Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World—Universal (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 4.5/5
Scott Pilgrim has never had a problem getting a girlfriend. It's getting rid of them that proves difficult. From the girl who kicked his heart's ass - and now is back in town - to the teenage distraction he's trying to shake when Ramona rollerblades into his world, love hasn't been easy. He soon discovers, however, his new crush has the most unusual baggage of all: a nefarious league of exes controls her love life and will do whatever it takes to eliminate him as a suitor. As Scott gets closer to Ramona, he must face an increasingly vicious rogues' gallery from her past - from infamous skateboarders to vegan rock stars and fearsome identical twins. And if he hopes to win his true love, he must vanquish them all before it really is game over.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Alien Anthology (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
On its return trip to Earth, the Nostromo intercepts a distress call from a distant planet. The crew is awakened from cryo-sleep by the ship's computer and goes to the planet to investigate. It turns out the signal wasn't a call for help; it was a warning to stay clear. When one of the crew is attacked by an Alien lifeform, the other crew members have no idea what they've unleashed upon themselves by letting the man back on the ship.

In the excellent sequel Aliens, we catch up with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) after her harrowing escape in the first movie. Fifty-seven years have past when she's found floating in space in cryo-sleep and no one from "the company" believes her horrific tale of survival until all contact is lost with the colonists from planet LV-426, which is introduced in the first movie. Soon she finds herself headed back to the dreaded planet with a team of Marines to investigate.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Pacific (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 25, 2010  | 
Executive producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman, who brought us Band of Brothers, deliver another WWII masterpiece about the battles in the Pacific. The 10-part miniseries follows the true-life stories of Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), John Basilone (Joe Mazello), and Eugene Sledge (Jon Seda) as they fight their way across the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. It all starts with the horrific conflict of Guadalcanal, continues to Cape Gloucester and Peleliu, then to the famous combat at Iwo Jima, the terror of Okinawa, and finally their return home after V-J Day and how the mental scars of battle aren't easily forgotten.

Given its massive budget (estimated to be $195 million), I expected the battle scenes to rival those in Saving Private Ryan—which they do in their scope and visceral impact—but it's the psychological struggles of our three heroes that kept me riveted. Not only do they have to fight a relentless enemy in the Japanese, but they must cope with the elements—suffocating heat, malaria, tropical rainstorms—and somehow keep a grasp on their own humanity. If they're fortunate enough to survive and return home, how will they acclimate to the civilized world after spending four years in hell?

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Moulin Rouge (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 22, 2010  | 
Satine (Nicole Kidman) is a seductive courtesan and star of a popular French nightclub that caters to society's decadent elite. When she unwittingly draws Christian (Ewan McGregor) into her spell, true love turns to tragedy.

Moulin Rouge is one of the most unique films of the 21st century featuring outstanding performances by the two leads, elaborate sets, and entertaining music and choreography. Kidman was rewarded with her first of two Oscar nominations (winning the following year for The Hours) and the film received seven additional nominations including Best Picture (winning two awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design). Sadly, writer/director Baz Luhrmann was snubbed for Best Director although I feel he was more than deserving.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Winter’s Bone—Lionsgate (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 2.5/5
Seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin's code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth. Based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Moulin Rouge—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Set in a Paris nightclub that caters to society's decadent elite, the exhilarating "Moulin Rouge" follows the story of the ill-fated love affair between a stunning courtesan and a struggling young writer.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Rocky Horror Picture Show—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 4.5/5
Fasten your garter belt and come up to the lab and see what's on the slab! It's "The Rocky Horror Picture Show Special Edition", a screamingly funny, sinfully twisted salute to sci-fi, horror, B-movies and rock music, all rolled into one deliciously decadent morsel. And now there's even more to make you shiver with antici...pation: two additional musical numbers, "Once In A While" and "Superheroes", never seen theatrically or available on video! The madcap, musical mayhem begins when rain-soaked Brad and Janet take refuge in the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite mad scientist from outer space who is about to unveil his greatest creation - and have a bit of fun with his reluctant guests!
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Predators—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Adrien Brody stars as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they've been brought together on an alien planet... as prey. With the notable exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers - mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members - human "predators" that are now being systematically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien "Predators".
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 3.5/5
In this dazzling adaptation of Shakespeare's classic love story, Leonardo DiCaprio stars opposite Claire Danes. They light up the screen as the original star-crossed lovers against a thumping soundtrack and a boldly imagined modern-day setting.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
High Tension (Switchblade Romance)—Lionsgate (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 3/5
"High Tension" is an intense game of murder and survival, which will rattle viewers to their core. Maria and Alexia are classmates and best friends. Hoping to prepare for their college exams in peace and quiet, they decide to spend a weekend in the country at Alexia's parents secluded farmhouse. But in the dead of night, a stranger knocks on the front door. And with the first swing of his knife, the girls' idyllic weekend turns into an endless night of horror.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Back to the Future Trilogy—Universal (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 4/5
"Back To The Future": When teenager Marty McFly is blasted to 1955 in the DeLorean time machine created by the eccentric Doc Brown, he finds himself mixed up in a time-shattering chain reaction that could vaporize his future - and leave him trapped in the past. "Back To The Future Part II": Picking up precisely where they left off, Marty and Doc launch themselves to the year 2015 to fine-tune the future and inadvertently disrupt the space/time continuum. Now, their only chance to fix the present is by going back to 1955 all over again before it is too late. "Back To The Future Part III": Stranded in 1955 after a freak accident, Marty McFly discovers he must travel back to 1885 to rescue Doc Brown before he becomes smitten with school teacher Clara Clayton. Now, it's up to Marty to keep Doc out of trouble, get the DeLorean running, and put the past, present and future on track so they can all get back to where - and when - they belong.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
How To Train Your Dragon—Dreamworks Animation (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 2.5/5
Hiccup is a young Viking who defies tradition when he befriends one of his deadliest foes - a ferocious dragon he calls Toothless. Together, the unlikely heroes must fight against all odds to save both their worlds.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 20, 2010  | 
Teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is asked to help his friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) conduct a scientific experiment involving a time machine made out of a DeLorean. Before he knows it, he finds himself transported to 1955 and sets off a time-shattering chain reaction that can wipe out his future. Searching out the 1955 version of Doc, the pair has to figure out a way to fix the space-time continuum and get the teenager back to the future.

In Part II, Marty and Doc travel 30 years into the future in order to stop Marty's son from setting off a chain of events that will ruin the family's reputation. In the process of fixing the future, the pair inadvertently disrupts the space-time continuum (again) and need to travel back to 1955 in order to set things right.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Psycho: 50th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 18, 2010  | 
A wayward traveler (Janet Leigh) comes upon the Bates Motel and makes the fatal decision of stopping for the evening and partaking in a shower. In one of the most memorable scenes in Hollywood history, she's sliced and diced by a mysterious psychopath (Anthony Perkins).

The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, lulls his audience into a state of comfort throughout the first act of the film only to shock them with the famous shower scene and then slowly unwind the mystery over the last hour. I'm generally not a fan of horror films, but I've seen Psycho countless times over the years and Norman Bates still sends a chill down my spine. One thing's for sure, Hitchcock certainly knew how to keep an audience on the edge of their seat.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Exorcist (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 16, 2010  | 
A young and innocent girl, Regan (Linda Blair), undergoes a chilling metamorphosis as Satan invades her body. Her frantic mother (Ellen Burstyn) does her best to help, but the doctors and psychiatrists are perplexed by the child's physical and mental changes. Looking for any type of answer, she turns to a local church where poor Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who has his own doubts about his faith, calls on the services of Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) to perform an exorcism to expel Satan from the child.

I had reservations watching because I'm not a fan of scary movies and this is one of the scariest I've seen in my life. Blair does an outstanding job playing the possessed child and director William Friedkin definitely deserved his Oscar nomination.

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