Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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David Vaughn  |  Jun 22, 2011  |  0 comments
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 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.

David Vaughn  |  Jul 17, 2009  |  0 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/edgeoflove.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>It's the early 1940s in London, and love is budding between Vera (Keira Knightley) and a handsome soldier, William (Cillian Murphy). Unfortunately, the film is a total bore, but it does offer some exceptional video and mind-blowing audio. The dialog is crystal clear, and the soundstage features realistic ambience, but it's the massive explosions that really set this track apart from many. The scenes listed below will transport you to another time and give the illusion that the Germans are coming after you.

Josef Krebs  |  Jan 08, 2021  |  0 comments
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Director David Lynch's film tells of Joseph 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.
Josef Krebs  |  Mar 18, 2016  |  0 comments
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The End of the Tour is like My Dinner with 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.
Josef Krebs  |  Apr 24, 2015  |  0 comments
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.
David Vaughn  |  Oct 16, 2010  |  2 comments
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.

I had reservations watching because I'm 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.

David Vaughn  |  Sep 17, 2010  |  0 comments
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.

From the opening credits there's an ominous 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.

David Vaughn  |  Jan 23, 2009  |  0 comments

<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 winner&#151;the first African-American to win the coveted prize as the best player in college football.

Ralph Potts  |  Mar 11, 2023  |  0 comments
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In 2023, it would be fair to say that Steven Spielberg is a household name. His body of work as a filmmaker transcends generations and has been entertaining moviegoers for decades. I am certainly a fan, and as such, I was very interested in his latest, The Fabelmans. The semi-autobiographical film revolves around young Sammy Fabelman, Spielberg’s onscreen doppelganger. Most of the story takes place in post-World War II Arizona where Sammy and his family live before relocating to Los Angeles after his father, Burt, accepts a job offer.

David Vaughn  |  Mar 11, 2016  |  0 comments
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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.
David Vaughn  |  Sep 29, 2017  |  2 comments
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Korben Dallas, a retired space fighter pilot, has been relegated to driving a cab in New York City, and since leaving the military, his life has been on a downward spiral. His luck begins to change when a beautiful girl named Leeloo drops into the back of his cab, and before he knows it, he’s stuck in the middle of an intergalactic feud that happens every 5,000 years. It turns out the lovely young lady is the Fifth Element, who when combined with earth, wind, fire, and water becomes the perfect weapon to save the human race from destruction.
David Vaughn  |  Mar 14, 2011  |  0 comments
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.

Josef Krebs  |  Sep 25, 2015  |  0 comments
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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.
David Vaughn  |  Feb 11, 2013  |  0 comments
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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?
Josef Krebs  |  May 25, 2018  |  0 comments
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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.

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