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“The Black Phone” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Jurassic World: Dominion The awe, wonder, majesty, and splendor of digitally rendered dinosaurs is back in “Jurassic World: Dominion,” as are all the big, noteworthy human characters who are still alive, including...
“Crimes Of The Future” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 That fast, spiky, blue ball of fuzz and wisecracks known as Sonic the Hedgehog (voice of Ben Schwartz) is back in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and in this sequel, as in the like-titled 1992 Sega...
“Catch the Heat” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. A Force Of One Chuck Norris is probably best known today as the prototypical meme generator. Some “facts” about him include: “Chuck Norris doesn’t mow his lawn, he dares it to grow”; “Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo...
“The Lost City” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness The movie may be called “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” but it’s really only half a Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) movie. The other half belongs to...
“Black Site” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Frisco Kid I love a good fish out of water story and a good western. Lucky for me, 1979’s “The Frisco Kid” is both. Less worthy to me are buddy road movies. You know the ones. They feature two very different people...
“Memory” and “Downton Abbey: A New Era” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Everything Everywhere All At Once A common complaint about modern Hollywood is that it’s full of creatively bankrupt woke wankers who can’t do anything except take a pre-existing, decades old...
“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Worst Person In The World If Julie (Renate Reinsve) is who the title “The Worst Person in the World” refers to, then co-writer/director Joachim Trier is certainly having some fun with...
“The Contractor” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Northman “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” These words were spoken by circa 500 BCE Chinese philosopher Confucius. Even if they did make their way to Nordic countries circa 900 CE, it’s...
“The Devil You Know” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Cloak and Dagger One of the silver linings of getting older is obtaining the sense of what was important to you as a child. The test is a simple one. Ask yourself: How fondly do you remember it? Then if the answer...
“X” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Batman As a genre, superhero movies tend to have a lot in common with each other. They’re all stories about heroic (or sometimes anti-heroic) crusaders (sometimes caped and sometimes not) with dual identities (sometimes secret...
“Infinite” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Licorice Pizza Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson revisits two of his favorite subjects—the 1970s and California’s San Fernando Valley—in “Licorice Pizza,” a movie that, as far as I observed, featured neither licorice nor...
“Dog” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Uncharted Nintendo has Mario. Sega has Sonic. Microsoft has Master Chief. Sony, for their video game console Play Station, has Nathan Drake, protagonist in their numerous “Uncharted” games. So who better than good ole reliable...
“Blacklight” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Turning Red Sometimes I like being wrong. When Disney/Pixar’s animated feature “Turning Red” first begins we’re introduced to thirteen-year-old Meilin (voice of Rosalie Chiang) and I thought she was going to be...
“Moonfall” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. ‘Round Midnight Bertrand Tavernier, the director and co-writer of 1986’s “’Round Midnight,” imbues the movie with a visual style and pacing reflective of its main character, Dale Turner (Dexter Gordon), as well as its...
“V/H/S 94” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Cyrano The reason great classics endure the tests of time and place is because they have a universal appeal to which all peoples, in all times and places, can relate. At the heart of these classics is typically a...
“C’mon C’mon” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Spider-Man: No Way Home One of the appeals of virtuous superheroes is how they can serve as models for our own lives. We may never achieve the supreme level of virtuosity as our favorite costumed vigilantes, but it’s...
“Death on the Nile” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Scream My guess is that if I was writing about movies coming to home video in 1996, I would have recommended “Scream” the week it hit the shelves of your local VHS rental store. That would have been my highest...
“Sing 2” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Ordinary People As of this writing, the Best Picture Oscar for the year 2021 has not yet been awarded. In honor of this noteworthy award, my choice this week is “Ordinary People,” a Best Picture winner from forty-one years...
“For the Love of Money” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Nightmare Alley Guillermo del Toro is a great director. This is not only because he’s had an amazing career churning out mostly good movies filled with imagination and style. It’s also because he knows how to...
“West Side Story” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Red Rocket To describe Mikey Saber (Simon Rex), the protagonist of co-writer/director Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket,” as a narcissistic and possibly sociopathic ex-porn star who cheats on his wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) and...
“Coming 2 America” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Nowhere Inn People aren’t always what they seem. This truth goes double for celebrities, with whom we enter into what psychologists call a parasocial relationship. That is, we think we know them based on what we...
“Demonic” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Belfast Oscar nominated writer-director Kenneth Branagh begins his semi-autobiographical movie “Belfast” in an interesting way. We see shots of the Northern Ireland city as it looks today through a montage of static shots...
“House of Gucci” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The King’s Man History records that on December 30, 1916, Russian nobles tried to poison “Mad Monk” Grigori Rasputin with cyanide. When this failed, they chased him down, shot him, and for good measure, due to...
“Eternals” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Love Affair I love old movies, but the problem with watching them is that I can’t help but compare them to today’s movies. While great movies are certainly still being made today the world over, my general feeling about...
“Catwoman: Hunted” and “King Richard” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Encanto The opening logos of “Encanto” inform us that it is Disney’s 60th animated feature. The Disney logo, in all its forms over the years, has always brought with it a promise of quality and...
“Clifford The Big Red Dog” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Ghostbusters: Afterlife There are nostalgia trips, then there’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which would undoubtedly win an award for most member berries per minute of screen time, if such a prize existed. Do...
“New York Ninja” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Scary Of Sixty-First Here’s one that’s not for the kids, and that’s not just because “The Scary of Sixty-First” has pedophilia as one of its themes. The movie hits the adult content trifecta of drugs, sex, and...
“Last Night in Soho” and “The Addams Family 2” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. A Hard Day’s Night Beatlemania was in full swing in 1964 when “A Hard Day’s Night” was released, and the opening credit sequence wastes no time dropping us in the middle of it. We...
“Antlers” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Black Friday Without knowing too much about screenwriter Andy Greskoviak, I’m going to take an educated guess that he worked retail around the holidays. Or, if “Black Friday” isn’t based on some personal, firsthand...
“No Time to Die” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Many Saints Of Newark The two most important men in a boy’s life are his father and his father figure. His father is the one he is biologically related to, and his father figure is the one who he looks up to as a...
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Last Duel The truth is a fickle thing. What did and did not happen can vary—sometimes subtly and sometimes greatly—depending on the memory and perception of the person telling the story. In “The Last...
“Copshop” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Cry Macho “Cry Macho” is proof that writers don’t have to go over the top to create an original story. It’s the small choices a writer makes that can give the yarn being spun a fresh feeling. Take the attitude of rich...
“Reminiscence” and “Respect” are also new to Blu-Ray. A Gift From Bob One of the many joys that cinema brings to me—international cinema in particular—is the education it provides. Seeing different cultures, with different ideas, and different ways of life is an...
“The Suicide Squad” and “Don’t Breathe 2” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. On The Rocks I can be a simple man of easy pleasures when it comes to selecting a movie I want to watch. “On the Rocks” is one such selection, because it’s very simple: I see it stars Bill...
“Old” and “Snake Eyes” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Joe Bell Much like teenagers, some movies are late bloomers. “Joe Bell” is a case in point. The titular character is played by Mark Wahlberg. He’s a macho, hard-nosed, sports-loving, prideful, hot-headed 45...
“The Green Knight” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Free Guy To understand the concept of “Free Guy,” one must first understand the term non-player character, or NPC for short. These are what in movie terms would be called extras, or background characters. They’re...
“Six Minutes to Midnight” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Space Jam: A New Legacy “Space Jam: A New Legacy” hits me in one of my soft spots. Granted there aren’t many, but they are there, and positive, affirming movies about fathers and sons are one of them. The...
“The Forever Purge” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. A Night At The Opera As pop culture enthusiasts very well know, Elvis Presley died three days before Groucho Marx. Elvis passed on August 16, 1977, and Groucho on August 19. Another significant year that ties the...
“F9” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Cruella It’s the battle of the Emmas in Disney’s latest live action character study based on a previous animated work. “Cruella” is the story of villainous fashion designer Cruella De Vil, first seen in 1961’s “One Hundred and...
“The Boss Baby: Family Business” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Black Widow I’ll start off by addressing the elephant in the room: Why make a “Black Widow” movie now, given her fate in “Avengers: End Game?” My take is that nothing lasts forever, everyone dies, and...
“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. State Of The Union I can’t help but be a little depressed by “State of the Union.” It’s not because the movie is depressing. If anything, it’s inspirational and affirmational of the goodness and decency...
“In the Heights” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Bugsy Malone It’s quite possibly the most extreme of all cinematic rarities to have the words “mob gangs” and “family film” in a movie’s description, but here we are. “Bugsy Malone” is a G-rated 1976 family film about...
“Lansky” and “Peter Rabbit 2” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It Nothing hits closer to home than literally having the action of a movie take place in your hometown. While major cities like Chicago, New York, L.A., Miami, and...
“Rogue Hostage” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard One way to do a good sequel is to continue the story of the first movie, expand upon its world, and further develop its characters. The other way is to rehash the first movie but do it bigger,...
“American Traitor” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Batman: The Long Halloween *NOTE: “Batman: The Long Halloween, Part 2” is the release this week. Part 1 was released on June 22. This review is for the entirety of “The Long Halloween” and treats it like one movie....
“Those Who Wish Me Dead” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Luca Leave it to the Italians—or at least the portrayal of Italians in “Luca”—to modify the triathlon in a way that someone as unathletic as me would want to participate. The first modification is that the...
“Every Breath You Take” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. A Quiet Place Part II If you’re like me and enjoyed the first “A Quiet Place” but only saw it once back in 2018 and don’t remember what happened to Lee Abbott (John Krasinski, who also wrote and directed this...
“Spiral” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Wraith The term “quintessential 80s movie” can apply to a fair number of flicks from the decade. While there are measurable factors we can look at like cars, clothes, hair, and music, it’s more than that. The endearing...
“Mortal Kombat” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Wrath Of Man Director and co-screenwriter Guy Ritchie’s “Wrath of Man” reminds me of the old Klingon proverb that revenge is a dish best served cold. While this movie doesn’t take place in space, it does take place in...
“Defending Jacob” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Bringing Up Baby History is the final judge in all things. Upon its initial release in 1938, “Bringing Up Baby” was not well regarded. I clearly remember watching it for the first time around two decades ago on TCM...
“Voyagers” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Godzilla Vs Kong Here’s what many of you want to know about “Godzilla vs. Kong”: Does it deliver on pitting the giant ape and giant reptile against each other in satisfying knock down, drag out fights that result in tons of...
“Flashback” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Stylist Claire (Najarra Townsend) is not right in the head. She drugs women, removes their scalps with whatever sharp tool is available to her (usually a pair of scissors), and wears the scalp in the creepy serial...
“Endangered Species” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Courier For those who like their cold war thrillers with tons of escapist action, shootouts, explosions, sexual tension, and martinis that are shaken, not stirred, then “The Courier” isn’t for you. The story...
“The Hand” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Chaos Walking I need to begin this review of “Chaos Walking” at the end. Not to spoil any details, since I am averse to such things, but to be upfront about my dislike to the ending of a movie I otherwise enjoyed. My...
“The Father” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Minari There are some jobs that on some level I know exist, but never really thought about. Take for example that of a chicken sexer. It’s exactly what it sounds like. A person is paid to...
“The Marksman” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Land Oftentimes a human being is the star of a movie. Occasionally, it’s an animal. Rarely is it something that would otherwise be an inanimate object. Even more rarely is a movie’s star a place. However, as the title...
“The Little Things” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Judas and the Black Messiah The man is powerful, confident, eloquent, and persuasive. His language is fiery and direct—it begs no question. The man says what he means and he means what he says. He comes across as...
“The Mortuary Collection” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Furies It’s amazing to watch “The Furies” and know that it was Walter Huston’s last movie. There he was, fresh off his Best Supporting Actor Oscar win for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and giving a...
“Leap of Faith” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Willy’s Wonderland Nicolas Cage doesn’t talk in “Willy’s Wonderland.” That’s not to say he never makes a sound. We do hear the occasional grunt come from him. However, he speaks no words. This is fine. He doesn’t...
“Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Shadow in the Cloud When a movie is 83 minutes long, it’s reassuring when it wastes no time getting right to the action. The last thing a short movie should be is a slog, and it’s amazing that there...
“Wonder Woman 1984” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Defending Your Life The great movies are the ones that stick with you. While most movies quickly evaporate after viewing, a great one provides memories that last a lifetime. I first saw writer-director-star Albert...
“News of the World” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Soul Animation company Pixar has been going so strong so for long that its toughest competition is itself. As someone who watches all of its movies, I’ve come to expect a high level of excellence in technical...
“Psycho Goreman” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Promising Young Woman It’s been said many times that it’s impossible to really, truly, completely know someone. This is generally true when considering that most people don’t spend 24/7 with each other. It’s even more...
“Vanguard” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Damn Yankees Most sports fans prove how dedicated they are by buying season tickets, special cable packages, or multiple clothing articles with their team’s logo on it. In “Damn Yankees,” George Abbott and Stanley Donen’s...
“Monster Hunter” and “Scare Me” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Fatale As I begin to write this review while listening to Bernard Herrmann’s score to Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal 1958 masterpiece “Vertigo,” I’m reminded of something the Master of Suspense said during...
“Wrong Turn” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Croods: A New Age Punch monkeys rule. They don’t say much, but they’re very colorful and let their actions, i.e., their punching, do their talking for them. And it’s not just punch monkeys. It’s also kick monkeys,...
“Archenemy” and “Fear of Rain” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee The opening scene of “The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee” starts off with Paul Hogan, playing a fictionalized version of himself, walking around the Hollywood Hills when a large...
“Greenland” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Freaky A good sign that a movie is out to have fun and be entertaining is when it plays with the studio logo. It’s a signal to the audience that what we’re about to see is not a serious prestige picture, but rather...
“Host” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Let Him Go Settings matter. At least they should. In the best story writing, time and place have a meaning. They’re not merely incidental to the plot. They inform the characters and action as events unfold. “Let Him Go” has a...
“Batman: Soul of the Dragon” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Fatman As someone who’s watched a superfluous overabundance of movies, I sometimes ponder if every original idea has been exhausted. Then I watch something like “Fatman,” with a brazenly weird and...
“Dreamland” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Kid Detective The title may be “The Kid Detective,” but this is definitely an adult movie. Adam Brody plays the title character, Abe Applebaum. He’s 32 years old and still gets the same small “who stole the...
“Spell” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Freshman One of the major advantages of comedy over drama is that in comedy, consequences don’t have to matter. Take for example the opening scene of 1990’s “The Freshman,” in which Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) takes...
“12 Hour Shift” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Love and Monsters The post-apocalyptic landscape of “Love and Monsters” would not be out of place in a zombie movie. The aerial shots show us the peace and tranquility of dense, calm forests and the tree-lined streets...
“The Last Shift” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Honest Thief “Honest Thief” reminded me of a thought I had in regard to Liam Neeson while watching “Taken 3” in 2014: He shouldn’t run. He can still walk, fight, shoot, drive, and growl his lines like the second...
“The Craft: Legacy” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The War with Grandpa If only all wars were as fun and conducted with as much love as “The War with Grandpa.” How great would it be if pranks were used as weapons instead of guns? Or if those fighting the war made...
“Battle of the Bulge: Winter War” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Tenet I spent two and a half hours of my life watching “Tenet.” From this time, I can say that the performances are excellent, the visuals are jaw-dropping, and the action scenes are bold, creative,...
“Made in Italy” and “Smiley Face Killers” are also new to Blu-Ray this week. Possessor Have you ever had an awesome secret that you wish you could share with the world, but know you can’t? It’s like that being a movie critic sometimes. We see a lot of mediocrity and...
“The Rental” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Attack One of the great joys and benefits of movies in home video format, and in this case Blu-ray, is the chance to discover hidden gems. These are older movies that don’t get the fame or recognition that other...
“Ava” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Irishman It’s my general policy when reviewing movies to focus solely on the movie itself and ignore external factors. However, given the controversy regarding the credibility of Frank Sheeran, played by Robert De Niro in...
“The New Mutants” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Unhinged The city that serves as the backdrop for “Unhinged” is one populated by extensive freeway congestion, aggressively hostile drivers, and an infrastructure that’s described as a confusing mass of spaghetti...
“The Last Dance” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Bill & Ted Face the Music “Bill & Ted Face the Music” does what the last movie in any good trilogy does: It refers back to the previous movies, comes full circle, and ties up loose story points. As we know...
“Friendsgiving” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Ipcress File Given that “The Ipcress File” is a British spy movie from 1965, it’s best to answer the burning question first: How does Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) compare to that other famous British spy whose...
“Tremors: Shrieker Island” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. Haunt I appreciate “Haunt,” a movie about an extreme haunted house, for being scary in the same way that haunted houses themselves are scary. There is a wide variety of settings, and each of those settings...
“Batman: Death in the Family” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie I have to admit to approaching “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” with hesitation and trepidation. This is due to the fact that I hold the television series “Breaking Bad”...
“The Pale Door” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Secret Garden The private world of children is invariably one of magic, wonder, and imagination. It inhabits its own plane of existence away from the stifling and seemingly arbitrary rules of boring, buzzkill...
“The Silencing” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Milagro Beanfield War “Milagro” means “miracle” in Spanish. We learn this early in “The Milagro Beanfield War,” and it’s important to keep in mind throughout. Our first clue that there are some fantasy...
“Most Wanted” is also new to Blu-Ray this week. The Masque of the Red Death “The Masque of the Red Death” was produced and directed by Roger Corman. Some know that name as the man who helped kicked off a roster of who’s-who names in Hollywood, including Jack...
“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...
