http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/DVD-reviews/index.html http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/DVD-reviews/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2010 MiamiHerald.com DVD Reviews & Releases 60 Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:11:26 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/19/1534961/princess-gets-the-royal-treatment.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/19/1534961/princess-gets-the-royal-treatment.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:00 EDT Although The Princess and the Frog was a box-office disappointment when it was released last November, distributor Walt Disney Co. has given the film the same lavish treatment on Blu-ray it usually reserves for its bona fide classics (Blu-ray/DVD combo $45, Blu-ray only $40, DVD only $30). http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/01/01/1404349/alien-movie-plays-even-better.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/01/01/1404349/alien-movie-plays-even-better.html Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:00 EST The sleeper summer hit District 9, a modestly budgeted sci-fi thriller about aliens stranded in Johannesburg that marked the debut of writer-director Neill Blomkamp, outdid most Hollywood big-budget entertainments in terms of sheer excitement, ingenuity and craft, and the film's Blu-ray edition (Sony, $40; also on DVD, $37), charts a similar path, tricked out with the sort of thoughtful extras and supplements that deepen your enjoyment of the movie. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/12/18/1386354/a-stroke-of-genius-think-inside.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/12/18/1386354/a-stroke-of-genius-think-inside.html Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:00 EST Only the geniuses at the Criterion Collection really know how to make the term ``DVD box set'' more than just a marketing tool. The company's hefty AK 100: 25 Films of Akira Kurosawa (which retails for $400 but can be had for about half that online) collects all but five of the 30 films directed by the Japanese master, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday next year. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/26/1350897/no-turkeys-in-this-flock-of-thanksgiving.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/26/1350897/no-turkeys-in-this-flock-of-thanksgiving.html Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:00 EST When it comes to holiday movies, the ones about Christmas get all the press, but there are more Turkey Day titles than you might think. (And Blockbuster is open Thanksgiving Day.) http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/20/1343341/in-a-huff-looking-for-showtime.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/20/1343341/in-a-huff-looking-for-showtime.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Q: I was in Sweden this summer and watched an episode of Huff with Hank Azaria and Blythe Danner. It was awesome! When I returned to the States I was able to locate the complete first season and am hooked. How many seasons were there? Can I buy them? http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/06/1317462/dvd-review-hitchcock-on-blu-rays.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/06/1317462/dvd-review-hitchcock-on-blu-rays.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:00 EST No one can definitely say 1959's North By Northwest is Alfred Hitchcock's best movie -- how to choose? -- but from first frame to last, it may well be his most entertaining. The first of Hitchcock's pictures to appear on the Blu-ray format (Warner Home Video, $35), the film has been given a $1 million restoration, and to say it looks utterly fantastic on high-definition -- one of the most astounding Blu-ray transfers to date -- is probably an understatement. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/03/1312746/corman-netflix-get-interactive.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/03/1312746/corman-netflix-get-interactive.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:00 EST When it came to making movies quickly and cheaply, it was hard to beat Roger Corman, who once joked that he could make a film about the Roman Empire with two extras and a sagebrush. He directed 1960's The Little Shop of Horrors in two days. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/30/1307182/dvd-review-orphan-modest-little.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/30/1307182/dvd-review-orphan-modest-little.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT A fiendishly clever twist on the ''evil child'' genre of horror films, Orphan (Warner Home Entertainment, $29 DVD, $34 Blu-ray) was unceremoniously dumped into theaters this summer with little promotion. But the movie, produced by Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment, which specializes in modest little B-pictures (House on Haunted Hill, Ghost Ship), deserved better. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/16/1283888/dvd-reviews-south-park-buy-the.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/16/1283888/dvd-reviews-south-park-buy-the.html Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT Ten years in the making, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have finally made good on their promise to record a commentary track for South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. The only catch is that the track is exclusive to the new Blu-ray release of the film (Paramount Home Entertainment, $30), and the movie's crude animation doesn't benefit much from the format's higher resolution. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/09/1272413/dvd-review-directors-humble-comments.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/09/1272413/dvd-review-directors-humble-comments.html Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT You never forget your first time watching Takashi Miike's Audition: For some people, it is the first and last Miike picture they ever see. The wildly prolific Miike's best-known (and arguably most disciplined) work, the movie scandalized film festival audiences when it was shown around the world in 1999, and the terrific new two-disc Audition: Collector's Edition (Shout Factory, $25 DVD, $30 Blu-ray) celebrates the movie's 10th anniversary with a truckload of enlightening extras. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/02/1260510/dvd-review-the-girlfriend-experience.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/10/02/1260510/dvd-review-the-girlfriend-experience.html Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT One of the small experimental films (like Bubble and Full Frontal) director Steven Soderbergh often makes in between larger, big-budget projects, The Girlfriend Experience (Magnolia Home Entertainment, $27 DVD, $35 Blu-ray) was shot on the Red One digital camera filmmakers have been raving about and looks absolutely sensational on Blu-ray. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/09/22/1243011/blu-ray-review-follow-the-high.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/09/22/1243011/blu-ray-review-follow-the-high.html Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:00 EDT <I>The Wizard of Oz</I> in high definition: That's a horse of a different color! http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/09/18/1237651/dvd-review-werewolf-extras-are.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/09/18/1237651/dvd-review-werewolf-extras-are.html Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:00 EDT On a new feature-length retrospective documentary titled Beware the Moon found on An American Werewolf in London: Full Moon Edition (Universal, $20 DVD, $27 Blu-ray), director Paul Davis revisits several locations seen in the 1981 horror-comedy classic, including the infamous Slaughtered Lamb tavern, since remodeled into a Denny's-like eatery called The Black Swan. There is no pentagram on the wall or gory placard hanging above the entrance. There isn't even a dartboard. Damn gentrification! http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/09/11/1226120/dvd-review-great-extras-intensify.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/09/11/1226120/dvd-review-great-extras-intensify.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:00 EDT Although 1991's Homicide (The Criterion Collection, $40) was only David Mamet's third outing as a writer-director, the film remains his best and most satisfying. The staccato, unnatural Mamet-speak is accounted for, but the dialogue is less jarring and artificial than in his other pictures. There are a couple of late-inning plot twists, but, unlike the rest of Mamet's films, this story does not hinge on such trickery. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/31/1207104/dvd-reviews-extra-extra-what-happened.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/31/1207104/dvd-reviews-extra-extra-what-happened.html Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:00 EDT There's a good chance State of Play (Universal Home Entertainment, $30 DVD, $40 Blu-ray) will be the last big-budget Hollywood movie about an investigative newspaper reporter. If so, the genre will go out on a decent note. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/24/1197103/dvd-reviews-clever-duplicity-gets.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/24/1197103/dvd-reviews-clever-duplicity-gets.html Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:00 EDT How does a witty, fiendishly clever movie starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen as a pair of corporate spies playing head games on each other fail at the box office? http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/10/1176561/dvd-reviews-extras-give-you-more.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/10/1176561/dvd-reviews-extras-give-you-more.html Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:00 EDT In case the movie isn't enough entertainment for you, the affable commentary track accompanying I Love You, Man (Paramount Home Entertainment, $30 DVD, $40 Blu-ray) also practically qualifies as a bromedy. Director John Hamburg and his stars Paul Rudd and Jason Segel engage in a laid-back, friendly talk that doesn't exactly reveal much about the making of the film, but I Love You, Man isn't the kind of movie that requires a lot of explanation. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/03/1166403/dvd-reviews-downey-foxx-make-fine.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/08/03/1166403/dvd-reviews-downey-foxx-make-fine.html Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:00 EDT Has the acting in American movies ever been better? In the fact-based drama The Soloist (Paramount Home Entertainment, $30 DVD, $40 Blu-ray), Robert Downey Jr. plays Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers former musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx) homeless in the street. Downey and Foxx are outstanding in their roles, bringing a compelling energy to the film, so the movie never once feels like the good-for-you, manipulative drama it appears to be. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/07/27/1156389/dvd-reviews-creepy-disturbing.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/07/27/1156389/dvd-reviews-creepy-disturbing.html Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:00 EDT ``Like dancing a tango'' is how director Roman Polanski describes his collaboration with actress Catherine Deneuve on the commentary track of the outstanding Repulsion DVD and Blu-ray (Criterion Collection, $40 each). Originally recorded in 1994 for the film's laser disc release but unavailable in any format since then, the track, which also features Deneuve (recorded separately), is a film buff's dream, corralling the press-shy icons for detailed reminiscing on the making of the movie. http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/07/25/1155368/green-lantern-prepares-to-take.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/07/25/1155368/green-lantern-prepares-to-take.html Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:00 EDT It's Green Lantern's turn to take the cosmic spotlight.<p/> Green Lantern: First Flight is set for release Tuesday by Warner Home Video on DVD, Blu-ray and OnDemand. It's the latest in a series of DC Universe animated features.