Solid selection of releases this week, but let’s start with the movie that had the internet, more specifically X/Twitter, buzzing months back, Uwe Boll’s Citizen Vigilante. If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Boll, he’s a German director that has quite the reputation. He’s made video game adaptations that weren’t received well. He literally offered to box film critics who panned his movies and even retired at one point. Citizen Vigilante stars Armie Hammer who has had his own issues so the film was a match made in Heaven. The movie is about an American in Europe putting up with his father’s dealings after his death. He’s seeing what’s going on in Europe and has had enough. He’s a veteran and decides to do what veterans do best, solve issues with violence. When it was released off course one side scolded it for being anti-immigration and thought it was a right winger’s wet dream. The right side praised it and Elon Musk even let people watch it on X. I’ve always liked Hammer and didn’t understand his cancellation so I thought he was good in it. It’s not groundbreaking and 100% fits into the vigilante genre like Falling Down and Death Wish. It has a bit too much post-production muzzle flash and blood splatter for my liking, but that’s a personal preference. If you lean left you with loathe it. If you don’t, you’ll support it. I’m not sure if it’s a movie that deserved all the controversy, but in today’s world if you don’t 100% lean left you’re the devil so it is what it is.
Next we have Legend of the White Dragon starring Jason David Frank in his last role. Now if you recognize that name then the movie is absolutely for you. I’m not the generation that grew up on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers so the film isn’t the nostalgic trip it would be for fans of the franchise. I know of Frank, his martial arts background, but I didn’t grow up watching him as Tommy the White/Green Power Ranger and in other Power Rangers series. There are other actors from the franchise in this as well, but honestly I didn’t recognize them. You will if your childhood involved watching them. As for the movie itself, well it’s not that good. There’s a lot of post-production effects that drive me nuts. The acting isn’t great and the action is ok at best. Frank is fine in the role, but the action is overly choreographed and staged. Frank passed 4 years ago and unfortunately the film leaves itself open to sequels that will never happen. Michael Madsen plays his father in it and Madsen has passed as well. If you are a Jason David Frank fan, I highly recommend the film for you. You’ll enjoy seeing him in action fighting with Aaron Schoenke and even Mark Dacascos makes an appearance as a warrior monk. I also recognized Arrow’s David Ramsey. I wish I got all the Easter eggs and that it was full of all the nostalgia it will be for others, but I’m just not the right generation.
Speaking of just not for me, Hadestown The Musical comes out this week. I have never seen a stage version of it. I have never heard any of the songs from it previously so I can’t tell you if this is a good, great or awful version of the stage show. It was filmed and released so I’m assuming it’s a good production with actors who have made it popular in today’s world. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like the voice of Hermes who unfortunately for me is a major character in the story. The production value of the stage show looks fantastic with great costuming and staging backdrops though. I also liked the voices of the main cast of characters like Orpheus, Persephone and Hades, but I don’t think it’s something I’d watch again. I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to see the stage performance. But if you like the musical you’ll love the physical media release.
Fourth we have Fireflies at El Mozote. The movie is about a young boy who survived the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador that took place in the early 1980s. He joins a group of rebels who do radio broadcasts trying to stop the government and show the world what they are doing to citizens and every day people. I’m not familiar with the real world situation the movie is based on so I can’t tell you if there was a boy who found himself involved at all. The massacre really happened, but if the boy losing his mother and sister and fighting back happened I have no idea. Paz Vega stars as a rebel who takes the boy under her wing and Mena Suvari and Jeff Fahey play people trying to get the story out to the world. I thought the boy was solid and people die in it that I wasn’t expecting so I give it credit for what it’s doing.
On a lighter note, the original Scary Movie gets a new 4K Limited Edition Steelbook out this week. I recently watched the 2026 Scary Movie and thought it was bad and hadn’t seen the original in ages so I’m glad this came my way. I know my sense of humor has changed drastically since the film came out 25+ years ago, but I still found myself laughing more than not. I forgot how much the film parodies I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was a Scream parody for sure, but that movie plays a major role in it as well and Cheri Oteri does a Blair Witch bit too. Some of the jokes no longer land because they were timely for that era, but overall I enjoyed it. It’s definitely the best of the franchise and the 4K looks fantastic. It has some neat bonus features like Additional Scenes and Behind-the-Scenes and the gym teacher scene would definitely not fly in today’s world. If you are a fan, the Limited Edition Steelbook 4K is a great upgrade.
Futureworld also gets a 4K release this week. It is a sequel to Westworld which I rewatched on 4K a while back. It stars Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, Arthur Hill, Stuart Margolin, John Ryan, and Yul Brynner in pretty much a cameo. Unfortunately Futureworld is nowhere near as good as Westworld. Westworld had action and one of sci-fi’s best villains in The Gunslinger. Futureworld has journalism and plot. It needed Michael Crichton’s drama and action because it’s all talking and Fonda wanting to get inside information on the company after writing a hit piece against them after the events of Westworld. Even with the big reveal (which you can figure out quickly) the movie is nothing, but narrative. The 4K looks great though and sounds just as good. This new release features new commentary, interviews and archival bonus features like Behind-the-Scenes, Image Gallery and more. If you are a fan it’s the best the film has looked in decades so it is worth the upgrade to you.
Now for a bunch of TV releases starting with The Agency Season One. Michael Fassbender plays a CIA agent who was stationed in Africa for six years who’s suddenly sent back to his office in England. As he tries to get acclimated back to his London life including his daughter, his handler and the team he reported to, his African life is thrust upon him as the woman he fell for is in London for reasons that aren’t what she claims. It’s a spy show that’s full of twists and turns as “Martian” (Fassbender’s character) tries to play all angles. The show also features Richard Gere, Jeffrey Wright, John Magaro, Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston, Saura Lightfoot-Leon and more. At first I didn’t realize it wasn’t being told in chronological order and there’s also a substory about a new spy named Danny (Saura Lightfoot-Leon) trying to work her way into a program that gets her sent to Iran. That substory doesn’t fully pay off in Season One so I’m assuming that’s where Season Two is headed. I’m a big Fassbender fan so I binged the ten episodes over 3 or 4 days. If you’re looking for an international thriller give it a shot because it totally worked for me.
What didn’t work for me is The Morning Show Season 3. Maybe if I had watched it when it first aired I might have liked it, but it aired in 2023 on Apple TV and isn’t hitting physical media until now and it already feels outdated. Season 2 tackled COVID after Season 1 did the #MeToo movement and Season 3 being around 2022 with life going back to normal feels decades old. The season gets into people going back to work, the upcoming 2024 election, January 6th and so many other things that have had the truth come out making the show feel old. I didn’t particular like the first two seasons, but this third one was a slog to get through. It opens with celebrities going into space because Jon Hamm’s character is a billionaire and takes Reese Witherspoon’s Bradley and Billy Crudup’s Cory with him. It was supposed to be Jennifer Aniston’s Alex, but she had to cover a story in Texas about abortion pills because that was newsworthy. Other episodes deal with a massive cyber attack of the news channel, racist comments and allegations of unfair treatment, Hamm’s Paul Marks trying to buy the network, but of course him and Alex have a thing that causes controversy, the program covering up a January 6th assault because it’s one of their own’s brother. It’s ridiculous and all very fake and drama filled. Maybe if this came my way before we knew the truth about the real events I could take it seriously, but the show is inspired from Brian Stetler so you know it’s one sided.
Speaking of one sided, I never thought I’d see the day that getting a South Park release wouldn’t be exciting for me. I grew up on the show and have watched it for decades, but nowadays it’s lost its edge. The show that poked fun at everything is so one sided that I stopped watching it when it aired so watching South Park: The Complete 27th and 28th Seasons DVD set was new to me. Each season is only 5 episodes so it’s easy enough to get through, but the whole thing is just anti-Trump at this point. Even if you support that it gets tiresome quickly. The first episode of Season 27 Cartman tries to kill himself and Butters with carbon-monoxide but the car he uses is electric because that’s funny right? PC Principal is Christian now cause Trump says he’ll sue anyone who doesn’t push Christianity in school. The next episode parodies Charlie Kirk and Mr. Mackey becomes an ICE officer. Another episode has the kids betting on apps about Gaza, Palestine and Israel. There’s an episode about 6-7 which is already outdated. There are Pam Bondi, JD Vance, Pete Hegseth and more references. It’s one thing for a show to lampoon politics, Saturday Night Live used to do it well, heck South Park used to do it well, but the show is simply negative and doesn’t care about making jokes first. There is nothing original or groundbreaking about the show at this point.
Last we have The Brady Bunch: The Complete Series. I’m assuming the series has been available previously, but this is a new collection featuring 20 discs and all five seasons. The Brady Bunch is classic Americana. I grew up on the reruns as did many generations. The show was about a blended family, a dad with three sons marries a mom with three daughters hence becoming the Brady Bunch. It aired during a time when broken homes, divorces, losing parents wasn’t overly common so it was sort of groundbreaking for the time. It was wholesome and the audience learned things like not to play ball in the house and that tiki idols can be bad luck. Through the seasons we saw the characters and actors grow up, experience life and have situations that we would find ourselves in at some point as well. It’s one of the best family shows off all time because of it. If you’ve never owned the series this is a nice collection of every episode together.
