Halloween is still one of the best horror movies with genuine scares and the introduction to one of the best villains in movie history. While the movie might be great, Anchor Bay continues to milk the franchise releasing multiple editions with some nice new features but failing to port over anything from the others.
“Arrow”: The Complete First Season is off to a good start and I can’t wait to see what the second season brings between the drama and new characters to help expand the universe even further.
Tad: The Lost Explorer is a harmless animated adventure the entire family can enjoy and the animation itself is fairly impressive especially for a studio outside of the big three or four (i.e. Disney, Fox, DreamWorks).
Jennifer 8 isn’t a terrible thriller but it’s half-baked in spite of OK performances from Andy Garcia (mind you, this is 90s Garcia, so he is a bit cheesy in his delivery), Uma Thurman and Lance Henriksen in a bit seeing playing somewhat against type.
Prince of Darkness might not be John Carpenter’s well known film like Halloween and to some extent The Fog, it is probably one of his finer more complete films. The concept is fascinating and scary while the cast headlined by Donald Pleasance are great.
“The League” Season 4 DVD is an OK release and with only 13 episodes is relatively cheap, though I’d recommend the Blu-ray (which we were not supplied, unfortunately). The features aren’t anything amazing, though I guess if you’re a fan of the show, the extended episodes might be an interesting bonus.
this Day of the Dead “Collector’s Edition” has it all between impressive audio/video transfers to a good selection of features that is satisfying to any fan of the series. The movie itself is great full of fun scares and gore though I still have a preference for Dawn of the Dead myself.
The Fugitive remains one of the best action-thrillers I’ve seen in many years and easily a standout of TV to screen adaptations. Despite being 130-minutes long, the film flies by and utilizes each minute with little filler. The performances from Ford and Jones are phenomenal even though neither of them shared more than a few minutes of screen time together.
Stranded is a half-assed sci-fi/horror flick culled together from numerous other, often better, films. The cast for the most part are phoning in their performances knowing exactly what kind of movie this is but giving credit where it’s due, make the most of it during some scenes.
“The Good Wife” is one of the mostly unknown gems of network television featuring incredible performances, in particular from Julianna Margulies, Chris Noth, Josh Charles and Archie Panjabi. As a new viewer going into this fourth season, I actually was surprised at how enthralling the show was as it got me hooked from the first episode and I recommend checking it out as it is an entertaining legal drama.
“Gunsmoke” was an amazing series probably never to be seen again lasting 20 seasons. This ninth season features some stellar storylines and some solid acting starting with James Arness himself. Although it is nine seasons in at this point, the show still felt fresh with good writing and finely fleshed out characters that, outside of the main cast, were one-off. The DVD released by Paramount shows off some impressive digital restoration although the bonus features are non-existent.
Q: The Winged Serpent is a fun little B-movie from the early 80s featuring some bad special effects, though this is part of the film’s charm and why it’s garnered somewhat of a cult following over the years.
Passenger 57 is a silly action film typical of the 1990s era but between Wesley Snipes kick-ass nature and Bruce Payne’s delightfully ham-filled villainous performance, it makes for at least a fun viewing even if it doesn’t offer anything new to the genre. But outside of a couple of lines, it’s fairly forgettable.
The Fog is another classic thriller from John Carpenter featuring good scares without getting gratuitous with the horror (in fact, there is no blood) and a respectable cast..
The Sword in the Stone is still a nice story all these years later and an entertaining film as a whole. The Blu-ray released by Disney, however, isn’t fun. While the audio track isn’t very dynamic and the video is downright disappointing, the features also have much to be desired with Disney not bothering putting any new material such as a retrospective and/or impact the movie has had.