DVD

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Blood & Chocolate - BD

High concept: a werewolf film as a chick flick, Romeo and Juliet meets The Werewolf. Ehren Kruger and Christopher Landon adapted Annette Curtis Klause’s novel for the screen, and Katja von Garnier directed. The influence of the women is clear from the start. This is a kinder, gentler werewolf tale despite the deaths and the bloodletting. This is more of an emotional journey than a horror film.The concept of the werewolf has again been reimagined to suit the premise...

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The Matrix Ultimate Collection - HD DVD

The Matrix is a phenomenon. An entertaining blend of science fiction, Eastern philosophy, martial arts, and a mind-expanding view of the nature of existence, the first film in the series cost $63 million to produce and earned $375 million worldwide. Staggering profitability assured the completion of the remaining two films. The Wachowski Brothers - Andy and Larry - write and direct and take advantage of a variety of media to immerse us in their world. It’s unlikely...

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The Hustler: Two-Disc Collector’s Edition

Paul Newman: that steely gaze, his sinewy cool, the guy is smooth. Coupled with his iconic, almost "beat" physical presence, Newman's keen sense to only choose fascinating parts to play elevated him far above the "here today, gone tomorrow" Saturday picture-show pinup beauty many excepted him to become. He's never been a goof; Newman approached his work seriously, with a determined weight that few other silver screen stars have - or were ever - able to duplicate.Newman has...

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Seinfeld: Season 8

I can’t win with Seinfeld. I’ve been requesting DVD box-set seasons of Seinfeld for review here at DVDFile for years now in an attempt to come to some kind of resolution with the show. See, ever since the show premiered, I’ve hated it. I remember sitting in a calculus class in high school, listening to my buddy John go on and on and on about ‘master of your domain’ and all sorts of stuff, but even though I tried time after time to make heads or tails of the show, it...

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Seven Years In Tibet - BD

Seven Years in Tibet has grown on me since my first viewing back in 1997 during its theatrical run. The film grows richer every time I see it, and I find myself more and more impressed with the layering of social, spiritual, and political themes that meld so naturally on the screen. The film has an “epic” feel to it that immediately draws associations with works like Lawrence of Arabia or Ben-Hur, though I would not suggest that Seven Years in Tibet is quite in the league of these...

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Cult Camp Classics v. 1-4

Ah, camp classics… For anyone with even just a sliver of curiosity toward the cheesiest, most broadly (and bizarrely) inane movies in world, these Cult Camp Classics are likely to scratch you where you itch. Good modern trash-horror movies are all fine and good, of course, and this writer happens to be a sucker for the occasional romance-driven camp-fest (I just watched Coyote Ugly for the 20th time and doubt any other film could be quite as fulfilling), but these mid-century pieces of...

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The Abandoned

Synopsis: Maria (Anastasia Hille) is an American film producer searching for her birth parents. A Russian notary informs her that she has inherited a house in the middle of a remote Russian forest. It is the house where she was born. Abandoned and uninhabited for 40 years, it stands in lifeless disrepair, but not all is dead. She meets a mysterious man claiming to be her twin brother Nicolai (Karel Roden), and together they find the household’s dangerous secrets to a past they don’t...

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Ghost Rider - 2-Disc Extended Cut

Comic books have been a ripe source of material for the motion picture industry. Warner very successfully resurrected the Batman and Superman franchises, having had no small success in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Batman Begins grossed $372 million at the box office worldwide; The Dark Knight is due in 2008. Superman Returns earned $391 million worldwide; Superman: The Man of Steel is due in 2009. Sony has made the Spider-Man series into a vast cash cow; the...

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Hellboy - BD

I was tempted to steal an introduction from my review of Ghost Rider to emphasize the lucrative source of subject matter the comic book world has become for the motion picture industry. But I’m going to assume that those interested in comic book heroes from Hell will likely read both reviews. Suffice it to say that this is another such adaptation, one that I found quite entertaining. Full credit must go to Guillermo del Toro, the director and screenwriter, adapting the...

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