John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum isn’t a great entry into the franchise due to a weak storyline and character decision-making not making much sense; the action itself still was highly entertaining and even exhilarating; however I do hope the filmmakers find a better balance with story and action in the next film.
Here we are again, the time of year for family quality time, reassessing priorities and racking up credit card debt to take advantage of some sweet Brown Thursday and Black Friday sales. Here are some gift ideas for some nice sets released over the last year or so. I would like to thank the studios for providing these for inclusion in this guide. Please consider clicking through the Amazon links to support this site.
This X-Men: 3-Film Collection is okay and does come with good video upgrade and already solid audio, however the big downside with this set is that the studio failed to port over the second discs for each film which contained some expansive documentaries.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a bit of a step down from the first film but thanks to the cast – primarily Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Julianne Moore – it does make for an entertaining enough sequel.
Kidnap is mercifully under 80-minutes (sans credits) and just an incredibly dumb movie, which would be fine if there was any actual suspense or thrills, two key ingredients for a suspense-thriller after all.
The Triple Feature set is an okay release from Mill Creek and although I don’t like that no features were ported over from previous studio releases, as budget titles go, it’s worth picking up if only to get two out of the three in high-definition for the first time.
X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut, while not as strong or tightly paced as the theatrical version is still well worth checking out especially for fans. The Blu-ray released by Fox is a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, the audio and video are incredible, there’s a fine selection of bonus material but I’m not sure why they didn’t port over the features from the first release.
I hated Movie 43. I didn’t find the jokes particularly funny – and mind you, I don’t mind crude/rude humor – nor was it very controversial. Instead this looked more like a college film project with a higher budget and one which was made for insiders rather than a larger audience. Interestingly enough, at the premiere, Seann William Scott apparently was the biggest name of the cast to show up which says a lot when the others, even in their small roles, didn’t even bother attending.
The Call isn’t an unpredictable suspense-thriller but thanks to the performances by Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin, and some slick direction by Brad Anderson, it’s an entertaining and captivating thriller from beginning to end even if the finale felt out of place. The Blu-ray has a fair amount of features and the audio/video transfers are both on solid ground.
Dark Tide receives high marks for its underwater camera work but the story is lame and the acting is sometimes even worse. Halle Berry for her part is OK with a limited role. The Blu-ray offers up solid audio and video transfers but there are no features so even if you enjoyed the film, you might want to hold off until it’s around $5.