Well, it’s that time again. It’s time for your favorite Space Cadet to reveal what he’s recently bought. I know there are people out there that are going to be wondering why I’m still collecting physical media instead of going fully digital and streaming. Well, I’ve got an answer for you: *Whispers* Because I can. True, I may run out of room to put all these discs, but it is NOT this day. This day, I collect…movies! As I’ve been doing for the past 20 plus years. What can I say? I’m persistent. As before, when I pick up 4 or more movies on Blu-Ray/DVD I make a post about it. Bonus feature: I got another Horror Pack box last week so you’ll be seeing what I ended up getting this month. Well, time’s a wastin’, so let’s get to it.
Dune(1984) From Arrow Video
Boy, you want to talk about a movie that I’ve bought almost as many times as Star Wars. David Lynch’s Dune is what many people consider to be a flawed masterpiece. Frank Herbert’s famous space opera was thought to be un-filmable. Well, Lynch’s film didn’t really do anything to change that opinion. I personally love the hell out of this movie. It’s visually interesting with unique characters and an outstanding soundtrack by Toto. Narratively, however, this movie’s a hot mess. The book was loaded to the hilt with political and religious intrigue, wild ideas, and crazy concepts that are still talked about today. You can’t really put something THAT dense into a movie that barely hit two and a half hours. They glossed over so much. It was such a massive disappointment that David Lynch has since refused to work on movies unless he had absolute control. And honestly, Denis Villeneuve’s movie was better, even though it was only half the story. But I grew up with this version of Dune. Arrow Video has become probably my favorite Blu-Ray/DVD boutique company. The effort they put into the visual restoration, remastering and special features is second-to-none.
Last Seen Alive
I love a good kidnapping thriller as much as the next guy. But the problem with that particular genre is that a lot of movies tend to follow very familiar beats. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, if it’s done well. Honestly, the only reason that Last Seen Alive works as well as it does is because of Gerard Butler. He’s just fun to watch in everything that he does. But the movie is basically a low-rent version of Breakdown. It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but it ain’t the best.
Jurassic World Dominion
God, this movie really had the potential to be a game-changer when ending a franchise, but this movie really missed the mark. At least, the theatrical version did. I picked this up because the extended version of the film had 14 minutes of additional footage including the IMAX prologue sequence that was cut out. I found that sequence and some other minor additions actually improved the movie’s flow quite a bit. The issues with the script are still there, but the extended version of Jurassic World Dominion is the version to watch.
Last Days in the Desert
I’m not a believer. I’ll just say that right now. I never bought into the whole religion thing. It’s also why I have issues with “faith-based” movies. They have a tendency to get real preachy, and most people really don’t like that. But I have no problems with movies where faith is a theme, just not terribly on the nose about it. Last Days in the Desert is a very interesting movie. It’s about Jesus who wanders in the desert because of some kind of spiritual crisis. Wait, what? Jesus Christ not being the perfect being that Christianity makes him out to be? No, say it ain’t so! The idea that the central figure in Christianity has a spiritual crisis is very intriguing to me. It humanizes the man even more. It also helps that Jesus is being played by Space Jesus, Ewan McGregor. But, McGregor also plays the Devil, and seeing the two characters interact with each other is incredibly fascinating. The film also stars Ciaran Hinds as the patriarch of a desert-bound family. It’s a slow drama, but it IS a drama. Ewan McGregor is fantastic, especially as the Devil. This one is definitely recommended.
Horror Pack #2
Well, here’s the second box that I got from Horror Pack. As I mentioned last time I got one of these, it’s a service where you pay 30 bucks a month and you get 3 random horror movies a month plus a Horror Pack exclusive disc. The first box I got last month was fairly impressive with the exclusive being the worst out of the bunch. This month’s box wasn’t nearly as impressive, I’m afraid, and that’s kind of the risk you take when you take part in a program like this. So, let’s talk about what I got.
Ma
This is one that I hadn’t seen before. I’d heard about how good Octavia Spencer was, but the film didn’t really catch my eye at the time. Well, I actually really like this one. It’s pretty good. Predictable, but still good. The real glue that holds this movie together IS Octavia Spencer. This is unlike any other role that she’s played, and she’s clearly having a blast here, and I like it. It’s about a group of teenagers that get a lonely woman, Sue Ann, to buy booze for them so they can party. She invites them to the basement at her house where they can party with the stipulation that they don’t go upstairs or curse. But she becomes obsessive and the darker side of her personality comes out. I think this movie was a lot better than it had any right to be.
Brahms: The Boy II
I never really got into the whole “creepy doll” subgenre of horror. You can thank Child’s Play for that. Brahms is the sequel to the movie The Boy which features a porcelain doll. I never saw the first movie, so that might inform you why I actually enjoyed this movie. From what I understand, if you saw the original movie and liked it, this movie would piss you off. It apparently retcons a lot of things at the end of the previous film. Not having seen it, this stuff didn’t bother me. The acting in this movie’s pretty great, though. Katie Holmes is pretty good. The kid is outstanding and actually NOT annoying, which is unusual for a horror film. Ralph Ineson from The Witch is also in this movie and he’s fantastic. He’s always been fantastic. I enjoyed the movie.
Woman in the Chair(Horror Pack Exclusive)
I had heard about this movie a while back, but I wasn’t expecting it to be available yet. It actually isn’t available to the general public yet, so those who got this month’s Horror Pack got a pretty sweet deal. This movie is about an ex-pat who lives in Japan that discovers a house with a woman sitting a chair. She’s a ghost or apparition of some kind, but he gets a couple of investors involved. As a result, they end up creating a little bit of a supernatural tourist attraction. Things start getting weird when some people start losing their minds and end up in not the most pleasant of situations. This is definitely a low-budget indie horror film, but unlike last month’s Dark Tales from Channel X, this is actually a pretty decent movie. It’s fairly original in its concept and the execution(phrasing) is pretty solid. Some of the acting is a little sketch, though. But I really dug this one, and I hope more people get to see it.
Get Out
If I didn’t already own a copy of Jordan Peele’s Get Out, this alone would’ve been worth the price of admission. This is an absolutely fantastic little film. I’m not going to spoil it, but this movie takes some really bizarre twists and turns, but it’s also legitimately funny at times. For a directorial debut, Get Out is an instant classic. Daniel Kaluuya is wonderful here and Bradley Whitford almost steals the show. It’s a lot of fun with some really interesting social commentary. Jordan Peele now has three movies out, but this one is clearly his best effort. So, yeah, I absolutely recommend it.
Well, that concludes this edition of Recent Blu-Ray purchases. As far as the Horror Pack is concerned, it’s not nearly as impressive as last month’s. Mostly, it’s because I already had Get Out, but the rest of the movies weren’t particularly shabby. So, I’m looking forward to seeing what September brings me with the Horror Pack. Thank you all for reading and I’ll catch YOU on the next episode of Recent Blu-Ray Purchases…or any other post that I’ll do next week.