Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Giver
Corey Gunnestad  |  Mar 11, 2015
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In the utopian community of The Giver, citizens have been relieved of the burden of having memories beyond their own lives. Human history has been erased. The logic being that if you have no memory of the past, you won’t be doomed to repeat it. Daily mandatory injections chemically stifle personal ambition, curiosity, and primordial urges, and Big Brother is ever watchful. The established rules are these: Use assigned language, wear the approved clothing, take your daily medication, obey the curfew, and never lie.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration
David Vaughn  |  Sep 21, 2008
Based on the novel by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather is one of the greatest films of all time. Widely considered the best sequel of all time, Part II went on to win six Oscars, including Best Picture. Nearly 16 years later, Coppola completed the saga with The Godfather, Part III, a very good film in its own right, but it had big shoes to fill and didn't quite meet expectations. Chronicling the lives of the Corleone family over nearly 80 years—from the rise of Vito (Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro) as a young criminal to the struggles of Michael (Al Pacino) to legitimize the family business after taking over for his father.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Godfather DVD Collection
Ken Korman  |  Dec 25, 2001

Paramount Movies DVDs

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Godfather Part 1 & II - Sapphire Series (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jan 30, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/godfather1.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on the novel by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola's <i>The Godfather</i> is one of the greatest films of all time. Widely considered the best sequel of all time, <i>Part II</i> went on to win six Oscars, including Best Picture. The films chronicles the lives of the Corleone family from the rise of Vito (Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro) as a young criminal to the struggles of Michael (Al Pacino) to legitimize the family business after taking over for his father.

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Godfather Trilogy
Chris Chiarella  |  Apr 22, 2022
The Godfather, 175 mins.
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The Godfather: Part II, 201 mins.
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The Godfather: Coda, 158 mins.
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The Godfather still kills. At a recent theatrical re-release marking the 50th anniversary of the first film in the series adapted from Mario Puzo's bestseller, I witnessed the audience hanging on every emotional nuance set forth by director Francis Ford Coppola. Once the highest-grossing film of all time, this operatic tale of the Corleone crime family boasts bigger-than-life characters doing despicable things, spouting irresistible dialogue, and backing it up with copious violence. Part II is both prequel and sequel, with characters new and old seen through a fresh lens in another grand story: the "origin" of Don Vito Corleone, interwoven with son Michael's attempted business expansion into pre-Castro Cuba. Part III was reimagined and recut as Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone in 2020. While improved over past versions, it's by far the weakest of the lot, an outlier and a vain attempt to recapture past glory.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration
Josef Krebs  |  Dec 22, 2008
Paramount
Movie ••••½Picture •••• Sound •••½Extras •••••
"Leave the gun.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Golden Compass
David Vaughn  |  May 23, 2008

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/052308compass.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Imagine a parallel universe that is familiar yet strange, where human souls reside not in the body, but in accompanying animal spirits called daemons. A young girl, Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards), gains possession of the coveted Golden Compass&mdash;the last example of a mystical, powerful device also known as an alethiometer that can unveil the truth, reveal what others wish to hide, and even see into the future. In order to save her best friend after he is abducted by the Gobblers, a sinister group secretly headed by Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), she must travel to the frozen tundra of the North with help from the clans, Gyptians, and an armored bear.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Golden Compass
Josef Krebs  |  Jul 13, 2008
New Line Blu-ray Disc
Movie ••½Picture •••½Sound •••½Extras •½

For

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3D Blu-ray Movie ReviewsBlu-ray Movie Reviews
The Good Dinosaur
Chris Chiarella  |  Jul 01, 2016
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Ever wonder what would happen if the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs missed Earth instead, enabling our prehistoric pals to evolve into the dominant animals on the planet, rather than man? Regardless of your answer, here’s The Good Dinosaur, a rare misfire from the esteemed Pixar gang. While we on the sofa are still wrestling with the ramifications of this bizarre setup, we’re introduced to a family of dino farmers: no, seriously, a pack of apatosauruses that harvests corn and plows the field with their blunt heads.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Good Shepherd (HD DVD Combo Disc)
Tom Norton  |  Apr 09, 2007

I'm not sure how you write a screenplay designed to show the origins if the CIA and its operations up to and including the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. But I'm reasonably certain that no one in Hollywood has an inside track to the straight story, despite research into volumes full of speculation and unverifiable leaks. The true history of the CIA and the details of its operation are not exactly found in the public library or on the Internet, and for good reasons.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Goonies (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Nov 08, 2010
Looking for a way to save their home from a group of developers, two brothers and their gang of "Goonies" embark on an adventure in search of One-Eyed Willy's hidden treasure. They get more than they bargained for when they cross paths with the Fratelli family, who are looking for a big score themselves.

1985 was quite a year for teen-centric movies—The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Back to the Future and of course, The Goonies. Four of the five are now available on Blu-ray and those of us who want to relive some of the classics from our youth get to do so with the best picture and sound quality available. This is a fun movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, and director Richard Donner gets the most out of the teenage cast.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Graduate
Fred Kaplan  |  May 20, 2016
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The Graduate is one of the great American films. It captured a spirit of the 1960s at its cusp, marked the screen debut of Dustin Hoffman (clearing the way for a new, more inclusive type of movie star), altered the nature and function of a movie-music soundtrack—and it’s just damn fine filmmaking. It’s the shrewd mixing of dissonant elements that made the movie so head-spinning in its day and so appealing still—a fairly conventional formula, sly angles on modern themes (empty materialism, alienated youth, sexual license), and raucous comedy done up in a stark, surreal mise-en-scène: Antonioni channeled through Second City, but deeply funny, not just satirical, and oddly moving, too.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Great Beauty
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 12, 2014
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After watching The Great Beauty in a theater, I wanted to watch it again, not to catch details I’d missed (there weren’t many) but to relive the experience. I can’t remember a film that so raptly captures the flow of life, the “fleeting and sporadic flashes of beauty” beneath the “blah-blah-blah” of existence, as our protagonist, Jep Gambardella, reflects in his epiphany. Jep (played by the marvelous Toni Servillo) is the king of Rome’s high society, the author of a celebrated novel who hasn’t written one since because he can’t find “the great beauty.” But, at the end, he realizes that life is full of great beauty when mediated through art, and so begins his new novel, which, we realize, is the film we’ve just seen.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Greatest Game Ever Played
David Vaughn  |  Jul 01, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/greatest.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Filled with drama and gripping rounds of golf, <i>The Greatest Game Ever Played</i> showcases a fabulous AVC encode and an immersive surround-sound experience. The video includes fantastic attention to detail in flesh tones, textures in clothing, and the many different green hues found on the Massachusetts golf course. The audio is just as impressive, especially with the crystal-clear dialog and superior ambience.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Greatest Game Ever Played (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 17, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/greatest.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Amateur golfer Francis Ouimet (Shia La Beouf) has a dream&#151;he wants to compete against the world's greatest player and his hero, Harry Vardon (Stephen Dillane). With his poor background, this doesn't seem likely until a member of the prestigious country club where he caddies notices his talent and gives him the opportunity to play. When he qualifies for the 1913 US Open, his dream comes true as he battles his hero in one of the most defining moments in US golf history.

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