Ernest & Célestine: A Trip to Gibberitia (Ernest et Célestine: Le voyage en Charabie) (2022) [Blu-Ray]

Now Available from Shout! Factory and GKIDS.

I’ll be the first to admit that I had no idea what “Ernest & Célestine” was or that it had its own series, as well as a feature film. The good thing about “Ernest & Célestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” is that you don’t really have to go back and see the previous material to understand what’s happening. Basically, it’s all so beautifully animated like a moving storybook and is the tale of the love between a big bear and a small female mouse. Named Ernest & Célestine, there is a story of friendship but there’s also an unspoken true love that’s very punctuated in the final scene of the film.

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The First Omen (2024)

It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen a return to Richard Donner’s original supernatural series. The original “The Omen,” which was a response to the fame of “The Exorcist” has managed to live on as a horror gem in the ilk of “The Exorcist.” It’s ripe with storytelling potential and shockingly, “The First Omen” takes us back in to this world with near perfect success. If you had told me that “The First Omen” would be a weird, creepy, and memorable horror prequel a year ago, I’d have been as skeptical as ever. I doubted that “The Omen” really had anywhere left, especially after the painfully underrated “The Awakening” in 1991.

But Arkasha Stevenson’s debut is a brutally suspenseful unfolding of the origins of not just Damien, but the plot to conceive of the antichrist.

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Bloodshot (2020)

Dave Wilson’s movie feels like one of those comic book movies made in 2003 when studios made comic book movies but were embarrassed to admit it. So they’d make their movies without giving us what the fans wanted hence a “Punisher” movie without his signature skull shirt. With “Bloodshot” what we’re getting a movie based on the somewhat obscure nineties comic, but a lot of the changes are obviously made from Sony and Vin Diesel to side step the fact he’s in a comic book movie. He looks very little like Bloodshot, doesn’t often don his signature red chest spot, and isn’t even referred to as Bloodshot.

But he’s Bloodshot! Don’t worry, all five people that loved the Valiant comics universe*!

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Giantess Battle Attack! (2022)

Now Streaming on TubiTV

After “Attack of the 50ft Cam-Girl,” I assume Full Moon and director Jim Wynorski just thought “Aw, Fuck it” and went ahead with a trilogy of films. What started as yet another iteration of “Attack of the 50ft Woman” transformed into what are now a trilogy of cheaply made, tongue in cheek schlockfests where the main attraction is the giant, busty women knocking heads with one another. They wear tight, short clothing, and tower over the male characters, and there’s a ton of innuendo and double entendres thrown at the audience.

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Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

It’s pretty much confirmed with “King of the Monsters” that the producers are going for a monster universe fitted for the more general audience. Director Michael Dougherty is back in this sequel to 2014’s bold “Godzilla” that pretty much establishes the kaiju movie universe for this era. Established as “Titans” the movie monsters from the classic Godzilla movie series all make appearances in some form or another, and boy are they terrifying. While the original monsters were all pretty scary, the way that director Dougherty visualizes them is just downright mind blowing. The monsters are all specters and reapers of the apocalypse, all unmatched in their power that are back to basically reclaim the planet for themselves.

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You Have to See This! The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Currently Streaming on: MAX, Pluto TV, and Amazon Prime Video

Something of a pseudo-sequel to the Kaiju monster movie “Frankenstein Conquers the World,” Ishirō Honda’s follow up is a movie that’s begging to be remade. It’s a great film all on its own, but there are so many scenes here that would look incredible on a modern screen, including one moment when a fisherman looks in to the deep water only to look down at the massive monster Gaira who is lurking at the very bottom. That said, “The War of the Gargantuas” is a movie that thankfully doesn’t require too much foot work from the original film to understand what’s happening. Even though the monsters Gaira and Sonda are referred to as “Frankensteins,” they’re two sides of the same coin.

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Wednesday: The Complete First Season [Blu-Ray]

Now Available from Warner Entertainment.

Since the unfortunate passing of Raul Julia, Warner has spent many years trying to reboot their “Addams Family” property for a new generation. While the animated movies were fine enough, they just couldn’t build enough momentum. Enter Jenna Ortega. Ortega has been one of the hottest and most talented young actresses of the last five years who took the lead in a new kind of “Addams Family” series. This time, with Tim Burton leading the charge, fans got to spend a lot more time with the adolescent daughter of the brood Wednesday.

Shockingly, it works.

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