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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Commando—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 24, 2008  | 
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: .5/5
Commando was slated for release on Blu-ray quite some time ago but was pulled at the last moment. A few people still managed to nab a copy at some stores resulting in some interesting prices on popular internet auction sites. This one has always been a pure action popcorn piece that moves along just enough to show a lot of Arnold's muscles and butt kicking. It's definitely mindless fun, but it's lost the allure it had when I was younger. Still, I'm glad Fox is delivering more of its catalog to HD and this is a welcome addition for action and Arnold fans.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen—Columbia Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 24, 2008  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 4/5
I've always been a fan of Terry Gilliam's films. I had almost forgotten about this one as it was released in my very early teens and didn't have quite the impact on me that his earlier works did. Watching it now was an interesting ride. It just seems like these films don't hold up as well for me now as they did in my youth. The novelty has worn thin and most of the magic doesn't hold up like it used to. I'm almost afraid of what I would think of Time Bandits, which was one of my favorites growing up. This is a great tall tale film, but I couldn't help getting a bit bored half way through.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Orphanage (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 22, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/422orphanage.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Returning to her childhood home—a creepy, seaside orphanage—Laura (Belen Rueda) unknowingly unleashes a long-forgotten, evil spirit. When her son, Sim&#243;n (Roger Pr&#237;ncep), mysteriously disappears, she is thrust into a chilling nightmare in which she must confront the memories of her past before the ghosts of the orphanage destroy her.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Damages—Sony Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 22, 2008  | 
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3/5
I've never been much of a TV watcher. I lived overseas for the later part of my teen years and it just put me in a mindset that I wasn't interested once I came back. Occasionally I see a show on TV that catches my eye but I rarely follow through with a whole season. I will say though, if all shows were as good as this one I'd be making a lot of time for TV. I had never heard of Damages before receiving it for review and it took awhile before I had the time to watch the whole thing but once my wife and I sat down to start it, it was hard to stop. We were always looking for an opportunity to watch another episode and never found a single one boring or useless fill in any way. Fans of legal thrillers should definitely put this on the must see list!
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
27 Dresses—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 22, 2008  | 
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2.5/5
My wife had been pretty excited about seeing this one. We've been seeing trailers for it on several Blu-ray discs from Fox. Both of us are romantic comedy fans and we both really enjoyed Katherine Heigl's work in the recent Knocked Up. Unfortunately this one was a bit of a disappointment. It has a few good laughs but was weak on the romance and we didn't connect with the characters at all. Heigl is good but the rest of the characters were a bit one dimensional and I think this could have been the most cut and dry performance to date from Ed Burns. With so many great romantic comedies out there, I would suggest looking elsewhere on date night.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
One Missed Call—Warner Bros. (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 22, 2008  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 0/5
I don't understand why the movie studios continue to remake every single obscure Japanese horror film; even the really bad ones. Of course I didn't know this was a remake going in, but it was easy to tell as the film progressed since it seemed like it borrowed from just about every horror movie of the last few years. The story moves at a brisk pace but that is also one of its biggest downfalls. There is no story development, no character development and honestly, no point. There was never any sense of tension or horror and most of the time I was chuckling at how utterly bad the film was. I did think the cover art was cool though.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead—Image Entertainment (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 22, 2008  | 
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3/5
An all star cast leads this troubling thriller about a bank robbery gone terribly wrong. Two brothers with big financial problems plan a "fool proof" robbery of their parent's jewelry store. But things go terribly wrong when the younger brother brings in a third person who botches the job and leaves their Mom on her death bed. Things spiral out of control from their in this dark and morally obtuse tale of where greed and lies can take you.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
One Missed Call (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 19, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/419onemissedcall.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>College students start dropping like flies when they receive voicemails from their future selves with the exact date, time, and horrid details of their eventual deaths. Psychology student Beth Raymond (Shannyn Sossamon) becomes concerned when a number of her friends are murdered, so she enlists the help of detective Jack Andrews (Ed Burns) to search for answers as quickly as possible, because Beth has received her own disturbing voicemail from the future.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Passage to India (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 17, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/417passage.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Adela Quested (Judy Davis) travels from England to India under the supervision of Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) to visit Moore's son Ronny (Nigel Havers) in the 1920s. Sequestered in the English enclaves, Moore and Quested want to see the "real" India. Opportunity presents itself when a local doctor, Aziz H. Ahmed (Victor Banerjee), offers to take the ladies on an excursion to the Marabar Caves. When Adela returns injured from the expedition, the relationship between the Indians and the Brits reaches a turning point.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Juno (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 15, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/415juno.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Juno (Ellen Page) is a confident and candid teenage girl facing an unplanned pregnancy. Instead of taking the expedient way out with an abortion, she sets out to find the perfect parents to adopt her baby. With the support of her family and friends, she struggles with the physical changes that her body undergoes as well as the challenges of the social stereotypes associated with teenage pregnancy.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 14, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/414devil.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Phillip Seymour Hoffman stars as Andy, an overextended payroll executive who coerces his younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) into robbing a mom-and-pop jewelry store. The robbery doesn't go according to plan, and the "victimless" crime touches off a series of events that will forever change the brothers' lives.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Underdog—Walt Disney Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 14, 2008  | 
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3/5
I'd been holding off on watching this one until my daughter was visiting. She is five so I thought this would be a great one to sit down and watch with her. Unfortunately she got pretty bored with it, and so did I. The humor goes above their head most of the time, and falls pretty short of mine. The concept is cute and talking animals are always pretty funny, but the movie moves along at a slower pace than I would expect given its target audience. As far as family films go it is nice to see something with no real adult humor or innuendo, I just wish there was more to have fun with for 90 minutes.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story—Columbia Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 14, 2008  | 
Video: 5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 4/5
Parodies are always really hit or miss with me. The trailers for this one didn't do anything for me but Judd Apatow has been delivering some great comedies lately (Knocked Up and Superbad) so I was curious to give this one a spin. Unfortunately this wasn't the movie for me. I like comedies, but this one was just too silly for its own good. The longer director's cut didn't help either. Don't get me wrong, there are some incredibly funny moments in this film, but it gets bogged down by some of the over the top moments similar to Apatow's other disappointment, Talladega Nights. Fans of that film will probably find this one appealing in all areas, but I can't say I was much of a fan.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The 6th Day—Columbia Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 14, 2008  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3/5
You would think the "govenator" had a new film coming out this summer with all the Schwarzenegger films hitting Blu-ray shelves this past month. Sony throws their bid in with The 6th Day, an action thriller that takes a rather disturbing look at a possible near future where cloning has become common practice. We've seen these before and it seems like Hollywood always tries to cash in on the latest science buzz. The script is pretty horrendous when it comes to dialogue and delivery, but the action sequences and production make up for it a bit. One of Arnold's weaker films, but still a decent popcorn piece.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Alvin and the Chipmunks—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Apr 14, 2008  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 2/5
Can't say I had high hopes for this one going in but Alvin and the Chipmunks ended up being one of the most enjoyable family films I saw this last year. I used to watch the cartoon when I was a kid and this feature film did a good job capturing the spirit and humor of the original show. There are some great laughs here and the music is catchy enough that my daughter had to get up a boogie a bit during the movie. Sure it has a lot of comedy clichs and Hollywood formula, but it was still solid family fun.
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