Tomorrow at 7:30 PM Eastern, the Defenders guest-star on The Super Hero Squad Show. This reworking of Marvel superhero characters for kids airs on the Cartoon Network. Here’s the plot description:
Baron Mordo transforms Iron Man into the evil “Iron Menace”, a deadly threat who overcomes both the Lethal Legion and the Squad! But when Silver Surfer and Hulk team with Dr. Strange and Valkyrie to form “The Defenders,” the forces of good will “Hero Up!” like never before! Gossip Girl alumni Michelle Trachtenberg reprises her role as Valkyrie in this exciting new episode of the most action-packed, family friendly series in the universe!
I haven’t seen any of this animated series, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the misfits that made up the Defenders. It’s the only long-running Marvel series I’ve read every single issue of. (I know, it was a wacky choice, but it worked for me.) The Super Hero Squad seems like it would be fun, only they don’t seem to have any female team members. Bummer.
Do any readers watch it? What’s it like?
KC and I really enjoy Castle, the mystery show with Nathan Fillon (Firefly) as a thriller writer who helps the police solve murders.
So since the Complete First Season DVD set has been on deep discount this week ($17 bucks or so compared to a list price of $40), we decided to buy it. The set has some entertaining-sounding featurettes, bloopers, and commentaries, which we enjoy.
Our first try was from Amazon.com. We have the free shipping plan, so that was easy — wouldn’t even have to leave the house! Unfortunately, someone at Amazon put the DVD set into a cardboard mailer with no additional padding, so by the time it arrived, the hinged insert in the case was broken apart, and one of the discs had come loose and was scratched.
Disappointing, but not tragic. Amazon paid to send it back and give a refund; they even have an automated process for such things. (Methinks they have a lot of shipping damage claims, especially recently.) We decided not to play mail roulette again and went to buy the set at Best Buy, who had it at the same price. (Amazon has since dropped their price another dollar, but I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff.)
All this is kind of pointless, except that I noted something interesting. This is what the set from Best Buy looked like inside:
The Amazon set, on the other hand, didn’t have a disc on the left side. Instead, there was one disc on the right and the hinged plastic insert that contained the other two discs back-to-back. Why would there be two separate versions? And why would Amazon have the one that seems more susceptible to shipping damage, given their business model?
To promote Up coming out on DVD last week, the publicity group sent this set of images showing how the movie was put together. I thought you might be interested in seeing how a scene developed. Click the images (and then wait) to see really large versions.
The storyboard
The start of image generation
Modeling the set
More animation
Add clothing
Additional shading
Additional effects
Final lighting
Update: Here’s some more Up-related art, process work involving graphic design and illustration for the film.
Warner has announced a trade-in program called DVD2BLU. In short, you choose DVDs to trade in, you pay $8 or $10 a disc (plus $5 shipping if you order less than $25 worth), and you get Blu-Rays in return. (US only, allow 4-5 weeks to receive replacement.)
Now, this is a nice offer if you want to upgrade. But financially…
This selection was based solely on “movies I’d like to watch”, and the prices were shown on Amazon at the time I was writing this. The column labeled “Do Math” is the cost to buy the Blu-Ray outright minus the used DVD price (assuming you sold it to someone else).
So in some cases you’re better off just buying a replacement and selling off your DVD, especially if it’s a catalog title on discount. The $10 trade-ins are discs in more demand, apparently, or not as old. I was surprised to see how much some Blu-Ray prices have fallen! As always, do some research before you take the deal. If the numbers work out for you, it’s a nice gesture on the part of the studio. Plus, they get some used DVDs out of the market.
I don’t think I’ve laughed so much at any movie in a theater as I did at Pirate Radio. (Known as The Boat That Rocked in its original UK release.)
Like Richard Curtis’ other feature as writer/director, Love Actually, it’s a sprawling story with a variety of goofy character bits, an ensemble comedy composed of vignettes. I was also reminded of Almost Famous, with its story of a boy coming of age thanks to the transformative power of rock. Pirate Radio is set in England in 1966, with tons of great rock’n'roll music (then called pop), none of which the BBC would play. So ships anchored off the coast, outside of the legal limit, would broadcast what the people wanted to hear. (One of the best-known was Radio Caroline.)
The cast is amazing — you’ve probably seen ads featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of the DJs, but another is played by Nick Frost (previously best known as Simon Pegg’s buddy in Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead). Additional cast members include Chris O’Dowd and Katherine Parkinson, both from The IT Crowd. My favorite, of course, was Bill Nighy as Quentin, who in addition to his performance is astounding-looking in 60s mod suits, especially when he dances. (Given the time period and setting, it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that the women are Mom, cook, and lust objects. But at least the clothes they wear are cool.) I was also surprised to see that the coolest of all DJs, a supposed sex machine, was played by Rhys Ifans, whom I best remember from the Curtis-penned Notting Hill as the gross roommate Spike. That’s versatility!
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Nick Frost are DJs
Now, typical of Curtis, the end favors optimism and unrealistic happy results over plausibility, but I don’t mind that much. I did leave wishing I’d seen the three-hour version (or however long it would have been with the footage they cut from the UK version put back in along with whatever other deleted scenes — something to wait for the DVD on, I guess). I felt like I could have learned more about some of the characters, and there were intriguing bits hinted at (like Jack Davenport’s interaction with his boss Kenneth Branagh’s daughter) that were never followed up on. That’s another Curtis touch, overstuffed, messy sprawl, but in a way I enjoy.
Rhys Ifans as King of the DJs
I’m telling you, theaters are missing out by not selling merchandise in their lobbies. I would have gladly purchased, upon departure, the DVD and the CD soundtrack. (Plus a couple of books on the subject, although there doesn’t appear to be a definitive history yet.) A vending machine would make extra money with minimal staff costs. And the DVD is already out in the UK, because the movie came out there in April. I have no idea why they’d rather sell messy snacks, with all the cleaning costs, than tangible mementos.
Bill Nighy and cast party
Sadly, while researching options, we discovered that there are two soundtrack versions. The British version has four more tracks than the American one, although the four missing songs (”Crimson & Clover”, “The Letter”, “Hang on Sloopy”, and Skeeter Davis’ “End of the World”) are fairly common. Personally, I think the UK one also has a better cover, but I like seeing more of the cast without the overly literal pirate metaphor.
If you’re looking for a wonderfully entertaining movie, check out Pirate Radio. Highly recommended.
I love my husband, because he just handed me this CD collection, We Love the Pirates, featuring rare music and hits from the era interspersed with jingles from Radio London, another of the pirate stations. Apparently, it’s now out of print and goes for $50 or more. For a cheaper take on the era, try The Who Sell Out, an homage to the broadcast style with commercial parodies and actual jingles.
I loved Up when I first saw it in theaters this summer, so I knew that I wanted to own it when it was released on DVD. I just wish Disney didn’t make it so difficult.
As is typical of their recent releases, they’re strongly pushing the Blu-Ray edition, which comes with four discs: the standard DVD movie with extras, the digital copy disc (why? does anyone use these?), and two Blu-Ray discs. Unfortunately for me, since I still see no reason to “upgrade” formats, the standard DVD with extras is no longer comparable in features to the Blu-Ray. This is an incredibly disappointing decision. The more studios try to force customer “choice” to what benefits them, the less likely I am to succumb, and I don’t appreciate being treated like a second-class customer because I’m not willing to shell out more money for new equipment when what I have works just fine for me.
Then there’s the DRM-restricted “extra” that makes the standard version a “two-disc deluxe edition”. The second disc is nothing but the digital copy. I’m not interested, because I don’t want to watch a movie of great visual scope on a postage-stamp-sized screen. Thus, I got the two-disc pack. Because although you would think the single disc would be the same as the DVD in the two-disc pack, it lacks the director commentary and possibly the travel featurette. How confused does Disney want customers to be? Of course, you can’t be sure of this in the store, because Disney doesn’t list full contents on the back cover, leaving that phrase “and more” to cover who knows what.
Given that many places are discounting the Blu-Ray version below the price of the special DVD edition — a choice I don’t understand, since I thought the point of pushing Blu-Ray was to make up for declining DVD revenue — I really resent having to pay for a “digital copy” disc I didn’t want anyway. It used to be an extra bonus, something free to make it easy for those who wanted to watch the movie on the go, but now it looks like I’m having to pay more for a useless plastic disc.
Anyway, if one of the Amazon reviewers is correct, the first Blu-Ray has the same extras as the DVD:
The second Blu-Ray has all of the making-of material unavailable to DVD customers, showing interviews and sketches about the character designs for Carl, Russell, bird Kevin, the house, the balloons, and the dogs. Plus there’s a game and an alternate version of the opening married life sequence.
While I consider this movie the best Pixar has ever made, a beautiful meditation on loss and how to find new purpose in life, in terms of the DVD packaging, all I can say is “buyer beware”. They’re not interested in making it easy for you to watch what you want the way you want it. Let me make this clear, just in case Disney happens to be listening: withholding features from my preferred DVD format will not make me buy into Blu-Ray. It will instead make me stop buying your DVDs. In my reviews, I would rather talk about how great the movie is and the insight the special features gave me into the creation of such a wonderful film, instead of having to wade through all this format crap just to figure out what I should buy. I wish Disney would support that.
So here’s why you should watch Up: Pixar is known for making very good funny movies, but Up makes it clear that they’re just as interested in other deep emotions. It was a huge dramatic gamble that they pull off in expert fashion. The idea of an old man and a Boy Scout taking a flying house to a South American jungle, rescuing a near-extinct species, and defeating a corrupt hero and his band of talking dogs sounds like a bad joke, but it’s a movie that will show you great insight into the human spirit and its sense of wonder.
I’m sure this piece sounds angry, but it’s really frustration. I don’t understand why Disney is being so heavy-handed about all this, given their core audiences. A lot of families don’t have the money to upgrade right now, and do kids really care what format they watch?
