BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS

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Unbreakable
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Apr 03, 2008  |  0 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/403unbreakable.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Bruce Willis stars as David Dunn, the sole survivor of a horrific train accident who escaped not only with his life, but without any injuries to speak of. Dunn's survival prompts a visit from Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), a crazed man who believes that David possesses superhuman strength and is a comic-book hero come to life.

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Unbroken
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
Brandon A. DuHamel  |  Jun 18, 2015  |  1 comments
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The incredible true story of Olympian and World War II veteran Louis Zamperini languished in Hollywood for decades. It was initially licensed as a project for Tony Curtis, who later abandoned it to star in Spartacus. Then came Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling book, Unbroken, which caught the attention of producer/director Angelina Jolie and others, and Zamperini’s moving story has finally found its moment to shine.
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Under the Skin
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Nov 05, 2014  |  0 comments
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An alien being comes to Earth and assumes the form of a gorgeous and seductive young woman and proceeds to drive around Scotland in a cargo van trying to lure unsuspecting male victims back to her lair. Once there, she begins to strip onto an inky-black floor walking backwards into the room. Hypnotized by her beauty, the men strip as they slowly sink into a black pool of death so their bodies can be harvested for some unexplained nefarious purpose. As the film progresses, our alien vixen begins to change and wants to explore what being human is about and is introduced to an Earthly phenomenon known as karma.
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Unforgiven
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
Brandon A. DuHamel  |  Aug 25, 2017  |  0 comments
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Unforgiven marked another turning point for Clint Eastwood and the Western genre. The deconstructed Western stars Eastwood as aged outlaw Bill Munny, who, after years of living a reformed life, is dragged back into his old ways. His wife has passed, and his pig farm is struggling, so an offer to avenge a brutalized prostitute is too much to pass up. He enlists his old running mate, Ned (Morgan Freeman), and they set off with the young “Schofield Kid” to collect the bounty.
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Unknown (Blu-ray)
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Jun 17, 2011  |  0 comments
Arriving in Berlin for a technology conference, Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) must make a mad dash back to the airport in order to find his left-behind briefcase that contains some valuable information and his passport. In his haste, he leaves his wife (January Jones) at the hotel check-in and doesn't tell her where he's headed. After a horrific accident, he awakens in a hospital four days later and is troubled to learn that no one has come looking for him. He tracks down his wife at the conference and discovers that she doesn't recognize him, and another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity. Is he going mad?

With his starring role in Taken, Neeson showed he had the chops to handle the action genre and he delivers another solid performance here. The pacing is fantastic and the story keeps you on the edge of your seat until the tidy and disappointing ending.

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Unstoppable
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Feb 23, 2011  |  0 comments
Director/producer Tony Scott is no stranger to action movies. His resume includes hits like Top Gun, Deja Vu, and Man on Fire, the last two starring Denzel Washington. The two team up again here in one of the better action movies to come out of Hollywood in 2010.

Based very loosely on a 2001 story of a runaway train in Ohio, writer Mark Bomback jazzes it up for the sake of entertainment and action. As in real life, the adventure begins when an idiotic engineer jumps from the slowly moving train in order to reposition a switch before the train can damage it. Successful in this task, he then tries to reboard the moving train as it gains speed, but to no avail.

From this point on, the facts go out the window as the fictional train loaded with toxic chemicals hurtles toward Scranton, PA, where an elevated curve in the track will cause the train to derail, creating an environmental catastrophe and costing many lives. Despite its best attempts, the rail company can't slow the train down, and two unlikely heroes emerge to hopefully save the day. Along the way, we witness a few narrow escapes, corporate incompetence, and one hell of a thrill ride.

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Up
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS, 3D BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 29, 2013  |  0 comments
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Interactivity
Threatened with eviction from his lifelong home, Carl Fredrickson cuts loose in an unexpected way and sets off on a journey to the South American wilderness he and his late wife had long yearned to visit. Along the way, he picks up a few unwelcome (at first) fellow travelers: Russell, an 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer; Kevin, a rare bird and a key plot McGuffin; and Dug, a talking dog. Carl also runs into his boyhood idol, explorer Charles Muntz, who turns out to be less of a hero than he had long imagined.
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Up (Blu-ray)
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Oct 30, 2009  |  0 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/up.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner) fulfills his lifelong dream of adventure and exploration when he ties thousands of helium balloons to his house and escapes the construction hell surrounding his Oakland, California, home for the beautiful surroundings of South America. But shortly after takeoff, there's a disturbing knock at the front door&#151;a local Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) looking to earn his "assisting the elderly" badge has stowed away for the trip.

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Up in the Air (Blu-ray)
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Mar 17, 2010  |  0 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/upair.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Ryan (George Clooney) doesn't have the easiest job in the world. He's a corporate grim reaper who constantly travels around the country breaking the news to unsuspecting employees that their services are no longer required by their company. His company is there to aid them in the transition and make it as painless as possible. When a young Cornell graduate (Anna Kendrick) wants to transition the job onto the Internet, it's up to Ryan to show her how the process <i>really</i> works in order to preserve his livelihood and jet setting lifestyle.

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V for Vendetta
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Jun 07, 2008  |  0 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/060608vendetta.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Remember, remember the 5th of November. The significance of this date in England goes back to 1605, when a Catholic terrorist by the name of Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament in protest over how Catholics were treated. Fast forward to the near future and meet V (Hugo Weaving), our tragic hero, who struts around town wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and is a terrorist in his own right&mdash;or at least the totalitarian government has labeled him as such.

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V: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  Nov 10, 2010  |  0 comments
Massive mother ships arrive over 29 major cities throughout the world carrying the Visitors, human-like beings who know our languages and promise to provide gifts of technology and healing. Some consider them saviors but others aren't so trusting and form a resistance movement determined to find the true meaning of their appearance.

I was a fan of the 1980s miniseries and eagerly anticipated the release of this show on Blu-ray. The first four episodes are quite intriguing introducing the various characters although the show loses steam over the last eight as the narrative becomes rushed to get to the full-scale invasion that's on the horizon. The second season has been picked up by ABC due to good ratings among Adults 18-49, but if the writers don't get their act together I can see a Heroes-like loss of its audience.

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Valentine's Day (Blu-ray) Valentine's Day (Blu-ray)
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  May 18, 2010  |  1 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/valentine.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>A day in the life of a diverse group of Los Angelenos as they navigate their way through romance and heartbreak over the course of one Valentine's Day. Couples and singles live through the pinnacles and pitfalls of finding, keeping, or ending relationships in a day in the life of love.

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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
Avi Greengart  |  Mar 02, 2018  |  1 comments
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Valerian is director Luc Besson’s passion project: He wrote and directed it based on a French comic book he loved as a child. It’s also the most expensive independent film ever, with a budget of around $180 million. It’s quite the spectacle, and the plot—involving displaced aliens amidst a multi-species space station—could be a reasonable foundation for a sci-fi adventure or sci-noir procedural. Unfortunately, the acting, character development, and dialogue are simply terrible. Ironically, the only believable character is a shape-shifting burlesque dancer played by Rihanna.
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Valkyrie
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  May 27, 2009  |  First Published: May 28, 2009  |  0 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/valkyrie.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>After filming <i>Superman Returns</i> with HD cameras, director Bryan Singer used 35mm film in the loosely based true story <i>Valkyrie</i>, in which Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The film opens in North Africa with a rich golden hue; when Stauffenberg ventures back to the fatherland, the color palette opens up with bold reds and lush greens. Although the film is a middling affair, the audio and video presentation is stupendous and a demo showpiece.

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Valkyrie (Blu-ray)
BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS
David Vaughn  |  May 27, 2009  |  0 comments

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/valkyrie.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) is one of many men who want to see the end of the Third Reich. He gets his opportunity when he's maimed in an attack in Africa and transferred back to the fatherland, earning a place in Hitler's inner circle. With the crazed leader's blessing, he changes an emergency plan, Operation Valkyrie, in order to gain control of Berlin once the F&#252;hrer meets his maker.

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