Library

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Give it up to the A-Team: they've always been good at demolishing things in big, big ways. Freed from the confines of the 1980s TV series, the 2010 blockbuster movie version allows the four members of the paramilitary squad to really amp up the mayhem to newly crazed heights. Liam Neeson plays team leader Hannibal Smith (inheriting the cigar-chomping from the show's George Peppard), and pro wrestler Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is "B.A." Baracus, the TV show's most iconic character (insert Mr. T "I pity the fool" joke here). As the vain Face, Bradley Cooper preens in convincing fashion, and "District 9" out-of-nowhere star Sharlto Copley plays the unhinged pilot "Howlin' Mad" Murdock. These boys are on the trail of some money-counterfeiting plates, from Bagdad to Germany to places in between. It would be understating it to say that the plot is not of primary importance, although Patrick Wilson has some fun as a CIA official and Jessica Biel occasionally strikes poses as Face's ex-flame, now a military officer displeased with the A-Team's extra-legal shenanigans. The storytelling is insipid and half-hearted--but when it comes to snarky dialogue and two-fisted action scenes, director Joe Carnahan is in his comfort zone. It's reasonably fun watching the working-out of such logistical puzzles as dropping a tank (with crew inside) from a plane, or scattering the main characters on a dockside as cargo containers rain down from a ship looming above them. Good times, although is it asking too much for certain basic laws of physics (if you drop a human body ten stories, for instance, it might actually sustain injuries) to be used as a guideline? But worrying about such matters isn't in the spirit of "The A-Team", which cheerfully ignores the petty concerns of credibility and logic. "--Robert Horton"

Languages: English

Sound: DTS

Summary: Having bought a model ship, the Unicorn, for a pound off a market stall Tintin is initially puzzled that the sinister Mr. Sakharine should be so eager to buy it from him, resorting to murder and kidnapping Tintin - accompanied by his marvellous dog Snowy - to join him and his gang as they sail to Morocco on an old cargo ship. Sakharine has bribed the crew to revolt against the ship's master, drunken Captain Haddock, but Tintin, Snowy and Haddock escape, arriving in Morocco at the court of a sheikh, who also has a model of the Unicorn. Haddock tells Tintin that over three hundred years earlier his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock was forced to scuttle the original Unicorn when attacked by a piratical forebear of Sakharine but he managed to save his treasure and provide clues to its location in three separate scrolls, all of which were secreted in models of the Unicorn. Tintin and Sakharine...

Summary:

Languages: English

Subtitles: French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Hip spy shows with covert agencies within agencies--like "Alias" and "24"--are missing only one thing: A super-duper armor-plated helicopter with "nuclear-tipped shrike missiles." In the action series "Airwolf", a mysterious national security agency called the Firm constructs a "Mach-one-plus chopper that can kick butt," only to have it stolen by the nefarious scientist who designed it (David Hemmings, "Blowup", "Barbarella"). Desperate, the Firm turns to Stringfellow Hawke (Jan Michael Vincent), a soulful, cello-playing, art-loving, eagle-watching, guilt-ridden master pilot. Hawke refuses to help unless the Firm searches for his brother, who went MIA in 'Nam. Of course, he succeeds in his mission, but until the Firm fulfills its side of the bargain, he keeps the chopper--but also agrees to fly covert missions in exchange for tips about government efforts to retrieve Airwolf.
This elaborate setup proves surprisingly durable. The combat scenes in "Airwolf" are clumsily edited, but the scripts--though firmly in the cheesy techno-thriller vein of Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy--are pleasantly zippy. While Vincent may have gone on to a straight-to-video career (appearing in such sterling titles as "Hidden Obsession", "Indecent Behavior", and "Animal Instincts"), he's a persuasive and sexy pilot; he's got the same kind of rangy, athletic physicality that makes Kevin Costner convincing as an athlete. Add to this mix the ever-zesty Ernest Borgnine ("Marty", "The Wild Bunch") and it's clear why "Airwolf" outlived the similar series "Blue Thunder". Most episodes feature international skullduggery with foreign agents trying to steal Airwolf and sell it to the Soviets or Libya, but there are enough clever details to keep you from objecting to the larger absurdity of the all-powerful helicopter. Guest stars include Shannen Doherty ("Beverly Hills 90210") and David Carradine ("Kill Bill"). It's too bad Hemmings didn't become a regular; his sadistic, lecherous traitor gave the two-hour pilot some real juice. "--Bret Fetzer"

Summary: "Airwolf" appeared only two years after "Knight Rider" and, perplexingly, the same year as the short-lived "Blue Thunder" series. However, creator Donald P Bellisario had spent more than a little time in fully conceptualising this series. Although the format allowed for stories-of-the-week, a B-plot always ran as background motivation for the individual tales. This was a trick Bellisario would also use to good effect later in "Magnum P.I." and "Quantum Leap". The hook that sustains the audience here is an extremely bitter sub-plot: Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent) is a peculiar anti-hero to root for since he is effectively being held to ransom and doing the same in return. His brother St. John is held captive somewhere and until his release the Airwolf chopper is Hawke's to keep hidden and use under the covert instructions of "Archangel". His best friend Dominic Santini (the ever-appealing Ernest Borgnine) is a surrogate father figure caught up in the family history. All this pre-determined angst means this is never a show that plays itself for laughs. Very specific character flaws are upfront from the beginning. We are hammered over the head with the idea of Hawke being a tortured intellectual; hence the cello, log cabin retreat and inability to smile. Of course the real star is the spurious technology showcased in the Mach One helicopter armed to the teeth and able to defy the laws of physics on a regular basis. As the mid-80s looked increasingly to the lighter side in most television successes, "Airwolf" is a rare display of aggression. Justice is fought, but dig only a little way and the moral motivations are often in question. Toward the end of its third season things began to lose coherence and after a year's pause the show was magically resurrected with an all-new cast. It didn't last. --"Paul Tonks"

Comments: Box set

Summary: Artist-writer Katsuhiro Omoto began telling the story of Akira as a comic book series in 1982 but took a break from 1986 to 1988 to write, direct, supervise and design this animated film version. Set in 2019, the film richly imagines the new metropolis of Neo-Tokyo, which is designed from huge buildings down to the smallest details of passing vehicles or police uniforms. Two disaffected orphan teenagers--slight, resentful Tetsuo and confident, breezy Kanada--run with a biker gang, but trouble grows when Tetsuo start to resent the way Kanada always has to rescue him. Meanwhile, a group of scientists, military men and politicians wonder what to do with a collection of withered children who possess enormous psychic powers, especially the mysterious, rarely seen Akira, whose awakening might well have caused the end of the old world. Tetsuo is visited by the children, who trigger the growth of psychic and physical powers that might make him a superman or a super-monster.
As befits a distillation of 1,318 pages of the story so far, "Akira" is overstuffed with character, incident and detail. However, it piles up astonishing set pieces: the chases and shoot-outs (amazingly kinetic, amazingly bloody) benefit from minute cartoon detail that extends to the surprised or shocked faces of the tiniest extra; the Tetsuo monster alternately looks like a billion-gallon scrotal sac or a Tex Avery mutation of the monster from "The Quatermass Experiment"; and the finale--which combines flashbacks to more innocent days with a destruction of Neo City and the creation of a new universe--is one of the most mind bending in all sci-fi cinema. --"Kim Newman"
"On the DVD:" as befits this film's status as a Manga classic, "Akira" has a wide selection of extras spread across two discs, including a "Making of "Akira"" documentary, a photo gallery, a quiz and a "Make your own trailer" feature, as well as one hidden feature on each disc. The film has been digitally remastered and presented in widescreen format, with Dolby Digital 5.1 for the English-dubbed version, and Dolby Digital 2.0 for the original Japanese language version. The only disappointment of the disc is the animated Scene Selection, where the clips are rendered so small that they can be a bit difficult to decipher. --"Rob Burrow"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Stills from Alice in Wonderland

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Brace yourself for a whole new breed of Blu-ray: Four powerful films...eight thrilling versions...in dazzling, terrifying, high-def clarity with the purest digital sound on the planet. Two bonus dics and over 65 hours of archival and never-before-seen content, including the totally immersive MU-TH-UR mode feature, makes this definitive Alien collection!

Languages: English

Subtitles: French, Spanish

Summary: In delivering non-18-rated excitement, "Alien vs. Predator" is an acceptably average science-fiction action thriller with some noteworthy highlights, even if it squanders its opportunity to intelligently combine two popular franchises. Rabid fans can justifiably ask "Is that all there is?" after a decade of development hell and eager anticipation, but we're compensated by reasonably logical connections to the Alien legacy and the still-kicking Predator franchise (which hinted at AVP rivalry at the end of Predator 2); some cleverly claustrophobic sets, tense atmosphere and impressive digital effects; and a climactic AVP smackdown that's not half bad. This disposable junk should've been better, but nobody who's seen Mortal Kombat or Resident Evil should be surprised by writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson's lack of imagination. As a brisk, 90-minute exercise in generic thrills, however, Anderson's work is occasionally impressive... right up to his shameless opening for yet another sequel. --"Jeff Shannon"

Summary: For those who found 2004's "Aliens vs. Predator" too lightweight in the gore-and-guns department, "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" offers a marked improvement in both categories, as well as a respectable amount of rumbles between the title extraterrestrials. Set in the 21st century (which predates the story to all of the "Alien" features), "Requiem" sends a crippled Predator ship crashing to Earth in a small Colorado town; unbeknownst to the locals, the craft is loaded with H.R. Giger's insectoid monsters, which make quick work of most of the population. As the human cast is slowly whittled to a few hardy (if unmemorable) souls, a Predator warrior also arrives to complicate matters and do battle with the Aliens, as well as a ferocious Alien-Predator hybrid (dubbed a Predalien by the sci-fi and horror press).
Visual-effects designers and music-video helmers The Strause Brothers (who make their feature directorial debut here) keep the action on frantic throughout, which is wise, since the dialogue and characters are threadbare at best; that should matter little to teenage male viewers, who are inarguably the film's key audience. Fans of the "Alien" franchise, however, may find the offhanded nod to the series' mythology given during the finale its sole saving grace. "--Paul Gaita, Amazon.com"

Summary: A nostalgic, bittersweet ode to the hedonistic rock 'n' roll days of the early 1970s, "Almost Famous" is Cameron Crowe's most personal, deeply felt film (he even cowrote the original songs with wife Nancy Wilson). "Does anybody remember laughter?" asks one of the characters in a Led Zeppelin reference that typifies how the film works both for those who, like Crowe, remember and love the times and its music, and those who can only look back in wonder at an era when rock music was about something more than just marketing. Closely based on his own coming-of-age experiences as a teenage journalist for "Rolling Stone" magazine, the story follows the director's "alter ego" William Miller (sympathetic newcomer Patrick Fugit) on the journey of a lifetime touring with fictional rock band Stillwater, struggling to get the all-important interview, losing his virginity, falling in love, and trying to fend off his obsessively concerned mother (Frances McDormand). Kate Hudson as the "band-aid" (not groupie) Penny Lane is the film's magnetic centrepiece; Billy Crudup plays Stillwater's temperamental and egocentric lead guitarist perfectly; and Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show as jaded rock journo Lester Bangs, the very personification of "uncool" whose ardent love for music--good, honest music--is at the very heart of this film. "I have to go home" says William on the Stillwater tour bus in one of the many emotionally truthful moments that permeate this wonderful film; "You are home", Penny Lane tells him.
On the DVD: This is an attractive anamorphic 1.85:1 picture, and the fantastic soundtrack gets the Dolby 5.1 treatment. The extra features include the complete performance of Stillwater's Zeppelin-esque "Fever Dog" and a good 25-minute HBO "making-of" featurette with contributions from all the principals ("I really liked hanging out with all the girls on the set", says Patrick Fugit with a straight face). Navigate the special features menus by following the red Stratocasters and find Cameron Crowe's six articles for "Rolling Stone" that reveal how closely the film is based on his experiences on the road with the Allman Brothers Band and Led Zeppelin. There are also four trailers (only one for this film, oddly), and text-based Filmographies and Production Notes. No commentary, though. --"Mark Walker"
DVD Special Features:
HBO Making of Featurette
Rolling Stone Article--Original Text be Cameron Crowe
Stillwater's "Fever Dog" Music Video
Filmographies
Production Notes
Trailer
Animated & Interactive Menus
1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (enhanced for 16:9 TVs)
Dolby 5.1 English, Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese

Summary:

Comments: Animated, Box set

Summary: The animation of this Appleseed re-make is nothing short of breathtaking. The mecha scenes, and all the battle scenes are epic, with every single piece of this feature choreographed to perfection. My only gripe is that some of the human animations seem to be a bit choppy. Here and there I notice certain movements, (which would be the hardest to produce using CG), have been cut, or are traded for more economical movements, and shots, or just look plain wooden. These are in the vast minority though, and often I can see where choices to economise certain shots pay huge dividends in other pieces where the additional detail, or the extra frames now available resulted in some of the most fluid, breathtakingly, beautiful animation I've ever witnessed.

Additionally, the features on the DVD are great! Time has been put into producing quality extras, which are second only to the main feature in watchability.

As an aside, I'd recommend to anyone who hasn't seen the original appleseed; watch that too!

Summary: Poorly received on its theatrical release, "The Art of War" is a film which deserves a second look. Plot-wise it's a routinely complicated thriller full of double-crosses and sudden shifts of perspective, as Wesley Snipes, secret fixer for the UN, tries to find out who killed the Chinese Ambassador to stop a trade pact and what it is that interpreter Marie Matiko knows that means people are trying to kill her. There are good performances here--Donald Sutherland as a Secretary General who takes good care not to know what is done in the name of peace, Anne Archer as Snipes' power-dressed controller, and Maury Chaykin as a world-weary FBI man who finds himself dragged around New York in Snipes' high-speed wake--but what is memorable is the look of the film. Presenting a New York of building sites and mirrored apartment buildings and rain on glass in twilight, contemporary techno-noir has never been quite so coherently imagined and set.
On the DVD: This is a film which comes into its own in widescreen and on DVD simply because its visual aspect is most of the point. This disc is not generous with features, simply providing scene access and the theatrical trailer, which makes rather more reference to Sun Tzu's classic of military strategy than the film ever bothers to. However, its combination of Dolby Sound and 2.35:1 widescreen ratio plays to the movie's strengths. --"Roz Kaveney"

Summary: I shouldn't find it as funny as I do, but I can't help but laugh so hard my sides ache every time I watch this film. The characters are so hilarious and there are so many of them that you find yourself laughing virtually non stop. Myers is so funny to watch and so original and ahead of the game in all he does. So many catchphrases have come from this movie it just shows how funny and in tune with viewers it is. Buy it, watch it and laugh so hard you'll cry!

Languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese

Subtitles: English, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Experience the spectacular world of James Cameron's "Avatar" as never before with this all-new three-disc extended collector’s edition. The journey begins with three movie versions: the original theatrical release, the special edition re-release, and the exclusive extended cut not shown in theaters. And that's just what's on the first Blu-ray disc. The set's bonus feature run more than eight hours and include over 45 minutes of deleted scenes; actor's screen tests; on-location footage; feature-length documentaries on the film's groundbreaking production; an interactive scene-deconstruction feature that lets you explore different levels of production for 17 scenes; a comprehensive guide to the world of Pandora; and more. The greatest adventure of all time just got bigger and better.

Versions of "Avatar" on Blu-ray, DVD, and Video On Demand
Edition Format Release Date Special Features "Avatar" (Extended Collector's Edition) Three Blu-ray Discs Nov. 16, 2010 Three versions of the movie including the previously unreleased extended cut, plus more than eight hours of bonus features including over 45 minutes of deleted scenes, interactive scene deconstruction, "Pandorapedia", documentaries and featurettes, and BD-LIVE content (requires compatible player and Internet connection) "Avatar" (Extended Collector's Edition) Three DVDs Nov. 16, 2010 Three versions of the movie including the previously unreleased extended cut, plus more than three hours of bonus features including documentaries and over 45 minutes of deleted scenes "Avatar" (Original Theatrical Edition) Digital Purchase Apr. 22, 2010 None "Avatar" (Original Theatrical Edition) Digital Rental May 9, 2010 None "Avatar" (Original Theatrical Edition) Two-disc Blu-ray/
DVD combo Apr. 22, 2010 None "Avatar" (Original Theatrical Edition) DVD Apr. 22, 2010 None

There is not a 3D edition of "Avatar" on any of these formats at this time.

Contents of the Blu-ray Extended Collector's Edition
What follows is the back-of-the box summary of the Blu-ray set's contents and then a complete listing of everything that's included.



Disc 1: Three Movie Versions Original Theatrical Edition (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed) Special Edition Re-Release (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed) Collector’s Extended Cut with 16 additional minutes, including alternate opening on earth
Disc 2: Filmmaker's Journey Over 45 minutes of never-before-seen deleted scenes "Capturing Avatar": Feature-length documentary covering the 16-year filmmakers’ journey, including interviews with James Cameron, Jon Landau, cast and crew "A Message from Pandora": James Cameron’s visit to the Amazon rainforest The 2006 art reel: Original pitch of the "Avatar vision" Brother termite test: Original motion capture test The ILM prototype: Visual effects reel Screen tests: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana Zoë’s life cast: Makeup session footage On-set footage as live-action filming begins VFX progressions Crew film: "The Volume"
Disc 3: Pandora's Box Interactive scene deconstruction: Explore the stages of production of 17 different scenes through three viewing modes: capture level, template level, and final level with picture-in-picture reference Production featurettes: "Sculpting Avatar", "Creating the Banshee", "Creating the Thanator", "The AMP Suit", "Flying Vehicles", "Na’vi Costumes", "Speaking Na’vi", "Pandora Flora", "Stunts", "Performance Capture", "Virtual Camera", "The 3D Fusion Camera", "The Simul-Cam", "Editing Avatar", "Scoring Avatar", "Sound Design", "The Haka: The Spirit of New Zealand" "Avatar" original script "Avatar" screenplay by James Cameron "Pandorapedia:" Comprehensive guide to Pandora" Lyrics from five songs by James Cameron The art of "Avatar": Over 1,850 images in 16 themed galleries ("The World of Pandora", "The Creatures", "Pandora Flora", "Pandora Bioluminescence", "The Na’vi", "The Avatars", "Maquettes", "Na’vi Weapons", "Na’vi Props", "Na’vi Musical Instruments", "RDA Designs", "Flying Vehicles", "AMP Suit", "Human Weapons", "Land Vehicles", "One-Sheet Concepts")
BD-Live Extras BD-Live extras require a BD-Live-enabled player and an Internet connection. The following extras may be available a limited-time only and are subject to change over time: Crew Short: "The Night Before Avatar"; additional screen tests, including Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, and Laz Alonso; speaking Na’vi rehearsal footage; Weta Workshop: walk-and-talk presentation

Review of the Original Theatrical Edition
Here's what we had to say about the original theatrical edition of "Avatar" after seeing it on the big screen:

After 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na'vi, the blue-skinned, large-eyed native people who would very much like to live their peaceful lives without the interference of the visitors. Although he's supposed to be gathering intel for the badass general (Stephen Lang) who'd like to lay waste to the planet and its inhabitants, Jake naturally begins to take a liking to the Na'vi, especially the feisty Neytiri (Zoë Saldana, whose entire performance, recorded by Cameron's complicated motion-capture system, exists as a digitally rendered Na'vi). The movie uses state-of-the-art 3D technology to plunge the viewer deep into Cameron's crazy toy box of planetary ecosystems and high-tech machinery. Maybe it's the fact that Cameron seems torn between his two loves--awesome destructive gizmos and flower-power message mongering--that makes Avatar's pursuit of its point ultimately uncertain. That, and the fact that Cameron's dialogue continues to clunk badly. If you're won over by the movie's trippy new world, the characters will be forgivable as broad, useful archetypes rather than standard-issue stereotypes, and you might be able to overlook the unsurprising central plot. (The overextended "take that, Michael Bay" final battle sequences could tax even Cameron enthusiasts, however.) It doesn't measure up to the hype (what could?) yet Avatar frequently hits a giddy delirium all its own. The film itself is our Pandora, a sensation-saturated universe only the movies could create. --Robert Horton