Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Casino Royale Collector’s Edition—MGM/Sony Pictures (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2008  |  First Published: Oct 21, 2008
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 3.5/5
"Casino Royale" introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to "00" status. "M", head of the British Secret Service, sends the newly-promoted 007 on his first mission that takes him to Madagascar, the Bahamas and eventually leads him to Montenegro to face Le Chiffre, a ruthless financier under threat from his terrorist clientele, who is attempting to restore his funds in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale. "M" places Bond under the watchful eye of the Treasury official Vesper Lynd. At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together. Le Chiffre's cunning and cruelty come to bear on them both in a way Bond could never imagine, and he learns his most important lesson: Trust no one.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Casino—Universal (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 20, 2008  |  First Published: Oct 21, 2008
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3/5
Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci star in director Martin Scorsese's riveting look at how blind ambition, white-hot passion and 24-karat greed toppled an empire. Las Vegas 1973 is the setting for this fact-based story about the Mob's multi-million dollar casino operation where fortunes and lives were made and lost with a roll of the dice.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Catch Me If You Can:Widescreen Edition
uavKrissy Rushing  |  Jun 21, 2003

<I>Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Nathalie Baye, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic widescreen). Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French), Dolby Digital 2.0, DTS. Two discs. 141 minutes. 2002. DreamWorks 39570. PG-13. $29.99.</I>

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Catfish—Universal (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Dec 20, 2010
In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, "Catfish" is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

This film was shot as a documentary with lower budget HD cameras. So compared to most full cinema productions, this one looks pretty low rent. Detail is still quite good though with brighter scenes looking like they should. There is a mix of camera types being used so as the film progresses the video quality bounces back and forth, but given the nature of the film there is nothing to really complain about.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Cedar Rapids—20th Century Fox
Kris Deering  |  Jun 28, 2011
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 2.5/5

To call insurance agent Tim Lippe, "naive" is a gross understatement. He's never left his small hometown. He's never stayed at a hotel. And he's never experienced anything like Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sent to represent his company at the annual insurance convention, Tim is soon distracted by three convention veterans who will show him the ropes and push his boundaries. For a guy who plays everything by the book, this convention will be anything but conventional.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Centurion—Magnet (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Nov 07, 2010
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3.5/5
AD 117: The Roman Empire stretches from Egypt to Spain, and East as far as the Black Sea. But in northern Britain, the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy: the savage and terrifying Picts led by revenge-hungry Pict Warrior Etain. When the Roman legion is ambushed, the seven surviving Romans pledge to rescue their leader and return to Rome to re-group.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Changeling—Universal (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Feb 17, 2009
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Los Angeles, 1928: On a Saturday morning in a working class suburb, Christine said goodbye to her son Walter, and left for work. When she came home, she discovered he had vanished. A fruitless search ensues, and months later, a boy claiming to be the nine year old is returned. Dazed by the swirl of cops, reporters and her conflicted emotions, Christine allows him to stay overnight. But in her heart, she knows he is not Walter. As she pushes authorities to keep looking, she learns that in Prohibition-era L.A., women don't challenge the system and live to tell their story. Slandered as delusional and unfit, Christine finds an ally in activist Reverend Briegleb, who helps her fight the city to look for her missing boy.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Chariots of Fire
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 13, 2005

<I>Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige. Directed by Hugh Hudson. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1(anamorphic). 124 minutes. 1981. Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital mono (French). Warner Brothers 31908. PG. $26.99.</I>

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Cheaper by the Dozen
Aimee Giron  |  Sep 02, 2004

<I>Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Tom Welling, Piper Perabo, Hilary Duff. Directed by Shawn Levy. Aspect ratios: 1.85:1 (widescreen), 4:3 (full-screen). Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (English, French, Spanish). 106 minutes. 2004. Fox Home Entertainment 2221608. PG. $29.98.</I>

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Chicago
Robert Deutsch  |  Sep 21, 2003

<I>Ren&#233;e Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly. Directed by Rob Marshall. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (French). 113 minutes. 2002. Buena Vista Home Video. 45510. PG-13. $24.99</I>

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Children of the Corn—Anchor Bay (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Jul 05, 2009
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Something unspeakable is alive in the cornfields of rural Gatlin, Nebraska, where a boy preacher has led the village's children in a slaughter of all the adults. But when a traveling couple stumble across this deserted town, they become prisoners of child madman Isaac, his henchman Malachai and their kid cult of unholy believers. Judgment Day has arrived: Will the blood of the "outlanders" flow in sacrifice to their god or is the final fury of "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" coming for them all?
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Chocolate—Magnolia (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Feb 17, 2009
Video: 3.75/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 1.5/5
A young autistic girl learns to fight from watching TV and the fighters from the boxing school next door. When she finds a list of debtors in her ailing mother's diary, she sets upon a violent quest to collect payment for medical expenses. Her quest is a dangerous one that ultimately leads her to her father, a mafia member of the Yakuza.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Chungking Express—Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Dec 07, 2008
Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3/5
The whiplash, double-pronged “Chungking Express” is one of the defining works of nineties cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops, both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye works. Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas “California Dreamin” into tokens of romantic longing.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Cinderella Man HD DVD
Shane Buettner  |  Jul 25, 2006  |  First Published: Jul 26, 2006

Before there was <I>Rocky</I> there was, in real life, James J. Braddock. Braddock was a respectable fighter and contender in the late 20's who fell on extremely hard times during the depression. He was reduced to poverty like so many millions of Americans and barely put food on this family's table between boxing and working the docks. In the mid-30's he went on the right winning streak at the right time, culminating in his capturing the heavyweight title in 1935. Offering some idea of what an underdog Braddock was in his title bout with Max Baer, he entered the ring that night with the very pedestrian record of 44 wins and 23 losses. The "Cinderella Man's" story inspired millions, not to mention the impact it's had on sports movies over the decades.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
City Island—Anchor Bay (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 06, 2010
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5
Vince Rizzo is a lifelong resident of the tiny, tradition-steeped Bronx enclave of City Island. A family man who makes his living as a corrections officer, Vince longs to become an actor. Ashamed to admit his aspirations to his family, Vince would rather let his fiery wife Joyce believe his weekly poker games are a cover for an extramarital affair than admit he's secretly taking acting classes in Manhattan. When Vince is asked to reveal his biggest secret in class, he inadvertently sets of a chaotic chain of events that turns his mundane suburban life upside down.
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