Chris Chiarella

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Transformers: Rise of the Steelbooks
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 13, 2023
Overall Rating

As editor Mark Henninger and I discuss on the regular, physical media has become not only about entertainment but collectability, and so we have seen the arrival of new editions that look snazzy on the shelf and that we can flaunt to our friends. Quite a few of the discs I've reviewed recently for S&V have arrived in step-up steelbook cases adorned with exclusive, genuinely inspired artwork. (Take that, streaming!)

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Accessory Reviews
Trick out your PSP
Chris Chiarella  |  Feb 15, 2006
You know you need some accessories.

The vast capabilities of the Sony PlayStation Portable are realized not only with the latest games and movies, but with the targeted devices and software that pop in, snap on, and lord over the content and hardware. The following items are HT Gamer tested and approved.

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Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Triple-Fincher: Se7en, Panic Room and The Social Network on 4K
Chris Chiarella  |  Mar 04, 2025
Se7en (1995)
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Panic Room (2002)
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The Social Network (2010)
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Beyond his unique and powerful visual sense, honed largely on an eclectic mix of music videos, director David Fincher also has a knack for choosing compelling scripts, resulting in several of the boldest, most original and memorable movies of the past three decades. He certainly hasn’t been rushing to make them all available on 4K disc, but two more titles from his catalog have recently dropped, which was apparently reason enough to revisit a third (which remains one of his best).

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Romance
Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 26, 2022
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These days you're not likely to see a Quentin Tarantino script directed by someone else, but there was a time when the young filmmaker-cum-video-store-clerk was raising funds to make his directorial debut (Reservoir Dogs) and sold True Romance, which was ultimately helmed by Top Gun's Tony Scott. The movie took a few years to find its audience—and current cult status—but is now hard to see it as anything but inspired and uniquely entertaining.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
TV Nation: Behind the Candelabra, Arrow and Spartacus: War of the Damned
Chris Chiarella  |  Sep 14, 2013
The small screen serves up some big drama in these three TV-on-Blu-ray releases, from Liberace to slave revolt to big-city vigilante justice.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
TV on Disc: Spring 2025 (Updated)
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 18, 2025  |  Published: Mar 25, 2025

Spring has sprung, which means that a new crop of TV series on Blu-ray, 4K, and humble DVD is ready to harvest. Catch a deep whiff of that fresh-cut grass, then head inside to catch up on old favorites and discover shows that might have flown beneath your radar until now. We’ll also be showcasing an assortment of Japanese animation, starting with…

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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Twisters
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.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Two “Killer” Classics Slay on 4K
Chris Chiarella  |  Sep 28, 2024  |  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.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Us
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 21, 2019
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With Get Out, his first film as writer/director, Jordan Peele introduced us to a refined new form of horror. He was the only filmmaker who could do justice to his Oscar-bound script, finding just the right tone and wringing that last bit of mood from every line, every shot, every performance. Now, with Us, he has raised the stakes, telling a deeper story on a much grander scale.
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Headphone Reviews
V-Moda Vamp Verza Headphone Amp
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 01, 2013

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE Vamp Verza, $598; Metallo case, $101

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Elegant two-piece add-on to enhance smartphone audio
More power, superior DACs
Sleek, serious metal construction
Minus
Makes phone heavy and bulky for your pocket
Metallo case a pricey add-on

THE VERDICT
V-Moda offers a stylish solution to turn your smartphone into the sonic titan you always dreamed it could be.

The Samsung Galaxy S III (a.k.a.GS3) was arguably last year’s second best-selling mobile phone, behind the iPhone 5, and the popularity of this non-Apple device—reportedly over 30 million units in consumers’ hands—in a sea of Android competitors speaks volumes. Smartphones do a lot, often serving as many folks’ primary media player, but they face the quandaries of all modern portable gear: Performance must contend with the realities of physical size and weight, as well as battery life. One such casualty is the diminutive digital-to-analog converter inside the phone, which turns the digital audio signals into analog audio that we can hear over headphones or the built-in speaker. As a GS3 user for the past 11 months, I have no major gripes about the onboard DAC (in this case built into the Qualcomm WCD9310 chip), but it is fair to say that it wasn’t selected only for audio quality, but perhaps partly because it’s tiny and it won’t overwhelm the phone’s battery.

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