JONAH HEX (2010, Blu-ray released October 12, 2010 – MSRP $35.99)

Shootin’, sneering and cussin’ should be enough to deliver a wild, western, action thriller with a dash of the paranormal. Jonah Hex draws and fires, but it’s only a flesh wound. This recent release from Warner Bros. misses the mark, but not by much.

The character of Jonah Hex is comicdom’s most recognizable badass cowboy. He’s ugly, mean and deadly, and although he’s not a household name, he’s been around for quite some time. Josh Brolin plays the role well, but his depiction may not be enough to save a film lacking a real center and complicating a revenge tale that should have been more plainly told.

This was the first of two DC character-related films that John Malkovich has appeared in this year. The second is the action-comedy, RED. Malkovich’s performance is a little uninspired in Jonah Hex as he moseys half-asleep through his villainous part. In fact, I’d have to say that on the whole, the majority of the characters in this film are fairly two-dimensional. Megan Fox plays Lilah, a prostitute and confidant to Hex. The necessity of her role is unclear to me.

Hex’s origin is satisfactorily explained within the first six minutes of the big-screen comic book adaptation, which leaves 76 additional minutes for shoot ‘em ups, fisticuffs and chases. The film does manage to deliver a lot of this, but not in any way that you would remember it the next day. In general, it’s entirely forgettable, but the set design is impressive and costuming top-notch. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the look of the period director Jimmy Hayward does manage to achieve is over-shadowed by the heavy-handed treatment of the film itself.

A good western needn’t be overly effect-y. A Jonah Hex story, even with the mystical aspects, should still be a dusty, action-packed western. The special effects here, however are too visibly obvious and for the most part, unnecessary, like making Fox’s eyes bluer…I mean really…? The overall treatment of the colors and textures in the film give it a feeling that is altogether far too unreal.

The transfer itself is very sharp and the colors, although rich, are a little garish and distracting at times. While not related to the finely textured 1080p VC-1 transfer, the color (over) treatment does get in the way a little, but the deep blacks are great, without crushing any detail.

On the sound front, we are treated to a blaring dts-HD Master Audio soundtrack. It’s loud and occasionally mis-directed out of the speakers. We lose a sense of where some sounds are originating from, unfortunately. The sound effects themselves are terrific and add to the experience nicely…you’ll just have to ride volume button a little.

The extras are few, but what you would expect. “The Inside Story of Jonah Hex” is a collection of interviews with past and current creators of Jonah Hex comics, giving us a sense of the history of the character. “The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex” takes the place of a commentary track. Running along the entire length of the film, it’s a picture-in-picture feature showing concept artwork, interviews with cast and crew and other behind-the-scenes peeks of the making of Jonah Hex. A couple of deleted scenes are also included and, as it is with most Warner Bros. Blu releases, the BD-Live feature is also available.

Those who saw the animated Jonah Hex short included on the Batman: Under The Red Hood Blu-ray have seen a great example of a Hex story. The mood and feel was right on, and the live-action film could have benefited from what was accomplished there, but that isn’t to say that this film was a waste of time. This one just may have been over-thought a bit.

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ARGH!! It’s another one of those killer, five-million-amazing-new Blu-ray-disc release weeks! Having so many great new titles out all at the same time makes it damn near impossible to choose a best and a second best release of the week. Unlike last week, where I felt the Alien Anthology was clearly the must-own newly released title, I wouldn’t blame you if you grabbed up any one of the discs listed below. They’re all equally amazing! But for the sake of the Top 5, here they are in somewhat arbitrary order…

1. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (45TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

There are a few classic releases out on Blu-ray this week but none sport a superior transfer or feature set to The Sound of Music: 45th Anniversary Edition. This is probably your best bet. Unless you hate musicals. In which case, I would usher you on to our number two pick this week.

For more information, read our rundown of the Blu-ray disc set here: The Sound of Music: 45th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray officially announced and detailed

Special Features:

Limited Edition Collector’s Set

• 2-Disc Blu-ray with all extras as detailed below
• Standard Definition DVD
• 45th Anniversary Soundtrack
• 100-Page “My Favorite Things” scrapbook
• Snapshots from Salzburg
• Reproduction of the original 1965 Souvenir program
• Exclusive “My Favorite Things” Music Box with letter of authenticity

Blu-ray Details: Blu-ray Disc 1:

• Feature Film Remastered in 1080p Hi-Def with 7.1 DTS-HD Sound
• Your Favorite Things: An Interactive Celebration — All-New Immersive Viewing Experience with Behind-the-Scenes Images, On-Screen Lyrics, Trivia Track and Location Quiz
• Music Machine Sing-Along
• Audio Commentaries with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and Director Robert Wise
• BD-LIVE**: Live Lookup™ Powered by IMDb®

Blu-ray Disc 2:

• Musical Stages: Creating The Sound of Music — All-New Interactive “Backlot Tour” with In-Depth Featurettes on the Songs, the Stage Show & Movie, the Film and Sound Restoration and the Real-Life von Trapp Family
• A City of Song — Virtual Map of Filming Locations in Salzburg, Austria
• Vintage Rodgers & Hammerstein and The Sound of Music Programs
• Screen Tests, Rare Treasures, Interviews, Photo Galleries & More!

DVD Disc:

• Feature Film In Standard Definition
  • Newly Remastered Picture and Sound
  • Optional Sing-Along Track
• Music Machine Sing-Along
• The Sound of Music Tour – A Living Story

Amazon: $19.99

ALSO AVAILABLE: The Sound of Music (Limited Edition Collector’s Set) – $59.99

2. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

David Lean on Blu-ray. ‘Nuff said, right? Well, The Bridge on the River Kwai is most certainly my personal top pick of the week but while it looks and sounds way better on Blu than ever before on a home video format, the disc itself is simply just not as technically impressive as The Sound of Music and doesn’t include anywhere near the exhaustive amount of special features as that title. Bridge is a must-own for any film fan but won’t blow you away, if you’re looking for the colour and pizazz of newer, slicker discs.

READ MORE: The Bridge on the River Kwai Blu-ray officially announced and detailed

Amazon: $20.99

3. TOY STORY 3

Toy Story 3 is, without question, one of the best films of the year. I finally got a chance to see it thanks to the Blu-ray screener that showed up last week and I have to say, the movie really delivers on every level. One of the finest to come out of Pixar. And, it goes without saying, that the digital-to-digital transfer is absolutely pixel-perfect, affording the Blu-ray disc one of the most stunning images of any disc released this year. The 4-disc combo pack includes a seemingly endless supply of special features as well as a DVD and digital copy of the film.

READ MORE: Toy Story 3 and Ultimate Toy Box 3-movie collection coming to Blu-ray

Amazon: $24.99

4. THE PACIFIC

I haven’t watched HBO‘s The Pacific yet (still waiting on my review copy!) but I’m setting this robust disc-set in the number-four position this week on the basis of the quality of it’s sibling show, Band of Brothers. If The Pacific is anywhere near as brilliant as Brothers, it’ll end up being one of my favourite TV shows of the year. And if the Blu-ray set is anywhere near as perfect as Brothers’, The Pacific could be a contender for TV-on-Blu set of the year!

READ MORE: HBO The Pacific Blu-ray set announced and detailed

Amazon: $56.99

5. CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

Ian Fleming wrote more than James Bond novels back in the day. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a Ken Hughes/Roald Dahl adaptation of Fleming’s children book about an eccentric professor and the fantastic car he invents. No screener for this one yet either but I’m hoping for the best for the transfer. The special features on the disc are, sadly, quite focused on the younger-set but thankfully offer up a few nuggets for cinefiles, like the “Remembering Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Dick Van Dyke” and “A Fantasmagorical Motorcar” featurettes.

Amazon: $19.49

6. THE GOONIES (25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

Another week with six films in the Top 5?! I just couldn’t let the list go without mentioning that The Goonies is out on Blu-ray today. I’m excited to see it for the first time in years in this new Blu-ray edition from Warner. If you’re not interested in picking up this huge boxed-set edition of the film, filled to the brim with goo-gahs and goodies, I’m certain that there will be a film-only release cropping up at some point in the next year. As much as I want to see the film again, I’ll be holding out for the version without the crap.

READ MORE: The Goonies: 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray coming in November

Amazon: $34.99

TV ON BLU-RAY: V: The Complete First Season

Despite my better sense, I really enjoy this revisionist modern version of V. I doesn’t have the impact of the original mini-series’ (naturally, as both the original and sequel series were finite stories with a definitive ending) but it certainly has its charms. The cast is strong and the sci-fi concepts are as fun as ever. I wish the show had a bigger budget or was given more production time though, as I find myself being taken out of the program every time the characters appear to be floating in their greenscreen environments. And they float a lot. The second season of V kicks off in January with a very special, very evil guest star from the original series! Can’t wait!

Amazon: $33.99

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

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Well, this has been a long time coming! The Goonies make their high-def debut this November in a 25th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray boxed set. While I’m completely stoked to watch a brand spanking new transfer of the film on Blu-ray, I can honestly do without all the memorabilia and goo-gahs in this UCE box. Following Warner‘s general release pattern, I would put money on it that we’ll likely see a stand alone Blu-ray disc release in 2011. That’ll be the one for me! Details below:

THE GOONIES
(November 2, 2010 – MSRP $49.99)
Video: 2.39:1 VC-1 1080p
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Special Features:

• Cast-and-crew commentary track
• Making-of documentary
• Deleted scenes
• TrailersM
• Music video, Cyndi Lauper, “The Goonies ‘R Good Enough.”
• New board game
• Collectible storyboard prints
• 1985 souvenir magazine
• Reprint of a 2009 article with cast and creator updates

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