Into the Blu

This is a film that has become a significant contribution to the very the time line it depicts, which is that of US President Nixon being forced into resignation after the Watergate scandal. This film is an engrossing depiction of the actual reporters who used anonymous tips to help uncover a scandal so big that it rocked the entire US nation. Continue Reading

A neo-noir film painted in amazingly bright and clear colours. A sordid romantic thriller presented by the same duo that made Volver. Continue Reading

People often comment tome when they find out that I do some Blu-ray movie reviews that it must be great to be able to see all those films. Yes, it can be great to see the films, more times than not before they are available for sale. However, that can be a bit of a double edged sword in that for every really good film, I have to watch many terrible films as well. However, one benefit is the exposure I receive to smaller, less known films that would never have otherwise come to my attention that are fully worthy of a larger audience. One such film is the subject of this review, The Way Back. Continue Reading

Delivering a worthy portrayal as Charles Chaplin seems like an insurmountable task, but Robert Downey Jr. proved to be adroit and became the most talked about thing in Richard Attenborough’s film. Despite some critisisms that it skims over important parts of his life while focusing too long on others, this might be one of the best Hollywood Bio pics yet made. Continue Reading

An Education is a critical darling of the previous Oscar season that features a major breakout role for lead Carey Mulligan, who received no less than 24 major acting award nominations for her performance. More a loss-of-innocence story than coming-of-age (which it is sometimes marketed as), this makes for a great character film. Continue Reading

Bad Boys is one of the early Sean Penn films that may be a bit off your radar, it wasn’t a high profile film at the time and it seems to just have gotten plopped onto Blu-ray and released with little to no effort. Is this film a hidden gem or simply just another catalog release?

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Cocaine was the drug du jour in the early eighties, and as stated in this film, if you did some during this time in the United States, there was an 85% chance it came from George Jung’s smuggling. This film chronicles the life of George Jung, as played by Johnny Depp, from his childhood, through his rise as millionaire drug smuggler, to his latest incarceration. Like many drug films, this one rides a fine line between glamorizing the lifestyle and depicting the horrible consequences of it. Continue Reading

There is little doubt that life’s greatest mystery doesn’t involve life at all but what happens when you die, as life’s curtain is drawn to a close. There are those who believe that when the lights go out, that is it. There are others who believe that that is not the end, that there is another side. The problem is that it is really just a matter of faith, as there is no definitive proof one way or the other, despite the claims of those who have had near death experiences. While those with near death experiences may have compelling stories to tell, there are scientists who will tell you that those experiences, i.e. the light at the end of a tunnel pulling you towards it, are simply methods developed by the brain over the years to prepare you for the end and do not portend an afterlife. I for one am hoping that there is. I am sure you are wondering why I am getting so philosophical. Well, that is because this very issue, about whether there is life after death, is the issue that forms the heart of the film that is the subject of this review, Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter. Continue Reading

It is amazing how the passage of time makes what once seemed scandalous seem rather mundane. I can recall how they had to show Elvis from the waist on the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950′s, how his shaking and gyrating while performing was seen as dangerous for America’s youth. Rock N’ Roll after all was the devil’s music. This came to mind while I was thinking out the subject of this review, Last Tango in Paris. I was in high school, when this film debuted in 1972 and I can recall how it caused quite a stir, with what was for the time, shocking sexuality in a mainstream film. Due to my age, I did not see the film during its initial run and have never seen it before its arrival on Blu-ray. Would its sexuality seem as mundane now as Elvis’ performances on Ed Sullivan now seem in retrospect? In a word, yes. Continue Reading

Back in the late 1980′s, the subject of Autism was not well known throughout America. It was the film that is the subject of this review, Rain Man, that thrust the topic of Autism into the mainstream of the collective American consciousness. Since then, Autism has been in the news more and more, with the incidents of the diagnosis of Autism on the upswing and with the since discredited concerns about the role of vaccinations in the rise of the of the incidents of Autism over the past decade or so. Continue Reading

It’s always great seeing a Steven Spielberg film get released on Blu-ray and although his sci-fi endeavors may seem better suited for the format it’s great to see his dramatic efforts get some attention. Does the re-release breathe new life into this classic film or was this simply a product of its time?

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As I had admittedly gushed about my appreciation for Elvis in prior reviews, I could be viewed as somewhat prejudicial in my viewing of Jailhouse Rock.  Although Elvis on Tour was disappointing, I thoroughly enjoyed Viva Las Vegas and was hoping this other “young Elvis” film would deliver an equally lightweight and enjoyable cinema experience.

I was somewhat curious about reviewing my first “true” black and white film (Young Frankenstein was the first I had reviewed), and was equally curious to see how much charisma the relatively young Elvis of 1957 possessed. Continue Reading