Sorry To Bother You (Blu-ray Review)
October 23rd, 2018 by Aaron Neuwirth
Sometimes it is easy to tell when a new cinematic voice is ready to be heard. Sorry to Bother You has the benefit of a high-profile cast to keep it from slipping through the cracks, which is precisely what is needed for an ambitious film like this. Because of that sort of attention, the summer of 2018 was able to be a little weirder. Here’s a film that moves from a corporate comedy to a genuinely bizarre satire that fortunately never loses focus on its point of view. Given the sort of reveals that take place, Sorry to Bother You manages to go to extreme lengths while clearly expressing the modern day challenges the filmmakers are wrestling with humorously.
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We have the making of a bit of a modern cult classic going right now in that of director Panos Cosmatos follow up to Beyond the Black Rainbow. Its Mandy, the movie with Nicholas Cage that had the crazy ass trailer making people saying “I’ve got to see this!” And many are. The film’s plan was to play some festivals and have a little theatrical run, with it being moreso pushed on the digital/streaming platforms. Mandy has done so well in its little run that its expanded and may have been in need of going much wider than it was anticipated. The cool fact of this ordeal is that the movie is succeed while it is able to be watched to rent or purchase via streaming. And the Blu-ray I am reviewing here is coming out next week (October 30th). If a film is something people WANT to see in theaters, they will show up. Plus, the word of mouth on this one has been quite good. I wish I’d have the opportunity to see it theatrically, but alas, its not shown up in my neighborhood yet. But, with its popularity being compared to that of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, maybe I’ll be able to catch it on a revival screening! 
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again feels somewhat of a silent assassin from this summer’s box office. The film took in almost $125 million domestically and almost $450 million worldwide. Until Crazy Rich Asians, the film had a firm spot in the Top 10. Its almost like its predecessor, which was actually somewhat of a phenomenon back in 2008. But, if I told you it made more money globally than Iron Man, you’d think I was crazy. That’s the truth though. Why did they do a sequel? Look how big that first film was. They earned it and obviously there were people there for it. Ten years later probably brought some fondness but I feel like had they done it within three years of the first it might’ve been a bit bigger. Whatever, whatever. This sequel was still a big deal. Big enough that if they’d want to make a trilogy, the audience is probably there. Though, I think this film serves more as a nice encore to the fantastic concert you saw before. You can pick up this second album/remix album/original demos 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray when it arrives on October 23rd from Universal! 
While there’s no current tie in (Gifted Season 2, maybe?), Fox is on the right track in releasing more X-Men films to the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format. It dropped the 3 First Class film right away on the format as well as the Deadpool movies and Logan. Now comes the original trilogy of films that started it off. The crown jewel of this set being the original sequel, X2: X-Men United, considered by many to be one of the best comic book super hero films of all time. Now, we sit shy just X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Yuck) and The Wolverine (PLEASE!!!) of having the entire 11 film Fox X-Men franchise on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format. That’s pretty impressive! You can grab yourself a copy of the adventure from Toad to “Phoenix” now by clicking the Amazon link! 
vvThis whole newfound relationship between Shout!/Scream Factory and Warner Bros for Blu-rays has been nothing short of a dream come true and has come swinging right out of the gate. Here we are talking about a Collector’s Edition now of George A. Romero and Stephen King’s collaborative effort and horror anthology masterpiece Creepshow with a new 4K scan and LOADS of bonus material. There’s no complaining about double dipping, as this is one to just dive right into. They’ve even given the film some special packaging treatment to boot. Trust me, this one is impressive to even just hold in your hand, let alone put in your player and watch. Its coming just in time for Halloween horror watching, so get your pre-order in as it arrive October 23rd! 
Lionsgate is all about getting these full seasons sets of their shows running on Starz out quickly. I recently reviewed the Ash Vs Evil Dead Complete Collection just a little bit back and now we are on to Black Sails. Granted, the last season set to come out for the show was August last year, but they are on it in terms of collecting it. Those holding out for the full series were rewarded this week (Release date was October 16th), when the set came out. Like Ash Vs Evil Dead, this is just a collection of all the discs from the previous single season sets compiled together in some trimmer, space saving, basic packaging. It’ll come with digital copies of the episodes as well. If you’re looking to pick it up, please consider using the Amazon link following the review. 
Its not hitting any kind of anniversary milestone this year (Or next, for that matter), but City Slickers is jumping over to a brand new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Shout! Factory under they Shout Select banner. Return to join Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby as they take a cattle herding vacation with Curly (A role that nabbed Jack Palance his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). This looks to be pretty much a port of the previous edition with some new artwork (A slip cover) and a new 4K transfer of the film. Fans who order at Shout! Factory’s website from their store will get a free poster of the new art as a toss in with their Blu-ray. Or, if you want, you can help out our site by ordering your City Slickers – Collector’s Edition from the Amazon link below. 
Sure, this came out a few weeks back, but better late than never, right? Besides, I’ve only just received it. So now I can join Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober and Red in celebrating the 35th Anniversary of their beloved series as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment debuted FRAGGLE ROCK: THE COMPLETE SERIES on Blu-ray™ for the first time on September 25th. This extensive set, sprawling over 12 loaded discs containing every episode from both the original series and the animated one, is quite a sight to behold. There is also a lot of bonus material from past and present to sink your teeth into while watching your favorite episodes over and over and over and OVER again. Or, introduce your children to it. Order yourself a copy now by clicking the Amazon link at the end of the review. 
John Constantine has been somewhat of a constant with DC following the success of the Keanu Reeves’ film back in the last decade. He’s had ups and downs but they’ve always kept the character around. Constantine had a short lived live action television series that ran on NBC for one season. Matt Ryan portrayed him there and he’s stuck to the character doing guest appearances on the CW Arrow-verse and being the voice for the animated CW Seed show. Said show is where this brand new DCAU film, City of Demons, comes from. It’ll arrive on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray October 9th, which, well, is this week! Pick it up in time to watch him have a nice solo adventure before he joins up full time with the Legends of Tomorrow for their fourth season! 
Schlocky filmmaking is seriously my cup of tea. That should come as no surprise, considering I host and produce my podcast Cult Cinema Cavalcade. Funny enough, I’ve yet to tackle the filmmaker who is the subject of this documentary even though I have many planned on the docket. Larry Cohen is one of the best of the B-filmmakers of all time. And its great to see that he’s been given a really thoughtful and detailed documentary on his entire career. La-La Land entertainment has put the film out on Blu-ray for home consumption after a nice brief. limited theatrical run last year. You can pick it up now, as it was released on September 25th (Though there doesn’t seem to be an Amazon order link for it at this time). 
We are going to get a big push early next year on Marvel’s first headlining female super hero, but The Wasp gets to jump in first being a lead and having her name in the title. That Marvel downplayed this big step for them to save it for a later one is kind of annoying, but it is what it is. And what it is was a film that was a nice, quirky follow up to the big wallop that was Infinity War. Ant-Man and The Wasp improved upon its predecessor at the box office as well crossing the 200 million mark in the US alone. Its still going worldwide but its grossed over 100 million more than Ant-Man and counting (Top 5 grosser for the summer). Disney and Marvel are bringing it to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on October 16th, so get in there and get your pre-order on to the enjoy this tiny caper! 
Arizona comes to us from the producers of East Bound and Down and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It features an attractive cast and slaps Danny McBride on the cover. I’d not heard anything about the film prior to its home video announcement. And of all things, its getting to make its debut on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format which is more than you can say for big studio films that were actually notable box office hits. This hostage dark comedy will come with a “Making of” bonus feature and photo gallery that are actually featured on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray disc. The movie will be available on all 3 disc formats when it arrives on October 16th. I don’t know whether it’ll be available in stores or not, but it can be purchased via online from Amazon and the like. 
I wasn’t completely sold on Universal’s first Purge film back in 2013, but the acting of Frank Grillo in the second 2014 outing made me an instant fan. The third installment, 2016’s Election Year, was pretty good, but nothing in my opinion can top that “you killed my son” moment in Anarchy. However, I digress. We’re not here to measure sequels, but instead to talk about the all new Purge prequel titled The First Purge. It was officially released everywhere nationwide this year on our Nation’s Birthday, July 4th. This one tells the story of how it all began with the New Founding Fathers of America testing our Nation’s first ever Purge out in one isolated community. I think y’all knows what happens next, but the getting there part is what makes this sociological experiment at least worth a watch.
Bruce Campbell’s Ashley Williams came to a close this year when Starz canceled Ash vs Evil Dead prior to the finale of the show’s third season. Its both unfortunate and fortunate at the same time. Unfortunate obviously that the show was forced to end, but fortunate that it existed. I’d have take just a one episode-length adventure with Bruce as Ash one more time let alone be gifted 30 episodes. Those 30 episodes will now be coming to you from Lionsgate/Starz in a nice collected form on October 16th. Included in this 6-disc set is a digital copy of every episode as well. If you’ve held off on collecting the previously single season sets hoping for this, well, you didn’t have to wait long as the third season is still very fresh on the Blu-ray market. Pick yourself up this series to go with you Evil Dead/Army of Darkness films on your shelf to complete the entire Boom Stick’n adventures of Ash. 
Skyscraper, which we are gathered here to discuss today, is NOT the rousing Demi Lovato song. Instead, Skyscraper is the newest Dwayne Johnson action vehicle, which is now on home media. I mean how much lull can we have without a new Rock movie packing retail shelves? That was of course a very rhetorical question. The answer to that is simply not much at all. The Rock is back and this time he’s playing Die Hard in a very tall building occupied by terrorists with a slight “twist.” He has a twist off lower left leg! Now you cannot say this is the same old kind of movie The Rock is always in or they didn’t give his character a flaw. If nothing else, Skyscraper is the film that puts The Rock at a slight physical disadvantage, but not too much where he can’t make huge, gaping horizontal/vertical leaps or use his artificial stump as an effective prop. There are limits, people. If nothing else, think San Andreas 2.0 with a happier marriage.
The Puppet Master films have been an ongoing series of straight to video B-movie classics going for a few decades now. They’ve been a backbone for Charles Band the THE series in terms of doll-based horror. The Littlest Reich is the latest and the thirteenth film in the series (Or film featuring these Puppets and carrying the moniker). And of all things, they’ve decided to just up and be the best and put it out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray right out of the gate. That’s a pretty eye-opening and applaud worthy feat here when we can’t even get a major studio to put out a bottom of the barrel True Lies release! This thing comes with a few little bonus features to accompany the film. You’l be able to grab it for yourself on September 25th, so get your pre-order in today! 
