There's something about 'Crank 2'

"Crank 2: High Voltage," starring Jason Statham, was given three different releases on Sept. 9, 2009:
- Single-disc, double-sided DVD edition,
- Fully Charged two-disc DVD edition with special features and a digital copy and
- Fully Charged two-disc Blu-ray edition with digital copy.

The DVD editions of the movie work fine without a hitch. However, there is a problem with the "Crank 2" Blu-ray that consumers need to know about.

It is possible that when you put "Crank 2" into your Blu-ray player, this will happen:
- You will see the loading screen, which represents a lightning bolt warning sign.
- It will disappear.
- It will come back and you will start to hear the Lionsgate opening sound.
- Then you will start seeing the previews through a small window where the loading graphic just was.

That means basically you will be able to watch the movie through a small window.

There are a couple things that will come to mind and no, your disc is not defective. And no, you do not need to update the firmware on your Blu-ray player. Well, I don't know if you need to update it, but that's not the problem.

It appears that it has something to do with your player's memory.

PlayStation 3 users shouldn't have this problem because the PS3 has a built-in memory already.

Standard Blu-ray players have a port for either an SD card or a flash drive. All I did to fix the problem was plug in a USB drive into the back of my player and the movie plays without a problem.

Since this issue with the Blu-ray disc exists, Lionsgate should have mentioned this on the back cover or included a paper insert to inform the consumer. Lionsgate should have also included the DVD edition with the movie instead of a digital copy. That way, you can still watch the movie (not in HD) without an external memory installed.

Basically, if you buy "Crank 2" on Blu-ray, make sure to buy a flash drive with it if you don't already have one.

I have read that the Skynet Edition of "Terminator 2" has a similar issue. However, I have never had a problem playing that on my Blu-ray player without a flash drive or an Internet connection.

Despite the issue, the video and audio quality of the movie is good. Like the first movie, it's an over-the-top action movie that's funnier than anything, so getting it in HD is something to seriously consider.

All of the features from the "Fully Charged" DVD are here. A bonus of the Blu-ray is a picture-in-picture commentary with the directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.

So is the Blu-ray worth it? Yes, if you have a flash drive in your player or have no problem buying one. Yes, if you have a Playstation 3.

If that's not your situation, don't bother. Buy the DVD. With the Blu-ray, you'll be watching the top of Statham's head most of the time at best.

The "Crank 2: High Voltage" Blu-ray is available on Amazon for $15.99. The single-disc DVD is also $15.99 on Amazon. The two-disc Fully Charged DVD is at Amazon for $19.98.

Best Buy's current sale has the "Crank" Blu-ray for $7.99 and the "Crank 2" Blu-ray for $12.99.

Come and see how good 'Anchorman' looks!

"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" has never looked better with the new Blu-ray release that smells of "Rich Mahogany."

There really isn't much to say about the video and audio quality. It's not a movie that is going to wow anyone in HD, but it does have a great picture and audio. You can clearly see the bags under Burgundy's eyes.

The theatrical movie, unrated movie, and "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy" are in HD.

I haven't gone through all the special features yet, but rest assured that you are getting more than what was on the original DVD release.

I plan on checking to see if the features on the "Breaking News" Best Buy exclusive disc are on here. "Breaking News" was a bonus disc that came with the movie when it originally came out on DVD in 2004.

Watching this Blu-ray was my first time seeing "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy."

If you are like me and had never seen it and tried hunting down the out of print DVD, you will be disappointed. It is merely a montage of deleted scenes put together in an attempt to make a quasi-sequel.

If you treat it like a sequel, lots of things don't make sense.

As far as what's included that's not on the disc, the booklet entitled "The Many Months of Burgundy" is funny. It's a small date book with random notes of Burgundy's thoughts. It's not something you will read cover-to-cover, but more flip through and chuckle at.

Here are some alternate sign-off lines Burgundy wrote in here:
- "You stay classy, San Diego... or else!" which is too ominous and
- "Stay classy, San Diego. And for those of you who don't, well then, burn in hell" which is too harsh.

The trading cards aren't anything special. They have standard profile pictures of the characters on the front. There is various information about each character on the back ranging from height to favorite movie to a short biography. The characters included are:
- Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell),
- Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate),
- Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd),
- Brick Tamland (Steve Carell),
- Champ Kind (David Koechner),
- Ed Harken (Fred Willard),
- Wes Mantooth (Vince Vaughn),
- Frank Vitchard (Luke Wilson),
- Chip McGee (Tim Robbins),
- Arturo Mendes (Ben Stiller),
- Steve Graff (Jack Black) and
- Jess Moondragon, San Diego's original anchor.

For a full list of special features, see my last post.

Overall, the Blu-ray is definitely a worthy upgrade for "Anchorman" fans.

As of now, you can only buy Anchorman, "The Rich Mahogany Edition" at Best Buy for $24.99. It will be released elsewhere later.

Anchorman is still available on DVD with a widescreen unrated edition and a full screen theatrical edition. There's really no reason to get the theatrical edition. The unrated version of the movie added more funny lines and isn't much more inappropriate for young viewers than the PG-13 version. Plus, the unrated edition is less expensive.