Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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A Quiet Place Part II
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 08, 2021  | 
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Anyone seeking to make a horror sequel would do well to study writer/ director John Krasinski's A Quiet Place Part II. A magnificent expansion of the established characters and story, this film wastes nary a second, framing the narrative with a bit of new backstory before picking up immediately after the events of the 2018 original and taking us in bold, terrifying new directions.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Room with a View
Fred Kaplan  |  Jan 22, 2016  | 
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A Room with a View is one of the most romantic films of all time—a funny, leisurely, unabashed, but also ironic celebration of “beauty, joy, love,” (as its youthful hero shouts from a flimsy treetop in the Italian countryside). Based on E.M. Forster’s novel, it remains the most successful film by Merchant Ivory, the enterprise consisting of producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, and screenwriter Ruth Prawler Jhabvala. I’d found (and still find) many of their other movies dull, so what jelled with this one? The infectiously gorgeous setting—Florence, its surroundings, and the estates of southeastern England—must have played some role. The actors are as fine an ensemble as any assembled (besides the three listed below, Denholm Elliott, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Simon Callow, Rupert Graves).
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Scanner Darkly (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Sep 11, 2010  | 
Based on the novel by Phillip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly is set seven years in the future when much of society is hooked on the drug Substance D. Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is an undercover narcotics agent leading a double life as both an enforcer and breaker of the law. In his private time he associates with a group of junkies who have no idea that he's a narc.

While I love the style of animation and story, most of the voice acting is atrocious. Both Reeves and Winona Ryder are flat and wooden, but Robert Downy Jr. steals every scene with his superior acting talent. The film features prolific drug use, so if you're turned off by this sort of thing, don't tune in.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Scanner Darkly (HD DVD)
Tom Norton  |  Apr 09, 2007  | 

<I>A Scanner Darkly</I> may be animated, but take that R rating seriously. This is not a film for the kids. There isn't a furry animal in sight, and certainly no talking penguins.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Serious Man
David Vaughn  |  Feb 26, 2010  | 
It's 1967, and poor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) isn't having a good year. His wife is leaving him, his unemployed brother (Richard Kind) is sleeping on his couch, his kids are deviants, and he's being blackmailed by a student at the Midwestern university where he serves as a physics professor. Diving into his faith, Larry seeks the advice of three rabbis. But do they have the answers he seeks?

I'm generally a fan of the Coen brothers' films, but this bizarre tale confused the hell out of me with all the Jewish references. Despite my bewilderment, I couldn't stop thinking about the plot for days afterward, and when revisiting some scenes for this Ultimate Demo, I found myself laughing out loud, and I will certainly revisit it in the future to not only laugh but to enjoy the demo-worthy video presentation.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Single Shot
Corey Gunnestad  |  May 14, 2014  | 
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For dedicated, respected, and talented actors, it’s still and will always be about the work—and taking it wherever you can find it. A Single Shot is a well-made, low-budget indie film that touts a superlative cast featuring Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright, Kelly Reilly, Jason Isaacs, Ted Levine, and William H. Macy. With a pedigree like that, you’d think this film might have received a bigger push at the box office, but it was easily overlooked amidst the whirl of mainstream Hollywood entertainment.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Star Is Born
Chris Chiarella  |  Mar 01, 2019  | 
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A Star Is Born manages to rise above the nigh-unavoidable clichés of the music drama genre through the sheer, undeniable force of Bradley Cooper's love of his craft. Were this not already the third remake of the 1937 film, the potential cinematic pitfalls of this tale of frustrated singer/songwriter Ally (Lady Gaga), who struggles amid the boozy, druggy stumblings of entrenched headliner Jack (Cooper) would still be many.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Star is Born (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 29, 2010  | 
An alcoholic movie star (James Mason) stumbles on stage when a young singer (Judy Garland) is performing. The kindness she shows him after the incident makes an impression on him and he convinces her to leave her band and take a shot to be a movie star. The two eventually marry and when her star shines brighter than his there's bound to be problems.

For the record, I generally like musicals but for some reason I couldn't get into this film. The dramatic elements are great, but just when things start to get interesting Garland will burst into an overlong and unmemorable song. At nearly three hours, the films pacing is severely challenged and I can see why Warner shortened it over 30 minutes for its theatrical run in 1954. The restored cut includes some still shots since the original footage was destroyed, but the studio found the original full-length audio tracks to make thing coherent.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Streetcar Named Desire: 60th Anniversary Edition
Fred Kaplan  |  Aug 14, 2012  | 
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There are few more enduring classics of American theater than Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, an over-the-top, sweaty steam bath of a play that straddles Greek tragedy and Gothic camp yet still commands attention, even astonishes, 65 years after its creation. The show ran on Broadway for two years; the film adaptation was shot two years after that; both were directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando. This was only Brando’s second film. He was 27 years old. And despite all the subsequent parodies of his sultry pout and his mumblecore rage (“Stella! Stel-l-l-laaa!”), he was a blazing-hot actor. It’s a natural heat that he radiates, and he modulates it seamlessly, from simmer to boil and all shades in between. Brando’s amazing to watch: The acting is all there on the surface, yet he’s so immersed in his character, it seems completely uncontrived. You see the moves and attitude that countless actors later copied, but none of them ever matched this. (That said, his performance in Kazan’s On the Waterfront three years later was even better, subtler.)
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A Talk with "Keeping Score" co-director Joan Saffa
Robert Ripps  |  Jun 20, 2011  | 

Robert Ripps: From your perspective, how has Keeping Score evolved since its 2004 premiere, both artistically and technologically?

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
David Vaughn  |  Apr 08, 2011  | 
In the future, the polar ice caps have melted, the sea waters have flooded coastal cities, and you must obtain a license to have a child. Science has evolved to the point of creating artificial beings, called mechas, to serve humans and preserve precious natural resources. One such mecha, David (Haley Joel Osment), is the first of its kind; an artificial kid that can give and receive unconditional love to his adoptive parents.

Of all of Spielberg's films, this is probably my least favorite. Its pacing is horrendous, it runs much too long at 145 minutes, and its last 40 minutes are a bizarre waste of time. While the acting and special effects are very good they can't overcome the boring second act and the horrendous ending(s).

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Ad Astra
Chris Chiarella  |  Jan 24, 2020  | 
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In Ad Astra (Latin for "to the stars"), a curious mashup of 2001 and Apocalypse Now, new facts have recently come to light about the disappearance of a deep, deep space probe launched to find intelligent life in the cosmos. The commander was Cliff McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), the most decorated man in the history of the space program, and now his son Roy (Brad Pitt) is tasked with his own top-secret mission...
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Adore
David Vaughn  |  Mar 25, 2014  | 
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Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) have been inseparable from a young age, growing up in a quaint coastal Australian community. When Lil’s husband passes away, the two grow even closer, and their two young boys, Ian and Tom, develop a similar close relationship. Roz’s husband takes a job in Sydney, and with him away, the quartet starts to spend even more time together going to the beach, eating dinner, and drinking heavily with each other. After a night of partying, Ian (Lil’s son) professes his secret love for Roz, she succumbs to his advances, and they wind up sleeping together. Unbeknownst to either of them, Tom spies his mom leaving Ian’s room and decides two can play that game and makes a move on Lil. This opens up Pandora’s box, and the lines between family, friendship, and morality all become blurred.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Adventureland (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Aug 25, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/adventureland.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Recent college graduate James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has his European summer vacation canceled when his parents tell him they can't afford to help him with grad school. Instead, he's forced take a job at Adventureland, a local Pennsylvania amusement park. His co-workers are an eclectic bunch and include Em (Kristen Stewart), a beautiful yet reclusive co-ed who catches his eye. And despite the "help" of the park handyman (Ryan Reynolds), James may yet get the girl.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Adventures In Zambezia
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 10, 2013  | 
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Kai, a young falcon, yearns to spread his wings and explore the world, more specifically an avian community called Zambezia. There he hopes to join the Hurricanes, the skilled and brave flying corps that defends the city. But his father is unalterably opposed to his leaving their safe but boring life for reasons Kai does not at first understand. Kai leaves the nest on his own anyway, joining a flock of geese headed to the fabled bird city. Once there, he finds the city in danger from a terrifying enemy.
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