The Secret Life of Pets (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
The Secret Life of Pets was a film we never made it to theatrically this year. It wasn’t because we did not want to see it, quite the contrary, but it was just a bad timing thing. Time is our enemy in life. Then came news of the fact that this title was coming to the superior Ultra HD Blu-ray format in December. I jumped at the chance to be one of the first peeps to review it. Call it an ego thing or call it what you want. I just really wanted to see it. See I don’t have any kids in my life. I’m too selfish and impatient to ever have them. However, what I do have are loving, adorable pets. They are my kids to me and I know I love my son Star-Lord just as much as Brandon Peters loves Logan. If I could give him my extra kidney in time of need, I would without hesitation. That and so many reasons more is why I have been smitten by the idea of The Secret Life of Pets ever since it was first announced. And now the wait is finally over! Join me in talking everything fur babies down below. Continue reading ‘The Secret Life of Pets (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
Believe it or not, the original C.H.U.D. was a film that somehow managed to elude me after all these years. So, this was all going to be a fresh take when tackling this Blu-ray for Vestron Video. Thanks to a rental on Amazon Prime Video, I was able to do my research by watching the original film. That movie, woof…kinda a slug. It had Daniel Stern in it along with John Heard. However, the film was a pretty big slug. And there was not near enough C.H.U.D. at all. It had its moments, but overall, I’m not sure its something I’d ever return to again. So, going into this sequel, which I’ve always known because of its subtitle, which can go up there with Electric Boogaloo and Your Sister Is a Werewolf as an all timer. Regardless of what my thoughts would be, I knew I’d be down for an entertaining overall release due to it coming from Vestron Video. They’ll be making this one available the same day as Return of the Living Dead 3; November 22nd. 
Boy, how things have really changed over the last 12 or so years in cinema. And I’m talking about particularly the zombie genre. Its hard to imagine a time when there weren’t an absurd amount of zombie films being released every year. From the late 80s until Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later in 2002, finding a new modern zombie film was scarce. And as far as I can remember, 1993’s Return of the Living Dead 3 felt like the last one. And it may have been the last really commercial or one to play theatrically in some form. I didn’t see it until home video, but for me, it was a big deal and an event. A brand new zombie film! It wasn’t just some run of the mill one either. This film wound up being a unique, strange, endaring oddity that hasn’t left my conscience every since the first time I saw it. Brian Yuzna’s film managed to have memorable characters, iconic looks, unforgettable horrific images and gore that sticks with you. And now, you can have all of that, finally in uncut form when it makes its US Blu-ray debut from Vestron Video on November 22nd! 
Here we are once again. Only this time winter is coming much earlier than usual for the sixth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones on the Blu-ray format. Last year’s Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Drama Series and currently nominated for 23 2016 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing Outstanding Supporting Actress (Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams) and Outstanding Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington), Game of Thrones is bigger than ever as its starting to all wind down to the final upcoming two seasons. In other words, this sh1t is finally starting to get real every single episode. If you missed any of our past coverage of these best selling Blu-ray sets, please refer to the following links to seasons 1 and 2 
Mechanic: Resurrection was a film I never made it to theatrically this year. In fact I never even saw the first film in the series. After reading Aaron Neuwirth’s review of the second one 
Personally, I’m not familiar with either of these going in, but The TAMI Show and The Big TNT Show sound like they were a big step and sort of monumental in terms of the concert film. Both movies are just some concerts with big names, but it was something of an event, lots of player, lots of hit singles. Shout Factory is using its Shout Select label to bring this film and its sister film, The Big TNT Show to Blu-ray for the very first time. Mastered from a new High-Definition transfer, The T.A.M.I. Show / The Big T.N.T. Show Collector’s Edition brings both of these history-making films to life in a definitive set that no fan or scholar of rock and soul music will want to be without. It will be available December 2nd! 
William Friedkin suffered the same kind of fate many of his 1970s breakout director contemporaries did, they started to sort of fall off their super high pedestal in the 1980s. Now, with Friedkin, I think a lot of his work during this time was actually good quality, it just wasn’t catching on or becoming a hit with audiences and/or critics just weren’t ready yet. To Live And Die In LA was seen as a sort of “return” for him as he finally put out a film with both critic and audience approval. He had been on a run of bombs and reviled movies like Sorcerer (Which is a MASTERPIECE) and Cruising (HIGHLY underrated, bold film). This was seen as a return to his roots of sorts, akin to finding himself a new French Connection. It was also the last loudly heralded film of his all the way until Bug and Killer Joe in the more recent years here. Shout Factory is labeling it under its Select series and giving it a Collector’s Edition that builds and improves upon the previous Blu-ray release on November 22nd. 
J’accuse, director Abel Gance’s (Napoleon) indictment of war, is a tale of romance and idealism in the tradition of Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion. Abel Gance would revisit his 1919 epic J’accuse with the 1938 reimagining, this time with sound and a score by his The Woman Thief collaborator Henri Verdun. Gance’s film stars Victor Francen (A Farewell to Arms) and Jean-Max (Satan’s Paradise), J’accuse features supporting performances by Line Noro (Pépé le Moko), Paul Amiot (Le Cercle Rouge), André Nox (Savage Brigade) and Marie Lou (The Woman Thief). Directed by Abel Gance, J’accuse (which used his epic 1919 silent screen version as a template) is both a stirring indictment of man’s inhumanity to man and an ode to man’s capacity for love and compassion. The film is coming to Blu-ray from Olive Films on November 15th. 
Orson Welles is forever known for changing cinema as we know it and crafting a good handful of films that are timeless classics. Time is a kind passage to some classic cinema as well, in that most of his works that were deemed as failures or disappointments are able to be reassessed as time goes by and find a new audience that appreciates or is ready for a film that may have been ahead of its time, or just not quite understood when it was originally released theatrically. Macbeth is one of those for Orson Welles. While not perfect or a forgotten masterpiece (Like Touch of Evil), Welles take on Shakespeare proves to have some strong merit where it had been pretty much panned and even recut at the demand of the studio following its debut in 1948. Luckily here, Olive Films Signature Edition not only has both versions, but a pretty solid package to look back at the film in their latest release which will be streeting Noevember 15th. 
Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes was a film that came out of making three short films sharing that title. The feature film doesn’t stray too far and really is a series of eleven short films or vignettes. What they all carry in common are the fact that the whole movie is just about different people sitting at a table literally enjoying coffee and cigarettes. The title does not lie. This film received some festival buzz around 2003 when it came out and Jarmusch is a pretty popular (Yet more underground) filmmaker, so yeah, even if this is a Clerks situation, lets bring this sucker to the Blu-ray format. Its coming from the wonderful people over a Olive Films and will be available for purchase (Pre-order now, please) on Tuesday, November 15th. 
Olive Signature enters its third month of existence with a continued trend in rebranding and improving upon one of their previous Western genre releases. This will make it four total for the series out of six movies that have gone into the collection so far. November brings us to Hannie Caulder, the Raquel Welch revenge Western from 1971 that also co-starred Robert Culp, Ernest Borgnine and Christopher Lee (His only appearance in a Western). The Burt Kennedy film now comes with some new interviews, a commentary and the nice packaging with the little booklet that these Signature Editions are known to have. Its also got a new look image and audio track as well. This film, along with Orson Welles MacBeth, will be available on Tuesday, November 15th. 
There’s that sigh of relief from fellow Trek fans, as there’s a sort of gamble that paid off. Previously, Star Trek: The Animated Series was only available in the 50th Anniversary box set that came out back in September from Paramount. As a matter of fact, aside from having everything from the original crew in one nice package, the only new draw to it was the Blu-ray deubt of the 1970s animated series. Most of us assumed it would receive its own standalone release down the line. Surprisingly, we only had to wait just a a little over two months to find out our hold out was worth is. It now comes in a nice little 3-disc set of its own with some limited edition small art prints that are posters for episodes and all the bonus material featured on the previous DVD release of the short lived extension. You’ll be able to pick this one up for purchase on November 15th. Rejoice! Your Blu-ray collection of Star Trek (Original Crew) is complete! 
Sausage Party, which sort of made its premiere at SXSW this year, is one film I purposely missed out on theatrically this year. I know I’m not alone in my way of thinking. The overall consensus is very split on this one too. Either people seem to love it or others outright hate it like our boy Bron Anderson 
As most probably expected, Finding Dory became the year’s biggest film this summer. Following one of Disney/Pixar’s most successful, beloved and heralded films of all time was sort of a no-brainer in the wondering of who’s going to go see it. This time they would focus on the fish with the short term memory loss, Dory, who was voiced by Ellen Degeneres. The whole crew from the first film returns for this adventures as well as adding in some new friends voiced by character acting favorites. I recently covered the digital release for the film, this is the one that covers the Blu-ray release (Which indeed includes the digital version as a bonus as well as the DVD edition of the film). Its coming November 15th, so there’s still time to get your pre-order in and have it waiting for you on release day. 
