Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Transformers: Rise of the Steelbooks
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 13, 2023  | 
Overall Rating

As editor Mark Henninger and I discuss on the regular, physical media has become not only about entertainment but collectability, and so we have seen the arrival of new editions that look snazzy on the shelf and that we can flaunt to our friends. Quite a few of the discs I've reviewed recently for S&V have arrived in step-up steelbook cases adorned with exclusive, genuinely inspired artwork. (Take that, streaming!)

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Triple 9
Guido Henkel  |  Sep 30, 2016  | 
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Dirty-cop movies are nothing new, and for any film in the genre, it would be easy to simply reach for established tropes to tell the story. When you have an entire gang of cops that serves the Russian mob, however, things are almost certain to spiral out of control, and in Universal’s gritty action fest, Triple 9, they do so hard and fast.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Trolls
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 14, 2017  | 
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There are many definitions of a troll, but as they appear here, in a form first conceived by a Danish woodcarver in 1959 (and subsequently as popular toys), they’re tiny, cute creatures with spiky, multicolored hair who do little besides sing, dance, hug, and party. The miserable Bergens, their enemies, believe that by eating a Troll they can be happy—at least for a day.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Tron's Screen Gem
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Apr 03, 2011  | 

First with the just-released Diamond Edition of its 1942 classic, Bambi, and now with Tron: Legacy, Disney is including a Blu-ray bonus called Disney Second Screen. After downloading an app to your iPad or laptop computer, you enable the program in the disc's menu. The iPad/laptop now plays special features to coincide with your viewing of the Blu-ray on TV.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Tropic Thunder
David Vaughn  |  Nov 23, 2008  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/tropicthunder.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>On the set of a Vietnam War movie, action-superstar Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Academy Award-winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), and fart-king Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) find themselves in a pickle when the hare-brained scheme of misguided director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) goes awry. Along with two other actors, they are thrust into real-life danger and must band together to survive.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Blood
David Vaughn  |  May 19, 2009  |  First Published: May 20, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/trueblood.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>I didn't connect with this HBO original series based on the books by Charlaine Harris, but the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is to die for. The score features a full-bodied sound, the dynamic range is impressive, and the creative sound design utilizes every speaker in the room. Quiet passages reveal crickets chirping, and dialog is never strained. The video is solid, but I'm focusing on the audio for this Ultimate Demo.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Blood - The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  May 19, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/trueblood.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a sweet and innocent waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana, who has the ability to read minds. When we first meet her, she has difficulty tuning out her various customers and their crude thoughts, but when Bill Compton enters the restaurant one night, she's instantly attracted to him for one reason&#151;she can't hear his thoughts because he's a vampire, and for once in her life, she can get through a date without knowing how badly the guy wants to sleep with her.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Blood: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  May 23, 2010  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/trueblood2.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>For its sophomore season, <i>True Blood</i> returns to Bon Temps and its dark secrets. Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Bill (Stephan Moyer) get closer, although as their relationship grows so does the danger to their lives. Tara (Rutina Wesley) falls in love, Jason (Ryan Kwanten) hooks up with the Fellowship of the Sun, and Maryann (Michelle Forbes) has a very persuasive power.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Blood: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 01, 2011  | 
Season three finds Bill (Stephan Moyer) kidnapped and Sookie Anna Paquin) heading to Mississippi to find him. There she becomes entangled in a world ruled by a powerful Vampire King and the werewolves who do his bidding. Meanwhile, back in Bon Temps, new threats emerge that make previous problems seem tame by comparison.

Am I the only guy that's sick of vampires? I've never been a huge fan of this series but have stuck with it for the sake of our readers, but I'm not sure I can handle another season of it. Sure, through its 12 episodes there is the occasional winner, but overall it's an up-and-down affair and isn't one of HBO's greatest hits.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Grit (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Dec 29, 2010  | 
Matty Ross (Kim Darby) is the apple of her father's eye and when he's murdered by Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) she wants justice. Headstrong to the nth-degree, the teenager hires U.S. Marshall "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne) and insists she's part of the posse. Cogburn grudgingly approves but Matty isn't happy when he allows an inexperienced Texas Ranger (Glan Cambell) into the group who's in search of the same man for a murder in Texas.

John Wayne was one of Hollywood's most beloved stars and appeared in over 150 films between 1926 and 1976 and won his only Academy award for his portrayal of the cantankerous "Rooster." While his performance is quite good, I think he was better in The Searchers and Sands of Iwo Jima, but I'm glad he won it. The film is very entertaining and the chemistry between Wayne and Darby is outstanding and it was fun to see Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall as the bad guys.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Grit (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 07, 2011  | 
Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) wants justice when her father is killed by Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Headstrong to the nth-degree, the teenager hires U.S. Marshall "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and insists she's part of the posse. Cogburn grudgingly approves but Matty isn't happy when he allows a Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) into the group who's in search of the same man for a murder in Texas.

Filling the shoes of John Wayne is an impossible task, but Bridges did the best he could do and still doesn't measure up to Wayne's Oscar-winning portrayal of the gruff Cogburn. Having watched the original less than six months ago I couldn't help compare each of the respective roles and other than Bridges impossible undertaking, the other two main characters (Damon and Steinfeld) more than make up the difference.

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Romance
Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 26, 2022  | 
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These days you're not likely to see a Quentin Tarantino script directed by someone else, but there was a time when the young filmmaker-cum-video-store-clerk was raising funds to make his directorial debut (Reservoir Dogs) and sold True Romance, which was ultimately helmed by Top Gun's Tony Scott. The movie took a few years to find its audience—and current cult status—but is now hard to see it as anything but inspired and uniquely entertaining.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Romance (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Jun 10, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/truerom.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT><i>Runaway lovers Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) play a dangerous game when they come to possess a suitcase of mob contraband. They head for Los Angeles, where they'll sell the goods and begin a new life. But both sides of the law have other ideas.</i>

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Stories
Roger Kanno  |  Jan 04, 2019  | 
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Fresh off the success of his band's appearance in Jonathan Demme's seminal concert film, Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads front man David Byrne tried his hand at making his own feature film in 1986. A comedy styled as a documentary about the fictional town of Virgil, Texas, True Stories centers on the town's quirky residents, whose lives are reminiscent of tabloid newspaper stories. Written by Byrne, Beth Henley, and Stephen Tobolowsky (whom you might remember from memorable roles in Groundhog Day, Thelma and Louise, Californication and Glee), it is also directed by and stars Byrne as the narrator and main character. This enjoyable, offbeat film offers clever and sometimes even brilliant takes on Americana.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Truffaut in Blu
 |  May 17, 2009  | 
The Criterion Collection
Movie ••••½ Disc ••••½
The increased visual resolution of the Blu-ray Disc format isn't only there to bo
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