FILM REVIEW: One of the most anticipated movies of the Summer was worth the wait, to the point of falling into the list of one of the best films of the Summer. That is the case of WALL•E the ninth release by Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, directed and written by Academy Award®-winner Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”). A film that just keeps the tradition, the standards, the quality and the imagination that only Pixar and Disney can provide.

WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is the story of the last earth survivor, a robot. He has the life of a blue collar worker by leaving his home to a waste yard piling up and compressing garbage and the one that he finds curious he puts it into his lunch bag. His only companion is a pet cockroach and all the gadgets he stores in his home that is until a space ship drops off EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) with the sole purpose of finding life on earth. But she finds more than a plant, WALL•E becomes her faithful admirer and eventually her hero. These two with their creative robotic features are absolutely hilarious and heart warming characters who fall into sticky situations without forgetting that they carry the fate of humanity on earth in their hands.

Amazingly the audience will connect with these characters regardless of their limited verbal participation in the film. Yet it is their feelings which transmit that sense of humanistic traits that helps to bring life to the characters and enhance the story. The lack of dialogue do not take away from the cleverness of this production, as a matter of fact the wit of the producers is highlighted for its futuristic mechanics and features presented throughout the film.

The visual aspect of the movie is golden, as Pixar sets a new standard in animation. Their attempt to put to use new technology into different camera angles is quite innovative. The same goes for the sound, which was beautifully matched to compensate enormously in a film that lacks dialogues. The sound was complemented by the music of the talented Thomas Newman and Peter Gabriel

Andrew Stanton’s expectations as described in his own words; “we wanted the audience to believe they were witnessing a machine that has come to life. The more they believe it’s a machine, the more appealing the story becomes.” It is obvious that Stanton has met his purpose when creating this heroic and loving robot .

Movie Review By The Critic

DVD: Walt Disney Home Entertainment has done it again with this 3 Disc Special Edition. The DVD is loaded with bonus features. The special features in this edition, take viewers beyond the making of the film. The featurette “Behind the scenes ” is a set of six sections that gives viewers full inside on how the film was made. Another Interesting featurette is “The Pixar Story, A Documentary by Leslie Iwerks”, this exceptional documentary that tells the story of the best animation company of its time. 3 featurettes that should not be miss are “Presto”, which is the theatrical short that accompanied the WALL•E theatrical release, “Burn E” another hilarious new animated short and finally “WALL•E’s Treasures and Trinkets”. It also includes the digital copy. Complete list of features are listed below.

Release Date: November 18, 2008

DVD DETAILS
GET DVD

FILM REVIEW: I was hesitant to see “Tropic Thunder” when I heard that Ben Stiller was not only starring in it, but was also the director and the writer. Over the years, the only funny movies Stiller have been in our “Meet the Parents” and “There’s Something About Mary”. In all his other movies, Stiller pretty much plays the same one dimensional character who has the same punch lines and facial expressions. In Tropic Thunder, Stiller does more of the same. So, why, if Stiller does more of the same here and even dares to director and writer would I give, “Tropic Thunder“, a good review, two reasons, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise.

In “Tropic Thunder” Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) and Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) are actors who are trying to film a big budget Vietnam war movie written by Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte). The director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), gets angry when a very expensive scenes doesn’t go well because of the actors diva like attitude. Damien is further degraded by studio head Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) and with the advice of Four Leaf decides to shoot the movie guerilla style. Damien leads his actors into the jungle, but ends up dying after stepping in a real landmine. The actors think that it is just a special effect for the movie and proceed, with their prop guns to the next scene: a forceful engagement with a group of drug trafficking guerrillas who happen to have real guns and ammo.

Robert Downey Jr. pretty much steals the movie. Robert who is white plays an African American who sort of has an identity crisis. Even when he knows they aren’t shooting the movie any longer, he remains in character. Robert’s performance is hilarious. Another scene stealer is Tom Cruise. I’ll probably see the movie again just to see his performance. You’ve never seen Cruise play this type of character. I didn’t know he had it in him.

The low parts of the movie are Stiller and Black, which is odd since they are comedians. Black is decent, but Stiller is horrendous doing pretty much what he always does. However, he does deserve some credit for writing what could be the best comedy so far this year. Matthew McConaughey who plays Tugg Speedman’s agent is hilarious. His whole mission is to get Speedman a TIVO and it pays off at the end.

Movie Review By Milton Brayson

DVD: This is one of those 2 Disc Special Edition DVDs that it is a most have. If you are thinking about buying the movie, you should go for the 2-Disc Director’s Cut. It contains 15 more minutes of the film, behind the scenes sections, deleted and extended scenes, as well as an alternate ending. However it contains close to 1 1/2 hours of funny and fresh materials that will keep you laughing for hours. In particular the featurettes “Rain of Madness”, in which is a fake news special report about how the cast from the film Tropic Thunder disappear while shooting the film. Also the featurette Dispatches from the “Edge of Madness”, which is s behind the scenes of “Rain of Madness”, also fake. Just this two section are worth the extra money.

Release Date: November 18, 2008

DVD DETAILS
GET DVD

FILM REVIEW: After the success of the first film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” , Warner Bros is releasing the sequel to this charming, enjoyable late teen girls adventure. As it was with the first film, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” is based on the novels by Ann Brashares. The film uses some of the story lines from Ann Brashares‘ “The Second Summer of the Sisterhood” and “Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood“ books, but mainly revolves around Brashares’ fourth book “Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood.” going into a mature look of these 21st century young women.

The movie brings back the charming fresh comedy, drama, romance, and adventure with a powerful message about coming of age and friendship. Like every summer Lena (Alexis Bledel), Carmen (America Ferrera), Bridget (Blake Lively) and Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) embark on their summer journeys, “The Traveling Pants” follow them from Connecticut to New York to Greece and this time to find out more about themselves. With a well written script and the return of the original cast, this sequel has the chance of becoming a sweet surprise and a success similar or bigger than it’s predecessor.

In this film three years have passed since we last saw these four young ladies and they have continued “The Traveling Pants” ritual even though they all have parted different paths to colleges. As they depart on their summer journeys they begin to explore common problems among young college women; pregnancy, break-ups and make-ups, career opportunities, and coming to terms with loses. But what happens to these life long friends when the symbol of a bond of friendship suddenly gets lost?

The time could not have been better for this sweet and entertaining movie with already an audience of fans who are ready to end a summer with a splash. Many young teenagers especially girls would identify with some of the characters in this film, and would be so involved in the plot that will have them saying; “What?”, “Oh, no”, “Awesome”. My predictions go to the extend of saying that for some, the 117 minute run of this film that follows the same pattern as the first one and a predictable ending would not leave much for the imagination. Yet, one thing is for sure and that is that we see a realistic development of the characters into becoming more matured and assertive. Needless to say the performances were outstanding and once again the scenery especially in Greece was a beautiful background for part of the story.

Movie Review By Jen

DVD: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 widescreen version of the film doesn’t offer many special features. A short featurette called “Go Jump off a Cliff”,in which the producers and the cast talk about how the idea for the final scene was created. It also includes a total of four deleted scenes with commentary by director Sanaa Hamri. Since I enjoyed the film, I also enjoyed these deleted scenes. The final featurette is the usual gag reel. The DVD include and option to download a digital copy of the film, so you better have a fast speed internet access in order to do so. Even though the DVD doesnt include alot of special features, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 will be a great gift for a teenage girl this Holiday Season.

Release Date: November 18, 2008

DVD DETAILS
GET DVD