Into the Blu

I will confess that as a kid, I was a wrestling fan. I continued to enjoy watching wrestling on and off even into my adulthood but haven’t followed it at all in a long, long time. I had the opportunity to sit in the locker room at a match at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in the 1980′s, invited by a friend who worked in TV and was to meet and talk with George “The Animal” Steele, Big John Stud, Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. Wonderful. before and after their matches. What I learned from meeting and chatting with these guys is how difficult the sport is on them physically and emotionally. Yes, it is staged, but they still have to go through the stunts, night after night, for over 300 days as year. It sure takes its toll. It is this aspect of wrestling that The Wrestler captures so beautifully. Continue Reading

The origins of South Pacific date back to 1946, in a collection of short stories titled Tales of the South Pacific. This in turn inspired the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein stage adaptation; a simplified and condensed version dubbed South Pacific. That brings us to 1958 and yet another adaptation this time to film in the form of a musical, which always gets mixed reactions from me. I absolutely loved Sweeney Todd, and on the flip side absolutely hated High School Musical. What I’m trying to get across is, within each genre there’s the good, the bad, and the ugly. Will what most refer to as a classic identify with me, or will something have been lost in time? Continue Reading

If you haven’t already seen Gulliver’s Travels I imagine you have at least heard the title, at least in passing. Not that the film has garnered so much attention, but the fact that the title is synonymous when regarding classic literature. Cue another history lesson, this time dating back to 1726 and across the pond. Jonathan Swift a Dublin born satirist and poet wrote the appropriately titled Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships. Almost sounds like the ramblings of a crazy old man, but it’s very highly regarded and an early form of satire on human nature, still relevant in this day and age. Continue Reading

Bueller….Bueller. Those two words, spoken with Ben Stein’s characteristic monotone, really brought back memories. I hadn’t seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in what seems like ages. The film was released in 1986 and was a film that I really enjoyed in the theater all those many years ago. Gee, time has really flown by! Has it really been that long? I was curious to see just how well the film would hold up all these years later and how it would look transferred to high def on Blu-ray. I am pleased to report that it holds up quite well as a film and even better, looks great on Blu-ray. Continue Reading

Bullfighting is a ritual deeply rooted in the Spanish culture.  Roughly 18 million people a year attend bullfights in Spain.  Here in North America, most of us know little more than the matador being the guy in a funny hat who taunts a bull with a cape while the crowd yells, “Olé!”  But after watching The Matador, one can come to the realization that it is much more than that. Continue Reading

 The Criterion Collection is written as “gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions of the highest technical quality…”  Wages of Fear is one of the first movies to join the Criterion Collection and comes to us from acclaimed suspense director Henri Georges Clouzot.  The film arrived in movie theaters in 1953 in France and didn’t hit the U.S. until two years later.  How does this alleged classic fair on Blu-ray?  Let’s find out… Continue Reading

I had previously reviewed Dexter – The First Season on Blu-ray in January and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was anxiously awaiting receipt of the second season of the series to see if they could match the originality and drama of the first season. So, when the set arrived this week from the folks at CBS, I couldn’t wait to pop in the discs and give them a spin. Is the second season of Dexter as good as the first, you bet it is. Even better. Continue Reading

For the most part, when I begin the review process of a Blu-ray disc, I have either seen the film in the theater or have a pretty good understanding of what the film is all about from reading media reports. This is not the case with Sin City. I was not familiar with the graphic novels by Frank Miller on which the film is based and had no understanding at all about what this film was all about. I went into this review with my eyes wide open looking to, hopefully, enjoy a film for what is is, namely entertainment. What I found was a very gritty, interesting, compelling, fascinating and original film that was a great cinematic experience and a real eye opener in more ways than one. Continue Reading

Movies that feature a cute dog always seems to tug at the heart of viewers and do well in the theaters, especially when that movie is a feel good comedy with an emotional side. I can understand the sentiment behind such films since as a kid, we always had a dog. As far as this writer is concerned, when it comes to a pet, there is nothing better than a man’s best friend. Marley and Me is no exception. Continue Reading

April 28th, 2009 Releases…

• Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 1
• The Reader
• The Da Vinci Code
• Da Vinci Code Gift Set
• Bride Wars
• The Uninvited
• Hotel for Dogs
• In the Realm of the Senses (Criterion)
• JCVD
• What Doesn’t Kill You

April 21st, 2009 Releases…

• X-Men Trilogy
• Sin City
• The Wrestler
• Frost/Nixon
• X-Men
• X2: X-Men United
• X-Men: The Last Stand
• Notorious
• Michael Buble: Caught In The Act
• Josh Groban: Awake Live
• Wages of Fear (Criterion) Continue Reading

April 14th, 2009 Releases…

• The Spirit
• Mean Girls
• Splinter
• 8 Mile
• The Thirteenth Floor
• Strange Wilderness
• The Last Kiss
• Universal Soldier: The Return Continue Reading