Last week, Walmart, who acquired the video streaming service VUDU, announced a program that would allow movie lovers to bring their DVDs and Blu Rays into Walmart stores and have them uploaded to the cloud. This program supports titles from Paramount Home Media Distribution, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Customers can bring in discs from their library which can later be accessed on VUDU and UltraViolet supported devices (like the Sony PlayStation 3). The nice part about this is that once a disc has been verified and added to your VUDU or UltraViolet account, you can keep your DVD or Blu Ray discs.

DVDs and Blu Rays from the mentioned studios will be converted for $2 each and will be available in the relative definition (i.e. DVDs will be available to users in standard definition and Blu Rays will be available in high definition).

Users can upgrade the DVDs to high definition for $5 per unit if they wish. Disney titles will not be available through this program as the company has their own service for streaming titles.

This is a huge win for consumers as Walmart and VUDU have given movie owners the chance to access their media on a wide range of devices without having to invest more in their collection. There will always be those that want to spend the seemingly endless hours ripping them to our hard drive but at the end of the day, time is money and hard drives fill up.

Hey Harry Potter fans! Do you have $449 you’re looking to blow on a Blu Ray box set? If not, you’re not alone.

This week, Amazon started taking pre orders on the “Harry Potter” Wizard’s Collection. After a $50 price break, fans can expect to spend $449 on this set and fans are not happy about it. Similar to what we saw with the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy being released on Blu Ray without the extended versions and the “Star Wars” Blu Rays being released as the special editions, this product has already racked up over 50 1 star ratings and I’m sure this is just the beginning of fans being vocal about an over priced box set which offers little incentive to buy.

The HP Wizard’s Collection includes the following movies and features:

• Contains 31 discs, inclusive of all content ever previously released, in addition to over 5 hours of never before seen special features, in a limited and numbered edition.
• 18 movie discs
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Theatrical Version and Extended Cut
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Theatrical Version and Extended Cut
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 2D and 3D Versions
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 2D and 3D Versions
• 13 Special feature discs
• Includes multiple specially-produced, collectible memorabilia items, including concept art, a Map of Hogwarts and much more!

I know this isn’t really headlining the current event pages but when we were invited to a screening of “The Big Year”, we turned it down due to lack of time and interest. Just by looking at the cast, you expect a gut busting comedy whether your into Steve Martin’s vintage style of humor or Jack Black’s over-the-top physical comedy…you won’t really get either, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I checked out some of the reviews of this film dating back to its original theatrical release and they weren’t all that great. Rotten Tomatoes rounded it to a 39% and that will usually deter me from seeing a film. When the Blu Ray was announced for a release date of January 31st, I decided to give it a spin and see what it was all about.

The first thing the viewer needs to remember when seeing “The Big Year”, is that just because it has an A-List cast within the comedic genre, you’re not going to be on the floor laughing. TBY makes light of some pretty serious mantras that I feel most people can align themselves with.

The story follows three men who are all at different times in their lives. What they all have in common is that they are all looking to devote a year of their lives to try and spot as many birds as they can. By doing this, they are leaving behind their wives and careers which is, ultimately, the real theme to the film.

Without getting too much into a summary of the film, TBY takes place across some great environments and scenery, has some mild laughing moments, a relatable story and who doesn’t enjoy narration from John Cleese?

“The Big Year” won’t blow you away and won’t be up for an Oscar this year, but it does provide a good 100 minutes of entertainment.

“The Big Year” releases on DVD and Blu Ray next Tuesday, January 31st.

Gordon has always been one of my favorite supporting characters in Batman’s world, and I think he rarely gets his due, so it was nice to read a story that focused almost as much on him as it did on Bruce Wayne. Now this classic retelling comic makes its full-length animated debut in Batman: Year One, PG-13 rated will be released on October 18, 2011 on Blu-ray and DVD. Planned for release the same day as Batman: Arkham City.

Team Charles or Team Erik? This is the important question for those of you planning on purchasing X-Men: First Class on Blu-ray and DVD this Friday.

This reboot of the popular franchise stunned audiences, fans and newcomers alike. Being a long-time fan of the X-men comics as a child, it was easy for someone like me to see many inconsistencies between the movie and the original comics. Did this matter? My answer: NO. X-Men: First Class was a movie with a fantastic plot containing tons of action to maintain excitement. Although it had an absence of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, and the traditional Angel, it is apparent that the filmmakers wanted to show off some never-before-used mutants.

This movie took the opportunity to focus on the crucial development of the relationship between Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, successfully portrayed by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively.The Blu-ray will include: Deleted Scenes, an 8-part behind the scenes featurette giving us a look from pre-production to post-production, an interactive mutant database, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and many more.

For those of you that enjoyed the movie and those of you who have yet to see it (what’s wrong with you?), X-Men: First Class releases on Blu-ray and DVD this Friday, September 9th.

Well, if you thought the greedy bastard that is George Lucas was done ruining his franchise, guess again. These videos have been floating around the internet to an angry audience of Star Wars fans that are quickly losing patience with the changes being made to the original trilogy.

As if it wasn’t enough he made Greedo shoot first by jerking some film of Harrison Ford around or added Christian Haydensen to the end of “Return of the Jedi”, now we get blinking Ewoks and Darth Vader screaming “nooooo!” again while the Emperor beats on Luke.

Check out the videos below if you feel like being pissed off and here is my open letter to George Lucas:

Dear Mr. Lucas

Please retire.

Sincerely,
Angry Web

So I received a copy of the Voltron DVD that was just released featuring the first 7 episodes of the original series. The episodes are remastered for picture and audio so they look and sound better than ever before. If you have kids and they watch the reboot of the show, “Voltron Force”, this is a great DVD to try and bridge them into the classic TV show.

It does have some special features on it like Voltron 101 which has a little trivia about the show that some fans might not know about. The “Art of Voltron” has to be my favorite feature on this DVD. It has some great work from some of todays biggest names. My personal favorites include the images done by JJ Harrison, Dave Perillo, and Rich Koslowski.

Unfortunately, at this time, this title is only available on DVD. I hope we get a Blu Ray version of the Voltron collection sometime in the near future. All in all, this is the perfect release to get a new generation of kids excited about cartoons from our era (when they were actually good).

This DVD brings back a ton of nostalgic feelings for me. I’m hoping to see the day when we can have the complete series at our disposal so I can waste away the day in front of the TV. I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who was a fan of the original or who is looking to share their love of VOLTRON with a new generation.

Before STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA hits shelves on September 16, fans can get a sneak peak at the 40+ hours of bonus footage on the Blu-ray collection through the Star Wars Blu-ray: Early Access App. The App, available for all iDevices including the iPad and iPhone will highlight a sampling of bonus materials featured in the Blu-ray collection, including never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm Archives such as matte paintings and concept art; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; and more.

The Star Wars Blu-ray: Early Access App will be available for free download at the iTunes store on July 20th for iPad and for all iDevices in August.

For fans lucky enough to score a ticket to Comic-Con, stop by booth #3528 to check out the App and get an even bigger sneak peek at the Blu-ray Disc and experience one of the Saga’s most iconic moments from a unique, in-universe vantage point!

And to wet your whistle in anticipation of the Blu Ray release, here is a sizzle trailer featuring some deleted scenes!