Fear [Blu-ray]

When you see a movie edited on tv and you say "I have got to own this movie!" then you know that it is really good. I was afraid to commit to it since it seemed like a CRUSH rip-off and I didn't want it to outstand my beloved favorite movie. It didn't. But, it's still a creepy little thriller about obsession, love and murder.
Meet Nicole Walker. A 16 year old girl with sex on her mind. Her father just married a woman and has a new stepbrother. Her girlfriend Margo Masse and her friend Gary decide one day, to be late for school and to go get some food at a gritty coffee shop. Nicole glances at David but doesn't really meet him until a party later that night. When the party becomes a riot, Nicole escapes with David to sit around and talk. It's love at first sight.
One night, Nicole tells David that she's ready to have sex. He says he's with some friends and has to do something. She tells him it's alright and to come over after and she tells him the code to the front door. Well, David comes in and they have sex. A day later or so, David goes to Nicole's school to pick her up, he see's Gary hug her. Not good in David's eyes. He goes over and beats the crap out of Gary and in the process, hits Nicole in the face, giving her a black eye.
Nicole's father is more than pissed. David seems to give him the creeps. When he confronts David, David says "You know, Mr. Walker-you really aren't a f***ot." Mr. Walker tells David to stay away from Nicole. After Mr. Walker leaves, David starts hitting himself in the chest. He tells Nicole that her father hit him. So she runs off with David, feeling sorry for him. He asks her if she wants to go to a party when he brings her back to her house. She tells him no. But after a few seconds, when he leaves, she decides to drive over herself. She goes there, and looks in a window to see Margo being abused and about to be raped by her "true love" David.
She now discovers David's true dark side. She won't talk to him so he "attacks" her in a bathroom at the mall. Mr. Walker's red car gets smashed up with a note on the broken window saying "Now I've poped both your ........!"....Mr. Walker finds out where David and his gang lives and ruins the place. When the group finds the place in ruins, David knows exactly who it is. And by their law "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a ...... tooth" they decide to pay the Walker family a little visit...
What worked in this movie was the psychotic attitude of David. He's a soid good actor and a damn good liar. You know he's bad but you really like him. He seems perfect. You try to like him after his accidently hitting Nicole but it becomes harder and harder.
RECCOMENDED TO FANS OF:
Fatal Attraction (1987)
The Crush (1993)
The Stepfather (1987)
CAST
Mark Wahlberg...........David McCall
Reese Witherspoon....Nicole Walker
William L. Petersen.....Steve Walker
Amy Brenneman..........Laura Walker
Alyssa Milano..............Margo Masse
THE MOVIE: 3/4
THE PICTURE QUALITY: 10/10 Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with only a very very very small amount of grain. Basically, perfect.
THE AUDIO QUALITY: 10/10 5.1 surround is perfect for my TV's sound system. No upping the volume for me! There is also a Dolby Surround French track.
THE SPECIAL FEATURES: Production notes on the film, cast & crew bios and film credits (Only pre-FEAR movies are shown), a trailer with a lot of grain and Universal Weblinks (basically pointless).
SUBTITLES: English and spanish.

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Ghostbusters (Mastered in 4K) (Single-Disc Blu-ray + Ultra Violet Digital Copy) (Blu-ray)

And the answer is absolutely YES!
I won't get caught in the main synopsis of the movie, I'm guessing you know the story and the actors. If not you should be asking your self where have you been the last twenty years or so...now lets get into it!
Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc). This is a great catalog release. It is so refreshing to see a studio not attempt tweaking the original image with digital noise reduction and edge enhancement. This is a faithful to the source transfer. Clarity and resolution is where this transfer shines, all the little signs, switches, knobs and so forth are all clearly defined displaying an excellent depth of field. Colors are nicely saturated and accurate displaying good natural hues.
As for the Bonus Materials: these are presented in Standard Definition 480i and High Definition 1080i with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.
* BD-Live - Keep in mind that BD-Live requires the user to be on a "Profile 2.0" capable Blu-ray Disc Player and connected to the Internet to access online content via the studio (in this case Sony). Once online you can access content such as downloadable trailers for other Sony Blu-ray Disc release upcoming and already available. Title specific content in this case is actually included. 2 different Ring tones are available which are just dialogue from the film. Standard rates apply to get these I'm sure, nothing is 100% free these days.
* "Cinechat" - This BD-live application allows viewers to chat with friends and family while watching the film. A easy to understand tutorial is included.
* "Slimer Mode" is a Blu-ray exclusive feature that is using Bonus View which requires the user to be on a "Profile 1.1" or higher capable Blu-ray Disc Player. If you are capable of it, this is worth the time to watch all the way through. A neat "Ghostbusters" border frames the film while it's playing; at the same time a Picture-In-Picture track plays interview clips featuring the cast and crew looking back at the production. It is complemented with additional still photographs and behind-the-scenes video. A pop-up trivia track is also inserted into the mix, showcasing interesting facts about the film and its shooting locations.
* "Blu-Wizard" - A BD-Java feature that will allow viewers to create their own play list of special features by selecting only those of interest. Once activated, a pop-up marker indicates when that particular feature is available to view.
* Audio Commentary - Director Ivan Reitman is joined by co-writer/actor Harold Ramis and associate producer Joe Medjuck. It is unfortunate that they weren't able to update the commentary (originally recorded in 1999 for the DVD release) with thoughts from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, or Sigourney Weaver. This is very informative track but unfortunately it comes across as dry. Opcional subtitles are included.
* "Scene Cemetery" (9 minutes - SD) - This is a collection of 10 deleted scenes that while fun to see in their own right aren't missed in the film.
* "1984 Featurette" (9:45 - SD) - This is a fun vintage featurette shot for the original 1984 release. Featuring behind-the-scenes footage and short interviews with cast and crew talking about the various aspects of making this beloved movie.
* "Cast and Crew Featurette" (10:53 - SD) -This is a short 11 minute featurette originally recorded for the 1999 DVD release.It is a collection of interviews with Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis talking about the film and its impact in general.
* "SFX Team Featurette" (15:22 - SD) - This is a panel discussion with the original F/X team.They discuss their experience of working on the film.
* "Multi-Angle Featurettes" (SD) - This is broken into three sections: "Spook Central Exploding" (2:49), "She's A Dog" (2:00), and "Crossing the Streams" (1:23). Here you can watch the rough video and animation work in before-and-after stages from three particular scenes.
* "Storyboard Comparisons" (SD) - Also broken into three sections: "Slimer" (2:13), "Dogs Drag Dana" (2:09), and "Atop Spook Central" (2:04). you can watch the hand-drawn storyboards and compare them to the film's finished cut.
* "Ecto-1: Resurrecting the Classic Car" (15:37 - HD) - Sony and the filmmakers had the hero car restored to its original glory for the promotion of "Ghostbusters: The Video Game". Interview clips include Dan Aykroyd and the talented crew of people who worked on the refurbishment of the 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ambulance. The real treat is seeing the process of breaking down the car and building it back up to look better than it ever has. Once it is restored Dan Aykroyd was invited to see the Ecto-1 in all it's glory and it is a pleasure seeing the genuine joy he displays at being reunited with the old girl.
* "Making of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" (11:18 - HD) - A promotional fluff piece for the video game has the cast and creators sharing their thoughts about the game and its storyline. Brief clips of the video game are interspersed throughout. The game looks like a fun trip down memory lane. The graphics look authentic to the "Ghostbusters" films.
* "Ghostbusters Garage: Ecto-1 Gallery" (HD) - This is a beautiful slide show highlighting the restoration process, whilst Elmer Bernstein's music plays in the background.
* "Ghostbusters: The Video Game Preview" (1:43 - HD) - Simply this is the trailer for the now available video game.
* Theatrical Trailers (HD) - A collection of previews in HD `The Da Vinci Code: Extended Cut,' `Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' `Men in Black,' `Fired Up!,' `Paul Blart: Mall Cop,' `So I Married an Axe Murderer,' and `You Don't Mess With the Zohan'.
Hope this was useful.
At the end if you ask me this si a must have!

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Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers [Blu-ray]

Halloween is the best horror movie series. This DVD will be perfect even if it only included the High Def transfers. I hope they are working on the Blu-Ray Halloweens.
What is included:
* Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs
* Audio commentary with director Dominique Othenin-Girard and actors Danielle Harris and Jeffrey Landman (HALLOWEEN 5)
* Inside Halloween 5: Documentary featuring rare behind the scenes footage, a cut scene, and interviews with Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, Don Shanks, Executive Producer Moustapha Akkad and Cinematographer Rob Draper
* Introduction by stars Danielle Harris and Ellie Cornell
* On-Set Halloween 5 Footage: Rare, never-before-seen footage taken on the set
* Theatrical trailer

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers [Blu-ray]

According to Hollywood lore, the cast and crew of this film decided to play a practical joke on actress Carolyn Jones during the filming: while she was out of her bungalow, they slipped in and left one of the large seedpods made for the film on her bed. They received a more memorable response than they expected, for when Jones returned to her bungalow for a nap and found the pod she ran screaming out into the street.
And such is the power of this film. There are no major special effects, and for the most part everything looks the way it should in small town America of the 1950s. But the idea it presents and the paranoia it creates is a remarkable, tangible thing.
Loosely based on the novella by Jack Finney and directed by Don Siegel, THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was just a little black and white horror film--but it exploded within America's 1950s subconscious with all the force of an atomic bomb, tapping into fears of everything from Cold War-era communism to a decreasing sense of community to the notorious House Unamerican Activities Committee. And in the process it became one of the most influential horror films ever made, a motion picture that would exert a strong pull on every one from novelist Stephen King to filmmakers like Wolf Rilla.
The story has been told in no fewer than three film versions, but while the Donald Sutherland and the Meg Tilley versions are each quite fine in their own ways, the original remains the most powerful. Dr. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) returns to the small California town of Santa Mira from a medical convention--only to discover that several members of the community have developed a strange form of hysteria: they have become convinced that certain friends and relatives are being impersonated by exact duplicates. Bennell brushes this aside as an oddity, but he soon realizes there is more to this than mere hysteria. The people of his small community are indeed being replaced by duplicates--duplicates being spawned by a strange plant-like alien lifeform.
Everything about this film is remarkably fine. The direction is first rate, the script is sharp and intriguing, and the film has a remarkable "everyday" look to it that is gradually subverted by increasing darkness and unexpected camera angles. And the cast is extremely, extremely good. Kevin McCarthy, the beautiful Dana Wynter, King Donovan, and Carolyn Jones all give truly amazing performances in the leads, and the overall ensemble is every bit their equal.
The DVD offers the choice of widescreen and standard ratio; apparently it was filmed in standard ratio but later converted to widescreen when that format became the norm. I must say that it works well in either version. The bonuses are slight, including only a brief interview with McCarthy, but it is quite interesting. And the transfer to DVD is extremely good. Even if you already a VHS version of this film, you may find it worth the cost to replace it with this DVD. Recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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Phantasm II (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

Director Don Coscarelli's Phantasm II revamps the nightmarish dreamscape of his 1979 cult classic for an offbeat if energetic sequel that receives a lavish showcase in this collector's edition Blu-ray. Produced nearly a decade after Coscarelli's Phantasm became a surprise hit, the sequel picks up shortly after the events of the first picture, with young hero Mike (James Le Gros, replacing A. Michael Baldwin), newly released from a psychiatric hospital but still plagued by dreams of the sinister, dimension-hopping Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) and his legion of diminutive, grave-robbing henchmen. After reuniting with Reggie (Reggie Bannister, reprising his role from the first picture), Mike takes to the road to stop the Tall Man with the help of a young woman (Paula Irvine) with whom he shares both a psychic link and disturbing dreams, and an amusingly aggressive hitchhiker (Samantha Phillips). Phantasm II works hard to satisfy a broad audience by blending the first picture's moody budget surrealism with wide swathes of gory effects--much of which centering around the franchise's lethal flying silver spheres--and touches of '80s-style boom-and-bang action. Serving so many palates in a single film is bound to leave one or more parties feeling slighted, and those who appreciated the unsettling atmosphere of the first Phantasm may feel that it's been supplanted in favor of the more crowd-pleasing elements. However, Coscarelli keeps the pace at a brisk clip and milks his trump card--Scrimm's undeniably creepy presence as the Tall Man--for all its worth. The result is best described as Big, Broad Horror Fun, and generated enough interest from the horror community to produce two additional (and lesser) sequels.
The single-disc Scream Factory presentation of Phantasm II compares favorably to the fan-friendly packaging of its previous releases (including Halloween II and They Live) with this Blu-ray edition, which includes both new and previously released supplemental material. Among the features produced for the Blu-ray is the 40-minute Ball Is Back, which covers the film's conception and execution through interviews with Coscarelli and his primary cast and crew, as well as test and behind-the-scenes footage. There's also a commentary track (culled from a previous DVD release) featuring Coscarelli, Bannister, and Scrimm that underscores the trio's long-running and friendly relationship, as well as the reasons for not bringing back Baldwin for the sequel (he would return for subsequent entries). A second interview feature with special effects creator Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead) focuses on his work for the franchise, deleted and alternate scenes taken from both Coscarelli's own 35mm archive, and a work print of the film featuring mostly extended dialogue sequences, though a couple of the picture's grislier moments are also expanded. Short featurettes on makeup and effects and several stunt scenes should be familiar to fans that have seen previous DVD editions, though die-hard Phantasm aficionados will be both pleased and amused by the inclusion of a vintage educational short film for Encyclopedia Britannica starring Scrimm (under his real name, Rory Guy) as Abraham Lincoln. Trailers for the first three Phantasm pictures, as well as galleries of production stills and promotional art, round out this enjoyable disc. --Paul Gaita
The Tall Man is back with a vengeance in Phantasm II, the second chapter in the cult classic Phantasm series!
Released after seven years in a mental hospital, Mike convinces his old pal Reggie to join forces with him to hunt down and destroy The Tall Man once and for all. Mike’s visions lead the two to a quiet little town where a horde of flying killer balls aim to slice and dice their gruesome way through everyone. Exploding with special effects, unparalleled thrills, horror and suspense, Phantasm II climaxes with a blood-curdling conclusion that you have to see to believe

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Planes Trains & Automobiles [Blu-ray]

When I think of "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" I smile. It is an absolutely wonderful movie. Yes, it is regarded as a comedy but when I think of it I think of it as more of a drama. The jokes don't get old. This is probably my favorite comedy of all time. Hughes takes the traveling nightmare genre to a whole new level. It's more a triumph in script writing than anything
For those who don't already know Planes, Trains and Automobiles is simple in its approach. Everything that can go wrong does. It's a comic routine that can be funny, but here it is a trip to hysterical. The plot is simple enough as well. Neal Page (Steve Martin) is on his way home for Thanksgiving. He's your typical businessman that works in New York and has a family he wants to see in Chicago. The only problem is everything from delayed flights to ripped up car tickets happen on the way. Only worsening matters, Del Griffith (John Candy), is along for the ride. An annoying shower curtain ring salesman, Neal can't get rid of him no matter how hard he tries.
John Candy gives the performance of his too short career as the traveling shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith. What makes Candy's performance so impressive is that while Del is an obnoxious, annoying slob, Candy shows that this is a very lonely, sweet, kind, and caring man with a great heart. This is a man who is putting his needs behind the needs of another person, a complete stranger in Neil Page. Candy creates an incredibly complex man, who the audience really gets to know and genuinely care about. They say comedies are the hardest films to get nominated for Oscars, which is true. And while "PT & A" is no Best Picture winner, it certainly in my mind has a performance not just worthy of a nomination but of an Oscar as well. It would be interesting to see how Candy's performance would be regarded if the film came out today.
The ending, whew!, it's a rough one. And again, despite all the wonderful comedy in this film, whenever I think of "PT & A" I think of the wonderful character of Del Griffith and the powerful ending. If you haven't seen this movie, rent it. I strongly recommend it as a first rate comedy that doesn't come along often. Whether it's the music capturing the perfect mood in the hilarious bedroom scene or meeting Owen, it's an earnestly frantic and tender trip through the modern transportation system.

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Resident Evil: Retribution (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

I don't get the people who trash these movies. What are they expecting? The RE series has never been about superb storytelling, characterization, and acting. It's about style and excitement! And that's what these movies are: High-octane action movies for guys. Especially their inner 14-year olds.
People here spend a lot of time trashing the RE movies, and this movie in particular. Why? It delivers what I've come to expect here. Some awesome action sequences, an interesting (albeit completely nonsensical) storyline, and some really incredible cinematography. What else do you want? I submit that if that's not good enough for you, then you're just watching the wrong kind of movie.
Those who trash the story of Resident Evil: Retribution as "the worst of the lot", or whatever, need to go watch something else. It is what it is. I for one think it is excellent!
I like how the storylines of the movies continue from movie to movie, which each one ending in a cliffhanger. You never know what the next movie will bring! Yeah, the story is complete garbage. But that's what's enjoyable about it! Invite a few friends, have a beer, put your brain firmly in the "off position", and enjoy!
And there's a lot to enjoy here. The awesomeness that is Milla Jovovich cannot be denied. Sure, the character of Alice is weak, and in this movie, she turns into Ripley. But when she's killing zombies with a chain and pistol, it's so awesome I don't care. My brain says, "This sucks." My inner 14-year old says, "THIS IS AWESOME, DUDE!" That's what happens, man. If you want to enjoy it, you just have to surrender to the awesome.
The movie has a lot of interesting ideas. I also like that it took a lot of elements from the RE 4 video game, which I loved. Leon Kennedy is here, and so is Ada Wong. They both certainly look the part, although their characterization is actually STRONGER in the video game than in the movie! Here, they're just generic action heroes, but I'm okay with that.
Another cool element from RE 4 (the game) was the introduction of the Los Plagues (sp?) virus. A lot of people were confused by the zombie nazi's driving jeeps. But in the context of RE 4, this makes more sense. In that game, a small European village was taken over by the Los Plagues virus. It doesn't turn people into zombies exactly - rather it changes their insides to be like bugs and changes their minds. So they still can operate weapons and such. And some of them were clothed in military style uniforms, same as the game and movie. If you haven't played the game, then this doesn't make so much sense. I thought it was a pretty cool tie-in.
Another thing I am really liking about the this movie and also "Afterlife" is the 3D. The 3D in these movies is really well done. Out of all the 3D movies in my collection, those two movies probably have the best 3D of all, and that's really saying something. Again, it just shows how good these movies are when it comes to the cinematography.
So the final verdict? Resident Evil: Retribution is awesome! It is my favorite of all the RE movies so far. Those who say it is "the worst" just don't know what they're talking about. They're watching the wrong type of movie, expecting the wrong things. I watch these movies with only a few expectations: Excellent fight choreography, excellent cinematography, and an interesting story (that I don't expect will make sense). This movie delivers on ALL THREE of those. And it sets things up nicely for RE 6.
So don't listen to the haters. This is not Oscar-worthy material. It doesn't pretend to be. It is a mindless-junk action movie for the mindless-junk action movie lover's soul! And it totally rocks.
Peace!

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Superman: Unbound [Blu-ray]

Superman: Unbound is based on the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac by Geoff Johns. I've never been a fan of Johns work, because it is very prosaic and obvious with nothing new, original, or surprising thrown in. This movie is no different. This movie wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.
Story: The story was pretty thin and weak. One scene did not flow into the next very well, and many times I wondered how Superman knew to go where he went next. Every "surprise" and "reveal" was obvious and easy to see coming. Nothing surprised me. The ending when Superman defeated Brainiac was unbelievable and anticlimactic, but not unexpected since they basically gave it away in the middle of the show.
Characterizations: The character development was also week with characters going from one extreme to another rather easily (an angry, out-of-control Supergirl suddenly becomes understanding and in control for no real reason other than the plot required it). Brainiac is an uninteresting villain with no real motivation. Lois is obnoxious and unlikeable. Superman is very unsure of himself. The relationship between Lois and Clark seems very dysfunctional but magically resolves itself at the end with a proposal that just didn't fit.
Voices: The voices were interesting, but as has been noted in other reviews, Matt Bomer is a very laconic Superman. He sounds laid back even when he should be bursting with emotion. And Brainiac sounds more like King Kong than a superintellegent alien computer.
Action: The action is pretty well done and there is a lot of it. One thing that surprised me was the amount of gratuitous gore. We really didn't need to see so much blood and innards to get the point. They actually detracted.
Politics: The antibullying message felt very forced and out of place. That's nice you want to speak out against bullying, but don't shoehorn it into a movie where it doesn't fit. It makes the message sound stupid, the opposite of what you want.
Overall, if you're looking for a generic superhero flick with nothing that stands out, this will fit the bill. But if you want something exciting, something that will make you think, or something that is really entertaining, you're going to be disappointed.

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Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Having bought the other six movies and enjoyed them to varying degrees, this latest entry into DC's Direct-to-DVD Library is the strongest entry so far. The plot is very strong, characterization spot-on, and the voice-work is close to perfect.
Now, I say close to perfect, because as you may be able to predict, Billy Baldwin is a weak Batman. His voice just sounds wrong coming out of the Dark Knight. Thankfully, Batman doesn't talk much. And the characterization is so perfect. Superman is leader-ish. Wonder Woman has the right kind of spunk. Martian Manhunter is reserved. Flash is playful. And Hal Jordan just blends into the background. Just like in the comic books!
I'm just ribbing you GL fans.
Like all Crisis stories, this is a visual treat. I love spotting all the alternate versions of characters we know. Evil Elongated Man, Evil Vixen, Evil Black Canary, Evil Jimmy Olsen, and "Superwoman's Three Made Men." they make me smile. And the Crime Syndicate is a good set of villains. Owlman and Superwoman steal the show, but Ultraman has his moments. Johnny Quick, too. Power Ring, eh, not much. But, its a great plot, with great pacing for the action, and it's funny! I love it.
I should mention that this is NOT an adaptation of Grant Morrison's "JLA: Earth-2." Other than a good Lex Luthor asking the JLA for help, and Owlman and Superwoman being an item, this DVD and that book are nothing alike. It's apples and oranges. Maybe because it's not an adaptation that this DVD is so strong. When you have to adapt from another medium, you have to sacrifice something along the way, to the detriment of the piece. Having this written specifically for a movie dodges the "Oh, you have to read the Graphic Novel," excuse that some of the other DTVs suffered.
EXTRAS on this Bluray are pilots for the Linda Carder - Wonder Woman TV series, and the Aquaman TV pilot, that spun-off from Smallville, this is exclusive to the Bluray edition.
Four episodes of Justice League: A Better World, parts 1&2 (AKA the Justice Lords episodes). And Exclusive to the Bluray: Twilight, parts 1&2 (AKA, when Superman fights Brainiac and Darkseid).
What is the first in a series of animated shorts, DC Showcase Presents - The Spectre, a 10 minute cartoon. It's good to see obscure characters given a spotlight. Nice and simple. Can't complain.
A documentary, DCU: The New World. It looks at the creation of Identity Crisis going into Infinite Crisis. As a person who has read all of what they're trying to describe, I found this Doc to be very "airy" - lots of big words, without actually telling me anything. Something about how 9/11 changed everything, BAM - Identity Crisis. Very disappointing. JL: The New Frontier still has the best extras.
And a First Look at DC's next Animated Project - Batman: Under the Red Hood. Which, in my opinion, is looking great.
Plus "Looks" into GL: First Flight, Wonder Woman, and S/B: Public Enemies, pad-out the rest of the disk.
A really good feature. Some decent extras. The only thing I miss are the commentary tracks. I found the bluray for the same price as the 2-Disk Edition, so it was a no-brainer which to pick: I get the the Wonder Woman and Aquaman pilots, plus Twilight 1&2 in the bluray. Enjoy, and I'll see you at Batman: Under the Read Hood.

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Epic (Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack) (Blu-ray)

This review is based on going to see "Epic" in the cinema with my family.
"Epic" is a beautifully created animated family film based on William Joyce's book "The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs (Harper Trophy Books). It is rather like a better execution of the same basic idea as "Arthur & The Invisibles" except that in this case the whole film is animated where "Arthur and the invisibles" had the human-size portions played by real actors and the miniature sections animated. Ironically that means that, this film having a star studded voice cast, several of whom are extremely easy on the eye, the film does not show them as they usually appear: but the characters are so beautifully drawn that you don't really mind.
Case in point: the heroine and central character, Mary Katherine (who prefers to be known as MK) is voiced by actress Amanda Seyfried and the queen of the forest, Queen Tara, is voiced by Beyonce Knowles. I imagine one or two dads would much prefer to have seen the ladies concerned rather than animated images for which they provided the voices. But that reaction won't have lasted more than a few seconds after seeing how well their characters were voiced and drawn. Christian Kaplan who did the casting for this film obviously did pick the cast for their voices rather than their appearance, they more than justify the choice.
MK is a teenage girl whose mother has recently died. At the start of the film she arrives at the semi-derelict house, on the edge of a forest, where her father, mad scientist Professor Bomba (Jason Sudeikis) lives and studies the fauna of the forest. Bomba had wrecked both his career and his marriage through his obsessive attempts to prove that an "advanced civilisation" of tiny people exists in the forest.
It probably won't be a spoiler to anyone thinking of going to see this film - certainly not to anyone who has seen the trailer - that Bomba's apparently preposterous theory, which no other human takes seriously, is in fact correct. Nor that his daughter finds herself magically shrunk to the same size as the tiny denizens of the forest - and caught up in the constant war between two factions of forest creatures.
Although some of the less intelligent promotional material for this film presents that conflict as a battle between good and evil - and I have seen it wrongly suggested that the battle in the forest might also affect our world as well - the actual presentation in the film is a lot more nuanced than this. One side, led by Queen Tara (Beyonce Knowles) and her "leaf men" soldiers, represents growth, the other led by Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) and his "boggan" troops represent decay. Children or anyone else who wants to take a simple moral from the film will see Queen Tara's side as representing good while Mandrake is evil, but adults will realise that the life of the forest would actually depend on a balance between the two.
Indeed, one of the best things about the film is that the "bad guy," Mandrake, is not cartoonishly and two-dimensionally evil. Like the most dangerous villains in the real world or the best literature Mandrake is all the more formidable as an opponent because he has characteristics which in a "good guy" would be recognised as virtues. Instead of going down the all-too-familiar route of presenting the villain as being pathetic, cowardly, and full of hatred even to those closest to him, the film gives Mandrake a lot of the best lines, shows both him and his son and general Dagda (Blake Anderson) leading from the front at various stages of the film, and doesn't show them constantly plotting to betray each other.
Other strong and well voiced characters which enrich the film include Ronin (Colin Farrell) the general of the Leaf men, Nod (Josh Hutcherson), an independent minded young leafman whose dead father had been Ronin's friend, a pair of sometimes charming and sometimes aggravating molluscs, Mub the slug (Aziz Ansari) and Grub the snail (Chris O'Dowd), and a glow-worm impresario called Nim Galuu (Steven Tyler) who is also the keeper of the magic scrolls which record everything which goes on in the forest. The film also features the rapper Armando Pérez, better known by his stage name Pitbull, voicing a frog mafia boss.
Every time I go to see a new animated film I think the depiction of the characters, scenery and events could not get any more beautifully done, and every time you get to the next one you realise you were wrong, and this film is yet another visual feast. The plotting is also reasonably tight, keeping your attention, there are plenty of simple jokes for the kids and more sophisticated ones for the adults. It had me laughing at the jokes quite a few times.
Not everyone will like this film - some people will see it as far too similar to "Arthur and the Invisibles" and others will consider it a bit twee and childish. But I would consider it a very good film for children up to the age of about thirteen - my eleven-year-old daughter certainly loved it - and which adults can enjoy with their kids.

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Star Trek Into Darkness (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)

4 years, almost to the date, any concerns fans had over Paramount Studio's decision to reboot the initial Star Trek `Enterprise & Crew' were, within the first 30 minutes dispelled, and a new generation and legions of new fans embraced the concept of `new faces' to the `old characters'.
All associated with this project are due credit for successfully rebooting and breathing new life into a tired franchise. The real credit resides with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci who's homage to the initial Star Trek, highlighted by the presence of Lenoard Memoy, complete with a clever alternate time line and universe, allowed J.J. Abrams' the opportunity to mine the history of the Star Trek universe, and unfettered by the history and short comings of the previous movies, allowed the same characters to be developed in a different arc.
With the same crew in-front of and behind the camera from the first outing, Star Trek into Darkness with a longer running time, affords greater character development and screen time to each member of the Enterprise. In the process each actor elevates the status and depth of their characters and in the process finally lay to rest, the ghost of, and, any comparisons to the initial cast and crew.
The show here belongs to, and is focused on the central relationship between Chris Pine's Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Spock, their emerging friendship, and the impact and cost this relationship will have on each character and each other.
Credit once again must go to Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof who's story and script anchors this film with the characters and their relationship, and do not allow the spectacular, non-stop action, and dynamic set pieces to overshadow the real story, which is one of relationships, and the cost and price friendship can demand. This is no simple achievement, but is the basis on which this film will be categorised as either good, great, or, brilliant.
J.J. Abrams continuing foray into this genre, is nothing short of spectacular! His ability to not only maintain, but improve on his re-booting of Star Trek is a phenomenal achievement, and testament to his skill as a visionary story teller and action director, which are the real reasons that Disney and George Lucas went out of their way to secure his Directorial Services for the forthcoming Star Wars IIV.
The barometer for Star Trek into Darkness should not be measured against Star Trek, but against the recently released Iron Man 3 which appears to be the movie that all 2013 releases will be gauged. In this face-off, Star Trek into Darkness casts the longer shadow, and on all aspects of movie making, can be counted as the best movie thus far in 2013.
Prior to concluding, particular mention must go to the `Supporting Cast', especially Bruce Greenwood, in a limited but career best performance, ably supported by Peter Weller However, the real star of Star Trek is Benedict Cumberbatch, who's screen presence is 3D even in 2D. Every frame, each perfectly enunciated syllable and facial nuance is one of pure intensity, malevolence and distain that would send a shiver down the spine of Hannibal Lecter (even on a second viewing). This follows on from his excellent and measured performance in Cloud Atlas, his spectacular ownership of Sherlock Holmes, and the as yet unknown performance in The Hobbit Trilogy!
In conclusion, STAR TREK into DARKNESS is a spectacular movie, a rare achievement, matched only by the calibre of talent in front of, and behind the lens, and is an indictment of a director with a limited number of peers. This is a movie that can be deemed a companion and equal to movies such as The Dark Knight Rises, Blade Runner, The Lives of Others, Alien, Shawshank Redemption.
9.5 out of 10

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Star Trek: Enterprise - Complete Second Season [Blu-ray]

The second season of Enterprise is one of the best i've seen yet had has some fine episodes. Here are the synopses.
Shockwave Part II Archer is taken 900 years into the future by Crewman Daniels and becomes stuck there. Carbon Creek
T'pol tells Archer and Trip about her great-grandmother's accidental crash landing on Earth in the late 1950's The story is shown in flashbacks Minefield The Enterprise becomes trapped in an alien minefield later revealed to have been built by the Romulans. Dead Stop The Enterprise encounters an automated repair station and when they dock with it to make repairs, trouble starts A Night in Sickbay Archer's dog, Porthos becomes very ill and Archer stays with him in sickbay
Mauraders The Enterprise is low on deuterium fuel and sets down at a station but the managers say that they don't have enough. It is learned that the Klingons stole much of it


The Seventh
T'Pol is asked by the Vulcan High Command to locate and capture Menos, a Vulcan criminal who has been on the run for many years. The Communicator When a communicator is left behind on an alien planet, Archer and Reed are imprisoned while attempting to reclaim it.Singularity While observing a trinary star system, various members of the crew are working on a variety of tasks from substituting of an ill chef, to building a new captain's chair. Vanishing Point Hoshi begins to believe that she is dead after using the transporter for the first time Precious Cargo
When a group of aliens bring aborad a woman in a stasis pod, Trip's curiosity leads him to open it. The woman inside awakens and says she is being abducted. Catwalk
A radioactive stellar phenomenon is headed for the ship and the crew must take cover for more than a week inside the shielded warp nacelles.
 is attacked while alone in a shuttlepod and has to land on a moon. He subsequently gets stalked on the surface
Stigma
T'pol learns that she has become infected with a communicable disease that is only spread by mind-melding, a forbidden practice among her people. Her job is endangered as a result.
Cease Fire
The Vulcans and Andorians are involved in a territorial dispute that is in danger of becoming an armed conflict. Archer is sent in to arbitrate for them.
Future Tense
The Enterprise encounters a small ship with a dead human aboard but the Suliban and the Tholians both claim it for their own. When it is learned that the ship is fromt he future, Archer is forced to stop them from taking it.
Canamar
Archer and Tucker are mistakenly believed to be smugglers and arrested. They are then put on a ship headed for a penal colony
The Crossing
The Enterprise becomes engulfed in a nebula inhabited by aliens that want to exchange minds with the crew
Judgement
Archer is arrested by the Klingons and put on trial facing a life sentance at Rura Penthe
Horizon
The Enterprise meets up with the ship that Maywather was raised on and he spends time on his old ship.
The Breach
The Enterprise assists in the evacuation of Denobulan geologists from a planet undergoing a military coup d'etat. Several rescuers become trapped in the caves with the scientists and the Enterprise has a short time to leave before being shot at.
Cogenitor
The Enterprise is visiting with a group of alien scientists but Tucker becomes too curious about the species' third gender.
Regeneration
An team of scientists in the Arctic discover the remains of a Borg sphere and two frozen Borg but they reactivate, asimilates the team and takes their ship. The Enterprise is called in to stop them.
Bounty
A Tellarite bounty hunter kidnaps Archer and intends to take him to the Klingons who put a big price on his head.
The Expanse
After an alien probe launches a devastating attack on Earth killing millions, the Enterprise is called to search for the attackers. Silik returns and offers to help Archer find them. It is learned that a race called the Xindi are responsible and doing so because they were told that humanity would destroy them in the future.
The final episode of season 2 kicks off the season long story arc on finding the Xindi that concludes at the beginning of season 4

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season Four [Blu-ray]

This is the fourth season release of Star Trek The Next Generation on DVD. During the fourth season the Borg are defeated, Wesley leaves the show, Worf resigns from Starfleet, we see a Romulan officer that resembles Tasha Yar and the Cardassians & Trills are introduced.
All 26 episodes are contained on 7 disks.
1) The Best of Both Worlds (Part 2) - Riker is promoted to Captain, who then leads a fleet of starships to Wolf 359 to confront the Borg, but the fleet's efforts are in vain and almost every starship is annihilated.
2) Family - The Enterprise is undergoing extensive repairs while the crew recovers from the Borg invasion attempt. Picard returns home to see his brother.
3) Brothers - Data is "called" home to be given "an emotion chip" but his brother Lore arrives and put things in jeopardy.
4) Suddenly Human - Finding a Talarian training vessel in deep space, the crew discovers that one of the crew is actually a human teenager. Crusher's examinations reveal that his injuries may have been intentional.
5) Remember Me - Dr. Crusher finds herself inside a warp bubble, and the crew on the real Enterprise must enlist the help of a mysterious alien known as the Traveler to pull Dr. Crusher back into reality before her warp bubble shrinks to nothing.
6) Legacy - On Turkana III, the Enterprise is looking for an escape pod containing two men who left a damaged vessel. The Enterprise's liaison is the younger sister of the late Tasha Yar, and no one knows whether or not to trust her.
7) Reunion - The Enterprise is intercepted in deep space by a Klingon battle cruiser occupied by K'mpec, leader of the High Council of the Klingon Empire. Picard is the neutral arbiter to oversee the handover of the dying K'mpec's powerful to one of two contenders.
8) Future Imperfect - While investigating suspicious energy readings on Alpha Onias III, the Enterprise "loses" Riker. He awakens in the sick bay of the Enterprise, told by an older Dr. Crusher that 16 years have passed since that event, and that a virus he contracted on the mission to Alpha Onias III recently became active, causing him to lose all memory back to that event.
9) Final Mission - Picard reveals that Wesley has been accepted into Starfleet Academy. Wes's final assignment on the Enterprise is to accompany Picard on a trip.
10) The Loss - Shortly after counseling crewmember Janet Brooks over the loss of her husband, Troi begins to experience severe pain, and at the same time, the Enterprise is suddenly unable to go to warp speed.
11) Data's Day - Data records his observations of an average day in the Enterprise to be relayed to Dr. Bruce Maddox, a Federation cyberneticist who once wanted to disassemble Data to learn about how he worked.
12) The Wounded - Captain Maxwell of the Phoenix has severed contact with Starfleet and he has been raiding the vessels of Cardassians, a race once at war with the Federation but now peaceful under a treaty.
13) Devil's Due - The Enterprise arrives at Ventax III to retrieve a Federation anthropological team, only to discover that the planet is in a state of chaos and the team has been taken hostage by the Ventaxians.
14) Clues - The Enterprise goes through a wormhole that appears without warning and renders everyone but Data unconscious. As the rest of the crew investigates what happened, they begin to discover that someone's keeping secrets from everyone i.e., Data.
15) First Contact - Riker, having undergone surgery to look like a Malcorian beams down to Malcor III to coordinate other surgically disguised observers, is injured in a riot and taken to a hospital, where Malcorian doctors figure he is not one of them.
16) Galaxy's Child - Geordi is delighted to welcome Dr. Leah Brahms aboard the Enterprise, having already gotten to know through the holodeck in the past. But the real Dr. Brahms is nothing like her holodeck alter ego.
17) Night Terrors - The missing starship Brittain is found by the Enterprise and the away team finds that the entire crew of the Brittain went berserk and murdered each other, leaving a Betazoid who can't speak and whose telepathic "ramblings" to Troi are puzzling.
18) Identity Crisis - Starfleet officers who were on an away team five years ago investigating a mysterious migration of previous explorers to the planet Tarchannen III are beginning to mutate into aliens and migrate to the planet themselves.
19) The nth Degree - Lt. Barclay accompanies Geordi on an away mission and after being scanned, Barclay receives a massive mental "upgrade."
20) Qpid - Q turns Picard and his away team into Robin Hood, and his merry men, Q becomes Guy of Gisbourne, and Vash, is the damsel in distress.
21) The Drumhead - After an apparent sabotage of the Enterprise's warp drive committed by Klingon exchange officer, Starfleet sends Admiral Nora Satie out of retirement to investigate the possibility of a Klingon faction cooperating with the Romulans.
22) Half A Life - Kalon scientist Dr. Timicin is due back on Kalon II so he may carry out a ceremony in which one ends one's life by painless suicide at sixty. Lwaxana tries to convince him to continue living.
23) The Host - Riker risks his own life to serve as a temporary host for a Trill to aid in stopping a war between two moons.
24) The Mind's Eye - En route to an artificial intelligence conference on Risa, Geordi, is kidnapped by Romulans, who send a "copy" to Risa. Under the supervision of a female Romulan who remains in shadows at all times, Geordi is tortured and brainwashed to obey, through his VISOR
25) In Theory - During the Enterprise's investigation of a dark-matter nebula, Lt. Jenna D'Sora, recently having broken up with a longtime boyfriend, becomes attached to Data.
26) Redemption (Part 1) - The Enterprise is summoned to the Klingon home world so Picard may fulfill his final duty as arbiter of the succession of power there. Worf resigns from Starfleet. A Romulan officer shows up from the who bears a very strong resemblance to Tasha Yar.

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The Croods (Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD + Digital Copy)"

I admit, I went into the film thinking this was going to be a total bomb, but a friend had a free ticket for a pre-release showing of the movie, so I thought, why not?
The Croods is a story about one of the last surviving pre-historic families that embark on a road trip looking for a new cave when their old cave is destroyed as the earth is going through many dramatic changes. If that wasn't enough for the Crood family to deal with, there is the father/daughter struggles throughout the storyline that any parent can relate to if they have had teenagers, especially daughters.
When the Croods daughter, Eep (Emma Stone) can't understand her Dad's mentality that "fear is good; change is bad" and having to live by his number one rule "never leave the cave" she starts to rebel and pushes the boundaries set by her Dad, the over-protective, Grug (Nicolas Cage). One of the characters I got a kick out of was Gran (Cloris Leachman) who is their wisecracking grandma who Grug is constantly hoping that she won't make it through their daily challenges. The rest of the Crood family includes Mom, younger brother and baby sister which are more or less "extras" to round out the family dynamic. On their journey to find a new cave, they meet Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who has evolved alot further then the Croods with his ability to make fire and shoes and his pet sloth who doubles as Guy's utility belt. Together they join in their journey in finding a new place to live, which Eep is desperately hoping won't be another cave.
I will admit that there were several moments that the movie was very predictable and the story line could have been a bit better. However,over all the movie was better than I thought it would be. I would suggest paying to see a matinee showing or wait until it comes out on DVD.

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50/50 [Blu-ray]

This might just be my new favorite film.
I went to see this, primarily, because I've always loved the previous works of both Joseph Gordon-Levitt as well as Seth Rogen. The premise, a young man is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and tries to cope with it through humor, was appealing too. On a small sidenote: I'm from Vancouver and the majority of the movie was filmed there, so that was a pleasant surprise.
Adam is 27 years old and is shocked when he is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on his spinal cord. He relies on his hilarious best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen); his unreliable girlfriend, Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard); and his overbearing mother, Diane (Angelica Houston), while he struggles with chemotherapy, doctor's appointments and losing all his hair. His interactions with each of these characters are ultimately hilarious, even when they aren't intended to be. Along the way his doctor sends him to a therapist named Katherine (Anna Kendrick), who is wet behind the ears but wants to specialize in helping cancer patients cope with their diagnoses.
Kyle is a very genuine character who wants to do everything he can to help Adam, although he stumbles along the way. He also takes advantage of Adam's situation as a way to meet girls, much to Adam's chagrin. He makes light of the situation whenever the chance arises, but shows himself to be a very sincere friend at every opportunity. Seth Rogen, actually playing the role he embodied in the real life story this movie is based on, is perfect as the somewhat dimwitted, but loveable best friend.
Rachel is the villain, if there is one. She is a typical flighty young woman who is torn between feeling guilty about Adam's condition and feeling freaked out and trapped by it. The audience can't help but dislike her from the get-go, which ultimately grows into loathing. Bryce Dallas Howard does really well in this role.
Diane is the kind of mom that almost everyone can relate to, whether as their own mother or one of a friend or loved one. She throws herself off the emotional cliff as soon as Adam tells her about this cancer, doing her utmost to support him, even when he keeps her at arms' length.
Katherine, the love interest, is a young woman who genuinely wants to connect with her patients, but who is, at the same time, insecure about her lack of professional experience. She connects with Adam (despite his initial reluctance) and ends up struggling with going above and beyond the appropriate protocol as a therapist.
Last, but never least, Adam: Adam is the everyman. He is hopeful, idealistic and passionate about his job as a radio broadcaster. He is committed to his girlfriend, whom he adores, despite her aloof behavior. He has a tight relationship with his best friend. He loves his mother, but avoids her at all costs because of her smothering behavior. His sudden cancer diagnosis throws his life into a tailspin, but he spends the majority of the movie trying to remain calm and rational about it. He makes friends with his fellow chemotherapy patients, he allows his best friend to use his cancer diagnosis as a way to garner the sympathy of pretty girls, he (reluctantly) follows his insensitive doctor's advice to talk to a therapist about his cancer. As one thing after another seems to go wrong we see him unravel and I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance was downright inspirational. He teeters back and forth between denial, anger, despair, pain, fear and humor. Although this role might not be typical Oscar fare, I think a nomination was definitely earned.
The story of 50/50 is based on the real life experience of the writer, Will Reiser. He was diagnosed with spinal cancer at the age of 26 while he was working on Da Ali G show with Seth Rogen. Rogen, much like the character of Kyle, supported Reiser and tried to help him cope through the use of humor. Fortunately, Reiser beat cancer and is alive today to tell the story he went through. Although this movie is a comedy it has an equal number of dramatic moments and is incredibly touching. You'll be struggling not to cry at moments. Making cancer funny is a tricky thing and could easily crash and burn in offending audiences, but Reiser pulls it off beautifully. You won't feel guilty laughing at humorous moments and you'll still empathize with the characters and each of their individual challenges.
I will definitely be picking this up on blu-ray as soon as it's released. Go check it out.

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Aaron Stars Hot Nude Yoga (DVD)

A Nude Attitude -By Alan Bennett Ilagan
What is the hottest piece of yoga apparel today? Your birthday suit. Bring your mat and towel, and leave the clothing and cologne behind. Aaron Star's Hot Nude Yoga program takes the ancient practice of yoga and strips it bare Ð quite literally. Since 1998, Mr. Star has been offering nude yoga sessions from the beginner to the advanced yogi and all are done sans clothing.
Whether you've packed on a few too many holiday pounds or started the season off over-stuffed, it's a new year, and a good time to move towards a healthier body. Though yoga might induce yawns from some, this is no ordinary yoga program. Hot Nude Yoga may change the way you've looked at the ancient practice, bringing with it a modern spirituality and cutting-edge sensuality that has been missing.
Yoga is basically about the body and breathing. Not coincidentally, so is sex. Rather than increasing the disparities between body and soul, Mr. Star's yoga program strives to unite the two. In so doing, the sensual aspect of our physical being can't help but be brought along for the ride. It also makes practical sense if you think about it: yoga is ideally done in loose-fitting clothing, so the body is not constricted. What could be looser than nothing at all?
First of all, being nude in and of itself is so totally freeing!" Mr. Star claims. And being nude just heightens anything that you are experiencing. One of the goals of Tantra is to become more aware sensually, and to increase one's own sensitivity. This is so we can tune into our body's energy and thus channel it to other areas. Some call this energy our latent potential, others call it erotic or sexual energy; I just call it energy.
Being naked is hold your judgment a natural extension of focusing on the basics. It's also a way of opening up completely, a way of extending one's vulnerability, and a way to self-awareness. Our clothing has become our armor, a way of distancing ourselves from others. Mr. Star's yoga method attempts to abolish that distance, and in that respect is surprisingly effective.
There is a rawness which becomes exposed when we shed our clothing, he explains. The process of yoga is a journey inward. How we get there is by shedding our ego. So many of our egos show up in how we dress and in what we wear. By taking off our clothes, we are taking off a part that defines who we think we are. I always say that in my class you never know if someone is a starving artist or a Wall Street broker. In the end we are all the same. That in itself is so beautiful.
Nudity as the great equalizer? Perhaps, but other concerns rear their heads at a nude yoga class. There's always the possibility of an errant erection whenever a bunch of gay men get naked together. How does Mr. Star, for want of a better term, handle those situations?
You don't, he says. I mean, the erect penis should be celebrated, not beaten up. Besides, most people are so into what they are doing that they do not know what is going on around them.
Mr. Star advises to focus on the breathing when Mr. Happy starts doing upward-facing dog. When questioned on whether or not he himself has ever raised an invisible pup tent during class, he confesses, No. I think I am too much in a teacher mode to get turned on in a class.
A down-to-earth guy who enjoys Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream and wears 2xist briefs (when he's wearing clothes), Mr. Star is, at the moment, surprisingly single. He attributes that to a certain restlessness, and his drive and need to keep on the go. When asked what he looks for in a mate, he replies, Adventure, and someone that can keep up with me. I find that is a really hard thing to find. There are not many people who can. And I say that without any ego. It's just true. --Alan Bennett Ilagan
Hi Aaron,
I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you that I have had your four Hot Nude Yoga DVDs now for over a week and have watched and re-watched them, working on some of the movements, though have not partnered off to do any of the practice yet, which I plan to do and look forward to doing. I can appreciate the effort that went into making these DVDs.
I know it looks so effortless for you, and looks like you did nothing to prepare for it because it was all so natural. I know better. I know a lot of preparation, time, effort and money went into making what I consider a true masterpiece. You were so totally relaxed, so totally upbeat, so totally prepared, so totally ready to break into a smile naturally, all the good yoga stuff.

I have done some yoga, always had female instructors, and after watching your Hot Nude Yoga DVDs, I can see how much more beneficial and comfortable it would be to have a male instructor.

You did an awesome job producing these DVDs and they are well worth what they cost. Not only do you know your subject well, but you are able to project so well and so comfortably. You make it so obvious that you know what you are doing, enjoy what you are doing, and, most importantly, BELIEVE in what you are doing. People like you can change the world because you can change the most important element in this world people. You can help them remove many negative feelings they have about themselves, give them confidence, and give them better health physically, mentally and spiritually.

Keep up the great work you are doing.

Thanks. Ron --Ron - an HNY Student from the USA
Columbus Dispatch - Yoga in buff is all about possibilities? by Mark Ellis
Aaron Star, founder of Hot Nude Yoga: I just go wherever people find me.
The 33-year-old New York instructor will bring his Hot Nude Yoga to Columbus for sessions this weekend at the Yoga Shiva studio on the East Side.
A former scuba instructor, Star left his native Washington for New York about 15 years ago, took up yoga to stretch his body after bulking up through gym workouts and became a teacher.
Star has since taken his brand of yoga, with elements of partner and tantra yoga, on the road and to a DVD.
I just go wherever people find me and want me to come," Star said. I try to give as much as I can in that weekend to open minds up to new possibilities.
He talked about yoga from his studio in Manhattan:
--Mark Ellis
If you purchase the complete series, you will receive the special, TANTRA, Disc 4. This fourth DVD cannot be purchased on its own. In this exclusive session, Aaron covers many of the practices he leads in his Hot Nude Yoga classes with an emphasis on mutual body contact, taking up where the PARTNER disc leaves off. TANTRA promotes and encourages touch and breath, while arousing all your senses. This practice is a unique way to take your relationship with your partner to a higher and more sensual plane and infuse a touch of spirituality into your sex life. Shot on a crisp autumn evening in Aaron’s moonlit loft, this beautiful yoga DVD is the perfect compliment to any yoga set. Also, each disc has extra bonus footage. So, shed your clothes with the boys, and stretch into a tranquil downward dog.
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Hit & Run (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) (Blu-ray)

Not too many movies around that have this kind of exuberance. This moves like a freight train but you might not want to get out of the way.
Here's the scoop. Yul Perkins (writer/director Dax Shepard) is in the witness protection program with Tom Arnold as his protector. His girlfriend Annie Bean (Kristen Bell) has received a once in a lifetime job offer in Los Angeles. Does Yul break cover for the girl he loves, and if he does, what are the consequences?
I found this entirely engaging. The set up is pretty basic, but, as in any good plot, the details are doled out slowly so the picture becomes more subtle and involved as things progress. Yul is a cool character. He is truly trying to turn his life around and his girl Annie is a big part of that. They have some very witty, Tarantino-esque conversations. They feel good together. The other characters are written well also. Brad Cooper, as Alex Dimitri, is a real card. Too many movies write their villains as shallow, and/or stupid tough guys. He's anything but. His dog food scene alone is worth the price of admission. About the weakest link here is Tom Arnold. I like Tom Arnold. He plays a good second banana, but he is simply too inept to be a Federal Marshall. This is a crazy bunch of people with their own back stories, but the way all the factions come together is really cool and unexpected. Yes there's tension but these folks aren't just shooting at each other and threatening each other. They're having these really great conversations. The car chase scenes are directed really well. Car chases are such old news, it's always good to see some that rise above the fray.
This is a way fun movie. It's tense, funny, clever, well acted and well directed. Is it great art? No. But it delivers, in spades, what it sets out to deliver.

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Letters to Juliet (DVD)

I took a dear elder aged friend to this movie on a bad day in his life, hoping to distract him momentarily from events he couldn't do anything about. Instead, the movie re-invigorated both of us, and brought us repeatedly to tears. Say what you want about "feel good" movies, there are times when they are just what the doctor ordered!
Vanessa Redgrave is the heart of this film. The delicately fearless way she sets out to find her young lover, the grace with which she moves through the ups and downs of a process that could end in heartbreak, the care with which she brushes the young Sophie's hair...she is simply and purely lovely. Women d'un certain age should enjoy the possibilities she presents for aging beautifully.
I also suspect this movie was made after the death of Redgrave's daughter, Natasha Richardson, and so the scenes in which she calls Sophie "my darling" and loves her so freely are especially moving. Hollywood, listen up! Cast more Vanessa Redgraves, Judy Denschs and Helen Mirrens as stars in movies about life after 60, and you'll fill the theaters.

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The Devils Double [Blu-ray]

There are many ways to describe Uday Hussein, Saddam Hussein's oldest son. None of them are positive.
The Devil's Double is a "take no prisoners" film that's as hard to watch as it is entertaining. It follows Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper), an Iraqi soldier from an upper class family, who is plucked from the war to act as Uday's double. Uday (also played by Cooper), remembers the comparisons the two would get when they jointly attended grade school. He asks Yahia to be his double - for both political and personal reasons. Like his father, Uday is in a constant state of worry over an assassination attempt. Further, he wants to send Yahia on personal trips that he himself doesn't wish to attend. Yahia, kind and warm, refuses, but is forced to with the threat of harm to his family. Yahia is given cosmetic surgery and dentures to complete the look.
Yahia is thrust into Uday's world. This is a world filled with rape, torture, murder, drugs, sex and money. The lifestyle that the Hussein's live is more than Presidential - it is royal. Immediately, Uday claims Yahia as his own property. Uday has grown into a monster, getting whatever he wants and never having to deal with the consequences. Yahia is who he wants. The atrocities he witnesses because of Uday disgust him, but he is stuck in this nightmare. We watch as Uday preys upon young girls walking home from school. We watch as he guts his father's best friend at a party. We watch Yahia struggle with the lifestyle he is forced to live. Uday's fascination with Yahia grows stronger and it enters your mind that Uday may actually be in love with his double. This doesn't necessarily mean in a romantic way, but because his love of himself is so great, that he sees Yahia as apart of himself.
While the rest, as they say, is history, I certainly don't want to spoil the way the rest of the film plays out. This is a movie that you must see for yourself!
The acting in dual roles by Cooper, his first film as lead, is Oscar worthy. He gives both men their own voices, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, that instantly allow the viewer to tell them apart. Subdued and stoic, Cooper plays Yahia as a guilt ridden man, grappling with the life he has been thrust into. He plays Uday as a manic, hyper madman with a broken smile and a creepy laugh. You literally believe they are two different actors.
Latif is an ordinary man who is thrust into an extraordinary situation. An object of admiration for the President's son, he has no choice but to comply with the excruciating horrors that are put forth before him. Never once, however, do we seem his morals waver.
We know how it ends, but as with life, it's the journey that's important. The Devil's Double is the real life, Middle Eastern Scarface. Powerful, unsettling, thrilling and always entertaining, The Devil's Double, is quite easily one of the best movies of 2011.


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Bite Marks (DVD)

SPECIAL FEATURES
- Director audio commentary - Director and cast audio commentary - Interview with actor Windham Beacham - Interview with actor Benjamin Lutz - Gag reel - Production photo gallery - Behind-the-Scenes
SYNOPSIS
While backpacking across the country, bickering gay couple Cary and Vogel decide to speed up their trek by hitchhiking instead. That s when fate brings them Brewster, a sexually-confused trucker who picks the pair up on his way to delivering a shipment of coffins. After a few strokes of bad luck, the mismatched trio ends up lost and broken down in an abandoned junkyard. Though surviving a night of petty fights and sexual tension seems tough enough, the nightmare is only just getting started as strange noises in the back of the truck reveal the presence of five bloodthirsty vampires...
Mark Bessenger s directorial debut puts a smart, sexually charged spin on a genre that s been all but sucked dry. With buckets of blood, biting humor, and horrific thrills that pay homage to bloodsucker classics, Bite Marks is a fast-paced, sharp-tongued horror comedy that pushes sexual boundaries.

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Tangled (DVD)

Without female companionship, it's hard to go see Tangled and still maintain an air of manliness and virility. So, abandoning all hope of preserving that fa?ade, I decided to go all the way to the deep end of the lame pool and see it with my parents. And for once, the dearth of self-confidence that inspired me to long ago stop vying for success with the fairer sex paid off, because when the dust settled and the credits rolled, there was only one fact left standing, and it towered above all other thoughts and insecurities: Tangled was AWESOME!
What a cast of characters! Zachary Levi, or Chuck from Chuck (for those of you who watch my favorite television show), is perfectly charming as Flynn Rider, the shallow and selfish thief whose good looks are rivaled only by Narcissus. Immediately likeable despite his negative qualities, Flynn Rider's journey toward empathy is one which is quickly obvious, and yet it is so flawlessly executed that I found his transformation transfixing at every turn.
As for Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), well, I was pretty much in love with her the moment I saw her. The epitome of innocence, Rapunzel is a drop of sunshine in the darkness. Her unadulterated joy is contagious, infecting even the most jaded and cynical. It was a pleasure to see how people changed when touched by such a fair creature, whether it be a group of thugs singing about their dreams or innumerable citizens breaking out into dance in the streets. Again, Rapunzel's character arc was rather obvious: from an obedient girl afraid of the world to a real person living her life. And again, it didn't matter, because that arc was artfully crafted.
Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) is an understandable villain. I mean, Rapunzel's magic hair gives her eternal youth. If that's not a good reason for keeping your daughter in a tower, I don't know what is. The two characters of a different genus deserve quite a bit of recognition themselves. Pascal the chameleon makes for an excellent sidekick to Rapunzel. He's just about the cutest thing ever (right behind How to Train Your Dragon's Toothless), and his indignant looks are a great counterpoint to Rapunzel's innocent absurdity. Even Maximus, the head guard's horse, is an amazing character with a story of his own. He tracks Flynn Rider with brutal determination, but as per usual, ends up joining the team.
Honestly, this movie has the perfect setup. You see, Flynn Rider is a character you can really get behind. Sure, he doesn't care about other people, but his charm makes him unarguably, well, charming. Oh, and Rapunzel is a character you can really get behind. The opposite of Flynn, she is trusting and cares deeply for everyone, and yet she has much to learn about the world. We love both characters from the beginning, and the traits that make each of them so great directly reflect the other's flaws, so when fate brings them together, we get to watch an incredible relationship blossom.
Plus, there were a couple of little lines that broke the fourth wall in an amusing way. At one point, Flynn Rider calls Pascal a frog. Rapunzel, offended, points out that it's a chameleon, to which Flynn responds "Nuance." Bringing up the cliché of a princess and a frog is especially amusing, since Disney's last animated film was titled The Princess and the Frog. Also, like I said, Mother Gothel isn't particularly villainous during the film, just a bit attached to the idea of immortality. Now, when she argues with Rapunzel, she always complains that Rapunzel is "making her the bad guy." Well, I really wanted her to be the bad guy so I could cheer when she got her comeuppance, and then finally, much to my delight, she snaps, saying "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy." To her, she was harkening back to those old arguments, but to me, she was talking directly to the audience, letting us know that it was ok to root against her.
If I had one complaint, and I do, it would be that the songs didn't quite live up to my expectations. They were still excellent, but they were a bit more ponderous than some Disney tunes. With the exception of "I've Got a Dream," they were slow, character-heavy numbers that, while still of a high quality, lacked the pizzazz that got the Aladdin soundtrack stuck so firmly in my head.
But the songs certainly didn't detract from the experience. The dialogue was sharp, the animation was beyond beautiful, and the movie was both touching and hilarious. And as an added bonus, there was a lot of great insight into human nature. I cared for those characters, and the film was able to jerk my emotions around however it wanted. My sides hurt from laughing, my eyes ached from tears. Flynn's charm and Rapunzel's joy didn't just affect the other characters; they reached right out of that screen and touched me too, and because of that, I give Tangled:
5/5 Stars
The only truly sad thing about this movie was that Rapunzel ended up becoming a brunette. Oh, the humanity!
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In the Mood for Love (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray)

Tony Leung is a journalist in Hong Kong, who rents a room with his wife in a family apartment. Next door, Maggie Cheung has done the same thing with her husband, who is almost always away on business.
As part of Kar-wai's game plan, neither the wife, nor the husband, is seen. They exist and are talked about, but never introduced.
Both Leung and Cheung's characters are painfully polite, which means you don't know what they're thinking. Even when it becomes obvious that their other halves are having an affair, it takes ages for either of them to respond. The idea of an emotional outburst would be unthinkable.
The film is so subtle and slow and internalized that it crystallizes into a thing of beauty. Longing has been choked by a thousand years of acceptable behavior. The cut of Cheung's dresses and the sheen of Leung's hair take on an unexpected importance in what appears to be Kar-wai's experiment into the purity of unconsummated passion.
By now this one is the most beautiful movie I had ever seen.
Every shot is like a poem. Each picture is a work of art.
I couldn't help myself from repeating the scenes again and again just to make sure i hadn't miss a thing.
A masterpiece.

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Blazing Saddles (30th Anniversary Special Edition) (DVD)

"...of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Thus spoke Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman), the State Procurer, Attorney General and Assistant to the Governor as he plotted against the residents of Rock Ridge in Mel Brooks' hilarious western spoof "Blazing Saddles", which was first released to theaters in 1974. With the meager budget of only $2.6-million, the film grossed over $119.5-million, making it the highest grossing western of all time until the release of "Dances with Wolves" in 1990, which grossed over $184-million. The success of "Blazing Saddles" is attributable in large part to the superb direction and writing (in conjunction with several other writers) of Mel Brooks, who (of course) also acted in the film in three separate roles: as Gov. William J. LePetomaine, an Indian chief and a World War I aviator. Equally important are the many very talented comedic actors who brought the film to life.
The plot of "Blazing Saddles", as I eluded to in my review opening, takes place primarily in the fictional old-west town of Rock Ridge, whose residents seemingly all have the same last name and who have been mercilessly besieged by a group of thugs who are lead by a man named Taggart (Slim Pickens, 1919-1983). After the thugs kill the sheriff of Rock Ridge, the residents send an urgent plea to Gov. LePetomaine to immediately appoint a new sheriff. Gov. LePetomaine delegates the appointment to his assistant Hedley Lamarr, whose nefarious secret agenda is the destruction of Rock Ridge to make way for a new railroad line. Lamarr devises what he believes will be the final, unconscionable inducement to the residents of Rock Ridge for them to vacate: the appointment of a black sheriff, Black Bart (Cleavon Little, 1939-1992). Most of the residents of Rock Ridge are aghast when Sheriff Bart rides into town. However, he quickly acquires a sidekick in Jim 'The Waco Kid' (Gene Wilder) and some unsolicited attentions from the heavily accented visiting stage performer Lili Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn, 1942-1999), whose passions include the consumption of schnitzengruben. The story continues to entertain as it builds to a climax that only the twisted comedic genius of Mel Brooks could devise. Also, in classic Mel Brooks fashion, the film includes several musical interludes that include the film's title song (sung by Frankie Laine), "The Ballad of Rock Ridge", "I'm Tired" (sung by Madeline Kahn), "The French Mistake" and "April in Paris". Other memorable characters include Olson Johnson (David Huddleston), Rev. Johnson (Liam Dunn, 1916-1976), Mongo (Alex Karras in his first big-screen role), Howard Johnson (John Hillerman), Van Johnson (George Furth), Gabby Johnson (Jack Starrett, 1936-1989), Harriett Johnson (Carol DeLuise, a.k.a. Carol Arthur), Dr. Sam Johnson (Richard Collier, 1919-2000), Buddy Bizarre (Dom DeLuise) and a cameo by Count Basie (1904-1984). There were also several brief uncredited appearances by Anne Bancroft, Gilda Radner (1946-1989) and Rodney Allen Rippy who played Bart at age 5.
Overall, I rate "Blazing Saddles" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. It is a hysterically funny film that I can highly recommend to everyone. Though none of Mel Brooks' other films were as financially successful as "Blazing Saddles", many are noteworthy of mention, including "The Producers" (1968), "Young Frankenstein" (1974), "High Anxiety" (1978), "The History of the World, Part 1" (1981) and "Spaceballs" (1987).

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Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack)

Have you ever felt hammered by a movie? Has it ever taken you days, weeks,
to integrate a movie, in your head and heart? Read on ...
If you see this movie, you'll probably see why some people don't like it. In
fact you may see different reasons for different people. A great movie allows
the individual to bring their own positive interpretation. Cloud Atlas also
allows the individual to bring their own negatives.
My own personal bitterness was "How come my heros always die, but your heros
always live happily ever after?" This hit me hardest as I was walking out of
the theater, but it still galls me to think about it.
You see, its like this: Cloud Atlas goes for power and effect. If they hit
something positive in you, you rave about it. If they hit something negative,
you hurt big time. This movie isn't about entertainment, its about achieving
enough kinetic force to shake you up. Its wrenching. And some people do not
like being shaken like a rag doll. More so, because as people have said,
Cloud Atlas is unlike any other movie ever made.
In a broader sense, I think almost everyone has at least one scene where you
ask yourself "Do I really wanna sit here and watch this?" The whole diversity
thing, not just diversity of people, but diversity of fates, gets close to the
point of overload with Cloud Atlas, and anyone who feels pushed over the redline
will walk out, having better things to do.
Again, its like this: If you can hold the movie at arms length, you're ok, but
if you step inside it, then its really disturbing. And I'm not talking about
the sex and violence either. Its the ideas, plural. There are so many ideas in
this movie, at so many different levels, its like a living fractal. Not ideas
just for the sake of ideas, not ideas just to shake you up, but ideas that
speak to you as a unique individual.
For me, Cloud Atlas is the most disturbing movie since Donnie Darko, although
they are radically different movies. But then again, some of it is funny, and
parts of it are exhilarating too. It has a mix of light and dark, it isn't all
dark. And it isn't "comic relief" either. Somehow, the lighter parts of the
movie are woven directly into the fabric of the story. It works amazingly well.
In technique, Cloud Atlas takes the concept of an ensemble movie, and re-invents
the entire purpose and effect of having an ensemble. And it isn't just in how
the actors are related, and who plays what role. One of the foundations of a
conventional movie is to build an association in our minds, between 1 actor and
the 1 role they play. Cloud Atlas demolishes that foundation and replaces it
with its own unique creation. Its disorienting, to such a degree that you can't
grasp it from other people's words. You have to experience it for yourself to
appreciate the *power* of it.
Cloud Atlas is also a film that has a voice, in particular on the subject of
artificial life. This topic has been around for many decades in science fiction
books and movies. But as technology seems to get closer to actually creating
it, fiction has gotten more sophisticated in how it expresses its message about
artificial life. That message is the most disturbing part of Cloud Atlas for me.
The writers see a storm coming, a new kind of storm that no one has ever seen
before.
I'm not talking about things like the Terminater and SkyNet. Cloud Atlas doesn't
deal with machines, it deals with souls. Sure, Cloud Atlas is fiction. But our
past is not fiction. We have an ugly history of repeating our mistakes. And some
mistakes only become fatal after they've been repeated over and over and over
again.
Regarding the "everyone's connected" philosophy, I thought this works great
as a narrative device, without me feeling (today at least) that I personally
subscribe to that philosophy. I would hope this philosophy doesn't deter
anyone from seeing the movie, because I think they turn it into a positive
thing, even for people who don't agree with it. Its part of how the story
is built, and built very well.
Another area where Cloud Atlas pushes the envelope is in taking all the actors
and doing radical, (sometimes humorous) make-overs to fit them into a character.
This itself has offended some people, because Cloud Atlas doesn't apply any
limitations at all, and it has dozens of makeovers. This is very different than,
for instance, Looper, where the make-up and acting are all focused with
overwhelming skill into changing 1 single person into another single person,
with absolute conviction. In Cloud Atlas, the transformations are beautiful,
striking, uncanny, other-worldly. It becomes another way in which this movie
hammers at you.
If you decide, like me, that Cloud Atlas is indeed a masterpiece, you will
probably have one moment, one scene, which pushes you over the edge and into
the realization that it *is* a masterpiece. Not necessarily the most powerful
scene in the movie, but the scene where the sum of it all finally overloads
your doubts.
For me, that scene was where we first see Doona Bae as Tilda. I've never seen
anything like that in a movie, and it took me about 15 seconds to just begin
to parse what I was seeing. The sheer creativity, the imaginative beauty of
the character, connecting outwards into 2 hours of the vast scope of the movie,
just blew me away. Truly, a masterpiece.

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Bullhead (+ Digital Copy) (Blu-ray)

'Bullhead' is one of those films that you will either love or hate. Not to do with the acting, perhaps to do with the subtitles, but moreover to do with the fact that it is a long, dark, foreign indie film that doesn't stray too far from the path of cow farming and the mafia that can sometimes go with that.
But, to miss out on viewing this masterpiece, to not witness what has to be one of the most incredible, passionately heartbreaking, violently stoic movies of the past decade is to have let something breathtaking avoid your gaze.
The film opens with a spoken warning that, basically, things long since buried have a way to still come back and bite you in the ass! Our lead actor, a domineering brute of a cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (played by a pumped-up-for-the-role Mattias Schoenaerts) is hooked on all manner of drugs. Why, we don't know quite yet, but nevertheless he is a force to be reckoned with - for others and himself. It turns out he is using Androstederm to fatten his cows. It fattens the animals in 8 weeks, not 10 weeks and after injected half an hour later is out of their system. It also adds 10% fat to their body weight! Jacky also uses it in small doses.
It turns out that in Belgium there is such a thing as the Hormone Mafia Underworld, which deals in such acts as this with other farmers. But why is Jacky so angry when he makes all this money, well, that is shown in a 20 year flashback to being a young boy; and the cruel, painful victim of a mentally-challenged older boy. An act that went unpunished at the time, it changed Jacky's life forever and put him instantly on the path of self-destruction.
Having taken growth hormones since being a little boy, we see how he views women, sex, gives out beatings and keeps injecting himself day in day out. His harrowing ordeal back all those years ago is hard, so very tough to watch (as a man), but suddenly explains everything as we progress.
His young friend at the time, Dieterick is now a distant adult friend of his, but out of nowhere he finds out that when he goes to do a new cow drugging deal, there is his old friend - worryingly involved in the whole thing. Now he's taking more, just to get by. Such high profile drugs as Sustanon, Mestanolone and Methyltestosterone which is making him think less and act more (hence the title of the film).
There are brutal scenes of a nightclub beating, a REAL cow gets cut open and has her calf removed (you simply couldn't fake that, for as the knife cuts the cow moans and flinches), and soon Jacky is visiting the long-lost never-had woman he could have had in his life. And so, as we get to the finale of this incredible film, Jacky is ploughed on as many drugs as he can inject and digest and takes on the world in one last stand.
The director, in the special features behind-the-scenes tells the young boy who plays the Young Dieterick in the flim that Jacky's spirit will come back and inherit the body of him in 'Bullhead 2.' The boy never flinches and says, "I'll still be playing the role, yes?" To which the director sarcastically responds with, Yes, ... but ten years from now!" We can only hope. We can only hope.

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