Amazon.com is selling a large number of Blu-ray movies at 50% off in an extended deal that lasts until January 4th. The internet retailer is clearly hoping to entice the growing number of people who’ve bought players in the new format.
According to figures released by the Blu-ray association, Blu-ray players are seeing a huge purchasing growth in the U.S. during the holiday season.
But the best value among the available titles is the one that stars the little champion of truth, ingenuity, and true American humor. I’m talking about the Nova Robotics Robot Johnny Five, in his original starring vehicle Short Circuit, of course.
If you scoff at the notion that this movie is one of the great new classics of the cinema, well, Sir or Madam, I will say without reservation that you have no heart. You probably share the sentiments of a former co-worker, who fastidiously dismissed the movie as the ‘ultimate in painted 1980s cheese.’ But said man is a duplicitous snob raised on the dry, colorless Scandinavian cinema of Ingmar Berg-man and is obviously cursed with ice-cold blood and little feeling.
But I’m talking about robots here.
Johnny Five is not just a robot with a penchant for reading novels every two seconds, or one easily duped by moronic henchman preying on the sweetness of his disposition. Yes, he’s a sensitive soul that can barely crush a grass hopper. But he is also one who, along with R2, T2, and various other animatronic creatures, set a standard for entertaining usefulness that will always have a place in the cultural history of robot-human relations and has inspired many a boy or girl to get into robotics in the real world.
In case you were wondering, I have no personal financial incentive from the selling of this movie, even if Steve Guttenberg and I share the closed chin cleavage that sadly attracts little specks of dirt.
So forget about the nasty cackling of the film cognoscenti and check it out. The Blu-ray version is supposed to come with extra features showing the full process behind the robot, as designer Syd Mead and his team of puppeteers and robot operators put the soul into Johnny.
And if you’re disappointed by the movie, well, you know where you stand with me.
Source: Amazon.com 50% Off Sale
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