Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Together, these are arguably the most grown-up entries in the Pixar canon, not for any sort of overly mature content, but rather for their sophisticated themes and storytelling. And Soul might be the most adult-skewing: It's the longest of the three, exploring The Great Hereafter and even "The Great Before," namely where souls originate prior to their arrival on Earth. This concept requires quite a bit of exposition, and it's executed masterfully by Docter, co-writer/co-director Kemp Powers, and co-writer Mike Jones, through bold visuals and pithy gags.

I was eagerly looking forward to giving this one a spin, and it more than met my expectations. It's nonstop action from start to finish, and Gyllenhaal has great screen presence as the troubled hero. Not only was I wildly entertained, but the DTS-HD MA audio track is outstanding and worth the price of admission all by itself. But don't get your hopes too high for the video encode, which isn't anything to write home about.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/southpark.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In the twelfth season, the boys from <i>South Park</i> follow the presidential election from the primaries through the new president-elect's acceptance speech, they help Britney Spears disfigure her body, and try to get the country of Canada back to work when it strikes for more money. The best episode during the season is "Elementary School Musical," when Stan realizes he'll lose Wendy forever unless he adopts the latest fad hitting the school&#151;singing (think <i>High School Musical</i>).

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/spacechimps.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Ham III (voiced by Andy Samberg) is the grandson of the first chimpanzee into space who's recruited to join two other NASA chimps on an important mission to retrieve a wayward spacecraft that disappeared into a wormhole. With the help of Lieutenant Luna (Cheryl Hines) and their trusty pilot Titan (Patrick Warburton), the three must work together to save the inhabitants of a distant planet from their evil dictator (Jeff Daniels) and find a way back to Earth.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/spartacus.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) was born a slave although when sold to Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) he became a gladiator. Life was mildly improved although fighting to the death for the entertainment of the wealthy is a rough way to make a living. Spartacus gains new perspective on life when he falls in love with the slave girl Varinia (Jean Simmons) and develops a thirst for freedom.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/speedracer.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on the popular Japanese cartoon, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a natural behind the wheel of his Mach 5. His loyalty to the family racing business, led by his father (John Goodman), is put to the test when Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam) attempts to lure Speed to the Royalton Industries race team. Speed declines and joins forces with the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) in order to save the family business and protect the sport he loves.