Armchair Commentary

Trailer Park: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson is back.  And he's doing stop motion animation?

Yes, awesome. Of course it is mildly disturbing to me that all the things I loved as a child are just being re-made, re-packaged and re-sold back to my adult self. But in this case (and in the tremendous expectations I have rested upon Where the Wild Things Are) - I embrace it fully, because simply - I love Wes Anderson and his entire aesthetic - which is even coming across in this totally new style for him.  The cast is made up of a lot of the usual suspects - Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston - and some new additions - George Clooney and Meryl Streep as Mr. and Mrs. Fox.  Looks promising.  ---Kira

Post San Diego Comic-Con Coverage - How to Prepare for Next Year

San Diego Comic-Con, or "nerd prom", was a blast. I've got lots of videos and pictures from the Con and lots of posts to write and edit.

First up is a "Helpful Tips" vlog that I put together to make your trip from the hotel to the convention center a lot less hectic and with fewer lines. The first piece of advice I have for anyone new to comic-con is: wear comfortable shoes. Lots and lots of walking is part of the game.

Next up is my ode to a convention staple: Mrs Fields cookies. Bender makes a cameo in this one.

Much more San Diego Comic-Con nerd prom coverage to come. -- Lance

Trailer Park: Alice in Wonderland

And because there is nothing I enjoy more than a walk down memory lane, presented here, my favorite scene from the original Disney classic (and perhaps the explanation of my lifelong aversion to eating oysters) - somehow I doubt this little gem will be included in Burton's new version, but I guess I'll half to wait and see.

Sure it's early, but sign up here to receive notification as soon as Alice in Wonderland hits DVD & Blu-ray. And the original Alice is locked away in the Disney vault right now, but see which classics aren't or are coming out soon (here's a hint, she has 7 special small friends).  ---Kira

Check out even more Walt Disney movies.

Announcing a New Armchair Sweepstakes

What's the funnest part of this blog? The lists? The trailers? The exclusive interviews? No--it's the free DVDs. Now through August 14, sign up for our e-mail digest, which provides daily updates on the previously-mentioned, only moderately-less-fun features, and you'll be entered for the chance to win Dexter, seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. (This will help get you all caught up for season 3, which is coincidentally debuting on DVD and Blu-ray August 18.) See all the pertinent sweepstakes details. --Leah

See How You Look In the Mad Men World

A big part of the fun of Mad Men is imagining yourself in that '60s world, where the cocktails flow freely, nothing is politically correct and even the angst is stylish. Which is what makes the new "Mad Men Yourself" site so much fun. I was totally over themed avatars until I saw this one. Will you have a cigarette? A beehive hairdo? Will you go for the suit or the casual tennis ensemble? I considered riding gear, but kept it more "office-y." Of course, I'm holding a newspaper (a nod to my former realm of employment), and that tea in my cup is for me, not Don Draper. Even '60s me needs to caffeinate. Anyway, click here to try it. (And look out for the new season, starting August 16). -- Stephanie Reid-Simons, Amazon Video On Demand (Twitter: amazonvideo and Facebook: Amazon Video On Demand)

Thrills ahead: "Heat" and "North by Northwest" on Blu-ray

Awesome! Two of my favorite movies, Michael Mann's Heat and Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, are both going to be released on Blu-ray on November 3.  Word was that Mann was waiting to finish up Public Enemies before working on the Blu-ray of Heat, and now we can look forward to that riveting heist sequence in high definition (and DTS HD Master Audio, I hope).  North by Northwest was one of the first Hitchcocks I ever saw, and it's a nonstop roller-coaster ride of great set-pieces that should look even better than the great-looking DVD from a few years back. If you're not a fan of these movies already, I encourage you to give them a try.  --David

What's up with BD-Live?

So what's up with BD-Live these days? We've been hearing a lot about it but it's hard to say how much stuff is out there or who is using it.  As we noted earlier, Zack Snyder is going to do a live community screening from Comic-Con tonight via BD-Live for Watchmen, and I figured I'd take a look at what else BD-Live had to offer for that disc.  Fortunately there's a little more content than there's been for some other Blu-ray releases during their week of release (obviously they can keep adding more stuff, but this would be the time of highest visibility). In addition to the My Chemical Romance "Desolation Row" music video (also on the Blu-ray disc), there are some short videos available for download, four covering the special effects of Dr. Manhattan and two "viral videos" that are faux-vintage pieces about Dr. Manhattan and the Keene Act. The downloading instead of streaming is a little inconvenient, but one of the viral videos (41 MB, 3 minutes long) only took a minute or so to download (the 6.5-minute Lord of the Rings Blu-ray trailer was 187 MB in high definition and took considerably longer, enough to make me switch back to live TV to kill the time) and the WB Media Library makes it easy to delete anything you don't want to keep. There are options to create and upload your own video commentary (using your webcam and Warner's site) or view others' commentaries (there were two, by the same person, on Thursday, two days after release). You can also publish your BD-Live activities as updates to Facebook, like when I rated that LOTR trailer (I gave it only three stars--it looked goods, but it was only movie clips, with spoilers, and little Blu-ray information).

I then tried some other recent Warner BD-Live releases.  It's nice that I don't have to sign in for each one (as has been my experience with Disney titles), though it's inconvenient that my WB Media Library is title-specific.  For example, even though the LOTR trailer was a download option on other BD-Live titles, I couldn't watch it unless I put the Watchmen disc back in or unless I downloaded it again.  All the discs offer the option to organize community screenings and view/record commentaries.  Friday the 13th had a downloadable sneak peek of Trick or Treat but nobody had recorded a commentary yet. Gran Torino had no commentaries either, but it offered a streamable featurette of the Hmong experience in America or Jamie Cullum's "Gran Torino" music video. Streaming sounded more appealing to me, but both took so long I gave up, so maybe Watchmen's switch to downloading was good.  Inkheart had no additional content, but there were four community commentaries. Two were labeled "test," but one was--surprise!--by director Iain Softley. So there's definitely some stuff going on with BD-Live, but the content is a little thin and it doesn't appear a lot of people are participating yet.  I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen with it in the near future.  --David

Interview :"Nothing Like the Holidays" cast

Yes it's only July, but we all know that the holidays will be here before we know it! (Scary thought, I know.) And who doesn't love a sincere holiday film about family coming together for the holidays and the "fun" that inevitably ensues when it comes to family. (Fun, dysFUNctional... whatever you want to call it). However, it may just make you appreciate your own family. Nothing Like the Holidays is that kind of a movie. John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez, Vanessa Ferlito  and Debra Messing star alongside an outstanding ensemble cast in this drama/comedy that follows the Rodriguez family coming home for the holidays. 

Check out our exclusive video with stars Freddy Rodriguez and Vanessa Ferlito as they chat about making the film, what it was like shooting in Chicago (Freddy's hometown) and the similarities between the Rodriguez family and their own.

Nothing Like the Holidays is available to pre-order on DVD or Blu-ray now. Enjoy! - Lisanne

Life After the Apocalypse: Not Just for Movies Anymore!

I'm a sucker for cinema of the apocalypse, aka movies about a destroyed world: you know, Mad Max and the like. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've watched Waterworld more than once (it's better than you've heard!) and just discovered that Amazon Video On Demand has The Postman, so it's all I can do not to quit writing this and start watching that movie right now on my computer. But I digress. The reason I've got catastrophe on the brain is a brand-new Discovery Channel show, The Colony, which is about a group of people who volunteer to live in a post-apocalyptic urban environment.

I'm totally digging it. And by "digging," I mean that I am thrilled that I'm not one of these folks. There aren't any Terminators about, but they do face threats of hunger, disease and scarcity, not to mention mauraders who want their resources. It's like Survivor but with even more paranoia and a convincingly demolished urban setting. Anyway, the show is available now at Amazon Video On Demand, where you can get the first episode free through August 4 and sign up for future episodes. Check it out! And share some of your favorite post-apocalyptic cinema. -- Stephanie Reid-Simons, Amazon Video On Demand (Twitter: amazonvideo and Facebook: Amazon Video On Demand)

Trailer Park: "Ponyo"

Just ran across this trailer for Ponyo, the latest film by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (also called Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea). Can't wait!  It opens in the U.S. on August 14.  --David

EDIT: The other trailer was removed from YouTube so I'm replacing it with the Japanese trailer.