Fast & Furious (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

• Condition: Average
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Dubbed; Special Edition; Subtitled; Widescreen

Fugitive Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) partners with former cop Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) on the opposite side of the law in exotic Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There they are hunted by a high-powered US strike force led by their toughest Fed (Dwayne Johnson) and an army of corrupt cops working for a ruthless drug kingpin. To gain their freedom and win this ultimate high-stakes race, they must pull off one last job -- an insane heist worth $100 million.More is less is generally the case with blockbuster sequels these days, with budgetary bloat often overshadowing the qualities that made the original film click with audiences. The Fast and the Furious movies, however, somehow manage to spin doughnuts around this concept of diminishing returns, with each inst! allment becoming more ridiculously entertaining. Fast Five may be the most overblown entry in the series to date (which is saying quite a bit), but there's a dunderheaded earnestness to it that's hard to resist. This time around, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker and Co. go for an Ocean's 11 vibe--swapping out the Armani and martinis for Ed Hardy and Muscle Milk--as the gang go on the lam in Rio following a botched train heist. On the lookout for one final big score, they set their sights on bankrupting the local kingpin (an admirably straight-faced Joaquim de Almeida), calling in seemingly every character in the mythos for help. Stuff goes vroom and boom in mass quantities. Perhaps realizing that the formula may be in danger of reaching its shelf date, returning director Justin Lin here livens things up by bringing in Dwayne Johnson as a federal agent with a fearsome grudge. When he and Diesel eventually throw down, the building-busting destruction recalls the immor! tal War of the Gargantuas. Viewers in the mood for a li! ttle log ic with their explosions may initially scoff, but by the time the final chase scene rolls around (an outrageously sustained kinetic set piece that would make Wile E. Coyote proud) it's tough to keep back the grins. Heaven only knows what the next sequel will bring (Send them back to colonial times? A race against Cthulhu in outer space? Pit them against Dick Dastardly and Muttley?), but there's every confidence that these folks will somehow pull it off. --Andrew WrightGet ready for "five times the action, excitement and fun" (Shawn Edwards, FOX-TV) as Vin Diesel and Paul Walker lead a reunion of all-stars from every chapter of the explosive franchise built on speed. Fugitive Dom Toretto (Diesel) partners with former cop Brian O'Conner (Walker) on the opposite side of the law in exotic Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There they are hunted by a high-powered U.S. strike force led by its toughest Fed (Dwayne Johnson) and an army of corrupt cops working for a ruthless drug kingpin! . To gain their freedom and win this ultimate high-stakes race, they must pull off one last job - an insane heist worth $100 million. Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Elsa Pataky, Joaquim de Almeida Directed by: Justin LinGet ready for “five times the action, excitement and fun” (Shawn Edwards, FOX-TV) as Vin Diesel and Paul Walker lead a reunion of all-stars from every chapter of the explosive franchise built on speed. Fugitive Dom Toretto (Diesel) partners with former cop Brian O'Conner (Walker) on the opposite side of the law in exotic Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There they are hunted by a high-powered U.S. strike force led by its toughest Fed (Dwayne Johnson) and an army of corrupt cops working for a ruthless drug kingpin. To gain their freedom and win this ultimate high-stakes race, they must pull off one last job - an in! sane heist worth $100 million.More is less is generally the ca! se with blockbuster sequels these days, with budgetary bloat often overshadowing the qualities that made the original film click with audiences. The Fast and the Furious movies, however, somehow manage to spin doughnuts around this concept of diminishing returns, with each installment becoming more ridiculously entertaining. Fast Five may be the most overblown entry in the series to date (which is saying quite a bit), but there's a dunderheaded earnestness to it that's hard to resist. This time around, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker and Co. go for an Ocean's 11 vibe--swapping out the Armani and martinis for Ed Hardy and Muscle Milk--as the gang go on the lam in Rio following a botched train heist. On the lookout for one final big score, they set their sights on bankrupting the local kingpin (an admirably straight-faced Joaquim de Almeida), calling in seemingly every character in the mythos for help. Stuff goes vroom and boom in mass quantities. Perhaps realizing that the formula may be ! in danger of reaching its shelf date, returning director Justin Lin here livens things up by bringing in Dwayne Johnson as a federal agent with a fearsome grudge. When he and Diesel eventually throw down, the building-busting destruction recalls the immortal War of the Gargantuas. Viewers in the mood for a little logic with their explosions may initially scoff, but by the time the final chase scene rolls around (an outrageously sustained kinetic set piece that would make Wile E. Coyote proud) it's tough to keep back the grins. Heaven only knows what the next sequel will bring (Send them back to colonial times? A race against Cthulhu in outer space? Pit them against Dick Dastardly and Muttley?), but there's every confidence that these folks will somehow pull it off. --Andrew WrightVin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam with Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed! From big rig heists to precision tunnel crawls, Fast & F! urious takes you back into the high-octane world to race throu! gh crowd ed city streets and across international lines!Fast & Furious is high octane torque-er porn that puts the franchise back on course after drifting in Tokyo. With the original cast once again in the driver's seat, we are good to go with a this-time-it's-personal plot and spectacular race and chase set-pieces that exceed the promise of the stripped-down title, beginning with an awesome highway hijacking of an oil truck led by former street racer Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel, at his glowering and gravel-voiced best). Dom is a fugitive in the Dominican Republic, but after a devastating personal loss, he is driven by revenge to return to Los Angeles to bring down an elusive drug smuggler. He is reunited with Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker), the undercover FBI agent who let him go eight years earlier. Brian, also on the case, must come to terms with Dom and make amends with Dom's sister (Jordana Brewster), whom he betrayed in his original pursuit of Dom. Fast & Furious is just the ticket f! or putting your mind on cruise control. From a see-what-you've-got racing challenge through the streets of L.A. to the illicit kicks of the street-racing subculture (this is extreme PG-13), there is nothing cheap about these thrills. A record-shattering opening weekend at the box office could mean faster and more furious action to come, but if this is the franchise's last time around the block, it goes out a winner. --Donald Liebenson
Stills from Fast & Furious (Click for larger image)

Cl! ick to l earn more about the BD-Live Experience

High Crimes

• full length audio commentary by the director
• 6 never before seen featurettes
• original theatrical trailer

Ashley Judd stars as Claire Kubik, a high-powered attorney whose perfect life comes down when her husband is charged with high crimes of murder. Enlisting the aid of a shrewd military lawyer (Morgan Freeman), Claire will risk her career and even her life to find the truth in this "head-snapping thriller" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).A welcomed reunion of Kiss the Girls costars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman makes High Crimes a worthwhile thriller with vivid, likable characters. Efficiently directed by Carl Franklin, this military mystery doesn't have the unpredictable edginess of Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress, but its twisting plot is sure to hold anyone's attention. Judd plays a successful, happily married lawyer whose husband (Jim Caviezel) is accu! sed of killing innocent citizens during his military service in El Salvador some 13 years earlier. A cover-up implicates a powerful Brigadier General (Bruce Davison), but when Judd hires a maverick attorney (Freeman), Judd is caught in a potentially lethal trap of threats and deception. Attentive viewers will stay ahead of the action, and alleged villains are posed as obvious decoys. Still, Judd and Freeman have an appealing rapport (shared with Amanda Peet, playing Judd's vivacious sister), and Freeman's character flaws add worldly spice to yet another rich performance. --Jeff Shannon

"The perfect follow-up to Krakauer's riveting account of a perfect storm."
--Miami Herald

"Kodas's absorbing description of the narrow moral compass governing human interaction at the top of the world is bound to shock both armchair adventurers and seasoned mountaineers."
--Chicago Tribune

"(Kodas) discovered more deceit, thievery,! and double-crossing among his climbers than you find in a Mar! tin Scor sese gangster film. High Crimes is both an adventure story and an exposé of a sport riddled with danger and corruption."
--Washington Post Book World

"Kodas's descriptions of the struggles confronting even the best-prepared climbers leave the reader breathless."
--Dallas Morning News

"[High Crimes] is hair-raising and lays bare the excitement and fear that face great explorers at the top of the world. . . . Well written, and as deftly plotted as the finest mystery novel, Kodas brings to life a disturbing picture of society at high altitude."
--Austin Chronicle

"Kodas does an excellent job exposing the ways in which money and ego have corrupted the traditional cultures of both mountaineers and their Sherpa guides. . . . His narrative is as hard to turn away from as a slow-motion train wreck."
--Publishers Weekly

High Crimes is journalist Michael Kodas's gripping acco! unt of life on top of the world--where man is every bit as deadly as Mother Nature.

Ashley Judd stars as Claire Kubik, a high-powered attorney whose perfect life comes down when her husband is charged with high crimes of murder. Enlisting the aid of a shrewd military lawyer (Morgan Freeman), Claire will risk her career and even her life to find the truth in this "head-snapping thriller" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).A welcomed reunion of Kiss the Girls costars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman makes High Crimes a worthwhile thriller with vivid, likable characters. Efficiently directed by Carl Franklin, this military mystery doesn't have the unpredictable edginess of Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress, but its twisting plot is sure to hold anyone's attention. Judd plays a successful, happily married lawyer whose husband (Jim Caviezel) is accused of killing innocent citizens during his military service in El Salvador some 13 years earlier. A cover-up implica! tes a powerful Brigadier General (Bruce Davison), but when Jud! d hires a maverick attorney (Freeman), Judd is caught in a potentially lethal trap of threats and deception. Attentive viewers will stay ahead of the action, and alleged villains are posed as obvious decoys. Still, Judd and Freeman have an appealing rapport (shared with Amanda Peet, playing Judd's vivacious sister), and Freeman's character flaws add worldly spice to yet another rich performance. --Jeff Shannon

Meet Claire Heller Chapman. A criminal defense attorney who’s made a name for herself by taking onâ€"and winningâ€"the toughest cases, Claire still manages to have a relatively calm life as a Harvard Law School professor, devoted wife, and proud mother to six-year-old Annie. Until one night, when the family is out having dinner, a team of government agents bursts onto the scene…heading straight for Claire’s husband.

Tom Chapman has been arrested for an atrocious crime he swears he did not commit. Claire is desperate to believe himâ€"and prove his! innocenceâ€"even when she learns that Tom once had a different name. And a different face. Now, in a top-secret court-martial conducted by the Pentagon, Claire will put everything on the line to defend the man she loves. But as the evidence keeps piling up, the less she knows who her husband really is…and the more he appears to be a cold-blooded murderer.

When (not if---the deal has already been signed) this terrific thriller gets made into a movie, you might see Morgan Freeman as a crusty lawyer who specializes in taking on the military establishment tell the actress playing ace Boston barrister and Harvard Law professor Claire Heller Chapman, "Every civilian who's ever gone into a military general court-martial and tried to attack the foundations of the military has lost his case. No exceptions. The military is a tight, closed fraternity. They take it real serious. Military justice is a deadly serious business." Claire has to ! realize this as she prepares to defend her husband--the ma! n she kn ows as Tom Chapman, but who the Army says is Ron Kubik-- on charges that he took part in a massacre of 87 civilians in San Salvador 13 years before. Full of doubts about Tom's innocence and her own ability to prove it in an unfamiliar arena, Claire is brought to exciting, moving life by the extravagantly gifted Joseph Finder, whose previous thrillers (Extraordinary Powers, The Zero Hour) are available in paperback.
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 1-SEP-2009
Media Type: Blu-RayA welcomed reunion of Kiss the Girls costars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman makes High Crimes a worthwhile thriller with vivid, likable characters. Efficiently directed by Carl Franklin, this military mystery doesn't have the unpredictable edginess of Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress, but its twisting plot is sure to hold anyone's attention. Judd plays a successful, happily married lawyer whose husband (Jim Ca! viezel) is accused of killing innocent citizens during his military service in El Salvador some 13 years earlier. A cover-up implicates a powerful Brigadier General (Bruce Davison), but when Judd hires a maverick attorney (Freeman), Judd is caught in a potentially lethal trap of threats and deception. Attentive viewers will stay ahead of the action, and alleged villains are posed as obvious decoys. Still, Judd and Freeman have an appealing rapport (shared with Amanda Peet, playing Judd's vivacious sister), and Freeman's character flaws add worldly spice to yet another rich performance. --Jeff Shannon

Meet Claire Heller Chapman. A criminal defense attorney who’s made a name for herself by taking onâ€"and winningâ€"the toughest cases, Claire still manages to have a relatively calm life as a Harvard Law School professor, devoted wife, and proud mother to six-year-old Annie. Until one night, when the family is out having dinner, a team of government agents ! bursts onto the scene…heading straight for Claire’s husban! d.

Tom Chapman has been arrested for an atrocious crime he swears he did not commit. Claire is desperate to believe himâ€"and prove his innocenceâ€"even when she learns that Tom once had a different name. And a different face. Now, in a top-secret court-martial conducted by the Pentagon, Claire will put everything on the line to defend the man she loves. But as the evidence keeps piling up, the less she knows who her husband really is…and the more he appears to be a cold-blooded murderer.

When (not if---the deal has already been signed) this terrific thriller gets made into a movie, you might see Morgan Freeman as a crusty lawyer who specializes in taking on the military establishment tell the actress playing ace Boston barrister and Harvard Law professor Claire Heller Chapman, "Every civilian who's ever gone into a military general court-martial and tried to attack the foundations of the military has lost his case. No exceptions. The m! ilitary is a tight, closed fraternity. They take it real serious. Military justice is a deadly serious business." Claire has to realize this as she prepares to defend her husband--the man she knows as Tom Chapman, but who the Army says is Ron Kubik-- on charges that he took part in a massacre of 87 civilians in San Salvador 13 years before. Full of doubts about Tom's innocence and her own ability to prove it in an unfamiliar arena, Claire is brought to exciting, moving life by the extravagantly gifted Joseph Finder, whose previous thrillers (Extraordinary Powers, The Zero Hour) are available in paperback.

Meet Claire Heller Chapman. A criminal defense attorney who’s made a name for herself by taking onâ€"and winningâ€"the toughest cases, Claire still manages to have a relatively calm life as a Harvard Law School professor, devoted wife, and proud mother to six-year-old Annie. Until one night, when the family is out having dinn! er, a team of government agents bursts onto the scene…headin! g straig ht for Claire’s husband.

Tom Chapman has been arrested for an atrocious crime he swears he did not commit. Claire is desperate to believe himâ€"and prove his innocenceâ€"even when she learns that Tom once had a different name. And a different face. Now, in a top-secret court-martial conducted by the Pentagon, Claire will put everything on the line to defend the man she loves. But as the evidence keeps piling up, the less she knows who her husband really is…and the more he appears to be a cold-blooded murderer.

Ashley Judd stars as Claire Kubik, a high-powered attorney whose perfect life comes down when her husband is charged with high crimes of murder. Enlisting the aid of a shrewd military lawyer (Morgan Freeman), Claire will risk her career and even her life to find the truth in this "head-snapping thriller" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).