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: “I, Tonya” This somewhat unconventional underdog story about scrappy U.S. figure skater Tonya Harding offers a darkly humorous look at her rise from white-trash nobody to Olympic athlete and the stranger-than-fiction incident that ended her career. Playing with the concept of the unreliable narrator by using contradictory interviews with Harding and then-husband Jeff Gillooly, it’s never really certain who’s lying at which…

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: “Lady Bird” Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut is a low-key but incredibly affecting coming-of-age drama that is about a very particular time and place and yet is universally relatable to anyone who’s ever struggled to find their own voice, defied their parents or dreamed of leaving their hometown for something better. Though it features all the same beats that you normally find in…

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: “Three Billboards Outisde Ebbing, Missouri” Martin McDonagh’s latest film is exceptionally dark, but it’s one that shines nevertheless thanks to some sharp humor and several great performances from its ensemble cast. Chief among them is Frances McDormand as the crass, take-no-shit mama bear who embarks on a righteous quest for justice, or at the very least, the chance to stir up trouble…

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: “Daddy’s Home 2” “Daddy’s Home” was a lazy and largely unfunny comedy that didn’t deserve a sequel, so it’s a bit surprising that the 2017 follow-up is superior in just about every way. Part of what makes the film work so much better is the chemistry between Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, whose odd couple pairing is funnier when they’re not being…

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 Deuce: The Complete First Season” David Simon excels at creating rich, lived-in worlds that feel as genuine as the large cast of characters that inhabit them, and “The Deuce” is certainly no different. Though it never reaches the highs of “The Wire,” Simon’s latest HBO drama is a marked improvement over the hit-and-miss “Treme,” despite suffering from the same scattershot storytelling…

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: “Only the Brave” Based on the harrowing true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite team of firefighters who risked their lives battling dangerous wildfires across the country, “Only the Brave” is the type of macho, American hero drama that Peter Berg has built his career on. But while the source material may be right up Berg’s alley, the movie was…

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: “Last Flag Flying” Though many films have been made about 9/11 and the resulting War on Terror, Richard Linklater’s latest drama takes a slightly different approach to that period of history with a somber tale about a former Navy Corps medic who tracks down his Vietnam War pals to help bury his only son after he was killed in action while serving…

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: “Geostorm” No one expects a movie like “Geostorm” to be any good, but they do expect a certain level of entertainment that comes with watching a big, dumb action flick starring Gerard Butler. Though it delivers a fair amount of mindless CG destruction and cheesy dialogue — the bedrock of any great disaster film — “Geostorm” never embraces the giddy ridiculousness of its premise.…

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: “Blade Runner 2049” Denis Villeneuve is one of the best directors working today, and although “Blade Runner 2049” is among his weaker films to date, it’s still a mostly enjoyable follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1982 original (and the better of the two movies) that maintains the same tone and aesthetic. While it’s way too long and ponderous, with a middle act that…

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: “It” There was plenty of reason to be skeptical about Warner Bros.’ decision to adapt Stephen King’s “It” for the big screen (especially after Cary Fukunaga left the project over creative differences), but it’s a thrilling and much-improved adaptation that balances horror, drama and comedy remarkably well. Bill Skarsgård is excellent as Pennywise the Clown, delivering a terrifying and offbeat performance that’s…