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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Kingdom
David Vaughn  |  Nov 23, 2008

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/thekingdom.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>When Islamic terrorists attack United States citizens in Saudi Arabia, the FBI wants to dispatch an investigative team to track down the people responsible. Unfortunately, the Attorney General and the State Department are more worried about politics and diplomacy than justice, so the FBI takes matters into its own hands. Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) and his three-man team circumvent the system and gain access to the crime scene only to find the local authorities stonewalling them at every turn.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Kings Speech (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 18, 2011
After the death of his father and the scandalous abdication of his brother King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth), who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all of his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually forge a genuine friendship.

Taking home the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler), I had extremely high expectations of this film and they were mostly met. That being said, I don't think this was the best picture of 2010, my pick would be The Social Network, but I can see why the Academy chose this film due to the lavish sets, decadent costumes, and historically significant story.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Last Kiss (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 18, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/lastkiss.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Michael (Zach Braff) is immature and dreads both his 30th birthday and marrying Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), who's carrying his unborn child. When he meets Kim (Rachel Bilson) at a wedding, she makes him feel 10 years younger, and he questions whether he should be taking himself off the market.

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Director's Intent: Kaleidescape 4K
The Last Of Us
David Vaughn  |  May 14, 2023

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HBO has a long tradition of creating “must watch” shows over the past 25 years. Their latest hit, The Last of Us, is based on the video game of the same name that was developed by Naughty Dog and released back in 2013 for the PlayStation 3. The series is created by Craig Mazin, known for his work on the HBO series Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, the writer and creative director of the video game.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Last Song (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Aug 24, 2010
Banished by their mother (Kelly Preston) to spend the summer with their father (Greg Kinnear) in Georgia, Veronica (Miley Cyrus) and her younger brother Jonah (Bobby Coleman) get a chance to reconnect with him since their parents divorced a few years earlier. Before the split, Veronica would spend countless hours together at the piano and since he left she has refused to play despite receiving a scholarship offer to Julliard. Can a summer with her father rekindle her desire to play or will other circumstances alter her life?

Written by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook), The Last Song certainly caters to a female audience but I can't say I didn't enjoy certain aspects of the production. The screenplay is very melodramatic with pitfalls lurking behind every corner, although I felt the performances by Kinnear as the loving father was genuine and young Coleman steals the show with some great one-liners. Cyrus has improved as an actress, but still has quite a ways to go to graduate to more adult productions.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Last Starfighter (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Aug 15, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/laststar.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>After attaining the highest score in the Starfighter video game, Earthling Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) is recruited by the mysterious Centauri (Robert Preston) to be a part of an elite legion of fighters defending the interstellar frontier against Xur and The Kodan Armada. Leaving behind his trailer-park home for outer space, Alex is the last hope for the galaxy.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Last Word (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 17, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/lastword.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Evan Merck (We Bentley) is one weird dude who makes a living writing suicide notes for people planning their own demise. His world turns topsy-turvy when he meets Charlotte (Winona Ryder), the sister of a former client, and he's forced to lie about his relationship with her now-departed brother in order to pursue a relationship.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Lincoln Lawyer
David Vaughn  |  Jul 11, 2011
As a defense attorney, your job isn't to decide who's guilty or innocent, it's to make sure your client gets a fair trial and to present the facts of the case in a way to provide the jury with reasonable doubt in order to gain an acquittal. Hotshot Los Angeles lawyer Mickey Hailer (Matthew McConaughey) is hired to defend a wealthy young man (Ryan Phillippe) who's accused of rape and suddenly finds himself embroiled in a game of deception that threatens not only his career, but his own life.

Based on the book by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a while. The pacing and acting are both topnotch and l loved the twists and turns in the story. Furthermore, the video encode is picture perfect with razor-sharp detail, striking contrast, and inviting shadows.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Lion King 3D
David Vaughn  |  Oct 05, 2011
Forced into exile by his evil Uncle Scar after the death of his father, young Simba hooks up with a meerkat named Timon and his warthog chum Pumbaa. Adopting their carefree lifestyle, Simba ignores his real responsibilities until he realizes his destiny and returns to the Pride Lands to stake his claim to the throne.

When The Lion King hit theaters in 1994, Disney had its third animation success in a row and solidified the fact that the studio had regained its hit-creating mojo. The voice cast is outstanding, the story is inspiring, and the soundtrack is just as fun today as it was last century. Looking to capitalize on the 3D craze hitting Hollywood, Disney converted the hand-drawn animated film into the new format with surprisingly good results. While it doesn't look quite as good as Beauty and the Beast, it fares much better than some live-action conversions I've seen.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews3D Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Lorax
David Vaughn  |  Nov 12, 2012
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L ooking to impress the girl of his dreams by finding her a real-life Truffula tree, Ted Wiggins follows the advice of his grandmother and ventures outside the walls of Thneedville in search of the Once-ler. At first, the reclusive old man wants nothing to do with the teenage boy, but he eventually tells his story of how greed and ignorance led to the destruction of the Truffula forest and how he should have listened to the warnings of the mystical Lorax—the protector of the trees. Looking for a chance at redemption, the Once-ler put his faith in the teenager to correct the errors of his ways, although the ruthless Aloysius O’Hare will stop at nothing to deter the young lad from fulfilling his destiny to restore the trees and get the girl.
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