Tagged: DVD

Review: ‘Popeye’ on DVD

Next January, E.C. Segar’s cartoon creation Popeye turns 80. That’s a good run, especially for a character who still wasn’t showing many signs of his age in the 2004 TV special Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy.

While Popeye might not have aged over the years, he certainly has changed, which is clearly evident in the contrast between two new DVD collections of [[[Popeye]]] cartoons recently released from Warner Bros. Video.

The first, as mentioned in Michael H. Price’s latest column here at ComicMix is Popeye the Sailor 1938-1940 Vol. 2 ($34.98), which contains 31 remastered theater shorts. Created by the Fleischer family’s studio, these are some of the earliest animated Popeye adventures.

One can quickly see why the shorts became a phenomenon, as big or bigger than Disney’s toons (pointed out in an excellent documentary on the Fleischers that’s included). Popeye and the gang are essentially Vaudevillians, pinwheeling through one pratfall after another.

While that means there’s not much narrative richness and little language-based humor (most the characters are unintelligible), the Fleischers were masters of the gags, setting them up as curvaceous rows of dominoes, one slapping down another in orchestrated patterns.

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‘Tales of the Black Freighter’ Sails onto DVD

One of the big looming questions with the Zack Snyder adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen was how they would handle the Black Freighter side story.

Now we have an answer: It’s going straight to DVD, says The New York Times (via Cinematical). For those unfamiliar, the story of the Black Freighter is contained within a comic book that’s being read by a character in Watchmen. It features a man who had been captured by undead pirates and escapes, only to meet an even worse fate.

Instead of filming the Black Freighter story and splicing it into the Watchmen film (as Moore does in the graphic novel), Snyder decided to break it out into a separate film. The Times, which doesn’t usually cover such Hollywood business, uses the news as an example of efforts to drive up DVD sales, which have been stagnant:

The second film, tentatively called “Tales of the Black Freighter,” follows a side “Watchmen” storyline about a shipwreck and will arrive in stores five days after the main movie rolls out in theaters. The DVD will also include a documentary-style film called “Under the Hood” that will delve into the characters’ backstories.

Warner, the No. 1 distributor of DVDs, bills the effort as a way to renew retail excitement for little silver discs now that the once-booming market has matured.

After years of blistering growth, domestic DVD sales fell 3.2 percent last year to $15.9 billion, according to Adams Media Research, the first annual drop in the medium’s history. While it is still a blockbuster business, any decline is cause for concern because DVD sales can account for as much as 70 percent of revenue for a new film. Results for the first quarter this year were mixed, with overall sales flat but notable softness for some new releases like Warner’s box office hit “I Am Legend.”

‘Batman: Gotham Knight’ Trailer Posted

  • News
  • April 15, 2008

A trailer just came online for this summer’s Batman: Gotham Knight, the animated DVD accompanying the Dark Knight release. It’ll be released on July 8.

In short, it looks amazing, with some intense action and very slick animation. But don’t take my word for it, watch for yourself.

(via Blog@)

30 Days of Wakeful Nights, by Ric Meyers

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  • March 23, 2008

wakeful-nights-7911205Any regular reader will no doubt have noticed something by now. I think I may have mentioned it once before, early on, but there should be no harm in repeating it: this column isn’t really for the big-time releases any DVD fan already know exist. Naturally, by all rights, I, like everyone else, should review I Am Legend and maybe even The Mist, but hey, you’re going to watch, or not watch, those without any input from me – no matter how good or bad the special features are.

Instead, I most like to consider the DVDs that may have slipped under your radar, like Wakeful Nights, which is really an amazing movie for several reasons. Japan in general, and Tokyo specifically, is two different places. It’s an amazingly exciting, beautiful, cultured, exotic place for people who don’t speak or understand Japanese, and it’s an incredibly perverted, sex-soaked, practically demented place for those who do. Wakeful Nights is a DVD that both reveals the lusty fun just under the well-designed, well-dressed surface, as well as revels in the classic art of filmmaking and the ancient delights of Rakugo (Traditional Comic Storytelling).

Director Masahiko Makino was inspired by his grandfather, who was credited with initiating a “100 Years of Japanese Filmmaking” celebration, so he brought together generations of actors, writers, and singers to create a lewd, crude, but loving tale of a family gathering for a master comic storyteller’s funeral. Deciding to release this iconoclastic comedy in America, the good folk at AnimEigo had their translating and subtitling work cut out for them. But, for the most part, little is lost in translation … which is really saying something, considering the content and subject matter of the romp. Much of the time they have to put everything in context for American eyes, while still maintaining the momentum of the warped, culturally-punny jokes.

That’s where the extras help. They include some deleted scenes that contain some of the least effective diversions, but the real fun is to be had with the additional songs and their karaoke companions.  First you get to watch two characters have a “Geisha Idol” contest to see who best can deliver the jolly performance and raunchy lyrics of classic sexy songs usually performed by pretty hostesses at mens-only parties, then you get to try your luck at the same songs, with the help of phonetic lyric subtitles, and the occasional actor pop-up. It’s fun to watch and hilarious to try.

Then comes AnimEigo’s vaunted program notes, which are exhaustive to a fault, and much welcome in this multi-layered anniversary effort. Despite their attempt to answer every query the film might elicit, they are also a great starting point for further research – a fact the company seems well aware of, because the final program note is a long list of websites where more material can be found. By the last frame, I felt indoctrinated into a special place in Japanese entertainment, rarely experienced by any outsider. But even if you don’t share that feeling, it’s hard not to appreciate a DVD that comes with the warning: “Contains adult situations and language, disgusting puns, sick jokes, filthy karaoke, and a traumatized Manta Ray.” (more…)

Gattaca Tales, by Ric Meyers

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  • March 16, 2008

southlandtales-7316063Well, it’s SF week at the ol’ DVD Xtra. Not sci-fi week, but SF week, using the “official” contraction sanctified by the Science Fiction Writers of America, of which I was once a member. Now, if I were considering the likes of I Robot and/or I am Legend – two Will Smith vehicles adapted from far superior books – then maybe it would be sci-fi week. But, no, I’m reviewing two wildly divergent films – one totally out of control and one totally in control – that best exemplify the “genre of ideas.”

As virtually almost always, the studios green-light these projects then never really know what to do with them or how to market them. So, while both these releases should have been (and would have benefited greatly from being) glutted with special features the way Will Smith’s DVDs are, they’re both a tad light in the digital loafers (as it were). The lightest, and the most needy, is Southland Tales, another ready-made cult classic created by writer/director Richard Kelly, who had already given the world Donnie Darko<span style=”font-style:

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Anybody involved had to know what they were getting here. It’s not like the whole thing was improvised. In fact, during the thirty minute “making of” doc called “USIDent  TV: Surveilling the Southland,” actors professed to not being able to understand the long script but signing on anyway. If any film needed an audio commentary, this one does, but it doesn’t have one. Instead, the half-hour behind-the-scenes featurette skims over a wide range of approaches – from actor interviews to set decoration to stunt detailing. Richard Kelly is much in evidence, however, vainly trying to defend and detail his base-level Dr. Strangelovian funhouse of a film.

Here, again, is where DVDs can improve the viewing experience. In theaters, Kelly’s overstuffed confection would, and did, become fairly intolerable. But taken in DVD chunks (or chapters, if you will), the futuristic action mystery musical dramedy can even be enjoyable … if only to marvel at Kelly’s hubris, and the huge cast who agreed to participate. Even as a game of  “spot the cult fave,” the film can be fun. There’s the Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake, Christopher Lambert, Miranda Richardson, Wallace Shawn, Kevin Smith, Curtis Armstrong (Booger!), and Janeane Garofalo, as well as a bunch of past and future Saturday Night Livers and Mad–TVers.

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New ‘Starship Troopers 3’ Trailer Hits the Net

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  • February 27, 2008

Whatever your feelings about the first two Starship Troopers movies, the powers-that-be have decided you really want a third one. So, they’ve gone ahead and made it. And now, thanks to the power of the Internets, I can show you the new trailer for the third film right here:

 

 

This direct-to-DVD sequel known as Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, brings back Casper Van Dien from the first film as Johnny Rico and features the super-hot Jolene Blaylock as pilot Lola Beck and Boris Kodjoe as Dix Hauzer. The story centers around Johnny Rico, now a General and even more of a take-charge badass, who must go back into the field for one last fight agains the evil Bugs.

Look for the film on the shelves of your local DVD store later this year.

New Info Revealed on ‘Batman: Gotham Knight’

  • News
  • February 26, 2008

batmangothamknightsmaller-3709383Previously, my ComicMix colleague Rick Marshall brought you a first look at DC Comics and Warner Bros. animated direct-to-DVD anthology Batman: Gotham Knight. The film, designed to fill the gap between Batman Begins and Batman: The Dark Knight, features the work of several notable writers including Josh Olson, David S. Goyer, Alan Burnett, Jordan Goldberg, Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello.

This time around, thanks to an official press release, I can also let you in on some more details about the film, including who the directors are and the release date. According to the site, directing the anthology stories will be Shojiro Nishimi, Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki and Toshiyuki Kubooka.

In addition, the stories in the anthology will include "thrilling new adventures of Batman that spotlight several of Gotham City’s most dangerous villains, including the fearsome Scarecrow, the freakish Killer Croc and the unnerving marksman known as Deadshot."

Batman: Gotham Knights comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 8th.

 

Five Fistfuls of Justice, by Ric Meyers

  • News
  • February 24, 2008
 
justiceleague-3464763I hope you’ve already read Matt Raub’s advance review of Justice League: The New Frontier  — DC Universe’s Animated Original Movie — which was posted days ago. Naturally, since it’s coming out in stores this coming Tuesday, it’s time, keeping with the comic source material, for my variant review. Matt critiqued the film itself. I, of course, am reviewing the Two Disc Special Edition’s extras.
 
This baby more than makes up for what I felt last week’s He-Man Volume One DVDs lacked: right on the first disc they have a near-full-length (nearly 45 minutes) doc called “Super Heroes United!: The Complete Justice League Story.” It tracks the comic from its inception back in the 1940s ‘til today, using images, clips, and just the talking heads of most of the major comic creators of the era. The information from the likes of Roy Thomas, our own Denny O’Neil, and even Stan Lee was so comprehensive that the doc doesn’t even require a narrator or narration. It does benefit mightily, as do all the featurettes, from the soundtrack music of Kevin Manthei.
 
Then the first disc alone more than makes up for what I thought the Resident Evil: Extinction DVD lacked: their doc sneak-peek of the upcoming animated Animatrix-like Batman: Gotham Knights D2 (“direct to”) DVD shows the lame, cheat sneak peek of Resident Evil: Degeneration how it’s done. There’s plenty of making-of stuff, talking heads, and exciting glimpses of the finished product as opposed to Resident Evil’s peek-a-boo tease. The first disc of Justice League wraps with two audio commentaries – the first a gang approach, with six participants from the production and DC Comics (though not a single person from the pic’s impressive voice cast), and the second with the writer/artist of the source graphic novel, Darwyn Cooke.
 
The second disc kicks off with a slightly shorter but just as interesting history of “The Legion of Doom: Pathology of the Super Villain.” While it contains many of the same talking heads as the “Super Heroes United” doc (Michael Uslan, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, etc.), it also benefits from a Malcolm McDowell narration. Then, perhaps as compensation for the film’s inability to recreate the delightful style of the original graphic novel (understandably opting for the previously established designs of DC’s  recent Kids-WB Superman and Batman animated TV series), there’s the “Comic Book Commentary: Homage to The New Frontier” featurette, which goes into detail with and on Darwyn Cooke’s original. 
 

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He-Man and the Nine Amateurs, by Ric Meyers

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  • February 17, 2008
 
amateurs-2380932Note to producers: either retire words like “phenomenal” and “unbelievable” from your vocabularies or think thrice before allowing yourself to be filmed for DVD special features. Rest assured it will only help your cause. The aforementioned suggestion comes as a result of watching two long overdue DVD offerings back to back. If you watch only the extras, you’d think The Amateurs was the movie to see rather than The Nines. Neither movie will ever usurp the place of, say, the newly hi-deffed Lawrence of Arabia, but they surely prove how influential special features can be.
 
The Amateurs (known as The Moguls in the U.K. and Australia) is a cute, contrived, long-shelved, high-concept project from the indie upstart First Look Studios, while The Nines is a convoluted, contrived, high-concept project written and directed by the screenwriter of Corpse Bride, Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and Titan A.E. One big difference between the two is that the former has an amazing cast serving a creaky script, while the latter has a small, solid cast laboring to bring home a script that may not be more than a sum of its well-done parts.
 
It’s also great to compare the director/producer relationships. On The Amateurs, novice writer/director Michael Traeger is well served by temperate producer Aaron Ryder. On The Nines, writer/director John August is so outrageously lauded by producer Dan Jinks that the overstatements are hard to accept. Nevertheless, The Nines is the better film, which some critics, at the time of release, had a hard time understanding. 
 
The DVD itself showcases Entertainment Weekly’s review: “You’ll go ‘huh?’ but you won’t feel cheated.” Their confusion is fairly odd, since I felt the twee flick, which obviously took to heart Joan Osbourne’s song “What if God Were One of Us,” straddles the genres of Memento and Meet Joe Black (i.e. Death Takes a Holiday) in a fairly obvious way. In other words, I didn’t go “huh,” but I nearly went “so what?”
 

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Format Wars: We Have A Winner

  • News
  • February 17, 2008

If you have a HD-TV and you bought a Blu-Ray DVD player to watch Spider-Man 3, 300 or X-Men The Last Stand in all their high-definition glory, congratulations. You win. It looks like Toshiba is about to throw in the towel on their HD-DVD format.

Left at the alter by such outlets as Netflix, Best Buy and Wal-Mart and supported by an ever-shrinking number of studio releases, Toshiba tried slashing the price of their players and their discs – to no avail. Now Microsoft is talking about making its next X-Box compatible with Blu-Ray, a format also supported by a great many computer companies; Toast and other DVD authoring software also burn to Blu-Ray discs.

Sony had hoped for an immediate win with its Blu-Ray, but its delays in marketing the Playstation 3 game machine and software put them in second position. As movies became available and people could see the difference between the two formats, consumers voted with their credit cards.

So when the Iron Man movie comes out on DVD this fall, you won’t have to toss the dice. You’ll be able to see each and every hair in Tony Stark’s goatee with alarming clarity.

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