Home Market Releases for July 18th, 2017

July 18, 2017

Last week, The Fate of the Furious scared away all of the competition. This week, the competition is still scared, as there’s very little in the way of top notch releases. Kong: Skull Island is by far the biggest new release of the week, while the next two biggest are The Promise and Free Fire. As for the best releases of the week, The Expanse: Season Two is a contender, but ultimately the Pick of the Week goes to the Stalker Criterion Collection Blu-ray.

The 100: Season Four - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
A post-apocalyptic Sci-fi drama on the CW. The first season earned good reviews, but not great reviews, while reviews for the last three seasons have been mostly steady. Extras include a handful of featurettes, deleted scenes, and outtakes. It is worth picking up, but not a contender for Pick of the Week.

Adventure Time: The Complete Seventh Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
This show is off its peak, but it is still worth picking up. I do wish they were still releasing it on Blu-ray, but the high definition sales were not strong enough to warrant further Blu-ray releases.

Buster’s Mal Heart - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
Rami Malek plays Buster, who is a mountain man and / or someone on a lifeboat lost at sea. You have to watch the movie to figure out which is right. The movie is a mindtwist. The only extras on the DVD / Blu-ray are a handful of deleted scenes. This is enough to be worth picking up, but not enough to be a Pick of the Week contender.

The Expanse: Season Two - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
This is a Sci-fi series set about 300 years in the future when humanity has colonized Mars and the asteroid belt. There has been an uneasy peace among the three groups, but as the show begins, the characters we follow begin to uncover a conspiracy. The reviews for the first season were very good and while the reviews for season two were even better, there were also far fewer of them, so overall the reviews are giving us mixed signals. The average ratings for season two were lower than season one, but the season finale actually earned better ratings than the first season at 581,000 viewers to 550,000 viewers. Extras include audio commentary tracks on most episodes and a handful of featurettes. If you like the show it is certainly worth picking up.

Free Fire - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
No one expected this film to be a major hit, or even a midlevel hit. That said, I don’t think anyone expected it to bomb as badly as it did. Is it an undiscovered gem? Or was there a legitimate reason practically no one saw it in theaters? Read our review for my opinion.

Kong: Skull Island - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack, 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Video on Demand
This film earned great reviews, but it isn’t an instant classic like the original was. Extras include an audio commentary track, a couple of making of featurettes, a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes, a look at Brie Larson’s photographer character and the real photographs used in the movie, as well as a faux featurette from Monarch. Overall, the total running length is just 45 minutes, which isn’t that great for a first-run feature, but it is a slow week, so it is a contender for Pick of the Week.

Masterpiece Mystery: Grantchester: Season Three - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
A British murder mystery show set in the most dangerous place on Earth, a small town in rural England. The reviews are excellent, but the price-per-minute is high compared to most TV on DVD releases.

The Promise - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
This is one of the most expensive bombs of the year. The reviews were not great, but they were not really bad either. It is just really generic in most regards. It was the target of a political campaign, because it mentioned the Armenian Genocide, which is probably the most interesting part of the film.

Record of Lodoss War: The Complete OVA Series - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
A fantasy Anime series that came out just over 25 years ago. Because it was an OVA and wasn’t aired on TV first, it can get away with more violence and language than the TV show that followed several years later. Extras are light with just commercials, clean openings and closings, episode previews, etc.

Resident Evil: Vendetta - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Video on Demand
A lot of the time, the animated Resident Evil films have been a lot better than the live action film. That is not the case here.

Signed Sealed Delivered: From the Heart - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
A Hallmark Channel original movie. There are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but odds are you are either already a fan of these movies, or you know you are not in the target audience.

Stalker: Criterion Collection - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
This film is just amazing, and frankly it is amazing that it got made. About halfway through production, it was discovered that the previously shot film had been improperly developed and the filmmakers would have to start production at the beginning. Extras on the Blu-ray include a new interview, as well as several extras from 2002. If you don’t own this movie yet, then it is a must buy. If you do have it, the remastering makes it worth upgrading to.

Teen Wolf: Season Six, Part One - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
This TV adaptation of Teen Wolf is better than it has any right to be, but I think its appeal is limited to the MTV crowd. ... Okay, it would likely also do well on the CW.

Tommy’s Honour - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
A movie about the father and son team of gold legends. The reviews are good, but not great, and limited releases usually need great reviews. This led to an opening weekend box office below the Mendoza Line. Being about golf didn’t help, as sports movies tend to struggle if the sport they are depicting isn’t popular with the overall population.

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
Stan Lee better get a lifetime achievement award at the Oscars this year. He, along with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and others, helped create the super hero genre that is dominating the box office.

Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
The Bat People - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Blood Alley - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Chivalry of a Failed Knight: Collector’s Edition Box Set - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Freeway - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Last of the Finest - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
No Man's Land - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Seduction - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Stormy Monday - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Three Leaves, Three Colors: The Complete Series - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack
There are not a lot of secondary Blu-ray releases this week and none of them jump out as hidden gems.

3D Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
Kong: Skull Island - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack
There’s only one 3D release this week, but it is actually worth picking up on 3D.

4K Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
Kong: Skull Island - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Resident Evil: Vendetta - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Again, until 4K TVs and players are the standard, it is almost never worth the extra money to upgrade.

TV on DVD Megasets - Buy from Amazon:
Coronet Blue - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Mama's Family - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
T.J. Hooker - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Mama's Family is the TV on DVD Megaset I’m most interested in.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, Kong: Skull Island, Unforgettable, Free Fire, The Fate of the Furious, Freeway, The Promise, Stalker, Tommy’s Honour, Feed, Buster’s Mal Heart, Phoenix Forgotten, Resident Evil: Vendetta, Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story, Murder She Baked: A Deadly Recipe, Signed, Sealed, Delivered: From the Heart, Lake Alice, The Bat People, La Seduzione, A Woman Deceived, In The Radiant City, Resident Evil, Brie Larson, Stan Lee, Rami Malek

Home Market Releases for July 18th, 2017

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