Jersey Shore Shark Attack [Blu-ray]

Several times during Jersey Shore Shark Attack, I had to keep swatting at the back of my head to reassure myself that no one was pressing a gun against my skull, forcing me to watch. Such is the case when I volunteer for a film so recognizably non-essential for Cinema Blend. Since I?d reviewed seasons one and three of Jersey Shore proper for this site, I seemed to be advantageous where enjoying this semi-spoof was concerned. And guess what? I lucked out. This is grade-B hilarity trapped inside of an abysmal F-bomb. I?m certain the writers were breathing at least 75% pure oxygen when they thought ?Gym, tan, harpooning? was the perfect send-up line.

The Movie:

I stand before you (sitting at a computer) wholeheartedly blaspheming against everything that is cosmic about film by admitting I?ve allowed the douche-friendly cast and crew of JSSA to land largely on my good side. I previously had no idea it was a straight parody, in the loosest sense of the words. It made fun of the Jersey Shore cast while simultaneously existing as a really shitty shark attack movie, in the usual Syfy style. I can only hope the Real Housewives will be battling piranhas at some point in the future.

If there is any single person still left reading this, I commend you. Hey, I didn?t want to believe that the laughter escaping my face was genuine either. This is a movie where a guy gets attacked by a shark, and his cap washes up on shore, bitten in three different places. Three places! As if a shark?s bite, or appetite, was small enough for a hat to enter into it. Maybe it?s because the sharks were all rendered in some of the shittiest CGI this side of the Jaws cut scenes from the original Nintendo system. Maybe CGI sharks have a smaller bite range. Then how are they leaping out of water and biting entire people in half? For that matter, how are they leaping out of water? And is that seriously Paul Sorvino? Yes.

Sorvino?who is onscreen long enough for you to get three good sneezes in--plays a mayor/shareholder for a company who wants to keep deep sea drilling (CGI drilling, no less) in a spot that is populated by vibration-sensitive sharks with a thirst for human blood. That?s a ?situation? that calls for a hero to step in. Six heroes actually. (Make hero-zero joke here.)

Enter ?the complication? (Jeremy Luke), also called T.C. by everyone in voices that sound amazingly like Top Cat?s feline brethren. (If you can go the whole movie without calling Luke a ?Guido Jimmy McNulty,? you are the better person here.) There?s the beef-brained Donnie (Joey Russo) and Paulie Balzac (Daniel Booko). Booko probably comes the closest to his TV influence, though mostly because of the immaculate head of hair. On the female side, we have the completely interchangeable trio of Nooki (Melissa Molinaro), J-Moni (Alex Mauriello) and BJ (Audi Resendez). (I don?t even understand how ?BJ? is a character pun.) In case you were like me and thought this was a slasher film where one of these characters would get shark-chomped every few minutes, it isn?t. This gang of meatballs and cleavage is the film?s source of heroism. The bad guys are rich pricks, albino sharks, and drilling-friendly businessman William Atherton. But only Atherton has a swanky purple tie.

The basic story is that sharks attack the shore and eventually these goombahs and goombettes inexplicably bring out a bunch of guns and blast sharks in the fins until they die. Everything else is souped-up lingo liberally sprinkled through scenes that would have gained quality had nudity and cursing been allowed. That this material is largely PG-13 (although it is rated R), and isn?t drowning in alcohol and pheromones, does more to separate it from its MTV counterpart than the actual sharks involved, even with the occasional ejaculation joke. Examples of the mostly Italian lingo: gnocchi, preppy strunes, spuntini, pazzo, cugini, fazools. No Mario Bros. references, though there are unseen characters named Vinny No Neck and Vinny Bumbaza.

The sheer cult potential of a movie that includes the line, ?The shark that killed Joey Fatone has been shot,? so soon after referring to Fatone as ?a legend,? should intuitively be countered by Fatone?s actual presence within the movie. However, it?s a fun, self-deprecating cameo that ends in a fairly awesome death. Less fun is Vinny Guadagnino?s turn as a News Jersey reporter, which looks as if it was filmed after one of the filmmakers happened to catch Vinny out to dinner.

Since this movie is extremely useless without having watched even a single episode of Jersey Shore, I am almost impressed by Syfy?s willingness to exclude the viewers that would have avoided the movie based on its shark elements alone. There is nothing here for Shore-loathers or anyone else who doesn?t appreciate intentionally bad quality, as any plot-heavy scenes without the crew aren?t worth the trouble. But if you?ve got some friends over and a bong or a bottle of booze to share, then consider this a recommendation. No ugatz! I have no idea if I used that correctly.

The Disc:

Is it worth stating how useless Blu-ray technology is on a movie like this? Watching it on Syfy on a television from the 1970s is the way to go here. For features we get a commentary that tries to glorify everything seen on screen, and has volume problems where film dialogue is way too loud. It is occasionally interesting,to say the most. In the five-minute ?On Set? feature, the cast talks about how hilarious the movie is. It also shows characters too boring to bother mentioning earlier. If you aren?t saying ?Pound it. Explode it. Rain it down!? in fist bumping succession, then I cannot judge you negatively. That?s the B-side of my earlier recommendation.

Jersey Shore Shark Attack [Blu-ray] DetailsDistributor: Anchor Bay EntertainmentStarring: Jeremy Luke, Joey Russo, Melissa Molinaro, William AthertonProduced by: G.E. Furst, Fred Olen Ray, Kimberly A. Ray, Peter SullivanWritten by: Michael Ciminera, Richard Gnolfo

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Dredd

Setting an action film within a contained space is an excellent way to keep it tight and thrilling, but it's also a risk, since the formula has been done well so many times-- Die Hard set the standard, and films as recent as this year's The Raid have improved upon it. And it's doubly risky in a film like Dredd, which establishes the parameters of a harsh dystopian future in quick voiceover, but then limits the film almost entirely within an apartment mega-plex, which aside from a few technological innovations could pretty much exist today. You're swept into a fascinating future, only to be trapped in a tiny corner of it for an entire film; how is that going to be worth it?

Dredd, an adaptation of the comic books that's miles away from the 1995 Sylvester Stallone attempt, sets itself apart by knowing its strengths and playing to them, over and over again. Screenwriter Alex Garland (of Danny Boyle dystopias 28 Days Later and Sunshine), crafts a dead simple narrative about Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) and his psychic sidekick Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) needing to get to the top floor of a 200-story apartment complex to take out the vicious prostitute-turned-drug-kinpin Mama (Lena Headey). From there director Pete Travis follows our heroes through hails of gunfire with a clear eye for the geography of the building, while also adding in the film's great stylistic flourish-- Mama handles a drug called "slo-mo," which slows down perception to 1% of normal speed, and you'd better believe we see a lot of "slo-mo" vision. At times it makes Dredd look like a Zack Snyder knock-off, but it's also a gaudy and enjoyable break from this grim future-- especially when it highlights the film's favorite method of death, people falling from great heights to a splattery, gory death.

The movie goes very, very hard on the blood and guts, and there's plenty to find in a story where the Judges have guns that don't just shoot bullets, but grenades and fireballs and all kinds of goodies. Dredd can feel unrelenting at times, especially when a gory scene leads straight into a psychologically intense one, like when Anderson infiltrates the mind of a perp (The Wire's Wood Harris) only to find a lot of disturbing sexual depravity. And when your hero is equipped with a gun and rarely fights hand-to-hand, the action can feel a little redundant-- Travis doesn't really take advantage of all the potential of a chase in this kind of confined space, and when Dredd runs out of bullets, you feel less tension than a sense that maybe he wasn't all that great of a hero to begin with.

To Dredd's credit, though, he's played through a somewhat miraculous feat of acting by Urban, whose eyes are masked beneath a helmet the entire film and who speaks in a gruff monotone, but who conveys a world of emotion all the same. Dredd really shouldn't be an engaging character, but his commitment to justice and his growing affection for protege Anderson make him remarkably likable. Olivia Thirlby almost has the harder job, acting like an all-knowing psychic, and with her face fully exposed to show emotions enough for two people. The sassy friend from Juno translates remarkably well into a pint-sized badass, and with a promising dystopia lurking outside the walls of this movie, it's easy to imagine following both of them into further adventures. And though Headey has established herself as one memorable sociopath, Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones, she takes it 10 steps further as Mama, a scarred and endlessly manipulative woman pulling all the strings from the top of her grimy tower.

With style and dour charisma to spare, Dredd proves that the smartest way to handle an action plot is often the simplest, while also tossing in enough flash to set itself apart. It didn't have quite enough fun with its ideas and location as I'd hoped for, but it's got plenty of strong raw material to get it to the finish line-- if this is the next evolution of the Die Hard formula, John McClane would probably feel exhausted by the darkness but also a little proud.

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Hocus Pocus [Blu-ray]

Like one of those horrifying potions the Sanderson Sisters brew to suck the life out of children, Hocus Pocus is filled with a lot of rank and sketchy ingredients. It features arguably the most pitiful, unlikeable protagonist in the eighty-plus year history of Walt Disney Pictures. It dispenses groan-worthy jokes like fun-sized candy bars, and its characters behave without reason or logic whenever the plot, which is ludicrous in its own right, needs them to do so. It?s consistently cheesy, occasionally stupid and yet, arguably, the most likeable family Halloween movie of all-time.

The Movie:

Some of this, of course, is due to a serious lack of competition. There aren?t a ton of great films for the second grade crowd that involve reincarnated witches, but even if there were, this one would stand near the top of the pack thanks to a lot of intelligent and shrewd formatting decisions made by director Kenny Ortega. Best known for choreographing Dirty Dancing and helming the High School Musical movies, Ortega keeps the action in Hocus Pocus brisk, the tone pretty zany and the focus, as it should be, on the Sanderson Sisters.

Winifred (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) might not be the main characters of the film, but they most assuredly are its biggest strengths. When we first meet them, they?re coaxing a beautiful little girl to her death. Three hundred years after they?re hung for sucking the victim?s life force to make themselves younger, a virgin (Omri Katz) mistakenly reincarnates them by lighting an enchanted candle. This fish out of water premise coupled with the ladies? basic quest (murdering more children) makes for a wonderful combination of humor and creepiness.

Ordinarily, a character can only offer one or the other, but because we?ve seen Winifred turn people into cats and shoot lightning bolts out of her fingers, we know she?s not to be trifled with. Yet, because we?ve also seen her mistake firemen for witch hunters and roads for black rivers, she and her sisters are wonderful fodder for comedy. The two-pronged offering makes the women constantly watchable, and helps keep the momentum up, which is probably the main reason why the film is still routinely watched nineteen years after it was released.

Hocus Pocus is snappy. It?s ninety-seven minutes on the go. Following the intriguing, well put together first scene set in the 1690s, almost all of the action takes place over the course of one evening. It never lingers for too long in one place and introduces plenty of hilarious side characters, including a fake cop and Garry and Penny Marshall playing an older couple mistaken for Satan and Medusa. When the energy begins to sour, there?s always a choreographed song and dance number or a run-in with a bully or something else to inject life, even into the few characters who lack spirit.

The most wooden of the offerings is Max Dennison, the aforementioned virgin who lights the Black Flame Candle. He?s not sympathetic or likeable. He acts like a d-bag and gives the hottest girl (Vinessa Shaw) in school his number in the middle of class; yet, he lets two idiotic bullies named Jay and Ice take his shoes without throwing a punch. He?s not particularly nice to his awesome sister Dani (Thora Birch), and he?s not confident in his own abilities. He?s pretty much a complete throwaway alongside his parents (Charles Rocket, Stephanie Faracy), but since he?s usually in the middle of doing something exciting or interacting with other characters who are far more interesting, his presence isn?t a huge dealbreaker. It?s just one of the few annoyances, alongside an occasional lack of plot explanation and bad jokes, that make Hocus Pocus more enjoyable and watchable than honest and great.

In some ways, that?s a critique. Hocus Pocus isn?t great. There are dozens of moments a viewer could point to and question. There are gaps in logic and there is an abounding shallowness, but in other ways, it's light-hearted tone and willingness to have fun at the expense of all else is why it regularly airs on television almost two decades later. It?s a trade-off, but all things considered, it?s probably a good one.

The Disc:

The back of the Hocus Pocus Blu-ray + DVD combo pack touts ?Disney Enhanced High Definition Picture And Sound? under its special features. For a film originally released in 1993 that was never meant to look overly pretty, it does look and sound a little better than you would expect. So, this set has that going for it. Unfortunately, it makes no attempt at offering anything else, unless you?re feeling generous and counting subtitles.

Distributor: Walt Disney PicturesStarring: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch Produced by: Steven Haft, David KirschnerWritten by: Mick Garris, David M Evans, Neil Cuthbert

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End Of Watch

Even if End of Watch had turned out to be a bad film, I still would have respected it. In both his script and his directing style David Ayer gambles constantly, be it in the way he decides to shoot a particular scene or help the audience get a better understanding of the central characters, and it's impressive how many of those gambles pay off. It?s those chances that Ayer takes that separate his movie from the standard cop drama, elevating it to be a great one.

These risks start at the most basic story levels, as End of Watch isn?t a movie about two cops fighting evil in South Central Los Angeles, but instead about two men, Officer Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Officer Zavala (Michael Pena), who have a pure bond of friendship and loyalty as officers in the L.A.P.D. Rather than having every scene feature Taylor and Zavala breaking down doors, firing off guns and talking about their mission to stop the big bad gang leader, Ayer instead slows everything down and gives the audience a chance to look into the characters? lives as more than just officers, but also people, attending weddings and quinceaneras. The timeline stretches over a number of months so we watch the relationship between Taylor and his girlfriend (Anna Kendrick), while also seeing Zavala?s wife (Natalie Martinez) give birth to their first son. A through line has the policemen on the heels of some serious evil developing in the city, but Ayer lets it unfold slowly, bouncing back and forth between the different universes of the characters? lives and placing more importance on the audience understanding who these men are than anything else.

End of Watch is a story about two partners, and Ayer couldn?t have done better casting them than Gyllenhaal and Pena. When Taylor and Zavala are riding around on patrol it feels as though Ayer sent the two actors out for a drive with a camera and told them to just speak naturally in character. Their banter is quick-witted but real, the characters discussing the cons of dating a Latin woman (due mostly to the ridiculous number of quinceaneras that you?ll have to attend), white people and coffee, and dealing with their respective significant others. The officers are as tight as brothers and there isn?t a single moment in the movie where you question it. Both Gyllenhaal and Pena put on brilliant performances, but it?s their chemistry that makes the movie work as well as it does.

End of Watch?s cinematography purports that it?s a found footage movie, but it's decidedly not one. At the start it?s explained that Taylor is taking a film class and making a project about his life as a police officer, which gives Ayer the ability to do a lot of handheld shots and first person perspective. While many directors would say, ?Okay, this is the aesthetic of our movie,? Ayer says, ?Screw that,? and peppers scenes with establishing shots and third person perspective ? again, he takes a lot of chances. By breaking convention and ignoring limitation he ends up delivering the audience a hard look at the unique, rough streets of South Central while also capitalizing on the grittiness, realism and intensity that comes with found footage. They work in harmony and the effect is dazzling.

After my screening of End of Watch I almost felt compelled to speed just so that I would get pulled over and I would have an opportunity to say, ?Thank you.? Ayer has spent just about his entire career chronicling tales of the L.A.P.D., with movies like Training Day, The Fast and the Furious, Dark Blue and Harsh Times, but this movie is something more-- intense, gripping, funny, and absolutely fantastic.

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Battleship [Blu-ray]

A film based on a board game is inherently a stupid idea and so is this film. Noisy as your grandmother's vacuum cleaner and filled with images hurled at you at breakneck speeds, the film initially looks like sub Michael Bay garbage. For the first half hour I was convinced that this had the potential to be a worse film than any made by Bay. What I failed to realize is that director Peter Berg is no Michael Bay, and by that I mean Berg still has some respect for the storytelling side of the filmmaking craft. Slowly, I found myself getting immersed in this world and when the battleships took precedence it finally dawned on me that Peter Berg may have made the best boardgame to film adaptation ever, not counting Clue. .

The Movie:

In Battleship, the focus remains on the stars of the game, the battleships themselves, as well as the ships? beauty in movement and the excitement of action on the high seas. Logic goes out the window, aliens are thrown into the story as the enemy (because why not?), Japanese and American (and Barbadian if you count Rihanna) soldiers work together, some kind of romance subplot is carried out half-heartedly, Liam Neeson stops by for a free lunch and what amounts to a cameo, and the screen explodes in wartime fireworks. It's completely stupid and, at the same time, stupidly fun.

The plot revolves around the Hopper brothers, Alex (Taylor Kitsch) and Stone (Alexander Skarsg?rd). Alex is the wild and crazy one, while Stone is the responsible rock steady one who is always trying to get his brother to do something with his life (like join the Navy or something and fight aliens with awesome battleships). But, as a Naval officer Alex is pretty much the same guy. He is bad at following orders and of course has to fall in love with the daughter (Brooklyn Decker) of his Admiral (Liam Neeson). Things come to a head on the day of a training mission in Hawaii, where apersonal problem--asking dad for permission to get married--has to be put on hold because alien spacecraft have shown up (clearly not just to make contact). What we have here is not a failure to communicate but rather the second sneak attack in Peal Harbor history.

Certainly, massively low expectations have something to do with how I reacted to the film. However, it exudes a real enthusiasm that is hard to find in these lumbering spectacles. Battleship just wants to be mindless fun. The acting is surprisingly competent, with star Taylor Kitsch quite confident in the lead and, even more surprisingly, there is really little in the way of groaningly bad dialogue. Believe it or not, no one ever says the game's signature line. So, lets say it here, all together and with enthusiasm, ?You sunk my Battleship!"

The Disc:

This movie may not end up on anyone's "ten best" list, but it will probably be played on a loop at HDTV showrooms around the world since its image and sound are stunning. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and there are scenes in this film, full of sea and sun, that guide your eyes way into the deep backgrounds where everything is sharp and clear and clean.

Universal really gave this film the full treatment with a huge inventory of extra features on the Blu-ray disc. These include an "Alternate Ending Pre-Visualization," which will do little more than convince viewers the ending chosen was correct.

"The Visual Effects of Battleship" show how far effects artists have come in creating water digitally. The scenes at sea in the film are completely convincing on a photo-realistic level. What I can never understand is, after all of the work is put into creating the reality, why the effects artists cannot resist creating impossible camera movements. These fly in and out of areas that no camera operator or even camera could enter and shatter that reality in seconds.

"USS Missouri VIP Tour" is exactly what it sounds like--an informative look at "Mighty Mo" from bow to stern. Next, "Preparing for Battle" covers the pre-production stage, focusing on the challenges of adapting the game into a movie. "All Hands On Deck: The Cast" is more of your standard behind-the-scenes piece that is full of the cast saying how fun it was to work together.

"Engage in Battle" is split into two smaller pieces, "Shooting at Sea" which shows how cautious Peter Berg was of shooting much of the film on actual water. Obviously, he heard the horror stories about Spielberg an Jaws as well as Kevin Costner and Waterworld. "All Aboard the Fleet" gives us a glimpse of shooting on a floating production barge.

"Commander Pete" is, of course, a segment where people say funny or nice things about Peter Berg. This makes me wonder about that story of him slapping Jennifer Garner during the making of The Kingdom. Hearsay says this almost led to a director to director throwdown when Garner's husband, Ben Affleck, showed up on set to confront Berg.

It's no surprise "All Access with Peter Berg" doesn't go into that incident at all. Instead, this feature is the newfangled way of featuring the director's commentary on selected scenes throughout the disc. Scenes are suddenly interrupted by Berg, who is in some kind of Minority Report world in the bonus features, making graphics and images appear in front of him with his hands and tossing them away, etc.

All in all, Battleship is a pretty impressive Blu-ray release, which also comes with a standard DVD and a downloadable digital copy, as well as Ultraviolet access. You can watch the film anywhere, even at sea.

Distributor: Universal Studios Home EntertainmentStarring: Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsg?rd, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Hamish Linklater, Jesse Plemons, Tadanobu Asano, Liam NeesonProduced by: Peter Berg, Brian Goldner, Duncan Henderson, Bennett Schneir, Scott Stuber Written by: Erich and Jon Hoeber

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Lawless

Though it's based only loosely on the real-life exploits of the Bondurant brothers, Lawless has the meandering pace of a real-life story, in which not every plot thread wraps up in an important theme, and not every character's fate feels perfectly aligned with the narrative. That can be frustrating in self-important biopics or sagas about Great Important Historical Events, but it's terrific for spending more time with the loud, wily and coarsely endearing Bondurants, who turned to bootlegging during Prohibition and turned it into a family business.

Directed by John Hillcoat, who brought gothic undertones to the Australian Western The Proposition and the bleak apocalypse drama The Road, Lawless is aware of the serious consequences of all this freewheeling bootlegging-- blood flows freely and frequently, and often from our heroes-- but he loves this world of Franklin County, Virginia as much as the Bondurants do. The film is narrated in sporadic voiceover by Jack (Shia LaBeouf), the youngest Bondurant, who explains that his older brothers Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke) have set up a bootlegging operation so efficient that even local law enforcement partakes in their moonshine offerings. There's a little too much telling and not showing in LaBeouf's voiceover, but the camera soon obliges, showing Forrest dispatching a would-be robber with a pair of brass knuckles, just before the title card hits the screen.

The Bondurants are intimidating but use violence sparingly, at least until the arrival of Rakes (Guy Pearce), a Chicago-based federal enforcer with crisp suits, city dialect, and a haircut so severe even Hitler probably would think it's a bit much. Rakes is determined to stamp out Franklin County's bootlegging operations, with the grudging support of the local sheriff, and the Bondurants are just as determined to evade him, setting up their stills in the woods, making direct contact with a powerful Chicago gangster (Gary Oldman, in a too-brief appearance), and turning to violence when the moment calls for it.

As the war escalates, life goes on in various ways, with Jack courting the local preacher's daughter (Mia Wasikowska) and adopting some pretensions of big-city lifestyle, Forrest kicking up a tentative romance with mysterious newcomer Maggie (Jessica Chastain), and Jack's schemes with buddy Cricket (Dane DeHaan, equally impressive here as in this spring's Chronicle) benefiting the family as often as they fail. It's all going to come to a head in a major way, of course, but the bumps along the road can be surprising, not to mention shockingly violent, and all the characters are make the meandering worthwhile. The performances are stellar down the line-- yes, even LaBeouf nicely captures Jack's boyish arrogance-- but more than that, the warm but dark family dynamic of the Bondurants is consistently engaging. They've carved out a wild world for themselves-- and one that will feel oddly quaint when Prohibition is repealed a few years later-- but man, did they make the most of it while it lasted.

Musician Nick Cave (who also co-wrote the script) provides the grim but rousing score, and Benoit Delhomme's stunning cinematography focuses on the harsh beauty of Appalachia, with some expertly assembled shots of trees somehow standing in for the entire region's menacing appeal. There are parts of Lawless that feel choppy, like Oldman's role feeling shrunk in the editing room, or the seemingly supernatural strength that Forrest possesses for no reason, other than that he's played by the same guy who was Bane. But shot through with good humor that balances out the blackness, and performances that liven up even rote plots of revenge, Lawless earns its detours and minor missteps, a late-summer surprise with unpredictable power.

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LOTR: The Return Of The King Extended Edition 5 Disc Set [Blu-ray]

As the third movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King had a lot going for it. It was the film where the Academy finally caught on to the breadth of the project, giving everyone involved with the production the notice that comes with eleven Oscars. I think for many people?including director Peter Jackson himself?The Return of the King is the favorite film in the trilogy. I?m not quite on the same page. While I appreciate The Return of the King for its magnificent vision and scope, I kind of wish Jackson had found a way to cut down on the time a little bit.

The Movie:

The Return of the King is extremely long. Not quite Lawrence of Arabia or Gone with the Wind long in its theatrical form, but the extended edition is a different story. The theatrical film clocks in at right around 200 minutes and the extended version is even longer, taking up four hours and 24 minutes of the audience?s day. It?s arduous, and just when you think you?ve gotten through the whole movie, there are multiple scenes that all feel like the end of the film, but are just lead-ins to the actual end.

Complaints aside, The Return of the King was achieved through a lot of hard work and determination. Elements from The Two Towers story and even from filming the second movie were intermixed into the third story beautifully, and with plenty of care. It?s not just the weight of the story that impresses, but the CGI and picture look fantastic, as well, supplemented in this set by the transfer to Blu-ray. On the big screen, when Legolas (Orlando Bloom) took down a furious killer elephant all by his lonesome, the moment was grandiose, and with the Blu-ray picture, the clarity of the scene still makes it seem epic on a much smaller screen.

The Return of the King is the end of the journey for Frodo (Elijah Wood) and company, and in many ways it?s a bittersweet end. Many a journey has been had in film, and when that journey is accomplished, it leaves our heroes with very little to do. Despite having too many endings (in my opinion), The Return of the King never leaves our heroes hanging, and in doing so, it never leaves its audience wanting more. It?s nearly impossible to take a book series as intricate as Tolkien?s and bring a film to fruition, but Jackson does the best he can with The Lord of the Rings series, and the trilogy stands on its own, while nodding constantly to the great literary work that preceded it.

Are you looking for Cinema Blend?s reviews of the Extended Edition 5-Disc singles sets for The Fellowship of the Ring or The Two Towers? We?ve got them!

The Disc:

The picture in the Return of the King has always looked pretty good, but if you haven?t had a chance to watch the extended edition of the film or catch it on Blu-ray, you should probably do so, now. If you?ve already shelled out for the extended edition in the past, however, it may not be worth it to throw out so much money to simply trade up. The menu page is streamlined, and the remastered audio, in particular, sounds far better than I remember. There?s even a BD Live connection, but there aren?t a ton of brand new extras to justify purchasing the set all over again?unless you are a freak for picture or sound.

The extras on the disc, like the movie itself, are just a bit more extensive than the other Blu-ray Extended Edition 5-Disc singles in the trilogy. When compared to The Two Towers Blu-ray, the commentaries seem a little more detailed, there are a few extra documentaries, there are over 500 extra gallery images, and there are more extra-long looks at the premieres and filming.

Disc 3 features a bunch of segments exploring the making of the film. A ?From Book To Script? section has two segments, ?Forging the Final Chapter? and an abandoned concept. The segment about creating the script actually talks about how it was easy to transfer some of the lengthy and epic material from The Two Towers and put it into the Return of the King, while still maintaining the integrity of the Middle-earth timeline as a whole.

Next on the disc, ?Home of the Horse Lords? discusses the numerous horses onscreen and how the horse work was achieved. While it?s cool the prestigious horses worked via voice commands, this segment is one of the less exciting in the set. Rounding out the disc is an interactive atlas with multiple paths (fun to trace, but kind of finicky) and spotlights on the areas where different scenes were filmed in New Zealand to produce the look of Middle-earth.

Disc 4 is the big one in the Return of the King set. It features seven documentaries, and each is more emotional than the last. This is the big farewell to The Lord of the Rings series. On the other Extended Edition film bonus features, everyone involved in the film is still looking forward to the upcoming work that must be done. This time around, the commentaries are more relaxed and the documentaries are retrospective, and occasionally a little emotional. On Disc 4, a lot of the segments have names like ?The Passing of an Age,? or ?Post Production: Journey?s End.? They probably won?t make you tear up, but 9 years after the final film hit theaters, they will probably still make you feel as if you are at the end of an era.

Disc 4 features some of the best moments from the post-production of the last film, including Jackson cornering New Line Cinema to force them to do the world premiere of the film in Wellington, New Zealand. Fun facts from some of these segments include there were almost 2 million feet of film shot for this movie and Jackson never saw the final cut of The Return of the King before the world premiere. To make things even more surreal, awards season came right after the premieres, and fantasy got a unique nod for the first time.

If fans felt like The Lord of the Rings was an epic journey, those involved with the production were invested even more deeply. Countless relationships were jeopardized, people were tired, and work was never-ending, but everyone on set became very close and it is clear filming the trilogy was the experience of a lifetime. If you have the time to get through the set, even if you are a casual fan, it?s well worth it. I?ve never felt so close to a film, or so invested in its production prior to this set, and I doubt I will again?at least until The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey gets a Blu-ray release.

LOTR: The Return Of The King Extended Edition 5 Disc Set [Blu-ray] DetailsStarring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, Ian McKellanProduced by: Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne, Fran WalshWritten by: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens

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