Blu-ray Movie Reviews

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/werewolf.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>When two American tourists are attacked by a strange creature in the English countryside, only one survives. While recovering in a London hospital, he starts to have strange and vivid dreams about the attack. Out of the blue, his deceased friend visits him from the afterlife and lets him know they were attacked by a werewolf, and by surviving, he is now one himself. In order to end the deadly cycle, he must kill himself before transforming during the next full moon.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/shaun.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a lovable loser spending his days working as a clerk in an electronics store and looking forward to a few after-hours pints at the local pub with his best friend and roommate Ed (Nick Frost). Life takes a turn for the worse when his girlfriend (Kate Ashfield) dumps him, his stepfather (Bill Nighy) berates him for ignoring his mother (Penelope Wilton), and&#151;oh yeah&#151;the dead return to stake their claim to the Earth. Instead of running scared, Shaun uses the opportunity to prove his manhood, and not even the undead can stand in his way.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/TOS2.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and crew are back for the second season of <i>Star Trek</i>, and unlike season one, this is the first we've seen these episodes in glorious 1080p. Season two has several strong episodes that tackle heavy social issues and offer up planet-eating monsters, a murder mystery, and those wonderful tribbles.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/hotfuzz.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Simon Pegg's and Edgar Writt's ode to buddy-cop films was one of the best-looking HD DVDs ever released, and Universal has actually improved things on Blu-ray. Both VC-1 encodes are flawless, but the audio is improved with a kick-ass DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray version. The surround channels are extremely active, the bass rocks, and the dialog sounds as if the actors are sitting in the room.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/fringe.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>A young, beautiful, and determined FBI agent (Anna Torv) forms an unlikely alliance with a brilliant scientist (John Noble), who's spent the last 17 years in a mental institution, and his sarcastic son (Joshua Jackson) to investigate a series of bizarre deaths and disasters known as "the Pattern." They suspect someone is using the world as a laboratory, and all clues lead back to a powerful corporation called Massive Dynamic.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/heroes3.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Due to the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike in 2007, season two of <i>Heroes</i> included only 11 episodes, and its tepid start and hasty finale left fans with a glimmer of hope that the series would rediscover the mojo it had during its first season. One complaint was its season-long story arc frustrated viewers, so executive producer/creator Tim Kring decided to split the season into two parts, "Villains" and "Fugitives."