THE PLOT THUS FAR

Michelle Williams plays twenty-eight-year-old Margot, happily married to Lou (Seth Rogen), a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), a handsome artist that lives across the street, their mutual attraction is undeniable. Swelteringly hot, bright and colorful, Take This Waltz leads us, laughing, through the familiar, but uncharted question of what long-term relationships do to love, sex and our image of ourselves.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

Margot is one of those freelance writers who frequently says she wants to be a writer, but she has not started yet. In the meantime, she travels to Nova Scotia to write an update to the official pamphlet for a colonial era village. While there, she meets Daniel who has coincidentally journeyed to the island to sketch and paint. Why the coincidence? They happen to live across the street from one another back in Ontario. Immediately straining credibility limits, Take This Waltz begins on thin ice but very quickly settles down into an entirely engrossing and mesmerizing feature.

What Margot sees in Daniel is something that’s been missing in her life, a sexual spark that excites her, even though she dares not act upon it since she really does love Lou in spite of his foibles – including a certain apathy about their relationship that he thinks is perfectly normal. She could see spending the rest of her life with Lou, but she wonders if he is her soul-mate or whether it’s worth the risk to find out if Daniel is really the one. Blinded by desires she had yet to tap in her marriage, Margot knows if she acts upon those feelings, there will come some point where she’ll have to make a hard decision between Lou and Daniel.

The DVD comes with featurettes and a trailer as the special features. The A/V Quality is strong with a supportive transfer and a Dolby 5.1 audio track. The Dolby track doesn’t get much back channel action outside of the few major crowd scenes. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

THE PLOT THUS FAR

He’s back! From the filmmakers that brought you Chucky comes the terrifying return of the pint-sized doll possessed by the spirit of a notorious serial killer. When a mysterious package arrives at the house of Nica (Fiona Dourif, True Blood), she doesn’t give it much thought. However, after her mother’s mysterious death, Nica begins to suspect that the talking, red-haired doll her visiting niece has been playing with may be the key to the ensuing bloodshed and chaos. The return of America’s favorite toy, voiced again by Brad Dourif, is unrated and full of more blood-splattered thrills and chills.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

The fifth sequel in the Child’s Play series comes to us Straight to DVD. Though the production value clearly shows it should have been a theatrical release. It also directed by the director of the previous films Don Mancini. Curse of Chucky takes a break from the constant humor of Chucky and brings him back to being more menacing and frightening. Without giving too much away, the script for Curse of Chucky really does bring things full circle for the series. Brad Dourif as always delivers his voice talents for Chucky.

Many scenes are effective with inbuilt tension and jump scares, notably the shower encounter and dinner gathering. With lingering camera movements and interesting angles, Mancini also leaves plenty to the imagination as some of the set ups take place off screen, that said there are lots of effects, blood and gore on display – decapitation, an electrocution, an empty eyeball socket and an axe attack to name a few. There are lots of nice touches that are fitting to the modern Chucky doll, that mirror today’s toys, making him all the more menacing when he comes to ‘life’. Pupils dilate, his eyes are bloodshot, walking and running – Chucky is back better, creepier and badder than before.

The Blu-Ray comes with a DVD and Digital Copy. Plus, you get a ton of featurettes, gag reel, deleted scenes and a commentary. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track sets a large stage for the horror antics. The 1080p transfer looks good for a DTV film. Did this release originally have a theatrical release in mind? In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

THE PLOT THUS FAR

Hansel and Gretel: A Healthy Adventure: Red and her friends are having a picnic in the park, but she has no energy to join in the fun. Could it have something to do with her unhealthy snack choices? Super Why and his friends head into the story of Hansel and Gretel to meet the equally tired and grouchy witch. They convince the witch to trade in her gingerbread house for something both delicious and nutritious – and Red learns what kinds of foods will help her go the distance so she can play with her friends for a SUPER long time! King Eddie Who Loved Spaghetti: It’s dinner time at Whyatt’s house but things are not going well! He’s perplexed when Mom and Dad say that what’s on his plate isn’t healthy. To find out why, the reading superheroes fly into the story King Eddie Who Loved Spaghetti and encounter a wacky king who only wants to eat one thing – spaghetti! As the super readers convince King Eddie to taste new foods, Whyatt learns there’s more to dinner than he had originally thought!

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“A Healthy Adventure” is the latest SuperWhy adventure featuring Hansel and Gretel. It’s a fun themed release that will help kids learn how to read. Outside of that, it’s got nothing for kids over the age of 5. I like what the Super Readers try to accomplish here in the compiled adventures. It’s just that they have such a limited span to capture the educational attention of young kids. That being said, I’d recommend it to parents of kids between the ages of 2-5.

The DVD comes with music videos and interactive games as the special features. The A/V Quality is strong with a supportive transfer and a Dolby audio track. The Dolby track doesn’t get much back channel action outside of the few major crowd scenes. In the end, I’d recommend a rental.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

THE PLOT THUS FAR

Tad is a celebrity archeologist and adventurer just like his hero Max Mordon… in his dreams! In reality, Tad is a Chicago construction worker. One day, however, he is mistaken for a real Professor and takes his place on a flight to Peru in search of the Lost City of Paititi. Professor Lavrof and his beautiful daughter Sara are waiting for the famous professor to crack the code. Unfortunately for Tad, Sara is engaged to real-life hero Max Mordon, but Max has secretly betrayed the Professor by teaming up with the evil Kopponen and his shady Odysseus corporation. Time for Tad to step up.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

Young Tad starts off with a dream to become an archaeologist. You don’t know exactly why, he just does. The movie doesn’t go all that in depth about it at all. He grows up and still daydreams for something he never really works toward, but still hopeful. His ‘friend’ who is an archaeologist becomes his gateway into his dream. He meets a dream girl, her father is the leading archaeologist in the world only to be topped by her future husband who has star qualities, thus also the mole/bad guy.

“Tad: The Lost Explorer” started life as Tadeo Jones and then it was Anglicized. The film started life in Spain and it seems to be floating around impressing families until it finally arrived in North America as a Wal-Mart exclusive. At times, it feels like Inspector Gadget meets Indiana Jones. Actually, that’s doing this a disservice to Indiana Jones. If anything, Ariel Winter shows up as a paper-thin Penny knock-off and Cheech is doing El Hombre Gadget.

The Blu-Ray comes with a DVD copy, 2D and 3D transfer. The 3D transfer is pretty impressive for a foreign animated flick. You get excellent field of depth, but there are few scenes where it gets to put it to use. You don’t get any special features, but the DTS-HD master audio track really establishes a soundstage. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW! (exclusively at Wal-Mart)