never mention it. To the
it's was his "breakthrough," yet not even part of the article text.
, five times a week or more, Larry Hagman was Major Nelson, who went on a space mission.
is likely to endure longer in our hearts.
And memories. I have spent most of my life saying "Yeees" the way Major Nelson did to Dr Bellows. When my wife asks me a question that I can't answer, my reply is "It's an experiment, uh, that Major Healey and I are working on."
Add to that the occasional exclamation of "JEAANNAAAAY!" when riding thrill rides or when things in life go awry, and you get my point.
is and was big. But remembering Larry Hagman is more than mentioning J.R. over and over. It's also like the Shuttle being shipped off to L.A., the last vestige of the space program. So much more than mere trivia.
"BRAVE" BURSTS ONTO BLU-RAY WITH TONS OF EXTRAS
Blog, News and Events, Movies
Posted on Nov 21 2012 by Greg
Impressive at
Brave was on the big screen, there's something intensely dazzling to see it in Blu-ray. The almost infinite details fill every millimeter of the home screen.
Brave is a sweeping epic tale, but it's also an intimate examination of mother/daughter relationship. Although I enjoyed the film and saw it twice in theaters, as a dad and husband, I found the scene in which Merida gives her mother something to ingest that could be extremely harmful or fateful, is kind of difficult to take. Merida then snaps into denial of wrongdoing, which pushes more than a few buttons.
But I'm not a Mom or a daughter. When I saw the film with two sets of each, they resoundingly loved the film with absolutely no reservations. Being mothers of teen daughters, they each agreed that of course, the girl would be driven to risk anything to make her mother change, not considering the consequences and, yes, not owning up to it.
How Merida does face the impact of her actions, the fate of the kingdom, and her parental issues, is the heart of Brave, and what you must experience from beginning to end. Few films, animated or not, take a character through such a character arc in such a plausible, believable way.
The Brady Bunch this ain't.
The magnificent score by
Patrick Doyle is as epic as the film, and the voice cast is ideal. Pains were taken to make things as authentic as possible, as evidenced by the bonus features.
And what a feast of bonus features there are, at least on the Blu-ray. The DVD does contain the audio commentary (thank you!) and two short films, but depending on which Blu-ray set you choose, you get a lot of cool stuff.
Basically the 3-disc "Ultimate Collector's Edition" includes everything that the 5-disc
Disney/Pixar's Brave: The Ultimate Collector's Edition does except for a Blu-ray 3-D disc and a digital download disc.
Here's are the bonus features:
DISC ONE / FEATURE FILM- Audio Commentary
- Short Films
1.
La Luna 2.
The Legend of Mordu- Behind the Scenes
1. Brave Old World
2. Merida & Elinor
3. Bears
4. Brawl in the Hall
5. Wonder Moss
6. Magic
7. Clan Pixar
8. Once Upon a Scene
- Extended Scenes
1. Meet the Lords
2. Triplets Distraction
3. The Ruins
4. Blockade
DISC TWO / BONUS FEATURES- Fergus & Mordu - An Alternate Opening
- Fallen Warriors (short deleted shots)
- Dirty Hairy People
- It is English...Sort of (Doric dialect)
- Angus (the horse)
- The Tapestry
- Promotional Pieces
1. Feast Yer Eyes! Wee Bits of Animation (montage of
comical blackouts)
2. Relics: A Lyre, Cauldron and a Rock
3. Clan Dun Broch (Fergus Offers a Lesson)
4. Launch (Merida Teaches the Triplets Archery)
5. Flying Guts Theater (Presenting An Entertainment)
6. USA/Japan/UK Trailers
- Art Gallery
1. Characters
2. Color Keys
3. Development Art
4. Environments
5. Graphics
PIXAR RELEASES OVER A BAKER'S DOZEN OF TREATS
Blog, News and Events, Movies
Posted on Nov 21 2012 by Greg
Many of the Pixar principles of creativity have their roots in the concepts of
Walt Disney, Steve Jobs and the people in their orbit. One of ways Walt was able to nurture talent, sustain characters, test new ideas and techniques, and generally keep the studio rolling, was to produce short films through the golden age until the '60s with occasional forays into later decades.
Pixar always does this, creating shorts to accompany their features and some of those released by Walt Disney Pictures, some for TV and others as special bonus material for home video releases. This is
the second collection in the series and is a must-have for families and animation buffs alike.
For all ages and levels of interest, you get two excellent "Toy Story Toons" each of which are impressive considering how many characters they include in such a short time. There are also two "Cars Toons" starring Mater the tow truck -- one nodding to a future Pixar "Planes" series and another enhancing the back story of Radiator Springs, which ties in with the new Cars Land at
Disney's California Adventure Park.
Three shorts present an aspect of their feature films' storylines from another point of view:
BURN-E happens during
WALL-E and
Dug's Special Mission and
George & A.J. occur during the course of
UP.
George & A.J., by the way, has the funniest audio commentary of all twelve -- in which a stentorian announcer relentlessly "oversells" the film.
All twelve films have commentaries (thank you!), many of them revealing how personal some of these films are to their creative staff.
Partly Cloudy was inspired by the non-English speaking mother of its director (as well as Walt Disney's
Dumbo).
La Luna captures the memories of the adults of its director's youth.
Personally, I think
La Luna is the most beautiful of the films, with a breathtaking score -- reminiscent of that of
Pinocchio -- by the amazing
Michael Giacchino. (If only a soundtrack album of all these films was released!!)
Presto boasts the most classic treatment of the films, in that it has the wild humor and frenetic timing of the best Warner, MGM and Disney cartoon shorts. And
My Friend, the Rat, which opens the set, is especially delightful for those of us who enjoyed the Disney factual animation/live action films, most directed by
Ward Kimball. The design and the music are spot on. These creative people know their material and clearly love it.
Another wondrous extra are seven student films by
John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter, fun to watch but also fascinating while considering what magnificent futures would lie before these three icons -- and some likely roots of their subsequent films. You can also see how their sense of childlike wonder had not been beaten out of them by "too cool" peers or bitter adults.
Says Lasseter, with a chuckle, of his student days: "I was a bit of a procrastinator. The hardest part of making these films was getting them done, 'cause I would wait way too long to start my project! It's interesting now, having five sons. I go to them, 'I was a procrastinator.
Please don't be a procrastinator in your life!"
And for those who have DVD but not Blu-Ray, you still get the extra films -- and the commentaries on the DVD disc.
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