Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Fabelmans
Ralph Potts  |  Mar 11, 2023
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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.

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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.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Fifth Element
David Vaughn  |  Sep 29, 2017
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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.
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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.

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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.
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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?
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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.
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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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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The French Connection
David Vaughn  |  Feb 26, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/french.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>This classic movie is based on the true story of two New York City detectives, Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), as they attempt to break up a narcotics-smuggling ring with ties across the globe.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Game
Shane Buettner  |  Apr 03, 2013
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When your breakout movie, Seven, ends with Gwyneth Paltrow’s severed head in a box, what do you do for an encore? 1997’s psycho thriller The Game is director David Fincher’s emphatic answer. Nobody plays a cold, callous one-percenter better than Michael Douglas. His Nicholas Van Orton here is clearly intended as a through-the-looking-glass play off of his iconic, late-’80s portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Gift
Corey Gunnestad  |  Mar 25, 2016
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Remember that kid from high school that nobody liked and you and your friends mercilessly tormented him just because he was different? No? Well, he sure remembers you. Now imagine that all these years later, that person still bears a grudge against you and wants a little payback.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Girl on the Train
Chris Chiarella  |  Mar 31, 2017
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Rachel (Emily Blunt) is a lost soul who eases the lingering pain of her divorce with ample doses of alcohol, particularly on her daily rail trips to and from Manhattan. Her only diversion is an elaborate fantasy about someone she sees from her moving window, Megan (Haley Bennett), and projecting all of her longing onto this stranger. And then one day Rachel spies Megan doing something she ought not to, threatening the idyllic life the voyeur has imagined for her. She even goes so far as to attempt a confrontation with Megan, but it quickly becomes a boozy blur of violence.
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