Overall, the Friday the 13th: 8 Movie Collection offers the movies under license by Paramount and while it does not include any new features from the Shout Factory box set, if you can get this at a reasonable price, you will get upgraded picture on the first four films.
Smiley Face Killers fails on just about every level outside of a catchy score, the performance from the lead lackluster but worse the movie plods along with villains that take their time stalking and messing with their victim for no reason.
The Back to the Future Trilogy is still fantastic even after watching it for probably the tenth time and holds up in its entertainment value. Universal once again releases the movies on a new format and it does feature great video and audio and a few fine new features alongside a slew of others ported over from previous sets.
Lucky Day at times feels like Tarantino-lite which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but much of this thin plot doesn’t quite work, although I did like Crispin Glover’s crazy performance that almost makes this worthy of a rental.
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle exemplifies the early 2000s so damn well, and yes I realize McG was parodying the action schlock from that time period (like M:I2) but doesn’t do it very well, or at least the humor rarely lands.
Willard is a creepy enough adaptation that works thanks to Crispin Glover’s wonderfully creepy performance, perhaps his best role.
The Con Is On took 3 years to find distribution but it should have stayed in what vault it was found in as it was just an all around awful crime-comedy, failing in both respects, which is a shame as it is a respectable ensemble cast.
At Close Range is a bit uneven but still effective character drama headlined by a few great performances especially by Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Despite some flaws, it’s a compelling story and worth checking out at least once. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time is nice and all with good video/audio transfers yet again comes at a high price.
Wild at Heart is a, well, wild ride featuring bucko performances by Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe while it’s fun seeing Laura Dern in a different role.