A so-so creature effort makes a splash in HD.
Featuring some of the more visually stunning dragons ever put on film, Reign of Fire is a slight misfire as a movie, but a nice piece to sit back and fast forward through to see the action scenes. Reign does deliver on its promises, however briefly, although at times it’s fair to feel cheated.A nearly unrecognizable Matthew McConaughey stars…

How trustworthy are your eyes? Can you believe all that you see?
Back in the early years of this decade the Pang brothers, Danny and Oxide, were riding high on the success of a pair of Thai films, Bangkok Dangerous and Bangkok Haunted. On the basis of those theatrical hits, the twins took to their native Hong Kong and delivered the creepy horror film called Gin gwai. The film proved to be a hit and went on to…

A new boxed set of a series yet to be broadcast in the U.S. proves a treat for lovers of well-wrought British police dramas.
I first noticed Caroline Quentin as the female Watson in the comic British mystery series, Jonathan Creek, a role she inhabited so distinctly that when she left the show and was replaced by Ab Fab's Julia Sawalha, it never quite recovered. In Blue Murder, an ITV series currently being released in its second DVD boxed set via Acorn Media,…

Although there are a few cliché moments, this story has enough depth to be watched more than once.
Put nine people in a room together and ask them their philosophy on love and you're bound to get nine different opinions where some mutually meld and others are miles apart. That's what happens in Feast of Love, a story based on a novel by Charles Baxter about love of a spouse, friend or child.Harry Stevenson (Morgan Freeman) is a professor…

Not since Francis Ford Coppola?s masterpiece, Apocalypse Now, have I been so utterly assaulted by a film.
Not since Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece, Apocalypse Now, have I been so utterly assaulted by a film. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a brilliant, uncomfortable, and unrelenting portrayal of the hellish fate of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the 43-year-old editor of Elle magazine. Bauby’s glamourous life screeches to a halt after he…

While trying to escape the TMK, Sam is run down. But just who was behind the wheel?
After confronting Sam about her past behavior, Lucky throws Sam out of his house and out of his life, telling her he could never forgive her and he would never be able to trust her around his kids. Devastated, she goes for a walk along the docks where she receives a text-message saying "I'm not dead after all." She quickly dials…

Transformers is a loud metal-clashing funfest for your average moviegoer and a lubricating dream for Transformers fans.
Transformers is “more than meets the eye.” No, it’s not some cheesy 1980s cartoon series inspired by the Hasbro toy line. No, it’s not a nerdy, childish, sci-fi obsession of a robot-fixated generation. Surprisingly, it’s the very definition of a successful, modern, summer action motion picture. Transformers…

Rambo is an incessantly violent capstone to what is now a ruthless quadrilogy.
Alternately titled Rambo IV: To Hell and Back, Rambo is a cinematic demonstration of unremitting bloodshed. Much like the other three films in the series, Rambo does not hold a mercy rule. With its unapologetically hostile lead and plethora of murdered extras, Rambo is an incessantly violent capstone to what is now a ruthless quadrilogy. Now a…

It’s an Asian horror movie, so it must contain a creepy girl.
If you're ever visiting an Asian country, beware of vengeful pale women or little girls with runny mascara and long black hair. They seem to be all over the place these days, with a morbid fascination for multimedia. They're making prank phone calls, showing up in the static on your TV, ghoulishly abusing the Internet, or haunting…

A paint-by-numbers cop drama comes to DVD.
Sometimes sitting down to watch a movie one gets the impression that the director was sticking to a straight paint-by-numbers ethos. Police dramas dealing mainly with a single family are particularly easy to do in this matter. One only has to show the good policeman son, the wayward son, the disappointed policeman father, and their love interests…