For the penultimate movie in my review of the Mel Brooks Collection, I selected the classic Spaceballs, Mr. Brooks’ send up of science fiction movies.  Although I thought I had watched this movie previously, I was surprised to discover that I had only watched it in parts and not as a whole.

When viewing the film previously, I had been struck by its obvious wink to Star Wars, emphasized through characters such as Barf, Dot, Yogurt, Pizza the Hutt, and Dark Helmet.  As a long-term lover of science fiction films, Spaceballs was treading dangerous ground.  My question was, was this film sublime satire, or pure farce. Read the full story

Of the top three baseball based films of all time, only 2 have made their way to Blu-ray, Field of Dreams and The Natural, at least until now. While I love both of these films, the very best baseball themed film is Bull Durham, which fortunately, was finally released on Blu-ray this week. While I was more than pleased with the look and sound of The Natural, Field of Dreams was another matter altogether and was a disappointment in the video department. Would Bull Durham prove to be more like The Natural or more like Field of Dreams. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray release of Bull Durham is as disappointing as Field of Dreams. Read the full story

For my fourth movie in my review of the Mel Brooks Collection, I selected High Anxiety, Mr. Brooks’ loving spoof of Alfred Hitchcock movies.  Although I admire Mr. Hitchcock’s work, I can honestly admit it has been a few decades since I last saw one of his films (The Birds).

One challenge I anticipated with High Anxiety is that certain subjects like murder and suspense do not work well in comedy (like in Have you Heard About the Morgans).  Truly, the only way to make a thriller work with humour is to go way, way, way over the top, much like in the Police Squad series of movies.

However, my pleasant surprise at the quality of To Be Or Not To Be left me with some anticipation that this movie may also surprise me with its wit and charm. Read the full story

Opportunities lost. I kept coming back to that concept in my head as I watched the subject of this review, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. The film certainly features and interesting and compelling lead character and some excellent acting performances but in the end falls die to the film;s script and direction. it is too bad as there is a kernel of a find film here. Read the full story

Avatar is probably the most eagerly awaited Blu-ray release to date. After all, the film did $2.6 billion in worldwide box office receipts and features some stunning CGI and at the present time, represents the state of the art as what can be done with CGI, albeit it at an incredible cost. Well, Avatar has finally arrived on Blu-ray and I couldn’t wait to pop it in to see whether it has the reference audio and video presentations that we all expected. Read the full story

As a film reviewer, it is almost embarrassing to admit that I have viewed none of the films created by directors in the French New Wave.  In my defense, I can offer that this “new wave” took place before I was born, and that by the time I was able to cultivate a taste for movies, many of the “new wave’s” inventiveness had already been co-opted by others.

This led me to two important questions I hope to answer in my review.  Firstly, if subsequent movies have taken advantage of a once-new filmmaking technique, does this make the originating movies any less relevant?  And secondly, can entertainment value survive in what is considered “experimental” cinema?  Although films can have artistic merits on their own, they must still be accessible to the common movie viewer.  Read the full story

The pairing of Jack Lemon and Walther Matthau was a staple of 70’s and after the two had basically been declared retired from acting; they headlined Grumpy Old Men together. Surprisingly it became a financial success and was received fairly well among critics. The film gave new life to their careers and the pair went on to make a series of films together, including a sequel to ‘Grumpy’; Grumpier Old Men. How do the two films hold up on Blu-ray and is this double-feature release a worthy representation of the milestone in these actors’ classic filmography?

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Confession time.  Yes, I am old enough that I saw National Lampoon’s Vacation at a real life movie theatre.  If memory serves correct, it was at the Garrick Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and I had orange soda shoot out of my nose when laughing at the hilarious adventures of the Griswolds and their Travel Queen Family Truckster.  Vacation is one of those rare movies that still appeals as much to me today as it did when I was younger. Read the full story

Over time, there have been several upon several World War II and Vietnam films; some good, some not so good.  As the war on two fronts in the Middle East continues, we have seen a scattering of films here and there highlighting these new conflicts.  As time goes on, we will likely see more.  One such film that fills the current void and made it’s Blu-ray debut this week is The Hurt Locker.  In short, this picture follows an EOD team in Iraq.  What is an EOD team?  What do they do?  How dangerous is their occupation?  Read on to learn the answers to these questions and more. Read the full story

Galapagos, considered to be earth’s microcosm, tells the story of a series of islands that were Darwin’s inspiration for the theory of evolution. The islands even now are home to a large array of different species seen nowhere else on the planet. The documentary covers everything from the history of the islands, Darwin’s presence and the amazing animals that inhabit the area. Read the full story

A large blockbuster of its time, much like Transformers is today, The Towering Inferno was released to theaters in December of 1974.  The award winning disaster film married large stars of the era and a well-known producer, Irwin Allen.  Disaster movies were becoming very popular in this time-period, especially after Irwin Allen’s own Poseidon Adventure came out in 1972.  The Towering Inferno went on to win Oscars for cinematography, editing, and Best Song in 1974, deservedly so.  And now…it lives on forever on the Blu-ray format! Read the full story

“Two Yoots. What is a Yoot?” Asks the Judge. “I am sorry Your Honor, youths, 2 youths.” replies Vinny. That is just but one of the many funny scenes in My Cousin Vinny, a 1991 comedy making its high def debut on Blu-ray. My Cousin Vinny is one funny movie, which is just as funny today as it was when it was released in 1991. Some comedies don’t hold up all that well over time, especially those with more period sensitive humor. Not so with My Cousin Vinny which remain fresh 18 years later. How does it look on Blu-ray? Unfortunately, not as good as I had hoped. Read the full story

OK, I will admit it. I am old enough to remember watching the original Star Trek TV series on its original run on NBC back in the mid 1960′s. I was hooked immediately and enjoyed the series again when it hit syndication and continue to enjoy it to this day. Read the full story

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? Read the full story

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. Read the full story

Movie stars without a doubt lead very glamorous lives. The money, the fame and lavish living are all very attractive. Of course, there is a downside. The paparazzi, the lack of privacy and the like. There is also another factor that often goes unnoticed and that is the lengths to which some actors go to get into their character and make them as authentic as they can. This brings me around to the work of Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull where he becomes Jake LaMotta, the former middleweight boxing champion in the 1940′s and 1950′s. Read the full story

It seems that when it comes to picture quality for films made in the 1960′s and 1970′s, recent Blu-ray releases have been somewhat of a hit or miss proposition. Films like the early Bond films that have undergone major restorations have looked spectacular while others not having undergone such restorations tend to look soft and hazy, lacking the clarity and detail that one has come to expect from Blu-ray. With the release of The French Connection, the 1971 Oscar winner for Best Picture, I was curious to see how the film would translate to Blu-ray as I was never happy with the appearance of the film on DVD. Well, how does it look? Glad you asked. Read the full story