Where Have All The Special Features Gone?

It has occurred to me in the last few years, that DVDs contain little to none in the area of special features. Now this is obviously because Blu-Rays have been brought into the mix and have the ability to contain more footage on their discs.

I do remember however, when DVDs first came out they were advertised as being able to have loads of special features. It seems Blu-Ray's have taken the same approach and the only way to enforce this and increase sales is to leave DVDs with no extra bits. Well thanks. Because I don't have a Blu-Ray player and don't plan on spending the small amount of money I have, on one in the next few years as I will be off to University.

In University I am going to be a Film student and will therefore be interested in watching the special features of films. I can probably guess that a Blu-Ray player will be very rare thing in the halls of residents, leaving me to have to find these features elsewhere.

Not all DVDs have this problem. The Hunger Games DVD coming out soon in the UK and has it's own second disc full of special features! This is most likely because the studio know that most of their audience do not own a Blu-Ray player. Surely all studios could do this?

The reason I wanted to have a bit of rant about this is because of the soon to be released DVD of The Avengers. Being one of my most anticipated films ever, I want to know how it was made. Instead all I get on my DVD is a special feature called A Visual Journey. Yay. Whereas the Blu-Ray has a load more special features and a short film! Come on Marvel, at least give me a 2 disc special edition! You did it with Iron Man, and I bought that!

So come on studios! Please add some special features to your DVDs or people are just going to download or stream them online! Remember there are those of us who haven't upgraded to Blu-Ray and will not for a while to come! We need to make this the normal thing again, or at least for The Avengers DVD!

What do you think? Is it just me who thinks this, or is just me who still owns a DVD player? Comment below!

Thanks for reading!

Ted Review

If you like crude humour then Ted  is right up your street. If you don't then it is not, as my girlfriend found out, who hated this film. Me on the other hand, I rather enjoyed it!

Written, directed and starring Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Ted's plot goes like this; 'As the result of a childhood wish, John Bennett's teddy bear, Ted, came to life and has been by John's side ever since - a friendship that's tested when Lori, John's girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship.' A pretty straightforward plot, a pretty straightforward film, with quite a few laughs in between.

Actually it is the start of this film that gave me high hopes for this to be an excellent comedy film. It is unfortunately after the first act that the film falls short of that. After the first 30 minutes the jokes start to slow down and become less funny. A hilarious party scene in the middle of the film brings back this hope but unfortunately is let down by a lacklustre third act.

The problem with this film was that the talking teddy bear was the most realistic part of it! The relationship between Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis was unbelievable and did not feel real. All of Mila Kunis's lines felt forced, which was such a shame as she is generally a really good actress! Mark Wahlberg is much better in a comedic role as you are actually allowed to laugh at his acting but unfortunately this made most of his more human scenes pretty rubbish, therefore not allowing the audience to become emotionally connected to any of the characters, which pretty much makes the last act fall apart. This is mainly because the third act asks us to worry about these characters when in danger and by this point you couldn't care less.

This film is a comedy film so you shouldn't care about the story too much and just wait for the laughs to come. And there are quite a few really funny ones and there a re quite a few that aren't so much. So you get your fair share but at least it had more laughs then The Sitter did earlier this year!

As I said at the start the jokes are crude and are likely to be about farts or will just offend a few people in the audience. Like Family Guy it can be racist, homophobic and will take the mick out of fat kids but what more do you expect from Seth MacFarlane?

Ted himself looks pretty impressive and thanks to the magic of motion capture I did not once believe I was watching a bear made of CGI, though every now and then thought I was listening to Peter Griffin!

There are some great moments in this film and also some excellent cameos but what it falls short of is emotional connection. But what the hell, it's a comedy! And although its not as good as some this year like 21 Jump Street, it's still on of the better side of the list! If you are a fan of Family Guy then you will probably really enjoy this! Though it wasn't perfect I still enjoyed Ted and had a good laugh. So therefore I am giving Ted a rating of 3/5.


In other news, Joss Whedon has been confirmed to write and direct The Avengers 2!!! This is awesome news! Bring on the next 3 years of anticipation! Joss Whedon is also helping develop a TV show for ABC that will be set in the Marvel cinematic universe. No announcements on what it's about but my guess it will be about the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

Marvel Phase 2

Being a massive Marvel fan I thought it would be a good idea to voice my opinions on all the announcements from the San Diego Comic Con on the next phase of the Marvel cinematic universe. I didn't go to Comic Con so I am working off the stuff I have read from news sites and the fans who went there.

Iron Man 3 - 2013
The first Iron Man film is one of my favourite films of all time. Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect casting as Tony Stark and completely stole the show! Unfortunately Iron Man 2 was not that good, it has its good moments but was a disappointment compared to the first film. However I have much higher hopes for the third outing with the great playboy, philanthropist. This is mainly because Shane Black is on board as director. As much as I loved Jon Favreau, it will be great to see someone else take on Iron Man and hopefully keep the awesomeness of the first film and The Avengers. Shane Black's only other film is the incredible Kiss Kiss Bang Bang which also starred Robert Downey Jr. Black also penned the Lethal Weapon films.

At Comic Con, Marvel showed footage of the new film that is due out for release next year. the footage showed Tony Stark testing out new armour and then having his house blown up by an army, apparently run by the Mandarin played by Ben Kingsly. In the comics, Mandarin is Iron Mans greatest foe, the way Joker is to Batman. That is why this new villain could be awesome. Guy Pearce and James Badge Dale have also been added to the villain mix. Both great actors but I do hope this doesn't turn into Spider-Man 3! I have faith in this though, all we need know is the footage to creep onto the Internet, hopefully in the form of a trailer!

Thor: The Dark World - 2013
All that was announced of this project was the name. And what a cool name! It has been rumoured that in this film we are going to be exploring the darker gritty side of Asgard and this announcement sort of confirms that. Natalie Portman is back on board so we probably still get some Earth scenes but I cannot wait to see more of Asgard! Christopher Eccleston has come on as the villain but I bet a Thanos will be somewhere behind the scenes. I'm not a big fan of Christopher Eccleston but we still get Tom Hiddleston's Loki, so who cares?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 2014
Oh yes, you saw right! The Winter Soldier! Perhaps my favourite announcement of Comic Con is that the new Captain America movie will follow the story of the late Bucky Barnes who (SPOILER) is not dead, unless they change the story completely that is! Bucky gets brainwashed into becoming a spy for the Russians, being dosed up with anti ageing drugs and becoming just as strong as Cap. This is all speculation at the moment, but this could be awesome. Antony Mackie is also rumoured to play the Falcon, which adds another super hero to rota. The Avengers made Captain America cool so I cannot wait to see where he goes next!

Guardians of the Galaxy - 2014
This was the most disappointing news for me, although it was Marvel's worst kept secret, I was still hoping for them to announce a Black Panther movie. Instead we get this sci-fi team up of superheroes which guard the galaxy. I never really got into the comics and I dodn't know how Marvel are going to make the team work in the same universe. Hopefully it will have its own universe but either way I am interested in what comes off this, but not as much as the rest of the line up in Marvel phase 2.

Ant Man - 2014/15
I love everything that Edgar Wright has ever done and this is shaping up to stay on his record of awesome movies. Ant Man isn't my favourite Marvel character but after the reported test footage shown at Comic Con I know this will be awesome! The test footage showed off some action that was reported as a new form of fighting called size-fu. That sounds very cool! There isn't a set date but it has been rumoured it could be out as early as 2014! I look forward to casting news, which could come any day now!

The Avengers 2 - 2015/16
 It's happening! We not sure when and we don't know if Joss Whedon will direct but it is happening! The next wave of superheroes are getting ready to set it up, no solo Hulk movie yet but Mark Ruffalo is contracted to do 5 more films as Bruce Banner! Will it be as good as the first? Only time will tell, but I will be just as excited!

What are you most excited about in Marvel Phase 2? Comment below and thank you for reading!