Home Screening Room - Sorry For Being Crood, I've Been Away

The last couple weeks I’ve been so bogged down with Festival Films, that I haven’t gotten to new Blu-ray / DVD releases.

Big Releases from Theaters

The Croods – Rated PG (Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone)

This is the End – Rated R (Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen)

Two big releases that I liked a whole lot from earlier this year come to your home this week and make for good additions to your library. The Croods is the film that my daughter was quoted as saying…”It’s a great family film.” – I agree and think that as a father…I love the family dynamic here. Well worth picking up…AND This is the End rocked…funny, raw and an all around good time. I can see watching this one many times.

Also New This Week

The Frozen Ground – Rated R (Nicolas Cage, John Cusack)

Glee: The Complete Fourth Season – Not Rated

How I Met Your Mother: The Complete Season 8– Not Rated

The Little Mermaid– Rated G (Jodi Benson)

Morning – Rated R (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Laura Linney)

New Girl: The Complete Second Season – Not Rated

The Wizard of Oz  – Rated PG (Judy Garland, Ray Bolger)

Yes this week’s list includes a couple of  old school titles, and they are glorious releases in High Definition. The recent 3D / Blu-ray transition of things with The Wizard of Oz leads to a new Blu-ray disc being available. And The Little Mermaid gets the Diamond Edition treatment and is loaded for kids of all ages. Add to that the other new TV and Movie releases, and you’ve got a great Tuesday for discs NOT coming directly from theaters.

Final Score

I would really load up my personal collection this week. Love The Croods and love the repeatability factor of This Is The End.  My daughter would kill for The Little Mermaid Diamond Edition and … well how about that Wizard of Oz Blu-ray?

Pop Popcorn, Do the DietDew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Review – The Croods

Review – The Croods

Grug (Nicolas Cage)is a family man. He is there to make sure his family thrives and survives in a prehistoric environment. Getting food for his family takes the wits and style of the entire family to creatively acquire their daily meals. The environment is filled with challenges around every corner.

To Eep (Emma Stone), the world is full of mystery. While her father tries to monitor everyone, Eep sees a mysterious light peering into her cave one night and decides to push back the stone and investigate. The investigation finds Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a man that is on a journey and surviving outside of a cave.

Now things get a little crazy and the families’ cave is destroyed. Grug, Eep, Ugga (Catherine Keener), Thunk (Clark Duke) and Gran (Cloris Leachman) must now set out with Guy to find another home. This is a scary journey for Grug as his only goal has always been to keep his family safe. Now he must put trust in his family and another individual in Guy that he doesn’t know.

The journey puts them face to face with new challenges, new creatures, and new friends. Can they survive and make it to a new home? Or will they not be able to survive as the world changes around them.

At its core, The Croods is a Daddy/Daughter movie. Sure the whole family is here and the boy that will play a role in Eep’s life, but it all boils down to a girl who is growing up and a dad who doesn’t want to let go. And that’s the unfair part. As a dad, who sat and watched the film with his 8 ½ year old daughter, I couldn’t help but fall in love with parts of this film. It does a great job of not making the dad a joke and instead shows how much he really cares at his core.

The voice talents match the characters and Emma Stone shows the inquisitiveness that a teenage daughter or a “caveman” might have exploring the unknown. Nicolas Cage comes off well as the paranoid, protective father. And Ryan Reynolds enjoys showing the world to Eep and her family.

My daughter proclaimed that this movie was hilarious and a great family movie after it ended. I agree, somewhat. This is a great family movie as the family dynamic shows through all of the action and fun onscreen. Is it hilarious? Well, it’s fun and funny… I might not go that far though. (But hey, she’s 8…she doesn’t understand all the critic nuances yet.) The Croods isn’t a date night movie but it is a great movie for the whole family (especially your young ones) to sit down and enjoy. In honor of Belt (a character in this movie) Duh Dah DAH … I liked this movie.

B                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

The Croods                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

20^th Century Fox

Director: Kirk De Marco, Chris Sanders

Cast:  Voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke

Rating: PG for some scary action.

Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes