Gravity Falls: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review)
Gravity Falls ran on both Disney Channel Disney XD (Where Star Wars: Rebels also aired) during its broadcast run from 2012 to 2016. In 40 episodes it gained a real strong following from people of all ages. I found myself seeing a lot of acclaim for it from some surprising but trustworthy sources. I had always meant to give it a go, but never got around to it…UNTIL NOW! Wanting to start fresh from the beginning and not trying to sift through OnDemand and streams, Shout! Factory is delivering the complete series Blu-ray set on July 24th. Disney and Shout! Factory teaming up? Crazy! This 7-disc set will also come with a host of impressive extras including and almost 2 hour documentary and commentaries on all 40 episodes. If you’re a fan, don’t hesitate to secure yourself a copy via the Amazon pre-order link below! Continue reading ‘Gravity Falls: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review)’
Ready Player One, based off of the Ernest Cline novel of the same name, became one of the first bigger hits in the Spring of 2018 post-Black Panther. The film took in some nice dough and found a some popularity overseas, raking in almost 600 billion dollars on the worldwide stage. Financially its been one of Steven Spielberg’s biggest in years. Now, its coming from the theater arcade to your home video console. I’m excited for this to be a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray release, but boy…how fun would it have been to include or sell separately a collector’s Beta or VHS tape of the film. And not in letterbox either, fully cropped as was per usual. Missed opportunity there. Maybe on a rerelease. Anyway, this release is pretty loaded with extras and you can check it all out when it arrives on July 24th. 
Ready Player One, based off of the Ernest Cline novel of the same name, became one of the first bigger hits in the Spring of 2018 post-Black Panther. The film took in some nice dough and found a some popularity overseas, raking in almost 600 billion dollars on the worldwide stage. Financially its been one of Steven Spielberg’s biggest in years. Now, its coming from the theater arcade to your home video console. I’m excited for this to be a Blu-ray release, but boy…how fun would it have been to include or sell separately a collector’s Beta or VHS tape of the film. And not in letterbox either, fully cropped as was per usual. Missed opportunity there. Maybe on a rerelease. Anyway, this release is pretty loaded with extras and you can check it all out when it arrives on July 24th. 
Take home a piece of cinematic history with Avengers: Infinity War, debuting digitally on July 31, 2018and Blu-ray™ on August 14, 2018. Experience over two hours of exclusive bonus content featuring never-before-seen details behind the scenes, a ten-year history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a filmmaker roundtable, deleted scenes and so much more! Additionally, Marvel Studios will also release The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron on 4K UHD digitally on July 31, 2018 and physically on August 14, 2018 on the heels of the Avengers: Infinity War in-home release.
The zombies have returned! Writer/director Ken Wiederhorn (Dark Tower, A House in the Hills) churns a fun-and-gory spin on the zombie apocalypse movie in cult classic RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD Part II, starring James Karen (The Return of the Living Dead, Poltergeist), Thom Matthews (Jason Lives: Friday, the 13th Part VI), Dana Ashbrook (Twin Peaks), Marsha Dietlein (Little Children), Philip Bruns (Flash Dance), and Michael Kenworthy (The Blob). On August 14, 2018, SCREAM FACTORY™ is proud to present RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD Part II Collector’s Edition Blu-ray, which includes new 2K scan of the film, new interviews with cast and crew, and much more! 
Truth be told I wanted nothing to do with The Equalizer when it came out theatrically. I even went as far as to not make any plans to attend the press screening of it when it dropped in my area. What kind of reviewer does that? I can tell you. It’s a bad one. I guess it all harkens back to the fact that whenever I heard this film being tossed around while in production my mind instantly drifted to an elder white man (Edward Woodard) from the television series back in the mid 80’s, not the bada$$ that Academy Award winner Denzel Washington really could be circa his Oscar-winning Training Day era. However, life works in mysterious ways and I reluctantly found myself in the theater checking this out. And checking this out I did…more like with my mouth wide open in complete awe and shock as to what I was seeing on screen. To say I loved what I saw would be like saying the sun always sets in the West. I was over the moon and I couldn’t be happier now to re-live The Equalizer all over again on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with the next film in the hopefully long running series only weeks away. 
Vestron Video returns after a little while of with an exciting release of a film many have been asking for; Beyond Re-Animator. Now, I don’t think this particular entry is anyone’s favorite in the series, but us Blu-ray and horror collectors are also completionists and our collections need a buddy to place after Bride of Re-Animator on our shelves. And, every one of Jeffrey Combs wonderful turns as Herbert West should make the format jump, regardless. This is the first time the film will be available as a single release on Blu-ray, too. It contains all new interviews with Jeffrey Combs and director Brian Yuzna to go with a new restoration of the film for your visual pleasure. You can pre-order a copy to have it when it comes out at the end of the month on July 24th. 
Do any of you suffer from the same infliction I do in life?
After recovering from the onslaught of flicks that unspooled at the recent Dances With Films Festival 2018, this movie geek needed a little break. (New Indie titles will be popping up soon!) But in taking a little film reflection time and seeing that I had only two films with five-stars in 2018 (that would be Thoroughbreds and Marrowbone people!) I decided to take a step back and check out some of the possible gems I missed along the way. So below are eight films out already that were recommendations from close critics I trust to reviewers on this very site in an attempt to try and flesh out my low five-star flick list. (Only scored one more – but it’s still something!) So for all those willing to look back with me here are the Encapsulated Movie Reviews of You Were Never Really Here, Three Identical Strangers, First Reformed, A Quiet Place, Sicario: Day Of The Soldado, Ocean’s 8, Overboard and Life Of The Party below for your ready reference.
This past February, Marvel let the cat out of the bag. To be honest, a more specific interpretation is Marvel unleashed a panther from its cage. Directed by Oakland’s own Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed), Black Panther didn’t merely flex its muscles at the box office nor did it scratch and claw its way to the top. On the contrary, it was more like a complete obliteration of the competition. Domestically the film grossed just under $700 million. Globally it brought in just over $1.3 billion…with a ‘b’…billion. Not a lot of films are able to stake a claim to that kind of accomplishment. Still, the money and the ticket sales are just side-stories to what Coogler and this film truly achieved. What I saw as a super hero movie turned out to be something much greater to a lot more people.
I wasn’t sold on Universal’s first Purge film in 2013, but the acting of Frank Grillo in the second 2014 outing made me an instant fan. The third installment, 2016’s Election Year, was pretty good, but nothing in my opinion can top that “you killed my son” moment in Anarchy. However, I digress. We’re not here to measure sequels, but instead to talk about the all new Purge prequel titled The First Purge. It releases everywhere nationwide on our Nation’s Birthday, July 4th (with some showings tonight too). This one tells the story of how it all began with the New Founding Fathers of America testing our Nation’s first ever Purge out in one isolated community. I think y’all knows what happens next, but the getting there part is what makes this sociological experiment worth the watch. At least that is what I was hoping for going in. 
I have been living in Austin, TX now for over five years and I have yet to attend the infamous SXSW film/music festival. Is that wrong of me? I just don’t want to contend with all the mad traffic that event brings to the area, which in my opinion can’t appropriately accommodate an event of this size anyway. However, I mention this event only because that’s where A Quiet Place first premiered this past March. A month later it opened theatrically wide to rave reviews from critics, moviegoers and even Hollywood actors themselves praising the film for its smart moves and breathtaking scares. I remember one famous actor even said he saw it three times and was on the radio encouraging all moviegoers to go see it. Needless to say I was pumped to tackle this one theatrically. I mean how could all these people be wrong about it, right? So without further ado let’s talk some A Quiet Place down below. What say you?
Many acclaimed directors get their start in the horror genre. And of those many, some of them’s first big gigs were schlock. Enter James Cameron and Roger Corman’s Piranha II: The Spawning. Its fun bit of film history trivia to see a torch passed in a series like this from Joe Dante to James Cameron. Scream Factory had tried to release this one earlier this year (January, I believe), but hit some snags delaying it, but I can confirm that it DOES exist as I’m gonna review it haha. Not a Collector’s Edition but the film does carry some extras (No, James Cameron and Lance Henriksen are not involved with any of them). This is sure to become a collector’s item, though. So, pre-order yourself a copy to have on time for its release on July 31st! 
Scream Factory’s last releases of John Carpenter came two years ago with the Shout Select release of Elvis and Scream Factor Collector’s Edition of Village of the Damned. It’s been a while, but they have come back with what was once unthinkable; John Carpenter’s titles owned by Warner Bros! One of said films is the Chevy Chase led, innovative effects film Memoirs of an Invisible Man (The only film not to have his name above the title…we’ll touch on that). Memoirs is accompanying two other John Carpenter films on July 24th. This one will contain a handful of vintage featurettes to go with a new transfer of the film for this release. You’ll want to make sure you don’t miss out on completing your John Carpenter Blu-ray collecting by pre-ordering it using the Amazon link below. 
I have been anxiously waiting for the past three years to see a sequel to one of my favorite films from 2015, Sicario. Truth be told, it’s also one of my favorite 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays too. Looks phenomenal and that opening blast scene…wow! So here we are it’s 2018 and the sequel they have been promising us has finally arrived…Sicario: Day of the Soldado. I’ll skip over the parts of who has what distribution rights and where as to what it’s named, etc. I’m just excited to be back in this gangster-ladden, drug war world of Sicario once again. However, I must admit I had some mild reservations going in due to some meh critical reviews not to mention those comments from friends. Needless to say I’m all in. Now let’s see who’s telling the truth. 
Shout! Factory has returned with a couple more acclaimed short documentary films of the sort of IMAX-type variety to show off their 4K display skills. Get ready to explore our world in Ultra-high-definition when two critically acclaimed films National Parks Adventure (narrated by Robert Redford), and Dream Big: Engineering Our World (narrated by Jeff Bridges), are each released in a 4K Blu-ray + 3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital copy set by Shout! Factory. Originally filmed for and seen in IMAX and Giant Screen theaters, these stunning films will now be available in living rooms across the country. You’ll be able to wow your friends with your sweet new 4K Ultra-HD home theater set up when these come to the format on July 24th. This review will focus on the Robert Redford narrated National Parks Adventure. Pre-order yourself a copy below using the Amazon link. 
