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Other Source Component Reviews
Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD player
 |  May 19, 2007

Although 1080p video has been encoded on every HD DVD disc released so far, the first generation HD DVD players have been "limited" to mere 1080i output. With the second generation this changed, first with the upscale $799 HD-XA2 and now with the HD-A20. At $499 the Toshiba HD-A20 is a mere $100 more than Toshiba's entry-level HD-A2, which maxes out at 1080i. So, the question we're here to answer, is this 1080p player worth that extra hundred bucks?

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Super Tuesday
Shane Buettner  |  May 19, 2007

Alright, let me say up front that I ripped that title from the new guy, David Vaughn. But I share David's opinion that this Tuesday is a very significant day of choice that could bear a surprising impact on the format war. This Tuesday <I>The Matrix</I> trilogy will be released on HD DVD, while the first two <I>Pirates of the Caribbean</I> movies hit Blu-ray (exclusively) just ahead of the third installment in that series hitting theaters.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Bullitt—Warner Brothers (HD DVD)
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 2
Audio: 2
Extras: 4
What’s amazing about watching this movie now is how trite it seems. From the car chase through San Francisco to Steve McQueen’s effortlessly cool lead as an insubordinate cop, it has all been done countless times. But what many people have forgotten is that this was the first time any of that had been done in any real way. The plot is almost inconsequential. This movie is about watching McQueen be the badass that he was—and one of the greatest car chases ever put on film.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Beerfest—Warner Brothers (HD DVD)
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
The Broken Lizard boys’ last jaunt was the semiamusing Club Dread. It yielded some laughs and the worst-looking DVD I have seen in years. So, the idea of their next movie being available on HD DVD is amusing in itself. The movie follows a group of college buddies as they train and compete in the underground German drinking contest, which goes by the same name as the title. If you haven’t found their previous movies funny, this one won’t convince you. If you’re looking for a funny, stupid movie, this one is it.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Usual Suspects—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
John Higgins  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 1
Before American Beauty and X-Men, there was Kevin Spacey in Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects. Easily one of the most engaging crime thrillers of modern film, The Usual Suspects brings you through a dope deal gone wrong, and what led to it, through the eyes of Roger “Verbal” Kint (Spacey). To go into further detail would be to ruin a fun ride with one of the most notorious reveals in cinema.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
AVP: Alien Vs. Predator—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
John Higgins  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 5
Since back in 1989, when the first Alien Vs. Predator comic was released, sci-fi and horror fans have been asking the same question. Who would win between the Alien and the Predator? The question was addressed for the following 15 years in comics and video games. Finally, in 2004, the movie AVP: Alien Vs. Predator promised to give us all the answers we were craving. The two species fight it out in an ancient pyramid in Antarctica, and any of us foolish humans that get in the way may never make it back to a temperate climate.
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Flicka—20th Century Fox
Aimee Giron  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 2
If you think this is a story about a horse, you’re only halfway there. On the surface, Flicka is a film about a wild horse that is accidentally found by Katy (Alison Lohman), a headstrong, horse-loving teenager, while she tries to escape the confines of her father’s expectations—and a mountain lion. The parallel between the struggles of Katy and Flicka—man trying to contain nature—is typical at best. But, for this horse enthusiast, it works.
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Gridiron Gang—Sony Pictures
Mike Prince  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
I might lose your respect for this, but I enjoy The Rock. Even when his material is lacking (which it often is), I find that The Rock rises above it all and makes something solid (pun sadly intended). Gridiron Gang continues to prove my theory, telling a “true story” that manages to combine troubled inner-city kids finding guidance and a football team rising above the odds. It’s a very conventional movie, complete with montages, but Dwayne Johnson makes it tolerable.
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Stranger Than Fiction—Sony Pictures
Mike Prince  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
The log line “Will Ferrell hears narration” can conjure up a number of scenarios in one’s mind, some glorious, but most misguided and painful. Thankfully, Stranger Than Fiction turns out to be a rather subtle and charming “meta” comedy. Ferrell plays Harold Crick, a straight-laced, borderline-obsessive-compulsive IRS auditor who begins hearing the dulcet tones of narration. This sets in motion a chain of events that covers the broad spectrum of life, death, love, loss, and all creative endeavors, fictional and non.
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Idiocracy—20th Century Fox
Mike Prince  |  May 18, 2007
Video: 2
Audio: 2
Extras: 1
The world is full of idiots, and we’re only getting dumber. That’s the premise behind Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, a sly satire on the state of our collective intelligence. Luke Wilson plays an average soldier who’s frozen in an experiment and wakes up in the year 2505. There, he is the smartest man on the planet. This is the launching pad for jabs at corporate culture and the dumbing down of America, most of it spot on, all very funny.
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