Brandon’s 25 BEST Blu-rays Of The Double Dipping Year That Was 2016!
Its not like we’re winding down any time soon on films that still need to make it to the Blu-ray format. There are ah-plenty. Heck, there are films that still never made it to VHS or DVD. 2016 introduced us to 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays. The new wave, the new cream of the crop. And with that, Blu-ray starts repackaging and re-doing many of the older titles. However, we live in a really cool world now with boutique labels that go after these films that still haven’t been released or enhance the ones that did but left us wanting more. And while some may scoff and leave rude comments like “This again?”, in reality its not “this again”. These are getting delicious new transfers, having taken notes from the previous version’s mistakes and adding the extras that were not previously there or even adding an extra is adding something. What I’m getting at is that they are making it all worthwhile in terms of asking for more dollars from you. Then again, there are people that didn’t have it to begin with because they A) Hadn’t gotten to it yet or B) were holding out for something like this. Anyway, there were a lot of terrific releases in 2016. And since I cover 4K UHD, Blu-ray and also am Region Free, my list is expanded to 25 instead of just ten releases. Continue reading ‘Brandon’s 25 BEST Blu-rays Of The Double Dipping Year That Was 2016!’
It’s that time of year – a look back at the the best of what 2016 has to offer. This time out posters are the subject of the day, but first a little past history insight. I’ve been a movie geek for a long time, but been a movie poster collector since I could walk. Sharing the passion for posters with my equally film obsessed father, we were so cinematically dedicated that we were even featured in The Financial Post Magazine way back in October of 1990 for our crazed and comprehensive collection. We were photographed in front of two of our favorites (Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and the rare style one-sheet of the original Die Hard) for the mag spread – two generations of movie art love on proud display.
It’s been a while since I amassed a favorite Blu-rays of the the year list. There was one final title I wanted to check out before concocting my ten favorites. I enjoyed Suicide Squad in the theater earlier this year, but just in case I enjoyed it even more after a second viewing, I had to see if it was going to make my list. It did not. While entertaining, it just doesn’t possess greatness, but I digress. Alright, enough rambling. It was all for the sake of filling space here in the opening paragraph anyway. I’ve kept Hollywood holding its breath long enough. Onto the list!
Unlike last year, this was a brave, bold, new world for me in terms of Blu-ray collecting. I upped my game as I stepped into the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray arena. I took on the combatants (HDMI handshake and audio sync issues being most problematic) like a champion and came out unscathed. You can read all about my trials and tribulations with my new 4K Ultra HD gear (my first setup) right 
Barring some sort of super late rush surprise announcement, 2016 for the year of Blu-ray is pretty much in the books. And as always, looking back, it was another terrific year. Many more Wishlist films from years’ past were granted on Blu-ray and some that were being prepped for this list got announced before it was time to write it and publish it (Punch Drunk Love and Duck Soup, for example-yes, I have this article in mind year round). There were also many other great surprises. 2016 also brought us a new format, 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, which I’ve been fortunate to have been able to dabble with in year 1. Its far too early and easy to do a wishlist for that format, we’ve still got plenty to do for good ‘ol Blu-ray. This year’s list will be only 10 films because I had to scale back at some point, the years are counting up too high! While the picks aren’t all this way, I found myself getting slightly more filmmaker focused this year. Some great directors are missing films from their filmography on the format and would be a great addition to work to complete their catalog and just good movies in general to have on the format. 
What makes for a memorable movie lone wolf – what are the defining cinematic characteristics? Are they quiet, bitter, emotionless, focused or perhaps just plain mean? The one thing they do all have in common is a lone wolf likes to work alone, embodies a sense of isolation and stays firmly in control by doing things their own way. So while some favorites may not have made the list for one reason or another including the article namesake (Lone Wolf McQuade is cool but not top ten!), iconic turns (Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey did have hope with each new film!) and characters fed up with the status quo (Falling Down’s mayhem minded D-Fens was trying to get home to his estranged family!), the below represents the essence the hard men – or women – who just love the idea of all things alone. Anti-heroes, fed-up folks, burnt out warriors, revenge seeking psychos and strong women who outmuscle their male counterparts – love them or hate them, agree or disagree these are my….Top 10 Lone Wolf Movie Characters! (In no particular order!)
2015 was a great year for movies and it seems that most of them, or at least most of the good ones, are saved for December. I was busy catching up on films right up until New Year’s Eve. I may be a week late but better late than never when it comes to film. This list is technically my “Top 11 or 12” but I could have made it bigger but then that wouldn’t be efficient. There are quite a few surprises in store, as well. In any event – I give you my favorite films of 2015! 
This year I probably got to see the least amount of films I wanted to at the theater. Such is the case with a full schedule of work, school and an Irish dance show. So what did the year bring us? We got revisits from popular franchises like Mission Impossible and Avengers, though for only the second in the series, Avengers: Age of Ultron felt tired and rather boring. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise keeps chugging away putting out better spy films than the famed Bond series. As for the bottom feeders, although I did miss out on the often criticized Fantastic Four reboot, I do have plenty to talk about as far as the duds that hit cinemas this past year. Without further fluff and rambling dialogue, I give you my best and worst of 2015.
Welcome to my version of the Top 10 Films Of 2015! No matter the year, whether it be considered a “good” or “bad” one, I still find it hard to whittle the thing down to 10. Last year I skewed it a bit, going for cute with 14 films in 2014. This year, tough as some of the cuts were, I was able to get it down to 10. The year had some very emotional highs for me, and every one of the films on the list grasped at me in some certain way. They left me with some good thought or appreciation while others exhilarated and had me very amped up after seeing them. With 2015, the typical Oscar bait didn’t really impress me too much and I’ve also decided I’m going with my gut and the films I’m going to revisit most after this year. Those really are the ones that are “best” to me. I look back at my previous Top 10s lists and there are ones I haven’t even touched since making the list. I’ve given up doing a Worst films list for my own reasons, but if you’re wondering The Human Centipede 3 was the worst film I saw this year and the worst film I saw at the theater was Terminator: Genisys (And yes, I did see Fantastic Four. But is it worth arguing which of those is more awful?). Now, onto my picks! 
So concludes this year of movie adventures! There have definitely been some surprising highs along with a few soul crushing lows, (cough) Fantastic 4 (cough). But through it all, we have persevered to reach the truly great films of the past year that keep giving us a reason to leave our cozy homes in favor of the Multi-plex.
It’s that time of the year again. I generally hate this time of the year not because of the holidays, but because it means nothing but cold and deadness outside and in a reviewer’s world, the dreaded TOP 10 Favorite Films lists as well. Last year there was an influx of good movies released theatrically (IMO) making my 
The Why So Blu top Blu-rays of 2015 wheel has spun and landed on me. Once again, I’m honored to close this out and go last. 2015 was a game-changer year for me with Blu-ray personally. For years, my colleague Gerard has been nagging at me to get a region-free player. I would complain about awesome UK releases and such that would be locked and I couldn’t get them. He would have such sage words of advice like “If you’re complaining and not going region-free, then you’re part of the problem.” Or “You know a solution to this, its nobody’s fault but your own.” So, for my birthday (and to start the year, its in January) my amazing wife got me a region-free mod’ed player. Life has not been the same since. It unlocked a whole new crazy world of awesome editions and more independent distributors. My wallet has also shrunk in size too, haha. If you’re a film fan or collector, I highly recommend doing this. With this new aspect and more releases coming my way, I’m expanding my list of 20 to 25 this year. Most of all, thanks to Gerard for getting me to go region-free. 
