Surprisingly, none of us robots have jumped on reviewing Star Trek. I finally saw it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Star Trek has never been one of my interests, but this movie might have changed that. Our friend Ben Fuller is in a similar situation, and well… I’ll let him speak for himself. Here’s his review:

Movie Review: Star Trek

To preface, let me be clear – I am not a big fan of JJ Abrams. I have maybe seen 15 minutes tops of Alias across three episodes, and for Lost you could safely add another 10 minutes to that total. I loathed Star Trek: The Next Generation and had no use for the movies. I cannot speak intelligently about any of the other Next Generation series other than crack Borg Jokes about self-important looking status climbers sporting their latest blue tooth ear pieces or an occasional completely out of context sexist Seven of Nine comment. I liked the original series (which is apparently now referred to TOS) well enough as a child, but that was mainly because my brother loved it and anything he dug must have been worthwhile.

So, that was, in a roundabout sort of a way, just me trying to establish my relatively lame bonafides when it comes to reviewing this movie. In addition, the very fact that it was so hotly anticipated only made me want it to fail even more.

Having said all of that, I am very disappointed to say that Star Trek was a surprisingly good movie. Maybe even a great one. Abrams and company were able to walk that fine thin line between making it feel like a real piece of the whole Universe that has been slowly dying under the weight if its own ludicrous self-importance and also, feel like it is something completely new and unrelated to all of that silliness. It is basically a Star Trek movie without having to kowtow to the pansy cultural imperialism that has been foisted upon us over the last approximately 45 years (but mostly the last 24 or so since Next Generation came along).

Ok, that is probably a bit harsh, and to be honest, there is a slight possibility a lot of that is just exaggeration for exaggeration’s sake, but the fact remains that nothing really new has happened in that franchise in forever – it has just been a very extended and boring faux intellectual circle jerk (which is an unpleasant term referring to groups of horny boys masturbating together in Scout camp – which is really about as an apt description as I can possibly come up with for the whole series of TV Shows as a whole…).

But this movie is a real game changer. First off, it has action. Real honest to goodness action. There is a visceral quality to the weaponry that has never been there before. And the ships almost act like real war ships. War ships going to war.

And there is some inter character conflict. Not as much as you would get in an episode of Saved by the Bell maybe, but for a Star Trek movie, it feels like a long stewing fight is finally ready to be served up.

And the actors are all uniformly charismatic. They bring real energy to their roles, and they aren’t delivering their lines like they are performing Shakespeare in a High School play. I cannot express how refreshing it is to not feel “Portent™” with every phrase that is uttered for once.

And finally, the thing that I probably have taken away the most from this is that I am a surprisingly nostalgic closet fan of TOS (the original series). I was truly surprised at how many of the in jokes and references I got – even to some crew members that were reminiscent of the short lived cartoon.

Star Trek was quite simply a fun ride with little to no preachiness and a healthy sense of humor about its own self. I happily recommend it and urge us all to move on from our former animosities and put the ugliness that was the last 7 or so Star Trek movies behind us. Let’s use this as our common ground and never speak of the past again.

You can follow Ben on Twitter.

In all it’s dated glory, X-Men animated is finally out on DVD… at least the first 33 episodes are out for now (which is half the series). As I have mentioned earlier in another article I think these are almost the pinnacle of adaptations for the comic plot lines. This series is what made everything after it possible, it is the cause for the resurgence of comic book adaptations that prolifically followed; Bryan Singer’s X-Men, Raimi’s SpiderMan, The Punisher, Iron Man, Fantastic Four: Worlds Greatest Heroes, etc.

This was during the time when hero spandex was sheik and everybody loved Liefeld in all his small footed, squinty eyed, multi pocketed glory. A lot of peeps give this toon guff, failing to see how it was a quintessential step that made comics to the heights to where it currently stands… fortunately and unfortunately.

I could go on and on about how faithful this cartoon was to the comic while trying to make it entertaining for kiddies as well. A feat that is no simple task, they used character; an angry and violently jealous Wolverine, a flirty Remy, a Rogue that is closed off emotionally and physically, and an X-Man who dies in the first episode (or so it seems).

Is it cheesy? Of course it is, I defy anyone to present me any artifact from the 90’s that isn’t. Like I say, it’s dated but it’s a gateway substance to a much larger world and it uses contrasts ranging from over-the-top, to very subtle. It shows the process of radical discrimination and delves into the post-apocalyptic future if the X-Men fail to dissolve the segregation of mutant people (Days of Future Past). Not only that, but dealing with other dilemmas such as causing a future detriment when you actually save the world today (Time Fugitives).

These DVD’s are a staple for any fan of the X, the episodes start from Night of the Sentinels in Vol. 1, and leave off on the Phoenix Saga in Vol. 2. I for one can’t wait ’till Vol. 3 comes out with the Dark Phoenix Saga, one of my favs. Buy these up and rejoice in singing along with the theme song again, you know you used to.

These DVD’s have no extras; Pencilbot thinks it would have been nice to see the Japanese anime style intros and the 1989 pilot Pryde of X-Men in there somewhere, but nay.

Classic lines included:
“Illyana!” – Colossus
“I go where I wanna go” – Wolvie
“AARRREAEEAAAAHH” – Professor X
“I have seen many things in this world, that is why I must destroy it.” – Apocalypse after having a bad day

To buy X-men Volume 1 and 2 on DVD from Amazon, click the link.

I’ve had the opportunity to go over these three films on Blu-ray and I must say, I’m pretty grateful for two of them and the third left me scratching my head.

And so, we’ll start with what has always been my favorite of the batch:

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has always been a classic in my home. It’s easily my favorite John Hughes movie and as much as I thought I would find this movie dated, it’s aged like a fine wine. We threw it on at the office and all work stopped and we were reduced to giggling school girls. I know a lot to do has been made about the quality of the transfer of this Blu-ray, but it looks better than both my VHS and DVD copies have. Sure, maybe it’s not as great as other Blu-ray’s, but it’s certainly a step up in quality and for that, I’m grateful. I was also fascinated to see the special features on this disc. I don’t know if they were on previous releases or not because I didn’t really pay attention to them for one reason or another, but I was really happy to watch the behind the scenes featurettes from 1986. It almost felt like I was able to see more Ferris Bueller and Cameron together, their bits on the BTS were hilarious. The retrospective documentary was also really fun to watch. I would certainly urge you to buy this disc.

Next on the list, we’ll be tackling Saturday Night Fever. I had never seen this film before, and I’m not sure that I will ever have the desire to watch it again. It felt lot like a deconstruction of a culture I had no part or stake in mixed with Taxi Driver sans the violence. Which could be great, I had no stake in 50s car culture either but I would still count American Graffitti as one of my favorite films ever made (and not just because of its Lucas connection, it really is just that good.) As far as the transfer to Blu-ray, it had the grainy tonality of Taxi Driver and felt like it really was shot in the same city (minus the Disco’s, obviously.) I admire Travolta for stepping out of his comfort zone for this film, but it’s not something that was made for my taste. Some might find this an important cultural document and I’d probably agree with them, but I don’t see myself ever caring enough about Disco culture to watch this film again. As far as the special features are concerned, you’ve got what is basically a documentary that feels more like an episode of a VH1 “That’s so 70s…” sort of show than a serious retrospective of the film. And there’s a game on here also, but I hate playing games on my PS3 that aren’t controlled with a PS3 controller. I don’t understand why the games for Blu-ray don’t have PS3 functionality to them in addition to remote controls. That would have, for sure, made the Sin City game a lot cooler, too.

Moving on, we have Grease. I watched Grease quite a bit in my house as a kid. It was a perennial favorite among the ladies in the house and I used to have a love/hate relationship with it. I liked it, but if I was forced to listen to the music or watch it one more time, I was going to burst. Before this Blu-ray release, the last time I’d seen it was for the 20th anniversary re-release into theatres they did back in 1998. So it’s been 11 years that I’ve succesfully avoided this film. And I must say the time away from it did me a lot of good. The moment it started, I was hooked. I don’t know how, but I’d completely forgotten how much I actually loved this movie. So much so that as soon as it was over the first time, I actually restarted it. (I rationalized it by saying that I had to write this review, but we all know that was a lie.) Maybe it’s just that I really like stories about teenagers in the 50s, but this film works for me on every level. The characters are great, the music is fun, the construction of this film is flawless…. And it looks absolutely gorgeous on this Blu-ray. The special features are a lot of fun, too. They have a retrospective look at it from some of the actors (mostly Jeff Conaway, Didi Cohn and Stockard Channing), black and white deleted scenes (as with most, there’s a reason they were cut), and a sing-a-long that I imagine is a must for drunken girl parties. Overall, I would recommend getting this Blu-ray and falling in love with this movie all over again.

DC has been pumping out the animated direct-to-DVD feature films and it’s safe to say that they are producing some quality work, and it’s looking like the fifth movie in the series is going to be no different.

The next DC Universe feature animated film coming to DVD is Green Lantern: First Flight and it drops on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009. Leading up to it’s release Warner Bros. is releasing several Q&A sessions with the voice talent, producers, and writers from this fifth movie in the DC Animated movie series.

The first of these Q&A sessions was with the voice of Sinestro, Victor Garber (Titanic, Milk, Alias). You can check out what Garber had to say about playing the villain and his first experience as a voice actor in the full Q&A here.

And be sure to check out the trailer for Green Lantern: First Flight at the official website!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button came out on DVD and Blu-ray today. It’s a fantastic film with fantastic effects and make up work that deserves to be seen on Blu-ray. I’ve checked out the transfer and this Criterion disc is the pinnacle of picture quality. I’ve always been impressed by the quality of Blu-ray, but throwing this in the Blu-ray player yesterday, my breath was actually took. I won’t continue talking about this one, since a full review will be up soon, but know that it’s worth the extra scratch to catch this one on Blu-ray.

Then we have one of the best movies of the 80s, hands down: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, released today on Blu-ray. A lot has been made by other outlets about how the transfer wasn’t very good, but it looked better than DVD quality to me, so I don’t feel like I can ask much more. The bonus features were great, too, but we’ll talk about those in a separate review.

Next we have Grease on Blu-ray. I think I’ve watched this disc twice since I’ve had it. I had truly forgotten how much I liked this movie (sure, a decade of distance between it and me had a lot to do with it) but it was fun to watch. So much fun, I watched it twice. I don’t know why. Again, a full review is coming shortly.

Finally, Gigantor: The Collection, Vol. 1 also comes out today. Be sure to check out our contest on this one, we’ll be giving away a free copy in the next day or two.

I don’t know how many out there are hardcore nerds for U.K. tv; I consider myself one of the few.  When Spaced, League of Gentlemen and Black Books (shame on you if you don’t know these) finally came out on DVD in the states my medulla oblongata exploded. My friends were bored to tears by the time they saw them, but afterwards, they had joined my U.K.TV cult with exploded heads.

Quick glossary for U.K.TV term (for those who don’t know):

Series = Season (Ex. “I thoroughly enjoyed the second series of Coupling” in U.K. is the equivalent to “The second season kicked ass!” in American.

Cracker (Starring Robbie Coltrane of the Harry Potter series fame) has some interesting early work of some of my favorite folks; Michael Winterbottom (director of 24 Hour Party People), Christopher Eccleston (bad guy in Gone in 60 Seconds and the Invisible dude in Heroes), Robert Carlyle (Daddy zombie in 28 Weeks Later, Begbie in Trainspotting), Kieran O’Brien (main dude in 9 Songs… ’nuff said).

Though I’ve heard this series kicks much ass, but I had yet to check it when it came out in it’s single series form, what I had heard is that it was along the same vein as Prime Suspect (which is how I fell in love with Helen Mirren). So when the whole collection came into the BSR! offices to review, I was “fairly excited” or “shat my pants with excitement” in American terms.

At first, I wasn’t too impressed and that was due to the fact that I tried to start off at the newest of the series, I was confused. It was clear that I started off on the wrong robot foot, so I began again this time where I was supposed to; the first episode.

When I started watching, I was skeptical on how exactly they would make Coltrane a badass that I would want to keep watching, how they did this was brilliant; Edward “Fitz” Fitzgerald is a boozing, chain-smoking, gambler with a rapier wit. He spends his days lecturing in a local college teaching phycology and occasionally gets asked to help with investigative polices cases because he’s good at what he does. The series is a mixture of primarily whydunit’s with a little bit of whodunit’s, that coupled with the immaculate dialogue throughout the series is its charm, add to that the flaws of a person with a “normal life” that seem to be in constant shambles and you have a great start for something original.

All that is the primary source of what keeps this program intrinsically interesting but there are so many shocking moments and as the characters and series develops into itself, you can see how every other crime drama on tv fails and this one succeeds miles ahead of the game no matter how dated it seems when you first start watching it. CSI: [insert a city here] can eat its overstayed-welcomed heart out, though this collection is a hefty 21 hours and some change, you really wish it could have been more but you’re thankful as hell that they ended this beauty on a high note. Each episode just permeates with sheer excellence in writing and direction that puts Hollywood to shame, barring a few American gems.

Sure, there are a couple episodes that I thought were garbage; one was starring Samantha Morton (the female pre-cog in Minority Report, Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown) were she is basically abducted by a religious cult and they try to kill her. On the upside of this one though is that you get to see her half-neked with some cool designs drawn on her body (designs that help Fitz crack the case). And if you don’t like intelligent drama then this may not be up your alley per se, but I think it has enough humor to bring along even the toughest of critics, like this line for example when describing the thrill of gambling: “How long has it been since your hands were trembling, your heart was pounding and your balls turned to ice?”

Pencilbot recommends you snuggle up with your main squeeze or settle into the deep impression of your favorite chair, “crack” open a cold one and start watching.

G.E. kicks ass. They’ve been around for a long time (since 1878)  and have created a lot of cool shit.  Their latest cool gadget? The ability to put 100 DVD’s worth of information on 1 disc. That’s more than a lot of portable hard drives people lug around. Full story is here, small excerpt below.

In G.E.’s approach, the holograms are scattered across a disc in a way that is similar to the formats used in today’s CDs, conventional DVDs and Blu-ray discs. So a player that could read microholographic storage discs could also read CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs. But holographic discs, with the technology G.E. has attained, could hold 500 gigabytes of data. Blu-ray is available in 25-gigabyte and 50-gigabyte discs, and a standard DVD holds 5 gigabytes.

“If this can really be done, then G.E.’s work promises to be a huge advantage in commercializing holographic storage technology,” said Bert Hesselink, a professor at Stanford and an expert in the field.

Official press-release from Marvel:

Marvel.com Streams Classic 1990s X-Men Animated Show for Free

Calling all Mutants! Every Tuesday, Marvel.com (www.marvel.com) will stream episodes from the X-Men animated series that launched in 1992. Relive the adventure, excitement and that awesome theme song every week starting today, April 28!

Watch episode 1, “Night of the Sentinels” Part 1, for free right now at http://marvel.com/animation/X-Men_~op~The_Animated_Series~ep~

Episode 1, “Night of the Sentinels,” Part 1: After being attacked by a group of robots known as the Sentinels, Jubilation Lee meets the X-Men, a group of super heroes aiming for peace between mutants and the rest of society.

Plus, check out these other shows, already streaming for free on Marvel.com:

Japanese Spiderman – http://marvel.com/animation/Japanese_Spiderman

Wolverine and the X-Men – http://marvel.com/animation/Wolverine_and_the_X-Men

Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes – http://marvel.com/animation/Fantastic_Four~colon~_World~apos~s_Greatest_Heroes

X-Men: Evolution – http://marvel.com/animation/X-Men~colon~_Evolution

Spider-Man, the animated series from 1967 – http://marvel.com/animation/Spider-Man_~op~1967~ep~

You know you love this series! And what’s better than viewing it for free on the internet? Owning it for free if you win Big Shiny Robot’s latest contest! Check out how you can enter here to win Volumes 1 & 2 of the 90’s X-Men Animated Series on DVD! But hurry, today is the last day you can enter (lucky we have made it easy on you!)!

The first item of business today is Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 1 on Blu-ray. At the moment, it’s half-off on Amazon so you should run over there and snatch it up. I’ve been exploring the discs for about a week now and I have to say this is a top notch release. The transfers look gorgeous, the new effects are great. And if you don’t like the new effects? You can switch to the original release version.

I’ll have a more thorough review of this up soon, but trust me, it’s worth buying.

The next item of business is X-Men, Volume 1 and Marvel X-Men Volume 2. This is the definitive collection of the 90s cartoon. We’ve been devouring these at the office while we work and they’ve been distracting in the best way.

The Uninvited came out. You can read yesterday’s review of it over here.

Jcvd came out, and this is a film I’ve been waiting for, for a long time. I didn’t realize it was in the theatres when it was playing locally and I missed it entirely, which made me sad. It’s been reviewed extremely well by friends that I trust and some I don’t, everyone is in agreement about this one.

That’s about it for big releases this week. We’ll be back next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

Hey, everyone, Budgetron here to review a brand spankin’ new DVD for you all!  Here today, as the picture on the left would suggest, I am here to review “The Uninvited” coming to DVD and Blu-ray on 4/28. Since my name is Budgetron, I’m gonna give you a budget rundown.  Short and Sweet.  Got it?

MOVIE: “The Uninvited” revolves around Anna (Emily Browning), who returns home after spending time in the hospital following the tragic death of her mother.

Her recovery suffers a setback when she discovers her father (David Strathairn) has become engaged to her mother’s former nurse, Rachel (Elizabeth Banks). That night, Anna is visited by her mother’s ghost, who warns her of Rachel’s intentions.

Together, Anna and her sister (Arielle Kebbel) try to convince their father that his current fiancée is not who she pretends to be, and what should have been a happy family reunion becomes a lethal battle of wills between stepdaughters and stepmother.

Now, I have to admit, I hadn’t heard much about this movie before checking out the DVD, and knew nothing more than the fact that the tasty Elizabeth Banks (Zack and Miri Make a Porno, 40 Year-Old Virgin) was in it and that it was a horror movie.  And when I sat down to watch it, I found that “The Uninvited” is a fun, suspenseful horror flick with cute girls, spooky kids, great visuals, and wonderful production design.  I also found the dialogue to be well written and performed; Elizabeth Banks gave a great performance as the wicked step-mother, David Strathairn does a wonderful job with the few scenes he’s in and easily makes us see him a loving father wanting to get past his grief, and Emily Browning, with a slight look of helplesness and reserved demeanor, gives the nuanced performance necessary to sell the ending of the movie in a way few others could do, in my opinion.

Now, I would be lying if I said I thought it was a perfect horror film.  No, the plot had a lot of holes in it, the big reveal at the end sparked no “Ah-HAH! It all makes sense!” moments, and I was left wondering “What ever DID happen to that boyfriend?”.  But “The Uninvited” was a good horror movie that I wasn’t about to let the film snob in me get away with not letting me enjoy!  And as an added bonus, seeing this movie made me want to check out the Korean original.

DVD: The flick looked and sounded nice, but the that is to be expected these days.  How were the Special Features, you ask?  Well, not too great, really.  The deleted scenes weren’t anything special, the alternate ending was just like any other alternate ending on any DVD ever…terrible.  I don’t really see why anyone puts them on a DVD as an alternate ending’s very existence is because the original ending wasn’t good enough for the film in the first place.  The only Special Feature I thought held any merit (and found quite enjoyable) was the behind the scenes featurette.  It showed the actors and director team talking about the movie, as well as the Korean film it’s based on, “Tale of Two Sisters” (which of course I now want to rent).  I always like these featurettes because they give the viewer an insight to how movies are made, and the cast and crew seemed to have a great time on this one.

Overall I would say “The Uninvited” was an enjoyable Horror movie that provided plenty of creepy moments, scares, and action.  I give this movie 4 out of 5 on the “Popcorn Movie Scale”.