Queen & Slim (4K Blu-ray Review)
February 22nd, 2020 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
The film debut of director Melina Matsoukas, Queen & Slim, is the kind of film you swear you’ve seen before. You think that way at first. But as you delve deeper into the story and are sucked into the visuals, the music, the style and the wonderful acting, you are given the gift of something new entirely. Queen & Slim has turned out to be quite a surprise. Read more in depth below, and click the (Paid) link below to preorder your copy. Queen & Slim releases on March 3rd.
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Midway is a movie that director Roland Emmerich has been trying to make since the days of Godzilla. Back then, the powers that be weren’t so keen on seeing a remake of a forgettable 70’s film about a huge battle in World War II. Coming back to now, and we have the long-imagined film. The question is, was it worth the wait? Check out the fine details all about Midway below. Click the link at the end to grab yourself a copy. We use those links to keep these reviews coming!
Jojo Rabbit is one of those films that I unfortunately missed out on seeing last year in the theater. However, if I would have, this one would have definitely found a home in my Top 10 Films of 2019 
In 2013, Frozen launched itself into quite the phenomenon that Disney hadn’t seen from a Princess movie in decades. Elsa climbed atop a pedestal with Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora and others. And she did so in a very new and exciting way. Everyone felt the fever of “Let It Go” and the other tunes that masterfully built up one of the best collection of showtunes for a musical in eons (“Do You Want To Build A Snowman” is my personal favorite, though “Love Is An Open Door” offers a lot!). Hell, I am an avid lover of Frozen, despite my children doing their best to try and tire me of it. Unlike those other princesses, have a huge hit movie mean Elsa was getting a sequel instead of just moving on to the next princess (Which they did as well with Moana). Six years later, Frozen II was unveiled to the world and became an even bigger hit than its predecessor. You be able to venture “Into The Unknown” with Anna, Else, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven when it arrives on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, standard Blu-ray and DVD February 25th.
Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood was one of 2019’s best reviewed and praised films while also being a box office success story. The film warmed and won over both critics and audiences alike, and when you think of who the subject of the film is, its just kind of fitting that this would be a film where everyone gets along in times when there seem to be many anti-critic enthusiasts out there. A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood only found itself nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers) at the recent Academy Awards ceremony, the award ultimately going to Brad Pitt for his role as Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood. Sony will be putting the film onto 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray (With the overblown “IMAX Enhanced!” tag; it just means it has a DTS:X audio track). The film is available now, having been release on February 18th. The Amazon purchase link in this review is a paid Associate’s Account.
There was a time when the old Brian would have found such a movie like Ford v Ferrari to be an absolute wet dream. Up until about two years ago my world literally revolved around my 2006 Mustang GT. She, affectionately named Dark Angel after Jessica Alba’s failed TV show back in the day, was everything to me. And I mean everything.
While the original Pet Sematary (Adapted from the novel by Stephen King) has had a vast wealth of Blu-ray releases, even a 4K Ultra-HD release, as well as a remake even gracing both formats, the sequel to the original has be stuck as DVD only for years and years. But alas, not anymore as the Scream Factory – Paramount Blu-ray partnership continues to give and give for us horror aficionados. The possibly forgotten Edward Furlong-starring sequel has its fans and has been on the demand list for a good while now. Scream Factory recognizes that and is giving it the coveted Collector’s Edition release featuring brand new interviews and a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Yes, they got Furlong to come back and talk about the film. This exciting release will be able to be your when it arrives on February 25th. There is a link to pre-order following the review which is for a paid Amazon Associates account. 
Cats are coming! Although Alamo Drafhouse has started hosting Rowdy Cats screenings now you can take home Universal’s musical oddity. Judge for yourself if this is a misunderstood classic. Perhaps it’ll be catnip for ya! I am looking forward to revisiting this much-maligned but can’t look away film. I wish it was getting a 4K Whiskers Edition but I digress. The story of the Jellicle cats can soon take up space on your shelf as your real furry companions do. As I recall, Taylor Swift’s performance outdid her early acting bit from Valentine’s Day. Sir Ian McKellen went method. And newcomer Francesca Hayward was clearly a much better dancer than anyone else. I’m not looking forward to seeing Rebel Wilson eating bugs on-screen again but it’s a Blu-ray, I can skip that!
Boyz N The Hood is one of those quintessential genre movies. More than just merely a “Black Film”, Boyz centered around universal themes, but those themes are turned on their ears by the new landscape presented by visionary director John Singleton. The characters, the setting, the music and the mood are all such a huge part of the enjoyment of this film. The film itself is such a huge iconic moment for 90’s cinema and for people of color who lived these lives. The film was announced for a 4K disc late in 2019, and to my surprise there were a huge amount of 4K enthusiasts as excited as I was to see this announcement. Boyz N’ The Hood is available now for purchase, and you can get your copy at the paid link below!
A few months back (October to be exact), our very own retired/not retired Jason Coleman gave a 5-star review to Gille Klabin’s film, The Wave. Coleman also interviewed Klabin on the site and you can find all of that 
DC Comics has made a concerted effort to release some top tier programming on their streaming DC Universe platform. Amidst their growing library of shows include Doom Patrol, Teen Titans, both of which are live action, and the insanely fun Harley Quinn cartoon. Within that list of title is the king of the green, defender of the bayou, Swamp Thing. The live action series debuted in 2019 and was unfortunately cancelled after one season, largely due to budget issues. To put it plainly, the show got too expensive. Swamp Thing comes out on Blu-ray this Tuesday, February 11th, and I had a chance to check out ahead of time. Let’s take a look how the ten-episode, two-disc series looks.
As we all know, Doctor Sleep is the continued story of Danny Torrance, the tortured son of Jack in The Shining. We are following him on his own journey into the madness. What overtook his father once has lived in him for the last 40 years. There was a time when Danny couldn’t fight those frightening images. He was afraid to face those who tried to steal his shine. We learned a little bit about The Shining from Dick Halloran in the first film, but here, we get further in-depth on the subject. Just like this review! Look for far more on The Shining via Doctor Sleep, in stores this Tuesday.
Edward Norton’s second crack at directing makes its way home on Blu-ray sans any Oscar nominations but is nonetheless a solid adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s award-winning novel. There are have been plenty of gumshoe detective tales in cinema. Some like Chinatown are masterworks, while too many are forgettable – like that one that with ‘Mulholland‘ in the title but not David Lynch under ‘directed by.’ A 4K release of a good-looking period tale would have been preferable. Still, this 2K transfer is no slouch for anyone who loved the film or even folks like me who were anxious to play catch up. The strong cast includes Alec Baldwin, Willem Defoe, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Norton himself as the lead. There’s corruption afoot, so let’s venture into a Motherless Brooklyn to see what a junior private investigator uncovers.
1981’s My Bloody Valentine first made its way onto Blu-ray to coincide with the Todd Farmer/Patrick Lussier remake of the same name. A Paramount film, Lionsgate put out that release, which included a never before seen uncut version of the film featuring footage thought to be lost forever. That version had since gone out of print and was going for astronomical prices on the secondary market. For those of you who missed out on it the first time, hopefully you held out and didn’t pay out the wahzoo for it, as Scream Factory will be bringing it back to Blu-ray via a brand new 2-disc Collector’s Edition. This updated release will feature 4K scans of both the theatrical and uncut versions, previously a deleted scenes/branching option, as well as a plethora of brand new interviews and director commentary. As one would expect, Scream Factory is wasting no opportunity with their new Paramount deal, and giving this film the rock star release it has always deserved. Fans can finally own or upgrade their old copy when My Bloody Valentine – Collector’s Edition arrives on February 11th. Just in time to crack open a Moosehead and enjoy with your bloody valentine.
