Shirley MacLaine

CHICAGO – Jack Black is a smart and interesting actor. Not content to ride on the modern day John Belushi-type roles that might have pigeonholed him, Black portrays “Bernie,” a convincing conniver in Texas, based on a true story. Veterans Matthew McConaughhey and Shirley MacLaine add spice to the brew.

CHICAGO – I’ve long said that one of the main reasons that Blu-ray didn’t take off as quickly as people thought it would is because too many of movie lover’s favorite movies weren’t available on the format. It took years to get “Alien,” “Star Wars,” and even “Back to the Future.” “Jaws” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” still aren’t in HD. Well, a wave of catalog releases last week that included some of my personal favorite films ever made should help the format overall. With several Oscar winners and some of the most influential filmmaking of all time, this is an amazing catalog wave. Buy all six.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers), a character who notoriously said “I like to watch,” would probably be mesmerized by the 30th anniversary Blu-Ray release of “Being There” from Warner Brothers. Sadly, fans of the film that are more accustomed to the modern world may be a little underwhelmed.