Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Call me crazy, but I couldn't help seeing Coraline as an indictment of capitalism. I'm referring to the part of capitalism that, with its eye-popping advertising, promises everything you thought would make you happy but actually offers a mostly gray, overworked existence in which you're a slave to the computer, you have no time for your family, and your soul is not your own.

Criterion's 1999 DVD edition of The Seventh Seal is a favorite partly because of its wonderfully substantial extras. Now the company has upped the ante by releasing Ingmar Bergman's 1957 black-and-white classic on a stunning Blu-ray Disc and adding to those extras, all now in high-def.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/snowwhite.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>This is the time-honored story of a princess (voiced by Adriana Caselotti) whose blossoming beauty disturbs her insecure stepmother, the Queen (Lucille La Verne). Each day, the Queen asks a mysterious magic mirror (Moroni Olsen) the question: "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" For years, the mirror answers the Queen's name, but when it suddenly says Snow White, the evil woman begins her quest to kill the young girl so she may once again be the fairest of them all.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/tngmovies.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT> With178 TV episodes under its belt, the cast of <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> made its feature-film debut in 1994's <i>Star Trek: Generations</i>, which passed the baton from Kirk and company to Picard's crew. The film opens with a retired James T. Kirk aboard the Enterprise-B as it makes its maiden voyage, but when a distress call comes from a nearby ship, Kirk apparently pays the ultimate price helping the new captain save his ship from a mysterious energy ribbon. Seventy-eight years later, the Enterprise-D encounters an enigmatic humanoid named Soran, who's devious plan will cost millions of lives, and only Picard and Kirk&#151;who's been living in limbo all this time&#151;can stop him.

Video: 3.75/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 5/5
It's been a hell of a day on the highway. When Federal Officers Elizabeth Anderson and Sam Hallaway arrive at Captain Billing's office, they have three sets of stories to figure out and a string of vicious murders to consider. One zealot cop, a strung out junkie and an eight year old girl all sit in testimony to the roadside rampage, but as the Feds begin to expose the fragile little details each witness conceals so carefully with a well practiced lie, they soon discover that uncovering "the truth" can come at a very big cost.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/woz.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Adapted from L. Frank Baum's timeless children's tale, Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog Toto are caught in a tornado and end up in the Land of Oz. In order to return home to Kansas, she must follow the yellow brick road to visit the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan). Along the way she meets the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) who wishes for a brain, the Tinman (Jack Haley) who's longing for a heart, and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) in search of some courage.