Archive for the 'Blu-ray Reviews' Category
January 20th, 2015 by Gerard Iribe
Nick Tortano (Ben Barnes) is a mafia criminal whose life spirals out of control once he becomes a made man. With the lives of his loved ones at risk, including his girlfriend (Leighton Meester), he must decide what’s truly important to him. BY THE GUN is directed by James Mottern and also stars Harvey Keitel, Toby Jones, Slaine, Kenny Wormald, Paul Ben-Victor, and Jay Giannone. Continue reading ‘By the Gun (Blu-ray Review)’
January 19th, 2015 by Gerard Iribe
Kat Connors (Shailene Woodley) is a young woman embracing her newfound sexuality when her glamorous but strange mother Eve (Eva Green) vanishes. At first Kat is excited by her new freedom, distracted by the boy next door (Shiloh Fernandez) and the cop working the case (Thomas Jane). But as disturbing facts about the disappearance surface, the mystery begins to haunt her. From acclaimed director Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin, Smiley Face, Kaboom), based on the best-selling novel. Also starring Christopher Meloni, Gabourey Sidibe and Angela Bassett. Continue reading ‘White Bird in a Blizzard (Blu-ray Review)’
January 19th, 2015 by Sean Wright
Atlas Shrugged Part III, subtitled Who is John Galt?, continues the story of Dagny Taggart and John Galt (once again bizarrely recast with actors Laura Regan and Kristoffer Polaha). In this third and final film adapting Ayn Rand’s novel, Taggart has stumbled upon a self-created utopia of the world’s creative minds have escaped to after overbearing government regulation. The film saw a limited release of 242 screens when it was released in September 2014. Continue reading ‘Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt? (Blu-ray Review)’
January 18th, 2015 by Gerard Iribe
Liam Neeson stars in A Walk Among the Tombstones, an action-thriller based on Lawrence Block’s bestselling series of mystery novels. Neeson plays Matt Scudder, an ex-cop turned unlicensed private investigator who reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens, TV’s Downton Abbey) hunt down the men who brutally murdered his wife. When the PI learns that this is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that these men have committed this sort of twisted crime, he must blur the line between right and wrong as he races to track the deviants through the backstreets of New York City before they kill again. Continue reading ‘A Walk Among The Tombstones (Blu-ray Review)’
January 18th, 2015 by Gerard Iribe
A naïve man transporting lethal narcotics in his stomach is detained by the police. Alone and afraid, the mule makes a desperate choice — to defy his bodily functions and withhold the evidence…literally. By doing so becomes a human time-bomb, dragging cops, criminals. lawyers and his mother into his impossible escapade. Inspired by true events, THE MULE is a comic nightmare of stomach-churning suspense and belly laughs. Continue reading ‘The Mule (Blu-ray Review)’
January 18th, 2015 by Brian White
Truth be told, I had never seen Working Girl before. However, one look at the Blu-ray’s cover is all it took for me to get that warm and fuzzy feeling that I was about to watch something special simply because of the very young now everyday household names on it. And after coming off an Alien binge as of late, who am I to refute covering a Sigourney Weaver film? Ironically though, that wasn’t the main selling point to me. The Blu-ray cover also infused a sense of nostalgia in me over a film that I practically grew up on because of my parents love for it, the Dolly Parton star vehicle 9 to 5. So I guess you could call me Curious George, but I was determined to find out what Working Girl was really all about, hence this review. Continue reading ‘Working Girl (Blu-ray Review)’
January 13th, 2015 by Brandon Peters
From the mastermind producer behind Insidious and The Purge comes the ghostly tale of Jessabelle. The haunting, supernatural thriller, directed by Kevin Greutert (Saw VI, Saw 3D: The Final Chapter), written by Robert Ben Garant (Hell Baby, Night at the Museum) and starring Sarah Snook, Mark Webber and Joelle Carter, has arrived on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital) and Digital HD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Jessabelle gives us another haunted tale in the land of the Bayou. While Saw 3D was absolutely abysmal, I did like Saw VI a lot, so I wanted to see Kevin Greutert away from a Saw film he was sorta forced to make and onto a horror film maybe he was a bit more passionate about directing. Continue reading ‘Jessabelle (Blu-ray Review)’
January 13th, 2015 by Brandon Peters
Millennium Entertainment brings April Mullen’s action-packed thriller, 88. Mullen also co-stars in the film alongside Tim Doiron who wrote the script. Featuring Katharine Isabelle (American Mary, Ginger Snaps, NBC’s “Hannibal”), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Futuretrilogy, The Addams Family, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Jesse McCartney (“All My Children,” Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, Chernobyl Diaries) and Michael Ironside (Top Gun, Total Recall, The Machinist), the film came out last week, January 6, 2015. 88 is a unique ride showcasing a strong female lead as well as Christopher Lloyd with a deviating and captivating performance as our villain, we are excited to share it with US audiences” states Mullen. 88 is the fourth feature from Mullen and Doiron, founders of WANGO films. Continue reading ’88 (Blu-ray Review)’
January 13th, 2015 by Aaron Neuwirth
Part mystery-thriller, part sly commentary, Gone Girl finds director David Fincher working hard to bring Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel to life. The result is a very entertaining feature that is able to straddle the line of darkness thanks to its many twists and turns, strong performances, a great amount of dark humor, and the sort of technical excellence expected from David Fincher and his crew. This is a modern film imbued with the spirit of pulpy crime novels, resulting in a fine example of what can come out of Hollywood, when a great amount of talent is involved and put to good use. Now one of 2014’s best films is available on Blu-ray.
Continue reading ‘Gone Girl (Blu-ray Review)’
January 12th, 2015 by Aaron Neuwirth
Sometimes you have to work with what you are given. As John Ridley was going through his award tour last year with 12 Years a Slave (he won an Oscar for the screenplay), he was also touring his film, Jimi: All Is By My Side, a biopic about Jimi Hendrix, through festivals. This film that he wrote and directed was a passion project of sorts, but also one met with some challenges, the key one being the lack of clearance to use any songs written by Hendrix. As a result, the film lacks some of the power that could have come from having a song like “Purple Haze” at one’s disposal. That said, the film still has its merits and it is now available on Blu-ray for all to see what else John Ridley had up his sleeves last year.
Continue reading ‘Jimi: All Is By My Side (Blu-ray Review)’
January 12th, 2015 by Brian White
This one is sort of an abnormal review. Not only is it a hybrid, a review coverage of both a Blu-ray and DVD, but also it’s a bit unorthodox the way in which I’m going about tackling this. There’s no grading system employed here. This one’s pure entertainment! And let’s face it, there’s nothing new you or I can say about Tom Holland’s Child’s Play. It’s quite simply one of the most iconic and classic horror films in the slasher genre. And what about A Christmas Treat? What about it?! For those in the know (more about that below), it’s an underground cult hit that not only fueled Tim Sullivan’s career, but also planted the seeds of his trademark humor and wit in his later flicks. So let’s do this. I’m going to spend several paragraphs going deeper into what TnT Presents is all about and then I’m going to tackle these two releases we’re gathered here to talk about today one-by-one, complete with exclusive unboxing photos of everything you’ll find inside. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some major typing to do down below. Continue reading ‘TnT Presents ‘Child’s Play’ & ‘A Christmas Treat’ (Blu-ray/DVD Review)’
January 10th, 2015 by Brian White
Annabelle has the success of 2013’s supernatural thriller The Conjuring to thank for its mere existence on our planet. If you take away nothing else from this Blu-ray review, make sure you please engrave that in your memory banks, the non-volatile ones. Annabelle was an evil possessed doll (think Chucky-like) whose first appearance was also in…dun…dun…da…The Conjuring too. So if I was a betting man, I would think it kind of makes sense now when I tell you that Annabelle is a prequel of sort to the events in The Conjuring, basically a story of where it all begins, for Annabelle of course. However you spin, there’s no doubt about it that Annabelle was a cash cow for New Line/Warner Bros. Let’s take a closer look at why.
Continue reading ‘Annabelle (Blu-ray Review)’
January 9th, 2015 by Gerard Iribe
The highly anticipated pirate adventure, Black Sails, centers on the tales of Captain Flint and his men and takes place twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island.” Flint, the most brilliant and most feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name John Silver. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality. Continue reading ‘Black Sails: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray Review)’
January 9th, 2015 by Aaron Neuwirth
I tend to enjoy seeing process be put on display in film. A lot of times that applies to crime dramas or heist films, where you see the way things play out in a wordless manner, involving a lot of the inner workings of certain activities. Love Is Strange, a film that is not remotely close to being a crime drama, puts process on display early on, as our two lead characters awaken and get ready for their wedding. We watch them go through morning routines, leading up to their attempts to hail a cab. It does enough establish a sense of place, but more importantly, it allows us to watch two actors who seem incredibly comfortable in their roles. That is how this film plays out for the most part, as we watch actors work very well together in a fairly low-key comedy-drama. Now the film is on Blu-ray for many to see this comfortable film play out.
Continue reading ‘Love Is Strange (Blu-ray Review)’
January 8th, 2015 by Brandon Peters
Screenwriter Hossein Amini makes a stylish directing debut with this sleek thriller set in Greece and Istanbul, 1962. Intrigue begins at the Parthenon when wealthy American tourists Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his young wife Collete (Kirsten Dunst) meet American expat Rydal (Oscar Isaac), a scammer working as a tour guide. Instead of becoming his latest marks, the two befriend him, but a murder at the couple’s hotel puts all three on the run together and creates a precarious bond between them as the trio’s allegiance is put to the test.
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Continue reading ‘The Two Faces Of January (Blu-ray Review)’
January 8th, 2015 by Brandon Peters
A powerfully redemptive story about a young man in search of both his purpose and his identity, The Identical arrives on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack from Cinedigm and City of Peace Films. Featuring over 20 original songs, all produced and co-written by Motown legend, Jerry Marcellino, the “wholesome and faith-friendly” (Catholic News Service) film boasts an all-star cast, including Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, Field of Dreams), Ashley Judd (Dolphin Tale 2, Divergent), Seth Green (“Family Guy,” “Robot Chicken”), Brian Geraghty (“Ray Donovan,” “Boardwalk Empire,” The Hurt Locker) and newcomer Blake Rayne. The Identical is a redemptive movie about a young man, the son of a preacher, who rejects his father’s desire for him to join the ministry and instead embarks on a career as a rock singer. Continue reading ‘The Identical (Blu-ray Review)’
January 7th, 2015 by Gerard Iribe
Explore the far reaches of the galaxy in this undeniably hip series that inspired a generation – and redefined anime as an indisputable art form. The Bebop crew is just trying to make a buck. This motley lot of intergalactic loners teams up to track down fugitives and turn them in for cold hard cash. Spike is a hero whose cool façade hides a dark and deadly past. The pilot Jet is a bruiser of a brute who can’t wait to collect the next bounty. Faye Valentine is a femme fatale prone to breaking hearts and separating fools from their money. Along for the ride are the brilliant, but weird, hacker Ed and a super-genius Welsh Corgi named Ein. On their own, any one of them is likely to get lost in the sprawl of space, but together, they’re they most entertaining gang of bounty hunters in the year 2071. Continue reading ‘Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review) (FUNimation Exclusive Limited to 2500 copies)’
January 7th, 2015 by Gerard Iribe
Explore the far reaches of the galaxy in this undeniably hip series that inspired a generation – and redefined anime as an indisputable art form. The Bebop crew is just trying to make a buck. This motley lot of intergalactic loners teams up to track down fugitives and turn them in for cold hard cash. Spike is a hero whose cool façade hides a dark and deadly past. The pilot Jet is a bruiser of a brute who can’t wait to collect the next bounty. Faye Valentine is a femme fatale prone to breaking hearts and separating fools from their money. Along for the ride are the brilliant, but weird, hacker Ed and a super-genius Welsh Corgi named Ein. On their own, any one of them is likely to get lost in the sprawl of space, but together, they’re they most entertaining gang of bounty hunters in the year 2071. Continue reading ‘Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review)’
