Avatar (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray]

A reluctant hero. An epic journey. A choice between the life he left behind and the incredible new world he’s learned to call home. Return to James Cameron’s Avatar — the greatest adventure of all time.

Please note: This edition of the film is not in 3DAfter 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na’vi, the blue-skinned, large-eyed native people who would very much like to live their peaceful lives without the interference of the visitors. Although he’s supposed to be gathering intel for the badass general (Stephen Lang) who’d like to lay waste to the planet and its inhabitants, Jake naturally begins to take a liking to the Na’vi, especially the feisty Neytiri (Zoë Saldana, whose entire performance, recorded by Cameron’s complicated motion-capture system, exists as a digitally rendered Na’vi). The movie uses state-of-the-art 3D technology to plunge the viewer deep into Cameron’s crazy toy box of planetary ecosystems and high-tech machinery. Maybe it’s the fact that Cameron seems torn between his two loves–awesome destructive gizmos and flower-power message mongering–that makes Avatar’s pursuit of its point ultimately uncertain. That, and the fact that Cameron’s dialogue continues to clunk badly. If you’re won over by the movie’s trippy new world, the characters will be forgivable as broad, useful archetypes rather than standard-issue stereotypes, and you might

Rating: (out of 1557 reviews)

List Price: $ 39.99
Price: $ 21.69

Avatar (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] Reviews

Review by M. Western:

***THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY***

1. A special edition likely including 20-40 minutes of additional footage is already being leaked to media for release later THIS YEAR!

2. No special features. If you are a fan, of all the discs in your collection this is the one you really want the extra stuff. It really should be amazing!

3. No 3D presentation. New technology in TVs is out this year and should enhance the home 3D experience. I don’t usually care about 3D at home but things are changing. Be ready!

4. There is also news that the movie itself will be re-released shortly with the 20-40 minutes of additional content I mentioned above. Why buy the Blu if you can see it with additional content and in the best possible 3D at theaters— then buy the special edition just a few months later?

I have to echo the comments of a previous reviewer. The studios are becoming so brazen. They released this edition and tried to explain the poor accoutrements by saying “they wanted to save all the space on the disc for the best possible presentation”. Are you kidding me? Bust out the extra discs already! Offering this bare bones BR right before re-releasing the movie with additional footage was also a classless act that spits in consumer’s faces. Just rent the movie or see the enhanced version in theaters. It will tide you over until the Special Edition comes out.

Lastly, there are plenty of people adding comments that you shouldn’t wait for 3D because the home experience with 3D is lack luster or most people don’t have the new 3D TVs. That’s partly true, however…

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT 3D! The lack of additional storyline, missing special features and blatent disregard for consumers (in an economic downturn) are what make this a bad deal. There is new home theater technology out this year that should enhance the home 3D experience. Your home theater will catch up. People who are excited about this movie should be standing together against a poor release offering, especially when there are terrific alternatives to hold us over.

Wait a few months and get a much superior release for similar money.

Review by M. Stephenson:

As it turns out, Fox has craftily decided to milk “Avatar” for every possibly penny, since the debut DVD/blu-ray will be a bare-bones release — and it will be one of the first major films to appear in home video without any of the regular special features, such as theatrical trailers, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage.

If you want all the extra features, you’ll have to wait until November, when you can buy a second “Avatar” DVD, currently titled the “Ultimate Edition,” which will include all of the fancy stuff. And then, if you have really deep pockets, you can come back to the video store next year and buy a third, 3-D, version of the DVD.

So in a nut shell… This Blu-ray/DVD release JUST has the movie on it! NOTHING ELSE. NO EXTRAS, NO TRAILERS, NO SPECIAL FEATURES.

Buy Avatar (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] now for only $ 21.69!

Up (Single Disc Widescreen)

Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios take moviegoers up, up and away on one of the funniest adventures of all time with their latest comedy-fantasy. Up follows the uplifting tale of 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip an overly optimistic 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. Their journey to a lost world, where they encounter some strange, exotic and surprising characters, is filled with hilarity, emotion and wildly imaginative adventure.

At a time when too many animated films consist of anthropomorphized animals cracking sitcom one-liners and flatulence jokes, the warmth, originality, humor, and unflagging imagination of Up feel as welcome as rain in a desert. Carl Fredericksen (voice by Ed Asner) ranks among the most unlikely heroes in recent animation history. A 78- year-old curmudgeon, he enjoyed his modest life as a balloon seller because he shared it with his adventurous wife Ellie (Ellie Docter). But she died, leaving him with memories and the awareness that they never made their dream journey to Paradise Falls in South America. When well-meaning officials consign Carl to Shady Oaks Retirement Home, he rigs thousands of helium balloons to his house and floats to South America. The journey’s scarcely begun when he discovers a stowaway: Russell (Jordan Nagai), a chubby, maladroit Wilderness Explorer Scout who’s out to earn his Elderly Assistance Badge. In the tropical jungle, Carl and Russell find more than they bargained for: Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), a crazed explorer whose newsreels once inspired Carl and Ellie; Kevin, an exotic bird with a weakness for chocolate;

• Example Bullet Point 1
• Example Bullet Point 2

Rating: (out of 738 reviews)

List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 14.00

The Blind Side

Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) knows little about family. Less about football. What the homeless teen knows are the streets and projects of Memphis. Well-to-do Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) knows little about his world. Yet when she and Michael meet, he’s found a home. And the Tuohys have found something just as life-changing: a beloved new son and brother. This real-life story of family and of Michael’s growth into a blue-chip football star will have you cheering with its mix of gridiron action and heartwarming emotion. Share the remarkable journey of the college All-American and first-round NFL draft pick who was a winner before he ever stepped onto the playing field.The Blind Side takes the true story of a young man who went from abandonment to success as a pro-football player and treats it with respect. The movie doesn’t oversell what is, on the face of it, already compelling. It’s almost impossible to describe the plot without sounding painfully inspirational: Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron, Be Kind Rewind), a hulking but gentle African-American teen in Tennessee, gets taken in by a well-to-do white family; the mother, Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock), pushes and mothers the boy, who eventually wins a football scholarship to the University of Mississippi. In the wrong hands, this could have been maudlin, manipulative, and condescending. To the credit of writer-director John Lee Hancock, adapting Michael Lewis’s acclaimed book, the result is intelligent, genuine, and alternately funny and moving. Leigh Anne could easily have been grandstanding and virtuous, but Bullock doesn’t shy away from her vain and domineering side. The football scenes will be gripping even to non-sports fans because they’ve been so successfully grounded in Michael’s emotional life. The all-around solid cast includes country music star Tim McGraw, pint-sized Jae Head (Hancock), and Kathy Bates as the

Rating: (out of 398 reviews)

List Price: $ 28.98
Price: $ 14.49

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Widescreen Edition)

AS HARRY POTTER BEGINS HIS 6TH YEAR AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY, HE DISCOVERS AN OLD BOOK MARKED MYSTERIOUSLY ‘THIS BOOK IS THE PROPERTY OF THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE’ AND BEGINS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LORD VOLDEMORT’S DARK PAST.The sixth installment of the Harry Potter series begins right where The Order of the Phoenix left off. The wizarding world is rocked by the news that “He Who Must Not Be Named” has truly returned, and the audience finally knows that Harry is “the Chosen One”–the only wizard who can defeat Lord Voldemort in the end. Dark forces loom around every corner, and now regularly attempt to penetrate the protected walls of Hogwarts School. This is no longer the fun and fascinating world of magic from the first few books—it’s dark, dangerous, and scary. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) suspects Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) to be a new Death Eater recruit on a special mission for the Dark Lord. In the meantime, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) seems to have finally removed the shroud of secrecy from Harry about the dark path that lies ahead, and instead provides private lessons to get him prepared. It’s in these intriguing scenes that the dark past of Tom Riddle (a.k.a. Voldemort) is finally revealed. The actors cast as the different young versions of Riddle (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and Frank Dillane) do an eerily fantastic job of portraying the villain as a child. While the previous movies’ many new characters could be slightly overwhelming, only one new key character is introduced this time: Professor Horace Slughorn (with a spot-on performance by Jim Broadbent). Within his mind he holds a key secret in the battle to defeat the Dark Lord, and Harry is tasked by Dumbledore to uncover a memory about Voldemort’s darkest weapon–the

Rating: (out of 624 reviews)

List Price: $ 28.98
Price: $ 10.74

Up (Mandarin Chinese Edition)

At a time when too many animated films consist of anthropomorphized animals cracking sitcom one-liners and flatulence jokes, the warmth, originality, humor, and unflagging imagination of Up feel as welcome as rain in a desert. Carl Fredericksen ranks among the most unlikely heroes in recent animation history. A 78- year-old curmudgeon, he enjoyed his modest life as a balloon seller because he shared it with his adventurous wife Ellie. But she died, leaving him with memories and the awareness that they never made their dream journey to Paradise Falls in South America. When well-meaning officials consign Carl to Shady Oaks Retirement Home, he rigs thousands of helium balloons to his house and floats to South America. The journey’s scarcely begun when he discovers a stowaway: Russell, a chubby, maladroit Wilderness Explorer Scout who’s out to earn his Elderly Assistance Badge. In the tropical jungle, Carl and Russell find more than they bargained for: Charles Muntz, a crazed explorer whose newsreels once inspired Carl and Ellie; Kevin, an exotic bird with a weakness for chocolate; and Dug, an endearingly dim golden retriever fitted with a voice box. More importantly, the travelers discover they need each other: Russell needs a (grand)father figure; Carl needs someone to enliven his life without Ellie. Together, they learn that sharing ice-cream cones and counting the passing cars can be more meaningful than feats of daring-do and distant horizons. Even by Pixar’s elevated standards, Up is an exceptional film that will appeal of audiences of all ages.

Language: Mandarin Chinese (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)


Subtitles: Chinese, English


Region: 6 (This DVD will not play on most DVD players sold in the US or Canada [Region 1]. This item requires a region specific or multi-region DVD player)

• Language: Mandarin (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: Chinese, English
• Studio: Walt Disney Video / Pixar Animation Studios
• Region: 6 (This DVD will not play on most DVD players sold in the US or Canada [Region 1]. This item requires a region specific or multi-region DVD player)

Rating: (out of 738 reviews)

Price: $ 19.99

Avatar

A reluctant hero. An epic journey. A choice between the life he left behind and the incredible new world he’s learned to call home. Return to James Cameron’s Avatar — the greatest adventure of all time.

Please note: This edition of the film is not in 3DAfter 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na’vi, the blue-skinned, large-eyed native people who would very much like to live their peaceful lives without the interference of the visitors. Although he’s supposed to be gathering intel for the badass general (Stephen Lang) who’d like to lay waste to the planet and its inhabitants, Jake naturally begins to take a liking to the Na’vi, especially the feisty Neytiri (Zoë Saldana, whose entire performance, recorded by Cameron’s complicated motion-capture system, exists as a digitally rendered Na’vi). The movie uses state-of-the-art 3D technology to plunge the viewer deep into Cameron’s crazy toy box of planetary ecosystems and high-tech machinery. Maybe it’s the fact that Cameron seems torn between his two loves–awesome destructive gizmos and flower-power message mongering–that makes Avatar’s pursuit of its point ultimately uncertain. That, and the fact that Cameron’s dialogue continues to clunk badly. If you’re won over by the movie’s trippy new world, the characters will be forgivable as broad, useful archetypes rather than standard-issue stereotypes, and you might

Rating: (out of 1557 reviews)

List Price: $ 29.98
Price: $ 10.99

Avatar Reviews

Review by M. Western:

***THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY***

1. A special edition likely including 20-40 minutes of additional footage is already being leaked to media for release later THIS YEAR!

2. No special features. If you are a fan, of all the discs in your collection this is the one you really want the extra stuff. It really should be amazing!

3. No 3D presentation. New technology in TVs is out this year and should enhance the home 3D experience. I don’t usually care about 3D at home but things are changing. Be ready!

4. There is also news that the movie itself will be re-released shortly with the 20-40 minutes of additional content I mentioned above. Why buy the Blu if you can see it with additional content and in the best possible 3D at theaters— then buy the special edition just a few months later?

I have to echo the comments of a previous reviewer. The studios are becoming so brazen. They released this edition and tried to explain the poor accoutrements by saying “they wanted to save all the space on the disc for the best possible presentation”. Are you kidding me? Bust out the extra discs already! Offering this bare bones BR right before re-releasing the movie with additional footage was also a classless act that spits in consumer’s faces. Just rent the movie or see the enhanced version in theaters. It will tide you over until the Special Edition comes out.

Lastly, there are plenty of people adding comments that you shouldn’t wait for 3D because the home experience with 3D is lack luster or most people don’t have the new 3D TVs. That’s partly true, however…

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT 3D! The lack of additional storyline, missing special features and blatent disregard for consumers (in an economic downturn) are what make this a bad deal. There is new home theater technology out this year that should enhance the home 3D experience. Your home theater will catch up. People who are excited about this movie should be standing together against a poor release offering, especially when there are terrific alternatives to hold us over.

Wait a few months and get a much superior release for similar money.

Review by M. Stephenson:

As it turns out, Fox has craftily decided to milk “Avatar” for every possibly penny, since the debut DVD/blu-ray will be a bare-bones release — and it will be one of the first major films to appear in home video without any of the regular special features, such as theatrical trailers, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage.

If you want all the extra features, you’ll have to wait until November, when you can buy a second “Avatar” DVD, currently titled the “Ultimate Edition,” which will include all of the fancy stuff. And then, if you have really deep pockets, you can come back to the video store next year and buy a third, 3-D, version of the DVD.

So in a nut shell… This Blu-ray/DVD release JUST has the movie on it! NOTHING ELSE. NO EXTRAS, NO TRAILERS, NO SPECIAL FEATURES.

Buy Avatar now for only $ 10.99!

The Hangover (R-Rated Single-Disc Edition)

A LAS VEGAS-SET COMEDY CENTERED AROUND THREE GROOMSMEN WHO LOSE THEIR ABOUT-TO-BE-WED BUDDY DURING THEIR DRUNKEN MISADVENTURES, THEN MUST RETRACE THEIR STEPS IN ORDER TO FIND HIM.If you like your humor broadside up, hold the subtlety, you’ll want to nurse this Hangover with your best buds. The ensemble cast meshes perfectly–it’s like a super-R-rated episode of Friends: silly, slapstick, and completely in the viewer’s face. When four pals go to Vegas to celebrate the imminent nuptials of one of them, they partake in a rooftop toast to “a night we’ll never forget.” But they’re in for a big surprise: their celebration drinks were laced with date-rape drugs, so when they awake in their hotel room 12 hours later, not only are they hung over, but they can’t remember what they did all night long. Oh, and they’re missing the groom-to-be. The film is so cheerfully raunchy, so fiercely crude, that the humor becomes as intoxicating as the mind-altering substances. The standout in the ensemble is Zach Galifianakis, who is alternately creepy and hilarious. Ed Helm (The Office), in addition to his memory, loses a tooth in uncomfortably realistic fashion, and Bradley Cooper (He’s Just Not That into You) has deadpan comic timing that whips along at the speed of light. “Ma’am, you have an incredible rack,” he blares to a pedestrian from the squad car the guys have “borrowed.” “I should have been a [bleeping] cop,” he tells himself approvingly. Director Todd Phillips brings back his deft handling of the actors and the dude humor that worked so well in Old School, as well as the unctuous Dan Finnerty, memorable as a lounge/wedding singer in both films. But it’s the nonstop volley of jokes–most cheerily politically incorrect–that grabs the audience and thrashes it around the hotel room. Just watch

Rating: (out of 436 reviews)

List Price: $ 28.98
Price: $ 13.62

The Proposal (Single Disc Widescreen)

Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) terrorizes her publishing house co-workers with her abrasive, take-no-prisoners management style, especially her overworked assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). But when Margaret is threatened with deportation to her native Canada because of an immigration technicality, the quick-thinking exec announces that she and Andrew are engaged to be married. Ambitious Andrew agrees to go along with her scheme—if there’s a long-awaited promotion in it for him. Everything is going according to Margaret’s plan, until an overzealous immigration official makes it his business to prove that the couple’s engagement is bogus. To demonstrate her commitment to her new fiancé, Margaret agrees to celebrate the 90th birthday of his colorful grandmother (Betty White) — in Alaska. The editrix’s type-A ways put her at odds with her eccentric future in-laws with hilarious consequences, until the Paxtons teach Margaret a thing or two about family.

Rom-com favorite Sandra Bullock and the affably charming Ryan Reynolds’s superb chemistry turn The Proposal from otherwise standard romantic-comedy fare to one that is entertaining and sure to garner laughs. Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is a workaholic, tyrannical book editor (reminiscent of The Devil Wears Prada) who suddenly finds her career in jeopardy as she faces deportation back to Canada. Her solution is to simply fake an engagement to her unsuspecting assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds), who in turn blackmails her for a promotion. However, when Margaret is forced to head to Alaska with Andrew to visit his family in an effort to make their story believable to the deportation officers, they soon realize that their plan may not be so simple after all. The supporting cast of Dad (Craig T. Nelson), Mom (Mary Steenburgen), and kooky Grandma (Betty White, still a scene-stealer at 87) is great casting that makes for many amusing scenes. Bottom line:

Rating: (out of 292 reviews)

List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 16.00

Julie & Julia

A culinary legend provides a frustrated office worker with a new recipe for life in Julie & Julia, the true stories of how Julia Child’s (Meryl Streep) life and cookbook inspired fledgling writer Julie Powell (Amy Adams) to whip up 524 recipes in 365 days and introduce a new generation to the magic of French cooking. Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada) co-stars in director Nora Ephron’s delicious comedy about joy, obsession and butter. Bon appétit!Julie & Julia is a film that should be relished with gusto–accompanied by the freshest and best ingredients, pounds of butter, and bottles of the very best wine. It lovingly celebrates the life of one of American food’s most influential and beloved figureheads: Julia Child–played here with zest, humor, and a sweet, subtle respect by Meryl Streep, whose performance is spectacular. Julie & Julia is based on the book by Julie Powell, a frustrated New York bureaucrat who wants to be a writer. “But you’re not a writer until someone publishes you,” she moans. So she gives herself a challenge: to cook her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, and to blog about it. As Powell (played with chirpy determination by Amy Adams), begins to find her groove as a cook, and her voice as a writer, the project takes on a life of its own–and in the end it does provide the struggling young woman with her life’s purpose, to her very pleasant surprise. But mostly, Julie & Julia is a valentine to Child, to Child’s amazing love affair with her dashing husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci, as divine as any soufflé in the film), and to her outlook on embracing life, and ordering seconds. Streep throws herself into the Child role with real affection for her character,

Rating: (out of 344 reviews)

List Price: $ 28.96
Price: $ 14.37

Julie & Julia Reviews

Review by IVE:

Well, I guess it’s finally happened…the consumer and film buff who does not own a Blue-Ray compatible DVD player is now officially SOL. The standard DVD release of Julie and Julia contains as special features only a commentary track and behind-the-scenes featurette. To get the full array of special features, one must purchase the Blue-Ray version of the film, AND of course, a Blue-Ray dvd player. Here are the features NOT available on the standard dvd: tour of Julia Child’s kitchen in the Smithsonian; featurette “Friends and Family Remember Julia Child;” and “Cooking Lessons,” with Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, and other renowned chefs preparing several of Julia Child’s best-loved dishes. Why can’t the studio release a two-disc special edition in the standard format for consumers like me who don’t own the latest home entertainment equipment? I loved the film (especially The Divine Ms. Streep), loved Julia Child’s book “My Life in France,” very much liked Julie Powell’s book “J & J,” and can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to owning the DVD. I’m miffed, and in no position to go out and buy myself a new DVD player in this economy, not even at Christmas. This really stinks. So, five stars for the film itself, no stars for the DVD release manipulation.

Review by Diana F. Von Behren:

What in the world does television and concocting-French-food-in-America pioneer Julia Child have in common with just 30-something government employee turned food blogger, Julie Powell?

Other than the love of food, oodles of butter and a big project to fill the need for purpose, the two main characters in Nora Ephron’s biopic, “Julie and Julia” share great marriages with men that are not put off by their mate’s desire for self-identity defined by more than a few little bouts of self-absorption. Like a good soufflé, Ephron folds the stories told in two books, Powell’s “Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously” and Child’s “My Life in France” without deflating the overall mixture, although this reviewer would have enjoyed more scenes with the wonderfully talented Meryl Streep who redeems herself quite well (all high-pitched voice, champagne bubbly laughter and squared shoulders) as the indomitable and effusive Julia from her most un-defining role as Donna in that “Mamma Mia! The Movie (Widescreen)” debacle.

Ephron depicts 1950s Paris with a foodie’s appreciation for what that city did and still does for the world of cuisine–from the very first glimpse of Julia’s luncheon of sole meunière–the waiter delectably filets the fish’s sumptuous flesh tableside to the audiences’ very audible groans of anticipation of and appreciation for its buttery taste, but she also does well by Long Island City and its tangle of grey-tinged tenements, elevated trains and apartments over pizza parlors. Somehow, both Julie and Julia know where to get their ingredients and manage beat, chop (extremely amusing is a scene of Julia alongside a mountain of practice cut onions) and coerce calf’s feet, lobsters and ducks into exquisite works of edible art. The luscious chocolate cakes, whipped creams and raspberry mousse tantalizes like the food porn that it is–a sensual and lascivious reminder to what is truly important in life–you will leave the theater hungry.

Along that line, the two couples, Paul (Stanley Tucci) and Julia and Eric (Chris Messina) and Julie either act as the aphrodisiacs for the food or allow the food to whisk them away in the general direction of the bedroom where dessert or in some cases appetizers segue into the joy of sex and more sex–no wonder Julia was always smiling. Both male characters offer their women encouragement along the lines of the supporting architectural buttresses on the Cathedral of Notre Dame even when faced by what may seem a bit of an “I Love Lucy” type scheme. Regardless, both these ladies made their ideas work whether by design or serendipity and Ephron, wisely asserts that it is their good marriages that deserve the credit–even though the real life Powell has an affair which she chronicles in her not-yet-published memoir about learning the art of the butcher.

Amy Adams’ portrayal of Julie Powell seems a little seeped in too much sugar especially if one has read the Julie/Julia Project blog or the book that bears the same name as the film. In her version, Ephron sanitizes the conservative-hating Powell, cleans up her apartment, washes out her rather profane mouth and thankfully eliminates the girlfriend dramas that take up a third of the memoir. However, the slim-figured Adams’ whose character claims to have gained weight after a year of rich French cuisine simply seems slim and still glows with that Giselle insouciance and naiveté she did so well in the Disney film “Enchanted (Widescreen Edition).” Even so, Adams’ innate cuteness and 20-something sense of searching works adequately as a foil for the larger than life Streep as the formidable Child.

Bottom Line? Nora Ephron’s “Julie and Julia” chronicles the projects of two women from two very different generations with similar needs. As a combination foodie/chick flick, it works very well in its depiction of determination and the power of a slow and steady perseverance that ultimately leads to success. However, “Julie and Julia” main thrust seems to be a tribute to good marriages where behind every great women stands an equally great and supportive male. Recommended.

Diana Faillace Von Behren

“reneofc”

Buy Julie & Julia now for only $ 14.37!

Wall-E (Single-Disc Edition)

The highly acclaimed director of Finding Nemo and the creative storytellers behind Cars and Ratatouille transport you to a galaxy not so far away for a new cosmic comedy adventure about a determined robot named Wall-E.
After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, the curious and lovable Wall-E discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named Eve. Join them and a hilarious cast of characters on a fantastic journey across the universe. Transport yourself to a fascinating new world with Disney-Pixar’s latest adventure, now even more astonishing on DVD and loaded with bonus features, including the exclusive animated short film Burn-E. Wall-E is a film your family will want to enjoy over and over again.
Pixar genius reigns in this funny romantic comedy, which stars a robot who says absolutely nothing for a full 25 minutes yet somehow completely transfixes and endears himself to the audience within the first few minutes of the film. As the last robot left on earth, Wall-E (voiced by Ben Burtt) is one small robot–with a big, big heart–who holds the future of earth and mankind squarely in the palm of his metal hand. He’s outlasted all the “Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class” robots that were assigned some 700 years ago to clean up the environmental mess that man made of earth while man vacationed aboard the luxury spaceship Axiom. Wall-E has dutifully gone about his job compacting trash, the extreme solitude broken only by his pet cockroach, but he’s developed some oddly human habits and ideas. When the Axiom sends its regularly scheduled robotic EVE probe (Elissa Knight) to earth, Wall-E is instantly smitten and proceeds to try to impress EVE with his collection of human memorabilia. EVE’s directive compels her

Rating: (out of 867 reviews)

List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 12.92

Wall-E (Single-Disc Edition) Reviews

Review by Julie Neal:

I am floored. I didn’t think it was possible for Pixar to surpass Toy Story, but it has. A sophisticated treat for adults and teens, a cuddly romance for the juice-box set, this comedic science fiction thriller romance (really!) takes the company to a new, more mature level. Filled with artistry, depth, meaning and a lot of humor, WALL-E is a masterpiece. Where Cars was a kid’s movie with added adult themes, this is an adult movie with added value for children.

DIALOGUE SCHMIALOGUE

Before I saw WALL-E I had read about the lack of dialogue, and how it might be a risky move for Pixar to make a film with characters that don’t talk in a traditional sense. Well, trash that. The most emotionally powerful scenes in this movie are those with the LEAST dialogue. Fully developed and indeed almost human, the two main characters are Wall-E himself (the letters stand for Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth Class; there’s also a WALL-A) and EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), two machines in love.

After about a half hour I was wondering if Pixar could continue to pull off this less-is-more concept for the rest of the film — then the two robots started playing Pong! Such imaginative screenplay carries the film to what should be a Best Picture nomination. Seriously.

A TOUCHING STORY

WALL-E is a lonely little robotic trash compactor who was left behind after Earth was abandoned some 700 years earlier. He has been methodically cleaning up the trash-ridden planet ever since, and harboring a tiny plant he has found among the garbage. Eve, meanwhile, lives on the immense spaceship Axiom, which is also home to the fat, blob-like remains of the human race. She is a probe robot that flies to Earth to determine if the planet is ready for habitation. WALL-E takes one look at the streamlined, angelic Eve and falls in love.

It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the little robot. As soon as he giggled (after his pet cockroach tickled him) I was hooked. This hardworking rusty guy with his small home full of collected treasures is so poignant. His lonely life is so human. Eve is just as likable, but much more sleek. Near the end comes a heartbreaking moment when a key character seems to lose all personality, all self. So well done, it made me think of how families must feel when a loved one disappears inside him- or herself with Alzheimer’s disease.

All ends well, of course. As the credits roll, the artwork illustrates how everyone and everything lives happily after ever.

AN ADULT MEANING

For adults, WALL-E is not so much about a cute little robot as it is about the future of man. What happens when humans become such creatures of the consumer culture, so fat they can’t even stand up without assistance, living literally on auto-pilot, that they do nothing but buy cheap merchandise, stuff their faces at the Regurgitated Food Buffet and lie around watching video screens? Can they ever get back to the land and set their souls free? Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young asked that question decades ago; Pixar asks it today.

There is even a sly political reference. Broadcasting a message to the passengers of the spaceship, the CEO of monster corporation Buy ‘n’ Large — played in live-action by the inimitable Fred Willard, and named Shelby Forthright — says they will be continuing on their never-ending, hopeless cruise to nowhere because they must “Stay the course!” Hmmm, haven’t I heard a president use that line?

EXTRA TOUCHES

WALL-E has so many wonderful touches! After the little robot is charged using his solar panels, he “turns on” with a sound any Macintosh owner will recognize. The robot’s collected objects, much like the thingamabobs of The Little Mermaid’s Ariel, are things that are uniquely human: bubble wrap, an iPod, a Rubics cube, a singing plastic trophy fish and — blink and you’ll miss it — a carrousel horse from Walt Disney World. Especially inspired are the two things on this future Earth that are totally indestructible: a cockroach and Twinkies.

Stay for the credits. Recalling cave drawings, hieroglyphics, Monet and Van Gogh paintings and early computer graphics, the progressive sequence of art within them sneaks in the history of dialogue-free storytelling.

ANIMATED? REALLY?

The look of the movie is hard to describe. In one scene, when WALL-E and EVE are investigating a piece of bubble wrap, you can’t tell it is an animated film. It actually appears to be live-action. Likewise, the outer space scenes have the same level of realism as any of the Star Wars movies. The trailing tower of squiggly smoke that’s left behind by a launching spacecraft re-creates the Florida sky of a Space Shuttle launch to a T. For the most part, it is only when humans are portrayed that you are consciously aware that what you’re watching was generated on circuit boards, not in cameras.

I’ve seen the movie three times, first in digital projection and then from a film projector. The digital showing was much sharper, which made all the realistic touches far easier to appreciate.

MOVIE REFERENCES

It’s obvious the Pixar folks are movie lovers; there are so many cinematic inspirations in WALL-E that I lost count. The “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” sequence from Hello, Dolly! shows up — literally — maybe half a dozen times. (Disney World fans may also remember the song as one of the background melodies along Main Street U.S.A.) The Axiom spaceship’s computer is clearly an homage to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey; that film’s signature overture “Also Sprach Zarathustra” plays at a key moment. WALL-E himself combines the purrs of E.T., the attitude of R2-D2 and the moves of Charlie Chaplin. There’s a brief reference to Titanic.

OPENING CARTOON

The movie is preceded by a Pixar short, “Presto,” that had the entire audience I was sitting with in stitches. Its plot: When a magician neglects to feed his bunny a carrot, an escalating disaster results. It’s so nice to start a feature with a cartoon. I wish other studios still did it. (Disney fans will note the magician’s hat is similar to the one used by Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.)

Will it ever run out? This continuous font of imagination from Pixar? With WALL-E, it sure doesn’t look like it.

– By Julie Neal, author of The Complete Walt Disney World 2010.

Review by Paul J. Mular:

Not yet listed on the Amazon page, here are the goodies that will be in this 3-disc version:

Standard bonus material:

director’s commentary,

deleted scenes,

short film: Presto,

new short: BURN*E,

“Animation Sound Design”,

“WALL*E’s Tour of the Universe”;

Exclusive to the 3-Disc Special Edition DVD:

more deleted scenes,

making-of featurettes,

BnL shorts,

documentary film The Pixar Story,

“WALL*E’s Treasures and Trinkets”,

“Lots of Bots”

DisneyFile digital copy.

Buy Wall-E (Single-Disc Edition) now for only $ 12.92!