Archive Page 14
March 8th, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
The Abyss happens to be one of my top 5 films of all time. The movie is a mix of action, sci-fi, drama and suspense that has yet to, in my very humble opinion, be topped by other movies with the same mixture. The movie is one that people have been begging for a new physical release of forever. The 2000’s era DVD was revolutionary in the days of the square box TV but has long needed a major overhaul. Does this disc live up to the much-anticipated hype? Read on below for my retrospective reflection on the film, plus all the technical details you can imagine! Be sure to click the cover art for a paid link to purchase your own copy of this masterpiece in the best physical media format!
Continue reading ‘The Abyss: Ultimate Collector’s Edition (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
March 6th, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things took the festival crowd by storm before a wide release in December of 2023. The early notes were that it was another odd ride from Lanthimos and Emma Stone was going to be winning a lot of awards from her work. Pair that with some buzz from general audiences (taking over $100 million worldwide) and then 11 Academy Award nominations, it’s safe to say that the film has etched its way into modern film culture. But does that make Poor Things a good film? Find out by reading more, and make sure to click the cover art below to access an Amazon link to order your own copy of the film which will be for sale on 3/13/24!
Continue reading ‘Poor Things (Blu-ray Review)’
March 6th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
Jason Statham stars in “The Beekeeper,” a heart-pounding action-thriller about a mysterious Beekeeper. Adam Clay (Statham), a former operative of a powerful organization known as Beekeepers, upends his covert life and embarks on a brutal revenge mission to dismantle corruption at the highest levels of our society. The stellar cast also includes Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Minnie Driver, Phylicia Rashad and Jeremy Iron, amongst others. The Beekeeper on 4K UHD Blu-ray is released April 23, 2024! Continue reading ‘‘The Beekeeper’ on 4K UHD Blu-ray April 23!’
March 6th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
In Abashiri Prison, Takakura stars as Shinichi Tachibana, a yakuza sent to Abashiri as punishment for an attack on a rival gangster. He intends to serve his time as a model prisoner until he is shackled to the bullish Gonzo Gonda (Kōji Nanbara), unwittingly roped into an escape attempt orchestrated by Heizo Yoda (Tōru Abe) and forced to face the frozen wilderness of Hokkaidō. In Another Abashiri Prison Story, Tachibana has just been released when he stumbles across a stash of diamonds recently stolen in a heist – and attracts unwanted attention from criminals and cops alike. Finally, in Abashiri Prison: Saga of Homesickness, Tachibana reunites with his former yakuza associates, who are trying to go straight. That is, at least, until old rivals come looking for trouble… Prison Walls – Abashiri Prison I-III is released on Blu-ray May 28, 2024!
Continue reading ‘‘Prison Walls – Abashiri Prison I-III’ on Blu-ray May 28!’
March 6th, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
The iconic crime thriller film The Departed from Academy Award® winning director Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, Goodfellas) will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital for the first time on April 23.
The Departed’s prestigious ensemble cast stars Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street) , Academy Award winner Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Martian), three time Academy Award Winner Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets), and Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter, Boogie Nights), with Emmy Award winner Martin Sheen (television’s “The West Wing,” Apocalypse Now), BAFTA nominee Ray Winstone (That Summer, Nil by Mouth), Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin (The Cooler), Emmy nominee Anthony Anderson (television’s “Black-ish,” Hustle & Flow), and James Badge Dale in supporting roles.
Continue reading ‘The Departed Arrives on 4K Ultra HD April 23!’
March 5th, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
The Walt Disney Company today announced four new Collector’s Editions of popular Disney+ Original series from Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm will be available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray for fans to add to their collections. These special releases feature Steelbook packaging, concept art cards and some never-before-seen bonus features.
The titles, all to be released on April 30, 2024 are:
- Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and The Winter Soldier: The Complete First Season
- Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight: The Complete First Season
- Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi – The Complete Series
- Star Wars: Andor – The Complete First Season
Continue reading ‘Coming April 20th for the First Time on 4K UHD and Blu-ray: 4 Disney+ Originals!’
March 5th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
When Major Charles Rane (William Devane, Marathon Man, Interstellar) returns home to San Antonio, Texas, he is given a hero’s welcome. He and his friend John Vohden (Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive) had endured eight years of physical and mental torture in a POW camp. Adjusting to his old life isn’t going to be easy for Rane. His wife Janet has fallen in love with another man, and his son doesn’t remember him. The publicity he receives as a returning hero has attracted the attention of a group of hoodlums. When the group kills Rane’s wife and son and leaves him for dead, he and Vohden team up to hunt them down. Rolling Thunder is released on 4K UHD Blu-ray April 23, 2024! Continue reading ‘‘Rolling Thunder’ on 4K UHD Blu-ray April 23!’
March 5th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (Chao Lei), China’s coastal regions have come under attack by wokou – Japanese pirates under the leadership of the infamous Hakatatsu (Sammo Hung). To combat this threat, the Emperor tasks a trusted general, Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi), with assembling a group of skilled warriors to find and eliminate the pirates. Under the command of General Yu Dayou (Roy Chiao), the band of soldiers – including husband-and-wife sword-fighters Wu Ji-yuan (Wing Bai) and Wu Ruo-shi (Feng Hsu) – set out to draw Hakatatsu, his ally Xu Dong (Han Ying-chieh) and their pirate clan into a series of spectacular showdowns. Inspired by historical events and featuring several storied figures drawn from Chinese history, The Valiant Ones is a standout wuxia film produced during the dying days of the genre, as audience tastes were shifting towards more grounded kung fu cinema. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present The Valiant Ones on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray from a 4K restoration. Continue reading ‘‘The Valiant Ones’ on 4K UHD Blu-ray May 28!’
March 5th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
The producers of M3GAN high dive into the deep end of horror with the supernatural thriller, Night Swim. Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) stars as a former major league baseball player, forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his wife (Oscar nominee Kerry Condon) and their two children. The new home comes complete with a backyard swimming pool, but a deep secret surfaces and unleashes a malevolent force that will drag the family into the inescapable depths of terror. Night Swim is released on Blu-ray & DVD April 9, 2024! Continue reading ‘‘Night Swim’ on Blu-ray April 9!’
March 4th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
Bursting with imagination and having seen her share of tragedy and fantasy, Amélie is not like the other girls. When she grows up, she becomes a waitress in a Montmartre bar run by a former dancer. Amélie enjoys simple pleasures until she discovers that her goal in life is to help others. To that end, she invents all sorts of tricks that allow her to intervene incognito into other people’s lives, including an imbibing concierge and her hypochondriac neighbor. But Amélie’s most difficult case turns out to be Nino Quicampoix, a lonely sex shop employee who collects photos abandoned at coin-operated photo-booths. Amélie is released on Blu-ray + Steelbook March 26, 2024! Continue reading ‘‘Amelie’ on Blu-ray + Steelbook March 26!’
February 29th, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
Wish seemed like a sure-fire hit when trailers were released. A throwback to the classic Disney features of the past, the film practically came with a built in audience of children AND adults. But on a $200 million dollar budget and making $185 Million worldwide proved otherwise. The trend of Disney animated features of any kind not doing well continues, and for me anyway, this feels unfair. Read my insights on Wish and make sure to click the cover art for a paid link to purchase your own copy!
Continue reading ‘Wish (4K UHD Blu-ray Steelbook Review)’
February 27th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
At a time in the 80s/90s, when Hong Kong cinema was making names out of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, Donnie Yen, and many others, it’s not as though women were left out of the conversation. Already stars in their own right, the combined talents of Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh led to two very stylish, comic book and fantasy film-influenced films, The Heroic Trio and its sequel, Executioners. Both movies originally released in 1993; director Johnnie To has been honored by the Criterion Collection once again, with a 4K UHD released for both films in one killer set, complete with new transfers, extra features, and more.
– Continue reading ‘The Heroic Trio / Executioners – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
February 24th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
BABY ASSASSINS 2 debuts on Digital and Blu-ray April 2 from Well Go USA Entertainment, and “once again deliver[s] the gold standard for bloody and hilarious slacker action/comedies.” (Film School Rejects) After the agency suspends its top assassins, aspiring hitmen decide to eliminate them—leading to a lightning-fast showdown between trained killers. Hugo SAKAMOTO (Baby Assassins) returns to the director’s chair for the “reliably funny, sometimes downright hysterical” (The Spool), action-packed sequel and brings back Akari TAKAISHI and Saori IZAWA from the original, along with “fantastic fight choreography” (/Film) by Kensuke Sonomura (Bad City, Hydra). BABY ASSASSINS 2 also stars Atomu MIZUISHI (Baby Assassins), Tomo NAKAI (Sayonara Girls.), Tsubasa TOBINAGA (Baby Assassins), Tetsu WATANABE (A Janitor), Joey Tee (Samurai Marathon) and Tatsuomi HAMADA (The Memory Eraser). Continue reading ‘Baby Assassins 2 on Blu-ray April 2!’
February 23rd, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
The Beverly Hills Cop series has always varied in quality. The first film is an unquantifiable 80’s classic that was a huge hit in its era, making Eddie Murphy a superstar. The sequel carried 80’s excess and although it did very well, was critically savaged. By the time Cop III rolled around, not even Eddie Murphy was interested. The film didn’t perform well and critically was murdered upon release. There are a very limited few that can say they enjoy the third film all that much, but as most collectors do, we must complete the set. And here we have Cop III arriving on 4K UHD Blu-ray in time for its 30th anniversary. Of course, this one has memories attached to it for me, and so I have a soft spot for the film. Read all about it below and click the cover art for a paid Amazon link to get your own copy, should you feel so compelled!
Continue reading ‘Beverly Hills Cop III (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
February 23rd, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
I have been a fan of Willy Wonka since I was a young kid. I had the Charlie and the Chocolate Factorybooks and read them over and over. I even had an audiobook on cassette that used to lull me to sleep on many nights. I was soothed by the narrator and the story was so visual even on the page that I went right to that factory, wished I was Charlie and wanted so much to win by being a good kid. The sense memory of it all, right? The 1971 film with Gene Wilder as the titular Willy Wonka was also a fever dream of goodness. Part whimsy and charm, part acid trip, even now I love that film. When Johnny Depp stepped into Wonka’s shoes, I was intrigued and then sadly disappointed by the results. When I heard the filmmakers behind Paddington were working on another Wonka tale, I of course got interested. Those are such sweet films. Did Paul King and his cast and crew deliver? Read on below and be sure to click the cover artwork at the end to order a copy of this candy-coated film!
Continue reading ‘Wonka (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
February 23rd, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
Director Sergio Leone’s monumental Western classic ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST celebrates its 55th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion Paramount Home Entertainment will release the fully restored film for the first time on 4K Ultra HD™ May 14, 2024, as the latest addition to the studio’s Paramount Presents line.
One of the most iconic and influential movies ever made, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST has been restored from the original 35mm Techniscope camera negative by Paramount’s archive team, L’Immagine Ritrovata and The Film Foundation. This restoration honors the 2007 Film Foundation photochemical restoration overseen by legendary director Martin Scorsese by matching its build and color palette. The result is the definitive home release of the film, which features the 165-minute extended cut restored to its glory.
Continue reading ‘Monumental Western Classic ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST Comes To 4K UHD Blu-ray May 14th!’
February 22nd, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers made a splash at the Telluride Film Festival in the summertime. It became an immediate critical hit for audiences and was quickly purchased for distribution by Searchlight Pictures. The film is itself a remake of a Japanese film The Discarnates which is itself an adaptation of the 1987 Japanese novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada. This tale of love found and dealing with grief may have been a critical smash, but does it hold up for us mere mortal film fans? Find out below and be sure to give it a watch on Hulu or make a digital purchase wherever you buy digital films!
Continue reading ‘All of Us Strangers (Digital 4K Review)’
February 22nd, 2024 by Adam Toroni-Byrne
I don’t think anyone could have imagined how cathartic a movie like Contagion could be before Covid. The film is a creepy reminder of 2020 now, and even if our pandemic ended up being nothing like the one in the film, to a point anyway, it’s a look into what might have been. Take an in-depth look at Contagion below and see if my thoughts are shared with yours. As a surprising choice to make the jump the UHD Blu-ray, it may be a prime time to revisit the film.
Continue reading ‘Contagion (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
