Surprisingly, there have been very few serious and in-depth documentaries produced though the years about Walt Disney, his company, or his life as a creative genius.  Walt started his career in the first quarter of the 20^th century as a pioneer of technical achievements in animated film production, and moved to the conceptualization and development of the world’s first theme park.  The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story is one of the first documentaries about a specific era in Walt’s lifetime.  The film looks into the careers of a few of his specially handpicked staff while focusing on the music of the Sherman Brothers (Robert and Richard).  The hook here is that for all of the famous and happy-go-lucky Disney music that they wrote, they did not get along with each other very well.

My DVD review of the film, after the jump.

It is about time that Space: 1999 has been released, not only on Blu-ray, but also as one complete season. This release gives you the entire first season packaged together in a seven-disc set, where it had previously been offered on DVD in numerous volumes.  I mean, who has that much shelf space that they can devote a yard and half of storage to Space: 1999 episodes?  Now you can have the entire Season One of Space 1999, occupying but a mere inch of valuable shelf real estate.  My review of the Season One Blu-ray, after the jump.

Jim Henson was a genius, as most people now realize.  Therefore, it’s a real treat to see a documentary that has been made about his creations and his company.  Henson’s Place: The Man Behind the Muppets is just that.  However, this piece is a vintage documentary, one produced in England back in 1984.  The most recent project Henson and company are shown to be working on in this piece is Labyrinth (1986), because you can notice them building the film’s creatures in one segment.

Henson’s Place tells the tale of Jim Henson’s beginnings as a college student in a puppeteering class, where he met his future wife Jane.  The two started a televised puppet show that even in its primitive black and white presentation foreshadowed the brilliance that lay ahead.  Henson’s early puppet design and writing was not much different to the look and comedy of The Muppet Show (1976-1981) which years later made Jim Henson an international star, finally allowing him the creative freedom to branch out to feature films and beyond.  More after the jump:

There is one thing concerning the USA that we can be proud of in recent history, one that we all should get excited about no matter what your politics are.  If you are a flower child, heavy metal death rocker, goth, red-neck, square, sports fan, dweeb or whatever… NASA and the United States space program deserve your attention and respect.  Man’s progress in the pioneering of space is really the most exciting endeavor that humankind is involved with, and it is too often overlooked and even ignored.  Cinema fans know one of the best films documenting the epic saga of American space flight is The Right Stuff (1983) that covered everything that we need to know about the early days of the space program from breaking the sound barrier to landing on the moon.  Ten years later, filmmaker Ron Howard gave us a very special movie about the space program that focuses on one particular part of the Apollo missions: the hair-raising and heroic tale of the Apollo 13. More after the jump:

It’s A Wonderful Life is a wonderful film.  Does that sound cliché? Well, too bad, because it has been voted the number one most inspiring film of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI).  Frank Capra’s film holds up to the hype, and that’s a very difficult thing to live up to after so many years and years of fanfare.  Broadcast every holiday season, this film is considered a “Christmas movie” though it’s not really about Christmas at all.  It was continually shown during the holiday season, as the rights had fallen into public domain, so TV stations ran it endlessly during the holidays without having to pay a royalty.  The aggressive broadcasts assaulted the public, happily creating several generations to take notice.  Though it may have always been regarded among only film buffs as a great film, television is responsible for it its rediscovery, and for crowning it one of the royal classics, along with Gone with the Wind and the Wizard of Oz. My full review after the jump:

Any serious fan of Walt Disney and his films who owns a DVD player should be aware of the Walt Disney Treasures series by now.  If not, you are truly missing out.  The Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets are 2-disc Limited Editions presenting rare Disney shows along with bonus features that go into the making and history behind each program.  The two new Zorro Treasures releases break the 2-disc rule and include 6 discs in each set, containing the entire series-run, along with plenty of fun extras.  I am very glad that the entire seasons are included.  It could have been easy for these sets to be released with just a small sampling of each season, staying with the 2-disc formula.  Thank you Walt Disney Home Video for not taking the easy way out and giving us the entire run of Walt Disney’s Zorro! More after the jump: