“Patton” is at once one of the greatest war movies ever made and one of the greatest biographical films.  Because of his family’s refusal to grant clearance for Patton’s life away from war, 20th Century-Fox was forced to stick to Patton’s exploits in World War II.  But that was enough.  With the brilliant script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, the strong but understated direction by Franklin J. Schaffner and George C. Scott’s performance—his best ever—in the title role, “Patton” is a movie classic.  And it has been given superlative treatment in this Blu-ray disc. The movie was shot in 70mm, giving the scenes great clarity and sharpness of detail, carried over nearly intact to this Blu-ray high definition disc.  Few movies will look this good on your home screen, even fewer will sound this good.  The production team ...

  In Iraq, a group of U.S. soldiers are delighted to hear that they will be returning home in two weeks.  As fate would have it, mere days before, they are sent out on another mission and are ambushed along the way.  The group undergoes heavy casualties;  Jordan (Chad Michael Murray) is killed, Tommy (Brian Presley) and Jamal (Curtis Jackson, aka 50 cent) are injured and Vanessa (Jessica Biel) has two of her fingers blown off.  Returning home, the survivors have great difficulty adjusting to civilian life.  Doctor Will Marsh (Samuel Jackson) is unable to reconnect with his patients and his family and turns to drink; Vanessa is frustrated while trying to function with only one hand, and begins to push people away; Tommy can’t find a sense of purpose in day-to-day life; and Jamal is an unstable time bomb, torn ...

  In the Soviet Union, a movement led by fanatical rebel Vladimir Radchenko (Daniel von Bargen) overthrows the current government and makes alarming threats against the U.S. and its allies.  Lt. Commander Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) and his friend, Lt. Peter “Weaps” Ince (Viggo Mortensen), are called away from Hunter’s daughter’s birthday party when events escalate.  Hunter is summoned to the submarine U.S.S. Alabama by Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) as a last minute replacement for his Executive Officer (XO) who has come down with appendicitis.  Ramsey is a somewhat crusty career military man and has been a captain for nearly thirty years, while Hunter is brilliant and capable but has little combat experience. The Alabama departs for waters around the Soviet Union, transporting a full arsenal of nuclear missiles several times more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Captain Ramsey’s style ...

  Paul Verhoeven, a success in his homeland of the Netherlands, was brought to America to direct, somewhat surprisingly, “RoboCop.”  He did a bang-up, eye-popping funny job, then went on to other special effects extravaganzas (“Total Recall,” “Starship Troopers,” “The Hollow Man”) and a couple of sexy melodramas, one successful (“Basic Instinct”), one a notorious flop (“Showgirls”).  Evidently burned out by his Hollywood experience, the director fled back to native Holland to direct “Zwartboek,” released in the U.S. as “Black Book.”  It’s a story he came up with while working on “Soldier of Orange,” his very fine film about the Dutch underground during World War II. “Black Book” is also about WWII’s Dutch underground, but begins in Israel in 1956.  Jewish Rachel (Carice van Houten), now a schoolteacher, is surprised to meet Ronnie (Halina Reijn), an old friend from the Netherlands.  The ...

  It's easy to understand why so many movie directors eventually get around to doing a courtroom drama. The issues are generally clear, the outcome is not always guessable, the structure of a trial permits as many vivid characters as you like, and trials are inherently dramatic. If the trial is also a MILITARY hearing, everything is heightened partly because of the command structure, partly because the issues become, if anything, even clearer. So it's hardly any wonder why Rob Reiner would have been drawn so strongly to Aaron Sorkin's hit play, “A Few Good Men,” despite a certain mechanical quality to the plotting. Reiner's movie version may even be stronger than the play because of a sizzling performanc by Jack Nicholson as a tough, career-minded marine Colonel, as well as highly engaging star turns by Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. Photographed ...