Review: First "Iron Man" Film Was Good - Surprisingly Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Iron Man (2008)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence and brief suggestive content
DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau
WRITERS: Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (based upon characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad and Kevin Feige
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique, ASC (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Dan Lebental, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bigg, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg, Sayed Badreya, and Shaun Toub

After years of watching other movie studios make hundreds of millions bringing its comic book characters to the big screen (Spider-Man, X-Men), Marvel Studios makes its first foray into financing and making its own superhero movie. It’s called Iron Man, and this first Marvel Studios movie is as bold and as brash as Marvel’s attempt to bring the classic armored superhero to the silver screen on its own dime.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor, and his Stark Industries is the U.S. government’s top weapons contractor. He has celebrity status as the protector of American interests around the globe and lives a carefree lifestyle. While in Afghanistan, his military convoy/escort is attacked, Stark is gravely injured by life-threatening shrapnel embedded near his already weakened heart. Kidnapped and held hostage by a group of insurgents, Stark is forced to build a devastating weapon for Raza (Faran Tahir), the mysterious leader of the insurgents. Instead, Tony uses his intelligence and ingenuity to build a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity.

Returning to America, Stark is determined to come to terms with his past and vows to take Stark Industries in a new direction, but meets resistance from Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), his right-hand man and top executive, who took the reigns of the company while Stark was gone. Spending his days and nights in his workshop, Tony develops and refines the suit of armor that gives him superhuman strength and physical protection. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, Stark once again dons his new, more powerful armor, and with the help of his longtime assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and his trusted military liaison, Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Tony Stark fights evil as his new alter ego “Iron Man.”

There are several reasons why this Iron Man film turns out to be such a joyous and entertaining film. The main reason is Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Much has been made that Downey has used his experience as an addict to play Stark (a heavy-drinking playboy), who, in some of the Marvel comic books, was portrayed as an alcoholic. The truth is that Downey is simply a superb actor whose talent has been overshadowed by his public battle with his demons. Here, Downey offers a complicated view of both the man and superhero just as Tobey Maguire has done as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Christian Bale as Batman (in Batman Begins).

Downey presents Tony Stark as a hard worker and hard player. He’s dedicated to creating the best weapons for the United States, but he focuses on his down time with equal zeal; he’s all work and all play. This is how Downey presents Stark as a man who is so self-centered and so focused only on what he wants to do that he essentially ignores everything and everyone else around him. Stark takes his friends for granted, and although he works hard to create the best inventions for his company, he actually ignores how Stane is running it. By presenting such a fully developed character, Downey uses that performance to drive both the narrative and its central conceit – in order to better the world, Tony Stark, with the help of Iron Man has to better himself.

Iron Man’s visual effects are another element that sells the film. The CGI and other special effects look slick, as would befit a futuristic hero who wears shiny, beyond state-of-the-art technology. Still, there is an earthy quality to it that becomes this tale of a knight in shining armor that saves both the world and the man inside the armor.

The third and fourth elements about Iron Man that really stand out are actor Jeff Bridges and director Jon Favreau (who also has a small acting role here). Bridges is a consummate actor, and I would be hard-pressed to find an instance in which he gave a poor performance. Stane, for the most part, is a small role, but Bridges so easily creates the duplicity, menace, and outright evil of Stane that the character’s dark presence and ominous machinations straddle the narrative just the way a villain and his wrongness should do in a superhero movie.

Finally, Jon Favreau already has a blockbuster to his directing resume, the heart-warming and wonderfully endearing Christmas flick, Elf. It was, however, his thoroughly underrated children’s sci-fi flick, Zathura (2005) that gave him the chance to show how much he understood handling a complicated technical production. In Elf and Zathura, Favreau also showed his knack for constantly offering surprises in his film narratives. It doesn’t matter if it is a quiet moment, a moment of intense drama, or a sequence of slam-bang action and SFX; Favreau always offers something visually appealing – the presentation of an event or a bit of dialogue that keeps the film fresh and moving. The viewer’s interest is usually stimulated and kept focused on the film. With Iron Man, Favreau wisely takes Downey’s witty and droll turn and makes a film that from beginning to end is absolutely fun to watch – with no time for a dull moment.

7 of 10
A-

Monday, May 19, 2008

NOTES:
2009 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Frank E. Eulner and Christopher Boyes) and “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, and Shane Mahan)

2009 BAFTA Awards: 1 nominations: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Hal T. Hickel, Shane Mahan, John Nelson, and Ben Snow)

2008 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actor” (Terrence Howard)

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Happy Birthday, Jay!

A quarter-century, huh?

"Legend of the Guardians" a Strange, But Entertaining Bird

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 80 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010)
Running time: 90 minutes  (1 hour, 30 minuntes)
MPAA – PG for some sequences of scary action
DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder
WRITERS: John Orloff and Emil Stern (based on the Guardian of Ga’Hoole novels by Kathryn Lasky)
PRODUCER: Zareh Nalbandian

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ACTION/WAR

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Emily Barclay, Adrienne DeFaria, Miriam Margolyes, Ryan Kwanten, Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, Richard Roxburgh, Geoffrey Rush, Joel Edgerton, Anthony LaPaglia, Abbie Cornish, Hugo Weaving, and David Wenham

The film, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is a computer animated film based upon the Guardians of Ga’Hoole fantasy book series by Kathryn Lasky. Legend of the Guardians, which is apparently a loose adaptation of the first three books in the series, follows the adventures of a young owl kidnapped by a patrol of evil owls and thrown into an ages old conflict.

Legend of the Guardians is directed by Zack Snyder, master of the faux-historical 300 and the superhero faux pas, Watchmen. The computer animation is the work of Australian digital visual effects company, Animal Logic, which also produced the Oscar-winning Happy Feet. Unlike Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians may be too dark, too violent, and too intense for children younger than 8 or 9 years-old.

An easy way to describe this film is as Lord of the Rings with owls. Like LotR, Legend of the Guardians is visually astounding, especially when its characters (mostly all owls) take to the air for breathtaking displays of avian aerial prowess. The story features all the familiar characteristics of the hero’s quest, and the character drama is sometimes as dull as the flying and fighting are attention-grabbing. But this is done with owls, and that’s the hook that makes this movie work.

The film focuses on Soren (Jim Sturgess), a young owl enthralled by the epic stories his father, Noctus (Hugo Weaving) tells him. These are heroic and historical legends of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a mythic band of owl warriors that fought a great battle to save the Kingdom of Ga’Hoole from the Pure Ones, a group of evil owls.

Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes at their home, the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, but his older brother, Kludd (Ryan Kwanten), scoffs at the notion. Kludd is jealous of the attention his father gives Soren. Kludd’s jealousy leads to the brothers being kidnapped by minions of the Pure Ones and taken to their leaders Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and his mate, Nyra (Helen Mirren). When Soren learns of the true evil the Pure Ones are planning, his only hope is to find the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, but are these owls real? He and an elf owl named Gylfie (Emily Barclay) escape the Pure Ones and embark on a journey to find the truth and to perhaps save the owl kingdoms.

Legend of the Guardians is relentlessly dark in terms of the story, but is relentlessly splendid in terms of 3D animation. Ga’Hoole’s story treats war as something that is occasionally needed to stop evil and aggression. Here, war is an extraordinary event meant for warriors, and not for warrior-wannabes. It is just this attitude that gives the film’s battles so much weight and importance.

Legend of the Guardians is also a 3D movie, but the computer animation – in terms of stimulating character action, movement, blocking, and camera movement – make seeing it in plain old 2D quite a bracing experience. I saw it in 2D, and that did not keep me from marveling at the texture of owl feathers and the surface consistency of the costumes and implements the birds wore. Unreal feathers have never looked so real. Even the skin of the snake character, the nest maid, Miss Plithiver (Miriam Margolyes), looks like real snake skin. The drawing and design style tends towards realism, especially in the landscapes and backgrounds, but the colors keep the animation from going too far by giving everything a sense of magic and fantasy.

Geoffrey Rush as the wise old warrior owl, Ezylryb, and Helen Mirren (as Nyra), give excellent voice performances. Rush is great at making supporting characters zany and attractive, and Mirren would be award worthy even taking orders at McDonald’s. Jim Sturgess is also good as Soren, but no one else really does anything that stands out.

Where the film falters is character drama. When Legend of the Guardians shows its characters in flight or in a fight, the movie is fierce, passionate, and awesome. When it slows down for some drama, the movie feels grounded, even a bit a silly. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is a strange bird indeed. It is an excellent action fantasy movie, but like some of children’s fantasy films, it lacks heart. Its sentiment and messages feel phony and thrown in out of a sense of obligation. Where does that leave the viewer? Enjoy the action and patiently tolerate everything else.

[Also, before Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole begins, audiences in movie theatres get a new Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon short called “Fur of Flying.” However, unlike most Road Runner cartoons, which are 2D or hand-drawn animation, “Fur of Flying” is 3D or computer-animated. 3D animation is a weird way to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, but this short isn’t bad at all.]

6 of 10
B

Sunday, September 26, 2010

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Review: Animated "Happy Feet" Tap Dances to Success

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 246 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Happy Feet (2006)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some mild peril and rude humor
DIRECTOR: George Miller with Warren Coleman and Judy Morris
WRITERS: George Miller, John Collee, Judy Morris, and Warren Coleman
PRODUCERS: Doug Mitchell, George Miller, and Bill Miller
EDITOR: Christian Gazal
SONG: “The Song of the Heart” by Prince
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY
ADVENTURE/ACTION/MUSIC with elements of drama and romance

Starring: (voices) Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Hugo Weaving, Anthony LaPaglia, Johnny A. Sanchez, Carlos Alazraqui, Lombardo Boyar, Jeff Garcia, Steve Irwin, Fat Joe, and E.G. Daily

Happy Feet is the new computer animation feature film from George Miller, the director of two hit movie franchises, Mad Max and Babe. Filled with breathtaking action sequences, impressive tap dancing, and rousing musical numbers, it may be the first computer animated flick that tries to be everything to everyone. Happy Feet’s story is also a bit darker than its “PG” rating would suggest.

Deep in Antarctica, in the land of the Emperor Penguins, a baby penguin named Mumble (E.G. Daily) is born dancing to his own tune – tap dancing. That’s not good; for emperor penguins discover their mates with their Heartsong, which is how Mumble’s parents, his mom Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) and his dad Memphis (Hugh Jackman, doing a strange Elvis Presley impersonation) met. Mumble can’t sing, and without a Heartsong, he may never find true love.

Later, when he grows up, the adult Mumble (Elijah Wood) still can’t sing, but he’s satisfied with his dancing. Mumble even has one close friend, Gloria (Brittany Murphy), who is the best singer in the land. Although she struggles with what the penguins consider Mumble’s “hippity-hoppity” ways, she has strong feelings for him. Still, that doesn’t keep Noah the Elder (Hugo Weaving), the stern leader of Emperor Land, from banishing Mumble.

Far away from home, Mumble finds himself in the land of the Adelie Penguins, who aren’t nearly as tall as the emperor penguins. Mumble is immediately befriended by the Adelie Posse. Led by gabby Ramon (Robin Williams), the Adelie Posse absorbs Mumble into their group because they’re impressed by Mumble’s tap dancing. With his new friends, Mumble sets out on the epic adventure of lifetime to discover why penguins’ chief food source (fish) is disappearing.

First, the computer animation in Happy Feet is some of the best seen yet, easily rivaling computer animation gold standard, Pixar (Finding Nemo, Cars). The film does have some live action sequences with human actors. The sequences of penguins sliding over ice fields or dodging avalanches, predators (killer whales and seals), and human machinery, are heart stopping, eye-popping, and just simply striking This has to be seen to be believed, because I can’t accurately convey the wonder of what’s on screen.

The story, however, is a jumble of genres, themes, and sub-plots. Happy Feet is an ecological tale about over fishing the penguins feeding grounds. It’s a tale of religious intolerance, dogma, and superstition. Mumble being made an outcast hits on themes of bigotry, discrimination, and narrow-mindedness. The relationship between Mumble and his father Memphis even brings up issues of parental acceptance.

Still, Happy Feet is a fun movie. Between the dizzying action scenes, rousing musical numbers, and the dancing, it’s hard to leave the theatre unhappy. It’s hard to not like that much singing and dancing, especially when the film mixes hit pop songs with modern hip-hop and tap dancing. George Miller used motion capture to record the moves of live dancers, and the penguins were animated over that. Famed American tap dancer Savion Glover provided Mumble’s remarkable and stirring moves.

The voice acting is also notable, especially Elijah Wood as Mumble and Robin Williams doing three roles (Ramon, Lovelace the Guru, and Cletus). While the entire cast is good at bringing the characters to life, Wood simply finds away of standing out as the protagonist, which isn’t necessarily easy; sometimes the voice actor playing the lead character seems lost in the cacophony of the supporting cast (like Brad Pitt in DreamWork’s Sinbad animated flick). Williams’ manic persona is now best suited for voice over work (as it seems tired in live action movies), and his three characters give Happy Feet energy and color.

Happy Feet is fun for the whole family, in spite of its unevenness and how it leaves out crucial details at key moments in the film. The singing, the dancing, and the epic adventure make Happy Feet a happy surprise.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, December 3, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (George Miller)

2007 BAFTA Awards: “Best Animated Feature Film” (George Miller); 1 nomination: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (John Powell)

2007 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Prince for the song "The Song of the Heart"); 1 nomination: “Best Animated Film”

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Sean Penn to Be Honored for Humanitarian Work at Hollywood Film Festival

Press release:

HOLLYWOOD, CA, September 22, 2010 -- The Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, are pleased to announce that Sean Penn will be recognized for his outstanding humanitarian achievements at the festival's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

Sean Penn will be bestowed with the "Hollywood Humanitarian Award" for his incredible selfless and dedicated humanitarian efforts in saving lives, as well as bringing relief to the human suffering in Haiti.

The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Festival.

"It is an honor to recognize the inspiring humanitarian efforts that Sean Penn and his J/P Haitian Relief Organization have been providing to the great people of Haiti," said Mr. de Abreu.

Prior recipients of this prestigious award include director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, Father Rick Frechette, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ms. Jody Williams.

The gala ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 25, 2010.


ABOUT SEAN PENN
Two-time Academy Award® winner Sean Penn has become an American film icon in a career spanning nearly three decades. Penn has been nominated five times for the Academy Award® as Best Actor for "Dead Man Walking," "Sweet and Lowdown," "I Am Sam" and won his first Oscar® in 2003 for his searing performance in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" and his second Oscar® as Best Actor in 2009 for Gus Van Sant's "Milk." The performance as gay rights icon Harvey Milk also garnered Penn "Best Actor" awards from The Screen Actors Guild, New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

As a journalist, Penn has written for Time, Interview, Rolling Stone and The Nation magazines. In 2004, Penn wrote a two-part feature in The San Francisco Chronicle after a second visit to the war-torn Iraq. In 2005, he wrote a five-part feature in the same paper reporting from Iran during the election which led to the Ahmadinejad regime. Penn's landmark interviews with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and Cuba's President Raul Castro, were published in The Nation and The Huffington Post. Penn's interview with President Castro was the first-ever interview with an international journalist.

Penn's humanitarian work has found him in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and more recently in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. In January 2010, Penn founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization which focuses on medical aid, protection, and re-location. His organization is currently serving as UN IOM designated Camp Management for one of the largest IDP camps in Port-au-Prince and established the first emergency re-location in the country. They work with both government and non government agencies to deliver immediate results where the need is greatest. Their efforts include but are not limited to providing emergency medical and primary care services, delivering badly needed medical equipment and medicine, distributing food and water purification systems, improving communication systems, and rubble removal in the neighborhoods surrounding the Petionville Camp when they are camp managers. J/P HRO's goal is to help lift the nation of Haiti out of the rubble and give the Haitian people a better life

The J/P Haitian Relief Organization have recently started clearing rubble, on average about 3,500 - 4,000 cubic meters of rubble a week. Each neighborhood has an average of 150,000 cubic meters of rubble which needs to be removed. The rubble clearing has encouraged Haitians to participate in spontaneous clearing efforts themselves. Each day, as they return to work sites, the J/P HRO volunteers can see evidence of people clearing rubble from their home sites by hand, almost doubling the effectiveness of their work. Town squares, now cleared of rubble, have quickly filled with children playing kickball. Teachers, police, nurses, and residents of local IDP camps have already settled into temporary shelters in their old home sites. The emotional, physical and spiritual impact of the rubble removal cannot be underestimated.

For his efforts in Haiti, Penn received the Commander's Award for Service (US Army 82nd Airborne Division), 82nd Airborne Award for Meritorious Service, the Operation Unified Response JTF Haiti Certificate from Lieutenant General, US Army Commander P.K. Keen, along with the 1st Recon 73rd Division Coin of Excellence, 2nd Brigade Combat Team Coin of Excellence, Commendation of Excellence United States Southern Command, and Award of Excellence by the Deputy Commander US Southern Command. Earlier this year, Penn was honored with the "Children's and Families Global Development Fund Humanitarian Award" presented by the Ambassador of the Republic of Haiti, Raymond A. Joseph and his wife, Lola Poisson-Joseph. Additionally, in July 2010 Penn was knighted by Haitian President Rene Preval in a ceremony in Port-Au-Prince.

To learn more about the J/P Haitian Relief Organization and to join this cause please visit http://www.jphro.org/

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(r) and Encore(r) brands with approximately 17.1 million and 31.1 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies and new original series every month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Starz, a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation.

Festival Contact: 1.310.288.1882
Hollywood Film Festival®
433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 600
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Review: Alex Gibney's "Enron" Documentary Still Riveting

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some nudity
DIRECTOR: Alex Gibney
WRITER: Alex Gibney (based upon the book, The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind)
PRODUCERS: Jason Kliot, Susan Motamed, and Alex Gibney
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Maryse Alberti
EDITOR: Alison Ellwood
Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY

Starring: Peter Coyote (narrator), Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind Gray Davis, Mike Muckleroy, Amanda Martin-Brock, Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andrew Fastow

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is director Alex Gibney’s documentary and adaptation of Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin’s book about energy trading company Enron, The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. The film takes a behind-the-scenes look at Enron, from its auspicious beginnings and meteoric rise to its shocking fall into bankruptcy.

By the turn of the century, Enron was the seventh largest corporation in America, but the company was built on fraudulent accounting and phantom profits. By the time the company died, its top executives had milked the company for over a billion dollars in personal income, while investors, retirees, and employees lost everything including retirement benefits and 401k’s. Enron the film has the usual blend of archival, video, and news footage one would expect of a documentary. It also has interviews and a wealth of information from documents and insiders including former executives and employees of the company. The film even includes an interview with former California Governor Gray Davis who took the fall for the mess a few energy companies, Enron in particular, made of the state’s electrical supply earlier this decade.

The film is a riveting and fascinating documentary, and though it may seem like a left-leaning political movie (and it does take swipes at the Bush Administration), Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a crime story about a business climate in which corporate executives not only steal money and commit fraud, but it is also about people whose greed seems to know no limits. The film does have a few weaknesses, which keeps it from being a truly great documentary. First it’s not long enough to cover the complicated mess that was Enron. Secondly, Gibney needed to slow down and explain in simple terms complicated accounting and business practices and explain exactly what products Enron sold or what services it provided. Thirdly, the film is too much geared towards people already very familiar with the Enron story.

But for people who already know what’s going on, this is good stuff that will leave you wanting more – much more. Gibney smartly interviews so many people intimately involved with Enron at one point or another in the film, and the interviews with former Enron traders and other employees make this film more than just some documentary. It is a vital American movie.

8 of 10
A

Friday, January 27, 2006

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Documentary, Features” (Alex Gibney and Jason Kliot)

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"Despicable Me" on DVD in December

This Holiday Season, Bring Home The $250 Million Comedy Blockbuster!

DESPICABLE ME

For a Limited Time Only, Get Three New Mini-Movies Starring The Minions!

Available on the Blu-ray™ and Blu-ray™ 3D Combo Packs for the Ultimate Experience and on the DVD Double Pack

Available December 14, 2010 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Universal City, California, September 22, 2010 – The perfect gift for the holidays arrives in the hilarious and heartfelt animated box office sensation, Despicable Me, available December 14, 2010 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. For a limited time only the fun continues with a trio of all-new, hilarious adventures starring the film’s endearingly mischievous Minions, available only on the Blu-ray™ and Blu-ray 3D Combo Packs and the DVD Double Pack. All three products include a digital copy of the movie to watch anytime, anywhere. A single disc DVD will also be available.

“‘Despicable Me is one of those rare titles that moviegoers of all ages have enthusiastically embraced,” said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. “It’s not only one of the highest-grossing movies of the year but also one of the most popular animated films of all time. Perfectly timed for the holidays, Despicable Me will be high on everybody's wish list as the must-have Blu-ray/DVD of the season.”

The latest film from producer Chris Meledandri (executive producer of Ice Age and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!), Despicable Me’s all-star cast of unforgettably funny heroes and villains includes Steve Carell (Date Night, Get Smart, Horton Hears a Who!, TV’s The Office), Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man), Miranda Cosgrove (Nickelodeon’s No. 1 live-action show iCarly), legendary Academy Award® winner Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, The Princess Diaries series), Russell Brand (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Kristen Wiig (Date Night, Saturday Night Live), Will Arnett (Monsters vs. Aliens, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, Ratatouille), Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express), Jack McBrayer (TV’s “30 Rock”, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Jemaine Clement (“Flight of the Conchords”, Dinner For Schmucks). The hilarious tale of a wannabe super-villain whose life is unexpectedly changed by a trio of determined little orphans packed theaters and delighted families nationwide this summer.

The ultimate entertainment for the entire family, Despicable Me is packed with never-before-seen bonus features including games, behind-the-scenes featurettes and filmmaker commentaries that will keep the entire family enchanted for hours.

CRITICS FIND DESPICABLE DELIGHTFUL

Despicable Me charmed critics across America with Minion madness! Claudia Puig of USA Today described Despicable Me as “Whip-smart. A fun-filled adventure with a whimsical story and terrific voice casting. Steve Carell as the voice of Gru is hilarious”. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film as “An all-around winner. Funny, clever and warmly animated with memorable characters.” In Touch Weekly’s Matt Sullivan raved, “A blast for all ages. Hilarious!” and Pete Hammond of Boxoffice Magazine wrote, “Rousingly funny, heartfelt and imaginative…blessed with the vocal talents of Steve Carell and loaded with whimsy and smarts.” Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote, “The movie works not because of the parts – the voice work, the drawing style, the pleasing, matter-of-fact use of 3D – but because the whole is as much a unified vision as anything the Great and Mighty Pixar produces.”

BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVELY ON BLU-RAY™ 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD Double Pack:
· THREE ALL NEW, MINI-MOVIES Starring THE MINIONS — The fun continues with three all-new mini-movies, created exclusively for the Blu-ray Combo Packs and DVD Double Pack! Available for a limited time only! Get more laughs and more minion mayhem with "Home Makeover", "Orientation Day" and "Banana" - you'll want to watch them again and again!

· THE VOICES OF DESPICABLE ME —Go behind-the-scenes with Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig and Julie Andrews as they give life to their animated characters. Includes character profiles for each of the cast members!

· SUPER SILLY FUN LAND—Join Agnes, Margo and Edith at the Super Silly Fun Land Theme Park and play Feed the Creatures and Freeze the Floating Minions to win super cool prizes.

BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVELY ON BLU-RAY 3D COMBO PACK AND BLU-RAY COMBO PACK:
· GRU-CONTROL - Through a picture-in-picture window, see the making of the film with behind-the-scenes footage and cast/filmmaker interviews

· MISS HATTIE’S TOP SECRET COOKIE RECIPES—Margo is proud to present the recipes for those wonderful cookies that the loveable orphans under Miss Hattie’s care enjoy so much!

· BD-LIVE™—Access the BD-Live™ Center through your Internet-connected player to get even more content, watch the latest trailers and more.

o MY SCENES—Bookmark your favorite scenes from the movie.

· pocket BLU™ app— For the first time available on iPad®, owners can enjoy a new, enhanced edition of pocket BLU™ made especially to take advantage of the tablet’s larger screen and high resolution display. Consumers will be able to browse through a library of Blu-ray™ content and watch entertaining extras on-the-go that’s bigger and better than ever before. USHE’s groundbreaking pocket BLU™ app uses iPhone™, iPod® touch, iPad™, Blackberry®, Nokia® Smartphone, Android™, PC and Macintosh to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-ray™ player and offers advanced features such as:

o MINION ME—Exclusively for iPhone® and iPad® -- Personalize photos of friends and family by turning them into Minions. Pictures can be customized with glasses, bowties, hats and hairstyles to make it really hilarious! Send it to your friends with a Minion laugh.

o MINION DOMINION APP—Exclusively for iPhone® and iPad® Control a Minion by turning, tilting, rotating and shaking your phone. Tap the screen to make him speak, tap it again to hear him laugh. Or do battle with the two-player “minion mash up.” Download to your iPhone and see who can inflict the most damage on the other’s minion.

o Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray™ player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live™ functions with ease.

o Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the movie.

o Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray™ discs to save to mobile devices or to stream from anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy exclusive content on the go, anytime, anywhere.

o Keyboard: Enter data into a Blu-ray™ player with your device’s easy and intuitive keyboard to facilitate such Blu-ray™ features as chatting with friends and sending messages.

BONUS FEATURES AVAILABLE ON DVD AND ALL VERSIONS:
· The World of Despicable Me
· Despicable Beats—Director Chris Renaud talks about the cool factor of renowned music producer Pharrell Williams.
· Gru's Rocket Builder—In an all-new game, Vector has stolen some of the most famous landmarks from around the world and replaced them with the pieces to Gru’s rocket. Players must return all the stolen landmarks to the correct countries in order to build their own rockets before Vector hacks into the system and steals the rocket plans. The reward for completing the rocket is a launch to the moon!
· A Global Effort—Learn all about the global effort behind Despicable Me. A director from France and another from the USA, plus an American and English cast created a movie in France, with artists from all over the world for a truly international movie!
· Commentary with directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, featuring the Minions!

Visit http://www.despicableme.com/ for the latest updates.


SYNOPSIS
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden deep beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by an army of tireless, little yellow Minions, we discover Gru (Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. Yes, the moon!

Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.

One of the world’s greatest super-villains has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.


Universal Studios Home Entertainment is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios (http://www.universalstudios.com/). Universal Studios is a part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% owned by Vivendi.