‘Boyhood’ Grows Up on Blu-ray This December
Boyhood is a film that I was very interested in seeing this year, but try as I might I did not get around to it. It’s hailed as “a moving 12-year epic that isn’t quite like anything else in the history of cinema” (Andrew O’Hehir, Salon), “a breathtaking achievement” (Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post) and “a profound viewing experience” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times). And now it’s official! Writer/director Richard Linklater’s extraordinary film Boyhood debuts on Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD January 6, 2015 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. It should also be noted that the film arrives four weeks early on Digital HD December 9, 2014. I can’t wait to experience it! Check out the full press release below. Continue reading ‘‘Boyhood’ Grows Up on Blu-ray This December’
Within in two months’ time, Scream Factory has brought horror fans two holy grails of their fandom. Last month it was the legendary producer’s cut of Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers which had been circulating on ratty VHS bootlegs for almost two decades. This month, its one that fans haven’t really been able to get their hands on but had heard about for years; Clive Barker’s intended version of his critical and box office disappointment, Nightbreed. Scream Factory, along with Barker and restoration producer Alan Miller have got on board to put together the film from recently found elements to put together the definitive cut of the movie. In this review I am only covering the release of the Director’s Cut standalone release. There is also a limited edition (limited to 10,000, still available as of writing this review) that contains the theatrical cut as well as a disc dedicated to more bonus material. 
New York Comic Con 2014 certainly went out with a bang, as Day 4 brought more surprises and gossip-filled panels for all the fans in attendance on Sunday. Once again it was the television panels that generated the most interest, with new Batman-origins show Gotham taking the top spot. The cast and crew were on-hand to answer questions and talk about their experiences on the show so far. Gotham fans were also treated to a special sneak peak of scenes from upcoming episodes. 
Summer blockbusters are always a thing to look forward to. Big movies are like events to hit up. Well, the small screen now has its own movie event tradition in the summer. Sharknado took viewers and social media by storm last July. A second film was inevitable. This past July, Ian Ziering, Tara Reid and director Anthony C Ferrante returned for Sharknado 2: The Second One. This time SyFy was ready and had this thing ready to be the social media viewing experience of the year. They even named the film from their contest to tweet them your idea for a title. They went with this one, even though I thought Patton Oswalt’s Shaknadeux was far more fun and clever. For a third go around, I’d like to throw my idea for it to be called Sharknado! Sharknado! Sharknado! into the basket. 
Life is full of disappointments. They can range from not getting a promotion you were up for, or your favorite restaurant closing down. However, few things in life can match the eye rolling anger that one gets when a favorite movie comes out on Blu-ray and disappoints us at every turn. It’s almost like the Chicago Cubs making it to the post season… you just can’t believe it. 
When it comes handheld console gaming, it is an undeniable fact that this is Nintendo’s world and we just live in it. From the Game Boy to the Nintendo DS and 3DS, the Big N’s systems repeatedly crush any and all opponents (Game Gear, Game.com or Atari Lynx anyone?). But when Sony threw their hat into the ring with the PlayStation Portable (PSP), they turned a few heads because of the immense popularity of the PlayStation brand name and Nintendo had not faced a corporate giant like Sony in the handheld world. The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 both outsold the competing Nintendo home consoles by a very comfortable margin, so could Sony do the same in the portable market? 
Pee-wee’s Playhouse was very much an integral part of my childhood viewing. I was the prime audience back in the day. Every Saturday morning I would get up, have my marshmallow-y cereal and watch my cartoons. Pee-wee’s Playhouse was always the very last show on in the morning. The networks usually transitioned by having some live action stuff on at the end of the morning, like say Saved By The Bell and California Dreams. Pee-wee’s Playhouse was all sorts of things to me. It was wild, hilarious, fun and even some of the things on the show made me uneasy and creeped me out. It was jam packed and loading me with all sorts of emotion. Watching the show was equivalent to a massive sugar rush. Everybody my age had themselves a Pee-Wee Herman doll with the pull string and we also constantly quoted him and had our own impressions of him finely tuned ready to dial up at the right moment. And now I get to relive all of that through this fantastic new Blu-ray release from the amazing folks over at Shout! Factory. 
Last October, Scream Factory ghoulishly delighted everyone for Halloween with the release of The Vincent Price Collection. Six of the iconic horror actor’s works in one set with some definite gems of bonus features. Of those, there were the introductions and parting words for many of the films from the Iowa PBS archives from the 80s that had price discussing each film before and after it in a haunting library like setting. This year, Scream Factory is back with another volume of Price, up’ing the ante to now seven titles. This box set also has more commercially appealing titles to it as well, as it contains classics like The Raven, The House On Haunted Hill, Return Of The Fly, The Comedy Of Terrors and The Last Man On Earth to name some. It is with great pleasure that I return to these and share my experience. 
It’s Halloween season and that means I watch a bunch of horror movies. I mean, I watch horror movies a lot any time of year, but this month is especially big. It’s like Christmas for a scary movie fan! My favorite long running horror movie franchise is A Nightmare on Elm Street. While Black Christmas started off the slasher genre as we know it, and Halloween and Friday the 13th became bankable franchises before Freddy, there has always been something about this series that makes me put it above the others. Logistically speaking, the idea of someone stalking you relentlessly in your dreams is terrifying because – much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers – everyone has to sleep, and everyone will eventually become prey. Freddy Krueger isn’t like a Jason Voorhees or a Michael Myers where you can try and hide from him or outsmart him to defeat him… the idea of Freddy is always waiting for you when you close your eyes.
Sigurd is an archaeologist who is fascinated by a Viking ship found at the Oseberg burial mound. He believes that a runic inscription on the ship, which translates to “man knows little,” holds the key to understanding the Norse myth of Ragnarok: the day when heaven and earth are destroyed. After finding similar inscriptions on a stone in Northern Norway, Sigurd, along with his kids and a colleague, begin an expedition to uncover the secret of the day of doom. A discovery beyond their imagination awaits! Ragnarok will be gracing Blu-ray on November 18! Find all the details on Ragnorok’s Blu-ray below!
When I first saw the poster for Universal’s Dracula Untold I instantly was fooled into thinking this was some kind of fan made poster art for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, at least it looked like it belonged to that particular franchise. My opinion on the matter still holds true even today when I look at the movie’s poster art as shown at the bottom of this review. It has the making of a really good Batman concept poster, at least in my opinion it does. However, I digress. I won’t waste your time by selfishly going off on a tangent bickering as to why I hate the poster art so much for Dracula Untold, but instead I’m going to forget the fact that I even mentioned it (despite it being embedded in print now) and move along because we have much bigger fish or should I say bats to fry here in this movie review. So whether you believe that Universal intends this film to be a reboot of the Universal Monsters franchise or not is your prerogative. Mine is to report on everything that simply goes down in this “first entry.” Shall we get started?
