The Big White on Blu-ray

On the brink of bankruptcy, Alaska travel agent Paul Barnell cooks up a scheme to pass off a dead body as his long-lost brother, Raymond, and then collect on his life insurance. But unfortunately, the investigator isn’t buying the scam, the hit men responsible for the body want it back — so they kidnap Paul’s Tourette’s afflicted wife — and, to top it all off, Raymond shows up demanding a piece of action. So much for easy money.

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The Tiger Blade on Blu-ray

When the police are challenged with a highly volatile and dangerous case a young maverick cop with mystical powers is put on the job. Yosthana teams up with the seductive Duang Dao to hunt down and capture the deadly Five Bullets Bandit and the brutal female warrior G.I. Jenjira.

The fearsome gang is led by the lethal Mahesak who like Yosthana is skilled in the art of sorcery and magic. Mahesak can only be defeated with The Tiger Blade an ancient sword that holds the powers of nature and the forces of good. Yosthana must find The Tiger Blade and bring Mahesak to justice before the killers create total chaos in the city. The stage is set for a gruesome battle between the two archenemies but fate has it that only one can survive.

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Dark City on Blu-ray

If you’re a fan of brooding comic-book antiheroes, got a nihilistic jolt from The Crow (1994), and share director Alex Proyas’s highly developed preoccupation for style over substance, you might be tempted to call Dark City an instant classic of visual imagination. It’s one of those films that exists in a world purely of its own making, setting its own rules and playing by them fairly, so that even its derivative elements (and there are quite a few) acquire their own specific uniqueness.

Before long, however, the film becomes interesting only as a triumph of production design. And while that’s certainly enough to grab your attention (Blade Runner is considered a classic, after all), it’s painfully clear that Dark City has precious little heart and soul. One-dimensional characters are no match for the film’s abundance of retro-futuristic style, so it’s best to admire the latter on its own splendidly cinematic terms. Trivia buffs will be interested to know that the film’s 50-plus sets (partially inspired by German expressionism) were built at the Fox Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, home base of director Alex Proyas and producer Andrew Mason. The underground world depicted in the film required the largest indoor set ever built in Australia.
By Jeff Shannon

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Stargate - Continuum on Blu-ray

Baal travels back in time and prevents the Stargate program from ever being started. SG-1 team must somehow restore history and once again save the galaxy from oppressive domination

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Top Gun on Blu-ray

Jingoism, beefcake, military hardware, and a Giorgio Moroder rock score reign supreme over taste and logic in this Tony Scott film about a maverick trainee pilot (Tom Cruise) who can’t follow the rules at a Navy aviation training facility.

The dogfight sequences between American and Soviet jets at the end are absolutely mechanical, though audiences loved it at the time. The love story between Cruise’s character and that of Kelly McGillis is like flipping through pages of advertising in a glossy magazine. This designer action movie from 1986 would be all the more appalling were it not for the canny casting of good actors in dumb parts. Standouts include Anthony Edwards–who makes a nice impression as Cruise’s average-Joe pal–and the relatively unknown Meg Ryan in a small but memorable appearance.
By Tom Keogh

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A busy week with 12 blu-ray releases including: Top Gun, Stargate, Dark City, The Tiger Blade and The Big White.

Dark City
Stargate - Continuum
Stargaze HD: Universal Beauty
Human Body: Pushing The Limits
The Tiger Blade
Vengeance
Wolves
The Big White
Bears
Mortuary
Salvage
Top Gun

Cars on Blu-ray

There’s an extra coat of hot wax on Pixar’s vibrant, NASCAR-influenced comedy about a world populated entirely by cars. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the slick rookie taking the Piston Cup series by storm when the last race of the season (the film’s high-octane opening) ends in a three-way tie. On the way to the tie-breaker race in California, Lightning loses his way off Route 66 in the Southwest desert and is taught to stop and smell the roses by the forgotten citizens of Radiator Springs. It’s odd to have such a slim story from the whizzes of Pixar, and the film pales a bit from their other films (though can that be a fair comparison?). Nonetheless, Cars is another gleaming ride with Pixar founder John Lasseter, who’s directing for the first time since Toy Story 2.

There’s the usual spectrum of excellent characters teamed with appropriate voice talent, loads of smooth humor for kids and parents alike, knockout visuals, and a colorful array of sidekicks, including a scene-stealing baby blue forklift named Guido. Lightning’s plight is changed with the help of former big-city lawyer Sally Carrera (Pixar veteran Bonnie Hunt), the town’s patriarch Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and kooky tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to break the 100-minute barrier, but had enough story not to suffer; Cars, at 116 minutes (including some must-see end credit footage), is not as fortunate, plus it never pierces the heart. Trivia fans should have bonanza with the frame-by-frame DVD function; the movie is stuffed with in-jokes, some appearing only for an instant. Ages 5 and up.
By Doug Thomas

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Earth: The Biography on Blu-ray

This landmark series uses specialist imaging and compelling narrative to tell the life story of our planet how it works and what makes it so special. Examining the great forces that shape the Earth - volcanoes the ocean the atmosphere and ice - the programme explores their central roles in our planet’s story. How do these forces affect the Earth’s landscape its climate and its history? CGI gives the audience a ringside seat at these great events while the final episode brings together all the themes of the series and argues that Earth is an exceptionally rare kind of planet - giving us a special responsibility to look after our unique world. This is a series that shows the Earth in new and surprising ways. Extensive use of satellite imagery reveals new views of our planet while timelapse filmed over many months brings the planet to life. Offering a balance between dramatic visuals and illuminating facts this ground-breaking series makes global science truly compelling

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Urban Legend on Blu-ray

When New England college student Natalie finds herself at the center of a series of sadistic murders seemingly inspired by urban legends she resolves to find the truth about Pendleton’s own legend a twenty-five-year-old story of a student massacre at the hands of an Abnormal Psych professor. As the fraternities prepare to celebrate the macabre anniversary Natalie discovers that she is the focus of the crazed killer’s intentions in the ultimate urban legend– the story of her own horrific murder.

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I Know What You Did Last Summer on Blu-ray

As they celebrate their high school graduation, four friends are involved in a hit-and-run accident when their car hits–and apparently kills–a pedestrian on an isolated roadway. They dispose of the body and vow to keep the incident a secret, but a year later somebody starts sending them letters bearing the warning “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” At that point the panicked foursome becomes the target of an elusive serial killer whose disguise consists of a fisherman’s slicker and a lethal ice hook.

Part mystery and part slasher flick, this thriller was heavily hyped as a follow-up to Scream by screenwriter Kevin Williamson (who later created the TV series Dawson’s Creek), and like Scream it’s a showcase for a teenage cast including Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar. And while this shocker isn’t as inspired as Scream, it’s guaranteed to give its target audience a few good thrills as it dives toward a routine climax of mayhem and murder. Based (rather loosely) on the popular novel by Lois Duncan.
By Jeff Shannon

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