I sat with the Mrs. last night and watched all of Shrek the Third on HD-DVD.  Beautiful picture, nice bright colors and excellent detail on the animation, all of which shows up very well on HD-DVD.  Prince Charming's hair flows in various directions, shadows and lighting throughout show great attention to detail by the animators/rendering team, etc.  The fur and hairs on Puss-in-boots and Donkey shine through, as do the freckles and spots on Shrek's face and on Prince Arthur, uh, ...

I started back up on Netflix this week with a couple of hi-def titles (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) on my list. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry as one on HD-DVD, and Ratatouille on Blu-ray.  Unfortunately I got 'skipped over' for Ratatouille for now, and was showing Very Long Wait for that one.  Chuck and Larry was going to be a purchase for me anyway, so as soon as I got it I wound up sending it right back.  Very funny movie (for my tastes).  Much more entertaining and funn...

Having recently signed back up for Netflix (and perhaps having a bit of buyers remorse over same since they've left me buying the first few movies I had really intended to rent from them), I was left looking for some movies that I haven't seen yet to toss into my que. Netflix passed me over for Ratatouille in Blu-ray, which was the number one title in my que   and then delayed on shipping out I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry , which I intended to buy anyway, but they did bring bac...

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. This overused cliche is appropriate for this film, which recycles cliches over the entire course of the movie. I don't need to give a plot summary of this movie, because it's a plot you've seen many times over. A confident and successful single dad becomes a fish out of water when the child he never knew he had shows up at his doorstep. Over the course of the movie, he bonds with his daughter, and she with him, and both discover things...

I must admit that I didn't expect to like this movie at all. It's a bit hard to accept as a movie about Jesus at times. I mean he's portrayed as a clown with a red heart on his forehead. The character for John the Baptist shows signs of also being Peter and Judas. In the end Jesus is "crucified" on a chain link fence and all of his disciples sing "God, you are dying.... God, you are dead". It's a little hard to take in but by the end of the movie you just might find yourself really enjoyin...

I vaguely recall someone else at JU may have posted a review and comments about this movie, but regardless, I wanted to post a few comments and a quick review of my own on this excellent movie. If you don't want to know what the movie is about, or have any of the details of the movie spoiled in advance of watching the movie, stop reading now.  Not that I'll go that indepth here, but I do want to cover what will probably be some important details of the plot and spoiler purists may be ups...

Last week, after the initial crowds died down, I went to go see the new Michael Moore flick "Sicko" about the state of health care in America today. I purposefully went after the initial release so I wouldn't be there in a big fanatic crowd. And in fact, I chose a matinee showing to further my isolation. So, it came as a bit of a surprise to walk in to the theater to find I had to sit near the front. The theater was not totally full, but pretty close. Anyway, I took my free popcorn I ...

Movie number 5 in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is out in the theatres this weekend (and will likely easily come in as the number 1 movie of the weekend, given the insane number of showings at the big megaplex not that far from me). I took Mrs. Terpfan1980 and my teen daughter to go see the movie this afternoon and all left happy having seen the movie. I've not read the books, nor has my daughter.  My wife has read through most of the series th...

Seressia Glass, one of my favorite authors, listed the Top Ten reasons why you should see the movie Transformers. I agree with her banging list! I gave my own little review two days ago but liked her list so much I'm posting about it again! 10. If you liked the cartoon(s), you’ll love the movie - Absolutely! 09. Even if you didn’t like the cartoon(s), you’ll love the movie - Absolutely! 08. Kick a$$ action sequences ...

I took my two younger children to see Transformers and we all really enjoyed it very much! I was expecting a mundane, weird looking robots and an ho-hum storyline but got the surprise of my life as I was virtually at the edge of my seat the entire movie rooting for the Autobots (the good guys) to win! I won't say how the movie ended (of course you know the good guys won!) but I enjoyed each and every action packed scene! Basically the bad guys, the Decepticons, and its leader, Megatron...

Just wanted to give thumbs up to Live Free or Die Hard, the latest installment in the Die Hard series. I went and saw the movie this a.m. with a good friend and we both left the movie feeling like we'd seen a decent flick.  Though the experience at the theatre wasn't that great as the movie house we went to seemed to be incapable of performing up to spec a few times (doors opened and/or left opened, house lights turned on in the middle of the movie, previews that didn't start on time bec...

Thanks to Blockbuster Video (who I don't seem to have the problems with that some other Joe Users reported they were having) I was able to watch a rental of the HD-DVD version of Breach tonite. By the way, the HD-DVD rental disc is a combo disc, containing both the HD-DVD version and the standard DVD version if that is important to anyone. Typically that knowledge would be important for people thinking of purchasing the movie on HD-DVD, not so much people that are renting as they should...

Despite the complaints and protestations of many professional critics, my wife and I went to see the latest Fantastic Four movie this afternoon.  Reviews that I have seen have been mixed.  Stephen Hunter, of The Washington Post , declared the movie a snore fest.  Others have had similar critiques. On the other hand, the reviewer for AOL (sorry, didn't catch the name), and the reviewer that was published via The Washington Times , was a bit more kind to the film and...

Forrest Whitaker plays Idi Amin almost to perfection. In the beginning of the film you are almost swept away with his enthusiastic performance, almost liking the character Idi Amin and hating yourself for liking him because you know that he was a monster. Whitaker pulls off Amin’s charisma brilliantly. The film focuses on the young Scottish doctor that Idi Amin takes into his fold. The film makers want you to like the doctor, they want you to sympathise with his naiveté. They want you ...

Pan's Labyrinth, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, is one of the most fantastic films that I've seen in recent memory. From it's striking opening sequence, which had me wishing that I spoke Spanish to avoid the distraction of the subtitles, through the very end, the visuals utilized were incredibly effective. The storyline was unique... I described the film to friends as "a dark fantasy set against the backdrop of historical wartime, with dramatic themes tending towards classic h...