It took them 18 years, but The Simpsons finally delivered a theatrical movie! Homer accidently causes an environmental catastrophe which could doom Springfield forever. Now Homer, one of the least responsible characters ever, must find a way to save his family, and the city.I've seen every episode of The Simpsons on TV, but I missed the theatrical run of the movie and opted to wait and watch it on Blu-ray. The video quality is stunning, and it looks like frames were painted on my TV, and the audio track (a DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless track) sounded excellent.I've grown accustomed to the loaded Simpsons DVD sets, so I was surprised by how sparse the extras were on the movie. The two commentary tracks, one with a group, and the other with the directors, were good, but I expected to see more deleted scenes (there are only 6), and the "special stuff" section contained an odd assortment of clips, like Homer's monologue on The Tonight Show, a couple of American Idol pieces, and a short int...
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HBO has joined the parade to Blu-ray after Warner Bros, its distributor, announced on Friday that they were dropping HD-DVD in May 2008. The Warner Bros announcement could be the event that ends the war between high-definition formats. HD-DVD has the exclusive support of Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks, while Blu-ray has Fox/MGM, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony and Lionsgate. Warner Bros, which holds about 20 percent of the market, was a huge win for the Blu-ray group, and leaves Blu-ray with roughly 75 percent of the HD market. The Warner Bros decision has influenced New Line, along with HBO, to make the switch to Blu-ray, but BBC Home Video is bucking the trend and "will evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format" (according to the studio); the studio has four high-definition releases planned for 2008, available on both formats, and has sold more copies of Planet Earth on HD-DVD. Recent notable Blu-ray releases include The Simpsons (Fox), Pirates of the Caribbean: At Wo...
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Question: Love your column. I know you're not a movie critic, but what are your feelings on The Simpsons Movie? I felt it was a welcome return to the "classic" era of the show, with rapid-fire jokes (only maybe one or two out of 100 missed the mark) mixed with clever sight gags, meta-references, and the raw emotion that has made the series "different" from other sitcoms and animated comedies. What did you think of the film?
Answer: A big rave from this corner, Steve. I was a little late getting to it, but was delighted to catch up with it a few days ago in an audience that included several supervised groups of kids (apparently on a Times Square field trip). They guffawed like little Bart Simpsons at the silly slapstick stuff (the naked skateboarding scene was a big hit), while I sometimes heard myself laughing out loud all by my lonesome at some of the subtler sight and sound gags. All in all, I thought it was a blast. I'm still smiling at some of the bits: everyone from the church
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Cowabunga, dude! The Simpsons Movie didn't just open big, it opened Homer's-belly big! With a haul of $71.9 million, it was not only the No. 1 flick of the week, it was also the fifth biggest debut of the year. Rounding out the top five are I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, with a $19.1 million take; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, adding $17.1 million to its kitty; Hairspray, catching another $15.6 million in its Miss Baltimore Crab nets; and the new Catherine Zeta-Jones romcom No Reservations, with a paltry $11.8 million. Of course, even Zeets' numbers looked pretty sweet compared to those of our beleaguered LiLo: Her new (last?) pic, I Know Who Killed Me, generated only $3.4 million in ticket sales. See ya soon in The Surreal Life house, honey.
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A master of voices on The Simpsons, Dan Castellaneta steps in front of the camera as Cecil B. DeMille in Sands of Oblivion, another of Sci Fi Channel's cheeky horrorfests (premiering Saturday at 9 pm/ET). Castellaneta talked to us about the legendary filmmaker and The Simpsons Movie, which just hit theaters.
TV Guide: How do you prepare to play a larger-than-life figure like Cecil B. DeMille?Dan Castellaneta: Basically I went onto YouTube and somebody put the 10-minute speech he gave before the film, and I watched that. I remembered him from a part he had in Sunset Blvd. and even one documentary. I didn't see any [other] documentary footage of hi
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