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This follow-up does what all follow-ups should do and that is to extend the story instead of simply trying to replicate it. In the original, Po the Panda, the greatest kung fu fanboy of all time, was astonishingly chosen as the legendary dragon warrior, the hero destined to save kung fu. In this chapter, with him finding his kung fu groove, he must save kung fu from a new weapon and its wielder, a vindictive peacock determined to take over China. Po must find inner peace to overcome this awesome threat.

Jack Black is back as Po, who is still in awe of the fact that he gets to hang with kung fu legends, the Furious Five. He begins having flashbacks to his youth and goes to his father Mr. Ping (James Hong, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) to learn more about where he came from. Turns out he was adopted. I would have thought the fact that his father is a goose would have clued him in much earlier. What Po doesn’t know is that the evil peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman, HARRY POTTER) has something to do with why he was not raised by his panda parents.

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Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE filled me with joy. It’s an affirmation of life and a reminder that film is still an artform. When so many films today seem to be done by people who do not even understand the basics of the filmic language, here is a film that reminds us how elegant and transformative it can be when spoken so fluently. Malick communicates so much in a single image where some films would only dare to convey something so deep in their entirety. Malick isn’t shy to take on the big issues and here he takes on the biggest issue of all – life. And I’m talking about life on a cosmic level.

Malick begins his film about life with the revelation of a death. Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt, 12 MONKEYS) and Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain, THE DEBT) receive word that their son has died. They struggle with the news and go through the stages of grief as everyone does. Malick intercuts this with how the death has affected their oldest son Jack (Sean Penn, DEAD MAN WALKING), who is now a successful businessman, but is lost in his life.

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Read my review of PLATOON.

The Oscar winner gets a true to source rendition in this AVC/MPEG-4 transfer to Blu-ray. Originally shot on a low budget, the picture retains the film grain, but also captures a great deal of clarity as well. The jungle scenes show the detail of the foliage. The colors are rich especially in the greens of the fields, while the black are sold in the flare lit scenes at the end and skin tones are natural.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack adds atmosphere to the production. Jungle sounds surround the audience putting them into the action. The work is more subtle than what one might expect from a war film. Directionality is good, but nothing is blow-you-away fantastic. The dialogue is clear throughout and the score plays a dynamic part and is well balanced with the soundscapes other elements.

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Following the bloated first two sequels in the PIRATES franchise, the fourth installment puts the ship back on course. The story rightfully puts Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm. The story throws many of the unneeded characters overboard and adds the right new shipmates to the crew. Penelope Cruz is the first mate the series needed for sure.

Rumors are spreading across London that Captain Jack is putting together a crew in search of the Fountain of Youth. Turns out that it’s an imposter, but Captain Jack actually does have a map to the famed waters. He’s not the only one in search. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, THE KING’S SPEECH) is now working for the crown and is sans one leg. Jack’s old flame Angelica (Cruz, VANILLA SKY) wants to find the healing waters in order to save her father, the legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane, TV’s DEADWOOD). There is also the Spaniard (Oscar Jaenada, THE LOSERS) who has his own agenda.

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If you haven’t heard poetry slam before, stop reading this review and watch the trailer for this film. Now that you’ve got a taste, how could you not want to see this film? These kids are some of the brightest, competing against hundreds of other equally bright kids. And this documentary only chronicles the Louder than a Bomb poetry slam in Chicago. Think about how many kids like these are in the rest of the country. It gives you hope.

Directors Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel (nephew of Gene Siskel) followed a selection of competitors over the 2007-08 season. We watch as they prepare for the slam. We see their home lives, some are good and others have their challenges. We watch as they start in the quarterfinals and root for their success. But soon the competition becomes secondary to the human stories.

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Buy It Now!

Read my review of THE ILLUSIONIST

Sony isn’t new to conjuring up magical transfers to Blu-ray and THE ILLUSIONIST is no exception. This 1080p presentation exquisitely captures Sylvain Chomet’s moody animated ode to French comedian extraordinaire Jacques Tati. The flawless visual dimension of this title gives the animation added depth and nuance. For instance, the fog and smoke effects come off natural, not smudges moving across the screen. The digital color palette, while muted, is crisp and clean. One can see the lines of the original hand-drawn artwork clearly. I found no digital anomalies at all in the release. It’s pretty much perfect.

The performance doesn’t falter in the DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack either. With so  little dialogue, the soundscape relies heavily on sound effects and music to communicate its story. The sound mix is never bombastic, which is the nature of the film, but it’s filled with nuance. Rain seems to surround us. Traffic whizzes across the soundscape. Crowd scenes represent the size of the audience whether it’s full of crazed teens or just a few spectators trying to enjoy the illusionist’s act. What little dialogue there is is clear and presented exactly as it was meant to be, whether it’s supposed to be understood or just there to work with the environment. The dialogue, effects and music are woven together perfectly with one never overpowering the most important element of the moment. The quality of the sound matches that of the picture wonderfully.

However, the disc does not dazzle when it comes to the special features. While the Making Of doc is cute to have no dialogue, it’s rather light weight because of it. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t really the only special feature on the disc. Animation fans will find the few line tests and before and after side-by-side scenes interesting, but nothing more special than an old card trick. Where is the interview with Chomet talking about conjuring the style of Tati, or a mini-doc on Tati’s work? This is certainly a film that cries out for a fan to want to know the story of how it came to be that an animator would use the magic of animation to bring to life an un-produced script from a cinema icon nearly 30 years after his death.

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Four British jihadists plot a suicide bombing. These men are true believers. They make video memorials. They stockpile bomb-making materials. Their plot is to maximize causalities and ensure the recruitment of other Muslims to their cause. Did I mention this was a comedy?

Omar (Riz Ahmed, CENTURION) is the de facto leader of the terrorist cell only because he’s the least imbecilic. Barry (Nigel Lindsay, TV’s ROME) is an Islamic convert, who overcompensates for being the only white man in the group by being ultra jihadist. Waj (Kayvan Novak, SYRIANA) and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar, TRAITOR) would make a great duo for a remake of DUMB AND DUMBER. Omar and Waj are best friends and they decide to get some training in Pakistan, which makes Barry jealous, so he recruits the young troublemaker Hassan (Arsher Ali). The training goes poorly, so when Omar returns to Britain he’s determined to make amends for his mistakes.

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Rita O’Grady wasn’t looking to become a leader of the equal pay for women movement. In director Nigel Cole’s film, she is presented as a strong woman who found herself thrust into a leadership role because there was no one else. Many will be reminded of NORMA RAE and DAGENHAM star Sally Hawkins gives a performance equal to Oscar winner Sally Fields.

Hawkins plays O’Grady, a seamstress at the Dagenham Ford Motor Company plant. She is part of the team that hand sews the seat upholstery. The 100 plus women who work at the planet get paid less than the male skilled laborers. Ford doesn’t consider them skilled. So the women go on strike for themselves. Their union reluctantly supports them, but the company will not budge. If they give these women equal pay they’ll have to do it everywhere.

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Exec #1: Hey lets remake an iconic ‘80s horror movie. Exec #2: Sounds great, kids these days don’t want anything new; they just want to see the same story with more blood and shock. Exec #3: You’re right… and this way we really don’t need to hire screenwriters. Exec #4: We can just string all the best kills from the other films together with CG. Exec #5: Yeah, kids like CG. Exec #6: What’s for lunch?

That’s what you get in this pitiful excuse for a horror film. The story throws us right into a “creepy” dream with no character development. The first half of the film proceeds to be one kid falling into a dream where Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley, LITTLE CHILDREN) kills them. It literally goes from killing the first victim (Kellan Lutz, TWILIGHT series) to the blonde girl (Katie Cassidy, TAKEN) to her ex-boyfriend (Thomas Dekker, THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES) before we even get to know the main character other than she’s a loner waitress (Rooney Mara, THE SOCIAL NETWORK).

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On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was in a bar, which was a common occurrence for him at the time. He says the wrong thing to a group of young men. They follow him outside and beat him in the head savagely. When he comes out of a coma, he remembers nothing of his old life. So in an effort to make sense of the new world he has been thrust into, he creates his own world in his backyard using 1/6th scale World War II soldiers and Barbies.

The world, Marwencol, Hogancamp creates is detailed and elaborate. There is an on-going story where Hogancamp casts himself as a bar owner/soldier in a Belgian town. For the entertainment of the boys, the women stage fake cat fights. The Nazis are always looming around trying to ruin the fun. Hogancamp creates characters in Marwencol based on people from his real life. A married neighbor who he crushes on is his girlfriend in the world. He can’t control the real world, but nothing happens in Marwencol that he doesn’t control.

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