Transcript: Christian Movie Reviews: Top 5 Blu-ray Releases of 2021

Greetings, classic cinema and TV fans. This is Jason Lager, Pastor Jay, here with you once again on another Retro Drive-In Podcast. And we thank you for joining us as we wrap up this. We're in the new year. We're wrapping up 2021. We are now in 2022. And we're kind of looking back. That's what the new year is. So you look back, but then you look forward. And that's kind of what we do. We always look back at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year at all of the great releases that was that year. And so we have had so many amazing releases this year. Be sure to go to our official website of Classic Cinema Plus and check out all the amazing reviews of 2021. great releases for physical media fans and yeah it has been a great great 2021 now we are doing the top five now I know this is and this has been tough because we we mulled over this for quite a while trying to think okay what ones do we put on this list and who do we take off because we had a list of, oh, a good probably 30 releases that we could put on this list easily, and we can't do a 30 list countdown. It's just too much. So we wanted to get it down to five, and we did, but oh, I feel so bad because there are so many great releases that could be on this list, but we went with the ones that have the most content, the best content as far as restored films, the most bonus features and all that type of stuff. That's what we went with on these, but there are just so many great stuff. And definitely go back and check out all the amazing releases of 2021 on our official website, Classic Cinema Plus. All right, let's jump into this top five countdown of the 2021 releases. In the Shadow of Hollywood, this is a Flickr Alley release. Wow. These are four amazing films from the Poverty Row Studios. Now, Poverty Row Studios is basically a less than flattering title that was given to studios that were not Hollywood, but were making movies. And this collection is absolutely spectacular. These films have been restored, and they are absolutely gorgeous. You get Midnight, or also known as Call It Murder, from 1934. and what an amazing film that is. Oh, just a great film. You also get Backpage from 1934. You get Woman in the Dark from 1934 and then The Crime of Dr. Crespi from 1935. An amazing release. All of these films, all four are released on two discs, two Blu-ray discs, which gives them plenty of room because these are not really what you call epically long films. So there's so much room to breathe on these discs that two on a disc is plenty of space, and they look gorgeous. They're spectacular. Also in this, you get a deluxe booklet that is just filled with all kinds of still shots and essays and all kinds of cool stuff all in here that is just filled with amazing stuff Look at that That is so cool Love these old not studio Hollywood studio releases but these independent studio releases These Poverty Row releases. I love these. And this is one amazing set. Okay. Now, to be honest with you, I wasn't a huge gamer back in the day. I've played Street Fighter. I've played the different video games. but Street Fighter was not my favorite, right? Street Fighter was not my favorite game. Now, I know I'm going to have people that are sitting here and going to be mad. You mean you don't like Street Fighter? I wasn't a big fan of the Street Fighter game. I really wasn't. I played it, and it's cool, but it wasn't my go-to. I loved a lot of the other type of games more than this. I don't know. It was not my favorite. But now this movie, however, is pretty, pretty cool. Jean-Claude Van Damme in Street Fighter. Wow. And this is a steelbook edition. I mean, this is absolutely spectacular. I think this is probably one of the coolest releases that we have seen this year from Mill Creek Entertainment. Well, this is definitely the coolest release we've seen from Mill Creek this year. It is just amazing. The artwork on this steelbook is just spectacular. The production, the picture looks amazing on Blu-ray. But what I guess what makes this, to me, deserving of a place on the top four at this point is because it's a steelbook and because of all the awesome features that are in this. Beautiful inside cover there. Pretty cool. Blu-ray disc. What's pretty cool is this thing is jam-packed with all kinds of bonus features, interviews, behind-the-scenes making of, new featurettes, all kinds of stuff. It's just jam-packed with stuff. Street Fighter. And then the cool, really, really awesome thing is the collector's bison buck, as I like to call it, that is in this set. That is so cool. Look at this. A special collector's $100 bison dollar or bison buck. That is so cool. I mean, look at that. That right there is just something really, really spectacular. Such a great release. And, yeah, so if you're a fan of that Street Fighter film, Street Fighter and the Street Fighter film, or a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme, man, this is, you're wanting this. And if you haven't got this, definitely pick it up. And if you have got it, then you know why it is number four on the top five. I love sci-fi horror TV, especially from the 70s. I don't know. There's just something about those shows. They're just so spectacular to me. They're just so amazing. And one of those shows that I love so much is Kolchek the Night Stalker. and wow, when I saw that Keenal Orber Studio Classics was going to release the entire series of Kolchak the Night Stalker on Blu-ray I was like, what? You've got to be kidding me We're getting a Kolchak the Night Stalker complete series on Blu-ray? Yes, please I love the artwork here If you're listening to the audio version you can't see the artwork but if you watching the video version you can see it but but it a beautiful new um artwork um you know just beautiful stuff um really great You got Kolchak there with his camera and then you got all the characters the vampires and the zombies and all that in back of him in kind of like a greenish tint, which is very, very cool. Just a great thing. Kolchak, the Night Stalker, We have the same artwork from the slip cover as well as the actual cover. But in this, you get Colchek the Night Stalker. This is pretty cool. You get one, two, three, four discs. Now, I know a lot of people say, complete series, four discs? Well, you've got to understand that the series didn't last very long. It only lasted 20 episodes, so it's very short. So four discs are amazing. I mean, you get plenty of space for all these discs and just great stuff to where the quality is like spectacular. Just great stuff. Also in the case here, you get a special booklet that gives you a look at all the, you know, kind of a write-up of all the things of Kolchak the Night Stalker, what the show was and all. and then you get at the very end all the listings of every episode on there. Very, very cool. Wow, such a great release. If you have not seen it, definitely pick it up. It's very, very great. It's a great release. And if you have it, then you know why it is number three on our top five. All right, I know. Another Kina Lorber Studio Classics release coming in at number two. And this is understandable. It's because it is a classic. It's a classic TV series. And wow, this is season one of an amazing release of The Night Gallery. Now, I love Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. Probably one of my favorite TV series, sci-fi TV series of all time. I love the show. There's just something about it that I can re-watch those episodes over and over and over and over and over again. I do it all the time because they're timeless. They never go out of style. And Night Gallery, while it's not Twilight Zone, it still has that very, very cool vibe to it. and the problem is with the night gallery was they were not meant to be half hour shows they were meant to be hour long shows and they had all these different little episodes in different time segments so thus they couldn't be broke up into half hour segments so when they wanted to syndicate it it had to be hour long otherwise they couldn't do it so what they did was they broke it up and destroyed these episodes just destroyed them. I mean, just absolutely just killed these episodes by taking out so much information out of some of the stories or trying to put more in to make the thing longer. It was horrible. Destroying these classic episodes. Well, Keenalora Studio Classics have restored these to their original cut and their original glory and put so much bonus features in this set. It's just amazing. You can see all the amazing bonus features of audio commentaries and all kinds of different things, documentaries and everything. This thing is just jam-packed with cool stuff, and I love it. I love the new artwork of Rod Serling there on the night gallery. That's pretty cool. Same artwork on the slipcover as well as the actual cover It comes with a little insert that gives you all of the episodes as well as all the stars that are in all the episodes Very very cool These episodes are collected on two discs And now, again, when you look at this and you say, well, two discs, you have to understand And it's a pilot movie, and then there's six episodes. So it's a very short run for the first season. Now, from what we understand, we're getting the rest of the run of this as well from Keenalover Studio Classics. And so I am so excited to see what season two is going to look like. Because if it looks as good as this one, and I'm sure it's going to, it is going to be awesome. And no doubt it'll be on our list of the 2022 releases at the end of the year next year. Great stuff. That's why Night Gallery Season 1 gets number two on the list of the 2021 releases. All right. This, no doubt, would probably have to be number one on the list. This is just such an epic release. This was probably one of the best releases I've seen of the year. And that's hard to say because so many were great. But this one was just amazing. This is brand new, restored, four-film set of Sherlock Holmes. Classic old films of Sherlock Holmes on four Blu-rays filled with bonus features. additional short episodes of cartoons and short episodes and featurettes and all kinds of stuff. I mean, just filled. You got The Silver Blaze. You got The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes. You get A Study in Scarlet, and you get Sherlock Holmes' Final Hour. the film detective and i love the fact the film detective released a box set of the greatest detective of all time okay that is debatable but you know not by me but some people but this is this is pretty cool the film detective and look at this box set this box set is so cool it just looks like a perfect novel, like a big novel that you would have on your shelf of Sherlock Holmes. It looks like that. It just looks like that. It's just so cool. You've got the classic look of Sherlock Holmes there with the pipe and the kind of goldish looking print on the kind of brownish backdrop. It is just so cool. This has to be the film detective's greatest release of all time. It has to be. I've been reviewing film detective releases for years and this one blows every single one of them out of the water. New restorations, beautiful box set, all kinds of bonus features, physical features inside each blu-ray, just awesome stuff. So that's why we put the film detective's release of the Sherlock Holmes vault collection as number one So what is your favorite 2021 release? With all releases, everybody's going to have their favorite. And we want to know your favorite. Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to like, share, and subscribe. Be sure to keep your eyes open to Classic Cinema Plus as we put up new content all the time. You're going to want to check those out all the time as we put up new content. Thank you for joining us today. We wish you a blessed 2022 as we head forward. and until we see you next time, this is Jason Locker reminding you that if you want to see a great film, check out a classic and we will see you next time. Thanks for joining us. Bye.