Director McG is all about spectacular visuals, and in that regard, this underrated fourth in the Terminator series delivers a swift, unapologetic punch, eschewing slick CGI a la Star Trek for gritty, grimy robots and clunky contraptions that hark back to times when sets and props were built, not designed on a computer screen by a Mac drone in a cube. Christian Bale makes an okay, Dark Knight-growly John Connor, but he's upstaged by Sam Worthington as a mysterious newcomer to the human resistance that is now at war with the machines and Skynet in 2018. Ultimately, this mixed bag doesn't match up to the first two Terminators, but it's well worth a look. And thankfully, the BD release will also include an R-rated version.
Blu-ray viewers will get an extra treat with a special BD Live Community Screening at 6 p.m. PST Dec. 5, when McG himself will interact with viewers who can ask questions as the movie plays. To participate, be one of the first 100,000 fans to register through Warner's BD Live community.
Also new:
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Ben Stiller returns for this family comedy about a former night watchmen whose magical exhibits are being shipped off for storage at the Smithsonian. More of the same as the first: frenzied action and slapstick comedy. Kids'll be happy.
Paper Heart Odd rom-mockumentary about a young woman who travels the country to make a docu about love and soon meets a guy after her own heart (Michael Cera). Depending on which side of the independent-movie fence you fall, you'll either find this weird hybrid of truth and fiction charming, or self-indulgently annoying.
New to Blu
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Guy Ritchie's highly entertaining debut about a group of London buddies who scheme to come up with enough money to get one of them off the hook for a gambling debt and wind up in one tangled web of trouble.
