Supergirl: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray Review)
Supergirl has remained one of the strongest rated shows in the CW lineup, continuing to grow and improve with every single year. Melissa Benoist and supporting cast shine year in and year out, introducing terrific guests and villains into the mix while showcasing some impressing comic book supernatural action for the small screen. As per usual, the “girl of steel” will be making the annual trip to Blu-ray with her previous season. Unfortunately it comes with the uniform bonus features found across the other CW Arrow’verse sets and nothing beholden to this show exclusively. Nonetheless, that’s fine for all the Supergirl-only fans out there and its the show you ultimately want to collect when its all said and done. You’ll be able to grab this one online and in-stores when Warner Bros releases it on September 17th. Continue reading ‘Supergirl: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray Review)’
Scream Factory will continue to add to its still growing and insanely impressive library of John Carpenter titles with 1998’s Vampires. This film was previously available only in a limited edition from Twilight Time that sold out very quickly. There was also a popular UK release for those who didn’t nab one of those from the Indicator label over there. However, if you have either one, toss it, because that had no real bonus features and this is coming loaded with brand new material. This includes new interviews with John Carpenter, James Woods and Greg Nicotero as well as some archival stuff. Vampires is never considered among Carpenter’s best or under appreciated films, but a complete release with better understanding could elevate it to that, plus its still a fascinating film due to having an artist like John at the helm. You can pre-order the film on Shout! Factory’s website (It might still come with a poster, I don’t know) or use the Amazon link below to have it on release day, September 24th.
Disney’s remake of its 1992 animated film Aladdin is just another in the long line (and still moving down that line) of reimaginations from its vault of fairy tale classics. This year alone has 3 of them and then a sequel to one of their previous efforts still to go. Aladdin was a smashing success, earning over 1 billion dollars at the box office this summer and over $350 million in the US alone. It continued the trend of the critics and general audiences not seeing eye to eye in terms of quality either. Film writers loathe these things, while audiences are just eating them up and loving every second of it. The new Aladdin will be arriving from Disney on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format alonside its predecessor, the 1992 animated Aladdin, on September 10th.
Disney’s Aladdin took the longest time to arrive on Blu-ray (in the United States). But come the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format, it’s making the jump as one of the earliest jumps of all the Disney animated epics from the 1990s. That’s thanks mostly to having its live-action remake debuting this past summer and making a boatload of money at the box office that even the Genie couldn’t have granted a wish for. And it will also be debuting on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray alongside its real people counterpart on September 10th. This new release will contain an Atmos track to go with a nice wave of new bonus features. Some old features are included, but for the rest, you’ll only be able to access and watch them if you redeem your Movies Anywhere digital copy code that comes inside the case. So, if you’re needing a hard copy of those past featurettes, you’ll have to hang onto your Diamond Edition Blu-ray. Pretty lame, I agree, but I guess I’ll take the compromise.
While Warner Bros has some more high profile cinematic shared universes in the obvious DC comics one and the Conjuring movies and their various spin-offs, one that hasn’t quite hit in the ways they’ve wanted it to (Despite delivering quality films) is the Godzilla/King Kong shared universe. Three films in now and the successes, buzz and pop culture relevancy haven’t increased or been at a level I’m sure the studio was hoping it would be growing towards. Its every likely the Godzilla vs King Kong movie will close out this short series at 4 films, but then again maybe it goes on. The 3rd film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters opened this past summer and took in only $110 million on a $170 million budget in the US. Worldwide it did $385 million, but I’m sure they were hoping (And needing) it to do probably another $100 million. And its not like this film wasn’t trying to give people what they wanted either. If you missed it, you’ll be able to check it out on Blu-ray Tuesday, August 27th.
Apocalypse Now is one of those films that you don’t even have to see to know what it’s about. Scenes are quoted and recalled all the time. It’s a feature that has yet to become a classic unmentioned. The behind-the-scenes story is just as known and fascinating as the film itself. Francis Ford Coppola nearly went insane to bring this project to life. The efforts therein are even more admirable. Apocalypse Now is a truly stunning piece of film history. The story of an Army Captain not far from his own breakdown heading up a Vietnamese river to assassinate a cult-like former Colonel is engrained in popular culture. “The horror…” of a hellish war story is on full display. This new 40th Anniversary Final Cut edition of Apocalypse Now will stand as the definitive way to experience the film at home and the presentation of this collection is a huge achievement in how to present physical media.
Reggie Dwight is an international treasure. He has been giving music to the world since the early 70’s, has amassed a gigantic fan base, and is one of popular music’s most eclectic musicians. Oh wait… something about this opening doesn’t seem right… Ah, yes…. ELTON JOHN is the name, and Rocketman is the game… uh… movie… And what a film it is! A whirlwind journey told through the eyes, ears and reminiscences of music royalty? This movie screams “see it!” from it’s first frames! Music, drama, and huge highs and lows are just a few of the things awaiting you in Rocketman. Check out more below on this incredible music fantasy biopic!
Blumhouse for the better and for the worse, is one of the studios I currently admire most in the realm of mainstream Hollywood wide release commercial films. They keep their budgets tight, low and aren’t afraid to take chances when the time is right. Jason Blum himself seems to have an ear to the crowd and a willingness to the creates to want to produce to the best for fans and introduce them to new angles as well. If a film tanks (They rarely do), its not going to sink them. Ma, the recent summer offering, is not the case here as with just a $5 million budget, the movie took in $45 million domestic and $60.5 million worldwide. That’s a big hit and big profit. And now it’s going to hit home where it’ll sure continue to rake in. You can find the Blu-ray edition of the film available on September 3rd. 
While Arrow will always be the first and flagship show of (Even deemed) “The Arrow-verse”, The Flash has been the mainstay powerhouse for the CW network pretty much its entire lifetime. Five seasons and still going strong, with Barry Allen and company the most popular show not just of the DC TV superheroes but of the whole network at large. The Fifth season continued exploring and trying to find ways to tell stories where the main villain wasn’t just some other speedster. The season will be available on Blu-ray in time for those who missed it to catch up for the sixth season which should be another doozy, being a part of the upcoming Infinite Crisis crossover which is going to be HUUUUUUGE. You can pre-order now to have it upon arrival August 27th.
Scream Factory has completed the Hammer Dracula series for North American collectors with 1970s Scars of Dracula starring Christopher Lee. A controversial entry for some of the loyal fans, I find myself on the other side of the fence loving it. The film features a nutso turn from the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. Through both releases from Warner Bros (And Warner Archive Collection) and Scream Factory, you can now own all 9 films that belong in the canon (Yes, the martial arts meets Dracula film Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires officially counts). Scars of Dracula will come with some solid bonus features (Including an archival commentary featuring Christopher Lee) and the ability to watch the film in two different aspect ratios. The sixth film in the series arrives on Blu-ray September 10th. 
The CW DC TV universe’s flagship program, Arrow, will conclude its run this fall with a ten episode eighth and final season which sees it taking part in the most ambitious crossover event they may ever pull off; Crisis on Infinite Earths. Oliver Queen and company have spent seven glorious seasons grounding and building up the DC world to fill up CW programming to the wildest dreams of my DC childhood. It’ll be sad to see it go, but we will be eight seasons long and well over a hundred episodes deep. I assume Batwoman will thematically/aesthetically attempt to fill in the void left by Arrow and best of luck to her and her crew. This eighth season of Arrow will be making its debut on Blu-ray with a 4-disc set, featuring some new extras (That are also available on the other super hero season sets like Supergirl and Flash). You can lock yourself in a copy for your collection by clicking on the Amazon link following the review.
Glory was a movie that I’d been hearing of for nearly my entire life. I heard it was a harrowing story of a too often forgotten group of American heroes. I was always curious to see the film and chance after chance something kept me from seeing it until this past weekend. Glory does indeed tell quite a story about a very special group of soldiers and the film is one not to be missed even 30 years after it was initially released.
Here we are with the home video release of the biggest movie in the world of all time, Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? That one that followed up the previous years’ giant film with a giant cliffhanger and brought together all of the major superheroes on screen together? No, not Justice League. Okay, I’ll stop being dumb, but how else to introduce a movie that practically the entire population knows what it is and has seen it AT LEAST one time? Its coming to all the formats, including the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format which I am reviewing here. A format that Disney has struggled with overall, with some bright spots leading to hoping a corner had been turned, only to backpedal quickly after. Where will Endgame stand in that pantheon? THERE’S our mystery for the intro paragraph! Well, lets continue!
Warner Archive Collection’s tail end of July slate included the Blu-ray debut of the legendary mystery/detective film from the 1930s, The Thin Man. This comedy bending caper was a pretty big hit in the decade and hindsight shows it was quite a big one, developing into one of cinema’s earliest series (Or as we would call them today, “franchises”). The Thin Man spawned a number of sequels through the 1940s as well as a television series in the 1950s. Will this initial release prove to be the first of many Thin Man mysteries to hit Blu-ray? One has to wonder if there are plans to release the remainder. Its probably dependent on how well the sales and actual demand turn out to be for this first film. So, if you’re wanting more Thin Blus (#ThinBlus ???), you’ll probably have to fork over the dollars to this one regardless. Its the name of the game as a boxed set of all the films likely is not in the cards at all. You can grab the original here by finding it on Warner Archive Collection’s site or the Amazon link after the review.
