Home Market Releases for August 29th, 2017

August 29, 2017

It’s one of those weeks that are deceptively busy. The biggest new release of the week is Wonder Woman, but it is only coming out on Video on Demand. The biggest overall release is the The Lion King franchise on separate Blu-ray releases, but it’s at least a double-dip on Blu-ray. I think a triple-dip on Blu-ray. If it weren’t for these circumstances, they would be clear Pick of the Week contenders. Without those two movies, the next best is... My Cousin Rachel on Blu-ray. Its reviews are not quite Pick of the Week level, but it is the best of what we've got.

Batman and Harley Quinn - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Video on Demand
This movie is too similar to The Killing Joke, which is not a compliment. It goes for fan service over story, which will appeal to a certain segment of the target audience, but turn off the rest. Also coming out this week is a Collector’s Set that comes with a Harley figure.

Baywatch - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Video on Demand
This movie feels like it was made because another TV show was turned into a successful movie franchise and the studio wanted to jump on that bandwagon. It doesn’t feel like it was made because a writer thought of a good story to tell within the world of the original TV show. This explains its terrible, terrible reviews. Even if you are a fan of the original TV show and the new cast, there’s no real reason to watch this movie.

Black Sails: Season 4 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
A prequel to Treasure Island. The first season earned good reviews, but not great reviews, and by season four, only five critics bothered to post reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. That is not a good sign. Extras include five featurettes on various subjects from a making of featurette, to a look at female pirates in history. If you still like the show, then it is worth picking up.

Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
I love the original and even reviewed one of the direct-to-DVD sequels. I had a chance to review this one, but the timing was terrible with the Monthly Preview. Sadly, there are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, so I can’t even guess at the quality level.

Chicago Fire: Season Five - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
The first season of this show got mixed reviews, because it didn’t do enough new with the genre. By season five, there are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Chicago Med: Season Two - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
See above. This show also earned mixed reviews during the first season and no reviews during the most recent season.

Elementary: The Fifth Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
I previously reviewed a couple of seasons of this police procedural. The show has good chemistry among its two leads and it is certainly a better Sherlock Holmes adaptation than the BBC series. That said, I’m burnt out of police procedurals. There have been just too many in the past two decades and the genre needs to die out for a while.

Gotham: The Complete Third Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Have you seen the new bat costume? It’s hideous. It might be the worst super hero costume I’ve seen in years. As for the show, I liked the premise, but I quickly realized the execution was flawed and it wasn’t going to get any better.

Killing Hasselhoff - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
We are going to do something we usually don’t do, we are going to have a spotlight review instead of a featured review. I already watched the movie, but due to the September Monthly Preview, I won’t have time to do a full featured review. Spotlight reviews are a lot shorter.

Ken Jeong plays a night club owner who is barely keeping his head above water. He’s supposed to host a David Hasselhoff event and that’s supposed to save him financially. However, that gets canceled, he gets accused of sexually assaulting a child actor, his fiancée dumps him, his main investor has a mental breakdown, and he thinks he catches his best friend sleeping with his fiancée. He also owes $400,000 to a loan shark, so he’s at rock bottom. He does have one lone bright spot. He’s in a celebrity death pool with his friends and if David Hasselhoff dies, he will win over $500,000. If he can kill Hasselhoff, then all of his problems will be solved.

This film was shot in 2014 and it didn’t get a release here until this week. That should tell you what you need to know. This idea might have seemed funny on paper, but in reality, the movie is a chore to get through. It’s only 80 minutes long, including credits, and it is filled with way too many cameos that, at best, add nothing to the movie. At worse, they are distractions. There are maybe three or four jokes that land during its entire run time. None of the main characters are sympathetic, and this includes both Ken Jeong and David Hasselhoff. It’s really hard to watch to a movie when you don’t care if the main character is able to payback his lone shark, or if the person he’s trying to kill lives or dies. It’s not even bad enough to watch on an ironic level. I’m not surprised it stayed on a studio’s shelf for three years.

The only extras on the DVD are eight minutes of deleted scenes.

Killing Hasselhoff does not work. For the most part, the characters are not engaging and the jokes are not funny. It’s not even so bad it’s good, so there’s little reason to watch it. Add in very limited extras on the DVD and you can safely skip this one.

The Lion King: Signature Collection - Buy from Amazon: The Lion King, The Lion King 1 1/2, and The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride
I previously reviewed these movies about six years ago. The original movie is a classic, while the two direct-to-DVD sequels were average to good. If you don’t have them on Blu-ray yet, now is a great time to grab them. If you already have them, I can’t really recommend the double-dip.

Mom: The Complete Fourth Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
This TV show started out earning reviews that were good, but not great. It did improve during season two, at least the few episodes I caught. It’s not award-worthy, but it is a solid dysfunctional family sitcom.

My Cousin Rachel - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
Sam Claflin plays a man who thinks the man who raised him as a child was murdered by his new wife, played by Rachel Weisz. While investigating whether or not she is a murderer, he begins to fall in love with her. The reviews are among the best on this week’s list, while the extras on the DVD / Blu-ray are better than most limited releases. Extras include audio commentary track, deleted scenes, featurette on the score, and more. It is worth picking up and a contender for Pick of the Week.

NCIS: The Fourteenth Season - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
This is a good show, one that I watched for the better part of a decade. However, recent cast changes made me drop it from my schedule. Shows are getting removed from that list faster than they are being replaced. I’m down to four hours of network TV a week.

The Originals: Season 4 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
I was never a fan of the original, The Vampire Diaries, and I have no interest in this show. It is selling well enough that I can’t ignore it, on the other hand.

Ronin: Special Edition - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
This film suffers from the Curse of Great Expectations. It is a good movie, but the talent on both sides of the camera mean it should have been a great movie. The disappointing reviews led to a disappointing box office. Fans of the movie will be pleased with the extras, which include a brand-new 4k remastering, as well as audio commentary track, new interviews, etc.

Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Three - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The fourth and final season of this show should begin shortly. Fans will be saddened by its departure, but hopefully the series will get a send-off it deserves.

The White Princess - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
A TV mini-series that aired on Starz earlier this year. The mini-series earned excellent reviews and did well in the ratings, for Starz. It is certainly worth checking out, but there are no extras, so it is not Pick of the Week material.

Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
Amsterdamned - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack
Endride: Part Two - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack
Heal the Living - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Inconceivable - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Prizzi’s Honor - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Ripper Street: Season Five - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Son of Paleface - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Vicious Lips - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
I would argue that Prizzi’s Honor is the best of the secondary Blu-ray releases this week.

3D Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
No 3D releases this week.

4K Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
Batman and Harley Quinn - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Baywatch - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Only two 4K releases this week and neither are worth picking up. I wouldn’t even bother renting them.

TV on DVD Megasets - Buy from Amazon:
No TV Megasets on this week’s list.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, Wonder Woman, All Eyez on Me, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Killing Hasselhoff, Baywatch, My Cousin Rachel, Born in China, It Comes at Night, Beatriz at Dinner, Batman and Harley Quinn, Paradise Club, Inconceivable, Autumn Dreams, Shockwave: Countdown to Disaster, Bring it On: Worldwide #Cheersmack, Vicious Lips, Son of Paleface, The Conway Curve, The Lion King, Rhys Darby, David Hasselhoff, Ken Jeong, Lucy Alexis Liu, Jonny Lee Miller, Will Sasso, Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Taylor Coliee, Jim Jefferies, Jennifer Ikeda

Home Market Releases for August 29th, 2017

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