Last week saw the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on DVD and Blu-ray. Available in three different editions (single-disc DVD, two-disc DVD, and Blu-ray), the back-story of fan favorite X-Man, Wolverine, is now yours to watch and enjoy in the comfort of your own home.

When Wolverine was released in theaters, we here at BSR! did a roundtable on the film (and a lone-review toting it as the greatest superhero movie ever), which you can check out everyone’s thoughts here. Here’s what I had to say about the film:

As fas as the movie itself goes, I tend to be a lot more forgiving with these types of comic book movies than most of my fellow nerds, and with this film it was no different. Was it great? Definitely not. It was however, a good mindless-action-popcorn movie; unfortunately this is not what it should have been. One of my main complaints was that they blew through the first 150 years of “Jimmy’s” life in the opening credits, I felt like there could have been more said about this. The part they did focus on was mildly interesting to me, but still left a lot unexplored and didn’t really paint Wolverine as the supposed “animal” that he can be; and this remains true throughout the entire running time of the movie. They leave the points they should have explored unexplored and focus on the most mindless parts with little substance.

The cast, aside from will.i.am, was good but horribly under-used. You hate to see good actors put into poorly written action movies. I was horrified at some of the lack-luster special effects throughout the entire movie so much so that I cringed at a few parts (Logan playing with his new claws in the bathroom mirror). And let me just say that I watched X2 a few days after I saw this movie and if you thought you could poke holes all throughout the plot of X-Men Origins, go watch X2 again… you’ll double the amount of plot complaints you already had.

All in all, if I am being perfectly honest, I don’t know what else to say about this movie. As a comic nerd, I was appalled at many parts of this movie, and as someone looking to be entertained for a few hours, I thought some of it was pretty cool. I don’t think anyone should not go check this movie out, as there are enough “Oh, it’s cool to see Wolverine do that on screen” parts to at least keep you mildly entertained and let you form your own opinion.

As far as the special features go, they are pretty standard: a few featurettes and commentaries that aren’t too exciting or interesting. The special features are so standard that I would almost recommend saving yourself the couple bucks and pick up the single-disc version as opposed to the two-disc  special edition -but there is a pretty lively interview with Stan Lee. You can check out the full list of special features below.

I give X-Men Origins: Wolverine on DVD and Blu-ray a very mild recommendation. I wouldn’t rush out and buy the two-disc special edition right away, but for those who may have missed it in theaters I’d say it’s at least worth a rental. You can purchase any of the three editions over at Amazon.

Blu-ray Disc Specs:
The X-Men Origins: Wolverine BD is presented in widescreen on a 50GB dual-layer disc authored in BD-J with AVC (MPEG 4) compression with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio and French / Spanish 5.1 DTS along with English / French / Spanish subtitles. Special features include:

• Disc One
o Commentary by Director Gavin Hood
o Commentary by Producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter
o The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with X-Men creators Stan Lee and Len Wein
o Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins
o “Wolverine Weapon X Mutant Files Featurette: 10 Character Chronicles
o “The Thrill of the Chase: The Helicopter Chase Sequence” featurette
o “X Connect and On Set With Gavin Hood” featurette
o X-Facts: Trivia Track
o Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Gavin Hood
o Alternate Memory Erase Sequence
o Alternate Tag Scene: Japan
o Fox Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere
o IMDB BD-Live technology
• Disc Two
o Digital Copy

Two-Disc Special Edition Specs:
The X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2-Disc Special Edition DVD is presented in widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Surround and French / Spanish Dolby Surround along with English / French / Spanish subtitles. Special features include:

• Disc One
o Commentary by Director Gavin Hood
o Commentary by Producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter
o The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with X-Men creators Stan Lee and Len Wein
o “Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins” featurette
o Deleted and Alternate Scenes
o Alternate Tag Scene: Japan
o Anti-Smoking PSA: Bubbles
• Disc Two
o Digital Copy

Single-Disc Specs:
The X-Men Origins: Wolverine Single-Disc DVD is presented in widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Surround and French / Spanish Dolby Surround along with English / French / Spanish subtitles. Special features include:
o “Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins” featurette
o Anti-Smoking PSA: Bubbles

In my opinion, the two most important Blu-ray releases today are the classic, hilarious films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Both of these films have scripts that I would define as Swiss watches. Carefully crafted and as precise as a movie can be. For genre-comedies, these are two of the most finely written, acted and crafted ever conceived.

Next we have the Blu-ray release of the complete collection of Wallace & Gromit on Blu-ray. This contains the four short films in glorious high definition. These are really funny and fun to watch and is the perfect thing to watch with the kids or on your own.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection comes out today on Blu-ray. I’m a little conflicted about this one. I was never that big of a fan of the TNG Star Trek movies. In fact, I didn’t really like them much at all. Even First Contact which everyone tells me is great and I need to watch it again. But I’m keen to give them another chance and them coming out on Blu-ray just may be enough to get me to check them out again.

In other Star Trek news, Star Trek The Original Series: Season Two comes out on Blu-ray. I enjoyed the first season so much, this is pretty much a must buy for me.

The complete first season of Castle hit DVD today. This is the show that stars Nathan FIllion and was constantly advertised during the 5th season of Lost. It was mildly entertaining, though the writing was pretty boring and predictable. The only thing about this show worth watching is Nathan Fillion. He’s funny, charming and just fun to watch, damnit.

Finally, we have 30 Rock – Season Three. I hadn’t watched a single episode of this show since it’s been on the air, but I’ve made it through most of this set and I have to say I’m pretty pleasantly surprised. This show has offered pretty consistent laughs. True, half of each episode is filled with pretty standard sitcom fare, but the guest stars are great and Alec Baldwin is a bloody treat to watch. Tina Fey shines, too. So does Tracy Morgan. In fact, this show is pretty great and now I’m pretty keen to grab seasons 1 and 2. And I feel stupid for missing the boat on it.

Be sure to check out Arse-bot’s highlights and low lights over at his Examiner page!

The latest in DC’s animated films isSuperman/Batman: Public Enemies which comes out on nationwide September 29. (You can preorder it on Amazon).

The film is loosely based on the Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness story arc that took place in proper DCU continuity. ( You can pick up it up here) Both it and the film sees President Lex Luthor using the pretense of a giant Kryptonite asteroid hurtling toward Earth to place a $1,000,000,000 bounty on the heads of Batman and Superman, bringing every villain in the DCU as well as the JSA and other heroes after them.

All the while the asteroid is still on a collision course with the planet and billions of lives are at stake. Will Batman and Superman thwart Lex Luthor and save the world? Of course, but will it be rad on the way? Generally.

The film version of this story was very fun to watch and looked crystal clear in the Blu-ray format in a way that I’m happy about. In fact, the animation and picture quality looked pretty close to flawless. It packed quite a bit of fun and adventure into its paltry 67 minute running time, but had moments that made my spine tingle in all the right ways.

Let’s get this straight: I very much enjoyed this movie, but I don’t think it was the best DCU movie that’s been made. Pretty far from it. I think New Frontier, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Mask of the Phantasm and maybe a few others belong on a list far above this entry into the mythos, but that doesn’t mean it’s without merit.

The things it did right, the action, adventure, and animation, were all turned up to 11. The problem was with the screenplay. They excised too much story for brevity and the film didn’t have as much of an emotional impact as it should have. I don’t know if this happened in post, or before the film started, but it just didn’t have an emotional climax as good as any of the DCU films I mentioned above. There were a few standout moments, but you were just rushed from one encounter to another to serve the plot without much time to breathe in between. Perhaps this comes from comparing books to movies in adaptations a little too much, but there were moments in the book that were tailor made for film adaptation that were left out for no apparent reason. (Like all of the suspense during and after Batman and Superman’s fight with Hawkman and Captain Marvel, for example.)

There were more examples of that. And it seems like a few things were done for express purpose of getting a PG-13 rating, even though I wouldn’t hesitate to show this to a 7 year old. At one point, Lex Luthor shouts “Bitch!” even though he could have easily said a thousand things that would have made more sense to the story.

At the end of the day, though, the movie had a lot of great fighting. Bats and Supes against Metallo was great, them fighting with what felt like every B list villain in the DCU was fantastic, and the fight with Captain Marvel and Hawkman was amazing. But in the suspense department, the movie didn’t hold me.

My only other real problem with the movie was all of the over-hyping involvement of people. We ran an interview with LeVar Burton about his role as Black Lightning in the film and he literally has one line. And the line (“I think I could create a force field”) probably could have been chopped out of an episode of The Next Generation. Did they need him out promoting the movie? I simply don’t know. I suppose if it gets more people to watch it, then the answer is yes.

Aside from that, the Blu-ray also has 6 episodes of Justice League Unlimited that make the disc a must buy.

Like I said, to get it on Amazon click here. You probably won’t regret it.

Animated X-Men Volume 3 and 4 comes out on DVD today and I have to say I love watching this show all over again. Sure it’s cheesy, but this is how a lot of us were given our first real taste of the X-Men. Don’t forget that we’re giving away a set of these and the contest ends today (click here for details). These X-Men cartoons are perfect for a week or two of nights watching with the kids. In other X-Men related news today, X-Men Origins: Wolverine came out on DVD and Blu-ray. There really isn’t much to say about that one.

As far as a mandatory purchase today, Criterion released an Essential Art House version of Akira Kurosawa’s Throne Of Blood. You must own this movie. If you own the full version, excellent. If you don’t own it, now there is no excuse with the way this version is priced. Buy it now. Seriously.

The classic An American Werewolf in London is hitting a Blu-ray release today. This movie is funny, scary and has perhaps the greatest werewolf transformation scene in film history. It should be quite a thing to see in the Blu-ray format.

Army of Darkness comes out on Blu-ray with its Screwhead Edition. Again, there isn’t much more to say about this one. This movie is a classic for a reason, go buy it in high definition.

Next on the list is the brand new remaster of the original Transformers: Season Two, Volume 1 for its 25th anniversary. The episodes on these discs look cleaned up beyond all reason and are a treat to sit at home and watch with any number of small children who may or may not be yours.

With all of this Vampire craze going about, I’d honestly rather watch the discs ofDark Shadows that they’re releasing today. I watched pieces of this show while I was a kid and couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but I’m interested enough to check it out now. And even if it’s terrible, it can’t be as bad as Twilight.

Perhaps Rob Reiner’s last masterpiece, Misery comes out on Blu-ray today. This film holds up so well that it’s nauseating. Seriously, in a good way.

Perhaps one of the releases I’m most looking forward to today is Peter Bogdonavich’s Directed by John Ford. This documentary features interviews with John Ford, Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Clint Eastwood and plenty of other people from an era of the industry that I miss deeply. This is certainly worth a look.

Another box set I’m keen to get my hands on is One Step Beyond: The First Season. This was an anthology show like the Twilight Zone, but it ended its run 9 months before Twilight Zone went on the air. I have a disc with one episode starring Charles Bronson and I loved it.

Speaking of horror, Universal is putting out a Legacy edition of the 1941 The Wolfman with Lon Chaney and Claude Rains. That is music to my ears.

Finally we have a Blu-ray four pack called The Ultimate Force of Four. I received it yesterday in the mail and plan on reviewing it shortly, but it contains four movies that I’ve been dying to get into my blu-ray collection as it is. Zatoichi, Drunken Master, Hero, and Iron Monkey. This is certainly a box set that’s a force to be reckoned with.

Be sure to check out Arse-bot’s highlights and lowlights over at his Examiner page!

Warner Brothers was kind enough to offer us a clip of the forthcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (which can be pre-ordered from Amazon here). I have to say, they seem to have done an excellent job in bringing Ed McGuinness drawings to life.

It comes out September 29th on DVD and Blu-ray.  We should have a review up sometime before then.

The History Channel has been putting out made for T.V. documentaries like crazy, and one of them was about the mysteries of the Freemasons, which is something I’ve been interested in for a while now.

They start the documentary by asking all the same questions that got me intrigued enough to watch this documentary in the first place. What are the Freemasons? What is their secret? Are they devil worshipers? Do they run the government? What I learned from the documentary is the sad truth that they aren’t as amazing as we are led to believe.

I guess that’s just the way it is though, if there was some shocking secret that could be told in the documentary we would have heard it all already. Despite the fact that the Freemasons aren’t as interesting as we all hope, the documentary made them a bit more interesting with some of the features in the documentary.

For example, they showed some of the Freemason secret handshakes and where they came from. They showed a reenactment of a master mason ceremony, and the history behind that. I think what the documentary did best was just to go into the history of the Freemasons, what some of them believe, where they get their ceremonies from, what type of people they descended from. Some rumors were pretty interesting, most of which I had never heard before. For example, there are some rumors that the Freemasons discovered America before Columbus.

If you’re afraid of the Freemasons, some of the facts they went into could be a little shocking, 14 U.S. presidents have been Freemasons, and 9 of the people that signed the declaration of independence. They have 2 million members in the United States. And it seems to me that most of the founders were illiterate, but tremendous architects.

So if you want to know more about the Freemasons, (unless a Freemason made this documentary and doctored the facts), this should teach you as much as you need to know about them. You can buy the DVD here!

“Will no one help the widow’s son?” -Hiram Abiff

Review originally ran on Examiner.com

It has been 40 years since the infamous summer of 1969 when Charles Manson struck fear into the city of Los Angeles. Now, History™ is taking a look back at the work of Charles Manson, through the eyes of someone that was there in the feature-length docudrama, Manson.

Linda Kasabian was a member of the Manson Family and was there the fateful night of the Sharon Tate murders as the lookout and the getaway driver. She has not been interviewed in 20 years, but now she has come forward to give her first-person account of what it was like to be a part of the Manson Family, to be in the presence of Manson, and what parts she played in these notorious murders.

Manson is an impressively put together docudrama from History™ that includes great performances from the actors for the recreations and incredibly interesting first-person accounts. The main “story” that the film follows is that of Linda Kasabian and her journey into the Manson Family. She talks how during the time of peace and love she set off on her own with her child to leave her husband and landed at the Manson Family Farm. Never feeling more accepted and loved, Linda immediately fits in with the rest of the hippie community lead by Charles Manson himself. As her accounts go on, Linda recounts the gradual change in the family, and in Charles himself as he fails to realize his dreams of a music career and being renowned all across the country. Linda gets sucked into the drugs and the propaganda that Manson provides not knowing that her and everyone else are slowly being molded to do Manson’s bidding. Eventually, we arrive at the Sharon Tate murders and Kasabian recounts her role in the murders. She claims to only have been the lookout and the getaway driver, but watched several of these brutal murders happen with her own eyes as some of the victims tried to run from the house only to be ran down and stabbed some twenty-odd times. Of course, as the summer roles on more and more murders are committed by Manson’s family, each victim more brutal than the last, and all seemingly at random. Of course, as with any good docudrama, Manson is wrapped up nicely in the end as they break down the major players in the Manson family and the sentences they received, including Charles himself. Linda Kasabian received immunity for her testimony for everyone who actually committed the murders.

Using movie-like recreation, rare archival footage and audio, and personal interviews, Manson paints an incredibly realistic picture of Charles Manson and his family during the nine months leading up the the Sharon Tate murders, more-so than many that came before it. All of the interviews and accounts come from people either personally or professionally involved with Manson and the trials that followed. Manson family member Catherine Share; Vincent Bugliosi, the lead prosecutor who wrote Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders; and Deborah Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister; they all recall their story, from their point of view on camera. The thing I enjoyed the most about this movie is how it painted Manson in a truly human form. They cut through a lot of the myth, a lot of what Manson toted about himself, and presents you with a guy who wanted to make it be famous, who knew how to manipulate and use people using fear, and was/is deeply, deeply troubled and consumed by hate.

Manson is so eerie, but not because it is based on a true story -as everyone knows, but because it is presented so well. One of the creepiest parts for me was when they played the real audio of Charles Manson’s demo tape of him singing; the ironic thing is he wasn’t bad at all.

%f these brutal murders happen with her own eyes as some of the victims tried to run from the house only to be ran down and stabbed some twenty-odd times. Of course, as the summer roles on more and more murders are committed by Manson’s family, each victim more brutal than the last, and all seemingly at random. Of course, as with any good docudrama, Manson is wrapped up nicely in the end as they break down the major players in the Manson family and the sentences they received, including Charles himself. Linda Kasabian received immunity for her testimony for everyone who actually committed the murders.

Using movie-like recreation, rare archival footage and audio, and personal interviews, Manson paints an incredibly realistic picture of Charles Manson and his family during the nine months leading up the the Sharon Tate murders, more-so than many that came before it. All of the interviews and accounts come from people either personally or professionally involved with Manson and the trials that followed. Manson family member Catherine Share; Vincent Bugliosi, the lead prosecutor who wrote Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders; and Deborah Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister; they all recall their story, from their point of view on camera. The thing I enjoyed the most about this movie is how it painted Manson in a truly human form. They cut through a lot of the myth, a lot of what Manson toted about himself, and presents you with a guy who wanted to make it be famous, who knew how to manipulate and use people using fear, and was/is deeply, deeply troubled and consumed by hate.

Manson is so eerie, but not because it is based on a true s

Adventureland is a comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale), Kristen Stewart (Twilight?) some no names, and Ryan Reynolds. With the director of Superbad, whom is also a no name, but a no name with a title.

It tells the tale of James Brennan (Eisenberg) who is forced to take a summer job at Adventureland where he meets the girl of his dreams, Em (Stewart). Ryan Reynolds plays the amusement parks repair man, who is cheating on his wife with Em. And it all ends out to be a big cliche. As you watch it turn out like you know its gonna, there are a few jokes along the way, some of them are funny.

The performances don’t stand out, especially not the performance of Ryan Reynolds. I don’t even know why Scarlett Johansson married him. Except I heard that they had a huge fight right before comic-con, and their marriage is on the ropes. Although all of the claims of this actually being true are only coming from tabloid like sources, and even though most of the tabloids  are even reporting it was a hoax, I still prefer to believe it. Scarlett shouldn’t have to put up with that trash, you go girl!

I digress, there are some funny moments in this movie, and it is completely adequate, but everything that I could say about it doesn’t go beyond “Okay” which still means  that its better than most movies that come out, but far from must see.

As far as the Blu-ray features go, the cover preaches “Unrated Bonus Features” but guess how many boobs I found watching them? Yeah. Apparently the reason they weren’t rated was because they were reasonable enough not to rate them. I find this to be deceptive at best, a law should be passed that states you can’t say “unrated version” or “unrated full uncut chickfest” unless what is unrated is boobs.

So should you buy the Blu-ray version? Its not like its in 3-d or anything, so unless you’re loaded and for some reason your Blu-ray player doesn’t play DVD’s then I might not spend the extra money.

To sum it all up I would just like to say just because I didn’t think it was great, doesn’t mean you won’t, there’s nothing actually wrong with it, so if you were interested in watching this before you read this review, you should still give it a try. You can buy it at amazon, on Blu-ray and DVD for a very reasonable price.

Lawrence Kasdan’s classic western romp Silverado comes out on Blu-ray today and I can’t reccomend this film highly enough. It’s smart, tightly written, funny, and chock full of adventure and suspense. Add to that a stellar cast that includes Kevin Kline, John Cleese, Danny Glover, Scott Glenn, and Kevin Costner (among many others), and you have one of the most engaging westerns ever made.

David Mamet’s Homicide comes out from Criterion today. Released in 1991, it stars Joe Mantegna in an urban cop thriller. Even at his worst, Mamet is worth watching and I’m excited to see this one.

Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks comes out on DVD today. This film is an interesting oddity and one well worth checking out again. I hadn’t seen it since I was young and didn’t know if it would hold up, though it does surprisingly well. In fact, my only complaint about it now is the length. It’s preposterously long, but very fun.

The deal of the day is Darren Arronofsky’s brilliant Requiem for a Dream on Blu-ray. Brand new it’s on sale for $9.99 on amazon. That’s a steal and well worth the money for this amazing film.

Be sure to check out Arse-bot’s highlights and lowlights over at his Examiner page!

On Tuesday, September 8, Comedy Central will release the first season of Important Things with Demetri Martin on DVD.

This robot is a pretty big fan of Demetri and I felt that this series was pretty good, but stumbled along the way. Each episode covers a topic like “Power” or “Timing” and the Martin breaks down why it’s important through his own brand of dry, subtle humor in the form of stand-up, sketheches, cartoons, and song. While most of what he’s doing in his show is fresh, there is also a bit that has been regurgitated from his stand-up acts on his comedy album, These are Jokes, and his stand-up DVD, Person. Overall though, I think there is enough to keep the audience interested whether they are familiar with Martin’s stand-up or not.

Demetri Martin got his start writing for Late Night with Conan O’Brien and as a correspondent on The Daily Show with John Stewart. He has come a long was and is really starting to come into his own success such as starring in Ang Lee’s latest film, Taking Woodstock (in theaters now). Personally, I hope to see a lot more from Demetri in the future.

You can check out a slightly more in-depth review of Important Things with Demetri Martin: Season One over at my alter-ego’s DVD Examiner page. The one-disc DVD will be available on Tuesday, September 8 and you can pick it up over at Amazon.com!