Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Fringe: Season One (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Sep 14, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/fringe.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>A young, beautiful, and determined FBI agent (Anna Torv) forms an unlikely alliance with a brilliant scientist (John Noble), who's spent the last 17 years in a mental institution, and his sarcastic son (Joshua Jackson) to investigate a series of bizarre deaths and disasters known as "the Pattern." They suspect someone is using the world as a laboratory, and all clues lead back to a powerful corporation called Massive Dynamic.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
From Up on Poppy Hill, Prime Suspect and Frankenstein's Army
Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 30, 2013  | 
Father and son Miyazakis craft another touching tale, Helen Mirren shines as a capable cop, and all hell breaks loose in an offbeat World War II gorefest.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Frost Nixon (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 17, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/frostnixon.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In the summer of 1977, disgraced former president Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) agreed to sit down for a series of interviews with British commentator David Frost (Michael Sheen) to answer questions about his time in office and the Watergate scandal. Would Frost be able to match wits with one of the most astute politicians of the mid-20th century? Or would Nixon be able to dictate the outcome and restore his image with the American people?

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Frozen
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 26, 2014  | 
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Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fable The Snow Queen, Frozen opens by introducing us to two princesses, Anna and Elsa. Elsa has been born with power over cold—a curse she can’t control. To protect Anna and others, Elsa locks herself in her room as the two siblings grow into young adulthood.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Full Metal Jacket: 25th Anniversary
Corey Gunnestad  |  Feb 13, 2013  | 
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Oliver Stone practically had to sell his soul to get Platoon made at a time when no movie studio wanted to revisit the Vietnam War. After that film won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1986, however, it kicked open the floodgates, and suddenly movie theaters everywhere were inundated with Vietnam War films like Hamburger Hill, Casualties of War, and Full Metal Jacket, and all paled in comparison with Platoon. With Full Metal Jacket, legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick examines the ritualistic dehumanization of the American Marine through rigorous boot camp training and transformation into a remorseless killing machine.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Furious 7
David Vaughn  |  Nov 20, 2015  | 
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After their last adventure in London, the team headed by Dominic Toretto has made a new enemy in ex–black ops assassin Deckard Shaw, the brother of Owen Shaw, the mercenary they just took down. With revenge on his mind, Shaw systematically targets every one of the crew for death, and they must band together in order to survive—which isn’t a guarantee. Help comes from Mr. Nobody, a secret U.S. government agent who is willing to trade support for the gang as long as they can capture Ramsey, a hacker who has created a technology that will make finding Shaw a piece of cake.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Fury
David Vaughn  |  May 21, 2015  | 
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As World War II is nearing an end in Europe, a Sherman tank is dispatched to a crucial crossroads in order to cut off a battalion of German soldiers trying to regroup with their comrades for one last push against the Allies. In command of the American force is a battle-hardened army sergeant nicknamed Wardaddy (Brad Pitt), who has promised his crew he’ll get them home alive, but when the taskforce is attacked on the way to the rally point, he has a difficult decision to make—press on and defend the position or go back for reinforcements?
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
G-Force (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Dec 07, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/gforce.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>A top-secret, highly trained trio of guinea pig super spies is assigned to stop a dastardly plot to take over the world. Squad leader Darwin (voiced by Sam Rockwell) will do what it takes to guarantee the success of his team, which also includes Blaster (Tracy Morgan), a weapons expert with an attitude, and Juarez (Penelope Cruz), a sexy martial arts pro.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Nov 08, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/gijoe.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>While protecting a top-secret warhead, two NATO soldiers code-named Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) are saved from certain doom by agents of G.I. Joe, an secret military organization armed with the latest in military technology. After the attack, the two are recruited into G.I. Joe's ranks, and their mission is to stop a terrorist who uses nanotechnology for nefarious purposes.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Galaxy Quest (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Nov 11, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/galaxyquest.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Sixteen years after the cancelation of the TV show <I>Galaxy Quest</I>, the ensemble cast ekes out a living signing autographs at fan conventions and making appearances at store openings. Lucky for them, the gig of a lifetime comes along when they're recruited by an alien race&#151;which has been watching the show as the TV signal races through space, believing it to depict real life on Earth&#151;to rescue them from a band of outer-space warriors.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming—In Atmos
David Vaughn  |  Jan 29, 2016  | 
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Adapted from George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series of books, Game of Thrones debuted on HBO in 2011 and became an instant small-screen classic. The fifth season was recently honored with the “Outstanding Drama Series” Emmy, and the sixth (of rumored eight) will debut this year.

This is my second attempt at watching after the first failed miserably due to complaints from Mrs. Reviewer. While she loved the medieval period sets and costumes, she was extremely turned off by the gore and the seemingly never-ending display of bare breasts along with “pointless sex scenes.” I have to admit that I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the incestuous scene in the first episode, but I found that the rampant depictions of prostitution showcased the low morality prevalent in this society, and it became an integral part of the storytelling, especially the aforementioned incest.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Gangs of New York
David Vaughn  |  Jul 26, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/gangs.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>After years of incarceration, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns to lower Manhattan's lawless, corrupt Five Points neighborhood seeking revenge against Bill "The Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) for killing his father. Vallon's personal vendetta becomes the catalyst for all-out gang warfare in 1862 New York.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Gatchaman the Movie
Brandon A. DuHamel  |  Apr 08, 2016  | 
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Older anime fans in North America will likely remember Gatchaman, the classic 1972 series created by Tatsuo Yoshida, as Battle of the Planets (1978). Battle of the Planets was a tamed-down version of Gatchaman that removed elements of graphic violence and profanity and changed plot points related to the transgenderisim of the villain in order to avoid controversy with parents. It also rode the wave of Star Wars’ success by adding in scenes reminiscent of the space opera to mask deficiencies introduced by the changes and eliminations (only 85 of 105 episodes were used). Slightly younger audiences may be even more familiar with a subsequent mid-’80s adaptation, G-Force: Guardians of Space, which more closely followed the original series.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Generation Kill (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 22, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/genkill.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The seven-part series opens with a platoon of Marines on a training mission in Kuwait shortly before the start of the Iraq War doing what Marines do best&#151;kicking ass and taking names&#151;preparing for the most important event of their young lives. This is Bravo Company of the First Recon Marines, led by the bright but nave Lt. Fick (Stark Sands). Like most kids, these guys are a little unsure of themselves and act a lot tougher than they actually are. I had to remind myself that these young men aren't our best and brightest, but they do a job that most of us aren't willing to do. Is some of their dialog reprehensible? Yes. But given their circumstances, I'm willing to cut them some slack.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Geostorm
Josef Krebs  |  May 18, 2018  | 
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Facing their own complete extinction due to extreme storms that are destroying whole cities, the world finally comes together, sending 17 teams of scientists and engineers to create a system, a series of satellites all controlled by a giant space station that can use an assortment of devices—super lasers, thermal missiles, freezing beams, etc.—to stabilize the weather. Naturally, someone’s gonna try to seize control of Dutchboy, as the system is known, and weaponize it to make himself president of an all-powerful country that will destroy its enemies and rule the planet.
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