Blu-ray Movie Reviews

David Vaughn | Dec 31, 2008 |

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/theduchess.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) was married at 17 to a wealthy and emotionally constipated William Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes), the fifth Duke of Devonshire. He had only two requirementsto provide him with a male heir and her loyalty. As Duchess of Devonshire, she becomes an integral part of London's high society and one of the most impassioned political voices of Britain in the 18th Century.

The Dying of the Light

Steve Guttenberg | Apr 14, 2017 |

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I spent a big chunk of my life running movies in New York City neighborhood dumps, art houses, and palaces, so I may be a little biased, but Peter Flynn’s The Dying of the Light documentary about projectionists brought tears to my eyes. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Flynn, since projectionists are much more at home on the other side of the lens. They all share a common bond, knowing that if they do the job well, the audience will be unaware they did anything at all. That’s the beauty of it.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Eagle (Blu-ray)

David Vaughn | Jun 22, 2011 |

Celebrated Roman solider Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) is on quest to restore the reputation of his father and find the golden emblem that disappeared with him and 5,000 of his troops 20 years earlier. With the help of an slave (Jamie Bell), Marcus navigates the wild highlands of Caledonia in order to restore his family's honor.

When I sat down to watch this one I had

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PictureSoundExtras Director David Lynch's film tells of Joseph

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PictureSoundExtras The End of the Tour is like My Dinner with

I had reservations watching because I'm

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From the opening credits there's an ominous

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never heard of it before and for good reason&8211;it's not very good. The acting is wooden and the story has no heart. At no time did I feel anything for the characters plight and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Elephant Man Josef Krebs | Jan 08, 2021 |

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Merrick, whose terrible deformities to head, limbs, and skin led to him being called the Elephant Man. It begins with Merrick's nightmare of his mother being attacked by elephants—supposedly the cause of Merrick's condition—in smeary, scary, surreal images as disturbing as those from Lynch's earlier fatherhood paranoia party film, Eraserhead.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The End of the Tour Josef Krebs | Mar 18, 2016 |

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Andre but without the dinner or Andre. Yes, it does consist of one long conversation, but unlike Wallace Shaun and Andre Gregory’s fine feast of fascinating, erudite, intellectual spouting, with ideas crashing one upon another, the characters here are remarkable in their compelling ordinariness and awkwardness. It tells of a five-day interview of celebrated novelist David Foster Wallace by rookie Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky on a road book tour following the 1996 publication of Wallace’s groundbreaking novel, Infinite Jest, which wowed a generation with its brilliant virtuosity.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Equalizer Josef Krebs | Apr 24, 2015 |

Like a big, wet, dumb, dopey dog jumping all over you, The Equalizer hits with home theater power that thumps you in the chest if not the heart. An ex-CIA operative has taken on a new identity, living in obscurity, working in a Home Depot, helping people with their self-esteem issues whenever he can, whether they need to lose weight, get an education, or stop being a corrupt cop. However, when faced with a teenager’s plight of enslavement by brutal sex traffickers, he’s forced back into using his main skillset—terminating roomfuls of bad guys with extreme swiftness and minimal prejudice.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Exorcist (Blu-ray) David Vaughn | Oct 16, 2010 |

A young and innocent girl, Regan (Linda Blair), undergoes a chilling metamorphosis as Satan invades her body. Her frantic mother (Ellen Burstyn) does her best to help, but the doctors and psychiatrists are perplexed by the child's physical and mental changes. Looking for any type of answer, she turns to a local church where poor Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who has his own doubts about his faith, calls on the services of Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) to perform an exorcism to expel Satan from the child. not a fan of scary movies and this is one of the scariest I've seen in my life. Blair does an outstanding job playing the possessed child and director William Friedkin definitely deserved his Oscar nomination.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Experiment (Blu-ray) David Vaughn | Sep 17, 2010 |

What happens if you take 24 volunteers and have them role play as prisoners and guards in order to simulate the conditions of a prison? They're cutoff from any contact with the outside world and must adhere to a specific set of rules in order to receive a payment of $14,000 for their time. undercurrent that the experiment isn't going to end well. The film is well acted and directed, especially by former Oscar winners Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker, and it's certainly thought provoking although isn't for the faint at heart due to the brutally violent conditions that erupt during the experiment.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Express David Vaughn | Jan 23, 2009 |

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/express.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Ernie Davis (Rob Brown) led a short yet inspirational life. Hailing from a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania, Davis beat the odds to become an unstoppable running back for the Syracuse Orangemen in the late 1950s. With the guidance of coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid), he's transformed from a very good high-school athlete into a Heisman Trophy winnerthe first African-American to win the coveted prize as the best player in college football.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Fifth Element

David Vaughn | Mar 11, 2016 |

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Korben Dallas, a New York cab driver, is just trying to get through another day when a fare drops into his cab unexpectedly, and before he knows it, he’s responsible for saving the galaxy from an intergalactic feud that happens every 5,000 years. The fare is the Fifth Element, who, when combined with earth, wind, fire, and water, becomes the perfect weapon to save the human race from destruction—if Korben can keep her safe until she fulfills her destiny.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Fighter (Blu-ray)

David Vaughn | Mar 14, 2011 |

The true-life story of "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his triumph in the ring despite the obstacles his fractured family put in his way. Whether it's his drug-addicted older brother (Christian Bale), his overbearing mother (Melissa Leo), or the endless parade of white-trash sisters, Micky must persevere in order to earn a shot at the title.

I expected something along the lines of Rocky, but the story is more in tune with The Wrestler, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Ward's rise to the top happened in the mid-1990s, and I remember watching him fight for the title, but I didn't realize how high the mountain was that he had to climb due to his family struggles.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Fisher King

Josef Krebs | Sep 25, 2015 |

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In this witty and pithy examination of modern New York living circa 1991, director Terry Gilliam posits the absolute necessity to abandon cynicism in order to believe in something and someone. Jeff Bridges is wonderfully arrogant and nasty as stretch-limo-riding radio shock-jock, Jack, who accidentally provokes a desperate caller into entering a restaurant and slaughtering its yuppie patrons. Jack bails on his life, climbing into a bottle of whiskey and a chasm of sarcasm, self-loathing, and self-pity. Parry (another wonderfully manic Robin Williams performance), still traumatized by having seen his beloved blown away in the massacre, has gotten out of a mental institution only to become a crazed homeless person. After a chance meeting, Jack is drawn by his guilt to help Parry on a quest to steal the Holy Grail in the hope of healing both their damaged souls.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Five-Year Engagement

David Vaughn | Feb 11, 2013 |

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Tom and Violet had the makings of a beautiful relationship. They met at a New Year’s Eve costume party in San Francisco, and exactly one year later, Tom popped the question on a rooftop building with the lit-up Bay Bridge in the background—only in the movies. While in the process of picking a wedding date, Violet gets a chance to study for a year with a noted professor of psychology at University of Michigan. Tom puts his career on hold to allow his future bride to further her education. Her initial study was only supposed to last one year but turns into a permanent position when the professor has ulterior motives. Can their relationship survive?

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Foreigner

Josef Krebs | May 25, 2018 |

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The Foreigner, a superior action-thriller from Martin Campbell, the director of two of the best Bond outings ever—Casino Royale and GoldenEye—not only delivers both excitement and dramatic complexity but offers a surprisingly moving performance from its star, Jackie Chan. Presented in a Blu-ray of impressive picture and sound quality, it makes for memorable home theater.

Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The Fourth Kind (Blu-ray)

David Vaughn | Mar 18, 2010 |

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/4thkind.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Since the 1960s in Noe, Alaska, a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) while recovering from the murder of her husband begins counseling patients with sleep disorders and discovers similarities between their stories. She begins to hypnotize them while recording the sessions and uncovers some disturbing evidence of alien abduction.

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