Showing posts with label UltraViolet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UltraViolet. Show all posts

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's worldwide blockbuster Despicable Me entertained audiences around the globe in 2010, grossing more than 0 million and becoming the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history. In summer 2013, get ready for more Minion madness in Despicable Me 2. Chris Meledandri and his acclaimed filmmaking team create an all-new comedy adventure featuring the return of (former?) super-villain Gru (Steve Carell), his adorable girls, the unpredictably hilarious Minions...and a host of new and outrageously funny characters.

Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


Sticky doesn't begin to describe Gru's new life: the ex-supervillain has given up his villainous ways and he and Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) have settled into the legitimate business of making jellies and jams with the help of his army of minions. Parenting is no less sticky, and the fact that Gru will go to any length to ensure the happiness of his adopted girls Agnes, Edith, and Margo is evident by the elaborate birthday party he's throwing for Agnes that includes a live unicorn and a princess named Gruzinkerbell. Anti-Villain League operative Lucy Wild (Kristen Wiig) kidnaps Gru after the party, using an arsenal of spy gadgetry that would make James Bond jealous, and the agency solicits his help in apprehending a criminal who's made an entire secret lab disappear from the Arctic Circle and stolen a dangerous transmutation formula. The lure of excitement tempts Gru, and he and Lucy set up an undercover operation in a bakery in Paradise Mall, the minions start cranking out cupcakes, and Gru and Lucy begin investigating their fellow business owners. Meanwhile, Agnes pines for a mother, Margo finds her first boyfriend, Dr. Nefario takes a more exciting job, a slew of minions go missing, and Gru staunchly refuses to enter the dating scene. Little does Gru know that his whole life is about to change once again. The minions and their antics are quite funny in this second film, and, for the 10-and-under crowd, they completely steal the show. For the older crowd, the film does a decent job of further developing Gru's character and provides lots of comedic material in the exaggeration of the many challenges of parenthood as well as through the wacky exploits of the minions. (Ages 6 and older) --Tami Horiuchi



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 10:52 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Django Unchained (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) [Blu-ray]







Django Unchained (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) [Blu-ray] Overview


Set in the South two years before the Civil War, DJANGO UNCHAINED stars Academy Award ®-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with a German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Academy Award®-winner Christolph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive.

Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South’s most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago.

Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Academy Award®-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz rouse the suspicion of Stephen (Academy Award®-nominee Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival…

Django Unchained (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) [Blu-ray] Specifications


From the moment Jamie Foxx throws off a filthy, tattered blanket to reveal a richly muscled back crisscrossed with long scars, it's obvious that Django Unchained will be both true to its exploitation roots but also clear-eyed about the misery that's being exploited. Django (Foxx), a slave set free in the years before the Civil War, joins with a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter (the marvelous Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds), who has promised to help Django rescue his wife (Kerry Washington), who's still enslaved to a gleeful and grandiose plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio, plainly relishing the opportunity to play an out-and-out villain). What follows is a wild and woolly ride, crammed with all the pleasures one expects from a revenge fantasy written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Plot-wise, some things happen a little too easily (for example, Django instantly becomes a master gunslinger), but the moral perspective is not glib. For all its lurid violence and jazzy dialogue, this is a still-rare movie that paints slavery for what it was: a brutal, dehumanizing practice that allowed a privileged few to profit from the suffering of many, a practice guaranteed by the gun and the whip. Think of it as the antidote to Gone with the Wind. Tarantino is more heartfelt in Django Unchained than in any of his previous movies--without sacrificing any of the pell-mell action, tension, and delicious language that made Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and Pulp Fiction so very enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 8:36 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Les Miserables (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Les Miserables (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Hugh Jackman, Academy Awardr winner Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway star in this critically-acclaimed adaptation of the epic musical phenomenon. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Mis‚rables tells the story of ex-prisoner Jean Valjean (Jackman), hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe), after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. This enthralling story is a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit and "an unforgettable experience" (Richard Roeper, RichardRoeper.com).

DVD - Region 1; Blu-ray- Region Free.

Les Miserables (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


Les Misérables is a deeply powerful film that's rich with raw feeling, the grittiness of life in 19th-century France, and the conflict between right, wrong, and the concept of redemption. Les Misérables takes viewers on an emotionally exhausting journey as it follows ex-convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) after his release from prison. Valjean breaks parole, but he is granted a second chance by a kind bishop. He then moves from place to place throughout France, trying to live an honest life while ruthless policeman Javert (Russell Crowe) hunts him relentlessly. Valjean meets the broken-spirited Fantine (Anne Hathaway), promises to care for her daughter Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) as Fantine is about to die, and finds his own life completely changed as a result of that promise. Like the stage play, the film is dark, gritty, and passionate, but it enhances the sense of place in early- to mid-1800s France as a staged version simply cannot. The intricately woven plot is somewhat easier to understand here, thanks to an abundance of visual cues and the camera's unique ability to focus in so closely on the actors' faces. In fact, the intimacy of the extreme close-ups used throughout is at once uncomfortable and hugely effective. The vocal performances are generally quite good, especially considering the decision to record them live versus the customary overdubbing. Sure, some of the actors' voices seem pushed and strained at times, but that fact often only adds to the emotional intensity of the moment. Hathaway's performance is stellar, both for her vocal prowess and for the depth of feeling conveyed and maintained in her facial expressions throughout even the lengthiest and closest of close-ups. While Crowe seems an odd choice for Javert and is definitely outsung by the other members of the cast, he holds his own when it really counts with solos that are on-pitch and arguably even more powerful for their imperfections. Discerning listeners will not choose the film's Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack over the full-length London or Broadway cast recordings, but sometimes an outstanding performance isn't all about musical perfection--the overall Les Misérables film experience is definitely one of those cases. New for the film is the song "Suddenly," written by the musical's original composer and lyricist Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg. Trivia buffs will note that the bishop is played by Colm Wilkinson, who originally played Valjean in the London and Broadway stage productions, and Whore #1 is played by the original London and Broadway Eponine, Frances Ruffelle. --Tami Horiuchi



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 4:28 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Extended Edition) (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + UltraViolet)







The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Extended Edition) (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + UltraViolet) Overview


Join Peter Jackson on the Journey to the World’s Greatest Adventure Five-disc Extended Edition includes 13 minutes of revealing never-before-seen film footage and nearly 9 hours of fascinating in-depth looks at the production.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Extended Edition) (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + UltraViolet) Specifications


A fellow named Bilbo Baggins lives in the Shire--but perhaps you've made his acquaintance already? If you're familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the films that Peter Jackson wrought from them, of course you have. And here is Bilbo, played again by Ian Holm, shuffling about his hobbit hole and recalling a grand adventure from his past, when he left the Shire with a wizard and some dwarves and found a certain ring and a very peculiar creature named Gollum. This is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which Jackson and his LOTR crew have expanded on from Tolkien's 1937 novel. And boy, have they expanded: this 169-minute escapade is merely the first of three separate movies made from that one book, and it gets the young Bilbo (played by Martin Freeman) only a little ways into his grand trek. Many loud, garish battles and chases fill the time, along with some (it pains one to say it) fairly tedious adolescent-level humor. Jackson tends to dally with scenes that might have been more effective in half the time, and the bumptious dwarves are some of the least charming characters in the Tolkieniad. Thank goodness, there's Gollum (played, as before, by the digitally transformed Andy Serkis), who shares a riddle-trading scene with Bilbo that sends genuine shivers up the spine. Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf, and a few other LOTR folk make cameos, but the more An Unexpected Journey goes on, the less you sense the magic afoot. Despite the fun moments, this feels like a prologue for the actual movie, which is still to come. (Originally released on many screens in 3-D, the film was also showcased in some theaters in a pioneering format that increased the clarity of the image--or made it look like a soap opera, depending on your receptiveness to the flat, frictionless technology.) --Robert Horton



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 1:02 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

Monday, August 5, 2013

Olympus Has Fallen (Two Disc Combo: Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy)







Olympus Has Fallen (Two Disc Combo: Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Overview


Disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped inside the White House in the wake of a terrorist attack; using his inside knowledge, Banning works with national security to rescue the President from his kidnappers.




Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 11:35 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, August 2, 2013

The Host (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







The Host (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


From Stephenie Meyer, the creator of the worldwide phenomenon The Twilight Saga, comes this daring and romantic thriller based on The New York Times #1 bestselling novel. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over humans' bodies and erasing their minds, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) risks everything to protect the people she cares about most, proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world. The Host is a passionate and powerful epic love story co-starring Diane Kruger, Jake Abel, Frances Fisher, Max Irons and William Hurt.

The Host (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


Stephenie Meyer captured the hearts and minds of young (and older) readers with her Twilight series and their related films. Now comes the film version of The Host, and it is guaranteed to hit many of the same thrilling notes with Twilight fans. The Host also features a strong heroine (the always-amazing Saoirse Ronan), Melanie, for whom the audience can root. And root we must, because in The Host Earth has been taken over by aliens in crisp white outfits--each one taking over a human "host" so that the alien race can save the planet. Fewer humans are alive, and young Melanie has been on the run with her kid brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), and her Louisiana honey, Jared (Max Irons). The Host opens with Melanie's capture--and continues on her odyssey as the alien who attempts to overtake her, Wanderer (Wanda for short), battles inside Melanie for control of her body and mind. There are love stories (some interplanetary ones, even), and action sequences that are breathtaking. Pros like William Hurt, Diane Kruger, and Frances Fisher appear in memorable supporting roles. And most of all, The Host delivers a sweet and complicated meditation on what it means to be human--and to retain one's humanity. --A.T. Hurley



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 9:08 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Conjuring (Blu-Ray + DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack)







The Conjuring (Blu-Ray + DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack) Overview


Director James Wan made a splash in the horror genre with Saw, a rather ingenious midnight movie that spawned a legion of splattery imitators. Rather than continue in that overtly grody mode, however, Wan chose to move on, with a series of films (most notably Dead Silence and Insidious) that showed a healthy appreciation of the classics in the field, as well as a gratifying progression of skills behind the camera. The Conjuring stands as the moment when Wan puts it all together, fashioning a terrifically freaky haunted-house movie that respects its audience, even when it's busy finding new ways to launch them out of their seats. Based on ostensibly true events, the film works as something of a thesis on scary movies, featuring all of the essential elements--a creaky door here, a scary doll there, dark corners, well, everywhere--as well as a command of old-school pacing. Unlike the majority of in-your-face modern horror, it knows when to hold back, and when to go for absolute broke. Chad and Carey Hayes's script follows Lorraine and Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), a pair of married paranormal investigators dealing with the increasing mental toll of their profession. When they take on the case of a haunted Connecticut farmhouse, their misgivings come to a terrifying head. And then some. Wan gets some fantastic performances from his cast, particularly from the alternately steely and fragile Farmiga, and Lili Taylor, whose inspired work here more than compensates for her appearance in the misguided remake of The Haunting. Together, they make it unnervingly easy to believe in the things in the shadows. The most impressive element of The Conjuring, though, ultimately proves to be its utter relentlessness, steadily cranking the screws without resorting to easy jump scares to tone down the tension. While always playing fair, it qualifies as one of those rare scary movies that put the viewer through the absolute wringer, without leaving them feeling ill-used at the end. Prepare to jump. --Andrew Wright




Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 7:17 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Fast & Furious 6 (Limited Edition Packaging) (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Fast & Furious 6 (Limited Edition Packaging) (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Few movie franchises can match the cheerfully improbable rise of the Fast & Furious series, which has escalated from humble B-movie beginnings to genuine gotta-see-to-believe blockbuster status. (For clarity's sake, it should be noted that in this case, "humble" means a film where the camera routinely swooped through a car's exhaust manifold.) This sixth installment may take a while to match the cruising speed of its immediate predecessor (the awesomely overstuffed Fast Five) but once it does, look out. Picking up more or less where the last one left off, the story finds the gang of Wacky Racers living off of the grid and enjoying the good life. Quiet Time comes to a halt, however, with the arrival of Federal Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), who needs their help in stopping an elite team of London mercenaries. Everything that can possibly collide and/or explode, does. Director Justin Lin, who has been handling the series since 2006's Tokyo Drift, goes all out this time around, bringing back old cast members, reinforcing the endearingly corny ties between the characters--just try and count the number of times Vin Diesel growls "family"--and adding Haywire's Gina Carano to increase the already copious bruising ratio. While such an attempt at delighting the longtime fans is admirable, the attention paid to the large roster may baffle viewers not up on their series mythology, particularly during the rather slow first act. Things correct themselves fiercely at the midpoint, though, when a tank hits the freeway in a sequence that should, by all rights, be impossible to top. Lin and Co. somehow manage to crank up the volume even further, however, with a finale involving an exceedingly large plane, the world's largest runway, and a fleet of cars sporting grappling hooks. If all that wasn't already enough, stick around for the closing credits, which suggests that the filmmakers have found a way to up the ante for the next sequel. You know that old saying about how less is more? Yeah, that's totally not the case here. --Andrew Wright




Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 5:38 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Spring Breakers (Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy)







Spring Breakers (Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Overview


Four frustrated college girlfriends (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine) plot to fund their best spring break ever by burglarizing a fast-food shack. But that's only the beginning... during a night of partying, the girls get arrested. Hungover a nd clad only in bikinis, the girls appear before a judge and get bailed out unexpectedly by Alien (James Franco), an infamous local dealer who takes them on the wildest spring-break trip in history.

Spring Breakers (Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Specifications


Word on Spring Breakers has been loud enough for everyone to know that this is not a typical teen romp about college kids blowing off steam and getting their party on along the golden shores of Florida's Gulf Coast. It is that for sure, but writer-director Harmony Korine's vision of the masses of toned hardbodies' drink- and drug-fueled days and day-glo nights goes far deeper than playful exploitation. His intention is to peel away the trappings of a genre to uncover realms much more disturbing. Though wildly uneven, Spring Breakers is always entertaining, from the early gaudy scenes of girls and guys gone wild, to the unsettling apparitions of a hallucinatory thug life that come later. The camera gawks at all of this with slightly detached dread, whether it's brightly lit bikinis bouncing on the beach in slow motion or the automatic weapons, heavy-duty drugs, and unsavory characters who inhabit the place when all the spring breakers are gone. Much has been made of the fact that Spring Breakers is a breakout from good-girl status for stars Selena Gomez (as Faith) and Vanessa Hudgens (as Candy). Along with Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine, the director's wife), this quartet is itching to play bad as they first get the money to travel to Florida by pulling a heist, then letting loose once they get there with the thousands of other mostly undressed youths (we almost never see the four leads in anything other than op-art bikinis). Being a little too bad, they end up in a jail cell, but they find themselves bailed out by a loony local named Alien. By all movie logic, this should go down as one of James Franco's defining performances. He is truly sensational. The movie soars when he enters the story as a cornrowed, be-grilled, heavily tattooed gangsta whose ear-to-ear smile and poetic rap patter enrapture the girls into the kind of danger they've only been playing at so far. Alien proves a little too creepy for one, who soon escapes home; another heads back north after an incident of gunplay brings the reality too close. But Candy and Brit stick around as Alien's soulmates, all sharing his guns, his bed, his money, and his inflated sense of self as one. A nominal plot pits Alien against a rival drug kingpin, and the movie devolves into farce in the final reel, but not before Korine has a chance to elevate the hypnotic imagery and obscenely elegiac dialogue into something much higher than the sum of its parts. For some, Spring Breakers may seem a transgressive nightmare of debauchery in its depiction of a social reality that Hollywood would dare not touch. But it's also a fever dream of color, humor, horror, wit, and craziness that has something to say. If for no other reason, see Spring Breakers simply for the image of James Franco losing himself with a glee even one such as the great and powerful Oz could never imagine. --Ted Fry



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 3:07 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Identity Thief (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Identity Thief (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses) and Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) lead an all-star cast in this hilarious blockbuster hit. Unlimited funds have allowed Diana (McCarthy) to live it up on the outskirts of Orlando. There's only one glitch: she's financing her shopping sprees with an ID stolen from Sandy Patterson (Bateman), an accounts rep who lives halfway across the U.S. With only one week to hunt down the con artist before his world implodes, the real Sandy Patterson is forced to extreme measures to clear his name. From the director of Horrible Bosses and the producer of Ted, critics are calling Identity Thief "smart, funny and surprisingly touching" - Rafer Guzman, Newsday.

Identity Thief (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


Identity Thief is a hilarious romp/caper featuring the comedic skills of Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) and Jason Bateman (Up in the Air, Arrested Development. Whoever had the casting idea to hire these two as the leads was on to something. While the script for Identity Thief may be a bit weak and predictable, the chemistry of the film's two stars gives it more than its share of belly laughs. McCarthy stars as Diana, a credit-card scammer, and Bateman is Sandy, a straight-laced executive who becomes a victim of her fraud. Sandy takes it upon himself to track Diana down and bring her to justice. Identity Thief echoes some of the best bits of Midnight Run (and Bateman himself seems to be paying homage to that film's costar, Charles Grodin). Identity Thief gets its personality and true moments of comedy from the interplay of the odd-couple stars. The supporting cast is strong, including Eric Stonestreet, Amanda Peet, T.I., and Jon Favreau, though they ultimately seem a little superfluous. Which is totally fine, because with the interaction of the two stars, and especially the fearless performance of Melissa McCarthy, Identity Thief will stealthily steal your heart. --A.T. Hurley



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 12:20 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Silver Linings Playbook (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Silver Linings Playbook (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Life doesn't always go according to plan. Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) has lost everything -- his house, his job, and his wife. He now finds himself living back with his mother (Jacki Weaver) and father (Robert DeNiro) after spending eight months is a state institution on a plea bargain. Pat is determined to rebuild his life, remain positive and reunite with his wife, despite the challenging circumstances of their separation. All Pat's parents want is for him to get back on his feet-and to share their family's obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles football team. When Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a mysterious girl with problems of her own, things get complicated. Tiffany offers to help Pat reconnect with his wife, but only if he'll do something very important for her in return. As their deal plays out, an unexpected bond begins to form between them, and silver linings appear in both of their lives.

Silver Linings Playbook (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


In lesser hands than director David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook could have been a typically cringe-inducing throwaway Hollywood rom-com. As it is, this unusual and deeply affecting story of crazy love is a bold observation about the joys and tragedy of life lived by deeply flawed characters facing triumph and adversity against a backdrop of painfully familiar family dysfunction. It's also a tremendous achievement in formal structure, with a flair for storytelling that's as moving as it is delightful. Bradley Cooper plays Pat, an until-recently undiagnosed bipolar person who's just home from a lengthy stay in a mental institution and doing his darnedest to get his head and his life back on track. His concerned parents, vividly embodied by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, have plenty of troubles of their own when they warily take him in and tiptoe around the eggshells of a psyche that still veers wildly from seeming self-control to scary bouts of mania. Pat has a plan to win back the unfaithful wife whose restraining order is still in force because of the violent episode that sent him away after he nearly killed her lover. Interjected into this wobbly family scenario is Tiffany, a friend of a friend who is embroiled in her own turmoil of mental instability following the recent death of her husband. Jennifer Lawrence is a charming revelation as Tiffany, flexing sensitive acting muscles that are as toned as her lithe form. She throws herself into the role of a depressed, promiscuous young woman who needs Pat in her life about as much as she needs another personal tornado to rip her apart. But the movie magically reveals that these two disturbed souls have a destiny that's never really in doubt; although the whirlwind turns the movie takes to get them there are often breathtaking. Russell liberally adapted the movie from Matthew Quick's 2008 novel, and he deftly imbues the story with a vibrant sense of place (suburban, blue-collar Philadelphia) and each character, no matter how tangential to Pat and Tiffany's journey, with quirks and nuances that brilliantly reveal their essence. The subject of mental illness has rarely been portrayed with such honesty and candid respect. Constantly keeping us off guard, Silver Linings Playbook soars from darkness to a kind of screwball comedy that is as tender and touching as it is unpredictable. There are several tour-de-force moments that Russell constructs with the surest hand of direction, dialogue, and the talents of his cast. A key scene unfolds in a small living room where eight people are crammed together, each adding important pieces to the whole, and which thrums with a masterfully rhythmic pace. Another sequence follows the buildup to one of Pat's manic outbursts with a dizzying and increasingly stressful manifestation of the madness careening around in his head. It seems hard to believe that a love story with real humor, real pain, and genuine resonance that gets from point A to point B--it begins with a lone figure mumbling to himself and ends with a jubilantly staged ballroom dance--can succeed with so few missteps. But Silver Linings Playbook turns it all into an absorbing reality wherein life stumbles heartwarmingly toward what real love is all about. --Ted Fry



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 11:55 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Oblivion (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Oblivion (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Tom Cruise stars in Oblivion, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the visionary director of Tron: Legacy and producers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man’s confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind.

Oblivion (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


The contrast between stunning blue-hued technology and the moldering remnants of an Earth that has been decimated by environmental catastrophe and weapons of absolute destruction is kind of a neat parallel to the twisty story that makes Oblivion such a fun, albeit decidedly bleak Tom Cruise sci-fi crowd pleaser. Cruise is Jack Harper, a futuristic maverick who patrols the wasteland of our planet in 2077, 60 years after an alien invasion by the "scavs" left it a dying cinder. His girlfriend/partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) whispers directives in his ear from their iPad-like headquarters in the clouds, getting her orders from a video-only spectral overlord named Sally (Melissa Leo), who oozes not-quite-right with every politely southern-drawled command. Jack's job is to zip around repairing security drones and keep safe from scav attacks the enormous fusion converters that are sucking Earth's last ocean resources dry for the surviving humans who now populate Saturn's moon Titan. Very soon Jack and Victoria will be departing to the massive hovering mothership for their escape to Titan and a life of love and leisure. But something's not quite right in Jack's perception of things, in spite of the "security memory wipe" both he and Victoria live with. He can't shake persistent dreams of a thriving New York City, a place he experiences in reality only as crumbling canyons marked by the ground-level spire of the Empire State Building. There are other troubling signs as Jack whizzes through dangerous atmospheres and landscapes in a snazzy bubble-shaped spacecraft or rides a streamlined motorbike that's the perfect accessory for his sleek leather suit and ergonomic armaments. He thinks the scavs are trying to capture, not kill him, plus he's spending more and more secret time shooting hoops and listening to Led Zeppelin at a bucolic lakeside log cabin where Victoria can't track him. Oblivion takes its time with this absorbing mood-setting background of visually ravishing tableaux. At the halfway mark, it starts throwing around wild twists and turns after Jack investigates the crash landing of a spaceship from Earth's past. From it he rescues the woman of his dreams (Olga Kurylenko), which is the breaking point for his already almost-blown mind. The sinister vibe that has been a background rumble throughout quickly gains volume. An appearance by Morgan Freeman in cool-cat shades and a black cape gives the extra complexity some real class. It's a bit of a paradox that the script has such bold insights, yet is also so brashly derivative. The stylistic flourishes and elegant conceptual designs are singular in their vision, but there are direct references and plot cues taken from dozens of other movies, including WALL-E, The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Moon, and Total Recall. It's not too hard to see where the threads lead, but flying along as Oblivion ties them together is a trip of its very own. --Ted Fry



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 10:59 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's worldwide blockbuster Despicable Me entertained audiences around the globe in 2010, grossing more than 0 million and becoming the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history. In summer 2013, get ready for more Minion madness in Despicable Me 2. Chris Meledandri and his acclaimed filmmaking team create an all-new comedy adventure featuring the return of (former?) super-villain Gru (Steve Carell), his adorable girls, the unpredictably hilarious Minions...and a host of new and outrageously funny characters.

Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


Sticky doesn't begin to describe Gru's new life: the ex-supervillain has given up his villainous ways and he and Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) have settled into the legitimate business of making jellies and jams with the help of his army of minions. Parenting is no less sticky, and the fact that Gru will go to any length to ensure the happiness of his adopted girls Agnes, Edith, and Margo is evident by the elaborate birthday party he's throwing for Agnes that includes a live unicorn and a princess named Gruzinkerbell. Anti-Villain League operative Lucy Wild (Kristen Wiig) kidnaps Gru after the party, using an arsenal of spy gadgetry that would make James Bond jealous, and the agency solicits his help in apprehending a criminal who's made an entire secret lab disappear from the Arctic Circle and stolen a dangerous transmutation formula. The lure of excitement tempts Gru, and he and Lucy set up an undercover operation in a bakery in Paradise Mall, the minions start cranking out cupcakes, and Gru and Lucy begin investigating their fellow business owners. Meanwhile, Agnes pines for a mother, Margo finds her first boyfriend, Dr. Nefario takes a more exciting job, a slew of minions go missing, and Gru staunchly refuses to enter the dating scene. Little does Gru know that his whole life is about to change once again. The minions and their antics are quite funny in this second film, and, for the 10-and-under crowd, they completely steal the show. For the older crowd, the film does a decent job of further developing Gru's character and provides lots of comedic material in the exaggeration of the many challenges of parenthood as well as through the wacky exploits of the minions. (Ages 6 and older) --Tami Horiuchi



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 10:06 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

Monday, July 15, 2013

Evil Dead (Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy)







Evil Dead (Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Overview


A secluded cabin. An ancient curse. An unrelenting evil. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell reunite to present a genuinely terrifying re-imagining of their original horror masterpiece. Five young friends have found the mysterious and fiercely powerful Book of the Dead. Unable to resist its temptation, they release a violent demon on a blood-thirsty quest to possess them all. Who will be left to fight for their survival and defeat this unearthly force of murderous carnage?

Evil Dead (Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Specifications


You leave a staple gun lying around an isolated cabin, you're asking for trouble. But that's the least of the mortal worries in Evil Dead, the 2013 reboot of Sam Raimi's 1981 kook-classic horror picture. This version takes the same general outline as the original (young people at a cabin, forbidden book of occult spells, all hell breaking loose) and plays it as an intense, blood-soaked exercise in nonstop action. Ostensibly the friends are there to help Mia (Jane Levy) kick her drug addiction, but they get slightly distracted by the dead animals hanging in the basement and the book of incantations wrapped in barbed wire. The nerd (Lou Taylor Pucci) in the group takes the next step--actually speaking some of the book's mumbo-jumbo out loud--and the rest is no-holds-barred, utterly berserk bloodletting. If any of this had real force, or if any of the characters had more than a single character trait to prop them up, maybe Evil Dead could succeed as a genre exercise. Certainly, director Fede Alvarez has the technical skills to horrify an audience for 90 minutes, and the film is grueling in its quest to find a grisly touch that will top the previous scene. But there's absolutely nothing going on beyond the usual template for this kind of movie (didn't Cabin in the Woods finish that off?) and ultimately we're left with another horror picture that relies on people doing stupid things. --Robert Horton



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 6:36 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Django Unchained (Bu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) [Blu-ray]







Django Unchained (Bu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) [Blu-ray] Overview


Set in the South two years before the Civil War, DJANGO UNCHAINED stars Academy Award ®-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with a German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Academy Award®-winner Christolph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive.

Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South’s most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago.

Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Academy Award®-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz rouse the suspicion of Stephen (Academy Award®-nominee Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival…

Django Unchained (Bu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) [Blu-ray] Specifications


From the moment Jamie Foxx throws off a filthy, tattered blanket to reveal a richly muscled back crisscrossed with long scars, it's obvious that Django Unchained will be both true to its exploitation roots but also clear-eyed about the misery that's being exploited. Django (Foxx), a slave set free in the years before the Civil War, joins with a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter (the marvelous Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds), who has promised to help Django rescue his wife (Kerry Washington), who's still enslaved to a gleeful and grandiose plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio, plainly relishing the opportunity to play an out-and-out villain). What follows is a wild and woolly ride, crammed with all the pleasures one expects from a revenge fantasy written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Plot-wise, some things happen a little too easily (for example, Django instantly becomes a master gunslinger), but the moral perspective is not glib. For all its lurid violence and jazzy dialogue, this is a still-rare movie that paints slavery for what it was: a brutal, dehumanizing practice that allowed a privileged few to profit from the suffering of many, a practice guaranteed by the gun and the whip. Think of it as the antidote to Gone with the Wind. Tarantino is more heartfelt in Django Unchained than in any of his previous movies--without sacrificing any of the pell-mell action, tension, and delicious language that made Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and Pulp Fiction so very enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 4:33 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, July 12, 2013

42 (Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack)







42 (Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack) Overview


In 1946, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) signed Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) to the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking MLB's infamous color line and forever changing history.

42 (Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack) Specifications


42 is a powerful film about how one man changed baseball… and changed America. The film opens in 1945, after the end of World War II, when team executive Branch Rickey has set his mind on bringing the first black baseball player into the ranks of an American major league baseball team despite the disapproval of his advisers and team manager. A stubborn man who declares that money is green, not black or white, and claims profit as his motivation, Rickey carefully selects Jackie Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs. He chooses Robinson both because he's an excellent baseball player and because Rickey believes him to be a man with the inner strength to withstand the bullying and abuse that's sure to follow his appointment to an all-white team. So begins an emotionally charged journey of prejudice, abuse, growth, and empowerment that follows player and manager as they submerge themselves in something much bigger than themselves. Harrison Ford is perfectly cast as Mr. Rickey, a stubborn man with a mission he refuses to be dissuaded from and who is contradictorily harsh and kind, wise and comical, progressive and old school. Chadwick Boseman, as Jackie Robinson, exudes the intense inner strength and barely contained rage of a black man whose physical and moral strengths are ignored by fellow players and a public fixated on the color of his skin. He is absolutely believable as a man who changed the world while refusing to let the world change him. Equally strong performances are given by Nicole Beharie as the ever-calm Mrs. Rachel Robinson and Andre Holland as Wendell Smith, the black reporter who accompanies Jackie Robinson almost everywhere. 42 is a poignant film that has some unexpectedly witty moments, and viewers can expect their emotions to run the gamut from shame, helplessness, and rage to the awakening of inspiration and empowerment to continue to effect change and eradicate discrimination. 42 is one of the best films produced in a long time. Watch it--and make sure to include your teenagers in the audience. (Ages 12 and older) --Tami Horiuchi



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 12:02 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Sunday, July 7, 2013

The Call (Two Disc Combo: Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy)







The Call (Two Disc Combo: Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Overview


In this heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thriller, veteran 911 operator Jordan (Halle Berry) takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl (Abigail Breslin) who has been kidnapped and thrown into the trunk of a madman's car. But with the clock ticking, Jordan soon realizes she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl's life and put an end to a serial killer's haunting rampage.




Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 4:53 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (Unrated Cut) (Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (Unrated Cut) (Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell-bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches...their past.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (Unrated Cut) (Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


There are too many body parts flying around Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters to single out the tongue that has nearly been gnawed off in the cheek of its clever premise that fairy-tale heroes have grown up into savage supernatural mercenaries. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton strut around like 18th-century Avengers in leather uniforms, cursing up a storm of modern vernacular and bearing an inventive array of historically and mechanically impossible weapons such as grenades, crossbows, tasers, machine guns, and other weapons of witch-killing mass destruction. It's all a big joke of course, and one that the movie wears boldly and without a shred of irony. To quibble with its gaps in narrative logic or be righteously indignant that the script is often a slapdash mess is to miss the point that it's all meant to be a pile of plain old silly fun. After their childhood trauma at the gingerbread house, the famous Teutonic siblings are now in the business of killing witches full time, hiring themselves out to villages plagued by ugly, evil women wearing loads of scary makeup (Famke Janssen being the evilest and scariest) who feed on the townsfolk's kids. They do their job well and the movie spares no opportunity to show the effect of their fantastical arsenal with profusions of firepower, explosions, viscera, and disgusting cartoon violence, decapitation being the most favored method of killing by the movie and the title characters both. As the latest in the trend of revisionist fairy-tale telling, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters takes the low road whenever possible, but it does so with a blithe spirit, a foul mouth, and the above-mentioned gore galore to create a B-movie soul that pities any sort of critical over-analyzing. It's also pretty funny. There are several inspired offhand moments, such as the missing-children notices slapped on the sides of farmers' milk cans or the way Hansel has to make time for insulin injections because of the gingerbread overdoses he endured at the hand of the proto witch he and Gretel encountered as children. The art direction, wardrobe, and anachronistically engineered props that propel the story all have a cool steampunk design theme and make the silliness pretty hard to resist. Renner, Arterton, and Janssen aren't really taking things too seriously, which is fine because neither are we. This is the American debut of Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola, who brings the same playful gross-out sensibility he did to his 2009 feature Dead Snow. That one was about long-dormant Nazi soldiers rising up as zombies. What fun! It was a lark and a goof, just like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. --Ted Fry



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 2:48 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

Friday, July 5, 2013

Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)







Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Overview


For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Zero Dark Thirty reunites the Oscar winning team of director-producer Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) for the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man.

Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Specifications










Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 11:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Hot Fuzz (Steelbook) (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)







Hot Fuzz (Steelbook) (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Overview


Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a big-city cop who can't be stopped - but he's making everyone else on the force look bad. When he is reassigned to a small, quiet town, he struggles with this new, seemingly idyllic world and his bumbling partner (Nick Frost). But their dull existence is interrupted by several grisly and suspicious accidents and now the crime-fighting duo has to turn up the heat!

Hot Fuzz (Steelbook) (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) Specifications


In Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. Fennessy



Read more @ Amazon.com



Related Products


Read more!
Posted by Mitchell at 6:49 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)