Oh woe is me. Another slow week for the movie fans. At least we can bide our time waiting for new Blu-ray’s by going to see Pacific Rim in the theatres. Regardless, a couple of standouts in the short list this week. Here are your DVD and Blu-ray releases for July16, 2013.

Action films were redefined in the 1980s thanks to icons like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude van Damme. All of them are still kicking ass today with Arnold delivering a full slate of new films now that he has retired from politics, Jean-Claude playing the villain in the last Expendables, and Stallone steadily pumping out new films as well as continuing the successful Expendables franchise. Stallone’s newest stand alone film is on shelves this week, and also marks the return of genre director Walter Hill. In Bullet to the Head, Stallone plays Jimmy Bobo, who along with his partner Louis (Jon Seda) are New Orleans hitmen. Jimmy and Louis are double crossed by their employer who sends a vicious killer named Keegan (Jason Momoa) to take them out of the picture. Now Jimmy must team up with a Washington D.C. detective, Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang) to stop Keegan and seek out justice in their own ways.

Bullet to the Head is filled with 80s style and signature Walter Hill trademarks such as the New Orleans location, some great 80s style score and a witty and action packed script. Stallone and Kang have good chemistry together and Stallone has some classic one liners. The action is fast paced and lots of fun, especially when Sly goes head to head with Momoa, who is quite the imposing figure. Don’t expect MacBeth here, but Bullet to the Head is a lot of fun and exactly what the doctor ordered for the action movie blues.

For rounding out the double feature I popped in the much touted remake of the Sam Raimi horror classic The Evil Dead. Dropping ‘The’ from the title, Evil Dead has pretty much everything you would expect from an Evil Dead movie, and turns the gore up to 11. The cast are fairly forgettable here, not having any of the fun or charisma of the original film, but they do alright with what they are given. The real reason to check out Evil Dead is the astounding level of mayhem and blood. In fact, this just might be the most blood I have ever seen in a single movie. And the finale is a rousing over the top demonstration of just how far you can take a chainsaw scene. Great makeup, great looking and great gobs of gore are the primary reasons to check out Evil Dead, horror fans will be more than pleased.

This week may have been a little slow, but get ready for the rush that is the end of July as we have titles such as Trance, Welcome to the Punch, The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and more coming up. Put those pennies away, you’ll need them!

 

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for Tuesday July16, 2013

Lord of the Flies

Bullet to the Head

Evil Dead

Erased

Solomon Kane

Arlington Road

Oogieloves: The Big Balloon Adventure

Heavy Traffic

Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection

Damages: The Complete Fifth Season

Flying Monkeys

Hell on Wheels: Season 2

42