New Blu-ray Reviews

The Newsroom: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + UV Digital Copy

HBO | 2013 | 540 min | Rated TV-MA | Nov 04, 2014 | Kenneth Brown

The one-hour HBO drama series created by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and executive produced by Sorkin, Scott Rudin, and Alan Poul is back for a second season. Smart, topical, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining, The Newsroom takes a behind-the-scenes look at a high-rated cable-news program at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) Network, focusing on the on- and off-camera lives of its acerbic anchor (Jeff Daniels), executive producer (Emily Mortimer), their newsroom staff (John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, and others), news-division boss (Sam Waterston), and parent-company CEO (Jane Fonda). Season 2 takes place over a five-day period leading up to Election Day 2012, and encompasses numerous flashbacks to earlier events from 2011 and 2012. One of the season's major story arcs involves a wrongful-termination lawsuit made by a staff member alleged to have doctored a report about a suspicious U.S. drone strike. As details about the suit's origin and aftermath emerge, The Newsroom team continues its quixotic mission to "do the news well" in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles, and their personal entanglements.

Drama

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + DVD + UV Digital Copy

Paramount Pictures | 2014 | 101 min | Rated PG-13 | Dec 16, 2014 | Martin Liebman

When a kingpin threatens New York City, a news reporter find a quad of mutants which makes an alliance to unravel Shredder's plan as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Action / Adventure / Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Martial arts / Comic book

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3D Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + UV Digital Copy

Paramount Pictures | 2014 | 101 min | Rated PG-13 | Dec 16, 2014 | Martin Liebman

When a kingpin threatens New York City, a news reporter find a quad of mutants which makes an alliance to unravel Shredder's plan as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Action / Adventure / Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Martial arts / Comic book

Péril en la demeure Blu-ray Movie    

Death in a French Garden

Gaumont | 1985 | 102 min | Rated U Tous publics | Jun 04, 2014 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

A magnate and his younger wife hire David to teach guitar to their teenage daughter. The wife quickly seduces David...

Crime / Drama / Mystery / Foreign

Ben-Hur Blu-ray Movie  

Diamond Luxe Edition

Warner Bros. | 1959 | 222 min | Rated G | Dec 09, 2014 | Jeffrey Kauffman

Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman in 1st-century Jerusalem, is unwittingly thrust into an heroic odyssey, finding himself and his family enslaved by the Romans, placing him on a path for a fateful encounter with Jesus Christ and to ultimately face his tormentors during a furious chariot race. Filmed in MGMCamera65 (UltraPanavision)

Action / Adventure / Biography / Drama / History / Epic / Period

Black Nativity Blu-ray Movie  

Extended Musical Edition / Blu-ray + UV Digital Copy

20th Century Fox | 2013 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 106 min | Rated PG | Oct 07, 2014 | Jeffrey Kauffman

In a contemporary adaptation of Langston Hughes' celebrated play, the holiday musical drama BLACK NATIVITY follows Langston, a street-wise teen from Baltimore raised by a single mother, as he journeys to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged relatives Reverend Cornell and Aretha Cobbs. Unwilling to live by the imposing Reverend Cobbs' rules, a frustrated Langston is determined to return home to his mother, Naima. Langston embarks on a surprising and inspirational journey and along with his new friends, and a little divine intervention, he discovers the true meaning of faith, healing, and family.

Drama / Musical / Holiday

Valvrave The Liberator: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie  

Aniplex | 2013 | 300 min | Rated 16+ | Sep 23, 2014 | Jeffrey Kauffman

True Calendar, Year 71 - A new age where 70% of the human population lives in space thanks to the development of the "Dyson Sphere," a city in space. The world is divided into two main powers: The Dorssia Military Pact Federation, a power which grew out of a military alliance, and the Atlantic Rim United States (ARUS), which grew in power as it expanded its trade agreements. The minor nation of JIOR has declared neutrality between these two forces and maintained its peace through economic prosperity. Within JIOR's Sphere, Haruto Tokishima lived an ordinary life as a high school student in the division known as "Module 77" until the Dorssian military begins their sudden invasion. The whole world will be shaken when Haruto meets the mysterious humanoid weapon, Valvrave!

Action / Adventure / Anime / Sci-Fi / Foreign

The Green Mile Blu-ray Movie  

Diamond Luxe Edition

Warner Bros. | 1999 | 189 min | Rated R | Dec 09, 2014 | Michael Reuben

Paul Edgecomb is the head of the block guards during the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility. Through his many years of watching men live and die, Paul's faith and sanity has deteriorated. He is assigned to watch over John Coffey, a giant man convicted of murdering two little girls. But John acts more like a child than a cold-hearted murderer. Edgecomb and other guards find themselves in a moral dilemma when they witness John accomplish healing miracles.

Crime / Drama / Mystery / Supernatural / Melodrama / Period

Pink Floyd: The Endless River Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + CD

Columbia | 2014 | 53 min | Not rated | Nov 10, 2014 | Jeffrey Kauffman

A film of Pink Floyd's album 'The Endless River', directed by Ian Emes, who created the original animated films for The Dark Side of the Moon concert tour visuals (1972-1974). The album, mainly instrumental bar one song, is a tribute to the late band member Richard Wright and its genesis is the music from the 1993 Division Bell sessions.

Music

The Purge: Anarchy Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + DVD + UV Digital Copy

Universal Studios | 2014 | 103 min | Rated R | Oct 21, 2014 | Kenneth Brown

During the Purge, a government-sanctioned evening in which crime, including murder, is legal, five innocent people band together to fight to survive the night. They are reluctantly protected and led by a former military man who has set out to avenge a past wrong.

Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller

The Quatermass Xperiment Blu-ray Movie  

The Creeping Unknown

Kino Lorber | 1955 | 82 min | Not rated | Dec 02, 2014 | Brian Orndorf

At the dawn of the space age the British Rocket Group launches three astronauts on an experimental mission. Their ship, Quatermass 1, loses radio contact with Earth and later crash-lands. Professor Bernard Quatermass is one of the first on the scene, and is intrigued to discover that two of the crew are no longer aboard. It soon becomes clear that the mission's sole survivor, Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth), is desperately ill - he is rapidly consumed by the parasitic alien organism that killed his fellow astronauts.

Horror / Sci-Fi

Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie  

Shout Factory | 1972-1973 | 2 Movies, 3 Cuts | 175 min | Rated PG | Dec 02, 2014 | Jeffrey Kauffman

See individual titles for their synopses

Horror / Comic book / Holiday

Tales from the Crypt Blu-ray Movie  

Shout Factory | 1972 | 92 min | Rated PG | Fall 2014 | Jeffrey Kauffman

An evil monk shares five separate stories of the macabre.

Horror / Comic book / Holiday

Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie  

Further Tales from the Crypt

Shout Factory | 1973 | 83 min | Rated R | Fall 2014 | Jeffrey Kauffman

Five men trapped in the basement vault of an office building share visions with each other of their demise. Stories revolve around vampires, bodily dismemberment, east Indian mysticism, an insurance scam, and an artist who kills by painting his victims' deaths...

Horror / Comic book

Nekromantik Blu-ray Movie    

Limited Edition / Blu-ray + DVD + CD

Arrow | 1988 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 71 min | Rated BBFC: 18 | Dec 15, 2014 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Robert Schmadtke works at a streetcleaning agency. He has a strange kind of hobby; he collects body parts and conserves them on alcohol. His girlfriend adores him, mainly because of his job, and his sexually attraction to corpses. One day Robert brings home a complete corpse. Betty gets really exited... until Robert looses his job. Without Robs job, whos gonna get new corpses...?

Horror / Foreign

Natural Born Killers Blu-ray Movie  

Diamond Luxe Edition

Warner Bros. | 1994 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 119 min | Rated R | Dec 09, 2014 | Michael Reuben

Mickey Knox and Mallory Wilson are two young, attractive mass murderers in love. After killing Mallory's loathsome parents, the pair perform a ritual "marriage" and take off on a "honeymoon" killing spree that wipes out 52 people. Bloodthirsty tabloid reporter Wayne Gale reports their every move to an adoring public while supercop Jack Scagnetti becomes famous for chasing and capturing them.

Action / Crime / Drama / Romance / Dark humor / Surreal

The Paradise: Season Two Blu-ray Movie  

BBC | 2013 | 491 min | Not rated | Nov 18, 2014 | Kenneth Brown

Set amidst the Victorian splendor of Britain's first department store, The Paradise is a rags-to-riches story of a young girl who falls in love with the intoxicating charms of the modern world. As Denise finds her feet as a lowly shop girl, she must navigate her way through power struggles, intrigues and affairs. When the shop's dashing and reckless owner, John Moray, spots her talents she knows she can use this opportunity to rise to great things. Through sexy, episodic stories driven by romance and glamour, this series creates a world as colorful and captivating as the silks on display in the store. This is a love story, a story of ambition and progress, with a mysterious, dark secret at its heart.

Drama / Period

The Emerald Forest Blu-ray Movie  

Kino Lorber | 1985 | 114 min | Rated R | Dec 02, 2014 | Brian Orndorf

After the son of engineer Bill Markham is abducted by an aboriginal tribe on the edge of the rain forest, the engineer spends the next 10 years searching for him.

Action / Adventure / Drama

Gremlins Blu-ray Movie  

Diamond Luxe Edition

Warner Bros. | 1984 | 106 min | Rated PG | Dec 09, 2014 | Michael Reuben

When a man brings home an adorable creature from Chinatown as a Christmas present for his son Billy, the shopkeeper's sage advice -- no snacks after, no water, mood lighting only -- goes unheeded. As a result, devilish green creatures with a million vices take over the small town on Christmas Eve.

Comedy / Fantasy / Horror / Holiday

Les Misérables Blu-ray Movie    

Masters of Cinema

Eureka Entertainment | 1934 | 288 min | Rated BBFC: PG | Dec 08, 2014 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

The lives of numerous people over the course of 20 years in 19th century France, weaved together by the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean on the run from an obsessive police inspector, who pursues him for only a minor offense.

Drama / Foreign / Period