Author: Jason Zingale

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: “Snatch” Following the breakout success of his directorial debut, 1998’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” Guy Ritchie returns to London’s seedy criminal underworld for this wildly entertaining crime caper — and arguably his best film to date. “Snatch” takes everything that was great about Ritchie’s first movie and expands upon it, showing what he can really do with a little money,…

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: “Nobody” Director Ilya Naishuller’s feature-length debut, “Hardcore Henry,” is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it contains some pretty fun sequences that at the time served as a showcase for the young filmmaker’s talents, particularly his knack for shooting exciting, inventive action. Though it’s taken six years for Naishuller to make another movie, his sophomore effort is…

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: “Godzilla vs. Kong” “Godzilla vs. Kong” was meant to be the thrilling culmination of the MonsterVerse saga that began back in 2014 with Gareth Edwards’ “Godzilla,” but while it contains plenty of great monster action, the rest of the movie is a dud. The human characters are incredibly lame and largely pointless — so much so that you could remove entire subplots…

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: “City of Lies” Based on journalist Randall Sullivan’s 2007 book about the LAPD’s investigation into the murder of rapper Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G., “City of Lies” isn’t nearly as bad as its trailer suggests. It’s undoubtedly messy, but that’s due in part to the labyrinthine real-life story on which it’s based. There’s almost too much story here for director Brad…

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: “Primal: The Complete First Season” Genndy Tartakovsky’s latest animated series may be similar to his previous work from a stylistic standpoint, but it distinguishes itself from shows like “Samurai Jack,” “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” in that it contains no dialogue. The 10-episode first season is basically a collection of silent films about a caveman and a dinosaur,…

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: “Super 8” Since making his feature debut with 2006’s “Mission: Impossible III,” J.J Abrams has directed six films — five of which are based on preexisting IP. His only truly original movie is 2011’s “Super 8,” and it also happens to be one of his best. A throwback to the classic Amblin films of the ‘70s and ‘80s that’s one part coming-of-age…

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: “Minari” Writer/director Lee Isaac Chung has been making feature films since 2007, but “Minari” is the first one to gain any sort of mainstream attention, and it’s sure to put him on the map in a big way. Loosely based on Chung’s own life experiences, “Minari” tells the story of a Korean immigrant family that moves to Arkansas in search of the…

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 Mauritanian” Based on the 2015 bestselling memoir by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, “The Mauritanian” tells the true story of Slahi’s fight for freedom after he was unlawfully detained in Guantánamo Bay for his suspected role in the 9/11 attacks. Though it plays like a rather straightforward legal drama for much of its runtime, “The Mauritanian” is at its best when exploring the…

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: “Speed” Jan de Bont’s 1994 directorial debut may be best summed up as “‘Die Hard’ on a bus,” but that would do a major disservice to what is otherwise a really great film. Lest you forget, this is a movie that was nominated among such esteemed company as “Pulp Fiction,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Forrest Gump” at the 1995 Academy Awards, even…

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: “Nomadland” “Nomadland” certainly isn’t the most exciting Best Picture Oscar winner — it’s not even one of the best films released this past year — but Chloe Zhao’s portrait of the forgotten, downtrodden souls who wander the American frontier feels like a fitting movie for a year where many people spent days, weeks and months in their own form of isolation. My…