New in Home Entertainment
January 26, 2016
Goosebumps
Rated PG for scary and intense creature action and images, and for some rude humor
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
One of the biggest surprises for me this fall was that this kiddy horror film took in a modest box office haul instead of completely tanking. In fact, I incorrectly wrote this one off before even seeing it. Jack Black here plays Goosebumps author RL Stine, who has manages to accidentally unleash many of the monsters from his various books and must now take them out of the real life and turn them back into ink. It’s very much like a clever modern-day Jumanji and while it’s rather silly and meant more for kids than adults, it manages to entertain in spite of its content. It’s a fun movie that will most likely kick off a string of awful sequels, so enjoy it while you can. B-
The Assassin
Unrated
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In Mandarin with English Subtitles
This Import from Taiwan tells the story of a beautiful young assassin who is sent to take out the man she was once betrothed to. There is no doubt that this Cannes favorite is lush and lovely to look at and the directing by Hsiao-hsien Hou is top notch. Unfortunately I found the film difficult to digest and not easy to sit through. The story is hard to follow and not nearly as good as the rest of the production. While I really wanted to enjoy the picture, I couldn’t manage to do so. C+
Downton Abbey: Season 6 – The Final Season
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
It’s always nice when a show knows when to pull the plug and in this case, the team at Downton Abbey gives their world a nice enough send off while it is still incredibly popular. For this final season, the year is 1925 and of course secrets threaten the Crawley family. Yes the drama is a little bit to the extreme for all of the characters, but bravo to a show that remains watchable to its end. B+