4K UHD Review: Downton Abbey – The Grand Finale
After six seasons, fifty-two episodes and two feature films, The Grand Finale brings the glamourous Crawley saga to a satisfying close. Debuting on ITV in 2010, Downton Abbey was a global phenomenon, loved for its complex characters and beautiful surroundings. Fifteen years later, The Grand Finale is a kind of celebration of the stories that […]
Love & Mercy (Blu-ray)
A fascinating and sometimes sad biopic, Love & Mercy is about the life of the musical genius Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Dropping the formulaic rags-to riches style, director Bill Pohlad instead bounces back between two significant points in Wilson’s life and career: in the mid-sixties recording the soundtrack for what would become Pet […]
The Roosevelt’s: An Intimate History (Blu-ray)
Politics has had its share of dynasties—the Adamses, the Kennedy’s, the Bush’s—but none can compare to the Roosevelt’s. Theodore Roosevelt and his fifth cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt served a combined total of nineteen years as President of the United States. Franklin’s wife Eleanor, both admired and reviled, paved the way for many modern women, becoming […]
Ernest and Celestine (Blu-ray)
Very simple, yet undeniably charming, Ernest and Celestine is the story of two animals that are supposed to be enemies being friends. Based on a Belgian series of books by Gabrielle Vincent, the film opened in Europe at the end of 2012, but didn’t arrive in the United States until a year later; first in […]
Saving Mr. Banks (Blu-ray)
Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson star in a real life culture clash, as Saving Mr. Banks peels back the curtain to examine Walt Disney’s (Tom Hanks) twenty year quest to convince Mary Poppins author PL Travers to let his studio make her books into a film. Funny, yet sobering, Emma Thompson gives a quietly powerful […]
Romeo and Juliet (2013) (Blu-ray)
William Shakespeare’s play of youthful, melodramatic love, Romeo & Juliet has been made into a film several times. Most of the adaptations of the past seem to feel an obligation to engage with the (preferably youthful) populace. It comes as a bit of a surprise then that this latest iteration doesn’t kowtow to the youth […]
Downton Abbey: Season 4 (Original U.K. Edition) (Blu-ray)
After the shocking events of the third season finale—in which heir Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) was killed off in a bloody car accident—one wouldn’t blame viewers for hoping for a sunnier fourth season. However, in the wake of major changes both upstairs and downstairs, and a time when large estates like Downton were struggling to […]
Blu-ray Review: Cosmopolis
David Cronenberg and dull aren’t two words you see together very often, but the writer/director’s latest effort, Cosmopolis, left me wondering how characters can talk for so long and say so little. Cosmopolis offers up plenty of gratuitous nudity, but even that can’t save this disappointing effort. An adaptation of Don Delillo’s novel, the film […]
Blu-ray Review: Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages was a surprise hit on Broadway; a show with a real sing-along quality that wasn’t afraid to make fun of itself while paying homage to 80’s hair metal. Unfortunately, the recent film version seems to lack some of the fun of the stage musical, opting for a more serious tone that drags […]
Blu-ray Review: The Hangover – Part II
When The Hangover hit theaters back in the summer of ’09, most figured it would be an also-ran, considering it was going up against surefire blockbusters like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Star Trek reboot, and Angels and Demons among others. Surprisingly, The Hangover was an immediate hit, eventually going on to become the highest-grossing R-rated […]