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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Gran Torino—Warner Bros. (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  May 31, 2009
Video: 4.25/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3/5
Korean War vet and retired autoworker Walt Kowalski doesn't much like how his life or his neighborhood has turned out. He especially doesn't like the people next door. Hmong immigrants from Southeast Asia. But events force Walt to defend those neighbors against a local gang that feeds on violence and fear.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
License to Kill—MGM (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  May 31, 2009
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 3.75/5
Extras: 3.75/5
When drug lord Franz Sanchez exacts his brutal vengeance on Bond's friend Felix Leiter, 007 resigns from the British Secret Service and begins a fierce vendetta against the master criminal. Bond won't be satisfied until Sanchez is defeated, and to accomplish this aim he allies himself with a beautiful pilot and Sanchez's sexy girlfriend. But Bond, relegated to outlaw status, must battle agents on both sides of the law as he discovers the horrifying extent of his prey's resources. In order to bring Sanchez down, Bond must survive a ferocious boat chase, a mid-air brawl over the controls of an out-of-control airplane, and an action-packed confrontation in the Mexico desert.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves—Warner Bros. (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  May 31, 2009
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Kevin Costner triumphs as the legendary Sherwood Forest outlaw leader in this epic adventure bringing a 12th-century medieval world to spectacular screen life. Enhancing the fun are 12 added minutes of footage not seen in theatres, especially more juicy malevolence of Robin Hoods archenemy, the Sheriff of Nottingham. Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio also star in this lavish production lensed in Britain and France, where historic structures, majestic forests and vividly realistic recreations of Olde England combined to create a world at once ancient and ageless.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection—Paramount Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering,  |  May 31, 2009
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.25/5
Extras: 4/5
Prepare to boldly go where no man has gone before with the "Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection", an action-packed box set featuring the six films in their original theatrical versions starring the U.S.S. Enterprise's legendary crew.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Taken—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  May 31, 2009
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 4/5
When his estranged daughter is kidnapped in Paris, a former spy sets out to find her at any cost. Relying on his special skills, he tracks down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and rescue his daughter.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Valkyrie—MGM (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  May 31, 2009
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 4.25/5
Based on the incredible true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his ingenious assassination plot targeting Adolph Hitler, this engrossing thriller reenacts the daring operation to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Enemy At The Gates—Paramount Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  May 31, 2009
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2.5/5
The year is 1942 and the Nazis are cutting a deadly swath through Russia. Under the leadership of Kruschev, the citizens of Stalingrad are mounting a brave resistance, spurred by the exploits of their local hero, Vassili Zaitsev. An expert sniper, Vassili's deeds have become legendary - thanks to propaganda produced by Vassili's best friend, a political officer named Danilov. To stop Vassili, the Germans dispatch their best sniper, Major Konig, to Stalingrad. When Vassili and Danilov both fall in love with a beautiful soldier, Danilov deserts his friend, leaving Vassili to face his German counterpart alone. As the city burns, Vassili and Konig begin a cunning game of cat and mouse, waging a private war for courage, honor and country.
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The Big Picture
Ultimate Vizio
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 29, 2009

Last week, I was invited to visit Vizio's offices in Irvine, California, to provide any feedback I might have regarding its upcoming LED-backlit LCD, the 55-inch VF551XVT, which is in the final tweaking stages before its release in early September. This is a very exciting product: an LCD TV with LED local dimming for—get this—$2000!

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Audio Video News
Forget RGB, Sharp is developing CYRGB displays
SV Staff  |  May 29, 2009
Since time immemorial (or at least, since color televisions have been available), TVs have used 3 colors: red, green, and blue. Combinations of these three color building blocks produced the increasingly wide spectrum of colors you now see on the...
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Seabiscuit
David Vaughn  |  May 29, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/seabiscuit.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The little horse that could debuts on Blu-ray with a fantastic VC-1 encode and an encompassing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. It was difficult to pick only three scenes to highlight here, since virtually the entire film is filled with worthy scenes. For example, any of the racing sequences will give you the illusion of riding a horse in the middle of a high-stakes race with the animals' labored breathing and pounding hooves. The same can be said of the video and its impeccable attention to detail. Each of the three scenes below will give you a general idea of why this disc deserves the title of "Ultimate Demo."

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