Out on Blu-ray/DVD

Releases for Jan. 27

Author Mark Obmascik became interested in the Big Year, a 365-day bird-watching marathon, because it sends birders crisscrossing North America to sight the highest possible number of avian species. Each birder spends a small...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

Home Video Releases: 01/10/12 to 01/23/12

"Moneyball" views pro baseball from an insider's perspective, observing opposing camps caught in the seismic shift ushering in a new era. The film opens in 2001. After losing their championship bid and small roster of star players...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

In the fifth installment of the long-lived Final Destination franchise, a group of young people escapes a horrific death, then slowly realize that death continues to stalk them. The same premise informs all five films. A young man foresees a terrible...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

We meet Cataleya as a child in Columbia where she escapes a brutal crime lord who murders her parents. She gains entry to the U.S. and moves in with her uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis), an assassin. Fifteen years later, Cataleya has learned his trade, and has...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

Adapted from a graphic novel by Scott Mitchell, this sci-fi movie examines mankind's ability to fight back when extraterrestrials invade an isolated western town during the 1800s. Cowboys & Aliens offers few surprises, but...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

The final "Harry Potter" movie clocks in at 131 minutes, short for this franchise. Along with their original fan base, the central trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron, has grown into young...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

This glossy production details Captain America's origins, casting Chris Evans as skinny weakling Steve Rogers (played by Evans using trick photography), who is transformed into a supersoldier via the injection of a top secret formula...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

Releases for the Weeks of 8/30 through 9/06/11

Disney continues to mine the possibilities presented by high school drama with several intersecting stories that culminate in prom night. The main throughline follows popular...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

Deceptively framed as a science fiction yarn, Battle: Los Angeles is a loud and shallow, soldier-boy flick. Though no documentary exists within the framework of this story, the narrative unfolds docu-style, via jittery handheld cameras capturing incomprehensible action. Invading extraterrestrials shoot at civilians...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

The 1972 movie starring Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent is rebooted with Jason Statham and Ben Foster as the seasoned assassin, and assassin-in-training, respectively. The story's complex relationships are credibly updated, but the effort is undermined by storytelling clichés. Statham's velvety voice and intense focus enhance the right role, and he's found one...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the Weeks of 4/19 through 5/2/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

There's nothing to dislike or like about this Disney-clean rendition of "Small-town-girl-makes-good-on-Broadway." Tisdale, 26, looks older than Sharpay, the 18-year-old owner of a "to-dye-for" pink wardrobe and a charming Yorki named Boi, all provided by her millionaire daddy. Once in the Big Apple...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the Weeks of 4/5 through 4/15/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Though a box-office dud when released in 1982, Tron's cult following now includes gamers and fanboys. In chapter one, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) disappeared. No one knows he was digitized inside a computer, and has lived there ever since. In the sequel...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the Weeks of 3/29 - 4/4/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Natalie Portman took The Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Nina, a hard-working ballerina determined to grab her moment in the spotlight. Nina lives to please Thomas (Cassel), the ballet company's frequently scowling, sometimes...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 02/09/10 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Writer-director Woody Allen's film recent is set in London. This time, two couples investigate futures without their spouses. Brolin leads the ensemble, portraying Roy, a writer unable to produce a second successful novel. Instead of writing, Roy pursues his young, pretty neighbor (Pinto)...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 02/08 - 02/14/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Twenty-five years after his groundbreaking Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven returns to the teen slasher genre. The film presents us with "The Ripper," a serial killer possessed by a demon that could be linked to any of seven local children born in the minutes immediately following the...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 02/01 - 02/07/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

When a classroom of 12-year-olds learns they are clones that will be sacrificed to extend the lives of their "originals," the children barely react. This adaptation, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, takes us through an alternate universe set in the U.K. during the '80s and '90s. We meet three clones closely linked by their shared upbringing at a boarding school for their kind. At 18, Kathy H (Carey Mulligan) and friends, Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield)...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 01/25 - 01/31/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

You'd never guess the film RED is adapted from a three-issue comic book published in 2003 and 2004, by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, even though a gaudy floral postcard introduces Miami, Washington DC, and Mobile Alabama. The slight story gathers a half-dozen retired operatives for one last mission. Though gun battles occur regularly, emphasis is placed on the ability to improvise and smarts over beauty. Light-hearted fun is a byproduct...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 01/18 - 01/25/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Matt's three friends seek to chronicle the loss of his virginity on camera, and post the event on the Internet. Along the way, they manage to alienate a dozen young women, earn the wrath of one teen's father, and post Matt's mounting mishaps to the web. When their efforts gain national attention, Matt...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 01/11 - 01/17/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Piranha finds scantily clad spring-break revelers turned into fish food. Lost in throbbing music and an alcoholic daze, the merrymakers are unaware of attacks taking place around the lake. While working, local sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) assigns her eldest, teen Jake (Steven McQueen, grandson of...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 1/04 - 01/10/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Those fond of '70s B-movies may enjoy this Robert Rodriguez flick, but those anticipating a satire will be disappointed. Because the hero played by actor Danny Trejo (the director's cousin) prefers a machete to a machine gun, the film views him as an honorable avenger. Rodriguez's cartoonish tale rarely winks at the...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 2/28/10 - 01/03/11 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Paul W. S. Anderson writes and frequently directs his wife, Milla Jovovich, who stars in the pair's moneymaking franchise for a fourth time. The actress plays Alice, a heroine owing her super strength to the Umbrella Corporation's T-virus. Engineered to create the ultimate soldier, the virus instead turned...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 12/21/10 - 12/27/10

Little acting is required of Angelina Jolie as a CIA Agent who may also be a Russian terrorist -- but the actress makes good use of her killer stare. After being outed as a terrorist by Russian defector Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), Salt morphs into a one-woman army. At the behest of G-Man William Peabody...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 12/14/10 - 12/20/10

Ferrell gets his geek on as NYC detective Allen Gamble. Because his investigations consist of forensic accounting on a computer, Gamble is on the bottom rung of his NYC Precinct's detective hierarchy. He idolizes precinct hotshots, Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson) and Danson (Dwayne Johnson), but when the...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 12/07/10 - 12/13/10 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

Dropping its hero, big green ogre Shrek, into an alternate universe, this fourth chapter of the popular DreamWork's franchise is able to reconsider the fates and fortunes of its primary characters. Shrek's (Michael Myers) birthday, celebrated with friends, ogre wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and their three...

Out on Blu-ray/DVD

For the week of 11/30/10 - 12/06/10 (Ratings Out of Four Stars.)

The idea behind Knight and Day was to drop a pretty couple into a screwball romance that is frequently interrupted by attempts on their lives. However, the inept script and a lack of chemistry between the players, fail to persuade. Cruise is in his element when the plot calls for action sequences, supplying...