Free from expectation, away from all the hullabaloo that surrounded it back in May during its initial release, Avengers: Age of Ultron ends up working far better at home than I honestly expected it to…[It] isn’t a great superhero epic, but is oftentimes an exceedingly entertaining one, and in the end that’s perfectly fine by me.

I am not the biggest cheerleader for the Insidious franchise, my issues with the first two chapters in this trilogy fairly well known. Still, Chapter 3 isn’t too bad, breaking both the prequel curse as well as cracking through my relative indifference to this series with reasonably decent force.

We Are Still Here is pretty terrific. Freakishly well made, filled with a number of signature moments, director Ted Geoghegan’s film is both delectable homage to past horror greats as well as a new genre entry sure that delightfully stands on its own merits. I love this movie. Watch it at once.

Cop Car (2015) is almost perfect watch at home, turn out all the lights, make yourself some popcorn, late night entertainment fodder. Silly and slight, yes, but a heck of a lot of fun, anchored by a performance from Bacon that’s a total unhinged hoot start to finish. While not a great film, this is still a remarkably entertaining one, my second time watching it an even more pleasurable experience than the first one was.

The Connection isn’t perfect, and I admit part of my feelings leaning in that direction probably have to do with my love for The French Connection, but that doesn’t make it any less a solid, entertaining procedural that slowly builds to an emotionally shattering climax. Drafthouse Films’ Blu-ray release for the French procedural is magnificent, and I can’t help but think this is one motion picture that’s going to hold up remarkably well as the years go by.

Shocker isn’t one of writer/director Wes Craven’s best. It is, however, one of his most eccentric, unhinged and just plain weird.

Nothing is as it seems in The People Under the Stairs, Craven dexterously moving from comedy, to social commentary, to drama, to horror, to satire, to action, to thriller with confident skill. While not every aspect of the film works as well as other, and while the unhinged nature of the narrative can be jarring (especially on initial viewing), so much of the picture sticks with you long after its come to an end one almost can’t help but fall in love with the darn thing in every way whatsoever.

Téchiné, as always, has crafted a visually sumptuous motion picture, but many of these eye-popping tricks do not serve a purpose, the way he plays with time and how he allows editor Hervé de Luze (The Pianist) to eccentrically tie scenes together equally so. In the Name of My Mother certainly has much to recommend, but on the whole the film just doesn’t cut it, ending up as one of the year’s more curious disappoints I’m more frustrated by then I am anything else.

I’ve always liked Zathura, prefer it over the other Chris Van Allsburg adaptation Jumanji, director Jon Favreau doing a wonderful job bringing these storybook classic to life. Sony’s anniversary Blu-ray presentation doesn’t improve on the original release which means it’s excellent across the board, and if you don’t already own the previous version picking this one up is hardly a bad idea.