Archive for the 'Blu-ray Reviews' Category
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?
. Continue reading ‘Born To Race: Fast Track (Blu-ray Review)’
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)’
August 30th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
Kurumi’s heart was broken by the sudden death of her boyfriend in a tragic airplane accident. Forced to carry on without her beloved Hal, she fell into a reclusive and joyless existence. Kurumi had given up on the world, but a brilliant scientist devised a plan to win her back. By melding futuristic technology with the binary equivalent of human emotion, they created an ultra-lifelike robotic surrogate to take Hal s place and lure Kurumi from her shroud of solitude. Resistant at first, this shattered beauty slowly yielded to her feelings of longing and took comfort in the company of a robot. Though their unique bond grew stronger with each passing day, Kurumi and Hal would soon discover that nothing about their artificial love story was quite as it seemed. Continue reading ‘Hal – The Movie (Blu-ray Review)’
August 28th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
It’s a rare occurrence when a movie drops a trailer that looks incredible, has expectations set very high and then delivers. Captain America: The Winter Soldier did just that. The film also opted to be a Spring movie and in turn wound up being the highest grossing film domestically until just a week ago. Pretty impressive. Its also big enough to scare off Batman and Superman from competing head to head with the follow up. Personally, I was a big fan of the first Captain America film (It so happens to be my favorite pre-Avengers Phase I film) and was looking very forward to another Steve Rogers “solo” adventure. The film also featured one of my favorite Avengers coming back too, Black Widow. And then they were using The Winter Soldier storyline…just sounded too awesome to be true. Continue reading ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Blu-ray Review)’
August 28th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
The Katie Couric-produced and narrated documentary, Fed Up premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Later, it found release in theaters back in May during summer movie season. No, it didn’t finish in the Top 10 of summer films. It was widely praised by critics, with one even calling it the “Inconvenient Truth of the health movement”. The Weinstein Company bought the rights to it and are now bringing it to Blu-ray where hopefully more people will be able to become informed of what it has to offer. If you are interested in learning more about this hidden cause to obesity in America and some of what you can do to improve your health to prevent it, you can use the Amazon link to pre-order the film. Continue reading ‘Fed Up (Blu-ray Review)’
August 27th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Anchor Bay is releasing the “new”est Donnie Yen film, 14 Blades. I use the term “new” loosely as its been out since 2010. The film is just now coming over to the United States after playing and being awarded elsewhere for four years. While it premiered in Hong Kong, the film truly became a hit when it opened in Singapore. It then ended up being nominated for two awards at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards. The awards it was up for were for Best Sound Design and Best Action Choreography. Of those nomination, however, it went home empty handed winning neither of them. This isn’t the first Blu-ray release of the film either, but it is the first release of the film in the United States territory.
. Continue reading ’14 Blades (Blu-ray Review)’
August 27th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
Kelly Reichardt s suspense-thriller NIGHT MOVES is the story of three radical environmentalists coming together to execute the most intense protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam. Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard, The Killing) is a former Marine, radicalized by tours of duty overseas. His life in the military is behind him, but at heart he remains excited by the prospect of mayhem and destruction. Dena (Dakota Fanning, The Twilight Saga) is a high-society dropout who s moved west and cut ties with her family, edging ever deeper into radical politics. And Josh (Jesse Eisenberg, Social Network), their leader, is a self-made militant, devoted to the protection of the earth by any means necessary. As the three plan, carry out and then witness the fallout of their attention-grabbing act of sabotage, they find their own personal limits tested on a journey of doubt, paranoia and unintended consequences. Continue reading ‘Night Moves (Blu-ray Review)’
August 26th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
A group of friends planned the perfect vacation in the Caribbean, but when they head ashore to explore a remote island, their ultimate bachelor weekend devolves into their worst nightmare. After an ill-fated swim in contaminated water, they stumble upon a seemingly abandoned research facility where a deadly, flesh-eating virus has been unleashed. In the aftermath of a massacre, the only people left alive are a handful of secretive medical personnel and “Patient Zero” (Sean Astin), the lone person who’s been exposed to the disease and shows no symptoms. Can they find a way to survive and escape, or will the virus consume them all in a bloodbath of chaos and carnage? Continue reading ‘Cabin Fever: Patient Zero (Blu-ray Review)’
August 25th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
Jethro Tull’s famous concept album ‘Thick As A Brick’ was originally released in 1972 and featured one continuous track spread across two sides of an LP telling the story of a young boy called Gerald Bostock. 40 years later in 2012, Jethro Tull’s founder and leader Ian Anderson created ‘Thick As A Brick’ 2: Whatever Happened To Gerald Bostock? . Following this release Ian Anderson took both albums on the road to perform the complete story of Gerald Bostock and this concert from the tour was filmed in Iceland. The show combines music, video screens and mime to bring Gerald s tale to life as never before and create the definitive presentation of ‘Thick As A Brick’. Continue reading ‘Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson: Thick As A Brick – Live In Iceland (Blu-ray Review)’
