Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Tom Cruise is back as Jack Reacher, the ex-Army major, now aimless drifter hitchhiking around America carrying nothing with him but the clothes on his back and his cell phone. When an Army colleague that he’s never met, Major Susan Turner, is arrested on suspicion of espionage, Reacher takes it upon himself to investigate and clear her name. He of course knows she’s innocent because they’ve flirted on the phone and she’s surprisingly hot for an Army major.

With the FBI hunting them after their last “show,” the Horsemen have been in hiding, honing their skills in preparation for their next Robin Hood–inspired adventure. Their target this time around is an unethical tech mogul, whose new product isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Unfortunately for our heroes, their plan backfires when the FBI crashes the show and they must make a fast getaway. They end up on the other side of the world where they’re blackmailed into performing their most impossible heist yet.

When industrialist Bartholomew Bogue starts to terrorize and take control of the town of Rose Creek, its concerned citizens pool their money in order to hire a group of mercenaries to drive the villain—and his private army—from the town. The widow of one of Bogue’s victims hits the road and meets Sam Chisholm, who accepts the job and goes about recruiting six other men to the task, all with varying skills that complement one another in order to bring justice to Rose Creek.

What if Superman hadn’t been a good guy? Could the government do anything about it? After the events in Batman v Superman, members of the U.S. government are nervous that aliens and metahumans could wreak havoc upon the Earth at their whim and there would be nothing the human race could do about it. With this in mind, a covert government agent named Amanda Waller hatches a plan to use incarcerated supervillains to form her “Task Force X” in order to combat evil forces in the world. To control them, she has explosive devices implanted in their necks that will detonate if they decide to not follow orders. As circumstances have it, her team is needed shortly after it’s formed to battle an ancient villain named Incubus who has invaded Midway City.

When Douglas Trumbull, the wizard behind the visual effects on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, finally took to the director’s chair, the result was 1972’s Silent Running. The environmentally themed adventure set in the distant future stars Bruce Dern in a gripping early career performance as botanist Freeman Lowell.

We haven't reviewed a title from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a while, so let's check in with the residents of the fictional African kingdom, Wakanda. In a deeply emotional opening scene, leader T'Challa dies, echoing the too-soon loss of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.

A funny thing happened on the way to the multiplex.

See, when studios invest hundreds of millions of dollars in their intended tentpole movies, they’re betting that sufficient tens of millions of people will be buying seats and popcorn to offset these exorbitant costs.

One of the ways they hedge these bets is to feature familiar characters in sequels, remakes, reboots and other sorts of “franchises'' with (they assume) a certain built-in audience. Of course, the movies need to be of a certain level of watchability and even rewatchability to reach that goal, and therein lies the challenge.