New to View: Oct. 8
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Oct. 8, unless otherwise noted:
Toy Story 4 (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2019, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: G
The lowdown: “Toy Story 4” is fun and enjoyable, but that’s about it. The movie and its bevy of characters have become stale and predictable — and that always is a sign that creative juices are drying up.
This newest Pixar release lacks oomph; it methodically goes through its paces like an assembly-line worker clocking in for a shift.
At times, the movie seems a bit too mature and cynical for the younger audiences it should target.
Plus, with a running time of 100 minutes, “Toy Story 4” feels padded and repetitious.
With the exception of Forky, the newest edition to the toy collection, the remainder of the characters — whose charm is garnering diminishing returns — go through their usual paces, doing the same schtick as they did in the three previous outings. It’s as if they are on a treadmill going nowhere at various speeds.
Perhaps it’s time to consign the “Toy Story” franchise to a cinematic closet before all the good will it has accrued over the years turns to dust.
The vast majority of critics, though, embraced the movie, giving it a 97 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 2.0 descriptive audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a look at the rebooted Bo Peep, deleted scenes, a featurette with cast and filmmakers remembering their favorite childhood toys, a retrospective on the friendship between Woody and Buzz Lightyear, a featurette on the new cast members, a behind-the-scenes lessons in voice recording and a commentary track.
Annabelle Comes Home (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2019, Warner Home Entertainment
Rated: R, horror violence and terror
The lowdown: The “Insidious” franchise continues with this horror feature in which the demonic doll, locked up by demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren behind sacred glass, escapes.
She, of course, awakens the other evil spirits who shared the Warrens’ special artifacts room with her.
Together, Annabelle and the other demons conjure up a night of terror for the Warrens’ 10-year-old daughter, Judy, her friends and a baby-sitter, who fight for their lives and to bring the doll’s evil reign to a finale.
The movie is one of the better features in this series, and its home entertainment release is abetted by strong and crisp audio and video transfers.
A majority of critics enjoyed the movie, giving it a 65 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.40:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos TrueHD and 5.1 Dolby digital descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.40:1 widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 5.1 Dolby digital descriptive audio; English SHD, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus features include three behind-the-scenes looks at some of the demons, two featurettes and deleted scenes.
Maiden (Blu-ray)
Release date: Oct. 1
Details: 2018, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, thematic elements, language, smoking, suggestive content
The lowdown: Some people have a built-in mechanism when, if told they cannot do something, they set out to prove the naysayers wrong.
Such was the case with Tracy Edwards, who as a British teenager, developed a love for sailing after signing on as a stewardess of a charter boat. She soon rose to become a deckhand and, later, first mate.
She then served as a cook aboard a couple of yachts participating in the 1985-86 British Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.
During this era, sailing was considered a man’s world.
Edwards was determined to enter the 1989-90 Whitbread race heading an all-female crew, when she was only 27 years old.
The story of Edwards, her crew and that race is chronicled in “Maiden,” Alex Holmes’ stirring documentary that follows Edwards and the challenges she faced to realize her dream.
The movie covers the race, the interactions of Edwards and her crew, the social implications of her feats and the reactions of other skippers and sailors. It also includes archival footage, newly-filmed recollections by Edwards, crew members, yachting journalists and fellow racers.
“Maiden” is an inspirational documentary that buries the notion that women cannot hold their own with men — whether on land or sea.
It is a film that soars; an adventure that is all the more special because it is true.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby digital audio description track; English SDH, English and French subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include two featurettes, “Women Making Waves,’ which features Holmes, Edwards and producer Victoria Gregory discussing the movie and its impact; and “An Evening with Maiden,” which includes a question-and-answer session with Edwards and Holmes.
Kung Fu Monster (Blu-ray)
Details: 2018, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: An uneven mixture of creature feature and martial arts historical drama that really can’t decide what kind of movie it wants to be.
The film, about a rare creature that the Bruneian Empire wishes to gift to the Ming Dynasty, follows Ocean, a member of the Imperial Secret Police, who is tasked with capturing and taming the creature.
Ocean soon discovers that this “beast” is really kind and gentle and secretly plans to release it back to the wild, to keep it from being turned into a killing machine.
The movie almost plays like a parody.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English and Chinese subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major extra is a making of featurette.
Life with Lucy: The Complete Series
Details: 1986, CBS DVD-Paramount Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: In the late 1980s, Lucille Ball tried to recapture the magic of her earlier 1950s’ and ‘60s classic sitcoms. Unfortunately, this series only lasted a short time.
In the five episodes featured on this DVD, Ball plays Lucy Barker, a widowed grandmother who has inherited half of her late husband’s hardware store business.
Her husband’s partner, Curtis McGibbon is played by that wonderful comic foil, Gale Gordon, who enlivened any TV sitcom with which he was involved.
Others in the cast include Jenny Lewis, Donovan Scott and Anne Dusenberry. Among the guest stars are John Ritter, Audrey Meadows and Peter Graves.
Ball fans will want this DVD to add to their “Lucy” collection.
Technical aspects: 4:3 full-screen picture; English Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental offerings include “Entertainment Tonight” segments on the series and “Hour Magazine” segments with Ball and Gordon.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Art of Deception (DVD & VOD) (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Family (IndiePix Films)
Hamlet in the Golden Vale (DVD & digital download & VOD) (Random Media)
The Ice King (Film Movement)
Toys Are Not for Children (Arrow Video)
Nekromantix: 3 Decades of Darkle (Blu-ray + DVD + CD) (MVD Visual Entertainment, Oct. 11)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
The Art of Self Defense (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
Doc Martin: Series 9, Episode 3 (Acorn TV, Oct. 10)
The Lion King (digital download and VOD) (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
Lucky Day (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Oct. 11)
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (Logo, Oct. 11)
The Promised Life (Acorn TV, Oct. 14)
The Time of Our Lives: Series 2 (Acorn TV, Oct. 14)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. My movie reviews also can be found at Rottentomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.