Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Sin City (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 18, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/sincity.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on Frank Miller's popular series of graphic novels, <i>Sin City</i> is a tale of killers, cops, hookers, and hit men, all inhabiting one very dangerous, very sexy city. The three interwoven stories star Bruce Willis as a cop who'll do anything to protect the girl (Jessica Alba); Mickey Rourke, hell-bent on revenge; and Benicio del Toro as a human Pez dispenser.

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Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Chris Chiarella  |  Feb 26, 2015  | 
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Sin City: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. In A Dame to Kill For, the second big-screen adaptation of the works of writer/artist/director Frank Miller, we find that stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba) has been driven cuckoo-bananas by the events surrounding the death of her hero and one true love a few years ago. She now finds herself shadowed by the ghost of Bruce Willis (where have I seen that before?)
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Sing
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 11, 2017  | 
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In a city of human-like animals (think Zootopia), Buster Moon, an ambitious koala theater owner, has fallen on hard times. He hasn’t had a hit in ages, when he suddenly has an inspiration: We’ll pack ’em in with a singing contest! When his loopy lizard assistant mislabels the announcement flyers to offer a $100,000 prize, hundreds of hopefuls show up for the auditions.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Sing Street
David Vaughn  |  Jan 20, 2017  | 
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The 1980s get a bad rap for big hair, shoulder pads, and synthesized music. But for those of us who are middle-aged, we remember it fondly for those reasons and more. Director John Carney takes us back with his coming-of-age story set in Dublin, circa 1984, where 14-year-old Conor is sent to a more affordable school as his parents are struggling financially. With no friends to speak of, things start out rough, but he eventually finds his place when he decides to form a band in order to get the girl that’s caught his eye. His older brother tutors him on various music genres, and as the band evolves, his life takes a turn for the better.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Sixteen Candles
Shane Buettner  |  Jan 31, 2013  | 
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Everything worth knowing about teenagers in the 1980s is found in John Hughes’ 1984 directorial debut, Sixteen Candles. This is a perfect movie, capturing it all in just two days in the life of 16-year-old Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald). Sam’s 16th birthday is the day before her older sister’s wedding, and it starts out anything but sweet. Her entire family is so consumed with the wedding details, they forget. Sam heads to the back-to-school dance saddled with her grandparents’ Asian exchange student Long Duk Dong, in love with impossibly sweet campus hunk Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), and chased by relentless freshman geek, Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall). Hilarity, revelations, and romance ensue.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Skyfall
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 11, 2013  | 
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Half a century after the release of Dr. No, director Sam Mendes and a gifted team of screenwriters have managed to give audiences a James Bond film unlike any other. Skyfall is Daniel Craig’s third outing as 007, and yet the star is unafraid to show his advancing age, as we are reminded that the job of international secret agent apparently takes a heavy toll on all who dare to sign up for it.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Skyline (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Mar 25, 2011  | 
A birthday weekend in Southern California goes off the tracks when sunrise arrives two hours early while a mysterious light source draws unsuspecting humans outdoors and are swept into massive alien ships that have appeared over the Los Angeles skyline.

There are a lot of bad movies that come out of Hollywood, but Skyline may be the worst I've seen in years. Character development is non-existent, the dialog is cringe-inducing, and the ridiculous twist ending is the cherry on top of a steaming pile—yes, it's that bad.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Sleeping Beauty
David Vaughn  |  Oct 17, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/sleepingbeauty.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Straight from the Disney vault comes <i>Sleeping Beauty</i>, a spectacular 50th Anniversary edition of the beloved classic story about Princess Aurora, whose birth is celebrated by the entire kingdom. She falls under the curse of the evil Maleficent, which can only be broken by true love's first kiss.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Slumdog Millionaire (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Mar 30, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/slumdog.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is an 18-year-old Muslim tea boy from the slums of Mumbai, India, who's just one answer away from winning a fortune on India's version of <I>Who Wants To Be A Millionaire</I>. How does an uneducated "slumdog" know all the answers? Did he cheat or was it meant to be?

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Smart People
David Vaughn  |  Aug 11, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/smartpeople.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid), a once-idealistic and ambitious academic, lost all zest for teaching when his wife passed away. His coworkers avoid any interaction, and his students abhor the boredom of his classes. Then, a freak accident lands him in the emergency room under the care of a former student, Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), whose student-teacher crush is rekindled despite Lawrence's intolerable behavior.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Smokey and the Bandit
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 01, 2012  | 
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The second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 (behind only a certain science-fantasy film of some renown) and one of the biggest hits in the esteemed history of Universal Studios, Smokey and the Bandit combined frequent car chases, vast amounts of beer, and copious nose-thumbing at The Man to create a wildly popular piece of entertainment. Like most movies of the era, it lacks the slickness of modern fare and relies more heavily on the charm of its star, Burt Reynolds, as legendary trucker Bo “Bandit” Darville. He takes a big bet to deliver 400 cases of Coors beer across five states in only 28 hours, an extremely difficult and highly illegal challenge.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Smokin' Aces - HD DVD Combo Format
Joel Brinkley  |  May 30, 2007  | 

<I>Smokin' Aces</I> is a thriller-action film full of suspense and quite satisfying. I liked it, and I had not seen it before the HD DVD arrived. The studio calls it an action "comedy." But don't look to this movie for laughs.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Smokin’ Aces & Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jan 21, 2010  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/smokinaces.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Magician turned gangster Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven) is in a load of trouble by turning states evidence against the mob. When the jilted mob boss finds out he’s holding-up in Lake Tahoe, he offers a $1 million bounty on his head and every lowlife thug is out to earn a quick buck and it’s up to a couple of FBI agents to try and protect their key witness before one of the fortune seekers hits pay dirt.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Snow White and the Huntsman
Corey Gunnestad  |  Nov 19, 2012  | 
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Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the sexiest hunk of all? If given a choice between G.I. Joe or Ken, who do you think Barbie would choose? It’s a rhetorical question, but the answer is obvious all the same. And even though the handsome Prince in Snow White and the Huntsman isn’t exactly a Ken doll, he’s still hopelessly out of his depth here. A woman’s quest to stay forever young and beautiful can go to some pretty obsessive lengths depending on the woman (so I’m told), and in the kingdom of Tabor, the Evil Queen Ravenna is taking it to the harshest of extremes. Snow White, total hottie and legitimate heir to the throne, poses the last remaining threat to the queen’s eternal beauty and supreme rule, so drastic measures are called for.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
David Vaughn  |  Oct 05, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/snowwhite.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>This is the time-honored story of a princess (voiced by Adriana Caselotti) whose blossoming beauty disturbs her insecure stepmother, the Queen (Lucille La Verne). Each day, the Queen asks a mysterious magic mirror (Moroni Olsen) the question: "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" For years, the mirror answers the Queen's name, but when it suddenly says Snow White, the evil woman begins her quest to kill the young girl so she may once again be the fairest of them all.

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