Well 20 years have gone by, time has passed a lot of us by, but the ever vocal Spike Lee and his creations still stand. 20 years later and we have a Anniversary Blu-Ray review of Do The Right Thing. While I could go on and on about the film, that is not the point of this Blu-ray review. My want it to have this be a brief review of what the Blu-ray from Universal offers and what you the viewer have to look forward to.

The overall transfer to Blu-Ray looks great. While the outfits, direction and that of a film that is 20 years old distract you from seeing the need for HD, it is in a very solid transfer. Universal came through on this one.

The extras on this disc are beyond all I have seen. 4 hours of everything you would need. From a DVR like effect of “My Scenes” to a great documentary by Spike Lee. Below I have listed all of the extras on the disc. While a long list, each add a special smile to ones face when viewing them all. The trailer is my personal favorite.

• 20th Anniversary Edition Feature Commentary with Director Spike Lee
• Feature Commentary with Spike Lee, Director of Photography Ernest Dickerson, Production Designer Wynn Thomas and Actor Joie Lee
• Setup for the PS3 controller – obviously for those of us with a PS3 for our Blu-Ray fix.
• The ability to setup “My Scenes” – A feature that allows you to save off scenes of the movie as a bookmark of sorts to view at a later time.
• The 20th Anniversary Documentary from Spike Lee and many others.
• 11 Deleted/Extended scenes from the film
• Behind the scenes on more than 5 different aspects from filming to the read-through
• The “Making Of” Story behind Do The Right Thing
• Editor Barry Brown tells all
• A storyboard review of The Riot Sequence
• A special look at Cannes, 1989
• The Theatrical Trailer and 2 TV Spots

BD-Live which offers up a whole slew of Universal and Focus Features goodies from the amazing Coraline and 9 to the ever cool Wanted game and The Chronicles of Riddick.

The jam packed 20the Anniversary Blu-Ray is one to have in your collection. Not something you would want to miss out on. Make sure you swing by your local blu-ray depot and pick one up.

With the upcoming release of the 20^th Anniversary edition of Spike Lee’s amazing Do The Right Thing, we have some special tidbits for you from the Blu-Ray release.

Below is a quick list of what we can find on the June 30th released Blu-Ray:

Over 4 hours of Bonus Features including a NEW documentary by Spike Lee

• 20th Anniversary Edition Feature Commentary with Director Spike Lee
• Feature Commentary with Director Spike Lee, Director of Photography Ernest Dickerson, Production Designer Wynn Thomas and Actor Joie Lee
• Do The Right Thing: 20 Years Later – New retrospective documentary with the cast and crew
• Deleted & Extended Scenes – 11 newly discovered scenes cut from the final version of the film
• Behind the Scenes – Spike Lee’s personal video footage from the set of the film
• Making Do The Right Thing – In-depth documentary on the making of the film
• Editor Berry Brown – Interview with the editor of Do The Right Thing
• The Riot Sequence – Storyboard gallery of the climatic riot sequence
• Cannes, 1989 – Press conference footage from the 1989 Cannes Film Festival

Now comes the fun part, we have the first 3 minutes of the Do The Right Thing: 20 Years Later documentary for you all to sink your teeth into. Enjoy the preview and let us know what you all think below.

Stay tuned for the Blu-Ray review early next week!

Miracle at St. Anna is A SPIKE LEE dis(JOINT)ed film. Unfortunately the only miracle at this premiere was that people didn’t get up and leave the theater before it was over. The film starts with the seemingly random killing of a man in a post office. While every part of you expects that the murder will be explained, two plus hours into the story you’ll be asking yourself if the opening scene actually had anything to do with this jarring jaunt back and forth through the lives of the main characters.

The movie at its core is about the plight of the 92^nd Infantry Division, known as the Buffalo Soldiers Division, during World War II. This segregated unit was the only African-American infantry division to see combat in Europe during the Italian Campaign.

Focusing in on four soldiers separated from the rest of their unit; Second Staff Sergeant Aubrey Banks (Derek Luke); Sergeant Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy); Cpl. Hector Negron (Laz Alonso), the man charged with murder 40 years later; and PFC Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller) find themselves holed up in the town of Colognora, Italy looking after an injured boy named Angelo (Matteo Sciabordi).

The storyline alternates between somewhat touching looks at wartime compassion, realistically gruesome battle carnage, way too much subtitled dialogue involving German forces and Italian partisans, and a clear look at the ugliness of racism.

It’s problem is that it dwells too long on parts that are utterly boring and makes you wonder if the subtitles are there to keep your eyes open and your mind engaged lest there be an important clue as to where the movie is going.  And then it whisks frantically through any sort of compelling character development that may have let you care about what was happening. By the end of the 160 minutes you leave wishing it had been about 50 minutes shorter, and wondering why we were force-fed more Italian war political discussion and German forces interaction than was needed to set up the conclusion.

At its best, this movie was a compelling and visually chaotic glimpse into what most blacks experienced as infantry soldiers in WWII. Spike Lee’s action sequences amp up the adrenaline in a visual cacophony that leaves you hoping you’ll never have to endure a firefight – and praying for the ones who have to each day or have been scarred by them in the past.

Ultimately, Miracle at St. Anna ends up being an overextended foray into 1940′s racism. While the unjustness of the story seeks to remind us of where we’ve been as a country; it’s clouded in a murder mystery, within a war crime, inside a vision of the supernatural, ending in a sigh of frustration despite the all too neatly wrapped up, but overly late conclusion.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆