Archive Page 356
January 2nd, 2015 by Blu-ray Brian
I make it no surprise. When it comes to televisions and home media players, there’s no other brand I’ll recommend or even own in my home other than Sony. They build the best gear in my opinion (I’m not being paid to say this) and are worth the extra bucks over the competition as far as I’m concerned. Also, when it comes to Blu-ray players, again in my opinion, you’ll never hear me speak of any other player besides the Playstation 3, the king of them all. However, a funny thing happened this past January. I became a gamer when I got my grubby paws on a Playstation 4 and did the unthinkable, I paid to become a Sony PSN Plus member so I could kick some arse online in the Call of Duty franchise, and also bask in all the other benefits the membership has to offer like free games, discounts, multiplayer matches and more. We, the fans and players on the Playstation 4, come to rely on our PSN Plus memberships like crack to a junkie. Continue reading ‘Is Sony’s PSN Christmas Outage Makeup To Us Really Enough?’
January 2nd, 2015 by Blu-ray Brian
I first met Tim Sullivan years ago at the mighty Comic-Con. That interview can be found here. Over the years the horror legend and I have kept in touch and I’m even involved in an upcoming project of his, but we’re not here to talk about that today…just yet. We’re here about something both old and new Tim Sullivan has been cooking as of late. So here it is. Director Tim Sullivan has been joined by horror icon Tom Holland in a great new venture called…drum roll please…TnT Presents. Offering enhanced editions of their memorable films, Holland and Sullivan will continue to celebrate the launch of TnT Presents with a signing party at a place I love very much, Dark Delicacies, this month, January 10th from 2pm to 4pm (that’s Pacific time). Check out the official press release below and learn how you can also score an autographed Chucky doll! Continue reading ‘Tom Holland & Tim Sullivan – TnT Presents – Signing Party January 10 at Dark Delicacies’
December 31st, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
The year of 2014 is literally coming to an end, but I am not letting it end without putting up a list of my favorite films of the year. This is never an easy list to put together, but somehow I have not only listed my Top Ten favorites, I have actually managed to rank my top 30 films of the year. Having seen 150+ films theatrically, there are certainly a lot of films to consider, but developing a master list of year-end material and then narrowing it down from there, basically led to me having a ranked list of 30 films. Ultimately I went through a process of figuring out which films got the greatest response out of me and stuck with me throughout the year, in an effort to get the final ten films in order. With that in mind, I am very satisfied with this final list that I have put together, mainly because it is a reflection of my own opinions that I am happy to share. So here we go with my picks for the Top Ten films of 2014. (As per usual, I placed lots of Easter Eggs hidden in all the pictures).
Continue reading ‘Top Ten: Aaron’s Favorite Films of 2014’
December 30th, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
I really wanted to get a post in this year reviewing Machine Head’s 2014 effort, Bloodstone & Diamonds, but quite honestly time escaped me in the real world and I wasn’t able to quickly gather my thoughts and pull something together. I know. I suck. I often imagine what it would be like if I had kids and still had to work the lifestyle I do. I don’t think I could hack it. I’d probably self combust, but I digress because nevertheless we are here to briefly talk about one of my favorite metal bands, Machine Head, most notably their new music video for the album opener, “Now We Die.” For anyone that’s interested, they also have new tour dates on their website www.machinehead1.com here. So what do you say we let the symphony strings and Rob Flynn’s vocals take it away from here? Hell yeah! Kumbaya! Continue reading ‘Watch Machine Head’s Music Video For “Now We Die”’
December 30th, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
“House on a Hill” finally gets a long overdue music video and I’m a bit late in getting this up, but if you didn’t know about it before this post, then this is news to you! So here it is. I have been waiting almost a year for a music video to be made from this Pretty Reckless song, “House on a Hill,” which I consider one of the best tunes released this year by any band, period. However, that’s just my belief. So here it is. An “official” music video sanctioning the beautiful, haunting track has been “officially” released for all to see. While it does not meet my high expectations, nor jive with the visuals I had for Taylor Momsen’s lyrics (although it’s still powerful in its own right), it’s great to at least have something out there because that means more and more people are now hearing this masterpiece everyday. Enjoy! Continue reading ‘The Pretty Reckless’ “House on a Hill” Gets a Music Video!’
December 30th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
All right, its my turn. Up front, there’s a few movies I didn’t get to. I haven’t been able to get out and see Whiplash yet. Selma and Inherent Vice don’t open here in my fair city until the year reads 2015. In 2014, my little bundle of wonderful daughter was born, so like 2012 when my son came into this world, I didn’t get to the theater with as much frequency. Not a big deal though, having them is worth much more to me than having to wait for something to hit Blu-ray. Once again, 2014 was a hard year to break down into a limited set of favorites, but I feel I’ve got it down to a somewhat concise list. In the year ’14 having 14 titles seemed aptly appropriate.
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December 29th, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
Because of I’m such a big Lana Del Rey fan as of late and jonesing to see the Weinstein Company’s Big Eyes, I thought I would share this latest press release I received today. While Big Eyes is playing everywhere nationwide now, Lana Del Rey’s “Big Eyes” has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Song. Here’s hoping that she wins. In the meantime I wanted to do a trifecta for you by providing you below a quick synopsis of the film, the interview I speak of here in this paragraph and also the music video for Del Rey’s “Big Eyes.” In addition to that I’m also able to up the ante with a link here to Aaron Neuwirth’s theatrical review of Big Eyes. It doesn’t get any better than this! Enjoy! Continue reading ‘Lana Del Rey ‘Big Eyes’ Interview’
December 29th, 2014 by Brian White
It’s that time of the year again. My how time flies by, huh? 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 lists as well. Ugh! I’m not going to lie. I have struggled with these in the past few years, but something quite remarkable happened this year, at least for me. There was an influx of good movies released theatrically this year, at least in my eyes there was. You can definitely feel free to disagree with me. In my opinion, that’s what these TOP 10 lists are for, to create controversy. You want those “oh my God” moments where your readers will exclaim to themselves or sometimes out loud, “he or she picked what?” As a reviewer you want to stir that pot of controversy and create that inevitable dish of debate that follows in the comments section, at least I do. Continue reading ‘TOP 10: Brian White’s Favorite Heavy Hitting Films of 2014′
December 29th, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
Ahoy there mates. Welcome aboard to participate in another pirate booty treasure giveaway here on Why So Blu. This time out we’re sailing some stormy and troubled seas in a wretched pirate ship and everywhere you look trouble lurks. What’s described to me as pirates meets Spartacus: Blood and Sand on the open seas definitely has me intrigued. I have heard tales of gratuitous nudity and gritty scenarios so shiver my timbers, land ho, I want to go and find the nearest Blu-ray player to check out Black Sails The Complete First Season ASAP. Read on below to find out how you can win your very own Blu-ray copy. Continue reading ‘Black Sails The Complete First Season Blu-ray Giveaway Contest’
December 29th, 2014 by Gregg Senko
Oh yes, there were many more than five, and I’m sure Tammy was one of them, but I did not have any hope for that anyway. The following five films were works I had gone into with an open mind and wide eyes. In hindsight, they were wallet vacuums, stealing my money on account that someone responsible for them thought they were putting out a good product. I’ve got all the bases covered here too; comedy, family, action, etc. Most of all though, these five movies delivered boredom more than anything else.
Continue reading ‘Gregg’s Top 5 Duds of 2014′
December 28th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
Never a post of joy, but every year does see the release of films that are not very good. I never seek out films with the purpose of hating them and a majority of these are not without redeemable elements, but if I have at least 10 films on a list that I consider better than the rest I saw this year, then this is a list that features at least 10 films I would say are worse than everything else I saw. I have also included the films I was most disappointed in, which are not necessarily bad movies, but not ones I would say lived up to their potential. Final note: this is my list, meaning I only saw so much of what was generally considered ‘terrible,’ basically meaning that I was not racing out to see Blended or I, Frankenstein, while I was also fine with certain ‘alleged’ atrocities, such as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Trans4mers, so they won’t be anywhere near this list. And with all that said, let’s dig into the bottom of barrel.
Continue reading ‘Top Ten: Aaron’s Most Disappointing Films & The Worst Of 2014’
December 26th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
There is something I find fascinating about a man struggling not to be a criminal. This was something played to near-perfection by Al Pacino in The Godfather films, but it is a character type that we have seen a lot in the crime and gangster films before and since those first two ‘masterpieces.’ In regards to this superb crime drama from writer/director J.C. Chandor, I think my fascination has something to do with the idea of understanding lead character Oscar Isaac’s sense of morals, but seeing how much ‘easier’ it would be for him if he more willingly stepped onto the dark side. Regardless of what the case may be, A Most Violent Year is the kind of slow-burn, tactics-heavy, crime drama that I was easily taken in by, thanks to a level of confidence behind the camera and strong performances matched with cinematic beauty in front of it.
Continue reading ‘‘A Most Violent Year,’ A Most Wonderful Film (Movie Review)’
December 26th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
I enjoy putting together different year end lists, as they tend to function as a way for me to put emphasis on a lot of film that I would hope people check out at some point (or avoid, in the case of the ‘Worst of’ list). This year, given how I have ranked a large number of films in an effort to put together an ultimate Top 10+ list, I wanted to spend time creating a list focused on a solid selection of films that I may not go all the way in pronouncing as my end-of-year favorites, but certainly want to bring as much notice to them as possible. With that in mind, here is a list of 20 films in alphabetical order, consisting of comedies, horror films, genre fun, documentaries and more, which I have a high level of admiration for.
Continue reading ‘Top 20: Aaron’s Odds & Ends of 2014′
December 25th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
In a film about high stakes gambling and the crushing weight an addiction (or whatever Mark Wahlberg’s character wants to call it), knowing how to balance the tension and frustration of someone constantly risking it all with cinematic skill is very important. Rupert Wyatt’s directorial follow-up to Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a drastically different type of film in terms of scale, but this remake of 1974’s The Gambler clearly shows that he can balance entertainment with intelligence within the confines of mainstream studio fare. Not that we do not see this from other filmmakers in any given year and it is also not like The Gambler is not without its share of issues, but as much as Wahlberg is the star actor in the film, Rupert Wyatt is really selling himself as the star director.
Continue reading ‘Wahlberg Goes All In With ‘The Gambler’ (Movie Review)’
December 25th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
I am a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch. I even like to refer to him by his full name, Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, because I enjoy celebrating just how British he is. It is clear to me that I am not alone in my appreciation for BTCC, but I do enjoy that it is coming from not just his work on BBC’s Sherlock, but from seeing him branch out into so many different roles. Now he stars as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, which feels like a role perfectly suitable for him, given the challenge of portraying this complex persona, yet having a familiarity with portraying someone with an idiosyncratic nature, especially when it comes to interaction with others. As for the film as a whole, it is perfectly entertaining in the “important biopic that you probably won’t feel the need to see more than once” kind of way, but the presence of Cumberbatch and his strong performance may certainly defy that kind of logic.
Continue reading ‘‘The Imitation Game’ Is An Entertaining One (Movie Review)’
December 24th, 2014 by Brian White
The Gambler is just what Hollywood needs, another remake. The American crime drama, directed by Rupert Wyatt, is simply that, a remake of the 1974 film of the same name (nothing to do with Kenny Rogers). This time out, it stars Mark Wahlberg as the gambler with contributions by big name stars such as John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Brie Larson and more. So I guess you can tell from my less than colorful opening monologue here, the story of a literature professor addicted to gambling who’s in deep with gangsters just doesn’t have me doing excited cartwheels over it, but I digress. That’s what the review below is all about. Continue reading ‘‘The Gambler’ Gambled With My Time (Movie Review)’
December 24th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
[Note: I had no real desire to dig too far into the controversy surrounding this film, as I have been fascinated, but exhausted with keeping up with what has gone on in this surreal situation leading up to the eventual release of this film. That said, my friend Scott Mendeslon, over at Forbes, has written a number of pieces that go into it, including This. As it stands, I just wanted to write about the film.]
A small part of the world cried foul, threats were made from various sources, but here we are with the movie that presents an insane premise and matches it with the same sense of humor and themes that have made successes out of the filmmaking team that is Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. While the real-life fallout from producing The Interview was likely something the duo could not have imagined, the actual film is merely silly fun, with only hints of truly biting social commentary. That said, I know what to expect, for the most part, from Team Rogberg at this point, and while this may not be their greatest effort, it is certainly an entertaining one.
Continue reading ‘‘The Interview’ Is Just A Comedy (Movie Review)’
December 23rd, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
If you are like any of us at Why So Blu, you have a huge movie collection. Even if you don’t, this is still something you may want to check into. My Movies 2 is now available for iPhone and iPad. The original app was a well-designed one, with a simple design enabling individuals to keep track of all of the films in their possession. This new version of the app is a nice improvement, which offers a variety of new ways to best organize your collection, catalog all of your Blu-rays and DVDs, as well as a number of other great editions that allow for quite the experience. Continue on to learn more.
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Continue reading ‘Bring You Movie Collection Everywhere With ‘My Movies 2’’
