David Vaughn

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/tmnt.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The quartet of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael emerge from the New York City sewers to rescue their ninja mentor Splinter. The live-action characters go on to deal with their evil nemesis, Shredder, in the second film and time travel in the third. The last film in the series, <i>TMNT</i>, is an animated affair with our heroes dispensing justice to an army of monsters.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/bsg.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The Cylons were created by man to make life easier in the Twelve Colonies, but things didn't work out so well for the humans. The "toasters" turned on their masters by orchestrating a sneak attack to eradicate the human race. Although the show is mostly a dialog-driven drama, there are a lot of intense action scenes that offer many demo-worthy audio moments throughout its four seasons.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/racewitch.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Las Vegas taxi driver Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) sets off on the adventure of a lifetime when two mysterious teens ask him to drive them deep into the Nevada desert. But his young passengers are no ordinary teens&#151;siblings Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) are aliens from another universe with astonishing supernatural abilities. Jack becomes a reluctant hero as he expertly evades the authorities while trying to infiltrate Witch Mountain, a shadowy government outpost devoted to studying UFOs.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/coraline.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>From the director of <i>The Nightmare Before Christmas</i> comes another visually stunning, stop-motion animated feature&#151;the first to be shot using stereoscopic 3D. Although the 3D experience doesn't translate well to Blu-ray, the 2D feature is amazingly clear with inky blacks and phenomenal contrast. The detail on the miniature sets looks surprisingly lifelike, from the fabric used for curtains to the textures of the characters' clothing and even their expressions. The audio track doesn't take a back seat to the video, either, featuring demo-worthy surround imaging.