“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

The old joke about The History channel was that the H stood for Hitler, as it seemed that every time you turned on the channel, there was a show about World War II. Recently, the History Channel has changed its focus, from actual history to what I will charitably refer to as pseudo-history. One of the staples of that “pseudo-history” is the fixation with end of the world prophecies, and in particular, the claim that the Mayan calender ends on 12/21/2102 and that somehow, this fact portends the end of the world. Read the full story

My first brush with Greek mythology happened early on in my life, during the summer of 1981, with the theatrical release of Clash of the Titans.  Although I was a mere 7 years of age, I remember the experience fondly and all the countless hours of enjoyment the movie’s action figures gave me as I bashed them around in my Little Tikes green turtle sandbox.  Now, almost 30 years later, a new generation of fans will be able to not only experience the mythological adventure in an all-new take on the story (this April’s Clash of the Titans CGI spectacular featuring Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson), but also they will be able to re-live the original film in all its splendor with a new digitally remastered presentation on the Blu-ray format.  But before we start talking about how it looks and sounds on its new Blu-ray release, I wanted to spend a few moments reflecting on the film itself and whether or not my recent viewing was as memorable and magical as it was when I was a little tike. 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

Wow.  I am now officially less smart than I was at the same time yesterday, all due to watching this movie.  Seriously, this was one of the worst movies I have ever seen; it made The Marine 2 look Academy-worthy.  Bad sets, bad acting, bad plot, unbelievable characters, bad script, bad cinematography, bad, BAD! 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

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

After Arnold Schwarzenegger was greeted with tremendous success outside of the action genre with comedies like Twins and Kindergarten Cop, it only seemed natural for Sylvester Stallone to follow suit. The results were two of the most unpopular films of his career; Oscar and Stop! Or my Mom will shoot. Playing it safe Stallone returned to his comfort zone with Cliffhanger, a film he co-wrote, that was directed by Renny Harlin, the man behind Die Hard 2. Was it a return to form for Stallone? Read the full story

I seem to be seeing more and more films both in the theater and on Blu-ray that have one thing very much in common, good premises and poor execution from the printed page to screen. One has to wonder whether there is a shortage of talented screenwriters in Hollywood or just too many lazy ones or studios who are more interested in churning out films for the sake of profit rather then spending the money to do things right. I was reminded of this with all of the snafus around the forthcoming Spiderman 4 feature. I guess the bean counters at Sony learned nothing from Spiderman 3. Unfortunately, the subject of today’s review, while long on promise as well as premise, comes up a bit short in the execution department as well. Read the full story

Being a kid around 1993 definitely had its perks; Jurassic Park terrified us, beanie babies came out, Ms. Doubtfire terrified us, CERN created the World Wide Web. However, there were also some drawbacks and Last Action Hero starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was definitely one of them. We’re we wrong to think that? Read the full story

With all the snow and very cold weather gripping us here on the East Coast, it seemed perfectly natural to watch a film that is set in Antarctica in blistering cold conditions, right? After all, why watch a film set in the tropics with all that lush green foliage and warm temperatures. Well, that is the choice I made when I decided to check out Whiteout. Was it a good one? Well….. Read the full story

Let’s cut straight to the chase here.  I realize that I am probably going to lose credibility points amongst the masses for having nothing but good things to say about this Blu-ray release, but today I became something I never thought I would ever be…a “gamer.”  Yes, that’s right, today I fell in love with the world of gaming, particularly Lionsgate’s upcoming Blu-ray title, Gamer.  It’s ironic how I have heard nothing but negative attributes about this film the past several months, but I seemingly can’t help myself from singing anything but hymns of positive praise.  Whether you love it or you hate it, there’s no denying that this Blu-ray release is the real deal.  Give me a few minutes of your time to tell you why.  Who knows?  Maybe you too, will become a “gamer!” Read the full story

The Duke has made his way to Blu-ray.  The John Wayne classic The Green Berets recently hit store shelves on Blu-ray disc, which for many, was a long awaited arrival.  It’s a positive thing to see studios focusing not only on current films, but those from the past as well.  Let’s not waste any more time on an introduction and find out the verdict on John Wayne in 1080p! Read the full story

We have been very lucky in the past couple years to have complete and brilliantly done re-dos of some excellent movie franchises, like Star Trek and Batman. Back in 1998, we saw a similar remaking of an old movie and TV franchise, Zorro, with the release of the excellent The Mask of Zorro. This was an excellent title on DVD and the sequel, The Legend of Zorro looked and sounded great on Blu-ray. Would The Mask of Zorro fare as well on its initial Blu-ray release? Read the full story

Words cannot vividly express how honored and excited I am to be the recipient of the following Blu-ray disc and also to be selected to furnish a review of it.  It’s literally a dream come true for me.  To declare the following manuscript of confabulation a mere Blu-ray review would simply be misleading.  Instead, think of it as a testament, according to the Book of Brian, to one of the greatest films ever made.  “Clever, savagely witty and dark” are the catch phrase terms that Fox Public Relations people refer to Fight Club as.  However, I prefer to think of it more as an imperial cultural phenomenon of modern times than as a 10-year film being released on the Blu-ray optical format for the first time.  If I seem like I am embellishing, then that’s because I am.  The 2 hour and 19 minute world of Fight Club is one of the most intellectual and eye opening experiences this 30+ year-old man boy has every encountered in life.  It metaphorically removed the blinders I had donned my entire life and woke me up to other possibilities and alternate realities that I seem to have always neglected in my life and/or never really bothered to experience.  And I owe it all to my friend Erin.  C’mon!  Let’s find out why. Read the full story

Air America is loosely based on Christopher Robbin’s non-fiction book, by the same name. It follows the CIA financed airline that transported supplies and weapons throughout the Vietnam war. The film detaches from the book and follows more along the lines of political satire and covers subjects such as the drug trade. Read the full story