Category: Watch

DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games – DVD Review

“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

Supergirl, Batgirl, Bumblebee, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and more are back for another girl-powered adventure in DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games! This time, the students of Super Hero High have their hands full when Granny Goodness and the Furies along with some other nefarious ne’er do wells do their best to ruin the fun and spirit of the Games that all the girls have been training for. Will they succeed and take home the gold, or will evil prevail through unscrupulous deeds?

An extension of the TV series of the same name and a sequel to the original DC Superhero Girls movie, Hero of the Year, Intergalactic Games provides plenty of superhero fun centered around a strong female cast of characters that prove that it’s not always male superheroes that can save the day; sometimes a little girl power can do the trick!

DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games is a fun, family-friendly film with plenty of lessons about teamwork, strength of character, and the dangers of cheating. These Super Hero Girls are great role models that have strong senses of self and are confident in who they are and in their abilities not just as superheroes but as young women as well.

DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games Special Features include:

“That’s My Girl” by Fifth Harmony Music Video (DVD only)

Animated Shorts:
– New Beginnings
– Hero of the Month: Supergirl
– Batgirl l vs. Supergirl
– Quinn-tessential Harley
– Doubles Trouble
– Franken-Ivy
– Dude, Where’s My Invisible Jet?

So, get ready to Get You Cape On with DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games! I highly recommend it!

DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games is available now on DVD!

What’s your favorite superhero animated series? Leave a comment and let us know!

Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go! – DVD Review

“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

Get ready as Snoopy and the gang deliver their patented dry wit and comic strip antics in Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go!, the latest incarnation of the beloved comic series. Since 1950, the Peanuts have been delivering laughs via newsprint, animation, and feature films, and Peanuts by Schulz is no exception.

With Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go!, Charles Schulz’s comic world is brought to life for a new generation in a fun and energetic style. And like the comics, valuable lessons are learned as Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and the rest deal with the trials and tribulations of being a kid, being a friend, being a dog owner, or being a sibling.

What I really liked about the series is the animation design. It looks as if they took Peanuts comic strip panels and animated them, which adds an air of authenticity to the entire series. They even did a fantastic job with the voice casting; every character sounds very similar to the voices featured in the Peanuts specials and films from decades gone by.

Unlike the previous entries into the Peanuts canon, each episode of Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go! is split into two different fast-paced stories that will definitely hold your interest since there’s no time wasted over the course of each sequence. Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go! is a lot of fun!

No matter your age – if you grew up with them or are just discovering them – the Peanuts gang’s antics can be enjoyed over and over again. These iconic characters have delivered their unique style of comedy and thought-provoking moments for over six decades and there’s no sign of them slowing down.

I highly recommend Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go!

Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go! is available now on DVD!

Who is your favorite Peanuts character? Leave a comment and let us know!

The Girl with All the Gifts – Blu-ray Review

Zombies. The concept of the flesh-eating undead hunting down and eating the living seems to be everywhere you look. From film to TV, comics to commercials, zombies have taken hold of the public interest and created a pop culture wave much like vampires and zombies did in years past. With every new iteration, these stories range from familiar to quite unique. The Girl with All the Gifts fits the latter category.

While there is plenty of blood, guts, and gore to go around, The Girl with All the Gifts spins a fresh narrative out of old cloth. Here, we have a female-driven zombie flick, with three strong female leads played excellently by Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, and Glenn Close. Nanua steals the show as Melanie, a young girl who possibly hold the cure for the current zombie apocalypse that has befallen the world. She and her classmates all have the potential to save the world from what are described as “hungries” by those around them.

With each passing day, the hungries become more determined, and their desire for flesh grows more rabid. It is Melanie who may hold the key to the cure within her, but is she willing to make the ultimate sacrifice before it’s too late?

The film is engaging for many reasons but primarily due to the way the story is presented and how we experience the world through Melanie’s eyes. It is her story that drives the film, and as she discovers new things about the world and the dangers it involves, we as an audience feel her fear, her curiosity, and her pain. Sennia Nanua delivers a wonderfully depth-filled performance that has her going toe-to-toe with acting heavyweight Glenn Close and keeping up scene after scene.

The Blu-ray includes a great featurette, Unwrap the Secret World of The Girl with All the Gifts, which is gives further insight into the genesis of the film and how it went from short story, to script, to screen.

I really enjoyed The Girl with All the Gifts. I highly recommend it!

The Girl with All the Gifts is available now on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Download.

What’s your favorite zombie movie or TV show? Leave a comment and let us know!

Animal Kingdom: The Complete First Season – Blu-ray Review

“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

Family. Loyalty. Distrust. Chaos. These are just some of the themes that permeate that world of Animal Kingdom. From the very first moments of the pilot to the final minutes of the season finale, you get a true sense that this working-class crime family is a lot like every other family.

Sure, we don’t all prosper from organized crime schemes, robberies, or physical altercations for the sake of monetary or personal gain, but we all have a circle of people whom we are loyal to. A group of people – whether they are family or close friends – with whom we confide, we commiserate, and we oftentimes collide. But no matter the inner turmoil within the circle, when an outside begins to cause problems, the interpersonal issues fade away; and animal instincts take over.

The first season of Animal Kingdom introduces us to the Cody family, led by matriarch Janine (Ellen Barkin) who doesn’t take crap from anyone – including her sons. She’s a tough-as-nails, strong-willed, yet compassionate heroine who can be your best friend one minute and your worst enemy the next. It is through her motherly manipulation that she’s able to control the criminal enterprise she has built with the help of her sons; a group of men with their own sets of issues and behavioral problems.

We initially see the series through “J” (Finn Cole) who is Janine’s grandson. After his mother passes away, he comes to live with the Codys and boy is he in for a surprise! What he thought would be a refuge from the drug-addled and impoverished world he left behind soon becomes a chaotic circus of criminal antics, wild parties, sex-filled debauchery, and gun, explosions, fist fights, and much more. It’s a lot for a 17-year-old to take in, and taking the journey with him is as much exhilarating as it is exhausting.

As for Janine’s four sons, there’s enough personality to go around with some to spare as the Cody boys ramp up the crimes, the violence, and the paranoia as events go from good, to bad, to worse as the family grapples with the potential of getting busted by the cops, impending arrests, and the fear that their empire could be shut down for good.

Animal Kingdom is great TV. It’s dark, edgy, exciting, amusing, and fast-paced. The blu-ray comes with a number of great special features, which include:

Inside Animal Kingdom

Producers and cast provide an inside look.

Animal Kingdom: Stunts

Exciting sports action from surfing to skydiving.

Meet the Codys

Reach into the heart of the diabolical family.

Getting Into Character

Creating the criminally cool characters.

Setting The Stage

Production designer Nina Ruscio and the team reveal the secrets of Smurf’s domain.

Family Comes First

Cast and producers explore Season One’s family dynamics.

Deleted Scenes

If you’re looking for a new series to begin, I highly recommend Animal Kingdom: The Complete First Season! It truly is the Golden Age of Television Drama!

Animal Kingdom is available now on Blu-ray and DVD!

Lion – Blu-ray Review

So, let’s talk about how awesome Sunny Pawar is who plays Young Saroo in Lion. From his first moments on screen, Pawar owns each scene he’s in; delivering a solid, realistic, and very touching performance that is mesmerizing and captivating to watch. Just from the first ten minutes of the film it’s easy to see why Lion was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress.

Lion is a powerful and moving film that – as I made clear above – draws you into its world in the first few moments thanks to the great performance of Sunny Pawar as Young Saroo. It is Saroo’s strength of will and his determination as a young child that makes him more than just a run-of-the-mill movie kid. It’s this strong set-up that leads us to Dev Patel’s portrayal of Saroo as an adult, which would not be as impactful if not for the framework created by the acting skill of Sunny Pawar. Pawar is indeed the foundation on which Lion is firmly planted. And this film is very lucky to have him on board.

Lion is first and foremost about a journey of discovery, and Saroo’s journey is one that many who have been adopted have taken. While Saroo knows his family and was torn away from them by accident when his was five, as an adult he yearns to reconnect with them despite being adopted by a loving Australian couple played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham. His desire to join his family in India once again is a strong and powerful force that once unleashed becomes a unstoppable goal of determination and tenacity. Will he succeed in his efforts to find the family he never meant to leave behind?

I won’t lie to you: this is a very emotional film – yes, I’ll admit I cried several times – and it’s thanks to the amazing performance of Sunny Pawar who captivates from the very beginning. Just stop reading this review now and go and watch it!

The special features include: Deleted Scenes; a Behind the Scenes Gallery; and the “Never Give Up” Performed by Sia – Official Lyric Video.

Rent it. Buy it. Watch it. Love it. Lion is a fantastic film that is an emotional journey from start to finish. I highly, highly recommend it!

Lion is available now of Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Blu-ray Review

Many people have a love-hate relationship with the Star Wars film series. Many love the original trilogy that kickstarted it all in 1977. The initial film was a worldwide phenomenon that created a new generation of sci-fi fans and some of the most dynamic merchandising ever for a film. Since A New Hope, the Star Wars brand has spawned seven additional films including three sequels and four prequels.

While Episodes One, Two, and Three are generally reviled by hardcore Star Wars fans, there was a sense of redemption with 2015’s The Force Awakens. And now with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it’s clear that the series has righted itself with both stalwart fans and newcomers alike.

Did you ever watch A New Hope and wonder how the rebels actually stole the plans to the Death Star? Well, wonder no more. In Rogue One we see exactly how this courageous mission was executed, and how a small group of heroes was able to steal and eventually save a universe from a malicious Empire. But it’s not what they are doing or why they are doing it – if you’ve seen Star Wars you know all that by now – it’s how they pull it off that makes it so fun and entertaining.

Rogue One is filled with great action and amazing effects that have become a staple in all Star Wars films, but here it’s especially engaging since this particular film has to blend the technology seen in 1977’s A New Hope “modern technology” with the more modern effects of 2017. And it works beautifully and seamlessly creating a world that seems familiar but unique in its scope and style.

There are plenty of so-called Easter Eggs to be sought after over the course of the film, and tiny cameos from characters from future Star Wars movies help ground the movie in the universe that has been a staple in cinemas for 40 years.

With its eclectic and energetic cast of characters, Rogue One delivers a solid story driven by Jyn (Felicity Jones), a fugitive who quickly finds herself and her past at the forefront of one of the biggest intergalactic conflicts known to humankind (no pressure there!). With her scrappy band of rebels by her side, Jyn is tasked with stealing the plans for the ominously named Death Star in order for the Rebels to find its weakness and destroy it before it destroys all who defy the Empire and its primary leader: Darth Vader (yep, he’s in this, too!).

Rogue One is fun, action-packed, and has a tone that differs from the other Star Wars films, which makes it – as I said before – unique but familiar.

There are so many Special Features that they had to be given their own Blu-ray disc. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s included:

• A Rogue Idea – Hear how ILM’s John Knoll came up with the movie’s concept – and why it’s the right film to launch the Star Wars stand-alone films.

• Jyn: The Rebel – Get to know Rogue One’s defiant, resourceful survivor, and hear what it was like for Felicity Jones to bring her to life onscreen.

• Cassian: The Spy – Diego Luna shares insights into his complex, driven character, who becomes a hero through selflessness, perseverance and passion.

• K-2SO: The Droid – Explore the development of this reprogrammed Imperial droid, from initial pitch and character design through Alan Tudyk’s performance.

• Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills – Go deeper into the relationship between these two very different characters, with Chinese superstars Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.

• Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary – Forest Whitaker and Riz Ahmed reflect on Saw Gerrera, the broken Rebel leader, and Bodhi Rook, the Imperial pilot who defects.

• The Empire – Meet a dangerous new Imperial adversary…and cross paths once more with the most iconic villain of all time.

• Visions of Hope: The Look of Rogue One – The filmmakers describe the challenges and thrills of developing a bold new look for the movie that can fit within the world of the original trilogy.

• The Princess & The Governor – See what it took to bring the vibrant young princess of Star Wars: A New Hope – as well as one of her most memorable foes– – back to the screen.

• Epilogue: The Story Continues – Filmmakers and cast celebrate Rogue One’s premiere and look forward into the future, to the Star Wars stories yet to be told.

• Rogue Connections – Uncover Easter eggs and film facts hidden throughout the movie that connect Rogue One to the Star Wars universe.

I really, really enjoyed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I highly recommend it!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is available April 4, 2017 on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD, and Combo Packs!

What’s your favorite Star Wars movie? Leave a comment and let us know!