Psycho IV: The Beginning actually isn’t a half bad prequel/sequel and features fine performances from Anthony Perkins reprising his iconic role and Henry Thomas as his teenaged counterpart. For a TV movie, it’s well shot and the story is a nice culmination in the franchise following two sequels that were less than stellar.
Complete Unknown is a movie that excels more due to the acting, that of Rachel Weisz and, to some extent, Michael Shannon rather than the plot or writing, but on those it was at least compelling storytelling.
Gotham: The Complete Second Season is another solid year for Fox with some compelling plotlines and although I think they might be overdoing it delving into Batman’s rogues galleries, it is at least in keeping with the Rise/Wrath of the Villains stories and the casting is also well done.
Adventure Time is a fun series that, although I’m not entirely in love with compared to others, but through its whopping 42 episodes (down from 52 from last season) is wonderful and a fine short time-filler give each episode is only about 12-minutes long.
Lady in White is a movie with a mish-mash of ideas from social commentary to supernatural thriller to crime mystery and in none of those respects entirely works. However, the performances are pretty good headlined by Lukas Haas and despite sluggish pacing, the film managed to keep me entertaining until the end.
Free State of Jones was an ambitious film for Co-Writer/Director Gary Ross who tends to be a filmmaker who makes nice, uplifting, films (see Seabiscuit) and this is no exception, though given the subject, it should’ve been better. That said, McConaughey and Mahershala Ali turn in excellent performances.
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.
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.
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.