Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Richie Lanz (Bill Murray) is a rock ’n’ roll casualty, a down-and-out band promoter who leaps at the chance to join a USO tour to Afghanistan. Before the first show, however, Richie’s client, assistant, and possible paramour Ronnie Smiler (Zooey Deschanel) flees the country, leaving him broke, stranded, and $1,000 in debt to a trigger-happy mercenary (Bruce Willis). To the rescue come two hapless arms dealers who hire Richie to deliver munitions to a remote village.

From the time it was first announced all the way through the previews, reviewers and the general public alike roundly derided the idea of another Rocky movie. Stallone, now 60, still boxing on-screen?

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/rocky.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>An unknown boxer (Sylvester Stallone) scores a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fight the heavyweight champion of the world (Carl Weathers) when the champ comes to Philadelphia and gives the chump an opportunity to be the champ.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/rolemodels.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Two energy-drink salesmen, Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott), are sentenced to 150 hours of community service mentoring young kids after an unfortunate traffic accident. After one day on the job, Danny thinks spending 30 days in jail would be the better alternative when he's assigned to a 16-year-old boy, Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who has an obsession with medieval role playing. Meanwhile, Wheeler's youngling is a foul-mouthed fifth-grader named Ronnie (Bobb'e Thompson) who's just looking for respect.

Ronin is director John Frankenheimer’s 1998 crime thriller, with a script co-written by David Mamet (under a pen name) and featuring an all-star cast headlined by Robert De Niro and Jean Reno. This gritty film borrows heavily from classic genre predecessors such as The French Connection, Le Cercle Rouge, and Bullitt. It follows a former U.S. intelligence agent (De Niro) working with a group of mercenaries trying to track down a package being pursued by both Irish and Russian interests.

Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) is trying to leave his poker playing days behind him while he attempts to earn his law degree and prove to his girlfriend that he can hold a "real job." Bu when his best friend, "Worm" Murphy (Edward Norton), is released from prison, he coaxes Mike back to the tables. "Worm" gets himself into serious trouble with a local mobster/poker legend, Teddy KGB (John Malkovich), and Mike's rear-end ends up on the hook since he mistakenly vouched for his friend and he needs to come up with a boatload of cash in short order. Look out poker world, here he comes.

For the record, I love playing poker—specifically Texas Hold'em—so it's only natural that this is one of my favorite movies. While I limit my gaming to tournaments and avoid cash games like the plague, I've witness many people who constantly chase the big score and get in way over their head and lose their entire bankroll. One of the biggest thrills of my life was winning a seat to the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event, but sadly my dream of winning the title went down in flames when my set of queens was beat when an ace hit on the river giving my competitor a higher set—that's poker!