Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Movie: 3
Picture/Sound: 2.5/3.5
Extras: 2

Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4.25/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Thirty-seven thousand years ago, a deadly secret was buried in a cave in Texas. Now the secret has been unleashed. And its discovery may mean the end of all humanity. "The plague to end all plagues." When a terrorist bomb destroys a building in Dallas, Texas, FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy surpassing anything they've ever encountered. With the dubious assistance of a paranoid doctor. Mulder and Scully risk their careers and their lives to hunt down a deadly virus which may be extraterrestrial in origin - and could destroy all life on earth. Their pursuit of truth pits them against the mysterious Syndicate, powerful men who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets safe, leading the agents from the cave in Texas, to the halls of the FBI, and finally to a secret installation in Antarctica which holds the greatest secret of all.

<I>Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming. Directed by Bryan Singer. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). DTS 5.1 ES, Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround (French, Spanish). Two discs. 132 minutes. 2003. Fox Home Entertainment 2009206. PG-13. $29.98.</I>

Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.25/5
Extras: 3.75/5
Carl Allen has stumbled across a way to shake free of post-divorce blues and a dead-end job: embrace life and say yes to everything. Take a bungee plunge? Yes. Accept call-now TV offers? Yes. Learn Korean? Yes. Grab the first flight to anywhere? Yes. Win your dream girl? Yes. Crack up fans with a feel-good, laugh-loaded romp? Yes! Working every funny bone in his nimble body and every muscle in his hilariously mobile face, Jim Carrey plays Carl in a YEScapade about opening up to lifes possibilities especially when those possibilities include romance with an intriguing, free-spirited musician.

Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 0/5
One night, Alfie wakes up with a sudden wave of panic over thoughts of mortality. Abandoning Helena, his wife of forty years, Alfie sets out to relive the pleasures of his youth. Devastated, Helena tries to kill herself, and then, finding no consolation from medicine and therapy, seeks out the help of a fortune teller, Cristal. Before long, Helena finds the tranquility she seeks by surrendering all her thoughts and actions to Cristal's guidance. Helena's daughter Sally encourages her mother's pacifying visits to the charlatan fortune teller, as she is weary of dealing with her mother's trauma, and has marital problems of her own. Her novelist husband Roy is unable to hold a paying job and the couple lives off of Helena's support and Sally's earnings as an assistant to a prominent gallery owner, Greg Clemente. Years ago, Roy produced an acclaimed first novel, but his subsequent books haven't lived up to his initial promise. Roy's fears that he may be a flash in the pan make him hard to live with and they clash over Sally's desire to have a child.

Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3/5
Hollywood confuses me sometimes. When I was growing up names like Coppola, Forman, Lean, Spielberg, and Kubrick meant a lot to moviegoers. These days it doesn't seem to matter any more. I've seen picture after picture relocated to small venues and limited releases despite heavyweight directors and storytellers attached. Take a look at last year's Best Picture nominees for example. How many of those films were even opened wide upon initial release? But how many films that probably lower your IQ at an alarming rate are opened wide every week. I guess the mighty dollar is still king and art and great storytelling is something now reserved for straight to video fare. I remember when the opposite was true.