High-Def Digest: The Bonus ViewBryan Kluger, Author at High-Def Digest: The Bonus View

Now Playing: Move ‘Along’

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 16:00:43 +0000

Once or twice a year, another buddy-cop movie will come along where two unlikely partners are paired up to take out the world’s most dastardly criminals. Very few of these are worth watching, and most are almost instantly forgettable. With the PG-13 ‘Ride Along’, the latter is unfortunately the ultimate result. It makes sense that...

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Now Playing: Legen… Wait For It…

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:00:32 +0000

Renny Harlin’s ‘The Legend of Hercules’ is the first of two 3D Hercules movies coming out this year. After seeing this one, it’s difficult to remember that Harlin actually directed fun movies like ‘Cliffhanger‘ and ‘Die Hard 2‘. Whatever directing chops he once had in the action genre are not available anywhere here. This PG-13...

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Now Playing: Don’t Be Afraid of the ‘Marked’

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 14:00:49 +0000

Even though it’s the fifth installment in the franchise, don’t confuse ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones’ as ‘Paranormal Activity 5’. This is more of an off-shoot of the series that exists in the same world as the previous films. The fright fest (or lack thereof) goes a different route and caters to the Latino audience...

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Now Playing: SEAL of Approval

Bryan Kluger — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 18:00:29 +0000

Peter Berg’s ‘Lone Survivor’ is an intense and gritty true account of a failed Navy SEAL raid in Afghanistan. Even though the title tells us that only one person will make it out alive, Berg pulls out all the stops, and gives us an hour and a half of sheer brutality, along with some great...

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Now Playing: Anchors Aweigh

Bryan Kluger — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:00:16 +0000

‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy‘ may not have been a huge blockbuster back in 2004, but grew into a cult classic on home video, with a fan base that endlessly quotes its dialogue. Since that time, nearly every actor from the film has become a superstar. Now, a decade later, here comes the sequel,...

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Now Playing: Statham’s Latest Turkey

Bryan Kluger — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 15:00:14 +0000

‘Homefront’ is a strange movie to release at Thanksgiving. This violent and bloody action thriller stars Jason Statham and James Franco, with a small appearance by Winona Ryder. Based on a novel by Chuck Logan, the cheesy script was originally written by Sylvester Stallone, who doesn’t seem to have grown out of the ’80s action...

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Now Playing: Hello, ‘Darlings’

Bryan Kluger — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 20:00:44 +0000

Over the past few years, the Beat Generation that spawned writers and poets such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac has returned to cinema screens in documentaries (‘William S. Burroughs: A Man Within’), bio-pics (‘Howl’) and adaptations of their work (‘On the Road’). However, none has covered the time period where all of these writers...

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Now Playing: I’m in a ‘Nebraska’ State of Mind

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 14:00:07 +0000

Alexander Payne has a knack for creating quirky characters in Oscar-winning films like ‘Sideways’ and ‘The Descendants’. His newest movie strikes a more somber note than his previous work, but still manages to deliver some laughs. The black-and-white road trip drama exposes a family’s appalling behavior when one member believes he’s hit a sweepstakes jackpot....

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Now Playing: ‘Book’ Report

Bryan Kluger — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:00:11 +0000

20th Century Fox would like you to compare ‘The Book Thief’ to the Oscar-winning ‘Life of Pi’. The trailers even say, “From the studio that brought you Life of Pi.” Not the director or the writer… just the same corporation that financed both movies. The comparisons get even thinner from there. Sure, you can argue...

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Now Playing: ‘Buyer’ Reaches Higher

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 16:00:48 +0000

‘Dallas Buyers Club’ is a fresh take on the familiar AIDS story. The film has a knockout script and amazing performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. The true-life narrative about a heterosexual Dallas man diagnosed with HIV in the ’80s is not as down-trodden as it might seem at first glance. This little indie...

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Now Playing: ‘Vegas’, Baby!

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:00:44 +0000

The trailers for ‘Last Vegas’, a comedy starring several actors over the age of 60 in a plot very similar to ‘The Hangover’, gave me serious doubts about how good it could actually be. On the one hand, I foresaw this film playing out for a crowd over 50 with cute humor that my mother...

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Now Playing: Rad ‘Grandpa’

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:00:45 +0000

‘Jackass’ is back! Well, sort of. Johnny Knoxville has reteamed with his ‘Jackass’ crew, including director Jeff Tremaine, to make a new movie centered on his character Irving Zisman, an elderly man who steals, curses, and fools real people into thinking that he’s harmed himself by doing a variety of stunts and gags. Also, he...

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