LATEST ADDITIONS

David Vaughn  |  Dec 27, 2010
Tim (Paul Rudd) is a rising executive who can fast-track his career by participating in his boss's exclusive dinner party, at which the winning executive brings the biggest buffoon. Enter Barry (Steve Carell), an IRS agent with a unique hobby of creating dioramas with dead mice.

What passes for a successful comedy these days make me question my sense of humor, but I actually enjoyed this one. Rudd and Carell have great chemistry, and thankfully the elaborate dinner party is a very small part of the story with the screenplay concentrating on the budding relationship between the two leads.

Kris Deering  |  Dec 27, 2010
Imagine a world of incredible color and beauty. Of crabs wearing jellyfish for hats. Of fish disguised as frogs, stones and shag carpets. Of a kaleidoscope of life dancing and weaving, floating and darting in an underwater wonderland. Now, go explore it! Howard Hall and his filmmaking team, who brought you "Deep Sea" and "Into the Deep", take you into tropical waters alive with adventure: the Great Barrier Reef and other South Pacific realms. Narrated by Jim Carrey and featuring astonishing camerawork, this amazing film brings you face to fin with Nature's marvels, from the terrible grandeur (and terrible teeth) of a Great White to the comic antics of a lovestruck cuttlefish. Excitement and fun run deep "Under The Sea".

IMAX cameras capture considerably more resolution than the traditional 35mm cameras mainly used to shoot films today. While there have been quite a few IMAX films released on Blu-ray, many lack the jaw dropping quality they should exude. This is one of the better presentations I’ve seen of an IMAX film, and the 3D aspect only adds to it. The only issue I had was the focal point of the image. Sometime there are multiple layers to the 3D and it becomes difficult to figure out where to focus, which caused some mild fatigue.

Kris Deering  |  Dec 26, 2010
Get up, get on, and get ready for the ride of your life! It's Christmas Ever, and you're about to roller-coaster up and down mountains, slip-slide over ice fields, teeter across mile-high bridges and be served hot chocolate by singing waiters more astonishing than any you can imagine. You're on "The Polar Express!" "Seeing is believing," says a mysterious hobo who rides the rails with you. You'll see wonders... And you'll believe. All abooooooard.

Like Disney’s A Christmas Carol, Zemeckis conceived this film for 3D right from the get go. The results show with a very immersive and vertigo inducing experience that is a showcase for the technology. Warner previously released this movie as an anaglyph 3-D presentation that was nearly unwatchable. Now with true digital 3-D available, you finally get to see just how good this looks. Warner has also upped the ante with a blistering 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack.

Kris Deering  |  Dec 25, 2010
When three ghosts take penny-pinching Scrooge on an eye-opening journey, he discovers the true meaning of Christmas - but he must act on it before it's too late.

This is by far one of the most impressive 3D Blu-ray presentations I’ve seen yet. Zemeckis has definitely shown that he knows how to do 3D well. Depth is pronounced the most and can almost give you a sense of vertigo at times. The bigger the screen, the richer the sensation with this one. I also didn’t notice anything in terms of ghosting. There is a fair amount of 3D that comes out of the screen at you, but thankfully they didn’t go to gimmicky with this one. The soundtrack is delivered in blistering 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 24, 2010

Graphic courtesy Steve Guttenberg

Here’s an old chestnut for you. These days, analog recordings are available almost exclusively on vinyl LPs, whereas digital audio abounds on CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, and multitudinous online sources. (Okay, "abounds" is probably an overstatement for DVD-A and SACD, but you get the idea.) And music lovers have strong opinions about which sounds better.

Steve Guttenberg cleverly explored this debate in his Audiophiliac blog with two separate entries—"Why does analog sound better than digital?" and "Why does digital sound better than analog?"—though in both cases, he clearly states that he prefers the sound of vinyl, at least when played on a good system. Of course, as Guttenberg points out, digital beats analog hands down in terms of measureable distortion and noise. But he maintains that analog has a certain je ne sais quoi that reaches the human psyche more deeply, which is why vinyl survives and encourages people to actually sit and listen to music rather than playing it in the background as they do other things.

So which sound do you prefer, the technical "perfection" of digital or the ineffable character of analog vinyl? Keep in mind that I'm talking about uncompressed digital audio here—CD specs or better—not MP3 or other compressed formats.

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice; I look forward to reading your thoughts on this one.

Do You Prefer the Sound of Digital or Analog Audio Media?
David Vaughn  |  Dec 24, 2010
While on a romantic retreat in Sweden, master assassin and gunsmith Jack (George Clooney) barely escapes with this life but his lover isn't so fortunate. Emotionally scarred from the experience, he retreats to the Italian countryside and accepts one last assignment from his handler to construct a deadly weapon for a mysterious contact. The slow-paced country lifestyle starts to grow on him as he becomes friends with a local priest and falls in love with a beautiful woman, but can he escape his past and forge a better future?

My wife and I are both George Clooney fans and I was really looking forward to watching this. While it isn't a bad film, per se, its measured pacing tried my patience and I couldn't form an emotional connection to the main characters, especially Clooney.

David Vaughn  |  Dec 24, 2010
Young owl Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) marvels at tales of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, mythic winged warriors who battled to save all owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. When he and brother Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) fall into the talons of the Pure Ones, it's up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave owls and seek out the Great Tree, home of the Guardians.

The marketing for this film wasn't very enticing, but the story has a lot of heart and is very entertaining. Director Zach Snyder (300, Watchmen) makes his animation debut with this fantasy adventure based on the beloved books by Kathryn Lasky.

Kris Deering  |  Dec 24, 2010
Vying for the title of "World's Greatest Villain", Gru - along with his hilarious crew of mischievous minions - plots to pull off the craziest crime of the century: steal the moon! But when Gru enlists the help of three little girls, they see something in him nobody else has ever seen: the perfect dad.

So far this is the only 3D Blu-ray that has been a bit troublesome with playback. While the image has plenty of punch in contrast and rich color, it has ghosting issues that are prevalent throughout the movie. I have over a dozen other titles in 3D and none exhibit anywhere close to the amount of ghosting problems I see with this disc. I even checked it on a few other 3D displays with the same results. While this doesn’t make the film unwatchable, it can be a distraction in an otherwise solid HD presentation. The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is also quite fun with inventive sound design and plenty of great surround effects.

Kris Deering  |  Dec 24, 2010
When second-graders Bryce and Juli first meet, Juli knows it's love. Bryce isn't so sure. In the days and years ahead, Bryce does all he can to keep his wannabe girlfriend at arm's length - and the smart, independent-minded Juli continues to give him the benefit of the doubt. This tender coming-of-age romantic comedy from director Rob Reiner takes the pair from grade school to junior high, through triumph and disaster, family drama and first love, as they make discoveries that will define who they are - and who they are to each other.

Warner serves up a beautiful presentation for this heartwarming tale of young love and drama. Colors are fantastic with striking hues and great balance. Fine detail is also strong with great rendition in close ups and longer shots. Dimensionality and depth are also first rate.

David Vaughn  |  Dec 23, 2010
The Family Guy alliance is in for one last outer-space adventure, as Han Solo (Peter), Chewbacca (Brian), and Princess Leia (Lois) battle against the Evil Empire. Meanwhile, Darth Vader (Stewie) and the Emperor (Carter) try to recruit Luke (Chris) to the dark side of the Force with free tacos and T-shirts.

Just like its two predecessors, this parody is crude and obnoxious and occasionally funny. I would have preferred to have seen the TV version to eliminate the "F" word, which I don't particularly care for in this context.

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