As the Blu-ray library continues to expand, finding the right films to express the full power of your home theater can be a difficult decision, but the following titles have been recommended by audio/video experts in terms of their fantastic picture and sound quality, making them great choices to burn onto a blank BD-R:

1.    Avatar (2009)
James Cameron’s visually stunning sci-fi fantasy flick offers one of the best ways to showcase your home theater with its mesmerizing and immersive CGI effects. It doesn’t slouch on the sound, either, as the world of the Na’vi comes to life in perfect clarity. Best of all, the 3D version is of the highest quality for the home market.

2.    Toy Story 3 (2010)
Pixar animations as a whole are Blu-ray must-haves, as their fantastic CGI produces a picture quality unlike anything seen on DVD. The bright and colorful world of Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang has never looked or sounded better. The 3D version especially shines, and is considered by some reviewers to be the best 3D title of 2011.

3.    The Dark Knight (2008)
If you only own one action movie, then this superhero masterpiece by Christopher Nolan should be your choice due to its lifelike detail and fantastic story. The dark and dreary city of Gotham looks perfect, and the audio features really aggressive bass that is sure to impress your guests when played on a quality sound system.

4.    Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy has never looked better, and while the entire trilogy is stunning on Blu-ray, the third has transferred with especially high quality. Everything from the wondrous city of Gondor to the nightmarish plains of Mordor is shown in vivid detail. Prepare to be stunned by the sound as well; from thundering battles to the softest whisper.

5.    Casino Royale (2006)
Animation and fantasy titles aren’t the only films worth burning onto a blank BD-R, as this critically-acclaimed James Bond action thriller features theater-quality detail in both its black-and-white and color moments. The audio is especially impressive, as the tonal quality of the film’s soundtrack as well as its dynamic action sequences is clear and balanced.

6.    2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
While it’s strange to see a classic make this list, Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking sci-fi film was originally projected onto enormous curved screens, which is why he chose a crisp look for its cinematography. Needless to say, these choices have made the Blu-ray version look fantastic and nearly identical to its theatrical release.

7.    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Tim Burton has always thrilled audiences with his macabre yet comic storytelling, and this retelling of Stephen Sondheim’s gory musical looks wondrously dark in Blu-ray format. The audio is also strong, allowing your guests to become immersed in the dreary crowds of London as well enthralled by Johnny Depp and Helana Bonham Carter’s memorable vocal performances.

8.    Baraka (1992)
Although a documentary about human civilization told only with images seems like a bizarre choice for home theaters owners, this film is considered by videophiles to be the apex of Blu-ray picture quality, with images so clear and vivid that you will swear that they are right in your home.

The soft science fiction metaseries Bakugan Battle Brawlers has seen adaptations in animation, comics, video games and the more famous physical game. By December 2008, plans for a film from Stuber Productions and Universal Pictures were announced. It seemed to take two years for any other news to surface, but the fact that Haral Zwart will direct them film surfaced in December 2010. Since that time, there has not been much said about the project. Considering that the last piece of news came so long ago, one can only imagine that it must be getting closer to the time of release. That is, of course, if the film has not been caught up in developmental problems. Something has to be said for the fact that Spin Master will be involved, though, and Ronnen Harary seems to be representing that company in the production.

Naturally, there are some fans of the science fiction genre that criticize Bakugan, and they generally call it a franchise that is set up for the purpose of selling merchandise. Even if this were true, no one can deny that the series boasts characters with some great hair. Assuming that the movie is live action, it will be interesting to see how the actress who plays Runo pulls off a giant blue wig and yellow neon clothes. Of course, there’s always the chance that the studio will tamper with the character designs, but true fans know that hair makes the movie. If nothing else, it would be bad for the companies that make wigs for droves of cosplayers.

On the other hand, there have been reports that the film would be made through animation. This might very well be the best choice, and it could help the film avoid the cheesy nature that live action adaptations of television shows often have. While the speculative nature of science fiction allows people to suspend disbelief to a greater degree than that of fans of other genres, a film made up of too much CGI might still be a subject of ridicule. Still, the 2007 Transformers film got away with a comparable amount of necessary computer imaging, and Bakugan might be able to adapt to a similar format if the individuals behind the movie elect to do so. Still, the idea of a live action science fiction drama based on Bakugan might be disturbing to some fans considering what happened to movies that were made the same way.

To be fair, sometimes it’s the actor who deserves the blame (or the save, for keeping movies off this list.) Notice any actors showing up here more than once?

To be fair again, I’d say about 5% of these lines are not cheesy, but classic. Fine line? Which ones do you think don’t qualify as cheesy?

I can’t tell whether I should see this movie.  I mean, some reviews imply that it’s one of the more original artworks to come along in years.  Meanwhile, the presence of Anthony Stewart Head, especially if he’ll be singing, makes this Buffy fan immediately vow to see the movie.

However, this clashes with my directive to never, ever, ever contribute in any way to Paris Hilton’s right to appear in any non-porn.  Plus… Sarah Brightman?  That’s just weird.  And, it’s from the people behind Saw, officially the most successful franchise I will never see.

What do do?

At last the trailers end, but the projectionist has cued up the wrong movie.  Empire State Building, sure, the movie starts in New York, but instead of the suspenseful music we’re expecting, we’re greeted by a familiar, stylized Latin rhythm…

They’re playing the Sex and the City movie instead.  Normally, no big deal, they fix the movie and order is restored, and all I’ve lost is ten minutes of my life.  Hell, I can make ten minutes go away surfing back and forth between a few informercials.  However, I don’t want to see the Sex and the City movie, because I haven’t watched the series yet.  And what is the first ten minutes of the movie?  Backstory from the series!  My best la-la-la-la fingers-in-ears couldn’t sufficiently keep the dolby surround from revealing that someone decided to be Jewish and marry a bald guy, and somebody has the man she’s been chasing show up in a limo.  Booooo.

By the way, The Happening was weak.  It’s time for M. Knight to focus on his directing, because his writing is going to ruin his chances of making any more movies.

I finally just saw the movie Once. Critics and bloggers I trusted wrote that it is one of the best films to come along in a years. They weren’t lying.

Once is not a complicated movie, not a major accomplishment in filmmaking, not likely to make your top 20. But it succeeds in being magical. That is so very, very rare, and it’s why this movie is special. I find myself suddenly with another reason to hope the writers’ strike reaches a peaceful conclusion faster: so that the Oscars will happen, so that “Falling Slowly” can win Best Original Song.

The Song category has become almost pointless, an extra trophy for whatever animated feature had some pop star kick out a sugary tune. This year seems to be different. We have three different Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast) songs from Enchanted nominated. I listened to them on the sample CD mailed out in Variety by Disney. They’re good. They’re clever. They are self-aware in a way that makes them much more deserving of gold than many of the Song winners. I haven’t seen Enchanted yet, nor have I seen August Rush, which includes the other nominated song, but I just can’t believe that any tune is going to top “Falling Slowly” as not only beautiful song in its own right, but also as a piece of music used magnificently to create moments and emotions in a film. That, to me, is what the category of Best Original Song should mean.

So, AMPTP, please pull your heads out and let the Oscars happen. Meanwhile, the Netflix envelope in which I received Once was not nearly worn out enough, people. Everyone go rent this movie.

If ever there was a sign that today’s youth is in danger of cultural brain rot, the trend in “comedy” that has included Date Movie, Epic Movie, and now Meet the Spartans is it. Fortunately, critics everywhere are jumping at the opportunity to get creative in trashing this film, and that’s got to do at least something to squash its chances. At the moment, there are 15 reviews posted at Rotten Tomatoes, giving MtS a cumulative score of 0%. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie that every single critic gave no right to exist.

One of my favorites is Brian Orndorf of DVDtalk.com calling it a “new low, even for these diseased buffoons,” and concluding that MtS getting made is the work of Satan. Evidently the movie goes out of its way to shower characters in vomit and other bodily fluids, and we see the first such “joke” in the first five seconds.

The problem with a movie like this getting made is that it drags the playing field down with it. The best parody of late was Scary Movie. (I haven’t seen Walk Hard yet.) Say what you will about the work of the Wayans brothers. Point out that SM has the quirk that it’s a parody largely of Scream, which is itself a parody. But SM is head-and-shoulders above these tripe films like MtS whose scripts do nothing but toss out jokeless pop culture references. Scary Movie had plenty of low-brow humor, but it also included some witty stuff, and it had this thing called a plot that a lot of your good movies like to include. I hear far too many people writing off the art form of comedy, and MtS and their ilk are part of why. I’m even offended to watch the commercials.

But I’m here to tell you that the trend might be on its way out. While tutoring this week, one of my kids asked if I had seen the trailer for MtS.

“Looks pretty stupid, doesn’t it?” he said.

Hopefully my maturing student is instead a sign that as a collective audience we’re moving past any interest we once had in the horse-semen drinking, face-in-a-fat-guy’s-butt movies of the early 21st century. Hopefully his disinterest in the film translates to more than the fact that he recently turned 14, just past the threshold for enjoying such puerility. Hopefully there aren’t millions of 12- and 13-year-olds just below him still willing to fork over the cash to make MtS a hit. Because if there are, God knows the diseased buffoons will make another.

With a release date of next May, clearly this is Marvel’s attempt at filling the Spider-Man void (till the 2009 release of Spider-Man 4, according to IMDb, but it’s hard to say how official that news is…) I’m curious to see if a relatively more obscure comic book hero like Iron Man can translate to a big box office hit the way the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises did. The trailer looks great. It’s got star power in Robert Downy Jr. and Gwynneth Paltrow, plus a nicely character-driven story line. (Tony Stark, Iron Man’s secret identity, is a billionaire weapons tycoon with a drinking problem and physical limitations.)

Then again, Ghost Rider had all that going for it, too…

I have long said that Robert Zemekis is one of the most underrated directors alive, especially when it comes to pushing the technology envelope. But this new Beowulf trailer is truly amazing. Look at the screen capture above. Did you realize that it’s 100% computer animation? I didn’t pick up on the fact that it was animated until viewing the trailer a second time… and I knew already! This is why I love fall movies!