Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (Blu-ray Review)
After my last go around with Paranormal Activity 4 in 2012 after Gerard Iribe flipped me the disc, I swore myself off the franchise for good. I made ignorant comments such as I don’t care how long this franchise carries on, I want nothing to do with it, etc. When they announced the delay of the fifth film this past year from its lavish Halloween spot to a January play date, I just chuckled heavily. What movies play in January? A million arms raise high. I pick the loudest screaming one. The answer they all shout out unanimously is not very good ones. And then the unthinkable happened. Reports started flooding in on my RSS feeds saying low and behold, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones actually isn’t that bad and that revered writers praised it for reinvigorating their interest in the franchise and further installments. Say whaaat?! Continue reading ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (Blu-ray Review)’
Hulk Hogan was a mega star in the (then) World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He was one of those “larger than life” personalities. His presence got a whole generation into pro wrestling for at least a good while. Personally, I even went and saw him live once. I was young and didn’t see how fake it was and my dad to this day says watching me there was one of the greatest things he’d ever seen when I watched Hulkster battle Mr. Perfect. The WWF wrestlers even had a cartoon back in the day. The one thing Hulk Hogan didn’t really cross over to well like his popularity heir The Rock would now dominate, was becoming a big action movie star. And to his defense, the era he tried to break into was already overloaded with action heroes. But, it should be said, he did open the door for wrestlers to try their hand at mainstream film. Hogan’s biggest numbers would wind up being a pair of family comedies that played on his abilities ironically (Mr. Nanny and Suburban Commando). The Blu-ray we’re reviewing today, No Holds Barred (turning 25 years old this year), was his shot at maybe becoming the next big action star. 
Here we are once again. It’s the same place we were last year. It’s spring time so it must be coincidentally time for the newest entry in The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) saga…err I mean The Hobbit saga on Blu-ray. And low and behold…IT IS! How about I make a promise to you from the get go? My review below will not be as long as every LOTR infused butt numbing experience you ever had. No sir! Or no ma’am! This isn’t an Extended Edition anyway. I promise to keep my babbling to a minimum, but just in case let’s get a move on it. I tend to fib and we have lots to discuss here. We have a dragon to slay, elves, dwarves and orcs to feud with and possibly even a certain hobbit to toast. Ladies and gentlemen…this is second installment in the three-part film series set to conclude with There and Back Again this summer…may I introduce The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug…on Blu-ray. 
Disclaimer: This opening paragraphs consists of all original thoughts, phrases and ideas. Admittedly so, I missed this one in theaters. I got lazy. I never showed up. I even lost the free movie cash we had to see this one. Boo! However, I was still curious to see where this second and supposedly final film in the franchise took our favorite anchorman as when we last left Ron Burgundy it seemed that Veronica Corningstone and he were living happily ever after. Could turmoil have boiled up in the bask of their afterglow? Was Baxter the dog alright? What happened to the other guys? These and many more are questions I was hoping to find answers for as I finally got the chance to snuggle up with Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues on the home media format of choice, Blu-ray. 
Walking With Dinosaurs was a pretty big disappointment for Fox this past winter. The $80 million budgeted film only took back $36 million in the United States. When added, the overseas totals take it to $125.5 million overall. But, Fox claims that the intake globally is still very lackluster. The film featured computer generated dinosaurs in live action filmed locations. It was originally intended to be a realistic approach just following dinosaurs around but later on it was decided that they should even more “kid friendly” the film and add some voice overs and try to enrich the story with them. What they wound up with was a film that both audiences and critics agreed wasn’t very good at all. So I guess it is with great caution that I venture into this prehistoric tale on my own. 
My love and affinity for anything Adam Green puts his hands on should come as no surprise to any of my loyal readers at Why So Blu over the years. I have not only chatted with the man extensively every year I see him at Comic-Con, but he’s also become quite the household name in the “White House” as both my girlfriend and I eat up everything he does and we can’t get enough of his FEARnet television series, Holliston. My girlfriend loves the cute little Laura Ortiz (see some pictures of her 
Disney’s 2013 Oscar hopeful, Saving Mr. Banks has come to Blu-ray. Boasting stellar performances by Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks, it stunned many when all it got nominated for was Best Original Score (Thomas Newman). No matter, the film received plenty of other award recognition with some wins and was a rousing success at the box office, raking in over $112 million for just a $35 million budget. It tells the story of a time during a golden age for the Mouse House, and the struggle with the creative process on developing one of the all time classics, Mary Poppins. So, take your spoon full of sugar and grab your kite as we take to the sky and chim chiminy chim chim review this Blu-ray. What? I’m in the spirit! 
Millennium Entertainment is bringing you the Blu-ray release of Buck Wild. This zombie comedy was actually made all the way back in 2011, but is just now making its way to home video. It made its big debut at the Dallas International Film Festival last year in April. It then later took home the “Best Of The Fest” award at the Hill Country Film Festival the following month. This film melds the genres of zombies and scary redneck hillbillies together in hopes of a great comedic romp. The film was directed by Tyler Glodt.
Just in time for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, here we have an animated Avengers adventure coming right at our Blu-ray players. What’s funny is that this is being put out by Sony. So, while they are targeting this release to closely coincide with The Winter Soldier, you’ll find no trailer or other promotional material for the upcoming Marvel film anywhere on this disc (Captain America doesn’t even show up in this film, but Black Widow and Nick Fury who are also in The Winter Soldier are here). Staying in tune with all the more adult-aimed Marvel animations that have appeared on networks like the now defunct G4, this is done Anime-style. 
Action icon of the 80s and 90s, Jean-Claude Van Damme take his first roundhouse kick at comedy in Universal’s Welcome To The Jungle. The film also stars Adam Brody, Rob Huebel, Megan Boone and Dennish Haysbert. This film debuted at the Newport Beach Film Festival last year and has been currently making a limited theatrical run and been available via Video OnDemand for the last month. It’s coming to Blu-ray very soon, and I’ve got your review covered right here. Owner of Why So Blu?, Brian White is a big JCVD fan, so I hope he finds I honor the man appropriately with this review. And, noteworthy, this is the site’s 2nd JCVD movie review in the last month. As always, if you like the film or are interested, click the Amazon link at the bottom to pre-order and secure yourself a copy come release day! 
When one of televisions best dramas, Game Of Thrones, returns in April, so does one of its very best comedies. Just in time to brush up for season 3, here comes the second season of HBO’s VEEP on Blu-ray. The show has received plenty of awards circuit attention, including 2 victories for Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the Emmy Award in the “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series” category (they should just name the statue for that one after her in all honesty) and last year’s victory for Tony Hale in the “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series” for his role as Vice President Selina Meyer’s personal aide Gary Walsh. This set drops on March 25 and is only 10 episodes, giving you ample time to catch up and see what all the (much deserved) hype and fuss is about this grand little comedy. 
Return To Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1 is the first part of the ceremonious return of Lloyd Kaufman directing one of his most iconic Troma series. I was a pretty big fan of the original film (maybe my favorite Troma movie), it serves up Troma at its best. Cheap, sleezy, goofy, fun and delivering plenty of outrageous gore and laughs. For some reason, I’ve never ventured to its 2 sequels. But, as this film starts with a recap that swears up and down this is cannon and not a remake, it looks like those 2 didn’t matter when it came to this film. And while this film is indeed a 4th venture into the series, its very much a soft reboot as it does restart the story and share some similar events in its origin as its predecessor. 
Academy Award nominee for Best Score, done by the legendary John Williams, The Book Thief comes to Blu-ray. In a past time and place, this film would have seemed a kind of shoe-in for Academy Award nominations. It all too much feels like that very safe King’s Speech kind of film. Alas, it barely made a noise on the award circuits. It’s a solid family film that almost feels like a fairy tale about Nazi Germany. It’s a film based off a young adult novel by Marcus Zusak, is helmed by Downton Abbey director Brian Percival and stars acting veteran Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and young up and coming actress Sophie Nelisse. 
