Beverly Hills Cop II: 35th Anniversary Edition (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Paramount has had an interesting roll out here of the Beverly Hills Cop movies on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format. About two and half years ago they rolled out the 3-Movie Collection with 4K restorations, but on standard Blu-ray. That following December, the original came out standalone on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray alongside a Coming To America 4K release, a remastered Trading Places on standard Blu-ray and the standard Blu-ray debut of The Golden Child. Now, a year and a half later, here’s Beverly Hills Cop II for its 35th Anniversary which has been ready to go for over 2 years now. The hold up certainly wasn’t new bonus materials, but its nice to finally have it here. Will anyone clamor for 3 now? Perhaps an update on the trilogy set in 4K can squeeze that one out. Beverly Hills Cop II: 35th Anniversary Edition arrives on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on May 17th. You can pre-order it by using the paid Amazon Associates link after the review.
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Everyone’s favorite Super Heroes need to get back to the future as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Seventh and Final Season on Blu-ray and DVD July 19, 2022. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Seventh and Final Season features all 13 epic episodes with special features including deleted scenes and a gag reel. The set is priced to own on DVD and Blu-ray and is also available to own on Digital via purchase from all major digital retailers.
Candyman took its sweet time coming to Blu-ray in the United Stats. The 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray debut on the other hand? Its coming sort of on the heels of the Collector’s Edition Scream Factory put out a few years ago. And they aren’t slouching with this double dip. A new transfer, and upgraded to Atmos audio track and a new interview filter in to the already stacked bonus features being ported over from the previous release. You can order yourself a copy using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review. Candyman, the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray Collectors Edition from Scream Factory, will be hitting stores on May 24th.
When it was released 25 year ago, Trekkies was somewhat of a revelation and a look into a fan culture like you’ve never seen before. Things you’d only heard about “nerds” actually had bigger and better stories than you could’ve possibly imagined. Flash forward, their interests and convention lifestyle has now become the norm, though this film remains a time capsule and to see how far fandom and events have come. One might be more fond of a more genuine time when things felt like you were coming together for something special with a group of people you didn’t have in your regular life as opposed to just being sold things off the shelves. Shout Factory is celebrating the film at 25 years with its first Blu-ray release that has a 4K transfer, lossless audio and a new featurette with Denise Crosby and Roger Nygard looking back on it. It comes out on May 24th, but you can pre-order yourself a copy using the paid Amazon Associates link following the review.
One of the greatest all time Westerns from one of the greatest all time visionaries of the genre, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is coming to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. Not only that, it’ll mark the first 4K with the Paramount Presents label (Though, Almost Famous could be argued, it didn’t have that packaging). It’s a combo pack with a standard Blu-ray disc housing the extras and comes with a brand new Filmmaker Focus featurette that welcome back Leonard Maltin who is a regular on these. The film will hit stores (well, most likely those being just online ones) on May 17th. You can order yourself a copy for your collection by using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review.
Giant, the 1956 classic film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean in his final role, will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Digital on June 21, it was announced today by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. George Stevens, Sr. won his second Oscar® for directing the sweeping family saga set in Texas during the days of the oil boom. Based on Edna Ferber’s controversial novel, the movie’s release in 1956 was a massive box office hit and garnered 10 Academy Award® nominations. Considered by critics as ahead of its time, Giant is admired today for the breadth of its humanity more than its epic scale with its grand themes of generational conflict, racial tolerance, and social change. It exposed the marginalization and segregation of Mexican Americans for the first time on the big screen for audiences. At the center of the film, Elizabeth Taylor, as Leslie Benedict, portrays a strong and progressive woman who acts to stem the patterns of injustice. 
“American Flyers,” Rex Reed wrote, “is a fine mixture of romance, humor, and tears with action sequences among the most exciting ever captured on film. It’s guaranteed to increase the viewer’s adrenalin.” Two-time Academy Award® winner Kevin Costner and David Marshall Grant star in the film written by Breaking Away Oscar® winner Steve Tesich and directed by John Badham (Saturday Night Fever), American Flyers is a dazzling, spirit-soaring spectacle. Warner Archive Collection is brought it to Blu-ray for the very first time on April 12th. It includes the film’s trailer as a bonus feature. You can order the film now by using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review at the bottom.
The tale of Cyrano de Bergerac has been adapted to film directly, twisted around, reimagined or informed other films a rather large amount of times throughout history. Coming in toward the end of 2021, director Joe Wright brought us a lovely musical adaptation with Peter Dinklage taking the mantle. This adaptation was based on the 2018 musical of the same name. Essentially, an adaptation of an adaptation. The film was released by Universal on Blu-ray (Bummer, no 4K, this would have looked really pretty) on April 19th. Cyrano came with a DVD copy and digital code to redeem. Extras are light, with a brief “Making Of” coming in at under 10 minutes. Nonetheless, the strength of the film speaks for itself and probably is one of the more overlooked films of last year. Order yourself a copy by using the paid Amazon Associates link below.
This weekend the summer movie season begins with Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Although expectations are high, with some outlets predicting the 28th entry in the MCU to rake in the dough, becoming a cultural juggernaut like 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is doubtful, even for the Sorcerer Supreme. The top-notch cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, and new to Marvel, Xochitl Gomez. However, the big news is that this film marks director Sam Rami’s return to superhero antics since his Spider-Man trilogy from the aughts. Did the Drag Me To Hell maestro concoct a new kind of experience for the MCU? Can he top his web-slinging masterpiece, Spider-Man 2?
Warner Bros is rightfully celebrating the milestone of Singin’ In The Rain turning 70 years old with a brand new 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray showcasing its newest restoration. In addition they returned it to the theaters for one of those flashy, limited, Fathom events Turner Classic Movies screenings with an intro from Ben Mankiewicz. Their latest home video iteration doesn’t include any new bonus features, but it does restore the original mono theatrical mix in lossless format for the first time ever. The extras from the Ultimate Edition Blu-ray aren’t here, but the ones from the standard Blu-ray release remain. This new release will also be getting a Best Buy exclusive 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray steelbook. You can order this standard edition by clicking on the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review below.
Its both crazy to realize Jackass has been part of our pop culture for over 20 years and that these guys are still up and at it in terms of their crazy stunts. Jackass Forever was their latest effort, delayed a few times due to pandemic movie scheduling, finally arriving back in February of this year. The film also became attractive in being on Paramount+ as an exclusive for a short window. The Blu-ray (Yeah, no Jackass on 4K for this one) arrived on the format April 19th. It’s extras consist of about 40 minutes of stunts/skits/pranks that didn’t make the movie or alternate/expanded versions of ones that did. Some of them are even more fun with a little added context to them by way of the interviews that go with them. You can order yourself a copy of Jackass Forever by click the paid Amazon Associates review that follows the review.
Romantic comedies started getting a bit of a bad rap somewhere in the 00s. Sure, there were plenty of them, and yes they have their tropes. But, that’s really what they are. We are fine with action films, comic book films and horror movies having them, why are romantic comedies such low hanging fruit? Re-inventing them or making them ironically can get tired as well. Low and behold, here comes Marry Me, which just jumps in and makes a straight up (I guess…”old school”) romantic comedy and doesn’t look back. It arrived on Blu-ray on March 29th, coming with plenty of featurettes for the film which did a day and date theater/Peacock release. You can order yourself a copy of the film by using the paid Amazon Associates release following the review.
Robert Eggers’ The Northman is the third major release from the artisanal director. He has been granted his biggest budget yet with a different studio, Focus Features, footing the bill. His previous features, The Witch and The Lighthouse, were A24 productions. The premise: a young prince’s father is killed by his uncle, and he vows revenge. This might seem like a Viking take on The Bard’s Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s play starring the most indecisive hero ever was inspired, in fact, by this Scandinavian legend. Thankfully, in terms of decision making, that leads to much violence, as Amleth (rhymes with Hamlet) isn’t on the fence when it comes to dismemberment. Alexander Skarsgård stars as the broody axe-wielding prince alongside a supporting cast including Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Defoe, Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman, and everyone’s favorite Icelandic pop star: Björk. How does an authentically shot Norse tale fare in an era where Chris Hemsworth’s hammer-wielding superhero is the closest most audiences get to a Viking? It’s certainly not as funny as a Thor/Hulk team-up, but it’s way bloodier, so that’s something…
One of the more pivotal cinematic moments for fantasy, comics, rock music and animation in cinema arrived in the form of 1981’s Heavy Metal. Produced by Ivan Reitman, many of the top rock bands (Cheap Trick, Journey) provided the sound to some of the wickedest dreams come to life animation anyone had ever seen on a mainstream level. Celebrating 41 years now, its getting a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray upgrade with a transfer Reitman oversaw before his passing. He’s also present for a quick little retrospective that has he and famous fans of the film reflecting on what it meant to them. The limited edition steelbook, which includes the standard Blu-ray debut of its Julie Strain-led sequel Heavy Metal 2000. arrived on April 19th. You can order yourself this collector’s item by using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review.
