<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/cocoonbd.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Art (Don Ameche), Ben (Wilford Brimley), and Joe (Hume Cronyn) live a perfectly respectable life in a Florida retirement community. In order to feel younger, the three break into an indoor pool at a nearby property for the thrill of the experience and some private pool time. When a group of aliens from another world rent the property some strange physiological changes begin to occur making the men wonder if they've discovered the Fountain of Youth.
With the aid of his trusted ally Dr. John Watson (Jude Law), Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is unequaled in his pursuit of criminals. After a string of ritualistic murders, the pair arrives just in time to save the latest victim and uncover the killer: Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). He is sentenced to death but warns Holmes that death has no power over him, and he will rise again. It turns out he wasn't lying.
I'm not sure Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would approve of the modernized Sherlock Holmes, but it turns out he's one hell of an action hero. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack features some great demo-worthy scenes, although the dialog is not entirely intelligible in a couple of scenes. The VC-1 encode is just as impressive, with exquisite detail, inky blacks, and well-resolved shadows.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/apollo13bd.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>After landing on the moon in 1969 and fulfilling John F. Kennedy's pledge, Americans began to lose interest in the space program. In fact, many TV stations stopped covering the missions but that changed on April 13, 1970 when Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) radioed back to control with the historic phrase: "Houston, we have a problem." What should have been a seemingly routine mission to the moon became a race against time to save three American astronauts.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/lotrbd.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In case you've been in a coma for the past 10 years, Peter Jackson adapted the popular J.R.R. Tolkien novel with amazing results. Arguably, it's one of the greatest movie accomplishments of all time with 15 Academy Awards, over $1 billion in US box-office receipts, and nearly $3 billion worldwide.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/bsg2.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The battle for survival continues in the second, and arguably best season of <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>. It begings with Galactica separated from the rest of the fleet and Colonel Tigh must fill in for Commander Adama. On Caprica, Kara and Helo must join a band of resistance fighters waiting for an eventual rescue from the fleet while political tensions rise when Baltar faces Roslin in the Presidential election, but will backroom dealings pick a winner?
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/poseidon.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The cruise ship Poseidon is on its way from London to New York on New Year's Eve when it's suddenly struck by a rogue wave turning it upside down in the water. The Captain (Andre Braugher) tells everyone in the main ballroom to be calm and patient, but a band of survivors led by Dylan (Josh Lucas) and Robert (Kurt Russell) have their own plan of escape.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/squeakquel.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>When Dave (Jason Lee) has an unfortunate accident, the chipmunks end up in the care of his dimwitted nephew Toby (Zachary Levy) and have to face the rigors of high school without any parental guidance. It's there that the three hit singers meet the Chippettes—Brittany, Eleanor, and Janette—whom they must challenge in order to represent their school in a district wide battle of the bands to save the schools music program.
Teenager Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) is living on his own when he is spotted on the street by the Tuohy family. Learning that the young man is one of her daughter's classmates, Leigh Ann (Sandra Bullock) invites him to stay at their home for the night. What starts out as a gesture of kindness turns into something more as Michael becomes part of the family despite the differences in their backgrounds.
In the 2009 NFL draft, Michael Oher's rags-to-riches story reached new heights when he was drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens. I love inspirational sports stories, and this is one of the best I've seen in years. The performances are outstanding, especially by Sandra Bullock, who won her first Oscar for the role, and by young Jae Head, who provides a lot of comic relief in an otherwise dramatic subtext.
Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) is a beautiful and driven young woman determined to open her own New Orleans restaurant, but her plans take a detour when Prince Naveen (Bruno Compos) struts into town and is turned into a frog by the evil Dr. Facilier (Keith David). A kiss from Tiana should restore him, but the plan backfires and turns her into a frog. The two must then travel into the bayou in search of a priestess who can hopefully remove the curse.
This is the first 2D hand-drawn animated title from Disney since 2004's Home on the Range. After the mainstream birth of computer animation with 1995's Toy Story, many studios, including Disney, got the impression that families are tired of "classic" animation and only interested in computer-animated titles. Surprisingly, Disney seemed to forget that not only does a film need to look pretty, it needs to have a good story. However, the studio has redeemed itself here, even though the trailers weren't that impressive.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/4thkind.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Since the 1960s in Noe, Alaska, a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) while recovering from the murder of her husband begins counseling patients with sleep disorders and discovers similarities between their stories. She begins to hypnotize them while recording the sessions and uncovers some disturbing evidence of alien abduction.