The original Ant-Man is one of Marvel’s lesser movies; a fun action movie that was undercut by bad and obvious jokes and a predictable plot. But while Ant-Man And The Wasp isn’t a complete reversal of course, it is a notable improvement in many ways.
Having done two seasons in which one episode led to the next until the entire season was one long albeit loose story, the masterminds behind South Park decided to take a step back with their twenty-first season by having its ten episodes be stand-alone stories for the most part. Fittingly, it seems they’ve taken a similar approach to the extras on the South Park: The Complete Twenty-First Season Blu-ray and DVD.
Over the course of the original Star Wars movies Harrison Ford so perfectly embodied the role of Han Solo that watching the iconic space smuggler die in The Force Awakens was like losing an old friend. But while Alden Ehreneich [Rules Don’t Apply] isn’t as spot-on as a young Han in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the action-packed sci-fi space opera is so much fun that you won’t really notice.
Science fiction has a long history of covertly (and not so covertly) tackling sensitive subjects of a social and political nature. Issues of race and racism, for instance, have been explored in everything from the original Star Trek and the movie District 9 to such novels as Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness Of Ghosts. And now it’s the driving force behind thethird-person cyberpunk video game Detroit: Become Human (PlayStation 4), the newest interactive movie from Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream. It’s just too bad the game isn’t as fun as it is thoughtful.
Black Panther is not only one of the more interesting and accomplished superhero movies ever made, it’s also the smartest and most socially-aware Marvel movie. Which is why it’s gratifying that the Black Panther Blu-ray has so many great extras, but also frustrating that it’s missing some key ones.
In 2008, about a week before The Dark Knight hit theaters, Warner Home Video and DC Comics released Batman: Gotham Knight, an excellent collection of six anime shorts from the studios behind Ghost In The Shell [Production I.G.], Paprika [Madhouse], Steamboy [Studio 4°C], and Noir [Bee Train]. Now, ten years later, we have its spiritual successor in Batman Ninja (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital combo pack, DVD, digital; with digital 4K to come), a full-length anime movie that ranks alongside Batman: Gotham Knight as one of the most unique, intriguing, and exciting Batman animated movies.
It would be easy to spend a thousand words talking about the technical achievement that is Avengers Infinity War. How it makes such a massive cast all fit without sacrificing any of them; how it’s the culmination of everything that Marvel Studios have been building towards over the course of eighteen films; and how it feels like a comic book come to life. And I’ll get to that. But if you know nothing else about Avengers Infinity War, know this: it is a kick ass action flick that’s clever and funny and heartbreaking and probably the most fun you will have at the movies this year.
1982’s Liquid Sky is one of those odd ’80s cult movies that not many remember, even fewer remember fondly, but is reveried among those who do. But it is for those latter people that the new Liquid Sky Blu-ray/DVD combo pack is made, as it not only presents the film with better picture and sound than any previous home version, but also has almost every extra you’d want, including some new ones.
Whether you thought it was triumph or a tragedy, there’s no denying that Star Wars: The Last Jedi was one of the most divisive movies in the Star Wars saga. Thankfully, the same cannot be said about the two tables that comprise the Star Wars Pinball The Last Jedi collection for Pinball FX3 (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC) and Zen Pinball (iOS, Mac, Android), which will satisfy fans of pinball as well as people who both loved and loathed The Last Jedi.