Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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David Vaughn  |  Apr 05, 2010  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/bsg2.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The battle for survival continues in the second, and arguably best season of <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>. It begings with Galactica separated from the rest of the fleet and Colonel Tigh must fill in for Commander Adama. On Caprica, Kara and Helo must join a band of resistance fighters waiting for an eventual rescue from the fleet while political tensions rise when Baltar faces Roslin in the Presidential election, but will backroom dealings pick a winner?

David Vaughn  |  Jul 24, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/bsg.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The Cylons were created by man to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies. Then one day, the Cylons decided to kill their masters. After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared. The Cylons left for another world to call their own, and a remote space station was built where Cylons and humans could meet and maintain diplomatic relations. Every year, the Colonies sent a representative, and every year, the Cylons sent no one. Humans haven't seen or heard from the Cylons in over 40 years. Until now…

David Vaughn  |  Oct 20, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/bsgplan.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Throughout the terrific four-season run of <I>Battlestar Galactica</I> on the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy), we witnessed humanity's fight for survival through the eyes of the humans. In <i>The Plan</i>, viewers revisit events of the first two seasons from the perspective of the skinjobs (Cylons made to look like humans) and why they're hell-bent on genocide.

David Vaughn  |  Aug 14, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/bsg.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The Cylons were created by man to make life easier in the Twelve Colonies, but things didn't work out so well for the humans. The "toasters" turned on their masters by orchestrating a sneak attack to eradicate the human race. Although the show is mostly a dialog-driven drama, there are a lot of intense action scenes that offer many demo-worthy audio moments throughout its four seasons.

David Vaughn  |  Dec 22, 2010  | 
Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite shows from the last decade. Razor tells the untold story of the battlestar Pegasus and provides chilling clues to the fate of humanity as the two-hour episode reaches its conclusion.

In present day, Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) assumes command of the Pegasus and through a series of flashbacks we see what happened to the ship during and after the initial Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies.

David Vaughn  |  Jul 19, 2010  | 
Season 3 takes the series in a new direction as the Cylons occupy New Caprica with little resistance from new President Baltar. Colonel Tigh leads a group of resistance fighters and Commander Adama undertakes a daring near-suicidal mission to free the humans from their mechanical captors.

The middle of Season 3 has its ups and downs, but finishes with a flurry with five of its best episodes starting with "Dirty Hands" and culminates with a two-part "Crossroads" with Baltar being tried for treason with Lee has one of his defenders. The finale revolves around some mysterious music that only a select group of humans can hear, but why?

David Vaughn  |  Jan 03, 2011  | 
Season four of the series was an up and down experience for numerous reasons. When it first aired on the SciFi Network (now Syfy), the 20 episodes were spread over 12 months, with a seven month hiatus between the first eleven and last nine, frustrating the audience. Furthermore, the scripts had a "been there, done that" aspect and I think the writers were filling time in order to get to the tidy conclusion.

Season four does have some great episodes that include "Guess What's Coming to Dinner," "Revelations," "Sometimes a Great Notion," and "No Exit." One of my favorite scenes in the entire series is in "Revelations" where Tigh (Michael Hogan) reveals his secret to Adama (Edward James Olmos). This emotional scene captures the essence of the series of being a story about people and relationships and not about technology.

David Vaughn  |  Feb 09, 2018  | 
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A dangerous crime wave hits the beach as legendary Lt. Mitch Buchannon leads his squad of lifeguards on a mission to prove you don’t have to wear a badge to save the day—despite being told to keep away from the trouble by both the police and his boss. Along for the ride are a trio of new recruits including former Olympian Matt Brody, who made the cut because of the positive PR he will bring to the team. To find the mastermind, the team must break some rules, go undercover, and put their careers in jeopardy to keep the beach safe from nefarious business interests.
Brandon A. DuHamel  |  Sep 01, 2017  | 
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Director Bill Condon brings his experience adapting the Broadway smash Dreamgirls to this lavish, live-action reimagining of Disney’s 1991 Golden Globe–winning (Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical) animated film Beauty and the Beast. The CGI-laden visual spectacle stars the lovely Emma Watson as the titular beauty Belle who is imprisoned in a castle by an irascible prince cursed by a witch for his failure to aid her on a stormy night and forced to live life out as the Beast (Dan Stevens).
David Vaughn  |  Oct 06, 2010  | 
Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara) is a bright and beautiful young woman who finds escape from her ordinary life by reading books. When her father is taken prisoner by a cursed young prince (Robby Benson), Belle comes to the rescue and agrees to take her father's place. With the help of the castle's enchanted staff, she sees beneath the Beast's exterior and discovers the heart and soul of a human prince.

Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (plus five other nominations) and won two Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. The talent behind the voices includes Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, the candelabra, and David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth, the mantel clock. The story is engaging and filled with adventure, but it's the score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman that makes this film a classic.

David Vaughn  |  Oct 03, 2011  | 
Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara) is a bright and beautiful young woman who finds escape from her ordinary life by reading books. When her father is taken prisoner by a cursed young prince (Robby Benson), Belle comes to the rescue and agrees to take her father's place. With the help of the castle's enchanted staff, she sees beneath the Beast's exterior and discovers the heart and soul of a human prince.

Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (plus five other nominations) and won two Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. The talent behind the voices includes Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, the candelabra, and David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth, the mantel clock. The story is engaging and filled with adventure, but it's the score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman that makes this film a classic.

David Vaughn  |  Apr 09, 2009  | 

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/bedtime.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler) is a handyman at a hotel in Los Angeles. When asked by his sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) to baby-sit her two kids for a week, he spins tall-tale bedtime stories before putting them down for the night. Amazingly, the stories start to impact Skeeter's life in impossible ways, and his dream of running the hotel rests in the kid's imagination.

Marc Horowitz  |  Jul 30, 2008  | 
DreamWorks
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Jerry Seinfeld fans who are still going through withdrawal

Mike Mettler  |  Feb 28, 2001  | 
Touchstone
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With Se

Fred Kaplan  |  Feb 05, 2014  | 
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Interactivity
Before Midnight is the unplanned Part 3 of what may turn out to be a lifetime series—one episode every nine years, so far—following the romance of Jesse and Céline. Before Sunrise (1995) had them, at 23, meeting on a train in Europe, getting off together in Vienna, walking and talking all day and night, and making love at dawn. Before Sunset (2004) found Jesse, author of a best-selling novel about that brief affair, running into Céline at a reading in Paris, resuming their walking and talking through the winding streets, and ending in her apartment on an ambiguous note: Will he catch his plane back to Chicago, returning to his wife and child, or stay with Céline, for whom he’s been pining all these years?

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