Blu-ray Movie Reviews

David Vaughn | Sep 18, 2011 |

Yoda takes a group of Jedi younglings on a field trip to the Galactic Senate chambers when he suddenly feels a disturbance in the force and must leave the children. C-3PO and R2-D2 take over and find themselves in over their heads with the rambunctious force-sensitive group. As the Sith prepare to wreak havoc, it's up to Yoda and a young stowaway to save the day before the children are torn to bricks.

LEGO and Lucasfilm have collaborated on multiple projects including other mini-films, over 200 LEGO models, 275 minifigures, and Saga-inspired video games (which are extremely well done). Featuring situations, characters, and locations from throughout the entire Star Wars Saga, writer Michael Price captures the spirit of the franchise with a story is filled humor, adventure, and a surprise guest or two.

Stardust (Blu-ray)

David Vaughn | Sep 03, 2010 |

In the English countryside resides a small village bordering a mystical land which can only be reached by climbing through a wall. Young Tristan (Charlie Cox) crosses through in order to capture a falling star as a gift for a local hottie (Sienna Miller). Unbeknownst to him, in the parallel world the star is a corporeal being (Claire Danes) who's also smokin' hot. Soon thereafter Tristan learns his true destiny that will forever alter his life.

While the first act takes a little while

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PictureSoundExtras It’s been said that true genius is

PictureSoundExtras This is the true story of the rise of N.W.A.,

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to pick up steam this is a very entertaining movie. It reminds me of The Princess Bride because of the cute romance, adventure, and humor and in many ways is a superior film to the cult classic. The all star cast includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, and Peter O'Toole in important supporting roles. Surprisingly the film didn't receive a lot of press when it hit theaters in 2007 but holds up well on repeat viewings.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Stark Contrast Josef Krebs | Sep 28, 2008 |

Paramount

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Apart from nailing the tone and look of the c

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Steve Jobs Corey Gunnestad | Jul 08, 2016 |

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never appreciated in its own time. Some of the most brilliant minds in human history have challenged the status quo, pioneered their field, and changed the world with their groundbreaking ideas and their seemingly limitless creativity. But the flip side of that coin almost always meant that their personal eccentricities left a gaping void in their capacity for being likable human beings. The film Steve Jobs explores that theme at great length and begs the question: Just how much leeway should geniuses be allowed before we dismiss them as the douchebags they are?

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Stop-Loss Ken Korman | Oct 02, 2008 |

Paramount

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Is America still not ready for a movie that address

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Straight Outta Compton David Vaughn | May 27, 2016 |

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a Compton, California rap group who changed the musical landscape in the late 1980s with their blend of dope beats and hard-hitting lyrics about life in South Central L.A. Collaboration between Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Easy-E led to the hit release of Boyz in the Hood, which caught the ear of music manager Jerry Heller, who helped the group sign with Priority Records. Their first studio album, Straight Outta Compton, featured their controversial song “F*** the Police,” describing the reality of being a black man in L.A. in the 1980s.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Stranger Than Fiction (Blu-ray) Shane Buettner | Feb 14, 2007 |

It's a big credit to this film that its subject matter is something that has not only been done, but been done very well many, many times. In fact, the film it reminded me the most of, in many ways, is the excellent if not great <I>Truman Show</I>. Yes, like that movie this one highlights the dramatic skills of a genius-level sketch comedy actor, only this time around it's Ricky Bubb-eee himself Will Ferrell. Instead of the being the unwitting subject of a reality TV show, Ferrell's Harold Crick finds that he's the subject of a novel being written by a self-and death-obsessed writer played wonderfully and obsessively by Emmma Thompson.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Stranger Than Paradise & Night on Earth

Josef Krebs | Apr 26, 2019 |

"What are we doing here?" "I don't know." Stranger Than Paradise, the delightful deadbeat breakout film by writer/director Jim Jarmusch with its whack-character studies, unactorly acting, absurdist deadpan humor, and minimalist style brilliantly captured the mood of its time. It also established him as an instant auteur of the $100,000-budget, low-production-value indie-film scene and inspired many others to do likewise.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Straw Dogs

Josef Krebs | Oct 06, 2017 |

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From the get-go in this hugely provocative and highly challenging essay on violence, there’s a disconcerting, menacing montage of images that tilts you off balance. The setting is a small, insular, isolated, Wicker Man–ish Cornish community where Deliverance-like locals sit and wait.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Sullivan’s Travels

Josef Krebs | Jul 16, 2015 |

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Written and directed by silly-but-serious cynical genius Preston Sturges, Sullivan’s Travels starts out with a dark and gloomy film-within-a-film showing two figures battling on a train crossing a bridge, symbolizing labor grappling with management to their mutual destruction. But as soon as we get out of the screening room, things lighten up both visually and in mood, the movie becoming a bright, witty slapstick satire on Hollywood and a pretentious, self-important director, Sullivan (Joel McCrea). This auteur wants to make a sociologically and artistically meritorious picture with messages about grim death, war, and the suffering of the unemployed during The Great Depression but, coming from a privileged background, he knows nothing about trouble. So he decides to go looking for it by dressing as a hobo and drifting across America.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Sully

Avi Greengart | Apr 07, 2017 |

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How do you make a two-hour movie about a forced water landing in the Hudson River that lasted 208 seconds, where everyone already knows the happy outcome? You don’t. You keep it to a 90-minute running time and make two mini-movies: one about the exceptional skill and decision-making that saved lives in the air and on the ground, and one about bureaucrats second-guessing that decision-making. Weaving the stories together keeps Sully from being overly dull, but a documentary format might have been more interesting.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Sunset Boulevard

David Vaughn | May 08, 2013 |

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One of silent film’s biggest stars, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), enlists the talents of a down-on-his-luck Hollywood screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) to help edit a screenplay she wrote in hopes of launching her big comeback. Little does Gillis know, the poor lady is off her rocker. But when you’re broke, you have to take work when you can get it. The pair watch her old movies with her trusty butler—who hides his own dirty secret—at the helm of the camera, but the more time Gillis spends with the ex-starlet, the more he becomes accustomed to the lavish lifestyle she provides him.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Superhero Movie

David Vaughn | Jan 06, 2009 |

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/superhero.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In an homage to <i>Spiderman</i>, nerdy high-school student Rick Riker (Drake Bell) is bitten by a genetically altered dragonfly, giving him superhuman abilities. He soon discovers the secret of being a superheroit's all in the costumeand becomes "The Dragonfly."

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Superman: The Movie, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut—HD DVD

Thomas J. Norton | Dec 28, 2006 | First Published: Dec 29, 2006 |

The 1978 story of the comic hero Superman was far from the first live action realization of that character, but it has become a classic. Christopher Reeve, in the title role, was an appealing actor. While he was never a great one, he was a good choice for the Man of Steel. It's no accident that Brandon Routh, a Reeve near look-alike, was chosen for the lead role in the new Superman Returns.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Surf's Up (Blu-ray)

| Sep 20, 2007 | First Published: Sep 21, 2007 |

Surf's Up (Blu-ray, available October 9), a new computer animated film, isn't as groundbreaking as Final Fantasy. Nor is it likely to grab the Academy Award as best animated feature in a Ratatouille year. But despite all that, and despite the fact that this is the 196th movie in the past two years to feature penguins (OK, the third, unless I somehow missed the other 193), it's still a lot of fun.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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