The flight of Apollo 11 to the moon is one of the best-documented events in human history, but some stories revolving around it are less known. The four Australian filmmakers Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Jane Kennedy, and Tom Gleisner, better known as the Working Dog team, had set out to tell one of them: the involvement of a radio telescope in a small Australian town in the moonwalk. The Dish is one of the most astonishing movies about the Apollo 11 mission, telling the story from a completely unique perspective. Wonderful actors, a compelling and funny script, beautiful cinematography and great music make it a truly amazing movie. My article about the movie and the equally fantastic DVD  is based on several older German-language reviews, but it’s actually a thorough re-write with much new information and not only a simple translation.

This review is dedicated to two very special people: the Australian singer and songwriter Meri Amber, who has exactly the same wonderful humor as the filmmakers, and the American astronomer Nicole Gugliucci, who has a deep affection for radio telescopes of all kinds.

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The fifth and final review in the series celebrating the 30th anniversary of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is Going Postal, the latest live-action adaptation made by the british filmmakers of The Mob in 2010 after Hogfather and The Colour of Magic. This time, the script did not follow the book too closely and there were some questionable changes to the original story, but the movie made it up with an inspired casting, brilliant visuals and a perfect atmosphere matching Terry Pratchett’s unique universe perfectly. As a slightly alternative re-telling the movie is brilliant and fortunately the equally great DVD and Blu-Ray releases came only three months after the broadcast premiere.

This is the last Discworld article here on DVDLog for now, but I’m going to write something about the three adventure games soon over on my other blog. Also, sorry for the delay – I’m trying to do weekly updates, but occasionally time just seems to run away!

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The fourth entry in the little series celebrating the 30th anniversary of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is admittedly not a good choice for the season, but Hogfather is next in the order of adapted books. The two-part, three hour television movie was actually the first live-action ever of a Discworld novel – after a long search, Terry Pratchett had finally found the right kind of filmmakers to bring his ideas to life in 2006. Hogfather was more or less a test balloon, but with a carefully written script, an inspired casting and brilliant design, this film really nailed it and opened up the door for more great live-action Discworld adaptations. The british DVD release came from Fox since the movie was a SkyOne production, but the studio really made a good effort and put together the great special features this movie deserved.

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Today, instead of a new review, I want to rant a little about a trailer that surfaced this weekend. Apparently there’s a movie called Gravity from Alfonso Cuarón being released this Autumn and the trailer, actually more a teaser, first promises to be about the experiences of two astronauts on some unidentified Space Shuttle mission. But then all hell breaks loose, the shuttle and the space station seem to be destroyed and the two astronauts, played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, are marooned in space. This is all that’s known about the movie at the moment, but even based on this, my first reaction was: why does it always have to be destruction? So many great stories could be told on the ISS and generally in the realms of current human space exploration, but Hollywood has always got to be negative and serious. 

The third entry in the little series for the 30th anniversary of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is the animated adaption of Soul Music, one of his most fascinating novels. The story about the evolution of music on the Discworld had been considered as completely unfilmable because of the musical requirements, but Cosgrove Hall nevertheless did the impossible and came up with not only brilliant animation and wonderful voice actors, but also a fantastic soundtrack with a lot of amazing songs. All this makes Soul Music much more than just an average animated television series besides being one of the most creative Discworld adaptations. The British DVD release is much better than the simultaneously produced Wyrd Sisters, but unfortunately it is also still out of print at the moment in England.

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Today’s review is the second in a series for the 30th anniversary of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. Coming after last week’s The Colour of Magic in the order of the books, Wyrd Sisters was actually the sixth Discworld novel, but the first one to be filmed for television in 1997 by Cosgrove Hall as an animated series in close cooperation with the Author. This was not simple children’s entertainment, but a surprisingly well done adaptation of the novel, overcoming its few limitations with great voice acting and stunning sceneries, bringing the Discworld successfully to life for the first time. Unfortunately all available DVDs have a disappointing image quality and the British release reviewed in this article is even out of print, but there is still a German release with English Soundtrack available.

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About four years ago, I was really happy that Matt Groening’s other animated series Futurama had been renewed by Comedy Central after they had produced four direct-to-dvd movies. Now, after four half-seasons with together 52 episodes, Comedy Central has decided not to order any more, effectively cancelling the series again. Once again, I read this first on Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy Blog – and I can only agree with what he wrote – Futurama is not only a simple animated series, but amazing science-fiction storytelling that is completely unique in television history. This untimely cancelling is especially sad because the new episodes had become better and better and even reached the brilliant heights of the early seasons.

The remaining 13 episodes, which are already produced, will air in the USA this summer with the DVD and Blu-Ray releases following shortly before Christmas. The final episode has already been conceived as a possible ending of the series, so there will be at least some closure. Maybe Futurama will just take a break for a few years and come back on a different channel… the producers certainly haven’t given up hope and are already talking about looking for an alternative home for Futurama!

This year is the 30th anniversary of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – which does not really need an elaborate introduction. For this occasion, I’m going to translate my reviews of the few, but amazing animated and live-action adaptations, starting today with The Colour of Magic. This was actually the second of three live-action films produced by SkyOne and the british filmmaker group The Mob, but as the two original books, on which the two-part, three-hour mini-series is based, are the very first two Discworld stories, they are a perfect beginning. The adaptation is not completely faultless and makes some necessary changes to the original, but it retains Terry Pratchett’s very unique humour and is actually a brilliant and respectful representation of the books. The british 2-dvd-edition is quite okay apart from a very disappointing absence in the extras department.

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After an unscheduled, but much needed post-easter-break DVDLog is back this week – not with the latest and newest, but a translation of an article I had already posted last autumn in German: Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers alias Dance of the Vampires is a perfect companion for Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows and even one of its inspirations. Famously cut to pieces on its American release and only shown much later in its original version in the USA, Polanski’s little masterpiece has always been very popular in Europe and is still a great classic which delightfully refuses to be a typical vampire or horror movie. Warner’s DVD release from 2004 was unfortunately a disappointment, but even today it is the best version available and technically at least acceptable. This article, a slightly improved and expanded translation of the German version is more about the movie itself than a technical review of the DVD.

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At this time of year, I usually try to post a review somehow related to Easter, and in 2013 I’m pulling out an old classic from the archive. I’ve written about Who Framed Roger Rabbit before, but today’s review is a translated, improved and enhanced version of the German article I had last posted four years ago. The movie is not exactly Easter material, but at least it has a kind of bunny as the title character – and it’s also very far away from the usual Disney cartoon fare. The DVD is actually ten years old this year, but it holds up very well and could have been released yesterday. This spring the movie has also been released on Blu-Ray and most of this review also corresponds to the HD version.

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