One of the most iconic people and recognized faces, a lot thanks to one particular photo that has become a figure head for teens all over the world to symbolise their own revolution, is being brought back to life through the amazing acting skills of Benicio Del Toro. Director Steven Soderbergh has done a brilliant job in creating a movie with a quite documentary feel to it. Although there’s quite a bit of shooting, this should not be miss-taken for your average action or war movie; the tempo is slower and the action is shot more from afar to create a sense of objectivity.

This first of two parts focuses on the relationship between Che and Castro, and their fight towards the fight with Batista.  If your interested to learn more about the story and emergence of Che and Castor as political leaders – or just want to see a great movie – this is a must watch. Highly recommended.

Stanley Kubrik is a true master of film, and 2001 a Space Odyssey bluray is nothing short of visual masterpiece. The pictures are amazingly vivid and sharp and the soundtrack as haunting as ever. Unless you’ve lived under a rock you’re probably somewhat familiar with the plot; When a large black monolith is found beneath the surface of the moon, the reaction immediately is that it was intentionally buried. When the point of origin is confirmed as Jupiter, an expedition is sent in hopes of finding the source. And at the heart of the expedition is the computer HAL that controls the expedition space ship. It’s really a story about evolution, but I’ll leave it at that for you to explore.

2001 a Space Odyssey blu-ray comes as expected in 1080p full hd with a 2.20:1 aspect ratio, and PCM 5.1 and dolby digital 5.1 soundtrack.

Albeit a visually stunning movie which has been lovingly transferred to bluray, it’s still a little too slowly paced for my taste and being used to MTV speed of information, hence no top score for this 1968 sci-fi classic.

The Wrestler is a beautifully sad story about life after the glory days of a pro American wrestler. Mickey Rourke is brilliant in the role of Randy ‘the Ram’ Robinson and so is his love interest Marisa Tomei as the big hearted stripper who’s also over her peak and struggle to earn a few dollars doing lap dances.

Rourke’s character  is complex yet simple, a real one trick pony, that only find comfort in the ring fighting sweaty spandex clad muscle men and surrounded by shouting fans. Until watching this movie I have to admit I’ve never understood the thrill of American show wrestling, but watching the frenzied yet skillfully choreographed fights and the electric atmosphere you can’t avoid but getting sucked right into the world of Randy. Rourke is definitely the highlight of this movie and once you’ve watched the movie you won’t be surprised to hear that as an amateur boxer, he put together a knockout streak of 12 straight.

The Wrestler BluRay release is masterfully transferred, with a razor sharp picture and intense DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1. A highly recommended view.

Gladiator is finally making its way onto Blu-ray film. The Ridely Scott masterpiece depicting the final days of Marcus Aurelius reign stars an outstanding Russell Crowe as the revengeful gladiator.

Gladiator bluray film is released in crisp 1080p HD resolution with an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and spread across two action packed discs. It clockes in at a lenghty but never boring 155  minutes. Well worth an investment to any blu ray movie library.

Gladiator blu ray is to be released on 7th September in the UK.

The Coen brothers masterful crime drama Fargo hits UK blu-ray players on May 4. The story revolves around a not so successful car salesman who arranges for two thugs to kidnap his wife in order to collect a ransom from her welthy father. Unfortunately this simple plan isn’t going exactly as expected.

The Fargo blu-ray release has a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack.

A brilliant movie that’s highly recommended.

The brilliant drama series Mad Men gets its second season on to Blu-ray on July 13 in the UK. As with most HBO productions the production values are superb with a great script, brilliant script and stellar cast. The research prior the show is astounding with it depicting the era with great detail – from the clothes people are wearing, to the jargon and the products used.

We expect over 10 hours of advertising craze over three discs with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack.

Note: Mad Men season 1 is expected already next month, so it’s a great chance to catch up on the first 10 brilliant hours in run up to the season two release.

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The 1984 sci fi movie 2010 is set nine years after the failure of the Discovery mission to Jupiter of the movie 2001: a space oddesey. The film features the late Roy Scheider and brilliant Helen Mirren, and was nominated for no less than five oscars, although it didn’t manage to win any.

The 2010 blu ray release clocks in at 116 minutes of 1080p high definition video with both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

Easter is here. Now, what to watch… Here are three ideas with some (although very minor) connection to Easter:

1. The house bunny – ridicuolous comedy about a playboy bunny
2. Easter promises – hard boiled drama, let’s hope this is not what your Easter will be like
3. Chicken little – sweet family comedy about a little chick

Three stars that deserves five stars

The combination of Martin Scorcese and Robert De Niro is simply unbeatable. And if you top it up with Joe Pesci as the uncontrollable violent tug, Sharon Stone as the  beautiful hustler, and James Woods as the sleazy pimp ex boyfriend, you’ve got yourself a piece of blu-ray movie history.

 Casino is based on the true story of the rise and fall of the Las Vegas casino Tangier, which was funded by mobsters and run by gambling genius Frank Rosenthal (De Niro). Everyone in the cast is absolute stellar in ther performances, and the story makes the movie feel very epic. It’s quite a long movie, but because of the many different twists and turns of the movie it always keep you on your toes.

The Blu-ray transfer is great with very fine detail and rich colours. There’s minimal noise and the blu-ray gives a much more cinematic experience than previous DVD releases.

The soundtrack is in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and although mostly dialogue, it is very well mixed with powerful music at certain scenes.

Casino is a must-have Blu-ray as it’s a total cracking package.

With the same director as The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith tackles his latest project head on about a man seeking redemption after being devastated by a tragedy. On the outside the protagonist Ben Thomas (Will Smith= might look like a great success, but on the inside he’s filled with grief about his past.

I haven’t seen this movie yet, but look forward doing so once released, so keep your eyes out for a review once I got my hands on this one.

The Blu-ray release is in 2.40:1 widescreen and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio, and if the US release is anything to go by hopefully it’ll come with a digital copy as well (although standard definition…)

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