Blu-Ray vs. DVD, The Battle Comes to a Head
I remember when I got my first DVD player (I put an emphasis on “first” because my family has went through more of those than we should have). It was almost like discovering a new world of entertainment in that cardboard box. It was a complete surprise on Christmas morning, something I totally didn’t expect, much less to come with a copy of Bruce Almighty and Freaky Friday to start my now expansive DVD collection. I remember seeing all the ads for the DVD technology on my VHS tapes thinking it wouldn’t catch on, but sure enough I still have a crap ton of my classic and most favorite films on VHS in my closet. Now almost 7 years later, a new technology is on the horizon. After slaughtering HD DVD, Blu-Ray has begun to creep onto the market and much like DVDs did more than half a decade ago, slowly eclipse the DVD market. It may be my 10 year old self speaking here, but I truly don’t see the point in it all. I can honestly say I don’t know a single person that owns a stand alone (not PS3) blu-ray player. I get the advantages of the tech itself (believe me I do, I shop at Target a lot so I see the blu-ray propaganda), in SOME cases the picture looks sharper, the sound sounds better, and it’s supposedly a “better viewing experience”. While that’s all nice and good to have those bells and whistles, it’s not something I’m going to be running out to my car, flooring the pedal and rushing to my nearest Best Buy to adapt. Whereas the transition between VHS and DVD was noticeable (those bulky tapes have around a 4-play-through life span and were considerably hefty, there’s not as much a difference between DVD and Blu-Ray to warrant the $200 + adaptation charge. I’m basically expected to pay $150-$200 for a player (at cheapest, and trust me, buying the cheaper Sony Products never turns out well) and then around $25-$30 per film that I enjoy. That being said, the prices have come down significantly on blu-ray discs over the past few months, a fact that makes the pill significantly easier to swallow. It’s really just a transition from a disc to a shinier and better looking disc.
Plus, there are few feelings on earth as painful as knowing you’re part of a dying trend. It’s almost the feeling of seeing a ticking time bomb reach zero when you see the blu-ray selection grow larger and larger in Target or Best Buy. Plus, I’m a college student, I rarely buy new films, and making a $200 + investment right now to continue my movie loving habit in such a hectic lifestyle doesn’t make a lot of sense. My TV in my room in my dorm MAY be HD-compatible (it’s a brand new VIZIO), and I’m fairly sure our main den TV at my house can support the tech. I would like to live in a world where both standard definition and high definition could both be supported equally, but it looks like Blu-Ray may be just another inevitable speed bump in the road of home entertainment.
Valentine, Paul Blart, Benjamin Button, Wrestler, Defiance, Hotel, Bride, Fanboys, and Valkyrie DVD Info
Below are the release dates and box arts for a few winter hits headed to DVD.
- My Bloody Valentine 3D-May 19th
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop-May 19th
- Valkyrie-May 19th
- Fanboys-No Release Date Announced As of Now
- Bride Wars-April 28th
- Hotel for Dogs-April 28th
- Defiance-June 2nd
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-May 5th
- The Wrestler-April 21st
Watchmen Tales, Yes Man, Marley, Earth Stood Still, Spirit, Pounds, Punisher DVD Info
Several new tales are on their way to DVD, including a slew of big-name holiday titles. As always, the release dates and boxarts are below.
- Marley and Me-March 31st
- Yes Man-April 7th
- The Day the Earth Stood Still-March 31st
- The Spirit-April 14th
- Seven Pounds-March 17th
- Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter/Mason Hollis’ Under the Hood-March 24th
- Punisher: War Zone-March 17th
Rocker, Fireproof, Ember, College, Righteous, Death, Terrace, Dangerous, Reading, Pineapple, and Traitor Boxarts
A slew of new movies have had boxarts shown for them, and it’s gotten to the point where I could make one big collection-al post. The first is Rainn Wilson’s The Rocker, set to release January 27th, along with the Christian Drama Fireproof. The family adventure City of Ember will release January 20th. The Drake Bell comedy College will graduate January 27th. De Niro’s Righteous Kill will debut on January 6th. Death Race will race in December 23rd. Lakeview Terrace will move in January 13th. Bangkok Dangerous will fire away January 6th. Burn After Reading will be burned December 23rd. Pineapple Express will smoke on in January 6th. Finally, Don Cheadle’s Traitor will run in December 19th. All boxarts are viewable below.
THE DARK KNIGHT, Clone Wars, and Get Smart DVD Art
NERD FEST! The artwork for movies like Get Smart and THE DARK KNIGHT have been revealed! oh yea, and Clone Wars or something like that too. The extra materials to fall upon The Dark Knight’s blu-ray release will include at least a Gotham Uncovered documentary, featurettes (Batman Tech: The Incredible Gadgets and Tools, Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of The Dark Knight), 6 episodes of Gotham Cable’s Premier News Program, galleries (The Joker Cards, Concept Art, Poster Art, Production Stills), trailers and TV spots. The special edition blu-ray release will also include a batpod. No word yet if it will be included in DVD release. All of the artwork for all releases is viewable below. Street Date is December 9th.
Get Smart will finally arrive on November 4th, artwork below as well. No special features have been announced yet. Oh yea, and the Clone Wars is somewhere down there too.
Journey, Brothers, Poole, Believe, and Panda Boxarts
With even more fall comes even more summer movie boxarts. The religous comedy about Henry Poole is due out November 4th, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D is coming October 28th, The X-Files: I Want to Believe I believe is coming out December 4th, Kung Fu Panda Rides in November 9th, and Step Brothers rides in December 2nd. All boxarts are viewable below.
I for one am definitely going to check out Henry Poole and Kung Fu Panda, but the rest are big fat skips.
Hancock, Mummy 3, Mamma Mia, and Wanted Boxarts
A few more of the summer’s hits including Hancock and Mummy 3 are getting their boxarts revealed, and most of them are looking really good. No release dates have been announced except for Hancock’s on the 25th of November. The only special features listed are also for Hancock: (All boxarts are viewable below)
1-Disc Theatrical Edition and Unrated Edition DVD Bonus Features Include:
· Featurette: Superhumans: The Making of Hancock
· Featurette: Seeing the Future
· Featurette: Building a Better Hero
· Featurette: Bumps and Bruises
· Featurette: Mere Mortals: Behind the Scenes with ‘Dirty Pete’
2-Disc Unrated Special Edition DVD Bonus Features Include:
· Theatrical and Unrated Versions of Hancock
· Featurette: Superhumans: The Making of Hancock
· Featurette: Home Life
· Featurette: Seeing the Future
· Featurette: Suiting Up
· Featurette: Building a Better Hero
· Featurette: Bumps and Bruises
· Featurette: Mere Mortals: Behind the Scenes with ‘Dirty Pete’
· Bonus Digital Copy of the Film
Heroes Season 2 DVD-View
One of my favorite television shows on the air right now, Heroes, has its second season available on DVD now, and in all my nerd-dom, after seeing Journey 3D had to go pick it up. My nerd-dom was large enough to go buy the DVD, but not enough to buy the edition including a Kensei mask. The boxart is really nice for this season. The front follows the same format as one, but has characters inside the globe. Also, the rest of the inside of the DVD has a blue theme, which looks REALLY pretty. The first season featured the most prominent piece of art on the back, and the same goes for this season. Season 1 was the bomb, this one is of Bennet’s death. Each of the flaps inside the set features a great piece of art, making for an overall great art on the box. The DVD menus are also very well done. They show the Heroes logo along with paintings and their incarnations in life throughout the season. Although the season was not quite up to par with one, the set really makes up for the buy with some outstanding special features. The set includes all 11 episodes (by episode 7 they had caught up to par with season 1), along with the alternate ending to the season, and what would have come to pass in the other 13 episodes that would have came. Not only do Kring and the gang have an interview about it, they show some great and very eery footage from what would have come to pass, involving Sylar getting some very important powers. The set also includes a season 3 sneak peek, some interesting deleted scenes, and commentaries on all 11 episodes featuring one of the actors and someone involved behind the scenes. Some very great special features for this set make it worth the buy, even if you didn’t like this season as much. With brilliant special features, some great episodes toward the end of the season, and great package art, I highly recommend this to any sci-fi junkie or to any Heroes fan unsure of whether to buy the second season for home viewing.
5 out of 5
Wall E, Caspian, Hulk, Golden Army, Horses, Guru, Zohan, Indy 4 Boxarts 4 Exclusive
A majority of this summer’s biggest blockbusters are now heading for their DVD release. All of their boxarts are available to see below. Wall E, Pixar’s tale of robot love is heading for shelves November 18th, Prince Caspian comes in December 2nd, just in case you missed it last time, the Hulk boxart is available below, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army boxart is viewable below, Toby Keith’s Beer for my Horses (yee-haw) is riding in November 11th, The Love Guru rides in October 16th, Zohan fights in on October 7th, the special edition art for Indy 4, releasing October 14th, is also viewable below.
I’d like to rent Wall E, Caspian, H-Boy 2, and maybe Guru. I’m skipping on Indy 4 and Horses, and might just blind buy the Hulk. Also, it has been rumored that The Dark Knight will be landing in stores December 9th.
UPDATED-Hulk, Indy 4, Fred, Strangers, Marshall, Scrubs 7, Horton, and Baby Mama Boxarts
I know that’s a lot of movies and their DVDs to remember, however none of them were interesting enough to put into individual posts when they were first shown, so I figured it would be a good idea to put them into one big post.
Edward Norton’s latest superhero flick has not been set for release yet, however artwork is below.
Indy’s latest outing to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull now has some artwork and will be hitting store shelves the 14th of October. The extras include-
Disc One
• The Return of a Legend—The evolution of the new film and a tribute to the legendary hero and his creators.
• Pre-Production—Follows Steven Spielberg as he creates animatic sequences, Shia LaBeouf as he learns to swordfight and captures the reunion of filmmakers and cast on the soundstage.
Disc Two
• Production Diary: Making Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
– Shooting Begins: New Mexico
– Back To School: New Haven, Connecticut
– Welcome to the Jungle: Hilo, Hawaii
– On-Set Action
– Exploring Akator
– Wrapping Up!
• Warrior Makeup
• The Crystal Skulls
• Iconic Props
• The Effects of Indy
• Adventures in Post Production
• Closing: Team Indy
• Pre-Visualization Sequences
– Area 51 Escape
– Jungle Chase
– Ants Attack
• Galleries
• The Art Department
– The Adventure Begins
– Cemetery and Jungle
– Akator
• Stan Winston Studio
– Corpses, Skeletons & Mummies
– Aliens & Crystal Skulls
• Production Photographs
• Portraits
• Behind-the-Scenes Photographs
Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn’s Christmas flick from last year is coming the 25th of November for some holiday cash in. The Strangers starring Liv Tyler will scare some audiences October 21st. Judd Apatow’s critically acclaimed comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall will land on shelves the 30th of September. The 7th and Last Season of Scrubs that aired on NBC will arrive on November 11th. Horton Hears A Who will come in December 7th. Finally, Tina Fey’s comedy Baby Mama will deliver September 7th. All boxarts can be viewed below.
Iron Man DVD Info
My second favorite movie of the entire summer (the first being The Dark Knight) had to have been Iron Man. The superb performance by Robert Downey Jr. with whom I now associate the role, the beautiful special effects, and the heart pumping action made the movie perfect for anyone wanting to see a great thrill ride of a movie. Now the movie has been confirmed for DVD and Blu Ray release on September 30. I did provide some artwork earlier, however now the backart, the special edition art, along with the extras have been provided. Below is the artwork for both single and double disc versions, the backwork for them, what I assume is the sleeve for the special edition, and the extras to come with them.
Single Disc-
Ultimate Edition-
The extras will include (1 Disc Version Only containing additional scenes)-
• I Am Iron Man
– The Journey Begins
– The Suit that makes the Iron Man
– The Walk of Destruction
– Grounded In Reality
– Beneath the Armor
– It’s All in the Details
– A Good Story, Well Told
• The Invincible Iron Man
– Origins
– Friends & Foes
– The Definitive Iron Man
– Demon in a Bottle
– Extremis and Beyond
– Ultimate Iron Man
• Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man
• Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test
• The Actor’s Process (scene rehearsal with cast)
• The Onion “Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film”
• Image Galleries
I have to say, the artwork on this bad boy is awesome, some of the best I’ve seen, and the extras just go on and on. The Ultimate Edition is a definite buy for me. Expect to see this one hitting store shelves and playing so often at school from the library that you get tired of this movie on September 30.
Iron Man DVD Art and Extras
I know, technically that’s Blu-Ray, however you can expect the DVD to look much of the same. There will be a 1 disc and 2 disc set on DVD, with Extra features on the 2-disc will including an “I Am Iron Man” documentary, deleted and extended scenes, featurettes (“The Invincible Iron Man”, “The Actors Process”), a look at the visual effects, image galleries, a gag from The Onion about the films trailer, and Robert Downey Jr’s screentest. It definitely sounds like they took the fan’s advice and made this new DVD all it could be to live up to the great movie. Hopefully there will be a special edition art for the 2 disc. The one below, however is still great. The DVD is set to release on September 30. Click on the thumbnail below for a bigger picture.
Osama, Iron Man, Racer, Honor, and 88 Minutes DVD Boxarts
The movies Iron Man, Run Fatboy Run, Speed Racer, Made of Honor, 88 Minutes, and Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden are heading soon to DVD, and the boxarts for most of them have been released. If not, the release dates. Morgan Spurlock’s latest outing will hit shelves August 26th, Iron Man will arrive September 30th, Made of Honor will arrive honorably September 16th, and Al Pacino’s 88 Minutes will race in September 16th. The boxarts, all excluding Iron Man’s which is to debut later this week at Comic Con, are posted below.
Honestly, I’m a huge Spurlock fan so I’m definitely checking out Osama, and Speed Racer looks like a worthy rent.
My Name is Earl and The Office Boxarts
The most recent season of My Name is Earl, along with a complete collection of The Office Seasons 1-4 have made their way onto DVDActive. In the most recent season of My Name is Earl, Earl goes to jail, goes into a coma, and gets married, then alone again. In The Office…. Micheal is just Micheal…. I’ll let a quote help you out here- Below are the boxarts for the two. I am very satisfied with both collections’ artworks.
“Michael: Every year, my sweet, sweet grandmother sends me a check on my birthday for fifty dollars. And lately, she has been sending me, like nine or ten checks a year…uh, as Nana starts to [points to his head]…but, I knew I should be saving it for something, I just didn’t know what I should be saving it for. And then I had an awakening: “Michael, buy a motorcycle.” So I put the money in my shoe and then I forgot about it until now.”
Batman Begins Limited Edition Preview
I’m sure you know about The Dark Knight, the superhero movie critics are raving about, Warner Bros. is advertising like there’s no tomorrow for, and Morgan Freeman stars in (He could even play the Joker, why stop at Lucius Fox?), well there was a prequel to that a couple of years ago called Batman Begins, and although it’s probably not as good as The Dark Knight, it was still pretty good. Now, 3 years later, they’re releasing a special limited edition gift set, filled with all kinds of extras and goodies, it even folds out! The set, of course, features the movie from 2005, Batman Begins, but also features a whole slew of special features, which make it LIMITED!
- 6 Min. Prologue to The Dark Knight, in other words the first 6 minutes of the movie where the Joker and his henchmen rob a bank.
- The “In Movie Experience” featuring several commentaries about the film.
- Reflections on Writing Batman Begins
- Batman-The Journey Begins
- Shaping Mind and Body
- Batman: The Tumbler
- Gotham City Rises
- Genesis of the Bat
- Confidential Files
- Saving Gotham City
- 5 Collectible Alternate Covers
- 2 Different Reads-A Graphic Novel and Comic
- 128 MB Batman Flash Drive
- 2 Min. Sneak Peek of The Dark Knight
Earl's Blog Part 3 
