It is 1332 A.D. and the Crusades have been raging for years. Behmen of Bleiruck (Cage) and his friend Felson (Perlman) are Teutonic knights who fight together through a series of battles. They become disillusioned with the cause after killing women and children during a siege on a city. They end up deserting their army and strike out their own, witnessing the Black Plague that has gripped Europe. However, their past catches up with them and they are soon arrested. The Cardinal D’Ambroise (Lee) offers them a job: take a young girl (Foy) accused of being a witch, and whom they claim brought on the Black Plague, to monks that can lift the curse. They agree and enlist the help of a disgraced merchant (Graham) to guide them to the abbey.

Behmen initially feels sympathy for the girl and doubts that she is actually a witch but during the course of their journey, she does things, like cloud their minds, exhibit superhuman strength and summon a pack of wolves that certainly supports the belief she’s a witch. The perilous journey they make, including a white-knuckle crossing across a decrepit old wooden bridge, evokes a medieval version of The Wages of Fear (1953).

Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman play well off each other and their relationship is easily the best thing about Season of the Witch. Cage is the noble hero while Perlman is his sarcastic sidekick. Both play battle-hardened veteran knights burnt out from seeing too much death and killing. The two actors do an excellent job of conveying two men who have fought together for many years, which results in a believable shorthand between them.

Dominic Sena does a nice job of creating a grim, foreboding atmosphere with help from a grungy production design that vividly recreates the time period of the Crusades. He helps raise Season of the Witch a notch above a SyFy movie of the week. It is by no means a train wreck of a film but there is nothing about it that is all that extraordinary either.

Special Features:

There are six deleted scenes and the unrated prologue. One scene adds voiceover narration to give more backstory. There is more footage of a virtually unrecognizable Christopher Lee as the plague-disfigured Cardinal. This footage explains too much or adds little to the film and was rightly cut. The unrated prologue is a little more graphic and was toned down for a PG-13 rating.

“Becoming the Demon” examines the climactic sequence and how it was achieved through CGI thanks to Tippett Studio who came up with two looks for the demon.

“On A Crusade” takes a look at how they shot the epic battles during the Crusades montage. The great Vic Armstrong was brought in to stage the fights.

There is an alternate ending which is less reliant on demonic monster imagery, which I actually prefer over the one in the final cut.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer.

The original two Superman movies, unknown to many, were actually filmed back to back, so assured were Warner Brothers that the first movie would be successful. They were on pretty safe ground mind you, considering they had a cast that included Marlon Brando, Terrence Stamp and Gene Hackman – these guys wouldn’t put their names to just anything.

The first Superman exists on this Blu-Ray set in different formats, with the option of watching a full, extended version or even a version devoid of dialogue and sound effects, so you can really appreciate the music of John Williams – possibly the greatest film music composer of all time. The extended version of the film does make the movie drag on considerably (especially considering the original Superman was a lengthy film anyway) and contains additional scenes from the Superman and Lois flight sequence, more scenes from Krypton before the planet exploded and even a scene where Superman seeks his father’s advice on showing off.

As good as the first Superman movie is, and it is good, it’s the second film where the franchise really gets going. There are few movies where the sequel is arguably better than the original, Godfather II, Empire Strikes Back for example, but Superman II is without question one of them. Superman II is all love story, much like George Lucas’ second Star Wars instalment, set against the backdrop of an impending crisis. The three super-villains, imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, have escaped and are heading to Earth to rule. Terrence Stamp, as General Zod, is in imperial form and seems to be loving every second of it. Gene Hackman returns in even more evil and despicable mode than he was in the first film, attempting to ally himself with the evil trio and the final climactic battle between Superman and the evil super-villains, that takes the whole film to build up to, doesn’t disappoint – even if there is an awful lot of product placement during the battle for brands such as Coca Cola, KFC and Marlborough.

The moment where the evil super-villains are in the Daily Planet office and newspapers heralding Superman’s disappearance are blown away by a returning Superman, asking General Zod if he would ‘care to step outside’ is a classic moment of cinema.

One thing that has always bugged me about the Superman universe, from The Adventures of Lois and Clark, to Smallville, to Superman Returns is the way in which Clark Kent is portrayed. Dean Caine once stated that he hated the way that Christopher Reeve portrayed Clark as a bumbling fool. Therefore, he played Clarke and Superman in exactly the same way. This theme of blandness was carried through by Tom Welling and Brandon Routh, both of whom insisted that Clark Kent was a suave character exactly the same as Superman. It’s for this reason that it’s Christopher Reeve’s performance as Clark, not as Superman, that he should be best remembered for.

Reeve was an excellent Clark Kent, with comic timing and slapstick ability in spades. One of the standout moments for me, besides the opening of Superman III with the battery operated toys, was the subtlety with which Reeve changed his stance in Superman II when he revealed himself to Lois as being Superman. His gawky, slightly hunched stance that was Kent was replaced by the upright, boy-scout styled stance of Superman.

It’s subtleties like these that other actors to the role seem to have completely missed, making Christopher Reeve the definitive Kent and Superman.

While we’re on the subject of the leads, something which grated on me about the first, and to a lesser extent the second, Superman movies is the character of Lois Lane. She is supposed to be this strong willed, forthright woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. Yet, for some reason, Margot Kidder plays Lois as a bit of screamer. Even when she’s defying the mugger in the first Superman she kicks out at his gun before turning away and screaming. Her attempts to free herself from the car as it is buried under dirt at the end of the film, and her attempts to escape the helicopter precariously perched atop the Daily Planet building both involve copious amounts of screaming for help.

These are not the actions of a strong willed woman, and certainly differ from the way Kate Bosworth played Lois in Superman Returns.

Superman III and Superman IV The Quest for Piece follow on from the first two (we say that because, like Terminator Salvation, Superman Returns seems to pick up where Superman II left off – ignoring the later films). Superman III, despite a few dodgy moments with some computer graphics (it’s always hard for films of this era to use computers considering how far advanced they have become in the last decade) is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Richard Prior, one of the biggest comedians at the time and usual film cohort of Gene Wilder, is hilarious and Robert Vaughan seems to relish the role as an evil businessman intent on taking over the world.

The scene where Clark battles Superman in the junkyard is compelling, and has one of those spine tingling moments than run rampant through the first two movies.

Superman IV however is a tragic let down. The film seems to use the same footage over and over again (over Superman flying towards the camera) merely changing the blue screen background, and it’s full of plot holes. We can accept that Superman can breathe in space, fair enough, but Lacy Warfield (Mariel Hemingway)? The shot of Superman holding Lacy while in space is even used as the image for the Blu-Ray menu, which is actually one grumble I have with the set; the menus haven’t really had any love applied to them at all, they’re very basic – which is a shame when you consider what is possible with Blu-Ray menu systems.

Finally we have Superman Returns. This film received a fair bit of criticism when it was released, but unfairly in my opinion. The decision to keep the original intro sequence was inspired, and using footage of Marlon Brando was genius. Brandon Routh was no Reeve, for sure, but Kevin Spacey was a more than capable replacement for Gene Hackman and the effects were first class. The ‘return’ sequence of Superman saving the place from crashing into the baseball stadium, holding it up while stood on the pitcher’s mound, was iconic and, as I’ve mentioned earlier in this review, I thought Kate Bosworth did a much better job as Lois than Margot Kidder.

To be honest, no matter what special features were included, what the menus were like or even what the packaging was like, this set would be worth it solely for Superman II – for my money the best superhero movie to date (though Batman Begins runs it close!).

You can win a copy of the Superman Motion Picture Anthology right here on WhatDVD.Net

While chasing after a note intended for a girl at school that he likes, a young boy enters a magic shop and meets a powerful sorcerer named Balthazar Blake (Cage) who tells him that he will grow up to become a powerful wizard. He also witnesses a brief battle between Balthazar and a rival sorcerer, Maxim Horvath (Molina) that traps them both in an urn. Ten years later, Dave (Baruchel) is a brainy but socially awkward college student and he ends up running into his grade school crush, Becky Barnes (Palmer). She’s grown up to be quite the beauty and even DJs at a college radio station. At the same time, Balthazar and Horvath are freed from their prison and seek out Dave who was the last one to see the Grimhold, a magical object that houses all kinds of evil sorcerers. And so the race is on to recover this object and stop Horvath from resurrecting Morgana le Fay (Krige), a very powerful sorceress capable of destroying the world.

Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel play well off each other with the veteran actor playing the straight man mentor to the younger thespian’s wisecracking apprentice. They banter back and forth as Balthazar shows Dave the magical ropes as it were. Cage plays it safe for the most part but does give the occasional eccentric flourish. Baruchel seems to be channeling Woody Allen at times but is surprisingly not all that annoying most of the time as he acts as the audience surrogate.

Like he did with the popular National Treasure films (which also starred Cage), director Jon Turteltaub keeps things moving at a brisk pace, never allowing lulls between action sequences to last for too long which should be ideal for the target audience of hyperactive children. He’s aided by some pretty snazzy CGI that brings the many acts of sorcery vividly to life. Ultimately, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice lacks the emotional depth and intricate plot machinations of the Harry Potter films. It is entertaining enough, I suppose, and a good time waster for the whole family, but it just doesn’t have that special something that makes it a truly memorable film.

Special Features:

“The Making of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is a standard featurette that takes us through the genesis of the film. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is a fan of classic magic and wanted to bring it and update it for a contemporary audience. We see lots of behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew shooting on the streets of New York City.

Also included are several featurettes covering various aspects of the production, from working in the city, the mixing of science and sorcery, the use of practical effects, the link to Fantasia, an interview with actor Toby Kebbell who plays Las Vegas-type showboating magician, and so on.

There are deleted scenes that document Balthazar attempting to recruit Dave as his apprentice, an classroom science experiment that goes awry for Dave and his awkward social skills when it comes wooing Becky.

Also included is an “Outtakes” reel of the cast members blowing their lines and goofing around.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer.

One of The Night of the Hunter’s earliest images is a disturbing one as a group of children playing come across the body of a dead woman. All we see are her legs lying on steps leading down to the cellar of a house. There is something unsettling about how one of her shoes is twisted off an odd angle from her foot. This scene sets the tone for the rest of the film – that of innocence lost. We are soon introduced to Harry Powell (Mitchum), a fire and brimstone preacher who preys on vulnerable widows – killing them and stealing their money, all in the name of God. He talks to God about his disgust for the feminine aspects of women and the next thing we see is him watching a curvy burlesque dancer swaying suggestively in front of him. Powell clearly embodies the dual nature of love and hate – the words of which are tattooed on the fingers of both his hands.

We meet John (Chapin) and Pearl (Bruce) playing in an idyllic rural setting. Their fugitive father, Ben Harper (Graves), arrives with the law hot on his trail. He has stolen $10,000 and hides it amongst his two children. He goes to prison and is put in the same cell as Powell. The crazy preacher finds out about the money but Harper doesn’t tell him where it’s hidden. After his cellmate is executed for his crimes, Powell gets out and makes his way to Harper’s hometown, traveling on an ominous-looking train by night. He ends up marrying Harper’s widow, Willa (Winters) in an attempt to get closer to the children and find out what happened to the money.

John learns pretty quickly that not many adults can be trusted, especially Powell whom he figures out his true intentions early on. John also looks out for his sister as their mother and her friends are easily captivated by Powell’s charisma. This is beautifully illustrated in a scene where Powell tells the story of love and hate, quoting The Bible with a gusto that is pretty funny and brilliant in the way Robert Mitchum enthusiastically tells it. Normally cast as laconic soldiers (G.I. Joe) or film noir tough guys (Out of the Past) prior to this film, he cranks up the intensity with this role and is not afraid to look silly at one moment and viciously evil in the next. Powell is the film’s metaphorical boogeyman that ends up chasing John and Pearl across the countryside in pursuit of the money like if the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had been written by William Faulkner.

Laughton gets very impressive performances out of the two children, both of whom more than hold their own with veteran actors like Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. The latter is excellent as Rachel Cooper, a kind old lady who takes the children in and protects them against Powell. The showdown between her and Mitchum is one of the film’s best scenes.

With The Night of the Hunter, Laughton fuses a theatrical sensibility in the performances with a German expressionistic look that results in a fairy tale unlike any other. There are images that linger afterwards and haunt you for a long time, like the iconic shot of a woman bundled up in a car at the bottom of a lake. The Night of the Hunter explores the destructive nature of greed and the dangers of religious fanaticism while the eternal struggle between love, as represented by Cooper, and hate, as personified by Powell, plays out with the two children’s lives hanging in the balance.

Special Features:

The first disc starts off with an audio commentary moderated by film critic F.X. Feeney and featuring the film’s second-unit director Terry Sanders, film archivist Robert Gitt, and Preston Neal Jones, author of Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter. They point out that Laughton wanted the film to seem like it was being told from the children’s point-of-view, as if they were having a nightmare. The participants analyze the use of humor throughout the film and how it offsets the darkness of the Harry Powell character. They also get into a lively discussion about James Agee’s screenplay and how the original, longer version was very faithful to the source novel. There is some debate about how much of it Laughton rewrote. This is a very informative track, chock full of factoids, analysis and filming anecdotes to satisfy any fan of this film.

“The Making of The Night of the Hunter” is a 38-minute retrospective featurette that takes us through the genesis of the film as producer Paul Gregory talks about how he met Laughton. Interestingly, Laurence Olivier was considered for the role of Powell. Laughton worked closely with Davis Grubb and James Agee to make sure that the film was a faithful adaptation.

“Moving Pictures” is a 15-minute documentary about the film with interviews with key cast and crew members, including Mitchum, Winters and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. While this extra does repeat information from the previous supplement, it is nice to hear these details directly from the people that actually worked on the film.

There is a 1984 interview with Cortez about filming The Night of the Hunter. He speaks admiringly of Laughton and his ability to work with the actors. Cortez says that Laughton knew nothing about the technical aspects of cinematography and trusted him implicitly with the look of the film. Cortez also touches upon the use of light and how he lit certain scenes for a specific effect.

Also included is a theatrical trailer.

“Simon Callow on Charles Laughton” is an interview with the author of Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor. He talks about the man’s career and how The Night of the Hunter affected his life. Callow points out the irony that Laughton is known more for directing this film than his extensive acting career. He was very active in live theater and this is what led to his involvement in the film. Callow talks about what drew Laughton to Grubb’s novel and covers the production with an obvious emphasis on Laughton.

There is an interest excerpt from the September 25, 1955 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show where Peter Graves and Shelley Winters perform a scene not in the film. Willa visits Harper in prison, which sheds some insight into their relationship.

“Davis Grubb Sketches” is a collection of drawings that he produced for Laughton to help convey how he envisioned his novel. These sketches are juxtaposed with stills from the film to demonstrate how closely Laughton stuck to them while filming.

The second disc contains the crown jewel for fans of the film. “Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter” is two-and-a-half hours of unused footage and outtakes. There is a conversation between film archivist Robert Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin that provides some backstory on how this footage was discovered. Gitt was given it in the mid-1970s but it was so disorganized that it took him several years to make sense of it all. Doing it piecemeal when he had the time, he and many volunteers worked away until they had eight hours of footage. He then edited it down to two-and-a-half hours and screened it at UCLA. This footage provides fascinating insight into Laughton’s working methods, especially how he got those great performances out of the two children. For fans of The Night of the Hunter, this is a treasure trove of material.

Ghostbusters (1986) is one such film. I bought that on DVD before I had a DVD player when I imported it from the USA. It was my first Blu-Ray purchase and even bought a Laserdisc player all those years ago just because of it.

Flash Gordon (1980) is another of those films. I already own two different DVD versions and the Laserdisc version. Its release on Blu-Ray was circled in my diary (or at least it would have been had I owned a diary, but you get the idea). Flash Gordon and I go way back, back to a time when I still believed in Father Christmas. I first saw Flash Gordon one Christmas Eve on my black and white portable (if only I knew the spectacle of colour that I was missing) while I was looking out of my bedroom window to see if Father Christmas was coming. This must have been around 1985, and to this day Flash Gordon brings back memories of my childhood and makes me feel like no other film does.

I have even met both of the film’s leads, Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson. They’re both very nice people, and were more than happy to talk for far longer than any normal person would have been comfortable with. Meeting them in person only helped my opinion of the film, and allowed me to slip further under its spell.

So what is it about Flash Gordon that makes it such a classic of modern cinema, when many critics would (and have) simply dismiss it as hokum?

Firstly, the film is unashamedly camp. Ranging from the garish colours that dominate the picture, to Flash Gordon’s tiny leather trunks that he wears when he’s being executed (naturally, when going to your death a little pear of black leather trunks would be more than adequate, no?). Then of course there’s the music. How could we possibly review this film without mentioning the soundtrack? When you want portray an image of camp in your film, there’s really only one band to pull that off – Queen, fronted by the most outlandishly camp lead singer in history. Queen’s soundtrack is quite simply breathtaking, both as a soundtrack as an album in its own right. It’s also something I own, but that didn’t stop me getting the Flash Gordon Special Tin Edition on Blu-Ray, that comes with the Queen Soundtrack again.

Had to be done.

Once we’ve gotten over the camp nature of Flash Gordon – and I’m not quite sure we have yet – you have to move onto the scenery chewing nature of its cast. Topol, perhaps best known for his role in Fiddler on the Roof (1971), gets the ham going early in the film by pointing dramatically and declaring in his best Shakespearian voice ‘It’s an Attack!’ – but of course that’s not the hammiest line in the film – it’s not even close.

Helping Topol devour the garishly fabulous sets are such acting luminaries as Max von Sydow as Ming the Merciless. Max was born to play Ming as even looks like the character before the costume and make-up have been applied. His finest point in the film is probably during the wedding scene with Dale Arden (Melody Anderson), when he’s asked if he’ll take Dale to be his mistress of the hour, before replying ‘of the hour, yes’.

Hilarious.

We should also mention, as it sometimes gets lost amid all of the colour, music and ham, that former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton is also present, playing Prince Barin. Another Shakespearean actor, Dalton delivers his aggressive lines with real vigour, referring to Princess Aurora (Ornella Muti) as a ‘lying bitch’ and ordering the operatives in Ming’s palace to ‘Freeze yer bloody bastards!’.

Brilliant.

Now don’t panic, every fan of Flash Gordon knows there’s only one winner in terms of most over the top performance in this film. That prize goes to Brian Blessed in the role of Vultan. Blessed delivers his lines with the subtlety of a train crashing through the window of Mothercare, screaming classic lines of dialogue such as ‘Gordon’s Alive???’, and of course ‘DIIIIIVE!!!’.

The film is unashamed escapism, and allows you to remember what it was like when you were a child and the plot of a film was secondary to how many space battles it had, how many aliens were in it and how many times the bad guys thought they’d killed the hero.

Flash Gordon is a triumph of cinema, and one that could never be repeated or bettered – so don’t even try Hollywood, you have been warned.

Sadly the film hasn’t received 100% from me (as it would normally have done) due to the special features. All that exists on the Blu-Ray is an old interview with Director Mike Hodges, and a commentary from him. This film could have had so much more, such as old poster art, interviews with the cast, deleted scenes (oh how I’d have loved that) and maybe even an old episode of the original series of Flash Gordon?

There’s a lot they could have done, but didn’t. Despite that, this is Flash Gordon on Blu-Ray – get it now.

Mr. Fox (Clooney) used to steal birds but has reformed his ways and is now a newspaper man. He is getting old and tired of living in a foxhole. So, he consults with his real estate agent Stan Weasel (Wes Anderson). Before he takes the plunge, Mr. Fox talks with his lawyer Clive Badger, Esq. (Murray) and ends up buying a treehouse so that he and his family can live in comfort. However, cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson) comes to visit and makes Ash (Schwartzman), Mr. Fox’s son, jealous with his athletic prowess. Meanwhile, in her spare time, Mrs. Fox (Streep) paints portraits of thunderstorms.

Mr. Fox decides to pull one more job stealing birds to eat but this one is his most ambitious gig to date. With the help of his landlord Kylie (Wolodarsky), he plans to steal chickens from farmer Boggis, then the next night geese from farmer Bunce, and finally the following night he steals some of farmer Bean’s cider from his secret cellar. Understandably upset, the three farmers get together and plan to kill Mr. Fox. As a result, he and his family are on the run and hunted. They have to call in the favours of all their friends if they hope to evade the farmers’ wrath.

Anderson still has an uncanny knack for picking just the right song for a given scene. Early on, Mr. and Mrs. Fox playfully yet stealthily circumvent a farmer to steal one his birds all scored to the melodical strains of “Heroes and Villains” by the Beach Boys. Later on, Anderson pulls out the obligatory Rolling Stones cue and scores a sequence to “Street Fighting Man.” There is something thrilling about seeing these vintage tracks pop up in an animated film – a genre that tends to rely on mainly orchestral music or more contemporary songs.

The stop-motion animation actually gives the film a personal, handcrafted feel that has been absent from Anderson’s recent work and harkens back to his first couple of efforts, which are the ones where most people first noticed and fell in love with his films. The animation is incredibly rendered and executed, reminiscent of the vintage Rankin and Bass cartoons that kids of Anderson’s generation (and beyond) grew up on. There is a tangible quality to the characters and their environment that is still missing from most computer animation.

As the Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) progresses, it becomes apparent what drew Anderson to this project. Thematically, it fits right in with his other films. Mr. Fox is a charismatic yet rebellious patriarch, much like Royal in The Royal Tenenbaums and Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Furthermore, the Fox family is a highly intelligent dysfunctional one much like the family in Tenenbaums. The casting is spot on with George Clooney and Meryl Streep playing Mr. and Mrs. Fox. They banter back and forth like a couple from an old screwball comedy. Anderson has not forgotten what the majority of animated films not made by Pixar seem to have – that the best of the genre appeal to both kids and adults. Fantastic Mr. Fox does not talk down to kids and also still manages to appeal to the Anderson faithful. This film is a delightful, entertaining adventure well worth experiencing.

Special Features:

“From to Script to Screen” briefly explores how Anderson and his co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach took Dahl’s short story and expanded on it, even creating characters but all done in the spirit of the source material. Anderson says that he approached the animated film as if it was a live-action one with collaborators commenting on how the director managed to infuse it with his distinctive style. To this end, he storyboarded the entire film and shot video of himself acting out the story so that the animators knew what he wanted.

“Still Life (Puppet Animation)” takes a look at the stop-motion animation process. It is very meticulous and time consuming but if done well, looks great. It’s amazing how the animators can get expressions and emotions out of these puppets.

“A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat” is a humourous mock-featurette on how to play this bizarre sport within the film.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer.

Satsuki and Mei help their father and the Nanny clean up the house. While Satsuki is at school during the day, Mei plays outside in the yard and spots a little bunny-like ghost that disappears and then appears before her very eyes as if playing a game. Mei then spots something that resembles a cross between a cat and a rabbit and chases it into the large tree. Deep inside the tree she comes across a gigantic sleeping cat (a cautionary tale to cats everywhere – this is what happens if you eat too much!). She names the large, sleepy feline Totoro after the troll in her picture book.

Miyazaki introduces the magical elements gradually with the brief appearances by the soot spreaders (that, at night, fly up into the sky and head for the large tree near the house). My Neighbor Totoro evokes those endless summer days when you were a child and would spend hours playing outside, losing all track of time. The film captures perfectly how little kids amuse themselves with the games that they invent. In a nice touch, instead of scoffing at Mei’s admittedly fantastic story, her father encourages her to pay respect to the tree and the denizens of the forest.

My Neighbor Totoro celebrates the simple pleasures in life, like playing in puddles when it rains. Like all Miyazaki films this one is filled with images that are at once stunning and whimsical, like the bus that is a huge cat with its eyes as headlights (and a huge Cheshire grin) that is able to fly and travel along power lines. My Neighbor Totoro is a great example of magic realism with beans sprouting suddenly into a huge tree and a large flying cat transporting the two girls across the night sky. In a way, this fantasy world is how Satsuki and Mei deal with their mother being sick as they are forced to face the real possibility that she might die – something that a lot of children don’t confront in these kinds of films. My Neighbor Totoro is the perfect marriage of your childhood experiences and your childhood dreams.

Special Features:

There is a feature that allows you watch the entire film in its original Japanese storyboard form.

“Behind the Studio” is comprised of six featurettes that cover various aspects of My Neighbor Totoro. The film started off as a storybook that Miyazaki wrote and that helped rekindle his love for Japanese landscapes. He also talks about how he came up with the name Totoro and the various sizes of the character throughout the film. The film’s producer talks about the origins of the studio’s name. A 28-minute featurette explores the locations that inspired the film with footage of the actual places in this fascinating extra. The film’s composer talks about specific musical cues, like Totoro’s theme and how he felt that the character’s first appearance should have a musical introduction and not just sound effects.

Also included is the original Japanese trailer.

“Behind the Microphone” takes a brief look at the American version of My Neighbor Totoro with some of the voice actors talking about their love of the film and how they approach the job of dubbing their respective characters.

Finally, there is “Enter the Lands,” which allows you to take a brief look at various characters from several of Miyazaki’s films.

The first six minutes of dialogue-free footage demonstrate Miyazaki’s skill as a purely visual storyteller. We meet Ponyo, a goldfish who travels from the depths of the ocean to almost getting trapped in a net of a trash-collecting boat. However, she gets stuck in a glass jar and is rescued by a little boy named Sosuke. Her father is a powerful underwater sorcerer and he pursues his daughter on land. Ponyo is not your typical fish as Sosuke discovers. For example, she likes to eat the ham right out of his sandwich!

Ponyo and Sosuke become friends only for her father to reclaim the girl and return them to the sea. Sosuke’s father works long hours piloting a transport boat of some type which angers his mother but she has developed a strong bond with her son. Back at home, Ponyo begins to take on human characteristics like arms and legs, much to her father’s chagrin. She escapes from her underwater home and in doing so creates monsoon-like conditions on the surface. This almost destroys the ship that Sosuke’s father pilots with large waves that are created from her underwater escape. Ponyo and Sosuke are reunited once again and the film follows their adventures.

The underwater scenes come to life with vibrant colours thanks to the vast assortment of life that populates it. Miyazaki creates a fascinating sense of wonder with the help of the film’s soundtrack by his long-time composer Joe Hisaishi. There are also all kinds of vivid imagery, like the giant waves of water that resemble a fish. Soon, we see Ponyo running on top of the giant fish-like waves of water as Sosuke and his mother race home from the storm in her car.

Ponyo doesn’t quite have the same magical sense of wonder as other classic Miyazaki films but it is still a very engaging effort in its own right. There is something to be said when a minor work by Miyazaki is better than most animated films out there. Only Pixar has as good or maybe a better track record.

Special Features:

“Disc Introduction – Meet Ponyo” features the American version’s executive producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy singing Miyazaki’s praises and talking briefly about the film.

Kiki is a 13-year-old girl who is a witch. At this age, she must leave home by the first full moon and train for a year by finding the right town in which to live by herself. So, she says goodbye to her family and friends and departs on her mother’s broom with her black cat Jiji. Kiki heads for the ocean and finds a city that is not occupied by any other witches. She befriends Osono, a kind pregnant lady who runs a bakery and accepts the girl for who she is. This becomes the deciding factor for Kiki staying in the city where most people really don’t know what to make of her. Osono has Kiki work part-time in the bakery and allows her to use the phone for the delivery service she starts. Kiki also finds herself drawn to and annoyed by Tombo, a boy her age that she shares a common love of flying, she with her broom and he with a bicycle that he’s converting into a flying machine.

Like many of his films, Miyazaki presents the countryside as an idyllic setting. In Kiki’s Delivery Service, we meet then film’s protagonist living out in the country with her loving and supporting parents. Clearly, he sees nature as being a nurturing force. The city is a busy, impersonal place where a police officer chastises Kiki for disrupting traffic with her flying and a group of noisy girls her age walk past her without even acknowledging her presence.

Like any good fable, Kiki’s Delivery Service has a timeless quality to it. The city where most of the film takes place doesn’t resemble one specific place but rather an intriguing pastiche of several European cities and even one from America. One of the great things about Miyazaki’s films is that he doesn’t forget what it was like to be a kid – how they talk and act – and I think that is what about his films that appeals to both adults and kids. By running her own business, Kiki learns to be responsible and independent as well as the value of working for a living. These are values that seem in short supply nowadays which makes this film even more relevant than when it was released in 1989.

Special Features:

The first disc includes an “Introduction by John Lasseter,” the head of Pixar. He offers his brief thoughts on what Kiki’s Delivery Service is about and what he thinks of it.

The second disc contains the bulk of the extra material starting with the “Original Japanese Storyboards,” allowing you to watch the entire film in storyboard form.

“Behind the Studio” consists of six brief featurettes that explore various aspects of the film. We learn that Miyazaki wasn’t even supposed to direct Kiki’s Delivery Service but a problem arose that threatened the project and so he stepped in and took charge. It was suggested by his producer that the protagonist be an adolescent girl but Miyazaki had no experience with them and asked one of his collaborators to use his young daughter as the basis for Kiki. Miyazaki talks about the challenge of animating the flying sequences. The film’s producer talks about working with Miyazaki. There is a 28-minute featurette that takes a look at the real-life locations that inspired the ones in the film. Miyazaki’s long-time composer Joe Hisaishi talks about his approach to scoring these films and how he tries to enhance the imagery with music.

Also included are 10 minutes of Japanese trailers for the film.

“Behind the Microphone” takes a look at the dubbing for the American version of the film with interviews with some of the voice actors like Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman.

“Enter the Lands” is an interactive map of key locations from various Miyazaki films. By clicking on them you can take a character quiz and view clips from the film that briefly examine significant characters.

With his death came the inevitable increase in sales for his music and DVDs as he topped the download charts with Man in the Mirror and his music videos were bought en masse once again, as though it were the mid eighties. The mid eighties was Michael’s peak, when the Bad album spawned five US number ones and the movie Moonwalker was released.

Moonwalker was a Michael Jackson extravaganza. A movie that featured documentary clips of Michael and the Jackson Five, some of Michael’s music videos and a short story about Michael saving the world from drug obsessed crime baron Mr Big (played by Joe Pesci).

Moonwalker starts with a live performance of the download number one single Man in the Mirror before going into the documentary montage that takes you through the early days of Michael’s career, from his debut, through his Grammys and through the many highs that he enjoyed.

The movie also features the music video for the bonus track featured on the Bad album CD version, Leave Me Alone, which perfectly sums up Michael’s career and his relationship with the media.

The actual plot of Moonwalker finally kicks in as Michael stumbles onto the evil plans of Mr Big, causing him to be a marked man. Michael is chased by Big’s troopers, only to transform into a high performance car (way before Michael Bay got his hands on Transformers) and speed off towards the 1930’s Chicago club for the famous Smooth Criminal music video. This is perhaps Michael’s greatest video and without doubt the highlight of the movie, as Michael makes his way through the club to the tunes of Smooth Criminal, dispatching bad guys as he goes.

The finale of the film sees Michael take on the whole of Big’s army, before Transforming again into a giant robot, and then a spaceship.

This movie comes from the genius mind of Michael Jackson. It may not flow as a normal, narrative driven, movie would, but this doesn’t disguise the brilliance of Moonwalker. It’s escapist, it’s imaginative, it’s pure Michael Jackson.

The only downside to this DVD release is that it doesn’t feature any special features, but Michael Jackson’s numerous other DVDs more than make up for that.