Transcript: New release audio described DVDs

Roberta:  Ally Woodford from Media Access Australia is joining us today to update us on the latest DVDs with audio description that have been released to the Australian market. Welcome, Ally.

Ally:  Thank you, Roberta.

Roberta:  I always like to start with a bang and find out what the big name titles are that are on the DVD shelves at the moment, so what do we have?

Ally:  Well, we’ll start with an Oscar winner; it’s from earlier this year and it’s called The Fighter and it’s a true story. The movie picked up the two supporting actor awards at the Oscars this year and it’s quite an inspiring yarn. There’s also True Grit by the Coen brothers and it’s a powerful story of vengeance that’s set in the wild west of the 1880s. It had a lot of Oscar nominations; unfortunately, it didn’t pick anything up this year though.

In the big name titles, I’m also going to put I Am Number Four in this group and it’s a sci-fi movie of the young adult fiction book of the same name. And I’ve seen it and I must say I really loved it. I think it’s gonna pick up the same audience as maybe the Harry Potter fans that grew up with that series and they can now move on to something a little older; still the teens but something new. And the movie itself is screaming for a sequel so hopefully there’s more of that to come. So that’s one for the teens.

There’s some others there for the older kid. We’ve got two in, well, two of them in Rango, which is about a lovable chameleon and it’s voiced by Johnny Depp. And there’s a 2010 remake of the ever-popular Yogi Bear and they’re both animated, those two.

Roberta:  Now, I love the animated ones now, I think I’ve said this before, that have got real voices.

Ally:  Yes.

Roberta:  It makes them much more interesting.

Ally:  Yeah.

Roberta:  Now, what’s one for the older kids? Are there others do you think?

Ally:  Yeah. We’ve got some comedies like Big Momma’s House, Like Father Like Son; that’s sort of, I think it’s M rated, so that’s sort of, the older kids are gonna like that one as well.

Roberta:  What other titles do we have to fill out this month’s selection then, Ally?

Ally:  For the comedies, we’ve got Hall Pass. We’ve got one called, and I love the name of this movie, it’s called, Happythankyoumoreplease. Haven’t seen it but I just love the name of it.

Roberta:  I was gonna say, it just says, “Come and see me,” doesn’t it?

Ally:  Happythankyoumoreplease. There’s another one called From Prada to Nada, which I haven’t seen but it’s touted as a Latino version of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

Roberta:  Oh, what are they doing?

Ally:  I don’t know but I think we’ll have to rent that one to find out.

Roberta:  I think we will.

Ally:  There’s a black comedy in the English movie of Tamara Drewe. For the action hero fans there’s The Green Hornet. Straight-out action fans might like Faster, Season of the Witch, The Mechanic, Sanctum and lastly there’s Unstoppable and that starts Denzel Washington. Sci-fi fans, they might want to check out The Adjustment Bureau which stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. We’ve got a couple of Australians; Russell Crowe stars in the drama The Next Three Daysand Nicole Kidman stars in the acclaimed Rabbit Hole. Horror fans will enjoy Sir Anthony Hopkins at his scary best in The Rite and there’s also, it’s an Australian horror movie called Wasted on the Young.

Rounding out, we’ve got a fantasy drama called Beastly, a couple of romantic comedies in How Do You Know? which starts Reece Witherspoon and No Strings Attached which stars Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. And lastly, there’s a romantic drama which is, it’s called The Romantics and it stars Anna Paquin and Katie Holmes.

Roberta:  You were talking before about Anthony Hopkins. I mean it was bad enough seeing him in a scary movie as a young man; what the heck is he like as an older man?

Ally:  Scarier, yep.

Roberta:  You know …

Ally:  Just the, I’ve seen the DVD cover of it and it’s a close-up of his face in this funny kind of mask. But just those eyes, those piercing eyes that he has and you see them on the cover and you go, “No.”

Roberta:  Oh, yeah.

Ally:  Because that’s, for me, I’m just not into horror so that went straight back onto the shelf for me.

Roberta:  So, well, Ally, that’s quite a selection. Are there any tittles that we’re missing out on?

Ally:  There’s one and I’m really disappointed about this one; Sony in Australia missed out on importing the audio-described version of 127 Hours. It was described internationally in both the UK and in America but Sony in Australia, it imported it from Pathé which is a British independent distributor. So usually with Sony they import their own product from their international offices, so I just think Sony got a bit lazy when it was dealing with an external company to import a title from and they didn’t question the accessibility. So I’m really disappointed about that.

Roberta:  Well, that is a shame because that would have been a perfect one to view with audio description.

Ally:  Fantastic. And the only thing I can suggest for those that are really keen to see it, I know a majority of DVD players in this day and age are multi-regional; you know, you can buy it on Amazon and just make sure you get the 2 or region 1 version of it.

Roberta:  I would say absolute to that one because it would be perfect I think. Well, Media Access Australia has a searchable DVD database on its website at mediaaccess.org.au and all these titles, plus hundreds more, can be found there. The website will answer many of your questions about audio description but alternatively, Ally and the MAA team always happy to take your call on 02 9212 6242 or reply to your email, info@mediaaaccess.org.au. Thank you, Ally, for all of that today and I know we’ll be talking soon.

Ally:  Thanks, Roberta.

Roberta:  I’ve been speaking with Ally Woodford from Media Access Australia and Media Access Australia are supporters of this program.