Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) takes a close look at the public-education system in the United States by following five students as they apply to charter schools. The film depicts the moving and poignant struggles of real-life students and their families and the efforts of educators and reformers who are working to find viable solutions within a dysfunctional system.

Growing up, I had the benefit of attending both public and private schools and was fortunate enough to receive a decent education. But without parental support at home, I doubt I would have gotten good grades and been pushed to go to college. I'm sure most teachers will agree that it all starts at home, and they can only do so much during the time they spend with our kids.

Craig (Keir Gilchrist) is a stressed-out teenager who checks himself into a mental health clinic after having fantasies of committing suicide. What he finds on the inside is an unlikely mentor in Bobby (Zach Galifianakis), a potential girlfriend in Noel (Emma Roberts), and the opportunity to discover who he truly is.

Sometimes seeing a film you have never heard of can be a blessing, and such is the case here. This is a human interest story about the stresses of being a teenager and fitting into the tidy little boxes from the perspective of your friends and parents, despite what you own wishes and dreams. Gilchrist does an outstanding job in the lead role, but it's Galifianakis who steals the show as the quirky mentor.

Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 0/5
One night, Alfie wakes up with a sudden wave of panic over thoughts of mortality. Abandoning Helena, his wife of forty years, Alfie sets out to relive the pleasures of his youth. Devastated, Helena tries to kill herself, and then, finding no consolation from medicine and therapy, seeks out the help of a fortune teller, Cristal. Before long, Helena finds the tranquility she seeks by surrendering all her thoughts and actions to Cristal's guidance. Helena's daughter Sally encourages her mother's pacifying visits to the charlatan fortune teller, as she is weary of dealing with her mother's trauma, and has marital problems of her own. Her novelist husband Roy is unable to hold a paying job and the couple lives off of Helena's support and Sally's earnings as an assistant to a prominent gallery owner, Greg Clemente. Years ago, Roy produced an acclaimed first novel, but his subsequent books haven't lived up to his initial promise. Roy's fears that he may be a flash in the pan make him hard to live with and they clash over Sally's desire to have a child.

High school can be the best of times or the worst of times, depending on your experience. For Marnie (Kristen Bell), it was the latter. Teased throughout her years because of her acne and not being part of the "in" crowd, her memories are anything but fond. Years after graduation, she heads home to see her brother tie the knot and discovers he's marrying her nemesis (Odette Yustman) from high school.

With a cast that includes Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, and Betty White, one would assume these stars wouldn't attach their names to anything but a surefire hit. Wrong! The laughs are hard to come by, the slapstick is anything but funny, and the ending is vomit educing.

An ordinary businessman (Luke Wilson) becomes embroiled in a dark and dangerous world of questionable morals and organized crime during the early days of the Internet. The family man has a successful career and idyllic live until he gets involved with two troubled geniuses who need business advice on getting their Internet scheme off the ground.

One would think a story about the birth of Internet porn would sizzle with excitement, but that's far from the case here. The screenplay lacks direction with silly subplots and then suddenly takes a bizarre turn in the third act. It can be funny at times, but mostly it's boring and uninteresting.

Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 2/5
Puppy mayhem turns the lives of newlywed Chihuahua parents Papi and Chloe upside down when their rambunctious, mischievous puppies present one challenge after another. But when their human owners end up in trouble, the tiny pups will stop at nothing to save them, because in good times and hard times, the family always sticks together. So Papi, Chloe, and the puppies embark on a heroic adventure, proving once again that bug heroes come in small packages.