Made of Honor (Blu-ray) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2008 / 101 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Kadeem Hardison, Kat Quinlan, and Sydney Pollack
Director: Paul Weiland
Plot Synopsis: Platonic friends since college have never entertained the prospect of romance - he's a womanizer who never wanted to commit; she wants marriage but has never found the right man. Just as he begins to think he's ready to settle, she gets engaged to a handsome Scotsman - and asks her longtime male pal to be her "maid" of honor. He agrees, but only so he can sabotage the wedding and woo her before it's too late.
Disc Features:
• Audio commentary with director Paul Weiland
HD Exclusive Content:
• 2 featurettes: "Save the Date," "Three Weddings and a Skyline"
• Deleted scenes
The Love Guru (Blu-ray) DreamWorks Home Entertainment / 2008 / 86 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genres: Comedy
Starring: Mike Myers, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba
Director: Marco Schnabel
Plot Synopsis: A hilarious comedy starring Mike Myers as guru Pitka in his first original character since the blockbuster hit Austin Powers. Myers plays an American raised in India by gurus (Tugginmypudha & Satchabigknoba) and returns to the U.S. in order to break into the self-help business. His unorthodox methods are put to the test when he must settle the romantic troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player (Romany Malco), whose wife left him for a rival athlete Jacques Grande (Justin Timberlake). Mini Me is back from Austin Powers and plays the hockey coach for more classic comedic moments that will have audiences laughing from opening to closing credits.
Disc Features:
• Featurettes: "Mike Myers and the Love Guru: An Inside Look," "One Helluva Elephant," "Monkey Training for Actors," "Back in the Booth with Trent and Jay"
• Deleted Scenes
• Blooper Reel
• Outtakes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Digital Copy
Speed Racer (Blu-ray)
Warner Home Video / 2008 / Rated PG
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genres: Action, Family, Sport
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, Emile Hirsch
Directors: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Plot Synopsis: Emile Hirsch plays Speed Racer, younger brother of a deceased racing legend, Rex, and son of car designer Pops (John Goodman). The latter invented Speed's Mach 5, and is singularly unimpressed by an offer from a giant conglomerate that would lock Speed into exclusive racing services. Speed opts instead for family loyalty, incurring the wrath of the conglomerate's unctuous head (Roger Allam). With family honor on the line and the affections of girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) behind him, Speed hits the track in hopes of fulfilling his destiny as a master racer. The cast is largely enjoyable, including Susan Sarandon as Speed's mom, Matthew Fox as mysterious Racer X, and a pair of chimps as the irrepressible Chim-Chim. All well and good, but in a movie that lives or dies by the excitement level of races that look like computer-animated Hot Wheels action, Speed Racer is a dreary adventure.
HD Exclusive Content:
• Bonus Disc: "Speed Racer Crucible Challenge" Videogame
• Bonus Disc: Digital Copy
88 Minutes (Blu-ray) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2008 / 107 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genres: Action, thriller
Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski
Directors: Jon Avnet
Plot Synopsis: Al Pacino looks startled through much of 88 Minutes, as though taken by surprise at being cast in a thriller that must've first passed across the desks of Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford. Still, Pacino brings his usual oomph to the role of a Seattle forensic psychiatrist, whose testimony secured the death sentence for a crazy serial killer (Neal McDonough). Wouldn't you know it, the very day the killer is sentenced to die, a copycat "Seattle Slayer" is on the loose, and Pacino starts getting ominous phone calls telling him the exact time of his own death. Tick tock: it's 88 minutes away. The film then serves up more red herrings than a Stalingrad fish fry, as possible culprits pop up every five minutes or so (among them an attractive group of med-school students played by Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, and Benjamin McKenzie). Lapses in logic abound, but if you hunker down and zone in on Pacino's weary-eyed, poufy-haired professionalism, you can enjoy the goings-on. (They even make him run up flights of stairs, which one would have thought beyond him now.) Seattle's frequent stunt double, Vancouver, B.C., stands in as a location, and Jon Avnet supplies the slick direction. The cast is talented (including Amy Brenneman), leading you to guess that a lot of people will do anything just to work with Al Pacino. And you've got to admire Pacino's chutzpah at sharing the screen with statuesque actresses such as Brenneman and Sobieski; they tower over him, but he still holds his own.
Disc Features:
- Audio Commentary - Director Jon Avnet flies solo. I found him to be a very personable and likable speaker, which almost makes me feel guilty for trashing his movie. He finds a good deal positive here in the material, including the derivative story and cliched characters, which I just did not see. He also predictably fawns over Al Pacino and the cast, even though Pacino practically sleepwalks through the movie. Avnet also discusses a few editorial decisions that affect the final reel, and the alternate ending (which is included as a supplement). A fine commentary for a movie that really doesn't deserve one.
- Featurettes (SD, 15 minutes) - Two shoddily-produced featurettes are included, all culled from the same film clips and on-set cast & crew interviews. "Director's Point of View" (7 minutes) profiles Avnet, though he basically recaps the plot and a few of the same bits from the commentary. "The Character Within" (8 minutes) highlights Pacino, who spouts standard promo boilerplate about the "depth" and "deep moral crisis" of his character. Both featurettes appear rushed and formulaic.
- Alternate Ending (SD) - If the film's existing ending is lame, this one is no better. Even the quality is very poor, looking like it was ripped right from an AVID dub.
- Theatrical Trailers (HD)
Speed and Angels (Blu-ray) Vivendi Visual Entertainment / 2005 / 95 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genres: Documentary, Military
Director: Peyton Wilson
Plot Synopsis: Inspired by the passion of two young Navy officers, director Peyton Wilson captures Jay and Meagan as they pursue their childhood dream of becoming naval aviators flying the F-14 Tomcat. Shot in epic High Definition, the aerial footage and stunning cockpit photography provide a dramatic backdrop for the more universal story of what it's like to fight for your dreams. From dogfights in the Nevada desert, to night landings on aicraft carriers in the Atlantic, what begins as a story of realizing a childhood dream turns into a story of fighting for one's life.
Another Cinderella Story (Blu-ray)
Warner Home Video / 2008 / Unrated
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Teen
Starring: Jane Lynch, Drew Seeley, Selena Gomez
Director: Damon Santostefano
Disc Features:
• Featurettes: "Mary: Dancing Ever After," "Spotlight on Selena Gomez," "Spotlight on Drew
Seely," "The Diva Dominique," "Tami's Fantastic Fashion"
• Just That Girl Music Video
• Sing-Along Tracks
The Mist (Blu-ray) Weinstein Co. / 2007 / 128 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Overall Grade 
Genre: Suspense, thriller
Starring: Thomas Jayne, Andre Braugher, Jeffrey DeMunn, Marcia Gay Harden
Director: Frank Darabont [Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile]
Plot Synopsis:
From legendary frightmaster Stephen King and 3-time Oscar-nominated director Frank Darabont* (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) comes "one of the scariest King films since Stanley Kubrick's The Shining" (Tasha Robinson, The Onion A.V. Club). After a mysterious mist envelopes a small New England town, a group of locals trapped in a supermarket must battle a siege of otherworldly creatures...and the fears that threaten to tear them apart. Starring Thomas Jane (The Punisher) and Oscar winner* Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River) in one of the year's most talked-about performances, The Mist is riveting, with "tension like an ever-tightening clamp"
Disc Features:
- Audio Commentary - As an articulate speaker and a compassionate observer, Frank Darabont is up there with my favorite directors. He's passionate, articulate and humane, traits which always show through in his commentaries. Here, he delivers another excellent track. He whips through all the nuts and bolts, from his love for the original short story (and Stephen King), through the casting and production, and on to the much-discussed ending.
- Documentary: "When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist" (HD, 38 minutes) - This strong doc again features Darabont, plus all of the cast members (Thomas Jayne, Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher and Del Close among them), and even Stephen King, who makes a rare DVD/Blu-ray appearance. There is some cross-over with the commentary in Darabont's comments, but any redundancy is made up for with the snappy integration of behind-the-scenes footage. Best of all, this is no mere plot recap, and never comes off as a glossy, glorified commercial.
- Featurettes (HD, 38 minutes) - Four short featurettes support the main doc. The first two focus on the special effects. "Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature F/X" (13 minutes) pays a visit to KNB studios, who designed the various animatronics and practical creatures seen in the film. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough of them, and instead, we get "The Horror of It All: The Visual F/X of The Mist" (16 minutes), aka the weak CGI by the folks at CafeFX that hogs most of the screen time.
The remaining two featurettes include "Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35" (8 minutes). This is a the centerpiece sequence that really sets the story of 'The Mist' into motion, and for Darabont, was quite a logistical feat of location, performance and special effects. Finally, "Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of An Artist" (7 minutes) highlights the work of the famous poster artist whose works are glimpsed early on in the film. The wonderful (and sometimes underappreciated) Struzman has designed the famous key art for such classics as the 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones' series, as well as Darabont's own 'Shawshank Redemption,' and it's great to see him profiled here. - Deleted Scenes (HD, 7 minutes) - Next are deleted scenes (accessible individually or via the "Play All" function"). Given the film's already-expansive 128-minute runtime, it's not surprising there's little meat here. Most of these are scene extensions that would have just dragged scenes down, so there's not a single cut here I would disagree with. Darabont also provides optional commentary which pretty much confers the same thing.
1408 (Blu-ray) Weinstein Co. / 2007 / 121 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genre: Suspense, thriller
Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Tony Shalhoub
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Plot Synopsis:
Based on a story by Stephen King, the Dolphin Hotel hides a deadly secret - a long-closed room so evil, no guest has ever survived an hour within its walls. But when a skeptical writer Mike Enslin defies the grave warnings of the Dolphin's manager and insists on spending the night, 1408 reopens for business.
Disc Features:
- Audio Commentary - Director Mikael Hafstrom is joined by co-screenwriters Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski. It's a pleasant track, with Hafstrom's accent adding an (unintentional) whiff of pretentiousness to the discussion, which tends towards the technical. The challenges of shooting a story that takes place essentially all in one room are initially fascinating but eventually grows tiresome (especially as the film piles on the over-the-top setpieces). Thankfully, the screenwriters add some interest by discussing King's original short story, how they expanded on key plot elements, and the multiple endings shot for the film. A decent commentary.
- Featurettes: "The Secrets of '1408'" (HD, 21 minutes) - There are four in all, which are culled from the same production material and EPK interviews so they might as well be one short documentary. "The Characters" gives us just that, a look at the main players. Samuel L. Jackson is the most fun here (as usual), and who was cast quite against type versus the original King story. "The Director" profiles Hafstrom, but he says nothing not already in the commentary. "The Production Design" is a short piece on creating the look and feel of the Dolphin Hotel, wile 'The Physical Effects" has some neat footage of the soundstage in various supernatural states of distress.
- Webisodes (SD, 5 minutes) - Originally created for '1408's online marketing campaign, these two segments are so short (less than three minutes each) they come off as merely promotional. "John Cusack on '1408'" is just that, mere sound bites, while "Inside Room '1408'" comes off as a trailer for the above featurettes.
- Deleted Scenes (HD, 18 minutes) - There are five deleted scenes (running about 10 minutes), plus a pair of alternate endings. The excised scenes give yet more character development beyond the Director's Cut version (which really isn't needed), while the alternate endings are far more happy (and audience-pleasing) than the Director's Cut denouncement. Both are worth watching, however, as some have preferred them to Hafstrom's preferred darker take.
- Theatrical Trailer (HD) - A full high-def clip is provided for '1408.' It's a good trailer, and went a long way towards turning the film into the sleeper hit of last summer.
Pushing Daisies: Season One (Blu-ray) Warner Home Video / 2007 / Unrated
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genre: TV series, fantasy, comedy drama
Starring: Lee Pace, Chi McBride, Anna Friel, and Jim Dale
Plot Synopsis:
Every not-so-often, along comes a show that's different. Wonderfully different. Pushing Daisies, TV Guide's Matt Roush writes, "restores my faith in TV's ability to amuse, enchant and entertain." It's the story of Ned, a lonely pie maker whose touch can reanimate the dead. Cool, but there's a hitch. If Ned touches the person again, the miracle is reversed. If he doesn't, a bystander goes toes up. What to do? Easy: Team with a private eye, bring murder victims back just long enough to discover whodunit, and collect the rewards. Things go well until Ned's boyhood sweetie is the next dear departed, and he can't resist bringing her back for keeps! Dig the wit, style and quirky romance: If you're not laughing, you may need a visit from Ned.
Hulk (2003) (Blu-ray) Universal Studios Home Entertainment / 2003 / 138 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Overall Grade 
Great disc collectionGenres: Action, comic based, superhero
Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly
Director: Ang Lee
Plot Synopsis: The larger-than-life Marvel Superhero The Hulk explodes onto the big screen! After a freak lab accident unleashes a genetically enhanced, impossibly strong creature, a terrified world must marshal its forces to stop a being with abilities beyond imagination.
Disc Features:
- Audio Commentary - I dug the screen-specific audio commentary with Ang Lee, even though a few more participants might have elevated the track. At 138 minutes, it is a bit of a tough slog for Lee solo, though his limited English is charming. It is also humorous that this is one of those commentaries that was recorded before the movie came out, so Lee is blissfully unaware of his expected blockbuster's fall from grace. For that reason, I can't help but imagine a new track might be somewhat more insightful. Still, I admired his dedication to creating a "thinking person's comic book," and as far as production anecdotes go, this one is chock full of 'em.
- Featurette: "The Making of 'Hulk'" (SD, 24 minutes) - The Blu-ray's main featurette is divided into four sections: "Cast and Crew," "Stunts & Physical Effects," "ILM" and "Music." A better-than-average EPK, it is clear all of these interviews were conducted during production and/or post-production, as everyone talks in the future tense about the film's release. Nothing is exceptionally memorable, though I did get a kick out of Marvel boss Stan Lee's intriguing hopes for 'Hulk' -- that it would bring "an indie sensibility with a major comic book movie." The ILM section is also particularly interesting, as Lee, effects guru Dennis Muren and the ILM team wanted to break barriers and create a CGI character you could "invest your emotions in" and that would finally blur the line between computer and reality. All involved with the movie seem to believe they succeeded ("he looks so real!" one effects guy exclaims). I would have to disagree.
- Additional Featurettes (SD, 45 minutes) - Four more featurettes go into further depth on 'Hulk' legend and lore. "The Evolution of the Hulk" (16 minutes) is a great deal of fun, offering a quick overview of the history of the character and his trip from page to screen, with reflections from various Marvel animators including Stan Lee. "The Unique Style of Editing Hulk" (5 minutes) focuses on the film's audacious "comic book panel" approach, while "The Incredible Ang Lee" is a 13-minute kissy-poo fest. Most informative is "The Dog Fight Scene" (10 minutes), which breaks down the said sequence, from pitch meeting through conceptualization to production and completing the effects.
- Deleted Scenes (SD, 8 minutes) - Finally, six Deleted Scenes are presented as an eight-minute montage. The quality is decent, with the footage presented in windowboxed 1.85:1 480i video only. As for the scenes themselves, they are forgettable, except for a quick cameo by original "Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno as a security guard. Nice touch.
Pirates of the Caribbean: 3-Movie Collection (Blu-ray) Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment / 2007 / Rated PG-13
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Risky Business (Blu-ray)
Warner Home Video / 1983 / Rated R
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano
Director: Paul Brickman
Disc Features:
• Audio commentary with director Paul Brickman, producer Jon Avnet and Tom Cruise
• Documentary
• Alternate ending
HD Exclusive Content:
• Picture-in-picture commentary with director Paul Brickman, producer Jon Avnet and Tom
Cruise (Bonus View)
• Digital Copy
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