DVD's and Blu-ray's are Our Passion

Archive for June, 2009

DVD Review: Raising the Bar – The Complete First Season

TNT | 2007 | 430 mins | PG-13 Steven Bochco has been an integral part of the television landscape for more than thirty years. As creator or co-creator of hit shows such as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and N.Y.P.D. Blue, he has created some of the most groundbreaking work in the history of history [...]

Blu-ray Review: John Adams

HBO | 2008 | 560 mins | Not rated I reviewed John Adams when it came out on DVD last year and now I’ve had the opportunity to look at the upcoming Blu-ray release that will hit store on June 16, 2008. If you haven’t had a chance to purchase this excellent mini-series or are [...]

Blu-ray Review: Valkyrie

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 2008 | 121 mins | Rated PG-13 Valkyrie, which details the July 20, 1944 plot by German army officers to assassinate Adolph Hitler, created a firestorm of controversy long before the film hit screens American screens on December 25, 2008. The casting of Tom Cruise, who was undoubtedly looking for a big hit [...]

Blu-ray Review: Indecent Proposal

Paramount Pictures | 1993 | 117 mins | Rated R The early nineties seemed to be the golden age of the erotic thriller. Among them, were Paul Verhoeven’s box office smash Basic Instinct, Louis Malle’s Damage, the forgettable Sliver and Adrian Lyne’s Indecent Proposal. Released in 1993, Indecent Proposal is based on the novel of [...]

Blu-ray Review: Friday the 13th, Part 3 – 3-D

Paramount Pictures | 1982 | 95 mins | Rated R Friday the 13th: Part 3 – 3-D has made its way to Blu-ray! Paramount was ecstatic. The low-budget slasher flick Friday the 13th had been a surprise hit and its sequel had done solid business as well. However, the tide seemed to be turning against [...]

Blu-ray Review: Star Trek – Original Motion Picture Collection

Paramount Pictures | 685 mins | Rated PG The Motion Picture / The Wrath of Khan / The Search for Spock / The Voyage Home / The Final Frontier / The Undiscovered Country Though Star Trek: The Original Series only ran for three seasons on network television, Gene Rodenberry’s creation managed to become enormously popular, [...]

Blu-ray Review: Fatal Attraction

Paramount Pictures | 1987 | 119 mins | Rated R Few directors have made a commercially successful career out of the erotic thriller. Fewer still have got critical raves for their work along the way. English director/screenwriter/producer Adrian Lyne is widely known and respected for films that deal with sexually charged characters and themes. His [...]

DVD Review: The Closer – The Complete Fourth Season

Warner Bros. | 2008 | 690 mins. | Not Rated Last July, when I reviewed The Closer: The Complete Third Season, I sung the series praises. The fourth season, finds that show even stronger; firing on all cylinders and exploring the professional and personal struggles of being a member of the L.A.P.D. The writers effectively [...]

Blu-ray Review: Glory

Rarely do I make such statements but Glory is one of those films that every film student should have in their personal collection. If you have a Blu-ray player, Sony’s recent release is a must have. There’s no question that the Civil War hasn’t spawned the number of classic films as either World War II [...]

Blu-ray Review: Dr. Doolittle – Million Dollar Mutts

Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts is the fifth film in the updated franchise. Directed by Alex Zamm (Inspector Gadget 2), this direct-to-video film can only be described as innocuous. With talki8ng animals and the slimmest of what might be considered a plot; Million Dollar Mutts might appeal to very young children but doesn’t really have [...]

Blu-ray Review: Friday the 13th, Part 2

Friday the 13th: Part 2 scares up Blu-ray! Buoyed by the success of Friday the 13th, Paramount wanted a sequel and wanted it fast. Friday the 13th, Part 2 hit theaters in May of 1981, less than a year after its predecessor. Having served as an associate-producer on the first film, Steve Miner took over [...]

DVD Review: Two and a Half Men – The Complete Fifth Season

Two and a Half Men is not a show that I would have believed could last five years. First, being the pessimist I sometimes can be, I thought Charlie Sheen would have bailed out on the project by now; either because of boredom or legal problems. Second, on the face of it, the premise of [...]

Blu-ray Review: Defiance

Director Edward Zwick seems to enjoy making films featuring difficult moral issues and plots driven on the ambiguity of authority and on individual conscience as the ultimate arbiter of truth. It was during the success of Thirtysomething, a television series he created with friend Marshall Herskovitz, that Zwick had his first big screen success with [...]

DVD Review: The Best of Star Trek – The Next Generation

With the new Star Trek film currently in theaters, I suppose it makes sense that CBS/Paramount would take the opportunity to release a small compilation of episodes from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The series, created by Gene Rodenberry, ran in first run syndication from the week of September 28, 1987 to the week of [...]