Overcomer Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Alex Kendrick, Priscilla Shirer, Shari Rigby, Cameron Arnett, Aryn Wright-Thompson
• Director: Alex Kendrick
• Producers: Aaron Burns, Justin Tolley, Stephen Kendrick
• Format: Subtitled
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, English, Tagalog, French, Spanish, Vietnamese
• Dubbed: Thai, French, Spanish
• Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
• Audio Description: English
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: 
   PG 
   Parental Guidance Suggested
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• Release Date: December 17, 2019
• Run Time: 120 minutes

        I honestly don’t know what is more offensive to me; Alex Kendrick’s abrasively preachy screenplay, his complete inability to direct a single sequence in a way that is realistic or technically competent, or the fact that he casts himself in what must by blindness of vanity and power. I venture to say that the acting is the most offensive, but all of Overcomer reeks of opportunism and pandering trying to disguise itself as sincere faith. It feels like the only thing that Kendrick really believes is that he doesn’t have to improve as a filmmaker for sheltered and naïve Christians to continue to throw their money at him. The only thing that has changed over a decade of shitty Alex Kendrick films (Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, War Room) is the size of the role he gives himself.  

Freaks Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Bruce Dern, Emile Hirsch, Grace Park, Amanda Crew, Lexy Kolker
• Directors: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
• Format: Dolby, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: 
   R 
   Restricted
• Studio: Well Go Usa
• DVD Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Run Time: 104 minutes

        Freaks is one of those films you can almost hear the pitch for, as it is a clear hybrid of two successfully used formulas from recent past. The initial approach may be somewhat original, but this is essentially just a variation on the same mutant-human themes that have been at the center of countless superhero movies and TV series in the past few decades. Add to this trope a child character forced to spend their entire life inside a single home, and it is quite clear that Freaks was intended to be Room meets X-Men. At times this combination is compelling, while too much of the film is devoted to the protagonists bickering and in-fighting about what to do, and far too little time following through on those conversations.