Joker: Folie À Deux (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
OK, so let’s just get it out of the way now – We know that Joker: Folie À Deux was a monumental failure this year. The enticing mixture of Phoenix and Gaga and some musical sequences seemed like a heady continuation of the original Joker, a film I still think about to this day as an incredible meditation of a man’s downfall in succumbing to the destruction of his own mental health. The 2020’s answer to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, Joker was rife for an explosive continuation. Now, you ask me… is the sequel as awful as we’ve read about and been made to believe? Don your clown makeup and read on and see for yourself. You may want to tap dance after you’ve read my thoughts…
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When I was a kiddo, I was one of those kids that watched Transformers a lot. In between my watching Muppet Babies, Heathcliff and Inspector Gadget, I made sure to catch up on the gang of autobots on their many adventures. Funny enough, I even had a baby blue Transformers lunchbox. I never had any of the toys, and I don’t remember much if any of the lore now, which is just a natural part of growing older. When I heard news and saw the trailer for Transformers One, I knew somehow I’d be able to reconnect with the characters better than I was able to for the other Transformers films. More on that later. Transformers Oneis unique based on it’s being an animated film. We haven’t seen that since the 80’s for this franchise. So how does the property translate into family-friendly animation you ask? Find out inside the review. While you read, try to remember – Which Transformer was your favorite?
Shaun of the Dead came out the same year I graduated high school. I was ready to leave school forever, ignoring that I was starting college in the fall, and I was listening to Yeah! by Usher way too much. I was also giving myself a film education at the time. I began to reach beyond typical commercial films and looked for things that were different. Among those different films was Shaun. Randomly falling on a DVD copy of the film with a good friend, I was a huge fan after the first few moments. 20 years later, does the film stand up? And how does the new 20th Anniversary 4K edition stand up to the one released in 2019? Find out more about my love for Shaun of the Dead as well as all the new add-ons to the home media package for the film! Don’t leave the front door open, and make sure you don’t have red on you either!
Willow exists in a time where a live-action fantasy film could appeal to not just children, but adults too. The film, once a revolutionary one for the advent of computer-generated special effects was a minor hit in 1988. Thanks to home video and repeated viewing from Gen X and Millennials, the film’s cult following came to a Blu-ray release in 2013, and a TV show sequel all the way in 2022. The show has since disappeared from Disney+, but Disney did think of the fans in bringing the film to a new format. This is why we now have a Willow 4K UHD Blu-ray, and it’s a steelbook edition too! Read more about the film and its shiny new transfer, or Madmartigan may come after you!
In case you readers didn’t know, I am a teacher. I have been a preschool teacher for nearly 14 years. My love of animated films often comes into play with my students. I always hear about the latest Disney princess and then I’m inundated with the soundtrack for months on end before I ever lay an eye on the film. Then there are the ones I become interested in, much like The Wild Robot, that I never hear these children mention. I have wondered why it works that way with films targeted at children. I can say before I even delve into my critical point of view that The Wild Robot is a very special film, and one that children and adults can find lovable and totally entertaining. Read more about the film and it’s exceptional 4K release below!
Have you ever heard of twin cinema? I don’t know if this is the proper term, but this is what I’m calling it. Twin cinema is where two movies come out and are similar enough that one does better than the other. It’s a phenomenon that happens only so often but it’s always the same way. Notable twin cinema films are Girls Trip and Rough Night or Dante’s Peak and Volcano. These films were both released in the same years, 1997 and 2017 respectively, and one always performed better than the other. In 1999, The Sixth Sense and Stir of Echoes debuted. Both took place in mid-west/east-coast settings in the fall. Both dealt with spirits who talk to young children. Both had a James Newton Howard score… But what ever happened to Stir of Echoes? It’s one of those films I heard about in 1999, but forgot about shortly after, while The Sixth Sense went on to become a huge cultural hit. Read more about Stir of Echoes here. You’ll be glad you did!
Pulp Fiction is one of the finest examples of pure cinema to come out of the US in the 90’s. The film was a cultural phenomenon, capturing the minds of younger generations, bewildering older ones and garnering universal acclaim for what has turned out to be a timeless crime caper. Told in many layers, the film never fails to be entertaining no matter how many watches you’ve given it. Now, the film comes home in the form of the Pulp Fiction: 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition! Read more on my appreciation of Pulp Fiction, along with links to the original 4K review we published in 2022!
Loki began as a deliciously catty villain. A great foil for his brother Thor, Loki made for an interesting character in his own right. As we learned in the first season, Loki actually had more depth than we had imagined. The second season seemed to match the efforts of the original, adding so much more value to the character and fleshing him out as another someone you could feel for in the MCU. Read more about Loki: The Complete Second Season below and keep watch so you don’t fall into a time-slip!!
Confession Time: I was fearing a little bit of series fatigue after watching two Star Wars series back-to-back. Delving into Hawkeye: The Complete Miniseries, I was pleasantly surprised by the developments. Imperfect but charming and a whole lot of fun, I was happy to move from episode to episode. Read more about the team of Barton and Bishop and don’t forget, a paid link to get your own copy of Hawkeye is at the end of the review! 
Star Wars was always at the top of my list of film series as a kid. I loved the battles, the spaceships, the speeders and those characters were just so cool to me. After the original trilogy, the prequels were fine, and then as I was much older the next trilogy of films came along and initially felt like they were closer to the original trilogy. Between all the gaps in film trilogies, Animated series, novels, comics and more dropped out of everywhere to entice even bigger fans of Star Wars than I ever was. Ahsoka comes from an animated series, Star Wars Rebels to be exact, and then the character appeared in The Mandalorian capturing a villain and teaming with Din Djarin. Now, Ahsoka is her own character with her own show. Is it any good? And how’s the 4K disc?! Read more about Ahsoka: The Complete First Season, and may the force be with you!
I am ecstatic thinking of how this is the 3rd round of Disney+ Series to be released on UHD Blu-ray. What was once thought of as an impossible feat now gives us not one but all three seasons of The Mandalorian with gorgeous Steelbook packaging and full bodied Atmos sound and HDR picture quality. Cash grab you say. Take my money, house of Mouse I say. As we follow Din Djarin and Grogu on their next journey, how does The Mandalorian: The Complete Third Season hold up on disc? Find out inside the review. This is the way.
The 80’s were an influential time for horror films, especially the slasher subgenre. Between 1978’s Halloween through to the 90’s there was an unending slew of films showing doomed teenagers losing their lives over the course of a creepy night. Few were original, but some were truly unique. Does unique mean good you ask? Not typically, but that doesn’t mean those unique slashers don’t have a place in horror fans’ hearts. Silent Night, Deadly Night is a very unique slasher itself. Debuting 40 years ago, the film was once the stuff of controversy based on the marketing of the film. Read on about the film, it’s legacy and this new Collector’s Edition from Shout Studios/Scream Factory!
Time has flown by when you are looking at the 10th Anniversary edition of Interstellar. The ahead-of-its-time Christopher Nolan masterpiece has been on 4K Blu-ray since 2017. Using the same 4K and Blu-ray discs and adding a new piece to the legacy bonus features Blu-ray and giving collectors a beautiful piece of collectible is the name of the game with this release. Read more on the new set and read Brian White’s exceptional legacy review inside!
The Alien franchise has gone through many phases. 1979’s Alien remains the ultimate in sci-fi and horror. 1986’s Aliens epitomizes the mixture of sci-fi and action. 1992’s Alien3 fuses all three genres. There are also inferior sequels, and some prequels that depending on who you talk to are either great or terrible. When Alien: Romulus was announced it was originally slated for a Hulu release. Seeing the potential and the enthusiastic early response, Disney called a great shot, and the film got a theatrical release. The film was a well-received hit, ushering in a melding of old-school Alien fans and newcomers just learning about the previous films. So, where on the Alien-O-Meter does Alien: Romulus sit? Find out more in the review but watch out for flying facehuggers.
Media fandom is something sacred to the people who revel in it. Trekkies, Star Wars Nerds, Twi-hards… There’s something about fandom that has spread much further than the niche conventions that once were. Way back in 1999, Galaxy Quest touched on the idea of fandom with an accurate portrayal that wasn’t all parody. Its genuine representation of media fandom has made the film a bit of a cult hit. It would seem that many Trekkies saw themselves in the early and climactic convention-based scenes. So, after 25 years, how does Galaxy Quest hold up? Find out more while I figure out if there is such a fandom for Galaxy Quest now!
For lack of a better word, families are a trip. Children feel like their siblings are favored over them. Mothers feel envious of a son’s bonding with their father. Daughters resent mothers for their inherent similarities. Fathers want their sons to follow in their footsteps in exacting ways. A trip, right? In Albert Brooks’ Mother, we use an experiment to find out just how deep those “mommy issues” can get. The Criterion Collection released Mother along with Real Life, and with my own recent pickup of the film, I felt compelled to write about it! Read more below and see if you can relate to Albert Brooks’ John Henderson.
