August 1st, 2019
-1-News.jpg)
July bounced back from June with both Spider-Man: Far from Home and The Lion King getting to $1 billion worldwide. Domestically, we are still behind 2018’s pace by more than $400 million, but that’s a substantial improvement over where we were at the start of the month. August should continue this winning streak, at least initially. Hobbs and Shaw could open with close to $100 million, but the only other film opening this month that has a real shot at $100 million in total is Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Last August, both Crazy Rich Asians and The Meg topped $100 million, while Christopher Robin came within 1% of that milestone. This August might be better at the very top, but I don’t think the top three this month will top the top three last month. Maybe if we get a surprise hit, it will, but I’m not willing to bet on that. On the other hand, unless something dramatic happens, 2019 should at least come close to matching last year’s pace and that’s better than most months have done this year.
More...
March 25th, 2018
-1-News.jpg)
The Last Movie Star is about an aging movie star, played by Burt Reynolds, who has to come to terms with their autumn years. This is far from a unique setup. However, just because a movie deals with subject matter we’ve seen before doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. Is it better than other recent examples of this film?
More...
September 19th, 2016
The seventh season of Modern Family had the lowest ratings since the first season. It was also the worst season in terms of major awards. Has the show jumped the shark? Or is it still a great sitcom, even if it is no longer the best sitcom on TV?
More...
June 8th, 2016
The list of new home market releases isn't particularly long, but it includes Zootopia the best movie of the year, so it feels like an amazing week. It isn't the only contender for Pick of the Week this week, as Anomalisa, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Director's Cut, and others are also worth considering. The Martian: Extended Edition is also a must have, if you don't own it yet.
More...
September 28th, 2015
Modern Family has been one of the best and most popular sitcoms on TV for each of its five previous seasons. In fact, it has won five Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys in a row, tying the record. Is it still the best sitcom on TV? And how are the extras on the DVD?
More...
November 8th, 2014
It has been a year since I last reviewed a Phineas and Ferb DVD. This week, their Star Wars crossover special comes out on DVD. How is the special? Will it appeal to fans of both Phineas and Ferb and Star Wars? And is the DVD worth picking up?
More...
November 7th, 2014
Another late review, but there are special circumstances here. Fox has gone with a digital delivery system for their screeners, which means I have to stream the movie or TV show. Here's the problem with that. At any given time, I'm working on two or three projects for work and Firefox tends to quickly suck up a lot of resources, which cause me to restart the browser rather frequently to free up the RAM. (It's not uncommon for Firefox to be using more than 2 gigs of RAM at a time.) This is fine when all I'm doing is reading box office data or cast lists. But it makes it nearly impossible to stream something. Oh if only I had a separate machine I could use to watch movies. ... Oh that's right, it's called a Blu-ray player and I have one right under my computer desk. Anyhow, so after trying and failing to get the streaming to work, I just decided to buy a few of the screeners for movies and TV shows that I previously signed up to receive a physical copy. Of course, I only did this for films and TV shows I thought were going to be good, because it's my money. The first to arrive was Mr. Peabody & Sherman. I loved the original cartoons, but was the adaptation into a feature-length movie a success? Or do these characters work better in a five-minute format?
More...
August 15th, 2014
The Enchanted Feast is the fourth DVD release from Sofia the First. This show debuted in late 2012 and was a huge hit right away. I previously reviewed the first release and this week I got to the latest one. It arrived a little late, but was it worth the wait?
More...
March 1st, 2014
2014 continued its strong run in February with The Lego Movie beating even the high end expectations and will become the first film released in 2014 to reach $200 million. March doesn't look as strong, as no film is on track to hit $200 million, but there are five films that have a chance at $100 million. Granted, not all of them will get there; in fact, there's a chance only one of them will get there. Divergent is the film I think has the best shot at the century club, but it could be joined by Mr. Peabody and Sherman, for instance, which is earning surprisingly strong reviews. Noah is a big-budget Bible epic and the studio has to be hoping for at least $100 million, but the buzz is quite negative and there have been reports of troubles behind-the-scenes. Last March was led by Oz The Great and Powerful, which pulled in more than $200 million domestically. I don't think any film opening this March will match that figure. In addition, The Croods and G.I. Joe: Retaliation also hit the $100 million milestone, while Olympus Has Fallen came very close. Granted, there were also some big bombs last March, like The Host, but even so, I think 2014 will lose ground in the year-over-year comparison.
More...
December 21st, 2013
PANIC! If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet, it is officially time to panic. Personally, I got the last of my shopping done on Wednesday, although I don't think the gift will arrive in time for Christmas. For those still looking for a last minute gift, Part IV of our Holiday Gift Guide focuses on books, CDs, and of course anything else I missed the first time around, beginning with...
More...
October 12th, 2013
Recently, Modern Family won its fourth Outstanding Comedy Series at the Prime Time Emmys. This puts it just one behind Frasier for the all-time lead in that category. It has three Emmys for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, putting it one behind M*A*S*H* in that category. It "only" has two nominations for Emmys for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, but it won both times. It has also earned nearly two dozen nominations for various acting categories, including five wins. It is easily the most acclaimed comedy series on TV at the moment, and despite being on the air for just four season so far, it is one of the most acclaimed comedy series of all time. This creates incredibly high expectations. Is it possible to live up to these expectations? Or will the show start to disappoint?
More...
April 7th, 2013
The latest Phineas and Ferb DVD, Animal Agents, is the second with The Perry Files title. I love this show, but I've haven't had the chance to watch many of the new episodes, so I'm excited to see anything I haven't seen before. So what shorts are on this DVD? And do the new episodes live up to the best of the old ones?
More...
March 16th, 2013
Sofia the First is one of the newest animated shows to debut on the Disney Channel. It first aired on January 11th of this year, and a second season has already been announced, so clearly the network is impressed by its ratings. Will those who have seen the early episodes like it enough to stick around? And is the DVD worth the price?
More...
January 28th, 2013
There are quite a few films that opened wide in theaters on this week's list, but most of them bombed at the box office. Hotel Transylvania is the only exception, but while it is a good kids movie, it isn't Pick of the Week material. The best release of the week, in my opinion, is Seven Psychopaths on either DVD or Blu-ray.
More...
December 19th, 2012
There are only a few days left till Christmas and we are officially in the panic zone for gift shopping. This week we have our final installment of our annual Holiday Gift Guide. Part I dealt with first run releases, Part II dealt with TV on DVD releases, Part III dealt with limited releases, foreign titles, and classics. This week, we deal with some music, books, games, as well as releases from the first three parts that I forgot the first time around. As always, there are quite a few in that last category. (I also use this time to burn off some releases that arrived late. This way I can get through all of the late reviews quicker than normal and actually have enough time to celebrate Christmas.)
More...
October 16th, 2012
It's a mixed week on the home market. Granted, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is coming out, which made more than $200 million domestically and should sell quite well on the home market. On the other hand, the second biggest first run release is That's My Boy, which failed to make an impact at the box office. There is also a flood of weaker releases, secondary Blu-ray releases, and Christmas releases, much of which I would consider filler. The signal to noise ratio is a little off. As for the best releases of the week, there are some great TV on DVD releases like Mad Men: Season Five and Degrassi: Season 11, Part 2. There are also some limited releases, like Moonrise Kingdom on Blu-ray Combo Pack and even some Direct-to-DVD releases, like Excision on Blu-ray. All of these were contenders for Pick of the Week. In the end I went with Mad Men: Season Five for Pick of the week, while Degrassi: Season 11, Part 2 earned Puck of the Week.
More...
October 13th, 2012
Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Jake Saves Bucky is the second DVD release from the show that I've gotten the chance to review. I liked Yo Ho, Mateys Away!, but is this DVD also worth picking up?
More...
