Rating: «« out of 4 stars

Running Time: 134 min.

Horror films involving ghosts are a tricky proposition. So often, these types of film can’t do much more than rattle dishes for an hour or so before eventually exorcising the spirits to the beyond. This week sees the release of a sequel to a movie that managed to succeed, despite genre conventions, and create some unsettling moments. The Conjuring 2 does possess a couple of chills and will provide a decent enough night of jolts for horror fans, yet by comparison it’s a hit-and-miss affair. Honestly, the movie never quite matches the eerie mood and tone that the original effortlessly generated.

The movie spends a significant...

Wow! It’s a very busy week with some big releases coming your way on Blu-ray and DVD. A wide variety of genres are represented — it appears as if there’s something for just about every taste. So if you can’t make it out to the movies this week, be sure to give one of these titles a try!

Big New Releases!

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon) has dramatized an actual event in his latest action film. The story follows the security team who endured several attacks on a US compound in Libya in 2012. Reaction to the finished product was polarized. Those with a taste for Bay’s chaotic action films admired the fight...

Rating: «« out of 4 stars

Running Time: 147 min.

Another week, another comic-book-related beat-down between famous superheroes. This week it’s X-Men: Apocalypse, the sixth title in the popular Marvel series and the third of more recent slate of films featuring younger versions of the characters. This tale is set in the ’80s and depicts perhaps the most dangerous adversary the mutants have encountered. So, does it keep the prequel winning-streak alive?

Well, it certainly isn’t as strong as the two previous chapters, which took unique approaches to the comic-book material that included time-travel and an exploration of the complex relationship between two characters who would...

Rating: ««« out of 4 stars

Running Time: 116 min.

Writer/director Shane Black is probably the reigning champ of buddy pictures. He wrote Lethal Weapon (1987) and the underrated (if you ask me), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). Black has also been responsible for numerous and sometimes uncredited script rewrites on titles like Predator (1987).

Black’s witty, tough-guy banter is as good as it gets and he’s parlayed it into further success by scripting and directing more recent flicks. The hysterical Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and Iron Man 3 (2013) are good examples. His latest, The Nice Guys, features two more misfits bickering their way through a murder mystery.

Holland March...