As skeptical as I was when Ben Affleck took his first turn as director, he managed to prove himself more than adequate to the task with his first film Gone Baby Gone. Now with his latest directorial effort, The Town, he proves once again that all those years spent working with other directors, with a bit of his own talent thrown in, is more than enough to craft a suspenseful and entertaining crime thriller.

As this is a review of the Blu-ray Ultimate Edition of the film and not a full review of the film itself, suffice it to say I enjoyed The Town enough to watch it more than once. In fact, I’ve seen it at least three times. First, in a theater. Then, on Blu-ray and then again on Blu-ray in this Ultimate Collectors’s Edition.

The cast is excellent, especially Jeremy Renner and, somewhat surprisingly, Blake Lively. I also enjoyed watching Jon Hamm’s performance and, sadly, one of the last onscreen appearances of Pete Postlethwaite. Affleck is also quite good in the movie and has matured as an actor. At this point I can almost forgive him for Daredevil. Almost.

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One of the great ancillary effects of the popularity of The Hunger Games is the renewed exposure it is generating for the certified classic, Battle Royal. The Japanese film is a bit over a decade old and has grown a huge international following, yet it never really broken out overseas.

Hopefully that will change now that the film is getting it’s first US official Blu-Ray release.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Battle Royal here is the official synopsis:

In the near future, the economy has collapsed, unemployment has soared and juvenile crime has exploded. Fearful of their nation’s youth, the Japanese government passes The BR Law: Each year, a 9th grade class is sent to a remote island where they will be locked into exploding neck collars, given a random weapon, and forced to hunt and kill each other until there is only one survivor left.

To celebrate the new release we have two new clips from the impending blu-ray set. The first clip is from the film itself and showcases some of the harsh brutality of the film. Keep in mind this is a red band clip, but for those of you who are on the fence this should help convince you. The second showcases  behind the scenes footage of that same scene, giving you a sense of how deep the extras content truly goes.

The Blu-Ray set hits March 20th and you can check out the clips after the jump.

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If there’s one thing that never seems to get old no matter how many times I watch it’s Monty Python movies like Holy Grail and Meaning of Life. So naturally when word came that Holy Grail was coming to Blu-ray, I was pretty excited.

In fact, it’s not just coming to Blu-ray, it has arrived. Oh happy day. Here’s all the details from the official press release. Plus, be sure to check out the trailer for Monty Python and the Holy Grail after the break.

Join King Arthur and his knights as they embark on a quest for the Holy Grail and battle against the Black Knight, the Killer Rabbit, The Knights Who Say ‘Ni!’ and the Black Beast of Aaaargh! The Blu-ray set is brimming with coconuts, shrubberies and swallows (African or European), OOPS, we mean loads of bonus materials, including over 30 minutes of new Blu-ray exclusive special features.

The Monty Python team are at it again in their second movie. This time we follow King Arthur and his knights in their search for the Holy Grail. This isn’t your average medieval knights and horses story – for a start, due to a shortage in the kingdom, all the horses have been replaced by servants clopping coconuts together!

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Texas Killing Fields is a strong, straightforward crime thriller which tells the story of three cops running the gauntlet in an attempt to solve two brutal crimes. But the film is particularly notable for its haunting tone and superlative acting.

Director Ami Canaan Mann does everything she can to give the movie an infectious gloom, an impressive imitation of the sprawling claustrophobia specific to Southern poverty. Mann, daughter of the legendary Michael Mann (who also co-produced the film), makes a lot of smart choices here, but none more crucial than the cast.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Sam Worthington bring their own unique intensity to their natural good cop/bad cop relationship, and a pre-Oscar nomination Jessica Chastain (The Help) brings a fiery quality to a supporting role. As usual, the 12-year-old Chloe Moretz shows remarkably advanced nuance for an actor her age.

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Catch .44 is the embodiment of style over substance.

The film looks great. Writer/director Aaron Harvey clearly has a good eye. If the budget is as low as he implies in the audio commentary, Harvey needs to marry his production designer and his cinematographer. A lot of the visual effects are a little clunky (think the fight sequences in Deadliest Warrior), but good for the budget (which bodes well for the future of indie film).

The acting is also very strong, which is not unexpected given a cast that includes veterans Bruce Willis, Brad Dourif, and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. Most of the fun that can be squeezed from watching Catch .44 is seeing the actors play.

But the twisty crime thriller genre is all about story, and there just isn’t one here. Unlike The Usual Suspects and Reservoir Dogs, to which the marketing compares the film, Catch.44 doesn’t have any surprises, any secrets, or any tension. It’s mostly just people saying they are going to shoot each other and then, in fact, shooting each other.

The characters are poorly drawn and, with the possible exception of Whitaker’s confused psycho, unmemorable. Most have no arcs to speak of. The script doesn’t even keep you entertained with clever banter or intimidating tough-guy talk, another staple of the genre. The dialogue in Catch .44 is clumsy and lacking originality.

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The sports movie genre is pretty bipolar. Sports movies jump from the maudlin (“Rudy! Rudy!”) to the asinine (“Dogs can’t play basketball!”) with very few steps in between. Division III: Football’s Finest is definitely closer to the latter, but holds on to reality enough to stay out of Air Bud territory (a good call, considering how that terrain is marked).

That is not to say the movie does not reach heights of ridiculousness. With Andy Dick, Paul Henderson, and no less than four MadTV alumni in the cast, Division III is host to several characters that would seem over-the-top in a cartoon, but the film stays grounded enough to be aware of its own silliness. Most importantly, Division III is very funny, easily on par with a first-tier Happy Madison comedy.

Expect first-time feature director Marshall Cook, pulling quadruple duty here, to graduate to the big leagues in no time at all. His comic instincts are good both on camera, as a slacker quarterback, and off, directing, editing, and co-writing (along with Dick and Henderson). Thanks to Cook and company, most of the gags hit home, and the movie never dwells on those that don’t.

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The 50th anniversary of the longest running film franchise of all time is something to celebrate, and while at CES the first major release of that celebration was announced. Bond 50 is a comprehensive Blu-Ray collection of all twenty-two James Bond films, together for the first time in a single, high definition, collection.

The announcement was made by a who’s who of Bond creatives from the franchise’s storied history. Director’s John Glen, Martin Campbell and Micheal Apt, who together combined to direct eight of the films, were joined by Bond Girls Olga Kurylenko and Caterina Murino as they debuted the impressive new set.

2011 might go down as the year Hollywood finally figured out how to make a great prequel. Between the “X-cellent” X-Men: First Class and Rise of the Planet of the Apes we have seen two high profile franchises recieve a much needed quality boost back into the lime light.

The most impressive part of this movie is the performance of Andy Serkis as Caesar the ape. Millions of words have been written on the subject of his brilliant digital performance, and every single one of them speaks the truth. We are seeing the line between animation and performance blends so much that it is almost impossible to tell the difference.

This Blu-Ray presents the film, and a whole bunch of features that help you understand what exactly went into the astonishing effects work on the film. Of all the films that have come out in the last few years, this is one of the most worthy of a great set of features.

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I wont spend a long time teasing you with different tidbits about why living in Los Angeles is the coolest thing ever, especially for a film fan, but suffice to say it is really amazing. This weekend provided yet more proof of that fact as street artist Anthony Lister painted a seriously cool Rise of the Planet of the Apes street mural on one of the cooler streets in town.

The art was inspired by the new release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes on Blu-Ray. Australian born artist Anthony Lister spent the better part of four nights last weekend conceiving, painting and generally monkeying around to celebrate on of his favorite films of the year.

“I’m an adventure painter. When I’m painting I just bring out the shapes that are already calling me. I’m a problem solver and when I am dealing with paintings conceptually and aesthetically I’m balancing these problems… The reason I’m going to be adding Rise of the Planet of the Apes to my collection is ’cause it is kinda like one of my favorite movies of the year. I mean I’m looking forward to seeing all those bits and how they did that”

The pictures showcase the look of the mural for sure, but having a chance to drive by it and see the art up close really emphasizes the artistry that goes into street art like this. It is great to see actual art being created for the release of this new Blu-Ray as opposed to the standard Photoshop heavy billboards that would have been much easier to create.

Check out some videos and a gallery on the creation of this awesome art after the jump.

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It’s been said that if you screw up once, it’s a mistake, but if you do it three times it’s a style.

Don’t get me wrong, Submarine is a good film with a strong voice, but that’s not to say it’s not without pros and cons.  With a unique tone, interesting characters, and distinctive editing, director Richard Ayoade obviously had a strong vision for this film from the beginning.  The only problem was with the main character, Oliver Tate, who was written as such an offbeat character that there were times at which he was hard to relate to.

Submarine is a film full of feature film newcomers.  Ayoade makes his narrative feature debut as writer/director, a departure from his career as a TV actor and director.  Both of the young actors, as well, come fresh to the big screen.  Craig Roberts, playing Oliver Tate, takes on his first feature lead in this film (he has since starred in Jane Eyre), and Yasmin Paige, coming only from small parts in obscure films, gives a surprisingly beautiful performance as his love interest, Jordana Bevan.

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Never underestimate the power of experience.  Fresh off directing a couple episodes of King of Queens, Michael J. Weithorn make his feature film debut with A Little Help. I’m all for new talented writer/directors (Mark Webb), but unfortunately, while I do see potential for some creative ideas in this film, he probably should have tried out a few shorts before diving head first into a feature.

It felt like highly produced sit-coms episodes strung together.

In the film, Jenna Fischer plays Pam…. sorry, Laura, a dental hygienist who must deal with the aftermath of the sudden death of her unfaithful husband.  With her family almost forcing comfort and support down her throat, she soon discovers that her son has been lying about his father’s death to his friends at school to make him sound cooler.  The film has all the elements in place, a solid story with good casting, but ultimately fails to come together as a cohesive unit that keeps the audience engaged the whole time.

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It’s rare that we ever come across a film that crosses two very different genres so seamlessly as the Finnish film Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Based on the series of shorts in which a Finnish shipping company explains the best and worst ways in dealing with renegade Santa Clauses, this story tells the tale of how that fictional company came to be.

Marketed as a horror, yet played as a Joe Dante-esque holiday adventure, Exports is able to both scare the crap out of you with hundreds of naked old men, as it is able to make you smile at the ridiculousness of hundreds of naked old men running through the snow.

If you’ve got the stomach for a film in subtitles, we recommend watching this one in its original tongue. Skip the dubs so you don’t get lost in some of the performances that make this playful horror film as fun as it is.

Some may consider the film to be a bit of a slow build for what is surely an epic and explosive ending, but if you relate with the two curious boys or any of the members of the search party then you will be along for every minute of the action here.

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