Rocketman (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
August 23rd, 2019 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
Reggie Dwight is an international treasure. He has been giving music to the world since the early 70’s, has amassed a gigantic fan base, and is one of popular music’s most eclectic musicians. Oh wait… something about this opening doesn’t seem right… Ah, yes…. ELTON JOHN is the name, and Rocketman is the game… uh… movie… And what a film it is! A whirlwind journey told through the eyes, ears and reminiscences of music royalty? This movie screams “see it!” from it’s first frames! Music, drama, and huge highs and lows are just a few of the things awaiting you in Rocketman. Check out more below on this incredible music fantasy biopic!
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Blumhouse for the better and for the worse, is one of the studios I currently admire most in the realm of mainstream Hollywood wide release commercial films. They keep their budgets tight, low and aren’t afraid to take chances when the time is right. Jason Blum himself seems to have an ear to the crowd and a willingness to the creates to want to produce to the best for fans and introduce them to new angles as well. If a film tanks (They rarely do), its not going to sink them. Ma, the recent summer offering, is not the case here as with just a $5 million budget, the movie took in $45 million domestic and $60.5 million worldwide. That’s a big hit and big profit. And now it’s going to hit home where it’ll sure continue to rake in. You can find the Blu-ray edition of the film available on September 3rd. 
While Arrow will always be the first and flagship show of (Even deemed) “The Arrow-verse”, The Flash has been the mainstay powerhouse for the CW network pretty much its entire lifetime. Five seasons and still going strong, with Barry Allen and company the most popular show not just of the DC TV superheroes but of the whole network at large. The Fifth season continued exploring and trying to find ways to tell stories where the main villain wasn’t just some other speedster. The season will be available on Blu-ray in time for those who missed it to catch up for the sixth season which should be another doozy, being a part of the upcoming Infinite Crisis crossover which is going to be HUUUUUUGE. You can pre-order now to have it upon arrival August 27th.
Scream Factory has completed the Hammer Dracula series for North American collectors with 1970s Scars of Dracula starring Christopher Lee. A controversial entry for some of the loyal fans, I find myself on the other side of the fence loving it. The film features a nutso turn from the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. Through both releases from Warner Bros (And Warner Archive Collection) and Scream Factory, you can now own all 9 films that belong in the canon (Yes, the martial arts meets Dracula film Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires officially counts). Scars of Dracula will come with some solid bonus features (Including an archival commentary featuring Christopher Lee) and the ability to watch the film in two different aspect ratios. The sixth film in the series arrives on Blu-ray September 10th. 
The CW DC TV universe’s flagship program, Arrow, will conclude its run this fall with a ten episode eighth and final season which sees it taking part in the most ambitious crossover event they may ever pull off; Crisis on Infinite Earths. Oliver Queen and company have spent seven glorious seasons grounding and building up the DC world to fill up CW programming to the wildest dreams of my DC childhood. It’ll be sad to see it go, but we will be eight seasons long and well over a hundred episodes deep. I assume Batwoman will thematically/aesthetically attempt to fill in the void left by Arrow and best of luck to her and her crew. This eighth season of Arrow will be making its debut on Blu-ray with a 4-disc set, featuring some new extras (That are also available on the other super hero season sets like Supergirl and Flash). You can lock yourself in a copy for your collection by clicking on the Amazon link following the review.
Glory was a movie that I’d been hearing of for nearly my entire life. I heard it was a harrowing story of a too often forgotten group of American heroes. I was always curious to see the film and chance after chance something kept me from seeing it until this past weekend. Glory does indeed tell quite a story about a very special group of soldiers and the film is one not to be missed even 30 years after it was initially released.
Here we are with the home video release of the biggest movie in the world of all time, Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? That one that followed up the previous years’ giant film with a giant cliffhanger and brought together all of the major superheroes on screen together? No, not Justice League. Okay, I’ll stop being dumb, but how else to introduce a movie that practically the entire population knows what it is and has seen it AT LEAST one time? Its coming to all the formats, including the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format which I am reviewing here. A format that Disney has struggled with overall, with some bright spots leading to hoping a corner had been turned, only to backpedal quickly after. Where will Endgame stand in that pantheon? THERE’S our mystery for the intro paragraph! Well, lets continue!
Warner Archive Collection’s tail end of July slate included the Blu-ray debut of the legendary mystery/detective film from the 1930s, The Thin Man. This comedy bending caper was a pretty big hit in the decade and hindsight shows it was quite a big one, developing into one of cinema’s earliest series (Or as we would call them today, “franchises”). The Thin Man spawned a number of sequels through the 1940s as well as a television series in the 1950s. Will this initial release prove to be the first of many Thin Man mysteries to hit Blu-ray? One has to wonder if there are plans to release the remainder. Its probably dependent on how well the sales and actual demand turn out to be for this first film. So, if you’re wanting more Thin Blus (#ThinBlus ???), you’ll probably have to fork over the dollars to this one regardless. Its the name of the game as a boxed set of all the films likely is not in the cards at all. You can grab the original here by finding it on Warner Archive Collection’s site or the Amazon link after the review.
I kind of ruined the surprise for myself, but when the motion picture release of Batman: Hush was announced I did the unthinkable.
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu was the first potentially “real” challenger to Avengers: Endgame’s box office championship belt, but fell just under 9 million shy of taking it. As Avengers was the fourth film with that moniker, so was Detective Pikachu the fourth Warner Bros produced Pokemon movie (Though not in any continuity as the first 3 were animated from the later 90s/early 00s). There was potential for this movie to be a big hit, vying for a potentially mega popular franchise plus potential nostalgia. Though it wasn’t some juggernaut, the film did do some respectable global box office and came just shy of recouping its budget within the domestic US wide release on its own. Potentially the budget was a bit too much but I’m sure Warner had their eyes more on the global prize that just what it would do at home. The film is not heading its way to home video on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on August 6th where you can pick it up in stores or use the Amazon link below.
Alita: Battle Angel was always going to be an interesting film to me. The trailer alone made me want to see it immediately. The story seemed to go just a little bit deeper than your average sci-fi action thrill ride and the scenes shown were stunners meant to draw you in. As you know, a trailer can be the taste film fans need to make them go see a film, or it can be all the best scenes thrown into a short spot to make people think the film will be good. Either way, people who make trailers are geniuses of marketing… The people who made the Alita trailer should then be totally praised. They not only didn’t give away much of the movie, they gave just enough to make you want more. The film is a sprawling visually stunning near masterpiece of the genre. I can’t wait for you to see my thoughts on Alita: Battle Angel below! It just may be as effective as a trailer! As an added treat, my esteemed colleague 
Vice Squad has been on the Blu-ray wish list of many cult/exploitation collectors for some time now. The B-movie-like film was one that brought a sort of more seedy underground word of big city prostitution and sexual crimes to a more widespread mainstream release (It debuted at #4 at the box office back in 1982). Scream Factory (Of course) is the distribution label coming through to delight the fans and bring it to the Blu-ray format for the first time. And not just getting it to the format and calling it a day, they have slapped it with the Collector’s Edition label and put Reverend Entertainment on the job for the extras (Which always means rich, lengthy interviews!). This stacked release will be available to purchase on August 13th, but you can also pre-order the film from Shout! Factory’s website or our own Amazon link following the review. 
Jim Morrison is the epitome of a rock star. Someone with a mythic personality, innate sexuality, and a talent that was absolutely unique. He also had his demons, struggling with the usual rock star addictions. In the film The Doors we are shown the quick rise of Jim and his band. Oliver Stone has his stamp all over this delirious ride through the life of one of the most iconic bands of the 60’s and beyond. Check it out in fine detail below and look out for The Doors in a stunning 4K transfer in stores Tuesday, July 23rd!
Hellboy’s return to cinema was something of a conflicted affair. The decision to forego the beloved del Toro/Pearlman films and restart fresh was a ballsy one. But, there seemed to be some excitement from earlier photos and the casting of a popular actor in David Harbour. That enthusiasm did not translate into good review or many box office receipts however and led to stories breaking on what a messy, tough affair the film was behind the scenes. Despite that, there’s a feature length documentary on the new 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray for the film, which makes its way home to the format on July 23rd. Stunningly enough, it will be available at no extra charge for Amazon Prime members to see that same day. So, I supposed you can check it out before diving into your pockets to grab it.
