<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/woz.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The American Film Institute's #10 film of all time makes its glorious debut on Blu-ray. Warner has done a marvelous restoration job, as <I>UAV</I> Editor Scott Wilkinson explains in <A href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-gear/behind_the_curtain/">this report</A>. Here, I'll highlight a couple of jaw-dropping scenes that illustrate how this work translates to the finished project. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track won't shake the foundation, but given its age, it sounds remarkably good, especially when Judy Garland belts out a tune.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/gladiator.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>One of the most eagerly awaited titles makes its debut on Blu-ray with Paramount's new brand—Sapphire Series—promising the pinnacle in both picture and sound. Unfortunately, <i>Gladiator</i> only fulfills half the promise—the audio is outstanding, but the video is a shameful example of using an older master not fit for HD release.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/wwonka.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Roald Dahl's classic story tells the tale of five kids who find a golden ticket that entitles them to visit the secretive Wonka Chocolate factory, where one worthy child will win a lifetime supply of chocolate. Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), a poor kid who lives with his mother and two sets of grandparents in the shadow of the factory, is one of the lucky five. The others—well, let's just say they are the result of bad parenting and poor choices.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/snowwhite.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>This is the time-honored story of a princess (voiced by Adriana Caselotti) whose blossoming beauty disturbs her insecure stepmother, the Queen (Lucille La Verne). Each day, the Queen asks a mysterious magic mirror (Moroni Olsen) the question: "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" For years, the mirror answers the Queen's name, but when it suddenly says Snow White, the evil woman begins her quest to kill the young girl so she may once again be the fairest of them all.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/tngmovies.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT> With178 TV episodes under its belt, the cast of <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> made its feature-film debut in 1994's <i>Star Trek: Generations</i>, which passed the baton from Kirk and company to Picard's crew. The film opens with a retired James T. Kirk aboard the Enterprise-B as it makes its maiden voyage, but when a distress call comes from a nearby ship, Kirk apparently pays the ultimate price helping the new captain save his ship from a mysterious energy ribbon. Seventy-eight years later, the Enterprise-D encounters an enigmatic humanoid named Soran, who's devious plan will cost millions of lives, and only Picard and Kirk—who's been living in limbo all this time—can stop him.
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.25/5
Extras: 3/5 At first, backup quarterback Jonathan "Mox" Moxon is nowhere close to being a football star. He's perfectly content to stay on the bench and out of the win-at-all-cost strategies of coach Bud Kilmer. But when the starting quarterback is injured, Mox is in the game...and in direct conflict with his hotheaded coach and girlfriend. Soon everyone in Mox's football-crazed community will realize there's not just a new star quarterback in town, there's a new kind of hero.
Video: 3.75/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 5/5 It's been a hell of a day on the highway. When Federal Officers Elizabeth Anderson and Sam Hallaway arrive at Captain Billing's office, they have three sets of stories to figure out and a string of vicious murders to consider. One zealot cop, a strung out junkie and an eight year old girl all sit in testimony to the roadside rampage, but as the Feds begin to expose the fragile little details each witness conceals so carefully with a well practiced lie, they soon discover that uncovering "the truth" can come at a very big cost.
Video: 4.25/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 5/5 At the Forest Ridge Mall, head of security Ronnie Barnhardt patrols his jurisdiction with an iron fist. The master of his domain, he combats skateboarders, shoplifters and the occasional unruly customer while dreaming of the day when he can swap his flashlight for a badge and a gun. Ronnie's delusions of grandeur are put to the test when the mall is struck by a flasher. Driven by his personal duty to protect and serve the mall and its patrons, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his underappreciated law enforcement talents on a grand scale, hoping his solution of this crime will earn him a coveted spot at the police academy and the heart of his elusive dream girl Brandi, the hot makeup counter clerk who won't give him the time of day. But his single-minded pursuit of glory launches a turf war with the equally competitive Detective Harrison of the Conway Police, and Ronnie is confronted with the challenge of not only catching the flasher, but getting him before the real cops do.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/woz.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Adapted from L. Frank Baum's timeless children's tale, Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog Toto are caught in a tornado and end up in the Land of Oz. In order to return home to Kansas, she must follow the yellow brick road to visit the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan). Along the way she meets the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) who wishes for a brain, the Tinman (Jack Haley) who's longing for a heart, and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) in search of some courage.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/away.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Anticipating the birth of their first child, unmarried couple Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) partake in a cross-country journey to visit family and friends and find the perfect location to raise their child. Along the way, they meet an interesting cast of characters that make their ultimate destination much easier to choose.
Video: 4.25/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 4/5 This pulse-pounding action thriller sinks razor-sharp adamantium claws into the mysterious origins of Logan/Wolverine: his epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed/Sabretooth, and the ominous Weapon X program that unleashes his primal fury. Along the way, Wolverine also encounters legendary new mutants, including Deadpool and Gambit .
Video: 4.75/5
Audio: 4.25/5
Extras: 2/5 Once the high school cheerleading captain who dated the quarterback, Rose Lorkowski now finds herself a thirty-something single mother working as a maid. Her sister Norah is still living at home with her dad Joe, a salesman with a lifelong history of ill-fated get rich quick schemes. Desperate to get her son into a better school, Rose persuades Norah to go into the crime scene clean-up business with her to make some quick cash. In no time, the girls are up to their elbows in murders, suicides and other...specialized situations. As they climb the ranks in a very dirty job, the sisters find new respect for one another and the closeness they have always craved finally blossoms. By building their own improbably business, Rose and Norah open the door to the joys and challenges of being there for one another - no matter what - while discovering personal healing in the most unexpected way.
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3.75/5
Extras: 5/5 The spirited Western stars Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, and Danny Glover as four unwitting heroes who cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail and learn who their real friends are.
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 0/5 In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule's contents and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler. But it's Caleb's father, professor John Koestler, who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As John further unravels the document's chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events - the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve John and his son.
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 3/5 Peter Klaven is a successful real estate agent who, upon getting engaged to the woman of his dreams, Zooey, discovers to his dismay that he has no male friend close enough to serve as his Best Man. Peter immediately embarks on a series of bizarre and awkward "man-dates" to find such a friend, before meeting Sydney Fife, a fun-loving, charismatic man - just Peter's opposite - with whom he instantly bonds. But the closer the two men get, the more Peter's relationship with Zooey suffers, ultimately forcing him to choose between his fianc and his newfound "bro," in a story that comically explores what's at the core of male friendship and what it truly means to be a friend.