Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Paranormal Activity 2 (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 11, 2011  | 
When a young couple bring a newborn baby home, someone or something begins terrorizing the family. In order to gain some piece of mind, the father (Brian Boland) installs some security cameras in and around the house in order to catch the hooligans in the act but the "real life" footage shows there's much more going on than meets the eye.

This isn't a genre of film that I particularly enjoy, so I never caught the first Paranormal Activity but I knew the general premise due to its popularity. My expectations weren't high and while I've seen far worse, I felt the screenplay took too long to introduce the characters and build up the tension (or lack thereof).

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
It's Kind of a Funny Story (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 09, 2011  | 
Craig (Keir Gilchrist) is a stressed-out teenager who checks himself into a mental health clinic after having fantasies of committing suicide. What he finds on the inside is an unlikely mentor in Bobby (Zach Galifianakis), a potential girlfriend in Noel (Emma Roberts), and the opportunity to discover who he truly is.

Sometimes seeing a film you have never heard of can be a blessing, and such is the case here. This is a human interest story about the stresses of being a teenager and fitting into the tidy little boxes from the perspective of your friends and parents, despite what you own wishes and dreams. Gilchrist does an outstanding job in the lead role, but it's Galifianakis who steals the show as the quirky mentor.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
I Spit On Your Grave Unrated (2010)—Anchor Bay
Kris Deering  |  Feb 08, 2011  | 
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2.5/5
An unrated remake of the controversial 1978 cult horror film. A beautiful woman from the city, Jennifer Hills, rents an isolated cabin in the country to write her latest novel. Soon a group of local lowlifes subject Jennifer to a nightmare of degradation, rape and violence. Left for dead, she returns for vengeance. Trapping her male attackers one-by-one, she inflicts acts of physical torment upon them with a ferocity that surpasses her own ordeal. When the carnage clears, victim has become victor.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger—Sony Pictures Classics
Kris Deering  |  Feb 08, 2011  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 0/5
One night, Alfie wakes up with a sudden wave of panic over thoughts of mortality. Abandoning Helena, his wife of forty years, Alfie sets out to relive the pleasures of his youth. Devastated, Helena tries to kill herself, and then, finding no consolation from medicine and therapy, seeks out the help of a fortune teller, Cristal. Before long, Helena finds the tranquility she seeks by surrendering all her thoughts and actions to Cristal's guidance. Helena's daughter Sally encourages her mother's pacifying visits to the charlatan fortune teller, as she is weary of dealing with her mother's trauma, and has marital problems of her own. Her novelist husband Roy is unable to hold a paying job and the couple lives off of Helena's support and Sally's earnings as an assistant to a prominent gallery owner, Greg Clemente. Years ago, Roy produced an acclaimed first novel, but his subsequent books haven't lived up to his initial promise. Roy's fears that he may be a flash in the pan make him hard to live with and they clash over Sally's desire to have a child.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Paranormal Activity 2—Paramount
Kris Deering  |  Feb 08, 2011  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Just as Dan and Kristi welcome a newborn baby into their home, a demonic presence begins terrorizing them, tearing apart their perfect world and turning it into an inescapable nightmare. Security cameras capture the torment, making every minute horrifyingly real.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
You Again (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 07, 2011  | 
High school can be the best of times or the worst of times, depending on your experience. For Marnie (Kristen Bell), it was the latter. Teased throughout her years because of her acne and not being part of the "in" crowd, her memories are anything but fond. Years after graduation, she heads home to see her brother tie the knot and discovers he's marrying her nemesis (Odette Yustman) from high school.

With a cast that includes Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, and Betty White, one would assume these stars wouldn't attach their names to anything but a surefire hit. Wrong! The laughs are hard to come by, the slapstick is anything but funny, and the ending is vomit educing.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Ray (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 06, 2011  | 
A remarkable story about one of America's great entertainers, Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx). From his humble beginnings in the South through his meteoric rise to the top of the American music charts, Charles overcame many obstacles to become a music icon.

I'd always had been a fan of Charles' music throughout the years, but it wasn't until I saw this biopic in 2004 that I realized how high a mountain he had climbed to become a success. He never wanted any special treatment because of his blindness, but his stubbornness led him to drug addiction like so many other entertainers.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Middle Men (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 04, 2011  | 
An ordinary businessman (Luke Wilson) becomes embroiled in a dark and dangerous world of questionable morals and organized crime during the early days of the Internet. The family man has a successful career and idyllic live until he gets involved with two troubled geniuses who need business advice on getting their Internet scheme off the ground.

One would think a story about the birth of Internet porn would sizzle with excitement, but that's far from the case here. The screenplay lacks direction with silly subplots and then suddenly takes a bizarre turn in the third act. It can be funny at times, but mostly it's boring and uninteresting.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Life As We Know It (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 02, 2011  | 
Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Messer (Josh Duhamel) can't stand each other but share a love for their goddaughter Sophie. When tragedy strikes and takes the young girl's parents away, the pair is forced to raise the child under the same roof and must learn to set aside their differences. Well, it's easier said than done.

There's definitely a female slant to this story and my wife enjoyed this much more than I did, but watching nearly two hours of Heigl in high-definition certainly makes up for the far-fetched story. Even though I wasn't the target demographic, I did find myself laughing-out-loud a few times, especially when the novice new guardians had to change a diaper for the first time and had the joy of baby proofing the house!

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2—Walt Disney Pictures
David Vaughn  |  Feb 02, 2011  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 2/5
Puppy mayhem turns the lives of newlywed Chihuahua parents Papi and Chloe upside down when their rambunctious, mischievous puppies present one challenge after another. But when their human owners end up in trouble, the tiny pups will stop at nothing to save them, because in good times and hard times, the family always sticks together. So Papi, Chloe, and the puppies embark on a heroic adventure, proving once again that bug heroes come in small packages.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Never Let Me Go—Fox Searchlight
Kris Deering  |  Feb 02, 2011  | 
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5
Kathy, Tommy and Ruth live in a world and a time that feel familiar to us, but are not quite like anything we know. They spend their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. When they leave the shelter of the school and the terrible truth of their fate is revealed to them, they must also confront the deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to pull them apart.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Red Hill—Sony Pictures
Kris Deering  |  Feb 01, 2011  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: .5/5
Constable Shane Cooper arrives in the small town of Red Hill in search of a quieter life. But, on Cooper's first day with the Red Hill Police Department, a convicted murderer escapes from prison and heads straight for Red Hill to kill the men who put him there. One by one, the townsmen fall until Cooper discovers the shocking truth about the convict, and must challenge everything he believes in order to stop the massacre and bring justice to "Red Hill".
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Buried—Lionsgate
Kris Deering  |  Feb 01, 2011  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2.5/5
Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up 6 feet underground with no idea of who put him there or why, life for the truck driver and family man instantly becomes a hellish struggle for survival. Buried with only a cell phone and a lighter, his contact with the outside world and ability to piece together clues that could help discover his location are maddeningly limited. Poor reception, a rapidly draining batter, and a dwindling oxygen supply become his worst enemies in a tightly confined race against time - fighting panic, despair and delirium, Paul has only 90 minutes to be rescued before his worst nightmare becomes true.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Hoodwinked—Vivendi
Kris Deering  |  Feb 01, 2011  | 
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 2.5/5
When the police arrive at Granny's cottage in the woods to answer a domestic disturbance call, it looks like just another open-and-shut case. But Red, Granny, the Big Bad Wolf and the Woodsman are not your usual suspects, as they have their own dark secrets, wily deceptions and conflicting accounts of the crime.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Alice in Wonderland - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jan 31, 2011  | 
While dozing off, young Alice dreams about falling down a rabbit hole that is populated by a peculiar series of misadventures. The always sensible Alice whirls through a world of contradictions, imagination, and surprises where she encounters amazing creatures including a pocket watch-toting White Rabbit, the imperious Queen of Hearts and her army of playing cards, and a Cheshire Cat with a lingering smile.

Walt Disney was one of the most influential movie makers of the 20th Century and had considered adapting Lewis Carroll's famous story in 1933, but shelved the idea after Paramount released its version. He later had artist David Hall create some concept art for the project, but WWII intervened and his animated version didn't hit the screen until 1951. On a recent visit to the Walt Disney Museum in San Francisco, I discovered that Walt wasn't too keen on the results of the film and complained that it had no "heart." I tend to agree with him and as a kid this was one of my least favorite Disney productions.

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