AVC MPEG4

So Troll 2 hits Blu-ray. That fact is as sure a sign of the coming Apocalypse as any I can think of, and, at the very least, must threaten the entire Blu-ray format with destruction, as judgment rains down from the hands of an angry God. If, Gentle Reader, you come to this review without any foreknowledge of the film, and are actually wondering if a movie called Troll 2 might be good, then please run as fast as you can and hide. Or at the very least, please watch the legendary YouTube clip appended below. What, you're still here? Don't say you weren't warned.

Open Water:

An over-worked couple (Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis) whose marriage, while not in danger, has clearly reached some difficult shoals, head off on a diving vacation. A mix-up (which is disturbingly credible) results in the tour ship leaving them behind. Stuck in the middle of the ocean, they float together, hoping against hope for rescue, growing cold and hungry. And then there is the marine life. Like stinging jellyfish. And sharks…

The legacy of Walt Disney and the studio he created requires little explanation. The studio invented the idea of a feature-length cartoon and has been on the cutting edge of animation since the 1930’s. No other studio can claim ownership of as many animated classics as Disney. From Mickey Mouse to Pixar, the studio has churned out one masterpiece after another for over 60 years. What tends to get lost in this great body of feature-length classics is that the studio was also producing some very high-quality shorts over these years.

We all remember the classic underdog film from 1984. Then it was awkward child star Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita in the lead roles. It was a coming-of-age story that taught some valuable lessons about discipline and patience. It was an immediate classic that pulled in a much more than respectable $90 million at the box office. It spawned three sequels which did not do near as well as the original. Now we find ourselves in an age where just about any movie ever made has to be remade/reimagined/rebooted/ or merely capitalized upon. Should there have been a new Karate Kid?

"General George S. Patton. His bold attacks are legendary. See the war the way he saw it and ride along with his hard-fighting troops as they battle their way through World War II. On this 360-degree battlefield, Patton's enemies could be anywhere and everywhere. There's nowhere to run, when the war is all around you."

Patton 360 does for the European theatre of World War II what Battle 360 did for the fight in the Pacific. Just as in that earlier program, we are brought into somewhat intimate contact with one of the most prolific and successful fighting corps in that part of the war.

It's a classic moment in holiday cinema history. Ralphie, Flick, and Swartz are gathered around a flagpole in the dead of winter. Flick is scoffing at the idea that your tongue will stick to a metal surface under these extreme cold conditions. So Swartz commits a small violation of etiquette when he goes right for the triple dog dare. There isn't any way out for our friend Flick. The results are predictable, but nonetheless hilarious. I wish I could say the same for the teen angst film Triple Dog. For me, there truly was no way out. You, my gentle reader, might yet save yourself.

We all remember Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy from Married With Children. It's an iconic role that he'll never be able to shake no matter what he does for the rest of his life. After that series ended its 11-year run, he even attempted to get out of comedy and take more dramatic roles. I'm sure there was a deliberate intent to try to distance himself from Al. It's not that he likely didn't love playing the role. He just wanted to avoid getting forever typecast in the mold. Those efforts weren't all that successful. But now he's back where he belongs again in a pretty solid sit-com. He's not playing Al Bundy anymore, although you won't have to look very hard to find some of Bundy in Jay

"For centuries the prophecies of Nostradamus have been part of the historic record. While highly speculative and controversial, their author's legacy endures."

Since before I can remember there have been folks warning us that the end is near. Dates of concern have come and gone in the decades of my own life. I remember a planetary alignment in the 1980's that was supposed to end it all. Of course, all of us remember the huge circus that surrounded the dawning of the current millennium.

"God bless fantasy football. There are many things a man can do with his time. And this is better than most of those things."

I'm a big football fan. I watch the Vikings from my high-definition theater here in Tampa, Florida thanks to the wonderful invention of the Sunday Football Ticket. No, this is not an advertisement for DirecTV. In fact, don't get me started on the problems these guys cause me every year. The point is, the Sunday Ticket allows me to watch my favorite football team even if it's not the local losers. I think that was how it was intended to work. But lately fantasy football has literally taken over the sport.

"USS Enterprise, aka The Big E, a fighting city of steel. She is the most revered and decorated ship of World War II. On this 360-degree battlefield, where threats loom on the seas, in the skies, and in the ocean depths, The Enterprise's enemies could be anywhere. Now follow this sea-bound band of brothers through four years of hell. From Pearl Harbor to the doorstep of Japan, there's nowhere to run, when the war is all around you."

These are the voyages of the aircraft carrier, Enterprise. Her four-year mission: to explore strange new seas,  seek out and destroy the enemy, to boldly go where no carrier has ever gone before.