“Becky” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Roman Holiday Sometimes cliches are cliches for a reason, and oftentimes it’s because there is at least some bit of truth to them. I’ll dust off this old chestnut for “Roman Holiday”: They don’t make them like they used to. I...
“Superman: Man of Tomorrow” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Bad Education Midway through “Bad Education” there’s a montage sequence in which small candy canes and Christmas cards are being stuffed into envelopes. These cards are meant for the parents of the Roslyn,...
“Irresistible” and “Rogue” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Clockwise As many fans of the iconic British comedy troupe Monty Python well know, the best choice for the role of an authority figure who constantly gets thwarted is John Cleese. No one puts on the airs of...
“The Trip to Greece” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The King Of Staten Island As an avid movie watcher, and particularly as one who is required to think critically about the sounds and images being paraded in front of me, it’s easy to get cynical. I see a premise...
“Deathstroke: Knights and Dragons” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Outpost It’s been said that art imitates life. It’s also been said that history repeats itself. The truth in these axioms was clearer than ever to me as I watched “The Outpost,” about a U.S. Army...
“The Tenant” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Lorenzo’s Oil “Lorenzo’s Oil” has a first half that shows why some people become atheists, and a second half that shows how some people find their way to God. The movie, which is from 1992, starts off in 1984 and...
“Scoob!” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Marriage Story “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”—Dick the Butcher from William Shakespeare’s “Henry VI,” Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. I thought of this quote while watching writer-director...
“The Swing of Things” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Lady Eve Barbara Stanwyck is a charmer. With her petite frame and inviting smile, she has a sweet, endearing, approachable, girl next door quality that makes her extremely likeable—even if the character she...
“Sweetness in the Belly” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Trolls: World Tour A great shock awaited me in the opening of “Trolls: World Tour.” No, it wasn’t the discovery that the land inhabited by Queen Poppy (voice of Anna Kendrick) and her best pal Branch (voice of...
“Four Kids and It” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Force Of Nature With all of the pomp, circumstance, glitz, and glamor that comes with being a Hollywood movie star, it’s easy for us outsiders to lose focus on what is under that veneer. Before any of your favorite...
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Murder By Decree There’s a banter between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that, when done properly, is musical. The contrast between the flabbergasted Watson, played in 1979’s “Murder by Decree” by James...
“Impractical Jokers: The Movie” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Etruscan Smile The opening credits of “The Etruscan Smile” waste no time. Just a logo and some company credits, then the directing credit for co-directors Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis. That’s it. We...
“We Summon the Darkness” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Brian’s Song Say the numbers “40” and “41” to a Chicago Bears fan and it’s an almost sure bet they’ll know who you mean. For the rest of us, these numbers belong to Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, two...
“Robert the Bruce” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Extra Ordinary Possessed cheese is a thing. At least it is according to “Extra Ordinary,” a comedy from Ireland about a driving instructor named Rose Dooley (Maeve Higgins) who also has the gift to communicate with...
“Scorsese Shorts” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Invisible Man It’s been standard for a while for modestly budgeted motion pictures to use Toronto, Ontario, as a stand in for New York. The city structure, climate, and architecture are close enough to make it...
“Sonic the Hedgehog” and “The Way Back” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Onward The 3D animated movies made by Pixar look good—really good. They’ve been impressing audiences with their depth of field, light and shadow, and their own rules of physics for the past...
“Birds of Prey” and “Fantasy Island” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Call of the Wild If a movie like “The Call of the Wild” doesn’t give you a hankering to see the Alaska and the Yukon territory in Canada, nothing will. The vistas in the movie are absolutely...
“Bloodshot” and “The Rhythm Section” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Gretel And Hansel Looking up director Osgood Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins of “Psycho” fame, for those keeping score of such things) on IMDB, I discovered that he started his directing career in...
“Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Guns Akimbo It is mostly by reading that I acquire new words to my vocabulary. Movies have taught me some words, but those have mostly been from higher-brow scripts. I don’t think that many...
“Bad Boys for Life” and “The Turning” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Gentlemen “The Gentlemen” is one of those ironic titles. It’s about a group of men—and one woman—who are anything but gentle. Sure, the men look the part with their posh, well-tailored suits...
“Underwater” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Just Mercy I sometimes think if modern society had a polytheistic religious structure like those of our ancient ancestors, there would be a god of movies. This god would, for the most part, be a lazy, unimaginative lout...
“Little Women” and “Cats” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Dolittle I predict that in fifteen to twenty years, “Dolittle” will be remembered fondly as a classic. The how and why is because this movie delivers exactly what it needs to deliver for its target audience:...
“Star Wars: Episode IX—The Rise of Skywalker” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Current War The last names of the chief players in “The Current War” are ones we know today: Edison and Westinghouse. Edison is of course Thomas Edison. As played by Benedict...
“The Grudge” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. 1917 It seems like the term “movie magic” has been bandied about for as long as movies have been around. Using it so casually for so long has of course meant that it’s lost its impact. It tends to hit people’s ears with...
“Jumanji: The Next Level” and “Superman: Red Son” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Richard Jewell Richard Jewell, from what I remember of him back in 1996 when the bomb went off at the Atlanta Olympics, was a humble man with a keen sense of observation and the...
“Charlie’s Angels” and “Bombshell” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Uncut Gems Adam Sandler can act when he wants to. The general problem with his career is that he does so many lackluster comedies that it is easy to forget that the annoying goofball/nice guy schlub...
“Queen & Slim” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Dark Waters Stories like “Dark Waters” are such a mixed bag for me. On one hand I really like “David and Goliath” stories about the so-called “little guy” taking on an entity with a lot of power—either corporate or...
“Frozen II” and “Color Out of Space” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Knives Out The opening shots of writer-director Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” set the stage appropriately for a classic murder mystery. We see a large mansion on a green, well-manicured lawn with...
