Of all the Pixar movies aside from Cars, Monsters, Inc. has, for some reason, been one of my least favorites, but unlike Cars, which I hated, it is still pretty good; It just didn’t grab me like their other films have. I have yet to re-watch it, but I did peruse the tons of bonus features included in this four-disc pack (two Blu-Rays, the DVD and a digital copy) and am now looking forward to giving it a second chance.

The Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Combo pack begins the show with two new bonus features, one that looks at Monsters, Inc.: The Ride and another featuring a round table discussion with the movie’s creators. Disney has put a ton of money into making a massive “Monstropolis” ride in Tokyo Disneyland, and the featurette explores the creation of the environment and the experience. While there’s clearly some promotion going on here (the ride looks like a variant to the Roger Rabbit ride, albeit on a grander scale), the featurette does a good job of providing some interesting tidbits.

The round table is the best featurette on the disc, as we get to hear the four head creators of the movie discuss the film several years after its release. They recall some interesting stories, reflect on some particular decisions and bring up the chimp they brought in just to be funny for the original DVD bonus features (”Some applicants said they wanted to work at Pixar because they had a ‘monkey’”). Furthermore, they discuss the implications of 9/11 on the film (one scene had to be changed) and their concerns about whether anyone would want to go to the movies amidst war and anthrax scares. The entire discussion is very interesting.

The first disc also includes an audio commentary as well as some bonus features included on the original DVD, such as the two animated shorts For the Birds and Mike’s New Car.

The second Blu-Ray disc includes a 100-Door Challenge Game, which apparently is a “hundred” games according to the director’s intro, a Pixar Fun Factory Tour, which shows the office spaces of some of the employees at Pixar (Steve Job’s office looks very spartan and clean compared to everyone else’s, such as the guy who had a miniature door that led to a secret room called the “Love Room” or something like that, and a collection of banished concepts, which is basically a bunch of “deleted” storyboards. A lot of the other featurettes include a fair amount of storyboard action (you can watch parts of the film timed to the original storyboards), but it gets tiring watching the crude animation after a while. There are a bunch of other little featurettes scattered throughout, some better than others but generally unremarkable.

If you already own Monsters, Inc. on DVD, investing in this new collection doesn’t make sense, but the Blu-Ray version could certainly make for a good stocking stuffer for those who don’t. The bonus features are a mixed bag – the best by far is the round table discussion – so I wouldn’t spend a lot of time on the second disc.

In a rather surprise announcement, there are rumors that there’s going to be a sequel to Master and Commander, the excellent adventure-drama that starred Russell Crowe. While good, the movie didn’t make a ton of money if memory serves me right. Regardless, talks are that Crowe may reprise his role as Captain Jack Aubrey in The Reverse of the Medal. Of course, all of these developments are in rumor stages at this point.

Speaking of rumors, here’s a pretty big one: Robert DeNiro may play a senator in Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, based on the faux movie trailer that played during Grindhouse. Michelle Rodriguez and Jonah Hill are also set to star.

Willem Dafoe has found new work in John Carter of Mars, about a Civil War soldier who is transported to Mars in the middle of an alien war. That sucks.

At the other end of the looks department, we have Kate Bosworth – as well as Alexander Skarsgard – signing on to play opposite James Marsden in Straw Dogs, a remake that sounds like it’s about a love triangle gone sour.

Stephen Chow, who was once signed on to direct The Green Hornet and play the title’s character loyal sidekick Kato, how bowed out of the production completely, allegedly due to scheduling conflicts. Columbia Pictures is now looking for a new sidekick for Seth Rogen, the most unlikeliest of superheroes.

A new comedy called Avon Man, about a laid off auto worker who enlists his buddies to sell Avon products, will star Hugh Jackman. Frankly, this is a clever idea, and I’d buy that Jackman could sell a lot of makeup to women.

In good or bad news depending on how you look at it, Kevin Williamson is working on a script for Scream 4. David Arquette and Courtney Cox-Arquette have signed on to star, but the success of this product still hinges on the return of Wes Craven and, even more importantly, Neve Campbell.

Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson and Julianne Moore will all star in the indie drama The Hunter, a period piece, while the completely appropriate Russell Brand will voice The Easter Bunny in a live-action/CGI film called I Hop. Oh, and Renee Zellweger will reprise her role as the title character in a new Bridget Jones sequel. Wasn’t the second one bad enough?

In less exciting news, Xavier Samuel will play the newborn vampire villain Riley in The Twilight Saga’s Eclipse; Christine Baranski will play Jennifer Aniston’s mom in The Bounty (also known as Bounty Hunter).

For those wondering who’s going to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, you’ll have to wait a little longer; producer Peter Jackson said that they’re still working on the script, and as such casting announcements will not be coming during Comic-Con as originally expected.

Read the rest of the Homecoming movie review.

Dark Streets stars Gabriel Mann as Chaz, a playboy and nightclub owner who finds his life spinning out of control amidst too many love affairs, debt and the mystery surrounding his father’s death. Though there is a plot, Dark Streets is essentially one-long music video, featuring original songs with performances by Natalie Cole, Etta James, Richie Sambora and more.

Read the rest of the Dark Streets movie review.

The Box is from director Richard Kelly, who is best known for the cult classic Donnie Darko. While that film is amazing, he is also responsible for the God-awful Southland Tales, and currently I regard the man as a one-hit wonder. Can The Box move him out of that designation? Possibly. It looks good but not great, though it has one of those concepts that is either going to work exceptionally well or not at all. Only time will tell.

Watch The Box movie trailer here:

The Box arrives in theaters on October 30, 2009.

Paper Heart also stars Michael Cera and debuts August 7, 2009 in LA and NY.

Kate Winslet won an Oscar for her performance in the so-so drama The Reader, despite her much stronger and emotional portrayal as a woman trapped in a loveless marriage here. Leonardo DiCaprio failed to even garner a nomination, once again suggesting that the Academy has something against the actor, who, to no great surprise, turned in one of the best performances of his career. At least Michael Shannon received a much-deserved nomination for his supporting role.

Despite its lack of acclaim, Revolutionary Road is as close to a masterpiece as 2008 offered. The film is more subdued than most of Mendes’ pictures and the story unfolds at a slow and methodical clip, which presumably turned off some audience members and critics. But the movie sizzles with emotional tension and anger to the point where I find it shocking that others didn’t share the same experience.

Needless to say, the movie is well worth watching, as it offers great direction, strong writing and incredible acting. The DVD, as one might imagine, lacks much in the way of special features, however. Mendes and writer Justin Haythe offer up an audio commentary, and the two also share their thoughts on several deleted scenes that didn’t make the cut for a variety of reasons (a bunch of flashbacks to the characters’ childhoods, for instance, were dropped). Beyond those, however, there’s simply a making-of documentary, and it’s one of those fluffy ones that talk about the emotions of the characters and how the actors came to be involved, pretty standard fare that has been seen time and time again. A little is shown regarding the costume design and sets, but the featurette feels less an examination of how the movie was actually made and more like a vehicle for DreamWorks to advertise another special feature on the back of the box.

The DVD features are pretty pitiful, but Revolutionary Road is a drama so one can’t expect much. The movie is great and deserving of more acclaim than it received. Recommended.

You don’t have to be a fan of Star Trek to enjoy the film, and in fact it’s fun going back after ten years and watching things all over again. For instance, at the time, Rickman was mainly known as that guy from Die Hard, whereas now he’s that guy from Harry Potter. No one knew who Rockwell was at the time, and if you look closely, Dwight from “The Office” even makes an appearance.

As for bonus features, there are several new ones not previously included in this Deluxe Edition, including:

• Historical Documents: The Story of Galaxy Quest - “Actors and filmmakers discuss how Galaxy Quest came together, why it still works today and what they think of the film 10 years later.”
  What’s most impressive about this featurette is that they managed to pull together most of the original cast to remark on the film; typically, you’d see a lot of the supporting cast but not many of the leads such as Allen. Other interviews include Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell, Justin Long, Missi Pyle, Enrico Colantoni and Star Trek writer and director Nicholas Meyer.
• Never Give Up, Never Surrender: The Intrepid Crew of the NSEA Protector—”This featurette celebrates one of the most talented and diverse casts of fake sci-fi actors of all time.”
  Many of the featurettes sort of blend together; I just watched this and already don’t remember what set it apart from the previous feature. Still, it’s fun listening to the cast talk about themselves and each other.
• By Grabthar’s Hammer, What Amazing Effects— “Explores the special effects, visual effects and creature effects created by ILM and famed effects artist Stan Winston.”
  What sets this apart from other visual effects documentaries is that it expands upon the typical creature design focus these tend to take and looks at the development of the old (fake) “show footage” and the steps necessary to make everything look believable without looking too serious.
• Alien School – Creating the Thermian Race— This one reveals some interesting facts about how actor Enrico Colantoni was solely responsible for how the aliens talked and walked, among other things.
• Actors in Space—Can’t remember too much about this one, but one can guess.
• Sigourney Weaver Raps—A mildly funny rap video with Signourey Weaver. Even though she’s terrible at it, it’s really not that funny.
• Deleted Scenes – these are very good deleted scenes, even though they’ve already been released on previous DVD versions.
• Thermian Audio Track – the famed alternate audio track, watch the movie in an alien language!
• Theatrical Trailer – wow.

All in all, the Galaxy Quest Deluxe Edition includes some good bonus features that don’t feel at all promotion. The actors, even today, seem enthusiastic about the project, which makes me curious as to why a sequel was never developed. If you don’t already own the film, Galaxy Quest would be a worthy addition to your collection.

Watch the Taking Woodstock movie trailer here:

What do you think?