Archive for the 'Blu-ray Reviews' Category
September 17th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Shout! Factory is distributing the animated film Thunder And The House Of Magic this fall exclusively to Walmart stores starting September 30. So exclusive to Walmart that you can’t even purchase it via the Shout! Factory website. This animated tale featured a limited theatrical run in the US a few weeks ago and was released wide in Belgium last year around Christmas time. The film has a lot of notable music included in the feature including songs by The Cure and Selena Gomez.
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. Continue reading ‘Thunder And The House Of Magic (Blu-ray Review)’
September 16th, 2014 by Alan Aguilera
When CW first announced that they were doing an Arrow tv series, I was skeptical. Oliver Queen is one of the most liberal and rebellious characters in the DCU, I wasn’t sure how the WB was going to pull it off. Luckily, the first season was a great success, mostly due to lowered expectations (on my end anyway). Arrow The Complete Second Season was really going to be a make or break season for this show creatively. A sophomore slump was the fear I had for the show. Thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. Let’s take a closer look! Continue reading ‘Arrow The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray Review)’
September 14th, 2014 by Brian White
The Big Bang Theory, now entering its eighth season this year on CBS (season premiere 9/22), has long been one of my girlfriend’s favorite primetime shows. She’s actually the one responsible for making me such a huge fan too. Although I have to be honest. Five years went by before I even watched a single episode of the series. It just looked so stupid to me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big geek in life much like the male cast, but the fact that a hot blonde could ever want anything to do with these nerds was never plausible to me. So I remember one Thanksgiving at my parent’s house and they had The Big Bang Theory on the television in the backroom. It caught my eye because I heard the guys on the show talking about an outing they were planning to see the remastered version of The Raiders of the Lost Ark in the theaters. Pretty much if you say anything Indiana Jones or Star Wars related you have my undivided attention. After liking what I saw and hearing my parents and Kori talk about the show so lovingly I was convinced I had to give it a whirl so without any regrets I purchased the first five episodes of season one off of iTunes and I too fell in love with the boys. So it’s with great pride, enthusiasm and joy that I present to you my coverage of The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray review. Continue reading ‘The Big Bang Theory The Complete Seventh Season (Blu-ray Review)’
September 12th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
Homeland is an espionage drama series on Showtime that has received a lot of acclaim for the way it pulls together a lot of ideas surrounding counter-terrorism, paranoia, prisoners of war, damaged personas, and what it means to be a hero. Following the highly acclaimed first and second seasons (reviewed HERE and HERE), which were met with many awards to honor the success of the series success, the third season has now arrived on Blu-ray a few weeks before the new season starts, with the tough task of following up what has been started. This season of the series unfortunately has fallen prey to evidence of diminishing returns, despite attempts to change up the status quo and the very strong performances that continue to be prevalent throughout. Continue on to learn more about this third season Blu-ray release.
Continue reading ‘Homeland: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray Review)’
September 12th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
It’s somewhat unbelievable that Supernatural is now ten years old. Yes, this is the review of the ninth season but season 10 is due to premiere, if it hasn’t already, on the CW via the WB network. Honestly, as a fan of the show, I am happy it’s still running and I am also happy that WB has been giving us some stellar packages on Blu-ray throughout the years. A show like Supernatural deserves to be seen and heard in the highest quality – Blu-ray. Let us see what the 23-episode season nine has to offer those who are on the outside looking in. Shall we begin? Continue reading ‘Supernatural: Season 9 (Blu-ray Review)’
September 11th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
While Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers and Halloween: H20 have been given new “Collector’s Edition” style discs in this new Blu-ray set, the previously released Anchor Bay and Scream Factory titles remain relatively the same editions as you can buy standalone. That didn’t stop them from putting additional features for those movies in Halloween: The Complete Collection (Deluxe Edition). That’s what Disc 15 is for. There’s some all new stuff, plus some ported over material. All the more to make this the definitive Halloween set and leave you with really no desire to need anything further from this franchise in the future. The box set really is the complete journey through this franchise for good or bad. Continue reading ‘Halloween: The Complete Collection, Deluxe Edition – Disc 15 (Blu-ray Review)’
September 11th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
It’s widely known that the holy grail of the Halloween franchise is the “Producer’s Cut” of the sixth film, The Curse Of Michael Myers. The production overreacted to an unfavorable test screening following its final cut (Made up of 15 year old boys). Joe Chappelle was charged with taking his film and trying to completely change the story, the tone and make it much more graphic and violent. What resulted was a film that was disjointed, uneven and didn’t really make much sense. This wasn’t the internet era where this would have been widely known to begin with. It wasn’t until after the film had released that magazines and the like realized they had promo and set photos that seemed way off from what appeared in the final film. Then, it dropped. One of the most famous bootlegs in history started circulating and showed fans what was really intended for Halloween 6. For years and years fans pleaded to have it released and it many of those plans wound up failing. Now, 19 years later…this dream is finally coming true. Now what do us Halloween fans do with our lives? Continue reading ‘Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers – The Producer’s Cut (Blu-ray Review)’
September 11th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Cartoon Network today unveiled the highly-anticipated Blu-ray™ and DVD release of Adventure Time: The Complete Fourth Season. Available October 7, the two-disc DVD and single-disc Blu-ray release will feature all 26 episodes from the series’ fourth season, plus extensive exclusive bonus material. The highlight of the bonus features is a 19-minute Distant Bands: The Music of Adventure Time featurette with series creator Pendleton Ward, creative director Pat McHale, and storyboard artists Jesse Moynihan and Rebecca Sugar offering their commentary on the important role music plays in the series. In addition, each episode will feature commentary with the cast and crew, and this time, it all comes packaged in a new collectible Marceline slipcase, a must-have addition to Adventure Time fans’ collections. Continue reading ‘ADVENTURE TIME Season 4 Blu-ray Hits October 7!’
September 11th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Friday nights are not the most popular time you think of when it comes to “must see” television. When a show moves to the end of the week its know as getting put in a “Friday Death Slot” where its assumed the next step for the show is cancellation. However, few shows can do well and survive healthily on Friday nights. There’s lower expectation there, and the ability to impress and look good for advertisers comes with doing more in a lesser night. Hannibal was kept alive after season 1 but relegated to Friday, but it was a hopeful move to Friday because it seemed it was moved there not as being on its last leg, but because the thought was that it might flourish there. It did a little better, but the show’s artistic merit, its following and ability to do well after it has aired (DVR, streaming, DVD/Blu-ray sales) have proven that its very worth keeping around for NBC. Plus, I think the folks at NBC are just as big of fans as we are, wanting to see this thing come to full fruition. Continue reading ‘Hannibal – Season 2 (Blu-ray Review)’
September 10th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
It is great to see a movie like this treated with a level of respect. While Godzilla can be boiled down to a giant monster causing a rampage in a city, the fact that the film (as well as its marketing) had a level of restraint in how to actually depict the sort of chaos that comes with this sort of film territory is impressive. This new Godzilla movie had a lot more in common with a disaster movie than a science fiction/adventure story, but it respects the legacy of the 60-year old franchise. The film was incredibly satisfying in the way it confidently built up to huge reveals, maintained a level of pacing fitting of the more memorable summer blockbusters, put a great deal of faith in letting the atmosphere enthrall its audience into the story, and still was a lot of fun to watch. While the human-based drama leaves something to be desired, this is easily the most enjoyable Godzilla film since 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante. Now the King of the Monsters has arrived on Blu-ray for the world to continue to hear his roar.
Continue reading ‘Godzilla (Blu-ray Review)’
September 7th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
The Dance of Reality, written, produced and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky is a mystical autobiography of Jodorowsky s childhood, blending his personal history with metaphor, mythology and poetry. The film reflects the director s view that reality is not objective but rather a dance created by our imaginations. After its world premiere at Cannes in 2013 and US premiere at SXSW in 2014, the film has received universal praise from all media outlets including the New York Times which hailed it as a near masterpiece and a NY Times Critics pick, the Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, RogerEbert.com, Vulture, Film.com and indieWIRE. It opened in theaters on May 23rd as the #1 independent film in the country and is now Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 93%. Considered the father of the Midnight Movies, Jodorowsky is best known for his films, El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), which have since become cult classics. Continue reading ‘Dance of Reality (Blu-ray Review)’
September 7th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Born To Race was a 2011 straight-to-video racing movie that apparently was well received or successful enough to warrant us the sequel Born To Race: Fast Track. This time, the main character of Danny Krueger has been recast, going from Joseph Cross to Brett Davern. And if you could tell me who these guys are outside of this movie series, than you’re more with it than I am. This one advances the story to a more professional racing aspect than the original was from what I gather. The real question is after this movie, will we be lucky enough to see another film in this series in a couple years? And will they recast the lead again?
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September 7th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Remember the crazy voiced comedian and actor Bobcat Goldthwait? You know, Zed from the Police Academy movies? Well, he’s gone and transformed himself into a director in the last half decade or so. He earned some accolades for his previous film God Bless America back in 2011. Now, he’s been getting some more attention for his latest film, Willow Creek. Bobcat decided to take on the horror genre for his follow up to God Bless America. And not just that, he got on the found footage bandwagon. The subject matter of this such film is the legendary monster, Bigfoot.
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Continue reading ‘Willow Creek (Blu-ray Review)’
September 5th, 2014 by Alan Aguilera
When the CW first started as a network it had the reputation of having nothing but teen dramas that had very little critical merit, i.e. One Tree Hill, 90210 reboot (Which I watched, I love me some Jenny Garth) and some other random shows. Yet, in the past couple of years, the CW is slowing turning that around by producing some quality shows like Arrow, and the debut season of Gotham for this Fall TV Season (I’m hoping it’s good anyway). Last year, they debuted a new show which was a spin-off of their big hit, The Vampire Diaries, called The Originals. Upon first glance for me it certainly wasn’t a show I was interested in personally or even very much aware of (I.E. Not at all). But I don’t think I am really the demographic they are looking for. Luckily, I got the chance to review the first season on Blu-ray and I was pleasantly surprised. Continue reading ‘The Originals: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray Review)’
September 5th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
While a group of young actors rehearse a new musical about a mass murderer, a notorious psychopath escapes from a nearby insane asylum. But when the shows director locks his cast in the theater overnight, the madman is accidentally locked inside as well. Now, a killer with acting in his blood has gone berserk for the blood of actors (including several scenes that EuroHorror fans worldwide consider to be the most violent of the decade) and the stage is set for one unforgettable evening of shock! An all-new Special Edition Blu-ray! Please keep in mind that this version of Stage Fright was released in 1987. There was another film released earlier this year by the same name, as well. They’re NOT the same film. Continue reading ‘Stage Fright (Blu-ray Review)’
September 4th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
Brian De Palma returns to the sleek, sly, seductive territory of Dressed To Kill with an erotic thriller fueled by sex, ambition and the murderous side of Passion. Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace star as two female executives whose fierce competition to rise up the ranks is about to turn literally cut-throat. Bonus Features: Interviews with Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace Continue reading ‘Passion (Blu-ray Review)’
September 3rd, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Firestorm is a film that interested me because of its star, Andy Lau. I’ve been a fan of the actor ever since I was introduced to the Infernal Affairs trilogy (Or, Hong Kong Departed for those of you who don’t know that series is). He’s an interesting performer and he’s been around for a long time and has a HUGE filmography. Seriously though, go look at it. To have gone back and researched all his films would be near impossible, but I have sought out some and if I see something that catches my eye and I notice he’s in it, it definitely gets my attention. Today, we’re focus on one of his more recent films, Firestorm. Continue reading ‘Firestorm (Blu-ray Review)’
September 2nd, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Last year, horror was abuzz with a word of this new zombie film called The Battery. It was a super low budget indie film ($6,000), but I didn’t really know much about it. All I had seen was a picture and a really cool poster (that is the flip side of the cover art on this release). I pretty much got to go in blind. And yeah, I was definitely on board with everyone singing it praises. But, who was going to release the film on home video? That was the big question. And as a huge welcomed surprise, it ended up being Scream Factory. I had definitely said when this was announced that without it even being release yet it was their best modern horror film release, and I’m sticking to that. Continue reading ‘The Battery (Blu-ray Review)’
