Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) doesn’t understand social media. So, when he attacks L.A.’s most powerful restaurant critic (Oliver Platt) on Twitter, their war goes viral and sinks Casper’s career. Hoping to repair the crestfallen chef’s relationship with son Percy, his loving ex-wife (Sofia Vergara) drags him to Miami. There, he buys a food truck and embarks upon a cross-country foodie road trip, which becomes a journey of self-discovery. In addition to his starring role, Favreau wrote, directed, and co-produced Chef, which probably explains why so many top stars agreed to work for scale on this indie film. The result is an intimate, endearing movie, which, with Twitter and food trucks prominently featured, is also quite timely.

Chucky, the possessed plaything who would go on to become one of the premier icons of late 20th-Century horror, got his start right here in this 1988 outing. When a dying serial killer with a fondness for the occult transfers his soul into the only vessel available—the hot new talking doll on display at a toy store—little Chuck winds up going home with a single mom and is soon in the hands of a cherubic six-year-old boy.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/com.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Alfonso Cuaron's vision of the future is bleak and depressing, but damn it looks and sounds awesome on Blu-ray. Don't expect a cornucopia of color, which is virtually nonexistent in 2027 with perpetual overcast skies and gloomy lighting, and there certainly isn't any stimulus money being spent on infrastructure&#151;the world needs some fresh paint! The disc excels in detail&#151;both foregrounds and backgrounds are always razor-sharp. The audio features top-notch frequency response, dynamic range, and imaging.

Chinatown is an impossibly perfect movie from the glory years of the 1970s, when great filmmakers were routinely working within the Hollywood system. Consider that Chinatown’s 1974 Oscar competition was Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II and The Conversation, and you get the idea. Robert Towne’s complex but tightly woven screenplay, set amid L.A.’s 1930s water wars, is a clinic on screenwriting. Every detail is of great consequence as the misdirection peels away and the baser, more painful truths are revealed, culminating in a haunting, unforgettable ending that starkly reveals the cynicism of the film’s title.

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful, warm-hearted girl named Ella, whose happiness is shattered when her mother dies. Her father later remarries to a stern widow, who moves in with her two cruel daughters and…

Unless you lived a deprived childhood, you already know the Cinderella story. The story goes back centuries, but to most of us today, it’s the 1950 Disney animated version that comes to mind when we think of it. Gone was the truly grim Brothers Grimm version, where the stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to try to fit into that glass slipper! Disney’s animated Cinderella was fiercely kid-friendly and certainly well done, though it suffered a bit in comparison to the genuine Disney masterpieces that preceded it: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/cinderellaman.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Seeking a second chance to provide for his family and for his own personal redemption, professional boxer Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) turns a fortuitous chance into a bout against legendary boxer Max Baer (Craig Beirko). With the nation knee deep in the Great Depression, Braddock gives the folks someone to cheer for.

Editor's Note: This year's Oscar nominees for Best Picture feature the work of two acclaimed directors operating at the top of their game, Martin Scorsese's <I>The Aviator</I> and Clint Eastwood's <I>Million Dollar Baby</I>. So it seemed liked a good time to revisit reviews from <I>UAV</I> contributor Joe Leydon of earlier films from these same artists: Scorsese's <I>GoodFellas</I> and Eastwood's <A HREF="/moviereviews/205unforgiven"><I>Unforgiven</I></A>. The reviews cover the two-disc Special Edition of <I>Unforgiven</I> and the single-disc release of <I>GoodFellas</I>. A 2-disc Special Edition of <I>GoodFellas</I> is now available for $26.99.