Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Like The Original Series before it, Star Trek: The Next Generation was a product of its time. Whereas Kirk & Co. embraced broad drama and the two-fisted clichés of ‘60s television on their space-faring adventures, Next Gen was more refined, drawing upon our greater understanding of science fact and taking lots and lots of time to discuss the characters’ feelings, too.

See, when studios invest hundreds of millions of dollars in their intended tentpole movies, they’re betting that sufficient tens of millions of people will be buying seats and popcorn to offset these exorbitant costs.

One of the ways they hedge these bets is to feature familiar characters in sequels, remakes, reboots and other sorts of “franchises'' with (they assume) a certain built-in audience. Of course, the movies need to be of a certain level of watchability and even rewatchability to reach that goal, and therein lies the challenge.

Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple became one of the moviemaker’s most remarkable successes, garnering 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture while earning him Best Director honors from the DGA. The unforgettable characters of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel populate this lyrical cinematic adaptation. At the center is Celie, a Southern Black woman who gradually gains self-respect as she strives to educate herself and to find love, despite an abusive spouse and a society biased against her race and her sex.