Instant Family was a film which I really enjoyed back when I saw it at the cinema during its initial release. Back then I said “Instant Family is a very good comedy/drama film about a young couple starting to become parents. The character development for the parents, but also for the kids, especially Lizzy is very good and I did feel for the characters by the end of the film. As both a comedy and a drama it works well and Sean Anders did a great job directing this one. The actors in this are excellent, with Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne delivering good performances, but Isabela Moner was very impressive in this film. Definitely go and see this one if you’re looking for a comedy this week or a family drama.” If you would like to read my full review for the film you can find it here.

Instant Family is a film which comes directed by Sean Anders who some may know as the director of Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) or Daddy’s Home (2015). The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabela Moner, Gustavo Quiroz, Julianna Gamiz and Octavia Spencer.

The Blu-Ray of the film actually does come with quite a few good extras to watch. More than actually I expected for a film of this genre. Mainly I was just expecting to see maybe a few deleted scenes or some funny moments, but we got a lot more than that.

What I like about the special features included on this Blu-Ray, was some of the extra care from the director. For example the deleted scenes all have an introduction from the director before them explaining the scene a little and why it was cut. This is so much better than some Blu-Ray’s I see, which simply included a bunch of deleted scenes as a viewer watching them you have no idea what the context or idea for them were.

The Instant Family Blu-Ray special features include:

• Commentary by Director/Writer Sean Anders and Writer John Morris
• Mr. And Mrs. Fix It
• Kid Power
• I Need Some Support
• Order In the Court
• The Families Behind The Fair
• Crew Inspiration
• The Anders Family
• Gag Reel
• Isabela Moner Ïll Stay” promotional music video
• On set proposal
• Deleted and Extended scenes

For me this was more than enough extras. Mr. And Mrs Fix It and Kid Power provided some nice insights into the film and I particularly liked all the insights into the casting process. I would have never known that Isabela Moner auditioned for this film via a Skype call. I thought this was all done in person! I also enjoyed watching the music video and the deleted and extended scenes were great to see.

Apart from the special features, I did like listening to the music on the Blu-Ray disc menu. It reminded me a lot of the music in The Sims.

Overall I enjoyed revisiting Instant Family at home this week and if you enjoyed the film as much as I did, then I’m happy to recommend taking a look at this Blu-Ray release.

Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom Blu-Ray Review

Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom is now out on Blu-Ray and comes packed full of special features and extras for fans of the film to watch and enjoy. But should you add this Blu-ray to you current film collection?

Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom is a film which comes directed by J.A. Bayona who some may know as the director of A Monster Calls (2016). The film stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Isabella Sermon and Jeff Goldblum. Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom is the latest film to be released in the Jurassic Park franchise and the second in recent years.

You can read my review in full for the film right here.

Since getting Jurassic World on Blu-Ray last week, I’ve now watched the film around 6 times in total. I have come to really enjoy this movie. It’s got a lot of charm to it and it’s quite a nice experience. Although the cinema is probably the best place to enjoy this film. it still holds up pretty well on the home release. I also felt that the sound on this Blu-ray for this film was good as I didn’t find myself having to put the volume up and down constantly in between the loud and quiet scenes as much as I do in other films I’ve watched on Blu-ray.

Jurassic-World-Fallen-Kingdom-blu-ray-review

Apart from the main feature film, it does come packed with quite a few extras. All of them I really enjoyed watching and they provide a good insight into the behind a scenes making of the film. There are good videos in there featuring both Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard where we see them take part in activities around the set and provide comments about different things in the film. There’s also some interesting pieces from Chris Pratt (Chis Pratt’s Jurassic Journals) where he goes around the set and chats to some non-famous people about the work they do on the film. It’s interesting to learn about all the different occupations one encounters on the film set and all the different things people do in the world.

Here’s a list of all of the special features on this Blu-ray:

• On set with Chris and Bryce
• The Kingdom evolves
• Return to Hawaii
• Island Action
• Aboard the Arcadia
• Birth of the Indoraptor
• Start the bidding
• Death by Dino
• Monsters in a mansion
• Rooftop showdown
• Malcolm’s return
• VFX evolved
• Fallen Kingdom: The conversation
• A song for the kingdom
• Chris Pratt’s Jurassic Journals

Individually all of these reveal some very interesting things about the film. My favourite special features were Rooftop Showdown which went through how the final rooftop scenes were filmed and mentioned about the almost western style to those scenes, secondly the Monsters in a mansion feature explained about the angle they were going for by having all the dinosaurs moved to a single home. The VFX feature is also a great one and it’s interesting to see how everything visually was made. Overall the special features here on the disc are pretty decent and don’t feel like they were just thrown in there like on some other Blu-ray releases. There seems to be at least some thinking behind what went into this disc.

Where I think possibly some people might be a little let down with is with the audio commentary. There is no audio commentary at all on this particular release which is a real shame as I would have liked to have a watch of the film with the director or either Chris Pratt or Bryce Dallas Howard. For fans of films, audio commentaries sometimes do provide quite a bit of insight into the different scenes or what the director thought of certain moments that special feature segments don’t really cover. So that’s the only thing holding back this Blu-Ray release at the moment.

Overall this is a decent film to add to your current Blu-ray collection. If you liked the film at the cinema or are a fan of the franchise, it’s worth picking this one up if you’re keen. It does come packed with a lot of special features and much more than I was expecting. In the list I’ve written above, each of those features were quite interesting to see and provided a lot of insights into the behind the scenes action of the film. They also heavily feature both Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in quite a few of them and those two are both interesting people to watch, which made watching it all through rather enjoyable. It doesn’t have any audio commentary, but other than that, I’m happy to recommend Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom for you future collection.

You can find copies of Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom On Blu-Ray on Amazon AU right here.

Spy movies certainly aren’t dead, but they aren’t what they used to be. The Bond films today are practically dramas, with the fun and loose attitude of the Sean Connery and Roger Moore films almost nonexistent. Matthew Vaughn was bothered by this, and Kingsman is the product of that nostalgic thought. Vaughn and his crew’s sensibilities of the spy films of yesteryear created a film that encompasses the spirit and class of those films in the present day perfectly.

I loved Kingsman when I saw it back in February, and that love doesn’t look like it’s going to die. My second viewing of Kingsman was a blast. The action may be a little stiff, but it’s also chaotic and violent as hell so I’m not complaining. Roxy deserved more love as a character with Matthew Vaughn even saying that they had to cut out a lot of her, but the other characters are so well realized that I’m willing to turn the other cheek. The tone may be a little all over the place, but the film always kept this fun-loving energy that makes it hard not to love. Kingsman isn’t perfect, but it’s still well worth your time if you’re a spy and action movie fan.

Kingsman boasts an absolutely stellar presentation on Blu-ray. While some scenes come off a little soft, the picture is mostly crystal clear. The colors are what steal the show. The soft greens and browns of the tailor shop, the sky’s roaring blues during a parachute jump midway through the film, and a quite colorful final act make for a visually stunning experience. Audio is great as well, with Matthew Vaughn’s wonderful song selection bursting in the background only to be overcome by the frenetic action that annihilates the foreground. Your senses are in for a treat.

The Bonus Features on the Kingsman Blu-ray are:

• “Kingsman: The Secret Service Revealed” (1:31:41) is a complete behind the scenes look at the creation of the film, from the comic-book origins to the editing room. Fans of the movie will be pleased with the pre-visual effects footage as well as seeing Matthew Vaughn direct his cast and crew to the tune of some solid interviews with said cast and crew.
• Galleries of pictures from “Behind the Scenes” as well as closeups of “Sets” and “Props”.
• “Theatrical Trailer” (2:22). The one below to be exact.

What’s offered in the Kingsman extras is greatly appreciated, but there’s plenty of room for more. The hour and a half long set of interviews with the behind the scenes footage was great and the photos were nice, but the lack of a commentary is a bummer as well as no deleted scenes. Matthew Vaughn said that they had to cut about 40 minutes. Why couldn’t that make its way on the Blu-ray?

Everything that’s on the Kingsman Blu-ray is great. The film is delightful, the presentation is beautiful, and there’s a great hour and a half long bonus feature as well as a batch of images to flip through. Those fans will be disappointed though to find an absence of deleted scenes and a commentary track. That extra push would have made this a top notch Blu-ray. Still, there’s still plenty to love here and fans of the film will be generally happy with what they find.

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