BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS

After the death of his father and the scandalous abdication of his brother King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth), who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all of his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually forge a genuine friendship.

Taking home the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler), I had extremely high expectations of this film and they were mostly met. That being said, I don't think this was the best picture of 2010, my pick would be The Social Network, but I can see why the Academy chose this film due to the lavish sets, decadent costumes, and historically significant story.

The Criterion Collection Movie •••• Picture ••••• Sound •••• Extras ••••

In 1987, director and co-writer Bernardo Be

Banished by their mother (Kelly Preston) to spend the summer with their father (Greg Kinnear) in Georgia, Veronica (Miley Cyrus) and her younger brother Jonah (Bobby Coleman) get a chance to reconnect with him since their parents divorced a few years earlier. Before the split, Veronica would spend countless hours together at the piano and since he left she has refused to play despite receiving a scholarship offer to Julliard. Can a summer with her father rekindle her desire to play or will other circumstances alter her life?

Written by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook), The Last Song certainly caters to a female audience but I can't say I didn't enjoy certain aspects of the production. The screenplay is very melodramatic with pitfalls lurking behind every corner, although I felt the performances by Kinnear as the loving father was genuine and young Coleman steals the show with some great one-liners. Cyrus has improved as an actress, but still has quite a ways to go to graduate to more adult productions.

I confess to a serious weakness for <I>The Last Starfighter</I>. Even by 1984 standards, the year of its release, it wasn't a great science fiction film. But there is something immensely appealing in its old-fashioned innocence.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/lastword.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Evan Merck (We Bentley) is one weird dude who makes a living writing suicide notes for people planning their own demise. His world turns topsy-turvy when he meets Charlotte (Winona Ryder), the sister of a former client, and he's forced to lie about his relationship with her now-departed brother in order to pursue a relationship.

As a defense attorney, your job isn't to decide who's guilty or innocent, it's to make sure your client gets a fair trial and to present the facts of the case in a way to provide the jury with reasonable doubt in order to gain an acquittal. Hotshot Los Angeles lawyer Mickey Hailer (Matthew McConaughey) is hired to defend a wealthy young man (Ryan Phillippe) who's accused of rape and suddenly finds himself embroiled in a game of deception that threatens not only his career, but his own life.

Based on the book by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a while. The pacing and acting are both topnotch and l loved the twists and turns in the story. Furthermore, the video encode is picture perfect with razor-sharp detail, striking contrast, and inviting shadows.

Photos by Michelle Hood Disney has always stood above every other studio when it comes to animation.