After the incredible success of the first three X-Men films, it was inevitable that the studio would try to find a way to continue capitalizing on these characters.  The particular story being told had seemed to run its course, so instead of moving forward, they got the idea of looking back.  X: Men Origins-Wolverine is the first in a proposed series of films that will provide the backstories to the most popular mutants in the franchise.  While there seems to be a lot of negativity surrounding this film, I found it be a thoughtful and exciting look into the creation of a truly fascinating character.

As a character, Wolverine is one of the most interesting of the mutants.  His story has been developed over decades of comicbooks, and was briefly hinted at in the original trilogy.  X-Men 2 came the closest to fleshing out where he came from, but there still seemed to be a lot of story left to tell.  We know Wolverine is seemingly immortal, and his skeletal structure is composed of something called adamantium.  But how did he get this way?  While most of the mutants in the X-Men world are born with their powers, the original trilogy teases with the idea that there was something more going on with this character.

This is the focus of the new film.  After an incredible montage of Wolverine fighting with and eventually drifting away from his brother Sabretooth in several wars, we see a young Stryker (a much older character in X-Men 2) recruiting them for a government project where they will “really serve their country.”  From this point forward, we see the evolution of Wolverine as not just a mutant, but as a character.  His life is filled with loss and betrayal.  It is easy to see the transition from the Wolverine in this film to the Wolverine in the original trilogy.  The pieces all fit together perfectly and give a greater depth to what we have seen before.

Director Gavin Hood does a fantastic job of putting us into Wolverine’s state of mind.  While the film occasionally borders on camp (lightning out of nowhere, etc.), it’s always thematically right-on.  My biggest complaint is with the special effects.  For a big-budget summer blockbuster, the digital effects look pretty cheap.  I’ve seen better CGI on regular television.  And why does Wolverine have to have digital claws now?  The prop claws from the original trilogy look much better.  Having said that, the world captured on film still looks great.  The production designer and cinematographer did a great job in transporting the audience to a variety of very different locations, and really fleshing out this mutant-filled existence.   

Speaking of mutants, this film has a great selection of new characters from the comics.  Most of their appearances are rather brief, but we finally get Gambit, the Blob, Deadpool, etc.  I really enjoyed seeing the interactions with all of these characters and the way they came in and out of Wolverine’s life, helping to shape him into the person we have been watching for the past several years.

New on Blu-Ray, 20th Century Fox has put together a solid package that does justice to the film.  As the movie is all about the genesis of the character, one of the first features is an interview with Stan Lee and Len Wein, two of the originators of Wolverine in the comics.  There isn’t a lot of flash to this segment; just two people talking.  But you can sense the love they have for what they have created, as well as a genuine affection for each other.  Other features include a making-of the film as a whole, as well as a segment showing the making of the helicopter crash specifically.  There are deleted scenes which, as usual, deserved to be cut, and a pretty annoying segment showing the movie’s world premiere in Arizona. 

The highlights of the Blu-Ray are found in what they call “Ultimate X-Mode Bonusview.”  These are four separate ways of actually watching the film while getting information presented in a box in the corner.  The first of these is X Connect.  In this feature, the director and producers periodically pop up in the corner to explain how all of the characters connect in the X-Men world, often showing scenes with these characters in the original trilogy.  Another way to watch is The Director’s Chair, where director Gavin Hood talks through various scenes about what it was like directing the film.  There is also a fascinating feature called Pre-Visualizing Wolverine, where you see most of the film played out as either animatics or storyboards.  Finally, there is the X Facts Trivia Track.  The most disappointing of the Bonusview segments, most of the “trivia” is common knowledge, and not all of that interesting.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, despite the weak effects.  I have always loved the X-Men, especially Wolverine, and I felt that this movie did him justice. The Origins concept is a great idea, and one that will really help flesh out this world.  I can’t wait for the next film in the franchise, and just hope that it is as good as this one.

Still reeling from the shocking death of Stephen and the stunning betrayal of Helen (Juliet Aubrey, The Constant Gardener), Nick (Douglas Henshall, French Film, Dorian Gray) must fight to re-focus his embattled team, now reduced to two members, student paleontologist Connor (Andrew-Lee Potts) and zoologist Abby (Hannah Spearritt, Agent Cody Banks, S Club7). Cutter’s crew is joined by some new recruits in the form of maverick policeman Danny Quinn (Jason Flemyng), sparky Egyptologist Sarah Page (Laila Rouass), and the new leader of the ARC’s security forces, Captain Becker (Ben Mansfield).  But the anomalies continue to present an unrelenting series of threats, including such terrifying ancient creatures as Giganotosaurus (a truly terrifying predator, bigger even than the Tyrannosaurus Rex), Pristichampus (a creature which strikingly resembles the ancient Egyptian crocodile demon, Ammut) and Dracorex.

As deadlier creatures continue to rampage through the anomalies, the cloak of secrecy behind which the team has been working is in jeopardy. Questions are being asked and the conspiracy spreads its net wide. If something is not done quickly, the team’s future is threatened—not to mention the future of humankind itself.

The first two seasons each contained six episodes and was released on the Primeval Volume One DVD last year. Primeval Volume Two contains the 10 episodes of the third (and what would eventually be revealed to be the last) season. Picking up where the previous season ended, we see the team tracking the anomalies and getting the creatures back into their own time. Things have changed for the team; they now have the backing of the government, and this allows them to be a bit more proactive in determining where the next anomaly will open.

(Check-out a clip from the DVD)

The extras include commentaries, including one for episode 10 which was the season finale and, unknown at the time, the final episode of the show. The producers, directors, and actors talk about their experiences on the show, what worked, what was cut, what changed from script to filming. When talking about the final episode they were looking forward to the next season which sadly won’t happen.

PRIMEVAL: VOLUME TWO BONUS FEATURES

• Audio commentary
• Featurette: Cutter’s Odyssey
• Featurette: Monster Competition

The X-Men saga continues onto Blu-ray Disc and Special Edition DVD with digital copy on September 15th.  Wednesday 20th Century Fox previewed the new special features that will be included in the different editions as well as announced a feature never been available on Blu-ray.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine Blu-ray version comes equipped with Fox’s new LIVE LOOKUP with information from IMDb.

LIVE LOOKUP allows users to select an actor’s photo in the scene they are currently watching and instantly view the actor’s information, past credits and future projects.  The idea is simple.  Every time the user inserts the disc, users with BD-Live enabled Blu-ray players will be instantly updated with current data from IMDb.com.

By using LIVE LOOKUP user may select snapshots taken of actors as they appear in the movie making it simple to find.  Also, users may search by actor or character name.  The feature includes above-the-line crew, cast shooting locations, genre information and the film’s release date.  Basically, the basic information provided on IMDb.com is displayed.

This is a great concept, but may be making us a little too lazy.  I’m fine going on my computer while watching the movie and looking up the information there.  This seems rather pointless to me, however an option is available to reduce the size of the image so the information does not cover the film.  Nonetheless, I am more excited about chat and movie related forums being available via BD-Live.  What’s too much information though?  Director and producer Gavin Hood was also not sure what’s too much to have on the DVD including extras and so forth.  Other people involved with the making of the special edition versions expressed how research has shown that this is what people want, but it still seems odd that people want to view actor information during the movie.  I guess if you can do it, why not?

The bonus material seems normal, but I do find it interesting you can view a version of the film without all the effects and such in place.  Kind of curious if this is similar to controversial leaked version that made newscast prior to the opening of the film.

Nonetheless, Fox has much anticipation for this release as the franchise has already made 1.5 billion dollars at the box office and X-Men Origins: Wolverine still hasn’t opened in Japan.  The filmmakers involved seemed excited to continue the Wolverine story in many more movies to come.  Going to be interesting who gets to make the films though due the Disney acquisition.  No matter who makes the future Wolverine films, I hope Gavin Hood stays on board.  He is very into the character and tries to relate it as much as possible, and maybe too much, toward our own life mutations.  It’s a little deep and I will stay out of it.  I’m sure he will go into depth about this on the bonus features.

Blu-ray Disc Specs:

50GB dual-layer disc authored in BD-J with AVC (MPEG 4) compression. French/Spanish and English audio and subtitles.

Disc One                                                                                                   

o   Commentary by Director Gavin Hood

o   Commentary by Producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter

o   The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with Stan Lee and Len Wein

o   “Wolverine Weapon X Mutant Files Featurette: 10 Character Chronicles”

o   “The Thrill of the Chase: The Helicopter Chase Sequence” featurette

o   X-Facts: Trivia Track

o   Deleted Scenes with commentary by Gavin hood

o   Alternate Memory Erase Sequence

o   Alternate Tag Scene: Japan

o   Fox Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere

o   IMDB BD-Live technology

Disc Two

    Digital copy

The Two-Disc Special Edition is similar with a few less items.  Most notably missing is the 53 minute “Wolverine Weapon X Mutant Files Featurette: 10 Character Chronicles”.

Demetri Martin has exploded on to the comedy circuit!  He was featured in his own Comedy Central special in 2004 and 2007 and now stars in his own television show on the same network.  “Important Things” is a take off his own comedy using his trademarked large white notepad to showcase his simplistic drawings, comical music pieces, and comedy sketches that are similar to what you might find on “Mad TV”.  If you are already a fan of Demetri Martin and his style, then there is no doubt that you will absolutely fall in love with his show.

Demetri’s intelligent humor mixed with an extremely dry delivery provides a fresh and original feel to his show.  It’s nice to see a little different take on the simple things in life and with a little twist, Demetri makes them comical.  His humor isn’t so much about situational situations as it is about a different way to look at everyday things.   He focuses more on word play and one-liners instead having long set-ups or stories about situations in his life.

It’s definitely corky and just downright silly, but incredibly entertaining and funny!  He’ll start off each show with simply just jokes as he calls the segment.  Each show is based around a certain theme and his jokes will reflect the topic.  For instance, “safety” is a theme of one of his episodes therefore all his jokes and bits will be based around safety ideas.

Each show has their strong points, but some have some not so great parts.  Nonetheless, the show is still pretty darn clever.  It’s not the most original idea as other comedy shows have done the same in the past.  The format is similar to “Mind of Mencia”, but as I was a fan of that show, I don’t mind.

Good qualities of the show are the nonstop punch lines and jokes.  It’s great to pop in the DVD player for a guaranteed laugh.  There’s a 1… 2… 3… punch for each show and before you know it, the episodes over.

The DVD extras live a little to be desired.  Most of the extras are deleted scenes or bloopers.  It’s usually great to have deleted scenes for a movie as they sometimes explain parts of the movie better but were maybe too slow and/or ruined the flow of things where as on “Important Things” they are failed skits.  I enjoyed the bloopers, who doesn’t, but don’t to see bad skits that were deleted because, well… they weren’t entertaining or funny.  There is quite a funny improv song he sings while he waits to film the next bit, and there are commentaries that I didn’t watch.

Even if “Important Things” doesn’t last, I’m sure we will not see the last of Demetri Martin.

When Walt Disney was preparing a film based on the beloved children’s book Mary Poppins, there was an uncertainty as to whether or not they would be able to get the rights.  Walt knew he wanted to tell that kind of story and during that waiting period he discovered a very similar book entitled Bedknobs and Broomsticks.   Set during WWII, the story contains a magical character put in charge of unruly children who develops a bond with them over the course of several song-filled fantastical adventures.  There is even an extended sequence where our live-action characters visit a cartoon world.  Songs were written and scripts were worked on, but eventually Mary Poppins was put into production.  Seven years later, Mary Poppins was a smash hit, and it was decided that Bedknobs and Broomsticks could be the film to replicate that success.

The problem with this scenario is that Bedknobs now appears to be a simple rip-off, even though it was technically being worked on before Poppins ever began production. The movie is staged exceptionally well.  There are extremely high production values and great acting from Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson (from Mary Poppins, of course).  And the music by the Sherman Brother is, as expected, fantastic. 

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I genuinely believe that if Poppins had never been made there would be higher acclaim for this film.  The film was successful upon release, and even won an Oscar for Visual Effects.  It just doesn’t seem as popular now as it deserves to be. 

The DVD release reveals that up until the 25th Anniversary edition, there was over a half an hour that had been removed from previous releases.  All of that footage has been restored, with the exception of a musical number entitled “Step in the Right Direction.”  One of the bonus features includes a reconstruction of this missing piece staged to photos from the set.  To me, this song is almost identical to “It’s a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow,” also by the Sherman Brothers.  That being said, it is fascinating to see the only missing piece of the film.

The only negative inclusion on this set is an extremely grating special effects segment hosted by Jennifer Stone from The Wizards of Waverly Place.  I have never seen the show, but I found Stone to be incredibly overbearing and not suited for this material.  There was a small portion of this segment that was genuinely interesting and actually focused on Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  Unfortunately, they mostly focus on the Waverly Place visual effects.  I can appreciate that they are trying to get kids interested in effects work, but I wish they could have done so by actually focusing on the movie the feature is attached to.

Featurette: A Step In the Right Direction- Lost Song (Bonus)

However, my favorite feature actually did pertain to the film.  Entitled Music Magic, it is a showcase of the Sherman Brothers running just over 10 minutes long.  They just discuss their thoughts and feelings about the film and the evolution of the music, and even play a song that was regretfully never recorded. I love watching the creative process at work, and there is a lot of footage of them actually in the process of writing the music.  It was a fascinating segment, and I wish it had gone on longer.

Overall, this is a great DVD for an underrated movie.  Despite the inclusion of the Waverly Place segment, I found it be a solid set of extras, and would definitely recommend adding this to any family’s collection.