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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.

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“).

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.

John D. Lowry, co-founder TrioScopics, Inc.

But wait, there’s more. Blu-ray players don’t handle broadcast, so you’ll need another new 3D box in order to see the football or soccer game – once that 3D box actually becomes available <from systems that don’t already offer it such as DirecTV, Comcast, and AT&T U-verse>.

When you consider today’s economy and that current 3D television sets are priced from $2,500 to $6,000, it’s clear that 3D television equipment buyers need to be in an elite class, certainly throughout this year and probably the next. According to a recent study by NPD Group, roughly three out of every 1,000 TV sets sold in the U.S. during the first three months of 2010 were 3D-capable. Add to this the small number of 3D titles that will be available in the next year, targeting all markets from young children to horror: a mere 20 to 30. Now that is a tough market.

It is true that, as with HD sets, economies of scale will bring prices down eventually. But contrary to the hype created by the consumer electronics industry since January, any change of this magnitude will take time. The best estimates are that it will be several years for the number of television sets in homes to reach critical mass, yet that market penetration is essential to the success of a significant Blu-ray 3D movie launch.

Please keep in mind that I am the last person to be against new and better hardware. Most of my career has been focused on the invention and deployment of new technology. But one of the lessons I have learned many times over the last 50 years is that you have to be realistic about how long it takes for a real, new market to develop. The bottom line: Until that market is large enough to be viable, content owners need an alternative way to make money.

The theatrical 3D market is white hot today. Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and other titles are driving demand for 3D content for the home right now, and the consumer electronics industry sees a new pot of gold to pursue. But the inevitable time required to sell and install that critical mass of 3D equipment in the home means missed opportunities, and a lot of money down the drain for content owners.

The good news is that there are solutions to this market problem that can be implemented today. These solutions do not require a new TV set or new hardware. The demand is there and the technology exists to satisfy that demand. The studios are in the process of understanding this equation. When they see that they can capture some of those potential earnings today, as opposed to waiting for consumers to upgrade yet again, the market will adapt.

For example, there are nearly two billion DVD players in the marketplace. There is no plan on the part of the consumer electronics industry to “upgrade” any DVD equipment. Here is a massive market that already exists — a market that can be served with surprisingly excellent 3D image quality using existing hardware today. If the user’s hardware has built-in up-res to HD capability, the 3D results can be quite amazing.

I’ve been watching consumer electronics markets for a long time. What I’m seeing right now is the cure for upgrade fatigue.

Editor’s note: John D. Lowry, best known for his highly-regarded HiDef film restoration company Lowry Digital that he founded and then sold. His breakthroughs in imaging science have been utilized in everything from Apollo moonwalk images to “Avatar,” earning him numerous patents and awards. He is co-founder of TrioScopics, Inc., which creates the kind of 3D images using current TVs and DVD players that he is advocating above. Lowry was interviewed on video by 3DHollywood.net last November about his background, successes, and TrioScopics.

Larry Stewart

That took place only a couple of weeks ago at the Mann Bruin Theater in Westwood, Calif. The theater’s listed capacity is 696, and the place was packed.

At the conclusion of HBO’s magnificent “Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals,” every single person there stood and clapped. This documentary, which debuts on HBO Saturday, March 6 (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT), is that good. Remember to set your DVR. This film is as fine a documentary as I’ve ever seen. It’s HBO quality as its best.

I was at the screening with my wife as a guest of HBO publicist Ray Stallone, who remains a dear friend even though I’m no longer with the L.A. Times.
I’m so glad he invited us.

In the documentary, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are followed somewhat simultaneously through their basketball careers and beyond. It is some 90 minutes of riveting TV that includes classic footage and candid interviews with the principles.

College and NBA superstars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird; their college and NBA rivalry and relationship on and off the court is profiled in an HBO documentary playing multiple times this month.

The only flaw I found was that there is a little too much reliance on sportswriters who covered these two superstars. Having worked as sportswriter in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years – no, I’m not one of the sportswriters in the film – I got to know Magic fairly well, particularly after he got into broadcasting.

I knew very little about Bird – I think that is the case with just about everyone – and that is what made this film so fascinating for me. Bird is usually taciturn and only willing to talk about basketball – nothing personal. HBO Sports president and executive producer Ross Greenburg, producer Rick Bernstein and their staff somehow got Bird to open up.

Listening to Bird during the screening reminded me of Jerry West. Both had difficult, secluded childhoods, both have complex personalities and both are perfectionists to a fault. When Bird talked, I could envision West saying exactly the same thing. They even sound alike.
Bird talks about his childhood, including his father Joe’s suicide. Over past dinners at a popular sports hangout, Phil Trani’s in Long Beach, West has confided about his tenuous relationship with his father. Both fathers had drinking problems.
Bird said that, as a child, he didn’t know that everybody had a family car. “I was in a cocoon,” he says.

Magic and Bird have two distinctive personalities – as different as night and day. But amazingly a friendship developed over time. When Magic tested HIV positive in 1992, Bird called him. Magic tears up in the film when talking about that phone call.
Magic was at the screening and afterwards said, “This is the third time I have seen this film, and I cry every time.”

One complaint about the screening took place beforehand when former and current Lakers in the audience were introduced, along with some movie stars. One of the movie stars I’d never even heard of.
Sitting not far from us was Bill Sharman and his wife Joyce. This basketball legend was not introduced.
Sharman is one of only three men in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. John Wooden and Lenny Wilkens are the other two. Sharman was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1997. He played for the Boston Celtics (Bird’s team) and at different times was coach, general manager and president of the Los Angeles Lakers (Magic’s team). At 83, Sharman still works for the Lakers as a special consultant.
Magic came to the Lakers when Bill Sharman was the team’s general manager. If not for Sharman, Magic would have never been a Laker.

In 1979, the Lakers had the New Orleans Jazz’s No. 1 pick because of a Gail Goodrich trade. The Jazz finished last in the West, the Chicago Bulls did likewise in the East. Which team got the No. 1 overall pick was determined by a coin flip.
Because of a fan promotion, the Bulls wanted the right to call the coin even though it was the West team’s turn to make the call.  Sharman, an extremely nice gentleman, obliged. Sharman said he would have called heads. Instead, the Bulls’ GM, Rod Thorn, called heads. The coin came up tails.
The Lakers got Magic. The Bulls got UCLA’s David Greenwood.
And Bill Sharman, to this day, gets little recognition.

Longtime L.A. Times sports TV columnist Larry Stewart continues to cover many sports, including horse racing and golf, for various publications, and writes a regular blog for a website in his home town called ArcadiasBest.com featuring fun reading about everything from his ongoing fascinating visits with sports legends to his favorite restaurants, watering holes, and vacation spots.