Home Market Releases for September 13th, 2016
September 12, 2016
This week, the biggest hit of the year so far, Captain America: Civil War, comes out. It is also one of the best and the Blu-ray is a contender for Pick of the Week. Unfortunately, the screener is late and I don’t like awarding Pick of the Week to a release where I’m still waiting on the Blu-ray. The rest of the contenders are smaller films, including The Bloodstained Butterfly, which arrived late. Part of me wants to give the title to The Transformers: The Movie, but while I plan to buy the Blu-ray, I understand that Nostalgia has a lot to with that. ... Oh what the hell, doing it. The Transformers: The Movie is the Pick of the Week.
Aliens - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Barbie: Star Light Adventure - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The Big Bang Theory: Season 9 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Chicago P.D.: Season Three - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Empire: Season 2 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Godzilla 1985, a.k.a. Return of Godzilla
Hammer Horror 8-Film Collection - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Hawaii Five-O: The Sixth Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The Seventeenth Year - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Longmire: The Complete Fourth Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Madam Secretary: Season 2 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Quantico: Season One - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Scorpion: Season 2 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Vaxxed: From Cover Up to Catastrophe - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
4K Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
TV on DVD Megasets - Buy from Amazon:
Video on Demand - Buy from Amazon:
I’ve reviewed this before as part of a box set, but I might get this release, which will allow me to review the film in more detail. The Blu-ray would have to be damn near perfect to be better than the box set to be worth the upgrade. I won’t know for sure until after the screener arrives.
Video on Demand
Like I’ve said before, I’m not in the target audience for these films and I’ve never reviewed any, so I can’t comment on the quality. That said, they sell really well, so clearly someone out there loves them.
Video on Demand
This show has been on the air for nearly a decade and I think if you added up all of the time I’ve spent watching it, it would be under an hour. It is a well-made sitcom, but not a particularly deep one, and its reviews are a lot weaker now than they were the first several seasons.
The Bloodstained Butterfly - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack
A Giallo film made during the height of the genre, but made by a director, Duccio Tessari, who is better known for spaghetti westerns. Was he able to make the leap to this new genre? Or is this a lesser example of the genre? Read our review for my opinion.
Captain America: Civil War - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack or 3D Combo Pack
Video on Demand
The e-mail asking if I wanted to review this film arrived on Wednesday. The screener would have had to gotten to me by Friday in order for me to review it. It did not. However, I have seen the movie and I can make a few short comments. Firstly, I loved it. It is the best live action wide release from 2016 that I’ve seen. Granted, Deadpool arguably has more raw entertainment, but Civil War is a deeper movie and that puts it on top. It has an interesting conflict where both sides have a defensible point of view, but you can also see how both sides’ emotional trauma would make them susceptible to a split like this. The film is easily worth picking up and depending on the extras, it could be the Pick of the Week.
Video on Demand
It’s a police procedural that didn’t even earn good reviews the first season. I’m burned out and I just don’t care about these shows anymore.
Video on Demand
One of the best horror films of the summer and certainly the biggest at the box office. Most critics agree it is not as good as the original, but still worth picking up for fans of the genre. There are 40 minutes of featurettes and 6 minutes of deleted scenes for extras, which is fine, but not Pick of the Week material.
De Palma - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
An amazing documentary about filmmaker Brian De Palma. Unfortunately, the press release made no mention of extras (extended interview segments would be enough), so it doesn’t quite rise to the level of the Pick of the Week. It is a contender, because it is not a deep week.
The show is off its peak in terms of ratings, but its reviews actually got better for season two. Usually TV shows earn better Tomatometer Scores for the second season, because more than half of the critics only review a few episodes of the first season and don’t bother reviewing the second season. That is not the case here.
The Fits - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Video on Demand
This film earned near-perfect reviews and debuted in the $10,000 per theater club during its opening week in limited release. Sadly, it couldn’t maintain that as it expanded and finished with $155,000. I really hope it finds an audience on the home market. On the other hand, I can’t find information about extras. Even if there are none, it is a contender for Pick of the Week.
The Wolf Man: Completel Legacy Collection - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Great movies, but they’ve been released so many times that each new release feels like an insult to those who bought the previous ones.
According to Amazon, this is in the top ten best-selling new releases of the week. I’m not sure why, as even Godzilla fans have to admit it is not very good.
Eight Hammer Horror films presented on four discs. This is the third time this set has been released, but the first time it’s been released on Blu-ray. It’s hard to argue with the price, especially with Halloween about six weeks away.
Another police procedural. I previously reviewed this show, but after two seasons, I gave up. I wasn’t interested in watching the show for free. I certainly can’t recommend people buy it.
Video on Demand
This show turns 18 this upcoming season. Wow. That’s really all I have to say.
A crime drama that was originally on A&E. It earned great reviews, but its ratings were weak and it was canceled after three seasons. However, it was picked up by Netflix and the fourth season did well enough for them that there will be a fifth season release on the 23rd of this month.
The first season of this show earned good reviews, but not great reviews. There are only two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for season two, so the vast majority of critics that liked the show didn’t bother reviewing its second season.
Video on Demand
This film had one of the biggest gaps between its reviews and its box office numbers of any film to come out this summer. Its not a great film; it is not a Pick of the Week contender. It is worth checking out and the number of extras (audio commentary track, deleted scenes, outtakes, etc.) make it worth picking up.
Presenting Princess Shaw - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
A documentary about Samantha Montgomery, a woman struggling to get by, who posted videos of her singing on YouTube. One day, another YouTuber, Ophir Kutiel, remixed two of her songs and they went viral. After that, they began to collaborate, despite living nearly 7,000 miles apart. The film earned near-perfect reviews, but debuted on VOD, so it struggled in theaters. Now it is coming out on DVD and I hope it finds a larger audience.
A warning about this show. While the show’s Tomatometer Score is very high, the show’s reviews dipped midseason, as it took on a Soap Opera-like tone and that turned off a lot of the fans.
A police procedural that earned bad reviews the first season, but has still managed to last three seasons. I’m burned out on the genre, so I’ll give it a pass.
The Transformers: The Movie - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
This is the animated movie from the 1980s and not the atrocious live-action movies we are currently suffering through. I love this film, but I will admit part of that is nostalgia. The two-disc Blu-ray box set has both the original theatrical release, as well as the TV aspect ratio. The filmmakers knew the film would be seen by more on TV, so made it in 4:3 and framed it at wide screen for theaters, so the 4:3 is arguably the more “true” version of the movie. Additionally, there are a ton of extras on the Blu-ray, from the old audio commentary to a new documentary. Be warned, the film was basically TV quality, so don’t expect excellent audio and video. It never looked that good to begin with.
Pure garbage directed by a man who lost his medical license because he faked a study in order to get rich. People are dying, because he wanted to get rich.
The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan: Complete Series - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Exotic Dances Of Bettie Page - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Love Me or Leave Me - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Marauders - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Seasons One & Two - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Ultimate Collector's Edition - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 3D Blu-ray
The Monster of Piedras Blancas - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Raising Cain - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Sakura Trick - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (The Criterion Collection) - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Tenebrae - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Yours, Mine, and Ours - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Out of all of the secondary Blu-ray releases, the one I’m most excited to see is Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler. I put in a request to get a screener for the Blu-ray, but they almost never arrive. When it is a smaller release, there are fewer screeners available, so they tend to stick with dedicated review sites.
Extreme Adventure Collection - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Combo Pack
Extreme Nature Collection - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Combo Pack
The Last Reef 3D - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K / 3D Combo Pack
Wonders Of The Arctic - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K / 3D Combo Pack
There are four 4K releases this week, which is more than usual. However, all of them are edutainment documentaries.
The Loner - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
The Munsters - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
A slow week with only two Megasets, and one of them is for a show that only ran for one season. However, that show, The Loner is a western created by Rod Serling and starring Lloyd Bridges. Very interesting. Meanwhile, The Munsters maintains a cult following more than 50 years after its initial release.
Central Intelligence - Reviews - Video on Demand
I am Gangster - Reviews - Video on Demand
The People Garden - Reviews - Video on Demand
The Perfect Daughter - No Reviews - Video on Demand
Men go to Battle - Reviews - Video on Demand
Central Intelligence is clearly the biggest of the VOD releases this week. The film is worth checking out and Video on Demand is likely a good way to go. It’s good, but not great, so I’m not completely convinced it has enough replay value to be worth buying. It will depend on the extras.
Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, Central Intelligence, Captain America: Civil War, The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist, The People Garden, Men go to Battle, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, The Last Reef 3D, De Palma, Vaxxed: From Cover Up to Catastrophe, Marauders, The Fits, Barbie: Star Light Adventure, I am Gangster, Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate, Lloyd Bridges, Brian De Palma, Samantha Montgomery, Ophir Kutiel, Duccio Tessari