Kill the lights on this one. This film is dark, dark, dark. I must have seen “Escape from Alcatraz” a hundred times over the years in standard-definition, and each time it seemed the quality got progressively worse. But it is just one of those films that I can’t turn off, even with commercial interruptions. Full Story
Resident Evil 5 is a 3rd person shooter/survival horror game that was released on March 13th for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The game follows the most recent chapter in Chris Redfield’s story arch that has spanned the entirety of the Resident Evil series. The reviews are out and the critics have had their say, but how do we fans feel about the close of this chapter? How does this Resident Evil stack up against its predecessors? Where can the series go from here both in terms of story and in terms of the gaming mechanics? Full Story
Among some other great releases my Blu-ray pic of the week is The Shawshank Redemption from 1994. This is the movie’s first release in high-definition and Dolby TruHD. It comes packaged with a 32-page booklet and contains all the extras previously released on the Special Edition standard-def DVD. Full Story
TNT will broadcast the third movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy in HD today with limited commercials. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King will start at 7 pm ET/4 pm PT, following a run of the first two LOTR movies which begins at 11:30 am ET/8:30 am PT. Full Story
Not available on Blu-ray disc yet, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was broadcast last night on Universal HD network. The film from 1984 held up surprising well in high-definition, a testimony to the film’s original production. It was shot in Panavision with Metrocolor processing, giving the film punchy color saturation, a characteristic commonly given to plasma television technology. Full Story
Lush fields of green, wild elephants, and contestants running around in their underwear…sound like eden? In high definition you will get a taste of what the beauty of this untouched landscape is like. It’s the first Survivor season in HD, and that may keep viewers coming back. Full Story
IMAX: Blue Planet (Warner)
Featuring: The Beautiful Planet Earth
Imagine being a visitor from another planet (go ahead, imagine it!)… your approach to Planet Earth would be breathtaking in its scope as the small fuzzy blue dot becomes a blue-green and white sphere where obvious weather activity is taking place, but on closer inspection… wait! there seems to be spectacular changes taking place right before your eyes. Full Story
The Fountain
The Fountain (Warner) (Blu-ray)
Featuring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel “Hottie” Weisz, Ellen Burstyn Full Story
Dirty Dancing (Lionsgate) (Blu-ray)
Featuring: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Cynthia Rhodes, Jerry Orbach, and Jack Weston
Oh, Baby! This disc is simply filled with features! While a bit different than the standard-def DVD release from a few years back (“Ultimate Edition”), it retains many of the best features from that release while adding a few new ones including a nice tribute to the wonderfully talented Jerry Orbach. Celebrating 25 years since the original theatrical release, the characters (and quotable lines) remain memorable, and this well-made film (by low-budget standards) remains a cut above similar fare. Taking place at a Catskills resort in the early 1960’s rather simple story might have been cribbed from parts of Footloose (and a little bit of The Karate Kid thrown in) with its rebellious dancing a metaphor for the burgeoning sexuality of its teenage character as well as a bridge between generations and classes. Full Story
Dreamgirls (DreamWorks) (HD DVD & Blu-ray)
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, and Beyoncé Knowles
Adapted from the successful and long-running 1981 Broadway musical, this is basically a roman à clef about the African-American experience within the music industry (primarily the quasi-history of The Supremes) circa the 1960’s and 1970’s and set to a dynamic score. Much as the Broadway musical did, this film covers a broad range of popular musical styles ranging from bluesy R&B and Doo-Wop to later styles of the Motown sound, funk and culminating in the disco and dance driven eras. It’s a feast for the ears, just as the film is, in many ways, a feast for the eyes, truly evoking the glorious, and sometimes acrimonious, past. Full Story
This week’s Blu-ray movie review includes The Dirty Dozen and the classic martial arts film “Enter the Dragon”. Our HD DVD movie review includes Feast, The Game, The Jerk, School for Scoundrels, and Smokin Aces. Full Story
This week’s hi def releases include: The Pursuit of Happyness, Happy Feet, March of the Penguins, Children of Men, National Geographic: Relentless Enemies, Incubus: Alive at Red Rocks, and Warriors of Heaven & Earth. Full Story
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