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.
I know Firestarter has somewhat of a following, I wasn’t as enthralled with this Stephen King adaptation although the performances by Drew Barrymore and George C. Scott were great.
The Believers isn’t a bad supernatural thriller though it does kind of fall apart towards the third act to the point of near absurdity, but even so, might be worth a watch if only for some half-decent performances from Martin Sheen and Robert Loggia. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers excellent audio and video though the bonus material is almost non-existent.
Catch Me If You Can is a cool and energetic crime-drama featuring great performances, a fascinating main character, an amazing score and excellent direction that holds up quite well today. The Blu-ray itself has some basic but informative features while the audio/video transfers make this a worthy upgrade over the DVD version.
The Amazing Spider-Man certainly had opportunities to be a great movie and although I still enjoyed the film, sometimes even immensely, there are times the script could’ve been tweaked. Even so, the casting was pretty good starting with Andrew Garfield who will hopefully find more bearings with the sequel(s) while Emma Stone was a delight. The Blu-ray itself has some amazing special features and the audio/video transfers are both excellent.
The Amazing Spider-Man certainly had opportunities to be a great movie and although I still enjoyed the film, sometimes even immensely, there are times the script could’ve been tweaked. Even so, the casting was pretty good starting with Andrew Garfield who will hopefully find more bearings with the sequel(s) while Emma Stone was a delight.
The American President is a fun romantic comedy/drama headlined by a great cast but especially Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. The Blu-ray itself presents nice audio/video transfers and while the features (feature) are limited, it’s a nominal upgrade over its DVD counterpart and worth picking up when it eventually goes on sale down the line.
Spawn is a poorly made feature film with campy, over-the-top acting, laughable visual effects, lousy editing and a choppy story that doesn’t give the main character any sort of development. Simply put, this wasn’t a very good adaptation of an otherwise, last I read anyway, cool comic book series.
O is a harrowing movie headlined with strong writing but even stronger performances from a young and impressive cast, primarily Mekhi Phifer and Josh Hartnett. The Blu-ray offers up an OK video transfer but the DTS-HD MA more than makes up for it even when not all the features from the DVD were ported over. Given the low MSRP, if you can nab this in the $5-10 range, it’s well worth it.
The Double doesn’t quite capitalize on an interesting concept thanks in part to a “twist” that not only is revealed in the trailer but early on in the film itself. Despite that, I still feel the film is at least watchable due to Richard Gere and Topher Grace. The Blu-ray offers up solid video and audio transfers but falters in the features department, although the commentary is pretty good.
Warner Home Video has announced the digibook releases, on May 24th, for the director’s cut of the epic Civil War drama Gettysburg starring Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger and Martin Sheen and the Extended Director’s Cut of Gods and Generals featuring Jeff Daniels and Robert Duvall. Check out the features, technical specs and high-res artwork for each within.