Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Baby Mama
David Vaughn  |  Oct 06, 2008

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/babymama.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Kate (Tina Fey) is a single and successful 37-year-old businesswoman whose biological clock is ticking. After numerous attempts at in vitro fertilization, the doctor finally tells her she has a one-in-a-million chance of getting pregnant. Determined to have a baby to call her own, she decides to enlist the help of a surrogate mother and hires Angie (Amy Poehler), a blue-collar girl from South Philly, who gives Kate much more than she bargained for.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 20, 2010
Teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is asked to help his friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) conduct a scientific experiment involving a time machine made out of a DeLorean. Before he knows it, he finds himself transported to 1955 and sets off a time-shattering chain reaction that can wipe out his future. Searching out the 1955 version of Doc, the pair has to figure out a way to fix the space-time continuum and get the teenager back to the future.

In Part II, Marty and Doc travel 30 years into the future in order to stop Marty's son from setting off a chain of events that will ruin the family's reputation. In the process of fixing the future, the pair inadvertently disrupts the space-time continuum (again) and need to travel back to 1955 in order to set things right.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Backdraft (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jan 08, 2011
Two siblings carry on a family tradition as Chicago firefighters and must overcome their rivalry in order to find an arsonist who's torching the city. A twist of fate lands Brian (William Baldwin) in the investigators department working under veteran Donald Rimgale (Robert DeNiro) and is taught what it means to be a firefighter.

I've seen this at least 5 times over the past 19 years and have always enjoyed the characters and the awesome pyrotechnic displays. The plot is loaded with clichés with the sibling rivalry, crooked politicians, and a story line that only has maybe one degree of separation between each of the characters, but hey, it's Hollywood!

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Bad Boys: Ride or Die 4K Blu-ray Review – Explosive Atmos, Razor-Sharp Visuals
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 05, 2024
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The Bad Boys action-comedy franchise will be turning 30 next year, and there’s no denying that—with this fourth film, Ride or Die—it’s feeling a little long in the tooth.

As if to illustrate that point, too-cool detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) is finally tying the knot, while his partner Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) suffers a near-fatal heart attack that compels him to reevaluate his life.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Bada Boom!
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 12, 2006

I have a ritual when it comes to watching The Sopranos. Before the debut of each season, I rewatch every prior season on DVD so that I'm immersed in all the nuances that remind me why it's one of the best TV shows ever.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Bambi (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Mar 02, 2011
A morning light breaks across the meadow; a young deer named Bambi is born and hailed as "Prince of the Forest." Soon Bambi emerges from the thicket on wobbly legs, much to the delight of his new friends, Thumper, the playful rabbit, and Flower, the bashful skunk. Exploring his new world, Bambi learns valuable life lessons with every adventure.

Bambi was Walt Disney's fifth full-length animated classic and was released in 1942. With disposable income in short supply due to the war, the masses didn't flock to the film as Walt had expected and it took many re-releases in order for the movie to turn a profit. It currently resides at No. 3 on the American Film Institute's Top 10 Animated Films of All Time and is certainly worthy of its place.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Barry Lyndon
Fred Kaplan  |  Jan 19, 2018
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When I first saw Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, as a college student, I was bored and, beyond that, puzzled: such a static set piece from the maker of Dr. Strangelove, 2001, and A Clockwork Orange. I wasn’t alone: Box office was middlin’, critics were mixed. The film now strikes me as a masterpiece, although a demanding one, as many masterpieces are. Based on Thackeray’s mid-19th-century novel about the rise and fall of an Irish upstart seeking to connive his way into British high society, it’s a string of gorgeous pictures, as gorgeous as many paintings in a museum, and Kubrick modeled many shots on paintings by Hogarth, Gainsborough, and other artists of the era.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman and Harley Quinn
Chris Chiarella  |  Feb 16, 2018
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Sometimes even Batman can’t go it alone. When Poison Ivy teams with an evil alien plant-man for a scheme that could doom every human being on the planet, he first turns to Nightwing (sidekick Robin, now all grown up), but even that’s not enough. Their best hope of stopping these baddies in time is to team with Ivy’s lone confidante, Harley Quinn.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman Begins
David Vaughn  |  Jul 18, 2008

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/batmanbegins.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>After his parents' murders, disillusioned heir Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice. With the help of his trusted butler Alfred (Michael Cain) and Wayne Enterprises R&D wizard Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Wayne returns to Gotham as his alter-ego—Batman.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman Begins—HD DVD
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 28, 2006  |  First Published: Dec 29, 2006

Batman Begins is not only the best Batman film ever produced, and arguably the best superhero movie ever, but it was one of the best films of 2005.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 21, 2016
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Dawn of Justice brings together the entire trinity of DC Universe heroes, arguably the most enduring characters of 20th-century popular culture. So where’s the thrill? The awe? The “wow,” dammit? Let’s focus on the expanded three-hour Ultimate Edition featured in this set, also available separately on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, along with director Zack Snyder’s other two DC forays, Man of Steel and Watchmen.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition (Remastered)
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 11, 2021
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Legend has it that director Zack Snyder was streaming his Dawn of Justice one day and was unhappy with the color, specifically red, a shade relevant to much more than a certain Last Son of Krypton. And so, the studio took the unusual step of remastering the movie from the existing 4K video transfer and rereleasing it, with the new version addressing Snyder's crimson concerns as well as showcasing the de rigueur IMAX scenes in their full and correct 1.43:1 aspect ratio.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman: 20th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  May 14, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/batman20.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>As a young boy, Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) witnessed the murder of his parents in Gotham City. As he matures into a man, criminals begin to rule the streets of his beloved city, and the only way to fight back is to become Batman, a vigilante hell-bent for revenge.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997
David Vaughn  |  Mar 17, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/batmananth.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The camp depiction of Batman from the 1960s changed dramatically in 1989 when Tim Burton modernized the iconic hero with a new cinematic version of the Dark Knight. Michael Keaton was a surprising casting choice to play Batman, and Jack Nicholson turned in a fantastic performance as The Joker. That first remake went on to become the top-grossing film of 1989 with over $250 million in box-office receipts

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Batman: The Movie
David Vaughn  |  Jul 16, 2008

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/batman.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The Dynamic Duo faces four of the most powerful villains of all time&#151;the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether). Armed with a dehydrator that turns humans to dust, the quartet has their sights on the members of the United World Security Council, intending to ransom their reconstitutable remains. Will Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) foil their diabolical plan?

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