Daily Archives: March 14, 2009

DVD

Empire Records

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We’ve all done it – found ourselves on a Saturday afternoon, feeling lazy and flipping channels when something catches our eyes and we get hooked in.  Then, over the next couple of years, you end up running across that item again and again.  The first time this happened was with the original Ocean’s 11 and then again with The Rat Pack.  I first discovered Empire Records back in 1996 in this manner and it became one of my go-to “veg” movies for a long time.

The story is fairly simple: a day in the life of the employees of a record store.  With most of them being teenagers, you get the typical teen angst problems interwoven with pining romance.  Casted by the people who brought you Dazed and Confused, Empire Records enjoys the talents of Renee Zellweger and Liv Tyler before they shot to super-stardom.  The movie also has a great soundtrack of 90s alternative rock.

My advice:  Give this one a spin; after all, they are open till midnight where Sinead O’Rebellion will shock you with her deviant behavior…

Blu-Ray

Wonder Woman

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Warner Brothers and DC have enjoyed an 18-year relationship in producing quality superhero animation.  With the release of Batman:The Animated Series on TV, it was shown that good stories and superheroes could mix.  That success was followed by Superman, some Batman movies, and the Justice League series.  With the winding down of the JLU series and the rise of live-action, DC took a step back to figure out where to go next.  That step back yielded two highly-praised efforts: Justice League: The New Frontier; and Batman:Gotham Knight.

Enter their latest offering:  Wonder Woman

This is an origin story, adapted for today.  While some of the details have been changed, the spirit of the story remains.  An island exists, shielded from the rest of the world by magic and populated only by Amazons, frozen in time.  A US pilot crashes onto the island and is found by Diana.  Through competition, Diana is selected to escort the pilot back and to track down an escaped Ares, god of War.  Action ensues and the world is graced with the heroine, Wonder Woman.

Much like New Frontier, DC and Warners relied on traditional animation versus anime or digital to tell the story.  While the animation is beautiful, it is the story and voice-casting that stands out.  Andrea Romano once again, as she has for over 20 years, delivers a cast filled with recognizable names who are able to craft their voices in such a way as to sound familiar, yet not let their celebrity overpower their character.  Bruce Timm, as producer, ensures that the story holds true to the spirit of the origin and that what is delivered is top-quality.

I bought the Blu-Ray version since it had a digital copy included.  As such, I can not review the extras included on the Blu-Ray part, but there are a number of documentaries on various aspects of Wonder Woman.  The digital copy disc included a copy for the PC, as well as a copy for a portable device.

My advice:  Give this one a whirl – no golden lasso needed to verify that I speak the truth…