Igor - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The DVD screener arrived late, and the Blu-ray isn't coming at all.

This CG animated film stars John Cusack as Igor, or to be more specific, one of several Igors in the country of Malaria. Ever since the clouds came to this nation, the once proud farming country has had its economy devastated, and now it has just one industry: Mad Scientists. Every year at the Evil Science Fair, the greatest mad scientists in the land show off their lasted doomsday weapon, and Malaria blackmails the rest of the world threatening to release it. However, this year Igor has a plan to shake things up; he's going to enter the Evil Science Fair, but his "Monster" doesn't turn out exactly how he wanted.

Digitally animated movies used to cost so much money and take so much time to make that only a few were released each year. Because of this, great care was taken to make sure each movie was an event. Now, now these movies are a dime a dozen, and it feels like it. That's not to say this movie is terrible, but it is just so average. A re-telling of the Frankenstein story with a comedic twist, the film is too dark for younger kids (one of the main characters is a suicidal / immortal rabbit, there is a joke about torturing kittens, etc.). But while it skewers films than only adults will be aware of (Frankenstein, Annie, etc.) for the most it's too simplistic to appeal to them. From its animation style, the film seems like it was going for a The Nightmare Before Christmas vibe, but the film doesn't have the charm to get there. It's not all bad, and there's enough here that it will be worth checking out for older kids ('tweens, perhaps) and some parents might like it as well, but that's as enthusiastic as I can get.

Extras on the : DVD include a strong audio commentary track, an alternate opening, and concept art galleries. I don't have the Blu-ray to compare video quality, but it has no additional extras.

I had high hopes for Igor, both at the box office and with critics. It lived up to neither. That said, the DVD and the Blu-ray are worth checking out, but a rental will do.

Don't need to recap to movie too much. I will say that the characters feel more fleshed out this time around, but the penguins are the most entertaining characters and when they (or the monkeys) are not on screens, the movie's pace slows. Still, it's worth checking out.

Extras on the Blu-ray include the full slate that were on the DVD, with the audio commentary track upgraded to a picture-in-picture track. There is also a trivia track with the usual assortment of information. Finally, the disc is BD-Live enabled. But there's nothing there at the moment. As for the audio and video quality, it is top notch, as one would expect with a digital source. However, it is not as good as either Wall-E or Kung Fu Panda. But that's like saying it only warrants a nine out of ten instead of a perfect ten. The video is still good enough that many fans of digital animation would be willing to pay extra to get the Blu-ray for the video upgrade alone.

Extras on the DVD start with a crew audio commentary track, which details some of the challenges making the movie, both in terms of writing and technical oriented issues. There are also a couple making of featurettes that run 20 minutes in total. There is a shorter featurette on the making of the plane crash scene, which as the big early action scene, took a lot to plan. Next up is a featurette on the crew's trip to Africa, which sounds like a tax right off / vacation more than a legitimate research trip. (Not that I judging them.) Jambo Jimbo has some lessons in Swahili, at only a couple minutes, there's not much to learn. Finally, there is a game and a sing-along versions of the songs.

The second disc of the DVD Two-Pack is from The Penguins of Madagascar, which is a new TV series starting on Nickelodeon. There are two episodes presented here: Popcorn Panic and Gone in a flash. Each episode is only 12 minutes long and suffers from TV quality animation and 'sound-alike' voice performances (for the most part). There are only 24 minutes of main program, and 24 minutes of featurettes. Not much for nearly 50% more money. Also, you can only get this DVD as part of this two-pack, and can't get it with the Blu-ray.

Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa is a good movie, one the kids will likely want to watch more than once, which makes it worth picking up. I don't have the Blu-ray yet, but the DVD is the better deal as the DVD Two-Pack doesn't offer enough bang for your buck.

Max Payne - Buy from Amazon: Single-Disc, 2-Disc, or Blu-ray
I only have the DVD, in fact, I only have the Single-Disc DVD and not the 2-Disc or the Blu-ray, so I can't compare the versions.

Mark Wahlberg stars as the titular character, a cop that is dealing with the loss of his wide and baby at the hands of some thugs, now he's been demoted to a glorified file clerk while he obsessively hunts for the one killer that got away. Along the way he is framed for several murders, and draws the ire of a hitman who is looking for a little revenge of her own.

Yeah, it's a plot that won't win awards for originality, but that's not the selling point here. The selling point here is the action. If the action is good, the plot won't matter to the film's target audience. The action was not good. It was stylized, but not good. There were times that the fight scenes were so slo-mo that I had to watch they sped up, and they still seemed boring. Style is one thing, but don't let style get in the way of the action. Additionally, as mentioned in the audio commentary track, The characters were all very one dimensional; this was done to intentionally, at least according to the commentators. This was done to maintain the focus on Max Payne, but he's a cookie cutter cop out for little revenge. It's not a complex character.

Extras on the DVD include the aforementioned audio commentary track. There are also featurettes on the making of the movie and an animated graphic novel about Michelle Payne. That's not much, and the 2-Disc DVD has a digital copy as the second disc, while the Blu-ray has a picture-in-picture track. The last version costs more than 60% more than the single disc, but just 10% more than 2-disc, so it depends on how you feel about digital copies for portable devices.

Max Payne is an action movie that tries way too hard to be stylish and this hurts its effectiveness. In fact, it's downright silly at times. The extras on the two DVDs are weak, while I'm not sure the Blu-ray is really worth the upgrade. Personally, I don't think it is worth anything more than a rental, and even that is only if you are a fan of the revenge genre or of video game adaptations.

Mirrors - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
First a note, I only have the DVD and I won't be getting the Blu-ray to compare directly.

Kiefer Sutherland stars as Ben Carson, a cop who is off the force because of an incident, which I won't go into in detail. It caused him to lose his job, take up drinking, and eventually lose his wife and kids. Now he has a job as a night watchman at an abandoned shopping mall, a mall that was gutted by a devastating fire. Everything is covered in soot and debris, except the mirrors, which are highly polished thanks to Gary, the previous night watchman, who met an unfortunate end before the openings credit roll.

This movie moves way too slowly. I know, the filmmakers were trying to set up the mood, but it just doesn't work. We see the first kill before the opening credits work, so it is too late to set the mood. We are no longer asking ourselves, "What's happening?" but "When will the mirrors strike again?" Learning about the history of the shopping mall doesn't help matters either, because it uses one of the biggest clichés in horror, the haunted mental hospital. There are some effective scares, and the gore level is increased in the Unrated cut, but overall the movie just doesn't work.

At first glance the extras on the DVD are weaker than expected, even given its lackluster theatrical run. You do get both versions of the movie, as well as a making of featurette, a featurette on mirrors in mythology, and finally some deleted / alternate scenes with optional audio commentary. That doesn't seem like much, but it runs over 80 minutes long in total, which is rather impressive.

I do not have the Blu-ray, but they have two picture-in-picture tracks, one with making of featurettes, and the other with storyboard comparisons. But it does cost nearly 50% more, so keep that in mind.

Mirrors is yet another Asian horror remake, and like most such recent films, it doesn't work. I can't recommend buying either the DVD or the Blu-ray, and even renting might be too much, unless you are a hardcore fan of these movies.

Andrea Marcellus stars as Alex, a single woman who lives in New York City, who at the beginning of the movie gets engaged to her boyfriend of three months. She hasn't seen her family in South Carolina in three years; however, she has to return for her sister's wedding. Here's where the little white lies start to pile up. First of all, she's told her fiancée that her family is dead. And while at the wedding, Jonathan, her best friend accidentally convinces some of the guests that she is a lesbian, make that all of the guests, she decides to go with it, because it's easier than telling her family she's marrying a black Jewish man. The plan works, but when her sister decides to visit her in New York City, things really get a lot more complicated. Especially after Alex decides to hire a lesbian to pretend to be her girlfriend / fiancée.

Like romantic comedies, farces tend to be a little on the predictable side, and this is certainly true here. These films have to rely on their charm and the chemistry of the cast, and fortunately, this film has plenty of both. Yes, it's light and fluffy, but it is very entertaining as well, regardless of your sexual orientation.

On a side note, this is the second film I've reviewed recently where a character has given up a meatless diet as part of a coping strategy. I wonder if this is part of a new trend.

Extras are limited to an audio commentary track with the director, and an interview featurette wit the cast. It is also in non-anamorphic wide screens, which is disappointing.

Out at the Wedding is being markets to gays and lesbians as part of the Logo line, but fans of the genre should be entertained, regardless of their orientation. The DVD doesn't have a huge amount of extras, but it is still worth checking out for most, picking up for many.

The season starts with Sabrina leaving for college and moving out the house leaving Hilda and Zelda alone with Salem. She moves in with her roommates: Miles, Roxy, and Morgan. But Hilda and Zelda don't fade away from the show, as the former buys the coffee shop where the college kids hang out, and Zelda becomes a professor of quantum physics. Perhaps the biggest change from last season was the loss of Harvey, who found out Sabrina was a witch at the end of season four. This is also the season Sabrina turned 20, at least if my math is right (and she started out as a 16-year old in season one). A lot of people wondered by they kept the name Sabrina the Teenage Witch when the character was no longer a teenage. Why not shorten it to Sabrina? Simple, they were contractually obligated to use the full name of the comic book the show is based on.

While there were a lot of changes during this season, but for the most part the TV series was in a groove and there were a lot of strong episodes. This includes Sabrina and Roxy breaking a big story, Miles falling in with a cult, Sabrina throwing a Halloween party and every monster in the universe crashes it. Sabrina start dating a witch whose parents are prejudiced against mortals, Sabrina spends Christmas with Morgan's family and they are not as perfect as she imagined. Sabrina loses Hilda's biological clock, Zelda moves in with Sabrina and starts to enjoy college life too much. Sabrina and her roommates go on Spring Break but her aunts want to make sure its 'wholesome' so they zap them into some 1960s Beach Blanket movie. Amanda's back, and she's going to stay in the mortal realm for a while. (This particular episode was clearly an attempt at a spin-off, but nothing came of it.) Miles spots Hilda in a flying care and thinks he's spotted aliens, but when he presents it to class, he becomes a laughing stock and decides to quit science and become an accountant. That doesn't last long as the next episode, as the next episode he's trying to detect ghosts, which is a bit of a problem as his gizmo also detects witches.

There are no extras on the 3-disc set, nor are there subtitles. However, there are play-all buttons and proper chapter placements. Just like every other season so far.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Season Five should please fans of the show. The episodes are as strong as usual, while unfortunately there continues to be no extras. If you purchased the previous seasons, there's no reason to stop now.

The movie was clearly going for inspirational adventure, but I don't think it got there. There are some good performances and the story is amazing, but it still feels too much like a TV movie of the week to have much in the way of replay value.

Additionally, there are no extras on the DVD.

Touch the Top of the World is worth checking out if you missed it on TV the first time it aired. However, the DVD is bare bones and worth just a rental. Those who are really interested in the story should watch Blindsight as well.