DVD/Blu-Ray
Movies
Bridge of Spies – We really liked Bridge of Spies and definitely think it’s one to check out if you missed it in theaters. Based on a true story during the Cold War, insurance lawyer James Donovan is asked to defend a captured Russian Spy, Rudolf Abel. Going above and beyond in his defense, James Donovan negotiates for Abel to receive life in prison instead of the death penalty. However, the U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers is shot down and captured by the Russians during a spy mission and the American college student Frederic Pryor is captured by the Germans during the building of the Berlin wall. Unofficially asked by the CIA for a prisoner exchange after receiving a secret letter from Russian about the captured spy Rudolf Abel, James Donovan must negotiate a way to secure the freedom of Francis Gary Powers and Frederic Pryor for the return of Rudolf Abel back to Russia. We had a chance to see sneak preview of Bridge of Spies and really enjoyed it. If you’re a fan of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, especially their more historical based work, Bridge of Spies will definitely be a movie to see. Stars Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Austin Stowell, Scott Shepherd, Domenick Lombardozzi, Sebastian Koch, Eve Hewson, Michael Gaston, Peter McRobbie, Stephen Kunken, Joshua Harto, and Billy Magnussen. Rated PG-13.
Our Brand Is Crisis – Our Brand is Crisis is a strange movie and what it purports to be. Our Brand is Crisis is based on the 2005 documentary also called Our Brand is Crisis that followed the Americanized political marketing in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. This new version of Our Brand is Crisis is a fictionalized version of that election even though it says it’s based on a true story but in this case it is only in the vaguest of meanings. Almost all names of characters have been changed including the politicians. The only thing that I can see that hasn’t changed is the name of the political marketing firm of Greenberg Carville Shrum (known as GCS). In this fictionalized version of Our Brand is Crisis, GCS is hired by the Bolivian politician Pedro Gallo to help him win the 2002 Bolivian presidential election, where he’s struggling in the polls. GCS brings Jane Bodine (played by Sandra Bullock) out of retirement to help consult on the campaign and finds that Pedro Gallo’s opponent, Victor Rivera, has hired Jane Bodine’s long time political consultant opponent and rival Pat Candy. Jane has to use all of her tricks and marketing to help lead Pedro Gallo to victory even though some of the tactics used in our own political races are less than savory. Stars Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida, Ann Dowd, Scoot McNairy, and Zoe Kazan. Rated R.
Last Witch Hunter – The Last Witch Hunter stars Vin Diesel as Kaulder, a viking cursed with immortality after defeating the Witch Queen as a punishment so he can not reunite with his family in the afterlife. Over the years the number of witch hunters have dwindled to only Kaulder, while the Witch Queen has resurrected and seeks revenge on Kaulder and may take out the entire human race with him. The Last Witch Hunter is a movie based off of one of Vin Diesel’s Dungeons and Dragons characters that was turned into a movie. Because of its connection to Dungeons and Dragons, this is the movie that Vin Diesel was trying to promote on Critical Role with many of the voice actors playing a game with him. Stars Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, Israel Baldecañas, Michael Caine, and Julie Engelbrecht. Rated PG-13.
Rock the Kasbah – A washed up rock star manager Richie Lanz loses his last client during a USO tour of Afghanistan. While stranded in Kabul, Richie discovers a young Pashtun girl with a beautiful voice and tries to manage her as she competes in the Afghan Star, a Afghan reality show similar to American Idol. Strangely enough, the story is slightly based on a true story from the documentary Afghan Star. Stars Bill Murray, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Danny McBride, Scott Caan, and Bruce Willis. Rated R.
Truth – The movie about the last days of Dan Rather as a CBS reporter and producer Mary Mapes when it was discovered that they reported on documents purporting that gave George W. Bush preferential treatment in the 1970s but was later revealed that the documents were fictitious and 60 Minutes had not thoroughly vetted the documents before going to air. The movie itself had a semi-wide but disappointing release in theaters in October 2015. Rated R.
Delirious – This is an older movie that is finally be released on Blu-ray. Normally I wouldn’t cover a release like this BUT truth is that I actually love this movie. Delirious is a great slapstick comedy about a soap opera writer, Jack, that is hopelessly in love with the lead actress of the soap that he writes for, to which she takes full advantage of. After a head injury, Jack wakes up in the town of Ashford Falls, the town that his soap opera takes place in as is inhabited by the characters from the show. Mistakenly thinking that Jack is the mysterious billionaire Jack Gates, the characters try to get on his good side while Jack discovers that he has the ability to control reality by writing on his typewriter. Things do not go well. The movie is a hilarious send up of all the tropes usually associated with soap operas like eye patches, evil plots, strange romances, luxurious locales, and much more. If you like John Candy, enjoy slapstick comedy, and media making fun of itself, I thoroughly recommend this movie. Rated PG.
TV
From Dusk Till Dawn: Season 2 – The second season of the From Dusk Till Dawn TV series. It may have been hard to find as it’s on the “El Rey” network and their first scripted series but it is created and occasionally directed by Robert Rodriguez who also owns the network. The series continues the story from the From Dusk Till Dawn movie about vampires and other mythological creatures. From Dusk Till Dawn the series has also been renewed for a third season. Not Rated.
Falling Skies: The Complete Fifth Season – The fifth and final season of the TNT original drama sci-fi series about the Earth and the human resistance after a terrible alien invasion. This last season has 10 episodes to finish up the series. I admit I haven’t seen the series but my father likes it, but I prefer Noah Wyle to be on The Librarians instead which he is now much more free to do so. Not Rated.
Cartoon/Anime
LEGO Friends: Girlz 4 Life – This is a thing that exists. It’s based on the LEGO Friends set of LEGO figures for girls. I have no idea if this is related to the Netflix series of LEGO Friends, and I’m not sure I want to find out. Not Rated.
Batman: Bad Blood – After a battle between Firefly, Tusk, and Killer Moth; Batman goes missing and the rest of the Bat family plus the new Batwing much band together to save Batman, fight a new villain known as Heretic, and stop their plot before it’s too late. I’m hoping that Bad Blood will turn out better than the last few DC animated movies that lately haven’t been as good, partly because they are being forced to follow The New 52 more closely. But the good news is that several voice actors we really enjoy do voice many of the villains or minor characters. Rated PG-13.
Evangelion 3.33: You Can {Not} Redo – This is a HUGE anime release! The Evangelion 3.33 movie release has been delayed several times, partly because after the original dub was recorded by Funimation, it was redone to be more in line with the original creator’s vision. So almost a year later from when it was set to be released, Evangelion 3.33: You Can {Not} Redo is finally out in all its glory. The voice cast is an interesting mix of the original cast dub cast plus new actors from Funimation joining in. Plus we know several actors in the movie including Trina Nishimura and Kristen McGuire.
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Blade Dance of the Elementalers – A sub only release from Sentai Filmworks. Areisha Spirit Academy is an all girls school where girls learn to become priestesses and make contracts with spirits. Only one man previously has been able to do the same and that was the Demon King. So imagine the entire school’s shock when a young man comes to the school and is able to make a contract with a spirit right away. I haven’t seen this anime, but just hearing about this makes me think it’s a harem type anime. Not Rated.
Video Games
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – This game came out but for some reason I can’t link to it directly. A teenager logs into a virtual reality world, gets attacked and becomes half digitized and must solve the mystery with the Digimon to return back to normal. I think but I have to admit the game of this looks really cool and you have the ability to see over 200 Digimon from the various series. Available for PS4 (supposedly there is a PS Vita version but again this title is loopy). Rated T for Teen.
Megadimension Neptunia VII – The newest game in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series and available for the PS4 only. This does feature both the original Japanese with subtitles or an English dub which is pretty cool since I still tend to see this as rare. Rated T for Teen.
XCOM 2 – The sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown that came out in 2012, XCOM 2 takes play 20 years after the last game and XCOM is trying to fight a global resistance against the newly colonized aliens. Available only on PC. Rated T for Teen.
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