Trading Places still holds up after all this time and following several viewings both on disc and on television over the years. It’s a bit on the nose at times and especially some clichés, yet the dynamic between Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd was wonderful.
Dragnet is a really fun, and often funny, crime-comedy that does a good job balancing spoofing or satirizing the original television series and yet at the same time paying respect, which shines through.
I really like Trading Places and probably have seen it several times over the years, both in disc form and whenever it aired on TV. So, the rating isn’t about the movie but about this latest release which is only worthwhile for those who did not already own it.
Ghostbusters (2016) isn’t the hot mess the trailers showed it could’ve been (this year’s Alice Through the Looking Glass was far worse) and yet for all of the potential with a talented cast, the screenplay which was co-scripted by Paul Feig, was pretty bad, with the jokes falling utterly flat.
My Fellow Americans is sort of the prototypical comedy from the 1990s and although not terribly well written, it’s a passably amusing film that excels due to the talents of Jack Lemmon and James Garner, with some honorable mention to John Heard who elicited a few laughs out of me.
Tammy is yet another lame comedy (with attempts at sappy drama) from McCarthy and company following the tepid Identity Thief but I’m hoping at some point the actress, who can be funny, widens her range instead playing the same type of characters made famous in Bridesmaid.
The Steven Spielberg: Director’s Collection is a fine selection, that Universal has access to, that general movies fans will appreciate, even if a couple aren’t that great (1941 and Always specifically). However, given the studio’s history, those who already own previous releases like E.T. and Jurassic Park, could wait as I’m sure the exclusive titles will come available on their own at some point down the road.
This Ghostbusters two-film set is not perfect but it’s pretty close with a decent selection of bonus material, though the MST3K-style commentary is still only a DVD exclusive but the audio and video transfers for both films are great. Given the low SRP, this is a set worth picking up if only to have it in one package.
Ghostbusters is a fantastic sci-fi/supernatural comedy which has stood the test of time quite well and is just as entertaining when I first saw it back in the 1980s. As far as this “Mastered in 4K” re-release, I will say the video is most certainly a big improvement over the original Blu-ray release.
Yogi Bear is a soulless picture with a terrible script and acting from people who knew they weren’t making high class family entertainment. The visual effects were at least half decent but everything else was either dumb or unfunny, a deadly combination for any comedy.