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A Lifetime of Learning

Blogging from the University of Maryland

   April 2009 »

New Releases on Blu-ray and DVD

One of the best movies of the year is on DVD and Blu-ray. The movie is the smash comedy hit Tropic Thunder. The DVD’s packed with extras and the movie looks even better on Blu-ray. The movie is a spoof about big budget Hollywood blockbuster movies. It is supposed to be starring three of the biggest names in Hollywood. Ben Stiller, who also directs is the typical action movie star that is getting tired of sequels based on his first hit movie. He wants the opportunity to resurrect his career with a more serious action movie. Robert Downey Jr. plays the overly ambitious method actor who literally has to become his character in order to play the character. Jack Black is the drug addicted comedic relief. He is tired of playing multiple characters in dumb comedies. They all come together in the jungles of Southeast Asia to shoot the most expensive war movie ever filmed. They are already over budget two or three days into the filming.

The director wants to get real emotion, real reactions from the actors and cooks up a scheme to make them think they are really in combat. It all goes downhill from there and without spoiling anymore; I will let you discover the rest. The DVD’s extra features are full with behind the scenes goodies and out takes and deleted scenes. The DVDs and Blu-ray include a fake documentary on the making of the film in an ode to Apocalypse Now. It is probably the funniest thing on the disc, even rivaling the movie in how good it is. This is a very funny movie that doesn’t hold back on poking fun at itself, actors and the genre. If there is one thing that I would saw negative about Tropic Thunder is that you don’t really connect with any of the characters. They are all such caricatures of themselves, that they never quite seem real. The other thing about this movie is that all three stars are pretty popular with young kids right now. With Jack Blacks animated movies and Iron Man last summer and Night at the Museum for Ben Stiller, kids will probably want to see this movie because of the stars. It is most definitely not a kid movie. It earned its R rating very easily and deserved it. As a whole, this movie is very funny and very entertaining. It isn’t afraid to go for it and make fun of everything that it is trying to portray.

Posted on Friday, May 01, 2009 12:00 PM by Carol Ann