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David Vaughn  |  Feb 26, 2010
It's 1967, and poor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) isn't having a good year. His wife is leaving him, his unemployed brother (Richard Kind) is sleeping on his couch, his kids are deviants, and he's being blackmailed by a student at the Midwestern university where he serves as a physics professor. Diving into his faith, Larry seeks the advice of three rabbis. But do they have the answers he seeks?

I'm generally a fan of the Coen brothers' films, but this bizarre tale confused the hell out of me with all the Jewish references. Despite my bewilderment, I couldn't stop thinking about the plot for days afterward, and when revisiting some scenes for this Ultimate Demo, I found myself laughing out loud, and I will certainly revisit it in the future to not only laugh but to enjoy the demo-worthy video presentation.

David Vaughn  |  Feb 17, 2010
This is an entertaining portrait of the early life of Gabriel Bonheur Chanel (Audrey Tautou), an orphan who would build a fashion empire. Known to her friends as Coco, she emerges from an orphanage to a mundane job as a seamstress and eventually ends up as a concubine for an eccentric French aristocrat.

I enjoyed the film, but I was particularly taken with the cinematography featuring lush settings, Oscar-nominated costumes, and the beauty of Audrey Tautou. The color saturation is slightly washed out in most scenes (intentionally), but the fine detail is mesmerizing in the 1080p encode.

David Vaughn  |  Feb 08, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/couplesretreat.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Eight friends group-rate vacation comes at a price when they discover that participation in the resort's unconventional couples therapy is anything but optional.

David Vaughn  |  Feb 08, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/goodfellas20.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on the novel "Wiseguy, Life in a Mafia Family" by Nicholas Pileggi, <i>GoodFellas</i> follows the life of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who started as a gofer for the Mob and advanced through the ranks (although he could never become a "made man" based upon his heritage).

David Vaughn  |  Feb 05, 2010  |  Published: Feb 06, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/fearloathing.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on the book by Hunter S. Thompson about a journalist (Johnny Depp) and his lawyer (Benicio Del Toro) in search of the American dream while gallivanting around Las Vegas for 48 hours high on drugs. Along the way they meet a cast of real life characters including Tobey Maguire, Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey,, Christina Ricci, Mark Harmon, Carmon Diaz, and Lyle Lovett.

David Vaughn  |  Feb 05, 2010
In the near future, humans live their lives through perfect robotic surrogates controlled from the safety of their homes, and murder becomes a thing of the past. But when the son of the surrogates' creator is killed, an FBI agent (Bruce Willis) must reenter the real world to unravel the mysterious death.

To witness the effect of technology on our society, all you have to do is sit in a restaurant and watch families spend more time texting on their smartphones instead of talking to each other. Surrogates takes this to the extreme as humans completely withdraw from society, but it's certainly thought-provoking. Nevertheless, the pulsating DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack is loaded with demo scenes featuring pinpoint discrete effects, multidimensional imaging, and some foundation-shaking bass.

David Vaughn  |  Feb 01, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/musicman.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>When conman Harold Hill (Robert Preston) arrives in River City, he intends to employ his usual scam of equipping and training a boys marching band and then getting out of dodge as fast as he can. Things go awry when he falls in love with the town librarian (Shirley Jones) and inadvertently enriching the town with a love of music.

David Vaughn  |  Feb 01, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/lovehappens.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT><i>When self-help author Dr. Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart) arrives in Seattle to teach a sold-out seminar, he unexpectedly meets florist Eloise Chandler (Jennifer Aniston), the one person who might be able to help him help himself. But will two people who may have met the right person at exactly the wrong time be able to give love a chance? If they can, they'll find that sometimes, when you least expect it….love happens.</i>

David Vaughn  |  Feb 01, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/whipit.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Small-town teenager Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is searching for her way in the world. Her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) dreams of her being a beauty queen but one look at Bliss in a fancy gown and it's easy to see it's a pipedream. When she discovers the sport of roller derby her life takes a new direction, but how will her mother deal with her newfound hobby?

David Vaughn  |  Jan 30, 2010

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/godfather1.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on the novel by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola's <i>The Godfather</i> is one of the greatest films of all time. Widely considered the best sequel of all time, <i>Part II</i> went on to win six Oscars, including Best Picture. The films chronicles the lives of the Corleone family from the rise of Vito (Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro) as a young criminal to the struggles of Michael (Al Pacino) to legitimize the family business after taking over for his father.

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