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Predator: 3 Movie Collection (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 15th, 2018

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In September there is going to be a new film in The Predator franchise called The Predator. It’s directed by Shane Black, who actually starred in the 1987 original film and soon after went on to develop the Lethal Weapon series and make a bit of a name for himself in the buddy-cop genre. It’s no surprise that Fox wants to capitalize on the release by giving us UHD/4K releases for the other three films in the franchise. Let’s try to forget those Alien vs. Predator disasters and focus on the three films of this particular franchise.
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Arrow: The Complete Sixth Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 15th, 2018

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“My name is Oliver Queen. After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal: to save my city. Today I fight that war on two fronts. By day, I lead Star City as its mayor. But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow…”

Who the heck is this Green Arrow of whom you speak? If that’s your first question, you need to go back a couple of grades and catch up with the rest of us. The comics are good place to begin, but the television universe is its own place and not tied so tightly to the DC comic book universe.
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The Death of Superman: Deluxe Edition (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 9th, 2018

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“You know me, always saving the day.”

After the disappointment that was the recent Suicide Squad animated feature, Warner and DC needed to save the day with the release of The Death Of Superman, and that’s exactly what they did. The Death Of Superman was a major milestone in the history of The Man Of Steel in the comics. It all started in December of 1992. DC announced they were killing off their most iconic hero and ending the Superman run of comics. Of course, that was only partially true. Once Supes was “killed off”, the comic split into four new branches, as the vacuum created by his death needed to be filled both in the fictional universe as well as the commercial side of ours.
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Life Of The Party (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on August 8th, 2018

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This Melissa McCarthy film flew completely under the radar for me, with me only hearing a few whispers about it. Ironically, I expected to see her in more films following the conclusion of Mike and Molly. Oh well, Life of the Party will have to suffice. Though it was not as entertaining as The Heat or Spy, it had its moments, and exudes the charm that McCarthy has become famous for. I’m sure many of you are like: a movie about going back to college? it’s been done. Not by Melissa McCarthy.
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Edward II (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on August 8th, 2018

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“My knee shall bow to none but to the king.”

In 1996, Aussie filmmaker Baz Luhrmann unleashed a star-studded, outrageously modernized version of “Romeo and Juliet” that retained William Shakespeare’s original language while replacing the story’s swords with gleeful gunplay. But five years earlier, Derek Jarman — an English director who left his mark on both stage and screen — beat Luhrmann to the Elizabethan punch with an even more provocative update of “Edward II,” a play written by Shakespeare contemporary Christopher Marlowe.
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Dream Big (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 31st, 2018

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“Every bridge, every building grows from an engineers imagination.”

Dream Big: Engineering Our World is the second of Shout Factory’s latest collection of IMAX films to be brought into the capable arms of the UHD/4K format. And while this film doesn’t take us so much into the natural beauty of some picturesque place on our planet or deep into the darkness of space, it does deliver a rather grand look at some of the wonders of the man-made world. Both films were directed by Greg MacGillivray, which binds them together in a somewhat nice little bow.
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National Parks Adventure (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2018

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“Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must, and we will” – Teddy Roosevelt.

Actually they do speak for themselves, and Shout Factory’s UHD/4K release of National Parks Adventure gives that wildlife plenty of grand opportunities to speak to us through the grandeur of the American National Park system. Last year Shout Factory showed us what the UHD/4K format could really deliver by releasing a series of IMAX films in the new format. It was a bold move that has really paid off. IMAX cameras utilize 65 and 70mm film, which offers source material that is actually much higher resolution than 4K.
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Ready Player One (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

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

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Like so many others, when I read the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline I simply fell in love with the nostalgic ride through the 80’s, all thanks to a virtual reality world called The Oasis. From start to finish it was a book filled with pop culture references that would make film and video game geeks squeal with delight, and it was no surprise that the book was a hit and would be turned into a film. There were only two names I could think of that could ever come close to making this film a reality: Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg.
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The Con is On (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on July 25th, 2018

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“The charm of this little escapade is rapidly wearing thin.”

Who doesn’t love a good heist comedy? The genre comes ready-made with stylish characters trading clever quips while trying to out-smart one another (and the audience). And with its surprisingly starry cast, The Con is On looked to be an especially promising entry into the heist comedy canon. So how did it go so wrong? Well for starters, the con artists here are just as (if not more) unlikable than the screwy suckers they are targeting.
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Isle of Dogs (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by John Delia on July 23rd, 2018

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“At the end of the bloody dog wars the vanquished mongrels became powerless house pets: tamed, mastered, scorned. But they survived and multiplied…”

Offbeat, heavy-handed characters, bleak outcast situations, and moody; it’s a marvelous adventure for those who like Wes Anderson movies. This one, however, shows his range with an animated film that’s worthy of most Japanese greats. From the opening drum introduction of Isle of Dogs to the heartfelt finale, Anderson captures a cold, disturbing environment from which his characters can rise up. If you like offbeat stories produced in stop-motion animation in the vein of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie, then this film should not be missed.
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Super Troopers 2 (Blu-ray)

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

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I’m going to go ahead and say Super Troopers is without a doubt one of my favorite comedies of all time. Sure, I know many will disagree with me, and that’s fine. Since I first saw their film back in 2002 when I got the DVD, I was always excited to see what would come next from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe. There was Club Dread, which induced a few chuckles as they tackled the slasher genre, and then they had Beerfest, which was pretty funny but simply didn’t hold up to their performances as Vermont’s Highway Patrolmen. The antics from the first film are simply classic to me, and the film is something I manage to quote from on a weekly basis amongst friends
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Rampage (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by John Delia on July 18th, 2018

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by Ian Delia

Another one of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson’s movies is now raising the bar. This new motion picture is filled with intense action. There isn’t only shooting and fighting, but there are also new, but unusual, animals. From smaller, slightly lethal, animals into giants of terror with their mission is to take over the world to please their master. All the power of endless destruction is controlled by Claire Wyden, who is played by Malin Akerman.
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Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

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

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“This may very well be our last mission, Ethan…make it count.”

You wouldn’t know it from looking at him, but Tom Cruise was 53 years old when he did this film. So it’s only natural to wonder how many more Missions the indomitable superstar has left in him. Well, if Rogue Nation is any indication, the above quote is meant to be more winking than prophetic. Just like its tireless star, the fifth installment of the 19-year-old Mission: Impossible film franchise is spryer, tighter, and more energetic than its age might suggest with the sixth just about to drop at the box office
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A Quiet Place (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 12th, 2018

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You might call me jaded, but I am pretty disappointed by the state of horror movies. It’s not just the last few years. The truth is I haven’t seen 10 really good horror movies in over a decade. Now that I’ve had a chance to see A Quiet Place, that number isn’t going up. A Quiet Place is not a really good horror movie. It ends up making a lot of the same mistakes that filmmakers think define a horror film in the modern age. It relies too heavily on jump scares and characters who do some of the most idiotic things, thus placing them in a somewhat self-created dangerous situation. But I will make the argument that A Quiet Place is still a pretty good horror film because
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Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 9th, 2018

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“The Secretary is dead. The President has invoked Ghost Protocol. We’re shut down. No satellite, safe house, support, or extraction. The four of us and the contents of this car are all that remains of the IMF.”

The fourth Mission: Impossible entry exchanges digits for a subtitle, and brings in Brad Bird to direct his first live-action feature. So the man whose The Incredibles made fun of the sort of thing that is the bread-and-butter of the M:I franchise is brought in to revitalize said franchise. Result? Job done. Gotcha. You thought I was going to say, “Mission accomplished,” didn’t you?
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Mission: Impossible 3 (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 8th, 2018

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“You can tell a lot about a person’s character by how they treat people they don’t have to treat well.”

It had been a decade since Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible hit theatres to box office success, established a new blockbuster franchise, and added ‘action hero’ to Tom Cruise’s resume, and six years since John Woo’s highly stylized follow-up raised the franchise to new box office heights. In 2006 the long-awaited third installment arrived amidst controversy about Tom Cruise’s crazy off-screen antics. It was feared that the happenings of Cruise’s personal life would somehow bring down this movie
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Mission: Impossible 2 (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 5th, 2018

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“This is not Mission: Difficult, Mr. Hunt. It’s Mission: Impossible. Difficult should be a walk in the park for you.”

After four years and nearly $200 million at the box office, it was only a matter of time before Paramount and Tom Cruise would partner again for a new Mission Impossible film. This time the move would be completely toward the action and stunts and farther away from the television series. The hiring of John Woo to direct the second film put quite a punctuation mark on that move.
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Tyler Perry’s Acrimony (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on July 5th, 2018

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“Every time a black woman gets mad, she’s a stereotype.”

Taraji P. Henson has been a very good and versatile actress for a long time, but she didn’t become a star until she started getting very angry on screen. Her breakout role came in 2015 courtesy of Fox’s Empire, in which Henson’s Cookie Lyon has been known to get into some scraps. So it made sense for Henson to bring her talent for tantrums to the big screen with the help of a filmmaker who once directed a movie called Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Writer/director/producer Tyler Perry seems to be going for “trashy fun”…unfortunately, he only gets halfway there.
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Mission: Impossible (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

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

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“Well, you think about it, Ethan, it was inevitable. No more cold war. No more secrets you keep from yourself. Answer to no one but yourself. Then, you wake up one morning and find out the President is running the country without your permission. The son of a bitch, how dare he. Then you realize, it’s over. You are an obsolete piece of hardware, not worth upgrading, you got a lousy marriage, and 62 grand a year.”

The more things change, the more they tend to remain the same. In 1996 Paramount was nearing the end of a run of feature films that started with a 1960’s Desilu Studios television series called Star Trek. That same year the studio was beginning a run of feature films based on a 1960’s Desilu Studios television series that at one time shared an actor with Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy.
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Terminal (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 3rd, 2018

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Sometimes a movie comes along that has everything going for it: a great cast, a great cinematographer, and a decent plot, but when you watch it, you just scratch your head wondering why it ended up so bad. That in a nutshell is Terminal. It stars Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, and Mike Myers, and for each of them I believe this is a film they quickly want to move past. The tagline for the film is Revenge Never Looked So Good, which is a big part of the problem with the film. I absolutely love the look of the film. It’s beautiful and to a point creates its own style I’d call neon-noir, but unfortunately no matter how good something may look, it doesn’t always mean it will be good.
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Spinning Man (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on June 29th, 2018

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“Please don’t do the whole absent-minded professor thing.”

Even though he’s not anywhere close to the biggest name in Hollywood, Guy Pearce is low-key my favorite actor. The Aussie is probably best known for his starring role in Christopher Nolan’s Memento, the memory loss masterpiece in which Pearce played a man who tattooed helpful(?) clues and reminders all over his body. So when I realized he’d be playing another forgetful lead character in Spinning Man, I was hopeful. But despite some solid performances and interesting philosophical ideas, the film is too downbeat and dull to be an effective thriller.
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Black Lightning: Season 1 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 28th, 2018

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When we first meet the Pierce family it is at the Freeland jail, where Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is there to bail out his oldest daughter, Anissa (Nafessa Williams). The show doesn’t waste time in tackling social issues as we see them have an encounter with the Freeland police force as they are pulled over for a traffic stop. The reason for the stop turns out to be they are looking for a suspect who just robbed a liquor store, and because Jefferson is black, he of course is a potential suspect. Having this scene early on, not just in the season but in the pilot episode, is a bold and important move by the writers. This shows us that despite being a superhero show, Black Lightning is going to show us a superhero tale unlike anything we’ve seen before on the CW.
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Forrest Gump (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

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

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“Run, Forrest, run!”

Forrest Gump is one of the most beloved films to be released in the past 25 years. The movie received critical love (to the tune of 6 Oscars, including the Academy Award for Best Picture) and commercial love (this was the highest-grossing film of 1994) upon its release. For better and worse, Gump can be seen as a reflection of its good-natured, dim-witted hero: it’s a classic example of heart triumphing over head. Time — and, specifically, the internet — hasn’t been nearly as kind to Gump as it has to several other films released the same year, but the movie endures thanks to some unforgettable sights, sounds, and a miraculous lead performance.
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Jack Reacher (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

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

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“Who is Jack Reacher? Born Jack, not John. No middle name. He’s a ghost. Served in the military police. A brilliant investigator, troublemaker, too. And two years ago he disappears. You don’t find this guy unless he wants to be found.”

We’ve found him. The character of Jack Reacher comes from a series of thriller novels written by Lee Child. From the very start you know that this is going to be a different kind of Jack Reacher than fans have come to know and love from the books.
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Alex & Me (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 25th, 2018

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“If you believe in a goal or dream before it happens, is that real?”

There aren’t a lot of inspirational tales out there for young women who aspire to be athletes. At least not that I have seen. That is why I am sure that Alex and Me is bound to make an impact. This is tale for every girl who aspires for greatness. As a father to an amazing little girl, this really hit home for me. Unfortunately, not so much with my daughter, who is a bit too young to grasp the importance of the message this film is conveying, but I fully intend to keep this movie on hand for when she is old enough to understand.
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