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

There is no question that animated films have universally looked great on Blu-ray, whether they be computer based animation such as the Pixar films, hand drawn films or stop action animation. Unfortunately, the subject of this review, James and the Giant Peach is an exception to this general rule. Read the full story

I always thought that The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan was an overlooked film. This may be due to the fact that it was a remake of a 1968 film of the same name starring Steve McQueen. While it is an updating of the original, it certainly has plenty going for it in its own right, especially the stunning “visuals” provided by Rene Russo, who has never looked better than she does in this film. When I saw that this film was being released on Blu-ray, I couldn’t wait to get a copy to see how much an improvement a high def treatment would be over the prior DVD release. Thankfully, quite a bit as it turns out. Read the full story

Pride & Prejudice is one of my wife’s favorite books and one of the best looking films ever released on the ill-fated HD DVD format. I loved the cinematography in the film and the VC-1 encode was simply fantastic. This is one of the Universal films that I eagerly waited for release on Blu-ray. Well, without much in the way of fanfare, Pride & Prejudice has finally found its way to Blu-ray and I, for one, am glad it has Read the full story

Tarantino’s epic spaghetti western set within World War II has been in pre-production since before the Kill Bill movies, due to the fact Tarantino wanted to make sure the script was perfect. He considered it his masterpiece and reworked the story over the course of over a decade. Through many rewrites and various casting changes the film was released in 2009.

Did it live up to the hype? Read the full story

I can’t recall when I laughed harder in the theater than I did when we went to see Borat. That was one outrageous comedy. However, the problem with being outrageous is when you have to follow-up with your next film. The natural inclination is to be even more outrageous which can result in a film rather than being funny and thought provoking, is simply crude and embarrassing. Such is the fate that befell Sacha Baron Cohen with Bruno, his not so successful follow-up to his outrageously successful Borat. Bruno gives a whole new meaning to the phrase no holds barred comedy and not, unfortunately, in a good way. Read the full story

I can’t really say that I was all that familiar with the X-Men comic book prior to the first film coming out. I had heard about the comic but never really had the inclination to read it. I guess I am told old to read comics anyway. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the first two X-Men films. Perhaps it was helpful that I could watch the films with a clean slate and not be biased in any way based on the comic’s long history, second guessing the plot and character development. While I enjoyed the first two films, I thought that the third was really dreadful. It was with interest that I waited for the fourth installment in the X-Men film library, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Unfortunately, I found this film to be even less worthwhile than the prior film, X-Men: The last Stand. Read the full story

Hot Fuzz was one of my favorite if not my most favorite release on the late and lamented HD DVD format. Besides being a hilarious film, it featured excellent video and audio presentations. It was one of the films that I looked forward to seeing on Blu-ray to see if the increased storage capacity and higher bit rate of Blu-ray could improve on the already outstanding audio and video presentations on the HD DVD. Well, Hot Fuzz is finally making its debut on Blu-ray and I was anxious to put the disc through its paces. Was it worth the wait? Yes indeed it was. Read the full story

Having just experienced two 10+ hour plane flights in the past two weeks, I sure have had my fill of bad films. When you are on flights of that duration and have a hard time sleeping on planes like I do,you will watch almost anything to help pass the time. Most of that time on this trip was filled with bad films a couple of which I may review when they arrive on Blu-ray in the next couple of months. It was therefore a pleasure once I returned home, to pop in State of Play, a well written and acted thriller that I enjoyed immensely, making up for all the bad films I watched on those flights, well almost. Read the full story

I will admit up front that I am not an Adam Sandler fan. I find his films to be juvenile at best and insulting at worse. I guess he is what I will call an acquired taste and one that isn’t for me. However, in The Waterboy, Adam Sandler hits his all time low point, at least me me (right alongside the inane inane Zohan film). However, The Waterboy has made its debut on Blu-ray so I placed it in the Blu-ray player for a spin. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t. Read the full story

If there is a better race racing themed film than Seabiscuit, I have yet to see it. The film was originally released to theaters in 2003 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture but didn’t win, losing out The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, by far the weakest of the three Lord of the Rings films. I have not seen Seabiscuit since its theatrical run and was anxious to see how it looked and sounded on Blu-ray. I am pleased to report that it looks and sounds great and is a worthy addition to the collection of any film fan. Read the full story

Children of Men was released by Universal on the ill fated HD DVD format and was a film that I really enjoyed when I could get the darned disc the play properly. if there was ever a disc from hell, it was Children of Men on HD DVD as it was prone to freezing and skipping to the point that you could never just sit down and watch the film from beginning to end without some sort of calamity occurring and your quests asking just why should I invest in that format? It was therefore with some anticipation that I waited for Universal to get around to releasing the film on Blu-ray which they finally have. Thankfully, I can report that the disc plays perfectly without even the hint of any playback issues. Read the full story

Every now and then, a film comes out with little in the way of fanfare or critical acclaim and just takes you by surprise. The film just completely captures your attention. pulling you into the action, playing mind games with you as you try to figure out what is really transpiring on the screen before you, all the while staying one step ahead of you. One such film is Inside Man. Read the full story

Films based on the historical record can be a bit of a mixed bag. The main reason being that we already know the outcome, which can have the effect of robbing the film of narrative suspense. However, some directors seem to excel with these types of films and are able to grab and hold out attention and build suspense, even though we know the ultimate outcome. One of these director’s is Ron Howard who directed Apollo 13, which is an outstanding film that is able to maintain a sense of suspense throughout as well as provide a very moving cinematic experience, despite the fact that we know all turns out well. It was therefore with great anticipation that I sat down to watch another Ron Howard film, Frost/Nixon, based on the award winning London play. Read the full story

I remember back in the late 90′s when I saw the trailer for Ronin starring Robert DeNiro.  It looked like an international spy thriller, which, in my mind, was a role that was a bit out of sorts for the actor.  Then again, if the star is a good actor, and DeNiro is one of the best, than he should pull this off, regardless of what we’re used to seeing him play.  I never did get around to seeing it back then, so the film’s release on Blu-ray was my first experience with it…and what a great format to introduce yourself to a film.  Hold on to your seats and strap on the Kevlar.  Ronin is about to take you on a whirlwind tour of France, except on this site-seeing adventure, you are more likely to experience well-placed bullets and a little espionage as opposed to the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.  Read the full story

[On the loudspeaker a voice begins to crackle...] “May I have your attention please?”  “May I have your attention please?”  “Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?”  “I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?”  “We’re going to have a problem here…”  And so goes the story of Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known by his stage name of Eminem, or by his alter ego Slim Shady.  Is anyone else confused yet or is it just me?  Come on…give me at least a few minutes to explain.  I will make it short and painless I promise.  And here…we…go…. Read the full story

It was a decade ago when Pitch Black was released in theaters.  Little did we know at the time that the character of Riddick would be expanded upon with another film and content outside of both movies.  For now though, we’ll focus on the movie that started it all with nighttime baddies galore, Pitch Black. Read the full story