DVD review: 'Transformers' has all the bells and whistles

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on Blu-ray is the ultimate exercise in form over content. The countless explosions crackle and pop. The action and transformation sequences have an almost spooky clarity, as if cars, trucks and motorcycles were actually meant to turn themselves into lethal robot thingamajigs. In short, it looks like what it is: a digitally remastered version of a very expensive movie.
Then the human beings start talking, and you snap to the realization that all the bells, whistles and special formats in the world can't turn a bad film into a good one. Granted, I'm not the hormonally charged 14-year-old boy for whom this Transformers sequel is intended. I'm from the Micronaut generation, and I also seem to be cursed with an appreciation for stories that make sense and movies that aren't co-produced by Hasbro. If you don't share these particular peeves, then step right up. Your spaceship has come in.
Anyway, it's hard to not be impressed with some of the Blu-ray interactive features. Now you can choose and customize your own vehicle and see what happens when you apply the mighty AllSpark to your mix. Think of it as a natural extension of a movie that might as well be a video game in the first place.

That tingly feeling

And think of The William Castle Film Collection as an antidote to Revenge of the Fallen's impoverished imagination. Here we have schlock with the good sense to know it was schlock, produced and directed by one of the canniest showmen of his time.
The seven movies in the set, all from the late 1950s and '60s, are good B-grade fun. But the marketing gimmicks, highlighted in the affectionate bonus documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, are worthy of P.T. Barnum and other all-time master hucksters.
Castle was going interactive well before the word came into vogue. For The Tingler, a Vincent Price vehicle released in 1959, Castle had theaters install electric buzzers in the seats to give moviegoers a little shock when the lobster-shaped title creature did its thing up on the screen. Audiences that went to see The House on Haunted Hill, sadly not included in this collection, were treated to the sight of a skeleton floating down from the theater ceiling. (Castle, a master of branding, called the effect "emergo.") For Mr. Sardonicus, he let audiences choose the fate of the bad guy (the "Punishment Poll"); for 13 Ghosts, he distributed two-tone eyeglasses to either reveal or conceal the haunters. And for Strait-Jacket, he delivered the scariest special effect of all: an aging Joan Crawford as an ax murderer.
From our CGI perspective, the effects were as cheesy as the movies. But back then they packed houses, and Castle went the extra yard by touring the country to visit the theaters showing his movies. (In the documentary, we see him visit San Antonio and receive a "skeleton key" to the city.) He was a hustler in the best sense of the word, and this set is a worthy tribute. Tingler and skeleton not included.
Source dallasnews.com