The Kid Brother – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)
April 2nd, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Silent comedy legend Harold Lloyd has had a few of his films entered into the Criterion Collection before, including The Freshman and the iconic Safety Last. The Kid Brother has the distinction of being Lloyd’s favorite of his films, and you can see why. Playing with a fun concept that incorporates comedy, romance, and adventure, this is a laugh-a-minute feature that packs in plenty of jokes, physical gags, and stunts. Now that it has been restored for Blu-ray, plenty of fans, old and new, can dive into this delightful feature starring Lloyd as the bespectacled everyman who gets into many kinds of hijinks.
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While I had never been all in on the modern day Transformers films like childhood me would have hoped, oddly enough, the spin-off prequel film Bumblebee not only garnered my attention through production. And in on odd spin of events it won over my heart completely and even made my 10 favorite films list for last year. I don’t know that there’s a series that won me over completely like this on the 6th entry (Fast & Furious movies got me at 5). In actuality its the 7th theatrical Transformers feature if you count the original animated film (Which I do love). Paramount is bringing this film set in the VHS hey-day to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on April 2nd. Pre-order using the Amazon link below, or by signing up to hold a copy at your local Phar-Mor.
Hammer Films was always known for its horror output, but its “Golden” franchises were its lengthy Frankenstein and Dracula series. Those films made legends and iconic turns for both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. While the Dracula films span 9 films, only 3 of them found both Cushing and Lee in them and going head to head, their confrontation being The Satanic Rites Of Dracula. Some might officially call that the end, but technically it continues on for one more film. Cushing reprises his role of Van Helsing in the Hammer and Shaw Bros team up The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. A bonkers idea that should never have worked, but its actually succeeds in regards as both a martial arts and gothic horror tale. Its one of the most bizarre additions in the horror genre to this day. Scream Factory is debuting it on Blu-ray which completes the Hammer Dracula run on Blu-ray for Region-Free Blu-ray collectors. If you’re not, I hope Scars of Dracula is around the corner (The UK Region-B locked Studio Canal release is terrific). The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires arrives on April 9th, pre-ordering is available below. 
We keep demanding “More Hammer Please!” and Scream Factory has pleasantly obliged. Its been a mixture of upgraded editions and debuts, and I think they are doing a admirable job so far. I’m sure they’ll pull some big gun out here sooner or later too. The March contribution is the Joan Fontaine-led The Witches (Which seems to have been more known as “The Devil’s Own”). The only real new thing for this release is the commentary that brings on board author and filmmaker Ted Newson to discuss the film. The documentary included on here has been a part of another Hammer release in the past, but the documentary is great and the release its a part of is out of print. So, all the more reason to bring it back. I’ve been one excited by these releases and the label dipping into all sorts of pre-1970s horror gems good and bad this year. The Witches is available now and you can grab yourself a copy from the Shout! Factory website or Amazon link below. 
Scream Factory has a pair of cult classic horror films from the era of the later 70s/early 1980s coming through the line on April 16th. One of which is The Manitou, which is based off of the novel of the same name from author Graham Masterton. The film boasts a pretty notable cast, including the likes of Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg and Burgess Meredith. Its also notable for being the final film from Producer and Director William Girdler, who was killed in a helicopter accident prior to the release of the film. Scream Factory is bringing the film out with a new 4K scan of the original film elements and features some new features including a commentary track and a pair of interviews. You’ll be able to pre-order this one (And as always, help out the site just a little), by using the Amazon link following the review. It will be released alongside Superstition, both of which are debuts (In the US at least), on April 16th. 
It was only a matter of time I suppose, but here we are and low and behold we unbelievably, finally have an Aquaman movie. The masterful James Wan pulled off the what was almost deemed the impossible. He defied the odds and marvelously brought to the big screen an absurd superhero project, which has been in development hell since 2004. That’s right we finally get the Aquaman! Now I have never been that big on the character like most hardcore DC Comics fans, but Wan has my full attention now. The character of Aquaman for me amounted to very little in both 
Scream Factory has a pair of cult classic horror films from the era of the later 70s/early 1980s coming through the line on April 16th. Superstition is one of those titles. Released in 1985, but shot in 1982, Superstition is one of those notorious Video Nasty titles and a little seen bit of terror from that era. This Blu-ray debut for the film will feature some new interviews with the film’s director Jame Roberson and star James Houghton (Of Knott’s Landing fame), commissioned by Justin Beahm’s Reverend Entertainment. The film itself will feature a nice new 2K scan from the original film elements according to the blurbs for the release. Personally I’m looking forward to this one as I’ve actually never seen it and like the video store kid I am, “That poster/box looks awesome”. You’ll be able to pre-order this one (And as always, help out the site just a little), by using the Amazon link following the review. It will be released alongside The Manitou, both of which are debuts (In the US at least), on April 16th. 
March 2019 has proven a bit of spoils to grindhouse martial arts fans, as the long awaited Street Fighter films have all finally hit Blu-ray. Earlier in the month, Arrow Video released the spin-off Sister Street Fighter set and now the big boss of them all, The Street Fighter trilogy that launched Sonny Chiba into stardom is coming from Shout! Factory. As these were a New Line distribution, it comes as a part of their little run with Warner Bros titles, and I couldn’t be happier. The three films have been given 2K restorations from the best given materials to work with and there’s a brand new interview with Sonny Chiba included on the release as well. This is also a case where the inclusion of trailers as bonus is cause for a flying kick in celebration as they are some of the best of the era. Speaking of, Jack Sholder cut said trailers and is here to interview and talk about his involvement with New Line at the time and their attachment to these movies. It can all be had when it comes out on March 26th. So don’t have your balls ripped off, get your pre-order in now using the Amazon link below! 
Disney has been revisiting many of their hand-drawn animated classics of yesteryear and been giving human (Or computer animated) life to them for a whole new generation with great degrees of success. Mary Poppins Returns takes at taking one of their live-action classics (That also featured a handful of hand-drawn animation) and giving it a lega-sequel of all its own. The film proved a solid hit and one of the biggest movies of the holiday season, but not the monster I think they were expecting over that leggy time period. Its arriving quickly now, on shelves for 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on March 19th. At some point the link below will be active, so come back around to see if you can log yourself an Amazon pre-order. 
Coming later in June, Scream Factory will be releasing a set that highlights the work of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi outside of the respective monster franchise characters. With The Body Snatcher, not included in that set (Different studio production), they are giving a little taste of what’s to come with the 1945 Robert Wise film based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel of the same name. Scream Factory looks to have some good assets on this release including some vintage materials to go along with a new featurette for the release. The Body Snatcher is coming out at the end of the month on March 26th, and you can pre-order it (And help the site out a little) to have ready on release day by using the Amazon link located following the review. 
Lionsgate is bringing an underseen gem in the Nicholas Cage/Ethan Hawke/Jared Leto arms drama/thriller to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. While their updates of catalog titles seems random sometime at others headscratching, Lord of War feels like a its somewhere in the middle of that. The film landed in the mid of maybe Nic Cage’s last great run of films back in the first half of the 00s (Matchstick Men – National Treasure – Lord of War – The Weather Man). Lionsgate was a studio trying to break out from just being Jigsaw and Madea movies and were trying their best at something prestige with a movie like this. Its one that I think people should definitely revisit or check out for the first time as it surprised me back in 2005. You can grab yourself this glorious new 4K release on March 19th using the Amazon linkage below. 
Modern audiences are oddly very weary on giving an opportune chance to any fantasy or science fiction adventure that clearly looks like something new. They may be put off by it being “weird” or unfamiliar while forgetting at one time, Star Wars was also weird and unfamiliar. I’m not saying everything they pass up on is a complete gem, but the opening weekend excitement is either rarely there (Guardians of the Galaxy, but that’s mostly based on brand awareness), barely there (Alita) or nonexistent (Valerian). Mortal Engines was one of 2018’s biggest bombs at the box office and I found little to no one aside from open minded film geeks like myself, craving new fantasy worlds and lore, excited for it. The main turn off for something like this appears to merely be that it isn’t based off anything or the nostalgic return of something familiar. Yet in the meantime, all I hear is the gripe of “There’s nothing original anymore”. WHAT DO YOU WANT? Haha! While I wanted to see Mortal Engines, life wouldn’t allow the time (And I DO normally see stuff like this, as I paid money to see Jupiter Ascending in theaters even), so this will be more first outing and can be yours when it arrives on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray March 12th. 
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald returned audiences to the Wizard World that was the Wizarding World before that of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. New Scamander and company are back in action but this time we are promised are harder tie in to the previous novels/films we’d seen before. No way around it, the film overall seemed to not take off with audiences as much as Where To Find them to significantly less money and appreciation. We’ll be able to further study (Or for some, check out for the first time) when the second of the Harry Potter prequel series makes its 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray debut on March 12th. Preorder the film using the Amazon link provided below the review. 
