Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Harry Potter Year 3 and 4 Ultimate Editions
David Vaughn  |  Nov 03, 2010  | 
Year three at Hogwarts means new challenges for Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) as he learns how to approach a Hippogriff, transform Boggarts with hilarity, and turn back time. But there's danger on the horizon as soul-sucking Dementors are on the prowl and a fearsome wizard Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) escapes Azkaban.

In year four, Harry's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire and he becomes the youngest competitor in the famed Triwizard Tournament. Harry must confront a fire breathing dragon, water demons, and a spooky maze in order to claim the top prize. When all is said and done, the young man must face his mortal enemy, Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Toy Story 3
David Vaughn  |  Nov 02, 2010  | 
As Andy prepares to leave for college, his mother asks what he wants to do with his old toys. When they end up at a day-care center, Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen) must help the old gang escape from the toddlers' torture chamber and find their way back to Andy's room before he departs.

How do you top one of the greatest sequels ever made? Screenwriter Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) somehow captures lightning in a bottle for the third time by taking our heroes and mixing them up with a new cast of characters that include Ken (Michael Keaton), a thespian hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton), and the evil pink teddy bear Lotso (Ned Beaty), who sentences the new toys to the toddlers' room.

Every Pixar release has been a demo showpiece, and this one is no exception. The 1080p video encode is perfect, and the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 soundtrack features reference-quality dynamics, frequency response, and surround envelopment.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Complete Season Two (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Nov 01, 2010  | 
Much like The Empire Strikes Back, season two of The Clone Wars sets a darker tone as the war between the Republic and the Separatists continues. The Jedi Knights are still a central part of the story but they face a myriad of enemies including the ruthless bounty hunter Cad Bain (voiced by Corey Burton), space pirates, a Zillow Beast, mind-controlling worms, and Boba Fett (Daniel Logan) who's seeking to avenge his father's death.

My family fell in love with the series after watching season one on Blu-ray and we watched all of season two on Cartoon Network. As much as we enjoyed the episodes, the experience on cable pales in comparison to the Blu-ray. The video quality is vastly improved with no compression issues and I prefer the look of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to the 1.78:1 HD cable feed. I'm disappointed the audio is a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track versus Dolby TrueHD, but it's certainly an improvement over the stereo feed through cable.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Sex and the City 2 (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 29, 2010  | 
What happens after you say "I do"? With three of the quartet married, how do they get out on the town and have a good time? They don't. Instead, the girls get together for a trip to Abu Dhabi when a wealthy sheik asks Samantha (Kim Cattrall) to visit his luxury hotel, hoping she will promote it in America. With her three best pals in tow, they jet off on a first-class trip to paradise away from the stresses of marriage, kids, and careers.

As a fan of the TV show and the first movie I thought I would enjoy spending more time with the characters I'd gotten to know over the years. Boy was I wrong. The script is pathetically weak and bloated and characters have lost their appeal as they've aged. Not their sex appeal, which is perfectly fine—it's their vomit-inducing narcissistic behavior that wears you out over the 146 minutes and the far-fetched storytelling doesn't help matters.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Alien Anthology (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
On its return trip to Earth, the Nostromo intercepts a distress call from a distant planet. The crew is awakened from cryo-sleep by the ship's computer and goes to the planet to investigate. It turns out the signal wasn't a call for help; it was a warning to stay clear. When one of the crew is attacked by an Alien lifeform, the other crew members have no idea what they've unleashed upon themselves by letting the man back on the ship.

In the excellent sequel Aliens, we catch up with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) after her harrowing escape in the first movie. Fifty-seven years have past when she's found floating in space in cryo-sleep and no one from "the company" believes her horrific tale of survival until all contact is lost with the colonists from planet LV-426, which is introduced in the first movie. Soon she finds herself headed back to the dreaded planet with a team of Marines to investigate.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Oceans—Disney Nature (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5
Dive into "Oceans" from Disneynature - the studio that brought you earth for a spectacular story about remarkable creatures under the sea. Stunning images await as you journey into the depths of a wonderland filled with mystery, beauty and power. It's an unprecedented look at the lives of these illusive deepwater creatures through their own eyes. Incredible state-of-the-art-underwater filmmaking will take your breath away as you migrate with whales, swim alongside a great white shark and race with dolphins at play. Filled with adventure, comedy and drama, Oceans is a fascinating and thought-provoking experience you'll never forget.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World—Universal (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 4.5/5
Scott Pilgrim has never had a problem getting a girlfriend. It's getting rid of them that proves difficult. From the girl who kicked his heart's ass - and now is back in town - to the teenage distraction he's trying to shake when Ramona rollerblades into his world, love hasn't been easy. He soon discovers, however, his new crush has the most unusual baggage of all: a nefarious league of exes controls her love life and will do whatever it takes to eliminate him as a suitor. As Scott gets closer to Ramona, he must face an increasingly vicious rogues' gallery from her past - from infamous skateboarders to vegan rock stars and fearsome identical twins. And if he hopes to win his true love, he must vanquish them all before it really is game over.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Toy Story 3—Walt Disney/Pixar (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 4.5/5
As Andy prepares to depart for college, Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of Andy's faithful toys wonder what will become of them. But, when a mix-up lands them at Sunnyside Daycare, they meet a host of new toys and soon discover a wild new adventure is just beginning!
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Highlander—Lionsgate (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 1.5/5
After Scottish clansman Connor MacLeod discovers his true identity as a member of a legion of immortals, he embarks on a legendary journey spanning continents and centuries, eventually landing in modern-day New York City. Connor faces his ultimate test when other immortals begin to appear in the city, leading to a titanic showdown where only one can claim victory.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Girl Who Played With Fire—Music Box Films (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 1/5
In "The Girl Who Played With Fire" - the second installment in the "Millennium" trilogy following "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" - Mikael Blomkvist is about to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society. On the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Fringe: The Complete Second Season—Warner Bros/Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3/5
Return to explore the boundaries of a mysterious mythology that holds millions of viewers in its hypnotic grasp. This 6-Disc, 22-Episode Season 2 of Fringe contains worlds (and alternate worlds) of excitement complete with shape shifters, cryonic heads, belly-dwelling beasts and people who turn to ashes before our eyes. But the overarching narrative takes three clandestine FBI agents - Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop and Walter Bishop - through a mind-bending investigation of a parallel reality that threatens to destroy ours.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Alien Anthology—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Oct 27, 2010  | 
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 5/5
"Alien Anthology" includes "Alien", "Aliens", "Alien 3" and "Alien Resurrection". "Alien": The terror begins when the crew of the spaceship Nostromo investigates a transmission from a desolate planet and makes a horrifying discovery - a life form that breeds within a human host. Now the crew must fight not only for its own survival, but for the survival of all mankind. "Aliens": In this action-packed sequel to "Alien", Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, the only survivor from mankind's first encounter with the monstrous "Alien". Her account of the Alien and the fate of her crew are received with skepticism - until the mysterious disappearance of colonists on LV-426 leads her to join a team of high-tech colonial marines sent in to investigate. "Aliens 3" - Lt. Ripley is the lone survivor when her crippled spaceship crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wastelands inhabited by former inmates of the planet's maximum security prison. Ripley's fears that an Alien was aboard her craft are confirmed when the mutilated bodies of ex-cons begin to mount. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley must lead the men into battle against the terrifying creature. And soon she discovers a horrifying fact about her link with the Alien, a realization that may compel Ripley to try destroying not only the horrific creature, but herself as well. "Alien Resurrection": Ellen Ripley died fighting the perfect predator. Two hundred years and eight horrific experiments later, she's back. A group of scientists has cloned her - along with the alien queen inside her - hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the resurrected Ripley is full of surprises for her "creators," as are the aliens. And soon, a lot more than "all hell" breaks loose! To combat the creatures, Ripley must team up with a band of smugglers, including a mechanic named Call, who holds more than a few surprises of her own.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Pacific (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 25, 2010  | 
Executive producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman, who brought us Band of Brothers, deliver another WWII masterpiece about the battles in the Pacific. The 10-part miniseries follows the true-life stories of Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), John Basilone (Joe Mazello), and Eugene Sledge (Jon Seda) as they fight their way across the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. It all starts with the horrific conflict of Guadalcanal, continues to Cape Gloucester and Peleliu, then to the famous combat at Iwo Jima, the terror of Okinawa, and finally their return home after V-J Day and how the mental scars of battle aren't easily forgotten.

Given its massive budget (estimated to be $195 million), I expected the battle scenes to rival those in Saving Private Ryan—which they do in their scope and visceral impact—but it's the psychological struggles of our three heroes that kept me riveted. Not only do they have to fight a relentless enemy in the Japanese, but they must cope with the elements—suffocating heat, malaria, tropical rainstorms—and somehow keep a grasp on their own humanity. If they're fortunate enough to survive and return home, how will they acclimate to the civilized world after spending four years in hell?

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Moulin Rouge (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Oct 22, 2010  | 
Satine (Nicole Kidman) is a seductive courtesan and star of a popular French nightclub that caters to society's decadent elite. When she unwittingly draws Christian (Ewan McGregor) into her spell, true love turns to tragedy.

Moulin Rouge is one of the most unique films of the 21st century featuring outstanding performances by the two leads, elaborate sets, and entertaining music and choreography. Kidman was rewarded with her first of two Oscar nominations (winning the following year for The Hours) and the film received seven additional nominations including Best Picture (winning two awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design). Sadly, writer/director Baz Luhrmann was snubbed for Best Director although I feel he was more than deserving.

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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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