Blu-ray 25th October Release

Captain America: The First Avenger (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Paramount / 2011 / 125 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Genres: Action, fantasy, super-hero
Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Joe Johnston
 
Plot Synopsis: The Marvel Comics superhero Captain America was born of World War II, so if you're going to do the origin story in a movie you'd better set it in the 1940s. But how, then, to reconcile that hero with the 21st-century mega-blockbuster The Avengers, a 2012 summit meeting of the Marvel giants, where Captain America joins Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk and other super pals? Stick around, and we'll get to that. In 1943, a sawed-off (but gung-ho) military reject named Steve Rogers is enlisted in a super-secret experiment masterminded by adorable scientist Stanley Tucci and skeptical military bigwig Tommy Lee Jones. Rogers emerges, taller and sporting greatly expanded pectoral muscles, along with a keen ability to bounce back from injury. In both sections Rogers is played by Chris Evans, whose sly humor makes him a good choice for the otherwise stalwart Cap. (Benjamin Button-esque effects create the shrinky Rogers, with Evans's head attached.) The film comes up with a viable explanation for the red-white-and-blue suit 'n' shield--Rogers is initially trotted out as a war bonds fundraiser, in costume--and a rousing first combat mission for our hero, who finally gets fed up with being a poster boy. Director Joe Johnston (The Wolfman) makes a lot of pretty pictures along the way, although the war action goes generic for a while and the climax feels a little rushed. Kudos to Hugo Weaving, who makes his Nazi villain a grand adversary (with, if the ear doesn't lie, an imitation of Werner Herzog's accent). If most of the movie is enjoyable, the final 15 minutes or so reveals a curious weakness in the overall design: because Captain America needs to pop up in The Avengers, the resolution of the 1943 story line must include a bridge to the 21st century, which makes for some tortured (and unsatisfying) plot developments. Nevertheless: that shield is really cool.

Disc Features:

• Audio Commentary - With Joe Johnston, Shelly Johnson, and Jeffrey Ford.
  
• Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (HD, 4 min) -
  
• Featurettes (HD, 48 min) - Seven spotlights (Outfitting a Hero, Howling Commandos, Heightened Technology, The Transformation, Behind the Skull, Captain America's Origin, and The Assembly Begins), with no play all option.
  
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 5 min) - Four axed scenes, playable individual or all together, with optional commentary by Johnston, Johnson, and Ford, the commentary track's participants.
• Trailers (HD) - Four trailers. Two for the film, one for a video game, and another for an Avengers cartoon.

Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy (Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

Universal Studios / 1993 / 348 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Highly recommended





Genres: Action, family, adventure
Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Moore
Director: Steven Spielberg, Joe Johnston
 
Plot Synopsis: Experience one of the biggest movie trilogies of all time like never before with the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy! “You won’t believe your eyes” (Rolling Stone) when dinosaurs once again roam the Earth in an amazing theme park on a remote island. From Academy Award®-winning directors Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park) and Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III), the action-packed adventures find man up against prehistoric predators in the ultimate battle for survival. Featuring visually stunning imagery and groundbreaking filmmaking that has been hailed as “a triumph of special effects artistry” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times), this epic trilogy is sheer movie-making magic that was 65 million years in the making. “Welcome to Jurassic Park.”

Disc Features:
Disc One

• Return to Jurassic Park: Dawn of a New Era (HD, 25 min) — The first in a six-part documentary series discusses not only the making of the movie but also gives viewers an inside look at the original direction filmmakers were going to take before realizing CGI was the way to go. Cast & crew interviews are mostly recollections on working with Stan Winston's special effects, surviving a real-life hurricane and working with Spielberg.
• Return to Jurassic Park: Making Prehistory (HD, 20 min) — The second part takes a much closer at the filming itself, particularly the special effects and acting with the animatronics. V
• Return to Jurassic Park: The Next Step in Evolution (HD, 15 min) — As one would suspect by the title, the third segment of the exhaustive documentary gives fans a great discussion on the computer-generated images and the digital composites created by Industrial Light & Magic.
• Archival Featurettes (SD, 66 min) — A few of the supplements from other releases are collected here, which starts with an aged EPK piece on the making of the film and filled with many of the same snippets found on the above segments.
• Behind the Scene (SD, 27 min) — The rest of the bonuses are stored here, like storyboards and a gallery of stills & art concepts from ILM.
• Jurassic Park: Making the Game (1080i/60, 5 min) — A quick glance at the video game with interviews of the creators.
• Trailer (SD) — The original preview brings the first disc to a close.

Disc Two

• Return to Jurassic Park: Finding The Lost World (HD, 28 min) — In the fourth entry to the documentary series, the discussion obviously turns towards filmmakers returning for a sequel, which Spielberg explains was always the plan in the back of his mind. At first, the thought was something different than what was made, but with Crichton already releasing a follow-up book, filmmakers decided to go in that much darker direction.
• Return to Jurassic Park: Something Survived (HD, 17 min) — The fifth segment focuses on the more technical aspects of the production, particularly the film's conclusion and how it was essentially written into the story on a whim.
• Archival Featurettes (SD, 84 min) — As in the first disc, this section gathers together the bonus material from past DVD releases of the sequel. The making-of piece is the standard fare exploring every aspect of the production and followed by basically a shorter version of the same featurette. Then there's an amusing animated short from ILM as a thank you to Spielberg and an interesting conversation with author Michael Crichton on the Jurassic Park novels.
• Behind the Scenes (SD, 21 min) — As before, the remaining bonus features are stored here, which mostly sees a large collection of storyboards and a few still galleries.
• Deleted Scenes (SD)
• Trailer (SD) — The original theatrical previews ends the assortment.

Disc Three

• Return to Jurassic Park: The Third Adventure (HD, 25 min) — The final installment to the six-part documentary features certain members of the cast and crew reminiscing about the production and working with director Joe Johnston. Viewers can enjoy lots of good BTS footage while everyone talks about practical effects, set design, shooting on location as well as in a soundstage and the choice of the Spinosaurus as the new villain. Really interesting stuff, especially if you're a fan of the movie.
• Audio Commentary — The conversation features the special F/X team Stan Winston, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Michael Lantieri, providing an enjoyably detailed technical look at the film.
• Archival Featurettes (SD, 78 min) — Once again, this section brings together various supplements from past home video releases, such as the original making-of piece with cast & crew interviews and lots of BTS footage on the visual effects. This is followed by a brief overview on the dinosaurs featured in the movie and another slightly longer look at the same creatures and the special effects used to bring them to life by touring Stan Winston's workshop. The remaining featurettes focus on the film's sound effects, a look at the storyboard artwork of Ed Verreaux and finally, we spend a few minutes digging up dinosaurs with renowned paleontologist Jack Horner.
• Behind the Scenes (SD, 29 min) — The next assortment of short featurettes has viewers tour Stan Winston's studios, followed by three segments of the animatronics at work on the set and compared to the finished product. The visit to ILM studios shows the process of creating CGI creatures with specific lifelike details and making it all work with the live action sequences. Another piece allows fans a 360-degree view of the dinosaurs featured in the film. Storyboard comparison and a still gallery complete this section.
• Trailer (SD) — Also included is the original theatrical preview of the movie.

Winnie the Pooh (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 69 Minutes / Rated G
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Highly recommended





Genres: Animation, family, adventure
Starring: Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, Peter Cullen and John Cleese
Director: Don Hall, Stephen J.Anderson
 
Plot Synopsis: Author A.A. Milne's beloved bear, Winnie the Pooh, joins forces with his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood to help two of their own in Disney's hand-drawn charmer. Though he describes himself as a "bear of very little brain," Pooh (Jim Cummings) proves he's all heart when sad-sack Eeyore's tail goes missing and a terrible creature called the "Backson" abducts Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter), their human protector (the schoolboy actually leaves a note saying he will be "back soon"). Granted, our hero spends the entire journey dreaming about glorious pots of "hunny," but when push comes to shove, he prioritizes his pals over his tummy, which rumbles and expands as his hunger pangs increase. Wisely, co-directors Don Hall and Stephen J. Anderson avoid the distraction of instantly recognizable actors in favor of animation veterans, like Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), who voices the resourceful Rabbit. While Sebastian Cabot narrated the Winnie featurettes of yore, comedian John Cleese, who sometimes speaks directly to Pooh, ably steps into his shoes, and talk-show host Craig Ferguson also makes a mark as the know-it-all Owl. At 68 minutes, not including short film "The Ballad of Nessie," this John Lasseter-produced feature should captivate most young viewers, even those accustomed to faster-paced, computer-animated features, like Lasseter's directorial efforts for Pixar. Musician M. Ward and singer/actress Zooey Deschanel of the band She & Him add to the old-fashioned charm with their retro-sounding songs. And be sure to stay through the closing credits for the funny surprise at the end.

Other releases/ Back catalog releases: