Eight Below Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Our readers may have noticed that I've been following the HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray format war on Cinematical. Some readers have also observed -- and pointed out in comments -- that I am not an expert in the least on either format. But I enjoy a good format war and I like keeping a layman's point-of-view (besides, I don't usually understand the technical stuff), so I shall continue representing the typical consumer without a great knowledge of hardware and software specs. Because, after all, it is we regular folk who influence the success of entertainment products in the end. Therefore, I believe if is likely that the winner of this war will be the one who has the most attractive item for average Americans.

From this stance, I have so far put my bet on HD DVD. Yet Disney just announced a new incentive with some of its Blu-ray titles, and it just might be enticing enough to some parents out there. On September 19, the studio will release its first discs in the format, and two of them, Dinosaur and Eight Below, will feature exclusive short films shot in HD specifically for inclusion on the discs. One month later, three more of their titles, Glory Road, Gone in Sixty Seconds and The Haunted Mansion, will also come with their own shorts. Each short will be inspired by the movie it is packaged with, and all were shot by Louie Schwartzberg. Based on Schwartzberg's previous work, the shorts are likely to be pretty little documentaries with wide landscape cinematography and a lot of time-lapse footage.

A lot of people like extras, but it is hard to imagine the shorts in question will be that attractive. I'm guessing one's a little piece on paleontologists, the next about real dog sledding, another showing some college basketball and finally one on classic racing cars. I'm not sure about the Haunted Mansion short. Maybe a tour of old southern mansions? Anyway, when I first heard the news of this announcement, I thought Disney was including new, original animated shorts featuring familiar and beloved characters from its catalog. Who isn't in the mood for some new Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoons? Who is in the mood for disposable docs?

• The Oscars are March 5. Take the EW Oscar Challenge (online-only).
• New movies: they give a B- to both Freedomland and Eight Below, an F to Night Watch, and a D to London. 
• Do genre flicks get overlooked during awards season?
• In the print edition only: the scoop on James Cameron's next film. 

• Eight Below: Nathan Lee of The New York Times calls it "Grade A pooch porn, an orgy of canine cuteness," and no one else is grumpy enough to argue. Few, however, are willing to say that cute dogs necessarily make a movie good. Instead, most find it bland at best, and possibly too scary and too violent (don't worry, we're talking about animal-on-animal crime here) for the youthful audience at which it is presumably aimed. Those who like the movie appreciate its old-school Disney animal "realism," and often wish there were fewer scenes with those meddlesome humans.
  

• Freedomland: This one is not exactly wildly popular among critics. Though my man Mick LaSalle is inexplicably a fan, pretty much everyone else considers Freedomland a bit of a mess. While there's no agreement about the performances of Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson (they're either brilliant or overacting), no one is willing to say anything against Edie Falco, whose work in a supporting role seems to be the best thing in the film.