The Neon Demon, for some, might be a unique experience but for me it told an age old story and when you strip away the bizarre scenes and over-stylezed sequences (which I generally liked in terms of the look), there’s nothing new here.
This “Collector’s Edition” of Carrie from Shout Factory is pretty darn good for a pretty darn good movie by suspense-maestro, Brian De Palma and features amazing performances by Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.
It’s easy to see why Approaching the Unknown has received less than stellar reviews and if you’re not into slow moving, character-driven flicks, this one might bore you to tears. However, I found it mostly to be entrancing mainly for Mark Strong.
Shout Factory’s Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Collection lives up to its name with a healthy collection of bonus material bringing a fair number of those involved back together to reminisce and also presenting good video and audio transfers.
Season six of Hawaii Five-O is still strong not so much for the storytelling but the core cast which are really fun headlined by Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan with honorable mention to Chi McBride whose presence is always welcome.
Although the last few seasons of Dexter were flawed (to say the least), the entire series still possesses some entertainment value and one can marvel at the performance by Michael C. Hall who was pretty consistent even in those weaker seasons.
The Exotic Dances of Bettie Page is more for completists, owners of previous docs and movies about the 1950s pin-up girl who has a large fan base that probably has only grown over the years.
Reign: The Complete Third Season is a silly show for sure, a CW-ized version of Game of Thrones sans the fantastic acting and amazing set designs. Watching this series, though, I had a hard time sitting through and listening to inane dialogue and bad performances almost all around.
NCIS: The Thirteenth Season is another solid year for the venerable series and while not all 24 episodes were top level, more than enough were to make this one of strong years, however the departure of Weatherly’s DiNozzo will test the writers and cast as he is a hard actor and character to replace.
On a technical level, Warcraft isn’t terrible but in today’s and age and the advancement in the visual effects realm, it’s should be a given especially with a big budget tentpole. Outside of the VFX, and as someone unfamiliar with the source material, I found the film to be dull and filled with thinly written characters.
Like A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Snoopy Come Home is a Blu-ray release for big-time fans only. Both of these have been previously released on DVD already so what you’re buying here are upgraded picture and audio, but the lack of features makes me hesitate to give it a recommendation.
Quantico starts off well enough but by the third or fourth episodes, I was becoming impatient, not so much with the A-story (i.e. who the terrorist was) but instead the constant back and forth from present day to 9 months in the past; it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
Love Me or Leave Me is a fun music-romance-drama featuring two wonderful performances from the elegant Doris Day set against the rough-and-tumble James Cagney in one of his many gangster roles and for this one, received an Oscar nomination.
Edge of Winter is a slow burn, character-driven, thriller with some potential but never quite reaches it in spite of an earnest performance from Joel Kinnaman with honorable mention to Tom Holland.
Mankillers might be a fun romp for those longing for the crappy low budget flicks of the ‘80s and ‘90s, but for me I didn’t find it all that amusing though I did manage to enjoy some of the “performances”, otherwise this release is for die-hard fans only.