The Movie: 
Weiwei became world famous (or at least well known to the Western world) during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He had been commissioned by the Chinese government to create the centerpiece of the Olympic stadium, the "Bird's Nest" which easily dominated the associated imagery. During this process, Weiwei began to become much more aware of the many lies told by the Chinese government, particularly regarding the Sichuan earthquake, a natural disaster that resulted in the death of hundreds of young children through human incompetence and greed.
After the disaster, the debris of many Chinese elementary schools revealed their cheap and shoddy construction. Weiwei began a campaign to list the number and names of the dead children, since the Chinese flat out refused to acknowledge their existence. The Chinese government retaliated by putting surveillance cameras all over his home studio, having him followed day and night and eventually physically assaulting him. Weiwei retaliated by posting day and night on Twitter.
Weiwei describes the Chinese government as basically being a "bunch of hooligans" with a very immature, childish sense of right and wrong and one-upmanship. So how does one fight a hooligan? By being a hooligan himself. His famous photograph of Tiananmen Square depicts his middle finger blurred in the foreground--a finger pointed right at the heart of the Chinese government as an open declaration of civil disobedience.
Filmmaker Alison Klayman had the raw material for an intense political drama or thriller fueled by moral outrage, but just not the lead character for one. Ai Weiwei is such a laid back, calm and yet mischievous spirit that the film takes on a whole different, almost joyous tone. The film she ended up with is one of the most warm and inspiring documentaries I have ever seen.
Klayman was given what seems to be total, unrestricted access to Weiwei's entire life. His friends, family, colleagues all help to paint a complex portrait of a man who seems at heart to actually be quite simple. Weiwei appears to be a humble man with a remarkable sense of sincerity and a keen eye for how art can be both beautiful and meaningfully defiant at the same time. For Weiwei, there is only truth. The greatest injustice comes from those who try to hide it. The film ends with the words, "Never Retreat, Re-Tweet".
The Disc:
For a documentary, one always has to make excuses for the visuals and sound quality. Most are shot on the run, without preparation, and the point is to get something audiences can see and hear on record. From a tech standpoint, documentaries are usually graded on a curve.
That said, much care has been taken with Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry to present the best-looking image and sound as possible. This is a fine looking disc, with very good audio to boot. The DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix is fantastic. The voices are never lost in the mix and audio picked up through many different mics and in many different interior and exterior locations are all well-mixed to sound as clear as possible. The images are all well lit with nice dark blacks amid the detail. We can even see a moment in the film when the light is being fussed with for an interview and Weiwei nodding in agreement that the image looks much better. For a film about a visual artist this level of concern seems appropriate.
Along with the disc's technical qualities we get an excellent filmmaker's commentary from director Alison Klayman, editor Jennifer Fineran and co-producer Colin Jones. These people equal Weiwei's passion and it's their intense love for the man that comes through most. They wanted people to know this amazing artist and the commentary focuses on how much work it took in the editing room to get that across in the clearest manner.
Finally, we get some deleted scenes which really present variations on or more of the same things we saw in the movie. All are entertaining on their own but really add nothing to the feature film. The same thing happens with the extra interviews. We get more information but not new information. The trailer is also included.
Otherwise, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is a fantastic film and the Blu-ray release equals it.
Produced by: Alison Klayman, Adam Schlesinger
Nick Nadel is a comedy writer and blogger living in Brooklyn, NYWe're in a golden age of comic book movies right now, where even the most obscure comics (ahem, Cowboys & Aliens) can become blockbusters. But while fans have gotten movie versions of everything from Ghost Rider to Kick-Ass, there are still plenty of comic book movie properties that fall through the cracks. Recently, filmmakers like Joss Whedon and George Miller have spoken up about their failed would-be comic book franchises. Let's take a look at Whedon's Wonder Woman, Bradley Cooper's near performance as The Crow and other comic book movie "might-have-beens."
Fans of DC's Amazonian warrior princess had their hopes dashed when Joss Whedon's proposed Wonder Woman flick fell apart several years back. Recently, Whedon revealed some details about his take on the iconic hero. "[Wonder Woman] was a little bit like Angelina Jolie ... she sort of traveled the world," Whedon said. "She was very powerful and very naive about people, and the fact that she was a goddess was how I eventually found my 'in' to her humanity and vulnerability. ... She would look at us and the way we kill each other and the way we let people starve and the way the world is run and she'd just be like, None of this makes sense to me." Whedon added that in his original screenplay, Wonder Woman's romance with Steve Trevor would also help to humanize her. An interesting take on a character that DC has so far failed to get a handle on for the big screen. Of course, Wonder Woman fans' loss is Avengers fans' gain. 
Recently, concept artwork was released from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's failed reboot of James O'Barr's enduring goth icon. The planned update was to have starred The Hangover's Bradley Cooper in the role made famous by the late Brandon Lee way back in 1994. But, as with many projects related to the seemingly cursed Crow franchise, Fresnadillo's reboot fell apart once Cooper dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. As evidenced by the concept art, the new Crow would've had something of a Western punk rocker thing going. Diego Latorre's grim drawings (which originally appeared on Shock Till You Drop) are also proof that the jovial Cooper was completely wrong for the Eric Draven role. With The Crow, casting is everything. (Didn't the producers learn anything from Edward Furlong's over-the-top performance in the dreadful fourth film The Crow: Wicked Prayer?) 
Justice League Remember when Warner Bros. was working on a Justice League movie? Well, director George Miller (Happy Feet) talked to Superhero Hype recently about what happened to Warner/DC's answer to The Avengers. Turns out the 2007 Writer's Guild strike was only part of the problem. "There [were] a whole bunch of complex events," Miller said. "It was the middle of a writers' strike. There was Australian rebate legislation that was required to get the film going. ... It was no one particular's fault that it didn't happen." At one point, the film was ready to go with Adam Brody as the Flash, DJ Cotrona as Superman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Common as Green Lantern, and the then-unknown costar of The Social Network Armie Hammer as Batman. After the project fell apart, Miller went on to work with Common in the upcoming Happy Feet 2. As for Justice League, it's sadly still languishing in development hell while Avengers rockets toward the big screen.
Throughout the '90s, Avatar guru Cameron tried for years to get a Spider-Man film off the ground, only to face a protracted legal battle between defunct studio Carolco and various other parties that was more epic than a Green Goblin-Peter Parker face-off. Last year, Cameron's illustrated script treatment surfaced, providing a peek at what might have been. Featuring Electro and Sandman as the primary villains, copious profanity, and a racy Peter-Mary Jane sex scene, Cameron's take on Marvel's wacky wallcrawler was far more mature than Sam Raimi's 2002 film. One element that remained from Cameron's treatment? Those divisive organic webshooters. So feel free to blame James Cameron for that one. 
Before bouncing back with Superman Returns and Batman Begins, DC's top superheroes floundered throughout the late '90s and early '00s. Everything from a third Joel Schumacher film (tentatively titled Batman Triumphant) featuring Scarecrow and Harley Quinn to an adaptation of the Batman Year One comic helmed by Darren Aronofsky was considered for the Caped Crusader, while Superman projects were tackled by the likes of Tim Burton and McG. (Who could forget Nic Cage's bizarre Superman costume that leaked a while back?) At some point, Warner Bros. just gave up and decided to combine the two franchises for the ultimate superhero smackdown. Director Wolfgang Petersen was attached to the project but eventually left to make Troy. The story found Superman battling a Batman who was driven to the edge by the deaths of Robin, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon. (Of course, they eventually team up to take down Lex Luthor and Joker.) The strange project, which also involved Joker killing Batman's fiancée and Clark Kent dating Lana Lang, ended up being referenced in the least likely place -- as a fake movie poster in I Am Legend's post-apocalyptic Times Square. (Legend screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also worked on Batman Vs. Superman.)