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Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour

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Since my main purpose for visiting LA was to celebrate Spaldy’s birthday, it was only fitting that we did something that she had been dying to do for years: go on the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour.  Of course, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I was also excited to go on this tour.

We got to the tour headquarters about a half-hour before our scheduled departure time.  That meant we got to look around the store to see what items we may want to acquire at the end of the tour.  We did not go on the deluxe tour due to its expense ($200 per person); we went with the regular, 2 1/2 hour tour ($50).

The tour begins with a brief movie about the history of Warners and lots of clips of many iconic movies.  Then we were divied up among 4 tour guides.  We got lucky to have the guide we did; he was enthusiastic and well-informed through out the entire time.  He took us around to various street and wooded sets, explaining what processes were used to create certain illusions, as well as what famous movies and TV shows were filmed there.  I loved seeing the shop from the beginning of Gremlins, as well as Hazzard County from The Dukes of Hazzard.  Sure, most of the Hazzard set is used for Pretty Little Liars and Gilmore Girls, but I ignore that part.  We did see them filming scenes for The Whole Truth, with Maura Tierny.

Leaving the exterior sets behind, we went by many soundstages.  We saw Conan O’Brien’s area — unfortunately he was not roaming around.  We got to go into a grage housing many iconic vehicles, including Batmobiles, the General Lee, and the Nerd Herd from Chuck.  If there had been a James Bond car there, it would have been car heaven.  From there, we went to the set of The Mentalist and walked through all of the interiors.  The bonus of this was parking outside of the actor trailers for Chuck.  A short ride away was the Central Perk set from Friends and the storehouse of various iconic props.

The tour ended with a walkthrough of the Warner Brothers Museum.  Here, we saw the actual costumes worn by actors from Casablanca all the way up to The Dark Knight.  This is the source of my only beef with the tour — not enough time in the museum.  We did not make it to the second floor.

My Advice: definitely worth the time and money when in LA.

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Musical Memory for 9/12 – 9/18

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This week’s musical memory takes us into the realm of disco and sci-fi….

Whenever you go to certain events, those tasked with “keeping the party going” know that there are a handful of songs that get people up and full of energy.  To most people’s embarrassment, that includes a number of songs from the age of Disco.

“Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry has been used a number of times on TV and in movies to underscore parties and other events.  My first memory of the song was actually hearing it on the radio as I was doing small chores growing up.  But any memories I may have had of hearing the song were wiped away by the one made watching Evolution.  For those not wanting to click the link to read my review, Evolution was a sci-fi comedy about Earth being overrun by a rapidly developing alien race.  In one part of the movie, David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, and Sean William Scott have just brought down an alien creature in a shopping mall.  As the scene switches to a desert highway, the familiar opening guitar riffs of “Play That Funky Music” blast the audience as we see the Jeep with our heroes and their dead trophy head towards the army base.  Everyone is happy and celebrating.  Nice scene with a great choice of music to keep the energy up.

So, whenever I hear “Play That Funky Music,” I think of Evolution…

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Musical Memory for 9/5 – 9/11

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Over the years, I have made mention of how important I feel music is to movies.  Play the wrong song at the wrong time and you could end up with some of cinema’s greatest scenes never existing.  Since I have tied those together so much, I find myself flashing instantly on certain scenes from movies whenever I hear certain songs.

As a new feature, I will periodically post a new entry in this category.  Now, I am ruling out traditional musicals, such as Chicago, Grease, and The Sound of Music; non-traditional musicals, such as Footloose and Empire Records, are allowed.  Take a look at my entry and feel free to share yours….

My first selection comes from Grosse Pointe Blank.  For those that have not seen the movie, it involves a hitman going to his 10-year high school reunion.  At one point during the reunion, John Cusack is holding a baby and Queen’s “Under Pressure” begins playing.  At the height of the song, Cusack comes to terms with certain things.  Great moment visually.

So, whenever I hear “Under Pressure,” I think of Grosse Pointe Blank….

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Converting DVD to Blu-Ray

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I’m not sure about the rest of you, but one of the things I have struggled with over the years is when to convert to the next technology.  I was slow going from cassette to CD, and even bought the same album twice so that I could have one of each.  In the 90s I started growing my VHS collection, only to see DVD get released in the late 90s.  I made the plunge to DVD in 2000 when Disney started making its animated features available.  Over the next 4 years my collection grew to over 650 DVDs.  I ended up selling off half of the collection in 2007, but I still continued to add to it slowly.

Avoiding Blu-Ray for the first few years was easy because of the war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.  Once Blu-Ray won, it was hard to resist the lure.  I managed to reduce my movie buying even more, since I was not in a position to also upgrade my TV and DVD player.  I only bought a Blu-Ray if it also included a digital copy – that way I could enjoy the movie, but be prepared when I finally made the leap in technology with my hardware.

Now that everything is upgraded from a hardware standpoint, I find myself faced with the same dilemma as before: do I upgrade my existing DVDs to Blu-Ray or do I let them go gently into the night?

Well, Warner Brothers made it a little easier for me.  Knowing that people like me dreaded paying the full amount for a movie they already own, WB created a program to allow for “upgrades” at a palatable price.  By going to their site (http://www.dvd2blu.com), you can choose up to 25 titles to upgrade, all for either $4.95 or $6.95.  You then send them the discs and they send you the new ones.

There are some catches:

  • It must be one of the titles they specify
  • They do not plan on changing any available titles
  • You can only get 1 upgrade per title, regardless of the number of copies you have
  • You can only do it from the US and Puerto Rico
  • You are without the movie for 6-8 weeks

I found 12 titles that qualified, so I paid the $70 (shipping and tax are added on).  that’s less than $6 per movie to get the Blu-Ray versus the  retail store costs.

Now, Disney has their own version of this deal at one of their sites (https://disneyupgradetoblu.com/blu_ray/index.html).  Their program is little more customer-friendly:

  • No limit on number of titles
  • No limit on number of upgrades per title
  • Instead of sending discs, you send in the Proof-of-Purchase tabs
  • The selection of titles will continue to grow
  • You get to keep the DVD and the Blu-Ray

The only negative is that instead of being shipped a disc, Disney will send you coupons worth $8 per movie.  The idea is that you buy the Blu-Ray at the retailer but save $8 when you do so.  This is similar to what they do with new releases the first week of release.  The problem with only getting $8 off is that the retailers have the Blu-Rays marked close to $30 each, so I am actually better off waiting for sales or not upgrading.

My advice:  Examine each program yourself – the WB one only makes sense if you are getting at least 4 titles; the Disney one only makes sense if you need help with one title….

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Welcome Back, Fearless Readers

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Oh, how I have missed sharing my nuggets of wisdom with all of you.  However, life, the universe, and everything conspired to keep me from you.  I had actually been working on several reviews that never made it to fruition when the accident of all accidents happened – the site was lost, along with all of its content.

While I am sad to have almost everything I had written since 2007, this also gives me a chance to do some things that I had been putting off.  First and foremost, we have a new URL – www.typingaboutmovies.com .  That’s right – I have moved the review site away from its parent domain and placed it in its own home in the big ol’ Internet.  I have also started playing with the look and feel of the site.

Well, that is all for now – the 3 new reviews I have for you will not write themselves…