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- Review count127
- Helpfulness votes25
- First reviewJune 27, 2014
- Last reviewJuly 11, 2018
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.9
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![Spotlight [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2 Discs] [2015]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4758/4758708_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
The Best Film of 2015
on March 28, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
Spotlight is a fine example of what perfect execution looks like. From the outset we are given the broad scope of the issue the film looks to tackle and from there we dive right into Boston, 2001 to meet the key players in the game the film will be playing. There are no hiccups, no time for second guesses and nothing narratively to take away from the main objective. Spotlight is a prime piece of meat with all of the fat trimmed and only the juiciest parts left so as to make the whole experience one of pure, concentrated excellence. That said, it is certainly an interesting case in a couple of areas. The first being that director Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor, Win Win), who is generally regarded as both a solid writer and filmmaker, was coming off the worst reviewed film of his career a year ago with The Cobbler and so to bounce back so ferociously with this effortlessly intelligent thriller makes it clear there is something more to be said for the process of filmmaking. The other, is that this reviewer in particular is a Catholic. This is an influential piece of information considering Spotlight is about the Boston Globe's investigation into the Church's abuse scandal that gave cause for people everywhere (Catholic or not) to take a second look at one of our most respected and trusted institutions. Because the film plays it straight down the middle, with no time for subplots or unnecessary qualms, no one party is ever viewed unfairly, but rather the irrefutable facts presented allow the audience to make up their own minds.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![The Good Dinosaur [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [Only @ Best Buy] [2015]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4705/4705201_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
3
Lesser Pixar, which is Still Pretty Solid
on March 28, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
Like all Disney and Pixar films, The Good Dinosaur pulls at the heartstrings by chronicling the change of innocence into experience, of a child into an adult, and of those premature ideals into broader perceptions. Like most Disney and Pixar collaborations The Good Dinosaur also features a duo on a journey to both save/rescue someone or something while discovering things about themselves and the world they exist in along the way. Sure, there is more to each of these stories that have given the studio partnership a reputation of not just crafting animated movies for children, but for their parents and adults alike. These core ideas and themes are what Pixar tends to stick with, though. With their latest, the studio twists things around by essentially re-writing history and then pulling a role reversal meant to engage the mature minds while utilizing the popularity of dinosaurs to get the attention of young kids. This works for the most part as the premise is just as engaging as Pixar's previous release this year, Inside Out. While such a statement might make some wince given the personified emotions of that film allow it to go to some pretty heavy places for a "children's movie" the idea of mingling in what the world might be like today if a massive extinction hadn't taken place millions of years ago is just as tantalizing as being able to create some kind of organizational system within our own minds. Unfortunately, The Good Dinosaur doesn't do as much with it's promising premise as Inside Out did (though that one didn't do as much as I would have liked, either) it is does mix some interesting genre aspects and narratively creative ideas into it's proceedings often enough that it manages to be nothing short of an entertaining family film. While the film does indeed share many similarities to Pixar's previous offerings in terms of what makes them so effective what is more striking is the kinship it seems to share with the earlier, hand-drawn animated films of the Walt Disney company. Through this affinity for those that have come before it, The Good Dinosaur, while not being innovative or weighty on it's own terms, is a nice reminder of the power of a simple story told through beautiful imagery.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Do the Right Thing [20th Anniversary Edition] [Blu-ray] [1989]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/9698/9698099_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
4
Definitive Spike Lee
on March 15, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
While auteur Spike Lee continues to make films that create conversations and stir up controversy it is Do The Right Thing to which he will always owe his legacy. While the blu-ray transfer looks pristine I was hoping for a few more special features that provided more insight into this classic. Either way, the film alone is still enough to own in the latest format.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Casino Royale [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [SteelBook] [Only @ Best Buy] [2006]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4255/4255510_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
The Best of Daniel Craig's Bond
on March 15, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
Casino Royale exploded onto the scene in 2006 redefining what we thought we knew of Ian Fleming's fictional creation. Ten years later the film still holds up incredibly well and this new, steelbook packaging only makes the feature seem all the more eloquent.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Spectre [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [SteelBook] [2015]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4817/4817102_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
3
SPECTRE Stumbles where SKYFALL Left Off
on March 15, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
I saw my first James Bond film at fifteen. What I saw, some say, is the worst Bond picture of all time. 2002's Die Another Day featuring the last go-around for Pierce Brosnan as the famous British super spy was goofy fun at the time, especially for someone keenly unaware of any of the traditional elements and archetypes included in a Bond film, but four years later and one year after the revolutionary origin story that was Batman Begins made it okay to make something campy into something more grounded and serious we received a new kind of Bond, a more grounded in reality Bond with a seriously serious streak about him. That isn't to say that producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli overcompensated as Casino Royale still sits as my favorite of the Daniel Craig Bond films. For what it's worth, I don't necessarily have a great affinity for the Bond movies. They have never done much to excite me, but I look forward to them because I more or less know what I'm getting, but on a grand scale. And I like epic. Moreover, Craig is the Bond of my generation and if I were to have any type of fondness for any of these films it would be his rough and rugged incarnation of the typically suave MI6 agent. All of this is to say that while I appreciate what the producers and director Sam Mendes (Skyfall) have done for the series in being bold and essentially wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch it can't help but feel as if they ran out of tricks with the latest installment, Spectre. While there is much to like in this new film-the set pieces are consistent, the familiar elements more present than ever since Craig took over as well as the gorgeous cinematography from Hoyte Van Hoytema (her, Interstellar) capturing it all-and yet there is something missing from the story. There is a lack of substance while still holding an unbelievable amount of aspiration. Spectre feels like a film that wants and has the intention to do so many things and fulfill so much fan service that it actually ends up doing very little. To say Spectre is a waste of time or even a bad movie is too harsh as there is clear craft that has been put into the final product, but what the film is and what it wanted to be are clearly two very different entities.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Skyfall [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [SteelBook] [Only @ Best Buy] [2012]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4255/4255507_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
4
Skyfall is Peak of 007 Type Adventures
on March 15, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
Having never been a huge Bond fan for most of my life, my interest in the franchise was peaked when director Martin Campbell delivered a hard boiled, gritty action film with the suave, iconic agent at the head of the film. Embodied by the newly minted Daniel Craig, for the first time I felt as if I was watching a man who could actually take part in a secret government agency and come out on the other side alive rather than seeing Pierce Brosnan as a version of some high class socialite who wondered into a gunfight, some off kilter version of the character Mike Myers so easily lampooned. Granted, I haven't seen many of the films in the franchise (though I certainly plan on doing so at some point) I've seen plenty of footage and clips from the older films when I prepped to see Casino Royale as a newbie to the franchise. I have caught a few of the Brosnan era Bonds on TV as well as seeing Die Another Day as my first in a theater which as you can imagine, wasn't the greatest introduction. A year after experiencing Chris Nolan's dark, realistic take on the Batman story it was interesting to have seen Bond go the same way within his own world. With the twenty-third film of the franchise, Skyfall, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have recruited Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) to helm this latest installment that acts as a continuation of Craig's time in MI6 but also reestablishes much of the series history and lays the ground work for much to be excited about in what is coming in Mr. Bond's near future.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Quantum of Solace [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [SteelBook] [Only @ Best Buy] [2008]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4255/4255504_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
3
The Least of Craig's Bond Efforts
on March 15, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
It hurt me to only give this new Bond flick 3 stars-I wanted to love it as I did Casino Royale-but in comparison to that this just failed. The section sequences were grand and well put together and I'm still convinced Daniel Craig is the best Bond to date, but the fact this movie felt like a section of something bigger just hurt it for me. I liked the continuation from Casino Royale, Im glad we found out what was going on, but it just felt like there should have been more to it-the absence of a true Bond girl didn't help either, Strawberry Fields felt like more of an obligation than part of the story. Some positive things though are that this Bond is evolving from eager rookie to a more mature killer, but the latter seems to be coming in the next film as shown in the last scene of Quantum. I liked this film, it was above par to many action films lately, but in comparison with its predecessor, it had nothing on it.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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![Crimson Peak [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2 Discs] [2015]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4758/4758709_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
4
Beautifully Rendered Tale of Gothic Romance
on March 15, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
To preface this review: I'm not the biggest Guillermo del Toro fan. I like his stuff well enough, but I don't understand the fuss around him that has essentially made him a brand. It's easy to go back and say how much you enjoyed Cronos as it was an introduction to the director for many or how great Pan's Labyrinth was because it is in fact that (I still can't see del Toro ever hitting that kind of high again), but beyond his somewhat spotty resume what is there? I thought Pacific Rim was fine, but nowhere near great or even worth the excitement many a fanboy have lauded it with since the films release two years ago that have garnered it a sequel campaign for the ages (will it be made or not?!?!? Ahh who knows!!). With Crimson Peak though, I was intrigued from the moment gothic horror and del Toro's name were thrown together in the same sentence. It made perfect sense, but more it would be magnificent to see something of this genre made in the modern Hollywood system. If there were ever a chance for del Toro to return to the heights of Labyrinth it would certainly have to be in this type of film, right? It's as if the horror genre is ingrained in the way the director thinks-each piece of writing attempting to elicit the horror of whatever circumstances his characters find themselves in with a flourish of the fantastical thrown in to boot. As penned by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins (The Sugarland Express, Mimic) Crimson Peak is an amalgamation of something Edgar Allen Poe might have thought up conveyed in the style of the horror films of the fifties and sixties. It is easy to say that the film could easily fall into the "all style and no substance" category, but it's also easy to see there is a lot going on under the surface here even if the film I saw isn't exactly the one I expected. Given the title seemed to be referring to the colossal gothic mansion that the trio of main characters inhabit I imagined this would be a tale of a haunted family heirloom that held plenty of secrets for the innocent Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) to discover, but while this element certainly plays into the film, Crimson Peak is more about desire and how the nature of such emotion can consume every inch of our being.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Bridge of Spies [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2015]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/4629/4629305_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
4
Solid Drama From Reliable Team
on March 5, 2016
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
I'm not going to say anything new or anything you probably haven't already heard about the latest from Steven Spielberg, but hopefully it will still be somewhat insightful and interesting to you, the reader. Come to think of it, that's kind of what Spielberg himself has done with Bridge of Spies. There is nothing new or original about what he's put on display here, but it is still very much an engaging and insightful take on the topic he's decided to tackle. Everything about the film, from it's period setting of 1957 during the height of the Cold War to the fact it once again pairs the most famous director in the world with the most likable actor in the world, Tom Hanks, screams pedigree and pure Oscar bait. What's reassuring is that Bridge of Spies never comes off as such. It aspires to be little more than an intense study of the small details of human interaction and what crafts us to be the people we truly are as tested by extraordinary circumstances. This is a film purely for adult viewers, not because it contains anything too risque for younger viewers sans a few curse words, but because it is a film that moves slowly, builds it's character and tension assuredly and then delivers an overall message that comes at the story from a very distinct perspective only making us consider the many other perspectives one could see this story from (which is sorta the point). Bridge of Spies isn't anything to necessarily write home about in that regard, but while you're watching it, as you're sitting there experiencing it, you can do little more than appreciate the obvious care and dedication that has gone into producing this handsomely mounted picture. That it includes a solid performance from Hanks and something of a revelatory showing by character actor Mark Rylance only emphasizes further the type of respect a film such as this deserves; not only because it is indisputably a good movie that consists mainly of adults talking, but respect for it's backers and makers for being willing to create an old school drama during a time when it seems anything in the realm of adult-skewing entertainment is labeled as less than profitable.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Minions [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2 Discs] [2015]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/7877/7877227_sa.jpg)
Posted by: VandyPrice
from Arkansas
Verified Purchase:Yes
Minions, while inherently funny is wholly insignificant and unnecessary. For parents, Minions will be ol' reliable, for children who enjoyed the Despicable Me films it will be what they've been waiting for, but in terms of the actual quality of the product it couldn't be more vanilla sans for the ridiculous amounts of innuendo and subtext these guys are able to get away with due to literally half of the dialogue in the film being unintelligible. At the very least, I guess this flick might open up the idea to children that watching foreign films can't be all that bad as with those you are at least given subtitles whereas with Minions one has to count on interpretation of tone and inflection to elicit the intended comedy. The thing is though, and this became apparent in the Despicable Me sequel, is that it seems the folks behind these colorful fun fests are forgetting the minions are not only inherently funny, but inherently sidekicks despite the fact this film, their own feature, is about them seeking out a boss to serve. If the minions only goal in life is to function purely as sidekicks it only seems fitting they would remain in that role in any movie they might appear in, but when a movie only happens because the first was a surprise hit and the multiple sequels and spin-offs are concocted more because the iron is hot rather than there being any actual ideas of value you're going to run into such dilemmas. When the small Illumination Entertainment company scored a $540 million hit with the original film and it's sequel notched nearly a billion worldwide three years later you better believe they were going to milk this now-franchise for all it's worth. The minions instantly became cultural mainstays and so I understand why a feature of their own was ultimately inevitable, but it doesn't mean it makes any more sense. Get what I'm saying? They are sidekicks, they are good in small portions, but a little bit of these little yellow creatures goes a long way and in giving them a feature length film things have simply gone overboard as the weight of an entire narrative on the back of a character created purely for comic relief is too much for them to carry.
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
My Best Buy number: 2220462910
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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