Posted in Holiday Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Shout Factory Anime Collector Editions – Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films & Evangelion: 3.0+1.11 Thrice Upon a Time 4K

It certainly feels like the Holiday Season.  Deadlines you have to meet at work before the end of the year, getting down those eight crates of random festival garb from your attic, ordering gift cards for people you’ll never see until this time next year, and an expensive gift for your father who will probably only provide you with expired wits of wisdom.  I think it’s high time you the reader get something for yourself.  I don’t mean a new pair of socks or some non-alcoholic egg-nog.  Something worthwhile, like a wonderful Shout Factory Anime Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray or 4k set.  Today we are looking at the Masaaki Yuasa Five Films Boxset as well as the 4k Edition of Evangelion: 3.0+1.11 Thrice Upon a Time.  These gorgeous boxsets can be yours today and provide you with more hours of enjoyment than any Christmas Party with second, third and fourth (twice-removed) cousins ever could.  Let’s take a look.

A slightly revised copy of this gift guide can be found at:

https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/12/21/holiday-gift-guide-spotlight-shout-factory-anime-collector-editions-masaaki-yuasa-five-films-evangelion-3-01-11-thrice-upon-a-time-4k
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Posted in Film & Television Reviews

The Wailing (4k UHD) Review

As I have mentioned numerous times, I am not a fan of horror movies.  In particular, my number one pet peeve is jump scares.  Now, for certain scary movies, I’ll allow one good jump scare, it almost goes with the territory.  But if the director has to use one every fifteen minutes, my heart does not need that much of a workout and I am going to avoid it very quickly.  This is mostly reserved for American movies, quite often on their fifth sequel.  However, Korean horror flics know how not to use the jump scare and instead focus on making things as gruesome and disturbing as humanly possible.  Or inhumanly perhaps.  Today, we take on a modern horror classic in the 2016 film, The Wailing as it makes its way on 4k UHD disc.  Let’s take a look and see if the ole ticker can handle this one.

The original copy of this review can be found at: https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/12/11/the-wailing-uhd-blu-ray-4k/

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Posted in Film & Television Reviews

The Man From Nowhere (4k UHD) Review

Most people when asked to provide the best Korean film in modern times, would probably answer Oldboy or Parasite.  Others might respond Memories of Murder or Train to Busan.  Maybe A Tale of Two Sisters or The Wailing.  I on the other hand always respond with the same title, The Man from Nowhere which to this point in the US has only been released on blu-ray from Well Go.  That blu-ray was also the victim of a bunch of discs from Well Go that came away with a quick dose of rot infecting my copy as well as many others.  For the last couple of years, I’ve been working with a bootleg which I’m not exactly proud of but felt necessary because I loved this film so much.  However, that changed as Well Go has released a 4k copy of this sensational film (and also of The Wailing which I will get to later in the week).  I thankfully received it a little bit earlier than expected and took it for a spin.  Let’s see how it does.

The original copy of this review can be found at https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/12/05/the-man-from-nowhere-uhd-blu-ray-4k/

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Posted in Thoughts

Upcoming Reviews for November/December 2023

Hopefully all of you enjoyed my reviews from the middle of October until the beginning of November.  I would like to say that I got more things to review from Upcomingdiscs.com but things do tend to get stalled during this time of year so unfortunately I do not.  I did receive a note earlier this week that I might have two gift sets coming to me from Shout but that won’t be until sometime in December.

Those sets are the Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films Blu-ray set and Evangelion: 3.0+1.11 Thrice Upon a Time Collector’s Edition.  Now, there is absolutely no guarantee I will get those sets, and I will frankly be surprised if they do show up on my doorstep especially with the holiday season.  Even if I only get one of these two sets, I will be overjoyed as they are very nice collections. (More after the jump).

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Posted in Film & Television Reviews

Justice League X RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsman Part Two (4k UHD) Review

Hopefully, most of you reading this review enjoyed my breakdown of the 1st part in this series.  I honestly haven’t been this vested in a two part series since Batman’s Long Halloween.  That one had the added sting that we had to wait a full year until we got the complete 4k version.  At least in the case of Justice League and RWBY, we get the full 4k splendor from the get-go.  However, as I alluded to in the first review, there was certainly room for improvement.  We shall see if the creators can correct those issues now that the series shifts into the Justice League’s world.  Let’s take a look.

The original copy of this review can be found at https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/11/07/justice-league-x-rwby-super-heroes-huntsman-part-two-uhd-blu-ray4k/

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Posted in Film & Television Reviews

Cracked (DVD) Review

Death is unfortunately something that comes to us all.  It’s not something we can prevent even if we do all that is necessary to prolong it.  In the same breath, we can control to some degree what we can pass on to our family and loved ones, whether it be our spouse, children, both or perhaps none at all.  Whether it be wealth, property, movie collection (son, you have no idea) or perhaps some sentimental trinkets, a simple will and responsible caretaker should be all you need in order to pass it on.  However, responsibility can sometimes be fleeting.  Today, we look at a movie called Cracked where pieces of art are passed down from a father to a daughter with frightening results.  Let’s take a look.

The original copy of this review can be found at:

https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/10/30/cracked/

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Posted in Film & Television Reviews

The Night of the 12th (DVD) Review

Full disclaimer, I tend to watch probably too much true crime television.  I’ve watched about every episode of Homicide Hunter (Joe Kenda), Forensic Files, and plenty of other detective shows based on real cases.  I find them fascinating and my wife would seriously like to know what else is on our television.  As a result, I tend to also gravitate towards real cases depicted in movies and documentaries as well.  Today’s film, The Night of the 12th deals with a real case based in France.  However, this one has a hook.  Where as almost every case that we tend to see on television is solved and the murderer goes away to jail, this one has a very different ending.  Let’s take a look and see if we can still enjoy this experience.

The original copy of this review can be found at:

https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/10/23/the-night-of-the-12th/

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Posted in Film & Television Reviews

Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (4k UHD) Review

In 1995, I remember very vividly going to see Mortal Kombat on the big screen during my summer off from college (when very often I had nothing else to do).  I was instantly wowed by all of the characters that I had played with in the first two video games and see them brought to screen.  The music was absolutely fantastic (and still one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard).  However, what I have carried with me most from that experience is my utter love of one character.  Johnny Cage.  Fast forward nearly thirty years and we finally have a film where he is the main character and no longer some sort of side gag by all those involved.  Let’s go to the Cage Match!  Join me, won’t you?

The original copy of this review can be found at

https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/10/16/mortal-kombat-legends-cage-match-uhd-blu-ray-4k/

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Posted in Film & Television Reviews

Passion (Blu-Ray) Review

It’s a genuine rewarding experience when you find a new director that you find intriguing.  Mostly because as the consumer, it’s then a research project to find everything that person has ever done and then dissect which films you can go find to watch immediately.  When I watched Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, I had that experience instantly.  I wanted to see more of Rysuke Hamaguchi’s films.  So I bought a Criterion blu-ray copy of Drive My Car back in July.  Shortly after that, I saw that his student film, Passion was going to be released by Film Movement on blu-ray and I was eager to get a copy.  Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long because the opportunity to review presented itself, even before the release date.  Let’s dive into this film and see the early workings of a true master of the conversation.

The original copy of this review can be found at

https://upcomingdiscs.com/2023/10/16/passion-blu-ray/

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Posted in Thoughts

Upcoming Reviews for October 2023

Unlike the previous month, this month when it comes to reviewing is almost certainly going to be way more productive.  To this point, I’ve already snuck in two Film reviews for Paw Patrol and A Haunting in Venice in which I can’t remember the last time I went to the theater in two straight weeks.  I don’t know if I’m going to sneak in any other movies but while I was at  A Haunting in Venice, I did see posters for the re-release of A Nightmare Before Christmas and something called Inspector Sun as possible films to see with my wife and son.  Obviously, if we went to the former, I probably would not write a review, but it’s still worth mentioning.

However, it looks like that I’m getting four discs from Upcomingdiscs.com to review this week.  Most of it is from Film Movement, but I am getting one 4k as well.  I don’t think I will be able to slide in any other reviews on my own (unless I go to the theater for something else), but it all depends on how quickly I finish these four first.  I have also provided a link to more information if you are curious about these films and don’t want to wait for my reviews.

Passion (2008) – Blu-Ray from Film Movement This one I have wanted since I knew it was going to be available.  From the same director, I greatly enjoyed Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and need to watch Drive My Car (have the Criterion copy from the last B&N sale) but I just haven’t had the time.  The added fact is that Film Movement rarely does blu-rays (I mention this all the time in my reviews) and so the fact that they are releasing this one in blu-ray is certainly something to take notice of.

The Night of the 12th (2022) – DVD from Film Movement This is a French mystery film that looks 200% up my alley considering my reviews of such films like The Third Murder and Unidentified.  Now thankfully if I do like it a lot, it has been released in Blu-Ray but I would have to import from the UK.  It might surprise you but I do not own a region free Blu-Ray player and bypass region restrictions with my Panasonic 4k player which has a nifty top menu feature that gets around those things about 75% of the time.  I’ve literally had a region free player on my Amazon wishlist for a very long time.  Mostly because I have no idea where to put it.  Anyway, should be an excellent film.

Cracked (2022) – DVD From Film Movement Most of you know I don’t really review Horror movies.  It’s not my thing, especially when there are a couple of people on Upcomingdiscs that are FAR more gifted with the genre than I’ll ever be.  However, neither of them to my knowledge really want to dive into foreign horror films which is where I get the call so to speak.  See my review of Seire earlier this year.  So this is a Thai film about some scary pieces of art.  Not sure what to think or even if I’ll like it, but it has an interesting premise and Asian horror films really are top notch typically.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023) – 4k from Warner Bros One of these things is not like the others.  But seriously, I have watched just about everything Mortal Kombat animation or live action since the very first movie in 1995.  The animated features have always been something of a mixed bag but they always deliver on the action and really make use of the 4k format.  This should be no different and also deals with my favorite character not named Scorpion in Johnny Cage.  Cage was the unsung hero of the first live action film (and what they did with him in the 2nd film was absolutely ridiculous), and I can’t wait to see this one.  I know picture and audio will most likely not disappoint but I’m hopeful that the story is interesting enough.  I still need to see Snow Blind by the way, that should be a Black Friday type title somewhere for sure.

Anyway, thought I would share those four with the regular readers of this site.  Feel free to drop your comments below and enjoy!