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Oz the Great and Powerful (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2013

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“You’re capable of more than you know.”

Walt Disney was always fascinated with the world of Oz. After his Snow White experiment proved that fantasy films were economically possible, he was planning to journey to Oz next. Unfortunately, he was a victim of his own success. It was the very box office magic that Snow White brought in that inspired MGM to purchase the rights to The Wizard Of Oz and create their iconic film. Because of that turn of events, the rights were not available for Walt and his magic studio.
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Beautiful Creatures (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on May 20th, 2013

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The conclusion of the wildly popular Twilight saga last fall left a nation of haters high-fiving each other, but it also created a giant, heart-shaped vacuum in Hollywood. Where is the industry’s next big young adult-oriented, human-on-supernatural romance franchise going to come from? This past Valentine’s Day was as good a time as any to find out if Beautiful Creatures — based on Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s “Caster Chronicles” series — was up to the task.
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Jack Reacher (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 16th, 2013

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“Who is Jack Reacher? Born Jack, not John. No middle name. He’s a ghost. Served in the military police. A brilliant investigator, troublemaker, too. And two years ago he disappears. You don’t find this guy unless he wants to be found.”

We’ve found him. The character of Jack Reacher comes from a series of thriller novels written by Lee Child. From the very start you know that this is going to be a different kind of Jack Reacher than fans have come to know and love from the books. He described as being 6′ 5’’ and about 250 pounds. Tom Cruise doesn’t really fit any of those description elements.
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Safe Haven (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on May 15th, 2013

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Even among the crowded field idyllic meadow of big-screen romances, the “Nicholas Sparks movie” has become its own lucrative sub-genre. The only other contemporary authors I can remember achieving that sort of name brand recognition are Stephen King and John Grisham. (When people went to watch a Harry Potter film, they didn’t usually say, “Let’s go see the new J.K. Rowling movie.) It’s easy to spot a Nicholas Sparks movie: the lily white leads usually live in or around one of the Carolinas, where they inevitably get drenched by a romantic, cleansing rain before coming across a pivotal letter.
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Broken City (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 14th, 2013

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“This is not what you think it is.”

Sometimes a movie comes along that simply has so much to say that two hours simply isn’t enough to flesh it out to its full potential. Broken City is a film that is filled with many great characters and story threads that needed more than just the 109-minute running time to tie everything all together.
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Gangster Squad (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on April 22nd, 2013

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“I want to talk to you about the war for the soul of Los Angeles.”

This could easily describe the current rivalry between the surging L.A. Clippers and the geriatric Los Angeles Lakers, but Gangster Squad has slightly weightier matters on its mind. The stylish 1940s and 50s cops-and-crooks saga wants to tell a story about corruption and violent men unable — or unwilling — to turn off their capacity for hurting others. Instead, the film winds up being a somewhat shallow 21st century gloss on The Untouchables. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
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Willow (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 11th, 2013

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Looking back, it’s amazing how far visual effects have come since 1988. I can remember sitting in the theater watching Willow for the first time and believing everything I saw up on the screen wasn’t the work of movie magic, but I believed it to be reality. Perhaps some far off land where there are swordsmen fighting evil sorcerers and trolls lurk in the shadows of abandoned castles. This is a thought I’d like to believe I’m not the only one that hoped this was a reality, but if I am I’m fine with that. Willow came out at a time when Hollywood was trying to bring large-scale fantasy to the screen with other releases like Excalibur, Legend and Conan.
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Veep: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 25th, 2013

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The great, central joke of Veep — HBO’s sharp, profane political comedy — is that no self-respecting politician aspires to become the Vice President of the United States. (Just like no self-respecting kid dresses up as Robin for Halloween.) It’s no accident the POTUS is completely MIA from the show, leaving his second-in-command and her beleaguered staff to deal with the countless indignities of a job described on “The Making of Veep” featurette as “so close to being important.”
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Wreck-It Ralph (Blu-ray 3D)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 7th, 2013

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“I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad.”

One of the easiest ways to let your age show is to talk about your favorite video games. If you’re old enough, you even remember a time when there weren’t any video games at all. Most people refer to this era as The Dark Ages. But I’m willing to admit that I put a deposit down on an Atari 2600 system these many years ago. If you have a love of all things video games and a great appreciation for the history of the field, Wreck-It Ralph was built just for you.
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Argo (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 23rd, 2013

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Ever since Ben Affleck stepped behind the camera and took on the role of director, I’ve found myself not only becoming a fan of his work but believing the man has greatness ahead of him. When I first watched Gone Baby Gone, I was more than a little impressed; after all, it was his first time at the helm. But then Affleck released his follow-up film, The Town, and it blew me away. Sure, there were some great movies that came out that year, but the fact that it didn’t make the list of best picture nominees I just can’t understand.
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Skyfall (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2013

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“Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don’t really go in for that sort of thing anymore.”

It was 1962, and Ursula Andress emerged from the tropical island surf sporting a provocative swimsuit, and a tradition was born. The seductive scene would become the first iconic image in a line that has lasted a half a century and counting. Fifty years; 23 movies makes it the longest-running film franchise in motion picture history. He had many faces over those 50 years: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, George Lazenby, and even David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen in a 1967 spoof. For the last three films he’s been played by Daniel Craig.
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Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on February 19th, 2013

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“There’s a king in every corner now.”

Game of Thrones is definitely one of the best shows on TV right now, and it might be the most ambitious television series ever produced. Ambition and quality don’t always go hand in hand. (See, Cloud Atlas. No, seriously…watch it. I’m one of the people who really enjoyed that convoluted mess.) The second season of Game of Thrones — a massive undertaking that took its cast to Iceland and Croatia, in addition to its Belfast base — performed a minor miracle. It deepened, expanded and improved upon an already excellent show.
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Peter Pan (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 6th, 2013

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“All this has happened before and will all happen again. But this time it happened in London. It happened on a quiet street in Bloomsbury. That corner house is the house of the Darling family, and Peter Pan chose this particular house because these were people who believed in him…”

In 1953 with a little help from some Walt Disney magic, generations of children, and adults, of course, would learn to believe in the boy who never grew up
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Flight (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on February 6th, 2013

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Can a scumbag also be considered a hero? Lance Armstrong fans probably mull that question each time a new, unsavory revelation about the now-disgraced cyclist comes to light. The issue was addressed in 1992’s Hero, which starred Dustin Hoffman as a low-life who saves a group of passengers on a crashed airplane. Flight also takes to the not-so-friendly skies to examine whether it’s possible to reconcile a lifetime of destructive behavior with an extraordinary act of valor.
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Paranormal Activity 4 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 28th, 2013

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Here’s the thing. Fans of the franchise should be pleased with the latest entry. The series has been a solid October tradition for some time now. When you consider the low cost of creating one of these films with the proven box office numbers, this was all really a no-brainer, to say the least. You’re going to get more of what you are expecting, and the film throws in enough new angles and tricks to keep the idea as fresh as possible. However, there is a flip-side to all of this. I don’t think it’s very likely that you can enjoy this film quite so fully if you have not seen any of the previous films.
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Taken 2 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 25th, 2013

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We’ve seen action films like Taken enough times that we’ve become a little immune to the formula. But then again, Liam Neeson wasn’t your typical action figure, and so the movie was able to take audiences by surprise. It’s not that Neeson hadn’t already established himself as a fine actor. He just didn’t fit the mold we are so used to seeing. Things have changed in the couple of years since Taken had its box office run. Neeson has now done more action films, and he’s started to look more the part.
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The Possession (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 23rd, 2013

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Anytime a horror film is released with a religious element, I can’t help but be a little interested. The film that first won me over for this sub-genre was, of course, The Exorcist, and ever since seeing that film I keep hoping that one day a film will hold up to it in quality, but it seems I’ll be waiting a while. That’s not to say there haven’t been some good films to come out along the way. The Possession is one of those valiant attempts that brings something fresh to the genre but never quite reaches its full potential.
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Frankenweenie (Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 8th, 2013

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To his credit, Tim Burton has managed to keep the art of stop motion alive and well in Hollywood. He’s also proven that it can still be quite effective and just as commercial with such classics as A Nightmare Before Christmas. Since that time he’s had a modest number of hits and misses, but nothing that has come close to the holiday staple…until now. Frankenweenie is destined to become a Halloween tradition at our house, and I suspect I’m not alone.
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Trouble With the Curve (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 18th, 2012

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I’m a Minnesota Vikings football fan. Yes, I accept the condolences. However, I didn’t say that to get sympathy, and I’m not yet in need of the services of the suicide hotline. With two games to go, I will keep the number on speed dial, just in case. A thousand years ago we had a star player who made the by now infamous statement that he plays when he wants to play. For a young athlete with an already troubled past, it didn’t go over too well. But over the last decade or so Clint Eastwood appears to be in that same mindset.
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Dick Tracy (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on December 13th, 2012

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At the turn of the millennium, we seemed to collectively decide that we wanted our heroes to be dark and gritty. The X-Men traded in their yellow spandex for black leather in their first big-screen adventure. Batman went from exchanging quips and painful puns with Mr. Freeze to brooding magnificently for director Christopher Nolan. And Hollywood almost completely stopped making candy-colored spectacles like Dick Tracy.
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Finding Nemo (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 11th, 2012

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“When you said you wanted an ocean view, you didn’t think you’d get the whole ocean, did you?”

When Finding Nemo was released in May of 2003 there were a ton of skeptics. It was certainly a divergence from the tried and true Pixar formula, and even the people involved with the project were concerned that it would become Pixar’s first flop. They needn’t have worried. The film was far from a flop. It took in over $70 million in just its first weekend. The final total would be just shy of a billion dollars. The animated feature took the Oscar for best animated feature that year.
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The Dark Knight Rises (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on December 6th, 2012

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“You think this can last? There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, let me state that my favorite comic book hero is Batman. As a child, even before the sixties TV show premiered, I loved the tale of Batman. It is a story of a child who overcomes the fear and destruction of his childhood and becomes stronger because of it.
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Men in Black 3 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 28th, 2012

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“I promise you the secrets of the universe, nothing more…”

It’s been an astonishing 15 years since Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones first teamed up as Agents J and K respectively for the intergalactic police force Men In Black. The film was like a breath of fresh air. It combined top-flight science fiction fantasy with whimsical humor. It was a hit at the box office, and like most wonderfully original hits it was quickly followed by a sequel that had almost none of the cleverness and freshness of the original film.
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Lawless (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 28th, 2012

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“In 1920 they passed the prohibition act making the sale of alcohol illegal. Well… at least it was supposed to be.”

I know what you’re thinking, and I was also incredibly disappointed to learn this film was not a biopic of Xena: Warrior Princess actress Lucy Lawless. (This hypothetical film would obviously star the ageless Kiwi, because the actress still looks incredible.) Fortunately, Lawless makes up for its startling lack of Lawless by being one of the better films I’ve seen this year.
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2012

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“Nice Greek girls are supposed to do three things: marry Greek boys, make Greek babies, and feed everyone until the day we die.”

If ever a movie could be negatively affected by monstrous box office numbers, it’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. When a five-million-dollar film rides a tsunami of critical buzz and excellent word-of-mouth past the two hundred million dollar box office gross (finally ending somewhere over $230 million), it’s impossible to see it for the first time completely free of expectation.
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