New Movie Releases DVD

2 Comments:

• Black Belt Systems "fyngyrz"

  January 29th, 2012 at 12:20 pm

  1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

  
  Grab the popcorn!, January 28, 2012

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  Black Belt Systems “fyngyrz” (MT, United States) –

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  This review is from: Real Steel (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (Blu-ray)

  What a great movie. Sure, the storyline is predictable, but the entertainment value is huge. The thing about this movie is that I could see the depicted robot fights, the computer technology, basically everything about it, as coming about in the normal course of our society. A wholly believable story, probably one of the easiest SF movies to watch in terms of suspending disbelief in quite some time — and it’s worth mentioning that this actually *is* science fiction in the classic sense; a little technology, all of it reasonable, around which wraps a good story. It’s not a fantasy, as are many so-called SF stories today.

  So here we have really great robots, some awesome robot fighting, a not-overly annoying kid, and scenes that are (obviously intentionally) reminiscent of big-arena sports today, all combined with some feel-good stuff in the classic sense.

  It kind of looks like a kid’s movie before you watch it; then when you watch it, there are adult-ish elements; at the end, I wondered who they thought they were marketing to? Perhaps that’s why this didn’t do all that well at the box office: the kid probably turned off the hard core SF types, the violence probably turned off legions of mommies and daddies, and the people who did go and enjoy it didn’t make the case to others that it really wasn’t a kid’s movie or a movie that is all that violent in the living-things-getting-hurt sense of the word.

  Well, whatever the case there may be, I say, forget anything anyone says and just sit down with the desire to be entertained. I think you’ll find that entertainment is delivered as desired, and in spades.

  They clearly set it up (very well) for a sequel, but it’s unlikely we’ll see one, again because of the box office performance. Too bad. I really, really liked it. I think you probably will too.

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• SRFireside "ZOOM!"

  January 29th, 2012 at 12:17 pm

  9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

  
  Nothing new to see here, but MAN… what a ride!, January 4, 2012

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  SRFireside “ZOOM!” (Houston, TX United States) –
  
    

  This review is from: Real Steel (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (Blu-ray)

  Here’s Real Steel in a nutshell. Remember that old board game called Rock Em’ Sock ‘Em Robots? Well now it’s a movie. I mean the old game was just two robots fighting it out in a boxing ring. That’s Real Steel. Rocky with hydraulic fluid. Your average underdog story. Add a love interest tired of her beau staying the underdog and a dysfunctional father/son relationship and you pretty much hit all the standard marks for an average plot line. I know that’s what I thought when I was hearing about the movie. However when I saw the trailers something about it told me this was going to be a really fun movie to watch. Sure enough it was.

  So Real Steel is essentially the same, tired old story told that has been spun in Hollywood over and over again, but with robots. Sounds mediocre, huh? Unoriginal plot points is actually the norm these days. Only Real Steel hits these marks with such gusto and polish that it really stands out in that rat race. It’s not a masterpiece of script and story, mind you. But then again that’s not the intent. This is a feel good, popcorn movie through and through. It’s good to see one that at least takes its audience seriously enough to make a well thought out escape.

  Lets start off with our main character Charlie (Hugh Jackman). To put it simply he is a jerk for better half of the movie. I mean the kind of jerk you just simply cannot like. Eventually the jerk gets a clue and starts to become the kind of guy you can’t help but root for. This takes take a well written script and a talented actor to make the jerk and his eventual turnaround believable. You gotta give Jackman credit for his portrayal of Charlie. It’s a character with a lot of heart, even when you hate him.

  Next character of focus is Charlie’s estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo). As kid actors go we have a winner. Enough teen indignant defiance to carry the family feuding and enough big eyed wonder of a child to carry the story. From there you have a very good ensemble of supporting actors. Again good, solid acting with very few boughs of melodrama (most of which just feels like it was needed).

  Since this is a movie about fighting robots the “real” stars have to be just as good as the live actors. The robots in the film all come in a wide variety of designs and demeanor. More so the designs also give off a lot of character. The starring robot, Atom, has just enough characteristics to make him the likeable robot with stuff like rounded features on the face and glowing blue ‘eyes’. It’s not just with the look of the robot that keep you interested, which can range from junkyard mean to dark and polished shiny monsters, but also with other qualities like poise and stance, how they walk, even how they fight. The production used motion capture technology used in the movie Avatar and had boxing star Suger-Ray Leonard advise in the fight scenes. Again the results show a refinement in design and execution that makes the whole experience with the ‘bot feel more real and organic.

  The story flows with good pacing. It’s not all fights all the time, and the off-time is worth watching. The underdog success story at first feels like it stays in the under part for a while, but then again that’s part of the charm as you see just how much Charlie screws up his life. When we are full on in the big leagues is where all the previous stuff really pays off with the big exciting fight and all that feel-good emotions you would be used to by now on movies like this. The only segment in Real Steel that I have a gripe about is the middle when they start the transition from underdog to rising star. There simply isn’t any robots fights in between. We don’t see Atom build up his reputation with any additional matches. This is a shame because the movie is really at its best showing these fights. You don’t even get a fight montage. Still that’s my only gripe for an otherwise very entertaining movie.

  The Blu-Ray release will of course be in 1080p and have a DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio soundtrack. DVD will have Dolby Digital 2.0. Both the DVD and Blu-Ray are announced with a host of features with the Blu-Ray rounding out some nice extra features. Here are the list list of extras (* denotes Blu-Ray exclusive):

  - Audio Commentary With Director Shawn Levy*

  - Countdown to the Fight: The Charlie Kenton Story*

  - Sugar Ray Leonard: Cornerman’s Champ*

  - Making of Metal Valley

  - Building the Bots

  - Deleted and extended scenes (One of each. Extended scene the Charlie’s first robot Ambush, and a deleted scene called Butterfly)

  - Bloopers and outtakes

  - Real Steel Second Screen: Ringside With Director Shawn Levy* (This is to access interactive content on your PC or iPad while simultaneously watching the movie)

  I am normally the type of person who shies away from “popcorn flicks” but this one is very well worth…

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