Author: Robert Greenberger

Without realizing it, I grew up exposed to the earliest anime, shows like Astro Boy and The Amazing Three and Kimba the White Lion. It was a quiet invasion overshadowed by louder, more colorful and kinetic American animation on Saturday mornings and classic Warner cartoons on weekday afternoons. As a result, I missed the next great era of American anime such as Space Battleship Yamato and Robotech. It certainly developed a large following in the 1970s and 1980s with the airwaves packed with these shows. In fact there were so many that several shorter-run series were packed together as Force Five. The Wednesday show was known as Spaceketeers and ran for 26 episodes, edited down from 73 episodes and never quite concluded the story.

Now, Shout! Factory has taken the series, which was edited into three different films by Toei in 2009 and is releasing them on disc. The new version was written and directed by William Winckler, no stranger to adapting anime for American audiences given his earlier work on Tekkaman. Starzinger the Movie Collection is 326 minutes of an earlier era of anime and definitely has its fans. Sadly, I’m not among them.

Princess Aurora is a young human surrounded by a trio of cyborgs en route to the Great King planet to restore the Galaxy Energy. Apparently, the Great King’s aging Queen is causing this disruption throughout the universe and balance needs to be restored or life as we know it comes to an end.

The series is based on a serial that first ran in Terebi Magazine with art by Gosaku Ohta, but gained far greater notoriety in animated form (which ran in 1978-1979) thanks to the work done by Leiji Matsumoto, best known for his Captain Harlock work. In both cases, the story is a science fiction updating of a Ming Dynasty story, Journey to the West with Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, now a naïve, teenaged girl.

The original 16^th century antecedents were further twisted out of shape when the Japanese was translated into English and the brutal editing shifted the story to that of a mission to the Dekos Star System to stop peaceful beings from being turned into evil mutated lifeforms. A good portion of the story shows Jan Kugo, Sir Djorgo, and Don Hakka, think the Three Musketeers (Spaceketeers, get it?), protecting the Princess during the 30,000 lightyear journey to the source of corruption.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because the classic Chinese tale also served as inspiration for Dragon Ball and Saiyuki among others. By taking the core story and using elements in each of the three parts, this structurally works as a trilogy and the voice cast — Paul Oberle (Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun), Kyle Rea (The Mythical Detective Loki), and Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as Queen Lacet – do a serviceable job.

While the actual animation and design work is fine, it’s also not terribly imaginative nor do the episodes really do anything with the characters so there is little growth over the journey or depth to the characters. If you’re not a diehard anime fan, this grows tedious very quickly.  Still, for those who worship Matsumoto’s work, this becomes a must see production.

Director Danny Boyle gets credit for never repeating himself. In a short retrospective contained on the newly released Trance Blu-ray, he talks about the appeal of each film and how making them has continually surprised him. He had read the Joe Ahearne script for Trance years earlier and it stayed with him and he finally shot it. Then let it marinate in Post Production while he mounted the incredible opening for the most recent Olympics.

Ahearne wrote the script back in the 1990s and first showed it to Boyle after he shot Shallow Grave and the concept lingered. It is also partially based on the eponymous British television series. Boyle’s frequently collaborating John Hodge stepped in to rework parts of the script and then it was finally made last year.

The movie is many things but never dull and demands your attention. What appears to be a basic art heist caper film rapidly shifts into a psychological, film noir, femme fatale thriller. As the story revolves around Simon (James McAvoy), criminal Franck (Vincent Cassel), and hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson). You watch the film never quite sure who the focal point character is or who to root for. What becomes clear by the midpoint is that everything revolves around Elizabeth and Dawson’s cool, riveting performance.

Unfortunately, unlike his earlier works, none of the characters really feel like real people. They are closer to archetypes performing for an indecisive puppetmaster. Boyle gleefully is playing with reality here and you’re left reeling, trying to follow the chaotic timeline especially as new revelations make you question what you already understood.

Simon turns out to be complicit in the art theft but cannot remember where he stashed the $27 million painting so it falls to Elizabeth to coax the secret out of him as Franck paces, seething at being deceived. As Simon fixates on Elizabeth and not the painting, you think you have a romantic relationship but there are secrets within secrets and few things turn out to be what you expect.

Elizabeth appears to be brought in specifically to unlock Simon’s psyche but it becomes far more than that as she delves deeper than she intended and becomes the object of his desire. She needs to control him to find the painting but it also means she has to expose herself in ways that could spiral out of control. Watch her demeanor, her outfits and notably her hairstyle to help keep track of where in the story you are and what her goals are. In the most talked about sequence, she comes to Simon completely naked, fully nude and exposed, having shaved herself for him, placing herself at his mercy all to get what she needs. But wait, when did she know he wanted her this way?

It’s heady stuff and Dawson’s bold, brave, bare performance is fascinating to watch but really, there’s no character to root for, no one to sympathize with as your expectations are regularly overturned. As a result, you’re left feeling wrung out, much like a Christopher Nolan or Darren Aronofsky film, but somewhat lacking in passion.

The movie benefits from mesmerizing scenes and art direction, top-notch cinematography, and nothing but uniformly excellent performances. All that was really missing was the same heart and soul that Boyle’s other protagonists have displayed. It transfers wonderfully to Blu-ray with both the audio and video playing well at home.

There are Deleted Scenes (16:33) that are incredibly short and two lengthier ones that don’t change the sense of unreality; the aforementioned Retrospective (14:56), and a multiple part Making Of (33:59) that unlocks some of the thinking behind the movie. Additionally and inexplicably, we also get Eugene (13:07), a short film from Spencer Susser. Apparently, his script was entered into a contest sponsored by Westin Hotels, Intel and Roman Coppola. It was one of four winners and was shot. Why it’s here goes without explanation but it is highly entertaining and worth a look.

Today, Francis Ford Coppola is celebrated, and justly so, for his work on The Godfather Trilogy, and being one of the 1970s wunderkinds who helped change the look of movies. But he’s also the same guy who cut his teeth on Roger Corman low budget genre offerings and he seems to have come full circle with Twixt.

Once more Coppola does it all: writing, directing, producing. Unfortunately, the results are visually stylish and emotionally empty. If the lead character is a bargain basement Stephen King, this is Coppola’s shoestring budget The Shining and neither looks particularly good.

Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) was a once-promising author reduced to writing occult novels with declining sales and readership, causing him to go wherever he can to personally sell his books. As a result, he winds up in a creepy small town, tucked in a corner of the hardware/bookstore when he is told of a serial killer by the local sheriff (Bruce Dern). Desperate for cash and reinvigorating his deteriorating career, he agrees to stick around and help the sheriff investigate, offering to share the sales, but secretly pocketing the advance from the hardnosed editor (David Paymer).

One reason he agrees is that he encounters an ethereal girl named Virginia (Elle Fanning) who claims to be a vampire and no one else can see. Audiences realize something’s up because the color palette is totally washed out except for Virginia in glowing white and red. Coppola cleverly plays with reality via color filters and digital trickery that gives the movie an interesting atmosphere and look.

Before long, though, the story spirals into lengthy expositions with flashbacks within flashbacks as we pick up the pieces about what really happened to the thirteen girls who mysteriously were killed in a now abandoned hotel. Baltimore’s investigations are helped along by the spirit of Edgar Allen Poe (Ben Chaplin) who once stayed at the hotel. Their conversations about the craft of writing and storytelling is among the freshest and most interesting parts of the film.

Coppola neglected to give the characters any real personality. Baltimore’s unhappy wife (Joanne Whalley) is a desperate shrew; Paymer’s editor is tough, the sheriff desperate for fame, and Baltimore a stereotypical alcoholic writer, mourning the loss of his daughter. In the commentary and documentary accompanying the 1:28 film, now on disc from 20^th Century Home Entertainment, Coppola explains he dreamed about Virginia and woke up in 2009 and dictated his thoughts into a still-preserved recording. Clearly he decided the script should be as ephemeral so no character, alive or dead, is made three dimensional.

Kilmer’s distraught writer sleepwalks through the investigation, getting everyone around him to help with the investigation without a hint of gratitude. Whatever writing talent he had was many cases of whiskey back and he struggles to even begin his new manuscript without resorting to the very clichés his editor warns him against. The rest of the cast is never given much to work with and as playful and interesting as Fanning’s V promises to be, even she can’t make you care enough.

The film was shot in California and subsequently screened at numerous film festivals but could not secure a domestic distributor so audiences only now have a chance to see this thin, not terribly frightening misfire from a once great visionary. The movie has a so-so commentary from his grandson Gio or also shot the 37 minute Making Of featurette which is the sole extra accompanying the disc. The combo pack comes with Blu-ray and digital copy.

Back in the 1960s, like most boys, I had at least G.I. Joe action figure. They were cool but maybe not as cool as Captain Action, which followed two years later. Of course, both faded away over time until the Joe concept was revised by Hasbro. Working with Larry Hama and Marvel Comics, the idea was expanded, the figures scaled down and a phenomenon was born.

Given the wild success of the toys, the animated series, and the long-running comic, I remain baffled why it took until 2009 before a live-action film was made. Here were all the kids’ favorite good guys and bad guys brought to life, looking sleek and cool and yes, sexy. The film was a smash success so of course the wait for a sequel began immediately.

It wasn’t until early 2011 that work finally began and then we were promised the movie in 20123 and despite a mammoth marketing campaign; it was pulled just weeks before release. G.I. Joe Retaliation bounced around the schedule as there was a little reshooting, some re-editing and then upgrading to 3-D. Finally, four years later, the sequel arrived this spring and is now available on home video from Paramount Home Entertainment.

This is one of those critic-proof movies so despite almost universal panning, it racked up huge bucks at the box office making a third film likely. But, given the devastation wrought to the cast this time around, the question becomes who is left to star?

Wisely picking up from where the last one ended, Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) has replaced the President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce). Now he embarks on a plan to execute the Joes, frame them for mayhem, and then rescue Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) so Cobra’s latest plan to rule the world can begin.

Sure enough, most of the Joes are offed in short order with just three survivors: Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona), and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki). MIA and presumed alive is Snake Eyes (Ray Park). They’re on the run and need to regroup to save the world. Meantime, half a world away, Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) and Joe turned enemy Firefly (Ray Stevenson) free Cobra Commander with the ninja injured in the process. Alerted to this event, the Blind Master (RZA) dispatches Snake Eyes and his protégé Jinx (Elodie Yung), Shadow’s relative, to retrieve him so he can answer for the death of the Hard Master (don’t go there). One of the freshest and most visually interesting battles occurs on the snowy mountains as a result.

While that’s happening, the Prez names Cobra his new security force and Roadblock turns to the first Joe (Bruce Willis) for guidance. All the pieces are then moved around the chessboard for a while until everything climaxes during a global summit held at Fort Sumter. Things blow up real well until the world is saved.

Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland) do a passable job of keeping things moving even if they don’t always make sense and merely wave at characterization rather than truly explore what a world in which high-tech forces as Cobra exist. They open things up with a plausible breakdown of the Pakistan government and the Joes are sent in to retrieve all of their nuclear warheads lest they fall into unsavory hands. No one pauses to think about this or condemn the US for such an action. There are similar things that zip buy that beg for exploration but then again, this isn’t that kind of a movie.

The screenwriters also give use the sketchiest of characterizations and poor Lady Jaye is twice reduced to being a sex object and not once does she complain, instead talks about her daddy issues with Flint who has even less of a character. At least Jaye has the funniest exchange with Willis’s Joe so there’s that.

The movie barely acknowledges the characters from the first except for Duke (Channing Tatum) who is on screen long enough to be remembered and then is mourned.

Director John M. Chu keeps things moving and keeps the movie visually interesting even when the story falls flat. To his credit, at 1:L50, things move along and the action is not overdone compared with the action films that followed this year.

Perhaps the best thing about the film is the transfer to high definition. This is wonderful to watch with flawless colors and resolution. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack is a perfect complement so those owning this will be quite pleased.

The combo set offers you the Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy with all the goodies added to only the Blu-ray disc. In a nice touch, you can pick a G.I. Joe or Cobra theme for the menus. Here you get three deleted scenes with one, set at Arlington Cemetery, truly missed. In the Audio Commentary, Chu and Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura provides some nice insights into how the film came together and the choices made. G.I. DeClassified is a complete 1:12 eight-part look at how the film was assembled from concept to special effects. It’s interesting to see Military Advisor and ex-Navy SEAL Harry Humphries turn the cast into military-grade commandoes. The emphasis is on the effects, sets, and action sequences although one does focus on Willis and the classic toy line.

While I wish for a stronger script, it’s pretty much what fans of the toys and cartoons will expect and appreciate.

The Golden Age of Hollywood is filled with shining stars, brilliant directors and pioneering films that built a foundation for all to follow. As a result, films from those first decades are viewed with nostalgia and fondness, making us consider them all to be wonderful, especially the ones form the Big Name Stars. The magic of those early years was nicely captured by Martin Scorsese in Hugo and the bets of the best are restored and released on Blu-ray waiting to be rediscovered.

While we bemoan the justifiably bemoan the bloated nature of films, hoping they would be trimmed by 15-20 minutes and emphasis character over mindless action, we cite the classics in the field. And then come along older films that sound promising, look interesting and ultimately show they have not aged at all well. 20^th Century Home Entertainment just released Tyrone Power’s Blood and Sand on Blu-ray and despite it being about a bullfighter, does not make you cry, “Ole!”

The 1941 release was shot in color and it is lovely to look at, earning Oscars for cinematographers Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennahan. Based on the 1909 novel by Vincente Blasco Ibanez, it tells the story of a cocksure son of a legendary bullfighter, determined to follow in his father’s footsteps. Sure enough he does, becoming the toast of Spain much to his mother’s regret, who has seen this all before. He marries Linda Darnell but falls for temptress Rita Hayworth. You pretty much know where this is all going since the script lays it all out like a series of tracks to carry the train.

Power’s Juan Gallardo leaves home as a promising teen and returns home a champion, ready for fame and stardom, He is at first mocked then loved then abandoned by the great matador critic Curro (Laird Cregar) who seems to represent the adoring and fickle public. As Gallardo’s star rises, he pays less attention to his craft, indulging in life’s luxuries and does everything to excess. Along the way, the illiterate never takes time to educate himself or pay attention to who handles his money, a situation exacerbated when he enters into the fiery affair.

One of the most interesting scenes in the film is when the two women meet and talk not fight, about the man they both love. It’s subtle and underplayed so is remarkable.

The stars are well supported with some terrific character actors early in their careers such as J. Carroll Nash (Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and the theatrical John Carradine. Accompanying Hayworth and sporting a cheesy Mandrake mustache is young George Reeves and he’s given precious little to do but cock an eyebrow at Power.

The bullfighting scenes are genuinely boring and you never are made to understand what makes Gallardo so special. And of course there’s one of his childhood friends who is now his rival, played with verve by Anthony Quinn. As The New York Times wrote during the film’s initial release, “In themselves they are good calendar art; as film drama they are as hopelessly static as Jo Sterling’s adaptation is puerile. Most of the fancy capework in Blood and Sand occurs in the script.

“For there is too little drama, too little blood and sand, in it. Instead the story constantly bogs down in the most atrocious romantic clichés, in an endless recital of proof that talented young bull-fighters are apt to become arrogant and successful; that Curro, the critic, will sing their praises, and that thereafter their love life becomes very complicated.”

Jo Swelring’s script is thin and given his credentials I expected far better. Director Rouben Mamoulian keeps the pacing deliberate and stretches things adding a dollop of heavy handed religious imagery. At 2:05, I wanted more story or a faster pace or something because this just plodded along, creaky in terms of dialogue and performance.

The film transfers wonderfully to high definition with good audio. The sole extra on the disc is a commentary from Richard Crudo, former President of the American Society of Cinematographers. His background and anecdotes are sometimes more interesting than the film itself.

We can recall a defining moment in our lives when we encounter something different for the first time, and it connects to us in a way that feels transformative. As a comic book reader in the 1960s, the arrival of Neal Adams at DC felt like that and again, when Frank Miller ran solo on Daredevil. Other generations got that feeling encountering Alan Moore’s words for the first time; it was writing unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

In music, before my time, Elvis Presley and then the Beatles did that for the world. In 1975, when WNEW-FM broadcast one of the Bottom line concerts featuring Bruce Springsteen, I had heard nothing like it before. There was energy to music, a blend of rock and brass that was fresh. And then when Born to Run came out, the lyrics told me stories and transported me. And with that confession, it is clear I am a long time, diehard Springsteen fan.

Since his debut in the early 1970s, Springsteen has been growing from charismatic rocker to the next coming of Bob Dylan to the future of rock and roll to conscience of America. He is an artist unafraid to explore where his muse takes him, deriving inspiration from his painful youth or from a passing sign. He has sung of love and loss, disillusionment, faded youth, the struggle to put food on the table, and the promise of better days. As a result, he has put together a catalogue of material that is wide and diverse so there’s something for everyone.

Musically, he created a unique sound fusing electric guitar, drums, keyboards and saxophone that is as equally versatile, allowing his live performances to energetically carry on for three-plus hours without sounding the same. And it’s here where he has shone, putting most touring acts to shame. Where choreography and set design triumphs over the performance elsewhere, Bruce and the E Street Band have, for decades, put on a show that can rock down a house or grow eerily silent as thousands commune at the altar of rock.

In some ways, Bruce Springsteen is a living Rorschach test as people from all ages and all countries connect with him in different ways. One summed it up best saying, “I felt like he was playing for me.” His lyrics make an instant connection with many as a song connects with where they are in life. One young graduate student has talent o driving a truck and his songs about work let her carry on. Some 2000 people shared those personal stories in a crowdsourced documentary, Springsteen and I, playing July 22 and July 30 in theaters across America. Executive producer Ridley Scott and director Baillie Walsh sifted through the tales, including one from ComiCONN producer Mitch Hallock, to assemble this 1:18 documentary.

Archival concert footage is liberally sprinkled in with fan videos and personal commentaries so it’s fun to watch Bruce and band mature, age, and still have the power to bring stadiums to their feet. Many tried to sum Springsteen up in three words, the most common being “passion”. One little girl talked about “lots of effort” going into his shows which is an understatement.

There is one curmudgeon in the mix who is not a fan and endures the concerts to be kind to his fanatical girlfriend. He notes, having his songs “rammed down my throat 24/7 tends to take the edge of it” which is counterpointed with the soccer mom who plays only Bruce when she drives the kids around town.

Many anecdotes are personal, backed up with captured video of the story made real, such as the Elvis impersonator who got to perform with the Boss on stage or the girl in the Courtney Cox t-shirt loving out the fantasy by dancing on stage. JoJo recounts how he was busking on the street and coaxed Bruce to play with him and the performer agreed doing several numbers as the crowd grew around them. “He’s still one of us,” JoJo said decades later.

If the documentary is to be faulted at all is that there are no dates to place the concert footage into context. Same with some of the fan footage. While a lot of the commentary is about Bruce the singer and performer, more could have been done with connecting his lyrics to the people’s lives rather than the more generic and surface comments. And while the E Street band is prominent in the footage, the fans have little say about them, despite their contribution to concert experience.

For those wondering what the Springsteen fuss is all about, you won’t come away with a better understanding. For that, I recommend you read the recent bio, Bruce. This is a love letter to Bruce, a Valentine from the fans to one another, a global chain letter that nicely unifies the global audience of all ages.

Robot Chicken has had some fun with the DC Universe ever since the series premiered on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. As a result, a DC-centric special was inevitable and it aired back in the winter. Now out on DVD from Warner Home Video, the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special is a fast-paced laugh riot for comic book fans.

The RC crew, headed by cocreators Seth Green and Brecken Mayer are on hand, aided, abetted, and egged on by DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. Interestingly, Zeb Wells, who normally writes for Marvel, never for DC, is ion hand to direct the special. On the surface, they cleverly make this appealing to mainstream viewers by basing the look, feel, and sound to mimic the Super Friends animated series, using sound effects from other animated projects. But once the special gets underway, you glimpse tons of characters only comic readers would know, and that’s fun, because you don’t need to know the arcane details. Still, one of the funniest bits involves the foe Mr. Banjo, voiced by Alfred Molina, who admits it was his favorite part on the special.

And the voices help sell this. Molina is joined by Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Megan Fox, Abe Benrubi, Tara Strong, Clare Grant, and the hilarious, foul-mouthed Alex Borstein.

The 23 minutes zip by, tied together by the usual ribbing Aquaman gets but this time, he gets so frustrated he turns to the Legion of Doom and offers his help in taking down the JLA. Another running gag, that never gets old, is the sudden arrival of Bane, who picks up Batman, breaks his back and departs.

Given how short the running time, it’s pretty impressive the disc comes with two hours’ worth of extras, notably funny writer commentaries and slightly less funny actor commentaries. There’s also The Making of Robot Chicken DC Comics Special that runs nearly as long as the show itself and gives you a good idea of what goes into making one of these episodes. There are some outtakes as the actors flub lines and deleted sketches, that get introduced and you learn why they didn’t make the cut. These, at least, got turned into animatics before being cut and one, the heroes needing the bathroom after eating Green Arrow’s chili, was borderline offensive while Booster Gold debating time traveling to kill Hitler with the JSA felt inappropriate (I guess you still shouldn’t make fun of the Holocaust).

Another extra takes you on an incomplete, mildly incoherent tour of DC Entertainment’s new Burbank offices, which makes it look like a fun place to work. The disc is rounded out with Robot Chicken DC Comics Special’s Aquaman Origin Story, Chicken Nuggets, Stoopid Alter Egos, and 5.2 Questions.

Danny Boyle’s Trance is now available on DigitalHD and will debut on Blu-ray add DVD July 23. To celebrate, we have 1 copy of the disc to giveaway to a lucky reader.

Trance brings us tons of twists and turns in the plot as multiple layers of backstabbing occur.  Movies with unexpected turns have become a favorite of audiences. It’s a difficult task to make sure that the twist is unpredictable, but when it is done correctly, double-cross heist films make great additions to movie history. Here, we lay out some of our favorite twisty-turny heist films.

From Academy Award-Winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) comes an “exhilarating brain-twister” (New York Post)! After a blow to the head during his attempted robbery of a $27 million Goya painting, Simon (James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class), a fine-art auctioneer, awakens to find that the painting – and his memory – are missing. Forced by his ruthless crime partner Franck (Vincent Cassel, Black Swan) to undergo hypnosis, Simon enters into a deadly love triangle with his seductive hypnotist (Rosario Dawson, Sin City). As the plot twists, the line between reality and dream becomes blurred in this fast-paced, unpredictable, “sexy and suspenseful” (Empire) thriller.

Heat

A series of unexpected changes puts the police close on the trail of Neil McCauley and his crew as they plan yet another bank robbery. After a brutal beating to the crew, only a few are left to carry out the plan. McCauley goes through a lot of difficulties and even develops a mutual understanding with Lieutenant Hanna. In the end, this heist may prove to be too difficult and could be the last string for the crew.

The Bank Job

Terry, Kevin, Dave, Bambas, and Guy thought they had it made when they were given the chance to rob a London bank for millions. The job seemed simple enough for the crew, who made plans to dig a tunnel and empty the bank’s safety deposit boxes. Things got a little more complicated once they realized one of the boxes held scandalous photos of British Royalty, Princess Margaret.  Through a series of twists and turns, members of the crew were tracked down and only a few made it out alive.

Training Day

Jake Hoyt had no idea what he was getting himself into when he started his first day of work as a narcotics officer.  His new partner, Detective Alonzo Harris, has planned to steal millions of dollars from a drug dealer and save himself from the Russian Mafia. Alonzo may have surprised the audience with his scheming, but in the end a plot twist leaves the money in the hands of Jake.

The Score

Back from retirement, Nick Wells plans to steal a scepter and complete one final heist. He teams up with another robber, Jack Teller to complete his plan. It turns out that Jack and Nick do not make such a great team. Both the robbers become selfish and want the scepter for themselves. In the end, Nick has much more experience and is one step ahead of his partner in crime.

After The Sunset

Max Burdett and his wife Lola promised to retire from the business forever and moved to a tropical island.  An FBI agent who had been trying to convict the couple for years followed them to the island, but unknowingly became friends with the retirees.  When a cruise ship with a large diamond is scheduled to visit the same island, the stone is taken by a well-planned heist. In the end, the diamond ends up in the hands of the person who is least expected after a few series of back-stabbing situations.

The Trance Blu-ray offers up the following  Special Features:

BD Exclusive Features

●    Theatrical Feature Blu-ray

●    Deleted Scenes
●    Trance Unraveled (Easter Egg)
●    The Power of Suggestion-Making Trance
●    Kick Off
●    Danny’s Film Noir
●    Hypnotherapy
●    The Look
●    The Final Rewrite
●    Danny Boyle Retrospective
●    Short Film: EUGENE by Spencer Susser
●    Theatrical Trailer
●    UV Copy

DVD Exclusive Features

●    Theatrical Feature
●    Hypnotherapy
●    The Look
●    The Power of Suggestion-Making Trance
●    The Final Rewrite
●    Theatrical Trailer

To win, tell us which feature film James Marsden has not appeared in:

• Enchanted
• Superman Returns
• Looper
• Hairspray

You must have your answer submitted no later than 11:59 p.m., Sunday, July 6. The decision of ComicMix will be final.