DVD Verdict reviews: BAMBI: PLATINUM EDITION, BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON, and more!

Today, DVD Verdict posted reviews of BAMBI: PLATINUM EDITION, BRIDGET
JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON, ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE, LADDER 49, LAURA,
PROCOL HARUM: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL, STAGE BEAUTY, and SUPER BOWL
XXXIX: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS CHAMPIONSHIP VIDEO:


BAMBI: PLATINUM EDITION (reviewed by David Johnson, overall score
93/100):
"This is an animated film of stunning artistic merit and sweeping -- if
a bit dated -- music. I was consistently impressed not with the hard-
hitting storylines of Bambi learning to walk on ice or cowering in a
thunderstorm, but with the amazing landscapes, the vivid detail, and the
obvious manpower that went into creating these seventy minutes of forest
intrigue."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/bambi.php

BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON (reviewed by Brett Cullum, overall
score 75/100):
"The film takes us to the edge of logic, and asks us to just smile and
accept it because these are characters we loved in the first film. We've
seen Hugh Grant be more charming. We know Colin Firth can play stodgy
and sexy simultaneously. When Renee Zellweger does a number with the
girls in prison, we remember her far better turn in Chicago. This movie
isn't offering us any joy of discovery, and lazily lopes along on the
laurels of the characters and the actors' past projects."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/bridgetjones2.php

ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE (reviewed by Steve Evans, overall score 80/100):
" At times, Electra Glide in Blue feels like it is about to jump the
rails, cartwheeling into the anything-goes realm of exploitation. Yet
every time, Blake's intense, sincere performance pulls the film back on
track and holds our interest. He is an interesting actor with real
screen presence, but this is a seriously schizophrenic motion picture in
terms of tone and thematic concerns."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/el...lideinblue.php

LADDER 49 (reviewed by Patrick Naugle, overall score 79/100):
"If nothing else, I can say that the film isn't boring; the action
sequences are all well executed and realistic. And yet...it still
can't hold a candle (pun intended) to Howard's Backdraft, a film that
is now over a decade old. Sadly, I keep coming back to that fact --
it's never a promising sign when a film keeps reminding you how good
another movie is."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/ladder49.php

LAURA (reviewed by a panel, overall score 99/100):
"There have been grittier noirs, more suspenseful mysteries, and
steamier romances, but Laura retains its place as an irreproducible
example of moviemaking, whose mysterious alchemy sets it apart from all
other films."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/laura.php

PROCOL HARUM: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL (reviewed by Neal Solon, overall
score 85/100):
"Unfortunately, there's no group to which Procol Harum can be compared
to provide a safe estimate of whether you'll like their music. They're
like a less folky, more classically influenced Jethro Tull, without the
flute, but with an extra piano and an obfuscating lyricist, whose words
are given a bluesy inflection by a singer who often sounds like an elder
John Hiatt."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/pr...nionchapel.php

STAGE BEAUTY (reviewed by Amanda DeWees, overall score 88/100):
"Even though it doesn't consistently attain the brilliance to which it
aspires, this is a film that is stimulatingly different from the norm.
It also offers incontrovertible proof that Billy Crudup, even more than
the self-transforming character he portrays, is an actor of dazzling
talent. His powerful performance here suggests that his future career
will be a remarkable one."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/stagebeauty.php

SUPER BOWL XXXIX: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS CHAMPIONSHIP VIDEO (reviewed by
David Johnson, overall score 85/100):
"I love these NFL season retrospectives; they're produced like a World
War II film. During the games, sweeping, thundering orchestral music
blasts over the on-field action. The plays are slowed, and the teeth-
rattling tackles are focused on, with, of course, appropriate percussion
synched with the poor schmuck who gets leveled. And during the Pats' two
losses -- to Pittsburgh and the shocker to the lowly Dolphins -- the
music turns somber and dark, as if the parent in a Disney movie has just
been killed."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/superbowl39.php

Mike Jackson
Editor & Webmaster, DVD Verdict
www.dvdverdict.com

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