They say that truth is stranger than fiction and in the case of The Blind Side, that is certainly true. Had the book and the film been a work of fiction, we all would have rolled our eyes and said, you’ve got to be kidding me! What a tall tail! However, die to the confluence of too many improbable circumstances to count, The Blind Side is true. While it is a an enjoyable film featuring several wonderful performances, the question to be answered today is how well does it look and sound on Blu-ray? I guess you will just have to keep on reading. Read the full story

Ever since Toy Story burst on the scene with its incredible computer generated images, hand drawn animation began to fade away. After the release of Toy Story, each new CGI feature seemed to outdo the others, advancing the state of art even further, with more realistic and lifelike animation and movement. When it comes to CGI, the sky really seems to be the limit. However, lost in all this technical advancement was the sheer beauty of hand drawn animation, the kind that the folks at Disney Studios made so famous. I guess it was fitting that Disney, under the helm of John Lassiter of Pixar fame, would be the ones to bring hand drawn animation back to the screen with 2009’s The Princess and the Frog, which has finally made its way to Blu-ray. Read the full story

“Promise me no one will get hurt.” “No one will get hurt, I promise.” Once those two sentences are uttered near the beginning of Armored, you knew just how this film was going to unfold and that despite the promise, there will be quite few fatalities. Armored, the subject of today’s review, is a heist film that is rather formulaic and predictable. Be that as it may, is is still worth a look on Blu-ray? Sort of. Read the full story

I will admit that I did not know what to expect when Broken Embraces arrived for a review. The fact that it stars Penelope Cruz was a good sign. That plus the fact that it was directed by Academy Award winning writer and director Pedro Almodovar was even better given his past track record. I had also heard some good critical buzz about the film but have found in the past that good critical buzz is not necessarily a harbinger of an enjoyable film or one that would be assessable to a mass audience. Thankfully, Broken Embraces, merits the praise that has been heaped upon it by the trade press and contains yet another in a string of amazing performances by Penelope Cruz. Read the full story

I guess with the economy being what it is, I can’t begrudge anyone for taking any job they can get to get by. The difference between Hollywood and the rest of us is that when actors take whatever is offered irrespective of quality, millions of dollars are involved. There is nothing like cashing in on your name in Hollywood to fatten up the old bank account. Exhibit A of such a practice is the subject of today’s review, a mildly humorous and forgettable comedy starring Robin Williams and John Travolta, Old Dogs. Read the full story

Making a movie out of a popular book is hard enough. Having the condense several hundred pages of text into a coherent two hour film can be quite a daunting task. The list of great books being made into mediocre films is long indeed. Even more difficult I would imagine is taking a very popular short illustrated children’s book and fleshing it out into a full length motion picture, while keeping true to the spirit of the book. Well that is just what director Spike Jonze has accomplished with the subject of today’s review. Where the Wild Things Are. Read the full story

I was somewhat surprised to see the movie Halo Legends in my docket for upcoming review.  As a long-time Sony and Nintendo gamer, I had never played any version of Halo, and saw no need to, based on my age-related dislike of first person shooter games.  Really, my complete knowledge of Halo could be summed up as there was a green armored guy named Master Chief, and you use him to shoot lots of aliens.

 As a general rule of thumb, movies based on video games tend to well, lets say, not quite meet expectations.  Although there are exceptions to the rule (like Pokémon, or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), for each good movie there is three or four bad ones (like Street Fighter or Super Mario Brothers). Read the full story

One of the problems with the study of history is that it can get rather dry when you limited yourself to the printed page. Movies on the other hand, can really help to bring historical characters to life, offering a glimpse into the lives of those figures that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see, even though films often times take a bit of liberty with the facts for the sake of a more interesting film. Such is the case with the film that is the subject of today’s film, Amelia, which gives us a glimpse into the life of the famous aviator, that one may not have been able to appreciate from the pages of history. Read the full story

For some time, Trailer Park Boys has been a guilty pleasure of mine.  Although I did not find the show appealing when it first aired, subsequent viewings made me a fan of its unique style of humor.  Although the show appears simply crude on the surface, there is a lot more going on with the characters than superficially appears.

However, no-one would compare Trailer Park Boys with M*A*S*H or The Simpsons.  Whereas the other shows became legendary for their subtlety, heart, and humor, the Trailer Park Boys possesses little of these qualities. 

And although this works in 30-minute slices on their TV show, can a feature length movie be carried by this sort of nihilistic and profane humor?  After its viewing I can say yes, but only if you are already a fan of the show and its “acquired taste” type of humor. Read the full story

Steven Soderbergh’s films are if nothing, very complicated, with layer upon layer of intrigue. From Ocean’s 11,12 and 13 to Traffic it can get to be very difficult to keep up with the action and figure out where the film is heading. Dealing with an actual historical event and the lives of real people, it is a bit easier to follow a film as you already know the actual outcome. Making these characters and these stories into a great film is much more difficult than with works of pure fiction. Which brings us to the subject of today’s review, The Informant. Read the full story

As mentioned in my review for The Princess Bride, it is nice to see older titles now being made available on Blu-ray at attractive prices. Not only does it allow the collector to affordably upgrade their collection, it also allows them to fill in holes where they’ve missed a movie in a previous format.

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I can’t really say that I am fan of country music. In fact, I try to avoid it as much as I can as it is not really my cup of tea. However, I am a big fan of well written and acted films with compelling story lines regardless of the subject matter. yes, even if it involves country music. One of those films is the subject of today’s review, Walk The Line, the bio pic that tells the story of the early career of Johnny Cash and his life long love affair with June Carter Cash, which has finally made its way to Blu-ray. Read the full story

William Fridkin has had quite a career to say the least with great films such as The French Connection and The Exorcist on his resume. One of his best films and for me, one that is every bit as good as the more well known The French Connection, is the subject of today’s review, To Live and Die in L.A. which has made its debut on Blu-ray. Read the full story

As a reviewer, I am man enough to admit that I occasionally prejudge a movie based on its box.  And when I see that “WWE  Studios Presents” a Blu-ray starring Ted DiBiase (Jr. the wrestler) in The Marine 2, I could already feel the bad review writing itself.  Not only does this movie suffer from a weak pedigree (like “The Marine” really needed a sequel), and star a previously untested wrestler as the lead, but it also suffers from the stigma of “direct to video” from a barely credible production house. Read the full story

Michael Mann’s crime epic, Heat, is declared as one of the best heist films ever. Utilizing the chemistry between two superstars from the genre and containing one of the greatest shootouts in cinema history, Heat’s résumé definitely has all the right stuff for being an essential Blu-ray to own, but as with the recent Michael Mann film “Public Enemies” sometimes a poor sound mix or poor video quality might make the disc unworthy of a Blu-ray purchase. How does Heat stack up? Read the full story

In light of my name, I thought a review of a film entitled Whip It would be a natural. I had never heard of the film before and only knew that it starred Ellen Page and involved Roller Derby, a “sport” that I thought had disappeared from view long ago. You never know about these things as every now and then a film comes up that takes you totally by surprise with how entertaining it is. Whip It is just such a film. Read the full story

In advance of reviewing JCVD, I had heard mostly positive things, especially about the acting of our eponymous hero, Jean-Claude Van Damme.  Although not expecting Shakespeare or high art, when the Blu-ray cover screams “He deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar” (this from a reputable source), one cannot help but be excited.  After all, we all enjoy seeing an actor surprise us with previously unseen ability and depth.  And what better character is there for any actor to play other than a caricatured version of themself? Read the full story