Water Horse & Other Great Blu-ray Releases 8th April

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2007 / 111 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: April 08, 2008

Genres: Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Starring: Alex Etel, Brian Cox, Ben Chaplin
Director: Jay Russell

Plot Synopsis: The story of The Water Horse begins when a young boy named Angus MacMorrow takes home a mysterious object he finds on the beach. He soon realizes that it is a magical egg, and finds himself raising an amazing creature: a mythical "water horse". As he and his friend, whom he names Crusoe, form a bond of friendship, Angus begins a journey of discovery, protecting a secret that gives birth to a legend.

Disc Features:
• 6 Featurettes: "Creating Crusoe," "Myths and Legends," "Setting the Scene," "The Characters," "The Story," "Water Works: Creating the Water Horse"
• Deleted Scenes

HD Exclusive Content:
• Interactive Game: "The Water Horse: Virtual Crusoe" (BD-Java)


Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2007 / 125 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: April 08, 2008

Overall Grade






Genres: Comedy

Starring: John C.Reily
Director: Jake Kasdan

Plot Synopsis: The Pixar-like roll of Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad) continues with another sure-fire hit. In charting the meteoric rise, catastrophic fall and Lazarus-like rise of rocker Dewey Cox, Walk Hard parodies the classic Hollywood bio-pic, cashing in mostly on Walk the Line. John C. Reilly, one of Hollywood's most solid character actors, makes the most of his Golden Globe-nominated star turn as Dewey, whose road to stardom is paved with a childhood tragedy that claims the life of his prodigiously talented brother ("The wrong kid died," is his father's mantra), instant stardom (his first record is a hit just 35 minutes after it was recorded), sex and drugs, and the inevitable "dark (effen) period" that leads him to rehab. Reilly gets solid backup from current and former Saturday Night Live alumni, including Kirsten Wiig as his incredibly fertile first wife who has no faith in his musical aspirations ("You're never going to make it," she cheerily ends one phone call); Tim Meadows, never better, as Dewey's drummer, who, in one of the film's best scenes, does a poor job of dissuading him from trying marijuana); and Chris Parnell as his bass player. Jenna Fischer leaves Pam back at The Office as Darlene, Dewey's virtuous duet partner. Hilarious cameos give Walk Hard a great "Hey!" factor: Hey, that's Frankie Muniz as Buddy Holly. Hey, that's "Kenneth" from 30 Rock. Hey, there's Jack Black and Paul Rudd as--no kidding--Paul McCartney and John Lennon revealing "a rift in the Beatles." Some of the jokes are obvious (come on; the guy's last name is Cox), others inspired. But the decades-spanning music, echoing the styles of gritty Johnny Cash, romantic Roy Orbison, obtuse Bob Dylan, trippy Brian Wilson, and even a bit of anachronistic punk rock, is as pitch perfect and affectionately observed as in The Rutles, This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind. Walk Hard earns its R-rating, particularly for a sure-to-be-talked-about scene of hotel-room debauchery. But: Hilarious? Outrageous? Twisted? To quote the title of one of Dewey's hit songs, "Guilty as Charged."- Amazon.com

Disc Features:

• Audio Commentary - A lively group chat with Judd Apatow, writer/director Jake Kasdan, star John C. Reilly, and producer Lew Morton. The chatter is almost non-stop and frequently self-deprecating. The track is also helpful in pointing out some of the satire that is easy to miss if you are not familiar with music history of the '50s and '60s, as well as the numerous star cameos (some obvious, some not). There isn't a great deal of production info on this track aside from on-set frivolity, and at 120 minutes, I found this a slow slog by the end. Worth a listen with the fast-forward button handy, though.
  
• Mockumentary: "The Real Dewey Cox" (HD, 17 minutes) - Often funnier than the flick, this is my favorite extra of the entire set. A variety of music stars (including John Mayer, Ghostface Killah, Sheryl Crow, and Jewel) show up to sing the praises of the "real" Dewey Cox, and how Reilly found it "an honor" to play him. As a long-time fan of VH-1's "Behind the Music" and other music biography series, I found this skewering of rock star self-importance to be right on the money.
  
• Mockumentary: "The Last Word with John Hodgman" (HD, 19 minutes) - Another winner of a spoof, this is a look back at the life story of Dewey Cox, as told by Hodgman for a fake show about folks nearing death. The satire is quite agile, with recollections from Cox's family, friends and collaborators (all actors in-character). Not always side-splitting, but still impressive, as much of this material was clearly improvised.
  
• Featurette: "The Making of 'Walk Hard'" (HD, 15 minutes) - Apatow, Kasdan, and Reilly provide on-set interviews, along with most of the other major cast and crew. It's a straightforward and largely straight-faced mini-doc, giving us a decent overview of the conception and production of the film. However, there is too much of an EPK-like feel, as well as an abundance of film clips/story recap.
  
• Featurette: "The Music of 'Walk Hard'" (HD, 17 minutes) - Along with the above making-of, this is the only other serious extra here. It's interesting to see how the filmmakers attempted to blend musical satire with songs that would sound credible to the time period, and which utilized the talents of such great singer-songwriters as Marshall Crenshaw. Reilly also showcases his vocal chops, as he sang all of his own songs (versus some of his co-stars like Jenna Fischer, who were dubbed).
  
• Featurette: "Tyler Nilson: A Coxumentary" (HD, 6 minutes) - Rather cute, this one is devoted to the young actor who answered a casting call to perform completely in the buff. Now, that's dedication.
  
• Featurette: "Bull On the Loose" (HD, 4 minutes) - A short vignette on the scene where a bull chases a young Dewey Cox. Interviews with three production personnel describe how the stunt was executed safely.
  
• Full Song Performances/"The Christmas Song" (HD, 44 minutes) - As the music sequences in 'Walk Hard' were my favorite bits in the film, these extended versions of 16 tunes were highlights of the extras for me. The quality is high as well, as each is presented in HD and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. The songs include: "Walk Hard," "Billy Don't be a Hero," "Dear Mr. President," "Gamblin' Man," "Guilty as Charged," "(I Hate You) Big Daddy," "A Life Without You," "Let's Duet," "The Mulatto Song," "Royal Jelly," "Hey Mr. Old Guy," "Farmer Glickstein," "(You Make Me So) Hard" and "Starman," as well as "My Girl" by The Temptations and an alternate version of "Walk Hard" by the All-Star Band).
  
  Note that here is one last tune, "The Christmas Song," that's given its own menu heading. It's only presented as an audio-only clip playing over a blank screen, however -- perhaps that's part of the joke?
  
• Song Demos (SD, 39 minutes) - This collection of 13 demo cuts features all of the original musical artists singing the tunes they wrote for the film, among them Marshall Crenshaw, Mike Viola, Dan Bern, Antonio Ortiz, Charlie Wadhams, and Reilly. Music fans should enjoy hearing these rough versions, and the songs included are: "Walk Hard" and "Let’s Duet," (two versions each), "Take My Hand," "Guilty As Charged," "There's a Change Happening," "Beautiful Ride," "Farmer Glickstein," "Your Eyes," "A Life Without You," "Guilty As Charged" and the "American Pie"-esque "(Have You Heard the News) Dewey Cox Died."
  
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 20 minutes) - There are ten scenes in all here, and with the disc already boasting the 120-minute extended cut of the film, these verge on overkill. There's more of the Beatles routine seen in the finished film, and also of note is a brief cameo by Eddie Vedder.
  
• Line-O-Rama (SD, 6 minutes) - Essentially a gag reel, this again proves that the makers of 'Walk Hard' don't know the meaning of the word "concise." These missed lines and other gaffes are initially amusing, but this goes on so long it wears out its welcome.
  
• Cox Sausage Commercial (SD, 6 minutes) - A sorta-funny fake advert, complete with it's own montage of "outtakes" performed by the actors in-character.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 1989 / 127 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: April 08, 2008

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy

Starring: Robin Williams, Uma Thurman, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle
Director: Terry Gilliam

Plot Synopsis: Director Terry Gilliam (Brazil) and an all-star cast including John Neville, Eric Idle, Oliver Reedand Uma Thurman deliver this tale of the enchanting adventures of Baron von Munchausen on his journey to save a town from defeat. Being swallowed by a giant sea-monster, a trip to the moon, a dance with Venus and an escape from the Grim Reaper are only some of the improbable adventures.

Disc Features:
• Audio Commentary with Director Terry Gilliam & Writer Charles McKeown
• Featurettes: "The Madness and Misadventures of Munchausen," "As We once Dreamed It: Afterthoughts by Terry Gilliam & Charles McKeown"
• Storyboard Sequences: "A Voyage to the Moon," "The Baron & Bucephalos Charge the Turkish Gates"
• Deleted Scenes

The 6th Day (Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2002 / 123 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: April 08, 2008

Genres: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Starring: Michael Rooker, Wendy Crewson, Robert Duvall, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Director: Roger Spottiswoode

Plot Synopsis: Director Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies, Noriega) creates a world of the very near future in which cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family man Adam Gibson (Arnold Schwarzenegger) comes home from work one day to find a clone has replaced him. Taken from his family and plunged into a sinister world he doesn't understand, Gibson must not only save himself from the assassins who must destroy him to protect their secret, but uncover who and what is behind the horrible things happening to him. THE SIXTH DAY is the story of Gibson's struggle to reclaim his life and his family.

Disc Features:
• Showtime Special: "The Future is Coming"
• 9-Part Documentary: "On the 6th Day..."
• Storyboard Comparisons and Animatics
• RePet Infomercial and TV Spot