Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 04, 2024  | 
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With David Fincher at the helm and a clever script by James Vanderbilt, Zodiac tells its story thoughtfully, unhurriedly, and with a great specificity befitting one of the most notorious true-crime sagas in American history.
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 02, 2024  | 
Some independent home entertainment labels excel at rescuing obscure titles and reinventing them as deluxe editions, far beyond even what the majors do with their blockbusters. That’s the deal with Severin Films, serving up a slew of fascinating titles with gorgeous 4K remasters, alternate versions, deeply researched extras and next-level packaging.
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 28, 2024  | 
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The sequel that no one asked for but seemingly everybody enjoyed, Twisters takes advantage of decades of advances in meteorology and special effects technology to bring us a modern take on feisty storm chasers in the American Midwest.
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 23, 2024  | 
Not exactly a profound epiphany, I’ll admit, but I believe that the reason so many of us look forward to Halloween each year is that it’s simply a fun holiday. It’s fun to dress up, it’s a fun excuse to eat more Snickers Almonds than usual, and it’s even fun to be scared, particularly in the controlled environment of the home theater.
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 22, 2024  | 
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A lot was riding on Wade Wilson’s red-spandex-clad shoulders. Not only did he have to save his friends, his world, and reality as we know it (more on that in a moment), but he had to stick the landing of his movie trilogy and resuscitate the notoriously flagging Marvel Cinematic Universe. And with his audacious threequel, Deadpool & Wolverine, he did it.

Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 05, 2024  | 
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The Bad Boys action-comedy franchise will be turning 30 next year, and there’s no denying that—with this fourth film, Ride or Die—it’s feeling a little long in the tooth.

As if to illustrate that point, too-cool detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) is finally tying the knot, while his partner Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) suffers a near-fatal heart attack that compels him to reevaluate his life.

Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 03, 2024  | 
Even in the face of streaming’s runaway success, TV shows on physical media remain pretty damned popular, aided in large part by the studios’ aggressive ongoing HD and 4K remastering of the classics—largely in service to archiving and to providing the best possible quality on the aforementioned streamers—in addition to the collectability of the latest and greatest series. Whatever the reason, a generous and eclectic new crop has arrived for our viewing enjoyment, so clear some room on those shelves.

Chris Chiarella  |  Sep 28, 2024  |  First Published: Sep 29, 2024  | 
The Ladykillers (1955)
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Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
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This month, Kino Lorber Studio Classics has dropped a pair of classic crime flicks, a dark comedy and one of the all-time great whodunnits. I first discovered The Ladykillers back in film school, and its endearing British charm remains central to its enduring appeal.
Ralph Potts  |  Aug 30, 2024  | 
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Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is the latest entry in the Monsterverse film franchise, pitting Kong and Godzilla, against an undiscovered threat while delving further into the histories of these Titans and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond.

Ralph Potts  |  Aug 23, 2024  | 
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Dune: Part Two is the second installment in director Denis Villeneuve’s film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel. It explores the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future.

Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 16, 2024  | 
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Anne Parillaud stars as La Femme Nikita (or just plain “Nikita” on the title card), a feral young heroin addict convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, before a shadowy government organization swoops in and procures her for an elite training program. Her old life is over as she is polished into a resourceful super-agent, ready to do whatever her bosses ask whenever they call, even if it means killing at a moment’s notice. The 1990 French spy thriller is superbly restored on 4K Blu-ray.

Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 09, 2024  | 
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After early stints writing comic books and the screenplay for Richard Donner’s Assassins, the Wachowskis (Lana and Lilly) were ready to make their directorial debut with Bound, an edgy suspense thriller with a surprisingly sweet, intense love story at its core. Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon star as two women who concoct a risky scheme to steal $2 million from the mob as a way out of their mob-connected lifestyles. As often happens, their careful plotting counts for nothing when miscalculations send the plan sideways.

Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 02, 2024  | 
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Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson as a world-weary private investigator, is an entertaining and brilliantly constructed period fiction about the very real history of Los Angeles. Paramount’s new 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition offers up a generous complement of bonus content that teaches us plenty about the true events on which the story is based as well as behind-the-scenes drama.

Josef Krebs  |  Jul 26, 2024  | 
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A woman who has committed suicide is given a baby’s brain by a brilliant but demented surgeon (Willem Dafoe) before being reanimated using traditional mad-scientist electrical feats. Thereafter, Bella (Emma Stone) must gradually learn everything from scratch, just as a child must. In this unique film (nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning four), a Frankenstein-like tale is told in unique episodes as Bella conquers various stages of understanding people, books, and the ways of the world while experiencing new adventures as she travels from Victorian London to Lisbon, Africa, and Paris.

Pi
Chris Chiarella  |  Jul 19, 2024  | 
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Pi tells the story of Max Cohen, a tortured mathematical genius who sees the world as few do, detecting the patterns that exist all around us. He’s searching for an elusive 216-digit number that could have applications in the stock market and even in the divine, but his obsession might be killing him, or driving him insane, or both. And then paranoia creeps in, as forces seek to exploit his not-so-beautiful mind. What the filmmakers lacked in dollars they more than made up for in creativity, yielding a brisk, gripping tale told with genuine tension.

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