Blu-ray bytes: Daybreakers and Apollo 13: 15th Anniversary Edition

Highlighting the best interactive features from the high-definition format.

Bloody with a chance of showers

Vampires rule the world but have exhausted their dwindling supply of humans to harvest blood. Now where will the starving lot get that extra kick for their cafe mochas?

The Spierig Brothers’ Daybreakers (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, $39.99) offers a premise worthy of a look for the fan of the genre, starring Ethan Hawke as a friendly bloodsucking hematologist and Willem Dafoe as the potential savior of humanity.

Unfortunately, the mix of interactive extras found on the Blu-ray disc will only temporarily quench a multimedia lover’s thirst.

First, I was completely underwhelmed by LG Live’s anemic set of LG Gadgets.

Broadband-connected viewers get a clock, current weather conditions and a marketing ticker touting LG releases that hang out over the menu screen. Also, they can update their Facebook and Twitter status or add a wallpaper image to a computer desktop.

The Bonusview extra at least offers some red meat to the proceedings with a pop-up comparison between the movie and the animatics and storyboards. The feature is interesting but not very original, even on the DVD format.

Finally, for the cell-phone- and Wi-Fi-loving demographic, LG offers both Metamenu and BD Touch functionality that turns an iPhone into a limited controller for the Blu-ray player. It also enables the viewing of the movie’s extras and a way to add comments to your social network and acts as a resource for background on the film.

In a Blu-moon

Viewers get an education as well as a great movie with the Blu-ray edition of Apollo 13: 15th Anniversary Edition (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG, $26.98).

Sporting quite the digital transfer to the high-definition format, the film finds actors Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton re-creating the near-tragic mission of Apollo 13, which turned a trip to the moon into a fight for survival.

A set of standard-def extras offers plenty of homage and background on the project, including a look at the real astronauts’ story and man’s push to conquer the moon and beyond.

Thanks to Universal’s user-friendly U Control, viewers easily can check out two knowledge banks while embroiled in the action.

First, a collection of Tech-Splanations are pop-up boxes loaded with information on the Saturn V rocket, a definition of the Unified S-Band System (used by NASA to communicate with and track its astronauts) and even a narrated animation detailing the stages of an Apollo flight.

Better yet for pop-culture junkies is a collection of Apollo-era trivia presenting more pop-up text on everything from grocery prices to music to fashion from the 1970s.

Additionally, much like “Daybreakers” and its BD Touch functionality, “Apollo 13” offers pocketBlu. Called “a perfect companion for watching a Blu-ray movie,” it enables a smart phones such as an iPhone or BlackBerry, to act as a controller and resource manager for the disc and player with help from free software and a WiFi connection.

The application also works with a Macintosh computer and, soon, Windows operating systems.

Viewers basically can turn their device or laptop into a remote, can see a timeline of the film to jump to a particular scene, chat with friends or view bonus content.

This may become useful and, dare I say, a standard, if it becomes compatible with Apple’s iPad. Imagine holding a touch screen in your lap while watching the movie and easily appreciating a deleted scene on the fly or interacting with the home theater screen.

My only complaint overall was with a painfully slow-loading disc that stalled in two of my Blu-ray players and only worked to perfection on the PlayStation 3.

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