PAYCHECK (2003, Blu-ray released May 19, 2009 – MSRP $29.99)

When I cracked open the Paycheck Blu-ray disc, I had no idea what I was in for. I saw Aaron Eckhart there on the cover. Ok, Two Face, I like him. Uma Thurman. Kill Bill is pretty cool. Ok. Paul Giamatti and Colm Feore? No way! Together? In the same movie? Those two are great! These stars should balance out the bland of The-Affleck, right? Good. So all of these actors I like a lot, in a film by John Woo (who, admittedly has had a rocky Hollywood career) based on a story by the late, great Philip K. Dick. Oh wow. Amazing. This just keeps getting better and better. And then I put the disc in and cried a little bit.

I think Paycheck wanted to be a lot more to a lot more people. And as a result, and is typical of such things, becomes very little to very few. It’s a smart story about smart people, the type that Dick wrote best. Sadly, it’s also one of those stories that found itself ground through the Hollywood meat-machine to become a soulless, gun-toting actioner that disappoints across the board. Ben Affleck plays a guy who just wants a big paycheck and is willing to have his mind wiped to get it. He reverse engineers his client’s competitor’s products and makes newer, better ones in exchange for ridiculous sums of money. But this time, his client’s are jerks and want to kill him. During the time stripped from his memory he was forced to do things that have made him a wanted man. With his clients and the cops on his tail, Ben finds clues that he left for himself, that are intended to lead him to safety.

Everything about this film leads us to believe we’re going to get another Blade Runner or Gattaca but, instead of something imaginative and futuristic, John Woo chose to ground the story in his version of “the world we live in” (read: everyone pulls a gun on everyone else while engaging in pretentious dialogue under a cloud of slow-motion doves). He isn’t interested in science fiction (this is stated directly in the special features) but was convinced to tackle the script by altering the details and bringing the story into the Woo-niverse. I ask you, why adapt a sci-fi story if you don’t care for sci-fi? The result feels hurried and cheap, like a patchwork of styles sewn haphazardly together. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that this film ostensibly ended Woo’s career in Hollywood.

Paycheck looks like a Canadian TV show – Due South, Forever Knight or Woo’s own Once a Thief. The sets feel cheap, photography uninspired. Not really par for the Woo-course. I wouldn’t say that the disc itself looks bad, quite often it’s fantastic with the occasional handful of soft shots which, I assume are inherent in the source print. But it’s impossible to tell. There was just nothing there on my screen to excite me. What a disappointment.

Despite the mediocre nature of the film, Paramount has put some care into this catalogue release giving us great picture and sound and porting over all the bonus features from the previously released DVD. There’s a surprising wealth of bonus features on the disc including a couple of commentary tracks (one by director, Woo and the other by screenwriter, Dean Georgaris), 2 EPK style featurettes and some deleted scenes.

[xrrgroup][xrr label="MOVIE:" rating="2/5" group="s1" ] [xrr label="VIDEO:" rating="4/5" group="s1"] [xrr label="AUDIO:" rating="3.5/5" group="s1"] [xrr label="EXTRAS:" rating="1.5/5" group="s1"] [xrr label="BLU-RAY:" overall=true group="s1" ][/xrrgroup]

Valkyrie (2008, Blu-ray released May 19, 2009 – MSRP $39.99)

I think I’ve got a lot of Tom Cruise baggage. That must be it. I’m not sure if it’s the scientology, the Nicole Kidman-break-up or the uber-fake, aggressively-jolly persona he puts on for the media but damage has been done to my perception of the man. And that damage, of course, carries over to my desire to see him in films.

So, there I am, holding the Valkyrie Blu-ray in my hand, considering whether it might not be better to pass the disc off to someone else for review, when my roommate storms in, “Is that Valkyrie? Oh, sweeeet! Put it on!” And just like that, it was out of my hands.

Clearly I can’t be left to make these movie-watching decisions for myself. Valkyrie is phenomenal and I’m glad I had the chance to see it. Let me be more specific – the Valkyrie Blu-ray presentation is phenomenal. The film itself is quite wonderful, able to wring suspense from a plot whose ultimate conclusion we’re intimately familiar with (The story is based on real events and follows a conspiracy by officers of the SS to kill Hitler. Do they succeed? Uhhh…) What I found striking about the experience was how it was able to completely win me over and make me forget about my preconceptions of film and star. I’m not just talking about the filmmaking chops of director Bryan Singer and his accomplished cast and crew here but raving about the overall quality of the disc. It looks vivid, colourful and full of detail, sounds clean, punchy, dynamic and really assists in bringing the film to life for home video. I’m finding more and more that when a Blu-ray disc is well produced, transfered with care and given the sparkle of something freshly minted I become more immersed in the experience. In fact, I’m finding more often than not that my home video experience is superior to that of my theatrical. And in this case, it was enough to make me forget that I was watching Tom Cruise.

Valkyrie is a strong film on it’s own, despite the awesomeness of the disc. Cruise does a remarkable job, disappearing into the injured soldier turned conspirator role (portraying a man he bears a striking resemblance to) and holds his own against powerhouse performances by the likes of Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard and more. Equally remarkable are the commentary tracks, one of which sees director Singer and Cruise entertaining the notion of changing up the United Artists logo, a company now owned by Cruise. The package of extras on the disc is simply outstanding: The aforementioned commentary tracks, a handful of featurettes and sit-down interviews capped off by a brilliant two-hour History Channel-style look at the history of the nazi party and the officer’s conspiracy to remove Hitler from power and save Germany, Europe and the world from his tyranny.

FRINGE: SEASON ONE
(September 8, 2009, MSRP $79.98)
Video: 1080p VC-1
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

Special Features Include:

• Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe featurette – The creators of the show discuss how the series unfolded and the qualities that make it so unique
• Behind the Real Science of Fringe featurette – From teleportation to re-animation, Fringe incorporates recent discoveries in science. Consulting experts and scientists who are the authorities in their field address the areas of science which are the inspiration for the show. vA Massive Undertaking: The Making of Fringe (on select episodes) – An in-depth exploration of how select episodes came to be made: from the frozen far reaches of shooting the pilot in Toronto, to the weekly challenges of bringing episodes to air
• The Casting of Fringe- The story, as told by producers and cast, of how Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble and others came to be cast in the series.
• Fringe Visual Effects featurette – Goes deep into the creation of the shared dream state with some of the biggest VFX shots of the show.
• Dissected Files: Unaired Scenes
• Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel
• Deciphering the Scene
• Roberto Orci Production Diary
• Gene the Cow montage
• Three Full-Length Commentaries from writers/producers, including J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtman, J.R. Orci, David Goodman, Bryan Burk, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner
• Fringe Pattern Analysis – Take a closer look at 6 select scenes from Season 1 with experts who dissect each scene with notes, photos, and diagrams. (BD Exclusive)
• BD-Live enabled features include Media Center, My Commentary, and commentary on Season 1 finale episode

What the hell? How did this happen? How does Universal consider this Battlestar Galactica: Complete Series Box-Set ‘complete’ without this little web-exclusive chapter of the show included on the forthcoming Blu-ray set?! When we posted the full Special Features breakdown of the set, I didn’t even notice the absence of ‘The Face of the Enemy’ Webisodes. I took it for granted that they were there, hidden somewhere in the twenty-million-page long list of extras. Hell, every other season release of BSG has included the relevant webisodes, why exclude them from the Complete Series Box? Not that i’ll miss them (it was a struggle to plod through all ten episodes to be honest) but we nerds are nothing if not completists. When we commit to a series, be it comics, Blu-ray discs or TV shows, we’ve gotta get ‘em all!

Gay-themed blog AfterElton.com is concerned that the exclusion of the episodes is a result of prominent character Lieutenant Felix Gaeta being outed in ‘The Face of the Enemy’. They contacted Universal and received this response:

“Thank you for contacting Universal Studios Home Entertainment. We strive to provide the highest standard in product quality and customer care.

Because “Battlestar Galactica” has such loyal and passionate fans, we include as much bonus content as possible to enhance each DVD release. Sometimes, however, legal clearances, timing issues, disc capacity or other issues prevent existing material from being included.

Again, thank you. We appreciate your patronage and hope that you will continue to enjoy our releases.”

Yikes. That’s either a boilerplate response to questions about Special Features on the set or Universal has their shields activated, spinning up their FTL drives for a quick retreat!

Well, that was quick. X-Men Origins: Wolverine hasn’t even been in theatres a month and here’s the Amazon listing for the Blu-ray disc, posted and making the bestseller list! Despite being downloaded five trillion times and making a bazillion dollars in the cinema, the audience is still hungry for more of the ‘ole canucklehead‘s’ latest big-screen adventure and is ready to throw more money at Fox to get them some.

Little is revealed about the X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2-Disc Set in the Amazon listing. We know it’s going to be $39.99 and contain a digital copy (yay…) and we can safely assume the release date will fall squarely in the late October-Early November range. If I were to take a guess at the special features on the disc (I say disc, singular, because we all know what that the second disc is only a DVD-ROM with the digital copy) I’d be shocked if we didn’t see a commentary track with director Gavin Hood, possibly producer/star Hugh Jackman and Lauren Shuler Donner, some deleted/extended scenes and the multiple secret endings. Anything else Fox crams on the disc will be a surprise! We’ll keep you posted as information about this title trickles in…