Home Media Magazine - October 28-November 3, 2007 - (Page 18)

REVIEWS Street 10/30 Sony Pictures, Action, B.O. $336.5 million, $28.97 DVD, UMD, $36.95 two-DVD set, $49.95 Blu-ray, ‘PG-13’ for sequences of intense action violence. Stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell. Edited by John Latchem I SPIDER-MAN 3 into a random experiment that seems to serve no purpose except to exist in the off chance it can accidentally turn a man into a creature of sand. Then an alien blob manages to find Peter Parker and turns his costume black. The alien force amplifies aggression, giving Spider-Man a darker edge and making him more apathetic toward doing the right thing. This sequence is so reminiscent of Superman III I half-expected Spider-Man to fight Peter Parker in a junkyard to resolve his internal conflict. The movie manages to build up some energy toward the end, but kills its momentum with out-ofplace sight gags and song-and-dance routines. It doesn’t help that some of the visual effects stand out a little too much on a standard-def screen. The best thing the movie has going for it is that it manages to wrap up enough of the storylines from the first two films, leading to a decent final battle. Fortunately the DVD is loaded with enough added value to appease the built-in fan base. The featurettes on the two-disc version really showcase the effort that went into generating the stunts and special effects. The first disc also has two commentaries, one featuring the cast fawning over what a thrill it was to be a part of the trilogy, and another with the producers. — John Latchem Blu-ray Spotlight Director Sam Raimi voiced concerns that Blu-ray might reveal “the mistakes we made” in the special effects on Spider-Man 3, but the disc shows the opposite. The visuals hold up beautifully on the latest installment. It’s the best I’ve seen Spider-Man look, including in theaters. Spidey’s nemesis Sandman shows off the high-def format particularly well; grains of sand show up in amazing contrast. — Stephanie Prange E When Buenos Aires is plunged into an economic meltdown, Beba (Norma Aleandro), faces crisis and is unable to pay her longtime maid, Dora. After she quits, the two realize that in order to survive, they must put aside their class resentments and work together. Item#: KLF-DV-3131 • UPC: 7-41952-31319-9 • ISBN: 1-4172-0147-9 SRP: $26.98 • Running Time: 87 Minutes • Genre: Foreign / Drama • Language: Spanish Subtitles: English • Audio: Dolby Digital • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 • Production Year: 2004 DVD Extras: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, Original Theatrical Trailer very so often the fickle beast of high expectations rears its ugly head. Spider-Man 3 as a film is a disappointment on almost every level, falling well short of what it should have been given the massive success of the first two “SpiderMan” movies. Just as Spider-Man is torn between his light and dark sides, this film is conflicted about whether it wants to be a comic book movie or a character drama, and it never quite finds the balance. Director Sam Raimi chooses to limit the action in favor of the characters engaging in drawn-out conversations about their feelings. (Is there a more useless superhero girlfriend than Mary Jane Watson?) New characters show up out of nowhere when it services the plot, providing perhaps the laziest villain origin stories in the history of the genre. An escaped convict wanders I PIXAR SHORT FILMS COLLECTION VOL. 1 Street 11/6 Disney, Animation, $29.99 DVD, $34.99 Blu-ray, NR. R When an Argentinean teacher attempts to unearth the truth about her daughter’s death, the investigation reveals levels of political corruption so abhorrent that the illusions of her past life are shattered. Item #: KLF-DV-3031 • UPC: 7-41952-30319-0 ISBN: 1-4172-0057-X • SRP: $24.98 THE OFFICIAL STORY BUY BOTH AND SAVE $12 SRP Live-in Maid / The Official Story Combo Pack Item#: KLF-DV-3149 • UPC: 7-41952-31499-8 ISBN: 1-4172-0165-7 • SRP: $39.98 Watch LIVE-IN MAID clips WWW.KOCHCLIPS.COM For more information visit WWW.KOCHB2B.COM Pre-Book Date: 11/6/07 • Street Date: 12/4/07 Academy Award® is the registered trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences egular collectors of the Pixar animated films already will have many of the awardwinning shorts contained in this collection. But that doesn’t mean this DVD is devoid of value to fans. Included are some earlier works that haven’t yet been released on DVD. These include 1984’s The Adventures of André and Wally B, made when the studio was still under the auspices of Lucasfilm, and 1987’s Red’s Dream, about a lonely unicycle. A highlight is the hilarious Knick Knack, about a snowman trying to escape a snow globe so he can hang out with some warm-weather souvenirs. The set also includes Lifted, which is included on the Ratatouille DVD released the same day. A featurette outlines the early history of Pixar animation. The shorts served as test-beds for new animation-rendering programs developed with the intent of producing feature-length films. The 1988 effort Tin Toy, about a toy soldier who falls prey to a slobbering baby, inspired Pixar’s first movie, Toy Story. The shorts can be watched separately or together with a Play All feature, and include optional commentaries. Watching the shorts in sequence, it’s interesting to see the evolution of the CG craft over the years, as animators learned more about the possibilities of the medium and the programs started to get longer. It wasn’t until 2001’s Monsters, Inc. that Pixar began making shorts based on their feature-length efforts. An added treat is the inclusion of several segments from “Sesame Street” starring the lamp characters from Luxo Jr., which became the Pixar mascot. — John Latchem 18 Home Media Magazine October 28–November 3, 2007 BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN hom102807_018r1.pgs 10.24.2007 21:39 ccoffey http://www.kochb2b.com http://www.kochclips.com

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Home Media Magazine - October 28-November 3, 2007

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