A Spike Lee Joint finally hits 4K UHD Blu-Ray, DO THE RIGHT THING, Out 2/2/2021!
It’s the hottest day of the summer. You can do nothing, you can do something, or you can…DO THE RIGHT THING. In 1989, Academy Award® winner and visionary filmmaker Spike Lee mesmerized audiences with one of the most insightful and provocative films of its time, DO THE RIGHT THING. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment continues to celebrate diversity and Black stories by bringing one of the most thought-provoking and groundbreaking films of its time, DO THE RIGHT THING, to 4K Ultra HD for the first time on February 2, 2021. The controversial story centers around one scorching inner-city day, when racial tensions reach the boiling point in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood. Culturally significant and featuring over four hours of bonus features including a brand-new introduction by Director Spike Lee, a retrospective documentary with the original cast and crew, a feature commentary from Lee, deleted and extended scenes, DO THE RIGHT THING captures a vital look at American life. The film will also be available in 4K Ultra HD format on Digital.
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Prepare for a FREAKY take on the body-swap movie which only Blumhouse, makers of Happy Death Day & The Purge franchise, could bring: a teenage girl switches bodies with a relentless serial killer! From the deliciously debased mind of writer-director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, the Paranormal Activity franchise) and prolific horror producer Jason Blum (Halloween, The Purge franchise), comes a horror-comedy about a stalker, a high school senior, and the brutal truth about surviving high school available on Digital on January 26 and on Blu-ray™ and DVD on February 9. FREAKY is “the most purely enjoyable horror movie made in years” (David Sims, THE ATLANTIC). Hailed as “an absolute blast – fun, frantic, horror/comedy mash-up” (Drew Taylor, COLLIDER), the Killer Switch Edition continues the fun and scares with exclusive bonus content including deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film and a feature commentary with Co-writer/Director Christopher Landon. With an 83% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and critical praise for Vaughn and Newton as “the new killer comedy scream team” (Rachel Smith, CELEBRITY PAGE), Vaughn won a Critics Choice Super Award for Best Actor in a Horror Movie. 
Batman is back again in the DCAU with Batman: Soul of the Dragon. I believe this is two releases in a row for the caped crusader, following last year’s A Death In The Family choose your own adventure thing-a-m0-bob. Like Gotham By Gaslight before, Soul of the Dragon is an elseworld story changing things up to try out some different style and substance. And honestly, that’s where its at with me currently. I wish the live action films would get this crazy with Batman and stop taking him so dead seriously. But, don’t get me wrong, Matt Reeves doing Batman excites me a lot and I’m there the moment it arrives. Soul of the Dragon arrives on January 25th on both 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray and regular ‘ol Blu-ray. There’s a load of bonus features plopped onto this as well. You can pre-order from the paid Amazon Associates link below.
A film’s 65th anniversary is just as good as any to finally make its debut on Blu-ray. Such is the case of the Danny Kaye medieval musical comedy The Court Jester, which becomes the latest on the line of Paramount Presents titles, specializing in giving films their long awaited due on the format. While the film doesn’t tout any real sufficient supplemental material (Much of this production has long passed and was their any to begin with?), you should sleep on the restoration of the film, shot on the highly regarded VistaVision format of its time. There is a nice little fluff bit with Leonard Maltin giving a brief history on the film, so its not completely void of bonus features. The Court Jester arrives on Blu-ray January 25th. Pre-orders have been open, and you can use the paid Amazon Associates link at the bottom of the review if you choose, so you are able to secure yourself a brand new copy for new release day (Or close to, as we know how deliveries are right now).
Everyone wants their franchise to have Blumhouse take the reigns these days. And I’m not of the opinion to argue against it as I love Jason Blum’s low budget business model. Cult classic teen horror film The Craft is the latest to get the Blumhouse treatment with The Craft: Legacy. Reaching us over the Halloween season via VOD, it was met with some excitement and those saying “Why mess!?!” To the latter, they didn’t touch anything about the original. You’ll be just fine. As a matter of fact, there’s a terrific Scream Factory Blu-ray of it. But this review is for the Blu-ray for the NEW one. Not a remake, but a sequel that kinda sorta acts as a fresh start. So, lets put it in the Lega-Sequel category of resurrecting IPs. This release is available now as it was released back on December 22nd (Review copies were delayed because…well, you know this). You can order a copy of the Blu-ray, which comes with a digital code, using the paid Amazon Associates link following the review.
Warner Bros has given us our first taste of the Middle Earth saga on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. Luckily, they’ve decided to start us off with the video and audio. Apparently the extras like the bonus features on the discs as well as sheik packaging will be coming along later this year. Fair enough! I’m not the most gigantic fan of The Lord of the Rings, even though I consider the films great and absolutely admire what Peter Jackson has pulled off, so these early sets probably satisfy my appetite well enough. I reviewed the original trilogy last night and now its onto everybody’s favorite – The Hobbit Trilogy! The films currently are out of stock and went quickly right after they came out last month. However, it appears more are on the way and set to arrive on January 19th! So, if you missed out, you’ll want to get your order in now and not potentially miss another wave of the fantastic little journey. Paid Amazon Associates link available at the end of the review. 
Spell arrived as a VOD release just in time for Halloween. From the trailer the film appeared to be a bonkers reimagining of Misery with a twist – Hoodoo comes into play rather than an obsession. Does it live up to its name, casting a spell on viewers? Or is there simply no magic there at all. Find out more below and order yourself a copy with the “paid” Amazon link at the end!
Love and Monsters has had itself a bit of a production history. This film has a genesis dating back to 2012. And even after it was made it found itself shifting back and forth. At one point it was supposed to be releases last month. But with the pandemic and people trying out at home premieres for some movies, Love and Monsters founds its to VOD back in October of 2020. I’m not sure of its financial success from taking that avenue, but the film sure was a bit of a critical and audience darling. Paramount has even opted to put it out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray for its debut on physical media. It only has a 7.1 audio track and some fluffy bonus materials, but in all honesty, I’d say that’s a pretty decent package for a new movie that’s gone through what Love and Monsters has. Its available now, having been released on January 5th.
I’m not the first person to tell you 2020 has felt like forever and a day and then forever again. We were fortunate to have still been given a constant flux of new 4K Ultra-HD and standard Blu-ray releases despite the global pandemic. Heck, When charting back for this list, I was stunned at some of my contenders, having them feel like they came out last year because it felt so long ago. In a positive perspective for 2020, in regards to home video collecting, the year has relieved and renewed my faith in studios to keep delivering and finding new ways to build excitement with collecting. Disney aside, every studio has shown new strategies and refreshed dedication in backing physical media. Warner Bros has continued sub licensing, but also seems to be putting a little more effort into the bonus materials for Warner Archive. Paramount has released the Presents line as well as just shooting out some bare bones releases of stuff never on the format before with new regularity. And that’s not even to begin discussing the continued excitement from the likes of Shout! Factory, Blue Underground, Vinegar Syndrome, Severin Films, Arrow Video and more as they all have invested in 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. In other words, it was a pretty damn good outing for physical media in 2020, even if it wasn’t for the health of the global population. 
As railroads started bringing scores of passengers—most importantly, businessmen and families with money, natch—into the southwestern United States, it quickly became apparent to enterprising sorts that catering to those weary commuters would be good business. Fred Harvey did just that with his Harvey House Restaurants in the late 19th century, promising good food, a clean place to relax, and efficient yet polite and attractive servers, which sounded like heaven to anyone stuck on a train for lengthy periods. So named The Harvey Girls, these young women tweaked the adage of “Go west, young man” before taking it to heart. They were able to make an honest living on their own and stay in a safe, chaperoned home with other women, which was no small thing for unmarried ladies during the transition away from the “wild” part of the Wild West.
