Kung Fu Monster Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Louis Koo, Dongyu Zhou, Bea Hayden Kuo
• Director: Andrew Lau
• Disc Format: Dolby, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Language: Mandarin Chinese (DTS 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region A/1 
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: 
   NR 
   Not Rated
• Studio: Well Go Usa
• Blu-ray Release Date: October 8, 2019
• Run Time: 104 minutes

         One location, bad CGI, and a storyline that feels made for a pre-teen audience; these are the defining elements of Andy Lau’s Kung Fu Monster. It is disappointing in a way that a lot of Chinese cinema has become in recent years, and a way that should be familiar to American audiences. Try as they have to make this film entertaining to as broad of an audience as possible, the end result is too childish for adults and may even be too monotonous for the attention span of the modern child. It is hard to believe this filmmaker once made Infernal Affairs.

Yesterday 4K Ultra HD Review

• Actors: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Ed Sheeran, Kate McKinnon
• Director: Danny Boyle
• Writer: Richard Curtis
• Producers: Danny Boyle, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Matthew James Wilkinson, Bernard Bellew
• Disc Format: 4K, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: French Canadian, Spanish, English
• Region: Region A/1 
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: 
   PG-13 
   Parents Strongly Cautioned
• Studio: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
• Release Date: September 24, 2019
• Run Time: 117 minutes

        Yesterday has a great premise, joining the ranks of a special division of romantic comedies that are blended with a sci-fi premise. South Koreans have perfected this delicate balance with films like The Beauty Inside and How Long Will I Love You, but there are plenty of American ones as well. There are those that deal with time travel (Hot Tub Time Machine) and time loops (Groundhog’s Day), ones that take place in the future (Her), alternate worlds unlike ours (The Lobster) and alternate worlds similar to our own (The Invention of Lying, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), but all of these films made full use of their premise. Yesterday has a great concept that it seems to abandon for the romantic elements, rather than having them work in tandem. Even worse, the message of the movie becomes contradictory in its need to provide a satisfying and moral resolution.