Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Memento 10th Anniversary Edition

 

Memento is a 2000 suspense-thriller/mystery that was written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The movie starred Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss,  and Joe Pantoliano. It came out before Christopher Nolan was a household name (this was his second movie). It was a relatively low-budget film that was part revenge story, part drama, part dark comedy, and part love story. The basic plot is that a man named Leonard Shelby (played by Pearce) is looking for his wife's killer, but because of a head injury, he cannot make new short-term memories. He remembers everything up to his accident but becomes a blank slate every few minutes. As a result, he takes Polaroids of the people he interacts with, writes notes to himself, and tattoos clues onto his body. The twist is that the movie is shown in reverse. You get a scene, then it will roll back about 5 min or so, and show the events leading up to what you just watched. And keeps doing that throughout the entire movie, so you do not find out everything until the very end.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is good. While there is not much in the way of special effects (if any) or really any sprawling cinematographic shots, the movie does look and sound good in the HD format. As far as extras go, there on the Blu-ray, there is about 25 min' worth of behind-the-scenes material. Commentary on the film from Nolan, a copy of the script, a gallery showing the various clues tattooed on Leonard and his diary. It's not a ton of material, but it's good for what is there.

While the writing and directing are great, the key to the movie being as good as it is was the acting. Guy Pearce, as the main character, Lenny/Leonard, does a great job both when he is narrating the rules for his life and when he is onscreen. Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss, both having come off making the original Matrix film when this came out, are great at playing characters that are much more than they seem. What you find out by the end/beginning of the movie is that all the characters are pretty morally gray. It is much more like Inception (with a little bit of The Fugitive mixed in) than the Dark Knight movies, but to the extent you can say Nolan has a style, it definitely follows it. It is not a movie you can have on in the background and get what is going on. You really do have to pay attention all the way through, or you will miss too much. That said, it is a unique drama/mystery that is worth multiple viewings.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Homeland Season 2

 

Fair warning, this will contain spoilers from season 1, and hints (but no major spoilers) from Season 2. If you have not seen season 1 proceed at your own risk.

Season 2 of Homeland consisted of 12 episodes that aired during the fall and winter of 2012. All of the main cast members return, including Claire Danes, Damien Lewis, Many Patinkin, Morena Baccarin, and David Harewood. The show also adds several recurring cast members, including Rupert Friend, Maury Sterling (both of whom would get larger roles in subsequent seasons), and Timothee Chalamet (in one of his early roles). 

The first season of Homeland was very original and told a very good story. Brody (played by Damien Lewis), who had been a POW in Iraq, was turned into a terrorist and a part of a plot to execute a terrorist attack in America, which he backed out of. At the end of season 1 only the viewers knew the truth. That changes very quickly in Season 2. The tape he made confessing to the bombing he backed out of comes back to haunt him in multiple ways in the second season. I cannot say too much without giving away a lot of what happens, but there is another terrorist plot in the second season that we don't know the full extent of until about 3/4 of the way through the season finale. Many of the characters and relationships in the show change, and there are a couple very big twists. The season ends with some things resolved and other questions left open. It definitely leaves the show to go into a very interesting direction in the third season and will hopefully keep Brody's storyline from getting worn out.

The A/V quality of the blu rays are very good, as you would expect. There is not a ton of bonus material. There is a very short prologue to the third season, a short film by Damien Lewis, a making of the second season feature and some deleted scenes. There are also commentary tracks on selected episodes. The blu-rays also have a true "play all" mode that allows you to stop in the middle of an episode and pick back up, and when you finish with one disc and insert the next one, it immediately starts playing the next episode in the sequence. The acting and writing of the show are both again top-notch. I do not think there was a downturn in either from season 1, even though there are some far-fetched moments. All in all, if you liked or loved season 1, this one is absolutely worth watching.

Book Review: The Athena Project

 

The Athena Project is a novel published in 2010 and written by Brad Thor. The novel is a spin-off to Thor's Scot Harvath series (which in 2010 included 9 novels). The main characters in this book were introduced in Thor's 2010 entry in the Harvath series, Foreign Influence. In this book, the members of the Athena team, Gretchen Casey, Julie Ericsson, Megan Rhodes, and Alex Cooper, are assigned a mission to hunt down an arms dealer responsible for providing explosives used in an attack in Rome that killed several Americans. They discover a larger plot involving a combination of old World War II-era technology and a modern-day threat.

The hardcover version of the book is just over 300 pages, which is just slightly shorter than most of Thor's novels in the Harvath series. Harvath does make a couple of appearances in the book, but he is not a major part of the overall plot. There are actually a couple of different storylines that run parallel to each other. The main one involves the Athena team members. The second one involves an undercover FBI agent who is in too deep with a Russian spy. Each of the storylines is tied to the overall plot of the book but mostly separate from each other. The book is a good action-suspense thriller. While I like most of the novels in the Harvath series more than this one, this is still an enjoyable read with a good story. It is definitely worth the time to read if you like Thor's other novels or just like the spy novel or action-thriller genres.

DVD/Movie Review: The Island

 

The Island is a 2005 movie directed by Michael Bay and starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, and Djimon Honsou. It was one of the few Michael Bay movies (along with Armageddon, Bad Boys, and Pearl Harbor) that is not explosion-laden the entire time. While there are explosions in this movie, to be sure, there is also good, quality acting, a story with some substance to it, and comedic elements that were not stupid or cheesy. The movie also has a good supporting cast including Michael Clarke Duncan and Steve Buscemi.

The premise is that rich people can pay 5 million dollars to have themselves cloned as an insurance policy. Think instant organ donation. The clones are marketed as being held in stasis until needed, where in reality they are kept alive in an almost cult-like community until needed. That is as much of the story as I will give away, but the movie centers around the ethical dilemma that surrounds the program.

The acting in the movie is good all around. Scarlett Johansson (who was in her first major role after Lost in Translation) and Ewan McGregor play the parts of the escaped clones very well. McGregor also has to play the "real" person who interacts with his clone which he also does a great job with. Sean Bean plays the main bad guy role as the one who runs the cloning center. He did very well portraying the fact that his character basically had no morals and only cared about money. I personally think the best supporting performance was from Djimon Hounsou who basically plays a bounty hunter tasked to track down the escaped clones. He has to strike a balance between a guy doing the job he was hired for, and not truly believing in the ultimate purpose.

The DVD has a handful of extras, including a director's commentary track on the movie and a few making-of featurettes. Excluding the commentary track, the bonus features clock in at around half an hour in total. 

It does have some of the hallmarks of a Michael Bay summer blockbuster, but even if you are only lukewarm to his other movies, this one is worth giving it a chance. It is definitely more than just things blowing up. While it is certainly not an Academy Award winner or something that will keep you thinking about it for days after you watch it, there is enough substance to the story to make it worth seeing.

DVD/Movie Review: Into the Blue

 

Into the Blue is a 2005 movie starring Paul Walker, Jessica Alba,  and Scott Caan as a group of friends living in the Bahamas. Ashley Scott plays Caan's girlfriend, Amanda, and Josh Brolin plays the antagonist, Bates. The main selling point for the movie seemed to be having Jessica Alba (then in her early to mid-20s) swimming around in a bikini. The first third of the movie basically shows off the main cast members in swim trunks (Walker and Caan) and bikinis (Alba and Scott), focusing on Alba and Scott swimming or lying around wearing very little, with lots of (covered) T&A shots. The story picks up as the group, when exploring a shipwreck, discovers a crashed plane filled with cocaine. Of course, the owners of said cocaine discover that the "heroes" know the location of the drugs, and the predictable hijinks ensue.

The DVD extras include deleted scenes (that can be played with or without commentary by the director), a director's commentary track on the movie, scene tests for Scott Caan, Paul Walker, and Tyson Beckford, and a making-of featurette. None of the extras are that extensive, but they are about what you would expect for this type of movie.

Ultimately, the movie is not an Academy Award winner by any means. It has great visuals (both landscape and flesh variety), decent action, and a pretty easy-to-follow plot. The movie is a pretty standard action thriller. There is not a lot of character development or great acting in the movie. I think Walker is better in this movie than he has been in any of the Fast & Furious films. Alba's character is a toned-down version of her Dark Angel character (she has some of the snarkiness of that character but less ass-kicking ability).  Ashley Scott and Scott Caan's characters are actually pretty unlikable, and pretty much the reason for all the trouble that ensues. Josh Brolin (in his pre-No Country For Old Men fame) does a good job as the ultimate bad guy in the film. It is a little long (clocking in just under two hours), but the pace moves fairly well, so it does not feel like the movie is too long. All in all, it is an okay way to kill a couple of hours.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Anna

 

Anna is a 2019 movie written and directed by Luc Besson (who has directed movies such as The Professional, The Fifth Element, Taken, and Lucy) and starring Sasha Luss, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, and Helen Mirren. In the movie, Luss plays Anna, who is recruited into the KGB by Evans' character, Alex, and works under the direction of Mirren's character, Olga. She is trained as a KGB assassin with the promise of being discharged after five years. When the director of the KGB refuses to honor the agreement, Anna becomes a double agent for the CIA in exchange for a new life.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. Both of the discs include the movie and the special features. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good. It is not quite reference quality, but close. There are about 30 minutes of bonus material consisting of four different making-of featurettes. The movie is a good spy thriller, with a handful of action scenes spread out well throughout the movie. The story is not told linearly. It plays out similarly to the movie Memento. The movie starts partway through the story, and then flashbacks are used to tell Anna's backstory, to fill in gaps, or to show events from a different perspective than when they first played out. So, by the end of the movie, you know how Anna was recruited into the KGB and the CIA, but as you watch the movie, there are twists and turns that play out via the flashbacks. The action scenes that are in the movie are very good, but very violent. There is a bit of sexual content and one nude scene in which Luss is topless. So, it is not really a family-friendly movie.

Ultimately, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. Luss does a very good job in what was her second movie role, and Mirren pretty much dominated every scene she was in. Luss was especially good, considering she came from a modeling background and not an acting background. Evans and Murphy did well in their supporting roles, but neither were in the movie as much as Luss and Mirren. While it was not a blockbuster movie, it is much better than a lot of people will likely expect. So, if you are a fan of spy thrillers, this is worth the time to watch. 

DVD/Movie Review: Hide and Seek (Minor Spoilers)

 

Hide and Seek is a 2005 movie directed by John Polson and starring Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, and Amy Irving. De Niro plays David Callaway, a psychologist who moves with his daughter Emily (played by Fanning) to upstate New York after his wife (Irving) commits suicide. Emily reveals that she has a friend named Charlie, whom David assumes is an imaginary friend, and starts to become more and more worried for his daughter as "Charlie" becomes violent. 

The DVD has several bonus features, including a commentary track with the director and screenwriter, several alternate endings, deleted scenes, rough scenes that are a mix of live-action and storyboards, and a making-of featurette.  You can also watch the movie with the alternate endings or just watch the alternate endings on their own. The movie is a good, but not great, thriller. I thought De Niro did a good job being crazy when he was let loose at the end of the film. But you could really see what was going to happen with his character a mile away. Dakota Fanning did an excellent job with her part and was really able to convey a range of emotions that someone her age usually cannot pull off. It is in part because of her great acting you can tell what happens with De Niro's character. Her reactions to him were perfect. The rest of the film, however, was pretty formulaic. From the potential love interest, the creepy next-door neighbor, and the mistrusting sheriff. I just think that there was not a ton of originality to the script. A lot of that got saved by the acting, but it could have been better. Even so, it is worth watching if you are looking for a thriller/suspense movie. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Fringe: The Complete Series

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from throughout the series (in paragraphs 4 and 5). +++

Fringe was a supernatural crime drama that ran for five seasons on FOX from 2008-2013. The series starred John Noble, Anna Torv, and Joshua Jackson. Lance Reddick and Blair Brown had leading and later recurring roles during the series. 

The premise of the show was that a special division of the FBI was set up to investigate a series of strange phenomena (which was referred to in the first couple of seasons as the pattern). Much of the phenomena was based on the work of Dr. Walter Bishop (played by John Noble who gives probably the best overall performance in the series) who had been in a mental hospital for 17 years. Walter ends up as a special consultant for the FBI along with his son Peter (played by Joshua Jackson) who initially just tags along acting as Walter's babysitter and then he ends up helping investigate the events.

The cornerstone of the series was the wonderful acting. All the actors from the series regulars to those who played recurring characters and the bit parts did very well. It was another series where there was really no huge star that was a series regular. While Leonard Nimoy did make a few cameo appearances throughout the series and his character was mentioned a lot throughout the series, he was not in many of the episodes. I also like how the writers always grounded the unreal concepts in real science. They either took a known scientific fact and then stretched it, or took a scientific hypothesis and tried to come up with an explanation for it (reasonable or otherwise). Obviously, the outcomes were totally fake and unreal, but the premise that it started with was at least rooted in something that was.

The first season mostly followed a procedural case-of-the-week formula. Even in the first season, however, you can see that the writers were placing hints from the start of the two big serial storylines of the series, namely the war against the parallel universe and the war against the observers. Even with the procedural stories, there was actually a lot of continuity between the episodes, and as a result, it is definitely one of those series where you really do have to see it from the beginning to follow what is going on (especially as you get into the later seasons).

The only problem I have with the series is that at times it tried to do too much, and often went on too many tangents. Personally, I think they should have focused on one big story (either the parallel universe war or the observer takeover) and stuck with that. The 4th season kept the parallel universe, but changed the storylines because of Peter being "erased." On one hand, it allows for a different twist on the stories, but on the other hand, it created a storyline that just ended with the 4th season finale, and the storyline of William Bell's attempt to create his own universe did not really get totally resolved. The heroes did stop him, but he was allowed to just disappear and then the show did the time jump to tell the story of the observer takeover which ultimately ended the series. I think they lost a lot of more casual viewers that season because things just got hard to follow.

Fringe is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. Even though it started out with fairly good ratings it always was kind of a "cult" following kind of show. If you cannot easily suspend your disbelief this series is not for you. The show gets weird at times, but that is the point, and often joked about in the show. If you do like that kind of thing you will enjoy the series. If you are into science and are entertained by sci-fi material, and like shows that have unique storylines and is definitely not a carbon copy of anything else, this is worth giving a look. 

Book Review: My Heart is a Chainsaw

 

My Heart is a Chainsaw is a novel written by Stephen Graham Jones and published in 2021. The book is set in a lake town in Idaho called Proofrock, with a story centered around a character named Jade Daniels. Jade basically sees life through the lens of every horror movie ever created and compares all of her life experiences to her favorite horror movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th. 

Most of the book deals with the development of the character Jade. The book starts out with a mysterious murder on the lake. Then, about 2/3 of the novel is just about Jade's life, dealing with finishing High School, dealing with her abusive father, and avoiding most people. Toward the end of the book, it basically becomes a slasher/horror story as the plot circles back to the murder at the beginning of the book and reveals many more.

The hardcover version of the book is what I consider a moderately long book at just over 400 pages. My only criticism is that the story gets very slow in the middle. I think that the character of Jade could have been built up and developed the same amount in fewer pages. Had the climax of the book come a little sooner, I do not think that anything from the story would have been lost, or the quality of the book compromised. That said, once you do hit the climax of the story it is very good and very entertaining. It is definitely worth the time to read it. 

Book Review: The Third Option (Mitch Rapp Series Book 4 Chronological Order; Book 2 Publication Order)

 

The Third Option is the third book written by Vince Flynn, and the second novel to feature the character Mitch Rapp (if you read the novels in the order they were published). If you read the series in chronological order it is the fourth in the Mitch Rapp series.

This novel is set sometime after the events of Transfer of Power, with Mitch wanting to get out of his clandestine work with the CIA and settle down with Anna, the reporter whose life he saved in the first book. He decides that his current mission, to assassinate a German arms dealer who has been selling weapons to Sadaam Hussein will be his last. The mission goes sideways when the people he is working with turn on him, causing Rapp to try and figure out who tried to take him out. 

Most of the events in the book are set in Washington D.C. Most of the major characters from Transfer of Power return in this book, and there are a few new major characters that are introduced. Some of whom will clearly be integral to later novels. Most of the story is wrapped up by the end of the book, but it is clear from reading the book that the story told in this one will play out over at least one additional book.

It is interesting reading Flynn's work while looking through the lens of history. His first books were written in the late 1990s and this one was published in 2000. In the real world Al-Queda was becoming the major terroristic threat, yet in Flynn's novels, Sadaam Hussein was much more of a threat than he was in reality. I am interested to see whether that changes at some point after the events of September 11, 2001. I am reading the books in chronological order so I have only read American Assassin, Kill Shot, Transfer of Power, and now this book. 

Overall, the book is very entertaining, with a nice blend of action and suspense. It does have a bit more political intrigue and behind-the-scenes backbiting and maneuvering than Transfer of Power Had. Even though Flynn was a pretty staunch conservative, he has no problem having bad guys in either party. If you ever listened to him being interviewed, he often sounded exasperated with politicians in general, regardless of party (at least the interviews that he did on local Twin Cities talk radio), and that sentiment does come through in this book. It is definitely a good read, and a must-read if you are into the spy novel genre.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Bones: Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains the major spoiler from the prior season, but no major reveals from the fourth season+++

By the fourth season (which aired during the 2008-2009 season), Bones had really hit its stride as a show that is a mix of a case-of-the-week procedural, in which Booth (David Boreanez), Brennan (Emily Deschanel), and the team of "squints" solve a murder, while also mixing in serial arcs or at least callbacks to earlier episodes. This season also sees more cast turnover as Eric Millegan had mostly left the show, being written out as Zack being put in a psych ward after being revealed as the serial killer "Gormagon's" apprentice. There is also a callback to the Gravedigger storyline, this time putting Booth in jeopardy. We also get the rotating stable of interns (because Brennan cannot settle on just one), so Eugene Bird (who plays Clark), Ryan Cartwright (who plays Vincent Nigel Murry), Michael Grant Terry (who plays Wendell Bray), Carla Gallo (who plays Daisy Wick), Joel David Moore (who plays Colin Fisher), Pej Vadaht (who plays Arastoo Vaziri), and Michael Badaluuco (who plays Scott Starret) have recurring roles throughout the season. The season starts with a two-part episode set in London, which includes an appearance by Stephen Fry, reprising his role as Gordon Wyatt. And, Seth McFarlane makes a voice cameo appearance as Stewie from Family Guy in a funny scene with David Boreanez. The season continues with the will-they-won't-they-get-together tension between Booth and Brennan, and the season ends on a major cliffhanger that puts Booth and Brennan's personal and professional relationships up in the air going into season five.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the show looks and sounds very good in HD. This is actually the first season that the show was released on Blu-Ray and the A/V quality is definitely an upgrade over the standard-definition DVDs. The extras include extended versions of some episodes, a gag reel, a featurette on the new interns, and an interview with Ally Maki about the character she played in one of the episodes. If you get the DVD set, the first four episodes that were broadcast as season four episodes (including the episodes in London) are not included. They were actually shot during season three and were included in the Season 3 DVD release. However, they are included on the Blu-Ray, so you get all 26 episodes that aired during season 4 if you get the Blu-Ray set. 

Liking a show, or not, is always very subjective. Bones is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone, but I would say that if you liked the prior three seasons, you will probably like this one (unless Zack was your favorite character). The cast seems to get along very well and has great on-screen chemistry. This season sees the first appearance of Booth and Brennan's undercover characters, Wanda and Buck, who are hilarious, mostly because of Emily Deschanel. The writers do a good job balancing the large ensemble cast, even giving the interns some valuable screen time. While you can mostly just jump into the show and follow along without watching the prior seasons, I do think watching it from the beginning to see the character development is best. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Fall: Complete Collection

 

The Fall was a series that ran for three seasons, from 2013 to 2016, starring Gillian Anderson (best known for her role in The X-Files) and Jamie Dornan (probably best known for the Fifty Shades movies). Dornan plays Paul Spector, a bereavement counselor who is married with two young kids, and who is also a serial killer known as the "Belfast Strangler" (which is not a fact that the show tries to hide). Anderson plays police superintendent Stella Gibson who is brought to Belfast to take over the investigation of a murder that has been unsolved for over a month. She figures out that the murder is the work of a serial killer and leads the investigation to take him down. Each of the seasons is short. The first season has just five episodes, and the second and third seasons have six episodes. Season one focuses on establishing the characters and the investigation into the killings. Season two focuses on finding proof of Spector's guilt and taking him down, and season three focuses on the fallout. 

This collection is just a repackaging of the individual season releases. As far as I can tell, the discs are exactly the same as what you would get if you purchased the seasons individually (each season has two discs), and all of the extras carry over. The show looks and sounds great in HD. Of course, there is no CGI or a lot of special effects, but the location shots look great, especially if you have a large screen tv. The extras are fairly sparse, but for each season you get some trailers, and a making-of featurette focused on that season, and the second and third seasons have some deleted scenes. Not a ton of bonus features, but what is included is good.

The series is very good. It is not overly gory like, for example, Dexter. It focuses more on the psychological aspect, especially the cat-and-mouse game between Spector and Gibson. The writing and acting are both great, and the series gets in and out of the story for each season well. So, if you are a fan of crime dramas, this is a very good one to check out.

DVD/TV Series Review: American Gothic: Season 1

 

American Gothic is a TV series that aired on CBS during the summer of 2016. The series starred Virginia Madsen, Antony Starr (from the series Banshee), Justin Chatwin (from Shameless), Juliet Rylance, Megan Ketch, and Elliot Knight. The basic plot is that a body is found in a tunnel collapse in Boston, and the victim shows signs of being killed by a serial killer called "The Silver Bells Killer" (SBK) whose killing streak mysteriously ended fifteen years prior. The concrete for the tunnel was poured by Hawthorne Concrete, run by the affluent Hawthorne family, led by Madeline Hawthorne (Madsen) and Mitch Hawthorne (played by Jamey Sheridan). After the discovery, suspicion surrounds the family whose eldest daughter Allison (played by Rylance) is running for the mayor of Boston, and whose youngest member Tessa (played by Ketch) is married to a police officer who ends up in the middle of the investigation. Starr plays the family's estranged son Garrett, and Chatwin plays Cam, a cartoonist and recovering drug addict who has traded his dysfunctional family for a dysfunctional marriage. The series is a murder mystery that plays out over the course of 13 episodes, with a bunch of misdirection and twists thrown in. Some of the twists are fairly predictable, and others are more of a surprise.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include deleted and extended scenes, a first look featurette, a portion of the Comic-Com panel, and a gag reel. Not an extensive amount of extras, but more than you get with a lot of DVD sets these days.

The show is kind of hit-and-miss. Some of the twists that get thrown into the story definitely work better than others. The big reveal at the end is a bit dumb, but overall, the acting is very good throughout, especially from Madsen and Starr. It does have some violence and a little bit of sexual content, but nothing over-the-top given that it aired on CBS. Even though it is called season one, the show was canceled after the first season. And honestly, it should have always been pitched as a mini-series/limited event series because I do not think that a second season would have worked for the show. So, if you like crime dramas, I think this is a good one to check out and does not require a lot of time investment. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: mother!

 

mother! is a very eclectic (to put it mildly) movie that was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky (who also directed films like Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain), and stars Jennifer Lawrence as mother, who is the wife of and muse for a famous poet named Him (played by Javier Bardem) who has writer's block. It is hard to review the plot of the movie, first, because it is all over the place, and second because it is hard to do so without giving too much away. The best way to describe it is that it is a psychological thriller that is an allegory for biblical destruction with characters that clearly represent Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, etc. If you are not a fan of Aronofsky's movies, especially the more offbeat ones that have almost supernatural elements to them, then you will absolutely not like this movie. The movie kind of takes the craziest kind of stuff from Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream and combines that with the supernatural elements of The Fountain. 

The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. The movie looks and sounds great in the format, and the visuals really tie into the general weirdness of the movie. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then all of the other extras are on a second, regular, blu-ray disc. The extras include a 30-minute making-of featurette and a 7-minute featurette on the visual effects. There are also a handful of trailers that play as the disc loads.

The movie is good overall, but very strange. It is definitely not going to appeal to everyone, even people who generally like psychological thrillers. Lawrence and Bardem are very good in roles that are pretty different from what either of them has done (especially Lawrence). It also has a strong supporting cast including Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, and Kristen Wiig. I would not say it is family-friendly because it can be a bit gory and does have some nudity and swearing. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Boy Next Door

 

The Boy Next Door is a psychological thriller from 2015 starring Jennifer Lopez as Claire Peterson, a high school teacher separated from her husband after she catches him cheating. At the same time, the nephew of her next-door neighbor, Noah, played by Ryan Guzman, moves in to help his wheelchair-bound uncle. Of course, the two end up flirting and eventually having sex (before the school year starts), and then things go bad, as Claire regrets their night together and tries to break it off. Noah becomes jealous and starts to make Claire's life miserable, which is much easier as he is still in high school even though he is 19 years old (which the movie makes clear), and now goes to the same school Claire teaches at and at which her own teenage son, Kevin, played by Ian Nicholson, attends. The movie definitely has a similar vibe to movies like Fatal Attraction and Unfaithful, but it is not exactly an erotic thriller as there was only one sex scene, and even then nothing much was shown (aside from a butt shot from Lopez). 

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is very good, with some great cinematographic visuals and a good lossless audio track. There are only a handful of extras which include a commentary track on the movie by the director Rob Cohen, a short (under 10 minutes) making-of featurette, and a few deleted scenes that total around 10 minutes.

The movie is okay, but not great. It is a smaller-budget movie and definitely does not have an original plot. You can pretty much guess how it is going to play out from the beginning, even though all of the actors did a good job in their roles. The movie does have a good supporting cast including Kristen Chenowith, Hill Harper, and John Corbett. I think it is best described as the kind of movie that you can have on in the background and not miss much of anything if you divert your attention from time-to-time. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Personal Shopper

 

Personal Shopper is a smaller-budget independent film from 2016 starring Kristen Stewart, whose best movies seem to be the smaller movies that she does between the large Hollywood blockbusters. In this one, she stars as Maureen, an American living in Paris who works as a personal shopper for a French supermodel. Maureen is also a medium who is waiting for a message from the afterlife from her deceased twin brother. She also has the same genetic heart condition that killed her brother and gets sicker over the course of the movie. The movie is in part a supernatural psychological thriller and in part a crime story. The two storylines interweave with each other throughout the course of the movie and work better at different points than others. And, the movie features one of the few topless scenes that Stewart has done in her career. 

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. The movie is not laden with special effects, but the location shots around Europe look very good, especially if you are watching on a large screen. The extras include the movie trailer, an almost 20-minute interview with the director, Oliver Assayas, and a 46-minute question and answer session from the Cannes Film Festival. 

Overall, the movie is good, but not great. Stewart definitely plays a different type of character than she has played in her more well-known roles in big-budget movies. Given that she seems to play more understated characters better than she does more charismatic characters, this role definitely suits her. I would not classify it as a must-watch, but if you are a fan of Stewart or indie movies in general, it is a good one to check out. 

Blu-Ray/ TV Series Review: Prison Break: Seasons 1-4 and Event Series Collection

 

The marketing of this set calls it a complete series, and it is almost the complete series. The made-for-TV movie called "The Final Break" which is set between a time jump that occurs in the original series finale is missing from the set. So, this set is really just a repackaging of seasons 1-4 of the show and the limited event series, which is essentially the fifth season. The Final Break movie is a bit out of place given that the show did get revived for the fifth season, but that is available separately on Blu-Ray for those who want it.

Prison Break was a show that aired from 2005-2009 on FOX (for its original run) and then was revived in 2017 for a nine-episode run. It was insanely popular during the first season, and its popularity started to wane as the seasons went on. The series opens with a man named Michael Schofield, played by Wentworth Miller, committing armed robbery and waiting for the police to arrive and arrest him. The show then fast forwards through the trial to his conviction and he is then sentenced to Fox River State Penitentiary, where we learn that his brother Lincoln Burrows, Played by Dominic Purcell, is on death row for the murder of the Vice President of the United States' brother. Michael is convinced Lincoln is innocent, and also happens to be a structural engineer who has tattooed the plans for the prison all over his body. He then hatches an elaborate plan, that takes place over the course of the season, to escape with his brother. It is only a slight spoiler to say that the escape happens, and the subsequent seasons involve the escapees (there are more than two) trying to evade capture, and Michael trying to uncover the conspiracy that led to his brother being framed for murder. 

As I noted, this just has the individual seasons packaged in one set. So if you already bought the blu-rays, you are not getting anything more from this set aside from the collectible outer box. Thus, the A/V quality of the seasons is the same (and very good) and all of the extras (which are extensive, especially in the early seasons) carry over. There are commentary tracks on several episodes throughout the series, making of featurettes, deleted scenes, and the like. 

The series is very good overall but does have its ups and downs. Season 3 was probably the worst season of the bunch, and I personally thought that the limited event series was unnecessary. Miller and Purcell did a great job as the series leads, and the show had a strong supporting cast throughout its run that included Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper, Robin Tunney, Peter Stormare, Wade Williams, Sarah Wayne Callies, Paul Adelstein, William Fichtner, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, and Michael Rappaport. While the show did take some logical leaps, it was mostly well-written and always well-acted. So, if you like crime dramas that have longer and more involved serial arcs as opposed to procedurals that wrap up a case at the end of each episode, this is a good one. It is a good show to binge because there are a lot of twists and turns and callbacks to things that occurred in prior episodes. It is definitely worth watching. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Bones: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from season 1, but no major season two giveaways +++

The second season of Bones mostly follows the story/case-of-the-week procedural format that season one did with Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) solving some murder but also introduces a new storyline that would span multiple seasons and expanded on a couple of season one storylines. The show would also introduce a new character, Dr. Camille Saroyan, played by Tamara Taylor, who takes over as the new head of the forensic division with the departure of Jonathan Adams and his character, Dr. Goodman.

From the first season, the character of serial killer Howard Epps returns for two more episodes in season two to terrorize the team and the storyline of Brennan's parents is furthered with Ryan O'Neal joining as the recurring Max Brennan, Temperance's fugitive father. This season also establishes a new serial killer known as Gravedigger in an episode in which the team has to find two kids who have been buried alive. The season also explores the various character relationships and still develops the main characters. Thankfully, they dropped Brennan's habit from the first season of saying she does not understand some cultural reference (seemingly) every ten seconds. She still does it (or remarks that she understands a particular reference) but not nearly as much. We also get a bit more of the backgrounds of the ancillary characters, which includes a great cameo by Billy Gibbon of the band ZZ Top playing Angela's father, and the great British actor Stephen Fry playing Booth's psychiatrist.

For those who get the DVD set, there are a decent amount of extras spread across the six discs. Those include deleted scenes, a gag reel, a couple of making-of featurettes, and commentary tracks on two episodes. So, if you are one who likes watching the bonus content, what is included is good. And, thankfully, they did away with the double-sided DVDs of season 1.

To me, the show really finds its footing in the second season. While most of the characters continue as they were presented in season one, I think the tweaks to the character of Brennan, making her a little less robotic than she was in the first season worked out well. She is still quirky, but she is given more range as a character than just the ultra-logical character she was in the first season, and Emily Deschanel does a great job playing her. Boreanaz also does a great job showing the acting range he was rarely able to show playing Angel. The supporting cast members are all great, with T.J. Thyne and Michaela Conlin stealing nearly every scene they are in, as does Stephen Fry when he makes his appearances as Gordon Wyatt. Tamara Taylor also brings a bit more balance to the team of "squints" with Camille being a more normal, nonquirky character. Thyne and Eric Millegan also have really good chemistry and even though their characters are total opposites, you can buy that they are actually buddies and would totally pull some of the stunts that the characters do in the show. So, if you liked season one you will probably like season two. If you were on the fence about the show after the first season, I would advise giving season two a chance as the rough edges from season one have been smoothed out this season.

 

Book Review: Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp Series Book 2 Chronological Order; Book 12 Publication Order)

 

Kill Shot is the second book in the Mitch Rapp series of spy novels written by the late author Vince Flynn (if you read them chronologically). If you read the books in publication order it is the twelfth book in the series. The events in the book are set a year after those in the American Assassin novel, and the majority of the action in this novel takes place in Paris. We find that Rapp has been working his way through a list of terrorists involved in the planning and execution of the Pan Am 103 bombing, in which his ex-girlfriend was killed. While taking out a person on the list, he is ambushed and quickly concludes that he was set up by someone and tries to discover, of the small number of people who knew the targets on the list, and in what order Rapp would go after them, who set him up.

So far, I have only read one other book in the series, American Assassin, and found the tone and pacing of this novel to be very similar. Flynn balances out the action and suspense with some excellent detective work by Rapp, throws in some sex between Rapp and his love interest from the first novel, Greta, and bounces between what Rapp is doing in Paris with what the CIA characters like Irene Kennedy, Stan Hurley, and Thomas Stansfield are doing in Virginia trying to figure out if Rapp has gone Rouge. There are definitely tie-ins with the story from American Assassin and a side plot that involves a French police officer and a member of France's DGSE (Directorate General for External Security), their equivalent of the CIA.

This book, published in 2012, would be the second to last full novel that Flynn would finish before his death in 2013. In fact, in the forward, he discusses his treatment and thanks his medical team, and dedicated the book to his doctors and his wife. As most know, Flynn started writing the Mitch Rapp character in the novel Transfer Of Power (which was technically the second novel of Flynn's career published in 1999), when Rapp was well into his career as a terrorist hunter for the CIA. American Assassin and Kill Shot were prequel novels that Flynn wrote when fans started clamoring for a Rapp origin story.  While I cannot say that everyone who likes or loves the original novels (because, as I have said, I have not read them yet) centered around the older version of Rapp, I can say that if you liked the American Assassin novel then you will probably like this one. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Rings (2017)

 

Rings is a very loose sequel to, but mostly a reboot of The Ring and The Ring 2, which starred Naomi Watts. This one again involves the video of Samara that causes people who watch it to die in seven days. Of course, this movie is set in the present day, so the video has evolved beyond the VHS copy and is now digital, which presents its own set of complications. The crux of the story is that the hero, Julia, played by Matilda Lutz ends up watching her boyfriends' copy of the video (the only way to keep him from dying in 12 hours) and discovers that the way to break the curse is to find and cremate, Samara's physical remains.

The movie is a decent b-level horror movie that looks like a big-budget movie. I think that one thing the movie really missed was the lack of star power in the lead roles. Even though Johnny Galecki (from The Big Bang Theory) and Vincent D'Onofrio have roles in the movie, they are not leads, and while Naomi Watts is not a megastar, she was more well-known when she helmed the franchise than Lutz is. Secondly, I do not think that the movie was nearly as suspenseful or scary as the original movies. I think that has a lot to do with knowing how the movie was going to progress and just trying to figure out how they were going to pay it off. That said, the movie does have its share of jump-scare moments, and the ending was not the typical horror movie ending. It does have the benefit of being a more psychological horror movie as opposed to a gory one. So, if you do not like movies with a lot of blood, this may appeal to you. 

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is great. Even though the movie was shot with a digital camera it very much has the look of a movie shot on film. For extras, there are about 20 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, a 12-minute featurette on the film series starting with the original movie and how this one ties into that movie, a feature on bringing back the character of Samara, and a collection of the "scary" moments from the movie. Not a ton of material, but it is there if you like it.

The movie is okay but not much more than that. The plot is similar to those of the first two movies but updated for the digital era. Unfortunately, that is not enough to bring the quality of this movie up to that of the original films. It is ultimately a movie that did not have to be made, but if you are in the mood for a suspense/horror movie, it can be used to kill an hour and a half.