1917 (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
When it comes to end of the year “Best” (or as I like to say, “Favorite”) lists, many of us looked toward Sam Mendes 1917 as a glaring omission as it had not opened in theaters near our residency. And I’ll be damned if the first time I watch something like this is on an overly compressed, watermarked behind on the times format DVD screener. To the luck of some of the other films that DID get included on my Top Films of 2019 list, they were grateful for my snobbery as some of them were included where they may have been given an unfortunate bump. 1917 would easily have moved into my top ten and shaken the list up had it been able to open wide before I wrote my list (I believe it came out just a week after mine published). It is one of the great theatrical experiences of this millennium and I hope people truly find themselves immersed at home (At least watch it on a damn TV folks, please don’t do this on your phone, tablet or laptop). You’ll be able to watch it in the comfort of said home when it arrives on March 24th.
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The flock’s all here when “Birds of Prey and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” arrives on Digital on March 24. Margot Robbie (“Bombshell,” “Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood,” “I, Tonya”) reprises her role as the endearingly daring ne’er-do-well Harley Quinn in DC’s “Birds of Prey and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.” Directed by Cathy Yan (“Dead Pigs”) from a script by Christina Hodson (“Bumblebee”), the film is based on characters from DC. The main cast also includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“10 Cloverfield Lane,” TV’s “Fargo”) as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell (TV’s “True Blood”) as Black Canary, Rosie Perez (“Fearless,” “Pitch Perfect 2”) as Renee Montoya, Chris Messina (“Argo,” TV’s “Sharp Objects”) as Victor Zsasz, and Ewan McGregor (“Doctor Sleep,” the “Trainspotting” films) as DC Super-Villain Roman Sionis/Black Mask. Newcomer Ella Jay Basco also stars as Cassandra “Cass” Cain in her feature film debut.
In 2003, DC Comics did a total 180 with the world’s most popular superhero. The mega publisher released a three-issue mini-series titled Superman: Red Son. The Mark Millar-written tale (also known for his work on Kick-ass) could be construed as a “what if” in the sense that instead of Kal-El landing in Kansas after the destruction of Krypton, his escape pod crashed in the Soviet Union. Clark Kent is a name you won’t see in this story. Superman, however, is a name you’ll hear as he serves under USSR communist leader Josef Stalin in DC’s latest animated feature, Superman: Red Son directed by Sam Liu.
The Scream Factory dip into the Paramount catalog vault has not been messing around. From the outset they are getting right to the titles they KNOW people are wanting. April Fool’s Day is one of those titles, being one of the most popular slasher films from the 1980s still left with no Blu-ray release (He Knows You’re Alone still looms large. Will 2020 finally be the year?). Longtime readers will know I’ve been waiting for this one for a good while as I wrote 
Kids movies were of a whole different world back in the 1980s and 1990s. There is nothing quite like them. And when they are bad, they are baaaad or quite fun for the shortcomings. When they are on, the tears be flowing or a lifelong fandom be growing. The Wizard is a bit of a crazy concoction when you hear about it, that someone how finished itself a pretty solid story narratively. The whole purpose of this thing was to sell Nintendo and Nintendo products be “Kids like it, its cool.” We’ll get into it a little more in the review, but it has had a legacy of dedicated fandom and nostalgic memories for it, mainly because we really didn’t get much in the way of stuff like this that seemed to know exactly what we were into. Incredibly, Shout! Factory is giving the film the handsome 4K restorative treatment along with some great new bonus features to celebrate the film. Personally, I think the new cover art is right on the money and one of their most brilliant ones of all time. You’ll be able to marvel at said art in person when it arrives on Blu-ray March 24th.
Back in 1989, a startup comic book publisher known as Valiant had arrived on the scene. The company made it a point to offer up characters a little more complex than your average super hero as these newly developed personalities had allegiances and demeanors that were not always so clear cut. Some of their more premier characters and successful titles include X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and one in particular known as Bloodshot. The story of Bloodshot featured an expert soldier maimed by war and reclaimed by science only to build a better soldier. With a repeatedly wiped memory and the ability to take a ridiculously inhuman beating, Bloodshot has become the first Valiant character to hit the big screen.
His beast-blood demanded him KILL … KILL … KILL! On April 21, 2020, SCREAM FACTORY™ is excited to present the highly sought-after Hammer Film cult classic THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. Directed by legendary horror filmmaker Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula, The Curse Of Frankenstein), this horror classic stars Clifford Evans (The Kiss of the Vampire), Oliver Reed (Gladiator), Yvonne Romain (The Last of Sheila), and Catherine Feller (The Little World of Don Camillo). A must-have for movie collectors, this definitive Blu-ray release contains special bonus content, including a new 4K scan of the original film elements, new audio commentaries, and much more! Pre-order is available now at ShoutFactory.com.
Here comes a nice surprise from Sony today! The classic swashbuckling superhero film The Mask of Zorro which starred Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins and introduced most everyone to Catherine Zeta-Jones is getting a handsome 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray upgrade coming on May 5th. This is one of the best efforts coming in the wake of Tim Burton’s Batman nine years later and at the end of that run right before X-Men would change the game. I personally saw this one a few times in the theater as it absolutely delivered and saved the day as the best big budget blockbuster film of the summer of 1998. A summer that had a lot of largely hyped films that turned into big disappointments. Sony is giving this one a blistering new 4K transfer from the original negative, an Atmos track and new deleted scenes to make the release fully worthwhile. See the details for yourself below.
“Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne are knockdown hilarious” (Julian Roman, MovieWeb) in the “outrageously funny” (Dave Morales, KRIV FOX- Houston) comedy LIKE A BOSS, debuting on Digital April 7, 2020 and on Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand April 21 from Paramount Home Entertainment!
Paramount Pictures announced today that it will introduce a new “Paramount Presents” label to recognize and celebrate films from the studio’s vast and storied library. The “Paramount Presents” banner will be used for a new line of collectible Blu-ray Discs™ incorporating a curated selection of endearingly popular movies, as well as films that had a cultural impact upon their release. The label will also be used to bring classic films to select theaters for limited theatrical runs so audiences can experience them again on the big screen.
Scream Factory is continuing its new line of vault “horror” titles collecting dust in the Universal Studios library with Universal Horror Collection: Volume 4. These have all been released a sets of four, typically starring the icons of the time (Lots of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill). For the fourth incarnation of the series, the films included are; 1937’s Night Key, Night Monster (1942), The Climax (1944) and House of Horrors (1946). Now, I had to be “that” guy, but some of these have been steering in the direction of “Is this really a horror movie?”. To make up for that, I can accept “No, but it has one of horror’s biggest stars of the time in it” as a worthy reason to include a film in these sets. And I’m also not aware if something that feels not at all like a horror movie now, may have been or may have been sold as one (Some of the posters suggest as much) when it was released. This new set will release on March 17th and you can pre-order a copy now using the paid Amazon Associates link following the review. 
Bombshell is a film where I initially only showed up for because of the 3 leading women, most notably 
Debuting in February under DC’s Black Label (for readers age 17 and older), comic book writer/creator Joe Hill proudly released his latest effort, Plunge. Hill is best known as the mastermind behind the best-selling Locke & Key series, which is now a popular Netflix series. Plunge offers up a very different feel from its mainstream predecessor, though there is no less suspense in this nautical adventure. At two issues in, things are ramping up in this superbly paced story.
Since the get go I was saying that this film looked like Netflix’s original movie Bright (2017). Bright (2017) was directed by David Ayer and goes pretty much the same way that all of David Ayer films go, except with fairytale creatures. While the concept of Bright (2017) is brilliant the execution falls very flat. Bright (2017) was cringe-worthy, superficial, and just overall a not-so-good film. Either way we are not here to tear a part Bright (2017). We are here to discuss its lighthearted, whimsical, and much better counterpart, Onward (2020). I remember seeing the first teaser for Onward (2020) and thinking that this is essentially Bright (2017), but with people who actually know what they are doing. I promise, that was the last dig at Bright (2017). Now with Pixar at the helm can we get an epic, modern day, medieval quest movie? Saddle your steed and sheath your blades comrades because we are going on a quest! 
I thought I was completely out but…never say never again! (Especially if you’re Sean Connery!) Yup, it’s trusty critic Jason Coleman back to infuse a little lesser known indie into the lives of movie fans with a crop of four film hopefuls that all contain their fair share of controversial subject matter. (Plus I’m pitching my upcoming 
