Reviews on Blu-ray, DVD, movies, and all tech gadgets

Entries for January, 2009

Box Office Review: Doubt [2008]

Reviewed by Richard Lee Zuras
Released Dec. 25
I hr. 44 min.
PG-13
John Patrick Shanley/Miramax
Meryl Streep
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Amy Adams
Viola Davis
Some films have divining rods built into them. It may be argued that a film such as Doubt has such a rod. After all, who among us that has been raised in or amongst those who […]

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Blu-ray review: Without A Paddle: Nature’s Calling [2009]

Reviewed by Johnny McNair 
 
Paramount Home Entertainment – 90 mins – 2009 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.35: 1 – Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Master Audio
 

 
The original Without A Paddle movie came out in 2004, and maybe I didn’t get the memo, but I don’t recall anyone ever wishing a sequel would be made. But […]

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Blu-ray review: Babylon A.D. [2008]

Reviewed by Johnny McNair
Fox Home Entertainment– 101 minutes – 2008 – Unrated – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – DTS HD 5.1 Lossless Audio – Digital Copy
 
The problem with the sci-fi film genre is that for every great one that comes along, you have to suffer through about twenty really, really bad ones. This is the case […]

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Box Office Review: Defiance [2009]

Jan. 17, 2009
Reviewed by Richard Lee Zuras
Released Jan. 16, 2009
2 hr. 17 min.
R
Edward Zwick/The Weinstein Company
Daniel Craig
Liev Schreiber
Mark Feuerstein
Jamie Bell
This is a truly defiant movie. On one hand Defiance is the true story of a band of Jewish me, women, and children who fled to the Belarussian forests during Hitler’s 1941 campaign. But it is […]

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Box Office Review: Valkyrie [2008]

Jan. 15, 2009
Reviewed by Richard Lee Zuras
Released Dec. 25, 2008
2 hr. 1 min.
Pg-13
Bryan Singer/United Artists Tom Cruise
Tom Wilkinson
Kenneth Branagh
Bill Nighy
Eddie Izzard
Terence Stamp
Carice van Houten

Here are the main reasons why Valkyrie received initial bad press and ultimately kept people from considering it for awards:
Tom Cruise is wearing an eye-patch
The film’s release date […]

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Blu-ray review: Days of Thunder [1990]

Reviewed by Johnny McNair
Paramount Home Entertainment – 107 mins – 1990 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Audio

 
When it was released in 1990 Days of Thunder was hyped as being Top Gun on wheels, and because of the mega success of that film, everyone was waiting for Thunder to blow […]

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Blu-ray review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona [2008]

Reviewed by Johnny McNair
 
Weinstein Company – 97 minutes – 2008 – PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 1.85:1 – Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Audio
 

 
Filmmaker Woody Allen is a master at telling stories where the characters outshine their situations. He’s been doing this for nearly 40 years, and no one does it better, which is why A-list stars line […]

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Blu-ray review: Burn After Reading [2008]

Reviewed by Johnny McNair
 
Universal Studios Home Entertainment – 96 mins – 2008 – Rated R– 1080p Widescreen 1.85: 1 – DTS-HD Lossless Master 5.1 Audio
 

 
The Coen Brothers are two of the most influential filmmakers of our generation, crafting such cinema classics as Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and most recently, No Country […]

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