This Review Roundup is a mix of things out today and a couple from last week I got after their release. First up is the Blu-ray for the Atlanta Braves 2021 World Series Champions release. I’m a born and raised Boston Red Sox fan, but I’ve always rooted for the Braves as well. Because their games were on TBS you could watch them all season long plus a guy I played baseball with as a kid ended up pitching for the Braves. Needless to say I enjoyed this. It was the Braves first championship since the 1990s and this team had a bunch of guys you couldn’t not like. Freddie Freeman is a fantastic ballplayer and guys like Dansby Swanson, Max Fried and Charlie Morton are all fan favorites. This is a great recap of the 2021 playoffs and their victory over the despised Houston Astros. The legendary Hank Aaron had passed away and this was a great way to honor him. This is a must own for Braves fans and the “How They Got There” featurette is very cool.
The Jesus Music is a documentary featuring interviews and live performances of the biggest names in Christian music. Names like Amy Grant, Kirk Franklin and CeCe Winans have crossed over into mainstream music as well. I’ve actually seen one of the bands featured live when Skillet opened for a band I was seeing a few years back. Now I’m not the target audience for this by any means, but I thought it was extremely well made. It gets into the beginnings of the genre and its rise in popularity. If you aren’t a fan you might not realize just how big and popular Christian Contemporary music is. None of these people come across as fake or just doing it for the money, they all have their faith and beliefs and I can respect that. I surprisingly knew more of the names than I expected as well. It’s a nice documentary perfect for the target audience.
Third we have My Stepmother is an Alien. This is a perfect example of a movie that could never be made in today’s world. It would be sexist and Jon Lovitz would be called misogynistic, but that was the 1980s when people had a sense of humor or at least didn’t complain about everything. Is the movie good? Not at all, but it’s super campy and cheesy and is a nice throwback watch. Dan Aykroyd plays a scientist who sends a signal to space thanks to lightning and his brother (Lovitz) screwing around. Kim Basinger plays an alien sent to Earth to figure out how he did it so her planet will be safe. Alyson Hannigan is the daughter in one of her earliest roles. Basinger carries a bag with an alien in it you might remember if you saw the film. The film has gone through a restoration and comes with commentary and other bonus features. It’s not great, but it’s a nice reminder of when you could make a movie about whatever you wanted and could get away with it.
Next we have Memory House. This film is a great example of a movie critics will praise and the general movie going audience will get nothing out of. There is nothing wrong with it, but we’ve seen it a thousand times. A Brazilian man fights racism and discrimination as his small town is taken over by Austrians. He works at a milking factory and they force him to take a pay cut. At home his dog is assaulted by white children and people come into his house, destroy it and even have sex in it. I was a bit confused by some it because he goes through a transformation and at the end finally fights back. I guess he gets into his heritage and finally has enough, but it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It reminded me of The Shepherd which I watched in October.
The next two releases come from Mill Creek Entertainment. First is Street Fighter which comes in an awesome Steelbook packaging. I’ve always had a soft spot for this Jean-Claude Van Damme film based on the Street Fighter video games. Another movie that isn’t great, but man is it a ton of fun. You watch it for JCVD, but you stay for Raul Julia’s amazingly over-the-top performance of General M. Bison. Julia is known for so many great roles, but this one is one of my personal favorites. The packaging is fantastic and I love the Steelbooks that Mill Creek has been putting out the past few years. If you are a fan of the film or JCVD, this is a must own.
Last we have Ultraman Gaia The Complete Series and Specials. The latest Ultraman release from Mill Creek ran from 1998 to 1999 and aired 51 episodes. What separates this series is this features two different Ultramen with different philosophies. The first half of the show builds up their differences which ultimately they clash on, but then they eventually team up like expected. Ultraman Gaia believes in saving Earth and everyone on it whereas Ultraman Agul originally was only interested in saving Earth and not mankind. If you’ve been collecting Mill Creek’s Ultraman releases then this is a must own.
The Nerds Templar 