Blu Tuesday is a weekly column where we review the newest Blu-ray and 4K releases, along with a brief rundown of the included bonus material, to determine whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping.
Pick of the Week: “The Fall Guy”
There’s something to be said for a movie that fully embraces its silliness, and “The Fall Guy” does it with such gusto and self-aware wit that it only makes for an even more enjoyable experience. Though the film, loosely based on the ‘80s TV series of the same name, is lacking in a few key areas (a strong villain, a more compelling mystery), it makes up for it with some great performances. Ryan Gosling absolutely kills it as the goofy but charismatic Hollywood stuntman who gets caught up in a real-life crime thriller, while Emily Blunt proves an excellent sparring partner as Gosling’s love interest. As you’d expect for a film about a stuntman (and directed by David Leitch, a former stuntman himself), “The Fall Guy” also contains an assortment of incredible action sequences that highlight the very real dangers involved in such a job. In doing so, “The Fall Guy” serves both as a fun (and occasionally funny) action flick as well as a celebration of the stunt community at large, and for that alone, it deserves much praise.
Extras include an audio commentary by Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at making the movie, deleted scenes, a gag reel and more. FINAL VERDICT: RENT
Also Out This Week:
“The Strangers: Chapter One” — The horror genre is a cyclical beast, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Hollywood is once again attempting to turn the “Strangers” series into a viable horror franchise, despite recently striking out with 2018’s “Prey at Night.” Though director Bryan Bertino’s 2008 original is a decent home invasion thriller with some solid moments, its masked invaders aren’t compelling enough to justify an entire franchise. This is never more apparent than in this lazy copy-and-paste remake from Renny Harlin, the first installment in a purported new trilogy that is not only poorly written but features some of the dumbest (and dullest) horror movie characters in recent memory. In fact, the only scary thing about the film is that there are two more chapters still to be released. Extras include an audio commentary by actress Madelaine Petsch and producer Courtney Solomon, as well as a pair of production featurettes. FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
Disclosure: Bullz-Eye was provided a copy of the above titles for review purposes.
