Chris Chiarella

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
2015 Blu-ray Gift Guide
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 07, 2015  |  0 comments
As 2015 draws to a close and gift-giving holidays loom, you can take comfort in knowing that Blu-ray is still the king of physical media, and plenty of studios continue to go above and beyond to release extra-special editions of movies, music, and beloved TV series sure to make a lasting impression. Here are 10 for your consideration.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
2016 Blu-ray (plus 4K!) Holiday Gift Guide
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 09, 2016  |  0 comments
It’s time once again to separate the digital wheat from the chaff to find movies, TV shows, and music that make great gifts. Venerable Blu-ray is joined by upstart 4K Ultra HD this year, and even a bit of vinyl for good measure. Whichever holiday you call your own, make it a little brighter with one or more of these.

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3D Blu-ray Movie ReviewsAudio Video News
2017 Holiday Guide: 11 Outstanding Blu-ray Gift Sets
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….
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
2018 Blu-Ray Gift Guide: 10 Standout Boxes
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 14, 2018  |  0 comments
As a year packed with wonderful new high-definition and 4K discs comes to a close, we’ve selected ten standout box sets that are certain to bring a smile to the home theater buff in your life. Each box is special in its own way: some are hefty with gravitas, others have actual heft. All are sure to deliver ample audio/video pleasure plus a bounty of bonus features to enjoy through the new year and beyond.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
2019 Blu-ray Gift Guide: 10 Box Sets to Give...& Get
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 03, 2019  |  0 comments
The time has come to not only celebrate the holidays, but also our favorite movies and TV shows, in high- or ultra high-definition, with Atmos sound (where available), and with extras galore. Once again, we invite you to sit back and peruse our picks of the year's most exciting boxed sets to give and to receive.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
2020 Blu-ray Gift Guide: Blu Cheer
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 09, 2020  |  0 comments
Each autumn, I fret that we won't be able to find ten worthy entries for this gotta-have-'em list, and every year am genuinely surprised at the bounty that has somehow remained heretofore unreleased. I guess there will always be anniversaries and restorations and quadrilogies and the like, and as long as the studios keep investing the time and care to craft these disc-filled boxes we enjoy so much, we'll continue recommending the cream of the crop to help stoke seasonal merriment.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
2021 Blu-Ray Holiday Gift Guide
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 07, 2021  |  0 comments
It's been a strange year for the entertainment industry, with controversial showdowns involving streaming versus the in-theater experience calling the future of both into question. We continued to hear news of physical media's demise as well, yet here we are again looking at ten gift-worthy new regular and Ultra HD Blu-ray options.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
2023 Blu-ray Holiday Gift Guide
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 06, 2023  |  3 comments
In my experience, we home entertainment enthusiasts and physical media collectors enjoy sharing, bringing the gift of movies and music to like-minded loved ones and maybe even (if we’ve been nicer than naughty) building out our own personal libraries. To help y’all get a handle on some of the best offerings this year, we’ve taken the liberty of grouping our recommendations into a few tempting categories.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
21 Jump Street
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 10, 2012  |  12 comments
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Adaptations of old TV shows are a mixed bag, especially when filmmakers take the risky step of amping up the comedy factor of the original. The new gold standard of this bawdy-yet-reverent approach is 21 Jump Street, with much of the credit belonging to star/executive producer/co-writer Jonah Hill. He plays a brainy high school loser who, years later, winds up enrolling in the police academy at the same time as his brawny erstwhile tormentor (Channing Tatum).
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
300
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 27, 2020  |  0 comments
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Inspired by the 1962 Cinemascope epic The 300 Spartans that he saw as a lad, writer/artist Frank Miller would go on to create the five-issue graphic novel 300, a wildly stylized, heavily fictionalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae. In his telling, full of indelible images and gruesome violence, the historical events of brave King Leonidas and his 15-score soldiers' resistance against an innumerable horde are elevated to nigh-mythological status. Led by the self-proclaimed god-king Xerxes, Persia was mercilessly conquering much of the world, but the willful Spartans, still renowned as the greatest warriors ever, dared to stand their ground.
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