I’m an ubashed fan of Charlie Chaplin. Not only was he one of the brightest stars the world has ever known, he was also one of the most brilliant filmmakers, often (usually) leaving his contemporaries far behind. Few films of any time by any filmmaker are as perfect as, say, City Lights.

What better way to celebrate his birthday than by discussing the Criterion release of Modern Times?

When the Criterion Collection released Chaplin’s “Modern Times” I was ecstatic. I’d never seen Modern Times. I’d seen pieces of it before, particularly the sequences with the gears, but I’d never watched it in its entirety until the Blu-ray release.

This is a film of stunning power and should have a particular resonance today. It’s as relevant now as ever. Modern Times is about the struggle of the worker and his constant and tireless exploitation. He doesn’t want to start a revolution, he just wants to get by.

Starring Chaplin as his lovable Tramp and Paulette Goddard as his love interest (and real life wife at the time), this film is so full of heart and hilarity that it’s hard to ignore. In fact, the only thing I think this film has going against it is the fact that it’s so easy to compare it to City Lights. While this film is excellent, it lacks the same punch of City Lights, but regarded in its own way it’s a masterpiece.

There’s also something bittersweet about this picture. It was Chaplin’s last time playing his most famous creation, The Little Tramp, and also the first time we heard words come out of his mouth. Chaplin wasn’t interested in having him speak at all, but if he was going to do it, he made the wise choice of making those words absolute gibberish in one of the most hilarious musical numbers ever put on screen.

The ending, too, is bittersweet:

This film gave us one of the most wonderful and optimistically sad pieces of music the world has ever known with “Smile”.

And can I mention how absolutely gorgeous Paulette Goddard is in this picture:

This picture was taken from one of the most breathtaking and ludicrously funny scenes in the movie. Chaplin and the girl have stolen away into a department store and decide to put on skates and Chaplin doesn’t realize that the floor behind him looks down over the lower floors of the store.

It’s nerve wracking to watch, not knowing how much danger he was actually in or not.

Here’s the scene:

Now imagine being able to watch this brilliance with Criterion’s full-blown 1080 Blu-ray picture. It’s astounding.

Modern Times is definitely a product of the Great Depression and is a story about the problems working people face every day. He infuses so much heart and understanding into it, making it relevant for people of all ages today, what with our own Depression going on. It feels like a Chaplin version of The Grapes of Wrath, and that’s a wonderful thing to see.

I would give this film my highest recommendation. Pick it up on Amazon.

So this is it! After 13 weeks, we finally reach the end of the Green Hornet’s adventure! Will he and Kato emerge triumphant or does gangland have one final ace up their sleeve? You’ll never know unless you watch Chapter 13, Doom of the Underworld! (Wow, I hope that title doesn’t give anything away!)

So, The Green Hornet is over, but this column is not! Here is your chance to have a say in the content on this site. I’m going to bullet point new serials I have that I can post. Add a comment with your vote! To my knowledge most of these are in the Public Domain, so I can definitely post them. I am not too sure on Superman or Batman, but if they win, I’ll still put them up unless asked to remove them. My personal preference is for Captain America, because it’ll tie in nicely with the upcoming movie, but I’ll defer to the winner. See you next week with a new serial!

The choices are:

• Superman
• The Adventures of Captain Marvel
• Batman
• Captain America
• Zorro’s Fighting Legion
• The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
• Other (tell me what you want to see!)

I’ll admit, I’ve deliberately kept myself out of the loop on the upcoming Jon Favreau directied Cowboys & Aliens. I didn’t want to know much going in, but then I broke down and saw the new trailer released today. It tells and interesting story. I won’t go into details, but after you watch it, I’ll give my thoughts.

Ok a couple thoughts:

• While amnesia is a played out storytelling device, mixing it with the arrival of aliens actually makes it compelling
• Hell, the mixture of the Old West with Sci-Fi elements is enough to get me to see it.
• Harrison Ford’s “They took my son!” Is Rifftrax fodder if I ever heard it, so it’s got that going for it.
• Shirtless Daniel Craig… for the ladies.

So yeah, I have faith in Favreau from Iron Man, so I’ll be going to see this. What do you all think?

I don’t want to over intellectualize Scream 4, NOT because Its a horror movie, but because I don’t want to spoil anything for you. As what it is – a horror movie – it offers up a decently fun ride of meandering suspicions and “jump” scares. If you are looking for something that will give you nightmares or actually make you shake with fear this is not your movie. But if you want something really inline with the first Scream film; a smart, modern, apropos horror comedy that bites the hand that feeds it – this IS your movie. Featuring the brands formulaic rotation of a young hot up and coming cast as well as the surviving standards of the previous films – Scream 4 surprisingly delivers a satisfying pop corn movie.

Or at least it does from the point of view of THIS 28 year old.
(Now to start over intellectualizing it – and kinda but not really spoil it just a pinch)

This film has a LOT of commentary on the generation gap that has evolved over the past 10 years. In Culture at large, In Hollywood, and in Horror films. I don’t know if a person in high school right now will walk out of the theater and feel as amorous about the film as I do and I think my generation will. THAT right there is something rather freakish as the trend in Hollywood for a LONG time has been to cater to the 13 – 24 crowd ad nauseam. One does not empathize with the characters journey as much as sympathize with the social awkwardness of it all. Observing a youth culture that as much mimics ones own youthful experience as it devalues and criticizes it. There is a subtle and not so nice joke to this film. Kevin Williamson either spot on calls the new youth for what they are, or perfectly addresses what my generation THINKS of them. But I really can not objectively tell which it is. I remember being in High School and wondering what it would be like when I was in my late 20’s. What my reunion would be like? What kind of topical films would be made commenting about the 90’s ten years on? The first Scream film was kind of a flag ship movie for my 90’s youth. It some how only seems oddly appropriate that instead of some quarter life crisis high school reunion film the movie that strikes the perfect contrast between how it was when I was in high school and NOW – is Scream 4.

I came across this at Bleeding Cool today. Coroner records has put out an album featuring metal versions of songs from the Studio Ghibli movies! Take a look at the trailer down below! If you like what you hear and want to pick it up it available on both iTunes and Amazon. I really like the songs that are in the trailer and am thinking I’m gonna check it out. The tracklist and official press release from Coroner Records will be up after the trailer:

1. Tonari No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) – Disarmonia Mundi feat. Sophia Aslanidou
2. Kimi Wo Nosete (Laputa：Castle In The Sky) – Disarmonia Mundi feat. Yoko Hallelujah
3. Teru No Uta (Tales From Earthsea) – Blood Stain Child feat. Ettore Rigotti
4. Gake No Ue No Ponyo (Ponyo On The Cliff) – Destrage feat. Yoko Hallelujah
5. Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) – Living Corpse feat Yoko Hallelujah
6. Country Road (Whisper Of The Heart) – Disarmonia Mundi feat. Sophia Aslanidou
7. Itsumo Nandodemo (Spirited Away) – Blood Stain Child feat. Claudio Ravinale
8. Arrietty’s Song (Japanese version) (The Borrower Arrietty) – Disarmonia Mundi feat. Sophia Aslanidou
9. Yasashisa Ni Tsutsumaretanara (Kiki’s Delivery Service) – Destrage feat. Yoko Hallelujah
10. Toki niwa Mukashi no hanashio (Porco Rosso) – Disarmonia Mundi feat. Yoko Hallelujah
11. Sanpo (My Neighbor Totoro) – Living Corpse feat. Yoko Hallelujah
12. Nausicaa requiem (Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind) – Neroargento feat. Yoko Hallelujah

Coroner Records is really proud to announce the upcoming release of a new album of extreme metal covers of Studio Ghibli songs entitled “Princess Ghibli”.

The project called “Imaginary Flying Machines” (from the title of a short film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which is exclusively shown daily at the Ghibli Museum) puts together bands from Europe and Japan (Disarmonia Mundi, Blood Stain Child, Destrage, Living Corpse and Neroargento) that reinterpret 12 very famous songs taken from the films produced by Studio Ghibli, bringing the soundtracks that have made ​​dream many fans of Miyazaki in a new musical dimension, more aggressive and faster, without ever losing the melody and the magical atmospheres typical of the original versions.

The album has been recorded, produced and mixed by Ettore Rigotti at The Metal House Studio (Disarmonia Mundi, Destrage, Slowmotion Apocalypse, Stigma, etc…) and mastered by Alessandro Vanara.

Peter Jackson very kindly uploaded the first in what I hope is to be many video diary/ blogs on the production of the Hobbit today. It has been a long time coming, and I am sure there are many a fan out there that have been very eager to get even the slightest glimpse at what we have awaiting us. This clip gives us just that. ENJOY!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfesknLk5uI

Warner Brothers has sent out a few promotional shots of Ryan Reynolds in full body GL regalia today and it’s, well, intersting how form fitting the uniform is. Take a look for yourself.

It looks like all that training by Kilowog really keeps the rookie Lanterns on their toes! Seriously though, I don’t know why the costume designers decided to go in this direction. I suppose the argument for an ultra-form fitting costume could me made, but if that were really the case, all of the Green Lantern Corps would be arrested for indecent exposure. On second thought, maybe we should be glad they stopped at the toes. Let us know what you think!

We’re back with another episode of The Big Movie Mouth-Off podcast!

The podcast features the stars and producers of The Big Movie Mouth-Off film review show, which appears here at Big Shiny Robot! and on Xfinity (Utah On Demand and Channel 6). That lineup is: Jeff Vice from MSN Entertainment, Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine, and Bryan Young (me) and Elias Pate from Big Shiny Robot! and ShineBox Media Productions.

To download the latest episode from iTunes, follow this link.

There, you should rate and subscribe to the podcast.

This week, we talked about:

• Hawkeye in Thor
• Movie News
• Best assassinations in film
• Best movies about hitmen

Listen! Let us know what you think! Spread the word!

For those of you who don’t like iTunes, you can get a direct .mp3 here. And you can add the BSR! podcast RSS feed by right clicking this link.

We have some reviews from earlier in the year that somehow slipped through the cracks.  So first we have Battle: Los Angeles:

Beastly:

And Rango:

Disney has been incredibly prolific in their Blu-ray offerings in the last couple of months and each of them are worth your money, but each for drastically different reasons. The one reason unifying all of them is that they’re all entertaining films and more often than not, they’re good.

Bambi: Though Walt Disney was a renowned fighter of “Communism”, his films had some pretty radical messages by today’s standards and Bambi is no exception. (Fantasia, you’ll remember, had a pretty definitive statement of the truth of human evolution.) Bambi is a thoroughly stunning indictment of man’s encroachment into nature. Everything is idyllic and the animals are peaceful, happy, and adorable, until man enters the forest. He kills these cheery creatures indiscriminately and burns down the forest. It’s a pretty standard message of environmentalism and illustrates a fairly pointed opinion against hunting. And I loved every minute of it. I remember seeing Bambi as a kid, but I don’t remember any details of it, so seeing it on Blu-ray again was an eye opening experience. It was a very, very well animated film and in HD it was utterly breathtaking. Everything about it was so painterly and lovely, even the burning down of the forest. It wasn’t as much of a narrative as I expected it to be, much more of an animated vignette of nature with beautiful music and special effects, Bambi’s story is merely way of bringing the viewer through the seasons and to illustrate the destructive nature of man.

This is a classic film and there’s a reason for it and I would definitely consider

picking this up for your collection.

Tron and Tron: Legacy: Watching these films again was a joy, but I have to say, the original Tron film outmatches the sequel in just about every way. From story and heart to character and script, Tron was just head and shoulders a better film. The story certainly made more sense and there was this ambitious energy to it that made it perfect. The new film made little sense, though it was incredibly fun to look at. I’ve added both to my collection, but if you have to pick just one of these two to pick up, I’d go with the original. Aside from the fact that it’s hands down a better movie, it looks absolutely gorgeous on Blu-ray.

The Incredibles: Easily my favorite of the Pixar films, The Incredibles is out on Blu-ray tomorrow and is a bright and shining example of beautiful storytelling, brilliant filmmaking, and stunning animation. Wrap all of those things into a truly great, classic movie onto a Blu-ray and you’ve got one of the easiest excuses for dropping $25 in the galaxy. Everything about watching this film again on Blu-ray is a joy, particularly the characterizations and the music, both standout upon repeat viewings. That, and the style of the film, the cool 50s retro look in the beginning and the overstylized characters, it’s easy to fall in love with the visuals. But director Brad Bird takes the tried and true formula of a superhero family (much like The Fantastic Four) and knocks it up a notch on screen in a way that may never be replicated again. I could only ask for a Fantastic Four film half this good and I’d be completely satisfied.

This is one of those movies that you’d be foolish not to upgrade onto Blu-ray. I’ve said it over and over and over again that Pixar makes some of the best looking Blu-rays in the business and The Incredibles is no exception.

Disney has also been kind enough to give us a taste of some of the bonus features:

Tangled: Last on our list today is the newest animated release of the batch and I find that it’s really proving Disney’s return to form for the medium that brought them originally to greatness. You can read Scarlett’s more full review of the Blu-ray here, but I have to say that I enjoyed this movie quite a bit myself. My only complaint about this film is that it was in 3D animation instead of classic 2D animation. I don’t understand the fascination with 3D. I can understand Pixar clinging to it, but it’s frustrating that I can’t get my 2D hand drawn feature animation fix anywhere else. Having said that, Tangled is the epitome of a good story well told with a lot of tremendous elements to it that I really did enjoy more than most mid-list Disney movies. In particular, Ron Perlman’s appearance as The Stabbingtons.

If you have kids, this is definitely a movie that you’ll enjoy watching them if you missed it in the theatres. And you’ll probably find yourself watching it more than a few times.

That’s it for the recent Disney releases of note, and I have to say it’s a really solid batch. You’d not do much better than adding all of these to your collections. The picture quality on all of them is astounding, the movies are all range from watchable to fantastic.

I did have one issue with the Bambi disc, though. It was more than likely my Blu-ray player, but it took forever to load every time I tried playing it. And I’d have to eject it and put it back in over and over again. I have an older player, but the firmware is update. The loading time is probably my only complaint about Blu-ray as a whole.

If you had to pick one of these four, which one would you buy?

The Hollywood Reporter pointed me out to this new Thor featurette that has me salivating like I can’t believe. In fact, this is my 1138th post and I was going to write a review of the Blu-ray of THX-1138 (because it’s an underrated masterpiece) but I watched this featurette and I’m DYING to see this movie. I can’t believe that there are people out there NOT excited for this movie.

Think about this: Kenneth Branagh is directing this movie and he’s a genius. End of story.

Now I have this subconscious urge to get a Dr. Pepper at 7-Eleven.