Debra Messing dating “Smash!” co-star Will Chase?

People Magazine is reporting that Debra Messing (who announced her separation from Daniel Zelman on Dec. 20th) is dating her “Smash!” co-star Will Chase (who also recently separated from his wife, actress Stephanie Gibson).

You can read more about their relationship here

Open Season in 3D (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Hilariously fun and an animated film for the entire family… “Open Season” not only looks very good on Blu-ray, it’s also wonderful of how the film is given new life with this new 3D release.  The film took advantage of 3D then and it takes advantage with this new release now.  If you have a 3D enabled TV and Blu-ray player, this “Open Season in 3D” is definitely recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2006 Sony Pictures Animation Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

TITLE: Open Season in 3D

DURATION: 86 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:85:1) – 2D and 3D, MVC Encoded 3D – Full Resolution L/R Eye, English French and Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

COMPANY: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

RATED: PG (For some Rude Humor, Mild Action and Brief Language)

Release Date: November 16, 2010

Directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton, Anthony Stacchi

Written by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, Nat Mauldin

Story by Steve Moore, John B. Carls, Jill Culton, Anthony Stacchi

Executive Producer: John B. Carls, Steve Moore

Producer: Michelle Murdocca

Stereoscopic 3D Producer: Buzz Hays

Co-Producer: Amy Jupter

Animation Executive Producer: Andrea Miloro

Music by Ramin Djawadi

Edited by Ken Solomon, Pam Ziegenhagen

Casting by Mary Hidalgo, Ruth Lambert

Production Design by Michael Humphries

Art Direction by Luc Desmarchelier, Andrew Edward Harkness

Featuring the voices of:

Martin Lawrence as Boog

Ashton Kutcher as Elliot

Gary Sinise as Shaw

Debra Messing as Beth

Bill Connolly as McSquizzy

Georgia Engel as Bobbie

Jon Favreau as Reilly

Jane Krakowski as Giselle

Gordon Tootoosis as Gordy

Patrick Warburton as Ian

Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie

Nika Futterman as Rosie

Danny Mann as Serge

Jack McGee as Hunter

Michelle Murdocca as Maria

In Sony Pictures Animation’s first feature film, the animated action adventure comedy Open Season, the odd are about to get even. Boog (Martin Lawrence), a domesticated grizzly bear with no survival skills, has his perfect world turned upside down when he meets Elliot (Ashton Kutcher) a scrawny, fast-talking mule deer. When Elliot convinces Boog to leave his cushy home in a park ranger’s garage to try a taste of the great outdoors, things quickly spiral out of control. Relocated to the forest with open season only three days away, Boog and Elliot must acclimate in a hurry. They must join forces to unite the woodland creatures and take the forest back!

Sony Pictures Animation’s first animated film “Open Season” receives its 3D debut on Blu-ray!

The 2006 computer animated film was directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi and featured the voices of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing, Gary Sinise, Jon Favreau, Matthew W. Taylor, Jane Krakowski ad many more.  The film came out with much fanfare, despite half or the film critics having grown tired of animal-driven animated films, “Open Season”, which was budgeted at around $85 million would earn over $197 million in the box office.

The film which was shown on IMAX 3D receives its second Blu-ray release.  The first version which was one of the earlier Blu-ray titles was released back in January 2007 and becomes the third Sony animated film to receive its 3D release after “Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs” and “Monster House”.

“Open Season” takes place in the town of Timberline.  Beth (voiced by Debra Messing, “Will & Grace”, “The Starter Wife”) is a park ranger who has raised a grizzly bear named Boog (voiced by Martin Lawrence, “Bad Boys”, “Blue Streak”, “Big Mama’s House”).  Boog has been domesticated and is used to being taken care of by Beth and living in her garage and performing for the townspeople who come to watch the show.

One day while she is driving with Boog to visit the police officer Gordy (voiced by Gordon Tootoosis, “Pocahonatas”, “Legends of the Fall”), she sees a mule deer tied to the trunk of hunter Shaw (voiced by Gary Sinise, “CSI:NY”, “Forrest Gump”, “Apollo 13″).  “Open Season” (when hunters can hunt after animals) had not started yet and thus Beth files a complaint to the police.

Meanwhile, as Boog waits in the back of her jeep, he is shocked to find out that the deer is still alive.  The deer’s name is Elliot (voiced by Ashton Kutcher, “That 70′s Show”, “Killers”, “The Butterfly Effect”) and he can’t believe he now has only one antler left and hopes that Boog can rescue him.  Boog, being the nice bear that he is cuts one of the ropes.  As Beth and Boog leaves, Shaw is now determined in getting revenge on Boog for releasing the deer.

Later that night, as Beth puts Boog to sleep, Elliot comes to rescue Boog.  Boog tells Elliot that he doesn’t live outdoors in the forest and lives at the house.  This shocks Elliot who can’t imagine why an animal would want to be a human’s pet.  So, Elliot tries to entice Boog of going out with him and raiding the town’s convenience store for chocolate bars and food. Boog knows its not right but being the hungry bear that he is, both end up breaking into a small convenience store and eating to their heart’s content.

Unfortunately, Boog is caught by officer Gordy and returned back to Beth’s place.  Gordy tells Beth that she can’t keep him and that if he is going to survive in the outdoors, she needs to let go of him now.  But because Beth has raised him since he was a cub, she wants to wait another year, despite Gordy telling her to do it sooner than later.

The next morning, she takes Boog out for the usual show but Elliot goes back stage and both Boog and Elliot get into an argument.  Because the audience can only see a silhouette of Boog and Elliot, many misinterpret the silhouette of Boog tearing into the deer and killing it and it sends the audience to a panic.  Meanwhile, Shaw feels he has his chance to kill the bear but officer Gordy prevents him.  Beth on the otherhand shoots Boog and Elliot with tranquilizer darts and knows deep inside that Boog has to go back to the outdoors where he really belongs.

Beth has no choice because of the trouble Boog has caused and by helicopter, drops both Boog and Elliot on top of the mountains.  Upon waking up, Boog knows that he is no longer home and blames Elliot for his predicament.  Elliot promises to return Boog back to Timberline but unknown to both Boog and Elliot, “Open Season” is about to begin and the hunters will be going hunting for animals in the forest. Especially the crazed Shaw who is wanting to get a crack at both Boog and Elliot.

Will Boog and Elliot escape from the forest and make it back home to Timberline?

VIDEO:

“Open Season” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1) and in 2D and 3D.  MVC encoded 3D – Full Resolution L/R Eye.  Similar to the last two Sony 3D releases, you get the choice of both versions of the film.  The 2D version is comparable to the 2007 Blu-ray release.

“Open Season” does hold up in 2010 while the fur of the animated characters really look incredible, especially water effects and also the overall design of the outdoors was well-done.  Everything is well-rendered and despite technological advances in computer animation five years after this film was created, the film does hold up quite well.  Good amount of detail, vibrant colors and overall, I detected no significant problems such as artifacting, edge enhancement, etc.

But the real purpose for people wanting this version of “Open Season” is because it is in 3D.

It’s important to note that to play this 3D, you will need a TV that is 3D enabled and comes with its own 3D glasses (or purchase them separately in pack) and also a Blu-ray player that is 3D-enabled as well.

With that being said, I do have personal opinions on 3D.  Films that were created and made for 3D such as “Avatar” and the animated film “MegaMind” show objects coming towards you and a good 3D depth is provided.  But  even for successful animated hits like “Toy Story 3″ and many other “3D” related films, there is less of the objects coming directly at you and more dedication towards depth.   So, you see more separation of the characters and objects with their surroundings.

When Sony released “Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs”, immediately you knew that is one series that would be great for conversion to 3D because there literally objects flying and dropping all over the place.  With “Monster House”, it was an older 3D release and for me, it was more depth driven than objects flying towards you.  Those are the 3D I tend to look for and I get bored with depth-driven 3D films.  Granted, this is my personal preference and I can tell you that with an older film like “Open Season”, the good news is that it was released in IMAX 3D and also a film in which objects are going out towards the screen and that is a major plus.

Although this film was released nearly five years ago, and was developed even longer, the fact that this film had 3D in mind helps.  From the animals throwing things at you, Boog looking at the camera to water rushing towards the screen and more, there are various scenes in which utilize the 3D quite well and surprisingly, a worth addition to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s lineup of animated films in 3D.

AUDIO:

“Open Season in 3D” is presented in English, French and Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA and in Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital.  The main dialogue comes quite clear through the center channels, as does the music from the front channels but I was expecting a little more from the surround channels.  Certain scenes such as Beth driving in the helicopter or the action scenes near the end of the film sounds great but I was hoping for more ambiance in the outdoors, crickets, wind or other slight noises.  This was a big criticism of the original 2007 Blu-ray release but for the most part, it is a film on Blu-ray that is center and front channel driven.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“Open Season in 3D” comes with the following special features:

• Monster House Sneak Peak in 3D - If you have a 3D enabled TV and player, you can view a sneak peak of “Monster House” in 3D (available now on Blu-ray).
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Sneak Peak in 3D - If you have a 3D enabled TV and player, you can view a sneak peak of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” in 3D (available now on Blu-ray) .
• The Smurfs Sneak Peak in 3D – If you have a 3D enabled TV and player, you can view a sneak peak of the upcoming “Smurfs” film in 3D.
• Boog and Elliot’s Midnight Bun Run – (4:31) A short feature with Boog and Elliot trying to steal bear claws inside the trailer of the scientists and trying to evade Mr. Weenie.
• Behind the Trees Featurette – (15:14) The making of “Open Season” and a look at the work by Sony Pictures animation and what they wanted to accomplish for their first animated film.
• The Voice Behind the Stars Featurette – (7:35) Featuring the voice talent working behind-the-scenes on “Open Season” and their personal experience working on an animated film.
• Deleted Scenes – (2:03) Featuring two deleted scenes: Forest 102 and Facial Tick. Note: These are sketches.
• Music Video: “I Wanna Lose Control (Uh Oh)” by Deathray – (2:19)
• Inside the Animals Studios: Mr Weenie - (1:31) Featuring a short commentary by Mr. Weenie talking about his favorite scene.
• Inside the Animals Studios: Porcupine - (:42) Featuring commentary by Porcupine talking about his first major scene.
• Inside the Animals Studios: Maria the Skunk - (:48) Featuring commentary by Maria the Skunk.  Maria talks about her being upset with Rosie the Skunk.
• Audio Commentary – (1:26:15) Featuring audio commentary by Michelle Murdocca (producer), Jill Colton (directors), Roger Allers (director) and Anthony Stacchi (co-director).  An informative, upbeat and in-depth commentary on the making of the animated film.
• Wheel of Fortunes Forest Edition – (14:26) An interactive game hosted by the squirrels.
• Voice-A-Rama - Hear the voices in various languages for various characters.
• Swept Away Scenes Deconstruction – (2:30) You can view the swept away scene via storyboards, pre-rendered CG and final cut.
• Ring Tales – (:53) Three short animated skits (in an animated comic strip-like format).
• Galleries – View the environments, characters and beat boards (illustration and conceptual art) for “Open Season” using your remote.

“Open Season” is an entertaining animated family film.

During the time of its release, unfortunately we were bombarded with animal-driven animated films but having watched this film again years later, it’s still a fun and entertaining film and it still manages to hold up quite well nearly five years later since its theatrical debut.

With the upcoming third film being planned for a 2011 release, it will be interesting to see how far animation has come since the release of the first film.  While fur effects and various detail on the trees and of course, the way the characters and animals were designed, are quite good, probably the biggest difference is the amount of shading and realism in today’s animation compared to the software available five years ago.  CG animation had gotten better and better in these past five years but still “Open Season” looks great on Blu-ray.  Colors are vibrant and you can see the detail in the fur and water effects in the film.

But the biggest priority for Sony Animation was the story and for the most part, the story is fun, nothing too deep or emotional.  As mentioned, I feel this is a pretty good family film but it is rated PG due to its humor and mild action.  Granted, I’m sure hunters with guns trying to kill the cute animals may not go so far with children but fortunately, no animals are killed in this film.  So, I don’t think parents will need to worry much about this film.

As for those who have the previous 2007 release, in terms of quality and soundtrack, it’s still the same 3D film but now using an English 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack instead of LPCM 5.1.  But for those who are purchasing “Open Season in 3D”, it’s all about the 3D and with not many 3D films out in the market at this time, I can easily give this film a thumbs up because it’s not the all about depth for its 3D presentation, the creators who planned for the IMAX 3D theatrical release, definitely kept this in mind and thus things are coming at you onscreen.

Overall, “Open Season in 3D” comes down to if you enjoyed the film and have the 3D capability for your TV and Blu-ray player and if you want to take advantage of this technology, “Open Season in 3D” is definitely worth it.  Aside from the 3D, there really isn’t anything new for special features or any major enhancements to the 2D portion of the video and audio is featured in DTS-HD MA, so if you own the previous 2007 Blu-ray release, you don’t really have to upgrade unless you have a 3D enabled TV and Blu-ray player.

“Open Season in 3D” is a pretty solid 3D release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and for those who do own the technology and have been craving more 3D releases, this Blu-ray release is definitely worth picking up right now.

Debra Messing arrives at the 2010 Crystal & Lucy Awards in Century City

Host Debra Messing arrives at the 2010 Crystal + Lucy Awards: A New Era at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on June 1, 2010 in Century City, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images). Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

Debra Messing leaving Cecconi’s restaurant after a Jimmy Choo pre-Oscars party.

picapp: Debra Messing leaves Cecconi’s restaurant after a Jimmy Choo pre-Oscars party. Photograph: Matt Symons/James Breeden/PacificCoastNews.com. Content ©2009 Pacific Coast News . All rights reserved.

Debra Messing at the Tribeca Film Institute Benefit Screening of ‘Quantum of Solace’ in Manhattan

Debra Messing at the Tribeca Film Institute Benefit Screening of ‘Quantum of Solace’ in Manhattan, New York City. Pictured: Debra Messing Picture by: Richie Buxo / Splash News. Content © 2008 Splash News . All rights reserved.