David Vaughn

Generally speaking, sequels tend to pale in comparison to the original, but here's a case where the fifth film in the series is actually the best. It all boils down to the screenplay, which has more of an Ocean's 11 tone than a racing-centric plot found in the previous films. Regardless, it's a lot of fun to watch and the spectacular audio and video help keep you on the edge of your seat.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/fearloathing.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on the book by Hunter S. Thompson about a journalist (Johnny Depp) and his lawyer (Benicio Del Toro) in search of the American dream while gallivanting around Las Vegas for 48 hours high on drugs. Along the way they meet a cast of real life characters including Tobey Maguire, Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey,, Christina Ricci, Mark Harmon, Carmon Diaz, and Lyle Lovett.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/ferris.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Ferris Bueller (Mathew Broderick), his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), and his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) ditch school for the day and frolic around Chicago in a Ferrari. Although Ferris's parents think he's the ideal child, his sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) and principal Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) know better and would like nothing more than to catch Ferris in his shenanigans.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/fighting.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>This is a gritty story of a small town boy, Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum), who becomes a street-fighting star in New York City's underground circuit thanks to the help of scam artist Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard). The first act showed some promise, but ultimately, continuity issues and poor plot choices knock out what could have been an interesting story. What kept me intrigued was the excellent VC-1 encode, with deep blacks, amazing dimensionality, and revealing shadow detail.