It could be argued that watching the whole 3D “Phantom” without glasses might be a better experience since the 3D is so minimal that there is almost no blurring at any point, and without the glasses the movie is noticeably brighter.
Even the “Ice Age” 3D short that precedes the movie, “Scrat’s Continental Crack-Up Part 2” offers far more dynamic 3D, although that 2 1/2-minute short is also a disappointment to anyone who already saw it a couple months ago with other films during the holidays.

It would be easy and unfair to blame the low/no-impact 3D in “Phantom” on conversion company Prime Focus, which also got the blame for the rush job they say they were forced to do on “Clash of the Titans” (ironically, “Phantom” is preceded by a trailer for “Wrath of the Titans” — really, they’re doing a sequel to that movie?), and which also did the similarly subtle 3D on the final “Harry Potter” movie.
But the blame here has to fall on George Lucas, since this is obviously a creative choice he made to keep the 3D minimized, just as he did with the 3D in the revamped Star Tours attraction at Disneyland and Disney World, though even the 3D in the pod race there is a little more impactful than it is in this movie.
That’s a shame. Even Lucas’ contemporary Martin Scorsese has demonstrated with “Hugo” that he knows how to maximize the use of 3D, and to a lesser extent than “Hugo” but certainly a greater extent than “Phantom,” Spielberg also demonstrated an awareness of how to leverage the technology to good effect in “The Adventures of Tintin.”

Here’s hoping that subsequent installments of the superior chapters of “Star Wars” show significant improvement in the 3D, and perhaps even this movie can still be salvaged for the inevitable Blu-ray 3D version at some point.

– By Scott Hettrick

Scott Hettrick

Mann and Milch, unlikely partners as two of three executive producers of the new HBO series about the underbelly of horse racing called “Luck” (9 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday nights beginning January 29) joined the show’s two highest-profile stars, Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, on a panel during HBO’s presentation at the Television Critics Association tour Friday in Pasadena.
<Story continues along with review of all nine episodes of “Luck” below the following 85-second video interview with Hoffman and Mann…>

My father took our family to a movie in 1969 starring Steve McQueen called “The Reivers,” an adaptation of the William Faulkner novel, featuring slow-motion scenes of horses racing that Dad thought represented some of the most impressive cinematography he had ever seen.
I think he would have thought the same about the powerful scenes of horse racing at Santa Anita in “Luck.”

But even some of those who follow horse racing and are familiar with Santa Anita expressed disappointment with the one-hour pilot that HBO showed as a sneak preview last month. Too many characters and too much insider jargon that combined to make it a little hard to follow, and nothing much of significance happening which made it feel a little slow and not very engaging. Providing even more challenge in the pilot, most of the characters are degenerates and criminals who don’t initially exude much charisma or humor, though they do each have personalities that will eventually emerge.

For those viewers who were not bowled over by the pilot, I recommend sticking with it with a few more episodes; the second hour ramps up considerably, even if it is still not “The Sopranos.” In fact, mob-like violence eventually creeps in during later episodes, particularly as Hoffman’s character, who is being released from prison in the first scene of the pilot, becomes entangled by episodes four and five with a yacht-residing heavy rival for Hoffman’s Ace character played by Michael Gambon (the polar opposite of his avuncular Professor Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” movies).
It is that juxtaposition of the seedy side of horse racing set against the idyllic ambiance of Santa Anita that offers the primary intrigue and focus of the show. Milch described it as the “double-ness” of Santa Anita, the real world and the “Santa Anita of the mind.”

The momentum of the mid-series episodes, including a mild earthquake tremor that literally shakes up the motley crew while dining at the local “Rod’s Grill” near the track, tends to stall a bit before regaining energy in the final installment.

Along the way, despite the multitude of characters already in place, new high-profile actors like Gambon continue to be added, such as Joan Allen. Her role as a persistent horse welfare activist (a la Bo Derek?) and her motivation is as vague as many of the other characters, but she appears to become a potential romantic interest for Ace.

Another actor gaining screen time after the pilot is Hall of Fame former jockey Gary Stevens (“Seabiscuit”), whose story arc carries him through a recurrence of his battle with alcoholism that threatens his career. Stevens displays an impressive and extensive range of acting skills that his prior acting roles had not allowed.

For Hoffman, the series presents a new opportunity to work unencumbered by studio executives.
“I’ve not had this experience before,” he said. “You can’t get a shot at doing your best work in the studio system.”
HBO does not have committees analyzing and making recommendations, he said. He also enjoys having three cameras filming at the same time to catch different angles so that actors don’t have to repeat the same shot multiple times.

Also somewhat unique to this HBO series is the wide variance in running times of each “one-hour” episode by as much as 20-minutes.” Each episode has a different director and some run about 45-minutes while others run 50-plus minutes and 60-plus minutes, including the 66-minute finale.

Hoffman and the producers all expressed interest in seeing the expensive series be picked up by HBO for several more seasons.
Maybe that would give Milch time to write in a visit to Santa Anita from Tony Soprano or even Carrie and friends from that other former HBO series “Sex and the City.”

– By Scott Hettrick

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Guest reviewer/blogger Randall Reeves is a former film/video/TV producer-writer-co-host now living in New Mexico.
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For those unfamiliar with the story, the extremely dead, yet dapperly skeletal Jack Skellington has mastered his holiday so much that he has earned the title of the King of Halloween. But mastery of this holiday no longer thrills Jack. On a long and thoughtful walk he wanders into a place where doors to all the holidays exist. By chance, he opens a door that sucks him into all the glitter and glee that is Christmas Town. Finding this new holiday joyful and rewarding, like his Halloween used to be, Jack Skellington endeavors to take over Christmas and make it his very own.

The story borrows heavily from “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch That Stole Christmas,” the classic Rankin-Bass stop-motion movies, and the entire horror genre. It also borrows from the time Tim Burton spent with drawing all sorts of clearly non-Disney characters while attending California Institute of the Arts. In fact, the main characters, Jack Skellington, his rag-doll girlfriend Sally, and Jack’s faithful and ghostly dog Zero were all created almost 10 years before the release date, while Tim Burton was still attending Cal Arts.
The sets appear to be carved into the soft ground like a sharp pencil in clay. The set pieces seem impossibly balanced with no concern for gravity or accessibility. The characters are rightfully nightmarish, including a blue behemoth, an entire corpse family, mummified children, werewolves, vampires, and a buggy burlap bad guy named Oogie Boogie. Yet all the characters are as love-able as they are frightening.

As soon as the movie became available on the little seen LaserDisc format, I purchased it. As soon as it became available on the antiquated VHS format, I purchased it. As soon as it became available on the waning DVD format, I purchased it. When Disney released the movie in its digital 3D format in 2006, I went to the theatre to enjoy it all over again.
I was blown away by how much more immersive the viewing was in 3D. My wife, a converted fan, vowed to never again view “The Nightmare Before Christmas” unless it was seen in 3D. Alas, in 2006 a 3D copy of the movie was impossible to own in any home video format.
Until now.
Today (Tuesday, Aug. 30) Disney is re-releasing the now cult classic movie with its massive and loyal following in a Blu-Ray 3D version ($49.98 for 3-disc combo pack) for which happily rivals and perhaps exceeds what was seen in the theater in 2006. Virtually every scene in the newly re-imaged movie has staging that is enhanced by the 3D experience. Tree limbs pull back as the camera zooms in. You duck to avoid impact. The camera zooms down the hall of a town meeting and it feels like you are brushing shoulders with the dead. As Jack flies through the air in his bony reindeer-pulled coffin, you can almost feel the breeze. The characters so skillfully animated in 1993 seem even more lifelike (even in death) in this 2011 Disney Blu-ray 3D version.

As a consumer who has resisted the temptation to buy a 3D TV, I totally get it now. It’s not a gimmick; it’s a method of enriching the story. It makes the story more believable. It makes the experience real, even when it cannot possibly be real. The 3D in this version is impeccable. There are no losses where the image mysteriously flattens. There are no glitches where the 3D stutters or loses its connection to the viewer. There are even newly-created end titles, which give proper credit for those responsible for the 3D conversion. 3D images of “Nightmare Before Christmas” concept art (many drawn by Tim Burton himself) fly through the air making the credits as worth watching as the rest of the movie.

As charming as the movie was in 1993, it is re-energized and even more enchanting 18 years later in this much-anticipated Disney Blu-ray 3D release.
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2D Blu-ray bonus features:

• Tim Burton movie introduction recorded after watching Blu-ray version for first time and lauding the much-improved texture and clarity.
• Uncut version of half-hour “Frankenweenie,” with Burton introduction of his 1984 black-and-white short that he notes is currently being produced as a feature-length stop-motion theatrical film.
• Audio commentary by Burton, director Henry Selick and music designer Danny Elfman, with Burton noting his only familiarity with traditional Christmas from his childhood home of Burbank, Ca. was the Rankin-Bass and Dr. Seuss Christmas TV specials. Elfman says he immediately got the score and lyrics of “This is Hallowe’en…” in his head upon first meeting with Burton.
• Burton introduces poem on which “Nightmare” was based, read by Christopher Lee over images of Burton’s original concept art.
• “What’s This?” a thorough tour of the revamped and “Nightmare”-ized Disneyland Haunted Mansion with optional fun  pop-up trivia.
• Burton’s famous six-minute black-and-white stop-motion short film “Vincent,” an homage to actor Vincent Price, who narrates.
• Many different presentations of deleted scenes, storyboards, and unused concepts, with audio explanations by director Selick
• Previously produced and still entertaining 25-minute making-of featurette.

Scott Hettrick

First of all, we know there are a limited number of 3D screens. For the sake of keeping the math simple, let’s say there are 1,000 3D screens. When a 3D movie gets released – call it 3Da – it may make as much as 80% of its overall gross from those 1,000 3D theaters showing the movie at a premium price.
But what happens when movie 3Db gets released while 3Da is still in theaters? If they split the 1,000 theaters evenly, each film has access to only 500 screens and therefore only 50% of the potential 3D gross. Keep extrapolating as three, four, five, or even eight or nine 3D movies are in the market at the same time, as is the case right now. Each of those movies is splitting the same 1,000 screens, with movie 3Di getting access to as few as 50 – 100 theaters, or only 5%-10% of the potential 3D market.

Exacerbating the situation is the IMAX 3D factor. IMAX can represent as much as 10% of a movie’s overall gross. There are even fewer IMAX 3D screens and only one movie is playing in IMAX theaters at a time, meaning as much as 10% of 3D revenue is not even available to the other five movies in the market at the moment.
Given that formula, it’s mathematically impossible for two, three, and especially eight or nine movies in the market simultaneously to each generate 60% – 80% of their overall gross from 3D. Of course the 3D percentage from each film must inevitably get smaller with the addition of each new 3D film into the market.

Further, every week crappy movies are released. The more movies that use 3D, the greater the odds that there will be a higher percentage of bad 3D movies, just as there are bad 2D movies. Yet, I’ve never seen anyone draw the mathematical conclusion that the disappointing openings of films like “One Day, ” “The Change-Up” and “Cowboys and Aliens” is dragging down the percentage of grosses of 2D movies which means that audiences are less interested in seeing 2D movies.

It would be a delightful surprise if, at some point, hopefully soon, the media who report these numbers could grasp and accurately interpret these grosses before drawing and promulgating erroneous conclusions.

By Scott Hettrick

Frank Krueger, actor / producer

Watching the film later on Blu-Ray confirmed that the 3D made a huge difference; it showed us what 3D could do for film and storytelling. “It would change the way we watch movies,” is something I heard often and agreed with.

Unfortunately, few if any of the movies released in 3D since have lived up to that potential. I had high hopes for this summer’s slate of big budget 3D fare, but after seeing “Thor” I have to say I’m not optimistic. As much as I liked the movie itself, 3D brought nothing to the table. In fact I found myself feeling that it actually got in the way, making the film dark and or blurry, and I thought more than once that I should have just saved some money and seen it in 2D.  Not a good sign.

Was anyone going to demonstrate how 3D can essentially and completely change the experience of a film? Well, at a small booth at the MIPTV market in Cannes last month I got my answer from a pretty unexpected place.

Marc Dorcel, a French porn producer, was demonstrating his VOD DorcelVision for 3D TV’s and the results blew my mind, pun semi-intended. It was a simple video, a beautiful half-naked woman sitting on a table reaching out to camera. The glasses were still large and clunky but once you put them on, the 3D was so clear and the woman reached out so realistically that you immediately felt like you were actually in the room with her, so much so that I actually felt like I had to apologize to my wife. It showed how film can go from voyeuristic to for lack of a better term experiential. It became a completely different experience for the audience. It is a simple and sensational example but one that mainstream Hollywood films are still missing.

My father told me that he would go to the movies every weekend as a child and sit in the very front row of a double feature because he “wanted to be inside the film.” I followed in his footsteps — as a kid I would give anything to be able to enter the many fantastic worlds of Star Wars just like I finally felt as the audience was brought off the transport ship to see Pandora for the first time.

I keep hoping that mainstream films will find a way to capture the magic made possible by 3D, to recapture what “Avatar” accomplished, a new, unique story experience. Until then, I guess porn will have to lead the way.

Guest blogger Frank Krueger is an actor and producer (“The Darkness Descending“).

Scott Hettrick

Maybe then they will all understand what is missing from mainstream 3D films and what would make audiences feel they are getting their money’s worth from the premium price of a 3D movie ticket.

While the feature-length “African Cats” delivers impressive wildlife photography of adorable and intimidating lions and cheetahs, the 40-minute “Born to be Wild,” directed by David Lickley, is so much more engaging and memorable almost entirely because the orphaned baby orangutans and elephants spend a lot of time frolicking, snuggling, and swinging seemingly inches from us.
The two movies represent one of the best comparisons yet of the dramatic difference in impact between a good movie in 2D versus a good similar-type movie enhanced significantly when presented in the kind of 3D that only IMAX documentarians have been doing so well for decades.
There has yet to be a mainstream 3D movie produced that has had the in-your-face audience immersion of any IMAX 3D documentary, none of which rely on gimmicky shots yet take advantage of the opportunity to create a truly unique experience that fully exploits 3D technology without creating eye fatigue or distracting from the narrative.
It’s a mystery to me why mainstream Hollywood stubbornly resists this approach.
Disney even delayed indefinitely this year’s release of the 3D conversion of the French documentary “OceanWorld 3D.” The Disneynature franchise could benefit enormously and lead the innovation and consumer acceptance of 3D.

“Born to be Wild,” which follows the young animals from the rainforests of Borneo to the savannah of Kenya as they warm to their human rescuers led by primatologist Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas for several years before being rehabilitated and integrated into their natural habitat, is narrated delightfully by Morgan Freeman and presented by IMAX and Warner Bros. Pictures on 207 IMAX screens domestically and at least 18 internationally.

– By Scott Hetrick

Scott Hettrick

Such a person is singer-songwriter Hayley Taylor, the musically talented daughter of my former boss and mentor at The Hollywood Reporter in the 1990s, and friend Alex Ben Block. She has a new music video on YouTube, “Felt Like Love” that will be showcased with an interview of Hayley at 7:30 a.m. (PT) Monday morning, March 21, during the “Music Spotlight” on KTLA channel 5 in Los Angeles.

I’m a sucker for upbeat songs featuring a banjo fused with acoustic guitar, and this pop ditty is a delight, enhanced further in the perky video below depicting the exhilarating feelings in the early stages of a new romance.

– By Scott Hettrick

Why? Because when we’re gearing up to watch Hollywood’s glitterati parade across the red carpet and cry over their statues, we want to remember why they’re on that stage. If we know and love the movies, it’s as close as we’re going to come to being up there with them.

So, having the Oscar nominees on DVD and Blu-ray prior to the show is a wonderful thing. We wish more studios would do it. Imagine if you could have a pre-Oscar party with the choice of featuring any of the films up for honors? Enjoying the pre-Oscar excitement while watching “127 Hours,” “The Fighter,” “The King’s Speech,” “Black Swan” or “True Grit” over French onion dip and chips would be awesome, but we have to wait until March 1 for James Franco’s potentially award-winning performance and even longer for the others.

For”Inception” and “Toy Story 3,” the DVD releases were timed to match their summer-2010 theatrical releases and get the discs in store for the busy Christmas shopping season. Business as usual. But, for “The Social Network” and “127 Hours,” there’s some Oscar strategizing going on.

Here’s how we see it:
“The Social Network,” from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, was performing well in theaters when the Blu-ray and DVD were announced on Dec.15. That week, the film hit the $92 million domestic mark. It was on less than 300 screens on Dec. 15 and had been for the prior three weeks, down from its six weeks of wide release that kicked off with its premiere in October on nearly 2,800 screens. The announcement of “The Social Network’s” Jan. 11 Blu-ray and DVD release date came one day after the Golden Globe nominations were announced, where it picked up six nods. The Jan. 11 release was the perfect street date: five days after the Golden Globes were presented (the film won four, including Best Motion Picture Drama and a Best Director statue for David Fincher), giving it that extra push for award watchers. That it was the first major 2010 studio movie to be released in the new year didn’t hurt, either. And with the announcement of the 2011 Academy Award nominations scheduled for Jan. 25, two weeks after street date, Sony had their cake and ate it too.

“127 Hours,” from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, danced a trickier tango. Released in theaters by the winning Fox Searchlight in November with the same kind of platform release strategy that turned “Juno” and “Little Miss Sunshine” hits, “127 Hours” received rave reviews and high buzz, but never took off the way it should have. It’s hovering around the $17 million mark now. The film got three nominations for Golden Globes, including Franco for Best Actor, but didn’t bring home any statues. The studio’s home entertainment division held their breath until the Oscar nominations on Jan 25. When “127 Hours” snagged six noms that morning, including ones for Best Picture and Best Actor, Fox snapped into action and immediately announced the film’s March 1 Blu-ray/DVD release date. The home disc press announcement was released about two hours — 127 minutes — after the nominations were announced. March 1 is a couple of days after Sunday’s Oscar broadcast. What makes it even sweeter is that star Franco is co-hosting with Anne Hathaway (whose “Love and Other Drugs” is coming to DVD and Blu-ray on March 1 too, also from Fox).

Whether “127 Hours” wins for one of its many nominations, including Best Picture (we predict “The Social Network” will take it) and Franco as Best Actor (and we’re gonna say no to that one; it’s Colin Firth’s year) is almost moot. Either way, the film and the actor will be on viewers’ minds, making March 1 a good release day for the film’s DVD and Blu-ray — even though it would have been even better to have had the movie before Oscar had his celebration and Franco threw his super-secret “after-after-after-after-party.”

What do you think? Would you prefer to have all the movies available for home viewing prior to the awards?

– By Laurence Lerman, co-founder of DiscDish.com, a site for DVD and Blu-ray lovers.

President Ronald Reagan

The two-hour “Reagan” is a remarkably comprehensive and objective view of the seemingly simple man who actually was a complex person with many faces, shifting from actor to pitchman to politician with as much ease as he moved from being a liberal Democrat to a conservative Republican.

Jarecki tells the life story unimaginatively chronologically yet deftly interweaves news footage and comments about Reagan’s personality throughout to create a deeper perspective on the man, and dwelling perhaps the longest on the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal that marred his Presidency.

Son Ron Reagan gets the most screen time and offers a very honest and loving perspective of his father, puzzling about why the President had trouble accepting certain realities like homosexuality until his friend Rock Hudson died of AIDS, expressing his disappointment in his father’s decisions about Iran-Contra but saying the President was doing it with the best intentions of serving the public, and praising his political savvy and good looks. The movie also closes with Ron’s eulogy at his father’s funeral.

Others provide fascinating reflections as well, including former Chief of Staff James A. Baker, former White House senior advisor Pat Buchanan, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, and several economists who remain mystified about the illogic of Reaganomics, which sparked many of the economic divides the country is still suffering from decades later.

“Reagan” is entertaining, informative, and a worthwhile reminder of the many sides of the President who has become so revered since his death after suffering through Alzheimer’s.

The movie replays  at 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11, 2:30 p.m. and midnight Feb. 16, 12:30 p.m. Feb. 21, 6 p.m. Feb. 24, and 3:45 p.m. feb. 26

– By Scott Hettrick

Scott Hettrick

His death at age 77 on Jan. 30 in New York is cause to revel in the memories of the man who brought us some the most enduring movie music of all time, starting most prominently with his signature theme for the James Bond franchise.

How fitting that one of Barry’s most dynamic scores was recently released on Blu-ray Disc for viewers to enjoy in its fullest surround sound. Kevin Costner recognized how critical it was to have Barry create the sense of scale for his Western epic “Dances with Wolves,” which Barry did with aplomb, winning yet another one of his many Academy Awards.

John Barry

Film scores are still underrated as perhaps the key element in almost every movie that triggers our emotions; it’s the music that is usually what sparks both tears and an adrenaline rush. Barry did both better than most. He essentially created the genre of action movie franchise score with music for nearly a dozen 007 films for 25 years  from 1962 – 1987, a series which is also credited with establishing the trend of original title songs by pop singers. Yet even without a title song to work with in 1969′s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” Barry managed to deliver perhaps the most definitive score of the franchise in that film. And his music is among the few memorable elements of clunker episodes in the secret agent series such as “The Man With the Golden Gun” and “A View to a Kill.”

Twice in 20 years during the 007 span he enhanced our sense of awe and wonder in Africa with the score and timeless theme song from “Born Free” (he won Oscars for both) and the lush, romantic orchestral swoons in his Oscar-winning “Out of Africa,” the latter largely responsible for a boon in tourism and safaris.

Equally locked into the hearts of a generation is his quintessential score of romance from “Somewhere in Time,” which, more than 30 years later, continues to transcend the listener to a time and place every bit as alluring and fulfilling as the one depicted in the movie itself.
Only a year later he turned that blissful romance into sounds of steamy sexual tension in “Body Heat.”

Among the plethora of genres in which Barry excelled was period pieces, such as his Oscar-winning score for the riveting “The Lion in Winter,” his nominated “Mary, Queen of Scots” and “Chaplin,” and the endearing sweetness in his orchestration for the often overlooked Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn film “Robin and Marian.”

If you bought and listened to only the soundtracks from the movies noted above, your collection could be considered very comprehensive. Such was the scope of John Barry’s genius and his gratefully extensive career.

– By Scott Hettrick