The Commuter (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Jaume Collet-Serra may not be a marquee director or a household name, but he’s been doing some overall solid work this decade. Probably one of the tops when it comes to the mid-budget adult thriller, he’s coming hot off his Blake Lively horror film The Shallows and reteaming with Liam Neeson. The Commuter marks their fourth collaboration following Non-Stop, Run All Night and Unknown. During early rounds of press Neeson says his action hero chapter of his career would be coming to an end with this film, but he may have back tracked that a little. This film opened during Jumanji’s reign and managed to cross over one hundred million dollars worldwide by the end of its run. You’ll find it available for physical at home consumption on April 17. Continue reading ‘The Commuter (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
I don’t know what it is about me.
Well hey now! Are you all prepare to root for the bad guys once again? That’s right! The Suicide Squad gang is back! Not so fast though. This isn’t the DCEU version of the Suicide Squad. Oh no! It’s the DCAU (DC Animated Universe) Suicide Squad. For the uninitiated the DCAU have both a pretty impressive resume and following. You can find reviews of past titles such as Batman and Harley 
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the latest installment of the “Saga” series of Star Wars films, may have made loads and loads of money at the box office, but it is making home video history for the series when it arrives on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray March 27th. Rian Johnson’s chapter finds itself being the first to be released on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format. It joins 1977’s original Star Wars (Super 8, BetaMax, VHS, CED), The Phantom Menace (DVD) and The Clone Wars feature film (Blu-ray) as being the “first” Star Wars by itself on home video formats. Any new thing like that is a pretty big deal in the giant world of Star Wars fandom. Heck, if I could, I’d collect every possible physical home video format release of the original trilogy that I could (Sorry, streaming is a nice backup option, but doesn’t feel like “collecting” to me). You can own Star Wars: The Last Jedi by clicking the Amazon link following the review. 
This past holiday season, Jumanji and The Greatest Showman showed that even with a Star Wars movie around, there was still winter money to be made at the box office. Hoping to be like the film Sing! the year before, an animated movie that thrived alongside a Star Wars, Ferdinand released to some solid reviews. The film mad some okay money and did well worldwide, but didn’t really launch like I’m sure its creators and respective studio would have liked. But, it’ll now have its chance to thrive in the home video world. The animated film features the voices of people from all over the map like John Cena, Kate McKinnon and Peyton Manning. The film is currently available on all formats and you can order yourself a copy from the link following the review. 
Truth be told I really have no right reviewing this. Yes, I’m tackling this one by default because I have two 4K Ultra HD setups at home, but I have never seen the original Jumanji starring Robin Williams. Is that bad? I’m told no because I surveyed a lot of my peers and none of them had any great things to say about the classic family film. So if they don’t have any kind words, then why should I waste my valuable time on it? However, I feel very different about this 2017 reboot of the action/adventure comedy. This very likable Rock-driven (Dwayne Johnson) vehicle has had mammoth legs at the box office and thee’s always the added attraction of Nebula (Karen Gillan) to gaze upon here too. Heck, I even hear there’s talk of not one, but two sequels already planned in this world. So hell yeah. Sign me up. I am very eager to tackle Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle down below for the very first time and bonus…on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray too. Let me put on some bug spray and I’ll be right back. It’s a jungle out there! 
The Shape of Water had me very curious. It’s not because it’s brought to you by the masterful mind of Guillermo del Toro, but it’s because of our resident MPAA certified reviewer, Sir Aaron Neuwirth. He gave it an overwhelming 5 doggies out of 5 doggies over 
Every popular film must find itself a way to being a trilogy, right? Well, that’s the case now with the Pitch Perfect franchise. Personally, I found the first film to be charming enough and it was quite popular enough to warrant an encore performance or a victory lap of sorts. That victory lap turned into a really really awful film, but it did make money, so here with are with our third film about a zany female collegiate acapella group. And hey, it didn’t total as much money as the second film, but still made plenty enough to count your winnings take it home and bid the world adieu. This final performance of the Bellas will be making its way to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on March 20th (The first two films will also see an upgrade on this date). Don’t be one of those lazy pitches, pre-order yourself to have it on release. 
The Justice League motion picture is finally getting its deserving shot to win over your living room on March 13th. As far as 2017 feature films going into last November I had thought of nothing else except Justice League ever since I left San Diego Comic-Con that July and attended this unforgettable superhero panel captured in all its splendor and awe right 
Downsizing is acclaimed director Alexander Payne’s first in four years. That last one was the absolutely terrific Nebraska. This time he pairs with Matt Damon for a quirky concept of people shrinking themselves to live in a community where they are much wealthier than they would have been at normal size. The trailer for the film was pretty dynamite in my opinion, but I guess didn’t sell it well at all as the film completely bombed both in the United States and worldwide. With other studios, that would mean just putting it out on standard Blu-ray and being done with it, but kudos to Paramount as they’ve decided to stick with the times and put this one out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. You’ll be able to catch it since you missed it in the theater on March 20th. Amazon Pre-order link available below if you’re interested. 
Thirty six years ago, two fantastic visionaries in the realm of puppeteering and one of the men responsible for the first two Star Wars films put their heads together for a a mystical fantasy film, The Dark Crystal. Those men were Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Gary Kurtz. I’m not sure kids today are so hot on The Dark Crystal, but when I was growing up in the 1980s, it seemed to be on TV quite a bit and at every VHS rental store. Maybe its popularity is nostalgic adults like myself. Regardless, its exciting to see this film get the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray upgrade and that the life and work of Jim Henson still is important and relevant to studios today. There is a fancy digibook version of this on standard Blu-ray, but the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ay is getting a standard case. Regardless, this new release, that has a new bonus feature, will be available March 6th. Pre-order below! 
Writer and director Martin McDonagh has hit big this year with his highly acclaimed and decorated third feature film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It has been collecting hardware for the overall film as well as the performances of Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, with Woody Harrelson receiving nominations for his role. Like many others, I’ve been a big fan of McDonagh for his first two films; In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. Films that are also worthy of the celebration Three Billboards is receiving this year. What makes me excited for this 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray and standard Blu-ray release is that his short film (and first), the Academy Award winning Six Shooter starring Brendan Gleeson has been included. This release is already available, so if you’re too tired to go to a store and pick it up, please click on the Amazon link to order yourself a copy. 
I’ve long been a fan of the works of Agatha Christie, either through actually reading one of the books or checking out an adaptation of one I hadn’t put my eyes to text with. In terms of movie-going, when the trailer dropped for this Kenneth Branagh film, it had an interesting approach to it, but it also looked like both something we have seen in a long time and also like nothing else out there. People agreed as this one was sort of the poor man’s Greatest Showman as this was released during a time when Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League, Daddy’s Home 2, Wonder and Coco were also making some good money (Technically Justice League was making some decent money, they just spent too much on it). With solid reviews and obviously a terrific audience reception, it looks as if we’ll be moving forward with another film in the near future with classic Christie protagonist Hercule Poirot. You can check out this case on the train of his when it releases to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, February 27. 
This March, we are getting another crack taken at the Tomb Raider game franchise being adapted to the big screen with Alicia Vikander as the new Lara Croft. Let us not forget the early 2000s when much excitement came and the perfect bit of dream casting in that of Angela Jolie in the title role. While the film did solid box office, most found it to be a bit of a disappointment, though still led to a sequel The Cradle of Life. Many will tell you that was a much better and actually good film. However, people didn’t trust their dollars on it after the first and its box office failure effectively shut down the franchise. But, with a reboot comes the great think in that the home video editions of the originals usually see a nice upgrade. And here we are with both Tomb Raider films seeing a 4K Ultra-HD format jump. In this review, its time for the sequel, the lengthy titled Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. 
This March, we are getting another crack taken at the Tomb Raider game franchise being adapted to the big screen with Alicia Vikander as the new Lara Croft. Let us not forget the early 2000s when much excitement came and the perfect bit of dream casting in that of Angela Jolie in the title role. While the film did solid box office, most found it to be a bit of a disappointment, though still led to a sequel The Cradle of Life. Many will tell you that was a much better and actually good film. However, people didn’t trust their dollars on it after the first and its box office failure effectively shut down the franchise. But, with a reboot comes the great think in that the home video editions of the originals usually see a nice upgrade. And here we are with both Tomb Raider films seeing a 4K Ultra-HD format jump. In this review, we’ll be digging into the first film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. 
While some have this illusion of some sort of fatigue (Black Panther is laughing HARD about that right now), 2017 was a pretty terrific year for the comic book super hero movies across the board. Marvel’s three offerings all ramped up the fun factor and were as successful with their comedic chops as they were the heroics and action bits. And they led up to the heaviest hitter of the bunch, Thor: Ragnarok. The film’s trailer was crazy loved and built up great hype which then delivered in pleasing critics, audiences and the almighty box office dollar. My kids were quoting “I know him, he’s a friend from work” from the day that trailer dropped all the way to having their butts in the seats on opening night. And We surely can’t wait to relive this one again, and you’ll be able to too on March 6th when it arrives on glorious 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. 
Disney Pixar’s Coco may have kinda faded from conversation with a lot of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jumanji and The Greatest Showman box office triumphs. But, just before those three films dominated, Coco was quite a phenomenon and powerhouse itself. Coco opened to fantastic reviews and almost made three quarters of a billion dollars in its worldwide run. Quite an achievement. This fresh, emotion and charming family drama is making its way to Disney’s slowly growing 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray collection. I’ll have to admit, when I saw it in theaters, throughout the thing I was getting giddy at the prospect of how the HDR was gonna look on the 4K UHD disc. Well, now we can see when it releases on February 27th. 
Daddy’s Home is one of those films I could easily live without. While I love Mark Wahlberg and most everything Will Ferrell does (there are exceptions) I’m just not warm on the PG rating. It was cool when I was a kid, but now I’m an old geezer and I need my F-bombs, gratuitous nudity and raunchy comedy moments. I’m kidding of course, but thankfully despite that family friendly PG rating I gave Daddy’s Home a tryout once it made its debut on the Blu-ray format. I’m glad I did because I still managed to laugh and even had a good time with it all. I must have too because I am devoting my personal time to covering this one. Yep! That’s right the family friendly comedy featuring two of Hollywood’s biggest men (sorry ladies) is getting a 4K Ultra HD upgrade to coincide with its sequel’s release on the format February 20th.
