Author: Robert Greenberger

There’s a documentary about to open, [[[Waking Sleeping Beauty]]], focusing on the decade that saw Walt Disney Studios regain their mojo and produce a new generation of wonderful animated films beginning with [[[The Little Mermaid]]].  I’m really looking forward to seeing how that happened but we all know how it ends. Pixar’s CGI efforts arrived with [[[Toy Story]]] and suddenly 2-D movies looked like something from a fairy tale, old and tired. Disney shuttered the animation department.

When Pixar and Disney merged, the best thing to come from that was John Lasseter coming home and declaring that hand-drawn animation was far from dead. That statement became a fact last November when The Princess and The Frog
was released. Now on home video from Walt Disney Home Entertainment, it is a worthy addition to the family library.

John Musker and Ron Clement, who will get their due in the documentary, return as co-directors and it feels like they have not missed a beat. The movie follows what has become a standard template for a Disney film but they wisely spice things up much like the gumbo seen in the movie itself. Rather than adapt the tale and setting it in Europe, they felt a new venue was in order. New Orleans in the 1920s was an inspired choice, allowing them to feature people of color, along with the attendant dialects and influences.

The latest princess is not the first of color, a designation that more properly belongs to Princess Jasmine from Aladdin but having a largely African-American cast was long overdue. Fortunately, New Orleans has always been a real gumbo, mixing a little bit of everything and everyone so it’s the first truly multi-racial cast.

The story is entertaining with lessons learned and laughs to be enjoyed. The power of love proves more magical than anything conjured up by the malevolent Doctor Facilier. Also magical is the music from Randy Newman. While none of the numbers seem to be breakout hits, they do serve storytelling purposes and does give a number of performers, including the great Doctor John a chance to reach a wider audience.

Disney also uses a nice diverse vocal cast and the standout is Anika Noni Rose as Tiana. Everyone else is fine and well cast.

The movie is available in the now-standard combo pack so you get the Blu-ray, standard and digital disc in one nice package. Visually, the animation is bold and bright and eve more colorful on Blu-ray. The look and sound are ideal in this format.

The extras are a mixed bunch with solid commentary from co-directors Musker and Clement, along with producer Peter Del Vecho. For interested fans, there are a series of deleted scenes that never got beyond the pencil test and there’s interesting discussion as to why each moment wound up excised. Magic in the Bayou: The Making of a Princess is a nice 22 minute making of featurette.  After that, though, the others are shorter and far less engaging, including The Return to Hand Drawn Animation, The Disney Legacy (which references the Nine Old Men but doesn’t name them all), Disney’s Newest Princess, The Princess and the Animator, Conjuring the Villain, and A Return to the Animated Musical. The exception being Bringing Animation to Life, where Clements and Musker delve deeper into the process.

The Blu-ray is rounded out with Art Galleries and an interactive game, What do you See? for the younger crowd. 

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Much has been written about the human soul, what makes it so special and unique. How some souls can be twisted or damaged or how they could be sold to the Devil. It has been the inspiration for poetry, prose, and much philosophical thought. But the very idea that it is too heavy to carry around and therefore could be stored to lighten the burden…well, that’s unusual.

It’s the very premise of the little film Cold Souls
, which was written and directed by Sophie Barthes. The movie opened to fairly positive reviews last year but was largely overlooked despite the strong cast and intriguing premise. A work of sophisticated science fiction, it’s also a dark comedy in some ways. The film was released this month on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Paul Giamatti portrays an actor named Paul Giamatti, who is struggling with his role in a production of [[[Uncle Vanya]]]. Worried about losing his job and feeling terribly burdened by life, he considers storing his soul after reading an article on this new business.

Imagine his surprise to see his soul is small, the size of a chick pea and bright in color compared the more voluminous and grayer souls on display. At first he feels freed but fairly quickly he also recognizes the emptiness in his life. His performance has gotten no better and now he’s lacking in basic emotion such as empathy.

At much the same time, we discover the logical outgrowth of a business that deals with souls. They can be bought and sold legitimately, but also trafficked illegally as seen with a Russian mule operation led by Nina (Dina Korzun), who has smuggled souls imprinted in her until she arrives in America and delivers them to the same firm, run by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn).

Paul is unhappy so Flintstein quietly suggests he tries one of the imported souls. What neither realizes is that to make quota, the Russians are indiscriminately relabeling souls so he wants an artist but gets something else. When he finally decides to get his soul back, he learns it has been shipped to Russia, to Sveta (Katheryn Winnick), a model turned actress who just happens to be married to the head of the smuggling operation. On a trip to Russia to retrieve it, all the threads come together.

This is a terrific subject for a story and by keeping the focus largely on Paul, Barthes allows the audience to understand the daily complications of first having no soul then having the wrong soul.  She claims the idea for the film came to her from a dream and there’s an ethereal quality to some of the scenes so she has fully realized her concept.

Giamatti and Korzun are front and center in the story and both give solid, understated performances. Wasted in small roles, given too little to do are Emily Watson as Paul’s wife Claire and Lauren Ambrose as Stephanie, the lab assistant.

The disc comes complete with a short piece on the making of the soul extractor and several deleted scenes, one of which at least gave Watson more to do.

If only there were more movies that explored such engaging ideas without a lot of pyrotechnics, movies that could spark debate and better yet, thought.

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You have to wonder about the career advice Sarah Michelle Gellar has been receiving from her agent. Once she established that she could not only kick ass and stake vampires on [[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]], she also won over fans and critics by feeling the emotional impact of the events going on in her life. One reason the episode regarding her mother’s death is so well remembered has much to do with Gellar’s performance. We also saw that she could do other roles and gained attention in 1999 with Cruel Intentions.

Yet, since the series ended in 2003, she has made schlock horror films based on international offerings ([[[The Grudge]]]), slight comedies ([[[Scooby Doo]]]), and eminently forgettable films ([[[Suburban Girl]]]). In the fist category comes Possession, out this week from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Based on the 2002 Korean film [[[Addicgion]]], the American adaptation was filmed in 2007 and was initially set to release in 2008 before being consigned directly to DVD.

Set in San Francisco (although shot in Vancouver), the story is about a young married couple (Gellar and Michael Landes) trying to establish themselves while also taking in Michael’s criminal brother (Lee Pace). Lee creeps out Sarah so she insists he finally move out and this leads to a horrific car crash that sends both men to the hospital.

When Lee finally awakens, he appears in every way to have been changed…into his brother. He seems to possess Michael’s memories and is kinder, softer, and more emotionally vulnerable than he ever was before. With Michael comatose, Sarah has to decide whether or not to pull the plug on the life support equipment, complicated by the emotional connection she is forging with her brother-in-law.

Throughout, the question comes whether or not a freak accident swapped the men’s souls or Lee is faking it. This is intended to a psychological/supernatural thriller and while moodily shot using dim lighting, it also fails to emotionally connect with the audience. Largely this has to do with all three characters being woefully underwritten by Michael Petroni.  Directors Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist don’t help by letting the trio show much range. Lee Pace, we well know from [[[Pushing Daisies]]], can act and yes, he does the best job of the three by portraying two sides of the same man but even he feels flat.

Given that this story sprawls across a year or more, the lack of interaction with friends or family also robs the movie of feeling anything remotely real. Sarah’s brief interactions at work are the only proof that she has a life beyond her home.

The movie is a muddle and mercifully brief (1:25). The DVD comes complete with plenty of alternate and deleted scenes, none of which really would have helped make this a more enjoyable story. Then there’s the promo featurette that tells you absolutely nothing about the project.        

Gellar is an attractive, capable actress who has been repeatedly ill served by her film choices and maybe it’s time for her to find new representation.

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From the 1950s through the 1970s many a producer could make a nice career out of producing low budget exploitation films. Roger Corman turned his studio into a training ground and provided us with a generation of terrific filmmakers. Many who make films today were heavily influenced by these films and Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez paid homage with their [[[Grindhouse]]] extravaganza.

Exploitation movies are critic-proof. They will find their audiences thanks to the copious amounts of blood, senseless violence, and frequent displays of cleavage. But, for the most part, their time has come and gone as roadhouse promotions and drive-in theatres have gone the way of the nickelodeon. As a result, you have to admire anyone who sets out to make one these days.

Bitch Slap, out this week on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, is the latest such attempt at recreating a lost genre. Rick Jacobson and Eric Gruendemann cut their teeth on [[[Hercules]]] and [[[Xena]]] and have longed to take some of their syndicated television tendencies and mix them with an over-the-top exploitation film. They cowrote the script and Jacobson directed. Then they set out to bring in their pals (Lucy Lawless, Kevin Sorbo, and Renée O’Connor) to make cameo appearances in support of the stars.

You can see their influences through the clever opening and closing title sequences, which are nicely handled.

The movie features three curvaceous, bosomy beauties — Julia Voth, Erin Cummings, America Olivo – stuck out on the desert and caught up in a violent quest for diamonds and guns. Chasing them or trying to run away from them is another TV vet, Michael Hurst.

The movie cuts between the current action in the hot sun and is constantly flashing back to show how the stripper, the killer and the corporate powerbroker got caught up in this adventure. Clearly, the intention is to have fun and to constantly surprise the audience as we see things progress bringing them to this point.

Unfortunately, it’s an underwhelming mess. The script is too clever for its own good and leaves things confusing and poorly laid out. And while it’s interesting to watch these characters come to known one another, building some level of trust, there’s not enough of a spine to really make you care.

Instead, you’re there for the T&A and frankly, the trio remains clothed throughout despite the sex scenes and the times they pour water on each other or wrestle on the ground. The violence is pretty much as you expect with poor makeup and squib effects. After a while, I got bored watching the endless action despite nice stunt coordination from veteran Zoë Bell.

Much of the film’s flashbacks were shot using green screen technology and the backgrounds don’t seamlessly blend with the actors, adding the cheesy look. 

The movie comes complete with a nice four-part behind-the-scenes documentary that shows how much affection went into the project despite the poor results. We see the first cast read through as they introduce themselves and each actor recounts how they got their part. In many ways, this was more engaging than the film itself, especially as they struggled to work within a limited budget and shooting schedule.

The movie had a limited release back in January, earning all of $16,788 at the box office. This DVD is intended to find a more appreciative audience and comes unrated which has to be for the language – certainly not the sex or violence.

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Many ComicMix readers no doubt have struggled form time to time telling fantasy from reality. We want to let our minds wander, explore strange new worlds, and avoid the harsh and unpleasant realities that await us in the mundane world. The clash between fantasy and reality fuels the 1983 Michael Ende novel The Neverending Story and presented an interesting dramatic opportunity for the inevitable film adaptation, but Wolfgang Peterson, in his follow up to the acclaimed [[[Das Boot]]], botched the chance.

The movie was released in 1984 and despite glowing reviews, failed to perform at the box office and its sequels and related adaptations have all gone wanting. The film has been dusted off for Blu-ray, being released tomorrow by Warner Home Video. This appears to be the same version as was released on DVD in 2001 complete with the utter lack of extras. The print looks terrific and sharp while the upgraded 5.1 audio is the only compelling reason to buy this version.

The movie adapts just half the novel and made enough alterations to annoy Ende. Bastian is a terrific reader with a strong imagination, a place he retreats after his mother’s death and constant bullying from classmates. His father tries to convince him to live in the real world and begin adjusting to their new reality. A chance encounter at a used bookstore leaves the boy with a copy of [[[The Neverending Story]]] which he reads in one sitting, hidden in an unused attic at his school. By the end of the book, he is shocked to discover he has become a pivotal character in the tale and holds the key for the realm of Fantasia’s survival.

Much of the film, though, takes place in the fantasy realm and the creature designs and characterizations are imaginatively done. The production designers have done a nice job in creating a wondrous place with magical creatures, talismans, castles, and races that all get along. Yes, they look like puppets but done right, it can work—look at the recent Where the Wild Things Are.  If anything disappoints its some of the rear projection and blue screen work which is glaringly obvious on Blu-ray.

The movie fails, though, to make us care. These are fantastic creatures but none have personality nor do our twin heroes – Bastian or Atreyu. In fact, Bastian is conflicted throughout reading the book because he just talked with his dad about living in the world yet his imagination can save a different world. It can be a strong them but is barely handled. At film’s end, when Bastian emerges from the school, there’s no resolution, no bookend to complement the opening. In fact, Bastian’s absence is ignored by teachers and father and there are no consequences for his actions.

The book, which remains a beloved volume, has many more imaginative characters and settings than is seen here. Yes, not everything could be replicated and such a large book needed modifying for the screen. No question. But the lingering shots of Atreyu on his journey could easily have been set against more interesting visuals.

While the film has endured as a bit of a holiday time cable staple, it’s really a tedious adventure failing to come close to the magic contained within the source material.

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You have wonder why ABC Studios released the first ten episodes of FlashForward
on DVD considering they’re already available either on their website or Hulu. And yet, the two-disc set came out this week, a convenient package for those who may have missed out on the fun. And, if you like what you see, the package contains a coupon good for saving $10 on the Complete First Season, advertised as coming in August.

There are just two bonus features contained here: Creating Catastrophe, a 7:06 look at filming the explosive opening scenes from the pilot; and A Look Ahead, 4:48 of enticing clips that focuses more on the relationships than the overall mystery.

The mystery, for those who have yet to discover the series, is how all of mankind blacked out for 2:17 at precisely the same moment (10 p.m. PST) and everyone experienced a glimpse into their future, April 29, 2010 to be exact. While a global phenomena, the show follows the investigation of an FBI task force headed up by Joseph Fiennes, apparently the people who gathered the most clues the fastest, so everyone else has seemingly backed off.

[[[FlashForward]]] is based on the 1999 novel by Robert J. Sawyer
which traces the incident to an accident caused by the CERN Super Collider and actually showed a future decades away. The cool concept is well executed in the book and offered the producers, Marc Guggenheim, David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga a starting point. Other than the basic concepts, the book (well recommended) and the show have nothing in common.

What they have done is nicely show the many ways people react to knowing what’s in store for them. Fiennes saw himself investigating and falling off the wagon; his partner John Cho discovers he’s dead; his fiancée comes to realize she’s attending his funeral; and so on. We have a suicidal man rededicate his life and Fiennes’ nanny comes to a spiritual rebirth. It’s a large, sprawling cast of investigators and their loved ones in addition to the people who may or may not be behind this incident (and potentially a previous limited test in Africa years before).

It could be that the cast is too large so we go weeks between seeing some of these people. As a result, their reactions are blunted and they feel disconnected from the main story. Threads are also added and dropped without much reason. For example, there is clearly a connection between Fiennes’ young daughter Charlie and Dylan, the autistic son of Lloyd Simcoe, the very man Fiennes’ wife, Olivia may have an affair with by spring. Lloyd, by the way, has something to do with the blackout and has a connection to Dominic Monaghan’s physicist. See, it gets messy after a while.

On the other hand, it’s nice to see a show dealing with characters and how they change based on this event. Most series refuse to let their characters grow and change this rapidly for fear audiences won’t grow attached to them. We’re also given a diverse cast, filled with many familiar genre performers but mostly getting larger-than-normal roles so that’s a plus.

The series stated off to great reviews and strong ratings but it slid quickly which prompted the network to suspend the series after these ten episodes and then return post-Olympics. The show will resume on March 18 with a two-hour premier and run uninterrupted until its conclusion with a two-hour finale on May 27 (well after Sweeps end and the new season has been announced).

This is a strong concept, but like [[[Lost]]], needs a resolution. In fact, this probably should have been a one-season show so the producers could have planned accordingly. Goyer hasn’t done much TV and certainly not been involved to this degree which may be why it felt and looked a little different at the outset.  Guggenheim, strong with ensembles, was the first to leave over creative differences with the network. Goyer became the new showrunner and his approach clearly didn’t please ABC since he departed during the hiatus and his wife, Executive Producer Jessika Borsiczky, moved over to take the reins. Her touch will be seen this spring.

The show is engaging thanks to the cast and the characters but the overall mystery remains too ill-defined and possibly even unnecessary. But its here and needs to be resolved. Since April 29 comes during this run, you have to wonder what the aftermath will be like before a new wrinkle is introduced for the hoped-for second season.

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