Arriving on Blu-ray on March 25th is the 1983 film, The King of Comedy: The 30th Anniversary, starring Academy Award® Winner Robert De Niro*, Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard, whom all give mesmerizing performances in this "chilling black comedy" (TV Guide's Movie Guide).

The movie explores the painfully high and often hilarious price of fame. Robert De Niro stars as a struggling stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin, who enlists the aid of his friend Masha (played by Sandra Bernhard) to kidnap talk show host Jerry Langford (played by Jerry Lewis). What is the ransom? Pupkin wants a guest spot on the talk show.


*Actor, Raging Bull, 1980; Supporting Actor, The Godfather Part II, 1974.

The Agony And the Ecstasy
Director: Carol Reed
Starring: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Enterainment
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Retail: $24.99
ASIN: B00HF98SNK
Running Time: 138 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Releasing on Blu-ray for the first time last week is the  1965 classic film The Agony and the Ecstasy starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II. The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and 2 Golden Globe Awards. There are no extras or features on the Blu-ray.

Loosely based on Irving Stone's biographical novel of the same name, The Agony And The Ecstasy chronicles the four years it took the now legendary artist Michelangelo Buonarroti to create the Sistine Chapel's spectacular ceiling fresco, which depicts the twelve apostles.

Artists didn't have much freedom back them, especially when political religious figures are involve, so Michelangelo persuades Pope Julius II to allow him to paint the entire vault instead of just the ceiling panels.

Painting such a masterpieces came with several ups and downs, as Michelangelo was accused of blasphemy and heresy because of the Pagan-looking symbols in his painting. Plus, being exposed to lead paint caused the artist to suffer from blindness. Despite all the setbacks, he is determined to finish painting his masterpiece.

Transformers Armada: The Complete Series
Voice Cast: Michael Dobson, Terry Klassen, Ward Perry
Studio: Shout! Factory
Release Date: March 11, 2014
Retail: $44.99
ASIN: B00GSTHDCU
Running Time: 1140 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Its almost hard to believe the Transformers' franchise is thirty-years-old. Yes, there are probably a few people who think Michael Bay created the franchise with his over-bloated CGI/live-action films, but it was actually created by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese Takara Tomy toy company. Takara already had two transforming toylines, which were later re-branded as Transformers. Of course most adults in their 30s' remember the popular Hasbro animated series (aka - Generation 1), followed by an animated movie and countless spinoff animated series.

From 2002 to 2006, Japan aired a "Unicorn Trilogy"Transformers animated series (Armada, Energon and Cyberton), featuring a '90s design to the characters. When the trilogy was brought over to the United States, the series was dubbed with American voices. Despite getting a mixed-reaction from die hard fans upon its debut (especially with the trilogy ignoring the previous series), over time the series has been accept as part of the Transformers' lore.

This Tuesday, March 11, 2014, Shout! Factory will be releasing Transformers Armada: The Complete Series on an eight-disc DVD set, featuring all 52 episodes (three seasons) from the first installment of the "Unicorn Trilogy." Transformers Energon will be released in May, followed by Transformers Cyberton later in the year.

Typically, I would list the episodes on a DVD set, but that's a little time consuming with 52 episodes on this set. There's between six to eight episodes on each disc; so it isn't as crammed as one might expect it to be.

Distortion
Moonlighter Series, Book Two
By Terri Blackstock
Publisher: Zondervan
Pub. Date: March 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0310283140
Pages: 352
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/tPPB8
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/tblackstock

Review:

I have seen Terri Blackstock's books in book catalogs, but I only started reading her books about two years ago. Her writing style is different than most Christian authors. Most books in the genre tend to be strictly a romantic story, but Terri Blackstock centers the majority of her books (at least the ones I have read) around a mystery of some sorts. Last spring, I reviewed her novel Truth Stained Lies, book one in the Moonlighter Series, and earlier this year I got a change to review a ARC of the second book in the series titled, Distortion.

Distortion centers on Juliet Cole, whose life is completely torn away when she witnesses her husband of fifteen-years gunned down before her very own eyes. Now a widow and the only parent to her boys, she is determined to keep them safe no matter what the costs.

What she thought was a random murder turns into something else when she discovers threatening voice-mails. Afraid for the lives of her children, Juliet turns toward her sisters, Holly and Cathy, for help, but the mystery may be too big for them to handle, so they once again enlist PI Michael Hogan to help them find the killers.

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth!

 

Do you have a schedule set for blogging and reading time? Or do you not have a set time and just let it happen?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

I've tried to set a blogging/reading schedule, but something else always comes up, which completely changes my schedule. I'm better off blogging and reading whenever I feel like it or when I can squeeze in the time.

Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo
Directors: Elliot M. Bour & Saul Andrew Blinkoff
Voice Cast: Jim Cummings, Ken Sansom, Jimmy Bennett, David Ogden Stiers, Kath Soucie, John Fiedler, Peter Cullen
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 11, 2014
Retail: $29.99
ASIN: B00H0KD438
Running Time: 65 minutes
Rating: G
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:
 
Arriving today on Blu-ray for the first time is Walt Disney Home Entertainment's 2004 direct-to-video Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo, featuring the bonus feature "Get Up And Dance!" - Spring into the holiday spirit and dance to songs form the movie. There is also a free Springtime With Roo Mobile inside every Blu-ray Combo Pack.

The Charles Dickens’s classic, A Christmas Carol, gets the Disney spin in Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo. Everybody, especially little Roo, in the Hundred Acre Wood is looking forward to spring when Rabbit dresses up like the Easter Bunny and gives out gifts, but Rabbit has decided to skip this year and have a "Spring Cleaning Day" instead.

To change Rabbit's thoughts about Easter, the narrator and Tigger drag Rabbit out of the storybook and travel back in time to the previous year's Easter celebration, a time where Rabbit loved the holiday. Sadly, it is going to take more than just flipping back a few chapters to show Rabbit the true meaning of Easter.