Studio

“31 Nights of Terror” Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (UHD-Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 10th, 2018

“Why would anybody create a Nazi puppet?!”

There are two types of people in this world: A) the sort of person who reads the question above and says, “That’s offensive! I have absolutely no idea” and B) the joyful weirdo who replies, “Why would anybody stop at creating just *one* Nazi puppet?” If you’re in Group B, you’re in luck…the people behind Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich didn’t stop at one Nazi puppet. (Not even close!) More importantly, this bloody reboot of the 1989 cult horror classic features some of the craziest and most disgusting kills I’ve seen in a while. (I promise that’s a compliment.)
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Big Fish and Begonia (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 5th, 2018

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As some of you might know, I have a son, a three-year-old toddler. Since we live in the suburbs, we unfortunately don’t get out as often as we like to places like the beach or any other places where we might be able to explore the animals and creatures that inhabit the wondrous ocean. As a result, we have a tendency to watch plenty of underwater nature documentaries or whichever Pixar animated Nemo or Dory show we can find. Today, we have for review an animated tale about creatures who can turn into beautiful red dolphins so they can be a part of the human world. Is the movie as beautiful as it seems, or much like the dolphins, is it something else in disguise?

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“31 Nights Of Terror” The First Purge (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 4th, 2018

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“This is the greatest s— show on Earth!”

The First Purge arrives in theaters a little more than five years after the (lowercase) first Purge rampaged into moviegoers’ consciousness as a nasty bit of R-rated, summer blockbuster counterprogramming. The movies are obviously quite popular, but I’ve never felt that any of them fully lived up to the killer concept at the center of this franchise. Unfortunately, that still holds true for The First Purge, which had a chance to deviate from the established formula in a variety of interesting ways, but ends up playing a lot like The First Three Purges.
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“31 Nights of Terror” Exorcist II: The Heretic (Collector’s Edition) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 3rd, 2018

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“The world doesn’t want any more saints.”

Maybe the world didn’t want any more Exorcist movies…at least not any that looked like Exorcist II: The Heretic. This follow-up to William Friedkin’s 1973 genre-defining horror classic is not only regarded as one of the weakest sequels of all-time, but some consider it to be one of the worst films ever made. I hate to throw out a ***SPOILER ALERT*** so early in my review, but…I don’t think this is the worst film ever made. ***END OF SPOILER ALERT*** Instead, I find Exorcist II to be a nonsensical, somewhat intriguing disaster whose fatal flaw is that it took everything that everyone loved about The Exorcist…and decided to do almost the exact opposite.
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X-Men: 3 Film Collection (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2018

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“Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.”

Fox is taking full advantage of their version of the X-Men Universe these days. By this time next year, the group of mutants will once again be back with Marvel at Disney, and I suspect they will quickly join that studio’s MCU. I can’t blame Fox for getting as much out of it now as they can. With the pending release of Dark Phoenix and two television shows running, this was the perfect time to release the original film trilogy on UHD in ultra-high-definition.
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DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 28th, 2018

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“How will we be remembered? Will it be for saving the world…Twice? Nope. We’re the team who broke time. That’s right. History has been torn to shreds, which means it’s up to us to put it back together again, piece by piece, finding these so-called anachronisms before we get torn to shreds. So please, don’t call us heroes. We’re legends.”

At the end of the second season the team broke one of the cardinal rules of time travel. You can’t revisit a time and place that you already visited. The result is that you break time, and that’s exactly what the Legends of Tomorrow have done. The result is that they have been recalled and dismissed from service by the newly-formed Bureau of Time. Now our legends are back in the mundane world, where Sara (Lotz) is working as a clerk at a bed and shower store, having fantasies of killing her boss.
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Occupation (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 28th, 2018

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“Told you it was aliens.”

What if Michael Bay was Australian and he was only given $6 million to make an alien invasion movie? The result might look a lot like Occupation, a rollicking, gleefully dumb sci-fi/action flick that works best as a throwback to simpler (i.e. dumber) times at the multiplex. But while Occupaton has its charms, the movie’s shoddy special effects and production values consistently undermine the kickass story it’s trying to tell.
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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert — Encore (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 27th, 2018

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“So here we are…in the belly of the beast. A lot of power and money in this room.”

That cheeky line came from Iggy Pop during The Stooges’ induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. It’s also featured in Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert — Encore, a wonderfully comprehensive collection of the four induction ceremonies between 2010 and 2013. The 2-disc Blu-ray set features over 8 hours of content, including full induction speeches and 44 musical performances from rock and roll icons and rising stars. Iggy was right about the power and money in the room; this set features some of the biggest names in the history of music…plus A-listers like Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey!
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X-files: Season 11 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2018

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“Is there life out there? Good heavens! To doubt it is a failure of more than the imagination. It is a failure to recognize the limits of our own stupidity. The nascency of our science. The rudiment of our tools. We listen. We search. We hope for a sign, as if our eyes and ears are good enough, our brains large enough, our egos small enough.”

By the time The X-Files had reached its seventh season, the two stars of the show were feeling the stress of doing over 20 episodes of the series every year. In the eighth season David Duchovny was going MIA, and Gillian Anderson’s Scully character had a new partner in Robert Patrick’s Agent Doggett.
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Solo: A Star Wars Story (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2018

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“A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…”

Yes, those lines open this Star Wars story, because the filmmakers want to be sure you know what you’re watching. This is Star Wars. Just in case there was anyone at all in the audience who had no idea they just bought a ticket to Star Wars. If he were dead, George Lucas would be rolling over in his grave. Instead, maybe he’s just having some restless nights with little sleep. It is Star Wars. And that means there will be a droid as a main character, space battles, and some good old fashioned one-reel-serial-days adventure. It’s a heck of a visual amusement park ride, and the film will certainly entertain. But I have to open by saying it is my least favorite of the Disney Star Wars films to date.
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The Row (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 26th, 2018

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With Halloween just around the corner, it’s that time of the year when the studios start cranking out horror films to fill up the shelves hoping that eager fans will scoop up any new horror titles they can add to their collection. The Row is one of those releases that has the cover with beautiful girls and the tease of murder and mayhem to ensue. Does it deliver what the cover is attempting to sell? Well, the simple answer is yes, but to call this film horror is the equivalent of calling a toddler’s finger painting art. This is a film that sadly is a product of the times. Though it has an R rating, the film seems tame, and considering the director claims he was aiming for Spring Breakers meets Friday the 13^th, I have to wonder if he saw either of those films.
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Once Upon A Time: The Complete Final Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2018

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“Once upon a time there was a magical forest filled with fairytale characters. One day a powerful curse trapped them in a city which had no magic, and each of them forgot who they really were. This is how it happened…”

Once Upon A Time hasn’t been a big ratings winner for the last few years. Each season the show appeared on the bubble and ended up getting renewed at the last minute. One of the reasons the show managed to escape the axe was because it had some value for the network’s parent company, Walt Disney Studios.
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2018

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“Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur? The first time you see them, it’s like a miracle. You read about them in books, you see the bones in museums, but you don’t really believe it. They’re like myths. And then you see the first one alive.”

By the time you get to the fourth sequel of a film, the results are usually not very good. Even a groundbreaking film like Jurassic Park has been followed by at least one terrible sequel. The problem with these kinds of things is pretty easy to figure out. You can’t please all of any film’s diehard fans, and it’s hard to continue to deliver on the formula’s expectations, all the while breaking new ground without the result feeling more contrived than original.
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Supergirl: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 23rd, 2018

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“My name is Kara Zor-El. I’m from Krypton. I’m a refugee on this planet. I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin. But my pod got knocked off course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up and become… Superman. I hid who I really was until one day when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world. To most people, I’m a reporter at CatCo Worldwide Media. But in secret, I work with my adoptive sister for the D.E.O. to protect my city from alien life and anyone else that means to cause it harm. I am Supergirl.”

So, you’re asking yourself, who the heck is Kara Zor-El, and what is this D.E.O.? I get it. You’re just not caught up on the CW series Supergirl. It’s not such a good idea to start here, however. You can check out our reviews for the first two seasons here. Catch up on the episodes, and then join the rest of us for Supergirl: The Complete Third Season.
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Ocean’s 8 (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2018

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“It’s not just for profit. It’s for revenge. It’s a twofer.”

Hollywood has been making a greater effort these days to add some diversity to their film casts. From minorities to women, this has been a year of unprecedented changes in the makeup of so many films. One of the new trends in this effort is to remake/re-imagine/reboot an already established franchise with a gender-switched cast. The results have been somewhat mixed. The female Ghostbusters film was a complete disappointment.
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Found Footage 3D (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 21st, 2018

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It’s okay to groan. I get it. Just when you thought the found-footage genre was dead, another film manages to get released. I think at this point we all simply have to accept that this is a genre that will never completely die on us, but we can always hope that it will eventually produce a hit every once and a while. When it comes to Found Footage 3D, it’s a bit of a mixed bag for me, and since the Blu-ray came with both a 3D and 2D version, I did in all fairness watch both versions, and there is definitely a version that won out, and if the time comes that I check this out again, I know how I plan on doing so. In case you were wondering, the disc does come with two individual 3D glasses, not the ones you can pick up at your local theater, but instead the throwback red and blue kind.
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The Big Bang Theory: The Complete 11th Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 14th, 2018

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“You’re in a stolen cop car with a dead hooker in the trunk; you don’t have to obey traffic laws.”

The Big Bang Theory certainly didn’t obey the established laws for television comedy. The series was certainly more cerebral than most, and a lot of jokes went over a lot of heads, I suspect. But it was never about the geek factor or the IQ of the characters. The show was simply about the characters, and that extended family has spent 11 years in our living rooms or home theatres. But like all good things, The Big Bang Theory is about to come to an end.
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Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now — Live at The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 13th, 2018

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“It was the ‘hate the performer’ festival.”

With more than 600,000 people in attendance, the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 became the largest musical event of its time. In terms of sheer numbers, it was even bigger than Woodstock a year earlier. But instead of celebrating peace and love, the hippies who attended Isle of Wight were put off by performers who showed up in ostentatious vehicles. They were determined to aggressively protest the commercialization of music, which led to fences being torn down and artists subsequently dropping out of the festival lineup. Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now — Live at The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 documents how one of the quietest, most unassuming artists in the lineup made some everlasting noise.
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Silicon Valley: The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in No Huddle by J C on September 11th, 2018

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“It’s hard to believe your pathological inability to make a decision finally paid off.”

Since its debut, Silicon Valley has brilliantly lampooned the tech industry by showing us both the proverbial “guys in a garage” and the self-important, aggressively eccentric billionaires obsessed with staying ahead of the curve. Given the fact that we’re now in season 5 — and the Pied Piper gang has improbably managed to stay in business this long — the days inside the boys’ fratty “hacker hostel” seem especially far off. But while Silicon Valley still delivers an entertaining mix of brainy and bawdy laughs, the series seems to be running out of ways to show us how these brilliant dorks can continue to fail upwards.
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Tag (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 7th, 2018

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“Our group of friends has been playing the same game of tag for 30 years.”

The tag(haha)line on the Blu-ray cover for this film states, “Based on a True Story. We’re Not Kidding.” The idea of a life-long game of tag is so ridiculous, the people who made this movie can hardly believe it themselves. But while Tag has some fun presenting a children’s game as if it were a big-budget action flick, the film ultimately (and ironically) falters when it veers away from the silly real-life premise and tries to shoehorn dramatic moments to make it feel more like a movie.
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Supernatural: The Complete Thirteenth Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2018

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“We’ve got a whole new game of tiddlywinks.”

It’s the unlucky 13th season of Supernatural, and it might be the most loaded season ever. We have a basket full of bad guys and gals, and the Winchester Brothers have got their work cut out for them, as if last season wasn’t busy enough. The Winchesters found and then lost their Mom. Crowley has finally bit the dust, and he will be greatly missed at least by this fan. Lucifer’s son has finally been born, and there are going to be a lot of bad folks wanting to get their hands on that little guy. Of course, he isn’t such a little guy any more. He’s now the appearance of an older teenager, and he has some mad wicked power.
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Higher Power (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 6th, 2018

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There is something about the notion of movie magic that I believe can grab hold of an audience member and pull them from their living room seat and into the story they are watching. This movie magic seems to occur more often these days, as special effects seem to take leaps and bounds every year as new technology is created to dazzle us all. Here’s the thing, though, sure, it’s great how we can now see lifelike 50-story monsters destroying cities, or how underwater worlds can exist, but none of it matters if the story or the characters are not relatable. If the story isn’t there, then your big effects are nothing more than overpriced cartoons that will be forgotten by the time the audience has exited the theater. When it comes to Higher Power, the best way to describe it is to use the overused expression, “all style and no substance.”
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Jack Ryan 5-Film Collection (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 3rd, 2018

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Amazon Prime Video is beginning to offer new scripted drama shows on their streaming service. One of the more recently acclaimed is a Jack Ryan series. That gives Paramount a great opportunity to take advantage of the situation and release the five Jack Ryan films on UHD/4K. Whatever the excuse, I’m happy to see these films get the UHD treatment. The release includes The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger, The Sum Of All Fears and Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit. It’s a chance to see Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine all take the Tom Clancy CIA analyst to the big screen. You don’t have to pick your favorite, because they’re all here
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Masters of Sex: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on August 30th, 2018

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You can’t call your TV show Masters of Sex and not expect to elicit a few chuckles. (You also can’t be surprised if people go looking for it on Skinemax Cinemax rather than Showtime.) But placing its titillating title aside, Masters of Sex turned out to be an engaging, often-excellent, and low-key adventurous period drama for four seasons. The show shined brightest when it was conveying the thrill of discovery and exploration. (Also, it turns out there was a fair amount of sex.)
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The Flash: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 28th, 2018

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“Ain’t nobody feeling Team Kid Flash.”

When Season 3 ended on The Flash, Barry Allen/The Flash (Gustin) is trapped inside the Speed Force where he sacrificed himself to free his friends. Months later we find Wally West/Kid Flash (Lonsdale) acting as the team’s speedster. Iris (Patton) is now in charge of the team, while Caitlin (Panabaker) has left to tend bar, mostly running from her Killer Frost persona. Joe West (Martin) is lending police support where he can, and Cisco (Valdes) has honed his teleportation skills and gets the players where they need to be. But they are barely holding their heads above water, and the stress is finally getting to them.
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