2.35:1 Widescreen

I've seen quite a bit from Steven Seagal of late. There was his reality series from his deputy job, and many of his numerous catalog titles are finding their way to Blu-ray. All in all, it's a pretty good time to be a Steven Seagal fan. The latest of these earlier films to reach high definition is the 1990 entry Marked For Death. It pretty much follows the established Seagal formula here, combing martial arts with the vendetta theme, that he has come to personify for so long. It has a little of what the fans are looking for,

"Comrades, I've called you together again because the people of England face a grave crisis. Many years ago as Robin Hood, I led you as an outlaw band. Here in Sherwood Forest, together we resisted the tyrant King John. When he died, we dispersed because we believed that tyranny had died with him. But tyranny did not die. It merely slept. And now it has awakened again."

Speak the name Robin Hood and one immediately conjures images of the swashbuckling hero of medieval England.

We are in the midst of the Great War. Michael Dunne (Paul Gross) is a Canadian solider recovering from physical and psychological wounds. He falls in love with his nurse (Carline Dhavernas), and when her asthmatic brother enlists, Dunne heads back to the trenches to protect him, and the two men wind up at the gigantic, murderous battle that gives the film its name.

These last couple of years have seen a resurgence of a particular kind of character study. For me I think it started with The Wrestler. For Mickey Rourke, it was a powerful comeback and led to an example of grand theft at that year's Oscar celebration. Now, I wouldn't exactly say that Jeff Bridges was in any particular need of a comeback. He's had some pretty steady work over the years. Still, you just can't watch Crazy Heart and not be reminded of The Wrestler. These characters could not be more different in a lot of ways. But they are also cut from the same cloth.

"Every town has a story... Tombstone has a legend."

When will Kevin Costner ever learn? He just doesn't strike that hero pose. He isn't even that good an actor unless he's playing a G-Man type as he did in The Untouchables and JFK. In just a little while Russell Crowe is fixing to school him on the proper stature of Robin Hood. In 1993 and 1994 another Russell, this time Kurt Russell, schooled him on the iconic lawman Wyatt Earp. Tombstone was released Christmas day in 1993. Exactly 6 months later on June 24th, 1994, Kevin Costner released his epic film called Wyatt Earp.

Cocoon was based on a somewhat obscure novel by David Saperstein. It was also an unlikely film for beginning director Ron Howard. He had made it known since his career began that he had little respect for the science fiction genre. In an interview provided on this very release, he condemns the genre as not being about character or story. I'd say that Ron Howard just hasn't watched the right science fiction. I beg to differ with his assessment.

"This is the Earth at a time when dinosaurs roamed a lush and fertile planet. A piece of rock just six miles wide changed all of that. It hit with the force of 10,000 nuclear weapons. A trillion tons of dirt and rock hurtled into the atmosphere, creating a suffocating blanket of dust that the sun was powerless to penetrate for a thousand years. It happened before. It will happen again. It's just a question of when."

When was 1998 with the summertime blockbuster movie Armageddon. This film was the poster child for summer tent pole movies.

The first District 13 movie was considered a modern day cult classic. It featured a number of meticulous and daring stunt scenes that were worked without the use of wires or computer generated effects. It was written and produced by Luc Besson famous for Fifth Element & Leon. But would the sequel set in the future 3 years later be able to hold the same interest?

A first-year film student named Yannick crosses paths with a black cat (literally) and crashes his bicycle, then knocks on the door of a family home in a nice neighborhood looking for assistance. A few minutes later he is held captive by a psychotic family, led by a patriarch who is convinced it is his life's duty to rid the world of those who are “not righteous.” As our hero Yannick slips between clawing desperation and clever tact in his attempts to escape he is offered a chance at freedom. Jacques, the head of the household, is an undefeated, nation-wide renowned Chess champion, and if Yannick can beat him once, he will be released.

We are in the mid-60s, when, during the glory days of the Stones, the Who, and other colossi of British rock, the BBC allows almost no airplay of said music. To the rescue comes a group of commercial pirate radio stations, broadcasting from ships off the coast. Priggish minister Kenneth Branagh is determined to shut them down, and our focus is on one particular ship, run by Bill Nighy, and boasting such luminaries as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Nick Frost as DJs. Onto this ship of counter-culture rebels comes a young Tom Sturridge, and this wet-behind-the-ears youth becomes the eyes through which we watch the various eccentric goings-on.