3D Blu-ray Movie Reviews

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Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 21, 2023  |  1 comments
A few more noteworthy titles just slid down the chimney, past our deadline for the Entertainment Holiday Gift Guide in the pages of the magazine but a dazzling menagerie nonetheless, and deserving of our consideration, so we hereby present an additional mini-sackful of eminently giftable Blu-rays.
Roger Kanno  |  Sep 06, 2019  |  2 comments
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Expectations for the release of Alita: Battle Angel, the long-awaited film adaptation of the Japanese cyberpunk manga series, Battle Angel Alita, ran extremely high, no doubt due to the high-profile names involved in its production. Co-written and co-produced by James Cameron and directed by Robert Rodriguez, it stars Rosa Salazar as cyborg-warrior Alita, with supporting performances by past Academy Award recipients Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, and Christoph Waltz.
Chris Chiarella  |  Sep 21, 2018  |  0 comments
The monthly announcements of upcoming Criterion releases often list films I can’t pronounce, let alone recognize. But in truth, the esteemed specialty label splits its attention between lesser- known cinema and popular movies, and this recent Blu-ray menagerie holds a pair of Oscar-winners, an enduring 1985 hit, and a singular genre classic.
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 29, 2017  |  0 comments
So, apparently putting a bow on a fancy new TV and cramming it under the tree (or wherever your holiday customs dictate) is a thing now, which means you (or some lucky recipient) will need something extra-good to watch on it. We’ve got you covered. Each of the Blu-ray titles on our 2017 holiday list have been hand-picked to bring the merriest of AV enjoyment — half of this year’s crop even elevates the holiday cheer to 4K status. Sort of makes me think that poor VHS has become the modern equivalent of a lump of coal….
Brandon A. DuHamel  |  Jun 30, 2017  |  1 comments
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Marvel explores its mystical side is in this mind-bending, psychedelic entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe directed by Scott Derrickson. Benedict Cumberbatch plays brilliant but egotistical neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange, who loses the use of his hands, and subsequently his career, when he crashes his supercar. Strange travels to Kathmandu seeking a supernatural cure for his injuries. There, an immortal sorceress, the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), accepts him as her pupil, trains him in the mystic arts, and turns him into a powerful sorcerer.
David Vaughn  |  Jun 23, 2017  |  0 comments
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Director Ang Lee’s middling story really isn’t the reason to force your way through this film; it’s the innovative photography that’s worth your time. Lee shot the film at 120 frames per second, which is a perfect multiplier of the UHD Blu-ray’s 60 fps and Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D’s 24 fps, so it made it easy on Sony to release the film on multiple formats and into theaters.
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 16, 2017  |  22 comments
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The brave, spirited non-princess of the title is still learning how to lead her village when a when a mysterious curse befalls their island. Despite a lifetime of warnings from her father the chief, she sets sail upon an epic journey to save her people, seeking the help of a misunderstood demigod along the way. A tale of destiny, selflessness, and family, Moana is filled with beauty, magic, and wonder and is among the very finest films to ever come from Disney.
Chris Chiarella  |  Mar 03, 2017  |  2 comments
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The mind reels at the creativity needed to craft a sequel to Finding Nemo, once the most popular Pixar movie of them all. The results pick up a year after clownfish-dad Marlin went on a quest to locate his missing son, and now traveling companion Dory is the one in need of finding. The lovably forgetful blue tang (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) is on her own mission now, to reconnect with her parents, but soon enough she’s “trapped” at a marine biology theme park, reunited with some chums of her youth and aided by some new aquatic allies.
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 07, 2017  |  0 comments
Solus Audio introduced a 5.2-channel system the size and shape of a desk at this year's CES. But though the StreamAV was present at the exhibit, the product actually playing was the Entré II monitor, which uses the company's H-PAS bass extension technology.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 23, 2016  |  0 comments
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I’d heard of Angry Birds but completely missed their first flight of fame in an immensely popular game for smartphones. Subsequently, they went bird-flu viral with follow-up games, an animated TV series, and more. A movie launch was inevitable. It features hotheaded Red and other (non-flighted!) feathered citizens of Bird Island. Sentenced to take an anger management course, Red meets a few similarly explosive (sometimes literally!) souls.
David Vaughn  |  Dec 02, 2016  |  0 comments
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By the mid-1960s, it was estimated that 90 percent of the humpback whales were gone from the Earth when a moratorium was put in place throughout most of the world. Fortunately, the population started to grow again, and there’s now an estimated 80,000 throughout the world. I’m old enough to remember the “Save the Whales” campaign in the mid-1970s as well as George and Gracie from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in 1986 where it took the songs of the humpbacks to save Earth from sure destruction by an alien vessel.
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 28, 2016  |  0 comments
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In late 1820, the whaling ship Essex, out of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was rammed and sunk by an enraged sperm whale. The captain and his crew were left stranded in the Pacific Ocean, 2,500 miles from mainland South America. The true story of their ordeal in tiny whaling boats, where many of the crew perished as the survivors slowly made their way to an eventual rescue, partially inspired both Nathaniel Philbrick’s book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.
Chris Chiarella  |  Jul 01, 2016  |  0 comments
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Ever wonder what would happen if the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs missed Earth instead, enabling our prehistoric pals to evolve into the dominant animals on the planet, rather than man? Regardless of your answer, here’s The Good Dinosaur, a rare misfire from the esteemed Pixar gang. While we on the sofa are still wrestling with the ramifications of this bizarre setup, we’re introduced to a family of dino farmers: no, seriously, a pack of apatosauruses that harvests corn and plows the field with their blunt heads.
Avi Greengart  |  May 27, 2016  |  3 comments
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The opening titles of Everest promise that this movie is based on a true story, but then we are led through what appears to be a standard Hollywood man-versus-nature tale, complete with distinct one-note characters to root for. There’s the super-climber who built a business around adventure tourism, complete with a pregnant wife at home. A former protégé,
Chris Chiarella  |  May 20, 2016  |  0 comments
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We often live in a locked-down world of dread these days, especially when the subject of the World Trade Center arises. But in the summer of 1974, one week before his 25th birthday, Philippe Petit made headlines with a self-propelled trip between the rooftops of the Twin Towers, and it has become a modern legend almost too daring to be believed. Driven by an all-consuming passion for his wire-walking art and unable to resist the majestic pull of those magnificent skyscrapers since first learning of their construction, Philippe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) truly risked everything to fulfill his dream.

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