This is a good week for Batman fans. Like most of you I’ve been playing through Batman Arkham City and loving every minute of it, but this week saw the release of the animated adaption of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One as well.

Has it really been over a year since I reviewed a DC Animated Universe movie? The last DC U animated Blu-ray I reviewed was Batman: Under the Red Hood, and it was surprisingly good. Since then, I’ve seen a few more, but didn’t feel they were worth posting on the site. Green Lantern: Emerald Knights was a decent collection of stories, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse was just kind of interesting, and All-Star Superman was weird because I didn’t know the source material.

Even though I haven’t read Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, I thoroughly enjoyed the animated adaptation and feel like it is an impressive addition to Batman’s already awesome animated film history.
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If you’re like us, you’re so upset about George Lucas tampering with his classic films that you don’t even want to buy the new Blu-ray set. As much as I’d love to watch the new bonus features, the thought of shelling out $80 and not even getting the versions of the films that I love drives me crazy.

Luckily for my fellow disgruntled Star Wars fans, there are a lot of amazing Blu-rays available to fill that void, some already available and some coming very soon. Here are a few.

Citizen Kane

Whether or not you agree with the masses that Citizen Kane is the best movie ever made or not, you can’t ignore it’s cultural and historical significance (Hey, just like Star Wars!). Admittedly, I’ve only watched it all the way through once, and it was years ago. I’ve had it sitting on my media center for over a year in not-so-glorious SD resolution, and now that I own this impressive Blu-ray set I’m glad I’ve waited to watch it again. The box itself is gorgeous and holds a lot of goodies, and the movie has been upgraded with a 4K scan. There are tons of bonus features, but the best part is the price.

$40 on Amazon
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It’s Star Wars on Blu-ray week! The folks at Wal-mart and Lucasfilm have something additional to spend your money on this Friday when all six Star Wars movies debut on Blu-ray. Exclusively at the discount retailer, you can pick up Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace on DVD/Blu-ray combo pack.

The cute 22-minute animated short originally aired on Cartoon Network this July. The Clone Wars-era story stars a special mystery character who is finally revealed at the end. The Blu-ray set includes an exclusive Lego mini figure of that special character.

For less than $20 it seems like a great deal but consider this. That mystery character who’s identified in surprising fashion at the end of the show is named right there on the front cover. Yes, the twist ending of this animated short is revealed by simply reading the front of the box.

It’s kinda like buying the new Citizen Kane Blu-ray edition with a special “Rosebud Sled” toy inside. You read that correctly. I just compared Lego Star Wars and Citizen Kane — and spoiled the mystery of 1941 film in the same sentence. Keeping it in the Star Wars universe, this gaffe is like having a special “Father’s Day” edition of The Empire Strikes Back. No potential spoilers there!

Of course I’m joking around with these analogies but I think the Lucasfilm marketers should consider their young fans when designing the cover art for their releases.

If you want the secret spoiled for you, just head over to Walmart.com for an up-close look.

Due Date is almost a modern remake of the classic John Hughes film Planes, Trains & Automobiles; a buddy comedy about the straight man (Robert Downey Jr.) being forced to travel across country with the annoying, fat slob (Zach Galifianakis) in order to get home to his family. In this case, he’s trying to get home to his wife who is about to give birth, rather than wanting to get home in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Robert Downey Jr.’s character is a hell of a lot meaner than Steve Martin’s in PT&A, however. He often “sees red” and makes poor life decisions that result in someone being punched, something being broken, and dogs being spit on. Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) is an aspiring actor who desperately wants to appear on Two and a Half Men and spread his father’s ashes along the way. The two bump into each other and after they’re both kicked off their plane, hilarity ensues.

It’s not the most ground-breaking comedy ever, but I enjoyed it. It had a good blend of wackiness, Robert Downey Jr. being himself (awesome), and even heart.
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I always had a hard time deciding how I felt about Walt Disney’s 1942 film Bambi. I remembered watching it as a kid, but that’s not always the best judge of how good something is, so a few years ago I rewatched it. Even though I was in the middle of a geeking-out-about-animation-history phase I went through, I wrote Bambi off as boring.

It’s still not a Disney movie I can watch as often as others, but at least I’ve come to a better understanding of it as a work of art. I lump Bambi in the same category as Fantasia, more on the poetic side; something to sit and ponder while I’m wearing my smoking jacket and puffing my bubble pipe until I give up and decide to play Nintendo.
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