Star Trek
Paramount
DVD and Blu-ray

Making Star Trek fresh again was the challenge for director JJ Abrams, and he pulled it off and admits, not without flaws. But the original TV series was full of flaws, a true honest fan will admit, too. But there are also numerous nods to fans and, in fact, the various Trek TV shows and films in this movie.  Chris Pine captures (pre-Captain) James T. Kirk swagger without impersonating William Shatner, and Zachary Quinto may lack the sonorous baritone of Leonard Nimoy (whose cameo as the original Spock – aka “Spock Prime” –  is a movie magic moment when he first appears), but he taps into the emotional conflict of the half-human/half-Vulcan. Then there’s Karl Urban’s Dr. McCoy channeling the late DeForrest Kelly in an homage that does work and almost steals the picture with his first “Dammit, Jim…” Yes, the time travel machinations of Eric Bana’s villain Nero are somewhat convoluted, but overall, the film works as a marvelous relaunch adventure, making one truly look forward for more cinematic voyages of this new crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.  May this new crew live long and prosper.  The two-disc DVD edition includes a digital copy and many engaging bonus featurettes, from re-imagining the iconic series to behind-the-scenes stuff. The three-disc plus digtial copy Blu-ray is loaded with even more special feature bits — hours, in fact.  Read my Buzzine review of the film from earlier this year here.

Up
Disney/Pixar
DVD and Blu-ray

Covered in detail in another Buzzine review (c’mon, my friend, if you don’t want to see a movie with excited kids, hit the night show, okay?), Up was one of the year’s best family films and, in fact, one of the year’s best movies period — animated or live action.  The story is filled with pathos, sorrow, thrills, mystery, and yes, a happy ending.  Many of the elements work on a dual level for both children and adult appeal. If you believe a multitude of balloons can carry away an old house guided thousands of miles, get ready for a great ride if you haven’t seen this film yet. As usual, the key to it all is Pixar makes the story come first and the animation – crisp, clean and engaging as usual – come second. The voice acting is spot-on too, especially Ed Asner’s crotchety Carl Fredericksen and Jordan Nagai as chubby scout stowaway Russell. The four-disc Blu-ray combo includes a DVD version and a digi-copy, as well as well as a short “Dug’s Special Mission,” continuing the adventures of the film’s “talking” dog, plus other extra bits and games.

Bruno
Universal
DVD and Blu-ray

“Funnier than Borat” proclaims the cover of Bruno. Uh, no it’s not.  More annoying, yes.  Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen does his grating character shtick again, and it’s getting old — sorry.  His gay Austrian fashion man-child Bruno travels to America to pester everyday folk and celebrities. Sound familiar?  The bit with the de-programmer who thinks you can “cure” gay people is funny, but the La Toya Jackson stuff and other sketches/improvisations are just attempts to shock for shock’s sake, and the ambush approach is even nasty-mean at times.  Maybe you’ll find this hilarious. I didn’t.

Command Performance
First Look
DVD and Blu-ray

Oh look — Dolph Lundgren, the onetime Russian pummeler of Rocky and Universal Soldier is now a rock drummer whose band is opening for a U.S. mega pop star playing Moscow, when terrorists capture her and the daughters of the Russian President and we learn how tough a rock drummer can be. B-move silly stuff, lots of martial arts-style combat, blasts, shooting and boom-boom overall. But Command Performance is still better, in its own way, than Bruno, so there you go.

Legend of the Seeker
Complete First Season
ABC Studios

This isn’t my TV on DVD column, but here’s one I missed last time: Based on the Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind, Legend of the Seeker harkens back to syndicated shows of the ‘90s, like Hercules and Xena, and once you’re fully immersed in the show and its lore, you realize how much these kind of programs have been missed in the hell of too much reality crapola on TV.  A boyish, young adult woodsman, Richard Cypher (Craig Horner, who should’ve been cast as a young Hal Jordan with Nathan Fillion as a seasoned Hal Jordan for Green Lantern, but that’s another story…), comes to the aid of a Confessor Kahlan (the alluring Bridget Regan) who’s surrounded by bully-boy D’Haran soldiers; he then becomes embroiled in the battle against their evil wizard leader Darken Rahl and learns he his “The Seeker,” bearer of the Sword of Truth, guided by addled-or-is-he (?) Wizard Zed (Bruce Spense, the chopper pilot in Mad Max: The Road Warrior decades back).  It’s swords, sorcery, adventure, scheming, prophecies and more all good fun. Way better than snotty Gossip Girl children or Melrose/90210 redux nonsense.  Bonus features include various deleted scenes, featurettes about the show’s creation, and an interview with author Goodkind, as well as audio commentaries.