Westworld Season One: The Maze (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Given the fact that when this series originally aired earlier this year I pretty much had to watch each episode twice due to many slow lulls that put me to sleep like a baby probably doesn’t make me the best suited reviewer to tackle Westworld: Season One. However, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like what I saw either because I did. It was just on so late at night, I was exhausted and this combo leaves me with the attention span of a kitten. I’m joking of course because I truly am stoked for Westworld: Season One being the very first HBO title on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format. Besides Planet Earth II I guess you could also call HBO’s Westworld the very first title on the 4K UHD format period. That’s not a shabby title to own. You can tell that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is equally excited about this crowning jewel on 4K too. “We are thrilled to release the first season of HBO’s critically-acclaimed and most watched new series Westworld in 4K Ultra HD with HDR,” said Rosemary Markson, Senior Vice President, Television Marketing, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. “Fans will devour this beautifully crafted series – a perfect candidate to receive the fully immersive 4K HDR experience along with limited edition collectable packaging and all-new special features.” I couldn’t agree more with Rosemary’s statements so that’s why I’m very eager to tackle this review already down below.
Continue reading ‘Westworld Season One: The Maze (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
In the world of Pixar, it used to be that they typically didn’t cash in on making a boatload of sequels beside Toy Story. Now, we have Monsters University and Finding Dory recently with an Incredibles 2 on the way. But, the odd outlier is now the Cars series, as it now has as many entries as Toy Story. Cars, the series that hasn’t been a critical favorite nor one of their powerhouse box office performers. However, when it comes to the merchandise, like toys and bed sheets, Cars is one of their most successful. So, now with a third movie, these honestly serve as a glorified commercial to sell some new stuff and be in the conscience of a new generation. The film came out this past summer and will be Disney and Pixar’s first full animated film to hit the 4K Ultra-HD format when it drops on November 7th. 
Bad ideas, bad ideas, bad ideas. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are the guys who tend to take bad ideas and make them into great things. Though, with their firing from Solo: A Star Wars Story, I’m not so sure of even that any more. They had nothing to do with The Emoji Movie, but I imagine if they did, I probably would have found interest in this movie’s release. Instead, like many people, its an eye-roller for me. Although, look, I get it. I understand there can be dollars to be made here. I understand it’ll probably be strictly for people who are younger than ten years old. I’m also a parent. I also have kids who wanted to see this movie, which magically we didn’t make it to the movie theater to see. But, here it is, on the glorious 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format for us to consume for the very first time, in the confines of our own home. Will I survive? I don’t know. Its available now, as Sony made this release available on the format on October 24th. 
For so many damn years, there’s been nonstop chatter about Stephen King’s series of novels dubbed “The Dark Tower”. These dealt with a gunslinger characters and some sort of super ambitious premise that everyone demanded to be put into a movie. King fans kept telling you that this was going to be the film of all films or HBO series of all HBO series if they ever adapted it. Many names would get attached over the years. Projects would stop, they would start. It almost felt like this urban legend that it would ever happen. And then, finally, something budged off the ground. The excitement came in the casting of Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, but then the trailer and marketing came and nobody seemed to care, fans seemed to not have any defense. It was one of the summer’s biggest disappointments. I didn’t see the film, I’ve never read any of the books. So, here I am as the casual observer, going in super clean to give you the review of the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray release, made available October 31st! 
Atomic Blonde finally sees the light of day on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray after debuting all the way back this past March at SXSW (originally covered 
Considering that both 
I don’t mean to steal anyone’s thunder so please don’t think that of me here. However, what I want to do is call attention to a quote on the cover of this 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Warrior. I typically hate these unimaginative one-liners, but this one stands out to me because it’s more than three words and it accurately sums up my opinion of Warrior in a mere tagline. It simply reads “As Powerful and Unforgettable As Rocky” (Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net). That’s exactly how my first viewing of Warrior back in 2011 went down. I remember it like it was yesterday. I recall living up in cold Cleveland, OH and my local Cinemark holding free screenings of this film. I had no idea what it was and like the ignorant prick I can be towards things I know nothing about I did not take advantage of it. Around this same time I bought my first Apple TV and for some reason or another Warrior was a free rental one cold weekend. I thought to myself what do I have to lose. I hit play and I remember laying there in front of my television never wanting the drama unfolding on the screen to ever end. That’s exactly how I feel about another legendary sports drama film, Rocky, each and every time I watch it. Therefore, this announcement of Warrior on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray October 24th left me absolutely speechless in a good way. Read on to learn more about this 4K catalog release from Lionsgate.
Finally, The Bridge on the River Kwai is making its debut on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray which also comes the year it is celebrating its 60th anniversary in its existence. “Finally?” you ask? Well, last year it had been noted that this one was being done and ready to go and then…nothing. Now we are toward the end of the year, which it was almost exactly a year ago that it was spotted. Also on that list was Lawrence of Arabia, which PLEASE make that one soon. The Bridge on the River Kwai nabbed Best Picture and Alec Guinness an Academy Award, taking home seven total (Out of eight nominations, not too shabby) and pretty much sweeping away the major categories. You can order yourself a copy below from the Amazon link (Which they site, as always, says “thank you” with each click), to have when it arrives on the format October 3rd. 
Just in time for the first final quarter of the calendar year holidays we are getting, once again, all of the Peanuts TV specials! But this time, Linus, Lucy, Charlie Brown, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy…all of them, they are coming to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. Yeah, crazy, I know, right! But, Warner Bros feels that you need to have these in the most pristine, tip top presentation you can possibly get. So, the question is…how much of an improvement will it be on these old 2D hand drawn animate film cells. Well, read on and we’ll find this out together. This release will be available (Or may be already available, depending when you’re reading this) on October 10. You can also go ahead and pre-order yourself a copy (Which helps the site, as well) by clicking the Amazon logo below. 
To say that I was not looking forward to the original April 16th theatrical release date of Kick-Ass would be like saying that I would rather watch a SD DVD of my favorite film over its superior HD counterpart. It’s just not going to happen. My obsession with this film happened way back on the magical date of July 24, 2009. It was on that very day, within Hall H at Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego, that I was introduced to the world of Kick-Ass. I never wore a grin so large in life as compared to when we, the captive audience within Hall H, were treated to not only the film’s Red Band trailer, but also exclusive clips highlighting the mayhem and action of the eccentric cast. Weird thing is, the film had no distribution deal as of yet. It was shown first at Comic-Con to gauge the public’s interest. And if memory serves me correct, the panel even got a standing ovation by the end of its time slot. Not long after, Lionsgate, one of my favorite movie studios sealed the deal to distribute Kick-Ass nationwide. And that was a great day indeed. Sadly, Nicolas Cage was absent from the 2009 Comic-Con panel, but this girl (see below), Chloe Moretz (aka Hit-Girl), won the audience over with not only her youth and innocence, but also her, for lack of a better term, “kick-ass” action sequences. I’m a firm believer that Kick-Ass would not be half the film it is without Hit-Girl.
Curious about the Close Encounters of the Third Kind 40th Anniversary Edition 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray “Light and Sound” gift set? You are almost sure you want to buy it, you’d just like to see what it looks like inside before you finalize your decision to purchase it? Well, you can rest safely, we’ve made an unboxing video of said release just for you. This gift set edition of the release contains the standard 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray release with it that you can find our review for right 
I remember back in 2013 wanting nothing to do with this movie and shamefully saying how awful it looked. However, I also remember flying home on a work trip and being bored out of my mind knowing that I had a long flight ahead of me. The conundrum was that I had nothing to watch on the plane. Eureka! I came up with the idea that I should download Warm Bodies on my iPad to keep me company for the next three hours. After all our own Aaron Neuwirth had originally given this one some nice nods in his movie review originally published 
One of the biggest surprises for summer 2003 was the original Pirates of the Caribbean film. There was a lot of goodwill with that movie and its sequels that would form a trilogy were very highly anticipated. Then came that fourth one, whatever you want to call it. I’m still a big fan of the first two films and can watch the third one, though its rather overplotted and confusing. I saw the fourth once. While interested in the fifth one, I didn’t make it to the theater and it wasn’t really priority viewing for me. It didn’t need me though as the film grossed almost 800 million dollars. What surprised me, though is looking back, this series was clearly more of a fan based one that critic. There is a pretty solid discrepancy among the sequels aside from pretty much agreeing the fourth one sucked. Now we come to the fifth one which has a huge distance between audience and critic. You’ll be able to find out for yourself, or if you’re a fan, own it on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray October 3rd. 
Believe me when I say this I never wanted write this 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review. In fact I never wanted to even see this flick. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I know the real truth. I’m just flat out cheap and don’t want to pay to view it nor do I want to see anyone else on my team remotely speak any praise about it. You see I loved the first Transformers film. It was both epic and adventurous, but the second feature was a bloated, flaming turd. The 
Tra La Laa! Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is coming to the greatest format in all the land: 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. Or, depending on when you’re reading this juicy, informative and amazing intro paragraph that is lightly treading water, it could be out already. Yeah, actually its out already. The film was released on September 12th, giving you the chance to vindicate yourself for missing it in theaters. Its a sweet fun little movie that was really good, but unfortunately audiences didn’t take a chance on it. But, hey, that’s okay, now it can be this little Cult kids movie that is based of the very popular book series (Of which I am not familiar at all). The film features the vocal talents of three very different comedic actors; Kevin Hart, Ed Helms and Thomas Middleditch. Tra La Laa! 
A lot of this is going to be a rehash of my 4K UHD VUDU review of this title formerly published 
Its apparently medieval, sword and sandal adventures month in September for Lionsgate’s 4K Utra-HD slate. Previously we reviewed that Hercules movie and now here comes the other September 19th release, the Jason Momoa led 2011 Conan The Barbarian relaunch. A question was asked on the 4K Ultra-HD Facebook group, “Who was asking for these?” and its a really good question. A lot of Lionsgate’s catalog 4K Ultra-HD releases seem to be that way. Dredd, Cabin in the Woods, that’s stuff people want. The only tie-in or logic I can presume here for Hercules and Conan is that they are coming out the same day as Wonder Woman and maybe fit that Amazonian vibe. Anyway, here is our review for Conan The Barbarian on the 4K Ultra-HD format. 
