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***Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-Ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.***

I know what you're thinking: Oh, look at that disclaimer in bold lettering, he's totally going to suck up to WB; this reviewer is in their back pocket!

LEGO NEXO KNIGHTS introduces LEGO fans to a world that's a combination of high-tech and medieval poverty. The Kingdom of Knighton has computers, television broadcasts, and lasers, but the people who live in the surrounding villages -- all named after their respective features -- all seem to dress like your typical middle ages serf pushing carts of vegetables. But that's beside the point.

The story focuses on a team of graduate knights: Clay, who lives and breathes knight's honor and rules; Lance, who lives to be a self-centered celebrity; Aaron, a skater dude who shows no fear; Axl, the hulk of the group who's forever hungry; and Macy, the King's daughter who fights against her father for the right to be a knight.

**review includes spoilers for seasons 1&2, and mild spoilers for season 3**

I’ve been a huge fan of The 100 for the last couple years. There is so much to love about this show, including a suspenseful dystopian / post-apocalyptic world, moral grayness, diverse characters, and strong and complex women.

When we last saw everyone at the end of season 2, Clarke and Bellamy just radiated Mount Weather in order to save their friends, who were being harvested for their bone marrow. Unfortunately, killing the bad guys also meant radiating a few good guys – including Jasper’s girlfriend, Maya. Clarke left camp in order to deal with her guilt, while Jaha and Murphy went on a trek in search of the mysterious “City of Light.” The Grounders violated their pact with Clarke by abandoning the “Sky People” at the last minute, fracturing the friendship/maybe more relationship between Clarke and Grounder Commander, Lexa.

Probably not since LORD OF THE RINGS have expectations for an extended edition of a film been so high as it has been with BATMAN V SUPERMAN:DAWN OF JUSTICE Ultimate Edition. With fans in a schism over their reviews on the theatrical release of the film, running the gamut from Batman's body count to Wonder Woman's too-short screen time, people are waiting to see if an extra 30 minutes of footage alters their perception of what they've already seen.

The answer? Probably not. If you liked it, there's more to like. If you hated it, there's more to hate. People are rather intractable about things once they've already made their minds up. (GHOSTBUSTERS, anybody?)

“Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan” from Arrow Films is a documentary directed by Gilles Penso on the storied career of undoubtedly the greatest special effects icon the world of motion pictures has ever known, and perhaps ever will know.

The video is chock full of memories and interviews with not only Ray (all the way up to his 90^th birthday!) but a veritable “Who’s Who” of great modern movie magic creators, all of whom have the same central theme running through their interview: Ray was not only instrumental in fostering their love of special effects; he was for many their initial spark, and to this day they consider what he did to be in many ways better than anything being done today.

BELLADONNA OF SADNESS is the acid dream of ASTRO BOY creator Osamu Tezuka. Directed by his collaborator, Eiichi Yamamoto, this psychedelic, psychosexual dose of cinematic psilocybin was, believe it or not, an early influence on much of the anime seen today, although in places it appears more like a violent porn version of YELLOW SUBMARINE meets WIZARDS.

The story is of Jean and Jeanne, two lovers who get married but cannot pay the tribute to the lord of the land. So he takes payment in the form of droit du seigneur. The violence of the act is probably more disturbing in its metaphorical depiction than any literal depiction could ever make it.

It is after this invasive injustice that Jeanne has a nighttime encounter with an imp (who looks like a bit of male anatomy), who seduces her and promises to give her the power she craves. She resists, but allows for just a little bit of power -- enough to save her ailing husband.

It's another winning team-up between DC Comics and LEGO in their latest release, JUSTICE LEAGUE: GOTHAM CITY BREAKOUT.

When Batman gets an unsurprising surprise party for the anniversary of his first appearance, he's gifted with a vacation trip, along with Nightwing and Batgirl. (The party includes LEGO appearances of Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire, hinting that maybe a Teen Titans LEGO set might be in our futures.) The real surprising part to everyone is that Batman accepts the vacation, leaving Gotham in the protective hands of Superman. Of course this will be no challenge for Superman at all, as Batman's villains aren't of the super-powered variety. How hard could it be?

Hired To Kill

Tag Line: A-Team meets Charlies Angels meets Miami Vice.

So what do you get when you mix A-Team’s macho-ness, Charlies Angels’ beauty and toughness and Miami Vice’s sexiness? The answer is a 90’s movie shot direct to video that has risen to cult status.

This 2-disc director approved Special Edition Blu-ray+DVD starring America’s answer to Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brian Thompson, along with big name draws (at the time) like George Kennedy, Jose Ferrer and Oliver Reed, the latter two of which I consider to be two of the finest actors in cinematic history.Which has me asking myself: Why are they in this movie?

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...right? Well not if your America's #1 Gold Record Award-Winning band of all time: KISS!

For this all-time great Rock-n-Roll event, 'KISS Rocks Vegas', they are changing the mantra to: "what ROCKS in Vegas, ROLLS into your home"!

There is so much to like about 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE that I almost hate to pick on it. Dan Trachtenberg's handling of a film that, for almost its entirety, has only three players, certainly adds that feeling of isolation that is key to the plot. And John Goodman is never better than when he's playing a serious role where he's always simmering on the edge of a blowup.

For those unfamiliar with the film, here's the lowdown: Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has left her fiance and driven away. In a remote area of Louisiana, she has an accident and wakes up in an underground bunker owned by Howard (John Goodman) and also occupied by Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.). Howard tells her he saved her life and that the outside world has suffered an attack. It could be nuclear, it could be chemical -- but when he adds in that it could have been the Martians, you immediately get the sense that all is not right in Howard's head.

TOM AND JERRY: BACK TO OZ is the animated sequel to TOM AND JERRY AND THE WIZARD OF OZ, which finds our classic cat and mouse frenemies joining Dorothy and Toto on her MGM journey.

In BACK TO OZ, Dorothy has just returned to find nobody believes her tale. Even when she has the ruby slippers to prove it, there's justification for why her story of Oz is just a fancy.

But Dorothy doesn't have time to worry about convincing Uncle Henry, Aunt Em, or the farmhands, Hunk, Hickory, and Zeke. She and the Gale family are still cleaning up after the twister when they find themselves on the verge of losing what's left of the family farm, when neighboring Mr. Bibb (Jason Alexander) files a lawsuit claiming that the twister released some of the Gale pigs who then plundered his prize watermelon patch. Knowing the Gales have no financial resources, he's willing to take his payment in land and livestock, giving the family 24 hours to find a way to pay him otherwise.

THE ROLLING STONES: TOTALLY STRIPPED from Eagle Rock Entertainment is available in many different configurations: as A DVD or SD BluRay, on DVD+CD, or on DVD+LP as well as a deluxe edition that contains a 60-page hard book set containing 5 Discs (4bluRay and 1 CD) or (4DVD, 1 CD for slightly less money).

The set I am reviewing here is the DVD/CD set.

TOTALLY STRIPPED may sound familiar to a lot of Stone’s fans, since the album STRIPPED was released in 1995 following the VooDoo Lounge tour. But don’t be thinking this is just a repacking of that release. Nay, nay, I say! TOTALLY STRIPPED itself is a brand new version of the documentary of the same name, which tells the stories of the studio sessions and three live shows that make up this project. (The Deluxe editions contain DVDs of each live show in its entirety!)

Back in the day (I’m talking about the 80’s here), there were several movies that came out that were over the top in gore and humor (okay, sick humor); movies such as RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, FRANKEN HOOKER, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD -- just to name a few. Included among that select group is the title of the DVD on review here: 1989’s BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR, the first sequel to the cult classic RE-ANIMATOR, and a bona fide cult classic in its own right.

In this day of serious gore movies, watching this remastered 3-disc set from Arrow Video was a breath of fresh air -- fresh, because these movies allowed creativity to be absurd as well as shocking. I mean, when the first billed special effects artist is named Screaming Mad George -- the man behind the infamous “shunting scene in SOCIETY, which, if you have never seen, gives new meaning to the term “over the top”! You can imagine right off the bat some “interesting” special makeup effects to say the least.

If you've been following along, you'll know that we here at Critical Blast are big fans of DC Super Hero Girls. Having an animated show specifically tailored for girls (while still able to be enjoyed by all) is something that's was long overdue. Now, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announces that you can bring the world's most powerful female super heroes, DC Super Hero Girls, home on DVD on August 23rd, 2016!

After a series of YouTube videos launched on their channel, it didn't take long before they launched a toyline that includes dress-up kits, action figures and dolls. There is also a clothing line that features many of the characters sporting themes of girl power and togetherness.

When there's trouble, you know who to call. From their tower they can see it all.

That better be the Justice League you're thinking of these days, because this Teen Titans team is a different breed of superhero, far more interested in leaving butt-impressions on the couch, raiding the fridge, and putting up with Robin trying to impart his questionable wisdom.

By now anybody familiar with DC Comics related animation knows that TEEN TITANS GO is basically a stiffly animated Looney Tunes using familiar superhero faces. It isn't the TEEN TITANS, it certainly isn't YOUNG JUSTICE, and yet the younger viewers -- those whose ages haven't crossed the double-digit line -- can't get enough of dooky and toot jokes (as appalling as it may be to parents to see Beast Boy shaking his tighty whities at the screen, to be later emulated by their child; believe me, I know of where I speak).

Supergirl, Winner of the 2016 People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama, will arrive on Blu-Ray and DVD on August 9th 2016!

The series arrived on CBS with a great amount of fanfare. Delivering 10.9 million Total Viewers weekly, Supergirl is the #2 series on CBS amongst Men 18-49, just behind The Big Bang Theory and a Top 5 series on the network with Men 18-34, Men 25-54 and Tweens 12-17*.

*Source: Nielsen National TV View  L+7 US AA%; excluding repeats, specials, sports, and <5 TCs; Season To-Date = 9/21/15-2/7/16

THE STUFF on Blu-ray from Arrow Video is a release of one of those mid-eighties schlocky-horror movies that you just love to watch because it brings back memories. At least for me it did. It should also serve as a reminder to networks such as SyFy on how to do it right.

I am tempted to use the name of the movie in more than one pun here, but I will try to refrain.

THE STUFF is about, well…stuff: white, gooey, whipped cream looking stuff that is found bubbling up from the ground somewhere up in the frozen north at an oil refinery. And of course the first thing you do when you see something bubbling up from the Earth is to taste it, right?

DEATH WALKS TWICE is a 2-film, 4-DVD Limited Edition set on BluRay and DVD from Luciano Ercoli comprising his classic GIALLO Italian Horror classics: 1971’s DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS and 1972’s DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT.

Both of these movies are considered two of the finest examples of the Giallo genre (think crime, mystery, blood and horror all in one, done in 70’s Italian style) and both star Nieves Navarro (billed in the movies under her adopted stage name of Susan Scott).

Beth Harrington directs and co-produces this important and informative documentary that follows the modern river of country music back to the winding stream that is it's source -- The Carter Family.

Before there was country music, before there was a Grand Ole Opry, there was A.P, Sara and Maybelle Carter. THE WINDING STREAM follows in great detail how these three family members became the foundation cornerstone of American country music, without glossing over the family tragedies and heartaches, including A.P.'s singular focus on collecting songs from the mountains and Sara's eventual divorce. The documentary is never dry, and is wholly engrossing, telling the story without the benefit of any dramatic re-enactments, relying instead on actual footage, photography and, of course, recordings of the songs and interviews.

The weather is warm, the sun is shining, and it's time to get outside and get active. Everyone's getting into the athletics -- even Mickey Mouse and the Clubhouse gang as they assemble or the first ever Sport-Y-Thon! There are all kinds of games to play -- even Martian Mickey, Martian Minnie and Pluto from Pluto have showed up to participate. And there lies the mechanism for the episode's lesson: Mars doesn't have sports, so the visitors have no idea about what it means to show good sportsmanship and put in extra effort. Not that they're mean whiny cheaters, they just don't know better. So Martian Minnie has to learn that using a jetpack in a basketball game isn't fair, Pluto from Pluto has to learn he has to let other players participate in Volley-Bop, and Martian Mickey has to learn not to give up in a relay race just because it's hard work. In the end, everyone wins -- including color commentary provider, Donald Duck.