What if aliens visited the ancient world and dramatically affected the development of human civilization in everything from technology to religion? In the History Channel’s top-rated special, Ancient Aliens, several scholars investigate this theory that has been the source of much debate, controversy, and study since it came into the spotlight in 1968 with the publication of “Chariots of the Gods?” by Erich von Daniken.

This DVD takes you on a round-the-world trip from Peru to South America to right here in Utah and explores ancient artifacts, paintings, works of art and literature presenting reasons why some believe that aliens played a big role in human history!

You can check out the full review of the Ancient Aliens DVD over at examiner.com!

“…consider this: the general belief that it took about 23 years to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu would mean that ancient builders had to cut, form, and place a block every nine seconds. So, did it actually take much longer to build the pyramids that what is generally believed, or is it possible that the Egyptian slaves had some help… or didn’t do it at all? So even if you don’t buy the theory that aliens came down and helped advance the human civilization, you will certainly be made to think that perhaps historians and archeologists are missing something when it comes to explaining some of our greatest mysteries.”

It has, indeed, been a very slow week for film releases on DVD and Blu-ray, but I did my best to find the cream of the crop.

First, we have Waltz with Bashir, which was fully expected to win the Academy Award. This film was most likely a sore spot in a lot of office Oscar pools. This is as close to a verite documentary that you can get in the field of animation and is well worth a look.

Next is Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection. This set is going to be a delight. Chuck Jones is one of the greatest minds ever to grace animation and his work on the cat and mouse antics of Tom and Jerry yield some of the most hilarious shorts those characters ever had the pleasure to appear in.

I would define this one as a must buy.

Last on the list for today is Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre distributed by the Criterion Collection. Starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, this film took the arthouse world by storm in the early 80s by daring to make a film about a single dinner conversation.

Bruce Timm’s work in the Animated DC Universe is extensive at the very least. Many of the iconic heroes from our childhood were animated and/or produced by Mr. Timm; so much so that his name has become synonymous with the DC Animated Universe. As well as working on so many popular DC titles such as Batman, Superman, and Justice League, Timm has animated several other classic cartoons from the 80’s such as The Real Ghostbusters, Tiny Toons, and the Animaniacs.

To coincide with the upcoming release of Green Lantern: First Flight, Warner Brothers has been providing Q&A sessions with the cast and crew, and the latest is with Bruce Timm who is serving as Executive Producer on the latest direct-to-DVD Animated feature length film from DC:

QUESTION:

You and Alan Burnett have been working together for a very long time. What’s that relationship like, and what does he bring that makes these projects so special?

BRUCE TIMM

Alan is the quiet man of Warner Brothers Animation and, to a degree, I feel bad because he doesn’t really get enough credit for all that he has done over the years – going all the way to Batman: The Animated Series and all these shows he’s worked on since. He actually kind of prefers to stay in the background and just do his job and not get in front of the cameras and go to conventions and speak in front of crowds. He doesn’t enjoy that aspect of it. He’s never been about tooting his own horn, but he’s always been the rock on our projects. Alan is the stabilizer. I think it was Glen Murakami who referred to Alan as the glue that binds everything together. And it’s true. He’s a really solid professional. He knows all the ins and outs of story construction and character dynamics and then all of the extras that a good writer knows to plus out a story. At the same time, he likes to push himself to do things that he hasn’t done before and explore different avenues of story lines. He’s got a sense of humor that sometimes comes out in really odd, unique ways. On BTAS, he would go down story lines and even I would be saying, “Wow, you really want to do THAT in a children’s cartoon?” He’s funny that way – he likes to upset the apple cart and take chances. So Alan is really solid and dependable and at the same time he’s also very experimental. It’s like the best of both worlds. That makes him the perfect collaborator on these films.

You can check out the full interview here!

Perhaps one of the finest and funniest motion pictures ever made finds it way to Blu-ray today: Ghostbusters. This film has always been one of my favorites and I’m eager to see it full screen. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen this film, now is the perfect time to pick this version of the film up and give it another glance. The effects have aged well, the script is perfect, the acting is superb and the comedy is still hilarious.

Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece, The Seventh Seal, is being distributed the Criterion Collection and is perhaps one of their finest new transfer jobs. Expect a more in depth review soon, but long story short: If you’re not adding this to your collection, you might need your head examined.

Today sees the 25th anniversary release of Transformers: The Complete First Season. I’ve had some time to root around on this set and I have to say I’m quite impressed. They’ve gone through each episode, cleaned it up digitally, restored all the original scenes and made a Transformers set worth having. Sure, parts of the show are cheesy, but it’s endearing all at the same time. This is definitely a set worth owning.

Another one of the best movies ever made is coming out on Blu-ray today, Stanley Kubricks comedic masterpiece, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.. With an all-star cast that includes Peter Sellers (x3), George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens and James Earl Jones among many others. This film is required viewing and I love the way black and white looks on Blu-ray.

Woody Allen’s What’s Up, Tiger Lily? is coming out with a reliable American version. Previous versions available were bad imports and this is going to fix all of that. This gets my highest recommendation.

There’s also the first two seasons of Lost on Blu-ray that come out today. Lost always looks better in HD and if you’ve got friends that have been hemming and hawing about watching the series, buying this and introducing it to them in hi-def is a very good way to start.

Next on the list is The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 6: 1949-1951. This is the first all Shemp collection after Curly’s untimely death. Shemp catches a lot of flak for his stint with the Stooges as Curly’s replacement, but he performs capably and helps bring the funny to the table.

There’s also a bevy of Friday the 13th movies coming out. Expect a review of the lot of them in a few days.

Warner Bros. has been kind enough to again provide a Green Lantern: First Flight Q&A session, this time with Casting Director, Andrea Romano, who has brought together veteran and novice voice actors for the main characters of the film. In the interview she talks about her choices for characters and whether or not she had any concerns about casting novice voice actors in main roles.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview, and you can check out the full interview here!

QUESTION:

Michael Madsen is another voiceover novice, but that voice is made for character animation. What prompted you to cast him as Kilowog?

ANDREA ROMANO

Kilowog is an alien Green Lantern, and we really wanted a voice with texture and character and some edges to it; a voice that sounded gruff and big and strong, but also smart. I did not want someone who sounded like a big dopey guy. For years and years, I wanted to hire Michael Madsen and this was just the perfect marriage of role, actor and availability.

It’s a lot about availability, and Michael is a great example. He hadn’t done any animated roles before Green Lantern, and yet when I finally got him in the room, we found out how much he had wanted to do it and, now, how much he loves doing voiceover work. He loves this whole world of animation, and characters like Batman and Superman.

You need an actor who has an enthusiasm for the project, for the role, and for the process – and Michael was there, in the moment, he understood, and wanted to do more takes than we needed. That is very generous and brought some really beautiful texture. I love those raspy, deep, dark voices – that sound that tells you that there’s been some life experience there, whether it’s been smoking cigarettes or drinking booze or just living. I don’t think I’m the only person that responds to that kind of voice with character. That’s a voice that’s lived.

In case you have missed any of the other previous Green Lantern: First Flight Q&A’s, here are the links to them:

• Actor Victor Garber
• Director Lauren Montgomery
• Actress Juliet Landau
• Screenwriter Alan Burnett
• Actor Michael Madsen

Nobel Son, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival back in 2007, was released on DVD yesterday. While not a great film, it is certainly entertaining and worth at least one viewing.

The movie stars Bryan Greenberg as Barkley Michaelson, the son of an egomaniacal professor, Eli Michaelson (Alan Rickman), who has just won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. While in Stockholm with his wife, Sarah Michaelson (Mary Steenburgen), Eli received a call saying that his son has been kidnapped and after receiving a severed thumb in the mail he is convinced. Barkley has been kidnapped by Thadeus James (Shawn Hatosy), who claims to be the illegitimate son of Eli Michaelson and that all the work he has done to win the Nobel Prize is plagiarized. Barkley eventually convinces his kidnapper that he too thinks his father is a jackass and he will help with the ransom scheme if they can split the $2 million. What ensues is a ransom heist scheme, back stabbing twists and turns, and a game of who’s who and who knows what.

While Nobel Son is entertaining, it feels like director Randall Miller (Class Act, The Sixth Man, Ballroom Dancing) is trying too hard to achieve that twist and turn heist movie feel and overshoots his mark. The way in which Barkley and his kidnapper obtain the ransom money without being caught by the authorities is too far-fetched; you really don’t get the feeling that these two late-twenty-something’s could have come up with this plot, nor the means and know-how to do it. The first two acts, despite the over the top plot points, are fun to watch and have just the right amount of twists and turns…

You can check out the full review of the film here!

I’m going to start this week off with a movie I’ve never seen but have heard nothing but good things about. Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. It looked good, and I have no excuse for missing it, but it’s hitting DVD and Blu-ray today. Clint Eastwood usually makes movies that are mediocre or better and he’s a fantastic director, generally, so I can’t imagine that this will be too bad.

Next on the list today is the Blu-ray release of Predator 2. Sure, this movie isn’t the best, but it’s far better than all of the other sequel films bearing the Predator name. And this movie has Danny Glover and Bill Paxton in it, so it’s a bonus on that front.

The last thing I’d like to point you to this week is National Geographic’s Ultimate WWII Collection. It’s a 6 disc collection that contains plenty of archive footage and interviews with WWII veterans like Bob Dole.

We are now under two months away from the anticipated release of the next DC Universe animated original film, Green Lantern: First Flight! Warner Brothers has been great with providing several Q&A sessions with the cast and crew of the film and I am very excited about the most recent one; the legend himself, Michael Madsen! Madsen plays Kilowog, the legendary Green Lantern Corps trainer, in the upcoming film. Being the Hollywood tough man that he is, it is the perfect fit. Check out the incredibly genuine Q&A with Madsen below and be sure to pre-order your copy of Green Lantern: First Flight!

Check out the excerpt below and then check out the full interview here!

QUESTION:

Do you have a real-life human character that you possibly inspired your portrayal of Kilowog?

MICHAEL MADSEN:

I guess, perhaps, I thought of my father. My father a very forceful man, a bit of a brute, and stubborn. Yet I remember when my first son was born and my father met me at the airport, and I let him hold the boy. I saw a little tear come down from his eye. It was one of the only times I ever saw him break emotionally – and I knew there was something in there.

QUESTION:

Kilowog uses the word “poozer” frequently in describing other individuals in a variety of situations. Can you define that word by Kilowog’s standards?

MICHAEL MADSEN:

I’ve heard that it’s closely associated with somewhat of a bungler or a misfit or someone who’s annoying … to put it mildly (laughs).

QUESTION:

Was there anything particularly special or enticing about playing Kilowog?

MICHAEL MADSEN:

I don’t want to go off here into another planet, but when I was younger, I read a biography of James Cagney and he said that if you ever play a dark character, you need to find something noble within that guy; and if you ever play someone who’s very noble, you need to find something dark within him. Otherwise, your character’s going to be one-dimensional. I knew exactly what he was talking about, even though I was probably about 14, and it’s always stuck with me. Having a character with duality always appeals to me – I never like to do something straight down the road.

In order to fully capitalize on the popularity of the release of the Star Trek film, Paramount has released a bevy of DVD’s and Blu-ray’s related to what is one of their most valuable and lucrative franchises.

For fairweather fans of the shows, the film has no doubt rekindled at least a passing interest and what better way to entice people back than a pair of DVD’s coming it an under ten bucks for 8 of the best episodes of Star Trek ever produced?

The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series contains four great episodes of the show, starting with one of my favorites, “City on the Edge of Forever”.

All four episodes on this collection are also the remastered versions of the show, so if you’ve been waiting to take a gander at it, there’s no better or cheaper time to do it. (It also contains the first appearance of the Romulans in what I think is one of the best photographed episodes of the franchise, “Balance of Terror” and everyone’s favorite “The Trouble With Tribbles”. The last episode sees Spock returning to Vulcan for Ponn Farr in “Amok Time”.)

This is the prefect priming gift for someone who thought they didn’t like Star Trek, but liked the movie. This DVD will make them realize that the show was (and is) pretty damned cool.

The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation starts with the two part “The Best of Both Worlds” which sees Captain Picard assimilated into a Borg. I never really liked the Borg, but this should provide a lot of entertainment for new fans and is a good primer for people just getting into The Next Generation.

The other two episodes rounding out the disc are “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and “The Measure of a Man”. Watching these made me remember both how much I loved The Next Generation and how dry it was. These are solid, yet dry, television dramas.

Overall, for the price, these are the perfect gifts to get someone who loved the new summer spectacle and need to get into the series.

I can guarantee these will operate as a gateway drug.

We’re kicking today’s column off with the classic Dustin Hoffman picture, The Graduate. It comes out on Blu-ray (and is a steal at less than $20). Mike Nichols has never been better (though he’s come close) and the film is just a wonderful love story full of jealousy and… just… if you haven’t seen it, just trust me on this one.

Playing Shakespeare is next on our list. Back in the early 80s, BBC and the Royal Shakespeare Company Founder, John Barton, got together and filmed a miniseries of 9 acting workshops. The stable of talent in the Royal Shakespeare company back then was impressive, to say the least, and watching this set has been a time warp. It features Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Ian McKellan, Hellen Mirren, and Ben Kingsley, among others. It’s fascinating to watch. I’ve no desire to be an actor, but it certainly rekindled my love of Shakespeare and the craft.

And as if there weren’t enough versions of Fletch floating around out there, the definitive Blu-ray version comes out today. Hopefully, this will be the last time it must be purchased. And, oh yes, it must be purchased.

Next we have a DVD release of Jean Luc Godard’s Une Femme Mariee. It’s been on my stack of films to review for a couple of weeks now, and I’ll report back once I’ve seen it, but it looks amazing.

Defiance and Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road are both hitting Blu-ray. I’ve seen neither film but wanted to badly and both are on my review stack. I’ll report back soon.