Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Starz/Anchor Bay – 118 minutes – 2010 – Rated R – 1080p Widescreen 1.85:1 – DTS 5.1 Audio Mix

If just a year ago you were told that a movie about a King with a stuttering problem would capture audiences and win the Academy Award for best picture, you would have probably laughed it off. Well when the credits rolled for this year’s Oscars, and the cast of The King’s Speech stood proudly on the stage, all disbelief was shredded. Now available on Blu-ray from Starz/Anchor Bay, The King’s Speech was the little film that came out of nowhere and shined big.

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Warner Brothers – 101 minutes – 1995 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 1.78:1 – DTS 5.1 Audio Mix – Digital Copy

The original Mortal Kombat game released in 1992 captured gamers in a big way and became one of the most controversial games of all time. Hollywood saw how the kids were eating it up and decided they could catch the videogame-to-big-screen-movie wave, which was beginning to brew. After the release and failure of another fighting game turned movie, 1994’s Street Fighter, which crashed and burned at the box office, folks were hesitant when they saw that a Mortal Kombat flick was coming out a year later. But where Street Fighter failed, the Mortal Kombat movie pulled the ultimate finishing move to become a success, even spawning a sequel. Mortal Kombat finally hits Blu-ray courtesy of Warner. Now “Finish him!” [Read the rest of this entry...]

Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Warner Brothers – 95 minutes – 1997 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 1.78:1 – DTS 5.1 Audio Mix – Digital Copy

The first Mortal Kombat film made a lot of loot, more than was probably actually expected. And in Hollywood you know what that means, there will be a sequel…whether you want it or not. In the case of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, they should have stopped when they were ahead. The first film was in no way a work of art, but the second film makes it look like Gone With The Wind. For those of you who are curious, because it’s doubtful that there are any fans for this one, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation comes to Blu-ray from Warner, but someone should have put a finishing move on this one to end the pain.

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Fox Home Entertainment – 117 minutes – 2010 – Rated PG-13/Unrated – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – DTS Lossless 5.1 Audio Mix – Digital Copy

Back in the mid-80’s NBC had a hit show that starred a big black guy with a Mohawk and the lovable actor from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and it was a mega hit. Who would have thought we’d still be talking about that show today, let alone it being turned into a big budget Hollywood summer flick. That show (and now movie) is The A-Team. If you love seeing things constantly blow up, The A-Team comes to Blu-ray courtesy of 20^th Century Fox, so check your brain at the door, press play and enjoy the show.

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Fox Home Entertainment – 133 minutes – 2010 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – DTS Lossless 5.1 Audio Mix – Digital Copy

“Greed is Good,” a line that dominated the late 80’s and early 90’s, until the mighty Wall Street crumbled and reality hit us all hard. Oliver Stones 1987 film Wall Street showed us how a mixture of decadence and arrogance was a lethal formula that only leads down to a path of corruption. Michael Douglas’ iconic character Gordon Gekko became to Wall Street wannabees, what Scarface is to the Hip Hop community, a true role model to look up to. Twenty-three years later, Mr. Stone has decided to revisit the financial world with the follow-up, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, now available on Blu-ray from 20^th Century Fox. Was the nearly quarter century wait worth it, or should the original vision just remained in an 80’s time capsule where it was safe?

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Starz/Anchor Bay – 640 mins – 2010 – Unrated – 1080p Widescreen 1.78: 1 – Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Audio – 4 Discs

The name Spartacus for most of us instantly relates to the 1960 Stanley Kubrick classic with Kirk Douglass in the leading role. There have been films such as Gladiator and 300 that did a good job at capturing the sword and sandal epic action of the glory days of Hollywood, but there options for something equal on TV have been slim. The Starz cable channel has taken a shot by re-imagining the gladiator genre with the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, which literally pushes the boundaries on what you can get away with on TV. Season one is now available on Blu-ray in a four-disc set from Starz/Anchor Bay ready to take you back to the time when the Romans ruled the planet.

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Warner Bros. – 122 mins/132 mins – 1973 – Rated R – 1080p Widescreen 1.78: 1 – Dolby Digital DTS-HD 5.1 Audio – Digibook

The Exorcist is the best horror/supernatural-thriller motion picture ever made, and to this day is still be copied with films like The Last Exorcism, which doesn’t even try to hide that it’s stealing from the original 1973 source material. Younger audiences may not appreciate the absolute brilliance of The Exorcist, because they’ve been bombarded with slasher films, watered down demonic thrillers and horror parodies, but if you locked anyone of them in a dark room and made them watched this, they won’t forget the experience. Finally The Exorcist has arrived on Blu-ray from Warner and it’s a great package, featuring not only the original theatrical film, but also the extended Director’s cut.

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Disney – 116 mins – 2010 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.40: 1 – DTS-HD 5.1 Audio – DVD copy – Digital Copy

Hollywood is still struggling to successfully adapt a videogame into a big screen movie that will be won over by both audiences and critics alike. There have been films that have made a lot of cash such as the Tomb Raider and the Resident Evil movies, but obviously neither will be considered classics one day. Big time producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the gang over at the mouse house of Disney have joined forces with a $200 million dollar big budget adaptation of the Prince of Persia videogames. The result is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time starring Jake Gyllenhaal, who pumped up his body to rival Stallone’s for the roll. The movie is now available on Disney Blu-ray, but unless you are truly a die hard fan of either the game or just watching Gyllenhaal running around without a shirt off, there’s not much else here to see.

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Paramount – 124 mins  – 2010 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.35: 1 – Dolby Digital DTS-HD 5.1 Audio – DVD/Digital Copy combo

The first Iron Man movie was definitely one of the better comic book-to-big screen adaptations that has come out in the last decade. The best thing about it is that expectations were not very high because Iron Man is not as well known to the masses as Batman or Spiderman, so when it became one of the biggest hits of 2008 it surprised a lot of people, gave Robert Downey, Jr. the comeback he needed and made actor Jon Favreau a bankable movie director. There was no doubt there would be a sequel, and two years later a “2” was slapped on the title and the man in the hot rod red body armor suit is ready to save the world again. Iron Man 2 comes to Blu-ray from Paramount Pictures, but it seems that the second go round is a bit rusty.

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Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Warner Bros. – 201 mins – 2003 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.40: 1 – DTS-HD 6.1 Audio – DVD copy – Digital Copy

After the success of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, everyone was anticipating the grand finale. The last film in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Return of the King is not only an excellent ending to the saga, it is also a cinematic masterpiece which earned the 2003 Academy Award for best picture. Originally the Blu-ray was included only as part of a box set, but now it is available individually from Warner Home Video.

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