Red Sparrow (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Spy fantasy films seem to be on the comeback trail the last few year, with a year like 2015 deliver upwards of five of them alone. This year will see the sixth Mission: Impossible film in the Tom Cruise-led franchise. Red Sparrow finds us reteaming Jennifer Lawrence with the director of three out of four Hunger Games films, Francis Lawrence. The film focuses on the modern day Russian side of the espionage game. If anything its an old school star led vehicle for Jennifer Lawrence and finds her with a pretty talented supporting cast. While the film underwhelmed at the box office, the take still kind of impresses being the movie was sold as based on nothing but Jennifer Lawrence name and face on the poster and trailers. You can snag yourself a copy of the film now by order from the Amazon link below. Continue reading ‘Red Sparrow (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
Disney had high hopes for the big budget adaptation of the classic book A Wrinkle In Time. Making waves by hiring on acclaimed director Ava DuVernay to helm as well as exciting diverse casting announcements. Unfortunately, this didn’t really take off as they’d have liked and opened to poor reviews as it bombed at the box office back this spring. But, when you’re making Black Panther and Infinity War money, the studio can afford to try something like this out and keep trying something like this out. The film is coming to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray for those who missed it to check out, and maybe it’ll develop a following after its theatrical release. It comes with a nice package of supplemental features and will be hitting shelves on June 5th. 
Let’s face it. Escape Plan is the tag team hardcore action moviegoers of my generation have been dying to see happen on the big screen ever since the big guns of the 80’s. With the exception of Arnold’s brief scenes in The Expendables series, Escape Plan truly marks the first time Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have starred together in the same film. I don’t know how you feel about it, but that’s one massive production in my opinion with both of those hulking names thrown together in the same ring. With the upcoming sequel, Escape Plan 2: Hades, hitting theaters everywhere June 14th Lionsgate decided to step the game up here with the first film on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray June 5th. So until we can discuss the sequel in more detail we are gathered here today to everything about 2013’s Escape Plan.
Disney continues its Signature Collection Blu-ray series by returning to Never Land for the 65th anniversary of Peter Pan. The animated classic from Disney’s golden era has been a beloved classic for many year and probably the staple rendition of the story to many a child and adult. For this new release, Disney is bringing back most of the classic bonus features from previous releases of the film, but is also adding a couple new featurettes for this Signature Collection version. The audio and video presentation will remain the same as before. For those who have missed Diamond Edition five years ago, now is your chance to snag up a copy. And this time you’ll get a digital copy of the film and bonus features to boot. 
Amid the triumphant box office phenomenon that was Black Panther, we witnessed many would-be blockbusters falter of produce average/underwhelming results. However, there were some solid counter-programming hits during that run. One of those was the R-rated adult comedy-mystery Game Night. Taking the silver to Black Panther its opening weekend, the film made a solid run with good holds to work its way to over $116 million for the $37 million budgeted comedy. While a decent hit, its getting passed over for the 4K Ultra-HD format for a standard Blu-ray. This movie does lend itself to many of pros that would have come with the format, but this is otherwise fine. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets one down the road sometime when producing the discs is a little cheaper. For now you can grab this stnadard Blu-ray. by clicking the Amazon link following the review. 
The Matrix is almost synonymous with the term science fiction in the late 90’s. If you look the term up in the dictionary, you’ll find a reference to the film The Matrix. I’m just kidding, but universal law should work that way. When The Matrix came out it was pretty much instantly adopted and heralded as a sci-fi classic. It was even pioneering in the way special effects were done in movie making. Do you remember how pretty much every film that came out within a few years of The Matrix’s release adopted the slow motion action sequences seen within? I do and they still use this gimmick. Look at last year’s Justice League. Some of the film’s action sequences took pages out of The Matrix’s playbook. Not that it was ever dead, but it certainly lit a fire under the career of Keanu Reeves not to mention pave the careers of The Wachowski Brothers. So let’s talk all about this down below. What say you? The red pill or blue?
Its slightly odd to be here writing a Blu-ray review for a movie that is not only still playing in theaters on its first run, but was STILL in the top 10 last weekend at the box office. A film that is going to cross 700 million dollars in the United States and has made over 1.3 billion dollars worldwide. But, here we are, in the middle of a phenomenon and at the home video demands and scheduling of modern times. Black Panther was a massive phenomenon and quite an unstoppable force in theaters pretty much all 2018 so far (Once February hit). Of course, there’s a new Avengers movie out right now, too, so you have to get Black Panther out on all formats so that the 5 people who didn’t see it can catch up for the big Thanos expedition. This 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray comes courtesy of Disney and comes piled with some really nice bonus features. Its available now, so grab yourself a copy and hopefully the Amazon link works, so you can grab yourself a copy and say Why So Blu sent ya! 
For thirty years now there are people who still endlessly debate and call the action movie Die Hard a Christmas film.
Braveheart is one of those Top 10 films of mine that I will continue to re-purchase without any thought or hesitation every time its available on a newer/better home media format.
When it comes to the catalog title 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray game, Paramount seems to have a better handle on what to pick early on to upgrade. They seem to either go for something that’s pretty popular to being with in terms of something that always gets picked up no matter the format or they release something prestigious that there’s no question why they would put it out. And often, they do a rock solid job of their new transfers and audio. With Gladiator, they are kind hitting on the best of both options; a super popular film in DVD/Blu-ray found in collections as well as being a Best Picture winner from a very notable director. No new bonus features, but this one has already been loaded with them in the past and they all port over here. You can pre-order to have it ready to put on the shelf for its release on May 15. 
When collecting and following the releases of Shout! Factory (And the subsequent Shout Select and Scream Factory), its not hard to take notice of some of their favorite filmmakers that they gun to have as many releases as they can for. But, when it comes to actors, it seems they are big fans of Peter Weller. And with good reason, he’s a top notch performer who seems to have always flown just under the radar. Previously they’ve done Robocop 2, Leviathan, Buckaroo Banzai and recently Shakedown to name some. Now comes the George P. Cosmatos film Of Unknown Origin that stars Weller. While not a Collector’s Edition, this one will feature a new transfer and three new interviews. You can add to your own Peter Weller collection by pre-ordering a copy below in time for its release on May 22nd. 
Just as summer is about to hit, let us look back and recognize that Peter Rabbit is currently one of the Top 5 films at the box office for 2018 (Top 10 worldwide). Assuredly, it won’t even be Top 10 by years end if even by the end of summer. But, it managed to be a popular family/kids film to check out where #Justice4Paddington didn’t seem to catch fire no matter how much the raves came in for the sequel. Something stuck though, with it making solid bank through competition like Black Panther, the continued dominance of Jumanji, A Wrinkle In Time and Sherlock Gnomes coming out. You’ll be able catch the film again or for the first when you’re able to own the film on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on May 1st. You can order a copy using the Amazon link below. 
Earlier this year we were treated to Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, a one-off elseworld tale of the dark knight in a unique style and visual setting. In that review, I mentioned that this was the kind of stuff I’d like to see more of. More wild and crazy variations or adaptations on a superhero that pretty much everyone is familiar with. Now, just a couple months later, my wish has been fulfilled. Now Batman is being presented with a tale in the spirit of the culture of the Eastern hemisphere. And its being visually brought to us in the visual style of anime. This film created some big buzz when it was unveiled at the New York Comic Con last year and its finally landing upon us. You’ll be able to check out the film when it arrives on Blu-ray May 8th. 
