Home Market Releases for October 11th, 2016

October 11, 2016

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters is the biggest release of the week and the best first run release. Combined with its fully-loaded Blu-ray (extended edition), it is a Pick of the Week contender. There’s not much competition. The main competition is a new Collector's Edition Blu-ray for The Thing, but this is at least a double-dip, which hurts its value. There are a couple of smaller releases as well. In the end it was a literal coin toss to decide the Pick of the Week and Ghostbusters won.

Adventure Time: The Complete Sixth Season - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
It was recently announced that Adventure Time’s eighth season will be the show’s last season. That’s too bad, but eight years is a long time for a show to last, plus the show is no longer at its peak. That said, it is still worth picking up for fans of the show.

American Girl: Four Movie Collection - Buy from Amazon: DVD
I previously reviewed one of these four movies. I’m not in the target audience, but I thought it was good, for its genre.

Blood Father - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
This Mel Gibson movie earned amazing reviews, but he’s burned too many bridges to be a box office draw anymore.

Breaking a Monster - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
A documentary about a trio of African-American youths that form a heavy metal band. The reviews are unanimously positive and fans of rockumentaries or of coming of age tales should pick it up. Sadly it is only coming out on DVD.

Carrie: Collector's Edition - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
This film is simply a classic horror film and a must have for anyone who is a fan of the genre, or of Stephen King’s writing. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the remake first. It is my opinion that if you see the remake first, you will like it better than the original. Granted, I’m in the minority here, but that is my opinion.

Dr. Ken: Season One - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
One of the worst new shows of last season. It also earned surprisingly good ratings for a Friday show.

Feed the Beast: Season One - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
The DVD / Blu-ray cover has, “From the executive producer of Dexter and Nurse Jackie". Considering how poorly those two shows ended, this isn’t a selling point. Then again, looking at the reviews, they didn’t have much else to go with.

Ghostbusters - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, 4K Combo Pack, or Blu-ray (extended edition)
Video on Demand
One of the best comedies of the summer, although there weren’t too many comedies released this year. Obviously it is not as good as the original was, but it is by far the best first-run release of the week. Additionally, the DVD and Blu-ray are absolutely loaded with extras, including two audio commentary tracks, several making of featurettes, deleted / extended / alternate scenes, outtakes, and more. It is easily a contender for Pick of the Week. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for the screener and I really hate giving out the Pick of the Week honor when a screener is late.

Good Witch: Season Two - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
Catherine Bell stars as the titular witch in this Hallmark Channel TV show. I’m not in the target audience, nor have I seen the show, but it has lasted a long time, initially as a series of TV movies, while the third season begins next year.

Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
This film has 4% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. To put this into perspective, this is lower than Donald Trump’s chances of winning according to 538. ... At least for now.

Ice Age: Collision Course - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Combo Pack
This franchise has run its course. It’s time to move on.

The Infiltrator - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
Bryan Cranston stars as a US Customs agent who goes undercover to infiltrate a notorious drug cartel. This felt like Oscar-bait, only released too soon in the year. The reviews were good, but not great. On the other hand, the box office was terrible compared to its production budget. The extras include audio commentary track, deleted scenes, and a pair of featurettes. That’s good, but not great. It is worth picking up, but it's not a Pick of the Week contender.

The Legend of Tarzan - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 3D Combo Pack
This isn’t the worst wide release of the summer, but with just 36% positive reviews, it is closer to the bottom than it is to the top. Likewise, it wasn’t a box office bomb, but it will likely fail to break even any time soon. Extras are good, but not great. If you really like the Tarzan story, it is worth a rental, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go.

Len and Company - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
This film earned good reviews, but not great reviews, and as I’ve said in the past, it takes great reviews to thrive in limited release. It is certainly worth checking out, buying if you like the cast.

Life, Animated - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
A documentary about a family with a non-neurotypical child whom the doctors thought might be non-communicative for his entire life. Then he discovered Disney animated movies. It is one of the best-reviewed movies on this week’s list, even if the film is more heart-warming than in-depth.

Mike & Molly: The Complete Sixth Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
This show was never a huge hit, nor did it wow critics. That said, I’m a little surprised it didn’t last one more season. Seven seasons is usually the peak for syndication rights. Also coming out this week is the Complete Series box set.

The Musketeers: Season Three - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray
This show earned mixed reviews the first season. More damningly, almost no critics bothered to review seasons two and three. [Copy Ed: Then they missed out on a good series of much watch TV.....].

The Night Shift - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Season One: DVD
Season One: Video on Demand
Season Two: DVD
Season Two: Video on Demand
This show earned terrible reviews season one and almost no reviews season two. Skip it.

One Piece: Collection Seventeen - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
One of the few Anime titles that routinely sells well enough to make this list.

Scott & Bailey: Season Five - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Three episodes. Season five was three 45-minute long episodes and they are charging $24.

Supermansion: Season One - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
From the people who brought us Robot Chicken. This is the unrated DVD, but according to Amazon, it is under the Kids and Family section. Maybe someone at Amazon should fix that.

The Thing: Collector's Edition - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
This is my go to film for when people say remakes suck. The film’s reviews are “only” 80% positive, but I think it is one of the best Sci-fi horror movies of all time. It is a must have for anyone who enjoys the genre. However, it is not the first time this film has been released on Blu-ray, but this release has an improved transfer and the two-disc set is loaded with extras. It is easily worth the upgrade and a Pick of the Week contender.

Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
The Astro-Zombies - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Boyhood: The Criterion Collection - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Dark Water - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Glengarry Glen Ross - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Hills Have Eyes - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Ip Man Trilogy - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
On Dangerous Ground - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
A lot of horror films on this week’s list, including The Astro-Zombies, which is a “so bad, it’s good” classic.

4K Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
Angels and Demons - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Combo Pack
Coral Reef Paradise - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Combo Pack
The Da Vinci Code - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Combo Pack
Ghostbusters - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Combo Pack
Ice Age: Collision Course - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Combo Pack
Ghostbusters is the only 4K release I’m interested in. However, as I’ve said in the past, I’m not making the leap to 4K until 4K is standard and 1080p isn’t really being made anymore.

Christmas Releases - Buy from Amazon
Barbie: A Perfect Christmas - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
It’s a Wonderful Life - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Krampus - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Nickelodeon Favorites: A Very Nick Jr. Christmas - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Thomas & Friends: A Very Thomas Christmas - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
The Twilight Zone: Classic Christmas Episodes - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Holiday Favorites - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Of course It’s a Wonderful Life is coming out. A new version of the DVD or Blu-ray comes out every year. It’s worth owning, but I would be surprised if any fan of the movie doesn’t have two or three copies by now.

TV on DVD Megasets - Buy from Amazon:
Bitten - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Brain Games - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Degrassi Junior High - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Hannibal - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Knight Rider: The Complete Series - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Kolchak: The Night Stalker - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Miami Vice - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Mike & Molly - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Monk - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Pokemon: Master Quest - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Sliders - No Reviews Buy from Amazon: DVD
The Twilight Zone: The Fifth Dimension - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
I’m hoping to get a screener for The Twilight Zone box set. It is certainly worth owning, but it could be Pick of the Week material, depending on the extras.

Video on Demand - Buy from Amazon:
Batman Return of the Caped Crusaders - Reviews - Video on Demand
Blue Jay - Reviews - Video on Demand
Brain Games: Season Seven - No Reviews - Video on Demand
Captain Fantastic - Reviews - Video on Demand
Dream On (2015) - Reviews - Video on Demand
First Degree - No Reviews - Video on Demand
The Missing Ingredient - Reviews - Video on Demand
Nerve - Reviews - Video on Demand
Observance - Reviews - Video on Demand
Portlandia: Season Six - Reviews - Video on Demand
The Saver - Reviews - Video on Demand
Shovel Buddies - Reviews - Video on Demand
Dream On (2015) is a documentary where John Fugelsang looks at the state of the American Dream. It is worth checking out, but it also reminded me of the HBO series, Dream On. That one still hasn’t had a full release on DVD.

Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, Ghostbusters, Ice Age: Collision Course, The Legend of Tarzan, Captain Fantastic, Len and Company, The Infiltrator, Blood Father, Nerve, Life, Animated, Observance, Shovel Buddies, Breaking a Monster, Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, Blue Jay, Dream On, The Missing Ingredient, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, The Saver, Honogurai mizu no soko kara, Ice Age, Ip Man, Mel Gibson, Catherine Bell, Bryan Cranston, Stephen King