Blu-ray Movie Reviews

There’s a particularly wonderful scene in The Illusionist, the animated movie adapted and directed by Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) from a previously unfilmed script by Jacques Tati. When the Monsieur Hulot-like character familiar to fans of Tati goes into a movie theater, there’s Tati’s Mon Oncle up on the screen in live action.

Friends with benefits: Is that kind of modern-day relationship really possible? No Strings Attached looks into that question for almost an hour before ending up in typical Hollywood rom-com land.

Technologies that distribute audio and video around a home are incredibly cool—if you can afford them, if you can tolerate complicated installation, and if you can figure out how to use them once they’re in. I’ve long assumed a big consumer electronics company like Samsung or Sony would invent a more practical multiroom A/V solution, but it seems the technology that finally gets us past the old paradigms may be Apple’s AirPlay.

Saturday Night Live showcased Murphy's comedic talent and 48 Hours made him a star, but it was his role in Beverly Hills Cop that turned the talented comedian into a box office sensation. He would later reprise the role of Axel Foley in two follow-up films, but the first of the trilogy is by far the best.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a bad film Ron Howard has directed over his career, so I'm going to cut him some slack for this middling effort. While the two stars are supremely talented when it comes to comedy, the editing is this film is terrible and it really kills the pacing. Scenes drag on forever and there are certain subplots that could have been cut altogether (sorry Queen Latifah) that would have improved it immensely.

File this one under Wasted Potential. The Green Hornet does have plenty of visual style, courtesy of director Michel Gondry. It also has the likable Seth Rogen as the title character, the awesome Christoph Waltz (Oscar winner for Inglourious Basterds) as the bad guy, and Cameron Diaz as the brainy eye candy.