About this product: After the visual bombast of many contemporary CG and motion-capture features, the drawn characters in The Princess and the Frog, the Walt Disney Studio's eagerly awaited return to traditional animation, feel doubly welcome. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), The Princess and the Frog moves the classic fairy tale to a snazzy version of 1920s New Orleans. Tiana (voice by Anika Noni Rose), the first African-American Disney heroine, is not a princess, but a young woman who hopes to fulfill her father's dream of opening a restaurant to serve food that will bring together people from all walks of life. Tiana may wish upon a star, but she believes that hard work is the way to fulfill your aspirations. Her dedication clashes with the cheerful idleness of the visiting prince Naveen (Bruno Campos). A voodoo spell cast by Dr. Facilier (Keith David) in a showstopping number by composer Randy Newman initiates the events that will bring the mismatched hero and heroine together. However, the animation of three supporting characters--Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), a jazz-playing alligator; Ray (Jim Cummings), a Cajun firefly; and 197-year-old voodoo priestess Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis)--is so outstanding, it nearly steals the film. Alternately funny, touching, and dramatic, The Princess and the Frog is an all-too-rare example of a holiday entertainment a family can enjoy together, with the most and least sophisticated members appreciating different elements. The film is also a welcome sign that the beleaguered Disney Feature Animation Studio has turned away from such disasters as Home on the Range, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons and is once again moving in the right direction. Rated G: General Audiences, suitable for ages 6 and older: violence, some scary imagery, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
Stills from Princess and the Frog (Click for larger image)
About this product: Disney's THE LION KING SPECIAL EDITION features an all-new song, "Morning Report," and never-before-seen animation, giving you even more of this award-winning masterpiece -- the greatest animated adventure of all time. An unforgettable story, breathtaking animation, beloved characters, and Academy Award(R)-winning music (Best Original Score, 1994; Best Song, "Can You Feel The Love Tonight") set the stage for the adventures of Simba, the feisty lion cub who "just can't wait to be king." But his envious Uncle Scar has plans for his own ascent to the throne, and he forces Simba's exile from the kingdom. Alone and adrift, Simba soon joins the escapades of a hilarious meerkat named Timon and his warmhearted warthog pal, Pumbaa. Adopting their carefree lifestyle of "Hakuna Matata," Simba ignores his real responsibilities until he realizes his destiny and returns to the Pride Lands to claim his place in the "Circle of Life." Now extensively restored and remastered -- experience THE LION KING like never before, from its magnificent musical opening over breathtaking African vistas to its emotional climax. The all-star vocal talents -- including Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, and Ernie Sabella -- rip-roaring comedy, and uplifting messages of courage, loyalty, and hope make this timeless tale entertainment for all ages.
About this product: If it moves, smash it! The filmmakers behind The Matrix and V for Vendetta bring new blood (lots of it!) to martial arts movies in Ninja Assassin. Korean pop star Rain (Speed Racer) stars as heroic, deadly Raizo. Trained from childhood in the way of the Ozunu Clan ninja, he is stalked by fellow warriors for breaking free of them and their iron-willed dojo patriarch (martial arts legend Sho Kosugi)... and is on the run with a Europol agent (Naomie Harris) who has proof the clan sells assassination services to governments. The action is start-to-finish – fast, fierce, filled with weaponry (chains, swords, staffs, shuriken) and awesome athleticism. Fear not the weapon, but the hand that wields it.
About this product: The Dark Knight arrives with tremendous hype (best superhero movie ever? posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger?), and incredibly, it lives up to all of it. But calling it the best superhero movie ever seems like faint praise, since part of what makes the movie great--in addition to pitch-perfect casting, outstanding writing, and a compelling vision--is that it bypasses the normal fantasy element of the superhero genre and makes it all terrifyingly real. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is Gotham City's new district attorney, charged with cleaning up the crime rings that have paralyzed the city. He enters an uneasy alliance with the young police lieutenant, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Batman (Christian Bale), the caped vigilante who seems to trust only Gordon--and whom only Gordon seems to trust. They make progress until a psychotic and deadly new player enters the game: the Joker (Heath Ledger), who offers the crime bosses a solution--kill the Batman. Further complicating matters is that Dent is now dating Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, after Katie Holmes turned down the chance to reprise her role), the longtime love of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne.
In his last completed role before his tragic death, Ledger is fantastic as the Joker, a volcanic, truly frightening force of evil. And he sets the tone of the movie: the world is a dark, dangerous place where there are no easy choices. Eckhart and Oldman also shine, but as good as Bale is, his character turns out rather bland in comparison (not uncommon for heroes facing more colorful villains). Director-cowriter Christopher Nolan (Memento) follows his critically acclaimed Batman Begins with an even better sequel that sets itself apart from notable superhero movies like Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man because of its sheer emotional impact and striking sense of realism--there are no suspension-of-disbelief superpowers here. At 152 minutes, it's a shade too long, and it's much too intense for kids. But for most movie fans--and not just superhero fans--The Dark Knight is a film for the ages. --David Horiuchi
On the Blu-ray disc The Dark Knight on Blu-ray is a great home-theater showoff disc. The detail and colors are tremendous in both dark and bright scenes (the Gotham General scene is a great example of the latter), and the punishing Dolby TrueHD soundtrack makes the house rattle. (After giving us only Dolby 5.1 in a number of big Blu-ray releases this fall, Warner came through with Dolby TrueHD on this one.) One of the most interesting elements of The Dark Knight was how certain scenes were shot in IMAX, and if you saw the movie in an IMAX theater the film's aspect ratio would suddenly change from standard 2.40:1 to a thrilling 1.43:1 that filled the screen six stories high. For the Blu-ray disc, director Christopher Nolan has somewhat re-created this experience by shifting his film from 2.40:1 aspect ratio (through most of the film) to 1.78:1 in the IMAX scenes. While the effect isn't as dramatic as it was in theaters, it's still an eye-catching experience to be watching the film on a widescreen TV with black bars at the top and bottom, then seeing the 1.78:1 scenes completely fill the screen. The main bonus feature on disc 1 is "Gotham Uncovered: The Creation of a Scene," which is 81 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage about the IMAX scenes, the Bat suit, Gotham Central, and others. You can watch the film and access these featurettes when the icon pops up, or you can simply watch them from the main menu. A welcome and unusual feature is that in addition to English, French, and Spanish audio and subtitles, there's an audio-described option that allows the sight-impaired to experience the film as well.
Disc 2 has two 45-minute documentaries on Bat-gadgets and on the psychology of Batman, both in high definition. They combine movie clips, talking heads, and comic-book panels, but aren't the kind of thing one needs to watch twice. More engaging are six eight-minute segments of Gotham Central, a faux-news program that gives some background to events in the movie, plus a variety of trailers, poster art, and more. The BD-Live component on disc 1 is more interesting than on some earlier Blu-ray discs, which could be simply a matter of the content starting to catch up with the technology. There are three new picture-in-picture commentaries, by Jerry Robinson (creator of the Joker), DC Comics president Paul Levitz, and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.--he's a Batman fan who's made some movie and TV cameos), plus you can record your own commentary and upload it for others to watch. There are also three new featurettes ("Sound of the Batpod," "Harvey Dent's Theme," and "Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard") and two motion comics ("Mad Love," featuring Harley Quinn, and "The Shadow of Ra's Al Ghul"). No longer available is the digital copy of the film (compatible with iTunes and Windows Media, standard definition, download code expires 12/9/09). --David Horiuchi
Product description The follow-up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves effective, but soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces Batman closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante. Heath Ledger stars as archvillain The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart plays Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the cast as Rachel Dawes. Returning from Batman Begins are Gary Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.
Stills from The Dark Knight (click for larger image)
About this product: The new "extended edition" of this ground-breaking feature length movie presentation reveals The Great Secret of the universe. It has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries... to reach you.
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About this product: One thing Robert De Niro can't be accused of is avoiding a challenge. Everybody's Fine obliges this respected actor, who made his bones playing dangerous, volatile men, to portray a low-key retiree named Frank Goode. Frank's wife has died, and since she alone kept them in touch with their four grown offspring, now scattered around the country, he's doubly cut off from family. When the Goode kids all find excuses to skip a planned reunion, Frank hauls out his suitcase and boards Amtrak with the intention of dropping in on each of them: the tightly wound Chicago ad exec (Kate Beckinsale), the Denver musician (Sam Rockwell) who's supposedly a symphony conductor, the sweet Vegas showgirl (Drew Barrymore), and the Greenwich Village artist son who's nowhere to be found. That son remains offscreen for the duration, and his portentous absence has the unintended effect of emphasizing what a hollow enterprise Everybody's Fine is. Don't blame the cast, who do yeoman work trying to define their long-unsatisfactory relationship as parent and children. None of the kids hate Dad; they just never found a measure of comfort with him, so now everybody, far from being fine, is living one fiction or another to keep it mellow. For his part, Frank suffers from an undefined illness brought on by his life's work making insulation for phone wires; and lo, throughout his journey we're urged to notice telephone cables slipping by outside the train or bus window--lines of communication!--even as the siblings are warily monitoring Dad's progress by cell phone. Writer-director Kirk Jones once made an ersatz-Irish movie, Waking Ned Devine (1997), that vulgarized ethnicity in the interests of cheap laughs and patronizing sentimentality. In Everybody's Fine Jones manages the neat trick of vulgarizing delicacy. The movie wants to pass for a sensitive meditation on the white lies people tell one another and themselves. But it so reeks of bad faith and calculation that the message isn't worth delivering. --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from Everybody's Fine (Click for larger image)
About this product: The entertaining, adrenaline-packed Ninja Assassin wastes no time cutting quite literally to the guts and gore of the mysterious world of ninja warriors--the blood flows as freely as champagne on New Year's Eve. Only 3-D might have made it even better. Taken from the streets as a child, the orphan Raizo (Korean pop artist Rain, in his first leading role) is molded into a deadly assassin through methods that might make even the strong of stomach wince. The story flows from present-day Berlin to Raizo's brutal training by the Ozunu, one of the mythical Nine Clans that perform political assassinations around the world. Refusal to follow an order by the clan leader forces Raizo into a life on the run. When Mika (Naomie Harris), a Europol researcher, gets too close to the truth, Raizo risks detection by his former clan-mates to protect her, and to exact his revenge. Fans of ninja films will rejoice in the classic story, while action aficionados will find plenty of heart-pounding thrills in every fight scene. Admittedly, the plot, especially Europol's interest in the mythical clans, exists merely to move the story from one fight scene to the next. But who cares when the action shots--especially the literal firefight at the end--are so exciting. --Jill Corddry
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