There are few scenes where you can tell an actor has launched themselves into stardom. Granted, from the perspective of history, it’s hard not to look at the first moments of James Dean on screen in East of Eden and not be wowed, but those moments could have been the same as Jeffery Hunter, or any number of would-be’s launched with the aspiration of instant success. But the moment that Eddie Murphy became both a film and a mega-star comes about forty minutes into 48 HRS. Murphy’s Reggie Hammond begs Jack Cates (Nick Notle) to give him his badge to go into the bar Torchy’s. As it’s a redneck bar, Cates is sure that Hammond will get stomped. The next five minutes transform Murphy into the comic icon he remains today. The film has Murphy playing a convict, and Notle a cop, both chasing a cop-killer who’s after stolen loot. Hammond is given a two day pass from jail to stop the bad guys, because he has information about what the killer’s after. My review of the Blu-ray of 48 HRS. follows after the jump.

Warner Catalog! Christopher Nolan is now the most beloved director of the fanboy set for realizing a dark and realistic take on the Dark Knight. For the critical community he was already championed for having directed one of the masterpieces of the 21^st century with Memento, and now it seems both parties are coming together to celebrate Inception. Insomnia was Nolan’s transition film into the big leagues to show that he could handle a larger budget and big names. It’s more important as a transitioning film, than as an actual piece of art.  Al Pacino stars as Will Dormer, a Los Angeles detective flown to Alaska to help hunt a possible serial killer (Robin Williams), only to accidentally shoot his partner (or perhaps not)?

This has little to do with Bruce Willis, who was at his peak with Tony Scott’s The Last Boy Scout, and biding time in Walter Hill’s Last Man Standing. The former has Willis’s Joe Hallenbeck paired with ex-football star Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) as they have to uncover the mystery of who killed Dix’s girlfriend (Halle Berry).  Last Man Standing has Willis stepping into the role made famous by both Toshiro Mifune and Clint Eastwood as the hired gunman who gains or displays his conscious and destroys two rival gangs by playing them against each other. My review of all these films on Blu-ray after jump.