DVD Talk DVD Reviews https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/list/DVD Video DVD Talk DVD Review RSS Feed en-us Restrepo DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/45938 Sun, 05 Dec 2010 20:49:36 UTC Recommended

The Movie

Initially, there's little that distinguishes Restrepo from every other recent documentary about the United States' ongoing, overseas wars. The footage, recorded by a pair of freshman directors (author Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington), borders on mundane -- until the Humvee carrying the young soldiers and the camerman rolls over an improvised explosive device (IED). There's the dull thud of a muffled explosion, a burst of shrapnel and dust and viewers' pulses will accelerate. It's a sharp shock, a ragged spike of adrenaline which occurs frequently throughout Restrepo, one of the year's finest documentaries and a gut-wrenching travelogue that pulls back the curtain on the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform.

Restrepo chronicles a little more than a year in the life of Battle Company's Second Platoon. The young soldiers w...Read the entire review

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Love Ranch (Blu-ray) Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/46484 Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:00:18 UTC Rent It

THE FILM

Something happened to Taylor Hackford's "Love Ranch" on the way to its release. I'm not exactly sure what it was, seeing how the production was plagued by a number of financial setbacks, but something singular reached in and gutted what the filmmaker was originally intending. "Love Ranch" offers such a promising premise filled with sass, slaps, and sin, but the picture feels edited with a chainsaw, reducing Hackford's story of desire to crummy Lifetime Movie theatrics, wasting the numerous gifts of Helen Mirren along the way.

In rural Nevada during 1976, the Love Ranch ruled all. A popular brothel owned by hustler Charlie (Joe Pesci) and his bookkeeping wife Grace (Helen Mirren), the Ranch hosted a bevy of career prostitutes that kept the money flowing in, allowing Charlie to seize control of the local law enforcement and influence politicians (Bryan Cranston, ...Read the entire review

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Restrepo Theatrical https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/44468 Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:37:46 UTC Highly Recommended

When "The Hurt Locker" won the Academy Award this year for Best Picture, it was rewarded for its unflinching view of wartime survival, taking viewers to the core of the Middle East conflict. The film did an extraordinary job manufacturing reality. The documentary "Restrepo" is reality, contributing a harrowing, emotionally pummeling you-are-there examination of Afghanistan combat, as viewed through the lens of embedded directors Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington. There are no politics or blustery commentary, just pure experience, capturing the raw commotion of military conflict.

The Korengal Valley in Afghanistan is viewed as one of the deadliest areas in the country, populated with hordes of hidden Taliban soldiers and struggling civilians. In 2007, the men of Seco...Read the entire review

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Restrepo Theatrical https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/44388 Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:36:11 UTC Highly Recommended

PFC Juan "Doc" Restrepo is featured in the opening moments of the documentary that bears his name, in home movies that he shot himself; he turns the camera around as he mugs and jokes with his buddies, all about to be deployed to Afghanistan. "We're goin' to war, we're goin' to war, we're goin' to war," he chants, giddily. He would not make it out alive. His fellow soldiers would eventually build an outpost where they were fighting, and name it after him. It stood in the Korangal Valley, which CNN dubbed "the deadliest place on earth." American forces had another name for it: "The valley of death."

Restrepo is the directorial debut of journalist Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) and filmmaker/photographer Tim Hetherington. They originally embedded with Secon...Read the entire review

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Amreeka Theatrical https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/39558 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:46:52 UTC Recommended

I appreciated "Amreeka" for its heartfelt approach, which unfortunately also runs the picture into a few walls. An immigrant tale placed carefully in the long shadow of 9/11, Cherien Dabis's debut feature has earnest energy to spare, along with a marvelous evocation of itchy Arabic behaviors marooned in a profoundly paranoid America. It's a fine film with much on its mind, and while suffering from occasional missteps, it holds together as a terrific expression of worry and relocation, inspecting the less illuminated side of the American Dream.

With a painful divorce behind her and facing draining security changes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) is finding her Palestinian homeland suffocating, trying to make it through the day to support her beloved...Read the entire review

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National Geographic: Sea Monsters - A Prehistoric Adventure DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/38307 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:27:30 UTC Skip It

THE PROGRAM

"Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure 3D" is a very brief 40 minute program originally designed for IMAX theaters (many of which are located in museums). A large part of the program relies on the 3D gimmick and while it works without a hitch in an IMAX theater (due to the great advances in the technology at the theater level), that experience translates horribly on the home screen and in doing so, exposes the serious flaws of this well-intentioned program.

Like many IMAX programs designed for museums, "Sea Monsters" raises more questions than it answers. It rockets through facts at lightening pace and assumes the viewer will be more wowed by the CGI recreations of the ancient beasts, than actually learning about them. There is a loose connection to modern society through some hastily interspersed live-action recreations of fossil discoveries, which bring up some fasci...Read the entire review

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Las Vegas: Season Five DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/34230 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:56:27 UTC Rent It

The Fifth Season

Las Vegas is a television series about the daily lives of the people behind the operations of the Montecito Hotel and Casino. The elite group manages daily casino operations to special events to hotel management. The series gives a sexy spin to the Las Vegas life and shows what it is like for the guys and girls who work behind the scenes to make sure your stay at the fictional Montecito Hotel and Casino is as pleasant as possible, and that means stopping criminals, would-be scam artists, and fowl customers. Overall, Las Vegas makes for a flashy fun drama that sometimes is a little cheesy and fake, but the characters are likeable and the stories are enjoyable enough. For more details about Las Vegas, refer to DVD Talk's reviews of season one, Read the entire review

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U2 3D (IMAX) Theatrical https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/32084 Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:19:01 UTC DVD Talk Collector Series

While the subject of countless concert videos and films over their 30-year history, U2's most iconic performances can be boiled down to three endeavors. 1983's "Under a Blood Red Sky" showcased U2's hunger, their youthful idealism, and a raw sound just finding its balance. 1988's "Rattle and Hum" captured the band getting used to their newfound world dominance, while also presenting an unstoppable live act gearing up for the best years of their lives. And now "U2 3D" has been added to the list.

Comfortable in their rock overlord boots, U2 puts on a mighty display of confidence in this swirly concert film. Shot in 2006 on various stops of the worldwide "Vertigo Tour," "3D" is an experience that will overwhelm the faithful and enchant the newcomers. It's U2 larger than life; a perspective they've been after for years and now can achieve through this mighty IMAX presentation and set list of ...Read the entire review

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