chromecast; Roku® devices and popular browsers. Movie fans can also redeem digital codes found in eligible Blu-ray and DVD disc packages from participating studios and enjoy them through Movies Anywhere. Movies Anywhere – your movies, together at last.

PRODUCT                                                    SRP Blu-ray                                                           $29.98 USA, $39.99 Canada 4K UHD Combo Pack                                    $39.99 USA, $44.98 Canada

Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray Languages: French, German, Latin-Spanish, English Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray Subtitles: Dutch, French, Latin-Spanish, English-SDH, German - SDH Running Time: 80 minutes R for strong bloody violence throughout and some language.

[daleisgreat]

The Punisher (1989): Unrated Cut

This has been one I have been meaning to be covering for a few years now. Longtime readers here may remember my friend Matt I reference semi-occasionally when I review one of his gag gift movies here. Every now and then though he will legit surprise with me with an awesome movie gift as with today’s example. Matt knows I am a huge fan of the comic book character, The Punisher, and that all three of the live action Punisher movies are guilty pleasures of mine. Up until a few years ago I already owned both the Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson Punisher films on BluRay, but the original 1989 Punisher movie I only owned a bare bones DVD release that I thought was the only home video version of that film. Matt surprised me a few years back by tracking down an international release of an unrated director’s cut of The Punisher on BluRay. Turns out in North America, right on the precipice of the film’s released it got traded studios as its original studio was in the process of being acquired. Turns out the new studio was not confident in the drawing power of Dolph Lungdren anymore so the 1989 Punisher film was among the first wave of movies to hit the straight-to-video market. Internationally, The Punisher received theatrical releases, and performed well, which is why it landed an international BluRay release. Thank goodness my BluRay player recognizes international regions, but my only nitpick with it is the lack of subtitles. So this version of the film on BluRay is the ‘Unrated Cut’ which is how the director, Mark Goldblatt, originally envisioned the film. The 80s were the era of the gratuitously violent action blockbusters with the likes of Rambo, Robocop, Commando, Terminator and countless others dominating the box office. The Punisher was shot for that demographic, and Goldblatt stated in the commentary how he had to take the film to the MPAA nine times before toning down the movie enough to earn an ‘R’ rating.

The film wastes no time with a lengthy origin story as it kicks off with a gang leader being acquitted of all charges for murdering Frank Castle (Dolph Lungdren) and his family five years prior. A news reporter recommends the gang to be on the lookout for ‘The Punisher’ vigilante, which the gang laughs off the journalist’s warnings, only for the gang to instantly meet their demise mere minutes after arriving home from court. The Yakuza arrive in town to capitalize on The Punisher’s fallout, with Yakuza leader Lady Tanaka (Kim Miyori) forcing replacement gang leader Dino Moretti (Bryan Marshall) to partner up with her after kidnapping the children of Moretti and his allies. Trying to keep tabs on this whole mess of a situation is the ‘Punisher Task Force’ consisting of Frank Castle’s former partner, Jake Berkowitz (Louis Gossett Jr.), and fellow detective Sam Leary (Nancy Everhard). Following all this setup, The Punisher is essentially 1980s action film 101, with Castle tearing it up against the Yakuza in a couple of entertaining shootouts in a casino and later on in a funhouse, complete with Yakuza members firing away at Frank while breezing down a curvy slide. Completing the over-the-top 80s action formula is the cheesy one-liners, with my favorite featuring Berkowitz grilling Frank on his vigilante warfare, “What do you call 125 murders in five years?” to which Castle dryly retorts, “Work-in-Progress.” Eventually everything comes to a head when Punisher and Moretti team up to rescue Moretti’s kid in the Yakuza stronghold, where the most intense fighting sequences emanate from in the entire film. The unrated cut pulls no punches, with the most gruesome fatalities transpiring as Castle and Moretti work their way to the final confrontation with Lada Tanaka.

When I re-watched the film with audio commentary from Mark Goldblatt he made sure to pinpoint which parts he added back in as he originally envisioned for this unrated version, and how he stands behind this version being the definitive cut of the film. Other interesting tidbits from the commentary was how the film wound up being shot in Australia, regrets of not having the Punisher’s trademark skull icon on his shirt in the film and informing in-depth on the film trading studios and going direct-to-video in America. Goldblatt also mentions in the commentary how there is a workprint cut of the film, which he stated he does not stand behind since it was cut before the core movie finished filming. Said workprint cut is included as a bonus feature, and is actually eight minutes longer than the unrated cut. The main takeaway I had with the workprint cut is it has a whole new 17 minute opening on the origin of The Punisher that happens five years earlier where it shows Castle and Berkowitz making a bust on a routine stakeout that clues the gangsters in to Frank’s family location where they ultimately make a hit on Frank’s family. That whole 17 minutes is briefly alluded to in the unrated cut in the form of a five second flashback of the family’s demise. This prologue adds a whole new dynamic to the film, but I can see why Goldblatt wanted it cut since it brings a snappier pace to the overall film. Also worth mentioning is that the workprint is presented in its original adapted 35mm form, and how the editors did a commendable job cleaning it up for the HD version on the BluRay.

Other extra features is a 21 minute interview with Mark Goldblatt. If you do not have time to invest into the commentary track, then this interview is a recommended alternative as it hits most of the same beats and goes into Mark’s other Hollywood successes. Also included is a quick five minute interview with Dolph Lungdren where he has fond memories working with the stuntmen in the fight sequences and wishes the movie would have had a theatrical run in America. For those who are fans of reverse box art, I recommend taking advantage of that here, as this BluRay’s alternative artwork is pretty remarkable. Rounding off the BluRay is a gag reel…..which would not load on my BluRay player, so that will have to be my loss. The Punisher: Unrated Cut BluRay was a surprise hit gift from Matt! I will stand behind Goldblatt by safely assuring his unrated cut here is the must-see version of the film. A solid slate of extra features only helps makes this BluRay the definitive home video edition of this movie. If you dig the over-the-top action films of the 80s, then odds are this 1989 take on The Punisher will be right up your alley. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Last Action Hero Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Not for Resale Pulp Fiction The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

[awinger24]

Looney Tunes Home Video Thoughts #1 - A Night at the Movies (Wave 1) - June 1982

Special thanks to Greg Method for the research. And thanks to his website, The Bugs Bunny Video Guide for many of this vital information. Happy 40 years to Looney Tunes shorts on home video.

http://www.dohtem.com/bugs/index.htm

http://www.dohtem.com/bugs/history/

Opening Statement

In 1979, Warner Bros. established their home entertainment division, WCI Home Video. Launching in February 1980, one of the first releases from the label on VHS and Betamax was the 1979 Chuck Jones anthology film, "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie" (compiling many of Chuck Jones' best post-July 1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons). The video release was a success to WCI (quickly renaming as Warner Home Video the same year).

Greg Method's post states "Right from the start, Warner Bros. was interested in presenting their animated shorts and characters as a vital part of the studio's storied history and of the American film experience."

Next up in April 1982, was the next WB cartoons anthology film, "Friz Freleng's Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie" (1981). These films may be the first time Looney Tunes was ever seen on video, but the way the shorts were presented, there was no opening title cards and the signature "That's all Folks!" closing. Even most of the cartoons were edited/trimmed for time. In Chuck Jones' film, it featured a 19 minute sizzle reel of the best Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner gags from 17 different cartoons.

Now, welcome to 1982 where it is the first time ever from Warner Home Video, the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons are released on home video uncut, unedited, and uncensored. Method is right that 1982 is the year "Marking the first time the cartoons had been released on home video uncut and not merely as excerpts in a compilation movie...."

----------

June 1982 - A Night at the Movies

Format: VHS/Betamax

Original Price: $69.95

In June 1982, Warner Home Video released a multi-volume series spotlighting iconic Warner Bros. movies released between 1954 and 1958. The series was called "A Night at the Movies". These videos were an attempt to recreate the vintage movie-going experience where it not only featured the main movie, but year-specific trailers and newsreels, but most of all, the cartoons. That was how Looney Tunes were meant to be seen, on the big screen. Playing after the newsreel but before the coming attractions.

In the first wave, there were five releases, these include....

1954 - Dial M for Murder

1955 - Battle Cry

1956 - The Wrong Man

1957 - The Prince and the Showgirl

(No cover found but case is orange)

1958 - Auntie Mame

Since there are only five videos, there were only 5 cartoons seen on this wave. And we got....

- My Little Duckaroo - dir. Chuck Jones (Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Nasty Canasta)

- Speedy Gonzalez (1955 Academy Award - Best Animated Short) - dir. Friz Freleng (Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester)

- A Star is Bored - dir. Friz Freleng (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, with Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd)

- Greedy for Tweety - dir. Friz Freleng (Tweety, Sylvester, Hector the Bulldog, Tweety)

- Hook, Line and Stinker - dir. Chuck Jones (Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote)

Greg Method mentioned the cartoons on the front covers of these tapes. "The cartoons were given almost equal billing on the packaging with the featured movies, while the characters themselves were billed and treated as authentic Warner Bros. stars."

(Note: Warner Home Video from 1982 up until 1998 can only show cartoons made after July 1948. It is because in 1956, Warner Bros. sold all of their color cartoons made before August 1948 (including some early Merrie Melodies shorts) to a company called Associated Artists Productions, a.a.p., for syndication. Shortly, the pre-1948 cartoons were then sold to United Artists in 1958, then to MGM in 1981 (as it became MGM/UA). Then Ted Turner acquired that package with MGM’s film library in May 1986. Which is why Warner Home Video only releases their post-1948 cartoon library on video.)

------

My Thoughts First of all, I can not personally give these shorts a scale rating. As these shorts back then were shown to audiences before the movie starts, the premises, formulas, and even gags are often borrowed from previous shorts. New shorts with different audiences as this was before The Bugs Bunny Show aired in 1960 making Looney Tunes watchable on television. The video quality of these shorts are not as stellar as the later remasters and eventually the digital restorations. Back then, early VHS releases were duplicated from 2-inch and 1-inch master tapes. 1-inch tape was used as this was the first time Warner Bros. Cartoons were transferred on this format, and this was a huge contrast compared to the prints people saw on local and national TV from the 60s up until the 80s. The cartoons themselves are telecine transfers of film prints, hence the cue marks on the top right of your screen, that appear as faded in terms of color and low-contrast. You will see later on as the technology advanced, the transfers/remasters improved and digital restorations are now possible. Here are my statements with notes on rarity and where you can also find it on. --- My Little Duckaroo (1954) - Story: Michael Maltese, dir. Chuck Jones Dialogue-heavy, but Daffy, the Masked Avenger steals the show. Nasty Canasta is also great. Porky Pig = comedy relief. Rarity: COMMON Other Releases: - The Looney Tunes Video Show No. 18 (1984 UK VHS) - Warner Bros. Cartoon Cavalcade - Porky Pig Tales (Oct. 1988 VHS) - Porky Pig (1990 UK VHS) - Guffaw and Order: Looney Tunes Fight Crime (1994 Laserdisc) - Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6 Disc 1/Spotlight Collection Vol. 6 Disc 1 (Restored) (2008 DVDs) - The Essential Daffy Duck, Disc 1 (2011 DVD) - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Vol. 2 Disc 2 (Restored) (2012 DVD/Blu-Ray) - Streaming?: HBO Max ——————– Speedy Gonzales (1955) - Academy Award winning short, Story: Warren Foster, dir. Friz Freleng Arriba! Andale! Great premise for a gag-based cartoon. Speedy is excellent. Mel Blanc’s voice work is great too. Sylvester also blows it up too. Rarity: COMMON Other Releases: - Warner Bros. Cartoons Golden Jubilee 24 Karat Collection - A Salute to Friz Freleng (Oct. 1985 VHS/Betamax) - Looney Tunes: The Collector’s Edition Vol. 3 - The Vocal Genius (1999) - Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 1 Disc 4/Spotlight Collection Vol. 1 Disc 2 (Restored) (2003 DVDs) - Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, Disc 1 (2008 DVD) - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Vol. 1 Disc 1 (Restored) (2012 DVD/Blu-Ray) / Looney Tunes Showcase Vol. 1 (2012 DVD) - Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes (2013 DVD) - Looney Tunes Center Stage Volume 2 (2014 DVD) - Streaming?: iTunes ——————– A Star is Bored - Story: Warren Foster, dir. Friz Freleng Make-Up! Friz’s take on the Bugs and Daffy rivalry at a movie studio is filled with great scenes all thanks to Daffy. Rarity: COMMON Other Releases: - Warner Bros. Cartoon Cavalcade - Daffy Duck’s Madcap Mania (Oct. 1988 VHS) - Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5 Disc 1 / Spotlight Collection Vol. 5 (2007 DVDs) - A Star is Born (2010 Blu-Ray) - The Essential Daffy Duck Disc 1 (2011 DVD) - Looney Tunes: Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 5 (2020 DVD) Streaming?: Boomerang, HBO Max, iTunes ——————– Greedy for Tweety - Story: Warren Foster, dir. Friz Freleng Tweety, Sylvester, and Hector chase, and get injured, with hilarious results. Sylvester and Hector at it against each other. Topped off with great gags. Rarity: RARE Other Releases: - Warner Bros. Cartoons Golden Jubilee 24 Karat Collection - A Salute to Friz Freleng (Oct. 1985 VHS/Betamax) - Sylvester and Tweety’s Bad Ol’ Putty Tat Blues (1994 Laserdisc) - Looney Tunes Presents - Tweety: Tweet and Lovely (1998 VHS) - Mil-Looney-Um 2000 Bumper Collection (2000 UK VHS) - I Love Tweety Vol. 1 (2001 Japan DVD) (Note: Restored in English) - Streaming?: HBO Max (Restored) ——————– Hook, Line and Stinker - Story: Michael Maltese, dir: Chuck Jones Just a standard Road

Runner - Coyote gag-based cartoon. But the absence of Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn’s music is noticeable. Rarity: UNCOMMON Other Releases: - The Looney Tunes Video Show No. 11 (1984 UK VHS) - Warner Bros. Cartoons Golden Jubilee 24 Karat Collection - Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote: The Classic Chase (Oct. 1985 VHS/Betamax) - Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner (1990 UK VHS) - Chariots of Fur (1996 VHS) - The Stars of Space Jam: Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (1996 VHS / 2018 DVD) - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Vol. 6 Disc 1 / Spotlight Collection Vol. 6 Disc 1 (2008 DVDs) - Streaming?: Boomerang, HBO Max (Restored)

-------------------

Conclusion:

The cartoons within the first wave of Warner’s “A Night at the Movies” series has some variety. “Greedy for Tweety” is one of my favorites in the bunch and probably the rarest if you don't have HBO Max. And "Speedy Gonzales" is only on Boomerang and Amazon Video. You get many of the marquee Looney Tunes characters only if you collect them all. Many great post-1948 cartoons were released between 1954 and 1958, but since this is one of the first official video releases with uncut Looney Tunes, it was understandable for Warner to pick out these shorts to introduce consumers with these classic cartoons. It is a must-have and a great introduction for anyone who wanted to start building up a VHS catalog. Classic Warner Bros. movies alongside classic Looney Tunes shorts. The faded low quality of these early 1980s transfers do have nostalgia factor for many who had these VHS tapes. You can expect this kind of quality, but it is nothing like the hundreds of public domain cartoons tapes where the quality is nothing like what Warner and MGM/UA put out back in the day. Overall, the cartoons in Wave 1 of “A Night at the Movies” is a fine selection of Warner Bros. cartoons. For film buffs, this is a love letter to the classic cinema experience and they would find these shorts a worthy addition to the movies they are about to watch.

NEXT: LT Home Video Thoughts #2 - The Looney Tunes Video Show, #1-3

[mredwinsmith]

Details Announced for Jumangi: Welcome to the Jungle Home Video Release

Experience this year’s biggest and best family fun adventure starring some of Hollywood’s most popular actors when JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE debuts on digital March 6 and on 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD March 20 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. In addition, the physical skus will also include digital versions of the movie, redeemable via the all-new Movies Anywhere App. Explore the vast and exciting world of Jumanjiwith Dwayne Johnson (Fast and the Furious franchise), Jack Black (Goosebumps), Kevin Hart (Ride Along) and Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy franchise) as they work together to beat the mysterious game they were drawn into so they can return to the real world. JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE also stars Nick Jonas (“Scream Queens”) and Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man).   Now fans can experience what it’s like to be transported into the world of JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.  For the first time ever, the home entertainment packaging will feature a Snapchat Snapcode that unlocks an augmented reality experience. When fans pick up a copy of the film on Blu-ray or DVD at any retailer and scan the Snapcode with their Snapchat app, they will find the jungle brought to life right in front of them. Once there, they can record their experience and share it with their friends. There will be an additional Snapcode on an insert inside the package, exclusively for consumers who purchase the disc, that will trigger a second first-of-its-kind AR experience that will bring the characters from Jumanji into your living room.   With the Digital, Blu-ray and DVD releases of JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, fans can delve even deeper into Jumanji with the amazing bonus materials packed with more laughs, more action and more fun, including a hilarious gag reel, a music video and three behind-the-scenes featurettes. Prepare to be rocked when Jack Black and Nick Jonas share their mind-blowing take on an original theme song for the film in the epic music video “Jumanji Jumanji.” Fans can follow the intrepid guide, Nigel, as he leads them through a behind-the-scenes journey showcasing how this epic adventure came to life in “Journey Through The Jungle: The Making of Jumanji.” In “Meet the Players: A Heroic Cast,” Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan discuss the fun they had diving into character and working with each other. Fans will also hear from the team of talented visual effects artists on how they created one of the film’s most exciting scenes in “Attack of the Rhinos!” The Blu-ray and digital releases contain two additional exclusive featurettes, including “Surviving the Jungle: Spectacular Stunts!” a firsthand look of how the most eye-popping stunts were conceived and executed. “Book to Board Game to Big Screen & Beyond! Celebrating The Legacy of Jumanji” is a loving and nostalgic look at the enduring legacy of Jumanji as the cast and filmmakers reflect on the beloved original 1995 film and how the new film honors the original’s exciting history.   Synopsis: When four high-school kids discover an old video game console with a game they’ve never heard of–Jumanji–they are immediately drawn into the game’s jungle setting, literally becoming the avatars they chose: gamer Spencer becomes a brawny adventurer (Dwayne Johnson); football jock Fridge loses (in his words) “the top two feet of his body” and becomes an Einstein (Kevin Hart); popular girl Bethany becomes a middle-aged male professor (Jack Black); and wallflower Martha becomes a badass warrior (Karen Gillan). What they discover is that you don’t just play Jumanji–you must survive it. To beat the game and return to the real world, they’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, discover what Alan Parrish left 20 years ago, and change the way they think about themselves–or they’ll be stuck in the game forever …   Based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg, JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE was directed by Jake Kasdan from a screen story by Chris McKenna and screenplay by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers and Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner. The film was produced by Matt Tolmach and William Teitler and executive produced by David Householter, Jake Kasdan, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Ted Field and Mike Weber.   Blu-ray and Digital Bonus Materials Include:

Gag Reel

“Jumanji, Jumanji” Music Video by Jack Black and Nick Jonas

Five Featurettes:

“Journey Through The Jungle: The Making of Jumanji”

“Meet the Players: A Heroic Cast”

“Attack of the Rhinos!”

“Surviving the Jungle: Spectacular Stunts!”

“Book to Board Game to Big Screen & Beyond! Celebrating The Legacy of Jumanji”

DVD Bonus Materials Include:

Gag Reel

“Jumanji, Jumanji” Music Video by Jack Black and Nick Jonas

Three Featurettes:

“Journey Through The Jungle: The Making of Jumanji”

“Meet the Players: A Heroic Cast”

“Attack of the Rhinos!”

4K Ultra HD Bonus Materials Include:

Feature film presented with Dolby Vision high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos sound

Also includes the film and special features on the included high-def Blu-ray  

JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE has a run time of approximately 112 minutes and is rated PG-13 for adventure action, suggestive content and some language.   The Movies Anywhere Digital App simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers. Consumers can also redeem digital copy codes found in eligible Blu-ray and DVD disc packages from participating studios and stream or download them through Movies Anywhere.  Movies Anywhere is available only in the United States.   ABOUT SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is a Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) company. SPE is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., which is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. SPE’s Motion Picture Group includes film labels Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, and Sony Pictures Classics.  For additional information, visithttp://www.sonypictures.com.

  from AwesomeToyBlog http://ift.tt/2EVzFgA

[katiezstorey93]

November 1, 2016: This Week on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD

Poor Mothers, Nine Lives, Startrek Beyond and much more come house Nov 1

Welcome on blu ray and Electronic HD week to take a look at all of the top titles arriving this. Check the gallery audience out below to get a consider the releases that are main , selections striking Wednesday, Nov 1, 2016 racks and/or VOD starting.

Numerous current silver screen releases direct the December 1 cost, such as the strike r rated humor Poor Mothers and also the science-fiction journey Startrek Beyond. Associating the latter is 50 Years of Startrek, a DVD-just collection of interviews honoring the franchise’s half of a millennium.

You may also capture Kevin Spacey like a kitten in Nine Lives, Daniel Radcliffe being an undercover FBI agent masquerading like a white-supremacist in Imperium, and follow Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts through Japan “Suicide Forest” in Gus van Sant’s Ocean of Bushes.

Additional games arriving house Nov 1 range from the World War II thriller Anthropoid, featuring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan, the comedy-drama Our Impaired Sibling, starring Adam Scott, Nick Kroll, and Jenny Standing, and also the action-thriller Carnage Playground.

Striking dvd-only, meanwhile, may be the shifting activities documentary Gleason.

Although Marvel presents their newest superhero about the silver screen this Friday, Yell! Manufacturer providing up a goody for hardcore followers using the (rather terrible) 1978 Dr. Unusual telefilm, launched formally on DVD for that very first time actually!

Broadway enthusiasts may anticipate the December 1 launch of Gypsy, having a shot edition of the 2015 West-End creation featuring Imelda Staunton.

There are certainly a quantity of lively games arriving house Nov 1 with Superman: Return of the Caped Crusader, a much-expected name for DC Comics followers. The initial animated characteristic functions the return of Adam West and Burt Ward as Superman and Robin! Alternately, the week views the launch of Our Little Horse Equestia Women: The Tale of Everfree and, via Warner Store, 1997 lively audio Cats Don’t Party.

Warner Store additionally provides to Blu-lewis for that very first time Erika Anderson’s 1975 Document Savage: The Person of Bronze, featuring Ron Ely whilst the pulp hero.

Film-noir enthusiasts ought to be pleased this week as Nov 1 views the launch of (via Kino Lorber) the 1941 film-noir traditional I Awaken Yelling in addition to of the boxed collection The Movie Detective’s Filmnoir Selection. The three-disk release contains 1947’s The Red Home, 1948’s Hollow Success and 1952’s Kansas City Private.

As it pertains to small-screen games, Nov 1 provides house the 2nd period of STARZ‘s Outlander and also the second-half of the sixth period of AMC‘s Heck on-Wheels. The previous collection likewise comes in a Collector’s Version, as the later can be obtained included in a Heck on-Wheels Complete Sequence established aswell. Talking about sophisticated models, the week additionally provides house the luxurious collector’s version of The Walking Dead period six, filled with a brand new master sculpture.

Striking dvd-only Nov 1 may be the first-season of TNT‘s The Librarians, as well like a total sequence group of the strike comedy sequence IT Group. Rounding out the week’s small-screen games may be the newest in Yell! Manufacturer‘s Power Rangers collection. Search for the entire Power Rangers: Chouriki Sentai Ohranger to reach within an eight-disk collection.

Discovering Dory statements the Electronic HD Nov 1 produces using the blu ray set-to appear later this month. Additionally available electronically this week may be the audio documentary Skip Sharon Smith, as properly as period among Cinemax‘s Outcast and also the next period of HBO‘s Vice. Sony Images Home Theatre, meanwhile, introduced its recommendation of The Chicken Celebration nowadays Chicken Party can be obtained nowadays like an electronic download (and on retail racks Election-Day, Nov 8th) and the studio has released a particular strategy to teach voters with this distinctive, last minute access in to the political period. Browse the movies below, below and below

You are able to take a look at cover-art for the Nov 1 releases within the gallery audience below alongside all of the each release’s unique functions (where relevant).

Poor Mothers

– Gag Reel – Throw and Mother Interviews

Startrek Beyond

– Deleted Scenes Go in theaters you did not notice Beyond the ultimate slice of the film with moments. – Beyond the Night – Fulfill experienced manufacturer J.J. Abrams, director Lin – Jung and writers Pegg just how it found existence and because they examine the motivation for that Startrek Beyond story. – Business Takedown – Encounter advantage-of-your-chair motion and find out what sort of surprising assault kills the USS Business. – Split and Conquered – find out how filmmakers pressed the limitations in Startrek Beyond by making the Business team to their many difficult circumstances however. – A Warped Feeling of Vengeance – Fulfill Startrekis latest villain, Krall, as actor Idris Elba shows the backstory behind his personalityis frightening goals. – Hiking within the Leave – continue set-to Dubai and find out how its advanced structure turned the building blocks for that many revolutionary Starbase however. – Exploring Strange New Sides – Tour the amazing manufacturing models of Startrek Beyond with representative Justin Lin. – New Life, Fresh Cultures – observe how special-effects developers fulfilled the process to produce an unparalleled 50 fresh unfamiliar species for that movie to commemorate Startrek’s 50th Wedding. – To Reside Lengthy and Succeed – Trip through yesteryear 50 years of Startrek with J.J. the throw because they and also Abrams think about this legendary sci fi series’ development. – For Leonard and Anton – View a pressing homage towards the renowned Leonard Nimoy and precious crew-member Anton Yelchin. – Gag Reel – Participate In on the enjoyment with this specific amusing joke reel of on set bloopers.

50 Years of Startrek

Nine Lives

– Allowing the Pet From The Tote: The Making-Of Eight Lives – Euro for Herding Cats – Contains Electronic HD

Ocean of Bushes

– “The Ocean of Bushes: A Tale of Elegance and Misfortune” Featurette

Anthropoid

– The Building of Anthropoid – Storyboard to Movie Evaluations

Carnage Playground

Imperium

– Audio Commentary with Author/Representative Daniel Ragussis and Author Jordan German – Dwelling Undercover – Featurette – Producing Imperium – Throw and Team Interviews

Our Impaired Sibling

Gleason

Gypsy

Superman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

– “Those Dastardly ” featurette – Joker, Penguin Catwoman and Riddler are difficult to not view! These Dastardly Desperados explores a Superman tale was become significantly more than simply antagonists in by these fiends; they truly became symbols in pop-culture that is National. – “A Traditional Cadre of Sounds” featurette – a brand new gifted cast of stars join Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar in Superman: Return of The Caped Crusaders. Proceed behind see and the scenes time and the expressive methods had a need to provide a vintage Bat-Humor!

Our Little Horse Equestria Women: The Tale of Everfree

Cats Do Not Dance

Doc Savage

Dr. Strange

I Awaken Yelling

– Audio commentary track by Film-Noir specialist Eddie Mueller

The Movie Investigatoris Filmnoir Selection

– Contains 1947is The Red Home, 1948is Useless Success and 1952is Kansas City Private

Heck on-Wheels: Season-Five, Part two

– Featurette: “a Glance At the Ultimate Attacks” – Featurette: “Golden Spike” – Summary – 7 “Within The Attacks”

Heck on-Wheels: The Entire Sequence

– The Building of HECK ON-WHEELS – “Within The Occurrence” Featurettes – Personality Featurettes – Behind-the-Scenes Video – Collection Visit with Anson Support – And Much More…

Outlander: Season Two

– Religion Prolonged Occurrence (bluray exclusive) – Option Picture (bluray exclusive) – Jamie and Claire: To Heck and Back (bluray exclusive) – Creating Background: The Outfits of Outlander (bluray exclusive) – Re-Creating 18Th-Century London (bluray exclusive) – Outlander Podcasts (bluray exclusive) – Removed and Prolonged Moments with Audio Criticism by Ronald N. Moore – Gag Reel – From Guide to Display: Finding the Variations – The Figures of Time Two

The Walking Dead: The Entire Sixth Period Limitededition

– Show 616: Last Evening On The Planet — The Prolonged Edition (blu ray unique) – Audio Commentaries – Deleted Scenes – The Making-Of The Walking Dead – Inmemoriam – 601: From The Quarry – Guts & Beauty: The Demise of Nicholas – Power in Ties – Negan: Anyone To Worry – The Facial Skin of Death: Legendary Walkers of The Growing Season

The IT Group: The Entire Sequence

The Librarians: Season One

Discovering Dory

Skip Sharon Smith

Chicken Celebration

Outcast: Season One

Vice: Season Four

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[daleisgreat]

Fast & Furious

I did not mean for nearly a year and a half to pass since my last entry covering the Fast and Furious franchise. I apologize for keeping everyone waiting for today’s much anticipated blog covering the fourth film in the franchise, 2009’s Fast & Furious (trailer). I recalled seeing the initial previews for this and remembered being excited about Universal reuniting the four core original cast members, but also thought that it might have been too late because it seemed like at this point both Paul Walker and Vin Diesel’s careers were well into their decline and this was their last gasp for success. As we all know by now, F&F revitalized the franchise and transitioned the films from the underground street racing/car culture series into the blockbuster action/heist movies we embrace them as today. As I alluded to in my Tokyo Drift review, F&F is where the timeline for the series goes sideways. Director Justin Lin stated in the commentary that even though Han was killed off in Tokyo Drift, he wanted to bring him back since he was a fun character so Lin has F&F take place before Tokyo Drift. Sure enough, Han is here, but only in the opening scene riding with Dom (Vin Diesel) and his crew on their latest rig heist which involves a semi with five(!) gas tanker attachments on a stretch of highway that is well over the one kilometer they proclaim (though later films will greatly outdo this exaggeration). The tanker heist goes sideways and leads to Dom abandoning Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and retreating to Panama. After some time passes Dom finds out Letty was murdered, and he comes back to Cali and reunites with his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and FBI agent Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) to track down the Braga gang responsible for Letty’s murder.

I remember the scene introducing O’Conner chasing down a thug for information on his latest target in a high adrenaline foot chase that seemed ripped right out of a Bourne film. Apparently O’Conner has lethal Parkour abilities now that would multiply exponentially in his 2014 film, Brick Mansions. After eight years it was fun seeing O’Conner, Dom and Mia all reunite and within no time their chemistry was clicking with a plethora of callbacks to the first film. Yes, Dom still loves ‘family’ and crosses and O’Conner still loves NOS. I mentioned in the intro F&F transitions the series from its underground street racing roots into the action/heist genre because the film is about half and half of each. There is a big street race in the middle of the film Dom & O’Conner participate in order to win an open slot in Braga. Lin stated in the commentary GPS tech was a couple years into ubiquity and wanted to different this race by implementing plenty of snazzy GPS CG effects throughout the race. Lin unapologetically went all in with the GPS effects here and while over-the-top, they enhance this race and make it stand out as one of the marquee races in the whole Fast and Furious franchise.

I recall Gal Gadot’s character, Gisele being more prominent in the later films, and completely forgot about her being a support character in F&F. She is working for the head of Braga, Campos (John Ortiz) and the film teases a relationship between Dom and her that I also completely neglected from my initial viewing. I could not help but chuckle at Lin’s comments in the commentary predicting big things coming for the future Wonder Woman. Two big things I took away from my first viewing of this film nine years ago was that it made GPS seem like the coolest tech out there, and the intense tunnel chase scenes. There are two tunnel chase scenes in F&F, and they both paid off with memorable thrills. If you have the time make sure to check out the extra features that break down how the crew constructed their own makeshift tunnel which enabled them to pull off the insane stunts entirely with practical effects. F&F closes with O’Conner trying to get Dom’s name cleared for helping takedown Braga, only to see Dom still get carted into a bus for lockup…that is until O’Conner goes rogue and pulls up with his own crew to bust Dom off the prison transport bus in one of the best endings of the entire series. I was in disbelief on Lin’s commentary track thoughts on the ending: ‘Yeah, we left it open-ended, we’ll see what happens if folks want to revisit this.’ As box office records and many sequels would later indicate, people went on to revisit the films with aplomb.

I referenced Lin’s commentary track a few times already, and even though it is a solo commentary I highly recommend giving it a listen since it is full on nonstop factoids and anecdotes from the filming. Aside from the commentary there is another hour and a half of extra features. There is a 20-minute short film, Los Bandolerors, that sets the stage for the beginning of F&F, and while it features most of the cast and has a couple little moments referenced in the film, I would not say it is requisite viewing. There are eight extra features with most of them showcasing the cars and stunt work. The two extras I would recommend the most are Getting the Gang Back Together and Races & Chases. The former has the cast reflecting on the past films and how it felt to reunite for this film and the latter is the aforementioned extra that breaks down how the crew made the awesome GPS race and tunnel chases possible. The Pitbull music video for ‘Blanco’ is skip-worthy, but do not skip through the gag reel because it has a killer spoof at the end that left me rolling! I should mention like the prior films, on this F&F re-watch, I experienced it with the Giant Bomb commentary track where their staff does another commendable job highlighted with Alex’s vast knowledge of the series shepherding Dan’s earnest negligence of it. I enjoyed Fast & Furious much more than I remembered. The latter films upped the ante so much more with their casting and stunts that it made me forget how this film got the movies going in that direction. If you have somehow not seen this installment in the films yet, go out of your way now to correct that wrong! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Man of Steel Man on the Moon Marine 3-5 Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past

[daleisgreat]

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

The time has come to put a bookend to keeping up with Kevin Smith with today’s entry focusing on his latest film, 2019’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (trailer). Before we get there, I feel obligated to say I was a huge fan of his first half of his career, primarily of his old ‘View Askew-niverse’ days when he first started off with affable stoner characters, Jay & Silent Bob being carryover characters in his first several films. I think I saw Clerks and Mallrats at least five times each and feel safe in saying those two would stand the test of time, especially Clerks. I dug Chasing Amy, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back when they originally released in my teenager days, but cannot help but think I outgrew Smith’s style of verbiage and humor he honed in on by that point, and have a feeling I would cringe at going back to them. I think I would like Zack & Miri and Clerks 2 more if some certain scenes got nixed. I thought Jersey Girl and Copout were not among his best, but both solid studio comedies and a nice way to mix it up from his regular output at the time. Red State felt like a hard left turn for Smith, and some parts I detested, but it kind of came together towards the end. Tusk however was absolute dreck and upon hearing how his follow up Yoga Hosers was an all-in spinoff of Tusk caused me to avoid Yoga Hosers at all costs and casually back away from the Kevin Smith fandom. This brings us to Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. The sequel/reboot to 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. 18 year-old Dale, eagerly anticipated Strike Back, rushed out to see it opening weekend and poured through the DVD in multiple viewings of it and all its extras in the weeks after it hit home video. 37 year-old Dale however ignored Reboot during Smith’s nationwide tour where the only way to see it for several months was when Smith was touring it to boutique arthouse theaters and doing a Q&A afterwards for around $50-80. I only reluctantly picked up Reboot a few weeks after it hit video when I noticed it was on sale for half off and thought for that price I could get my fill out of it with some expected callbacks and cameos that were a big standout in Strike Back and I hope would save Reboot….and that is essentially what happened.

Reboot kicks off with Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) up to their old shenanigans loitering outside the Quick Stop, until they are promptly arrested, but saved in court thanks in part to their attorney. The attorney then informs he just tricked them into signing away their names to big budget Hollywood studios who want to reboot the Bluntman & Chronic movie Jay & Silent Bob failed at preventing in Strike Back. Worst of all, the reboot will be directed by Kevin Smith who is advertising fans to attend a fan fest in Hollywood to audition for a cameo! This leads to the duo condemning Kevin Smith, and travelling across the nation to stop Hollywood once again. Conflicts arise during their journey when they run into Jay’s old flame, Justice (Shannon Elizabeth) who informs Jay that he is now a dad. He soon meets his daughter Milly (Harley Quinn Smith), who brings her friends to tag along in order to win that cameo spot in the movie contest. I do not want to be a downer, but the actual core movie I did not care for that much. Jay’s potty-mouth humor had me in stitches in its small doses when he was a side character in the early Smith films, but it is agonizingly overkill here. There are the occasional gags that landed, like a certain free bonus a cab driver offered that appeared a handful of times throughout and Kevin Smith is legitimately good at portraying a kind of over-the-top grating version of himself at the fan convention. Jay eventually putting in an earnest effort at being a good dad in some of the final scenes culminated in some touching moments with Milly. These core parts of the movie that I enjoyed though are only peppered throughout, but what wound up saving Jay and Silent Bob Reboot was the avalanche of cameos littered from beginning to end.

There are some expected cameos from Jason Lee and Ben Affleck coming back as their former View Askew-niverse personas as Brodie and Holden, respectively. I feel safe saying that is not a spoiler since those two had extended cameos relative to the core plot in Strike Back and more-or-less do the same in Reboot. However for the rest of the film, well….I think Kevin Smith dialed in a lot of favors because this is one of the most impressive deluge of cameos in a film yet. Some play amped up versions of themselves, while others are quirky shillers for Funko Pops. During those struggling first two acts of the film, the saving grace was seeing who would pop up next and what Smith had in store for them. There are countless blink and miss it callbacks and references to other View Askew lore and Smith fandom throughout, especially at the convention in the end. I remember Kevin Smith’s early movies being loaded with extra features, and while there is a fair smattering here, it is comparatively lackluster to the deluxe sets from yore. I was stunned the BluRay omits a commentary track which are usually present in most of Smith’s home video releases. I do not blame him since he re-watched it dozens of times on his nationwide tour, but……hold on scratch that after a quick Google search it appears a month ago Smith released a special quarantined-themed commentary track for the film for free on YouTube that can be found right here. Good on him for that! Actual extras on the BluRay are highlighted by a near hour-long bonus merely titled ‘Cast Interviews.’ It is a barrage of two-to-three minute interviews from nearly all the major and minor/cameo players from the film. Lots of good little anecdotes in there and well worth your time! Following that is a half hour extra where Mewes and Smith interview a variety of the cast and crew which a third of is dedicated to….one major cameo I shall not name here. I will give props to Mewes for randomly getting quick interviews from some of the behind-the-scenes crew to make sure they get their proper due. Wrapping up the bonuses is the requisite blooper reel that does not disappoint and a two minute Hair Reel which is solely of Smith and Mewes adjusting their hair between takes.

Part of me wanted to say Reboot was the ideal farewell film of Kevin Smith to watch, but I see he has Clerks III in the pipeline, so I will ultimately have to cave and check that out too. Regardless, if you are a lapsed Kevin Smith fan and wanted one last trek with his style of comedy you grew up with, you kind of get that here and you also get why you left that in the past too. Regardless, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot does have its moments, and the cameos make it well worth riding this out until the end….including all the bonus shots/alt footage in the credits, lots of gold in there too including one last cameo I did not anticipate. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Not for Resale Pulp Fiction The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

[daleisgreat]

X-Men Apocalypse

We are approaching the release date for the final FOX X-Men film hitting theaters when Dark Phoenix arrives next week. Thus it seemed like a perfect time to revisit FOX’s previous ensemble X-Men film, 2016’s Apocalypse (trailer). Minus a couple exceptions, I have largely enjoyed most of the X-Men movies so far, even if I have barely an idea of what is or is no longer canon anymore and the many contradictions that have surfaced with each proceeding film. The filmmakers stated in the bonus feature interviews here they are essentially making up the rules as they go along ever since they introduced time travel. Regardless, each X-film in and of itself I have mostly enjoyed on its own merits, and that continues with Apocalypse. Apocalypse has greatly benefited with a second viewing a few years later. I recall nitpicking it in the theaters for its contradictions and other little details that did not match up with previous films and trying to come to terms with the unexpected costume and character design of Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) himself as it compared to the Apocalypse costume I grew up with in the comics and early 90s animated series. Now that I got those initial puzzled impressions out of my system I took in Apocalypse on its own and those nitpicks were not as much of a distraction on second viewing.

Apocalypse transpires 10 years after the events of Days of Future Past in 1983. I liked how they set up the origin for Apocalypse in the prologue and establish how he is this god-like force to be reckoned with all these years later. Watching him grow in power as he recruited Angel (Ben Hardy), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) as his ‘four horsemen’ proved him to a formidable force. There is a lot of setup Apocalypse’s first half of its near two and a half hour runtime. It did not feel that long however because with its ensemble cast there were so many individual stories to tell to bring everyone together that Apocalypse breezed by. Nearly all the main players from the previous two core X-Men films return like Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), Mystique (Jennifer Laurence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult). Periphery players from before like Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Havok (Lucas Till) also have bigger roles in this film. Young versions of Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and yes….even Jubilee (Lana Condor) make their debut in this past era of X-films. There are a few surprises I do not want to ruin, but rest assured there are plenty of interesting interactions among the huge cast knowing how these characters will interact in movies set after this. Fassbender and McAvoy easily have the best chemistry among the whole cast and the two steal the show with their handful of one-on-one emotional scenes.

Like the rest of the X-films, Apocalypse does not disappoint when it comes to special effects. There are countless CG showcases from the Apocalypse origin story prologue, to another Quicksilver slow-motion sizzle reel, a couple of impressive destruction sequences where Apocalypse unleashes his fury and the requisite Cerebro scene gone terribly wrong. These CG sequences go hand-in-hand with most of the action scenes, and they were smartly paced in with all the setup and build to the climatic final showdown which is highlighted with Apocalypse and Xavier engaging in a telepathic duel for the ages. How those CG scenes were produced is tackled among the boatload of extra features. X-Men Unearthed is the standout extra. It is a five-part feature running a little over an hour combined and tackles how the cast and crew is handling the convoluted canon of the X-films, shows Patrick Stewart give his blessing and witness MacAvoy shave his head, breaks down the cast and goes into the nuts and bolts on how those awesome CG sequences came to be. Definitely worth a watch! There is nearly a half hour of deleted scenes with optional introductions from director Bryan Singer that includes a lot of material that seemed tragic to get cut like a feel-good 80s mall music montage set to Safety Dance that got me nostalgic for my teenage Mallrats years, and Fassbender nailing it with a emotional family scene that Singer stated was one of his all-time heartbreaking cuts to make in filmmaking. There is a killer eight minute gag reel that I would place in the top tier of superhero film gag reels, which is good company to be among.

Finally the commentary track with Singer and writer/producer Simon Kinberg is among one of my favorite commentaries I have heard in the five and a half years since I started this site. Singer is mostly nonstop with revealing facts and inspirations for the film like going into a engrossing story on the aforementioned Fassbender deleted scene, pointing out that Jubilee is in the film in one of her few lines or else I would have completely missed her, taking potshots at Marvel and FOX in the opening credits, a touching anecdote on filming the Stan Lee cameo and being grateful to Munn and Peters for knowing their Mortal Kombat references that resulted in saving a certain moment of the film. Those are just a few of the many highlights I got from the commentary so if you have time this is one of the good ones to check out. Also worth pointing out is FOX subtitled the commentary, THANK YOU! As I alluded to earlier, I came out of X-Men: Apocalypse with a far better experience on my second viewing. I only marginally enjoyed it initially, but letting some time and perspective sink in helped immensely. I am now surprisingly stoked to see Dark Phoenix when it hits next week. I highly recommend revisiting Apocalypse for a refresher on the many little plot points I would have forgotten. I no doubt agree the canon across the nearly 20 years of FOX X-films is a head-scratcher and a half to keep track of and who knows maybe their new overlords at Disney will find a way to smoothly integrate them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, I would be lying if there was not a part of me that would like to see Disney keep the X-films in their own separate canon that FOX has established, quirks and all. Time will tell.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Man of Steel Man on the Moon Marine 3-6 Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past

[daleisgreat]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

I hope you all are as ridiculously amped up as I am for the opening of Avengers: Endgame this evening! It marks the primary conclusion of all major story points from nearly every Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film going back to where it started with the original Iron Man from 2008. It is a cinematic event 11 years in the making and is being forecasted to break all kinds of box office records. This week I have been preparing by watching the latest two MCU films in my video backlog to refresh me with the latest story arcs. I will begin by first covering 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (trailer). Marvel Studios and James Gunn wasted no time jumping on a sequel to the surprise breakout success of the first GotG. As I detailed in my entry covering the first GotG, I still recall being blown away by how won over I was by an unorthodox crew of larger-than-life characters that came together to rescue the galaxy. That same gang returns in an awesome opening piece that sees Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) take on a mammoth of a gelatinous octopus-esque creature while the now fun-sized ‘Baby’ Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) dances away in the background to the requisite 1970s pop-rock soundtrack. It is a goofy dumb sequence that I took gleeful joy in jamming out at home to with a pair of surround sound headphones.

The primary hook in GotG2 is that after vanquishing said blobby monster, the Guardians run into a jam when collecting their reward from the golden skinned race of beings known as Sovereign. They high tail it out of there with Sovereign right on their tale when a mysterious being assists the Guardians in escaping. They meet up with this being who introduces himself as Ego (Kurt Russell) along with his servant Mantis (Pom Klementieff). Ego breaks the big news to Peter that he is his dad and invites the Guardians to join them on his home planet to clear his origins up and catch up on the past. Of course there is more than meets the eye to Ego’s claims, and there are periphery matters happening with Yondu (Michael Rooker) and his Ravagers once again meddling with the Guardians throughout and Gamora and her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) quarreling out decades worth of family disputes too. There are a ton of lighthearted jokes and gags throughout GotG2 like its predecessor. A lot of them hit and crack me up throughout, but the opening half hour Marvel Studios went overkill with them. I could not help but think that even though I was enjoying the heck out of the opening scenes that Marvel Studios could have dialed it back a smidge or two. I have to struggle with this criticism however because ultimately I am talking about a cast of bombastic figures such as a talking CG tree and raccoon and a whole host of colorful, galactic species waging war to a killer ‘70s soundtrack so in the end it may be wise for me to give GotG2 the benefit of the doubt to get away with double-to-triple the gags of the average MCU film. I also settled on giving this qualm a pass because I convinced myself for all future GotG viewings to go into them two beers in and that will help put that nitpick I have at bay and take in the ride that is GotG. I am also 100% down with any film that gives the Zune some love, being an avid Zune user myself to this day much to the ridicule of several podcast hosts over the years.

There is so much in Vol 2 that I loved. I will highlight a few of my favorite takeaways while doing my best not to go into too much detail. Drax had a few nicely timed dry humor moments originally, and Marvel Studios went all in with Drax’s dry wit being peppered throughout with lots of priceless exchanges with Mantis. Baby Groot is over-the-top adorable in his naiveté and cute facial expressions. The in-house faction wars in the Ravagers between Yondu and the astutely named Tazerface (Chris Sullivan) was a fantastic periphery arc that climaxed with a unforgettable exchange with Rocket and later Yondu going all out with another dazzling display of his arrow skills. I would be remiss if I were to forget to mention how spectacular the CG is here. It is in a class of its own with the already high bar established by the rest of the MCU films. Aside from the stunning space dogfights, Ego’s planet is a literal marvel and features some breathtaking use of CG to showcase flashbacks. The final act blows away the already-stellar final act of the first GotG with everything coming to a boil between Peter and Ego in a near half-hour long epic battle to get the hell off Ego’s planet and escape his wrath. Props again to James Gunn hand picking another star studded ‘70s pop-rock soundtrack along with an accompanying heroic original score that kicks in at all the right beats and combines for easily the best aural experience of all the MCU films.

The GotG2 BluRay has the ideal amount of extra features I want on a BluRay. It has a five star gag reel like most of the other MCU home video releases. There are a few minutes of deleted scenes with my standout being more extended love for the Zune. There is a 37 minute behind-the-scenes feature split up into four parts highlighting the soundtrack, visual effects and cast and crew love for director James Gunn, which was quite fascinating to see now in hindsight after the whole James Gunn Twitter controversy that temporarily removed him from the upcoming third GotG until the cast and crew fought vehemently to bring him back. Finally, James Gunn has a solo commentary track for the feature. Minus an occasional lull, he was pretty entertaining and a few quick highlights from it was Gunn referencing his work on the Lollipop Chainsaw game for inspiration for special effects in the movie, getting one of Quill’s big speeches mostly from a dream he woke up from in the middle of the night and Gunn justifying the use of five post-credit bonus scenes and how they all came to be. It is rare for superhero films to meet and surpass expectations, especially sequels. Re-watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 only assured me that those expectations were righteously knocked out of the park. I loved the first film, and somehow James Gunn found a way to make the sequel far better. I am intrigued in how Gunn stated in the commentary how he feels the Guardians films are like independent movies with a big budget because of the near-limitless creative freedom Marvel Studios allows him. It is because of that freedom that these films are in a class of their own and find a way to standout amongst themselves in the constantly rising number of unique MCU properties and I cannot wait to see what awaits the Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend in Avengers: Endgame! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Man of Steel Man on the Moon Marine 3-6 Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past

[daleisgreat]

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three

-Welcome to the continuing chronicles of my seasonal recaps of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). Today I am highlighting season three of the BluRay set (trailer), and from what I have gathered from countless interviews it is the breakthrough season with a strong majority of good-to-great episodes and where this Enterprise’s cast was embraced and accepted by Trekkies around the globe. To catch up on entries on my first two seasons, click here! I wish I can crank these out faster than every five months that I have been averaging, but I have settled into a weekly routine where after I finish the last shift of my 60-hour work week I kick back and relax with a cup of rich gas station hot cocoa and a few savory turkey sausage links while watching the next episode of TNG and it is, no lie, one of the favorite parts of my week! -I once again want to get things started with addressing some new cast changes/removals and other new constants that start to become apparent with this season. The most noticeable change is the return of Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) and the removal of Dr. Pulaski (Diana Muldaur). Crusher explains she is back from her assignment at teaching recruits at Starfleet and other than one or two quick references of Pulaski this season, she is not seen at all in season three. Q (John deLancie) returns for his annual hijinx in ‘DeJa Q’ in a fun episode that sees his powers stripped away and begging for acceptance by taking any spot on board the Enterprise. Whoopi Goldberg returns as the all-knowing, mystical bartender ‘Guinan’ in a handful of episodes. Whoopie shines in this role that is perfect for her and I absolutely adore the few times we are treated to her this season and she plays a pivotal role in some of the most iconic episodes of the series this season.

There are now established constants by the third season of TNG that may have appeared once or twice before, but are now more frequent or a new standard all together. The third season debuted the new uniforms for the cast and replaced the one-piece spandex-based costumes the cast detested in interviews over the years with more comfortable looking fleece/sweater-esque two-piece outfits for the rest of the series. They are an obvious improvement and still retain the spirit of the originals, but look more professional and less ‘gymnastic-y’ than the previous uniforms. The poker game makes its return for a handful of episodes this season, and I always enjoy the levity and relaxed beats whenever a friendly round of cards transpires. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is now a regular tea drinker in season three after dabbling with coffee last season. I wrote in all caps in my notes ‘FIRST RED ALERT SOUND EFFECT’ early on in season three, and it remained a constant every few episodes as the Enterprise more semi-regularly started to engage in brief dogfight skirmishes and engagements throughout the season. It was not every episode, maybe seven or eight at most, but it was starting to transition into becoming the new normal I originally associated TNG with from the episodes I caught in my childhood. I paused the episode and took a picture with my phone and included it here that I believe saw our first cliché ‘red-shirt death’ this season. To my surprise, it was the only one I noticed in season three and I am fully expecting to see more gratuitous over-ambitious non-credited red-shirts meet their early demise next season! Finally, I was delighted to see Dr. Crusher return to her being awful at her profession. She once again did not succeed to keep patients alive at the table this season and failed at her attempt at the ‘Pulaski Method’ of trying to erase memories. I did however very much enjoy her bitch-slapping Wesley (Wil Wheaton).

-Speaking of Wesley, he got a step up in duties and rank this season which felt well-earned and I found myself accepting him as one of the regular mainstays in the cast which is coming a long way from how grating he was in the first season. Another first season character I had issues with was Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis). Other than two or three episodes this season where she is the focus of the primary narrative, her role is dialed back mysteriously more than it was in season two with her having only a line or two an episode. It does not help that Troi’s featured episodes are the rare clunker episodes this season that sees the yearly visit from her eccentric mother that winds up with them both being kidnapped and Troi falling for a guest negotiator that yields one of the most bizarre scenes of the series. The only other qualm I had with this season were weaker Holo-deck scenes compared to season two. One crew-member uses it for his own exaggerated fantasies by hitting it off with Crusher and Trois and successfully dueling the guys and the other is more ridiculously exaggerated takes on recreating scenes that lead to William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) being accused of murder. If there is any redemption for those scenes it is because they fall into the ‘so-bad-its good’ variety.

-Last season I referenced how contemporary TNG-homage The Orville is filled with countless parallels and tributes to TNG scenes and episodes. I spotted another one in season three that saw how Picard accidentally violated the Prime Directive and exposed himself to an uncivilized world that was the impetus for that society worshiping Picard as a god. The exact same thing happens earlier this year in a season two episode of The Orville. To repeat myself again from last season’s recap, The Orville took a noticeable leap in quality in its second season and is a terrific modern take on TNG. Do not miss it! -The weak Troi episodes and subpar Holo-deck scenes are my only nitpicks for season three. All around this is easily the best season of TNG thus far. New recurring Enterprise crew member Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) is introduced in a powerful episode that saw Geordi (LeVar Burton) overcoming his original annoyances with Barclay and connecting with him upon learning of Barclay’s Social Anxiety Disorder in a moving scene. In a fun lighthearted episode Picard is forced to go on vacation, and while on a resort stumbles into his own swashbuckling, Indiana Jones-esque adventure.

A couple other favorite episodes of mine this season saw Data kidnapped and turned into a collector’s showpiece. Watching it unfold and how the resolution came to be when Data outsmarted his captor was surprisingly gripping material in what looked like was going to be a yawn of an episode going in. ‘Yesterdays Enterprise has received a ton of critical acclaim as one of the best episodes in the series. It sees the Enterprise get exposed to a time-shift and crosses paths with an alternate universe Enterprise that causes the return of Tasha (Denise Crosby) and an ambitious performance by a young Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald). It is a darker episode as everything is not how it is suppose to be, and seeing the pair of Enterprises restore the proper timelines was an engaging ride the entire journey with a nonstop barrage of touching exchanges and movie-quality dogfights. I agree with the critics on that one with high marks for ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’. I would be remiss if I were not to touch the other most talked episodes in TNG history with season three’s ‘Best of Both Worlds, part one.’ This season-finale sees the devastating return of the Borg and more is revealed of their nature and purpose when they kidnap and assimilate Picard to end this breakthrough season in one of TV’s most monumental cliffhangers. I can see why this episode got all the acclaim it did, especially when watching the bonus interviews afterwards when the writer wrote this episode without an ending in mind because he thought he was not coming back to the series. An obvious way to tell this two-part special of TNG is truly outstanding is because they were the only episodes in the entire run to receive their standalone physical release outside of all the other season sets.

-For newer readers to my TNG recaps, this is my obligatory paragraph giving props to the stunning work done by the HD transfer team for the BluRay to make TNG hold up far better in HD than anyone could have imagined. I also give regular season props here to the awesome hosts, Matt and Andrew of Star Trek: The Next Conversation podcast. Their detailed work at breaking down each episode scene-by-scene is informative and entertaining and helps me get the absolute most out of every episode! -Like last season there is a boatload of extra features (just over four hours worth!) and I will try to highlight a few of my favorites once again. Four episodic commentaries are available on three episodes, two of which for ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ that were fascinating to take in how much the writers and other crew reflect back the importance of that imperative episode. Past DVD bonuses return, along with a few new BluRay extras. A few separate extras detail how important ’Yesterday’s Enterprise’ and ‘Best of Both Worlds, part one’ are to TNG history and how Jonathan Frakes started breaking in directing episodes this season. There is another well-produced gag reel with the highlight being a young Wil Wheaton having quite a sailor’s mouth.

There are two standout extras of the pack. Resistance Is Futile: Assimilating Star Trek TNG is a three part, 90 minute look at the writing process for TNG and how the writer’s scripts were constantly shuffled about and how some were miraculously stumbled upon for some landmark episodes. It is a fascinate look into what it takes for a script to get green-lit into production. Inside the Writer’s Room is a stellar 70 minute discussion moderated by Seth McFarlane as he interviews several TNG writers about how they got brought on board the show and their best and worst memories working on TNG in a highly entertaining watch. Some key takeaways from that panel include dealing with Gene’s TNG utopia, not realizing the success of season three at the time and using a ‘Techno-Babble Generator’ given to them as a joke for future techno-babble dialogue in later episodes. I would not be surprised to see Seth take notes for ideas from this to use a couple years later when he started up The Orville. -If you cannot tell by now, season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation is where the show becomes must-see nearly every episode. They were well on their way in that direction by the end of season two, but season three was when they started gelling nearly the entire season. I would still give the nudge to start watching the show off with season two, but for the time-deprived season three will do you no wrong with a ridiculous amount of classic moments and episodes to consume! For those interested in physical media and not just quick-binging on Netflix I highly recommend the BluRays for a tremendous HD-upgrade in picture quality, and over four hours of bonus content with most of it being must-see in its own way too. -Thank you all once again for joining me in of re-watching all of TNG! See you in a few months with my recap for season four! Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap 2018-19 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld Final Season Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

[daleisgreat]

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 2

-Greetings and welcome to my continued logs of my chronological voyages through the seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). Click here to catch up with my entry on season one. It would be hard to tell by looking at the number of episodes in season two of TNG, but a writer’s strike in 1988 delayed the season premiere by a few months which resulted in them rarely taking many weeks off afterwards to finish the season off with a regular slate of 22 episodes. -I want to kick things off by mentioning the changes to the cast this season. The primary addition to the show is William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) now sporting the most dashing beard in all of TV history! Gone is the incapable Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden). Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) gave the official plot reason in the season premiere for her removal being so she could help train new recruits at Starfleet Academy. Replacing her is Dr. Pulaski (Diana Muldaur). From the first two seasons I thought Pulaski was a far superior character than Crusher, and Muldaur delivered a strong performance throughout the season with her standing up to Picard better than Crusher and Pulaski having some entertaining supporting arcs with Worf (Michael Dorn) throughout the season. Apparently there was enough fan outrage for this swap that the powers that be brought her back the following season.

Other cast changes is Geordi La Forge(Levar Burton) transferred from helmsmen to his more recognized role as the primary engineer for the remainder of the series. Transporter Chief Miles ‘O Brien (Colm Meaney) is now a more frequent recurring character after only making a few miniscule appearances in the first season. Finally, I will give a big hoo-rah to the addition of the bartender Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) to the new lounge in the Enterprise, Ten-Forward. I forgot how legit awesome Whoopi was as an actress at this time and how much I loved her in the show as a kid and I recall at that time being intriguingly mystified with her unique hats and attire. She absolutely steals every scene she is in as she lays down her wisdom to various Enterprise crew seeking advice. She is only a recurring character however and only goes on to appear in four or five episodes a season which is only more reason for her guest spots to standout each time she is on. -A big improvement this season is dialing back on Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) and Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton). Troi was written too over-the-top with her obvious telepathic deductions last season, and they are used far more effectively and sparingly in season two. Wesley Crusher is less annoying too as he settles in his role on the Enterprise and starts to gain more responsibilities. Both characters have a couple episodes where they are in the primary story arcs, but for the most part they are now more supporting roles. -Season two of TNG sees the addition of the occasional poker scene that became one of the trademarks of the series. Having the infrequent poker game and scenes transpiring at Ten-Forward were a recurring treat where we got to see the Enterprise crew relax and fraternize for a breather from the serious threat of the week. One of my favorite scenes of the season is where Riker teaches Wesley how to talk to women after engaging in a sample of flirting with Guinan that winds up going to a whole new level to the dissatisfaction of Wesley.

-A few other random favorite moments and scenes from the season feature Picard and Wesley stuck with each other on a shuttlecraft for several hours playing out exactly how I wanted it to. Data trying to best a grand master at the fictional game ‘strategema’ was fascinating for its similar parallels to the cancelled Wii Vitality Sensor and having a computer AI trying to best grand chess masters several years later in the 90s. The fictional futuristic version of joust Riker and his father engage in is so over-the-top cheesy I could not help but crack up throughout it! -Hats off to some good Worf episodes this season where the Enterprise crew team together to throw a holodeck klingon ceremony to Worf’s surprise and Worf mastering a plan to avoid a battle with a klingon ship. I was initially trepid with the holodeck episodes in the first season, but they won me over with the batch of holodeck-centric episodes in season two where Picard relives the adventures of one of his favorite PIs, and the crew has a memorable encounter with one of Sherlock Holmes’ top adversaries.

-The most standout episode of the season is ‘Q Who,’ the only Q (John de Lancie) episode this season where he introduces the Enterprise to the Borg (AKA Space Zombies). It is a tremendous introduction for what would become one of the Enterprise’s top antagonists for the run of TNG. From what I can recall for what I saw so far in the first two seasons, ‘Q Who’ is also the first episode of TNG to have an engaging back and forth dogfight between two space vessels that were some of my more prominent childhood memories of the show. It was also the first episode of TNG where they fired the vintage ‘Photon Torpedoes’ artillery of the Enterprise. If you have to watch just one episode of season two, make sure it is ‘Q Who’ because it is a big hint at what to expect of the rest of the series. -For as improved as season two is over the premiere season I would be remiss to not mention there are still a few dud episodes cluttering up season two. The episode where the Enterprise encounters a mute negotiator is a challenge and a half to get through, while another has the Enterprise taking on a group of refugees overflowing with Irish stereotypes. Due to the nature of the strike before the season, it resulted in budget cuts and there are some episodes where it is apparent where the cuts were made with the primary case in point being the season finale being a clip show. According to the behind-the-scenes interviews it was met with such disdain it resulted in being the only clip show of the series. -I do not know if many of you dear readers are keeping up with Seth McFarlane’s lighthearted homage to TNG, The Orville on FOX. As long as you can tolerate Seth’s over-the-top brand of humor, it is an entertaining take on TNG. A season two episode of TNG saw Riker teaching Wesley leadership lessons for his first assigned team he was in command of. Ironic timing a few days later happened for me when watching the then latest Orville episode paying tribute to that exact scene, but with their style of humor in a fun homage.

-I will once again raise my hat to whoever Paramount hired for their excellent HD re-mastering of the season two BluRay. There are many great SD-to-HD comparisons in the first season extras and floating on YouTube I recommend checking out to see how well they make TNG hold up to the latest sci-fi shows on TV today. I never fail to light up with every panning, transitional shot of the Enterprise! -I will once again plug the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation for their thorough and entertaining breakdown of every episode in the series. It has been a great way to keep up with extra details that went over my head, and with the hosts also working in TV production it helps bring a unique perspective to TNG. -Speaking of extra features…..damn…..season two is jacked with exponentially more than the first season. There are many hours of original on the set interviews, new interviews and features for when TNG first hit DVD in the early 2000s and all new extra features for the BluRay. I kept a running tally in my notes of all the extras and not including a handful of episodic commentaries there are a little over four hours of extra features! Thank you Paramount for spreading out a couple of features per disc instead of having one disc with all the special features which made it more manageable to consume throughout watching season two. About half of the extras are brand new HD bonuses.

Nearly all the bonus material appealed to me, but I will try and isolate a few I enjoyed the most so you do not have to indulge them all. There is an awesome 17 minute piece where Levar Burton reminisces about his other then-concurring job hosting the hit PBS kids show, Reading Rainbow and how they did a Star Trek themed episode during this time and through interviews how it was the catalyst for many new Star Trek fans. Once again the gag reel does not disappoint and it has a fun singing cameo from Roddenbery. Making It So: Continuing TNG is a two part, 80 minute BluRay exclusive feature I highly recommend where the cast and crew reflect on the big cast changes for season two and the evolution of the show and how they noticed how everyone was starting to feel more in sync and the show was hitting its groove. There are too many big interview moments to mention here highlighting key and controversial moments of the season, but believe me it is a must watch! My final extra feature recommendation, and my favorite of all the bonus features is another BluRay exclusive, Re-Unification: 25 Years After TNG where the entire primary TNG cast sits down for a huge roundtable discussion reflecting on memories and anecdotes from the show for an hour. It was fantastic to take this in, and I could not help but get the feeling that this cast has no doubt stayed in touch through conventions and such over the years because they instantly were gelling with camaraderie and old stories and I could not help but feel like a lucky fly in the wall that happened to be in the room with them overhearing countless memorable moments and interactions from their time on the show. -And that wraps it up for season two of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Minus a few episodes I am real excited with how the show is progressing and as I elucidated above, how everything is falling into place as the show I remembered from my childhood. I cannot wait to start up season three later this week, and from what I understand, that is the perfect jumping on point for the show as nearly the rest of the run of the series is top-notch from there on out. Please join me here once again in a few months for my take on season three! Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld Final Season Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

[daleisgreat]

Guardians of the Galaxy

We are mere weeks away from the release of the latest Marvel Studios film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so naturally it felt right to pull 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy (trailer out of the backlog box. I specifically remember thinking that this was going to be the first full-on flop from Marvel Studios. The comic it was based on was around off and on over the years but I never considered it a top-tier book from Marvel by any means and could not name a single character by the time the film arrived. GotG was certainly going to be the first Marvel film to focus on a character that was not in the upper-echelon of Marvel Heroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor. I also despised the original trailer for the first film. For whatever reason it played before nearly every film I caught at the theater for several months before the movie hit. The preview gave me all the wrong vibes that this was going to be full of bad jokes from a bunch of unknown heroes in the cosmic branch of the Marvel Universe that will go right over my head. I could not have been happier to be so wrong.

GotG centers around one Peter Quill aka Starlord (Chris Pratt). The film starts off with him as a young child at his mother’s deathbed, when all of a sudden a mysterious spaceship abducts him and the film immediately jumps a couple decades ahead where Quill is now a ‘junker’ (futuristic treasure hunter?) residing in a intergalactic community somewhere in another universe. A routine quest for a mysterious orb goes haywire and lands Quill in prison. It is here where Starlord teams up with some unlikely allies. His new comrades consist of Gamura (Zoe Saldana), Rocket the raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), the monstrous brute Drax (David Bautista) and a full sized animated tree capable of speaking only five words Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). Ronan (Lee Pace) is GotG’s lead villain. He is a lieutenant of the high and mighty Thanos, but breaks off from him after he finds a new source of power. Minus Groot, Marvel did a tremendous job with the casting. I will give props to Quill for this being his big motion picture breakout performance after several years on the ensemble mockumentary TV series, Parks & Rec. Saladana proved she is already capable of sci-fi greatness in the latest line of Star Trek films and went on to double down on that expertise in another sci-fi franchise. Bautista went above and beyond what anyone expected out of a pro-wrestler. Bradley Cooper shows all kinds of range with his voicing of Rocket, but Marvel could have saved a good chunk of money on the budget by having anyone voice Groot. Vin probably commanded a high dollar since he is in the midst of riding the success of the Fast & Furious money train. Watching the GotG unwillingly come together to break out of prison in a fantastic scene and transition into a well-oiled machine by the time they take on Ronan in the final act is simply an awesome experience. Part of the reason on how they got there is a stunning job in the CG department. GotG got nominated for two technical Oscars for Best Visual Effects & Best Costume Design. After witnessing a few of its dazzling-yet-intense spaceship duels and watching the behind-the-scenes feature on the multi-hour process of what Saladana and Bautista had to go through in makeup justifies the film as being a Oscar contender in those departments.

What also helped round off this sublime audio/visual package is a five star soundtrack consisting primarily of 1970s pop hits such as “I Want You Back,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” and “Cherry Bomb.” Director James Gunn stated in the commentary for the film that Disney got every single song he requested approved for the soundtrack, and I am presuming Gunn must have spent a great deal timing when each and every song would kick in at just the right moment to add that extra dose of impact. A couple of my favorite examples of this are when the Guardians are planning their final assault on Ronan to “Cherry Bomb” and the opening title screen where Quill is dancing away to “Come and Get Your Love.” I remember being super giddy the day Google generously released the soundtrack for free on its Play Store and it has been in a consistent rotation in my running playlists ever since. There is only one noteworthy qualm I have with GotG and it is the fact that it is too lighthearted. Do not get me wrong, nearly all the jokes and zingers in here are clever and witty and each character has several standout lines/moments in the film that cracked me up. That there is the problem however! Unlike other past Marvel films that know when to cut back and get serious, this one never lets up on the jokes, so the few times that GotG attempts to have a pivotal, meaningful moment in the movie I found myself waiting for the surprise gag to come from out of nowhere to steal the scene, and in a couple of those moments that is exactly what happened. Again, that qualm is not a deal-breaker by any means and when you are dealing with a talking raccoon and tree as two of your main actors, I could see why Marvel felt like they had to dial up the jokes to help the audience suspend their disbelief. They just dialed it up a bit too much.

There are a few extras on the BluRay you can easily cruise through in no time, but are worth consuming. There are four minutes of deleted scenes with or without commentary from James Gunn. If you have watched past Marvel films on video, you know they have some of the best produced gag reels out there, and GotG does not disappoint with a killer array of bloopers that culminates with a spectacular dance-off you have to see to believe. Intergalactic Visual FX is a seven minute look at the costume and makeup design that made me get sympathetic for what Saldana and Bautista had to go through every day on set. Guide to the Galaxy is a 21 minute all-encompassing behind-the-scenes look at the film hosted by Gunn where he explains the world lore, interviews the cast and goes into what it took to pull off the huge final battle scene. Finally Gunn goes solo for a commentary track on the film, and it is a decent solo commentary where he has a lot of notes filling everyone in on the backstory of the universe from the comics and a lot of recollections about the casting for the film. Guardians of the Galaxy made me feel like a fool for doubting it as it went on to be both a critical and commercial success. It is one of several movies I have seen in the theater twice. If you somehow had my original premonitions on this film being a flop and avoided it because it featured a lot of characters you were unfamiliar with then go ahead and put those reservations to the side and watch this immediately so you can be ready for the sequel in a few weeks. I recommend watching it solo so you can avoid others judging you as you jam out and get your dance on to the songs throughout the film! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Creed Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Hercules: Reborn Hitman Ink Interstellar Jobs Man of Steel Marine 3 & 4 Mortal Kombat The Replacements Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Wild The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past