BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS

When The Lion King hit theaters in 1994, Disney had its third animation success in a row and solidified the fact that the studio had regained its hit-creating mojo. The voice cast is outstanding, the story is inspiring, and the soundtrack is just as fun today as it was last century. Looking to capitalize on the 3D craze hitting Hollywood, Disney converted the hand-drawn animated film into the new format with surprisingly good results. While it doesn't look quite as good as Beauty and the Beast, it fares much better than some live-action conversions I've seen.

<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.

As long as you check your brain at the door, The Losers provides a lot of entertainment, laughter, and adventure. It's based on a DC comic series, and while the plot is hardly original, the cast members never take things too seriously and seem to be enjoying themselves. Furthermore, the movie depicts a lot of violent action, but it doesn't spatter brain matter all over the screen, and I applaud the director's choice to aim for the PG-13 rating. I wouldn't call this a family-friendly picture, but it's not nearly has graphic as it could have been.

Based on the 1930 novel by Dashiell Hammett, screenwriter/director John Huston launched his directorial career and turned Bogart into a leading man. Although the film is nearly 70 years old, the story and characters are timeless and Bogart's depiction as the private detective is the benchmark for other such characters in Hollywood.