Buying movies is almost a dangerous obession with me.  I love it, and probably have spent more money on movies in my lifetime than any sane person.  At least I’m not spending money on heroine.

New Movie Tuesday is my favorite day of the week.  Here are this week’s releases as well as my recommendations.

Being the film snob I am, I will recommend the Blu Ray versions of these flicks if available.

Must Buy:

Up

List Price: $45.99 Amazon Price: $19.99 Average customer review:

One of the best animated movies this year finally comes out on Blu-Ray.  Disney/Pixar’s Up is a gem of a movie that is a triumph for both kids and adults.  The only kids movie I know of that has an old man as it’s main character, Up comes highly recommended!

Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut

List Price: $59.99 Amazon Price: $30.99 2 new or used available from $30.99 Average customer review:

List Price: $39.95 Amazon Price: $25.99   4 new or used available from $25.99 Average customer review:

Monsters, Inc. (4-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray] $22.99 My favorite Pixar movie in glorious HD!	Heat [Blu-ray] $16.49 Can’t wait to watch the Bank Robbery Scene w/ Master Audio. Geek-gasm.	Near Dark [Blu-ray] $12.99 One of THE best Vampire flicks of all time finally in HD.

 New to Blu-Ray 

The Negotiator [Blu-ray] $17.49 Recommended to rent if you haven’t seen it. Samuel L. Jackson & Kevin Spacey give solid performances.	Red Heat [Blu-ray] $12.99 Not sure how this will look in HD. Fun flick, though.	Logan’s Run [Blu-ray] $17.99 Don’t believe the cover art. Hokey 70s Sci-Fi. HD transfer may do more bad than good.
Godzilla [Blu-ray] $16.99 Excuse me, I just threw up a little in my mouth.

The long awaited trailer to Toy Story 3 is out! I’m interested to see where this goes. Looks like Andy is off to college and Woody, Buzz and all the toys end up in a Day Care.

The plot seems kind of thin here, not sure where they’ll go with it. But, I trust Pixar 100% and am looking forward to taking my kids to see this opening weekend!

I love Pixar. They haven’t made a bad movie yet, and they’re the first affiliate of Disney to do a quality sequel with Toy Story 2. Now, next year we have Toy Story 3 to look forward to!

The teaser trailer for Toy Story 3 courtesy of Apple. Toy Story 3— in theaters June 18, 2010— is a brand new adventure starring Buzz and Woody in Disney Digital 3D™

Bolt

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Directed By: Byron Howard and Chris Williams

Written By: Dan Fogelman and Chris Williams

Starring: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell

Plot Synopsis:

Bolt tells the story a dog who plays a heroic pup in a hit TV show and has some trouble recognising that he is in fact not possessed of extraordinary powers beyond the ability to lick his own nether regions. This becomes something of a hindrance when he is accidentally shipped from Hollywood to New York City. From there he has to make his way home with only the help of a manky old cat and an overweight hamster in a plastic ball. John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton provide voices. (Trailer Addict)

Review:

Disney Animation has been in a bit of a slump recently.  Their last non-Pixar Computer Animated Chicken Little was a turd, and other than direct to DVD sequels to their classics we haven’t seen much.  So, much to my surprise, along comes Bolt.  This is the first non-Pixar movie that is up to par in quality with The Incredibles; a fun, action packed and funny little movie.  Of course, Bolt was executive produced by Pixar’s John Lasseter.  So Bolt can be a distant cousin of a Pixar movie.

The plot is a simple fish-out-of-water scenario.  If you read the synopsis you know what you’re getting.  As is the case with most simple plots, it’s the execution that is key.  From the voice acting to the animation, Bolt works.  John Travolta voices Bolt and you totally buy it.  He does a great job of not drawing our attention to his voice.  It works perfect for the character and the story.

Miley Cyrus is the surprise here.  Her voice is perfect for Penny.  I’m NOT the demographic for anything Miley Cyrus.  She usually annoys the hell out of me.  But her voice acting is so good here, it really fits the character and also isn’t a “Hey! Look at me!” performance.  Hats off to Miley Cyrus for actually being a part of something I enjoy!

All the other character works fine.  Susie Essman as Mittens is great and  Mark Walton as Rhino the Hampster is pretty hilarious.  He’s kind of channeling Jack Black a tiny bit, but it fits the character.

As a whole, Bolt is a great family movie.  The story is fun.  The humor is there, but doesn’t take you out of the story and has a very natural feel to it (as opposed to a few certain Dreamworks Animation movie…like…say…Shrek).  I originally saw this in 3D with my wife, but unlike other 3D gimmicked movies, Bolt stands up very well in 2D and looks beautiful on Blu-ray.  I have a feeling Bolt will stand up for some time and will become another classic Disney character.

Rated PG for some mild action and peril.

This is the newest trailer for Disney/Pixar’s Up.  Finally we have a little more of the plot spelled out.  So, it’s fair to say I’m much more excited to see this. 

Synopsis:

From Disney-Pixar comes Up, a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell.

From the Academy Award-nominated director Pete Docter, Disney-Pixar’s Up invites you on a hilarious journey into a lost world, with the least likely duo on Earth. Up will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D in select theaters.