What to Watch This Weekend: I Met a Girl, The Devil All The Time, Sword of God, Trolls World Tour, Queen & Slim, Burnt Orange Heresy, #Alive, Fighting With My Family

For The Hopeless Romantic -  I Met A Girl (Digital)

I Met A Girl has a moving performance by its charismatic lead, a wonderful bright style, and plenty of highs and lows in this story about love and mental illness.  For more information, check out our review!

For The Religious Fan of Great Actors - The Devil All The Time (Netflix)

The Devil All The Time has amazing performances, deep characters, and tempts you with its exploration of faith, religion, and choice.  For more information, check out our review!

For Devout Horror Fan - Sword of God

Sword of God is a devoutly atmospheric masterpiece, with an amazing setting, wonderful, immersive effects and costumes, and an otherworldly aesthetic that will have you praying for more.  For more information, check out our review!

For The Horror Survival Fan - #Alive (Netflix)

This Korean zombie drama offers a refreshing take on the zombie isolation horror.  As a lot of people are isolating for other reasons, this film is a sign of life in the genre.

 

For The Wrestling Fan - Fighting With My Family (Amazon)

Fighting With My Family gives you a heartwarming story, filled with thoroughly enjoyable characters and action, that takes some creative liberties but still tells a solid tale.  For more information, check out our review!

For The Kids - Trolls World Tour (Hulu)

Trolls World Tour keeps the same style and characters that made the first movie a surprise hit, and adds a bunch of new and interesting music trolls and locations to the band, while also providing an avenue to talk to your kids about diversity and tolerance.  For more information, check out our review!

For The Dramatic Art Student - The Burnt Orange Heresy (Redbox)

The Burnt Orange Heresy paints an interesting picture, with fantastic performances and some very good writing, but the overall experience is hurt by a story that goes off the rails.  For more information, check out our review!

For A Realistic Take On The Black Experience - Queen & Slim (HBO)

Queen & Slim gives a window into racial injustice in America, told through stellar performances, strong writing, and a commitment to realism that preaches a powerful message.  For more information, check out our review!

What to Watch This Weekend: July 10, 2020

Great New Take On Groundhog Day: Palm Springs (Hulu)
Palm Springs is a fresh take on the Groundhog Day formula, with a charismatic duo, plenty of ridiculous and laugh-out-loud moments, and a story that grows on you as it repeats!  For more information, check out our review!

Glitterfest For The Kids And Adults: Trolls World Tour (Redbox)
I know this has been in back to back recommendations, but my kids still love it and now it's available at Redbox!  Trolls World Tour keeps the same style and characters that made the first movie a surprise hit, and adds a bunch of new and interesting music trolls and locations to the band, while also providing an avenue to talk to your kids about diversity and tolerance.  For more information, check out our review!

The Complete Action Package: The Old Guard (Netflix)

The Old Guard is the complete action package with exciting and brutal fight sequences, a meaningful story, and some amazing special effects.  If there is one action movie you have to watch into eternity, this is a pretty great choice.  For more information, check out our review!

Tom Hanks Doing What He Does Best: Greyhound (AppleTV+)
Greyhound scores a direct hit with Tom Hanks's stellar performance, heart stopping naval action, convincing CG, and explosive sound.  For more information, check out our review!

For Anyone Interested In Creative Endeavors: Gamemaster (Digital)
Gamemaster is a comprehensive, entertaining documentary about the growing board game industry, with diverse viewpoints and a wonderful cast of characters who rolled the dice on the indie board game scene.  For more information, check out our review!

Suspenseful Family Horror Drama: Relic (Digital)
Relic has a fantastic cast, a wonderful commitment to traditional special effects, and a complicated, layered story that drips with suspense.  For more information, check out our review!

Lovingly Crafted Frontier Drama: First Cow (Digital)

First Cow is an udderly charming film; those hoping for something wonderfully different will enjoy the fantastic characters, writing, and setting, as well as how the film milks each and every shot.  For more information, check out our review!

Horror Remake Of Classic Kids Tales: Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (Showtime)
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark brings the classic horror short stories to life.  It’s a great with a long run time and relatively mild scares to keep you entertained at home!  For more information, check out our review!

What to Watch This Weekend: July 3, 2020

Amazing Broadway Musical: Hamilton (Disney+)
Possibly the biggest, most popular Broadway musical of all time comes to the home on Disney+.  Hamilton will entertain you while teaching you about history and social justice.  It is a smart, wonderful, and thoroughly enjoyable experience, made even better in the comfort of your own home.  

Glitter-Filled Kids Movie: Trolls World Tour (Digital)
Trolls World Tour keeps the same style and characters that made the first movie a surprise hit, and adds a bunch of new and interesting music trolls and locations to the band, while also providing an avenue to talk to your kids about diversity and tolerance.  For more information, check out our review!

Serious, Thoughtful Documentary: Athlete A (Netflix)
Athlete A is a thoughtful, thorough look into the worst sports story in recent memory, as well as the failings of USA Gymnastics that led to this scandal.  For more information, check out our review!

Hilarious Girls Trip: Desperados (Netflix)
Desperados's strong cast, hilarious moments, and wonderful personalities will keep you invested and entertained throughout this crazy girls trip.  For more information, check out our review!

Entertaining Genre Film: Becky (Redbox)
Becky wins with its smart casting and gruesome, creative fight sequences.  You have an angsty teen fighting against a gang of Nazis led by Kevin James!  What is not to like.

Shining Sequel: Doctor Sleep (HBO)
Doctor Sleep pairs a stellar cast, with a big score, and enough nostalgia from the original movie to keep you entertained.  Whether you are a fan of the novel or have seen Kubrick's original masterpiece, you will thoroughly enjoy Doctor Sleep.  For more information, check out our review!

Creature Feature: Crawl (Amazon and Hulu)
Crawl is a fun creature feature that goes a little over the top, but will leave you holding your breath as a father and daughter team try to avoid some seriously dangerous predators during a hurricane.  

Anime: Mirai (Netflix)
The Oscar nominated animation film, Mirai is an enchanting tale about family and a child's wonder that should not be missed.

Trolls World Tour Review: A Glitter-Filled Music Fest That Is A Treat For The Eyes And Ears

Release date: April 10, 2020
Running time: 90 minutes
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom 

Trolls World Tour is the follow up to the surprisingly good Trolls movie.  Trolls was a movie that no one asked for that should have been terrible but ended up being an entertaining movies for all ages with some very catchy songs.  In Trolls World Tour, the trolls from the first movie learn that they are not the only trolls out there.  They find out that there are several different tribes of Trolls, each centered around a different type of music.  And when the Queen of the Hard Rock trolls makes a move to take over all the Troll kingdoms, Queen Poppy and her friends try different ways to save all the Trolls.

Trolls was an entertaining adventure mostly because of the two great personalities they got as leads.  Justin Timberlake (as Branch) and Anna Kendrick (as Queen Poppy) had a great dynamic in the first movie, with Timberlake as a quiet reserved troll and Kendrick as an outspoken, optimistic one.  The two played off each other well and their interactions led to much of the fun in the first film.  And thankfully, these two are back in the spotlight for World Tour.  In addition to Poppy and Branch, the film ads several additional fun characters, mostly based on different types of music.  There is the Rock Queen (Bloom), country trolls, classical trolls, funk trolls, and several in between.  The film does a great job getting a star-studded cast and some iconic figures to do the voices, such as Mary J. Blige and George Clinton as key funk trolls, and Ozzy Osbourne as one of the rock trolls.  The cast is really a stellar one and makes the movie that much more enjoyable.

The first trolls movie had a fantastic animated style and this one takes that up a notch.  The animation is beautiful, colorful, and has a crafted look to it that I loved.  Lots of the characters and materials have a felt style.  There are shiny string waterfalls, desserts of glitter, and ground filled with stuffing.  It is a wonderful style that really captures what an imagined childhood world might look like.  And despite the rock trolls having a grim, dark look, it still is highly imaginative and the rest of the trolls have a much brighter style to balance it out.  The story is also a good one.  It helps to introduce the concepts of tolerance and differences in a way that should be approachable to kids.  The lessons learned are important ones and I'm happy that this film was able to teach them in a way that will let kids enjoy it.  I appreciated this message more so now than when the movie came out.  The story takes us to a many different areas and introduces a large variety of trolls, which should make for an entertaining adventure for kids and adults alike.

Trolls World Tour keeps the same style and characters that made the first movie a surprise hit, and adds a bunch of new and interesting music trolls and locations to the band, while also providing an avenue to talk to your kids about diversity and tolerance.

Watch it.

For additional information about the film and to rent / buy it, check it out at the links below.

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Deal: Watch Trolls World Tour in 4K for $9.99 Today!

Here's a fun deal to help you pass the time in this summer heat.  Trolls World Tour is releasing on physical disc on July 7.  However, right now, if you order from Best Buy, you will get the full on disc version (with included 4K copy) for $30, but you will also get a free 4K code to redeem on MoviesAnywhere when you order it (in other words, today)!  That way you can start watching the movie now while you wait for the disc!  It took about 15 minutes for the code to arrive in my inbox, and it redeemed easily on Movies Anywhere.

However, if you only wanted the online code, you can then cancel your Best Buy order.  It will cancel the disc version and only charge you $9.99 for the 4K code, making the effective price of Trolls World Tour in 4K $9.99.   Make sure to redeem the code on Movies Anywhere, which will port it to your linked accounts.  The digital version includes special features including the special dance party mode of the movie.

Best Buy Link

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News: Regal Entertainment Joins AMC in Refusing To Play Universal Movies After Trolls World Tour Statement

Cineworld, the owner of Regal Entertainment, the second largest theater chain in the United States, has joined AMC's previous statement, refusing to play Universal Pictures films in the wake of NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell's statement alluding to future releases being both theatrical and day and date home rental.  Cineworld said that "Universal's move is completely inappropriate and has nothign to do with good faith business practice, partnership, and transparency."

Amid theatrical closures and a global pandemic, Trolls World Tour released direct to video rental with a $19.99 fee for a 48-hour rental.  Earlier this week, NBC Universal announced that Trolls World Tour earned $95 million in three weeks of premium video on demand (PVOD).  Cineworld made clear that its ban is not for all Universal movies, simply those that do not respect the 90 day window between theatrical and digital releases.  "Today we make it clear again that we will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows as it does not make any economic sense for us," Cineworld said.

As we said earlier today, it will already be difficult to convince consumers to come back to the theaters when they do open.  Having new entertainment options exclusively in cinema is one way to entice moviegoers back to the physical theaters.  It is not surprising that both AMC and Cineworld would be protecting their business model.  We will just have to see what happens between them, and with other studios that are experimenting with direct to home rental models, such as Disney's Artemis Fowl and Warner Bros. Scoob!  

Deal: Get 50% Off Dreamworks Movies When Preordering Trolls World Tour for Rental at FandangoNOW

Deal Alert! Right now, if you preorder the rental of Trolls World Tour at FandangoNOW, you will get a promotional code for 50% off Dreamworks movies. There is a banner on the rental page with more details, although the text is hard to see. It looks like you can choose from this list of movies, and you will receive it after you preorder Trolls. Trolls World Tour releases on April 10 direct to digital, so you can watch it in the comfort of your home during quarantine!

News: Trolls World Tour Releases Sax-y New Video

Looking for a sax-y way to pass the day?  Going a little stir crazy during Quarantine??

Sit back and let Smooth Jazz Chaz serenade you for the next 10 HOURS!!! #TrollsWorldTour

  

YouTube Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HXH7oX0hh8&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0hi1YLzhzBDrD4lpUMLbaD-m24rTakWjUn0-tn_GKKW6wcKPmRfYb924E

Twitter Link:

https://twitter.com/trolls/status/1241047526083457024?s=21

Embed:

Also be sure to check out the cast in the “Just Sing” music video

YouTube Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LMJzMie-wg

Embed:

TROLLS WORLD TOUR – In theaters and at home on demand April 10

Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | #TrollsWorldTour

News: Universal Theatrical Movies to be Available to Stream on March 20

As everyone adjusts to the new Quarantine world, Universal Pictures has made the stunning move of offering some of their theatrical movies available to stream as soon as this Friday, March 20, including The Invisible Man, The Hunt, and Focus Feature's Emma.  Today, NBCUniversal announced that movies under the Universal Pictures banner will be available on-demand on the date of the theatrical release, including the upcoming Trolls: World Tour on April 10.

This should not change the delays of some prominent films such as No Time to Die, A Quiet Place 2, Mulan, and Universal's own Fast 9, but it should provide another avenue for those looking to avoid theaters but still wanting to see the newest movies.  This should also provide a boost for the box office, which saw its worst weekend since 1995 as consumers stayed home rather than head to the theaters.

Although details are still being worked out, it looks like these new theatrical movies will be $20 for a 48-hour rental period, which is about in line with how film rentals work on streaming services.  The first movies to be available will be The Invisible Man, the Hunt, and Emma on March 20.

"Given the rapidly evolving and unprecedented changes to consumers’ daily lives during this difficult time, the company felt that now was the right time to provide this option in the home as well as in theaters. NBCUniversal will continue to evaluate the environment as conditions evolve and will determine the best distribution strategy in each market when the current unique situation changes," read the company's release.

“Universal Pictures has a broad and diverse range of movies with 2020 being no exception. Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable,” said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell in the same statement. “We hope and believe that people will still go to the movies in theaters where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible.”

Expect more details as this evolves!