Smallfoot was a great new animated film this year that created a new world of mountaintop yetis that I hope we get to revisit in more movies. It also had a great message about misperceptions and questioning authority so I hope more families discover it on Blu-ray. The mountaintop word of the yetis sparkles with […]
Author: Fred Topel
A Simple Favor Blu-ray Review: Triple Commentary Indemnity
A Simple Favor harkened back to the ’90s era mystery thrillers. Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) got sucked into Emily (Blake Lively)’s mystery when they became friends through their sons’ school. Director Paul Feig embraced the macabre comedy of the premise but always stayed true to the genre. On Blu-ray, A Simple Favor is a perfect glossy […]
Mission: Impossible – Fallout Blu-ray Review – Cutting It Close Behind The Scenes
The best part of the Mission: Impossible – Fallout Blu-ray may be the video upon startup with Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie speaking out against motion smoothing. They give the viewer instructions on how to fix it. So they don’t just play heroes in the movies. They’re actually saving cinema in real life. I’m so […]
Searching Blu-Ray Review: More Clues In HD
Searching is in my top three of the year. I saw it at Sundance and thought it was extraordinary. We’ve seen cheap horror movies on computer screens. The reason Searching works is that it would work as a mystery without the computer screen. The computer screen is just a natural environment because we’re so used […]
AFI Fest Review: Cold War – Love And War Are Both Hell
Cold War transports you back in time not only to mid-20th century history before many of us were born, but back in time to how movies were made actually decades before this one takes place. From 1949 to 1964 we follow Zula (Joanna Kulig) through success and tragedy. After serving time for attacking her father […]
AFI Fest Review: Destroyer – Get Out Of Her Way
If the worst case scenario is a female driven Heat, that would still be worth doing. There’s more than that going on in Destroyer but if “Female Heat” can get people in the door, that’s already a plus. Det. Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) shows up at a crime scene hungover and staggering. The case she […]
AFI Fest Review: Mary, Queen of Scots – There Can Be Only One
European History was never my best subject in high school. I probably learned more from watching Cate Blanchett’s Elizabeth movies but I still couldn’t pass a test. Likewise, Mary Queen Of Scots makes another side of that history more palatable than textbooks and pretentious teachers, but I won’t claim I’m retaining it after the credits […]