DVD Review “Puppy Dog Pals: Going on a Mission”

Creator: Harland Williams
Studio Walt Disney
Product Title: Puppy Dog Pals, Vol. 1
Release Date: 04/10/2018

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

Since the birth of my daughter, now 6 years ago, Disney Junior has been a must watch in our house. All of their shows have been fun, even for parents, that is until “Puppy Dog Pals”. This is one show was one that I have not not been able to enjoy..but my daughter does love it. It is created by comedian Harland Williams (“Half Baked”). I have to admit though after watching the DVD this show is definitely growing on me. I see how much my daughter and even my nephew enjoy this show and if they enjoy it, I can dig it.

Official Premise: Fun-loving puppy brothers Bingo and Rolly go on adventures throughout their neighborhood and around the world as a way to help quench their thrill-seeking appetites. The pups’ motto is life is always more exciting with your best friends by your side. For the pugs, those friends include owner Bob, his cat Hissy and his robot dog A.R.F.

The episodes includes are:

  • Hawaii Pug-Oh/A.R.F.
  • The French Toast Connection/Take Me Out to the Pug Game
  • The Go-Long Retriever/Pot O’ Pugs
  • A Pyramid Scheme/Special Delivery

The reason why I am starting to come around for this series is because it teaches lessons about friendship, problem-solving and collaboration and these are values that I want my daughter to have. Plus I am a fan of Williams and he also provides the voice of Bob. “Puppy Dog Pals: Going on a Mission” is the first volume DVD for this show and I am sure will not be the last. I would like to see a little bonus content included in future releases, at least something fun and extra for the kiddies to enjoy. There is still about two hours of content and at a price below $10 bucks, can’t go wrong here.

 

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Bring on the Popcorn, and Make it a LOL Kids Movie Night! The Emoji Movie includes the original Hotel Transylvania Short “Puppy!”

Available on Digital October 10 and On 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack, Blu-ray + Digital, & DVD on October 24

CULVER CITY, Calif. (September 12, 2017) – Be the movie night hero and bring home the film that kids give two thumbs up to for the ultimate kid’s movie night! It’s time to express yourself when Sony Pictures Animation’s THE EMOJI MOVIE arrives for the first time on Digital on October 10 and on 4K Ultra HD+ Blu-ray + Digital, Blu-ray + Digital and DVD October 24 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The animated comedy unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene (T.J. Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (James Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Anna Faris). Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever.

THE EMOJI MOVIE features an all-star voice cast including T.J. Miller (How To Train Your Dragon) as Gene Meh, James Corden (“Late Late Show with James Corden”) as Hi-5, Anna Faris (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) as Jailbreak, Maya Rudolph (Big Hero 6) as Smiler, Steven Wright (Louie) as Mel Meh, Jennifer Coolidge (American Pie, Legally Blonde) as Mary Meh, Jake T. Austin (“Wizards of Waverly Place”) as phone owner Alex, Grammy® Award Winner Christina Aguilera as Akiko Glitter, Emmy® Award Nominee Sofia Vergara (The Smurfs) as Flamenca, Rachael Ray (“Rachael Ray”) as Spam, Emmy® Award Winner Sean Hayes (“Will & Grace”) as “Devil” Steven, and Emmy® Award Nominee Sir Patrick Stewart (X-Men, Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Poop.

THE EMOJI MOVIE is filled with interactive bonus materials on the Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, DVD and digital releases that are fun for the entire family to enjoy including the “Good Vibrations” Dance Along and Lyric Video, where you can join along in the dance party. You can tell that they don’t spare any expense with video production either. Learn about the amazing dance moves from the film’s celebrity choreographer in “Choreographing Emoji with Matt Steffanina.” Get creative with step-by-step tutorials on how to draw your favorite Emoji’s with two “how to” videos. Go behind-the-scenes of a real-life coding school with the “Girls Who Code” featurette, and get to know everything about the all-star cast in “Express Yourself: Meet the Cast.” Fans will also get to unveil more of the story behind their beloved character in “Jailbreak Decoded: The Untold Story.” Additional featurettes include “Creating the World Inside Your Phone,” “Bringing Emoji’s to Life,” and the very exciting “Puppy! An Original Hotel Transylvania Short.”

In addition to extra content above, exclusive to Blu-ray, fans of all ages will be able to give it their best shot at the “Gimme a Hand! Guess the Emoji Game,” where Hi-5 and Smiler give you clues to help you guess the mystery Emojis. You will also have the chance to get creative with your Halloween Trick-Or-Treat candy with “Sweet App-etite: Make Your Own Candy Crush Inspired Saga Cake.”

THE EMOJI MOVIE is directed by Tony Leondis, with screenplay by Tony Leondis & Eric Siegel and Mike White and story by Tony Leondis & Eric Siegel. The film is produced by Sony Pictures Animation, with Michelle Raimo Kouyate serving as the producer.

DVD and Digital Bonus Materials Include: 
• Director & Animators Commentary
Puppy! An Original Hotel Transylvania Short
• Jailbreak Decoded: The Untold Story
• “Good Vibrations” Dance Along
• “Good Vibrations” Lyric Video
• Express Yourself: Meet The Cast
• Girls Can Code!
• Choreographing Emoji With Matt Steffanina
• Creating the World Inside Your Phone
• Bringing Emojis to Life
• How To Draw Poop
• How To Draw Gene

Blu-ray Exclusive Bonus Materials Include:
Everything listed above, plus:
Gimme a Hand! Guess the Emoji Game
• Sweet App-etite: Make Your Own Candy Crush Inspired Saga Cake

THE EMOJI MOVIE has a run time of approximately 91 minutes and is rated PG: for Rude Humor.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is a Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) company. Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ANIMATION
Sony Pictures Animation produces a variety of animated and family entertainment for audiences around the world. The studio is following its worldwide comedy hits—the record-breaking monster comedies Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2, the hybrid live action/animated blockbusters The Smurfs and The Smurfs 2, and the mouth-watering Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies—with the fully animated reboot Smurfs: The Lost Village available on digital and Blu-ray now; a surprising and comic take at the secret world inside our phones with The Emoji Movie in July 2017; the inspirational The Star in November 2017; Hotel Transylvania 3 in July 2018; and an animated Spider-Man feature from the minds of directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord in December 2018. The studio, in conjunction with Aardman Animations, has produced two critically acclaimed feature films: the CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas; and the Academy Award® nominated stop-frame animated high-seas adventure, The Pirates! Band of Misfits. In 2007, Surf’s Up also received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Feature Film; a sequel entitled Surf’s Up 2: WaveMania is now available on digital and DVD. The division, whose first feature film Open Season led to a very successful movie franchise including the brand new Open Season: Scared Sillynow available on digital, DVD and Blu-ray, was founded in 2002. Sony Pictures Animation is a division of the Sony Pictures Motion Pictures Group.

DVD Review “12 Dogs of Christmas: Great Puppy Rescue”

Directed by: Kieth Merrill
Actors: Danielle Chuchran, D.B. Sweeney, Sean Patrick Flanery
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: October 9, 2012
Run Time: 102 minutes

Film: 2 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars

I saw the first “12 Dogs of Christmas” on TV a few years ago. I wouldn’t really call it a holiday classic but it was cute. I was assuming the same would happen with this sequel. This really has that ABC Family/Lifetime TV movie quality. It is cute but really doesn’t feel like much of a Christmas film until the end, which is a little too late for me. I wish they would have focused more time around the musical event and less on basketball games etc. This is also said to be “song-filled”, that isn’t really the case. To be honest this is best served a rental or just watch on cable TV.

Synopsis: The dogs of Doverville are in trouble again…but Emma O’Connor (Danielle Churchran) is back to save them in a song-filled, seasonal extravaganza. Mean-spirited mogul Finneas James (Sean Patrick Flaner) plots to shut down the local puppy orphanage, unless Emma can come up with the money to save it. With the help of some friends, she races against time to put together a musical holiday event that might just save the day.

The special features are not bad for a glorified TV movie. They include five featurettes which go behind-the-scenes and up close with the puppies. The first is ““What’s Your Favorite Dog?” with the cast and crew discuss their personal favorite. ““Behind 12 Dogs of Christmas” looks into the production. ““Working With Writer//Director Kieth Merrill” features the cast chatting about their experience on the film. “The Basketball Game Sequence” and ““The Christmas Finale” go in-depth into how those scenes were done.

Nivek Ogre talks about Skinny Puppy and “The Devil’s Carnival”

Nivek Orgre is the lead singer in the band Skinny Puppy.  He is also known for working with Darren Lynn Bousman in his film, “Repo! The Genetic Opera” and “The Devil’s Carnival”.  Ogre took out sometime to chat with Media Mikes to chat about “The Devil’s Carnival” and also touring with Skinny Puppy.

Mike Gencarelli: How did you start working with Darren Bousman?
Nivek Ogre: I first met Darren through Joe Bishara. Joe was the musical producer for both “Repo! The Genetic Opera” and “The Devils Carnival”. He has been a friend of mine and fellow musician since back in the day. He went on to make a much better choice than I did by moving from playing in bands to doing sound tracks. After our last tour in 2007 we were talking and he asked me what I was going to do. At that time I pondered some of my fantasies. I was thinking about doing everything from being a pastry chef to being put into prosthetics. Being put into prosthetics has been one of my favorite dreams ever since I was a little kid reading Famous Monsters magazine. He told me about the work he was doing on “Repo! The Genetic Opera” and there was a character that is a face stealing rapist. I thought it was delicious. They had originally wanted someone else as Darren wanted Actors who could sing not Singer who could act. It was sort of an uphill battle for me but Terrance Zdunich and the whole crew were pulling for me. Terrance had heard of Skinny Puppy and I got to know Darren more over the course of production as I was wearing his wife’s face. One of the masks they had cast for me was of his wife Laura’s face. Whenever I had to ask him a question with that mask on he would look at me and run away. (Laughs) It was a bit of an odd friendship at first. I didn’t know what he really thought of me and was sort of out in left field. I was told to be very polite and not to pull any diva moves by the producers. I’m not sure what they thought I was. They were all very nice to work with. Over the time since Repo Darren had tried to get me in to some of his other projects however things never seemed to work out. We always kept in touch and on the side we started to realize we both had an interest in paranormal and other extremesort of perceptive qualities. We went back and forth over email and Darren told me he had this character called “The Twin”. They plugged me into that role and that’s how things all sort of happened.

MG: What can you tell us about your role as “The Twin”?
NO: The Twin is sort of an interesting character to me as I think he could have been played a lot of different ways. I myself tend to have too much empathy so I wanted to make him very sympathetic. I kind of saw him as one of the original shells that were shucked down to hell. He probably made a bargain with the man below and is now living in fear trying to escape his fate by taking on the appearance of another. However while doing this he tends to see the best parts of him which gave him a slight bit of humanity. He also would see their nastiest thoughts which ultimately would do them in. It is both an empathetic and vicious character. I see myself as the bait for Lucifer.

MG: What do you enjoy most about working in the horror genre?
NO: Everything I have worked on has been somewhat of an ensemble cast. The best part for me is I am playing a supporting role for a whole group of people. Sometimes it’s even for the main character. In the case of Repo I was supporting Paul Sorvino. We each had our own things but we all were Paul’s kids. It’s a huge kick because it allows me to dig into a character. I get to really be in the moment and react to everything around me. With Skinny Puppy I make it. I conceptualize the stage show, I perform it and I am there every night by myself. I have musicians on the stage but everything else is imaginary. It is a huge amount of fun to play up against people. I really enjoy the process and I love makeup effects. I am one of those guys who likes to be immersed in character. I don’t have to have my face showing as I love trying to push myself through a mask.

MG: How do you think your music on the soundtracks differ from your work with Skinny Puppy?
NO: It’s incredible. If you ever have any trepidation or fear about changing your style or jumping into something new do it whole heartedly. I tell people this all the time. For 26 years I have stayed in the character of Ogre and never stepped too far out from that. I didn’t want to piss fans off or have them think that I wasn’t bloody or weird enough. When I actually stepped out and pushed myself it gave me a whole new presence and character within my voice. It was a great thing.

MG: Can you give us some background on the upcoming Skinny Puppy live album?
NO: In May of last year I released an Ogre record and I have continued to tour that as my solo project. Skinny Puppy is recording a new studio album as we speak that is going to be titled “Weapon”. The live album I believe is coming out in July. That album kind of follows our ill-fated European tour. It was a great tour performance wise but we were pirated out of a large sum of money. The tour just went upside down on us. Everything that could go wrong did. I did get to take my girlfriend to Europe for the first time as she had never been so I guess there are two sides to the coin.

MG: Are there any other upcoming projects in the works?
NO: I am doing a movie at the end of April in Philadelphia that is going to be a throwback to the 80’s slasher films. The movie is titled “Scream Park” and we are filming it in an amusement park in Northern Pennsylvania. I am pretty excited about my role in that film.

 

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